Day 41: Hope Lies in Prayer
Read: Romans 8:24-30
Since I was 9 years old, I have been faithful in praying. I’ve prayed more times than I can count! I have thought a lot about what it means to pray, what effect it has on my everyday life. And there are times when I have struggled with feeling the weight of God’s silence, questioning it. Is He really always listening? Does He always answer us?
Our battle, wondering, believing, and going back to prayer and Scripture is what grows our hope. Waiting in Him, trusting, even when you can’t see a way out of desperation, that’s what faith looks like. Romans 8:21-25 says, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what He sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
If we believe, we have the hope of eternal life with Christ. On this earth, we will struggle, suffer, and experience pain. That is the unfortunate reality. This world desperately needs hope that can only be found in Christ. We need to show, and share this hope. We need to be strong to be able to do that. How can we become better at hoping, and trusting God, if we never have a need for it?
We have been called, we have a purpose: to glorify His name. We can use our own pain and grow as an opportunity to let His glory shine through us. With our own hoping and trusting in Him, we also remember our purpose, Who called us, Who we are living for.
The Holy Spirit within us helps us in our weakness when it’s hard to believe when we don’t see solutions when healing doesn’t seem possible…God is still at work! When we don’t know how to pray when we don’t feel like we have the strength to pray anymore, come to God, even in the silence, let His Spirit work in your heart. God is good, we can trust His plans, we can trust He knows better, He has a complete view of the bigger picture.
It’s not easy to keep going when you can’t see the way. Hope is hard sometimes. You are not alone, and there’s a purpose for your pain. James 2:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Has there ever been a time in your life where it was hard to hold on to hope? Think back to all the times you got out of that slump, pray that God helps you get out of it. Remember, God is faithful whether or not you can feel it right now.