Hope

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1.

What do we hope for? What do I hope for?

"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." - Rom 8:25


There's a lot that I hope for... much of it I don't think I deserve. I hope to love and be loved. I hope to have the courage to dive into ministry and leave "safe" behind. I hope I can learn the "secret of contentment". I hope to learn how to be satisfied with who I am and what God has given and made of me, and not want for anything else.


"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy" -1 Peter 8

Often we let doubt be the other side of hope. We let the devil creep in and turn what we hope for into doubt. We let him turn our hope - a pillar of our faith - into something that makes us ashamed. Like we're ashamed to hope for something, like we don't deserve it. When we abandon hope, we abandon God - we call Him a liar because we're telling Him we don't believe he'll grace us with what we're hoping for.

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body" - Phil. 1:20

Now this is some crazyfaith. To believe in ourselves, to trust in God that He made us, saved us. We banish doubt and fear, and let hope and trust in. What if we let ourselves stop getting in the way of ourselves? What if we stopped doubting and started hoping?

"But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does" - James 1:6-8

We must have hope that God's forgiveness will really be graced to us. We must have hope that he really will give us what we ask for when it is Godly, and faith that he can deliver it.