The following is a devotion from my message series 10 Steps to Freedom. I hope these devotionals help you experience lasting freedom in Jesus!

STEP ONE: day 3

Fill your soul with the hope of Jesus

The Old Testament character of Job was having more than just a bad day. An ancient follower of God, his story is recorded for us as a powerful example of how hope can save a life. After losing his wife, his children, his wealth and even his health, Job had every reason to despair. In fact if you read his entire story you’ll discover that one of the biggest struggles he battled with was for hope. At his lowest he said,

“What strength do I have that I should still hope?” Job 6:11

Addiction has the power to strip away all hope of freedom until we’re left with the oppressive blackness of despair. That’s right where our enemy the devil wants you: hopeless to ever experience freedom. That’s why Jesus had to come to die for us, because we were dead and hopeless in our sin. And it’s in the death and resurrection of Jesus that we place our hope. That’s the secret, the first step towards freedom: you can’t free yourself. You’re just not strong enough or disciplined enough or powerful enough to free yourself. No one is! Only Jesus can free you, because Jesus is God. It was hope in God that Job had to fight for to make it through his greatest trials:

“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in God. “ Job 13:15

If Job clung to hope in God, so can you. God ultimately redeemed Job’s life, just like He wants to redeem yours.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. As overwhelmingly hopeless as it might seem for you to ever be free, it’s actually more hopeless to expect a dead man to rise from the grave. And yet Jesus did just that. How should that change the way you think about whether freedom is ever possible for you?

2. Read Isaiah 40:29-31. What happens to those who put their hope in the Lord?

You can read other devotional entries for 10 Steps to Freedom here.