Then the shepherds returned to tending their sheep, they
went back to work. You ever had God do
an amazing thing in your life and you want to just camp there? If you hear people talk more about their past
than their present, they are staying there.
I love to hear what God has done in the past, but I love even more to
hear what God is doing right now! I know
that Jesus came and was in a manger and I know God did great things then too,
but I know He isn’t in the manger today, and He is doing great things. So, I said to myself ok, when it comes to
hope, running out of rope doesn’t mean you have to run out of hope. Whatever that rope is in your life, time,
money; but you have to know who your source of hope is. I have 2 definitions to give you. One is the worlds definition of hope and the
other one is a better one.
The worlds definition of hope is a feeling and expectation
and desire for a particular thing to happen.
The better one is the bible answer, hope is a desire based
on the promises of God. So, when you are
sick or lacking, when you’re in need, base something on the promises of God and
that will give you hope far greater than anything the world can give. The promises of the Lord are guaranteed. He’s never broken a promise, and He doesn’t
intend to start. And if what He promised
is different than what you are hoping for, His promise is better for that
situation. I’ll tell you something that
gets our hope, disconnectedness from the Lord, and I want to reconnect anyone
who is disconnected today. I want to
plug you in to the power of the Lord, to get you reconnected to get your hope
to come alive. When you feel connected
you feel safe. When you feel safe you
have hope. When you aren’t connected you
don’t feel safe, you feel afraid and you lose the hope that you had. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
The best news is that the hope that I’m talking about isn’t
based on that situation, which is good, because if it was based on that
situation, hope is fickle, and it becomes very difficult to have hope. There will be times before your valley, God
will put you up, like a hill, and when you are up that is going to allow you to
see farther than where you’re at in the natural. When you get down to the
valley, you remember what you saw ahead, don’t lose that because you’ll need
that. What happens when God tells you
something today but doesn’t connect the dots until 2 years later. What will you do between that word today and
2 years later? Will you stay on course
or will you say, know what, there’s been no signal between me and You, so I’m
turning around and I’m going back. Most
dangerous thing you can do. If you stay
on course there will be another signal coming, I promise you. God will confirm His word. It will happen over and over as you stay on
course to connect you to that thing eventually.
That brings hope.
H – hearing, pay attention to what the Lord is saying to
you.
O – obey it. Overall,
bring it back to God. If you miss it,
bring whatever it is back to the Lord and get lined up again with God
P – proclaim. Tell
people.
E – endure. Stay
connected with the Holy Spirit through the process. When the Lord asks you to endure something
it’s because there is life on the other end.
Romans 15:13
13 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.
I’m to abound in hope.
Through the power of Holy Spirit.
When the power of the Lord sits on your life long enough, things
break. Worries break, fears break. Do not be afraid. Why?
When your hope is connected to the Lord, He will see those things come
to pass. Fear comes when you are doing
your own way, it worked for so long, but now you’re so far from shore, the
engine has failed, and you lost your paddles and now you’re afraid because you
did it your own way and you’re way out there.
Now the Lord is gracious, thankfully, and I believe He will bring you
back and start you again. Everybody
needs hope to endure life.
When your hope is based on God’s promises, when your hope is
based on what He says, and the only way to know what He’s saying is to read His
word; He will keep His promises.
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