What is hope?

Have you run out of hope? Have things in your life, current circumstances, robbed you of waiting on God for the very things you believe He has for you? Have people robbed you of your peace? Well, if this is so, report it! Just like you would call the police if your house was robbed, call on Jesus and report the theft of your soul peace and hope vandalism!

The enemy of your soul, your mind, your life itself…is satan. And his desire is to disable you from having any hope, peace or faith in God. He knows that without faith we can not please God, and that hope and faith go hand in hand. Certainly he wants to snatch our hope and then our faith. Call 911 and report it immediately!

Hope. It’s a familiar word, used often in our vocabulary. We hope that it won’t rain on our beach vacation, hope we will get a raise at work, hope our children will stay out of trouble, and hope that we can lose a few pounds before the looming reunion. We talk a good talk of hope. But what is it? And, do we really hope, or is our word “hope” used more as a way to say…I wish.

Today’s Truth: Romans 8:24b-25

“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.”

In the Greek , hope is the word, elpis, which means to wait for something with confident expectation. So that is probably why we mix up hope with wishing for things. But, hope, in the Biblical sense is much more solid than a wish. Hope is based on the object of our HOPE, which is God’s power and provision.

Hope and Faith go  hand in hand. I have an acronym that I use to get myself into HOPE mode when I am discouraged. I use it as a reference point for my mind, process and emotional self.

• H–Heavenly
• O–Optimism
• P–Produces
• E–Encouragement

Hope has much to do with focus. Heavenly Optimism is the same as sayin “look up!” When I look UP, I am encouraged because God is faithful to take that upward glance and turn it to peace in His eventual provision.

The last two days my emotional self has been tested and tried. I forced myself to keep looking UP. Many times I didn’t want to look up. I would rather just cry, stew, or vent my hurt and disappointment. But, what good was that going to do? Venting has it’s place, but once it’s done, move on. How? We move on by Looking Up!

Looking Up! is a lifestyle to be learned that will lead us down the path of Living up in Hope and Faith. If your faith is worn out and your hope is flimsy right now, stop today and force yourself to Look Up to the Lord, for help, strength and yes, HOPE, that even in the current “thing” you are more than a conquerer through Him who loves you most.

Today’s Prayer

Teach me Father to REALLY put my hope in you.