Hope

What drives us forward is not the achievement of a dream, but the hope of it's achievement.

I come to realise that the greatest emotion that drives people is really hope. Hope pushes us on. When the going gets tough, hope gives us the direction of travel. Hope spurs us on, it encourages us on.

Love does the same, but love lacks direction. It merely exists as the crutch on which everyone needs to lean on, the water we all need to drink deep from. But hope functions as a compass, giving us a direction to move towards.

Yet hope can crash a person. Hope can destroy what joy that person seeks for. It can eliminate all the life a person has, it can wreck a man's life. I know. I had hoped. And my hoped crashed.

But the other day, i felt God's tender hand come in and say this. Only to those who dare to hope, do i put through such trials. It takes courage and character to have hope (true hope and not wishful hope). It takes a person who dares a lot to hope. Because Hope entails a risk of loss. Hope requires that a person dares to move forward in that direction, bearing in mind the risk of error. Hope trusts that the person dares much. Hope gives life meaning, yet takes away reason. Hope is a double edged sword.

Guys, you need to hope. You need because only then you will dare to move in the direction.

Life is made worth while of the things we hope for. May all your dreams come through, except one.

Birthday

It was my birthday today.

It was a hard day to go through. Lots of things happening in my life and all. Going through things and feeling the pain. Realising the need to grieve when things happen and a loss occurs. Struggling to understand yet just needing to hold on. Feeling the pain yet pressing on.

But I have to go on. Not for myself, but because God needs it.

Have we ever realised that God needs us? Not in the need need, needy type God, but needs in the without us, His plans cannot come to fruition. Yes, God can but He will not do everything. There are things in our lives, purposes that no one else can fulfill. No one else can step into your shoes and do the things you do.

Why else did God pursue Jacob and make him into Israel? Why did God choose David instead of any of his brothers? God chose Saul, and Saul let God down. The replacement was David. We say he was the greatest King of Israel; I believe if Saul had obeyed God, he and not David would be the greatest King of Israel.

God chose Peter, the man who persistently crammed his foot into his mouth as the rock of the church. God selected Peter who betrayed Him to be the foundation of Church. God chose Saul, later Paul, to be the mouth piece and literally the author of the New Testament. God chose John to reveal to the churches the last days.

God chose me. God chose you. No one else can fulfill our functions better than ourselves. If we do not do our jobs, if we fail, other people suffer. God puts other people's lives and salvation into the hands of those He trusts and favours.

I have to press on because of the burden God put in my hands, lest i fail and others suffer.

For my brothers and sisters in christ, know that the responsibilities of God put on you MUST be carried on by you and you alone. No one else will do.

Trust

I was recalling this phrase, Trust in God. And I know God is calling us to trust Him all our days, for He can be trusted.

But over the week, I watched a video called Dust. And it blew me away. Because it was exactly what I felt for the longest time, but could not put into words.

Did you know God trusts us?

The God almighty, the amazing God above, the creator of heaven of earth, the Matchless God, trusts us. He trusts us to do the right thing. That is the foundation of free will.

Free will is the ultimate declaration of God's love for us. He trusts us do the right thing. He gave instructions, commands, and even died for us, but in that time, God honours our choices. He cajoles, persuades, cries out to us, yet he still honours our choices. Because He trusts us.

Adam was the only man, yet God trusted that Adam would obey Him and gave him the garden to tend. Abraham had the task of giving birth to a nation. Issac and Jacob were part of that history. Joseph was trusted to be the head of egypt. God trusted each man to fulfill his destiny.

Yes God helps, Yes God loves and He guides. But did you know He trusts? When God says Follow me, did you know He is actually saying, I believe you can do what i do. I believe you can do it. I believe in YOU.

God believes and trusts you.

Caught by the past, Not fully present.

I was watching Nooma and in it was a phrase, are we fully present? When we are still holding on to how things were, our arms are not free to embrace today.

This morning when I woke, God gave me a picture of a little boy crying. His hands were firmly clenched around a cactus. The cactus was covered by sharp spikes and the spikes were the cause of the little boy's tears.

The easiest way to solve the pain, is to let go of the cactus. It is the cause of the pain, the cause of the problem.

But God showed me two things. 1. The little boy is not letting go because of pain. The process of releasing will introduce a higher level of pain at the instant of releasing. Physically, when we are firmly clenched onto something, letting go results in blood rushing into the area and causing more pain. In the same way, the little boy has tried to let go, but it resulted in more pain for a while, and he was unwilling to let go.

In life, letting go of the past means incurring a short run pain. This temporary but sharp pain will penetrate you. But like the little boy, to remove the source of the pain, we need to let go fully.

2. The little boy does not let go because of fear. The fear of the unknown. The fear of what happens if I let go. I have a cactus, yes it is painful, but feeling pain is better than feeling the pain of not feeing anything. Of not having anything. Possession no matter how painful is sometimes preferred to the uncertainty of not having anything.

In life, sometimes there are things that we are unwilling to let go because we lack knowledge. We do not know what is next, what happens next. We are stuck in a corner because of a fear of the light ahead. Of the freedom of today. We dare not let go, and embrace what we cannot see. The present.

But like a loving father, God will cleanse the wound, put healing salves on the injury, hold your hand, love you to health, that He may give you a better present. One that will not hurt. One that will bless you.

Jam 4:14 (NKJV) whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Seize the day!