“I would have lost heart, unless I had believedDavid, the writer of this psalm, could have been discouraged, in despair…but he had hope that God would keep His word. Hope gave him strength. Hope gave him energy. Hope built a resilient spirit.
That I would see the goodness of the Lord…” Ps 27:13 (NKJV)
Here’s what Paul said to the church in Rome:
“Now may God, the inspiration and fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope!” Romans 15:13 (TPT)As you pray over finishing 2020 with strength and a plan for 2021, it must be based upon HOPE. In fact, the Lord wants us to be so filled with hope that, like Moses on the mountain, we radiate with hope.
The great philosopher (and heavyweight boxer) Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan—until they get punched in the mouth.”
This past year was a punch in the mouth. Perhaps a hit in the gut. But maybe also a wakeup to where we placed our faith and trust. Was it faith in our plans or in his solutions?
As you pray and dream and ponder next year, you have a powerful and anointed weapon to defeat the hits of the enemy and the attacks of discouragement. YOU HAVE HOPE! It’s a broken world, but we have the solution—Jesus and the power of hope.
HOPE IS NOT FIXED IN THE PAST. IT IS ALWAYS ANCHORED TO THE FUTURE.
Hope is the anchor of the heart. Where your heart is, your future is.
When your heart is anchored in the future, your natural course faces that direction. Discouragement is always the result of yesterday’s “seen” events. But hope is always the “unseen” tomorrow that produces positive results.
WE EASILY BELIEVE THE NEGATIVE. Elijah was a powerful man of God. He raised a boy from the dead, prayed for the rain to stop, called fire from heaven, and openly spoke with God. But after his greatest victories, he became tired. An outraged queen Jezebel put out a contract to kill him. And this great man of faith ran. Not just ran, but ran into a cave.
The enemy will attack you on your worst day. When you are tired, fed up, discouraged, you easily believe the negative. Elijah finally came out of the cave when he began to trust the word of the Lord. He began to fill his heart with hope that God would solve the situation.
In Romans, we read: “Now may God, the inspiration and fountain of hope fill you to overflowing.” “NOW” be overflowing with hope. It’s available right now, today, this instant.
God says, “I am a fountain of hope.” Hope is so powerful that Paul wrote, “faith is the substance of things hoped for.” We read in Hebrews that hope is so powerful, it is what faith is made of (Hebrews 12).
Fill your mouth and your heart with hope today. David regularly praised God in the middle of the darkest nights. Your words of praise and hope will act like a spiritual chiropractor’s visit – speaking hope will adjust your heart! That’s the power of worship and praise.
TWO THINGS TO FOCUS ON:
- JESUS ISN’T TIRED.
- Hope is alive and active and strong and unstoppable.
Here’s Paul again helping us with our mindset;
“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8,9 (NLT)Early one morning after Jesus’ resurrection, he came upon some men including some close friends, who had been fishing with no success. Jesus gave them a word—“Put your nets on the other side.” They were professionals, so I’m sure they had tried everything—but why not try that? They did it and their nets became so full, they began to break.
These men had no faith, no hope. They were discouraged, tired and done. But then Jesus showed up. When Jesus showed up, HOPE arrived. After all their vain labors, they didn’t just catch a few fish—they were filled with an abundant number of fish!
When Jesus walked into villages, he healed EVERYONE that was sick. That is an abundance of healing. When he made the water into wine at the wedding in Cana—he made an abundance of wine!
JESUS IS BIGGER. ALWAYS.
STRONGER. ALWAYS.
HEALER. ALWAYS.
ABUNDANT. ALWAYS.
HOPE. ALWAYS.
YOUR OBSTACLES OR EMOTIONS OR HOPELESS FEELINGS DO NOT DETERMINE GOD’S ABILITY TO RESPOND TO YOUR NEED. HE IS GOD.
HOPE IS ALIVE. HOPE HAS A NAME. HOPE’S NAME IS JESUS.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
