Daily Hope Devotional

It’s hard to imagine how the disciples felt on the Saturday before Jesus’ Resurrection and the day after His Resurrection. They had watched their Messiah, the Son of God, crucified by the Romans. They had seen Him raise the dead and heal the blind. They knew Jesus could have come down off the cross. But He didn’t. Imagine the grief, fear, and regret that went through their minds that Saturday. We’ve all been there. Confusion often follows days of terrible tragedy. So how do you deal with days of confusion? You remember the promises of God.  Never doubt in the dark what God shows you in the light. When you go through difficult times, the natural response is to throw everything up in the air and let all your plans go down the toilet. But that’s the last thing you should do. Right before His crucifixion, Jesus gave His disciples an important promise to focus on during the difficult days to follow. He said,  “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you agai

“We are now members of God’s own family …. And God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you …. And God, in His mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting Him.”  (1 Peter 1:3b-5a TLB) You were made to last forever. One day your heart will stop beating. That’ll be the end of your body but not the end of you. God made you in his image, and you were made to last forever. But here’s the bottom line: If you want to spend eternity with God in Heaven, you’ve got to build a relationship with Him while you’re on Earth. Do that, and you can be sure you’ll spend forever with Him. If you’re like most of us, you’re probably wondering how you can possibly have certainty about your relationship with God. What if you blow it before your death? It’s about grace. You can’t do anything to get yourself to Heaven. You can’t earn it. You’ll never deserve it. You certainly ca

There are more than 7,000 promises in the Bible from God to you. They’re like blank checks just waiting to be cashed by you. And with every promise, there’s a premise. In the Bible’s most famous promise, John 3:16 , Jesus tells us,  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”   (NKJV). God promises we won’t perish  if  we believe in Him. God’s free gift of salvation is offered to everyone. It doesn’t matter your religion or cultural background. Jesus Christ died for you. How do we receive this free gift? The Bible says,  “God says He will accept and acquit us — declare us ‘not guilty’ — if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like”  (Romans 3:22 TLB). Though anyone can come to faith in Jesus, the only way we

“Out of sheer generosity He put us in right standing with Himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ. God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin.”  (Romans 3:24-25 MSG) The greatest gift you’ve ever been given wasn’t bought in a store. No cash exchanged hands. It wasn’t even wrapped. Yet it cost the Giver everything. The Bible says God sent his Son to Earth to give you the greatest gift ever. He came to Earth to die and make you right with God. Romans 3:24-25 says,  “Out of sheer generosity He put us in right standing with Himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ. God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin”  (MSG). So why did Jesus have to die? Let’s go back to the basics. Nobody’s perfect.  

“This is real love … He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”  (1 John 4:10 NLT, second edition) Everything in life changes — relationships, jobs, fame. One minute you’re a hero; the next minute you’re a zero. There’s only one thing in the entire universe that won’t change: God’s love. Knowing that God still loves you, no matter what happens — your failures, your brokenness, your sin — provides a rock solid foundation in your life. Consider the small word “so” that goes before “loved” in the Bible’s most famous verse: John 3:16 . The verse says, “God  so loved   the world …” God loves you with an extravagant, lavish love that can never be taken away. It’s beyond comprehension. He loves you on your good days and your bad days. He loves you when it’s raining and when the sun is shining. God says He doesn’t want you to just recognize this lavish love intellectually. He wants you to recognize it emotionally. Love is God’s nature. Go

God doesn’t want you to doubt your salvation. He doesn’t want you to worry about it. He doesn’t want you to fear being without it. He doesn’t want you to wonder whether you’ll be in Heaven with Him. God wants you to settle the issue. To do that, you’ve got to get back to the basics. All great coaches focused on the basics. They never assumed anyone knew the basics. John Wooden always started training camp by teaching his players the correct way to put on their socks! Vince Lombardi started his training camps by famously telling his players, “This is a football.” The basics matter. If we were going to get back to the basics about Jesus, we’d go back to John  3:16 :  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”   (KJV). You could summarize the entire Bible in that one verse. It’s the  Good News  in a verse. In fact, the very

    Grace is the gift that keeps on giving, because one of the benefits of grace is eternal life. Romans 6:23 says,  “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord”  (NLT, second edition). Have you ever wondered what Heaven is going to be like? The Bible tells us that Heaven is going to be these four things: A place of reunion, where we are reunited with other loved ones who have accepted the grace of God. A place where we are rewarded for the character that we developed and the way we served other people here on Earth. A place where we are reassigned to do new work based on our SHAPE. We will be given new assignments that we love to do and that use the gifts God has given us. A place of release, where we’re free from all pain, suffering, sadness, sorrow, grief, depression, and loneliness. It’s going to be a wonderful place! And it is God’s gift to you. There’s one catch: You have to ac

Popular culture tells us many myths about what Heaven will be like. Much of it isn’t grounded in the Bible. The truth is, describing Heaven is beyond the capacity of the greatest writers. It’s just far more amazing than mere words can describe. But we do have some clues to what Heaven will be like. I mentioned before five things that will be a part of Heaven. It may be, though, that the most profound part of the Bible’s description of Heaven is what it says  won’t  be there. Here are five pieces of our earthly existence that won’t be part of our heavenly one. Sickness.   (1 Corinthians 15:42-43) You’ll have a body in Heaven, but it’ll be a perfect one. No more disease. No more illness. No more hunger. You won’t even have gas in Heaven! Heaven is a perfect place. Your body will be perfect, too. Sadness.   (Revelation 21:4) You’ll never get your heart broken in Heaven. You’ll never be rejected. You’ll never grieve. The Bible actually says God will wipe away every te

“If they had wanted to, they could have gone back to the good things of this world. But they didn’t want to. They were living for heaven. And now God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has made a heavenly city for them.”  (Hebrews   11:15-16   TLB) Heaven changes everything about how you live today. If you’re headed to Heaven (and after yesterday’s devotional, I hope you are), then that reality should impact how you live here on Earth. Your value system changes. Instead of living for the here and now, you’ll live for eternity. You can also live knowing your future is secure. No matter what happens on Earth, you’ll spend an eternity with God in the most amazing place you’ve ever been. So how should you live if you know your eternal destination is Heaven? Don’t be distracted by temptation.   “Dear brothers, you are only visitors here. Since your real home is in heaven, I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world; they are not for you, for

“This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life.’”  (Romans 1:17 NLT, second edition) There is no greater destination for our lives than Heaven. The Bible says about Heaven,  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him”  (1 Corinthians 2:9b NLT, second edition). But the Bible also says the road to Heaven is narrow; we can only get there by trusting God. Romans 1:17 says,  “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life.’” So how do you come to God in faith? The answer is as easy as A, B, C, and D. A: Admit you need a Savior.   You can’t get to God on your own. You’re a sinner. You’ve bl

We can’t compare Heaven to anything we’ve experienced on Earth. The planet where we now reside is just a poor — very poor — carbon copy of the place God has prepared for us in eternity. The Bible hints at this mystery in 1 Corinthians 2:9:  “No eye has ever seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him”  (NLT, second edition). Although human words can’t properly explain the divine mysteries of Heaven, we do know a little about what Heaven will be like. We’ll be reunited with every other believer.   (Hebrews  12:22-23 ) The book of Hebrews tells us that every believer who has ever lived will be in Heaven with us. That includes every person you’ve ever known who followed Jesus and the children who never had the opportunity to make that decision. We’ll have rewards.   (Luke  6:35 ) The Bible mentions rewards in Heaven often. You’ll be rewarded for your good actions — your generosity, your service,

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9b NLT). We have many misconceptions about what Heaven is like. You won’t be an angel. You won’t have wings. You’re not going to be a little chubby cherub, wear a white robe, or float on clouds. To me, that would be Hell. I can’t think of anything more boring than being in a colorless place and having to play a harp! We need a right view of Heaven — not Hollywood’s view. The Bible says in Colossians 3:1, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand” (NLT, second edition). So what does the Bible say about these “realities of Heaven”? It’s where God lives and rules.  The Bible calls Heaven “the dwelling place of God,” “the house of God,” and “the city of God.” It’s not only where God lives but also where He rules. Jesus calls Hea

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”  (1 John 5:11-12 NIV) If you were to head out to a mall today and ask people if they are going to Heaven or Hell, you’ll likely hear them say, “I hope I’ll go to Heaven.” But hope just isn’t good enough. I pray that’s not your answer. Your eternal destiny is too important not to know for sure. Only a fool would be unprepared for what we all know is inevitable: death. The most recent statistics show that mortality rates in the world are 100 percent! You’re not guaranteed another minute on this planet, much less another hour. Don’t put off the most important choice you’ll ever make. The Bible says in 1 John 5:11-12 ,  “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have l

Everything you see around you is temporary. The building you’re in, the computer or phone you’re staring at, and even your body will one day disappear from existence. Yet it’s what you can’t see around you that’ll last forever.  And it’s those realities that truly matter. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:18,  “Things that are seen don’t last forever, but things that are not seen are eternal. That’s why we keep our minds on the things that cannot be seen”  (CEV). Spiritual realities are more real than physical ones. We need to focus on the spiritual ones —  what’s really real . I mentioned a few days ago the five specific spiritual realities all of us need to take to heart. Let’s get more specific about them. God made you to love you.  (Jeremiah 31:3) God made you to love you, and He wants you to learn to love Him back. This is the most important reality of life.  You were made to last forever.  (Ecclesiastes 3:11) One day your heart will stop beating, but

“ If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be separated from God — lost forever!”  (1 Corinthians 16:22a ERV) In human terms, it’s tough to define Hell. It’s like trying to explain the Internet to an ant. But Jesus actually talked more about Hell than Heaven. And to read how Jesus — and others in the Bible — described it, we don’t want to have any part of it, and we don’t want anyone we know to have any part in it. So what does the Bible say about Hell? 1.       It’s a place of torment.   Luke 13:28 says that in Hell,  “You will cry and be in extreme pain”   (GW). We get our visions of fire and agony in Hell from the Bible. 2.       It’s a place of complete separation from God and other people.   That’s the worst part of Hell. Go through your whole life saying you don’t want to have anything to do with God, and you’ll eventually get your way. Hell means total separation from God.  “ If anyone does not

When you hear talk about Heaven, does it ever occur to you that God designed Heaven for you? This is such an amazing thing! God designed the earth for us so it could sustain life and we could live here. But then He also designed Heaven for us, and He wants us to live there with him forever. The Bible says in Matthew 25:34,   “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world”   (NLT, second edition). From the very beginning, God knew that there would be more to life than just this life on Earth. There’s more to life than just here and now. You’re going to spend 80 or so years on this planet, but you can spend eternity — trillions and trillions and trillions of years — living in Heaven with God. Ephesians  1:10  says,   “This was His purpose: that when the time is ripe He will gather us all together from wherever we are — in heaven or on earth — to be with Hi

The Bible teaches that everything you see right now is temporary. Your body will not last. Your house and office won’t last. The trees and the rivers and even the mountains won’t last forever. All the things you see right now are temporary. The things you  don’t  see right now are eternal realities. The truth is, the things that are going to last forever are things we can’t see. We can’t see God, the Holy Spirit, the angels, or Heaven. According to the Bible, those things are going to last forever. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 , “What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face” (GNT). Here’s the really good news: God created  you  to last forever, and you get to choose where you spend eternity. One day your heart’s going to stop, and that’s going to be the end of your body — but it’s not going to be the end of you. The Bible says God wants you to spend eternity with Him.

Some people deny the existence of evil. They believe the world is full of basically good people, humans who are fundamentally unselfish, kind, and always thinking of others. But here’s the problem with that worldview: It doesn’t square with reality. Just turn on the television or pick up a newspaper. Our world is full of broken relationships, broken promises, rape, abuse, murder, child molestation, terrorism, and all sorts of evil. Evil is all around us. The Bible says that, because of our nature, we primarily think about ourselves. It’s just what we do. None of us  naturally  consider what’s best for the world around us. We don’t naturally think about what God wants us to do. Instead we focus on what’s easy, convenient, and desirable. So God looked down on the earth in Noah’s day and said, “What a mess they’ve made of this! Look at what people have done to themselves, one another, and the planet I’ve given them. They’ve screwed everything up.” And the Bible

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”    (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT) The past few days I’ve given you several ways you can test an impression to know if it’s from God. There are two final questions you can ask to test your idea. You need to ask, “Is it convicting or is it condemning?” A lot of Christians go through life living under condemnation and guilt, thinking it’s the voice of God. But it’s not. That’s the devil! Conviction comes from God. Condemnation comes from the devil. The purpose of conviction is to correct something that’s out of whack in your life. The purpose of condemnation is just to put you down and make you feel miserable and guilty and ashamed. The motivation behind conviction