Archive for March, 2009
Hope
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
What is Hope?
Hope – believing that something good can come out of something bad. This was the quote used in the lesson plan for the Extreme last week and comes at an opportune time.
My friend Gary and his wonderful wife Leesa are battling right now; she has cancer and it appears terminal, in its final stages. Some church elders gathered last week at her house to pray for her and to ask God for her healing. I was there with them, along with Nathan and Amanda and their Leapsters. Thankfully they were out on the front porch and found the rocking chairs and blankets to be quite comfortable. This in and of itself was an interesting picture; 2 kids enjoying life, my kids, out on the front porch of a typical looking Midwestern house, rocking in their chairs, overlooking a large grassy front yard with a pond about 50 yards away, large trees surrounding the house, blue sky; it just had the appearance of picture perfect Midwestern living, in fact this is why I left LA.
Inside the house, a gathering of people who have come together to rally around one person in her struggle for life here on earth, one person, the woman of the house of which my kids were certainly enjoying, a new grandmother to 1 and expecting her 2 grandbaby within the next couple of days, struggling for survival.
Expressing Hope to the group that God would raise her up, literally, heal her of her cancer for which the doctors have declared there is no hope.
The truth of life is that there is a God, He sent His son Jesus, who as scripture says is God in the Flesh. A sermon I have preached on several occasions within India and for which has had tremendous success and for which has solidified within me this concept of God, His love for me, people, mankind; after all He didn’t have to do this, He chose too.
Truth is, scripture tells us that the God of the Universe has the power to overcome ANYTHING- even death. When we get even a glimpse of His power, we can have hope-believing something good can come out of something bad.
“We know that in all things God works for good of those who love him.” Romans 8:28
We see this in the story of Lazarus. We still this hope expressed throughout scripture and in my recent readings in Luke I see this early on and for which I share… life.
The angel Gabriel, who came from the very throne room of God appears before Zechariah in the temple and tells him he is going to have a kid and this kid is going to be the forerunner to Jesus himself; God in the flesh. The wonderment of this statement and the bewilderment it must have produced which led to the dismay and the doubt and cost Zechariah his ability to speak for some time.
God did the impossible, the miraculous even in the face of disbelief and doubt. God had a plan, a purpose, He accomplished it.
Scripture goes on to say that in the 6th month the angel Gabriel appeared again and this time to a virgin named Mary and gave her a greeting that startled even a young girl. How would you like to be addressed by God’s main messenger, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Talk about intimidating but the fact remains this took place and the following announcement to her was how the Holy Spirit would come over her and she would be with Child, his name would be Immanuel, God with us. The angels’ final words to her were “for nothing is impossible with God.”
For nothing is impossible with God.
For nothing is impossible with God, even in death.
For nothing is impossible with God.
This is the declaration of heaven; this is the declaration of Gabriel, the angel that stands at the right hand of God, the angel who is busy about God’s work, is in His presence, who ministers at the throne. If there is anyone in this universe who can pronounce what he sees and hears and knows to be true other than the Trinity, it would be Gabriel.
For nothing is impossible with God.
Even in creation, God created out of nothing. God takes that which is nothing and creates being, life, something, substance. There is no one like Him, He is holy. There is NO one like God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. These 3 make up the 1 God, He is holy and there is no One like Him and there is NOTHING impossible for Him.
This then begs the question, why? Why cancer? Why death? Why don’t we see healing, deliverance? Why are so many bound up? Why even the most deserving die, prayers seemingly unanswered?
I don’t know.
I am not God, I can’t answer this but what I can do is have hope.
I can choose to believe that God can do the impossible, even in death, God can bring about life. It’s easy here to fall back into religious thought and speech and declare that even in death, a person lives, after all they passed from temporal life here on earth to eternal life with their Savior and isn’t that in fact better and life eternal?
True; yet is this in fact God’s will? A question I think only He can answer. We will never know the Why in life, we only know that He is God, we have free will. Freedom to live and choose what we believe, freedom to make choices, good or bad; freedom to express hope or doubt; freedom to serve Jesus or our small kingdom of self.
Somehow or maybe I should say somewhere there is a principle at work; one which entails having hope literally in the face of death that God isn’t done. This is the scariest proposition of them all; even in death God can bring about life. Who would dare to believe this today?
It would be easy to believe this in the 3rd world where you don’t have much and your life isn’t surrounded by much more than a simple dwelling place or maybe just a mat, a small amount of food which is the last you for the entire day and that’s it. God literally becomes much more to you than a fanciful prayer of thanks for daily bread or protection from bad drivers. God literally becomes your life, your sustenance, and your means for survival. This is the person who can easily believe in the impossible for this is how they have survived for so long already; knowing that God can provide for them even in their desperate poverty.
Desperate poverty; this is what we need; poverty of heart, mind, soul and spirit. In our poverty we can really cry out to and receive from God that which we need. Him.
I think at this point, living in this sense of poverty and dependence on Him, we begin to see God and His promises of life as true, real, and for us.
Having hope and believing in the impossible become real and attainable and is life giving.
Is this possible for us here in America, is this possible for me, for my friend Leesa? Sure, why not?
All of this hangs on LOVE; His love for us. The bible tells us this, let’s begin to believe it.
So what happens should Leesa die? Do we blame God, or say that our faith was weak even in spite of these courageous words of faith that I am typing or the prayers that I and others have prayed. Are we weak? Sure, yes, to all of this yet it shouldn’t take away the fact that we are human, God is God, His word does not lie, He has promised and has given us life.
Going back to the NT and John, Lazarus is sick, he died and Jesus is now with the sisters and we get in on the conversation he is having with Martha and she like us says the inevitable, I know my brother will live again one day, after all he believes in you and you are life, you will raise him up in the last days and yet Jesus says to her, “I am the resurrection, and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whatever lives and believes in me will never die.” Do you believe this? Yes, Lord was her reply followed by a declaration of “You are the Christ, the Son of God who was to come into the world.”
Time passes and ultimately Jesus is at the gravesite where 4 days earlier Lazarus was laid to rest and the scripture says that Lazarus walked out of that grave. A miracle was performed that day. Jesus himself said to the sisters, “that if you believed, you would see the glory of God.” Herein I believe lies the answer to many of life’s difficult problems; wherein lies the glory? Belief in God and in his power, even in death is essential. Glory where it is due is paramount.
Why miracles? The why is wrapped up in bringing evidence to who God is; to bringing glory to Him and serving as an example to others that in fact there is a God, He does love us, He was present on earth in Jesus and there is no other.
He alone is the answer to all of life and without faith in Him, life, life on earth and life eternal can’t really happen.
Wherein is our hope?
Our hope must rest alone in Him. Jesus is our hope and our faith must rest only in Him.
God be glorified in and through us, our lives, existence, and circumstances and even in our death.
I believe Heaven is coming down. Jesus will reign on the earth and the 2 shall become 1, rather united in the Son, I believe Heaven is coming down. Jesus will reign on the earth and the 2 shall become 1, rather united in the Son. This is reality, You are coming to Reign on the earth, and the increase of your government will know no end.
