Prayer brings about hope

Hope! Holding onto God’s promises. Webster’s dictionary defines hope as “a desire with expectation of fulfillment, and one who gives a promise for the future.”

Many of us have gone through personal trials and experiences that have caused us to lose hope. We see situations and circumstances that are overwhelming and become a weight on our shoulders, contributing to the feeling of hopelessness. Without believing there is hope for change, our lives can become mundane and any forward progress is hindered because of a lack of reaching toward a goal or vision. It is a terrible feeling to live without hope. God’s desire is for you to reach out to him and receive the hope he has for you. As long as there is life, there is hope. God’s strength and presence will give you hope to go on until your change occurs.

In Proverbs 13:12, the Scripture reads, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” We may think that because it appears as though the Lord isn’t providing an answer to our prayers, it means his answer is “no.” However, that is not true. While we are hoping, God is working. The passage we read above refers first to hope. We are to place our trust in God. Simply, it is a belief that the Lord has heard and will answer our prayers. Sometimes, however, we may become discouraged because our request is not answered in our time. God is not on our time schedule; he has his own divine clock. There are lessons of trust to be learned. There are situations and circumstances that may be in need of change before we see the fulfillment of our requests. Maybe, there is a need for changes to occur in our hearts, lives and attitudes before we see the answers come. All the while, the Lord is drawing us near and building a strong trust factor within us, saying, “Yes, you can trust me.”

Our responses to the delays of life may dictate how the answer arrives and that delay may cause us to become weak, sick or despondent. We can become depressed and discouraged, thinking that things will never change. Our thoughts may become overwhelming to us simply because we don’t have the answers. If we choose to believe the lie that “it will always be this way,” then we are losing hope. When the desire comes and the object of our longing is obtained, it is a tree of life and the feelings associated with a lack of hope are gone. They are replaced with strength, the refreshing presence of God and a willingness to take action.

When we find ourselves in the place of hopelessness, it is at that time that we must begin to take the steps of real faith. It is a faith that is not realized by what the circumstances dictate but rather a faith that is based on relationship. When we have a relationship with the Lord as our heavenly father, we know and believe that he will help us. Not only will he help us in the circumstances that are overwhelming to us; he will change those circumstances, in his time frame. In the meantime, he will give us his grace, which is more than sufficient to help me while we wait and hope.

Daily prayer will help produce a faith-filled attitude in our hearts. Talking to the Lord about the situations and how you feel will open the door for freedom and strength. Did you ever notice that once you talk honestly about something and get it out of your heart, you feel better about it? Jesus opened the door for us to have that personal relationship with our heavenly father and we can tell him the burdens of our hearts. We can admit that we feel hopeless and discouraged. When we pray we are taking positive spiritual action concerning our lives. We are releasing our burdens to the Lord, and he who always hears, will provide us with his peace and strength. I believe in a faithful God!

In the Gospel of Mark 11:22-24, Jesus said, “Have faith in God ... therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”

Pray and hold on to God’s promises expecting to receive from him all that you need for today and all your tomorrows.

X Patty Scahill of Struthers, who is a teacher, preacher, conference speaker and author, attends Christian Life Church in Canfield. A former women’s director of Teen Challenge in Youngstown, she is working on her second book, “The Wilderness Journey.”