From the Desk of Steve Shultz:
What the world needs much more of right now is HOPE. We all do!
Cindy Jacobs is not only one of the most powerful prophetic voices in the Body, she is an excellent encourager and is a spiritual mother to many.
Please read this incredible word from Cindy...and let it help you to grab hold of the HOPE from Christ that you need today. And please share it with everyone you know because we all need to be encouraged with godly HOPE in this hour. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
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Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News
elijahlist.com
Today I want to share with you some of my daily routines for maintaining hope.
When we're in difficult times and there's stress all around us, we have to know how to nurture our spiritual hope. We have to be the ones that go to the Word of God and encourage our own selves in the Lord and then encourage others.
I want to begin with Psalm 42:11: "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted [sad] within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God."
There are many attacks on our hope for the future today, and some of them are very subtle. But hope is the anchor of our souls. If satan can destroy our hope and confidence that we will get through our current situations, then we will not be able to retain our stance of faith and see fear driven out of our lives.
So how do we pray when we feel hopeless or when we feel anxious? Let's begin personally.
1. Hold onto the Confessions of the Word
We must determine that we will hold on to the confessions that we have from the Word.
Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." But we have a question: how do we hold fast, or how do we grab hold of hope? Hope can be elusive. We might have it and be doing good in our day, and then all of a sudden, we just start feeling hopeless.
Well, one way is to listen to what comes out of your mouth. Are your words mainly critical? Are they negative? You must change your confession of fear to confessions of hope, which will generate positive feelings as opposed to negative. Emotions can go all over the place, but the Word of God is the anchor for our souls. Saying the Word of God out loud is supernatural. When we say Scripture, those Bible Scriptures are not just words written on a page. Hebrews 4:12 says they're living and they're alive and they're powerful. And while this might seem so simple, it will help to correct our attitude from one of negativity to optimism.
2. Monitor Your Thought Life
Be aware of how many negative thoughts you are thinking. When a fearful, negative thought arises, cast it down. How do you cast it down? You cast it down through the Word of God. A familiar passage for many of you, 2 Corinthians 10:5, says, "Casting down arguments [or imaginations] and every high thing that exalts against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
What are you thinking? You know, it's very interesting...as we go through the day, there are many things that run through our minds. But in a moment of crisis, we have to steel our minds: s-t-e-e-l, as in make them like steel, the metal. When those negative thoughts come, like, "I'm not going to get through this. My finances are going down. My family might get this disease." Every time one of those comes into your thinking, you must put a promise of God in its place. The promises of God are powerful. (Photo via Unsplash)
Let God's Word be the plumb line. Do you know what a plumb line is? It's a building tool, a heavy object on the end of a string, used to see if the building is straight. Is your thinking lining up with the Word of God, or is your thinking being carried away by the news? God's Word, God's news, is that He loves you, that He's going to prosper you, that He's going to bless you.
Through a season of depression one time, I learned that I had to take authority over my thoughts. I had to find out those deep-rooted things in me that were making me afraid or negative. And I promise you, if you will do this daily, it will make a difference. Cast down imaginations. The second that thought comes against your mind, don't let it rule over you. Let God's plan be the plumb line.
What I've also found is many people are not very adept (I understand this because I wasn't either) at finding out what's wrong with themselves. The other night I had been out shopping at the grocery store, and when I came home, for some reason, I began to... (continue reading)
