Hope Defined
Hope Defined
(#245 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)
Hope: a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; a feeling of trust. However, for our purposes we will define hope from a Heavenly perspective; hope is collecting pieces of faith. This more comprehensive view of hope requires multiple qualities to amalgamate into something more complex than expectation, desire, and trust. It is yet another pattern created by our Father. To fulfill the pattern, spiritual hope does not just happen; it is constructed. Think of hope as a building you must erect with different components needed before it is completed.
In hope’s case, you will first need to incorporate belief. Think of belief as your foundation. To help you believe, Yahweh has circumcised your heart (center of intellect) (Deuteronomy 30:6); He has taken out your heart of stone (stubbornness) and given you a heart of flesh (raw, renewal) (Ezekiyl 36:26). You must walk in this to lay the foundation for hope to rest upon.
Next it is time to frame the walls of hope. Framing is done with faith! Faith makes the structure or substance of hope. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) And since our faith is a gift, and we are each given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3), we need not conjure it up. We simply must stand in it in order to build the beams and walls, the substance that will hold hope together. Every time we exercise faith, we add to the structure and strengthen it. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance holy reverence, to holy reverence brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. (2 Peter 1:5-7) Soon, the pieces of faith, assembled together, build a solid structure that can endure any storm.
Once we have the foundation and structure complete, something supernatural happens. The hope that was formed from belief and faith, now actually further strengthens your belief (the foundation) and faith (the structure), as well as intensifying hope (the building) itself.
The final component of the blueprint for spiritual hope is the blessing. It is miraculous! Your reward for participating in the building process, the prize for your obedience to walk in belief and stand in faith, is the blessing. Yahweh Almighty will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. Yahweh will again rejoice over you. (Deuteronomy 30:9) The blessings cover the building and protect it from deterioration. The blessings strengthen all the components of the building so that it becomes an eternal structure, wherein no elements of the world (ego-centered life) can cause decay. The building is the Spiritual Temple loved one, and the construction of this Temple within is the renewed life promised to Yahweh’s chosen children. You also, as living [spiritually renewed] stones [firmly established spiritual thoughts], are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to The Almighty through Yahshua the Messiah. (1 Peter 2:5)
This is hope defined. For You are my hope, O Yahweh Almighty; You are my trust from my youth. (Psalm 71:5)