#Faith #Hope #Love #joy
Keep Hope Alive – Keep Joy, hope, Faith, and Love alive – Nexus Between Joy, Hope, Faith and Love: Two Stories – Identify and Eliminate Every “Can’t”
+ Trash Can collector’s Story – John
Friday, September 6th, 2024
YouTube link:
https://youtu.be/X6u6NnGMXQo?si=tFNg1o0YiglqCwH7
Podcast Link:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4dM07mIhic99gToH8I6iv1
Youtube Link:
https://youtu.be/Ktg2dW33qVs?si=jMXHtmlxpo4RKEDe
Title: Keep Hope Alive – Keep Joy, hope, Faith and Love alive – Nexus Between Joy, Hope, Faith and Love: Two Stories – Identify and Eliminate Every “Can’t”
+ Trash Can collector’s Story – John
Friends, Happy New Months. This morning, I woke up with the urge to encourage someone today and someone is either you or me. The title today is urging us to Keep Hope alive – Keep Joy, hope, Faith and Love alive – Nexus Between Joy, Hope, Faith and Love: Two Stories – Identify and Eliminate Every “Can’t”+ Trash Can collector’s Story – John
Must of all we all need hope.
There are no systems in this earthly world that can bring you hope, joy, faith and love.. .. These are divine principles. They are part of the fruit of the spirit as stated in Galatians 5:20-22. It comes from God who created you and dwells richly in you. If you accept this words with complete trust and conviction. I dare say again that no human system, be it government, economy, business, persons or people, husband, wife, children or neighbors that can bring you that hope and joy that comes from above and is independent of earthly circumstances or situation. Look up for your redemption has been bought by the precious blood of the lamb who was slain to bring us all the riches that are only found in Christ Jesus out Lord
As I stated earlier, there is a connection between Joy, Hope, Faith and love. There is also a connection between Joy and hope. There is connection between love and hope as well. For we are people of faith and we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
In Hebrews 11:1-6 it is written “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
We are promised in God’s Word that faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain (see Matthew 17:20). Abraham hoped in faith that he would receive the promise of God (see Romans 4:18). Some people try to have faith, but they have no hope. They don’t have a positive expectation that something good is going to happen to them because of God’s great goodness. I believe hope precedes and is connected with faith. We cannot have one without the other. How could a negative, hopeless person be walking and living by faith? The person may believe in God, but a man or woman of faith does more than trust that God is alive; they also believe that He is good, and that He rewards those who seek Him. They wait for and expect the goodness of God, not because they deserve it, but because God promises to give it.
As we engage with people from different parts of the world via our website at otakada.org and offline, We’ve met so many incredible people—people just like you. Business owners, housewives, working moms, artists, ministers, entrepreneurs, politicians, volunteers, single moms, single dads. I’ve had the privilege of meeting men and women from nearly every walk of life.
Some are doing great, seemingly on top of the world. Others have confided to me that they’re barely getting by, living day to day, trying to make ends meet. And many others are dealing with circumstances so difficult that, quite frankly, they feel defeated and overwhelmed by life.
But no matter the person, and no matter the situation, I’ve discovered there is one thing they all desperately need—one thing we all desperately need: Hope.
Hope is the happy and confident anticipation of good. It’s a powerful and universal inspiration, a rising tide that lifts all boats. Whether we are limping into port, stuck at the dock, or sailing boldly out to sea, hope buoys our spirits, daring us to believe You know what? Things might just work out after all. It’s the sometimes unexplainable, but always undeniable, feeling that today would be a bad day to give up. Hope is a belief that something good is about to happen at any moment.
The apostles understood these words well as it relates to the concept of life.. let read three scriptures namely:
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Identify and Eliminate Every “Can’t”
Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…
1 Peter 1:3
“A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed a hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.”
—Elbert Hubbard
In 1981, a self-made millionaire by the name of Eugene Lang returned to the inner-city elementary school he attended 50 years earlier. He was there to give a speech to the class of graduating sixth graders, but something the principal told him just before he took the stage disturbed Lang. The principal informed the successful businessman that, statistically, three-quarters of the school’s students would never complete high school—they would drop out long before receiving a diploma. Lang planned to speak to the young students about the value of hard work and how it would lead to success, but when the principal told him that startling statistic, he quickly changed the content of his speech. Eugene Lang decided to do something radical.
As he stood before the sixth graders in this Harlem elementary school, Lang told the class how he witnessed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington in 1963. He encouraged each student to dream their own dreams, and then he told the class he wanted to do something to help them see those dreams come true. That day, Lang made a deal with those young students: He promised to pay the college tuition of every sixth grader who stayed in school and received a high school diploma.
The lives of those young people changed that day. They had hope—many of them for the very first time. When interviewed later, one student said, “I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling.” Eugene Lang’s promise turned into a school program, and his school program turned into a national movement. The New York Times ran a front-page story and 60 Minutes aired a segment on the millionaire who brought hope to a group of inner-city children. Thousands of calls and letters began pouring in, and in 1986, Lang started the national I Have A Dream Foundation to help build I Have A Dream programs in schools around the country. Since then, over 200 programs have operated in 29 states, and over 15,000 students (called “Dreamers”) have been helped.
And as for the 61 sixth graders—the original Dreamers—that Lang gave his
impromptu speech to that early summer day in 1981? More than 90% went on to earn their
high school diplomas, and most of those went on to pursue higher education. It was all due
to the generosity of one businessman who just wanted to help a group of kids go higher. Hope is a powerful thing, but it doesn’t thrive in an atmosphere of can’t.
Before Lang made his promise to that group of poverty-stricken, inner-city children, many of them lived under a cloud of “can’t.” We can’t go to college because we can’t afford the tuition costs. So why finish high school if college isn’t even an option? What Eugene Lang did was eliminate the can’t. He didn’t go to class for them, he didn’t do their homework, he didn’t build their projects, he didn’t take their tests—they still had to do the necessary work. But he identified and eliminated the biggest can’t they were facing—and that’s when hope soared.
NOTE – Hope is a powerful thing, but it doesn’t thrive in an atmosphere of can’t.
The second story comes from a trash can collector in New York. This story talks to the fact that as we are hopeful in God, we must do whatever our hands finds to do with all seriousness and dedication that God gives us. Read
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the place of the dead), where you are going.11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither is bread to the wise nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
Here is the story
Trash can collector Interview – John
[Interviewer – Eric]
What’s the craziest thing you’ve found?
[Trash Can Collector – John]
Gold. Gold and cash. Cartier watches, all kinds of stuff.
Diamonds, everything. There’s nothing you can’t find in New York City. So the way this industry works is people who have nothing go and they pick up the cans and bottles.
Then we call a truck. So this truck goes and the driver gets one penny that he collects per bottle. Then the company that picks up the bottles from him gets eight and a half cents.
How much do you make? Anywhere from four to eight hundred dollars a week. You know, it sounds foolish, but what I do is I take the pot and pan on a Saturday and Sunday.
I’ll be in Jackson Heights and I’ll go sell it for five, seven dollars. So I make another thousand dollars every weekend from the stuff I find during the week. I have to laugh because I’ve been doing it for so long.
I’ve been living off of it. So in a week you have a couple grand, maybe? Fourteen, fifteen, eighteen.
Depends on the week. Depends on the weather. Because if I could be out in the summer day every day, I would sell all day every day.
I’d make three thousand a week. Easy. Easy.
You grew up in New York? I grew up in New York. Grew up in Queens.
Met my wife down there. Had three beautiful babies with her. Came up involved in some not too good business and I got in trouble.
Got locked up. Lost my wife and kids. So that’s why I’m in this mess picking up cans.
[Interviewer]
It must have been very illegal. Was it like the FBI or something that got involved?
[Trash Can Collector]
The FBI got me. I was smuggling. Just?
Just. And people. Oh and people?
Yeah. Okay. That’s the real money.
Millions and millions of dollars. We used to drive boats to the Bahamas, different islands and bring them over to the United States. How’d you get caught?
I got ratted on. Somebody told on me. So they got off on probation and I got 10 years.
[Interviewer]
Do you regret anything?
[Trash Can Collector]
Oh yeah, I regret everything. Lost my wife and kids.
I didn’t get to see any of the grandchildren be born. I missed a lot of stuff, man.
[Interviewer]
You seem to be able to hold that pain together pretty well though, you don’t?
[Trash Can Collector]
What am I gonna do? I got no more tears. I’m all cried out.
Now all I do is I can only be joyful and laugh and have a good life because it’s soon gonna end. I’m 60.
[Interviewer]
What were you like in the past?
[Trash Can Collector]
Little crazy, little reckless. I used to have big muscles and great hair and girls thought I was cute. So I took advantage of all of that and it’s not the right way to be.
So now I’m a Christian. I do the right thing. I do my very best to walk properly, to love the others, you know.
[Interviewer]
Tell me about your relationship with God.
[Trash Can Collector]
So there’s a great scripture in the Word of God from Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4. It says, for God has chosen you before the foundation of the world. What that means to me is before Genesis 1-1, he had already chosen those who he chose.
I was called in June of 1993. I gave my life to the Lord. I was in jail.
These three ladies came from the Bronx to preach. I just felt led in my spirit to say, okay, I think you’re telling the truth. I agree.
I’ll accept. Since 1993, which is 30 years ago, I’ve screwed up a million times. I’ve been used of God a million times, but I’ve screwed up a million times.
And I’ve come to the conclusion after 30 years that truly, truly God knew who I was and what I was going to do and what I was going to become. He knew I would pick up cans one day before it ever happened. That scripture helps me to realize that when I fail, you know, don’t please or do the things of God, He still loves me. He still cares for me because He chose me in Christ. He seated me at his right hand in heavenly places.
I’m seated there right now, whether I deserve it or not.
[Interviewer]
Is that hope you have for the future? Something you hold on to now?
[Trash Can Collector]
It’s difficult, but I’ve seen so many miracles and so many spiritual things that I firmly with all my heart, believe that God is real. And therefore I believe his promises in the word and I stand on them. I don’t deserve it, but thank God for his grace.
[Interviewer]
John, here’s a question for you. Talk to me. When you get to heaven, what are you going to ask God?
[Trash Can Collector]
Why’d you choose me? Like, who am I that you chose? You chose me.
I can walk on the streets made of gold. You got a house with me up there. Look at those streams and rivers and Angel.
It’s good to go. I’d be so, I couldn’t stop smiling down here. I’m going to start smiling up there.
[Interviewer]
What do you think he would say of you?
[Trash Can Collector]
You could have did so much better. I had so much more for you. You big dummy.
[Interviewer]
What do you have to say to someone who’s trying to believe in God, but can’t?
[Trash Can Collector]
Simplest answer ever. I heard it from a young boy. God, 15 seconds of your time, bow down and say, Lord, if you’re real, make yourself real to me.
Speak to me. I could keep you here all day, Eric, with stories. My God has been great to me and I appreciate you coming around to encourage me and invigorate me again about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Concluding, I say to one and I say to all, “Hope to Go Higher.” That’s because I am convinced God wants to do bigger and better things in your life—He wants to take you higher. God wants you to experience a higher level of joy, a higher level of peace, a higher level of contentment, a higher level of hope, and the list goes on and on.
Paul wrote in Ephesians:
Ephesians 2:5-7
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
5 Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved ([a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).
6 And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us [b]joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
7 He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:1–2 says:
If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth (emphasis added).
Also read this, Colossians 3:3 For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.
With God, things don’t get worse and worse, they get better and better—you don’t sink lower and lower, you rise higher and higher. Nothing in the world can keep us down. You and I allow the circumstances of our lives to overwhelm us. Let’s keep hope alive. As long as the ordinance of the day and the night continue, seed time and harvest, sowing time and reaping time will continue.
Finally read this from Paul to the Romans:
9 [Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.
10 Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.
11 Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.
12 Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.
13 Contribute to the needs of God’s people [sharing in the necessities of the saints]; pursue the practice of hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you [who are cruel in their attitude toward you]; bless and do not curse them.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others’ joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others’ grief].
16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people, things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits.
17 Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is honest and proper and noble [aiming to be above reproach] in the sight of everyone.
18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
You can see the link between Joy, Hope, Faith and love also in above verse. Specially using king James version of Romans 9:11-12
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Flow with God and what He is doing in us and through us and we shall never be put to shame in Jesus name, Amen and Amen
This brings us to the end of
Keep Hope Alive – Keep Joy, hope, Faith, and Love alive – Nexus Between Joy, Hope, Faith and Love: Two Stories – Identify and Eliminate Every “Can’t”
+ Trash Can collector’s Story – John
Shalom!
Ambassador Monday O. Ogbe
God’s Eagle Ministries (GEM)s
https://www.otakada.org
Where we are seeding the Nations with God’s word and God is transforming lives through His timeless TRUTH One content at a time. We are One in Christ Jesus Let’s Stay ONE Evangelism Discipleship Counseling Healing Deliverance Restoration and Prayer without WALLS BORDERS and DENOMINATIONS!
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