Our Hope

“Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed” (Isaiah 49:23).

Wow... it's been awhile. I was working on this week's sermon and thought it worthwhile to share an excerpt. It's the Christmas season - I know this because the temperature is climbing up and sometimes beyond the 100 degree mark. This weekend we will be celebrating the Hope that we have in Jesus Christ. My desire is that your hope is firmly rooted in the truth this holiday season and beyond.

When you’re in a situation where your hope is faltering, what do you do? Do you try to solve your problem using your own intellect? Do you try to think of people, resources, and/or strategies to overcome your difficulty? Or do you initially turn to the Lord? Do you pray and tell Him about your difficulty?

Here’s what we need to do. When the situation becomes, what we determine to be, hopeless—STOP. Take that first action step and talk with Him,

“Lord, I'm in a jam. Don't know what to do. But my confidence and my hope are in you. I need You to resolve this situation. Please guide me as to what I should do. Amen.”

If we do that, will all negative experiences vaporize from our life? No. Will you always experience what you think is best for you in the given situation? No. Hope is not what we determine God should do. Hope is knowing that God works for our good. Our hope should not be placed in a desired result, but in God Himself. We trust Him to do what is best, and that may not be what we expect or desire. The guarantee that we do have is that He will not disappoint us. We won’t regret putting our hope in Him (Isaiah 49:23).

“The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love” (Psalm 147:11).

One thing to keep in mind, is that sometimes we can only see the working of God throughout an "impossible" situation, when we are looking back. Hindsight is 20/20. And with the 20/20 perspective we can see how God has been looking out for us.

This past week I prayed with our pastor from Florida (Rev. David Pletincks, 'The Dean') about some things that have been troubling me. While we were praying the Lord took me back through several memories of my childhood that have impacted my present day perception of reality. All the memories had to do with “unpopular” decisions that I made that affected my social networks in what I perceived to be negative ways. Each decision that I made was taken because I believed that choosing a different option would have placed me in a situation outside of God’s will (the fear I had for the Lord was present even before I committed my life to Him). As we were praying the Lord spoke to me and showed me that if I had made the wrong decision I would have been placed in situations that would have been very harmful to my emotional and spiritual state. He also showed me how He had replaced lost friends with better friends and lost opportunities with better opportunities. In the end of our prayer I knew that Christ was telling me, “J I accept you, I delight in you because you have feared me. Keep it up and I will continue to bless you.”

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13)

Thank you for your support. We are TEAM!