Hope Deferred Makes The Heart Sick

Proverbs 13:12

A lady who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, recently said to me:

“Honestly, I am a little mad at God.  I’ve prayed to be healed but the doctors say that I am getting worse.”

This is a common statement I hear from Christians when speaking about FAITH IN GOD’S WORD  … meaning, believing that the promises of God are always true for our bodies and for all circumstances in our lives, regardless of what our eyes see … and it reminds me of the above quoted proverb:  “Hope deferred makes the heart sick“.

It seems the majority of people who have been born-again for any length of time, have come across situations in life where things have not worked  out as they had hoped, or even as they had prayed for, and hurt has lodged inside many.  For some, the hurt turns to anger at God.  For others the hurt and disappointment simple means they won’t bother getting their “hope up” for any other prayers to be answered or they have given up on praying altogether.  And all because  unanswered prayers have dashed their hopes and hurt their hearts.

But the only way to get over such hurt is to CHOOSE to renew your mind to the Truths of God’s love and goodness towards you.

But how can I change my mind and my heart
seeing that I am so disappointed with God and with life, you might ask

After years of personal disappointment, which turned into anger toward God,  I decided to start meditating on the faithfulness and goodness of God and the steadfastness and Truth of God’s Word, for I had lived for about 9 years so filled with rage and depression, that I knew I couldn’t survive like that any longer and I knew I was terribly harming my children with my rage and depression.

As I started to choose to believe God’s Words as literal Truth for my life, a new “hope” sprung up inside of my spirit-man which whispered to me that perhaps I could “trust” God again; perhaps He was actually FOR me and not against me.

This same renewing of the mind will take place in anyone who will choose to meditate on the Words of God AND CHOOSE TO BELIEVE GOD AT HIS WORD.

God’s Words are Truth, they are alive, and sharper than any two-edged sword,  and the Words of God WILL cut incorrect thinking and bondage producing strongholds out of our minds, if we will take some time to meditate on God’s Words, for:

“The  weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

And quoting the Scriptures OUT LOUD  is the only sure way to renew our thinking, because “Faith comes by hearing … the Word of Christ” {Romans 10:17}.  As you speak out loud, your mind HAS to shut off and listen to what your mouth is saying.  Therefore, by speaking GOD’S WORDS out loud, it is a sure way to shut off doubt, confusion, and unbelief.   We must CHOOSE to stop listening to our negative thoughts which are contrary to Christ’s Word and start quoting God’s Word from our mouths, to renew our thinking.

I love the following example given by Ken Copeland in a tape of his:

In your mind, silently think of the numbers one through ten.  Before you get to ten, state your name out loud with your mouth.  What happened to the counting in your mind?  Your mind HAD to shut up and listen to your mouth speak.

And so it will be with the Word of God spoken out of your mouth!

As you quote Scriptures out loud about God’s faithfulness, about God’s love, and God’s provision, or about any other aspect of God’s goodness from the Scriptures, your mind will have to shut up and listen to the Words you are speaking.  Your spirit-man, in the meantime, is being fed spiritual food and is being given a chance to grow up and mature … meaning, faith is being given an opportunity to grow … and your mind is being given the time to be renewed to Truth.

Therefore search the Scriptures to find Truths which address whatever situation you are hopeless about.

Feeling condemned, unworthy, and fearful that God just can’t love you or forgive you?  Then find Scriptures which tell you that God is love and that He is FOR you and NOT against you and that Christ bore all your sin and all the wrath of God against you.  Is sickness attacking your body and not letting up?  Then find Scriptures which tell you that God healed ALL your diseases by Christ’s stripes and death on the cross.  Get all the Scriptures which tell you that God will save your children, or bring joy to your life, or feed you during any disasters that come upon the earth.  Dig into the Word and find the Scriptures which cover your situation.

Then post the Scriptures up around your home and start to speak them out loud, day and night, and choose to speak them and believe them as present tense Truths …  exactly as they are written!

Joshua 1:8 says you will then find “good success” in your thinking and in your spiritual state and you will be well on your way to being able to see and experience God’s “great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4)  as Truth always, in every area of your life!

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it DAY AND NIGHT,  so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for THEN you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.“  Joshua 1:8

Below are some Scriptures to start you on your way to coming back to God in faith, believing He is a good God Who hears your prayers AND answers them and a God Who is true to His Word!

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1 John 3:1:  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God

1 John 4:16:  God is love

1 John 4:19:  We love (Him) because He first loved us

Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing

Ephesians 3:17-18:  I pray that you…may have power to together with all the saints, to grasp how WIDE and LONG and HIGH and DEEP is the LOVE OF CHRIST and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God

Luke 12:32:  Fear not little flock; for it is your Father’s GOOD PLEASURE to give you the kingdom

Luke 17:21: Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you

Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”

Matthew 7:11: If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!

Luke 12:24: Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them.  And HOW MUCH MORE VALUABLE you are than birds!

Psalm 9:9-10:  The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You

Psalm 10:17:  You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; You encourage them, and You listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man,…may terrify no more

Psalm 33:18:  But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love

Romans 5:6-21:  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly … God demonstrates His own LOVE FOR US in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us … how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of GRACE and the gift of righteousness REIGN IN LIFE through the one Man, Jesus Christ

Psalm 12:6:  The Words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times

Psalm 33:4:  For the Word of the Lord is right and True; He is faithful in all He does

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