Hope; Plus or Minus

Sunday’s Monday

I Have had a great week this week! My wife is being healed of a bronchial Infection and my projects are going quite well. I had the privilege of delivering Meals on Wheels Wednesday and had a blast. My daughter Christy Findley and my oldest grandson William Findley returned safely from Costa Rica Sunday. So, I feel blessed beyond measure and give all thanks to God for it.

Hope! I hear it a lot and it seems we’ve created different meanings, to fit one’s personal reference or life style. For example: My hope is in God; strong, direct and positive, or I hope I’m going to heaven; weak, uncertain and negative. Dictionary.com defines Hope (noun) the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: I looked up noun which read, A noun is known as an attributive modifier, which only refers to persons, places, things, states, or qualities. No action warranted or required! However, hope as a verb is defined as, to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence in preference to believe, desire, or trust. Using the same dictionary, I found the word verb (noun because there is no verb form for the word), any member of a class of words that function as the main elements of predicates, that typically express action, state, or a relation between two things. I checked out the definition of hope in several online bible dictionaries and the definitions were too long and to varied to print, however the one I liked best came from the bible in 1 Timothy 4:10 (NLT), This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers. My reason for liking this verse is hope is described as an action! No mistaken or hidden anything! Through hope and faith in our savior (Jesus) we can work through anything and everything. But this is where the wheels start to fall off the train so to speak. As creatures of this world we are lazy, demanding and very self-centered, ergo we are always looking for shortcuts or an easier way to accomplish things. As in our reading and study times (should we have one) becomes hit and miss while our quite times with Jesus become shorter and shorter. Our resolve toward spiritual things start to weaken, as our spirit man slips farther and farther into a cationic state. It doesn’t take long for Satan to have us singing, we are the world! This kills all forward momentum toward growing in Jesus and deafens us to the Holy Spirit. We start to believe the garbage of this world and fall into denial. It is here that we hear, I’m not so bad, I’m not as lousy as so in so, it’s not me it’s those hypocrites in that church or it’s not my fault, that’s the way I was raised. All denial, all untrue and complete garbage, straight from Satan! Please! Pay attention to this question and give it some thought once it sinks in. What is the main reason, your life is like it is? I am going to give you the answer and it will fit, should your life be perfect or in the toilet. The answer is; “YOU!” If your one of those people running your own life, your own way, I’ll show you negative hope or no hope at all. However, should you be a passionate follower of Jesus, I show you a person with plenty of problems, yet they have a peace which most can’t understand. They have a strong, positive hope that is growing because they work hard, they have a relationship with Jesus and they are growing in His ways. I after some twenty years can’t understand why I refused God’s help! Every 5-year-old knows that the task is easier when you have help with the heavy lifting, but I fought God for 40 years and it breaks my heart to see so many people doing the same thing today. I think it’s very important for every pew sitter or proclaimed Christian to check their hope meter. Is it a feeling or is it a fact of your soul? Are you an old sinner saved by grace or are you a saint, that belongs to the family of God? Unlike grace and mercy which are free, “true,” strong spiritual hope only comes though effort! A sincere passionate follower of Jesus operates out of faith and hope. Hebrews 11:1 (NLT), Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK BY BEING A BLESSING TO OTHERS!

COMMENTS / ENCOURAGEMENT WELCOMED; 04/15/2018