What is HOPE? According to Webster dictionary, it simply means to cherish a desire with an expectation of fulfillment. One acronym I recently read truly struck the nail on the proverbial head: H.old O.n P.ain E.nds! I don’t know what that just did for you, but when I read it—it sharply confirmed my contextual understanding of the faith chapter found in the book of Hebrews (11).
Adding to the above definition above, hope is a confident anticipation of good. It is not just wishful thinking or thinking positive. It is not the same as saying, “Well, I hope so.” Hope is as solid as a helmet, but no helmet will protect you from danger if you have laid it aside. When we lose hope we lose the battle.
Speaking of battles, when the spirt of the Lord fell upon Jahaziel son on Zechariah he said in 2 Chronicles 20:15, “He boldly said to the assembly, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
Essentially, hope recognizes who the battle belongs to and it doesn’t matter if all hell is wreaking havoc in your life or in the worl around you—God said the battle is mine!! No matter how big or small the giant your facing—nothing and I do mean nothing is more powerful than the God we serve! I John 4:4 confirms, “….greater is He (God) that is in you than he (Satan) who is in the world.”
I encourage you to stop thinking about the storm(s) and start speaking to your storm by simply saying, “Something good is about to happen.” I get it, I’ve been there and quite frankly oftentimes you really don’t feel like saying anything. In most cases, you may feel abandoned or lost because you have no clue if you’ll make it through the mess or succumb to it! However, despite the ambiguities you will to have muster up enough strength to personally reach the depths of God’s power, because no one person has enough reserves of their own to keep moving forward without it!
My brothers and sisters in Christ, in order to fully learn to hope again, you must go back to the ABCs—the foundation of hope. There are three foundational pillars that I believe structural support our hope in God: (1)God is good all the time; (2) “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28); and (3) God never ends on a negative, “what the enemy meant for evil God meant it for good (Gen 50:20).
You know what’s equally amazing? If you earnestly place your hope in the Author and Anchor of hope, He will take you on a journey to a place hope is no longer deferred but where fulfilled desire becomes a tree of life (Psalm 1:3). So, even if your going through hell right now, run and run quickly into the arms of God’s redemptive love, comfort, strength, and peace because only in God can all things be made new. Revelation 21:5 says, “And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I Am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
4GIVEN 