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Anchor of the Soul from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

When people lose hope, they lie down and die. They lose the will to live and fight any longer. Hopelessness is utter despair, the belief that nothing good will happen. When you begin to think like this, it will bring a desire to die. A spirit of suicide will try and convince you that death is the only way out, but it's a lie. David wrote:

(Psalm 27:13 NKJV)  I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.

Hope is the anchor of our soul. It keeps us from drifting away during the storms of life. Hope gets us back on our feet. We tend to lose hope when we lose our focus on the Lord. He is the God of hope. 

(Romans 15:13 NKJV)  Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hope and faith cannot be separated. They are similar, but hope is always the future, while faith is right now. Faith is hope in action. You believe that God is going to do something good for you. That is hope. So you take action to line up with what you believe. That is faith. 

The woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment is a great example of hope and faith working together. She drew a miracle out of Jesus as He walked past that would not have happened otherwise. 

(Matthew 9:20–22 NKJV)  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

Hope believed that something good could come out of this, and her faith moved her to reach out and touch Him. Faith was the action. 

The mind is a battlefield, and it is vitally important that we hold onto our hope. That we don't let the enemy begin to plant seeds of despair. Somehow, someway, something good is going to come out of this. The Apostle Paul encouraged us to think good thoughts:

(Philippians 4:8 NASB)  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Hope will banish the dark side. We must continue to believe that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. 

(Hebrews 11:6 NKJV)  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

At any moment of your life, God is actively working on 10,000 things you don't even know about. He is working years ahead of you, yet you may feel He is running behind schedule. He is not. Have patience, young grasshopper. 

(Isaiah 40:21–23 NKJV)  Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless.

Hope is a powerful force in your life. It can change your outlook from negative to positive. When your attitude about something changes, so will your circumstances. Hope protects our minds and gets us back on our feet. It is the helmet of our spiritual armor. 

(1 Thessalonians 5:8 NKJV)  But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

Hope is armor against the attacks of the enemy. The enemy knows that a hopeless person is a weak and easy prey. When things get tough, they have nothing left to keep them going. There is no endurance, and when they are knocked down, they will stay down. 

The enemy will often attack our mind and, once he has a foothold, use us to destroy our own life around us. The helmet of hope, the belief that God loves us and something good will come out of this yet, keeps us from spiraling downward when things get bad.

That is the goal of Refreshing Hope Ministries, to restore hope to the body of Christ. To put our helmets back on. While I breathe, I hope. Like plowing a field with a horse, if we can keep the horse's head pointed in the right direction, the rest of it will follow. You must guard your thought life. Think good things. 

(Hebrews 6:19 NKJV) “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast”

Hope is the anchor of our soul. An anchor keeps a ship from drifting, not just during storms but from the everyday tides of the ocean. A boat without an anchor will gradually drift away. Hope is putting your soul on a leash and saying you will only be moved so far. I will only get so depressed, only so far. This will not sweep me away. You will only cry about something for so long, and then you will reel it back in.

Hope is beautiful and has a special place in our life. We have hope that the Lord Jesus will soon return, that the righteous dead will be resurrected, that we will see loved ones that have passed on once again, and that heaven awaits us. 

Hope tells us that God still has a plan for us, that something great is coming, that this will work out for our good, and that God isn’t done with us yet. It helps us hang on another day. 

Faith is in the heart, while hope is in the mind. Faith is in the present, while hope is always in the future. Faith believes that you have it now. Hope is that it will someday come. Faith is a substance, something already here; hope is an expectation that looks toward the future.

God loves you, and no matter what comes, He can cause you to be ready for it. Nothing catches Him off guard, for He knows the end from the beginning. While I breathe, I hope. 

You can pray this with me if you like: 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please restore my hope and help me get in tune with You. Make what is important to You important to me. I hope in You, and I know You will take care of me. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!