Now I would like to share with you some Scriptures about the great future that God has planned for you. I want you to know that you are valuable and that God has a special purpose in mind when He created you.

In the song titled, "I Have a Destiny," the composer states that he has a destiny he knows he will fulfill, one that was predestined for him by God Who chose him and Who is working mightily through Him by the power of His Spirit.

It ends with the stirring confession, "I have a destiny, and it's not an empty wish for I know I was born for such a time, for such a time, for such a time as this."

What about you? How do you foresee your future?

A Future of Hope
God wants you to be full of hope, and the devil wants you to be hopeless. God wants you to expect good things to happen in your life every day. Satan also wants you to expect, but he wants you to expect doom and devastation.

The writer of Proverbs 15:15 says,

All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings], but the who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances].

Evil forebodings are simply expecting bad things to happen before they do. This Scripture clearly states that it is through these evil forebodings that our days end up filled with affliction.

In Psalm 27:13, David writes: "[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living!"

In the next verse he exhorts us, "Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord."

In Jeremiah 29:11 the Lord reveals His intentions toward us:

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

Remember, the devil wants you hopeless. He wants you to look hopeless, think hopeless, talk hopeless, and act hopeless.

But listen to these powerful words by David in Psalm 42:11:

Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Having Scriptures like this hidden in your heart will help you to be full of hope and joyful expectation. You will look hopeful, think hopeful, talk hopeful and act hopeful.

In Romans 5:5 the Apostle Paul tells us that, "Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us."

God Loves Us
In other words, we know that God loves us because the Holy Spirit teaches us so. We put our hope in God because we are sure that He loves us and has a great future planned for us. And when our hope and expectation are in Him, we never end up disappointed, deluded, or shamed.

Now you may be asking yourself, "If God has such a good plan for me, when am I going to see it?"

The answer is written in Ecclesiastes 3:17: "...For there is a time [appointed] for every matter and purpose and for every work."

God will bring to pass His plan and purpose for you in His own time. Your part is simply to do as Peter suggests, which is to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that in due time he may exalt you (1 Peter 5:6).

In Habakkuk 2:2 the Lord gave His prophet a vision of His plan for the future, commanding him to write it down so that others could read it.

But the next verse He went on to say,

But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!
(Hab. 2:3 TLB)

The writer of Hebrews 6:18-19 tells us that these things were written so that

...we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.

And Paul says that "...all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28 KJV).

Later, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul reminds us that we have purpose, saying,

Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of ) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry our His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]....
(Eph. 3:20)

God wants you to be full of hope because He is ready to do even greater things than you are able to hope for.

However, if you are hopeless—as the devil wants you to be—then you are not doing the part that God has asked you to do, which is put your hope and expectation in Him.

Believe He has a good plan for your life and trust that plan is in the process of being worked out.

Source: Healing the Brokenhearted by Joyce Meyer
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers