Category: A Door of Hope

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Winston Churchill

"One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own." John O'Donohue

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." Alexander Graham Bell

The world would have us believe that the only way out of "sin" would be to wallow in shame, punish ourselves endlessly, and forever be cowed – afraid, fearful, intimidated – with the remorse that we feel.

This concept has produced some of the world's largest religions.

God's way is not the world's way.

In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul is addressing the church in reference to a sin that he had corrected in the first book of Corinthians. He says:

[8] For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

[9] Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

[10] For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

[11] For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
(emphasis mine)

Their sorrow was not the important thing here – but their repentance was!!!

Verse 11 tells us how much they did not want to commit that sin again!

Remember that the enemy of our soul is the master deceiver. He wants us to get wrapped up in the "sorrow" part, and not move on to the "repentance" part.

Be sure to move through sorrow and on to repentance; that's where your joy will return.

There is great hope is being sorry "after a Godly manner."

Do you ever think that seasoned Christians must not have problems you have?

Or, that if they DO have problems like yours, they must not be as bothered by them as you are?

It's not true, you know.

Every Christian, regardless of how many years they've been walking with the Lord, has difficulties that irritate and annoy them, just like the newest "baby" Christian.

Believe me, they are "tempted to complain, to murmur and despair" just like you are.

The enemy would like to convince us of this:

• that we are alone.
• that no one has ever been tempted the way we are tempted.
• that IF they have been tempted like us, they have never given in to that temptation.
• that we have committed sin that truly "spiritual" people never commit.

These are the biggest lies in Satan's arsenal!

I Corinthians 10:13 assures us:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man…

Did you catch that? "NO" temptation that you have experienced is peculiar to you?

It is "common" to all men!

COMMON:
1. Belonging equally to more than one, or to many indefinitely;
2. Belonging to the public;
3. General; serving for the use of all;
4. Universal; belonging to all;
5. Public; general; frequent;
6. Usual; ordinary; as the common operations of nature;

Don't believe the lies of Satan that your life is somehow more difficult than the lives of other Christians around you.

Also, don't neglect to read the rest of the above verse!

I Corinthians 10:13 – …but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;…

God will not allowed you to be tempted more than you can handle!

And the grand finale of this verse:

I Corinthians 10:13 – …but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

God will make a way OUT of your temptation!

Whether your temptation is

• to complain – to utter expressions of grief; to utter expressions of censure or resentment; to lament
• to murmur – to grumble; to complain; to utter complaints in a low,half articulated voice; to utter sullen discontent
• to despair – to be without hope; to give up all hope or expectation

God has given you a way to escape! You do not need to be constantly complaining about how bad your life is.

Even when we don't verbalize these complaints out loud, we often have a list of them continually running through our minds.

Draw your strength from the promises of the Scripture that there is a way of escape.

Read and study the Word, spend time on your face before God, and He will show you the way to victory over your temptations!

There is great hope in escaping temptation!

Lyrics | Phillips, Craig & Dean lyrics – A Place Called Grace lyrics

"Oh, let us rejoice in the Lord, evermore,
When darts of the tempter are flying,
For Satan still dreads, as he oft did of yore,
Our singing much more than our sighing."
~Streams in the Desert, Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

Psalms 100:2
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with SINGING.

Psalms 126:2
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with SINGING: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.

Isaiah 49:13
O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into SINGING, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

Isaiah 54:1
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into SINGING, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 55:12
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into SINGING, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with SINGING.

Ephesians 5:19
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, SINGING and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, SINGING with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

I love the following verses:

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard: thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:9-10

In the midst of giving the Law in all it's complexities to Moses, God gives them the above instructions. These verses encompass so many things:

• compassion
• selflessness
• kindness
• charitable giving
• thankfulness
• faith

God is telling them that when they harvest their crops and their vineyards, they are not to gather everything from the crop. They are to leave certain areas of the crops and of the vineyards unpicked.

These sections were to be left for the poor who did not have their own crops, and for the strangers who had not been in the area long enough to have fields producing food.

This principle requires a heart of faith that God will meet our needs even though we do not gather everything; and a spirit of compassion to see another's need and invite them to take part of the blessing that we've been given.

This attitude is one of the first to go by the wayside when we lose our hope.

We become fearful and grasping, and are determined to cling to all that we have not yet lost. Our focus is on ourselves and our need; and we do not notice those around us who need something that we have.

It is difficult to change our focus and notice those in need around us when we feel we are in such great need ourselves; but I challenge you that it is so important to do.

When we can acknowledge that someone else has a need at least as important as our need, and when we can consider our part in meeting that need, we are beginning to regain our hope.

Hope is not only believing that God can meet my need, but that He can use me to meet the need of someone else.

I challenge you to look around you for someone who needs something that you can give.

• an encouraging phone call
• a sweet thank you note
• a few hours of babysitting
• some items from your pantry
• a home-cooked meal
• a pat on the back
• a hug
• a smile
• a Bible verse on a notecard
• a book or magazine to read
• dishes washed
• laundry washed or folded
• hand-me-downs from your closet
• a cup of coffee with a friend
• prayer
• a kind word fitly spoken

There is SO much that we can give, when we ask the Lord to open our eyes to the needs of others – even when we think we are so in need we could not possibly have anything to give another.

There is great hope in meeting another person's need, even when we ourselves are so needy.