Hope
The Shawshank Redemption regularly features in the lists of the best films of all time.
Perhaps it is because of its powerful portrayal of hope.
Hope is not just blind optimism, but a certainty and assurance of God’s love and promise.
Hope means we can persevere and endure, even in the most difficult of circumstances.
What has brought you to this page today?
You may be looking for hope, or wanting to rejoice in the abundant hope you already have. Take a moment to consider:
Are you rejoicing in what God has done in your life, what you have achieved and what you have come through?
Are you looking for support in a difficult time?
Tell God how you would like God to respond.
Here's a simple prayer, say it with me
Lord, in the Bible you told Jeremiah “I know the plans I have for you”.
Make your plans clear to me, that I may live in your abundant hope.
Help me to see your plans to give you hope and a future.
Amen.
(Inspired by Jeremiah 29:11)
The apostle Paul writes a powerful message of hope in Romans 8:31-39.
Writing to a divided church in Rome, he expresses how there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God.
This message can still bring comfort to us today. God is with us and loves us, even in all our trials and tribulations. Although people can see some as ‘other’ than themselves, or will only accept them if they conform to a particular set of rules, we are assured that whoever we are, whatever we have done, whatever we have been through, we are loved by God.
Take time to read the passage now and then take a moment to sit in silence and reflect on what you have read. Try not to overthink the details, but feel how God is speaking to you through it. Some people use a practice called Lectio Divina to do this.
"What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else?... For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Give thanks to God for all the great things he has done. Here is a simple prayer activity of gratitude you can try.
This prayer was written by Novette Headley, District Chair, Birmingham District, for our daily prayers.
Faithful God, open the eyes of our hearts to recognise your presence in the seemingly hopeless circumstances of life.
Help us not to give up hope in the treasures of love, integrity and justice even when the news is dismal; when our institutions seem powerless against the forces of indifference and destruction; when people seem incapable of doing or even imagining goodness.
Deep in the darkness of the soil, O Lord, you are feeding the shoots of a new community of hope. Amongst unseen communities, you are inspiring men, women and children to dream of, and make real, a new world that is courageous, gentle and just.
Help us to value your way of being that brings true richness to life – the way of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
What are you hopeful about, or wanting hope for?
Find more prayers of hope: search for prayers on the daily prayers page.