Monthly Archives: January 2018

Thrive in Hope

Thrive in Hope
Recently I read a true story of a man who was trapped in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01. It was almost too late by the time he and some colleagues knew what was happening and decided to get out. They made it to the 22nd floor when the building began to collapse down on them. He huddled down in a corner on the landing as the walls ripped apart around him. He thought of his wife and that he would never see his unborn daughter whom they had named Hope.

The last thing he felt was a blast of hot air coming down on him as the walls tore apart. As he was swept forward through thick debris, smoke, and dust, he saw patches of light, patches of hope. He woke up on top of a small chunk of the stairwell landing on top of a 7 story high pile of debris, alive looking up at blue sky. All others in that stairwell perished.

They call this man the 9/11/01 surfer, because he seemed to have ridden a wave of air out of certain death into life and Hope.

Hope and Associates
Hope is a beautiful word. It radiates life, light, joy, peace and promise of good to come. The Bible has much to say about hope.

In the Old Testament there are several words used for hope. In general it means confident expectation of good to be experienced. It often carries with it associations with of waiting, anticipating, looking forward to, and trusting in.

In Psalm 25:5, “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long;” the word hope carries with it the idea of constant waiting in expectation for God’s acting in our life.

In Psalm 33:18, “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in His steadfast love;” the word hope has the idea of tarrying, waiting, remaining, abiding with expectations of God’s love.

Hope is a confident expectation. The expectation is so certain that it leads to praising God for its fulfillment, sometimes even before it is fulfilled. Psalm 71:14 expresses this thought; “But I will hope continually and will praise You yet more and more.”

In Psalm 71:5, we see that hope and trust are used in conjunction with each other: “For You, O Lord, are my Hope, my Trust, O Lord, from my youth.” Faith is at the heart of hope.

A New Testament, a New Language, a Same Hope
In the New Testament the concept of hope permeates the story of Jesus and the epistles. It is stronger in that the reason for hope, the author and fulfillment of all hope is a reality in our world.

The Greek word “elpis” is most often used for hope and it means a confident expectation of good; a joyous and confident expectation of salvation in every sense and eternal life.

Jesus Is Our Hope
Hope is the foundation to our relationship with God. Hope is Jesus Christ, Himself.

In Col. 1:27, Paul leaves no doubt as to who our hope is: “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

This hope is based on the resurrection power of Jesus: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3.  Hope is living and breathing.  It is God in Jesus Christ – “Waiting for our blessed Hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” Titus 2:13.

Why This Hope?
The very nature and character of God transmits hope. God is faithful, steadfast, true, righteous, loving, wise and all powerful. He always loves and works on our behalf. Let’s review God in action – Hope.
Hope is:

  • Jesus reaching out and touching the leper before he was healed (Mt.8:3). This gives me hope that he will touch me, all spotted, marred and deformed by sin, and make me clean.
  • Jesus calling the blind man to come to Him while everyone else tried to hush him (Mk. 10:46-52). This gives me confident expectation that He will hear me though other voices try to tell me He doesn’t, and that He will open my eyes to Him.
  • Jesus feeding 5,000 people from five loaves and two fish, while the apostles are counting their change and wondering how can we buy for so many and how can we get it here (Mk. 6:32-44). This inspires me to trust that God will supply all my needs and that He will feed me His Bread from Heaven and cause me to thrive, (John 6:51).
  • Jesus allowing a desperate woman to touch His garment as He passes through a crowd. He allowed power to go from His body to heal her, while others are annoyed that He asked who touched me, (Luke 8:43-48). This gives me confidence to know that in the busy-ness of life and the press of many needs, Jesus will take time to touch my life. His power will lift me up and purify me so I can stand before Him.
  • Jesus standing outside the tomb of His friend, Lazarus when all hope for life is gone. People are standing around grieving wondering why didn’t you come and heal him before the finality of death, as Jesus called His friend out of death to life. (Jn. 11: 30-44). Jesus has the power to call us out of the death of sin and give us new life. If you know your “self” and your sin, you know this is true hope.

Hope – the Anchor for Our Soul
My hope to live and thrive in this life is not contingent upon my knowledge, skills, looks, health, achievement or heritage, though I often try to make it that. My hope is in the living Son of God, Jesus.

Jesus was the very sacrifice with which He entered into the presence of God for me.  It is through His atoning work that I have hope. (Hebrews 6:19-20b – “We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner…”).

No matter how battered we are by life, we have hope. No matter how many waves we ride through life’s trouble, we have hope. No matter how often we sit on the debris of our life, hope abides. No matter how low or discouraged we are, we have access to thriving in the middle of it all through our faith in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Hope of glory.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,
so that you may overflow (thrive) with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13

Helping Others: by Jeannine Loftus

Introduction: by Lory Demshar:
This is an article written by my friend Jeannine Loftus. Jeannine has been through many trials so she is acquainted with suffering and grief. I asked her to write about what it takes to help others through difficult times, and how to help people grow.

Divinity in Helping
We may view helping others as a lower or subservient position. But in truth it is a role that God, Himself, fulfills in our life. In Psalm 54:4 David calls God his helper. In Psalm 27: 9, David praises God because He, God, has been his helper. In Psalm 46:1, the psalmist says God is an ever present help for us.  So when we are helping others, we are being like God.

God Directs Us to Help Others
There are many directives in the Bible to help others.

  • “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” Proverbs 19:17 (ESV)
  • “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” 1 John 3:17 (ESV)
  • Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”” Hebrews 13:6 (ESV)
  • “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38 (ESV)
  • “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”. Galatians 6:2 (ESV)

There are so many more scriptures that can be shared on this topic and there is no question that this was the example of Jesus in healing physical ailments, forgiving sin, loving people, walking with them in their grief, teaching, spending time etc. This is not optional for us as followers of Jesus, it is essential to our own salvation, consider this scripture.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:14-17

 How to Help Others
When reading an article like this most people tend to gravitate to the part of the article that provides practicals.  They look for a quick list of ideas for helping someone. You won’t find that in this article, but here are some principles to help.

Immerse yourself in God’s Word and Communion with Him
Be someone God can whisper to through His Holy Spirit. He does this, when we are in step with God, He puts people and actions on our hearts and if we obey His prompting, we find that God uses us to meet a need at the perfect moment. This is not always easy. Sometimes this is a battle with our fleshly nature. We may push down those promptings when the still quiet words say, “You should call that person,” or whatever nudging we receive.  If we keep pushing those thoughts down and away, we lose touch with them and with God and his Spirit.

Listen for the Needs
When you learn of a difficulty someone is going through, think about the person and the situation, and ask yourself, “What would I need in a similar circumstance?”  Maybe you will need to do the laundry; take care of their children; have coffee and just talk with them; or, have a time with God together of reading the Word of God and praying.

You’ll know best what the needs are if you visit with them and talk to them. If you talk and listen, you can hear the deeper needs that someone has.

I had a period of extended illness some years ago and had one friend who was amazing. She would just jump in and do whatever she saw as a need. At one point, it came out that my head was muddled during what was going on and I was paying my bills late. She offered to help me by taking it over for a bit. She got that under control and then automated some payments for me etc. That released an incredible burden from my shoulders, larger than I realized. Our inability to perform such tasks can become a point of shame for us.

Talk and Share
The caveat in talking and sharing is to share, but keep the focus for the benefit of the other person. Don’t let the conversation become all about you. Don’t talk to expel your own grief or issues. Focus your sharing on what you learned from your experience; what you have learned about how God worked; and what you needed in that time, Such sharing can open people up to talk more deeply.

People can feel ashamed and want to hide their spiritual struggles during the tough times, but that is the time they most need to feel loved and accepted. Sharing how you struggled with some issue will be helpful. They will feel that you can relate to them. They will need reassurance that as people we all grapple to understand what God may be working out, and it won’t always look/sound pretty but if they are to grow through it they need to feel heard.

Lead Them to God
In whatever ways you are helping, whether in physical action or in a listening capacity the most and best we can do for people is to help lift up their eyes to see their Creator for who He is.

There is something about difficult times that flips a switch for us, many of us (myself included) immediately begin to wonder if God is displeased with us. We may even progress to the thought that God doesn’t love us.  Or, we may think, “God loves me but I’m not sure if He likes me very much.” We need help to think differently.

Again, I go back to a time of my own illness and difficulty. A time when a faithful friend helped me keep my eyes fixed on God. When the ridiculous thoughts came up she pointed me to the scriptures so I could see the truth about who God really is, how He views me and interacts with me. She was patient, faithful and loving no matter how many times I wrestled with the same thoughts.

Jesus Our Example
There are a lot of ways to help people. Jesus is our role model in this. He knew when a touch was needed with a leper or when He needed to allow a sinful woman to clean His feet. He knew when His disciples needed to be with Him. He knew when they needed a sharp rebuke and to face truth. Jesus knew His followers and what each one needed. He spoke differently to Thomas, than He did to Peter or John. We will do well to be immersed in the Bible and to know God and His example in Jesus, and imitate Him.