Finding Hope When Life Feels Hopeless

God is on your side. This truth is essential to remember when you feel like giving up. What dream have you buried? What desire have you abandoned because it made your heart too sick to carry one more day?

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He restores. He raises up old dry dead bones and makes armies out of them. He turns heart-stopping failure into inspiring, confidence-building success.

What happens when we lose hope?

There was an American prisoner of war held in Vietnam who was described by his fellow soldiers as a strong and sure Marine. One day he began to shuffle around the camp, becoming increasingly disconnected from the world around him. Finally, he laid down, curled up on the ground, and died. His last words were, "Wake me up when it's over."

It doesn't matter how strong, rich, or talented you are. If life becomes hopeless without God, that is the final destination - hopelessness. You cast off restraint. You give up. You can't go on.

Why does God make us wait for our dreams?

God has a vision for you that's absolutely necessary for your life. He speaks through the desires He plants in your heart when you delight yourself in Him. He waters big dreams - yes, impossible dreams that require His supernatural working hand.

But as much as He wants you to have the dream, the reason it will always require a time period is because it's absolutely imperative that God impart patience into each one of us. James 1 says it's only when we develop the virtue of patience that we become complete.

The goal might be a successful business, a ministry, or a life-saving medicine. But if you obtain only the dream without developing patience in the process, you will likely self-destruct.

Look at the evidence:

• Entertainers achieve star status only to become strange human beings who can't hold marriages together and display signs of mental illness and addictions 
• Business moguls become titans of wealth only to fall into a God complex
• Intellectuals award themselves prizes as they experiment on societies for "the greater good"

What is the cure for "give-up-itis"?

John Leach, a visiting senior research fellow at the University of Portsmouth, wrote that the term "give-up-itis" was coined by a medical officer during the Korean War. It describes a condition where a person develops extreme apathy, gives up hope, relinquishes the will to live, and dies despite the lack of an obvious physical cause.

The cure is found in Proverbs 29:18: "Where there is no vision, no redemptive revelation of God, the people perish. But he who keeps the law of God, which includes that of man, blessed, happy, fortunate, enviable is he."

In another version: "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint. But happy is he who keeps the law."

The cure for give-up-itis is a vision, a revelation of God that you can put your trust and hope in. The redemptive revelation that He has a plan for you. No matter how you feel right now, no matter how bad things look in this moment, God is greater. He loves you and is not willing that any should perish.

How do I stop trying to fight my own battles?

In 2 Chronicles 20:15, God says: "Listen carefully, all you people. The Lord says this to you. Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's."

We all tend to think the battle is ours. Many sinners know they're in sin and would love to get out of their mess, but feel like it's their duty to clean themselves up first before they can come to God. They end up feeling utterly hopeless because ultimately they know they can't fix themselves.

None of us can forgive ourselves of our own sins. None of us can set ourselves free from sin and bondage. We all need God.

Isaiah 1:18 says: "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool."

Jesus took on the battle to defeat sin because we didn't stand a chance against it. Jesus took on the battle to defeat sickness because we didn't stand a chance. God took on the ownership of our battles when we call Him Abba Father.

How can I practically apply "don't give up" to my life?

1. Know the objective. Decide your purpose.

There's an old parable of three bricklayers. Each are asked what they're doing:

• The first says, "I'm laying bricks."
• The second says, "I'm building a church."
• The third answered, "I'm building the house of God."

The first has a job. The second has a career. And the third has a calling.

It's common to give up on a job. It's far less common to give up on a career. And it's very uncommon to give up on a calling, a true calling.

You must know the objective and decide your purpose in the matter at hand with God's help. Can you imagine playing football but not knowing the goal? That's why so many good people give up on life. They don't truly know the objective, so their purpose is unintentional.

2. Encourage yourself in the Lord.

Yes, God will fight for you, but you've got to do your part. Quit going over and over the loss, the offense, the trauma. There's no good or profit in that.

Start saying what the Lord says about you: 

• "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
• "No weapon formed against me shall prosper."
• "God has thoughts and plans for me, for peace and blessing, not destruction, but to give me a future and a hope."
• "God so loves me that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, so that I would have eternal life."

Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." You do that. Don't be one of those people that delegates their spiritual tasting to a ministry. At some point, you've got to self-feed.

3. Work the vision.

Emptiness talks and it sounds like sadness. Fullness talks and it sounds like gladness. Empty wants to give up. Full wants to go up.

It's not enough to be healed. What are you healed for? For life, for love, for giving and helping and encouraging others. That's working the vision.

Your repetition determines your persuasion. If you keep repeating that it's hopeless, then you will have a decided belief that it is hopeless. God cannot contradict your choice for death and cursing.

If you see yourself as losing, you'll always lose. If you see yourself as failing, you'll always fail, even when you're winning. If you see yourself as God's child with His favor and grace, then you will live in that reality.

See it, believe it, receive it. That's how faith works.

Life Application

Jesus makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). It doesn't matter how old you are or what mistakes you've made. God's mercies are new every morning.

The enemy wants you to give up, but God is sending you this message: Don't give up. He dearly loves His children and doesn't want you buying into the lie that it's hopeless.

This week, take these practical steps: 

• Write down your God-given purpose. What is the objective He has for your life?
• Create a list of 5-10 Bible verses that encourage you, and read them aloud daily. 

• Identify one vision God has given you and take one small step toward it each day. 

Ask yourself:

• Am I trying to fight battles that God wants to fight for me? 
• What repetitive negative thoughts do I need to replace with God's truth? 
• Am I seeing myself as God sees me, or through the lens of my failures?
• What would change if I truly believed the battle belongs to the Lord?

Remember, God is on your side. He fights against those who fight against you. Don't give up!