Crushed Hope? Vs Hope Giver!

CRUSHED HOPE VS. BE A HOPE GIVER

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (Check out YouTube: Wade Hughes)

FREE CHEESE?

I have a box. I have a cheese cube. I eat one out of the box. I say it is delicious. I ask if there are others that like cheese. I have in the box and a huge rat trap from a hardware store… I invite someone to come and eat some free cheese with me. The cheese is hidden in the box, but what they don’t know is the cheese is set in the rat trap. (I release the spring so the trap cannot accidentally hurt someone.) When they open the box they see the rat trap and they jump away. They refuse the cheese? The crowd does not understand the free cheese is connected to the rat trap.

TRAPS HAVE TO HAVE A LURE, SOMETHING THAT IS DESIRABLE, APPEALING, BAIT… TRAPS ARE DECEPTIVE… The cheese cannot bring harm to anyone that recognizes “THE TRAP.” My friend we must recognize TRAPS FOR WHAT THEY REALLY ARE.

We have recently studied JOY… The joy of the Lord is our strength. The enemy has set a trap to KILL, STEAL AND DESTROY OUR JOY AND HOPE. Joy and hope stealers come DISGUISED. Often we refuse to acknowledge the CONSEQUENCES OF THE LOSS OF OUR JOY. Life can be a painful struggle.

THE ONLY CERTAIN THING I KNOW IS UNCERTAINTY. WE HAVE BEEN CALLED TO HOPE AGAINST HOPE…

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 Timothy 3:1 (MSG) Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead.

The light at the end of the tunnel might just be the train. Negativity is smothering our families. How can we stay optimistic in these PERILOUS TIMES… Life can be hard, tough and difficult. The trees have lost their leaves. The cold winds blow contrary to our expectations. The snow cleared, I saw a yellow dandelion in January. The dandelion spoke of hope… spring is coming. HANG ON THERE COMES A RENEWAL OF LIFE. HOPE MUST BE A PRIORITY.

2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

THERE IS ANOTHER TRAP THE ENEMY SETS BEFORE GOD’S PEOPLE… THEY LOSE HOPE AND IT CAN BE DEADLY. WHEN WE WALK IN THE DARKNESS OF NO HOPE WE WILL PAY DEARLY.

Matthew 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

Matthew 24:10 (MSG) And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other's throat, everyone hating each other.

Will we identify HOPE KILLERS? Watch people, a critical/judgmental spirit, pain, anger, hurt, bitterness, strife, a wounded spirit, division and a lack of forgiveness… just to name a few. JESUS WARNED US IN THE LAST DAYS THIS CAN BECOME THE NORM. Have we gone after the free cheese with its hidden agenda? HOPE MUST SEE BEYOND TODAY AND THE CURRENT SITUATIONS. The hurt and disappointments can make us sick.

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

*Define: Is hope a NOUN? Is it a VERB?

WHAT IS NOT HOPE? Wishful thinking? The Biblical definition offers more than a wish book.

*HOPE: a feeling of trust, A FEELING OF EXPECTATION, desire for something to happen, is more than wish, HOPE HAS A COUSIN: patience. Eagerly waiting, CAN’T SEE, beyond understanding.

*HOPE AGAINST HOPE: clinging to a mere possibility, believe even when it seems impossible, TO CONTINUE IN HOPE EVEN THOUGH IT SEEMS BASELESS, never give up,

Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Consider the enemies of hope… Can we stand on “THE GLIMMER OF HOPE, AGAINST ALL ODDS… WHEN ALL WE SEE IS HOPELESSNESS TROUBLE LIES AHEAD. ABRAHAM AGAINST ALL HOPE, AGAINST ALL EMOTIONS, AGAINST ALL VISUAL PERSUASIONS BELIEVED THE PROMISE AND WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS TOOK GOD AT HIS WORD!

Romans 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be

Romans 4:18 (MSG) When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"