HOPE FOR A NEW BEGINNING!
The first thing that happens to most people who have set backs is that they become discouraged and hopeless, not knowing what next to do with their lives. Some, after going through so much devastation and losses begin to wonder, “Can anything still good come my way? I have failed so badly, can I make it again? How will l ever regain my lost glory and respect?” The answer is, “hope again.” It takes hope to come out of failure and commence the process of creating a new beginning of success. Bishop David Abioye assert in his book entitled: “Creating A New Beginning”. This series is a product of his teaching. There is a power in hope, yet it is one of the scarcest commodities in our world today. As a matter of fact, most people who have committed suicide did so because of hopelessness.
They looked around them and felt “what else am I living for” There is no way out of this situation. I might as well end it now.” They lost hope, which is the sustainer of life and so they lost all, including life. The terrible sickness that some people are nursing in their bodies today began in a very small way but became enlarge because of their hopelessness. Even, if your body is being ravaged by some sickness or disease right now, or maybe you have lost your loved one or some very precious assets, don’t give up, there is hope for you! Until the race is over it is not over for you! Am also going through all of these l talked about here. My pastor, Apostle Zilly Aggrey’s teaching at leadership session on 30th June 2013 on “the Greatness of God” from Isaiah 40:1-31 was the tonic that boosts and gave hope to my faith to write on this. So whatever state you are now there is hope for you.
Many people have concluded their lives before the end and some have died before death arrived at their doorsteps because of hopelessness. Don’t you know that it is the hopelessness of man that makes everything around him wither and die off? (Joel 1: 12). Don’t cut your life short by losing hope! The Bible says: “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the Tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant” (Job 14:7-9) These were Job’s words, a man who suffered so many calamities in his life.
I could imagine him in the midst of all his troubles asking himself, “If a tree could have hope, why shouldn’t l have hope?” And you know a tree represent life. No wonder, he was able to confidently say, “… All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come” (Job 14:14). Hope is the desire fountain of every desired future. With hope, you can dream again and have a new beginning. Maybe you have looked at your past and you are wondering, “What have I really achieved?” It could be that your business, marriage or career have been on the ground for so long or everything and everything you put your hand to do has failed and you are feeling very discouraged, but I want to say to you that you must stir up your hope, because whatever is behind you cannot be compared with what is ahead of you.
The scriptures offer you an assurance that no matter what you have gone through or what you are going through now, as long as you have joined to the living God, there is hope for you! “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope. . .” (Ecclesiastes 9:4). Job was a man that suffered so many terrible calamities in life, he lost his business, his ten children and everything that he had in one day, yet you will discover that many verses in the book of Job speak of hope. Even when everything failed, “I know that my redeemer liveth” (Job19:25). The man was so hopeful that at the end of the day, he got back double of all that he lost.
To be hopeless is to be helpless, because it is hope that sets the pace to every good thing that happens to you in life. God can not help you as long as you are hopeless, but when your hope is alive, He is moved to act on your behalf! There is hope for you, because there is a great future set before you. The Psalmist said: “I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not move. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: My flesh also shall rest in hope. For thy wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16:8-10(emphasis mine).
When God is set before you, hopelessness becomes deflated. No matter how deep the pit you have fallen into, God will not leave you there! He will not allow you to see corruption as long as you maintain your hope in Him. I remember some time ago I had the opportunity to go and pray for a young man who was sick in the hospital. As I spoke with him, he said, “Truly pastor, I am afraid I will die.” And despite the prayers and all that is done to help him, he died because he lost hope. Meanwhile there are other people who have been afflicted with more deadly diseases than his and they were healed with less support.
They were so hopeful that they would live, and as a result death will not take them. Hope imparts you with the grace for endurance, courage and persistence. Even when people around you conclude that there is no way out, with the power of hope on your inside, you keep reaching for greater heights. Hope makes you see beyond your present and immediate circumstance, it makes you see the end from the beginning so that you are able to face all the turmoil and turbulence on the way with courage. In the midst of pressures, hope shows you a picture of the glory, beauty and honour that awaits you.
So, don’t get unnecessarily angry with your situation or close your case by yourself. Satan is good at moving people to be angry with themselves so that they not only lose hope but abandon themselves. They are full of question like: “Why am I not making it?” “Why is my own case like this?” No matter the case, refuse to give up on yourself. People may even look at you today and ask, “What can he become?” Tell your self, ‘’There is hope for me.’’ I often tell people, “Don’t judge me yet because I am still under construction.
God is still working on me, so the true me is yet to emerge.’’ It doesn’t matter how badly you have failed in the past, here is great future set before you and hope is the first rung in the ladder to that future. Without hope, you can’t see the future, and until you see it, you can’t create it! The ability to create a new beginning starts with a vision; having a mental picture of your desire despite the temporary setback. If you can discover the secret of keeping your hope alive even in the face of adversities, you will never have difficulties creating a new beginning. Not done, read next issue on how to stir up hope.
Written By Dr. Lewis Akpogena
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