BE A Hopeful Person....

AND MAKE EVERY DAY BETTER!

By Joyce Meyer

Did you know you can have hope right now? Your don't have to wait days, weeks, months, or years to expect God to move. He's with you, and He's already moving in your life. Psalm 71:14 says, "But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more."

A hopeful person doesn't hope occasionally or sporadically. And a hopeful person certainly doesn't wait until tomorrow to expect something good from God. A hopeful person is continually hopeful, choosing to hope every day...all throughout the day.

There are some practical steps we can take to be continually hopeful - filled with the happy anticipation of good and making every day count.

PRAY ONE BOLD PRAYER EACH DAY

If you have hope, you're never afraid to believe big. In fact, I like to say that hope is the platform that faith stands on. That's why it's good idea to go to God with a bold prayer today. You can't live with expectation today if you haven't had the faith to make a request.

Whatever it is that's in your heart, if it lines up with the Word of God, dare to ask confidently and then wait expectantly. God loves bold prayers. He answered them time and time again in the Bible, and He still answers them today. Exercise hope, stand in faith, and ask Him for something bold-and do it now.

DO SOMETHING FUN EACH DAY

Sometimes we lose our hope simply because we lose our joy. Instead of enjoying life every day, we get burned out by bills and discouraged by dilemmas. Why not decide to do something fun each day? It doesn't have to be a daily trip to Disney World. It could be as simple as coffee with a friend, watching a comedy with your family, or a walk in the park-anything that brings a smile to your face.

If you want to be continually full of hope, plan fun things that will create a sense of anticipation. Hope and joy go together; so plan something fun and go through your day enjoying God's presence and every blessing He gives you.

We all need fun and enjoyable things to look forward to. Today I am writing for several hours. I also plan to go for coffee with some friends later, do a little shopping, and go out to dinner tonight. When I plan my day, I always include something that I can look forward to. Don't wait until you retire to think about enjoying life-enjoy life now.

BLESS AT LEAST ONE PERSON EACH DAY. I love looking around and finding people I can bless. It's such a blessing to bless others! If you really want to enjoy your day, I suggest you help someone else enjoy theirs. Maybe you can buy someone's lunch, give encouraging complement, or tell someone they are important to you and that you appreciate them.

Ask God to show you how you can be a blessing and then follow His instruction. As you look to meet the needs of others, you're going to be surprised at how easy it becomes to hope and believe that God is going to meet your needs as well. Don't put off being a blessing. Do it today-be a blessing now.

WRITE DOWN AT LEAST ONE WAY EACH DAY THAT GOD HAS BLESSED YOU. Hope thrives in an atmosphere of thankfulness. If you want to live with hope on a continual basis, spend each day looking for ways the Lord had blessed you. You're going to be surprised at the number of things you'll find. The more you realize how God is blessing you NOW, the more hopeful you will be that you will see even greater things.

At the end of each day, take a moment to write those things down. Start a "testimony of hope" journal. Some days you might have one or two things to jot down, other days you might have 10 or 20 things, filling an entire page. Start documenting God's goodness in your life and watch how easy it is to never live one day without vibrant hope.

I want to challenge you to go ahead and to get your hopes up! Something great could happen. A breakthrough could take place today. You don't have to wait until tomorrow to believe it-believe it today!