Protect Your Hope

God’s been speaking to me about protecting my hope.  I encounter hopelessness in others and sometimes in myself.  Nothing inspires hopelessness like the conversations I end up having when people start asking detailed questions about my son’s brain tumor.  I fight to stay hopeful.  I was talking with someone last week about it and they were asking me if it was ok to share some of what was going on with others so that they too could be praying for my son.  As I answered I could feel that my response was a bit foreign to them.  I said it was alright as long as you emphasize what God IS doing, instead of just what is “wrong”.  As long as you talk equally about how courageous and amazing he is being in the midst of this.  As long as there is “equal or more” time given to the goodness of God in the journey and the hope that is sustaining us.  I went on to explain that Phil and I feel called to live in hope and we’ve got to protect that.  It can become wearisome to encounter the hopelessness of others as they view some circumstance in your life.  You have to battle to return to a place of heavenly perspective, a place of viewing fear from the position of victory and hope.  Because our children deserve to be raised in an atmosphere of hope, I am determined to fiercely protect the hope I carry and see it grow in the face of fearful situations.

I want to share the connection I saw in scripture as I pursued, in prayer, this idea of “Protecting My Hope”.  Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter, chronicles the testimonies of the “heroes of the faith”.  Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses, Rahab and others are celebrated for their faith in response to adversity, the unknown, danger and fear.  Chapter 12 begins; “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes of Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  It occurs to me that this “cloud of witnesses” is not just intended for the early church….they are MY witnesses….they are YOURS!  These men and women witness me and you in our journey of faith.  They witness our life on earth from the perspective of heaven.  In the midst of the worship that surrounds the throne of God, where Jesus is crowned “King of Kings”, they look to earth and see YOUR faith and MINE.  They cheer us on! 

I think of the others that are there in my cloud of witnesses.  My paternal grandfather is there, with incredible faith and testimonies of provision and protection.  My childhood friend, Becky, who came to know life with Jesus the summer after our 6^th grade year and died only days later is there in that crowd that witnesses my life.  I think of her faith and love for Jesus, so new and innocent.  It was never tainted with disappointment or lack.  She met Jesus face to face while still glowing in her initial introduction to His love for her.  On the other end of the spectrum there is my friend Margaret, who died at 102 after 70+ years of loving Jesus.  I only knew her for the last few, but her faith changed me.  Don North, a humble pastor from Oroville, CA is there smiling at me.  A true HERO of the faith, he pursued God with wild abandon and zeal and made an immeasurable mark in Phil’s and my life. 

I’ve never thought before of these people who have gone before me standing alongside David, Esther, Abraham and Moses; witnessing and AVAILABLE to encourage my journey of faith.  I say available and this is what I mean:  I can draw strength and hope from their testimonies and encounters with God.  I read the accounts in scripture or I remember the lives of the men and women of great faith that I have known personally, and I am compelled to worship their God!  I see the reality of His power in their lives, in the midst of desperate need and I am encouraged, my faith increases and my hope is strengthened.  Their testimony of Jesus becomes prophesy in my life as in Revelation 19:10   .  My hope begins to soar… “If God did this for them, He will do it for ME”.

Last week, after the conversation about my son that I referred to earlier, I was talking to God about what we are facing medically.  I asked Him what He had to say about a brain tumor.  That’s another story, but as I began to pour out my heart about how it feels to face this I began to hear my words come back to me about protecting the hope inside of me.  I asked the Holy Spirit; “well how do YOU help me protect my hope?” and He took me to 2Kings 6.  Phil preached on this passage recently so it was fresh in my mind.  In my spirit I heard the words of verse 16; “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them..”  The king of Aram, weary of Elisha’s prophetic gift and how it had thwarted his war against Israel, has planned to capture Elisha and surrounded his city at night with an army, horses and chariots.  When Elisha’s servant sees the vast army surrounding them his response is fear.  Elisha speaks the words above to him and them prays; “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servants’ eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (v.17)  I prayed this prayer for me, open my eyes to see those that are for me in this battle.  It was then that I saw Hebrews 11 in a personal way and saw that surrounding me and my battle for hope was this army of faithful ones, men and women of hope.  I realized that as fear, the unknown, the look of fear or pity in the eyes of others, and the hopelessness of others comes against my hope there is an army waiting on the hills….and those who are for me are MORE and GREATER than those who are against me.

I pictured the enemy of fear and the suggestion that our situation will become hopeless and then I shouted at it; “look at them!”  “Look at the great cloud of witnesses that surround me!”  I do not have to answer to fear or the suggestion of hopelessness.  I can turn and look into the faces of those that look at Jesus!  I’ll respond to the testimonies I know of God’s power, provision, healing, and victory.  I think of the wealth of hope stored up in that great cloud of witnesses.  Their hope is for me; God stations them around me in my battles and protects me as I face the fear that today brings me. 

Asking to have my eyes opened to see them is one way I’m learning to protect my hope!