Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope, the power of the Holy Spirit.  Rom 15:13

Some time ago, a friend sent me this description of an encounter that the late Mother Teresa had with a radio interviewer who also owned the station.  After the interview, the interviewer was so impressed with the heart and testimonies of Mother Teresa, he asked her what he could do for her. “There is nothing you can do for me,” she replied.  The interviewer went on to attempt to get her to understand that he owned the radio station.  He could get her a lot of publicity.  Mother Teresa then said, “I’m not here for publicity.” Almost begging her to see the light, he told her he could help raise a lot of money on behalf of her cause.  At that point, Mother Teresa said, “You seem like a good man. You seem like a sincere man.  I’ll tell you what you can do for me.  Tomorrow morning, when it is still dark at 4 AM, I want you to get up and go out on the streets of Phoenix…. Find someone who is alone and convince him that he is not.”

In our estimation, the story of Mother Teresa’s powerful insight qualifies as an obvious message of heavy-weight hope.  This note of encouragement we share with you today recognizes that probably none of our family and friends are living on a city street.  We also know, however, that in spite of our comfortable looking surroundings, sometimes we, too, can feel depressed, defeated, and lonely. So, it may not be the streets of Phoenix, it may not be 4 AM, but at any time and place we’re taken by Mother Teresa’s wisdom and desire to be a true encourager.  We come to you this morning with a word of hope. This week you will not feel depressed, defeated, or lonely.  As a matter of fact, your level of victory this week will be so great that you will have the wherewithal (maybe even at 4 AM on a city street) to tell someone else that they are not alone.

Our prayer this week is for us to have a measure of God’s love pour through us in a way that’s as evident as His love that flowed through His compassionate servant, Mother Teresa. In Jesus name, be faithful, grateful, hopeful, helpful, and enjoy your level of victory this week.

 Phil 2:7