Get Your Hopes Up!: Expect Something Good to Happen to You Every Day by Joyce Meyer Page B
Authors: Joyce Meyer
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Life / Inspirational, Religion / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth, Religion / Christian Life - Personal Growth, RELIGION / Christian Life / General
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terrible. These are the days when it is really easy to be bitter, to complain, to have a pessimistic view of life. But you don’t have to live subject to your feelings. Feelings are fickle—they change quickly depending on any number of factors.
One of the main points I want to make in this book is that we are to hope on purpose. We cannot sit around and wish we felt it, or even just pray we had it. We choose to be “hope-full” (full of hope) each day. One of the most amazing things about having free will is that we can choose our attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions. I am sure, if you are like me, the first thing you like to think when you have done the wrong thing is
I just can’t help it
, and then that is followed with some sort of excuse for why you didn’t do right.
It might play out like this:
I wish I felt hopeful, but I just don’t have anything very happy going on in my life. I can’t be expected to have a positive outlook when all I see is trouble everywhere I look. If I had the advantages a lot of people do, then my attitude would be better
. But it could be like this:
My circumstances are not very good right now, but I choose to be full of hope. I am expecting something good to happen in my life today! Yes, something good is going to happen to me and through me!
Doing this on purpose on a daily basis even when you don’t feel like it will ultimately change the way you feel. Your feelings will bow to your decisions in due time. No matter how circumstances look, any day with Jesus is better than any day without Him. We can always be hopeful because He loves us, He is for us, and He can change anything! He is a God of justice, and He makes wrong things right!
On days when you feel discouraged, decide you’re not going to let those feelings control your life. Instead of having a negative outlook and speaking negative words, make declarations that are in agreement with God’s Word!
• I know that God loves me (see Ephesians 3:19).
• I believe I will see the Lord’s goodness in my life (see Psalm 27:13).
• I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me (see Romans 8:37).
I’ve been preaching almost 40 years, and I still meditate on and declare God’s Word almost every day of my life. No matter what I feel like, I remind myself who I am in Christ—and you can do the same thing. Don’t wait for somebody else to cheer you up; stir yourself up in the Lord.
Don’t wait for somebody else to cheer you up; stir yourself up in the Lord
.
I like to think of this as a little personal pep rally. If you ever attended a pep rally in middle school or high school, you know what I’m talking about. A pep rally is when the cheerleaders cheer, the band plays, and the student body gets ready for the big game. A pep rally is a celebration based on an expected victory. Even though the team hasn’t won yet, the cheering has already begun.
Well, you certainly have something to cheer about in your life. No matter what opposition you are facing, God is on your side, and He is undefeated. So go ahead and have a pep rally—get excited about the victory God is bringing in your life.
The Hope Found in Praise
2 Chronicles chapter 20 tells the story of a large army that came against King Jehoshaphat and the army of Judah. The people wereafraid because they knew they were vastly outnumbered (see 2 Chronicles 20:15). Have you ever felt that way, or do you perhaps feel that way now? Do you feel that your problems are simply too great for you to ever come out the winner?
Jehoshaphat was informed that the battle wasn’t his but God’s. Armed with that word from the Lord, Jehoshaphat prepared his army for battle. But he did something much different for this battle. Instead of lining up his fiercest warriors at the front of the battle lines as everyone expected him to do, Jehoshaphat gave that position to the worshippers. 2 Chronicles 20:21 says:
… He appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him
One of the main points I want to make in this book is that we are to hope on purpose. We cannot sit around and wish we felt it, or even just pray we had it. We choose to be “hope-full” (full of hope) each day. One of the most amazing things about having free will is that we can choose our attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions. I am sure, if you are like me, the first thing you like to think when you have done the wrong thing is
I just can’t help it
, and then that is followed with some sort of excuse for why you didn’t do right.
It might play out like this:
I wish I felt hopeful, but I just don’t have anything very happy going on in my life. I can’t be expected to have a positive outlook when all I see is trouble everywhere I look. If I had the advantages a lot of people do, then my attitude would be better
. But it could be like this:
My circumstances are not very good right now, but I choose to be full of hope. I am expecting something good to happen in my life today! Yes, something good is going to happen to me and through me!
Doing this on purpose on a daily basis even when you don’t feel like it will ultimately change the way you feel. Your feelings will bow to your decisions in due time. No matter how circumstances look, any day with Jesus is better than any day without Him. We can always be hopeful because He loves us, He is for us, and He can change anything! He is a God of justice, and He makes wrong things right!
On days when you feel discouraged, decide you’re not going to let those feelings control your life. Instead of having a negative outlook and speaking negative words, make declarations that are in agreement with God’s Word!
• I know that God loves me (see Ephesians 3:19).
• I believe I will see the Lord’s goodness in my life (see Psalm 27:13).
• I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me (see Romans 8:37).
I’ve been preaching almost 40 years, and I still meditate on and declare God’s Word almost every day of my life. No matter what I feel like, I remind myself who I am in Christ—and you can do the same thing. Don’t wait for somebody else to cheer you up; stir yourself up in the Lord.
Don’t wait for somebody else to cheer you up; stir yourself up in the Lord
.
I like to think of this as a little personal pep rally. If you ever attended a pep rally in middle school or high school, you know what I’m talking about. A pep rally is when the cheerleaders cheer, the band plays, and the student body gets ready for the big game. A pep rally is a celebration based on an expected victory. Even though the team hasn’t won yet, the cheering has already begun.
Well, you certainly have something to cheer about in your life. No matter what opposition you are facing, God is on your side, and He is undefeated. So go ahead and have a pep rally—get excited about the victory God is bringing in your life.
The Hope Found in Praise
2 Chronicles chapter 20 tells the story of a large army that came against King Jehoshaphat and the army of Judah. The people wereafraid because they knew they were vastly outnumbered (see 2 Chronicles 20:15). Have you ever felt that way, or do you perhaps feel that way now? Do you feel that your problems are simply too great for you to ever come out the winner?
Jehoshaphat was informed that the battle wasn’t his but God’s. Armed with that word from the Lord, Jehoshaphat prepared his army for battle. But he did something much different for this battle. Instead of lining up his fiercest warriors at the front of the battle lines as everyone expected him to do, Jehoshaphat gave that position to the worshippers. 2 Chronicles 20:21 says:
… He appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him
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