The Power of Hope

By Richard Govier

Hope is the ability of the mind to contemplate the future through a promise made by a higher power, whether that power is in the form of a human institution or by God. Promises made provide a form of hope, or peace of mind, from worry about the future; for the human mind is not only capable of storing the past in the form of memory, but it is also capable of contemplating the future either in hope, or hopelessness. Obedience to God's laws became a factor in the "hope" process, for any hope beyond the grave rested in the hands of a superior being that, alone, possesses the power of Eternal Life.

Richard O. Govier (1928-2018) was a Protestant pastor and missionary and travelled the world in that capacity. He planted a number of churches as well as training pastors who served in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and across the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Govier
• Release date: Jul 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463250105

Richard Govier

Richard O. Govier (1928-2018) was a Protestant pastor and missionary and travelled the world in that capacity. He planted a number of churches as well as training pastors who served in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and across the United States.After his marriage to his lifetime sweetheart, Christine Ann Golfis, at the Bethesda Missionary College in Portland, Oregon, he attended extension classes at Pierce College and the Portland State college. Touched by the Latter Rain revival that began in the Northwest, the call of God rested continually on their hearts and they were forever seeking means of preaching the Gospel to their generation. They bought a small trailer and began an evangelistic trek across the United States, preaching in small churches that were open to the work and moving of the Holy Spirit. They criss-crossed the United States from Los Angeles to New York and finally settled down in Los Angeles where they both got jobs and attended a church in Long Beach, California. While serving in that church their son, Jeffrey Lee, was born on November 4, 1963.God had spoken through prophetic words that they would be going to a land whose language they would not understand. Going through a dry period in their lives, Richard loaded up a small tent and made a trip to Mount Palomar, to wait on God. After a week of prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke to his heart that it was time to fulfill the call to a foreign land. Richard, Christine, and Jeff, set out for Brazil. They had no financial support for this until the night they boarded the ship. God sent a local Christian businessman who committed himself to their support for two years, just enough time to attend language school.It was while attending the Brazilian language school that a missionary visited and introduced Richard to one of Brazil's most notable guitar players, who had recently converted to Christianity. Richard played with him on the banjo and the two began a ministry together that took them to Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Richard taught pastors in afternoon meetings, while accompanying his Brazilian friend in large city-wide evangelistic campaigns in the evenings.After serving for ten years in South America, Richard and Christine returned to the United States, primarily to get Jeff into an English-speaking school. Richard pastored churches in York, Pennsylvania, and later in Brooksville, New Jersey. The family eventually moved to Florida where Richard went to work for Piper Aircraft and Page Avjet.Richard loved studying the word of God and, in his retirement years, wrote over thirty books about the unfolding revelations of God in human history. His son, Jeff, published these books one year after his father passed away.

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THE POWER OF HOPE

Richard O. Govier

Copyright © 2019 by Jeff Govier

Bible quotations unless otherwise identified are taken from

the King James Version with emendations by the author.

Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®,

Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995

by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible,

Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from The Holy Bible : Revised Standard Version

Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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After reading this book and finding it of value to you, please consider sending a small donation for the the costs of advertising my father's work. Send all donations either by Paypal account name [e-mail] or by mail to:

Jeff Govier, 5511 Lorraine St., Lakeland, FL 33810.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Faith and Hope

Hope With A Mission

No Longer Hope But Reality

The Present Hope

The Hope Of The Future

In Conclusion

About the Author

Introduction

Hope is the ability of the mind to contemplate the future through a promise made by a higher power, whether that power is in the form of a human institution or by God. Human institutions often write promises on paper in the form of pensions or rewards, but these promises are often broken by circumstances that plague all earthly institutions. How many people have lived their life in the hope of a pension that would someday be theirs, only to find out that the institution that made the promise no longer exists. Or, how many of us have paid premiums based on a written promise made by insurance companies to pay out money in case of an accident or death? Our expectations are based on hope that they will come through for us as promised if such a crisis occurs.

In this respect these promises made on paper provide a form of hope, or peace of mind, from worry about the future; for the human mind is not only capable of storing the past in the form of memory, but it is also capable of contemplating the future either in hope, or hopelessness. Today the failure in government and financial institutions has created a sense of fear about the future stability of our financial system and has thrown many of our citizens into despair about the future. In this respect, we would be better off to be like the animal kingdom that lives by his animal senses apparently possessing no knowledge about the future. For instance, a pig is not concerned that the extra feed that he is being fed today is, in reality, for his slaughter on the following day.

God created man with a superior brain to that of the animal. When God breathed into man the breath of life (not biological life) and he became a living soul, it meant that man now had spiritual qualities that were a part of God Himself. Obedience to God's laws now became a factor in the hope process, for any hope beyond the grave now rested in the hands of a superior being that, alone, possesses the power of Eternal Life. To believe otherwise is to plunge the mind into a sense of hopelessness akin to that manifested by the writer of Ecclesiastes: Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die (Ecclesiastes 8:15). Such a view is no better, or no worse, than that taken by the animal kingdom, in which its only purpose on this planet is to procreate, eat and drink, and then die. If this be the only future for man on this planet, then it is a sad commentary for a creature that possesses not only the power of memory that records all activity on this planet, but the power of imagination, and contemplation of things to come.

Even carnal man possesses the hope of reaching for the stars and in this hope he has produced scientific achievements that stretch the imagination. Yet, there is danger in putting our hope in human achievement and creativity for much of this hope can be based on a false premise. Adam's initial sin was caused by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which was designed to make one wise instead of eating from the tree of life. There is an approach to God's universe that comes through human knowledge and there is an approach that comes through the Son of God. If we reject this way, then any hope for the future will be null and void despite any progress that we have made on this planet.

The kind of hope that we can trust in is that hope offered by the promises of God. God did not create man to be left without a compass. He did not put Adam in the Garden of Eden without instructions. But Adam disobeyed these instructions and brought on himself, as well as his descendants, the wrath of God. There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. All down through history the mercy of God has attempted to show man His way of doing things and what it takes to please Him. Man has repeatedly walked away from God's instructions.

We are now facing a new day in which the revelation of God's Son is becoming more and more pronounced. At the same time we are seeing the increase of knowledge in the secular world. There has never been a time in which the contrast between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life has been so pronounced. God is again bringing mankind into a valley of decision in which he will have to make a choice. A wrong choice at this time can plunge mankind into a despair from which he cannot escape. It will be a despair that the world before the Great Flood felt after having missed their day of salvation.

In his epistle to the Thessalonians Paul said: But we belong to the day, therefore let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to [incur His] wrath - He did not select us to condemn us - but [that we might] obtain [His] salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who died for us so that whether we are still alive or dead [at Christ's appearing] we might live together with Him and share His life (I Thessalonians 5:8-10 Amplified Bible). In his reference to a helmet, Paul is referring to the helmet used by Roman soldiers to cover their head. But he is using this illustration in a spiritual or metaphorical sense in which the mind is to be protected from external stimuli which is attempting to attack the mind. He mentions, for instance, for a helmet the hope of salvation. Our defense against discouragement is The Hope of Salvation.

In explaining this hope, Paul says of Abraham: In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised (Romans 4: 18, 20-21 RSV). Anything negative that gets past this Eternal Hope will inflict damage to our state of mind. It will bring the mind into despair. There is nothing as devastating to the human mind as the idea that there is no hope, there is no God, and there is no salvation. Satan will often use these terms to destroy us. This is why we must guard our mind and maintain a steadfast hope that He that began a good work in us will finish it. Hope is, therefore, a mindset, sort of an autopilot to keep us on course until the thing hoped for is fulfilled. The writer of Proverbs says: "Keep your heart with all