Monday 2 January 2017

Happy New Year | Starting with Hope

Happy New Year to our dear Readers and Followers! We made it… Phew. How was 2016? 
Great? The deal on climate change was signed, Iran nuclear deal was signed, I was promoted from guest writer to full time writer; next stop… Reverend Sage :)
Rough? Brexit? Lost the opportunity of a first female American president? Petrol going to N145/l in Nigeria?
Well it doesn’t matter because we have a chance of a New Year and much to look forward to with hope of greater things to come.
But let’s take a second to pause and ask ourselves, what is so special about starting afresh? What is so special about been able to say "right, I made a mess of things but that was so last year?" Or the most popular: New Year New Me; does a New Year really make us new? I would say what makes a New Year so special is the hope of things to come. The belief that we've learnt our lessons and are going to make good use of those experiences to make better decisions.
Now let’s dissect hope. What is hope? The dictionary on my phone defines hope as: "to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence." (I remember those days when I had to go around with a big oxford dictionary). Hope is the happy anticipation that something good is going to happen. According to a great man: hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
Hope is so strong that Obama, coolest President the world has ever had :), wrote a whole book on the Audacity of Hope (please read it … awesome book). Hope is so strong that it forms the foundation of faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen. Heb. 11:1 (KJV)

No matter how bad our circumstances are, as humans, one of the most powerful emotions we have is hope. Move into 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (KJV) and you will realise that we are told to put on the helmet of the hope of salvation.


Practical Steps for a Great 2017

So as we move into 2017, regardless of the circumstance this is the charge to each and everyone of us, myself included:
  • Step out of the tent (circumstance): Abraham had to do this in order to see the promise of God (Gen. 15:5, KJV).
  • Put on the helmet of the hope of salvation to protect your mind: the devil will do his best to attack your mind in order to bring hopelessness into your life (IThess. 5:8, KJV). Once you lose hope, how can you have faith? Don’t let the devil cause you to lose hope and in turn lose faith. Hope costs nothing but hopelessness costs a lot.
  • Hold onto your anchor of hope (Hebrews 6:18 – 19) and
  • Become a prisoner of hope: Abraham and all the great men and women in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 were prisoners of hope. They never gave up despite the fact their circumstances stated otherwise. Zechariah 9:12, NIV states: Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.


Get up and with hope, write out your goals and aspirations for 2017 and don’t let the devil or his agents allow you to feel hopeless. Happy New Year from Sage.

Watch out for the next blog post next Monday!

Photo Credit: www.searchquotes.com and www.nascar.com

3 comments:

  1. I like the fact that I read this.
    As simple as it seem, this is quite a task but one that is not insurmountable.

    Thank you for this. It calms the heart to know that we can't afford to lose hope and in turn lose faith.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment Abikoye. Like Philippians 4:13, you can do all things through Christ, so just as you've said, it's not insurmountable.

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    2. You're welcome Abikoye. One thing I plan to do this year is to review my to-do list tasks every three months. This would help in achieving my goals.

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