Maybe you find yourself in what looks to be a hopeless place. You don’t see a way out. You don’t see a glimmer of hope. You think that loved one is too far gone to ever come to Christ. Your doctor called with news that has gripped your heart with fear. You have too much debt, you don’t have a job, your marriage is falling apart, you’re alienated from your kids. Whatever it is, it may look hopeless to you but it’s not hopeless to God.

God is very real and very much working in the world today. And no matter how put together people may look on the surface, we live in a broken world and there’s a lot of brokenness behind the curtains.

The book of Acts is all about the church filled with the power that comes from the Holy Spirit. Paul writes chapters about cultivating and pursuing the gifts of the Spirit. He writes to be filled with the Spirit, and he urges us to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit.

God searches and knows us through and through. Inviting God to search us and know us doesn’t actually change anything about God’s searching or knowing, but it does change our heart position. Instead of trying to hide from God, instead of trying to cloak our sins, we ask God to shine His light on us, so that we live life His way rather than our way.

When Jesus receives us into glory, made possible through his death and resurrection, all the wrongs, all the pain, all the suffering, even all the stains and regrets of our own sin will not only be forgiven, they will be reversed.

Whether we know it or not, whether we believe it or not, what our hearts crave most is God and His great goodness.

How do we battle fear? Not by focusing on fear, but by focusing on our awesome God. The goal isn’t fearlessness, the goal is confidence in God. God-confidence. Then we can say, of whom, and of what, shall I be afraid?

God is still great and powerful! He is still doing great things! We can believe that with confidence and pray that with confidence.

A big part of a wise life is investing our lives in a work that will last forever. Eternal work. We need God’s help, but we need to do it. Establish the work of our hands.

Thirsts are powerful drivers in our lives. God created spiritual thirst to drive us to Him, the fountain of living water. Only Jesus can satisfy fully and forever the longing and craving and thirsting of our soul. As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.