HOPE FOR OUR TROUBLED WORLD ~ Alexis A. Goring ~ A Devotional

Hope for Our Troubled World

A devotional by Alexis A. Goring

Image courtesy Pixabay.com

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

–Psalm 42:5 (NIV)

In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 15, CNN reported around 1:07 a.m. (EST) that there are 142,000 Coronavirus cases globally. People are getting sick from the virus and dying. The numbers of cases and deaths seem to increase on a daily basis. Fear is sweeping over the people of this world.

On their company website, CNN reported the following in a box titled “What You Need to Know” about emergency measures globally: The US has declared a national emergency. France is closing all restaurants, cafes, cinemas, and clubs. People in Spain are restricted from leaving their homes. And the Philippines capital is about to go under partial lockdown.”

Clearly, our world is in trouble and people have real reasons to be fearful. But the Bible says that this is just the beginning! However, God doesn’t want us to be fearful. The Bible says in Matthew 24:6 (NKJV), “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

Now here’s the Good News: God has promised to be with us until the end of the world (Matthew 28:20) and He means that literally!

Let’s take a moment to see what that means … The Creator of the Universe who made this Earth and your heart tells us to NOT let our hearts be troubled! In John 14:1 (KJV), Jesus Christ (God’s Son) says, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

Let’s read the full context of that Scripture in John 14:1-6 (NIV). This is where Jesus comforts his disciples. He said:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Jesus is The Way to our home in Heaven. He is our hope in troubled times. He is our Savior. Our Healer. Our Redeemer, and He wants to be your Best Friend. Let that sink in, the Savior of the world wants to be your very Best Friend! Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). Jesus is the only friend capable of not only calming your fears, but saving your soul (John 3:16-17).

With Jesus in the picture, you always have hope! And the good news is that Jesus is always in the picture! Unfortunately, we as humans (even those of us who believe in God and are sold out for Jesus Christ) can sometimes forget these beautiful, Bible based truths and comforting promises of God as we become overwhelmed by the troubles of this world.

Early in the morning of Sunday, March 15, my soul was troubled. I was wide awake with worry after watching the news and emotional eating just after midnight. But, then God struck me with a Bible verse then He followed up with a song. Let’s read the verse first. The psalmist says in Psalm 42:5 (NIV), “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

Put your hope in God. I could almost feel God whisper those words to me.

Then the song “Find Rest” by Francesca Battistelli entered my mind and I went to YouTube and played it immediately. As the song lyrics washed over me, it helped me to renew my mind (Romans 12:2) and focus on what really matters (my relationship with Jesus Christ because only He can save me)!

Let’s examine my paraphrase of the song. The opening lyrics point to Biblical truth in saying that God never sleeps nor slumbers (Psalm 121:3-4). He’s never off the clock. Nothing that happens to us on Earth from the shedding of our tears to our expressions of what we fear, is a surprise to Him. God never runs out of resources to rush to our aid. All He wants us to do is to trust Him. He wants our weary souls to find rest in Him. He wants us to put our hope in Him. God is strong. God is faithful. God’s love for you and me is real.

As we say in church, God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good! Unlike mankind, God cannot lie. Everything that He says in His Word (The Holy Bible) is true! The Bible says in Numbers 23:19 (ESV), “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

Now the age old saying when we are living in troubled times and experience tragedy or trauma is, “How could a good God allow this?”

There are many answers that we may not receive until we arrive in Heaven, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 29:29, and even then we may not know everything. But we can be okay with not knowing everything because what we do know is that God is good, God loves us unconditionally and He has our best interest at heart. We can trust Him to take care of us. Even when you don’t feel like God is there for you, He is. Don’t be fooled into thinking that He’s abandoned you. The Bible says that He will NEVER abandon you (Hebrews 13:5).

If you are living and breathing on this planet Earth then that is proof therein itself that God loves you and is there for you! Pastor Bianca Olthoff says, “If you are NOT dead, then God is NOT done!” Every day is another chance to accept Jesus Christ into your heart, believe in Him, love Him, obey Him, trust Him and follow Him all the way to Heaven!

Yes, we are living in troubled times. No, we don’t know what tomorrow holds but as the saying goes, “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds tomorrow.” God holds tomorrow! Can I get a “Hallelujah, Amen?”

You are in my heart and prayers. May God continue to watch over, bless and protect you. I pray that you will trust Him to deliver you and know that He will always be there for you. God will show up right on time in your situation. If you believe in the Bible and what it says then you have hope knowing that in the end, God wins! And if you stay on His team, you will win too and receive the most beautiful gift for free!

The free gift from God is better than a winner’s trophy or cash prize, it is eternal life spent in His Presence and that life starts in Heaven. It will be a life free from sickness and sorrow. A place that does not include death and is free of pain and destruction. It will be the start of a beautiful, real story that never ends.  But first, we must press forward and never give up or grow weary of doing good (Galatians 6:9)! We must live for Him (God) and not worry about or become fearful of anything. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV), “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Hold on to hope, God’s hope. Put your trust in God.

~*~

Author Bio (short): Alexis A. Goring is a passionate writer with a degree in Print Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing. She loves the art of storytelling and hopes that her stories will connect readers with the enduring, forever love of Jesus Christ. 

God's Gift: Paid in Full, Alexis A. Goring

God’s Gift: Paid in Full

A devotional by Alexis A. Goring

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Romans 6:23 (KJV)

“Jesus Paid It All” by Kristian Stanfill is a beautiful song that has been playing on repeat in my head all week!

As Christmas Day approached, I was reminded not just about the birth of Jesus Christ but of His sacrifice that saved our souls! Read about it in John 3:16-17 then read the entire Bible for complete context.

For the purposes of this devotional, I am going to focus on one key concept based on the title and lyrics to the song “Jesus Paid It All.”

As the song says (and I paraphrase): Jesus paid it all! Yes, the wages of sin is death but Jesus Christ (God’s Son) made a way for us to be saved and receive eternal life! We only have to accept God’s gift of salvation through His Son Jesus, believe in God and follow Jesus all the way to Heaven.

Earlier this month, I didn’t know how I was going to pay my overdue cell phone bill. Other bills took priority, including two unexpected expenses.

I called my phone service and asked if they could extend the overdue payment deadline. They said that the latest they could extend it to was Friday, December 20. But by Wednesday (two days before it was due), I still didn’t have the money that I needed to pay my phone bill. So I decided to pray to God about it and let it go, knowing that God would provide.

Later on that day, while I was in the kitchen washing the dishes, I heard my cell phone make the sound that let me know I had received a text message.

I walked over to the kitchen table and picked up my phone. The message read that my overdue cell phone bill was paid in full!

The receipt showed the last four digits of the card number that was used to pay my bill. I was happy but confused at the same time because the card number was not one of my own and I couldn’t think of anyone who had the information necessary to pay my bill for me. After all, I’d only told my dad a day before that it looked like my cell phone would be out of service until I figured out how to pay the overdue amount.

Five minutes later, my dad returned home, presented a receipt to me and said “Merry Christmas!”

I accepted the receipt and received my answer: The receipt showed the same last four digits of the card number that was in the text message on my phone. The overdue amount was highlighted and noted that it was paid in full. My dad had paid my debt!

I told him “Thanks, Dad!” then asked him why he’d given me this gift. He said that God led him to do that for me. I knew that was true because that’s never happened before, and I never wanted to ask him for money to pay my phone bill because my parents (Mom and Dad) already do so much for me.

But this week, the song “Jesus Paid It All” has been playing on repeat in my mind and now I know why: God wants to remind me that He has already paid the debt for my sins when He sent His Son Jesus Christ to this Earth to show humankind the way to our Heavenly Father (John 14:6). God allowed Jesus to live, die then be resurrected to serve as our High Priest in Heaven.

We are all sinners who can only be saved by God’s grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) in Jesus (our Savior). We ALL need a Savior! Gratefully, God knew that information from the beginning, so He made a way – His Name is Jesus (Christ).

If it were not for Christ’s sacrifice and God’s Love for us, we’d be doomed. We’d never make it to Heaven. We’d never be reunited with our Creator and we’d never experience the joys of what’s to come (eternal life forever in the presence of our Savior as we enjoy a truly perfect, sin-free, pain-free, death-free existence). The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV): But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

God has great things planned for all who believe in Him and accept His Son Jesus Christ as The Way, The Truth and The Life (John 14:6)!

Just like my Heavenly Father (God) inspired my earthly father (my Dad) to pay my cell phone bill in full so that weight would be lifted off of me and I could be free from having to pay that debt that I could not afford, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to save our life by paying a debt that none of us (no matter how wealthy or determined or perfect) could pay (because we’re all sinners in need of a Savior). All you and I have to do is to accept God’s gift to us that He paid in full.

We can say “Thank You” to our Heavenly Father for this generous gift, then accept His Son Jesus Christ into our hearts and follow Him all the way to Heaven!

Isn’t it beautiful when you receive a gift that has been paid in full?

Author Bio (short): Alexis A. Goring is a passionate writer with a degree in Print Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing. She loves the art of storytelling and hopes that her stories will connect readers with the enduring, forever love of Jesus Christ.

This is our final Faithful Friday post of the year. Thank you so much, Alexis, for being so faithful in providing such wonderful, thought-provoking posts throughout the year.

Matter of fact, this is the last Whispers in Purple blog post of 2019. Many thanks to all who have followed this blog not only this year, but in years past.

In the remaining days before we ring in the New Year, I'll be doing some redesigning of the blog theme and some other stuff. I hope you will find them an improvement. 

BLESSINGS, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!