Hope!!!

Commit thy way unto Yahweh; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.              

~Psalm 37:5

Hope always leads to trust and rest.  In order to have such hope, you need to commit your paths, your plans, and even your predictions to God.  There's a comfort in knowing it's out of your own hands. It's comforting to know that the preeminent changes can only be accomplished by God.  It's comforting to know that it's not up to you!

Hope isn't complacency.  But it is contentment.  And contentment in itself is gain (1 Tim. 6:6) -- another thing to hope for!

Hope is not a reason to sit around all day, just "waiting on the Lord".  Hope is a reason to have confidence in yourself!  Confidence in yourself -- in Christ (Phil. 4:13).  Remember in Psalm 37 that Yahweh will bring your way to pass.  Your way, yes, if it's already been committed!  In Christ, you are capable and pure.

Hope makes us bold (2 Cor. 3:12), it inspires us to act, it inspires us to pray and to contend.  Spiritual warfare is only done from a point of rest.  Work should only be done in trust.  Hope won't let you get weary!

Hope can seem foolish to the world.  It may inspire the appearance of short-term memory loss (Philippians 3:13). Hope can be illogical, unconventional, and stubborn.  Hope doesn't look at the facts.

The mystery of Christianity is this: "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).  Ultimately, hope comes from the longing for Christ in you.  

Hope For The Future, Part Three: Godly Idealism

God is an idealist: 



Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act 

unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, 

hopes all things, endures all things.


 

This is what love does, and since God is love (1 John 4:8), this is what God does.  God hopes all things.  God wins in the end, so why shouldn't He hope all things?  His victory is assured, and ours can be, too.  And if we will rise with Him, why shouldn't we also be filled with hope?




"I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he

has given to those he called--his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance."     

Ephesians 1:18 MSG









God's Word says that His people are destined for a rich and glorious inheritance.  And we can walk in a measure of that glory now, and then move on to fullness.  There is nothing more hope-inspiring than that! 

God has so many promises for those who love Him.  He has so many blessings stored up for those who live by His Spirit.  He has so many good things to give.   He is waiting to bless you!  Not that you have not been blessed yet, but there is always more to God.  He is for us unsearchable riches.  (Ephesians 3:8)  He is to us incomprehensible love. (Romans 11:33)  It's time to get a fresh anointing.  It's time to walk in our blessings.  It's time to live life to the fullest.  It's time for Christ in us to shine through.  It's time to yield to the Father's unending hope.









   






"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the

Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory"                          

Colossians 1:27

Hope For The Future, Part Two: Confidence in Prayer

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."                                                                     1 John 5:14

And again,


"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."                   John 14:14

CONFIDENCE IN HIS PROMISES

These verses should give us so much confidence in prayer.  If we believe them, then they will!  Can we become bolder and more decisive in our prayers?  We can, if we make God's Word a reality in our lives.  We are free to make bold petitions and ask big questions.  We are free to pray big prayers.  Can't God do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask? (Ephesians 3:20)  He can, and He will, if we pray in faith.  

Praying for someone else is so exciting when you know the work has already been done.  If I believe Jesus when He said, "It is finished", then I'll believe that He has also already overcome every single work of the devil.  Praying for someone else is so easy sometimes, because I can realize that God loves that person even more than I do.  I know that Jesus will overcome the enemy's work in their lives--He just lets me say the words.  I know that the hard work has been finished by another.  And because of that, I know that He will choose to show His glory.

Praying for myself is great, too.  The results are effective and often immediate.  If I ask for wisdom for God, I am destined to receive it.  That's what the Word says, and if I believe it, then I will allow God to manifest it.  Just look at the promises below:

"For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."                                                                 Matthew 7:8

"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."                         James 1:5



Lord, give us wisdom.  Lord, give us faith.  Lord, make us pure.  Lord, give us more love.  Lord, please touch our families.  Lord, please give an opportunity today.

OK, so God will do all those things.  Praise Jesus!  He made things so simple.  We can always take heart (John 16:33) and have confidence in Him.  We can put all of our trust into His heart.

CONDITIONS TO MEET

There are conditions to meet, however, before we can know that God will listen to our prayers.  I could try to explain this, but instead, I think we should all meditate on the scriptures below.  These are the conditions, and these are the results of disobedience:



"But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that He will not hear"                                              Isaiah 59:2

"We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will."
John 9:31

"When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."                                    James 4:3

These warnings have been written so that we might know the benefits of obedience to God.  The closer we are to God,  the close He will be to our prayers.  We need to be close.  We need to be pure, godly, and obedient--that's when God will listen.  That's when He will listen and intercede with us.  That's when we can be confident!  We have been given in the Holy Spirit a purity that causes Him to respond to our every prayer and petition.

Prayer changes things, after God has changed you.  Prayer moves things, after God has moved you.  And there comes a time when God gives freedom in prayer.  There comes a time when, as a friend of God, we can cause Him to change His mind (this is in the Word--look at Jeremiah 42, esp. 42:10).   We can know that our prayers move the hand of God.

 "If the Holy Ghost doesn't move me, then I move the Holy Ghost."  

Smith Wigglesworth said this.  Many people refused it, or thought it was unscriptural.  It probably seemed to be a prideful statement--maybe Smith Wigglesworth thought he was God.  

But in reality, Wigglesworth was just a really close friend.  And he knew that persistence gets things done.  He knew that faith in God to carry out His Word always pays off.  He knew that God's promises do not ever fail--if you stand on them, if you make them your life.  We need to know what Jesus says--"If you ask for anything in My Name, so I will do it."  We need to make Jesus our best friend.  We need His love and His conviction resting upon us.  That's when we trust Him.  That's when we have boldness.  And this is the way that we can have confidence in prayer.

Hope For The Future, Part One: Godly Confidence

"You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; And light will shine on your ways. When you are cast down, you will speak with confidence, And the humble person He will save. 
He will deliver one who is not innocent, And he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."                                               Job 22:28-30

Love hopes all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).  Even when we are cast down, we can be still have hope.  We can be strong and hope in the Lord (Psalms 31:24).  And hope is what makes us confident IN GOD.  Hope is what allows us to expect good things of Him and good things of the life He's given.

That is godly confidence.   If we are in His Love, we can love the idea of our future.  We can love the idea of a new day tomorrow.  We can look at every new opportunity and every new day with godly confidence.  We can be confident that God will save every part of our lives as we take on humility.

We may get cast down--Job did.  But let's put our hope in His faithfulness!  We may enter into a trial, and then God comes in and allows our words to change our reality.  He allows us to come up before His throne with boldness (Hebrews 4:16).  He allows us to ask Him, be led by Him, and then speak what He speaks and want what He wants.  He allows us to speak the future into existence.  He will partner with us in the future, and His light will shine on our ways.

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."                             Philippians 1:5

Paul was full of godly confidence.  So was King David.  Confidence is knowing that God has saved us, protected us, and perfected us.  Confidence is trusting God's Word.  And His Word says that He will perfect that which concerns us (Psalm 138:8)  That's something to hope in!  That's something to be confident about.  Confidence comes from knowing that prayer changes things--once again, that God allows our words of faith and humility to move His hand.  Confidence is knowing what Jesus did for us, the fullness of eternal life that He attained on our behalf.   

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."                                      Jeremiah 29:11 

Most of of all, confidence is knowing the character of God.  He is gracious.  He is forgiving.  He is faithful to hear us. He has wonderful plans for us.  He is so full of love!

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."                                             1 John 5:14