Five years ago, obeying the clear voice of our Lord to create an online ministry of gospel hope alongside my suffering sisters in Christ, all of us under the weight of a frightening pandemic, this hymn rolled into my thoughts continually. It still is…even more so today!
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
(“Blessed Assurance,” Crosby, F., p.d.)
Little did I know what would later come with my increased personal suffering. In agony lately, Job’s words have been mine:
“What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?” (Job 6:11, 13 ESV)
Before my ongoing sufferings worsened, I’d written a book to help us all sing our gospel hope to our hearts when Job-like suffering hits, to battle the enemy’s lies with the sword of the Spirit.
I desperately need to sing my gospel hope into those lies more than ever.
When the enemy daggers me with lies that this suffering must mean…
- God doesn’t love me…
- I’m alone. No one cares or understands…
- I somehow need to earn His favor…
- Things can never be OK again…
I must fight with God’s gospel truth!
How can you and I maintain hope when our prayers seem to go unanswered for years?
Because it often feels hopeless when years of God’s “no” or “wait” answers happen. Let’s fight the lies with our blessed assurance, our gospel hope!
Beloved in Christ, I’m utterly convinced that God’s grace-filled gift of believing and trusting the gospel is His gift of sure hope when earthly suffering lingers long.
A prayer for blessed assurance as we suffer
Lord,
Remind us of our blessed assurance as we wait. Please give us peaceful rest in our promised eternal hope and assured inheritance as those in Christ!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God…
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13 ESV).
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Eph. 1:14 ESV)!
Whisper Your abiding love to our hearts to give us blessed assurance in Christ
Christ Jesus, You are our alive, living hope (1 Pet. 1:3). We are walking through suffering with and in You. Never alone.
Perfect submission, perfect delight…
Care for us by helping us to see Your perfect submission to our Father. Help us to see our Father’s perfect delight in You. Help us to trust that we now have His perfect delight too, as ones clothed in Your perfectly righteous submission to Him. We could never perfectly submit to Your perfect law, but You did, in our place!
Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him (Heb. 5:8-9 ESV).
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight!
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations (Rev. 22:1-2 ESV).
Angels descending, bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Enduring peace in our unchanging gospel hope
Triune God, this is Your gospel hope that never changes, regardless of our earthly circumstances changing. Because sometimes…they don’t, even though we desire easier and more comfortable circumstances.
Truth is? You don’t promise a comfortable life on earth.
So, what is our hope when everything seems so broken? You promise a peaceful, shalom, perfect-in-every-way life in Your restored new heaven and earth! This is what we’re waiting for! Aching for…
Knowing Your glorious love story’s ending for my life, my gospel hope in Christ, helps my heart to sing this lyric as I look forward to what is coming.
Perfect submission, all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love.
Truth is? With this bright hope for tomorrow, we have hope today, because You’ve given us another day with Your continual care. You understand our every need, so we can safely come to You with anything. You promise Your peace and presence amid our earthly suffering. It’s a hope in Your abiding love and delight in us right now and always, Your merciful compassion to us as we suffer…as those who are in Christ Jesus.
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Singing our gospel hope, the glory that is to be revealed to us!
Savior, help us to praise You “all the day long,” so we might believe this solid and sure hope You’ve given to us, singing gospel truths to our souls! For this is the love story You’ve written for us. This is the endless song we will sing to You when we live, walk, work, and play with You in endless delight! Help us to worship You now as we wait for our Father’s appointed day when You return and finally restore all things to “perfected” submission and “perfected” delight, when there will be no more sin, no more suffering!
No more foretaste, but our forever reality with You!
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Rom. 8:18 ESV).
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long!
Amen!
Material adapted from Singing the Gospel to Job: Finding Hope in Suffering, Lauri A. Hogle, © 2022
Singing of our blessed assurance, our gospel hope in Christ, as we suffer
Oh, the waiting is so hard as we live in this evil age, isn’t it? Let’s sing our gospel hope this week! How my soul needs it. Does yours? If singing about our blessed assurance would help you endure your suffering too, I can send my professionally curated playlist to your email as we walk alongside one another with gospel hope in Christ!
Sign up here if this would bless you, sister in Christ. Or see below for other resources of our ministry.
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