Nothing to Do!

♫ “My HOPE is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly lean on Jesus'name”* ♪       

 

I can remember back in my Junior High years, when I would plop myself down on the front lawn on a warm summer day… feeling lazy and bored and whining over the thought that I had NOTHING to DO!  I had no plan, no vision and no HOPE for the day… nothing exciting to get me up and moving!  My mom’s answer to this retort of mine was always the same as she’d say, “Well then… Go outside and get some exercise.  Ride your bike or get your friends and play a game of baseball at the school (around the block from our home).”

So, thus I found myself sitting very unenthusiastically on the lawn trying my very best to drum up the slightest bit of energy and excitement in order to take my bike out the garage and peddle down the block a few houses to one of my friend’s homes. 

I did learn years later though, when studying Adolescent Physiology in college, that the fatigue that I experienced during that time in my life, was a normal phenomenon caused in part, by the growth spurt that I was going through… and NOT as I thought my mom thought… that it was just me acting out my typical young teenage antics!  

But on the other hand… I will confess (now) that my mom’s encouragement to get out and exercise was very good advice and is a life-guide that I still follow today in my early senior citizen days!

During my Bible study earlier this morning, I was reading and studying some scriptures about Biblical HOPE (or EXPECTATION as I like to translate it) and then looked at an article entitled “Hope: The Blueprint of Faith.”* from a new book that I had just received as a belated birthday gift.

The verse that caught my heart was from Romans 5:5 where Paul wrote,

“And this HOPE (of Jesus and His Word) is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless LOVE of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (The Passion Translation) 

I had to giggle a little when I first read this statement of Paul’s as I remembered when someone had labeled a stand of faith that Piper and I had been pursuing in the early 1990’s as “A La, La Land Fantasy” and sternly lectured me to NEVER DO IT (or anything like it) AGAIN!  And while that adventure in faith didn’t go quite as we had desired it to and there were some difficult times, through it all... God exceedingly blessed us and we learned some important lessons.  In the end, we came through it totally out of debt, with the best paying job I’d ever had and were given a fresh new start!

So, needless to say, we did not see our HOPE or EXPECTATIONS that we had based on God and His Word to be a “disappointing fantasy” but a learning experience where we regularly saw the endless LOVE of God working in, for and through us unto others!

As I was reading the different materials today, I began to gain a clearer conception of the important interactions between HOPE and FAITH.  Hebrews 11:1 in the King James Version teaches us that,

“Now FAITH is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things not (yet) seen.”

This instruction from the writer of the book of Hebrews makes it easy to understand that our ACTIVE, NOW FAITH gives a tangible substance to the things that we are HOPING for!  In other words… without HOPE your FAITH has NOTHING TO DO!**

Another way to look at it would be to say that HOPE is the blueprint and FAITH is the building materials to build the project… or the desired result of your stand of FAITH.  They definitely go together.  You can’t have one without the other!

You see, HOPE that is based on the truth of God’s Word, is the inner image or the picture that the Holy Spirit paints on the inside of you.  The opposite would be DESPAIR which is the picture of the impending disaster which in effect… is telling you that there is NO HOPE!

Colossians 1:23 cautions us to stay clear of the lies of doubt and unbelief that the enemy of our faith attempts to get us to focus on… BUT instead to,

“…continue in FAITH without being moved from the solid foundation of the HOPE that the Good News contains.” (God’s Word ©)

I’ve always tended to be a guy that has needed to have a vision, a plan or a dream cast before me.  And that has got to be the most frustrating thing that I have been struggling with since Piper’s homegoing.  Up until recently it has been very difficult for me to even imagine a future without her.  But God has been gracious, loving and kind and continues to walk me through these life changing events… and I am excited to say that He has dropped a new vision into my heart that is definitely stirring the old spirit of adventure, excitement and expectation that drove me forward in the past!

How about you?  What is the HOPE… or do you have a HOPE that is acting as the blueprint for your FAITH?  Remember, without HOPE, your FAITH has NOTHING TO DO!  How do you find HOPE?  Well, you take time to talk to God about it in prayer, you spent quality time in His Word, you fellowship with believers at church and you continue to walk in LOVE… fully expecting our heavenly Father to respond to your requests!

And all along the way… Rejoice and be Thankful in knowing that He has got you covered!

Have a wonderful weekend!  We’ve got crazy strong winds today and thunderstorms forecasted for tonight and tomorrow… Praise the Lord! 

Keep EXPECTING God’s Best and you won’t be disappointed!

 

*“Hope: The Blueprint of Faith by Kenneth Copeland from the book “One Word From God can change your Destiny” ©1999 – Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

**Like me sitting on my parent’s front lawn with NO ENERGY, NO DESIRE and NO HOPE to DO ANYTHING on those hot northern California mid-summer days! (He! He! Probably in the mid to high 80-degree weather… maybe even… low 90’s!  Days that wouldn’t necessarily be thought of as HOT here in Oklahoma though!)