Category: Hope

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.” Luke 16:10, NLT

Devotional from the DaySpring Hope and Encouragement Bible

Imagine the scene: Jesus has been crucified. The disciples’ lives are in turmoil. They’re unsure of what the future holds. Peter wants something familiar: “I’m going fishing” (John 21:3).

Then Jesus appears, although they don’t yet know it’s him, and he tells them to let out their nets one more time. They catch so many fish they can hardly handle them all. This is faithfulness. It’s continuing to cast the net because Jesus says so. Even when we’ve been up all night. Even when we’re weary. Even when we’re confused. Even when we’re discouraged and want to quit.

If you’re putting pressure on yourself today to do more, be more, or achieve more, then pause and take a deep breath. Just be faithful. If you’re comparing yourself to others in life or ministry and feel you’re falling short, refocus on your own journey. Just be faithful.

If you’re striving for perfection and trying to make everyone happy, let go of those unrealistic expectations. Just be faithful. Just do what you can, where you are, with what you have, to love God and others today. Then do it again one more time.

Holley Gerth, Cheering You On

God, when life is challenging, I want safety and control
and to hold on to what’s familiar. But what I truly need is to just take
the next step of faith with you. I know that you will help me discover what
I need along the way because you will provide it. I’m listening,
I’m receiving, I’m obeying. I love you. Amen.

Learn more about the DaySpring Hope and Encouragement Bible

“Jesus shouted to the crowds, ‘If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.'” John 12:44-46, NLT

Devotional from the DaySpring Hope and Encouragement Bible

God isn’t afraid of the dark. He’s not scared of the secret places in our hearts. The ones that haven’t seen daylight for years. The kind with the locks on the doors.

God isn’t afraid of the dark. He’s not running scared from the tragedies in our lives. He’s not backing away from the brokenness and the bitterness and the shattered dreams.

God isn’t afraid of the dark. He’s not avoiding the struggles or the addictions. He’s not waving His hands in surrender to the enemies of our souls. He’s not saying, “This is too much for me.”

God isn’t afraid of the dark. In the beginning he spoke life-words into it and said, “Let there be light.” Then he came as a baby into a midnight world and announced his arrival with a shining star. He conquered death in a dark tomb and rolled the stone away, making a way into the brightness for us all.

God isn’t afraid of the dark. This means we don’t ever have to be either. Even when we can’t feel him through the longest nights, right in the thick of it—he is always there.

Holley Gerth, Promises from God for Life’s Hard Moments

God, you have never been afraid of the dark and you won’t ever be. Instead, you turn the darkness into light. You have done so from the very beginning of creation, and you still bring light into each of our lives and hearts today. We ask you to radiate your love where it’s needed most. Amen.

Learn more about the DaySpring Hope and Encouragement Bible

Read All of Psalm 91

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
3For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
4He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
8Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.
9If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
10no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
11For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
12They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
14The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
15When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
16I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”

Note from the Swindoll Study Bible

The Lord has not chosen to remove us from evil. He has not isolated us from the presence of wrong. Instead, God walks with us in the midst of an evil world. When we walk in close relationship with Him, we enjoy a secret hiding place, “the shelter of the Most High.” There we can “find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

The result of living in the shadow of the Almighty is that you lose your fear. Fear keeps us constantly uneasy, looking over our shoulders, and suspicious. When we are living in the shelter of the Most High and finding rest in the shadow of the Almighty, we do not need to be afraid, even when evil is all around us. Fearless courage comes from walking in close fellowship with God.

Take a look inside the Swindoll Study Bible

John 6:16-21, NLT

“That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here!’ Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!”

Note from the Life Recovery Bible

“It was a dark and stormy night on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were cold, wet, and exhausted from rowing almost four miles in storm-tossed waters. They had been impatient and left safe shores without Jesus, but he came to their rescue anyway-walking on the stormy sea toward their boat! When Jesus got in the boat, he brought them safely to shore. We would be wise to stay with Jesus and his plan for us. Going off on our own will inevitably lead us into some stormy situations. When we leave Jesus behind, however, he will still rescue us is we look to him for help.”

by Evie P., Bible Team Marketing Coordinator

In less than a week our house has gone from trying to figure out work schedules, concerts, carpools, playdates, birthday parties, church activities, volunteering at schools, and getting ready for Easter outreach to isolation. Even for the introverts this sudden turn has brought a huge change in routine. It’s caused confusion, stress, fear, anxiety, and wondering if our toilet paper supply will last. (Trust me, I know this is serious, but we still need laughter.)

In the middle of all of this, I am so thankful that we serve a God who is always faithful. He never changes (Hebrews 13:8). We can leave all our worries at his feet (1 Peter 5:7). And he is in control (the whole Bible really speaks to this, right?).

Not being able to talk to friends or those we love physically has led many of us to spend more time on social media to connect with each other. Sheryn tagged us in her Instagram post with her COVID-19 quarantine story. And it brought me so much hope and inspired me to use this time to be still and know that he is God! Read it and be blessed.

I am a single mom of a six-year-old girl, Keilah. Our entire country has been placed by our government under a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since I live in the nation’s capital, we are on “enhanced community quarantine” for at least a month.

This means almost everything is closed. The only reason we can leave is to get food, medicine, or to seek medical care.

With the schools closed, my daughter is at home with me. Usually I do my morning devotions alone after she has left for the day. I wasn’t going to let quarantine stop me from getting into God’s Word, so I opened my NLT Bible and started reading.

Usually, Keilah and I do devotions together before her bedtime, but that morning she plopped down next to me with her Bible in hand and said, “Can I read my Bible too?” So side by side we read together. She loved that we had the same Bible, but just different covers. What a joy to read it together.

Something good from this quarantine.

Devotional from the Beyond Suffering Bible

“One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, ‘My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”What can I do to help you?’ Elisha asked. ‘Tell me, what do you have in the house?”Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,’ she replied. And Elisha said, ‘Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.’ So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! ‘Bring me another jar,’ she said to one of her sons. ‘There aren’t any more!’ he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, ‘Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.’” 2 Kings 4:1-7, NLT

In life, we manage changing circumstances, losses, pressures, and ambitions that make us vulnerable. Our bodies are susceptible to disease, abuse, and accidents. Our minds regularly cope with a wide range of emotions such as confusion, fear, anger, and trust. All of these can increase our sense of vulnerability in ways that can affect the rest of our lives.

A father of a young daughter with Down syndrome fears that she will grow up in a harsh and violent world. While he can’t be with her every minute, he longs to protect her so she can become the sociable, funny, loving woman of faith that God created her to be.

In the story recounted in 2 Kings 4:1‑7, a husband’s death brought economic hardship, poverty, and suffering to his wife. She became vulnerable to creditors, and if she failed to pay, her two sons would be taken as slaves (4:1). There was no governmental assistance, insurance policy, or benefit system to save them.

She sought out the prophet Elijah, who offered help. He began by asking what she had in the house. He concentrated on what she had, not on what she lacked. She had nothing except a flask of olive oil (4:2). Next, he involved the close community around her by instructing her to borrow as many jars as possible from her neighbors (4:3). She filled the jars to the brim until there were no more jars left, and the oil stopped flowing (4:5‑6). Then Elisha told her to sell the oil, pay off the debts, and live on what was left over.

What God did for this widow happens often in the lives of his followers. When we’re stressed and filled with anxiety, God’s Word offers practical guidance. His miracles frequently make use of the resources we have right in front of us. Be careful not to miss the miraculous in the middle of the ordinary!

by Joni Eareckson Tada, from the Beyond Suffering Bible

This is what God wants—hearts burning with a passion for future things, on fire for Kingdom realities that are out of this world. God wants his people to be aflame with his hope and to have an outlook of pure joy that affects the way they live their lives. God wants each of us to be “like a city on a hilltop” (Matt 5:14) and “a lamp . . . placed on a stand” (Matt 5:15) so that everyone around us will be encouraged to look heavenward.

A perspective like this doesn’t happen without suffering. Affliction fuels the furnace of heaven-hearted hope. People whose lives are unscathed by affliction have a less energetic hope. Oh, they are glad to know they are going to heaven; for them, accepting Jesus was a buy-and-sell agreement. Once that’s taken care of, they feel they can get back to life as usual—dating and marrying, working and vacationing, spending and saving.

But suffering obliterates such preoccupation with earthly things. Suffering wakes us up from our spiritual slumber and turns our hearts toward the future, like a mother turning the face of her child, insisting, “Look this way!” Once heaven has our attention, earth’s pleasures begin to pale in comparison.

What has suffering taken away from you? Don’t allow your heart to dwell on such earthly disappointments. God permits suffering to draw our attention to heaven where that which was lost—and more—shall be restored. Suffering forces us to look forward to the day when God will close the curtain on all disease, death, sorrow, and pain (Rev 21:4). Until then, we have work to do! Jesus says, “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work” (John 9:4),

Lord of heaven, turn my heart toward you this day.
I set my mind right now on things above.

by Julie, a Beyond Suffering Bible reader

You never think your life is going to be filled with trials, unexplained circumstances, or never understanding “why me.” If you had asked me years ago what I would be experiencing today, I never would’ve answered debilitating chronic pain, brokenness, emptiness, and loneliness. We know there will be difficulties, but feeling like there is no light at the end of the tunnel made me feel abandoned by God, my Abba Father.

I started looking at every area of my life and labeled each one with the word: failure. I started wondering if maybe all of this is my fault—I am such a failure and have messed things up so badly that I don’t deserve a life without pain. That was the only way I could make sense of my health problems. I didn’t want to be around people because I felt I was an inconvenience and that I had no purpose.

I started reading the Beyond Suffering Bible, and it’s been quite a journey. There are still pitfalls and trials, but I have been encouraged more than I ever imagined. I felt like someone understood me, someone cared. It was like a door flew open and I could see a much bigger picture. Instead of hiding from my Abba Father, I now run to him and focus on him through my pain and struggles.

I still struggle every day with unimaginable pain and limitations. But I see things differently now. I feel closer to God than ever before, and it has made me examine my life. There are sins I need forgiven, and there are people I need to forgive. I don’t want anything, including my pain and suffering, to get in the way of my relationship with an amazing, loving God. Or to let it diminish the purpose he has for me. I have a purpose. God has a plan. And I’m addicted to reading my Beyond Suffering Bible.

When Jeff Hilliard purchased a T-shirt cannon, he thought he would be blasting shirts into crowds at Christian concerts, not leading a mission to get Bibles into the hands of military personnel across the globe. But what Jeff is keenly aware of is when you leave something in God’s hands—even a T-shirt cannon—he will use it for his glory.

“When I got the cannon, I wanted to take it for a test run, and my buddy said, ‘why not put stuffed monkeys in there instead?’ I thought he was crazy, but when we gave it a try at the concerts, the people in the audience went nuts. That’s when I got the name ‘the Monkey Commando,’” said Jeff.

Though not Jeff’s favorite nickname, the Monkey Commando was soon well-known across Southern California.

“Totally out of the blue, I got a call from a chaplain of a military base near us. He asked if the Monkey Commando could come and shoot monkeys to the kids on the base during a concert. I, of course, said yes, and that is what started our connection with the military. Soon we found ourselves traveling to military bases to put on Christian concerts and, of course, shoot stuffed monkeys from the cannon, and Operation Worship began,” said Jeff.

While at one of these events, Jeff sat down with the chaplain on base and asked him, if the sky was the limit, what would he want for his military personnel?

“I was floored when he said Bibles. I said, ‘There are all kinds of places you can get free Bibles.’ He said, ‘But those aren’t the kinds of Bibles we need.’”

The chaplain shared three specifics: It must include both Testaments, you have to be able to carry it in your pocket, and the cover needed to be camo to match uniforms.

“I’m a web guy. I didn’t know anything about publishing Bibles, but I knew we had to make this happen. Through some friends, I reached out to Tyndale House Publishers, and they made the chaplain’s dream come true” said Jeff. “Not only did it include all the chaplain’s specifications, it was in the New Living Translation, which couldn’t be more perfect for this ministry.”

The first 25,000 copies of the first edition of the Operation Worship Bible in Army camo were sent to Fort Hood. Word spread quickly, and within a week the Bibles were gone. Since then, more than 1.5 million Operation Worship Bibles have been distributed to military personnel around the world. The Bibles are available in camo matching every branch of the military’s uniforms and with different unit insignias, signifying that the Word of God is uniquely personal for each one of us.

Recently, with the help of a donor, Operation Worship was able to give every member of the Belize Defense Force an Operation Worship Bible with the Belize military logo. (see the video)

“U. S. Military chaplains and commanders from all over the world have reached out asking, ‘Are you the Bible guy? How can I get Bibles?’ They know the importance of this ministry. When you get on a plane or a boat heading to who knows where and have no idea what you’ll be facing, you take a closer look at your life and you need the peace that only God gives,” said Jeff. “Each one of these Bibles is personal, and each person who receives one is precious. I hope that when they open that Bible they are able to understand who God is and that he has a purpose for them.”

From Monkey Commando to Bible Guy, Jeff has let God lead the way. Health issues, difficulty finding funding, and discerning the next step has brought Jeff and his wife, Patti, to their knees in prayer, asking for God’s leading.

“We told God, ‘This is your ministry, not ours. You tell us where to go and what to do,’” Jeff explained. “And God is always faithful.”

Operation Worship continues to look for partners to help them put the Word of God into the hands of soldiers all over the world. If you are interested in becoming a part of the Operation Worship story, visit OperationWorship.com. If you donate right now your donation will be matched up to 26,000 Bibles. Donate here

With the help and support of generous donors Operation Worship was able to give a Bible to every member of the Belize Defense Force. Each had the Belize Military Logo. Find out more about Operation Worship and how you can help share God’s Word with people in the military all over the world.