HOPE : the great untapped power

Bible studies and sermons about Hope are nothing new. We've all heard the analogy of the rats that survived longer in the water experiment when given hope.

But this blog was inspired by a revelatory experiance of mine in which I became enlightened about the MAGNITUDE of Hope's POWER in me, and how I didnt even know it was there.

The other day I was feeling disheartened by an unfullfilled prayer request burden and I thought..." I suppose I will sulk a while now in my frustration.." not that I deliberately set out to have these feelings, I just know me and how I typically react to certain things. Normally I react in these disappointments by withdrawing from God a little... I think. And then I will tend to not have a desire to read His word and meditate on it as much until I get over my broodfest.
But this day something marvelous happened. I felt as if I had this inner force in me to go and read and seek Him anyways. As if it was truly , finally becoming the kind of natural inclination I'd always hoped it would become. It was very strange to me that when I seemed to feel like I wanted to pout like I always do, I couldn't. I realised I really didn't feel the defeatedness and exasperation I thought I should. Instead I just naturally went and opened my bible at random and the first verse my eyes went to was Psalm 31 : 22 "For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes : nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my suplications when I cried unto thee."
Here was David saying " I was quick to "say You don't care about me Lord", and yet you heard my prayers." Seriously it jumped right out, I couldn't have found a verse that fitting if I planned it. First thing I read when I cracked the bible.

As I continued to read some of these psalms, I realised a theme in these ones in the 30's, Hope, "Wait on the Lord"..Be of good courage..He shall strengthen your heart"..the last verses of every one of these psalms.

Now an unsaved secular individual reading some novel , if he picks it up and every time the text says something profound that amazingly applies to his concerns, would think some grand mystical experiance was happening to him and they might go around speaking of it in awe. But we Christians have it happen with God's word on a regular basis, and aren't surprised to know God supernaturally speaks to us.

So I started thinking about the power of Hope. It ranks with faith and love in 1 Corinthians 13 as the most enduring of God's benefits toward us.
Most of us are familiar with Romans 5:3-5. There we have a list of progressive stages of Christian experiance which we could maybe apply to both individual experiances in our walks, or to the entire life of a Christian, or both. Whichever, it is most assuredly the Holy Spirit of God that puts us through them.
The summation of this passage is that you start with trials and end up with hope and love. I noticed that, if hope & love were the ultimate goal, God must consider them extremely important. I already knew that Love was,..but just how big a deal is Hope really?

It's used 141 times or so in the king james bible, 76 in the OT and 65 in the new. 1 thess 4:13 speaks of those outside of Christ as "others which have no hope", and ephesians 2:12 says when we were without Christ we had no hope and were without God in the world.

The word hope as the world interprets it , means " I hope you're feeling better"...and " I hope santa brings me a pony"
But the rudimentary meaning of hope in scripture has the idea of : enduring to the end, waiting patiently, holding on in tribulation, and really, the power to persevere in faith.
1Peter 1:3 reads : "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively, (or "living") hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

Hope is vital

Hope is power

God works in us to build hope into our hearts.

Hope is the perfecton of patience and ultimately our faith.

Here's my amplified interpretation of romans 5......
Hardness and trials teach us to be patient. If we patiently endure, as a good soldier in Christ, we gain precious experiance,
experiance that developes Hope in us.
Hope isn't a bad thing, because by the time hope has been perfected in us, we look at our life and realise that LOVE has grown in us in the process. :)

I saw also there was some kind of relationship between hope and mercy in psalm 33:18-22

Hope literally keeps me alive. Ps. 27:13 "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. vs 14..."Wait on the Lord..Be of good courage, He will strenghten your heart." and emphasised with reiteration.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes it is a tree of life. Prov 13:12
Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning Ps. 30:5

Listen to the lyrics of Third day's "Tunnel".
maybe you'll find them as meaningfull as I do.

God promised me He would finish the work He began in me. I'm just geeked that every once in a while a light bulb goes on and i see that I'm actually learning something praise God. :)