Ina Manly Painter, writer, teacher, speaker
Welcome to Finding Hope!
[My book, Finding Hope In God's Everlasting, Intimate Friendship will be out in a few weeks. Check back for information on cost and how to order.]
No matter how you got here, whether intentionally or by
"accident" (there are no accidents with God), WELCOME!
"Even the events [that seem accidental] are really ordered by Him" (Proverbs 16:33 AMP).
Hope is what you live by.
Hope is what you will die by.
Perhaps you are discouraged and think there is no hope--no real and lasting hope for you. The Lord Jesus Christ is in the business of saving lost souls and healing His children. In fact, all creatures and events are under His control.
God could instantly change your life completely and "fix" everything that needs fixing; however, He leads you along to trust in Him a step at a time.
God is your health and your cure. He is pleased to bring about your recovery by degrees. You are His patient. Nothing eludes His skill or baffles His remedy.
"Hope" in Greek means - confident assurance.
Hope, like love and trust, must have an object. We can't manufacture hope--confident assurance-- without and object of hope! Christ Jesus is the object of Hope. He is the person in whom we are to place all our hopes. It can be no other way. Christ Jesus is what life is all about.
Perhaps your hope is closely associated with your circumstances, what you have or what you wish to obtain. If God changed the ONE thing in your life you feel needs changing, perhaps you think you would be happier and your hope would be stronger.
Hope begins with a person, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who takes you through life, death and into everlasting life with Him forever. Christ alone is the "real" you need. He alone is your hope. He made you and He knows how to take care of you. He made you to be dependent upon Him. No matter how you view life, God is your Creator, you are His creature.
Hoping in any thing or any one, other than in the Creator, is a hope-so situation, that sooner or later will painfully separate you from what you love most. It may even bring you to a devastating end.
Hope begins with the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, the expression of His everlasting, intimate friendship.
Hope is yours only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether you are a non-Christian, seeking Him for the first time, or a Christian seeking Him daily, hope comes about only through Him.
If you have never placed your trust in Christ, and God is calling you by His Spirit, you will recognize His presence because He will convince you of your sin and misery. Then He will awaken your mind in the knowledge of Christ. He will change your will and persuade and enable you to embrace Jesus Christ, as He is freely offered to you in His Word.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31 NKJ).
"Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13 NKJ).
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord' (Romans 6:13 NKJ).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 NKJ).
Peyto Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta Canada
If you are a Christian, but do not walk in the hope your Savior has for you, repent of your sins and ask Him to cleanse you of all your unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
I Peter 2:1-2 tells us that the only person who makes progress in the Gospel is the one who comes to God with an honest heart. "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby [underline added], if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
The bottom line: If we don't come to God with an honest heart, like little children, we aren't going to grow.
Give yourself the test, here it is!!!! ( 1 Peter2:7-8).
1. If you are an obedient believer, the Lord Jesus will be precious to you. You will want to be with Him, talk to Him, listen to what He says, because He is a precious person that you love.
2. If you are not an obedient believer, the Lord Jesus will be a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. You will offended by the narrowness of God's word. You will likely argue against everything the Bible teaches. You will likely want to re-do spiritual truths and make them "easier " to swallow and less offensive.
Pray to the Lord. Read His word daily. Place your hope in what the Bible says (Psalm 130:5 NKJ).
There is no other way to life and happiness.