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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for May 11, 2009
“Everything Rides on Hope Now”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
It was one week after Wendy’s college graduation.
She had two roommates, but they were not there – and Wendy inadvertently announced this fact by talking about it in a public place.
When Wendy went home, she thought it was odd that the door to their apartment was locked. You see, she and her roommates always left the door unlocked for each other.
She had a strange feeling, but she went in anyway.
Inside, waiting for her, was an armed, masked man.
Unspeakable things were done, then her attacker walked away, never to be seen again.
In Wendy’s words, “My heart grew cold. I put a wall around myself, not letting anyone or anything penetrate it. I lived for years cocooned in a prison of fear, despair, and hopelessness.”
She said she searched desperately for answers, but found none.
Finally, one desperate night, she ended up on her bathroom floor with a Bible cradled in her arms. She cried out to God, “If this book is true, if You love me, if You want the best for me, and if You have a plan and purpose for my life, then You have got to show me. Because right now, I can’t trust You, and I don’t believe in You.”
Now what about you today? Can you relate to Wendy? Do you feel like you are in a prison of hopelessness?
Well look what Wendy did. Even in her despair, she turned to God. She even said, “I can’t trust You, and I don’t believe in You.” She announced that she had no faith, and yet it was an act of faith that she held that Bible and cried out to God.
Maybe you feel like you can’t go on today. Maybe you feel like giving up, even checking out.
Well I want to say that there is hope, and that hope can be found in the Lord.
Maybe you can relate to Psalm 42:5. “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”
See, through Christ our Savior, there is always hope.
Psalms 71:14 says, “But as for me, I will always have hope…”
Why do bad things happen? God only knows, but it’s not to leave us hopeless. Not that we have everything we hope for right now. Like it says in Romans 8:24, “…hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?”
No, hope has to do with what’s coming. Romans 8:25 says that we “hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
I’m inspired by the hope of Abraham. Romans 4:18 says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed…”
I would rather err on the side of hope.
And it’s not a random, vague hope.
Our hope is in God, the same God that Romans 15 calls “the God of hope.”
First Thessalonians 1:3 says our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:23 tells us to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”
And remember, our hope is not in some religion or some made-up god. First Timothy 4:10 says our hope is in “the living God, who is the Savior of all men…”
Plus, we put our hope in His Word.
Psalm 119:47 says, “I have put my hope in Your word.”
Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Notice what was in Wendy’s hands as she sat in despair on that bathroom floor. It was a Bible, the Word of God.
So get out your Bible. Read the Word, and like it says in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him…”
And listen to the rest of the verse.
“…so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Yes, it’s possible to go from no hope to overflowing with hope.
Wendy Blight discovered this hope, as you can read in her book, “Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner.”
The Lord set Wendy free from her prison of hopelessness. She said, “God and God alone accomplished this marvelous work in my life. His faithfulness, His goodness, His Word, His Truth and His power set me free!”
There’s a line in a song by Addison Road that we’re playing a lot on Wave 94 these days. It says, “Everything rides on hope now.”
Sometimes everything gets stripped away. Sometimes our lives are ripped out from under us. And what do we have left?
Well this might be a word for you today. “Everything rides on hope now.”
Hope may be all you have left, but let me tell you, it’s enough.
Your hope in the God of hope is enough.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
http://www.wendyblight.com/
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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