10 Reasons for Hope, episode 56 (rebroadcast)

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at When You Love a Prodigal,

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and also help and hope for your own life journey.

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Today, we are continuing a five-part series on hope.

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We all need hope.

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We cling to hope.

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We weep when hope is lost and how we need to know how to keep hoping.

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It just escapes us and we lose grasp of it.

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It says, no, we're going to talk about 10 reasons you can keep hoping.

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So be sure and jot down the one or more that encourage you the most in your journey,

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because you don't want to forget them. You need the reasons to keep hoping.

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Author and teacher Leslie Layland Fields, a good friend of mine,

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said she hated the movie The Power of the Dog.

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I have not seen it.

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It is the recipient, just now, of 12 Oscar nominations.

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She explains why she didn't like it.

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She says, art is one of the most powerful forces in the world.

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How will we wield it as makers of art and how will we use it as partakers of art?

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Because of this movie, I strengthen my intentions to do well.

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I will always urge my memoir students to craft wise, layered narratives.

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I will continue to labor long on every book I write that I may find and write the truth

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in honest, nuanced, hopeful ways.

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And as a partaker of art, I will now work harder to avoid tales of unvarnished evil,

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because in the end, I need some shot of hope.

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I'm guessing that you do too.

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Perhaps the Academy Fellows live in a different world, insulated world filled with crystals and sunshine.

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But out here, most of us are bruised people who desperately need to be reminded,

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however subtly, that hope is real.

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Grace is often present.

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Goodness counts.

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Love is possible and our lives matter.

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I believe this is more than mere artistic preference.

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The human race depends on it.

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And people who love a prodigal depend on it.

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It feels like we live in a battlefield, doesn't it?

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Like we have a relentless enemy pursuing us and our loved prodigals.

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It seems too often every step in a good direction is followed by two steps in the wrong direction.

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It feels hopeless.

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It feels that way because we do have an enemy and he is determined to capture our wayward ones and take us down.

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Peter reminds us, be alert and of sober mind.

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Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, like your prodigal in mine.

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But it's not hopeless.

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Our God has given us many promises that we can keep hoping even as we fight for our loved ones on our knees.

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These 10 assurances from God will lift you above the battlefield to see that he is with you and working with your prodigal.

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So here we go.

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Three sections, but 10 reasons.

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10 reasons you can keep hoping.

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First, resist the enemy with the promise of God's presence.

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We read in Romans 8, God is on our side.

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Romans assures us if God is for us, who can be against us.

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Doesn't that give you hope?

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That's that little bitty thought.

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If God is for us, the enemy can't undo us or our prodigal.

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Second, God holds us and our loved ones tightly.

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I love this verse.

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The apostle John tells us, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

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I held onto that so many times when things were really difficult with our prodigal.

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No one can snatch them out of God's hands.

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And the third one on fighting the devil, God never abandons us.

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In Deuteronomy we learn, the Lord himself goes before you and will be with you.

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He will never leave you nor forsake you.

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Do not be afraid.

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Do not be discouraged.

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So remember, God is always with you and you can counter the enemy's attacks.

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Second section of reasons is to receive God's assurances.

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A reason to hold on to hope.

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The fourth reason, God himself fights for us.

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Isaiah exhorts us, so do not fear, for I am with you.

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Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

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I will strengthen you and help you.

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I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

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That's true for you, but God's reaching out to your loved one because he loves them too.

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The fifth reason, God hears and answers.

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David declares, I sought the Lord and he answered me.

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He delivered me from all my fears.

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When we go to God, tell him honestly how we feel, what we're afraid of, why we have no hope.

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He says, he'll answer and he will deliver you from those fears.

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And then sixth, oh I love this, God's love is unfailing and forever.

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Paul gives this amazing promise, you probably know it, but it's good to be reminded.

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For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,

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neither the present nor the future nor any power, height nor depth nor anything else in all of creation

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will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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And a seventh reason to keep hoping.

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God is always with us.

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God himself said in Hebrews, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.

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Now I know sometimes it feels like he's left and you feel forsaken,

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but that's just because we don't see the whole picture and we don't understand what God is doing.

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But God's not a liar and when he says, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.

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We can hold on to that and have hope.

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The final grouping, first resist the enemy, then receive God's assurance and keep on hoping.

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So here are the eighth and ninth and tenth reasons for not giving up.

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The eighth reason to not give up hope is that God is still working.

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In Philippians we read, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you

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will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

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We can claim that also for our loved one.

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I've read the book, Hind's Feet on High Places, many times, and the chapter that most spoke to me

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had little much afraid who was trying to make it to the high places so she could live with the good king,

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the shepherd, the good shepherd.

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But her family was awful and her village was terrible and she was not doing well making it to the high places.

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And she came to a time where she was living, walking, trying to find her way out of a dense fog in a valley.

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And she's just, she's totally lost, she can't see, she doesn't know where she is.

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And she remembers that the good shepherd said, call me and I will come.

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And she said, shepherd help.

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And he was there immediately.

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And she said, what am I supposed to do?

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How will I make it to the high places?

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Because I don't even know where I'm going or how to get there.

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I can't see.

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He said, oh, little much afraid.

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You just don't know.

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He says, I'm working in ways that you can't see.

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You just need to keep following the path.

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And even though you can't see, but one step ahead of you, you're going to get there.

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Because I'm working behind the scenes.

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And that's what he says to us.

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He says just the same thing.

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He's working always to make things the way they need to be, to take care of you and your loved one.

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The ninth reason to keep hoping, God gives new hearts.

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I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them.

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We read in Ezekiel.

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I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

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Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

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They will be my people and I will be their God.

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Does that give you some hope?

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God's working.

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He's working in your life and my life, but he's working in our protocols to change their hearts,

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to give them a new heart that loves God and seeks to be and do what he has for them.

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And then the tenth reason to keep hoping.

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God's goodness will prevail.

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David assures us in Psalm 27.

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I remain confident of this.

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I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

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Wait for the Lord.

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Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

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When he says, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

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I believe he's saying here and now.

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Yes, when we get to heaven, it'll be awesome.

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But he's saying, no, his goodness is going to be evident right here in our lives, ours and our protocols.

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Even in the darkest days or the fiercest battles, our God is there beside us, strengthening us, sustaining us.

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And equally he is there for our loved ones, pursuing and wooing, reminding them of things they heard from you, loving them to themselves.

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I cling often to the verse in Romans 2, 4, when he tells them, quit trying to earn your way to God.

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He says, don't you know that I woo them with my loving kindness.

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And that's exactly what he's doing with your loved one.

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So keep hoping.

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Some questions for you.

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What does today's battle for your loved one look like?

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And which of these reasons for hope encouraged you the most?

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I'm going to name them one by one just to remind you, God is on our side.

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God holds us and our loved ones tightly.

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God never abandons us.

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God fights for us.

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God hears and answers.

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God's love is unfailing and forever.

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God is always with us.

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God is still working.

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God will give them new hearts and God's goodness will prevail.

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So next week, we will discover a door of hope and an anchor of hope.

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Does that sound good?

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Don't forget to take a look at the show notes.

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Check out JudyDouglas.com and go over and rate this podcast.

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Thanks so much for listening and being a part of this little community that we have.

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And I pray that God will really use these 10 reasons that you can trust him to enable you to keep hope alive.

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Until next week, God bless you.