Hope For The Future!
Hope is fear in reverse. To hope is to look forward to something with desire and confidence, to believe in a person with whom our expectations are centered. Fear is the dread of the unknown and we panic and become fearful when we do not know what will happen in the future. To those who have trusted in the finished work of Christ, God has told us how the story ends, we will win! We have hope for the future in this life and eternity. We do not have to faint at adversity because we are blessed and favored of God; we can persevere and go through whatever life gives because we know we will succeed in the end.
Our faith gives us hope for our future and this hope causes us to make plans with confidence to face our present situation, no matter how dire it may appear. We know we will succeed because of God’s word that assures us and gives us hope of a better future. This hope is what gives us confidence to face our future. Jesus endured the cross while despising the shame, He had confidence and joy in knowing how it would end. Although He despised the shame and agony of the crucifixion, He knew it was temporary; Jesus was able to have joy knowing He would bring many into the family of God.
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. NKJV
When we know and have a relationship with the true and living God, we can go through the temporary setbacks and attacks that life throws at us. No matter how bad the circumstances may look, and though all odds and facts may appear to be against us, we know God is steadfast and faithful to His word.
Our hope is in the power of God, His ability and His promises for our success in life. We are no longer dependent on what we can or cannot do; our trust is no longer in ourselves. We now have hope for our future in God and He is able, and He will perform His word. The Love God has for us was displayed when His Son Jesus laid His life down for us while we were still sinners. There is no greater love that a man may have than to lay his life down for a friend. Jesus did that for us and we now have confidence and hope for our future in this life. This is not just a hope in the sweet by and by, when we all go to heaven, it is a promise for such a time as this. Sometimes we need help right now and God’s word is our help, strength, our strong tower where we can run and be safe.
Psalm 27:3 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Jesus is our example and Abraham is called the father of faith. Abraham did not hesitate but believed totally in the promise of God. Though he was a man who missed the mark on several occasions, he did not focus on his past failures. Nor did he dwell on the decay of his present situation, his age or the age of Sarah. Circumstances did not cause him to falter or quiver at God’s promise. This is our hope, not in what we have or have not done, but hope is in the God who promised us victory. God is faithful to His word and in that we are strengthened in faith to give glory to God for He is able to perform all He has promised.
Romans 4:20-25 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. NKJV
When we really know the word and love of God then we are able to serve and believe in His word. We then have the confidence and are convinced He is able to do what He has promised. No one or nothing life throws at us can persuade us to think differently. Our hope for tomorrow, for our life, for our children for our future is God! His word is sure so we may pursue with confidence those things which we were called and to fulfill our purpose. God wants to be the most important person in our lives and He promises to be a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him. We will have situations that will give us opportunity to display our faith in God and His promises or to give in to doubt and not see it through. The choice is ours to stand in faith or fall in unbelief.
Hebrew 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
It is the knowledge of God’s word that gives us confidence and the hope to be successful in this life. Hope gives us something to consider and to believe. Once we know the word and believe the word of God is truth we will learn He is faithful to His word. We will express this belief with our spoken words, our confession and our actions. We will say the same words God says, with excitement and expectation, giving thanks to God even before the promise has manifested itself in our natural circumstances. We will thank and praise God just as Abraham did, with confidence and great joy, when he was given the promise of Isaac long before he was conceived or born.
2 Timothy 1:8a, 12 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord…
For this reason, I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day NKJV
Many people are living without hope of a decent future, without hope of how they will live. Many wonder how they will survive their destructive families, communities and their own personal life style. So many young people are taking their lives and the lives of others because they believe they have nothing to live for or they have no hope of things ever getting better. People are living without true hope, the hope that comes from the word of God. So many young people are giving up on life at an increasingly high rate and at a very alarmingly young age only because no one has given them hope for their future.
Proverbs 13: 12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
We must give people hope for today, that hope is in the true and living God who will help right now, and not when they have died and gone to heaven. God says He knows the thoughts He has toward us; thoughts of peace, hope and a good future. We can have hope in our future and have strength to continue because we believe in the word of God. This is not based on our own actions, works or our families place in society. God tells us to talk to Him, He will listen and if we seek after Him, we will find Him. He is a God who loves us so much that He sent us help, His Son Jesus, who came to do what we could not do for ourselves.
Jeremiah 29: 11-14a 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. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord… NKJV
The world would tell us we cannot make it, we are not from the right school, the right part of town, right social or economic community or that we are of the wrong race, ethnic group, and gender. The world will look at our past and will try to hold us back from being successful. The world will try to tell us God has forsaken us and we have no hope of making it in life. God says those who appear to be weak are the ones He has chosen to do great things. It is the thief that plants seeds of doubt to steal our hope, kill our dreams and destroy our future. However, he can only do it if we allow him. Jesus rescued us from a life of devastation and saved us from eternal destruction. He paid our sin bill and purchased for us an abundant life.
1 Corinthians 1:27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. NKJV
Our lives come down to the choices we make regarding who we allow to influence our lives. We may choose to believe the thief, who is good at beguiling, lying, and planting seeds of doubt so we will blame God for all the wrong things that happen in our lives. We have another choice, to trust in God’s word and believe in the hope He has set before us. He has given us the victory; we will win in this life if we do not faint. We may have the abundant life now where we are but we must choose it. We must choose love, peace and forgiveness.
Romans 15:13 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 NKJV
Integrity- People of God 