Exercise Your Hope
July 6, 2013 Leave a comment
“So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.” Hebrews 10:23 AMP
A week ago, someone had ignited something negative in my ears. I was suppose to fight back and say something that would not be so pleasant to his ears also but instead I told the other person in my mind “thank you for training my patience”. I ignored the whole situation and after that … nothing negative happened anymore.
When we hold back and let a situation pass, we disarm anger and revenge so that it becomes harmless and ineffective and then both of you win – no negative consequences after.
My point is – when you face difficult people, tell yourself or the person “thank you for training my patience”.
Honestly, our patience does need training and exercise and to me, it is the best place to practice brain plasticity – adaptation of change.
But what if the situation is at a higher level of difficulty. What if you face an unbearable hardship. What if you are given a terminal disease. What if you lost something precious in your life. What if your hardship becomes a daily occurrence. What if the funds you have in the bank is not able to buy groceries. What if your spouse is not doing what she/he is supposed to do like keeping the sanctity of your vows. What if your kids are rebelling and doing drugs and premarital sex. What if your only child all of sudden decided he wants out from your house.
Can you still say, “thank you for training my patience”. Most likely “not”, because we are humans. We have limitations and we needed someone to help us.
So where do we get help?
The correct answer is from God. We get help and encouragement from Him.
But how? He is up there somewhere!
The other day, I had an interesting conversation with someone who is not a Christian yet but his heart is already wide open and was asking a lot of difficult questions about God, Jesus, Holy Spirit. Simple but difficult questions and it requires explanation. Why did God sent His son? Can’t He do it himself? Who wrote the Bible? What is the Holy Spirit? What is prayer?
I am not an expert in the Bible. I read the Bible daily just like most of you and I’ve never attended Bible school and my knowledge is not to the max regarding Biblical knowledge … but one thing I’ve done to myself is I stopped asking the “why questions”. I just start believing what the Bible says to me in my heart. When you get a chance, try it. It will change your life.
I was able to explain to him most of the questions but I know that even if my answers were believable, he will have to take his own belief to the next level.
“God so loved the world that He send his Son to us that whosoever believes the Son (Jesus) will not perish but will have everlasting life” John 3:16
All we have to do is believe. That simple and why not?
How hard is it to believe in Him? Is it really that difficult to just say “Lord, I believe in You”.
The Christian faith does not end at believing God. That is just the beginning. When you believe in God, you become hungry and thirsty and you want to know more about Him.
The source of information is the Bible. Although written by humans, the Bible was given to man through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Think of it this way – you are alone by yourself and then inside you someone is telling you to write something and then all of a sudden you transcribe the ‘inspiration’ -what was given to you – in words and put it in writing.
Ok, I don’t want to mislead you too much about how the Bible came along. Bottom line is, when you read the Bible daily, you will realize that it’s message does not come from mere human beings – it must have come from a guy who knows everything.
That will be your homework – to find God’s daily message for you.
The reason why I mentioned “believing God and believing the Bible” earlier is because those are the foundation of the Christian faith. God and His Words.
But why the Bible is so vital in our faith?
1. The Bible is God’s way to talk to us. Honestly, I have not heard God’s voice talking to me in my ears. He does sometimes in my heart and sometimes I cried joyfully, but in ordinary days like today, I read His Bible to tell me something. That is why I kept coming back for more everyday and I hope you are doing the same thing.
2. The Bible has God’s promises. Those promises are there for you and me and it is free. No strings attached. All you have to do is believe. You don’t even have to get out of bed to get it.
3. You need the Bible to exercise your hope. Many times in my lifetime I’ve experienced super difficult situation and most often it looks so impossible in my eyes. What I noticed and remembered saying are these:
“Lord, you said in the Bible that You will never leave me nor forsake me”, and He did not.
“Lord, you said in your Bible that you will reward me with long life”. I’m still waiting for this since I had a heart attack at age 42, I’m 46 now.
“Lord, You promised that you will provide for me and my family”. He already did.
“Lord, You said Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given unto me”. He already did.
“Lord, You said You will give me peace and joy”. He already did.
It’s your turn. Find a promise in the Bible and question God about your request.
Got to go for now. I’ve written this entry while lying in bed using my old iPhone 4. I’m getting up from bed now and get my coffee and clif bar and 42 miles of cycling. If I made some mistakes or typos, I got my excuse – blogging in bed using an iPhone;-( )
Regards to all (specially to Taze)
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