By realising that our God is a God of Hope it changes a lot of things we dare to believe!Hope for your Future
8/10/2006
There are lots of Scriptures referring to hope. Unfortunately, during the Faith Movement which was necessary to stimulate faith in the lives of believers, Hope has been diminished as something inferior to Faith, and therefore very little fresh perspectives have been given to enhance the importance of Hope in our lives as children of the God of Hope. Even Love which is the greatest of all three, Faith, Hope and Love, according to I Corinthians 13: 13, has had to take a back seat to the Faith Message!

Jesus clearly stipulated that His disciples would be known by their love for one another and Paul emphatically tells us that we are absolutely nothing without love even if we have faith that moves mountains! (Corinthians 13:2)

I would like to give some fresh perspectives on Hope to give you confidence to trust God for your future. These lessons are based on what Dr. Roy M. Gray taught me at Miracle Valley Bible College, Arizona (1973).

As there are two kinds of righteousness there are two kinds of hope: a natural hope and a spiritual hope. The one depends on self and the other on God’s initiative. This dichotomy is clearly visible in the passage that describes the kind of hope Abraham and Sarah operated by. He hoped against hope. The kind of hope that took him through the trial of his faith was given by God and it combated the natural hope that did not last as long. He had spiritual hope that came against the crumbling natural hope. When his earthly body and Sarah’s womb was too old to conceive a child, Abraham received supernatural hope that smashed the weak natural hope and became a spiritual substance that God could use to produce His Promise to them concerning their future.

When all hope was gone he received a new level of hope! This is the kind of hope we need in these days! When the whole world is lying in wickedness and perversion and crime is on the increase, God wants to instigate a new kind of hope into our beings that will take us over the hurdles we face in the world in order to live victorious Christian lives! Our hope must not merely become an escape hatch from the troubles of this world; it has to be a strong fortress that will protect us and our children from the onslaught of evil in this present evil world!

Paul describes this kind of hope when he explains how God’s wonderful plan of redemption actually works. God’s righteousness in the PAST is revealed in how he passed over our sins because of the death of Jesus Christ who paid for the remission of our sins. His righteousness in the PRESENT is seen in the way He justifies sinners who believe in Jesus Christ who brought the propitiation for our sins by his blood.

It’s not so much WHAT we believe but in WHOM we believe! All doubts that God has accomplished the final act of forgiveness for all who believe in His Son, should be removed from our thinking, speaking, preaching and singing! God has given us His Word that He will keep His promise to all who put their trust in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the kind of Hope we should have in God. He is known as the God of Hope!

Romans 15:13
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The New King James Version

Notice that joy and peace is a direct result of this kind of Hope that God alone can give. It is not a matter of saying, I hope so, but you are not sure at all. It is a surety, it is evidence, it is proof and downpayment of something irrevocably true and certain! He wants us to abound in this kind of hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Living God fires up the flames of divine Hope within our hearts! Hope is a spiritual substance.

We need to have this kind of hope to be able to participate in the plan of redemption and to receive our inheritance as children of God. We need to be sure of our justification by faith. Our justification raised Jesus Christ from the dead as our condemnation put him to death! The demands of the law which no one could fulfil were fulfilled in Christ Jesus. This is the Hope we have in Him.

This kind of Hope does not make ashamed but creates room in our hearts for the Love of God to be poured out.

Romans 5:5-8
5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The New King James Version

This kind of Hope brings a fresh revelation of the Love of God to us. This kind of Hope makes God’s Grace a reality to us. We begin to understand His mercy and his kindness towards us, even though we were once sinners who denied and rejected Him!

This substance of Hope is formed during trials and tribulations!

Romans 5:3-5
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The New King James Version

When we learn to endure patiently what befalls us under the gracious hand of God, we allow hope to be produced in our spirits.

Can you imagine a throng of rebels, monsters of sin, being forgiven and given Hope for eternity, because of one single act of love? Our sins condemned Jesus to the cross. But our declaration of righteousness before God raised Him up! When God accepted His sacrifice He reconciled us with Himself. There was tremendous power released when the possibility of sinful men being made right with God became a reality!

Oh, what a glorious plan of salvation! What a stroke of Genius! What a grace that opened up the heart of God for forgiveness for all us!