Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Fear Breeds Hopelessness and Indifference (Day 27 - Hope Against Hope)

If we're honest, we've all experienced hopelessness.  We've become apprehensive to hope.  We've seen hope's outcome firsthand.  The pain.  The discomfort.  The silence.  The isolation.  Broken dreams. Who would dare want to experience this again?

We choose not to.  Instead, we become comfortable in our pain because it is most familiar to us.  We are afraid to hope again, only to be let down.  We fear the unknown.  To hope seems silly and embarrassing, laughable even.

This reminds me of Sarah in the Bible who laughed when she overheard the angel telling Abraham she would conceive a child.  This was absurd to her.  She had settled within herself that she would remain childless.

So often we settle as we too are convinced of our plight.  Our eyes are on our situation.  We are considering all those details that give us reason not to hope.  We ponder the enormity of our situation. More than we'd like to admit, this hopelessness stems from fear.

I get it.  If you focus on your situation too long, it will breed fear.  It will cause you to be indifferent, apathetic.  Joyce Meyer put it best when she coined the term, "the battlefield of the mind."  This is where it all begins.  If you haven't read this book, I urge you to read it.  It describes how the enemy will highlight something negative in your life and use it to control you.  To weaken you.  To get you to turn away from God and His plan for your life.  And how every battle begins with a thought that can be magnified if entertained too long.

If we resolve ourselves to hopelessness, the enemy of our soul has won!  Fear has overtaken us.

Trials are not meant to make us fearful, but to perfect us.  To make us more like Jesus.  To cling to Him, not turn away from Him.

Fear does the opposite.  It affects every part of us.  Our relationships, ministries, etc.  It puts up a wall of protection to avoid pain.  It limits us to move forward beyond our experiences.  It stunts our growth.  It is "I" focused and not "God" focused.


But real hope is superior to our realm of control.  It is hoping in a God who is our refuge and hope. In spite of our own fears and hangups.

Be truthful about where you are.  He is willing to help.

This is a daily thing...to overcome fear.  I pray sincerely for the desire to hope in Him alone.  I pray that I will not be controlled by fear.

I have not at all arrived in this area.  It's a daily fight.  That I'm determined to win.

I vow to hope against hope.  Will you join me?  I'd love to hear from you.


This is Day 27 of a 31 day series of “Hope Against Hope”. To read all of the posts in this series, click here. To read what several other bloggers are writing for the month of October, click here


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3 comments:

  1. Trials are not meant to make us fearful, but to perfect us. To make us more like Jesus.

    I'm holding on to this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Trials are not meant to make us fearful, but to perfect us. To make us more like Jesus.

    I'm holding on to this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amen Allison! I constantly have to remind myself of this truth.

    ReplyDelete