My Only Hope is You!!!!!!
Have you ever wished for something to come true? I mean we have all wished the childish wish of getting everything we wanted for Christmas but i mean something deeper, more meaningful, much more personal. How bout' a car? What about getting into a certain university? What are those wishes based upon? What determines the outcome of that wish coming true. Is it in the alignment of the moon and the sun (some of our wishes are so outrageous that they still wouldn't come true if this were the case), is it in the random comments from someone that knows nothing about your wish and because they said something without knowing anything about you that you find validity in what they just said. Is it in trying to make a deal with God in your prayers for a sign. I used to pray in my early Christian days while I was shooting around in my drive way with the basket ball. I would ask for something and if I made 10 free throws in a row, that would be a "Yes" from God and if I missed one out of the 10, then it was a no.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but we are always trying to find out the answers for the things that we wish for. Thats why we scatter around the house in November, looking for where our parents have hidden our gifts for Christmas. We need some sort of affirmation before we actually recieve it.
Wishes are things that are wanted in life but not neccessarily guaranteed. We hope that wishes come true but how do we have confidence in that fact that our wishes will be met. Our hope is set in our parents to get us want we want, regardless of what it costs. Our hope is in our friends that they'll read our emotions correctly and realize we might need help in a certain situation. Our hope is that our current boy/girl friend will find us attractive, smart or interesting enough to stay with us. But those are only wishes. There is a big difference between what hope really is and what wishes are.
We often times think of "hope" in these terms. I "hope" that God can help me make it through this. Or we think, I "hope" things will get better. When you use hope in terms like that, you are taking away the confidence that "it will be done" We turn hope into wishing. Hope in it's very definition talks about looking forward with confidence.
2 Corinthians 1:10 says this, "on Him, we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us." Do you see the difference now and how drastically we have changed the word "hope" Hope means that you are fully confident that it will happen. Hope allows us to raise our heads in the morning, above all of the crap we have going on, and we don't have to be bothered by the crap throughout the day because we "EXPECT" God to take care of us and deliever us.
Having hope in God doesn't mean, "maybe He will or maybe He won't" Having hope means, "when you DO deliever me..........."
It is just a matter of how we approach the word "hope" that can save us from much grief in life. A wish's confidence is based on a faulty delieverer. Our parents, friends, dating partner. They will all fail us from time to time because they are human. We will have unfullfilled wishes in life because people can only do so much. We are limited in what we can do and what we can offer. Remember, we are selfish by nature, so we don't always look for ways to fullfill others wishes, we look for ways to get ours fullfilled. But with God, our hope is put in someone who never fails us and is perfect in every way. God is someone who is looking out for our best interest in everything in life.
So tonight, I challenge you to look at hope in a different way. Don't make it seem like wish. Put your confidence in the hope of God. Look forward in expectation. Don't just pray that deliverence "might" come to you. I want you to pray that deliverance is on the way and you are waiting, in expectation for it. I guarantee that if you grasp this small but life altering idea, your walk will maintain a constant level with God and you won't find yourself in the peaks and valleys all of the time. The gap will be bridged because you have confidence in God, not just a simple little wish.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but we are always trying to find out the answers for the things that we wish for. Thats why we scatter around the house in November, looking for where our parents have hidden our gifts for Christmas. We need some sort of affirmation before we actually recieve it.
Wishes are things that are wanted in life but not neccessarily guaranteed. We hope that wishes come true but how do we have confidence in that fact that our wishes will be met. Our hope is set in our parents to get us want we want, regardless of what it costs. Our hope is in our friends that they'll read our emotions correctly and realize we might need help in a certain situation. Our hope is that our current boy/girl friend will find us attractive, smart or interesting enough to stay with us. But those are only wishes. There is a big difference between what hope really is and what wishes are.
We often times think of "hope" in these terms. I "hope" that God can help me make it through this. Or we think, I "hope" things will get better. When you use hope in terms like that, you are taking away the confidence that "it will be done" We turn hope into wishing. Hope in it's very definition talks about looking forward with confidence.
2 Corinthians 1:10 says this, "on Him, we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us." Do you see the difference now and how drastically we have changed the word "hope" Hope means that you are fully confident that it will happen. Hope allows us to raise our heads in the morning, above all of the crap we have going on, and we don't have to be bothered by the crap throughout the day because we "EXPECT" God to take care of us and deliever us.
Having hope in God doesn't mean, "maybe He will or maybe He won't" Having hope means, "when you DO deliever me..........."
It is just a matter of how we approach the word "hope" that can save us from much grief in life. A wish's confidence is based on a faulty delieverer. Our parents, friends, dating partner. They will all fail us from time to time because they are human. We will have unfullfilled wishes in life because people can only do so much. We are limited in what we can do and what we can offer. Remember, we are selfish by nature, so we don't always look for ways to fullfill others wishes, we look for ways to get ours fullfilled. But with God, our hope is put in someone who never fails us and is perfect in every way. God is someone who is looking out for our best interest in everything in life.
So tonight, I challenge you to look at hope in a different way. Don't make it seem like wish. Put your confidence in the hope of God. Look forward in expectation. Don't just pray that deliverence "might" come to you. I want you to pray that deliverance is on the way and you are waiting, in expectation for it. I guarantee that if you grasp this small but life altering idea, your walk will maintain a constant level with God and you won't find yourself in the peaks and valleys all of the time. The gap will be bridged because you have confidence in God, not just a simple little wish.