Easter 11 If You're Not Hoping You're Not Coping!

[HKHaugan]

Hope and the Resurrection of Jesus go together. When Jesus was raised it was done so that we too could have the hope He experienced for us. Hope is real. Hope is as real as the faith and love with which God blesses us all the time. Prayer is the practice of hope. If the practice of hope is prayer, consider five hoping points that allow the current of God’s will to flow---Praise, Thanksgiving, Confession, Asking and Meditation. Let's take them in that order.

First, Praise assures God lives in me.

“But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel (Ps.22:3).”

Praise does three things: centers me, lifts me and sustains me. It centers my mind on the Father's will for me, lifts my heart to His Son Jesus as a daily Savior and sustains and directs me by His Spirit.

First, praise centers me.
I am not the final authority about my life. I am not in control of the people or the world around me. I am an errant adopted son, a prodigal, a displaced ego, a sinner, found by the wayside, still yearning for the closeness of a trusted and trusting parent who gives me hope and lifts me out of my distress and personal imperfections. I am a child of God, a son in need of his Father’s acceptance and blessing. My Father knows me from within and raises me from without. He is the Creator, the Majesty on high, the Almighty, the One who accepts me and loves me and all the other descriptive words and phrases Scripture uses to elevate our Holy and Righteous God.

Second, praise lifts me.
It lifts my heart to God the Son as my personal Savior. In the beginning of the day I am an unfound piece of driftwood waking to the turbulence of past inadequacies, regrets, guilt and remorse, the unresolved sense of never getting life right. And, like that long ago crew of disciples caught in an angry storm’s clutches, Jesus comes and names me ‘little faith’ and calms the sea of anxiety within, delivering me again and again. At those moments He raises me into His presence and, though drenched wet and bedraggled by the storm, brings me through the open door of His Kingdom.

Third, Praise sustains me.
It heightens my awareness and dependency on the Spirit of God. Having been gracefully rescued from the evil one’s attacks and my fear; He calls me forward to keep in step with Him. Even though the world’s conditioning blurs my vision He moves relentlessly ahead of me plowing spiritual furrows through the lens of His Word. There, given the inner eyes of faith, I see the feverish pitch with which the devil is working to discourage, distract and deceive. The Spirit lifts up the face, the mind and the assurance of Jesus’ presence, that, in fact, “He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow path.”

Second, Thanksgiving lifts me.

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1Thess.5:18).”

From praise, which regains the lost ground returning me to the reality of God’s grace and love, I thank Him for accepting me again, for assuring me of His presence and giving me a second chance.
I thank God for Him being my Father, Savior and Spirit.
I thank Him because in the moments I forgot Him, neglected Him, left Him out, He yanked on the reins of His personal concern for me and drew me close to Him again, again and again. He is the Father of second chances, second hopes and second faith. He got me to remember again that awful Cross and the sacrifice of His Son, the trail He took in my place to recover all lost hearts, the Cross that is now the trail He set for me.
I thank Him for that Cross that has made my personal choices and decisions crosses of opportunity to experience His presence and be a witness for Him.
I thank Him for each specific conscious experience of people who have touched me either for my welfare or for my pain and give thanks for His Spirit showing me the moments they presented for letting Him build my heart for Him.
I thank Him for the blessings, the touches of His hand, in the lives of the people I know and love and for the way He has guided me in spite of my sins.

Third, Confession humbles me.

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin (Ps.32:5).”
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (1Jn.2:1-2).”
Having praised and thanked our God we cannot escape the unfinished business of recovery. David acknowledged that he was conceived in sin. In his best moments he was convicted that his imperfections were always before him. Yet God considered David ‘the apple of His eye.’ The Psalms he wrote expose not only his struggle with sin but ours as well. They bring us to repentance. It is in those moments of self-revelation where honesty is the work of the Holy Spirit replacing our self-excusing rationalization that we encounter the forgiveness and encouragement of our very personal God. Because of his maturing awareness of God, David pleaded with Him to search his heart deep within to remove the obstacles keeping him from being totally God-dependent. Herein lies the beauty of Scripture. It is the ‘mother lode’ whereby we find the truth to recover the mind, the Spirit to restore the heart and the Lord directing the process. Recovery through repentance is personal, spiritual and lifelong. Repentance is another way to take up our cross as He commanded. A good gauge to initiate the daily process is 1Jn.2:15-17.

Fourth, Asking centers me.

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (Jn.14:13-14).”
There is no question God enjoys our company. All through the Bible He seeks our mind and heart. Of course He is distressed when we move away from Him and try to live life on our own but He is always there. If there is anything about the Cross that needs to be understood it is its vivid description of the length to which God would go to recover and restore what was lost. Jesus makes this totally clear in His parables. The lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son open to us God’s heart for all people. So when we come to Him we please Him when we request His will to be done in our lives.

But a cautionary note here. The content of prayers that ask for immediate attention to problems, material gain and personal desires instead of God’s will for us only delay our recovery. Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Thy will be done…’ and “...whatever you ask in my name...” indicate two basic principles.

First, the purpose of prayer is not to control what happens but releasing God to do what He knows is the best answer and the only answer for the lifetime of a believer. God sees the whole of a person's life; their mind, heart and spirit in their entirety. Therefore we are to seek His Kingdom first (Matt.6:33) and what we perceive as needs will be taken care of as only God knows is best for us individually and personally.

Second, there is another 'only.' God's lifetime perspective can 'only' be discerned as we ask what is consistent with 'His name.' It's vital we get that point. This is why we need to be aware of Jesus' words. They define what 'in His name' means. The specifics of His will are not based on what I want but are the results of having yielded to Him in every area Jesus pointed out through His teaching and life. He loves us. It is our heart, our mind and our spirit's balance He is shaping for eternity each and every day. It is not what we get but what He gives in every next moment. Scripture tells us that His thoughts and ways are not ours and wherever we tend to try and control life it is important we back off and let Him take complete and utter control. Jesus not only said that on the Cross but He did it right through death into the Resurrection and His ascension into glory. Which brings us naturally into the last point, meditation.

Fifth, Meditation fills me.

“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways (Ps.119:15).”
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (Jos.1:8).”
“Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away (Mt.24:35).”

Thinking, living, feeling; life takes concentration. But it is concentration with a purpose. Praise, thanksgiving, confession, asking are all part of prayer. They free us to move out into the real world where we offer recovery through Jesus to those we encounter. That is God’s purpose for us. We have been given a task, a personal directive to make disciples of all nations. This is why the Lord directs us to meditate on God's Word.

We meditate on the Word of God not so we become spiritually self-congratulatory. Rather, it is the increasing dependency on God that increases our wattage, which means our brightness is the increase of His light. So wherever we are He is the One getting the attention. As our minds begin to think His thoughts His Spirit motivates us through them to see the world and its people from His spiritual perspective. As He changes our worldview [He is Creator] He changes our people view [they are His images]. The more our people view changes [all people are objects of His love] the more we hunger and thirst to be right the way God is right [loving all people]. We then become magnets reaching out and drawing people to Him.

So praise, thanksgiving, confession, asking and meditation give us the fuel to hit the road day by day and moment by moment. However we put these into practice---given the routine of daily living and however you time them, schedule them, arrange them in your day---they will be the refreshing moments of spiritual growth. They become a pattern you rely on as you weave them in and out of your experiences, a living tapestry woven in the Spirit, a tapestry of hope.