Hope: The Key to Freedom

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:15-21 NIV)

The abject poverty in which the people live with whom I have worked in South Africa is almost beyond belief.  And the woes that accompany it break my heart.  Alcoholism.  Drug addiction.  HIV-AIDS.  Abuse.  Neglect.  Hopelessness.  And it is the last that feeds the seemingly endless generational cycle of poverty and despair.  


Hope cultivates a new vision for one’s life, a vision that sees change within one’s grasp, even if the current circumstances seem to indicate otherwise.  The Enemy’s strategy is to remove all hope from us, to cultivate hopelessness at every turn, to keep us in bondage to our discouragement and despair.  But hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:5) if we cling to it.  


That is why I believe I felt compelled to speak about hope with the teens from the slum settlement in which we were working last month.  Without hope, they will perish.  Without hope that God can do immeasurably more than they can ask or even imagine, they will remain bound by the same chains that have bound their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  And these chains won’t be broken by a single talk (a seed planted perhaps); it will take devoted prayer.  When the Enemy has a grip, he will not easily let go.  


But hopelessness is not confined to slums or ghettos.  It can be found in mansions, in corporate offices, on college campuses, and even in churches.  In any of these places, there are people bound by things greater than themselves and beyond their own ability to break free.  You may know some. 


If so, the best thing you can do is to pray this prayer of Paul’s.  The first step is for their hearts to be enlightened to the hope there is in the God who raises the dead.  With Him, all things are possible.  Once they truly embrace this, then freedom can become a reality.  


© Jim Musser 2012