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HELEN SANDERS
3-30-2024
DEFERRED HOPE
Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”
They walked with him for three and a half years. He was their teacher, their rabbi, their friend. He rescued them in the stormy sea. He provided food supernaturally from a few loaves and fishes. He walked on water. Now, he was buried, and sealed behind a stone, dead in a tomb. Their hope was shattered.
Most of his disciples believed he was going to set up his earthly kingdom and instead he was put to death. Death? Yes, death and with his death they lost hope. They hid themselves believing they might be next. Yes, he had talked about his death, but they did not want to believe it. They wanted him to rule and reign then. Can you hear their cheerleader squad saying, “Now Jesus, now! Now Jesus, now!”?
That is what they believed Messiah would do, and now their dreams were shattered. They were brokenhearted.
Isn’t this just like it is with us when we pray, and we believe God’s promises and then it does not happen in “our timing?” We often break down, cry, and give in to hopelessness. But this is not what we should be doing.
The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is alive in us. The Holy Spirit quickens our mortal bodies and guides us into all truth. Oh, to know that we are alive in Christ should cause us to always have hope.
God wants us to trust him even in death. We can never be separated from him once we are born again, even in the last breath. And, just like Jesus, there will come a day when we are resurrected from our graves, just like he was, and will be with him for eternity.
Do not give up my friend. Whether we meet him in the air with his return or meet him face to face at our last breath, we must remember that an empty grave is ours because his was empty also! Do not lose hope! Keep believing the promises. It will not be in vain.
GOD BLESS YOU
RUSSELL AND HELEN SANDERS
SPIRIT OF LIFE MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL
www.spiritoflifeintl.org
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