By Paul Cole

Today I turned 65. I was supposed to write this article on hope for a new day. I can’t think of a worse assignment on this day in my life or the best assignment of my life. Is there life after 65? Well, give me a few years and I will tell you the results.

On a more serious note, in a couple of weeks, July 4, 2014, we will celebrate 238 years of freedom here in the U.S., but we can see some dark clouds facing our nation. People are asking if our country will survive. People wonder, do we have any hope? We do if we put our hope in God.

Hope Means God Chose You

We may believe God’s blessings belong to someone who has a better track record than we have. So we sit on the sidelines because of our past failures. Well, I have some good news for you. God promises, “I will take you . . . I will make you . . . I have chosen you” (Haggai 2:23). That promise applied to Zebrubbabel, who had little going for him, and it applies to you and me. Will we act on our divine call for the glory of God?

Hope Means God’s Power

Many times we look at the decisions made by our government and our hearts break. Laws enacted each year defy God’s design for humanity. We feel injustice. We say, “It is a shameful day!” 

When the government doesn’t respond in the ways that we wish, what hope do we have for our nation, our homes, and our churches? Do we raise the white flag and surrender, or do we do what God told us to do, “Stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it” (Ezekiel 22:30)?

We stand in the gap and we do so by God’s power. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). With that hope and power, we can change our nation and the world.

Paul and his wife, Margaret, minister at Town and Country Christian Church in Alva, Oklahoma.