Hope

11/4/2011

Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.

Bible Verse of the Day: Romans 18:24-25 " For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

What exactly is hope? I think it means different things to different people at different times. If you are sick, you hope for better health. If you are unemployed, you hope for a job. If you are hungry, you hope for food. If you are in bondage, you hope for freedom. In any of these cases, it relies on some future event happening that will relive the stress of a current situation or predicament. It is forward looking in nature. As the Bible verse above states, we do not hope for what we already have, but rather for something we feel can improve our circumstances in the future. So by its very nature, hope may require some or all of these characteristics before it becomes manifested in our lives: faith, patience, determination, belief, renewal, enthusiasm, persistence, vision and resiliency. I am sure there are others depending on you personal situation. There is the idea of hanging in there until things change for the better. The old saying " If there is life, there is hope" applies here. But in Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale, he turns that around to say " If there is hope, there is life." I like that one better because it mentally postures us to expect good things to happen through our faith in God. The Bible is full of God's promises to deliver us from our trying circumstances, but we must believe in what it says. That takes faith and without faith, there can be no hope. I have found that when we actually go through trials in our life, it is easy to say you have faith or hope in the promises of God, but in actuality our faith is so weak. We struggle to believe that God's promises can apply to us or to our situations. We grow impatient and start to doubt God's ability to deliver us from our distress. I believe this happens because we are trying to tell God what we need, instead of trusting in what God wants to accomplish through our trials. It is the biggest problem in my prayer life. I tend to prayer for things that I want rather than to seek God's wisdom and trust in His plan. Instead of forcing my will into the equation, I am learning to trust more. It is an ongoing battle because of my impatient human nature. I want comfort, when He may need me to have more character. I want a job that makes me feel good about myself and my ability to provide for my family, and he may want me to grow in my faith by having me trust in him more. He may want to give me a dose of perspective. Failure may help me to appreciate success more in the future. The idea is that to have hope, I need faith, and that comes from realizing that God's promises are real and true and that I must depend on him for everything in my life. My hope must be anchored in my belief. I hope for financial freedom so that I can spend my time on earth touching others from a platform of hope and love, using the compassion that was given me in Christ Jesus. He knows that because He gave me that dream. I believe that someday that will happen. I must anchor that in my reading of the scriptures that God will work "all things for the good of those who believe" and have faith that He will " deliver me at the perfect time," because He loves me and He is my Father. But I can't make myself believe. Faith is a gift from God available only through the Holy Spirit. When I am connected to the Spirit in prayer, my faith and hence my hope, is strong. But when I look at myself or my circumstances, my faith can quickly dissipate and fear can replace hope. Therefore, I hope only through my faith in the ability of the Holy Spirit to connect me to the energy and love of the living God in Christ Jesus, that He can bring manifestation of my hopes in my life to fruition. Romans 12:12 says to " be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer." Being joyful in our hope is what allows us to carry on when times are tough. We can find freedom in that. It keeps our eyes on the future and that hope that is ours in Christ Jesus and off of our current circumstances. Easier said than done I have often found. But so very real when we allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith and to be joyful in our hope. When there is hope, there is life!