“Despair not only takes us to the wrong place, but it keeps us from going forward.”

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2006-11-14) from his book, Soul Cravings: An Exploration of the Human Spirit (p. 106). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Have you found that to be true? You have let something rob you of your hope and your joy and you’re not sure if you want to go on. That is a horrible place to be but it is not a place you need to stay. There is always hope.

Now if it is something that you can do something about then set out to do it. There is always, always something that can be done. You must understand that and believe that. For the most part despair is a focus problem. We get our eyes on the negatives of life; those circumstances that we think can’t be changed. But in every negative there is always something that can be changed. Even if it is just my attitude, change that and your perspective changes.

The purpose of despair is to keep you from doing anything. I love the Psalms in the Old Testament of the Bible. I read one every day. One of the reasons why I read one is to keep me focused on how to keep me from despair. David is the writer of many of the Psalms and he usually starts with some lament. He starts in despair but by the end of the Psalm he changes his focus from the problem and starts focusing on who God is and what He has done in the past and what He can do in the future. He changes his focus his perspective.

Now as you change your focus to God He will show you some things you need to change and He then will give you the motivation and the strength to make the change. He gives you hope which comes from faith in Him and His purpose for your life.

So start there. Just go to Him, ask Him to come into your life, believe that He hears you and confess your sins to Him. Then specifically ask Him about your despair. Where is it coming from and what can I do about it? Matthew 7:7 (NASB) says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be given to you.” If you accept that as a word directly from God and you do what it says, then your despair will go away and your hope will come.

“Despair not only takes us to the wrong place, but it keeps us from going forward.”

So are you going to ask Him?

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