What is our hope?
Rom. 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom. 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
To most people their hope is to go to heaven. I remember growing up and the songs we use to sing in church about heaven. “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be, when we all see Jesus we will sing and shout the victory.” Looking at that song I am so glad Jesus blessed us in spite of our stupidity. Our songs were underlined with the idea of us barely making it here and just in the nick of time he saves us and our reward for suffering was getting to be in heaven. With that kind of a mindset we paralyzed ourselves for the kingdom purposes and we ended up being unfruitful in our walk. We only had one thing in mind and that was to get someone else go to heaven but we never understood that the reason he saved us was so much greater than that.
Most of the songs we sang were birthed out of a slave mentality and not a son mentality. Everything was somewhere in the sweet by and by. We were not taught to have dominion and we were never told that we are supposed to bring heaven to earth. Victory was only possible once we stepped over the threshold of glory. Glory was some unattainable distant future thing that you had to die to obtain. Wow, did we miss it.
Other people’s hope was not to get sick or not to be here during the great tribulation. Some people's hope was to be rich and never to be in need or never to suffer. Some people would cringe at the very idea of suffering and many subjects were conveniently ignored and never taught from the pulpit. Preaching about Jesus learning obedience by what he suffered was off the table. There was no glory in that. Suffering sounds so counteractive to heaven. Remember that there is no more suffering in heaven. So the reality of what God is, was totally opposed to what we saw in earth. I am not saying we should all suffer and that will bring God's glory. What I am saying is that we have a warped understanding of what we need to look for and what we need to desire.
According to Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, we have a hope. That hope that we have is to have the glory of God. As a matter of fact he says that we have to rejoice because we have this hope. If you told most Christians you know as friends today that we have this hope, they would have no understanding of what it means. What are you hoping for? Is the glory even on the list?
We all have faith. That is possible because we have all been given a measure of faith. Even the father that asked Jesus to help his unbelief had faith to ask for help. He had more faith than he realized. Faith is the result of hope. Without hope we have no faith or else what would you have faith for? Hope is the gas in the car that makes faith work. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Hope is what energizes faith and what gives you something to desire.
Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hope gives substance to faith. Without hope there is no faith. If the enemy steals your hope he stole your faith. We must learn to guard the hope we have in our heart and that is protected by keeping our eyes on the right thing. In Hebrew the word for hope means "to be tied together" with the picture being like a rope that is twisted. We all know that a rope that is twisted is much stronger than just a normal rope. We need to be twisted together with the very thing we hope for. What are you connected to in your life? Paul said our hope is his glory. Get twisted together with the hope of having his glory and carrying his glory into all the earth.
Prov. 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
A lot of people walk around not just physically sick but emotionally sick because they have lost their hope. Things in the world have become greater than God and the weight of struggling has become more of an issue than the provision of God for them. Get your hope back and it will be a tree of life to you. Solomon used this metaphor because the tree of life was what God wanted them to partake of. It was God’s choice for Adam and Eve. In the book of Revelation it speaks about the tree of life and the leaves are for the healing of the nations. The enemy wants to keep you sick and you will be as long as you keep on partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That tree is a mixture. God hate mixtures. You cannot have life with faith and unbelief at the same time. Stop eating from the tree that the enemy is feeding you. Get your hope back and especially the hope of having His glory.
Rom. 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Paul is praying this for each of us. Someone said one time that when you smile your enemy wonders what you are up to. Joy confuses the enemy. Joy makes the enemy believe he has lost. Praise Him in all your circumstances. God is the God of hope. The enemy is the master of destruction and there is no hope in him. Why would we be giving him the time of day if he cannot offer us anything that can and will bring hope? Only God can give and bring us hope. God wants us to abound in hope. That means that God wants us to have more hope than we need for a situation. Hope releases faith and that faith releases His glory into our circumstances.
God has hope in you. He is hoping for something to be manifested. Remember that He never changed his purpose for us. Remember that sin didn’t change His plans. He is waiting for an inheritance and that inheritance is a son and a daughter having His glory manifested through them. If someone asked you about the things you are hoping for, would you be able to tell them that you desire to have His glory? People are afraid to touch the glory of God. I am not talking about the ones that want to take the glory for themselves. That is dangerous and stupid. I am talking about the ones that want to manifest God or allow God to manifest through them so that He gets the glory. Jesus had the glory of God and he was fully man. He prays and says that He has given us His glory. We already know that He had the glory of God. He didn’t give us a different glory than what He had. We just need to learn how to carry what He so graciously imparts to us.
1Pet. 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear