What are you a prisoner of?

Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you. Zechariah 9:12

What is the opposite of hope? Doom. So what good is it to be hopeless even in a seemingly impossible situation? If we didn’t face problems, we wouldn’t need hope. If we have no hope, we have no reason to endure. Hopelessness will cause us to give up but having hope will cause us to cling to Him when there’s nothing else we can do. God can bring good out of what looks hopeless. We see people in horrible situations all throughout history and in the Bible who suffered much, but then God redeemed and they came out on top.

We must never let go of hope or fall into the trap of hopelessness or we are already doomed. You see, our attitude determines so much. If we give up on hope, we are hopeless. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. We get what we attract and we attract what we expect. God loves it when we are  willing and trust Him. Hard times come to all, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have sinned. We live in a fallen world, but it’s hard to use a person who refuses to trust or believe. Isn’t that’s what faith is all about? Isn’t that what we are called: Believers. If you don’t really believe, you don’t really follow. See, it all starts in the heart and mind. The Israelites refused to believe, they didn’t hope, they only feared. They murmured and complained never expecting, but only doubting. They received so much and yet they still only expected the worst. They didn’t have an attitude of gratitude even though God provided for them everyday single day, day in and day out.

We must refuse to be negative, murmur or give up. Be filled with hope instead. The best way to do this is to rejoice, be glad, speak positive, refuse negative, watch your response, who you surround yourself with and keep your eyes on the right things.

The word says to return or turn to our stronghold. The stronghold was referring to Zion, the city defended by God. But is God not our refuge? He is our strong tower, our helper in troubled times. We now have direct access to Him through Jesus our Savior. After the work of the cross on Calvary and He died, the veil was torn granting us direct access to The Father. Before we had to go through a lot of rigamarole, but now all we have to do is come; call and pray. We have direct access to our God.

Have we strayed from God; from faith, from believing, and resorted to worry and doubt? Has a situation gotten us down and out? Has your world been turned upside down? Have you faced a situation that seems to have no end? No doubt we feel like prisoners at times and we are in a pit of despair, but we can return to the hope that is found in the One Who has the power to save us. He is our refuge. You might not get out of the pit immediately but there’s a glimmer where hope can be found. We are cast down but not without hope.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

All because of the hope that we find in Jesus. The One Who was persecuted to the fullest extent but yet overcame. He will no doubt keep us in perfect peace if we will keep our minds are stayed on Him. Because we trust Him, even in hard circumstances. We steer where we stare and we float away from what we aren’t anchored to. Listen, hope is an anchor. It keeps you tied off to God if you will. What are you tied off to? The anchor holds but if we let go of hope, we are no longer truly living. The word compared us to being prisoners of hope. We can be hopeful even in our prison. That’s huge! For what we are imprisoned by, we can’t get away from. Some people are so imprisoned by their fears they can’t even think clearly. I myself have been there, I can attest to that.

I want to be a prisoner of hope that I can’t escape, even in my distress. If it’s the thing that keeps me tied to God and the thing that in-between me and Him, I don’t want to let go of it. I must take hold of it. But first I have to return to my stronghold. Confess I’ve doubted and drifted away. Sin separates me from God and it’s a sin to doubt, because that’s unbelief. Unbelief is the very thing that kept the Israelites out of the promise and will keep us out too if we aren’t careful. No one’s exempt. We must believe. The Israelites didn’t enter into God’s rest because they refused to believe and eventually He gave them up to their own will. He suffered long! 40’ years to be exact! It was time for someone to be filled with hope of the future and the promise, to believe again.

It all started in the mind. There were giants in the promised land. We think we got problems on this side, wait till you get to the other side. With every new level comes new devils but we can take heart, they are nothing more than a distraction. It’s all in how you see it. David had the giant in view when he went out to face Goliath but He saw God and knew His power, that’s what caused him to win. Joshua and Caleb saw the giants too but they also saw the promise of God and focused on it. Where did they see the promise? In their minds. They took His word to heart!

The other 10 spies that were with Joshua and Caleb saw the giants alright and they saw themselves as grasshoppers in their sights. See, it’s all In how you view it. You gotta have faith. You gotta have hope. They go together. For without faith, it’s impossible to please God and you can never enter into His rest without trusting Him and taking Him at His word. Otherwise you’ll always fear and worry. Courage doesn’t come without fear, it faces it! You can never enter into the promises of God unless you have faith and believe.

Faith breeds hope just as anger breeds sin. It’s all about what you give into. The root of what you always go back to must be love. We first loved God because He first loved us and sent His Son to die. We first came to Him and to this faith because we recognized we were lost and undone. It took simple child like faith to come and be saved from ourselves, accepting what He did on the cross for us. That SAME FAITH that saved you is the same faith that’ll carry you on to your dying day. The more faith you use, the more faith will increase. If faith breeds hope and causes you to be hopeful, the more faith you have, the more hope you’ll have too. But we first had faith because of our realization and love for God, and that’s the very same thing that we must continue in; love. It’s the very reason we started. (John 3:16) We must remember our why. Why did we start?

We would have had no reason to believe unless the Love of God was first shown. The why we started is the same why that will cause us to finish. So our faith is attached to our love, and our hope to our faith. We can’t have one without the other. Always remember the basis: God. God is love and your faith is found in this fact and it’s found in your love for Him. If your love grows cold, so does your faith and that’s when you begin to lose hope. That’s when all becomes dim.

So continue to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love yourself. Love others. It’s where your power is at.

It sounded like the people in Zechariah were pretty hopeless. They were at their wits end but we have hope in the fact that even in this seemingly hopeless situation, there was a way out. The Word says that even today (even today in this rock bottom, even today in what seems like will never turn around) I’ll begin to turn it all around. All hope is not lost . Even today, at your worst, hope can be found.

They were no doubt in a bad place. Maybe you are too. Maybe you’ve drifted from your hope and weakened in your faith. Maybe it seems you had all reason to. Life is hard but it’s even harder when you don’t have faith or any hope left. When we leave our stronghold, we become weak. Now I’m not talking  about other strong holds in our lives, they make us weak when they have a hold on us. They tighten their grip. God is our only True Savior and Strong Hold. That’s why the anchor of hope holds, because we refuse to let go of Him and His promises to come through.

We must make a decision to turn back to Him. That decision can be meditated upon for a time before we choose but a decision is instant. That’s why it says today. Today make up your mind. Today is the day of salvation. Choose you this day whom or what you’re going to serve or what ideal. You are saved in a moment on that day but you spend the rest of your life letting Him perfecting you. The word says: Even today I declare That I will restore double to you. He declared it that day; even today. Even at the worst moment possible, there’s hope in it, even today. We don’t have to wait on tomorrow, it’s today. That’s when the work will began. He will bring it to completion until His return.

God has already decided and determined to do good to us but He doesn’t throw it all on us in one day. We couldn’t handle it. He declares it but then it begins to unfold. Life is a journey. You and I can make a decision today to return to God and get our hope back. Today you can make a decision to have a made up mind not to let go, and today you can begin to see the promises of God activated in your life again. But you gotta have faith.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly (diligently) seek him. Hebrews 11:6

You must believe that He is God. He is good. He is Almighty and He can do all things. He is the God of working in seemingly impossibilities. That’s His specialty. He will come through, but you must turn to Him. He is NOT a man that He should lie. You can’t keep wandering aimlessly, hopelessly afloat. You must return to your stronghold Whom through hope you can be anchored to. I know it may not have went the way you wanted it to but we were saved because we first trusted Him, our way wasn’t cutting it. He promises to work all things out for our good, but we must trust Him. You may have given up on others or even yourself, but don’t give up on God. And as you lean in, I believe you will start to see good again and His favor, because He favors you. But the fact is, you and I must obey in order to receive the promise or else everyone would. We are followers, people of faith.

I know you may have had reason to doubt, worry and to fear. We all do. Whatever you have faced was probably hard and shook your faith but think about the alternative. Don’t you think it’s worth it to have a little faith? A little faith can do big things! A little faith can go a long way. It starts with a mustard seed. Don’t you think it’s time to hope again! What do you have to lose? To dream Again! A life without a dream is a lifeless life. It’s one that’s existing and merely going through the motions, not waiting to see anything good. Sometimes it’s hard to see how anything good can come from bad situations but God creates beauty from ashes if we will exchange. Rainbows always and only come after the rain, but some have stopped looking up for the rainbows so they never see or experience hope for themselves. They see others sharing in the joy but they don’t experience it because they gave up hope within, they let go of the anchor. Never stop doing good, never stop hoping, everything has a due time and He don’t give up on you, don’t give up on Him. He loves you and wants you to be a prisoner of hope.

Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. Psalm 126:5

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

That’s a good promise. That’s good news. We have something to look forward to. I know you’ve all but given up. Yet hope is on the horizon, look up.

Return today.

Father God, forgive us when we doubt you. This world is cruel, cold and sometimes things are just too hard. That’s why we need You.

Here below is a man that was in anguish yet not without hope. I hope it encourages you. Go on to read the rest of Lamentations chapter 3.

Lamentations 3:17- 27: You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity. And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the Lord.” Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,“Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.

But “this” I recall! Bring back to mind what He has done for you in the past! He has never failed you yet. He is not a failing God but an everlasting saving God. You may have faced hard times but He always brings you though.. He will this time too.

His regained hope was His saving grace and yours can he too.