{"id":13226,"date":"2023-09-05T13:23:03","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T17:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=13226"},"modified":"2023-09-05T13:23:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T17:23:03","slug":"california-pastor-shares-message-to-put-hope-in-god-amid-tough-times-dont-give-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2023\/09\/california-pastor-shares-message-to-put-hope-in-god-amid-tough-times-dont-give-up.html","title":{"rendered":"California Pastor Shares Message to Put Hope in God Amid Tough Times: &#8216;Don&#8217;t Give Up&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_13235\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13235\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2023\/09\/prayer-isaiah-56-1-credit-pexels-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13235\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2023\/09\/prayer-isaiah-56-1-credit-pexels-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"prayer isaiah 56:1\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13235\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pexels.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Isaiah 56:1 says, \u201cThus says the Lord: \u2018Keep justice and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.\u201d This verse comes from the 56th chapter of the book of Isaiah, one of the latter prophets in the Old Testament. Isaiah, whose name means \u201cthe Lord saves,\u201d is sometimes called the \u201cprince of prophets,\u201d according to the website Bible Study Tools.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unclear if Isaiah wrote all of the Book of Isaiah. The events in it are believed to have happened centuries before Christ\u2019s birth. Pastor Chris Fraley told Fox News Digital in the verse, \u201cGod is speaking a promise to his people in a time of great discouragement.\u201d Fraley is the senior pastor of Wildwood Calvary Chapel, located in Yucaipa, California. When God\u2019s people looked at what was happening at the time of the Book of Isaiah, Fraley said, \u201cThey don\u2019t see any reason to live righteously and to keep justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cGod steps in and encourages them through His prophet to live with the anticipation that He is working and that salvation is coming. He reminds them that His righteousness will be revealed.\u201d This is a lesson to \u201cdon\u2019t give up because of what you see,\u201d but rather to \u201ckeep going because of what is to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V17WX7aTyAs?si=zK93a0p-oRQBeOg_\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This verse is relevant today, \u201cwhere two worldviews are clashing,\u201d said Fraley. According to the pastor, \u201cOne is a secular worldview where the line of morality is always adjusting to the culture.\u201d The other \u201cis a biblical worldview where the authority for right and wrong is God\u2019s Word.\u201d\u00a0Fraley added, \u201cFor the\u00a0child of God, everything must be looked at within our world through the lens of God\u2019s Word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This way of life can prove difficult, as not everyone lives through this lens. Fraley said, \u201cWe can lose hope. We might ask ourselves, \u2018Why is the world falling apart? Where is God in all this? Why is he allowing such horrific sin to continue?\u2019\u201d\u00a0He explained this is \u201cwhat the people were struggling with in Isaiah\u2019s day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cThe Lord reminds his people, \u2018Don\u2019t give up because of what you see in the world around you, the injustice, the depravity. Know that I am working, I am watching, and one day soon salvation will come.\u2019\u201d And while salvation may not be arriving soon, a child of God trusts that \u201cit will come in our distant future,\u201d said Fraley, \u201cwhen he calls us home, to our eternal home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The message to remain steadfast in the hope of salvation is echoed in the New Testament, said Fraley, when Luke wrote that Jesus told His followers to \u201clook up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Isaiah 56:1 says, \u201cThus says the Lord: \u2018Keep justice and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.\u201d This verse comes from the 56th chapter of the book of Isaiah, one of the latter prophets in the Old Testament. Isaiah, whose name means \u201cthe Lord saves,\u201d is sometimes&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":13235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[741,4,12],"tags":[2087,2090],"class_list":["post-13226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-inspiring-messages","category-inspiring-people","tag-isaiah-561","tag-pastor-chris-fraley"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>California Pastor Shares Message to Put Hope in God Amid Tough Times: &#039;Don&#039;t Give Up&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pastor Chris Fraley, the senior pastor at Wildwood Calvary Chapel in California, used Isaiah 56:1 to explain why we should cling to God during challenges.\" \/>\n<meta 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