What is giving you life?

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 

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I will be referencing a few scriptures, but my main scripture today will be Proverbs 13:12.

It is a very familiar passage that I’m sure we’ve all read over so quickly at times that it may lose significance but sometimes certain scriptures hit different when you’re actually going through - as it says-  a deferred hope situation. 

And I was dealing with some deferred hope things recently when the Holy Spirit told me 

“yeah, that scripture–that’s the one”.

So my question for you and thought today is :

What is giving you life? 

SO—

We’ve all heard the statement used a time or 2, people saying:

“Oh,  That so and so gave me life!”, referring to something they liked a lot

EXAMPLES: That song/tv show/or an outfit gave me life!”

Now if you’re like me, 

you will be somewhere talking about some type of food … gave you life 😂

But nowadays, we use that statement more often than we do it’s predecessor, 

which we all used to say something like 

“GIRL these shoes are killing me lol“- or I almost died laughing—but now we say things give us life!

See– what some of us are learning is to be more accountable for the words we use even if it’s in small talk.

But part two of that question- of what is giving you life - and probably, a more important question might be—- what things are you … giving life to?

Are you giving life to your fears, your anxieties, your deferred hopes, or negativity?

LETS READ Proverbs 13:12  AGAIN

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life."

 NOW

- Think about the times that a desire was fulfilled. It felt like it gave you life right? 

BUT First let’s be clear, desire is not a bad word. 

Sometimes—church folk forget you had to have some type of desire in order to make all those babies with your spouse & desire for us all to be here 😂

— or maybe some of y’all didn’t have any desire— IT’S OK - IT’S OK…

don’t feel bad sometimes it happens.😂

But Desire: is defined in Hebrew as a delight, longing, & a satisfaction.

Now if you step back and look at that— can you see how the enemy has perverted it? 

But that ain’t nothing new just something he’s been doing since the beginning.

DESIRE is also translated in Hebrew as a place in the desert.

So how can desire be categorized as a place – and a dry place at that?

Well delight, longing, & satisfaction are sometimes all states of mind; in other words, 

which state of mind OR PLACE are you in? 

What place are you in where your delight, longing and satisfaction have dried up?

Sometimes we get so caught up on the mantra that 

God is good all the time and all the time God is good – and he is!

But sometimes we forget that our good and great God’s answer is sometimes NO.

So your hope is deferred – which means to be PUT OFF & POSTPONED 

because he said no — 

And now you big mad 😂. 

and that’s OK too –

because He’s a big God — and He can handle it. 

And anyway scripture says it’s ok to be mad — but don’t sin – that’s the catch. 

We also forget that just because Phil.4:6-7 says "let your requests be made known to God…" doesn’t mean His answer to your requests will always be yes – just says "the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds…" because we need peace for the NO or the not yet.  

So what are you gonna do?😂.

Whether you are big mad or little mad – the answer is still no.

Tell me, what can you do when you have dried up desire, dried up longings, & dried up satisfaction toward something in a dry place or dry state of mind - from deferred Hope?

The answer is in the rest of our foundational scripture that continues with one of my favorite words in the Bible, and that word is BUT 🤣

Stay with me, 🤣

See “But” negates everything before it.

“But” — is put there to avert your focus and alert your senses to a different perspective.

It’s very effective– watch this…

If someone says, I love you, then what do you say back?

And then they say –

BUUUUT…..i can’t stay with you—

That BUT just negated them saying they love you!

SEE — RIGHT THEN AND THERE YOU START FEELING SOME TYPE OF WAY ABOUT THAT BUT🤣

So the scripture is doing the same thing, 

“BUT” is directing your attention to something positive and away from the unpleasant.

The scripture is giving you permission to focus on the desire, delight, longing and satisfaction that will give you life, new energy and new motivation to go on and see what the end gone be! The Elders use to say that LOL

It’s saying that, even though you’re a dry state of mind, 

Scripture wants to divert your way of thinking from disappointment to something that’s going to give you life in a dry place!

Another scripture goes on to say in

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

HERE’S THE PART—

"...Finally, brothers, whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, 

if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me — practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Did you catch that first part where it says:

— whatever is true: see right there— let truth give you life. 

What truth — THE TRUTH that Jesus is the way the truth and the life! 

Everybody these days is walking around, talking about THEIR truth, 

but let me tell you – that is not THE TRUTH!

There is only one truth that the believer should stand on, and that is the truth of Jesus Christ who is the living word!

SEE Philippians 4:6–9 is a recipe for how to have life in a dry place.

In short, it is saying to Meditate on the things … that give you life. 

Meditating on these things is teaching us how to be obedient while suffering 

—just do what he says and do what it says Jesus did in Hebrews 5:8 which reads: 

— “although He was a Son, He had to learn obedience through what He suffered.”

Now tell me this, —why do we think we don’t have to or won’t suffer?

We want to be like Jesus so bad 

until it’s time to suffer and learn how to be obedient.

BUT THEN EVEN IN SUFFERING

Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬ says 

‭‭“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”

It repeats itself – why does it say it twice in one sentence?

- because sometimes we all need to be reminded!

Especially when we’re in a dry place, 

sometimes you need to be reminded of the goodness of the Lord! 

- That the joy of the Lord is our strength! Nehemiah 8:10

– that his word cannot return to him void!  Isaiah 5:10-11

– that he’s not a man so he can’t lie– & neither the son of a man that he should repent! Numbers 23:19-20

Sometimes we need to be reminded that if he said that thing he’ll do it and if he spoke it —

it will come to pass!

It’s said twice because sometimes we simply need to be reminded to stay positive in a dry place when our Hope has been deferred.

Then it goes on to say in Philippians 4:6-7 – while being in your dry place—

"don’t be anxious for anything, but stay in prayer,

stay in supplication and add Thanksgiving..."

– see there’s the formula right there on how to stay alive in the desert - in a dry place! 

BUT How can anything live in the desert? 

Well let’s ask Moses — 

he can tell you firsthand that even though everything out there looks dead there is life in the desert! 

Everything around him was dead when he was exiled from Egypt 

— there’s no trees, & for the most part, there’s no water! 

He seemed to be the only living thing in a dry place. 

But let me help you — God sustained his life in a dry place! 

Which means if he did it then for him – he’s going to do it again for you! 

So while you’re fumbling around in the dry place of the dried hopes and dried up longings and dried up desire – 

remember to meditate on the things in Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

So I’m going to leave you with this declaration: 

we WILL have life– even with dry hopes, dry dreams, & dry longings, 

because that “BUT”  tells us that at some point — 

my desire will be fulfilled and it is a tree of life!

And just like that tree planted by streams of water, in Psalm 1:3, 

we will bear fruit, Our leaves will not wither and we will prosper 

— even in a dry place— 

Our tree will give shade – not throw shade… – 😂, 

It'll give shade to those who seek it. 

Shade from the wisdom that we gleaned, while speaking life & meditating on life

in the dry place and that life we speak of and proclaim is in Jesus!

AMEN!

Remember- speak life!