THE POWER OF HOPE!

As I sit here in my den pondering the future and the things that are presently going on in the world, I am reminded of the importance and power of hope! To live a life without hope is to live a life of sadness. A short and simple definition of hope is “expectation of future good!” Many in the world today are hopeless; they have no expectation of future good! This is seen in many of the movies that are coming out of Hollywood with much doom and gloom! Not only are they godless, they are hopeless! Of course, without a Christ-centered world-view, God inspired hope will definitely be lacking in our movies.

Hope is more than just “desire.” Hope is desire coupled with expectation. Many desire future good but don’t really have an expectation that their desire will actually come to past. Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hope is vital to our faith. Hope is that aspect of our faith that enables us to operate in the present with joy! Even though your situation or circumstance is sad, hard or discouraging you can still have joy because of your faith and hope in God! Faith allows us to live our lives in the present with joy because of our hope (confident expectation of future good) in God.

Abraham is a man who understood and walked in the power of faith and hope. The Bible says Abraham “hoped against hope!” In other words, even though there was no natural reason to hope, he hoped anyway! Even though his present circumstance was hard and difficult in relation to his desires, he hoped anyway! Even though things looked hopeless, he hoped anyway! Where did Abraham get such hope? How did Abraham manage to operate in such supernatural hope? Simply put, he believed the promises of God! Listen, like Abraham we as believers should be a people of hope! We should be a people of hope because we are a people of promise! That’s right, as Christians we are a people of promise. God has given us exceeding and great promises (in the Bible)! It’s important to recognize that a promise is a reason to expect something!

Glory to God! When you know and believe the promises of God, you are a person of hope. No matter what you are experiencing or going through right now, you still have expectation of future good! Things may be hard or difficult but you have a confident expectation of future good; you expect things to change. As believers our hope is in God! His character and His power guarantees the fulfilment of His promise! He is not a man that He should lie. Listen, no matter how long you have been dealing with lack, sickness and disease, hardship or others conditions of life, just go to the word of God(the Bible) and find God’s promise concerning your situation. Hope will spring alive! Faith will take you through! There is an old saying, “where there is smoke, there is fire!” I’m here to tell you where there is hope (bible hope) there is faith!

Hope releases a force that enables us to move forward in life! People without hope are stuck in the past. They are stuck in a rut! They cannot see beyond their present hurt, pain and disappointments. Some people will tell you not to get your hopes up, just in case things don’t work out. But I want to encourage you to get your hopes up! Without hope there can be no faith! For faith is the substance of things hoped for… The word of God (1 Peter 1:13) tells us to hope to the end! Hope is a confident expectation that enables us to see future good for tomorrow and operate in faith and joy today! People of hope refuse to be sad, discouraged, depressed or defeated! People of hope don’t quit because of hardship! Hope keeps us moving forward in life, in God and the things of God! So listen child of God, it’s time to grab hold to a bushel of hope and faith and get going with God and in the things of God again!