Glenn Burris
March 14, 2004 - W0411

The Bible is filled with stories of Godís grace and dealing with people.  One story in particular is from 1 Kings.  Itís about Elijah who prophesied during a challenging time in Israel.  Israel was in the midst of a 350-year civil war ñ a season without the voice of God.

God sent Elijah to visit Ahab to tell him that there would be a drought that would not clear up until God decided it would. Then God sends him to the desert. In his third assignment, God sends him to a widow.  Elijah doesnít know why.

Donít you find that God is like that? He doesnít always tell you what His plan is. Itís like doing a 1000 piece puzzle ñ without the picture on the box. He gave you all the pieces, but itís up to you to arrange them. What the Lord knows about you and I, if He gave us His Plan, we would follow the Plan and not Him. 

So Elijah finds the widow and asks her for something to drink. She gives it to him. When he asks for something to eat, she refuses because that is all she has. She tells him that she intends to feed her son and then lay down with him and die. Elijah realizes that he has been sent by God for a purpose different than what he originally understood. God has sent him to be a messenger of hope for someone who has none. The widow has assumed that because there are no obvious options for her life, her life is finished.

Hope. What is it?  Itís giving trust to the Lord, knowing that He loves you, and honoring the partnership you have with God. So letís look at what happens when life moves intoÖ

SIGNS OF HOPELESSNESS:

1.      Panic Ö because you assume the worse.

ìMartha then said to Jesus, ëLord, if You had been here, my brother would not have diedíî. (John 11:21)  ìTherefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, ëLord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.î (John 11:32). ìHe weptî. (John 11:35)

In my own life, when Iím not moving toward faith, it affects my hope and courage.  There is a sense of anxiety and concluding the worst. Remember Mary and Martha?  Lazarus, their brother, was ill. They sent a messenger to Jesus and requested that he hurry to his side. Jesus takes his time getting there.  In anger, Martha confronts Jesus telling him that if he had hurried, her brother would still be alive. Jesus wept. I think He couldnít believe that people thought he didnít care. They knew He could heal the sick.  Had He answered their prayers and came, they would never know that He has power over death. Godís will be done. We are reminded that when Jesus trained the disciples to pray He said to pray, ìOur Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heavenî. The truth is that Jesus is assuming that we will pray in such a way that no matter what we expect of Him, we will always want what He wants for our lives because He only wants the best for us.

Now here is the revelation of trusting God when you donít see any options. ìI am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believeî. (John 11:15) You see, if He healed Lazarus and answered their prayer, they would have never known that not only could Jesus heal, but that God had power over death. Doesnít that give you great confidence that the ultimate decision rests in Godís hands?

The second thing I discovered when people live without hope is not only do they panic because they assume the worse, but they alsoÖ

2.      Quit trying closed doors Ö because you assume they wonít open.

We come to a door and itís closed. We assume that it will not open. Jesus said ìIf you knock, keep on knocking.î ìAsk and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to youî. (Matt: 7:7) God knows the enemy is going to throw obstacles at us and there is going to be closed doors. Yet God wants us to be persistent because if we donít press on we may never discover where that door opens to.

Look at Abraham and Sarah. God told them they would have many children. Yet after 25 years of waiting, Abraham was 125 and Sarah was 90 years old. Now by this time, wouldnít you agree that it would be a miracle to have kids at that age? And an even greater miracle that anyone would want kids at that age. Well God comes to visit Abraham and tells him the promise He gave will come to pass now. Abraham was excited and ran to tell Sarah, but she was not too happy. In fact, she had grown cynical and ìSarah laughed to herself, saying, ëAfter I have become old, shall I have pleasure my lord being old also?î. (Gen. 18:12). Then God shows up and asks Sarah, ìIs there anything too difficult for the Lord?î (Gen. 18:14) Well not only did God give them children, but also began the nation of Israel through them.

On my 20^th anniversary I took my wife to the Empress Hotel on the island of Vancouver, city of Victoria. After arriving, I discovered they gave our room away because they expected us the day before. After talking to the manager, he insists there are no more rooms and we should go somewhere else. I then tell him to give me some pillows and blankets and weíd just sleep in the lobby. He tells me to wait and comes back in a few minutes with a key (after insisting there were no more rooms). The room was actually a 9 room suite with 3 fire places and flowers in every room. Now I paid for an $89 a night room so I went downstairs and asked the cost of the room. He said it was $2,000 a night, but since he felt badly about the mix-up, he would give it to us for $89.

Now this is what the Lord spoke to me, ìWhy are you surprised? I said that I would give you exceedingly, abundantly above all you could ever ask for. Why are you always assuming that youíll get the worse?î Itís been a great lesson for me that when the doors close you have to keep knocking.

So hopelessness shows up first when we assume the worse, then when we stop trying closed doors, and lastly when weÖ

3.      Focus on the past and the present Ö because you assume there is no future.

Hope is about believing that God has a great future for us. However, when peopleís lives are filled with their past pain, injury, or failure keeps them from moving forward. Moreover, when they face so much challenge in the present that theyíre just surviving, feelings of hopelessness begin to surface.

Gage your conversations with others.  Can you lay down the injuries of the past? The pressures of the present? What I can tell you that you are moving towards hopelessness if you canít have conversations about the future.

Thatís why we must remember three simple lessons God teaches us in order to press through those times.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• IF GOD DID NOT CLOSE THE DOOR, IT CAN STILL BE OPENED.

ìAsk and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened.î (Mat7:7-8)

Remember when King Nebuchadnezzar had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown in the fire because they would not bow and worship him. He is astounded by what he saw and said to his official, ìÖwas it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?...I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!î (Dan. 3:24-25).

You see God didnít save them from the fire; He saved them through the fire. So the first lesson is to believe that if God did not close the door, it can be opened. Secondly, Iíve come to discover thatÖ

• GOD HAS NOT GIVEN US THE SPIRIT OF A WIDOW, BUT THE SPIRIT OF A BRIDE.

Now I want to respect the widows that are here. So please hear my heart because my mom is also a widow. The Lord said to me that He has not given us the spirit of a widow because the widow would assume that the best days of her life are behind her. He instead gives us the spirit of a bride because the bride assumes the best days of her life are ahead. I love weddings and when two people are wed, they assume their best days are ahead. In fact, thatís what Jesus called us, His bride! ìLet us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. (Rev. 19:7)

So remember a door can be opened if God didnít close it, have the spirit of a bride who believes the best days are ahead, and finallyÖ

• GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO BE:

o       A PERSON OF HOPE.

ìA person who puts his hope in the Lord will never be put to shameî. (Ps. 25:3) Not only are we to be a person of hope, but to be a person who lives with hope.

o       A MESSENGER OF HOPE.

I grew up when PTL was the fastest growing Christian ministry thatís ever happened. Jim and Tammy Bakerís headed this ministry in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, overnight Jim Baker was arrested, charged with fraud, and after a federal trial was sent to prison for forty years. Now here was a man who was viewed all over the nation taking in a million dollars a day. Yet heís sentenced to prison, loses his reputation, his wife, and his freedom. He sat broken in prison one Christmas day when a guard comes to him and tells him there was a visitor in the waiting room. As he walked into the waiting room on that snowy Christmas day, there stood Ruth and Billy Graham. They left their family on Christmas day to fly to Minnesota to say these words to a broken warrior: ìThere is still hope for youî. When he got out of prison, they flew him to North Carolina, rented him a home, bought him a car and said, ìThis is how the church is supposed to beî.

Thatís why we must remember the signs of hopelessness. We cannot assume the worse, or assume doors are closed, and focus on past and present circumstances thinking there is no future. It is not enough to be a person of hope who works through issues, but a person who sets his/her light on a hill. He wants you to be a ìlight of the worldî and the ìsalt of the earth.î Being a messenger of hope is the greatest gift to give others. Hear the Holy Spirit. Be filled not with anxiety, but with hope and bring messages of hope to others. Then we can apply these lessons to our lives: The door can still be opened if God didnít close it. We must keep the spirit of a bride because the best days are ahead. And finally, we are not only called to be people of hope, like Elijah, we are called to be messengers of hope.

Remember, during the worst of times; continue to plan for the future. God told you: ìFor I know the plans that I have for you, ëdeclares the Lord, ëplans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.íî (Jeremiah 29:11)

Discussion Questions:

• Think of someone you admire (a mentor, hero, a significant other) in your life.  What challenges did he/she face?  What attitude, skills, behaviors led to his/her success?  How does todayís message connect with what you know about this person?
• Think of someone in your life who is sad, depressed, or feeling hopelessness.  How would you describe your relationship?  What are some ways you can facilitate building trust over time and set a foundation for a growing relationship with God?
• How does your trust in God provide you hope in dealing with the challenges you face today?
• What will you do differently/better in your daily life, as a result of todayís message?

Mahalo to Phyllis Unebasami for this weekís summary and for being a great messenger of hope and inspiration.