| Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash
There is nothing worse than when people lose hope! Hope is a life changer! When you have hope, you are better able to handle things. But when you lose hope, you lose purpose, joy, peace, and a reason to keep on going! God is a God of hope!
In Acts 27: 13-26; The ship that Paul was on faced a storm. The storm went on for days. Verse 20 tells us: “The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.”
How many of us can relate to this verse?
* Are you in a storm, a terrible storm? Storms have a beginning and an end. We need to be prepared for the inevitable storms of life. We are all going to face storms, but how will we respond?
* Some storms will be quick, but then other storms will go on for a long time. We never know when the storm will start, and we may not know when it will end. It is when hope is so important, knowing that God will never leave us nor forsake us. Some storms will last days, weeks, months, or even years. The longer the storm lasts, the more it can erode our faith and hope that God is still with us.
* The storm in Acts 27 was so dark that it blotted out the sun and the stars. How many of us have faced the darkness of the storms, where we cannot see anything? It looks hopeless, and we cannot see where to go. Life can be like this, and we feel discouraged, depressed, and hopeless about the future.
* Until at last all hope was gone! How many of us have lost hope and given up on the Lord? We have given up on prayer, worship, the Word of God, and going to church. What is the use of serving God in this storm that is raging in me?
When you are in a storm and feel like you have lost all hope, pray this prayer: Romans 15:13; “May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Lord, help me hold on to hope in Jesus in the storm I am going through today!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Pastor Ronald Squibb has been the International Christian Center (ICC) Lead Senior Pastor at Staten Island, New York, since 2011. He draws on many experiences from his over 40 years as a pastor and from significant emotional experiences.
His new book, Following the Journey with Jesus, which he co-authored with Daniel McNaughton, was recently published and is receiving rave reviews. The daily devotion appears in this publication.
