"Hope for the Hopeless"

hope[1, verb]
1 : to cherish a desire with anticipation
2 archaic : TRUST
hope[2, noun]
1 : to desire with expectation of obtainment
2 : to expect with confidence : TRUST


Ever hear the phrase, 'Hope for the Hopeless'? To live without a purpose. To see no tomorrow. To find no redemption. That is how the hopeless live.

Based on no grounds, their optimistic side proves weak as they fail to persist at the false hope of a brighter tomorrow. To keep an optimistic view is always good. But the truth is, the hopeless do not base their optimism on hope, rather on what they hear in fairytales and in storybooks; that "..tomorrow will be a brighter day" or rather what I'd like to call a hope based on no grounds. For they do not really believe it. Still, they are desperate for any form of hope to keep their lives hanging by that thin thread.

Some give up and find no reason to live. They resort to self-inflicted pain which often times they claim they do for the reason of wanting to feel something, to remind themselves that they are still alive. Others find comfort in hurting their bodies with drugs and an overdosage of pills.

The truth is, even without being in a tight fix, we all subconsciously need some form of hope to pull us through every day. Little things like hope of being able to wake up to see the faces of our loved ones or big things like hope of having your boyfriend/girlfriend fly home safely to celebrate your 2nd anniversary or just normal everyday things like hope for a good day tomorrow.

Hope starts from trusting, in confidence, that things will get better. Of course we do not put our trust simply in nothing. That would not give us hope, or rather it would not last very long.

Hope lies only in one person, and that one person is Our Great King. With Him in our lives, everything can be made possible if the intentions are right. Believe that your God is a great one. Believe that He will save you from every downfall, every mistake, every sin. Lift up the thoughts that keep you awake at night. Lift up the pain that stakes through your heart everytime you take a breath. Lift up the squabbles and shouting that goes on at home every night, that has left you afraid. Lift up that relationship with your partner that has gone sour and has left you bitter and cold. Ask Him to set you free. Free of the bondages that chain you so tightly and weigh you down so heavily. Just lift these simple words to Him:

"Lord, I lift up my burdens to You in confidence that You will share the load with me and make everything better. I pray this is Your most gracious name, Amen."

He requires no explanation, nor a long story of what has happened or what you need Him to change. He listens not to the words that come out of your mouth but rather to the words in your heart. So don't feel reluctant to ask Him for assistance as not much needs to be said. Whisper Him a little prayer. For though He is a BIG God, He can hear every little prayer from each one of His children. And in a heartbeat, He will be there. Not to watch you carry the load alone, not to stand there and watch you fall but to lift that burden off your shoulders in a breath and set you free.

"I am the good shepherd, and know my [sheep], and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep." --John 10:14-15

That's how much He loves YOU! That's how far He's willing to go for YOU! HIS SHEEP! HIS PEOPLE! So doubt not His willingness to share your burdens, to share your pain, to share your sufferings! For He is a compassionate God. A merciful God. A God of grace. A mighty God, willing to lay His life down for you and me.

A very wise person taught me this and I wanted to share this with all of you as well, in hope that it may too touch your lives as it has touched mine. When caught in a tight fix we often find ourselves saying, "Oh my God, I have a BIG problem!". Well, next time you find yourself in such a situation, try saying this instead: "Oh my problem, I have a BIG God!"

May God continue to shower His never ending blessings on all of you and I wish you all a very blessed and prosperous Chinese New Year!~

A Purpose Driven Life

Subject: An Interview with Rick Warren

This is an absolutely incredible interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life" author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. His wife now has cancer, and he now has "wealth" from book sales. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me "What is the purpose of life?" And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act- the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems. Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys- you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountain top, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always a bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centredness, which is my pain to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of the hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with both the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, 2 Corinthians 9 and Psalms 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for posessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes(for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.


Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

This is beautiful and food for the soul. A friend sent it to me, I shared it with you, now pick someone you want to bless. God loves you and so do I, have a blessed Lord's day!

Adapted from an email courtesy of a good friend of mine. Thank you, my good friend. Hope that it will touch your life as much as it touched mine.

http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/ : A site by Rick Warren himself. Drop by and take a look if you feel the need to do so =)

God bless.