Hope is one of the most important four letter words in the bible. We see that “True Hope” does not rely on the outcome, but on the plan of God unfolding. So many look inward to gain hope but it is found only one place – from above.
Change can unsettle our hearts often because we don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds our future! God promises us when we hope in him we will not be shamed in Romans 5:5. He will never mislead us or forsake us. He promises to fill us with peace and hope in Romans 15:13 as we trust and believe in Him.
Read: Holy Spirit and Men: Turning The World Upside Down
Every other place will produse disappointment. Our Infrastructure can unravel without hope. What are we hoping for? Money, earthly stability, our jobs? All can change in Proverbs 23:5 wealth can take wings and disappear.
Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
As the days get darker our lights shine brighter. We find hope as we go deep with Him. As believers that live out their faith we are even more and more as radicals, this contrast brings hope! We demonstrate a countercultural message and life that embodies hope.
Jesus is our only hope in Psalms 121:1.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
Here are a few places we cultivate hope
- The Bible – treasure house of hope.
- The church family – remind you of all that you are in Christ.
- Faith responses in obedience – God equips the Called.
We can have so much confidence in the character and nature of God and it produces hope in Hebrews 11:1 and verse 6.
Hope gone?
Are you losing hope today? Simply said, we have put our trust in the wrong place. Worry and fear can have a magnetic pull that steals away our confidence. We must train ourselves to look away and look unto Jesus in Hebrew 12:1.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Sometimes, we can look too far ahead of the promise and start to worry and doubt things that we don’t have the grace to think about yet. Stay in step with the Lord and you will have all that you need for the moment.
Sabotage
We have all seen movies where the villain is subtly undermining the objective trying to inflict the most harm on the good guys…Sabotaging the best made plans. We can be like this villain to ourselves or others. What does sabotage look like?
- Intentionally pulling apart something that is in good working order.
- To imagine a negative thing that is not part of the present reality
- To disregard the good and focus only on the bad
- Focussing on bad negates the impact of good.
In losing hope, we can enter into sabotage. Remember, the plan of God is always unfolding and He will always be faithful. When things are unclear or unexplainable don’t get discouraged with what you don’t understand or how small we feel our impact is. Let God fill you with hope. With God we are always a majority making an eternal impact.
Our living hope is that God is always working and that the best is yet to come!
Jason is a graduate from Maryland Bible College and Seminary, and presently he leads the Pastoral Care Team of Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. Since age 16, Jason has been involved with mission work among the former Soviet-Bloc countries in Eastern Europe, as well as in Asia, and in the United States. While living in Ukraine, he helped church plant three new churches that continue to thrive today under trained nationals. He has also written five books and has his own podcast (www.InnerRevolution.us)
