Last week, my husband and I were visiting family in Idaho. We like to wake early each morning and spend some time in the Word, and my family has a wonderful backyard in which to do that. As the sun was rising behind us, we sat at the table, our books and Bibles spread out around us. To be more accurate, I had my Bible, but Chris was using the Bible app on his iPad.
Since my ladies Bible study group is off for the summer, I find myself a little at loose ends. I’ve spent time in 1 John and James (which is one of my favorite books) and I’ve been reading Restless by Jennie Allen on my Kindle—Chris isn’t the only one technologically connected!
Then I picked up a book Chris is reading for a future men’s Bible study group—The Hope Quotient by Ray Johnston, pastor of Bayside Church in Granite Bay, California. From the first sentence, I was hooked. Because I didn’t want to mark in his book, I opened my journal and wrote passage after passage that spoke to me. I love that about a Biblical book! I asked Chris if there was more to the study (which seemed awesome on its own) and he told me that there is a 50-day devotional, weekly messages (which I downloaded onto my podcast app) and several guest speakers.
Why is it I found this study so profound? A quote from the book by Howard Hendricks touches on that: Discouragement is the anesthetic the devil uses on a person just before he reaches in and carves out his heart.” Ray Johnston writes, He’s right. When people lose hope, they lose their ability to dream for the future. Despair replaces joy. Fear replaces faith. Anxiety replaces prayer. Insecurity replaces confidence.
I found this so appropriate as we’d been watching the news the night before—about the Malaysia airplane that had been shot down by pro-Russian militants in the Ukraine and the increased violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict. And all those feelings Ray Johnston wrote about in that one brief passage—despair, fear, anxiety and insecurity—were taking hold of me. I was losing hope.
Because Chris bought The Hope Quotient Kit, he was given a code to go onto the website at www.hopequotient.com so we could take the Hope Quotient Test. There are seven areas of life that play into the level of hope one has: Recharge Your Batteries, Raise Your Expectations (which is where I scored the lowest), Refocus on the Future, Play to Your Strengths, Refuse to Go it Alone, Replace Burnout With Balance and Play Great Defense.
Ray Johnston refers to 1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. There are countless messages in church about faith and love, but seldom is hope a hot topic. He writes, The presence of hope and confidence creates eleven major differences. You will:
Have more satisfying relationships
Be more productive
Be less affected by stress
Be more successful
Feel more satisfied
Be more compassionate
Be more willing to help people in need
Be physically healthier
Hold to higher moral and ethical standards
Be more likely to assume leadership
Be more likely to see God as loving, caring and forgiving.
As I spend the next several weeks working through this study, I hope to share my insights. You just might want to order The Hope Quotient for yourself, and join me in the study. My copy arrives tomorrow!
Comments 1
Nice post. I like the part about hope and your quote from Johnson about losing hope. You made me want to check out his book. Thanks – and keep on writing.