ENLARGE YOUR HOPE!

December is here! I can smell Christmas already. Whao! Now it is certain 2011 is on its way out. I hope it has been an exciting year for you like it has been for me. I am not about to tell you all the events that made the year such a delight for me. Let us just be grateful whatever 2011 has dealt us so far. And there are still a few days left, are there not? You are still alive, are you not? Did He not complete creation in six days? Oh, then rejoice in the remaining days of the year. There is hope. I am going to tell you about 'hope' today. The coming year and the years that follow are so promising that you can not afford to wallow in the cesspool of disappointments and regrets any more. We must learn to venture into the horizon of our future with the windbreak of hope. For God did not say in vain 'I ... give you a future and a hope' (Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV). This is the month to enlarge your hope. This is the Month of Hope; Hope that does not disappoint. Hope that does not make ashame. 

Hope is one word so grossly misunderstood and misapplied. To define it is to further confine it. The Scripture says in I Corinthians 13: 13 'And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest is love', Love being the greatest does not in any way diminish the value of the other two. Let me just profile Abraham as we appreciate the place of 'these three'; faith, hope and love. Okay. It was God who sought Abraham. Abraham was a pagan, was he not? Else why would God tell a man to vacate his country, his family and his fathers house? (Genesis 12:1). So when God called  Abraham, He opened an account for Abraham. And for many years the account was not 'funded'. Until one day God showed Abraham the stars of the heaven and said to him, "So shall your descendants be". Abraham believed God and God deposited righteousness into that account. (Genesis 15:1-6). That is the story of many Christians. They have been saved many years but they have not believed. They still try to earn the reward of their salvation. "I am your exceeding great Reward' God told Abraham. Our God is our unspeakable Gift (2 Corinthians 9:15), our exceeding great Reward. (Genesis 15:6). Well, God showed Abraham the stars to illustrate the descendants with which He would bless Abraham. Abraham believed God. Two chapters after, when Abraham was about a hundred years, God told him He actually meant that Sarah would have a child. And Abraham laughed. Why did Abraham laugh? Did he no longer believed God? There was no record that the laughter debited what was earlier credited into his account. So, he did  not disbelieve God by that laughter. Many of us would not laugh. We will form some pseudo-believing, forgetting that God is not mocked. Oh, you think faith is that mind-conditioning, possibility-thinking exercise that motivational speakers talk about? I know the power of a man's mind, but faith in God is a supernatural wavelength. Once you hook on it, God takes over. At the point Abraham laughed, God was already in full force. I will like to understand why Abraham laughed. He was 99 years old and Sarah was 89! As far as Abraham was concerned, he had a child already. Ishmael was a teenager and very strong boy, too. When God insisted it was through Sarah the promised child would come, Abraham braced up. He was face-to-face with the reality of his situation; he was standing in the terra firma, not just seeing the 'stars of the firmament'. Abraham at this point began to add hope to faith. And then to add hope to hope..

Hope is the sustainer of faith. Hope keeps faith alive. Listen to this '...faith is the substance of things HOPED for..'. Faith sees the evidence the way Abraham sees the stars and believed. See, unless you have seen, it is extremely difficult to believe. Thomas had to see the Resurrected Jesus to believe; all the apostles saw 'infallible proofs' of Christ resurrection. (Acts 1:2); there is no apostle since Christ ascended that has no evidence that He resurrected. And Jesus said 'Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed." (John 20:29). He knows that many like us will not see Him physically, yet believed. Our own faith has the hope-dimension; we are expecting Him back. No one can believe except he sees. Faith is seeing the supernatural, take it or keep forming 'pseudo-believing'. Faith has evidence. Hope is the one that amazes me. Hope sees nothing. Faith believes because  he sees, but Hope believes when the seen is yet to manifest. Ah, hope is not a cheap word. You cannot hope in God unless you have first believed Him. Let us return to Abraham and see the role Hope played in his story.

Scriptures say that Abraham, contrary to hope, in hope he believed God. I like Paul, he calls a spade a spade. Paul said Abraham's body was dead at that age. And that Sarah's womb was dead too! (See Romans 4:17-19). Genesis 18: 11 tells us Sarah had passed the age of child-bearing and verse 12 tells us she could no longer even have 'pleasure' because her husband was old. Now I know what Paul refered to as 'Abraham's body', do you? It was dead! At that age, you don't start hoping a man's 'body' will rise. Oh it was 'contrary to hope' for Sarah's womb to even conceive at that age. But Abraham hoped against hope. That is the hope I am presenting today. You have really started believing God when you do not have reasons to hope; and I mean hope against hope .I will talk more about hope today, but let me show you from Abraham's story why love is the greatest. When the promised child was born, God told Abraham to sacrifice that child to Him. If I were Abraham, this is the time I will laugh. I will laugh very hillariously at the whole idea. I mean, think of it; You called me from where I was, I was doing fine doing my own things. I obeyed you and have been a stranger in the land you promised me and my descendants. You promised me not just a child, but children like the stars of the heaven. I waited till I was practically unable to make babies. Now by Your miracle I have this boy, and now You told me to kill Him? It is a joke, is it not? I would probably tell God that. But Abraham obeyed. No record of complaints, no record of questioning God. He just obeyed. And he was actually about to kill that boy when God shouted twice 'Abraham, Abraham!'. And for the very first time ever God swore. God needs not to swear since no one is greater than Him, but He was so moved by the love Abraham had for Him above all else, above even his only son- and God swore to Abraham. My friend Lanre once told me he felt that was where God tested the giving of His own only begotten Son. Oh he might be right because Mt Moriah where that event took place was the same mountain range Jesus was crucified. God must have said 'If Abraham could love me this much, I must go all the way'. This is how love supercedes faith and hope. Love is able to sow again all that faith and hope have laboured for. These three abide; faith, hope, love. Okay, let us now get down to Hope.

Hope is a word so commonly used. In fact Job tells us 'There is hope for a tree' (Job 14:7). There is hope for you. So let me say at this point that the hope refered to here is 'Hope in God'. Let us do some Bible Study. In Psalm 39:7, David said 'And now Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You'. Psalm 38:15, he said 'For in thee, O LORD, do I hope...'. In Psalm 43:5, David said for the third time in two consecutive chapters 'Why are you cast down, O my soul? ... Hope in God'.  It is important therefore to establish where your hope is set. (See Psalm 78:7). How does one set his hope in God? By hoping in His word. (See Psalms 119:9, 114, 116; 130:5). Mercy comes to the hopeful. (See Psalm 33:18,22; 147:11). I can go on and on to draw out Scriptures on hope, but the one that hit me like a punch in the eye is Romans 5:1-5. Let me paraphrase; Paul said we were justified by faith. by this we have peace with God. Paul said Jesus grants us access to the grace of God while we hope for the glory of God. He said all our present realities will only establish our hope until we experience the 'hope that doest not disappoint'. When you experience this kind of hope, you have experienced the love of God. Read it yourself and see if I am right. See I have believed God for some things. Now I have hope in God and His word for me concerning those things. And it does not matter what is going contrary to my hope, I stiil have hope! Let me keep personal things personal. But I will give you an idea how strange my hope can be.

1. I HAVE HOPE IN GOD THAT ONE DAY A MOUNTAIN WILL MOVE INTO THE SEA AT THE WORD OF A BELIEVER.   
In the old testament, strange things happen. We read about them and somehow we manage to believe them. The Red Sea was parted and a whole nation of people passed. Now how do you comprehend that? Jordan was parted. Jericho's wall crashed by the blowing of trumpets. The sun stood still till Joshua ended a battle (Really it was the earth that stood still, for the sun does not move, abi?). So if all these things really happened, why don't they anymore? I am not crazy about miracles, but I just happen to serve a God that does wonders. Jesus walked on water. Peter also did, so Jesus  promised that we would do greater things and He gave us an idea when He said in Mark 11:23 "For assuredly I say unto you, whosoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says'. Some will laugh in derision at my hope, soem will even rationalise and try to explain what Jesus was saying and in what context He said it. Mind you, He said it after the fig tree dried up at His word! See, it is not about me. I have the hope that one day, one believer will bring it to pass in my own generation. Jesus does not speak empty words. I heard the story of some children in Asia who prayed about a mountain and next day government came to level that mountain. Plausible as that may sound, I mean something more graphic. Like Moses, you stand in front of that mountain and command it to be uprooted and to go into the sea, and it obeys you. It is contrary to hope. Wait for it.  

2.        I HAVE HOPE IN GOD THAT ONE DAY MEDICINE WILL FIND CANCER'S CURE.   
I believe God heals any disease. Jesus paid for all sicknesses. I have had the privilege to pray and beieve God on two occasions for two women who had cancer. They both died. Pastor Seye, do you remember? Pastor Andy was there. And Lanre was there too. The second instance was the mother of a beloved friend. She was the friend who I told you introduced me to Watchman Nee's books early in my walk with God. On these two occasions, the patients died. Maybe my faith was not enough, but I am sure several men of God did pray for them too. Cancer is a waster. Cancer is a mocker. It mocks the wealth of the wealthy and ridicules the power of the powerful. And I know God has used people's prayers to heal some cancer patients. I am not satisfied yet. I want the ridicule of Cancer. Oh Malaria still kills rapidly especially in Africa. But nobody takes you too seriously when you have malaria. That is what I mean. I hope in God for a medical breakthrough that will find a cure as commonplace as panadol for Cancer. I do not know yet what profession my child will take -I only know his calling (Oh yes, I do)- but even if Daniel becomes a medical doctor, this is not about him. let the cure come from Lesotho, let it be Nevada; but I hope in God for the days in my generation when Cancer becomes a laughing stock. It is contrary to hope. Wait for it. 

  3.    I HAVE HOPE IN GOD THAT AIDS WILL TOTALLY DISAPPEAR FROM THE EARTH   
Some days back, AIDS clocked 30 years on earth. And they said over 30 million people have the disease already- 10 million for every decade. It occurred to me that I was only a few years on earth when that dreaded hydra-headed monster first stepped on planet earth. And just may be my generation came in handy to flush it out in due time. Now where was it before that time? All kinds of theories exist. Fela said it was 'America's Intention to Discourage Sex'. Funny. People even say it is God's wrath on a reckless generation. But seriously, I know all the sentiments that greet AIDS when it is being discussed. We easily assume that every one who has AIDS was sexually reckless. That is not true. Way back in School, I had to shake hands with some full-blown patients, and I still was not so sure it was right. I have an idea what the fear of AIDS could do to people. Four years ago, I had applied for a job and everything went well. I was called for the medical test as the final step before getting the appointment letter. Lo and behold, everyone was being called and I was yet to be called. I was devastated. 'Could it be...?' That day I told my mum I was yet to be called. She seemed to immediately assume the probability too. She went flat on the ground in fear. And almost immediately, the text message came in that I had the job. Well, I married about a year ago. And I got wedded in a very serious minded church. We did all the tests. And I saw the result. Negative. Still, the period of waiting was threatening. What is it about this killer disease? The stigma, the shame. Now, unlike cancer, AIDS had not been around before the eighties. Where did it come from? When will it be time to return? So it is not a cure for the victims that I hope for. It is an extinction of the vicious disease itself. Statistics say too many people have the disease and do not even know. How do you convince people to go for such test? To many, ignorance is bliss. But AIDS will have to return to where it came from. And I have hope in God that it will happen in my generation. It is contrary to hope. Wait for it.

One more Scripture; ' My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him' Psalm 62:5.

These are few among the things and the kinds of things I have believed God for, and hoped for, and now hoping against hope for. I serve a very big God, and He has not told me there is anything impossible for Him. Did He tell you that? Come on, keep that hope alive!