Hope – The Blueprint of Faith: Faith. The Activator of Hope – Part 1

Hebrews 11:1 – To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.

Friend, hope is the picture, dream, desires, goals, targets and results you expect to get while faith gives life, activates, substantiates, and energises what you hope for. Hope is in the realm of imagination and faith is what brings your imagination into reality. Your hope remains invisible until it connects with faith. It is faith that gives it visibility. Do you remember the movie or sequel to ‘The Invisible Man’? You may know he is in the same room with you, but you cannot see him with your physical eyes unless he puts on clothes. It is the same with hope. You know what you are hoping for and it bubbles within you but you cannot see it until it puts on the cloth of faith. Faith clothes your hope so that you can see it and the world around you may behold the glory of God in your life.

Hope is generated through prayer, the supply of the Holy Spirit, promises from the Bible and testimonies of the goodness of God in the life of others. These things help you to expect and develop confidence. When you pray, your expectation rises. Prayer by its nature makes you look up to God and you don’t look up unless you are expecting something. The Holy Spirit infuses us with the revelation of God’s love for us and as a result we get a positive outlook to life and hope for a better future. You will observe that in every love story either in movies or novels the writer or the movie director endeavours to create a perception that love creates a blissful future. That idea was taken from the Bible because the Bible says there is no fear in love and that love is the fulfilment of the law.

When you read the promises from scripture and you picture what you read and personalise it, you will notice that hope will begin to rise in your heart and you begin to feel elated. For example, if I promise to give you 1,000 euros this time tomorrow there is a great possibility that your hope will rise and you will adjust your disposition because of the promise I made. The same thing happens when we read and imagine God’s promises. It lights you up from inside out.

Testimonies are the acts of God in the lives of people and when you hear these stories they help you raise your expectation of a better tomorrow. The Bible says the testimony that the queen of Sheba heard about the wisdom of Solomon made her embark on a long journey to meet King Solomon. The testimony that Blind Bartimeaus heard made him run after Jesus because his expectation was awakened. What Nicodemus heard about Jesus made him drop his pride and come to ask one of the questions that led to the revelation of the born again movement. While this list is not exhaustive, it is a good starting point when you feel you are running low on hope.

Ask for prayer from likeminded Christians, pray in the Holy Spirit and wait on the Lord, read promises from scripture and say it over your life or replay testimonies in your mind or ask people to tell you of the goodness of God in their lives. I tell you, before long your hope will jerk back to life.

Further reading

Mark 11:22-24, Philippians 1:19- 20, Romans 4:17-18, Jeremiah 17:7, Psalm 45:1

Personal declaration for the day

As I begin to imagine God’s promises in my life, they become real to me and my desires will come to pass.

Questions for you to reflect on

What are you hoping for?

How and in what do you build your hope?