the unsung hero - hope

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD,

and whose hope the LORD is.” (Jeremiah 17:7)

Of the three Christian virtues, hope may be the least mentioned. Yet, hope is powerful; it is the bedrock of our faith (Hebrews 11:1). We are saved by hope (Romans 8:24). The object of hope must be something good, something future and there must be expectation of actually obtaining the object. Romans 8:24 says, "Hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it?" Faith works by love and hope fuels faith; for hope is the desire and expectation of something promised. The blending of faith, hope and love give the portrait of the Christian existence.
Today, our world is in trouble. The economy is failing, many are losing their jobs and homes. Heinous crimes are increasing and wars are still being fought with the threat of new attacks. Many are losing hope. Many have placed their hope in things or people which fail to meet the expectation. The only safe object of hope is Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the LORD.” We also cannot trust in money or things. Luke 12:15 says, “for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
We were once aliens and strangers to the household faith. We were without God and therefore without hope (Ephesians 2:12). But, God came to give us hope. He is our hope and the promise of His word gives us hope. We have no reason for hopelessness, dismay or despondency. Hope is our flotation device that keeps us afloat in the midst of turbulent times.
The hope of glory will empower us to live a holy and clean life (I John 3:3). Even in the face of challenges and adverse circumstances, don’t lose hope! Have confident trust in God and expect Him to come through for your situation. The unsung hero of hope in God will never make us ashamed, disappoint or delude us (Romans 5:5). Stay dressed fully in the armor God. I Thessalonians 5:8 says, “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.”

prisoner of hope

“Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope:

even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.”

(Zechariah 9:12)

We are all prisoners, or slaves, to something whether we care to admit it or not. Romans 6:18 says, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” The Jews had a problem with this truth. They told Jesus in John 8:33, “They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” They didn’t think they had been in bondage to anyone although history gave quite another story. They had been in captivity in Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. Jesus was referring to the much greater bondage to sin.
Zechariah told the people their sins caused them to be in a ‘waterless pit’ (v. 11). They were in a place they could not escape on their own neither survive without outside aid. But, God always gives the remedy! He exhorted them to return, or repent, to the stronghold. The stronghold is JESUS. In Him, they would find refuge from fear of the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and the assaults of spiritual enemies. In returning, God declared that he would also give them double; double comforts for their sorrow, double blessings and double honor. This is the promise to his people and the gospel message we declare to sinners: Run to the stronghold and become a prisoner of hope! Receive and accept Christ which is ‘in you, the hope of glory’ (Colossians 1:27).
For believers, we already have this hope in us – JESUS CHRIST! We have “fled to him for refuge and have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary” (Hebrews 6:18-19). We are waiting for the redemption of our bodies, long for a better place and our eternal home. We wait in anticipation and expectation of the future good God has in store for us.
Dwell in the stronghold and regardless of the situations and circumstances we can hope in the promises of God that He will deliver and restore double to his beloved sons and daughters. If you must be a prisoner to something, be a prisoner of hope!

you told me, now show me

“Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord,
and do not [practice] what I tell you?”
(Luke 6:46 ~ Amplified Bible)

The highest form of worship is obedience. The prophet Samuel spoke to king Saul and said, “Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams.” God desires and requires obedience to His commands and statutes. Words must have corresponding actions to bring delight to the Lord.
Jesus confronted the ‘lip service’ of the people of who followed Him. He quoted from the prophet Isaiah when he said in Isaiah 29:13, “Forasmuch as this people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” With their lips they called Him Lord, but with their actions they denied His Lordship. They called him ‘Lord, Lord.’ The title ‘lord’ means ‘to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; the owner; one who has control of the person, the master; is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master.’ Basically, in today’s vernacular, Jesus was saying, “you call me Lord and come to me with your lips but I do not have decision making power in your life; I am not your owner, and I do not have control of your life and your actions prove it! You told me I was your Lord, now show me.”
The sad truth is that, “Not everyone who keeps saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven” (Luke 7:21). The scriptures continue to let us know that many people will stand before the Righteous Judge and having done many wonderful works, even to casting out devils in His name, will be called workers of iniquity.
Is Christ truly Lord of your life? Are your actions collaborating evidence to your profession of Christ being lord of your life? Does He have the decision making power in your life? Does He have control, power and authority of every area of your life? He does desire to rule and reign on the throne of your heart. Don’t just call him Lord, show Him [and others] that He is Lord by walking in obedience to His word.

KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT EXPERIENCE

"[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!" Ephesians 3:19 ~ The Amplified Bible

When I had my first child, I had a wonderful doctor. She was very knowledgable of everything that was happening with my body and the development of the baby. She walked me step-by-step through each trimester and sympatheized with my lethargy and fatigue. One day I decided to ask if she had ever had a baby. Her response was “No.” I found that to be quite interesting. With my second child, I happened across this same doctor. When she stood up, I could tell she now had experience to go along with her years of knowledge. She was six months pregnant! Now, because of her first hand experience, a good doctor was now a better doctor!
Most people have heard the song, “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me.” This is the truth: Jesus does love us! However, the Apostle Paul prayed that we would know the love of Christ past mere knowledge. Paul wanted us to move past a general knowledge and intelligence of Christ’s love to having the experience of His unfailing love. Paul equates having the experience of God’s love with complete fulfillment. He prayed that we would know God with our hearts and not just our heads. He knew that the completeness, fulfillment and complete satisfaction comes with knowing God’s unconditional love.
How do we experience God’s love? The Apostle Paul says, first we must be strengthened inwardly by the Holy Spirit before Christ can come and dwell in our hearts by faith (v.16 &17). His love is so extreme; our inward man must be ‘prepped’ before we can receive it! The inward strengthening enables us to be rooted and grounded in His love and then ultimately be filled with the fullness of God. Even in all this, God’s love is ‘unsearchable, inexhaustible and is so amazing it is more than I can understand’ (Psalm 139:6). God will do whatever needs to be done, at whatever cost, so that we will see and be satisfied with His love and His love alone.

MADE FREE

“And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.”
(John 8:32)

Freedom is priceless. Anyone who has ever visited a jail and heard the doors slam shut behind you knows it can be quite a sobering experience. The consolation in going behind those bars is knowing you can get out when you desire!
Jesus came to set us free from the power of sin, the penalty of sin and ultimately, one day, we will be free from the presence of sin. Because of the finished work of Christ on the cross we have power over sin and should not “let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires” (Romans 6:12). Most of us, if not all, rejoice in the fact that we have been free from the penalty of sin, but fail to enter into the truth that we have freedom and victory over the power of sin.
Jesus gave the prerequisites for this glorious freedom. Freedom comes from continuing in His word and knowing the truth of His word. By knowing His word, we mean that we are intimate with Him. Psalm 119:6 says, “I will delight in your principles and not forget your word.” This knowing goes beyond head knowledge to heart experience. It means that we begin to meditate and delight in His word. To continue in the word of God means to ‘remain, abide or to keep.’ In order to experience freedom, a person must live in accordance with the word of God.
Frederick Douglas, the abolitionist, was taught how to read by his slavemaster’s wife. She was breaking the law by teaching slaves to read. When her husband discovered this, he strongly disapproved, saying that if a slave learned to read, he would become dissatisfied with his condition and desire freedom. Douglas had been made free by learning to read. Armed with this information, he escaped and ‘set’ himself free. In the same way, Satan knows that if we become intimate with the word of God and discover the power and authority that we have been given, we will be made free. We will become dissatified with being slaves to sin and will exercise the power to set ourselves free.
Psalm 119:45 says, “I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments.” Know the truth! Be free!

THE NAKED TRUTH

“For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”
2 Corinthians 13:8)

The Truth and the Lie went down to the river to take a swim. While the Truth was underwater, the Lie slipped out of the river, stole the Truth’s clothes and ran into the town where he paraded as the Truth. When the Truth realized that the Lie was gone from the river, he got out of the water, only to discover that his clothes were gone. At first, he did not know what to do. He concluded to go into town as the Naked Truth. Everyone thought the Lie (dressed as the Truth) was indeed the Truth, and preferred to look at what they thought was the Truth. But no one could deny what was really the Naked Truth.

Many things may be true, but The TRUTH is what agrees with final reality. The truth can be opposed, but it cannot be stopped. Any opposition to the truth makes it even stronger, it becomes the Naked Truth!
The Apostle Paul had warned the Corinthian church on two occasions to deal with sin in the midst of them. He admonished them to examine themselves to see if they were really in the faith. He warned that when he comes again, he will deal with those who were disobedient and not spare. In verse 7, Paul encourages them to do what is right because it was more important to him to know they were living holy than to prove he was right about the strong letters he was writing to them. He said righteous and holy living would stand as brilliant truth when he arrived and he would be able to encourage them rather than bring strong correction. Paul was rooting for the truth of God’s word to stand in the lives of the Corinthian believers.
The truth of how we live our lives will speak for itself, whether it is good or bad. We determine how God will deal with us when He comes. Do we oppose the truth of God’s word by how we live our lives on a daily basis? Do we oppose the truth of God’s word by our speech? We may dress up lack of prayer, lack of study of the word with religious rituals, but the naked truth of our hearts will speak loud and clear. Revelations 22:11 says, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." When the Lord comes to judge, He will not oppose the truth that is in your life, but He will let it stand.

VALIANT FOR THE TRUTH

"My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. And they only go from bad to worse! They care nothing for me," says the LORD.”

(Jeremiah 9:3)

The truth of God is absolute. Many today want to believe that the truth is relative, meaning, “what may be true for you may not be true for me.” There are other statements that say, ‘beauty is the eye of the beholder.’ Relative truth asserts the idea that some elements or aspects of experience or culture are relative to, i.e., dependent on, other elements or aspects. Maybe, to a certain degree, I can agree. But, when it comes to the truth of God word – that is ABSOLUTE!
In this day and age, people are doing just about whatever seems right in their own eyes. The motto for our country today seems to be “If it feels good, do it.” In a recent article on CNN, the writer states that the three most dreaded words people like to hear are “Thou shalt not.” Jeremiah lived in a time when his people were exactly the same. They taught themselves to lie gradually, probably through just a little compromise at a time, until lying was a habit, second nature. The people had become so entrenched in sin, that they were audacious and brazen in it.
To make matters worse, there was no one to stand up and proclaim the truth. Truth had become relative and no one was brave enough to stand up and be ‘valiant’ or strong for the truth. Even if the truth was spoken, the people refused to support it. Their tongues were like bows and their lies were the arrows.
We must stand for the truth of God’s word! The truth of God is absolute for all. What God calls sin is sin. What God calls an abomination is an abomination. Period. It may not be popular or politically correct. Nevertheless, we must be like the Apostle Paul when he stood before Festus and declare, “I am uttering the straight, sound truth” (Acts 26:25). We must speak the truth and stand for right and righteousness. Isaiah 58:1, says “"Shout out loud. Don't hold back. Shout out loud like a trumpet. Tell my people what they have done against their God” (New Century Version).
Today, be bold and valiant for the truth. Allow the truth that is in the inward parts of your spirit to come forth to help others be free indeed by the truth of God’s word.