HOPE AMIDST THE HURDLES

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth ( Psalms 71:5 )

We live in the world, where each day every individual finds a reason to live, they hope every day for things to work hard on. But in game of life, many people lose their hope when troubles and struggles hit them. For the world it may be hard to get back up, but as for us the redeemed children of God, our hope for this life and after life relies on only one person: Jesus Christ. Psalmist says, “For you O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord from my youth”. Our Lord’s word is our hope- “OUR ETERNAL HOPE”.

Let's learn through Book of Mark 4:35-41, a beautiful passage that shows no matter what happens, His word is our assurance. Going through this passage, I am personally challenged in my walk with the Lord and I am excited to share with you all. Get your Bible, note and a marker!!!!

If you see first two verses (4:35,36). Jesus said…. “Let’s go to the other side”. I am pretty sure the disciples wondered where Jesus was leading them next, but based on past wonders and miracles they witnessed, they got on board with no questions, their hope was laid on one single statement from their Lord. That's exactly what happens to us as new believers, we get on journey of Christian life having full hope on our Lord, all excited about new life with Christ, but we certainly forget it's not only having hope for tomorrow, but our destination is to have Eternal hope of living with Christ forever on the other side.

Verse 36 tells us that “disciples were with Him”, read that again!!! Disciples went with Him, He didn't go with the disciples, that's another beautiful way of understanding that our hope of eternal life is when we choose to walk with Him in every circumstances of our life, sometimes we ask God to compromise to our plans and ask Him to do what we want, friends that's not going to take us to our promised land, we know the story of children of Israel, they came out of Egypt with hope to enter promise land, but instead going with God, in the middle they had their own plans and later we know how it ended. Make a decision today to walk with the ONE who is actually your only hope, be it for life here or on their other side.

Now when we read verses 37,38 Jesus along with disciples were in the middle of their journey, and out of nowhere furious storm (of hurricane proportions) arose, I sometime wish they had weather forecast, they would have avoided this journey, can you imagine the chaos on the boat?? Boat was already becoming filled and there in the midst of stormy world around them, Jesus was resting in the stern. This is beautiful picture of what our life is about, when hardships of life come, first thing to remember is with whom did you actually step on board. Do you know Jesus was the first one to know about the storm before any of his disciples could? Because He was in the stern of the boat (lower deck part of the boat), any wave that entered inside the boat had to cross over Jesus! Every single wave needed to be felt by the Master before it even touched the inner parts of the boat, therefore always remember before you face any storms, God already knows it's coming.

In verse 38 we see how disciples starts complaining about the situation, they say “Lord do you not care that we are about to die”? They might as well thought to themselves wish we never left the village, or the crowd, it was much safer out there than here, this is how we feel in our Christian life, when tempest of physical, emotional or spiritual battle roars at us , we want to turn back and give up on eternal hope that is set before us, we try to find comfort in what we left behind rather than understanding that the ONE who called you on board with Him, is the Creator of the universe. Stand on His word “Let's go to the other side”, if He said so, nothing can stop Him or you.

Last three verses (39,40,41) makes us understand what authority we carry as we walk to our promise land, Amplified version says “ He got up and (sternly) rebuked the wind, and the wind died down (as if it had grown weary) and there was (at once) a great calm (a perfect peacefulness). In verse 40, Jesus asked his disciple about their faith. Remember when you have faith, you trust and your trust leads you to have hope even in the midst of sinking life. A small beam of hope will help you to understand your stand as a child of God and in this passage, disciples were afraid because they lost the foundation of their only hope that is the word of their Master in the beginning “Let's go to the other side”.

Know that we have been given the Holy spirit, God's living word and the prayer as our powerful weapon against any darts of the enemy. Focus on destiny that God has set before you, and not your current situation. Amen !!!!!!

Today I challenge you all to step up from your circumstances of hopelessness, failures and know that your Heavenly Father who sent His only son Jesus Christ to die for us, is our living hope not only for these days but also for days to come and forever. Stand on His promises for your life, because they shall never fail (Mathew 24:35) acknowledge Him and He will surely direct your paths. This Christmas season take time to thank God for the life of Jesus Christ who was, is and will always be our eternal hope to take us to the other side- our promised land.