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!"
COMPLETION? DO WE BELIEVE GOD THAT HAS BEGUN A GOOD WORK CAN FINISH IT? HOPE IS BOTH WILL POWER AND WAY POWER…
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Philippians 1:6 (MSG) There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
COME WITH ME LET US STRETCH OUR HOPE TO GREAT EXPECTATIONS AND NEW CONFIDENCE... ABOUNDING HOPE? HOPE MOVES US FROM TERRIBLE SITUATIONS INTO A BETTER LIFE… HOPE MOTIVATES US… GOD CAN BRING WHAT IS NOT REACHABLE BY OUR HANDS TO FIND BIGGER AND BETTER.
Without hope we will feel helpless, trapped, full of stress and feeling things will never change. God’s word can help.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Psalm 147:11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
CONCLUSION: Sure we live in PERILOUS, HARD, DIFFICULT TIMES… You can be a GIVER OF HOPE TODAY TO SOMEONE… Many today are agitated and suffering in their feelings of despair, agony and gloom. Today depression, panic attacks, sadness, trouble sleeping, anxious with the desire to isolate from others. We are facing mental health and addictive behaviors. You have friends that are LIVING IN A DARK HOLE and they are trapped. People can live daily with no compassion and no passion.
Come let us enlist as a hope giver. Build others faith. SPREAD JOY! Be a peace maker… We should tell others they are loved. Tell them they are wanted and needed. SPEAK WORDS OF FAITH: MY FRIEND YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT. Speak life. Tell others today is a gift and you are precious. Train your mind to see the good and your mouth to speak good. GOD I SEEK A GREATER DISCERNMENT AND HELP MY PERCEPTION OF THE NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE AROUND ME. GOD USE MY HANDS AND HEART TO BE A HOPE GIVER… AND TO ENCOURAGE AND EDIFY PEOPLE. In all the darkness surrounding us may we see and reflect the light. When others feel like giving up --- may we invest hope in them.
DEVELOP A SPIRIT AND ATTITUDE THAT WE WILL BE HOPE GIVERS. God can help us be finishers of faith. Someday we will see Jesus face to face. Just think when you enter that beautiful city when someone comes up to you and says: IT WAS YOU WHO INVITED ME HERE. Maybe they will say: MY ARMS WERE HANGING DOWN AND YOU LIFTED ME UP. Maybe they will say: I WAS A BASKET CASE AND YOU HELD THE ROPES OF MY BASKET UNTIL I WAS SAFE.
Never give up! Never give in! Never throw in the towel! ACCEPT DIVINE HOPE! LEARN TO BE A HOPE GIVER!
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:2 (NLT2) Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (Catch us on YouTube: Wade Hughes)
