Hope is Important to Thwarting the Enemy

 

In our saddened chaotic world, hope is a foreign word. It is rarely presented as just plain Hope. There is always someone who wants to dash reality over most of it. It's almost as if people have become afraid to hope. There is great scoffing about living in a fairy tale and making things glossier than they really are.

I'm all for being real. I don't like pretty cliches and pat answers. I can usually tell when someone has actually been through the tough thing they are talking about versus parroting another's story. So I get the whole reality thing. 

 It's been over a month since I last wrote here. I've been painting and doing house projects and having friends over and doing Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 As Bruce and I traveled today to his place of work, I recapped the past six weeks in my mind silently. A lot of life can happen in six weeks. Some good, some not so good. Or at least it is sometimes difficult to call it good because well, it's often combined with overwhelming heart breaking circumstances. Remaining faithful and steadfast and thankful isn't the natural bend of man when things go awry. Hope can wear pretty bare and thin those days.

I'm discovering that the loss of hope happens because our enemy uses discouragement in our every day relationships and responsibilities to chip away all the hope in our world. He wants us flummoxed and schemes ways to steal our joy and kill our peace. To make this practical tho, and to recognize where we get off the trail of chasing after hope; let me share a few areas where we lose hope.

In our marriages:

Those of you who have an easy going relationship might not have this as one of your things. But for those of you who bump into conflict time after time after time, usually over the same thing...an ongoing problem that never seems to have an end...that is exactly the point of the enemy. If he can make you feel lost in the woods and bewildered that you have seen that same stump with moss growing over its top countless times; if he can make you feel stuck and discouraged that you will never get out of the woods, that is right where he wants you to be.

I am beginning to understand that our weakest points have the greatest potential for seeing Jesus at work. Yes, my marriage might be on repeat with its conflicts. My issues will clash with his issues. We may never get complete healing till we reach heaven for our tendencies of driving each other crazy. But do we lose hope and stop striving to see the heart of Jesus in our marriage? No way. We still walk toward Jesus. And on the days or weeks when that same old conflict rears its ugly head, there is grace sufficient. It is there in the ugly we are forced to fill our empty broken hearts with Jesus. And the enemy loses because we do not lose hope.

In our homes:

The battle of wills in raising children to adults is a very thin line of love/and not so much love. Parents make mistakes and children, once they begin to see those mistakes, are less forgiving than parents raising those children.(because parents love those kids naturally no matter what) But also because parents should know better how to behave. And not be hypocritical. And parents should make sense and know the right way and proper time to present advice or comfort or listening not talking. AND we don't always get it right. Rarely actually. This chips away at security and acceptance. Conflict of the everyday grows bigger than the hope of forgiveness and being merciful to each other. It can feel chaotic and stressful and hopeless if we let it. Satan cannot win! Go love each other.

In our local body of believers...where we attend church:

The simplest things can become a dividing point. Things like carpet choices, or songbooks, or some other such trivial matters. Feelings are hurt if you weren't picked for a job you thought you would be good at doing. There are illnesses, hospital bills, other financial burdens to solve, and those who foster and adopt. The constant continual battle to care and be cared for in the church because this is how we know we are Jesus' disciples...if we have love one for another... This is how we do not lose hope in our churches.

In our country...in the whole world:

Headlines full of dramatic flair, rarely truthful...updated mandates and vaccines...surprise of all surprises that a virus should act like a virus and divide and make new strains...Wait. What? How did everything become so controversial that now to have peace you need to unfollow on social media the agenda seeker and pusher of vaccines. How did people lose all common sense and join in a common cause of panic? How is that hopeful in any way? Let me tell you, Satan does win this one if we keep passing on headlines and news updates that are full of panic and drama. The negativity of our country breaking apart will break it apart if those of us who have a hope don't spend time claiming and acting on it.

Go out and actually interact with people. Instead of worrying about infecting your neighbors, go have a chat with them. Listen to their stories. See how un-panicked they are. Go fly somewhere and be kind and see how normal the real world actually is. I sat by a truly sane lady from California on the airplane this fall and she snorted at the panic and drama. Her attitude was like a mom watching a two year old throw a tantrum. The less attention given to the drama the sooner it will be over. Go to the grocery store and smile. You can't not see a smile. It's in the eyes mostly. The way to lose hope over all this is to join the stampede. Some will surely be stamped to death by their own panic.

But HOPE:

Proverbs 21:21

 He that followeth after righteousness and mercy, Findeth life, righteousness, and honor.

Could it be more clear? No matter what you hear or what it looks like, if you chase Jesus and His ways, you will keep your head from joining the agenda of division and hopelessness. And did we forget? There is power in the name of Jesus. More power than any darkness this world tries to push on us. Go claim Jesus and spread some hope.