There are people who are passing through some painful and ugly situations that have thrown them into a deep sense of despair and made them felt like giving up. There are some people who have been forsaken, abandoned and rejected. Some lack resources of any kind to pursue their goals and aspirations in life. Worse still, there are those who have physical impairment and often find themselves unable to cope with life’s' challenges. There are also people who have been diagnosed with life threatening diseases who are over whelmed with the thought of dying. Some are jobless, financially handicapped, barren, oppressed, defeated, and some others are passing through indescribable traumatic experiences.’ In spite of all these, there is still hope’, Fr. Mbaka declared.
In this period of Easter which commemorates Jesus resurrection, Fr. Mbaka enjoins the adorers not to lose hope and confidence in God no matter what they are passing through, that even though Jesus was taken away and crucified on the cross, He is still alive to restore back every lost hope.

No matter what you are passing through, don’t lose hope. I said, no matter what you are passing through, don’t give up. No matter what you are passing through, keep on worshiping the Lord. Don’t allow any condition to stop you from worshiping God. The condition will change, only if you don’t lose hope.
The bible says in Ezra 10: 1-2, ‘’while Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites-men, women and children gathered around him. They too wept bitterly”. This is the kind of action that touches God and changes ugly conditions -approaching Him in humility and in tears, not complaining, grumbling nor trying to give up in the face of crisis in your life. Then in verse 2, Shecaniah son of Jehiel, said to Ezra, “we have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the people around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel”.
Our disobedience to the commandment of God could be responsible for what we are passing through sometimes. In that case, I stand in the gap to ask God for His mercy and favour upon everybody here. The bible says in Romans 3:23,”all have sin and falling short of the Glory of God”. In any way we have sin against God, we pray for His mercy and pardon. Zechariah 3:9 says, “I will remove the sins of this land in a single day”. I am console by the word of God in Hebrew 8:12, “Your sins I will forgive your iniquities I will remember no more”. In Luke 23:34, Jesus cried on the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing’’.
I therefore join Ezra to pray for God’s mercy and pardon upon all that are listening to this message, so that God in His infinite mercy will change our ugly conditions that are in the verge of making you lose hope in Him.
Ugly conditions can make us to lose hope in God. People can begin to mess up once they have lost hope. Hope is like a pillar in a building, such that when it is no longer there, the whole house can collapse.
A State of hopelessness
There are many people who are losing hope because of the constant record of deaths in their families; many are losing hope because of incurable disease, chronic barrenness, wretchedness and joblessness; there are many who cannot afford one square meal a day in this country and they are losing hope; A man who promise to marry you have suddenly stop calling you and would not even pick your call. You are experiencing a lot of promise and fail in your life; in your business, instead of moving forward, your are retrogressing. Your colleagues are doing far better than you; as a student, you have been writing exams and failing; many are mesmerized and betrayed by friends and they are as well losing hope; you have been praying for a particular intention for a long time and the answers are not forth coming. In spite of your prayers and devotion to God, things are not working out fine, and you have started losing hope. Also you might have tried all possible solutions but things are still the way they are. In utter desperation and hopelessness, you muttered; ‘what else do I do’? All am asking you to do is, ‘don’t lose hope’. I join Ezra in Ezra10:26 to say,” in spite of all these, there is still hope”. All of your prayers are not in vain. In the spiritual, there is what we call prayer bank where prayers are being stored. Keep praying; before you know it, God will surprise you.
Put your trust in God
When man fails to help you, don’t lose hope, because God can help you. Even if you have failed, you can rise up. Somebody who is considered a failure in life is he who fails and refuses to rise. Even if you are down, declare Job 22:29, that there is a lifting up for you. With your faith and hope in God, there will be a lifting up. And even if your friends can’t lift you up, God can do that for you. Remember what happen in Mathew 4, when Peter was drowning. In verse 30, he cried out to Jesus,’’ Lord, save me’’. He believed that Jesus can save him. Jesus lifted his hands, and brought out Peter. Wherever you have falling; financially, spiritually, emotionally, vocationally, be lifted up. Even if your joy, hope, faith, wisdom, love has falling, there is a lifting up for you. Let the sick, barren women, young men and women in their difficult situation be lifted up. Remember that sorrow endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning. No condition is permanent. Believe that your ugly condition is for the glory of God. There will be light at the end of the tunnel. Just put your trust in God.
Put on a joyful attitude to attract your miracles
Even in your ugly situations, try to remain joyful. The Holy Spirit dwells in a joyful atmosphere. You can easily attract your miracles from God if you remain joyful. Isaiah 12:13 says,’’ with joy we shall draw water from the well of salvation. Don’t lose hope; rather let’s go to draw water with our altitude of joy: water of miracles, water of righteousness, water of faith, child bearing and healings. God can do all things. He can turn what is black to white. Even if it’s impossible with man, it’s not impossible with God. No wonder in Luke 1:37, Angel Gabriel said, with God nothing is impossible. No wonder Jesus also said in Mathew. 7:20, for them that believe, nothing is impossible.
Do not lose hope because of your financial status. God can change your status. Your money can locate you miraculously. It is God that gives one the power to be wealthy, as stated in Deuteronomy 8:18. If you have labored for so long, and you have not yet being rich, don’t lose hope. In a short while, wealth will locate you. In Mathew 17: 27, Jesus ordered Peter to go to the lake and threw his net to catch a fish, and inside the fish, there would be four coin there to use and pay their tax. How the money entered the mouth of the fish, nobody knows. So you should not worry how God will provide your own money for you. Just have faith, and stop losing hope.
Even if you have fallen, don’t give up. Try again, because the downfall of a man is not the end of his life. In Philemon 10, God blessed Onesmus and made him great. You too can become great, only if you don’t give up.
Hopelessness can cause high blood pressure, hypertension and frustration. God has plans for you. In Jeremiah 29:11, He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. In Zephaniah 3:30, God is going to reverse your captivity, and in Psalm 35: 27, He promised to take interest in your prosperity. So, refuse to bow down to this ugly situation, refuse to give up. God is still alive. I assure you, what you are crying over, is going to cry over you. Even if you are losing hope, because there are no jobs, they can be new jobs tomorrow. If you don’t lose hope, God will open double doors for you and go before you to level every mountain as in Isaiah 45: 1-2.
In 2Kings 4, there was a widow who had lost hope because of her condition. She never knew Elisha was coming. The woman cried out to Elisha, “My husband is dead and his creditor is coming to take my two sons as his slaves". Elisha asked her, "What do you have"? The woman answered that she had nothing but a little quantity of oil that is left in the jar. Elisha told her to go and borrow jars. They started dropping a little quantity of oil on those jars till all got filled up. He asked her to go and sell all to be able to pay her debt. God will also intervene in your case, when you think all hope is lost.
Remember also what happen in 1Kings 17, when Elijah ran into the cave because there was a famine in the land after his declaration that there would be no rain for few years, and there were looking for him to kill him. Many of you are living in the cave now because of a bad condition. Some have even gone back to their villages because their business has collapsed. But it is not enough to give up. If Elijah the prophet could live in the cave for the main time, you too can also live in the cave of your life for sometimes, but am sure you will not remain there forever. The cave is not your permanent abode. God will bring you out of that cave after a little while, only if you don’t lose up.
I hereby recharge your hope with this word of God, so that from today henceforth, you will begin to make a positive confession, as in Romans 10:10. Change your confession and utterances, and begin to speak faith. Numbers 14: 28 says,''Whatever I hear you say to my hearing, I will do it for you. If you always speak lack, poverty, sickness, barrenness, they might come to you. Remember the bible enjoin us in Joel3:10,''let the weak say, I am strong". That is positive confession. You are speaking it not because you have it, but because God can provide it. Look at the case of Abraham in Genesis22. Abraham did not lose hope and faith in God even when all hope seems lost. Look at his statement in verse 5,” I am going to sacrifice with my son and we are coming back’’. He did not mention that Isaac was going to die. He intensified his faith in verse 8, when Isaac spoke up and said to him,” fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice? Abraham answered, “The lord will provide”. Indeed the lord provided the lamb for the sacrifice. Isaac was no longer killed. So you don’t have to give up, because God will provide for you, in a time when you least expected it.

Try again; don’t give up
You might have been trying to succeed but success is not forth coming. Don’t give up. It may just be one more step to reach to your destination of success. If you happen to give up at that point, all your previous effort will now be in vain. If your first, second, and even third attempt did not work out, try again. I give you an example of the people of Israel in Joshua 6, when they got to Jericho on their way to the land of Canaan. They matched around the city for six days and on the seventh day, the wall did not collapse. They did not lose hope. The man of God, Joshua commanded them to match around the wall seven times on the seventh day, on the sound of the trumpet, the wall of Jericho fell down. What pull the wall down was the amalgamation of their efforts right from the first day they started matching, and not just the last one. If it were you, you would have concluded that it would not fall down again, you would have given up. God loves a persevering attitude. Who is going to try again after falling? Don’t say because your business did not flourish last year; because your farm did not do well; because you were disappointed; because you miscarried, you will not try again.
Some Christians are lazy. They only exercise faith but don’t match it with a corresponding work. Only faith cannot prosper you. It must be faith and good work. Start something no matter how small it is. God will bless your hand works, and before you know what is happening, you will grow and become a boss. . The bible said in job 8: 7, though your beginning is little, your later days will be greater. Also Zechariah 4:10 says, ‘’forgets you not the days of your little beginning. So even in your small beginning, don’t lose hope, God can lift you up. Always think well, plan well, get focused, work harder, and then with prayer, God can shock you.
I take your mind back to the story of Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, who was suffering from leprosy, in 2 Kings 5. When prophet Elisha asked him to go to the River Jordan and dip himself seven times in order to be healed, he was discouraged. He was not even humble enough to take instructions from the man of God. If not for his servant girl who encouraged him to heed to the instructions of the man of God, he would have lost an opportunity to get his healing. Some of you are not humble enough to receive advice from your superior on how to make it in life. All you do is complaining and blaming people for your bad situations. The bible enjoins us to be humble in 1Peter 5:6, “humble yourself and in due time, God will exalt you’’.
Even if you have gone to the hospital and was given a medical report that seems the end has come, don’t lose hope. God can heal you, no matter the name of the sickness. It is at this period of Easter that He took our sicknesses and heals our diseases. By His wounds, we are healed. Even if your organ has been destroyed by a particular sickness, don’t lose hope, because a new organ can be planted. Romans 4:17 says that He calls into existence what does not exist, for He raises even the dead. Act 17:25 said that He gives life, air and everything. He can provide you with all that you need to live a fulfilled life, only if you don’t give you.
O lord, we stand in your words and pray that you save your people from their state of hopelessness. Remove every ugly situations that have made them want to lose hope and faith in you. Sustain their hope with your grace in Jesus name, Amen.
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