Hope for Your Heart: Finding Strength in Life's Storms (16 page)

Now do you see why Christian hope is anything but some pie-in-the-sky, ethereal concept? It is a rock-solid
guaranteed
assurance
that Jesus is who He claims to be, God Himself, the Second Person of the Trinity. What He promises for us will come true.

Now do you understand why you can have hope in Jesus . . . why He is the one and only Anchor you will ever need? Jesus is God . . . therefore Jesus is sovereign over all storms, all circumstances in your life. He is indeed the resurrected Lord.

Amidst the prophetic truths verifying Jesus as Messiah, one day we’ll see the very same physical “proofs” that Jesus presented to His disciples as confirmation that He indeed was the one who hung on that cross, died, and was resurrected. “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:38–39).

Jesus’ nail-scarred hands and feet will forever remind us in heaven that we are only there because of
Him
, because of His substitutionary death in our place—mine and
yours
.

Jesus endured a magnitude 5 “spiritual hurricane.” But why did that happen? It has everything to do with the word
saved
.

Just
how
has Jesus saved us? More than two thousand years ago, He died on a cross for our sins, taking our punishment and rescuing us from an eternity separated from Him. Jesus rose from the dead and today offers the gift of eternal life to all who place their trust in Him.

And He offers us something more . . . the gift of biblical hope . . . so that we, like John Harper, can know with 100 percent assurance where we’re going when we die.

What does the person drowningin the water need? The desperate need is to be saved. That person going under needs a savior, a rescuer, which is why God in His infinite mercy and grace offers us a
Lifesaver
Rescue Plan
. Here’s how it works:

When God created the universe, He gave all human beings free will . . . the freedom to go
against
His will (this is called sin).

From the beginning of human history, God made His will clearly known, but the first two people He created chose to go against His will.

God knows that we all have sinned. The problem is this: The Bible says our sins
separate
us
from God. But God doesn’t want us separated from Him—He wants to save us.

And that’s the “why” of Jesus. Jesus, who is God, left heaven and came to earth. Although He lived a perfect life, He was crucified on a cross. He wasn’t a victim—His life was not taken from Him—He gave His life as a ransom for many. He chose to take the punishment for our sins upon Himself—to become our heavenly Lifesaver. In His death, He chose to take our sin so that if we would receive Him as our personal Lord and Savior, He would forgive us of
all
of our sin. That means sin no longer separates us from God.

The Bible says that those who trust Jesus to anchor their lives not only gain eternal salvation but also a guaranteed hope and help, purpose and peace. And God promises a life-changing relationship with Him now and the ultimate gift of eternal life in heaven. God has made the way; He has cleared the decks to secure your salvation.

Respecting your will, He won’t force His way into your heart though. Instead He is gently inviting you to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. When you surrender the helm, the control of your life to Him, He will save you and give you hope that lasts forever . . . a hope found only in an anchored life relationship with Him.

Every competent captain spends hours studying the maps, then charting the course in order to reach the desired destination.

And God gave us His chart . . . a way for all of us to sail safely across the mysterious and sometimes perilous “oceans” of life. As we place our faith in Him to lead, guide, and protect us, He promises to keep us from drifting hopelessly off course in our lives.

It works the same way when it comes to hope. We have a guaranteed hope given to us by God. He promises to guide us into all wisdom and onto the right path. Proverbs 4:11 (esv) says, “I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.”

The Lord Himself is your hope. . . . He is your guide. . . . He is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

Follow this four-point plan to chart your course with Christ, your Lifesaver:

1. God’s Purpose for You . . . Is
Salvation

God sent Christ to earth to express His love for you by saving you. The Bible says:

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
¹²

Jesus came to earth to forgive your sins, empower you to have victory over sin, and enable you to live a fulfilled life, anchored in Him! Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
¹³

2. Your Problem . . . Is
Sin

Sin is living independently of God’s standard—knowing what is right, but choosing what is wrong. The Bible says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
¹⁴

The consequence of sin is spiritual death . . . eternal separation from God. Because God is just, this penalty must be paid by someone—either you or a substitute. Scripture states:

Your iniquities [sins] have separated you from your God. . . . For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
¹⁵

3. God’s Provision for You . . . Is the
Savior

Jesus died on the cross to personally pay the penalty for your sins.

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
¹⁶

Belief in (entrusting your life to) Jesus Christ to be your Lifesaver, who paid the penalty for your sins, is the
only way
to have a personal relationship with God the Father. Jesus says:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
¹⁷

4. Your Part . . . Is
Surrender

Give Christ control of your life—entrusting yourself to Him.

Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross [die to your own self-rule] and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”
¹⁸

Place your faith in (rely on) Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and reject your good works—or any other method—as a way to earn God’s approval.

It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
¹⁹

Hope starts here! The moment you choose to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior—entrusting your life to Him—He comes to live inside you. Then He gives you His power to live the fulfilled life God has planned for you. If you want to be fully forgiven by God, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the person God created you to be, you can tell Him in a simple, heartfelt prayer, perhaps one similar to the one I prayed many years ago:

God, I need hope—hope for my life.

Most of all, I need You in my life.

I admit I’ve sinned. Please forgive me.

Thank You, Jesus, for dying on the cross for my sins.

Come into my life as my Lord and Savior and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Your strong name I pray. Amen.

If you sincerely prayed this prayer, here is what God says to you:

They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:31 esv)

Life with Christ is endless hope. Without Him it’s a hopeless end. You cannotknow
what
the future holds, but you can know
who
holds the future—your glorious Lifesaver. And that, my friend, is all you need to know!

On land, giving directions is not really difficult. It is a matter of splitting the journey up—no matter how long—into smaller segments. The trick is to move from landmark to landmark, eventually arriving at your destination.
Head away from town, passing by that abandoned blue hotel. At the first stop sign, turn right, then go about a mile until you see the red hay barn. Turn right again on the dirt road, and that will take you straight to the Hamburger Hut by the lake!

But how would you give directions if there were no landmarks to signal the need to turn one way or another? Or for that matter, what if there were no roads? What if the landscape itself never looked any different . . . except for the time of day or the weather?

Now imagine being one of the earliest sailors with precisely this dilemma. How could you navigate across vast expanses of ocean with no visible landmarks? The slightest error in judgment could mean arriving hundreds of miles from your intended destination. And one single storm could cause your expedition to be hopelessly lost.

Your problem is solved, however, because astronomers have discovered you no longer need to look at the horizon for help—instead, look up . . . at the sky.
Celestial
navigation
makes use of the sun, moon, planets, or one of fifty-seven navigational stars whose positions and movements are easy to calculate and pinpoint throughout the year. Despite how it appears to the untrained observer, all celestial bodies in the sky move in precise, exact, predictable ways.

Using a device called a sextant, you (and other ancient mariners) can measure the angle between a star in the sky and the horizon. By using this information, you can identify your ship’s exact position on the globe! The whole process was made possible by the absolute, unchanging reliability of the stars and planets.

Today that function is performed by GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites that triangulate a ship’s location from space by the touch of a button. (Triangulation is a measurement technique that uses a network of triangles to divide the earth’s surface in order to locate one specific position on the earth.)

Yet for all of this impressive technological precision, such machines cannot compete with the stars for unerring infallibility and dependability. Satellites are vulnerable to all sorts of disruptions—from catastrophic collisions with space debris to hardware malfunctions and software glitches. As is so often the case in our technological world, expediency and convenience have replaced consistency.

Too frequently we experience unexpected glitches in our personal lives as well. To navigate the sometimes difficult waters of everyday life, you can make the mistake of “looking at the horizon” as far as your eyes can see—and yet still get off course. Beware of placing all your hope in human solutions that inevitably fail or fall short.

Anything made by human beings can eventually wear out, run down, or fall apart
.
But God always has been and always will be unchangeable, unalterable, and unshakable. The Bible says He is “the same yesterday and today and forever.”
²⁰

The first and foremost person to look to for guidance is Jesus Himself. By following His example, we will become increasingly wise and discerning. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12 esv).

Consider this course of action: Since the Bible calls Jesus “the bright morning star,”
²¹
look even higher than the celestial bodies and put your hope in the Supreme Star, who promises to guide you and direct you. He will never fail to show you the way home.

If you ever want to experience just how pitch-black total darkness can be, take a tour of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

At first you follow a smooth, well-lit pathway that winds downward into the cool, damp earth. You see beautiful and unusual formations of stone shaped through time by the slow growth of minerals dissolved in groundwater. As you move deeper into the cavern, stillness and silence increasingly close in around you.

At some point your tour guide stops to tell you about the cave’s discoverers. They faced formidable obstacles as they explored the dangerous terrain now so easy for you to walk on . . . now covered by pavement. And what was their biggest challenge?
Darkness.

To show visitors what it was like for those brave souls, suddenly the cavern lights go out. Startled exclamations and nervous laughter erupt from surprised tourists. Then a sense of uneasiness surges through you. You want to find some sort of railing to hold on to, but you can’t see a thing.

As the lights remain off for what seems like a long time, you begin to think,
What if they don’t come back on? I can’t see where to step. What if I
can’t find my way out?
The darkness is so dense, you can’t see your hand in front of your face. The novelty of the cavern quickly fades. Without proper supervision, Carlsbad Caverns could be a tourist attraction turned terrifying.

Now imagine for a moment you are there alone in your subterranean world. Mounting apprehension gives way to full-fledged anxiety and finally to heart-pounding fear.
Should I walk along the cave walls and
“feel” my way out? What if there’s a dangerous drop-off? How far could I pos
sibly fall?
At this point, what would you give for a flashlight or a candle or a match . . . anything that could shed a little light?

Sometimes people who have fallen into the darkest pit of despair call in during
Hope In The Night
.
Thinkingthere is no way out, their emotions run the gamut. They are often angry and afraid, guilty and grieving, lonely and lost. They call, begging for someone to give them the light of hope.

As the program begins each night, I feel humbled because I know the Lord will lead certain callers to call and certain hearers to hear God’s truth that can set them free.
Hope
is what they seek, and
hope
is what they find when they grasp God’s truth . . . the light we all need. The key verse for
Hope In The Night
actually focuses on moving from darkness to light: “You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light” (2 Sam. 22:29).

Light chases the darkness out of every corner . . . from every nook and cranny of our lives. Light has the power to transform everything on which it shines. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”
¹

And He invites you and me to become
reflectors
of His light. “You are the light of the world . . . let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:14–16).