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PROGRAM D-8312
Recently I completed a study of a book by Ray Johnston entitled The Hope Quotient. I highly recommend the book because Ray presents a compelling case for the importance of building our hope, maintaining our hope, and making sure our hope is not crushed by life.
Think of the days when your hope has been dashed. It makes you want to give up; it saps your energy and drains your enthusiasm. And if you are not prepared to build your hope and to unleash hope even in the face of disappointments, you will find yourself sitting on the sidelines of life, discouraged and depressed way too often.
Let me begin by making sure we know what this hope is and what it isn’t. This hope is much more than an emotion you feel. It is not wishful thinking or blind optimism. The kind of hope we’re focusing on comes from God through Jesus Christ, so you need to be a Christ-follower in order to tap into the hope that he gives. You unleash this hope through the power of Christ in you. It’s not something you just work up on your own. It requires more power than you have in yourself, but if you know Jesus as your Savior, you have what is required to unleash hope in your life through the Holy Spirit and through Scripture.
Sadly, however, many Christ-followers are not unleashing hope in their lives and they live in a state of discouragement and quiet desperation. Would that describe you? If you’re not doing what you need to do to keep hope alive in your heart and mind, you’re missing one of the greatest gifts, one of the greatest advantages we have as Christ-followers.
We read in Hebrews that we have this hope as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure. An anchor is something that holds a boat or ship in place and keeps it from moving. Hope for a Christian provides an anchor of strength and support in the midst of this stormy world we live in. Hope is the thing that will keep you from going under.
I want to share some of the very practical and biblical advice from this book, The Hope Quotient, which I believe will help you begin to understand the importance of unleashing hope in your life, and give you some tools to make that happen.