The revelation from the Lord given through the prophet Jeremiah was the most beautiful thing the people could hear: there is hope. Today, it is directed at those who need to believe that their suffering will end. In fact, it has ended, for the Bible says: Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53.4,5). Our preaching needs not only to bring hope to the afflicted, but also the certainty that, by believing in the Word, they will be set free by Christ

The solution to our problems was given by the Most High through Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross to deliver us from the empire of darkness. There is no longer any need for us to remain trapped in suffering because of injustice, rejection, and abandonment. The psalmist explained the reason: When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me (Psalm 27.10). God affirms that He will never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

If you have received a message of hope from the Lord to solve your dilemmas, but nothing seems to change, pray and ask Him to show you, through His Word, the direction to carry out the work. Jeremiah said: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord ( Jeremiah 17:7). Persevere!

It is good to “remind” God that delayed hope deferred even the strongest of His servants, but its fulfillment encourages the heart, as it is said in Proverbs 13.12: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. If a promise does not seem to be coming to fruition in your life, your understanding of the Word may be mistaken, or there may be something wrong in your life. So, cry out to the Father to show you the reason.

It is not always our hidden sin that prevents the Lord from working to give us blessings; sometimes it is our lack of knowledge of how He works and our distance from Him: O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. “Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” (Jeremiah 17:13). Faith comes by hearing the Word, and the fulfillment of the promise by believing; so, pray and believe (Mark 11:23).

God commanded those who hoped to return to the stronghold to receive what they asked for: Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you (Zechariah 9.12). Continue to fight in the same hope that has always guided you. The Lord may seem slow to some, but in the end, He will reward people according to the faith they place in Him.

This is the promise made to the Lord's Church: children will return to their parents. However, the enemy says that this will never happen. Who will you believe? The One who guarantees that His words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35), or the one who has never spoken the truth (John 8:44)? The devil is a thief and a liar, but God is true and keeps what He says!

        In Christ, with love,

        R. R. Soares