Finding Hope In Hopelessness

Are you feeling hopeless? Do long for joy but it seems just beyond your grasp? You're not alone, as many are troubled by the chaos in our world today. Let these words of inspiration encourage and fill you with hope.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Joseph.

Today I want to read a few scriptures with you to encourage you whatever you may be going through right now.

Our world is in chaos and turmoil right now and perhaps you're feeling down because maybe you're sick or you lost a life one or you lost your job or you're just in some state of hopelessness.

Everything around you doesn't make any sense and you're right in feeling that because world is going through unprecedented times now and it can feel very,

Very hopeless.

But I want to encourage you today that don't give up yet.

There is still hope even in the midst of all these challenges and the chaotic situation that we find ourselves in.

So why don't you go get your Bible and let's read along.

If you don't have a Bible,

Well,

There are a lot of apps that you can download and follow along with me.

All right.

So the first passage I want to read with you,

It's in the New Testament.

It's actually the first book in the New Testament.

It's Matthew.

So I want us to read Matthew chapter 6 verse 26.

Matthew chapter 6 verse 26.

Okay,

I'm going to read.

Look at the birds of the air.

They do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they?

I'm going to read it again.

Matthew 6 verse 26.

Look at the birds of the air.

They do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your father in heaven feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they?

This is one of my favorite scriptures.

This is Jesus talking and he's saying,

Look at the birds of the air.

They don't sow,

They don't reap,

They don't do any work.

They just fly around in the morning.

They're just singing and doing whatever they like to do.

And Jesus is saying in spite of the fact that these birds don't do any work or don't sow or reap or don't store,

Your father in heaven feeds them.

This thing that Jesus is talking about,

It's interesting.

They lived in an agrarian community and so this would have made a lot of sense to them.

In that kind of community,

You grow and then when havers comes,

You reap,

Then you reap.

You use whatever you need to use,

You sell whatever you need to sell and then you store away the ones that you don't use or don't sell.

Whatever profit you get,

You spend some and then you save some.

So it was very,

Very important.

This was the whole economic activity that was going on.

You had to have something like this going on.

Otherwise you were in trouble.

But Jesus is saying here that look at the birds.

They don't do all that kind of stuff,

But your heavenly father feeds them.

And he's saying,

Are you not much more valuable than the birds?

You know,

When you read the Bible,

When you go back to Genesis,

You know,

The Bible says that God made everything and he made man and woman in his own image.

You never read any word that says God made the animals,

The birds and all the other stuff in the universe in his image.

God made you man and woman in his image.

And so you are valuable.

That's what Jesus is saying here.

You are much more valuable than all these things.

So if I'm protecting or if I'm feeding,

I'm taking care of the things that are not valuable,

How much more would I not take care of the things that are valuable like you,

Like me?

We are valuable in the eyes of God.

We are the apple of his eye.

And so he cares much about us.

I don't know anyone who would put his valuable stuff outside just for people to trample upon or just for the rain to just rain on it and destroy it and everything.

All are valuables.

I kept them safe,

They are well protected.

You are valuable in the eyes of God.

And so whatever challenge that you are going through that seems hopeless,

Seems like,

Man,

I'm not going to be able to get over this.

This is going to ruin me.

This is going to be really bad.

I want you to understand that Jesus is saying you are more valuable than these birds that I feed all the time.

And so take heart.

Don't be discouraged.

What do we do?

Well,

Let's read another passage here.

This passage is also in the New Testament.

It's one of the letters that the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi.

It's Philippians chapter four,

Verse six through seven.

I'm going to read.

It says,

Be anxious for nothing,

But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

Let your request be made known to God.

And the peace of God,

Which surpasses all understanding,

Will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Oh,

I'm going to read this again.

He says,

Be anxious for nothing,

But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

Let your request be known to God.

And the peace of God,

Which surpasses all understanding,

Will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Now,

This is Paul talking here.

He says,

Be anxious for nothing.

We're surrounded by things that can make us very anxious.

We're not denying the reality of it.

All he's saying is that in spite of everything that's going on,

He says,

Be anxious for nothing,

But in everything,

Everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

Let your request be made known to God.

Instead of worrying,

Instead of being down,

Being depressed and not knowing what to do,

He says,

Don't do that.

Instead of all the challenges,

He says,

Let your prayer and supplication be made known to God.

Go to God,

Pray to him and let him know.

I like this.

He said,

Let your request be made known to God.

And then here's the part that is even more assuring and heartwarming.

He says,

And the peace of God,

Which surpasses all understanding,

Will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.

The peace of God,

In spite of the turmoil,

The peace of God,

This peace of God is not peace when nothing else is going on.

In fact,

It is the peace that you have in spite of all the challenges that you may be going through.

You may be asking,

So how can I have peace in the midst of chaos?

Well,

That's the peace that God gives.

And he's saying here that it surpasses all understanding.

Why?

Because our understanding is that when you're going through turbulent times,

You're supposed to be worried.

You're supposed to be anxious.

Paul is saying that the peace of God,

Which surpasses all understanding,

Will guard your heart and then your minds through Christ Jesus.

He does all of it through Christ Jesus.

This is powerful.

He says,

Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication.

And thanksgiving,

Let your request be made known to God.

And the peace of God,

Which surpasses all understanding,

Will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.

I hope you are encouraged by this.

Let's read the last scripture here.

The last passage is in the Old Testament.

It's right after the book of Psalms.

It's Proverbs chapter 3,

Verse 5 through 6.

Proverbs 3,

Verse 5 through 6.

After you've made your petition known to God,

In everything,

What do you do?

Well,

Let's read.

It says,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways submit to Him.

Some verses says,

Acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.

Oh,

This is wonderful.

He says,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways submit to Him and He will make your path straight.

After you've made your request known to God through prayer and supplication,

Trust in Him every time that you want to fall into that hopeless tendency and be depressed and feel sorry for yourself through a pity party.

You remind yourself with the scripture,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Your own understanding,

It's not going to help you.

Look at the situation we're in right now.

We understand some things,

But we don't understand all things.

As humans,

We are very,

Very finite.

We don't know everything.

And so the best way to deal with this situation is to trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Don't trust Him with some aspects of your heart.

Maybe you trust Him with your job and all of that,

But then you don't trust Him with your health.

That's not what you want to do.

He says,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways.

All your financial ways,

All your job,

Whatever you are involved in.

He says in all your ways,

Submit to Him and He will make your path straight.

You know,

The word of God,

Scripture is the light.

It's the light onto our path.

It's the light onto our feet.

You know,

Just like when you turn on the light in your house,

It lights everything.

And so you're able to see everything.

You don't walk in darkness anymore.

The word of God is a light.

It provides the context within which to see things.

That's the word of God.

It provides the context for you to see things.

It provides the context for life.

Life is meaningless.

Life is purposeless.

Without this kind of light,

You're able to see your stuff in the light of God's word.

Your life.

Without the light,

Everything else doesn't make any sense.

And so what am I saying?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

But in all your ways,

Submit to Him and He will make your path straight.

It doesn't mean everything will be easy,

But things will make sense.

You will find hope even in the midst of chaos,

Even in the midst of turbulence,

Even in the midst of change in circumstances,

You'll find hope.

You'll find rest.

Your soul will be at rest.

You will not be troubled in spite of everything that's around you.

So I hope you'll encourage.

Your Father in heaven says that you're more valuable than the birds that He feeds every day.

The birds don't work.

They don't do anything,

But He feeds them.

You're more valuable than that.

What do you do?

Be anxious for nothing.

But in everything,

Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God,

The peace that surpasses all understanding.

It'll guard your heart and your minds through Christ Jesus.

After that,

Continue to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge Him.

And He'll direct your path or He'll make your path straight.

I hope you are encouraged by this.

Remember,

You're not in this alone.

We are all in it together.

If you don't know the Lord that we are talking about,

Then all of this doesn't make any sense.

But I encourage you today that if you don't know the Lord,

If it's time to call Jesus into your life,

I'm not calling you into some kind of a religion.

I'm calling you into a personal relationship with God,

With Christ,

The one who laid down His life for you.

So how do I do that?

Well,

It's very simple.

All you got to say is open up your mouth and pray to Him and say,

Lord,

I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that You died for me.

From today,

I want to live my life with You.

Come and live in my life.

If you prayed that prayer,

I believe you're saved.

Now start reading your Bible.

Perhaps you could read the book of John to learn more about Christ and the life that He lived and what He did for you.

I'm so glad that you're making Jesus the Lord of your life.

Now I've got one last request.

If you've been blessed by this encouragement,

Then I highly recommend that you share it with friends and loved ones,

People you feel may benefit from this,

People that need to hear this message of hope.

Share it with them.

And also let me know how this message has been a blessing to you.

That encourages me.

That motivates me.

Have a great day.

God bless you.

Reviews

This was so very deeply helpful to me this morning, thank You so much

I found this after I heard terrible news and I was worried about a loved one, during around 15 minutes our prayers were answered. Our loved one is okay. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank uou for making this recording Joseph

Thank you for ministering to my heart, mind and soul. If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31). I will forever present my request to Him only. He is my provider and my everything. You have comforted me with your awesome words and beautiful music. May you be richly blessed🙌🏽🙏❤

Thank you 🙏💚

Magnificent! Please make more like this!

Beautiful scripture
Readings and also a wonderful explanation! So easy to understand. I like the way Joseph interprets the scriptures! Joseph’s voice is so gentle and nurturing!