The power of hope

…hope does not disappoint… Romans 5:5a

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for… Hebrews 11:1a

A guest speaker recently preached at my church and exhorted us about hope. Hope is second of the 1 Corinthians 13 “fruit” trio—faith, hope, and love (see verse 13); and unfortunately, like the proverbial middle child, hope is often underestimated, under-recognized, and easily brushed aside as less significant. After all, without faith it is impossible to please God; and the greatest of the three is love. Where does that leave hope?

I wish you could have heard the message; it was a life-changing, revolutionary spark which ignited the forgotten kindling of hope in my heart, fueling the dormant furnace within me. Hope. It must be guarded. It must be nurtured. It must be fueled. It must be fed.

The man of God spoke from Hebrews 11, the famous chapter about faith. ”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” (Hebrews 11:1-2, NKJV; emphasis added). He pointed out that mighty faith in God exists only because hope existed first. If a man has no hope, he will not have faith. Hope must be present first because it gives faith something to give substance to.

When you are under attack, you know to resist the devil (see James 4:7). However, if he can get you to believe that your situation is hopeless by wearing you down (which is his goal), your faith will diminish because it has nothing with which to work. “Faith is the substance…”means that your faith undergirds, supports, and gives substance to something—that for which you hope. But if hope is gone, faith undergirds nothing. If hope is gone, faith supports nothing. If hope is gone, faith gives substance to…nothing.

I don’t know about you, but I was shocked to realize how insidiously the enemy had been chipping away at my hope reservoir, using all kinds of methods and angles in his evil hope-erosion strategy. The man of God posed this question to us: “Do you expect as much as you used to?” Then he bluntly stated, “If we’re honest, we really don’t.”

Do nagging limitations, fears of what others might think, or past disappointments loom larger in your mind than expectations based on the Word of God and the Holy Spirit’s leading? If you find you are managing expectations so as to protect yourself against disappointment, then you are granting “open season” to the enemy of your soul to chip away at your hope without any restriction.

Give yourself permission to hope again. Give yourself permission to pull out those dreams, blow off the dust, and let the Lord reinstate them however He desires. Let that smoldering ember of hope deep down in your belly burst back into flame, warming your heart, enlightening your eyes, and reestablishing your vision.

The man of God described hope this way: it keeps the avenue open for tomorrow to be better. Think about it. Tomorrow can be better! Next week can be sweeter! Next month can be an improvement on this month! Next year? Better than this one! You are the gatekeeper of your hope, not the devil, not your friends, not the people in the pew across the church. And as gatekeeper, you have the authority not to allow them or the world or even your past to steal your hope from you any longer.

If you—like most of us—are facing a delay in the fulfillment of your vision, dreams, or desires, you are the gatekeeper of your hope, nonetheless. You cannot allow delay—however long it may be—to bring disappointment and discouragement into your soul any longer. You’ve got to guard your hope; therefore, choose to view every delay you face as God’s opportunity to work behind the scenes, heaping up blessings to pour out upon you at just the right time.

Always be willing to believe “crazy” things—impossible things that align with the Word of God. Be willing, like Caleb and Joshua of old, to possess the land—whatever that land is for you. Let God lead you—He is the author of your hope (as well as your faith)—and He will awaken the slumbering vision He once implanted within you and will reignite the dreams lying dormant in your heart.

Never surrender to hopelessness. Don’t give it place any longer. But my hope has been deferred and now my heart is sick, you may think. Granted, the Word does say “hope deferred makes the heart sick” (see Proverbs 13:12); but that’s a far cry from saying “stuff deferred” or “situations deferred” make the heart sick! You see, you are the gatekeeper of your hope. You determine whether hope stays or goes; not your circumstances, not your unmanifested dreams—and not the devil!

Because your faith grabs hold of what you’re hoping for, you must guard your hope with vigilant watchfulness. Don’t let anything steal it. Stand your ground and allow your heavenly Father to rekindle hope for your future. Believe again that all the fruitful purposes God has planned for you will come to pass. Believe again that by His grace you will see the manifested blessings of God abound day by day for the rest of your life—starting today.

Let your hope spring forth again!

Dorothy

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. Romans 5:5, Amplified Bible