Back in 2005, the Chicago White Sox baseball team was vying for the World Series, and the rock group Journey had a song that was used to boost their morale. You may not have ever listened to the group or even known their name, but you might remember the chorus that simply started with, “Don’t stop believin’.”1 Kids would jump up and down, singing at the top of their lungs, letting everyone know that there was still hope—not only for the baseball team but for themselves. Fast forward to 2021, when CeCe Winans’ melodious gospel vocals on Believe for It dominated our streaming playlists during the pandemic. We needed to believe we were going to come through what seemed like a never-ending nightmare.
No matter our stage of life, we all want to believe in a brighter day. We all want to believe that wars will end, political rivals will co-operate, and our loved ones will be safe. It’s that desire to believe that motivates us to cook, bake, celebrate and decorate for a couple of months at year-end. Families recall traditions and memorable days while creating new ones, hoping and wishing for a season and new year of peace. As we reflect on the birth of the Christ child, we keep hope alive.
To believe means to have confidence in the truth, the existence or the reliability of something. Another term we use synonymously with belief is faith. I’m sure someone whispered, “Don’t stop believing,” when the Toronto Maple Leafs made it to the playoffs last season. Cheering for the underdog, I would combat the cynical with, “Come on, let’s believe this year.” I would hope that my father’s faith in the blue-and-white jerseys would one day come to fruition. Life can change in a heartbeat!
Wake up with expectancy!
I want to challenge all pastors and leaders to wake up expecting. Keep faith alive by waking up with expectancy daily. We must work diligently to guard our hearts from becoming lazy, doubting and anticipating the same old, same old. Jeremiah praises Jehovah by saying, “his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness,” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
In Luke 1, we are encouraged to keep faith alive as we read the story of Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. Zechariah had served faithfully in the priesthood, carrying out his duties on a regular basis. He read the law. He knew the law. He had heard the prophecies that Messiah would one day come to Israel. He trained, studied, and had the position to prove it. He was not only knowledgeable and qualified to carry out his duties, but he also had authority in his distinctive role in Israel.
Can I be direct? He was much like many of us today. His daily routine, like many of ours, was set. He woke up, prepared for the day, and went about preparing to intercede and carry out his daily routine as usual. And then God interrupted.
Can you still believe?
Zechariah was very much like us. He believed Jehovah had a plan for His people. He knew Israel’s history, including how God had parted the Red Sea and caused Jericho’s walls to come down. He and Elizabeth had done all the “right” things. They had courted and married, but the one thing they wanted to complete their family had not happened. Elizabeth had passed menopause, and it looked like it was over for them. Culturally, they were kind of side-eyed by their community. The most they could hope for was to support other people’s children. However, that all changed when the angel of the Lord showed up. Zechariah was engaged in his daily routine and wasn’t expecting a visitor. He had stopped believing they would ever have a child. Their bodies had aged and changed, and belief for the impossible had pretty much faded. But God had not finished writing their story, and He hasn’t finished writing ours.
What’s your story? Have you been believing and praying for something but lost hope? Has it been “business as usual” daily, having meetings, planning for the next small group and other tasks, and checking off each one as you go? Have we stopped expecting or believing that God can break through our neat and tidy routine and actually speak to us differently? Have we lost the wonder?
Remember, God’s timing is not ours. He has not changed. He will speak to us when we least expect it. God is still looking for people who will believe despite what they see happening in their own lives or in the world around them. While Zechariah routinely carried out his tasks, an angel of the Lord appeared to say that God had heard his prayers. All those prayer requests and tears had been heard and seen. Payday had finally come. Yet, as many of us might, Zechariah listened with shock and disbelief. Why now, when I’m old? Why now, with both of us resigned to being childless? Why now? Because God is not confined to our timing. His ways are not ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). When we least expect it—while praying and staying expectant—we will get an answer. There is still hope! Don’t stop believing today. God is looking for people who are praying in faith and still believing.
Will you believe for the impossible? Will you hold on to His Word when the word of others has failed? Keep the hope and wonder of a child not only at Christmas but daily. God is still in the business of giving new life, new hope and fresh joy regardless of what we see, hear and feel. Keep hoping, keep seeing, and don’t stop believing!
Patricia Russell lives with her husband in Mulmur, Ont. They both serve in ministry at Peel Pentecostal Tabernacle in Brampton, Ont.
This article appeared in the October/November/December 2024 issue of testimony/Enrich, a quarterly publication of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. © 2024 The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Photos © istockphoto.com.
- Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’” track 1 on Escape, Columbia Records, 1981, compact disc.