How's Your Hope?
This last week, I spoke about upgrading hope in conjunction with faith. Both hope and faith need a “direct object” (in linguistic terms), and for us, that is God. Hope is the soil that faith thrives in. The bedrock of both hope and faith is love. The love of God surrounds and encompasses us.Knowing His love, which is not transactional, or, based on what we do for it, but, supremely transformational and covenantal, it provides the assurance that we can hope in God and trust (have faith) all that He does.
So, how’s your hope?
Romans 15:13 says this, “Now may the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
This verse states:
God is a God of hope - I will never forget when Steve Backlund once said to me, “There are no hopeless circumstances, only hopeless people.” Think of it this way, God gives us permission to be hopeless about any situation that He is hopeless about. Look at the worst thing and situation in your life and ask God, “...are You hopeless about this situation?" He always carries hope because He is always triumphant. It is we who must maintain hope by surrendering lies where we believe a situation is hopeless. To upgrade your belief in this area, go back and reread the story of Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones.
Supernaturally, God can increase our hope in a situation. Through believing in Him, joy and peace flood our hearts as we lean into who He is and what He has done for us. Think of it, He is always at work, even when we can’t see Him! Sounds like a song we sing, right? We know, because of His character, that He is always working all things together for our good! (Romans 8:28) The more we are with Him, the more our hope increases.
All joy and peace comes with hope - Not just some, but “all”! Hope, joy and peace are a package deal. Our hope is in Jesus, our joy is Jesus and our peace is Jesus! Open all the presents!
Our emotions are shaped profoundly and primarily by what we believe - Where does all this hope, joy and peace come? “In believing”! The very second we start to believe truth, we start becoming filled by the God of hope. Increasing hope in our life is a primary measurement that we are renewing our lives, spirit and minds with truth instead of lies. When are emotions are awash and shipwrecked on circumstances, it isn’t because we didn’t renew our minds, it is because we renewed them in lies. Your mind will be renewed daily, the question is whether you will renew it with truth or lies. You are powerful and get to choose. For me, I will go with truth.
The Holy Spirit will energize us to live kingdom life to the fullest as we abound in believing truth - God’s Spirit, our precious Holy Spirit, is always looking for divine partnerships. He has chosen to work with us, not in spite of us! When we chose right beliefs, He partners with that powerful choice and causes us to abound and overflow with hope. This becomes a momentum builder that empowers us to radically overcome the lies that restrict our emotions and life experience.
It is imperative, right now, that we embrace the basic kingdom living. There is an incredible pressure on us, in our society, with lockdowns, riots, political turmoil, intrigue, corruption, hate, and so much more, that we become immersed in the God of all hope! From Him, we find our joy, our peace, our object of faith, our identity as sons and daughters, (children always being full of joy and hope) and our partnership with God. We are not being overwhelmed in this season for God is at work! Remember, of the increase of His government, there shall be no end! His kingdom is always advancing.
I would like to remind and invite you to our intercession nights, Thursdays and Fridays, at 6pm, here at Fusion. Especially in these times, the ability to connect with God through worship and then agree with His heart for our nation, region, city and lives is incredibly important. Also, I invite you to continue to pray for our nation through the election. Let’s unleash a tidal wave of God’s presence through our prayers, ushering in a new Jesus Movement!
