Get Your Hopes Up!: Expect Something Good to Happen to You Every Day (4 page)

It’s so good to know that, as believers, we are never alone. Let me make that more personal:
You
are never alone. God doesn’t lead you from some great distance away; He is living in your heart and walking with you step by step, no matter what you go through. Though it may look like there is no one standing with you, and though you may feel alone when you’re going through a hard time, put your hope in God, for He has promised to be with you and to guide you.

When we are dealing with difficulties in life, and we all do at times, the devil wants us to be hopeless, not hopeful. He will try to get you to focus on your problem instead of on Jesus and His many promises. While Joshua was making his journey through the wilderness, God told him to keep his eyes on the promises and not to turn from them to the right or the left, that he might prosper in all of his ways (see Joshua 1:4–7). When trouble comes, don’t let the cares and anxieties of the world make you hopeless. Be a prisoner of hope and receive a double reward from God.

I recently read about a man who was learning to fly airplanes. During one particular lesson, his instructor told him to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. The student did as he was instructed, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Shortly after he started the dive, the engine stalled and the plane began to plummet out of control. With panic in his eyes, the student looked at his instructor for help, but the instructor didn’t say a word. The
student quickly calmed himself, regained his composure, and corrected the situation according to his previous training—training that was being put to the test for the first time.

After the plane was level and they were safely flying again, the student turned to his instructor and began to vent his fears and frustrations. It seemed as if the instructor had disappeared while on the job, and his student wasn’t happy about it. After listening to the outrage from his student, the flight instructor calmly replied, “There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. If you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again.” Though the student had gone through a trying ordeal, and even though he felt alone for a few terrifying moments, his instructor had been there the whole time. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to his student. He was actually using the adversity to teach and equip his student with skills he would need in the future.
¹

I share that story with you because there may be times in your life when you feel as if you are in a deep and extended dive, times when it feels like your engine has stalled and you are plummeting out of control. A marriage crumbles, a dream dies, a diagnosis is given, a child strays, a trust is broken, a job is lost. In difficult times like these, it’s natural to feel a sense of panic and to wonder if you are all alone. But just because you may temporarily feel alone, afraid, and abandoned, that doesn’t mean you are. God is right there with you; He has not left your side.

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV) says that God “will never leave you nor forsake you,” and in Matthew 28:20 (NIV), Jesus promised, “I am with you always.” These are just two of the many times in the Word of God where the Lord assures you He will never leave you to go through things alone. Even on your worst days, even in the midst of the most trying circumstances, know that you are not alone.

What are you most passionate about? What is the thing that makes you excited just thinking about it? Starting a nonprofit? Volunteering in your community? Building a company? Raising a family? Getting your degree? Many times the desires of your heart are so strong because God is the one who put them there. Whatever it is you are hoping for, submit that thing to God, ask for His direction, and if you feel a peace about it, take steps to make it happen. Following God is not about sitting back and waiting for it—it’s about being courageous and going for it. Go ahead and get your hopes up… God is leading you to something better than you can imagine.

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.
¹

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.

As you began reading this book, you probably noticed I titled this first section “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. Colossians 3:1–2 says:

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.

That’s why Proverbs 4:18 says the path of the righteous “is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer)” and why Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) says those who wait for the Lord “shall mount up with wings like eagles.” Your life in Christ can be a life that
gets brighter each day, where you soar higher than you ever have before.

But one of the strongest and most effective obstacles that keeps you from experiencing the life God wants you to live is the mind-set of
can’t. Can’t
is an unforgiving cage designed to keep you from rising to your full potential. Picture the majestic bald eagle—a bird meant to glide on the wings of the wind—perched in a cramped cage, watching other eagles soar. This is what happens when you live with a mind-set of
can’t
. Instead of living the life you were designed to live, you are stuck in an enclosure of restrictions and limitations.
I
can’t
control my temper. I
can’t
find a job. I
can’t
get past that hurt. I
can’t
keep going. I
can’t
get along with my spouse. I
can’t
make myself vulnerable again. I
can’t
figure this out. I
can’t
raise these children alone. I
can’t
believe this is happening. I
can’t…
I
can’t…
I
can’t. We could go on and on. There is seemingly no end to the things people think they can’t do.

But did you notice an important factor in the previous list of thoughts? I. I can’t… I can’t… I can’t. I… I… I.
Can’t
is a mind-set that focuses on self. It doesn’t consider help from others, and it certainly doesn’t consider help from God.
Can’t
looks at the weakest parts of us and draws this hopeless conclusion: I can’t do it.

This is nothing new. The men and women in the Bible dealt with this same attitude. Sarah thought,
I can’t bear children; I’m too old
(see Genesis 18:10–12). Moses thought,
I can’t stand before Pharaoh; I don’t speak well
(see Exodus 6:30). Gideon thought,
I can’t lead Israel; I’m the least in my family
(see Judges 6:15). Esther thought,
I can’t save my people; I will never get an audience with the king
(see Esther 4:11). Isaiah thought,
I can’t prophesy; I am a man of unclean lips
(see Isaiah 6:5–7). The disciples thought,
We can’t feed this crowd; all we have are five loaves of bread and two fish
(see Matthew 14:15–18). In each of these circumstances,
can’t
stood as a self-built cage, trying to keep these men and women from fulfilling God’s plan for their lives.

But God never intended for Sarah, Moses, Gideon, Esther, Isaiah, or the disciples to do anything in their own strength, according to their own ability. He knew they couldn’t… but that didn’t matter, because He
could
. Through Christ we can do anything we need to do. We can face anything!

It was true: Sarah was too old to have children; Moses couldn’t convince Pharaoh on his own; Gideon was unqualified to lead an army; Esther hadn’t been summoned before the king; Isaiah was a man of unclean lips; and the disciples didn’t have enough food to feed the crowd. But God intended to overcome every
can’t
in order to fulfill His plan and purpose. All these men and women had to do was to identify and eliminate their “I can’t” mind-sets. Instead of focusing on their weaknesses, they chose to focus on God’s strength, and the results were miraculous. God did amazing things in their lives and through their faith and obedience.

The same is true for you. I recognize there are things you are facing today that may have you thinking
I just can’t do it. I can’t deal with this situation any longer. I can’t take this another day. I can’t wait for an answer. I can’t find a way to forgive. If you knew what I was going through, you would understand. I just can’t do it
. But I want to tell you that God knows you can’t… and that doesn’t matter, because He
can
.

Maybe you’ve gone through life thinking
I can’t
because that’s what others have told you. Maybe you heard “you can’t” so many times you began to internalize it and personalize it, and somewhere along the way “you can’t” turned into
I can’t
. It’s sad to think there are many people who enjoy telling others what they cannot do. And sometimes these people are the people who are closest to you. A teacher, a sibling, a church leader, a parent, a friend, a person you respect greatly—it can be disheartening when these people overlook your potential. It can disillusion and debilitate us if we allow it to, but we can also choose an alternate course. We can choose to believe God when He says that we can!

If no one else has told you previously, hear God saying now “You can!” Those are powerful words for you to hear and believe, because as I like to say, “Miracles come in cans.” You
can
overcome. You
can
make it through. You
can
forgive. You
can
raise godly children. You
can
have a happy marriage. You
can
experience joy. You
can
meet your goal. You
can
be disciplined. You
can
move on. You
can
… you
can
… you
can
.

When facing any challenge—no matter how big it may seem—God will give you all the strength you need. Armed with God’s power, you can identify and eliminate every
can’t
in your life and replace it with a
can
. “ ‘Can do’ is the parent of ‘Have done.’ ” (Israelmore Ayivor)

In his book titled
The Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient
, Norman Cousins tells the story of being hospitalized with a rare and debilitating disease. The doctors told him it was incurable—he would be sick and in pain the rest of his life. Cousins checked himself out of the hospital and did something unusual.
Knowing that negative thoughts and emotions have damaging effects on the body, Cousins decided to eliminate the negative and amplify the positive in his situation. He decided he needed large doses of hope, love, joy, and laughter. Cousins started spending time each day watching old Marx Brothers films and watching classic reruns of
Candid Camera
. It sounds simple enough, but Cousins decided he would rather laugh in the midst of his condition than cry from the pain of it. What he discovered was that 10 minutes of laughter would give him two hours of pain-free sleep. Amazingly, over time, his disease was reversed, and the story of his recovery appeared in the
New England Journal of Medicine
. Thousands of doctors wrote Cousins, thanking him for sharing his experiment, and Hollywood even made a movie about it.
²

I thank God for doctors and the advancements in medical technology we have today. I don’t tell you Norman Cousins’ story to discourage you from going to the doctor. I share that story as a practical example of how powerful it is when you eliminate the negative attitudes and mind-sets that try to hold you down. In the case of Norman Cousins, it even affected his physical health. Just think of how your life can change when you shed the negativity of “I can’t” and embrace the hope of “I can.” When you choose to focus on the things you can do in Christ instead of the things you can’t do on your own, it will change your thoughts, your words, your outlook, and your attitude—it will change your life. Those who hope in God will never be disappointed or put to shame (see Romans 5:4–5).