3 Reasons To Never Give Up Hope
Image credit: Sarah Dorweiler
“Leaders are hope-dealers.” -Napoleon Bonaparte
Notice Napoleon didn’t say that leaders are “hype” dealers.
I love hope, but I’m not much into hype.
Next week, I’ll post 4 Leadership Questions To Ask In A Crisis to help give a grid for how to navigate the unique COVID-19 season we are all in. Only hard and hopefully helpful questions; no hype.
“It’s the HARD stuff that teaches us the GOOD stuff.”
I really wish that wasn’t a true statement. But I really think it is.
And it almost goes without saying, in times like we are living in we all need hope.
Almost; because it’s still worth saying.
You and I can survive for weeks without food.
We can live for days without water.
We could last minutes without oxygen.
Yet, there isn’t a human being who can survive without hope.
When I was turning 5-years old my parents bought me a really cool gift from my birthday. It was an E.T. punching bag.
Image credit: The Irish Times
I loved beating on that punching bag! The only thing I couldn’t understand as a young boy was why E.T. could pop back up no matter how hard I knocked him down?
He had a weighted core that enabled him to bounce back up.
The good news is, so do we.
“Hope is an anchor for the soul.” -Hebrews 6:19
Most of the time when I am going through a difficult time, I just want OUT as fast as possible! You are probably the same way.
Winston Churchill taught us, “When you are going through hell, move quickly-don’t stroll!”
However, while processing the quarantine time, I keep going back to a personal prayer, “I don’t want to just survive this, I want it to serve us in some way. If I can’t get out of it and have to go through it, I want it to change me for the better.”
God loves meeting the needs of His children.
Heck, God loves meeting the needs of those who are not yet His kids.
“As much as God loves meeting our NEEDS, He loves even more to reveal His NATURE.” -Joshua Finley
God certainly enjoys to rescuing us, but His ultimate goal is revealing Himself to us.
Israel knew the acts of God but Moses got in on the ways of God.
I want the latter.
I’m sure you do too.
The apostle Paul knew a fair bit about tough times. He could’ve co-stared in True Grit.
At one particularly difficult time in his life and ministry, Paul wrote to one of the churches he helped birth and deeply loved.
He was used to giving out, but this time he needed help.
“Paul needed something more precious than money and more powerful than bodyguards; he needed prayer coverage.”
He and his team were pressed from all sides. He honestly didn’t know if they were going to make it back from this missionary journey.
We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. 2 Corinthians 1:8 NLT
Hope is developed in hard times.
Can you imagine being on a team where your leader sits you down and says, “I don’t think we’re going to make it. I expect we’ll all die!”
Especially if that leaders was one of the most faith-filled apostles on the planet!
That’s exactly what Paul said to his team and to the church in Corinth.
In fact, we expected to die. 2 Corinthians 1:9 NLT
We get real honest when we think the fat lady is about to come up on stage and start singing.
If we think we are in danger or death is a real possibility, honesty starts flowing out of us pretty easily.
Consider my nephew Cole.
Pretty stinkin’ cute huh?
One day when we were at a water park with all the cousins, he agreed to go on the log ride with his older sister. She was scared and wanted company. Cole agreed.
My brother, “Uncle Matt” took both of them, but had no idea what he was in for.
As they kept ascending higher and higher on the ride, Kaylee my niece, started saying her good-byes. “Uncle Matt, if we don’t make it down off this ride please tell Mimi and everyone I love them!”
Coles eyes got real big. REAL BIG.
His older sister thought they could possibly die on this ride and that was cause for panic!
Cole figured if he might die, he probably should start confessing some sins…no joke!
LOL. He looks at my brother and says in a rapidly shaking voice, “Uncle Matt, I’m so sorry but when I slept over your house I used your toothbrush and never told you!”
No big deal if you don’t mind your nephew’s germs one time on your toothbrush, but my brother is fairly paranoid about germs! He was ready to throw Cole over the side of the log ride and not wait for anything else to take them out :)
Point: When you think you might die you get real honest- real quick.
Like a tube of toothpaste, when we are under pressure what’s inside of us gets squeezed out.
I’m SO THANKFUL the apostle Paul was squeezed in this situation because what comes out next is a revelation that you and I can choose to live by every day, season and crisis of our lives.
But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.
And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.
2 Corinthians 1:9-10 NLT
3 Reasons To Never Give Up Hope:
#1 He DID.
Image credit: Chelseaphillips.co
Paul based his hope to get out of the trial he was in on the faithfulness of God to him in his past.
His faith was built on God’s faithfulness.
Courage by memory.
“Courage can evaporate when our spiritual memory deteriorates.” -Joshua Finley
It’s easy to have spiritual amnesia.
We’ve all done it. We’ve all probably judged the Israelites in the Old Testament for it.
The cycle is usually something like this:
Children of God get into trouble.
God miraculously comes through.
Israel celebrates in relief.
Children of God get back into trouble.
Israel forgets what God has done for them in the past.
Though armed and ready for battle, the men of Ephraim turned back because they failed to remember all God had done for them. (Psalm 78:9)
“Sometimes we have to look back in remembrance order to move forward in courage.” -Joshua Finley
There is paint-by-number.
There is death-by-chocolate.
And there is courage-by-memory.
What has God done for you in the past?
When we were you in a “jam” and cried out for help, only to see God deliver you?
I can’t always SEE what God is doing.
I can’t always HEAR my way out of a trial.
But I can always choose to REMEMBER what God has already done for me.
When we pause long enough to remember our perspective right-sizes.
“We have more promises than we do problems.” -Graham Cooke
#2 He WILL.
Image credit: Chelseaphillips.co
And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again.
-2 Corinthians 1:9
Paul understood the marriage between faith and hope.
He’s the one who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Abraham (the father of our faith) learned to have hope against all hope. (Romans 4)
This wasn’t shallow hype Paul was trying to pump himself or his team up with.
“Faith comes from hearing a Word from God. Hope comes from knowing nature of the One Who spoke the Word.” -Joshua Finley
Hope sustains what faith creates.
“Your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.” -Psalm 138:3 NLT
…He keeps every promise FOREVER… -Psalm 146:5 NLT
The Holy Spirit is a Hope-dealer and His substance of choice is the Word of God.
If He said it, He meant it.
His Word is His bond!
He’s got a pretty good track record of keeping His promises.
What has God spoken to your heart before circumstances tried to oppose it?
What did you start in obedience only to stall out in discouragement?
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you read those questions?
“Faith helps to kickstart movement, but it’s hope that sustains momentum. -Joshua Finley
#3 He WILL AGAIN.
He did come through.
He will come through.
He will come through again.
If those three reasons for rebounding, unstoppable hope were good enough for the apostle Paul than they are good enough for me.
How about you?
Could this lens, filter and cycle help you face what’s going on in your world?
After all, the alternative to the Cycle of Hope is the Cycle of Despair.
I don’t even think I need to teach it to you.
We all know it. We’ve memorized it.
We’ve preached it to ourselves far more than we’d like to admit.
We preach to ourselves FAR more than any other voice, podcast, preacher or person does to us.
I couldn’t _____.
I can’t _____.
I’ll never be able to _____.
You fill in the blanks.
Whether it’s money, fitness, addiction, shame, anxiety, fear, relationships, spiritual growth, business, education, parenting…
We’ve all preached to ourselves the Cycle of Despair. I think it’s time to flip-the-script and choose something better to work with.
“Hope rarely knows the ‘HOW’ of the process, but always chooses to focus on the ‘WHO’ behind the promise.” -Joshua Finley
There’s an Undying Flame of Hope Inside of You…
Image credit: Chris Jarvis
Growing up in a family with six kids and tons of birthday parties you would’ve of thought I would catch on.
My mom loved to use the trick candles on our birthday cakes.
Do you know what I’m talking about?? Your mom may have been one of those parents too.
I’d make a wish.
I’d empty my lungs of all the oxygen I could muster.
I’d blow the candles out…and then they’d flicker back to life. No matter how hard I blew them out, they’d always come back.
Friend, I deeply believe God is able, by His Spirit, to blow on any struggling flame in our hearts and bring them back to life.
The struggle is real.
The fear is real.
The debt is real.
The insecurity is real.
The Cycle of Despair playing like a broken record is real.
Thankfully, hope is real.
God is real.
The Cycle of Hope is real.
Let’s pray this over each other, our nation, our loved ones and our circumstances.
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
-The Apostle Paul (Romans 15:13 NLT)
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