Sick of "talk"...I need Real Hope

One of the hardest things for people to deal with in life is hopelessness.

We go to church services, we listen to speakers, we admire others' successes, but in the end if the sermons, enthusiastic speeches, lectures, and even degrees give us no hope of change, we are back to square one and back to disappointment.

One of the things I have a great desire to be in this world, is an encourager. Why? Because I have compassion for people. I have gone through way too much pain and stuff to realize how much a word of encouragement meant to me.

There are people out there who don't know how to deal with today let alone tomorrow. There are people out there who seem happy, but underneath they wish their lives were different. There are people out there that know they were called to do more and be great, yet they settle for less because they do not know how to get to live out their destiny. They need someone to instruct them, to show them how to get from A to B, and someone to just love on them.

Jesus said something that I have not seen happen too much among people; He said, " Whatever you want men to do to you, do to them". So, if you want someone treat you nice, treat them nice first. If you want someone to share their food with you, share first. If you want someone to visit you in the hospital, visit them first. If you want someone to do anything for you, do it first to them. That is how people are anyway. Jesus was just stating a true fact. People will do something for you, if you do it for them first. Rarely do you meet someone who does something for you although you have not done anything for them first. Right?

In Luke 16( amazing passage), Jesus said, " make friends with your stuff". Weird, but it is true. He basically is saying for us to use our earthly things to make friends here. To me this passage lines up just as well with the previous statement. I think they both confer the same idea.

In Proverbs we can read many times how when you have stuff , you have friends, too; when you run out, friends are gone too. Hopefully, we will use our stuff to make some lasting friends. That is how things work, my dear friends. People are selfish.

When was the last time you spent the night with a sick person who was not your family member? Here is another verse Jesus said( paraphrased), " If you only hug the ones that hug you back and if you only love the ones that love you already, what difference does it make?". The world does that.But if you hug on someone who doesn't love you, if you stay up all night who needs someone there who is NOT your family member, and if you listen to someone who doesn't pay you by the hour...then YOU made a DIFFERENCE. Now, that is love.

Recently, I was in the ER. I have no family here in the USA to love me. But two dear friends from church, an older couple in theri 60s and 70s stayed with me all night in the ER. That to me is unheard of!!! I did not even know them that much...we go to church, but we were not close. Guess what? Ever since the ER, we are much closer. I could not believe that such thing existed in America! Everywhere you look, people do not care much. Yes, they care on Thanksgiving..because they feel obligated...or "'tis the season". Christmas is the same way...mellows people. But, my friend, there are more than 300 days that people need someone. One who is hungry doesn't just need food on Christmas; one who is sick doesn't just need a visit around Passover( I don't like to call it Easter because Easter comes from "Istar" in the Bible--the godess of fertiliy); one who is lonely, doesn't need a visit once a year only.

I want to encourage the church and people in general to love one another; to develop communities that will share and build relationships.Get to know your neighbor. Take a gift and go by and visit. You never know when you might need them. If you don't build relationships, how do you expect for anyone to know what you need? People are not mind readers. It's rare that someone will just show up at your door because they knew God told them so. Most people don't have a clue what God is saying and most people will not do what the Bible says anyway. I bet you did not even realize until I wrote this passage that actually Jesus did say to make friends with your stuff!!! There are nuggets of truth about how to live in the Bible that if people paid attention to, they would learn alot about life and their lives would be different.

I believe God has put on my heart to be a voice of hope for this country. I do not want to run from my destiny anymore. I made mistakes. Yes, but I am not going to stay there and let them keep me fruitless. If Jesus forgave and is for me, who can be against me? If 100 people will not care about what I have to say or accept my help, there are 1000 out there that will. You have to think big, if you are going to be who God created you. Who is sinless? No one. The problem is when you want to stay in your sin; but those who truly changed, we should give them a chance because God does.

I believe God put on my heart to start a ministry here in Birmingham, AL called REAL HOPE. It is going to be a center where people will know that if they call, come or contact us in any other way,they WILL find an answer.

I am tired of churches that barely help their own people; I am sick of sermons on healing and then they leave me sick when it comes time to pray for healing; I am tired of excuses why we shouldn't do this or that; I am fed up with empty religon that denies the power of God; I am tired of being a victim; I am tired of telling people that Jesus CAN set them free, but then they still leave in bondage.

Jesus is not a liar.He gives real hope. He never sent away a person who needed healing, still sick. He never sent away a person who needed a child raised from the dead, still dead; He never sent away the hungry, to go learn " how to fish"; He never made Peter feel like he can never come back to Him even after he blew it; and He never said to compromise with sin.

There is going to be a center in Birmingham that people can call and we as believers will show them how to really get out of their mess; we will spend time we people we do not know in the hospital; we will visit nursing homes and heal the elderly so they can go home; no one is to die in one of those places like that; it is satan's lair of hopelessness; we will help young people find jobs who are just graduating; we wil show people resources they can get in touch with to help them reach their destiny...I have a vision and I will not stop until it comes to fruition. I know how to make it happen; I just need people that can see it, too and to my amazement there are people here in Birmingham that want to lign up and follow this vision. People really do want an answer. The church has just become a place of much talk and no fruit. It is time to produce what we are. No more talk. Real hope, for real needs.

Next article, I am going to give practical steps how to implement centers of REAL HOPE in the world wherever we are as believers. Hopefully people can catch on to this vision and join us.