Open Chapter 1: Causes of Hopelessness

Chapter 1: Causes of Hopelessness

So many today struggle with discouragement, despair and hopelessness. Sometimes it seems this world is designed to suck every last ounce of hope out of us.

Note: If you are in the midst of hopelessness, you can skip this chapter! Go directly to Chapter 2 for some immediate practical tips and Chapter 3 for the deeper, lasting hope we all yearn for.

“One of the saddest concepts in any language is contained in the word hopeless,” says longtime minister and Foundation Institute instructor David Johnson. When people have “reached a point in life where they have lost all hope, that is tragic and indescribably painful. It can happen on a battlefield or in a hospital room; in a marriage or when we feel indescribably alone; when we’ve given our very best and know it still won’t be good enough, or when we know we failed to give our best and others are going to suffer because of our inadequacy.”

Hopelessness can attack people from many different directions, but

Open Chapter 2: Steps Toward Hope

Chapter 2: Steps Toward Hope

These practical, proven strategies can give you immediate help in dealing with the effects of hopelessness. You might think of dozens of reasons not to try, but there is one overarching reason to act—you are important to God! He loves you and wants you to break out of hopelessness.

If you are drowning in a sea of hopelessness, please grab a lifeline! Reach out to others, seek professional help and consider some of the proven and effective ways of dealing with hopelessness and depression featured in this chapter.

Taking this first step can seem impossible, but we pray that you will give it a chance. And we hope you will pray for God’s powerful, loving hand to guide you. You’ll find more about how God is the ultimate solution in the next chapter.

But first, here are some immediate steps experts advise for climbing out of hopelessness, whether what you are experiencing is mild, moderate or even severe.

Exercise

Perhaps the last thing you want to

Open Chapter 3: An Anchor of Hope

Chapter 3: An Anchor of Hope

God offers a solid hope that goes beyond anything we humans can discover on our own. Don’t wait to take hold of these sure promises from our all-powerful, loving God.

Even when every human effort fails, even when circumstances seem hopeless, there is a powerful reason to hope. There is a lifeline from our Creator. The Bible compares the lasting, stabilizing effects of spiritual hope to an anchor.

God’s promises are so sure, “we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:18-19).

In the tempests of life, God’s promises and His help can serve to ground us and preserve us. Spiritual hope can also give real meaning and purpose to our lives.

God cares

When we are adrift and battered by the troubles of life, it can seem like no one cares. But our Creator invested greatly in you and cares deeply for you. He meticulously des

Open Chapter 4: Why Does a Loving God Allow Hopelessness?

Chapter 4: Why Does a Loving God Allow Hopelessness?

Some of the most difficult questions those who believe in our loving Creator have faced are: Why does God allow evil? Why suffering and hopelessness? The Bible gives answers that make sense.

God’s nature and His love produce hope! So where does hopelessness come from?

The Bible shows it started with selfish, prideful thoughts by a powerful angel, called Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12. He rebelled against God and began a continuous campaign of hate and venom against his Creator. He committed himself to the futile goal of thwarting God’s plans. Though that is impossible, still everywhere this vicious dragon goes, he leaves evil and destruction in his wake. (Learn more in our online article “The Fall of Satan.”)

Rejecting hope

The way of hopelessness continued to evolve when this enemy lied to the first humans. He tempted them to choose pride and

Open Chapter 5: Growing in Hope Through the Holy Spirit

Chapter 5: Growing in Hope Through the Holy Spirit

God offers a gift of power and love and a sound mind through putting His very nature within us! His Holy Spirit helps us grow in hope.

Knowing the importance of hope is not enough. When our faith and hope are tested, how do we reinforce and strengthen them? How can we grow in hope?

The Bible emphasizes the source of hope and what the focus of our hope should be.

Hope in God

People have placed their hope in many things: science and technology, medicine, the military, academia, political leaders, the financial system, society, or even humanity as a whole. All of these have failed or will fail us at some point in the future.

Closer to home, we place our hope in family and friends. But even here we can too often be disappointed. Such relationships are vital and must be continually built and strengthened, but it is too much to ask family members or friends to be our only or most important hope.

The Bible makes clear that the

Open Chapter 6: Our Ultimate Hope

Chapter 6: Our Ultimate Hope

The Bible is a book of hope. God’s plan is to save us and give us a meaningful life now and forever. He wants to share all things with us and to make us His sons and daughters!

God offers us a future filled with hope!We all face enemies that we need to be saved from. God’s plan is to deliver us from all enemies.

He wants to deliver us from people who want to harm us, from habits and addictions that hold us captive, from sins that produce troubles and suffering in our lives. Even more important, our breaking of God’s perfect and beneficial laws automatically earns death—the last enemy.

And God wants to deliver us from Satan, the evil one—our first and greatest enemy.

Who will deliver us?

Jesus’ very name means Deliverer or Savior. Through Him, God made the way for us to escape all these enemies—even Satan and even death.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eve