"There is Hope for your Future, Declares the Lord"

“There is hope for your future, declares the Lord…” Jeremiah 31:28. You’ve got to love the practicality and clarity of the bible. So many times the search for hope becomes a complicated formula of actions and thoughts as dictated by the motivational gurus of the day. But God makes it simple because He really wants us to get this: There is a Hope for your future!

There’s people reading this article who have succumb to believing that God has forgotten about their dreams, prayers, and visions – subsequently, your just trying to survive. But God’s desire is not for survival but for a hopeful and joyful existence. God desires us to experience the full range of emotions and feelings in life. (Ecc. 3:1-8) God really wants you to grasp that “there is hope for your future.”

A couple of chapters back in Jeremiah we read the Lord’s encouragement once again, wherein He states, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (29:11) Friends, God’s desire is for us to have our hope set in Him. Why? Because God is unchangeable in His character towards man and all creation – He is love. (1Jn. 4:8) How many of us have experienced the wonderment and absolute thrill and hope of being in love? Why do we feel so euphoric and hopeful? Because: someone loves us! How much more to be loved by one who’s opinion of you can never change – God says He first loved you therefore nothing you can do can change His love towards you. How wonderful a security and HOPE! (1 Jn. 4:19, Rom. 8:35-38)

The first step in dwelling within this hope is to acknowledge, believe, and thrive within the unchangeable/unwavering hope of God’s love towards you. Secondly, we learn to set our hope outside of present circumstances and situations. Tom Marshall in his book “Understanding Leadership” makes a great point, “…when the going gets rough, present problems appear to [people] to be far more pressing than future possibilities.” Here we once again return to our text – “there is a hope for your future, declares the Lord.” Because the “means” (present problems) by which you may reach your future hope is many times beyond your present understanding, you must trust God that He will bring you to the expected, hopeful, and exceedingly wonderful end He has promised all of us.

My friend, please realize God’s desire for you to grasp this simple and yet far-reaching truth: There is hope for your future. God does not desire to leave anyone without a hope. God himself said that without a hope and vision people will perish. (Prov. 29:18) And didn’t God say that his desire is that none should perish (remember John 3:16?)?
This week, month, year, and life – remember: There is a hope for your future, declares the Lord.

Economic Encouragement

(As Published in the Herald Leader March 21st/2009)

I hesitated at first to join the throngs of people writing articles about the current “Economic Downturn,” but here I am – but from a completely different angle then most. Personally, I’m very hopeful. Is this only because I “feel” hopeful? No. History dictates this hopefulness. A quick breeze through the news archives of the 30’s and 80’s recession paint the same picture as today: Some were hopeful that we’d pull through – others were not. No matter what the overriding opinion was, one thing is clear – we survived, we grew, and we ended up bigger and better in the end.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to downplay the severity of the challenges which lay ahead for our country – to adopt the ever prevailing sentiment of Washington and Ottawa: “Things will probably get worse before they get better.” But on the other side there exists the possibility of us to become bigger, better, and all the much wiser. As the old business adage goes: We learn through our mistakes – just don’t repeat!
Multi-billionaire Warren Buffet echoed this same sentiment in the light of his investment company Berkshire Hathaway having experienced a sixty-two percent drop in profit from last year. Nonetheless, Buffet was found stating that, “Though the path has not been smooth, our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time…It has unleashed human potential as no other system has, and it will continue to do so. [North] America’s best days lie ahead.” (Feb 28th/09 - Associated Press)
“It has unleashed human potential as no other system has…” Why? Because of our founding father’s possessed an unshakable belief in man possessing the inherent right by God to freedom of thought, belief, opinion, expression, etc. (Constitution Act 1982, Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms – Part I; Consitution of the United States of America) And it is through the government in times past harnessing these abilities that our Countries (Canada & the U.S.) continued to pull through “challenging times.” This utilization was purely inspired through theistic (or biblical principles) being applied to our founding documents. I know many of you have been taught the knee-jerk response that “biblical principles” are automatically synonymous with laws, rules, bondage, dos & don’ts, etc. And I wish I had the space here to quickly show you otherwise – but instead, I’ll point you to the result of “theistic principles” being applied: The two greatest and free-ist countries in the World: Canada & the United States. Time and time again both of our countries have “unleashed human potential as no other system” because the founding father’s had faith in the citizens – because they realized that God had faith in them.
Canada and the United States best days continue to lay ahead because of the wisdom, knowledge, and talent that God has endowed their citizens with. We will get through this time and we will be the better for it as long as democracy continues and both of our countries continue to trust and harness the power, talent, and wisdom of its citizens. May God continue to have dominion from sea to sea – and subsequently unleash the potential of his most prized creation – mankind.

Rev. Kevin Mills – Prairie Community Church, Portage La Prairie, MB