Routing the Enemies of Hope By Dr. Lewis Akpogena Romans 15:13 (NIV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the purpose of this message today. The Holy Spirit wants us to overflow with hope... or with fulfilled expectations. Psalm 42:11... (TLB) But, O my soul, dont be discouraged. Dont be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God! Hope is a positive force within us. Most people live with a measure of hope, and yet often during some test their hope falters. Hope defined is: looking forward with confidence of having your expectations fulfilled, anticipating answers. Hope is expecting God to act. I like the definition of hope that says, hope is faith on alert. In this lesson I want to talk to you of damaged hopes and how the Lord wants to heal all the damage that failed hopes have caused. Isaiah 61:3 says, (KJV) To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. Hope has enemies... The purpose of this lesson is to find some of them and put them to flight. We want to allow the Holy Spirit to overflow our hearts with hope and to put our faith back on alert so that all our expectations will be fulfilled. 1) Proverbs 13:12... (KJV) Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. Deferred hope refers to delayed answers to your desires. We expected God to act... but our answers to prayer were delayed and our hopes were damaged. We need to ask God, Help me to find the areas of damaged hopes within me... heal me... help me to hope again. Here we see that delayed expectations have damaged hope. Heaviness and grief and disappointments have made the heart empty. The word sick refers to... to be worn out, to be weak, to be in pain, to be wounded in spirit, to grieve, to have feelings of emptiness. Grief is normal when a loved one has died and there is a period of adjustment to allow the heart to heal. Grief is a God given emotion to allow the heart to heal itself by releasing tears, love, forgiveness and joy. God wants to heal damaged emotions in these last days. Perhaps this is why He is renewing the heart through the pouring out of His Spirit in a fresh way. Grief can damage our hopes... i.e... our expectations. When this happens we must look to some demonic power that causes the spirit of heaviness to linger. Delayed expectations (hope deferred) makes the heart sick. Often the desires of our hearts are delayed, and unless we are alert in our faith, hopes can be damaged and health problems will develop. When your desire cometh... i.e... when your expectations are fulfilled... It’s like a tree of life. Abraham and Sarah hoped for a son... God had promised... Hope of fulfillment was deferred for twenty five years. When the child came he was called Isaac... (Laughter) It was the tree of life to them. (Genesis 21:1-6) When Judah went into captivity their hope of release was deferred for seventy years. When release did come God filled their mouth with laughter. Their release was as a tree of life. (Psalm 126:1-2). Perhaps someone here is in a deferred hope experience and your hope is damaged. Prayer... Lord, heal the damaged hope that is within me... remove the grief and heaviness and restore my faith to alert status. Lord, I need that tree of life experience. Forgive me for allowing my unanswered expectations to make my heart sick. Let my heart overflow with hope that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit... Amen. Saints... Pray through... your emptiness... Pray through... your agonies... Pray through... your grief... Pray through... your lack of purpose. 2) Psalm 33:18-19... (KJV) The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Matthew 5:7... Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Many times damaged hopes turn our spirit into a spirit of resentment and we close our hearts to the things of God. The only secure thing that we have is hope in Gods mercy. We cannot hope in our wealth... or our own goodness... or in those around us. We close the spirit of mercy within us. We may have had a need for Gods mercy... and we hoped that God would answer quickly. It didnt happen and we began to resent even asking the Lord. Mercy is divine kindness, divine favor, and divine deeds. Resentments bind our expectations. It binds our hopes. Damaged hopes bring on resentments and strong feelings of resentments against others. We need to pray... Father, my damaged hopes have filled me with resentments, forgive me and heal me so that your mercy may flow to me and through me to others. Lord, your word says that you take pleasure in those that fear you. Renew my fear of the Lord and my hopes by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Jesus makes service, or, the showing of mercy and compassion the gateway to blessings. Mercy is the master key that opens the heart of God. 3) Jeremiah 17:7-8... (TLB) But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and has made the Lord his hope and confidence. He is like a tree planted along a riverbank, with its roots reaching deep into the water--a tree not bothered by the heat nor worried by long months of drought. Its leaves stay green, and it goes right on producing all its luscious fruit. The damaged hopes that we see from this verse come from trusting in man and not in the Lord. Whenever our expectations are placed in people and in the securities of this world we can expect failure and worry. The believer that is blessed will put his hope and confidence in the Lord. Jeremiah prophecies that the people who put their hopes in the Lord are positioned on the banks of His River. There... they flourish regardless of the weather. They just keep on bearing fruit. Damaged hopes come from lack of trust in the Lord. Prayer... Lord, I did it again; I put my faith in man and in the world, forgive me for the sin of unbelief and for letting my hopes and expectations be turned away from you. Lord, turn my eyes back toward you... The alternate ways that I followed were a disappointment to me. Lord, I failed to keep my faith on the alert. Amen. 4) Lamentations 3:21-24... (KJV) This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORDS mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The damaged hope from these verses come from forgetfulness... (memory loss)... We have forgotten past mercies. Memory can save us. Often we hope that miraculous healing will come from the gifts of the Spirit demonstrating the power of God rather than having to go through an operation or a divorce or a separation or a bankruptcy. Lay all your damaged hopes in His arms for restoration. This text lets us know that Judah was still alive because Gods compassions did not fail. The faithfulness of God is fresh every morning. We must remember that His mercies endure forever. We need to get back to counting our blessings that come from God. Prayer... Lord, I forgot and my hope was damaged. I should have known that your mercy saves us. Lord, I slipped up on keeping my faith on alert. Forgive me for not using my memory... Restore my alertness, O Lord and let hope overflow again in my life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 5) Psalm 42:5... (KJV) Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Often our hopes get damaged by not seeing Gods presence in church. Disappointments can cause a lot of damage. King David had come to worship with joy in his heart only to find that the presence of God was not in the temple. Damaged hopes will cast down your joyful spirit. The king had to speak to his soul... Why, are you defeated and depressed in spirit... hope in God... and you will yet praise Him for His help in lifting up your spirit. Often we come to church full of expectations... Gods presence will be there... When mans programs occupy first place, our spirit takes a beating. A cast down spirit is a spirit in deep depression. Gods word to us is that healing comes by putting our hopes in God. Prayer... Lord, we came to meet with you today, but we didnt see You... We never thought Lord, to speak to our soul... We focus on our cast down spirit... Forgive us Lord, for not being alert in our faith. Lord, You are the hope of our countenance. Heal us Lord and let hope overflow within us by the power of Your Spirit. Amen. 6) Psalm 42:11... (KJV) Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. (TLB) But, O my soul, dont be discouraged. Dont be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God! The damaged hope in this verse is seen in the despair it produced. Despair produces distractions that cause your thoughts to wander and become confused. Despair also causes you to think on your problems all day long. Despair means... to be overcome by a sense of defeat and by an unhealthy quietness. The word disquieted means... the groaning of your soul... a humming sound ... a commotion in your spirit... your spirit moans. When the heart hums a wrong tune, the tongue will in the heat of the damaged emotion speak things that get you into trouble. Damaged hopes causes anger to rise up and anger will decrease your expectations. King David uses the word health which in Hebrew is Yeshuwah one of the names of Jesus... the Savior... the Redeemer and Deliverer. Whatever the circumstance David was in damaged his hope. He speaks to his soul again... (It’s all right to talk to yourself) Come on soul, let your hope and expectations rest in the Lord and not in your hurts... The Lord will bring back your health. Put off despair... Put a new hum in your spirit. Prayer... Lord, a wrong sound developed in me when my hope was damaged... Moaning damages my expectations... forgive me Lord, and renew the alertness of my faith so that a joyful sound might be found in my spirit once again by the overflow that comes by the Holy Spirit. Amen. God wanted David to know that the battle is the Lords. God told Moses in Exodus 14:14... The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace. The word hold simply put means, leave off speaking, rest your mouth. In 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 Paul said, (KJV) But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. The Living Bible says that nothing that you do for the Lord is wasted. 7) Psalm 43:5... (KJV) Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. The damaged hope in this chapter was caused by the oppression of an ungodly nation. The ungodly nation was undisciplined as far as morals go. Our own nation is an undisciplined nation right now. Often when oppression comes, our hopes get damaged. We lose our disciplined stance and retaliate with uncontrolled emotions. The believer must be the most disciplined person in society. Hebrew 12:9 lets us know that God is the Father of spirits... i.e... character building. The king again speaks to his soul... Hope in God... He is greater than any enemy. In life... we face a lot of oppression... Sometimes the oppression is of our own making... for instance... when we think that everyone elses life is better than our own. The power of false assumption can damage our own hopes and a poor self esteem sets in. We then begin to oppress ourselves by thinking negative thoughts about ourselves. When this happens our hopes dwell on an unsatisfied life. Damaged hopes are caused by an undisciplined character. Character is seen in our faces... A cast down spirit will be seen on our faces. King David knew that God is the health of his countenance. We want to look good at all times... A cast down looking face is a sign of damaged hopes. Prayer... Lord, for a while I was undisciplined and my hope was damaged. Lord, work in me your discipline. Lord, I retaliated when my faith was not on alert. My expectations for deliverance took a back seat because a wrong spirit manifested itself in me. Forgive me and by Your Spirit restore a healthy countenance to me again. Amen 8) Colossians 1:27... (KJV) Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: The Living Bible says, and the riches and glory of his plan are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ in your hearts is your only hope of glory. Without Christ there is no glory. Damaged hopes are also caused by the rejection of Christ... by unbelief. There is no other way of salvation. (John 10:1-18... 14:6) There is another cause for damaged hopes in this verse... the lack of riches. (Finances) Like Asaph in Psalm 73 we put our eyes on the prosperity of the wicked and our hopes get damaged. Asaph was shown that God is with him in this life and afterwards he is taken to glory. To be healed of damaged emotions set your affections on things above. (Colossians 3:1-2) Are you a born again believer? Christ is your hope of glory. Christ in you is your hope for heaven. Damaged hopes will say, Where do we go from here... Many other religions do not have this hope... they think re-incarnation... Perhaps I will return to this life in another body or form and do better. Not so... It is appointed unto man once to die but after this, the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27) Damaged hopes are also caused by physical suffering... 1 Peter 4:13 (KJV) But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. Paul writes and says in 1 Corinthians 2:9... (TLB) That is what is meant by the Scriptures which say that no mere man has ever seen, heard, or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord. Prayer... Lord, forgive me for not knowing that Christ in me is the hope for glory. Lord, I reset my hopes and expectation upon the living, resurrected Christ. Lord, today I renew my faith in you and my hope is in full expectation of life with You here and in eternity. Lord, You can supply all my financial needs. For lack of alertness in financial needs, I let my hopes get damaged. Heal me Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 9) Romans 5:1-2... (KJV) Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The damaged hope in this verse is caused by the loss of the assurance of salvation. Many people begin to doubt their salvation when tests and trials come. They also have doubts about their access to God in their prayer life. When we accepted Christ as our Savior by faith... Our faith in Him brought us into the grace of God and thats where we stand. What a confession of faith... I am standing in the grace of God. Faith led us there... Rejoicing keeps us there. Hope keeps our expectations alive that we will arrive in heaven safely. Romans 8:24 reads, For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope fore. The NIV puts it this way... For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Hope gets damaged because of trials... apathy sets in and we wonder if we are really born again. Deliverance from trials is sometimes delayed... Paul gives us assurance... Prayer... Lord forgive us for doubting Your provision of saving grace. Thank you Lord for the access that You gave us... Help me to stand in the grace You have given me. Lord, I ask again for help in keeping my faith alert. Let there be an overflowing of hope within my soul that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 10) 1 Peter 3:15... (NIV) But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. The damaged hope here is the un-preparedness to testify when someone asks you about the hope you have within you. Not being able to share the gospel and fearful of sharing can damage your hope. Remember that hope is faith on alert and the fulfilling of your expectations. We need to ask the Lord to search us and to find out just what is hindering us from testifying to others about Jesus Christ. I was asking the Lord, Why a certain brother in Christ who has more than enough Bible School training to be in the ministry and is not in the ministry. The Lord said, He has the knowledge but not the knowledge of starting, he is one who needs a jump start to get moving. A lot of folks want to be leaders but lack the knowledge of getting started. The whole Bible talks about faithfulness and it is that quality that the Lord talks about. God wants to re-fire damaged hopes... to rekindle the flame... to spark the fire of sharing the gospel. Prayer... Lord, what is it in me that have a hard time sharing the gospel. Search my heart and help me to weed out all unnecessary hindrances. Give me spiritual strength to share the gospel. Let the flame of the Spirit overflow my heart with fresh hope. Amen 11) Psalm 78:5-7... (KJV) For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: The damaged hope in these verses is caused by wayward children who refuse to paths of righteousness and their rejection of Christ. Often our hopes are damaged because we didnt do a good enough job of training our children. Maybe there were inconsistencies in our lives that turned them off. Was our examples clear enough... Perhaps... like myself... I had more time for the church and neglected time with the children. Often we take it for granted that the children will follow us. The children are the next generation and they are the ones to take the responsibility after our work is done. Prayer... Lord, forgive us for the neglect of our expectations towards our children. Help me to teach the right principles of life to those who follow me so that they too can have hope. Help me to point the way not by words alone but by the example I set. Lord, help us to put our faith on the alert and to watch more carefully the needs of the children. Help us Lord, to deepen the root structures in our children so that they will not drift away. Thank you, Lord. Amen 12) Romans 4:18-21... (NIV) Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, So shall your offspring be. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarahs womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Here we see damaged hope because of the odds against us. We dwell on impossibilities rather than possibilities. Abraham believed in spite of all the odds against him. He believed in the promise God gave him and eagerly hoped... ie... expected God to fulfill the promise. He kept the vision alive... He kept his faith on the alert... He praised God and found that as he praised God, God reversed the aging process in both his and Sarahs body. There are times that we must stretch our faith in spite the odds that are against us. Prayer... Lord, help me to dare to believe like Abraham believed. Lord forgive me for the spirit of impossibility that I have been carrying within my soul. Lord, I lay before you the mocking weaknesses in my emotions. Forgive me Lord, for using physical disabilities as an excuse. Lord, help us to praise You and let the aging process be reversed in our bodies. Amen 13) Joel 3:16... (KJV) The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her anymore. Here damaged hopes comes from peoples fear of the future... the fear of the earth shaking... fear of strange happenings... fear of the changing weather patterns... fear of a failed economy and much more. The Lord will be the hope of His people. In other words... in the last days... only the Lord can save us from the disastrous future. God tells us in Psalm 37 to commit our way unto the Lord, to trust Him and He will bring to pass our hopes. (Desires) We may not know about tomorrow but we know who holds it. Things will shake in the end times... but because my hope is in the Lord I will be secure. Prayer... Lord, help me to not fear the future... Lord, I am giving up my fears, my worries and my fretting about the future and I will open up my heart to be filled with your peace. I confess, Lord, that by trusting in You my hope and my future is secure. Help me to keep my faith on alert so that I can be more watchful and knowledgeable of the end times. By the power of the Holy Spirit help my spirit to overflow with hope. Amen 14) 1 Peter 1:3-4... (KJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The damaged hope in this verse is that our hope has been filled with apathy... Eternity is not exciting anymore. Church isnt exciting any more. The victorious life is not a dream... its reality and its available. Our faith isnt as alert as it once was. The revival that we long for has been deferred and our hopes are waning. Peter teaches that we are saved unto a lively hope... ie... a lifetime of active life. Peter teaches that the resurrection of Christ made it possible for us to be birthed into the exciting life of the kingdom of God. Paul uses this same truth by the word quicken in Romans 8:11. There he speaks of how the resurrection made it possible to enliven our physical life. God did not plan for the believers to have a dull life. Paul told the Ephesians’ believers that the power available for the Believers is as the same quality of power that was used to resurrect Jesus from the grave. (Ephesians 1:19-20) The Apostle John writes in 1 John 3:2b-3 (KJV) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. If God has released hope into your hears then give yourself to the purity the Kingdom of God demands. Hope gets damaged when we let unfulfilled desires to make us negative and joyless. Prayer... Lord, make my life exciting again... help me to be alive and full of joy as a Christian. Help me to put my faith on alert... to keep up with what You are doing in our day. Amen Proverbs 13:12... Hope deferred maketh the heart sick... but when the desire cometh... it is a tree of life. Damaged hopes can be healed. Faith can be renewed to an alert status... The things that we expect can come to pass. Hope in God... He is the answer to everything. You are blessed for life. Have question, you may call: 08033399821 or write: akpogena@yahoo. Stay blessed. . Dr. Lewis Akpogena, a Christian Devotional Writer/Minister, Education Management and Media Consultant write from Port Harcourt
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 09:15:12 +0000