The Messengers Radio Show 06-06-15 (18)

This month: Hope

This week are going to look at the differences between Helplessness and Hopelessness.  These are 2 different things, and they are different for believers and unbelievers.  Remember, true Hope is a confident, joyful expectation that something good is going to happen.  We know we have Hope in the Lord because he loves us and He has Hope in us.  He cannot lie, so we have Hope, (a confident expectation), in His Word.   HE is believable, so we know we can trust Him and put our Hope in Him.  Let’s look at some definitions.

Some definitions of Help are:

Render assistance, rescue, to make easier, to be useful to, etc…  But my favorite one is to relieve (someone) in need, sickness, pain or distress.  That is what I crave to be in Christ.  I want to relieve people in these situations.  But, I can’t do that if I am Helpless.

The definition of Helpless is:

Unable to help oneself, deprived of strength or power, or affording no help.

There are some interesting truths in these definitions.  First of all, to the unbeliever, they have a hope that is only a feeling.  It’s more like a wish.  They don’t have confident expectations, because they have nothing to back them up.  They have no one truth to stand on.  They can only hope with their feelings on something they only know from human experience.  So, they can only be helpful in the natural way.  They CAN help others, although not all do, but they can only give what they have.  If they don’t have Hope, they can’t give anyone real help.  So, in essence, they are Helpless to themselves, because they don’t have true Hope, and they are helpless to others, because they cannot offer true help, only natural help.  Natural help is not bad, in any way, it’s just not going to make a true difference in someone else’s eternal life.

The believer, on the other hand, is only helpless if they have no Hope.  They are always supposed to be helpful.  The Christian should spread joy and Hope everywhere they go.  Of course, this is not always the case.  It is supposed to be that the Christian helps the unbeliever by showing them the truth, (Jesus) and offering them a new found true Hope.  They are also supposed to help other believers by building up the Hope they already have.  The Christian is not however able to do these things when they have run out of Hope themselves.

Let’s look at this side by side.

• When you are Helpless, but have Hope, you may not be able to change your situation, but you have the Hope that God can. Any He can!
• When you are Hopeless, you have nothing, and have given up the belief that you can be helped.
• When you are Helpless, you may have no way to help your situation, but you can find someone who can, even if it is just God.
• When you are Hopeless, you can’t help anyone, not even yourself.
• When you have Hope, you can always help others, and yourself. Even an unbeliever who has natural Hope can help others.  But if they have no Hope in anything, no one is getting helped.
• You can be Helpless with Hope, but you can’t be anything without Hope.
• When you are Helpless, you can get Help and Hope easily from God or from people. But don’t put your Hope IN people.  Your true Hope can only be put in God.

• When you are Hopeless, it is harder to get Hope than Help. People can give you help, even unbelievers, but especially Christians can support you and get you back to the Hope you need to have in Jesus.  People can show you how to get Hope, but the only One who can give true Hope is God.

Psm 146:5

Blessed are those whose Help is in the God of Jacob, whose Hope is in the Lord their God.

Song: “Hope for the Hopeless” by Darlene Double

So, our goal is to be full of Christ, overflowing with Hope, and Helpful to people everywhere by sharing the gospel with them.  Even if someone is saved, you can always bring them joy and Hope.  Remember, it’s all in your attitude.  The enemy may try to attack you and make you feel helpless, but when you have the God of the Universe inside you, you need to remember who you are and the power you have.  You decide how your day is going to play out.  You can be grouchy and frustrated all day, not having Hope for the day’s events, or you can have Hope and joy knowing that, as Psalm 118:24 says:

This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

This verse is full of Hope and Joy.  We, as Christians, should strive for this every day.

So, let’s say you have Hope, but find yourself in helpless situation in the natural realm.  The first thing you need to do is Trust in the Lord.  Pray and seek His counsel.  While you are waiting for an answer, the best thing to do is to go Help others.  As it says in Luke 6:31:

³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

So, when you find yourself in need of anything, the best thing you can do is give it away.  The Lord will bless what you sow.  When you help others, you are sowing into their lives, and it not only blesses them, but you reap a harvest of what you sow.

2 Corinthians 9:6

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Galatians 6:9

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Remember what we learned earlier about how to be Hopeful every day, which includes things like, do something fun each day, bless at least one person each day, (and I guarantee the more people you bless, the more blessed you will be) and thank God for each day.  Nothing renews your Hope like thanking God and remembering all He has done for you.

Song: “My Life is in You, Lord” by Joseph Garlington

So, go out and be a blessing today.  Wake up each day and say, “Today, I am going to be a blessing to someone, and someone is going to be a blessing to me.  Something good is going to happen to me today, and something good is going to happen thru me today.”  Those are Hope filled statements.