“Mama said there’d be days like this, there’d be days like this mama said…” I sing this song in my head when I am up against a wall, wondering which way to turn.  The words make me smile because my mama DID always say that when I was disappointed by life, confused and perplexed by others’ decisions that affected me, or generally grumbling about my own bad decisions.  Mama said. 

Mama received this wisdom from knowing and following Jesus Christ who said to his beloved, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  There is much more to Jesus words that we believers realize when we are troubled or in trouble. 

Jesus is our only hope to overcome all that the evil one, the “prince of darkness”, can throw at us in this temporary world.  Jesus has overcome, battled and won the war with our determined enemy!  Not only that, Jesus is making a forever home for all who believe and follow Him.  Jesus died for our sins, rose again to defeat the enemy called death and lives to plead our case before the God of all, Our Father in Heaven, the Creator of all of us.  “For 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.” (John 3:16) Jesus is Life eternal.  Jesus is all we need to live forever!  Jesus is our hope!  Jesus has indeed overcome so we are more than just conquerors of a single battle, as Paul excitedly explains,

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:31-39, NIV

Jesus Our One and Only Hope!  That’s why we cry out to God, loudly at times like the Psalmist.  We know Who loves and cares for us.  We know the One who is our Hope forever!

“I cry out, God, call out: ‘You’re my last chance, my only hope for life!’, sings the Psalmist knowing the God will answer.  The resurrecting power that brought Jesus back to life is the Hope that lives in us.  Pause to think about that power.  Take all the time you need, then sing this newer song with me…(Resurrecting, Elevation)

The head that once was crowned with thorns
Is crowned with glory now
The Savior knelt to wash our feet
Now at His feet we bow

The One who wore our sin and shame
Now robed in majesty
The radiance of perfect love
Now shines for all to see

Your name, Your name
Is victory
All praise, will rise
To Christ, our king

The fear that held us now gives way
To Him who is our peace
His final breath upon the cross
Is now alive in me

Your name, Your name
Is victory
All praise, will rise
To Christ, our king

By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive
To declare Your victory
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive
To declare Your victory (c’mon!)
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive
To declare Your victory
The resurrected king, is resurrecting me

He’s resurrecting me
Our God is good, oh

The tomb where soldiers watched in vain
Was borrowed for three days
His body there would not remain
Our God has robbed the grave
Our God has robbed the grave (yes He has, yes He has)

Your name, Your name
Is victory
All praise, will rise
To Christ our king

By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive
To declare Your victory
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive
To declare Your victory
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected King, is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive
To declare Your victory
The resurrected king, is resurrecting me
The resurrected king, is resurrecting me…

Jesus, Our Living Hope!

Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs

Psalm 142, The Message

^1-2 I cry out loudly to God,
    loudly I plead with God for mercy.
I spill out all my complaints before him,
    and spell out my troubles in detail:

^3-7 “As I sink in despair, my spirit ebbing away,
    you know how I’m feeling,
Know the danger I’m in,
    the traps hidden in my path.
Look right, look left—
    there’s not a soul who cares what happens!

I’m up against the wall, with no exit—
    it’s just me, all alone.
I cry out, God, call out:
    ‘You’re my last chance, my only hope for life!’
Oh listen, please listen;
    I’ve never been this low.
Rescue me from those who are hunting me down;
    I’m no match for them.
Get me out of this dungeon
    so I can thank you in public.
Your people will form a circle around me
    and you’ll bring me showers of blessing!”

TRUTH:  I cry out, God, call out: ‘You’re my last chance, my only hope for life!’  The battle against evil in this life belongs to our Lord.

Proverb 13:12, NIV

WISDOM: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Abba, Father in Heaven,

Lord, I maintain my hope in You and I hold onto the assurance that what I am praying for is already accomplished in the name of Jesus. Your Word promises “no good thing does He withhold from those that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). I wait upon You for Your definition of the “good thing” You will not withhold from me. As David prayed in Psalm 18:1: “I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”  From the ashes of defeat, your resurrecting power has resurrected me!  Jesus, You are my hope!  Thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen.  I believe.