Where is your hope? What are you placing your hope in? Hope is absolutely essential to life. Without hope, we are lost and drifting, we have nothing to look forward to, and we have no anticipation for the future.
This message is about staying full of hope. Having this hope will cause you to overcome obstacles and reach your dreams. No matter what you face, no matter how big the difficulties of your life, no matter how long what you are hoping for is taking, God is still on the throne. His plans for you are for good and He is bigger than any challenge you might face. When you have this certain hope nothing can move you.
Let’s look at four significant factors that HOPE brings to life:
H is for Holding Power. When you have HOPE, you have HOLDING POWER - you keep the faith, you stay the course, you keep believing. In 1 Samuel 1:10-18, we find the story of Hannah who prayed for a child, but year after year remained childless. Her husband’s second wife tormented Hannah because Hannah was unable to conceive. Hannah was so miserable that she would not eat, but she kept hoping. We know this because she kept praying. Upon an encounter with Eli, the priest at that time, he gave her amazing words of hope when he said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” This renewed hope changed her. Her countenance was uplifted and the rest of the story is that Hannah did have a son, Samuel, who became a dedicated priest, and she also had five more children. The years of praying and hoping brought her heart’s desire.
Hope will give you HOLDING POWER. Many of you have been praying for years for something in your own life. You are still praying, because you have hope that one day it will happen. Keep on holding on. Stay strong in your hope and believe that one day you will see it fulfilled.
O is for Optimism. When you have HOPE, you also have OPTIMISM in the face of doubt. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot more people who want to rain on your hopes and dreams than there are people who want to support them? Let me encourage you. Keep dreaming, keep planning, keep hoping, even when it seems you don’t have a reason. Romans 4:18 says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. Next time you feel that you don’t have a reason, substitute your name there instead of Abraham. “Against all hope, YOUR NAME in hope believed.” I like the way the Message Bible translates this verse. It says: “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, ‘You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!’”
Hope gives you a lifeline when everything around you is trying to pull you under. Hope keeps your head up and keeps you smiling. Keep living with the optimism that comes with hope.
P is for Perseverance. When you have HOPE, you have PERSEVERANCE. To review, the HOLDING POWER that comes with hope keeps you steady. OPTIMISM keeps your head up, and PERSEVERANCE keeps you moving through. Too many people have lost hope and lost out. But when you have a hope that is anchored in JESUS, you can push through - even when times are terrible.
Nelson Mandela was held for much of the 27 years he was imprisoned in Robben Island Prison’s solitary confinement. Do you think it would have been easy to give up, to quit? What about after a year? Or maybe two years? Maybe five years? Or 10? Nelson Mandela did not give up; he persevered. After 27 years, he was released, and what did he say about pushing through? He said, “Remember that hope is a powerful weapon even when all else is lost.”
David wrote many of the Psalms during the time of his life when he was on the run from King Saul. For years, he hid out in caves and his life was constantly threatened, but he persevered. Finally his hope was rewarded. In Psalm 39:7 David says, “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.” He was anchored on a solid foundation and this hope gave him the ability to persevere, to push through.
When the road seems long, and when it does not appear that anything is changing in your favor, hold onto hope. Remember, we want things now, but we can’t see the whole picture. Your hope is in God. Trust Him with your timeline too.
E is for Expectation. When you have HOPE, you have an EXPECTATION for the future. Hope brings anticipation, a belief that tomorrow will come and that it will be better. My friend Bobby Schuller said, “Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.”
Every night we go to bed and we have no assurance that we will wake up alive the next morning, but we set the alarm for tomorrow. That is hope. The Bible says in Jeremiah 29:11 ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’
Here’s the amazing thing about the EXPECTATION that hope brings—you can share it with others and change their future. You can actually give hope. Be a “Hope Dealer”. As we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating the very season of HOPE. God sent hope to the world in the person of Jesus. He came to give us the greatest gift ever given. Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. He is our solid rock, and the foundation of our faith. With this foundation we have HOLDING POWER, OPTIMISM in the face of doubt, PERSEVERANCE, and EXPECTATION for our future.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13).
