February 4, 2021 CAC Living Water Devotional : Topic – SURVIVING A HOPELESS SITUATION
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LIVING WATER CAC DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Thursday, February 4, 2021 -World Cancer Day
SURVIVING A HOPELESS SITUATION
Read: Joel 2:21-27
Joel 2:21-27 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
MEMORISE:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12).
EXPOSITION
The man by the pool of Bethesda had actually given up the hope of recovery, because year after year, there was no one to help carry him into the water whenever the angel stirred it. What a hopeless situation! When His Redeemer eventually showed up, his hopelessness had grown so much that he could not recognise Him. His case was so pathetic (38 years of helplessness, abandonment, illness) (Jn. 5:7), one would pity him. Even Jesus knew he had no hope again, and that’s why He mercifully bypassed his hopelessness to do what He had to do. Hopeless situations are situations that seem to defy faith, prayer, and any recovery plan.
There are other cases like that in the Bible, yet Jesus brought hope to them all. The widow of Nain had thought all hope was gone. Then, Jesus showed up and her dead son came back to life (Lk. 7:11-17). The woman with the 12-years flow of blood had lost hope of deliverance, until she believed that touching the hem of Jesus’ garment would bring healing. Her testimony is desirable (Lk. 8:43-48). What are you battling with? Even if it is the dreaded cancer, as the World Cancer Day is celebrated today, God says you shouldn’t lose hope because, He is giving back ‘to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten’ in your health, finances, spiritual life, etc. (Joel 2:25).
Killing yourself or cursing God isn’t the way out to survive your hopeless situation. In fact, visiting herbalists and other satanic agents will only compound the problem. To survive: (1) believe and accept Jesus (Jn. 4:42); (2) believe and confess God’s Word, speaking it to the situation (Psa. 107:20; Ezk. 37:1ff; Heb. 4:12). (3) Exercise your faith in God (Lk. 8:25); (4) be positive, as being negative compounds and prolongs the predicament; (5) encourage yourself in the Lord; and (6) rejoice always in the Lord (Phil. 4:4).
PRAYER POINTS
1. Lord, don’t let my hope in You be lost; rise quickly to help me to shame the enemy.
2. Lord, restore to me those fortunes that have been stolen from me.
3. Lord, help our land and restore to us the fortunes that have been snatched away from us by both the internal and external thieves.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Exodus 23:32 – 26:4; Matthew 22:21 – 22:42