Hope Beyond
the Veil
The word “hope” in the Greek (NT:1680) is elpis. It
is defined as: expectation, to anticipate (usually with pleasure), confidence
and security. In a good sense, expectation of good, hope, and in the Christian
sense, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. The author of
hope, or He who is its foundation. The thing hoped for. Translated in some
verses in the KJV as faith.
Romans 12:12 (in the Message Bible) says that hope
is cheerfully expectant.
Bishop C. Carl Smith, in his book entitled “Hope
that Maketh Not Ashamed”, says the following statements about hope:
·
Hope is a feeling that what is
wanted is likely to happen.
·
Hope is a desire accompanied with
expectation.
·
Often things never arrive because
there is no expectation of it.
·
You must have anticipation that
what you are hoping for, that hope will bring it to the door.
·
God gave Abraham a promise and
regardless of what it looked like God was going to bring it to pass; however,
Abraham had a part to play, just like you. Abraham did not weaken (stagger) in
faith. Our problem is that we stagger too much. You stagger the moment you
start doubting, questioning God whether He could do it or not.
·
Why is hope deferred? Often, it
is delayed because we are wavering, doubting and questioning if God can do it,
and we stop waiting on God. Our role is to praise Him in spite of the
tribulation and suffering.
·
Genuine hope is not wishful
thinking. My hope for what is in the unseen realm is going to bring it into the
seen realm. My confidence in God is going to manifest it.
·
Faith is now. Faith and fear
operate by the same spiritual law, belief. Faith is of God, fear is of the
devil.
·
Fear tolerated is faith
contaminated.
·
Faith connects you to that which
you believe.
·
Faith is the confirmation of
things hoped for. Hope sets the goal, faith obtains it.
·
The spirit of faith never says it
is coming. It always says it’s here and I have it now. If it is here, I begin to make preparation
for what’s here like it is here. You should be expecting the deliverance of
what you have been hoping for. A mother who is with child is expecting the
delivering of the child when the doctor gives her the date. She makes
preparation for what she cannot see but knows is coming.
·
Personal vision is fulfilled by
corporate vision commitment. What God called me to do in my personal life is
fulfilled when I connect myself to something corporately that God called us to
do collectively. As much as God wanted
to do in my life, He could not do it until I corporately connected and
submitted to the vision of the man of God [or woman of God] He had ordained for
me to amalgamate to. Once I did that, everything came into alignment in my
personal and spiritual life. You need to understand your connection to your
church.
·
Knowing that hope never
disappoints, deludes, misleads, deceives, or tricks me, expectation must
accompany hope. Expectation means a looking forward to something. It is
anticipation.
·
How do you release His faith,
have hope and expectation so you can receive the prosperity (prosperity means
“good coming to you”) for your life? I do it by speaking and declaring the Word
of God. You are to say what God said and wait to see what God said with great
expectation. They (God’s words) did not originate with you, but they carry the
power of the Originator, God, when you release your word with faith, hope
accompanied with expectation.
·
You cannot release the Word being
full of doubt, fear and unbelief.
·
Just declare God’s grace and
favor on your life.
·
When God speaks a thing, He
always speaks a proceeding word, a word for advancement with some good.
Therefore, it is no longer IF it comes, but WHEN it comes. For it shall surely
come.
·
The fact that you spoke it with
faith, hope accompanied with expectation, surely it is going to come, advance
your life, and it is going to show up to your good.
Hope is an anchor to the soul and is found behind
the Veil. Hebrews 6:19 says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” NKJV
God made Abraham a promise. He was faced with what
seemed impossible. Romans 4:18-21 (AMP) reads:
18 [For Abraham, human reason for] hope being gone,
hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been
promised, So [numberless] shall your descendants be. [Genesis 15:5.]
19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered
the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was
about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah's
[deadened] womb. [Genesis 17:17; 18:11.]
20 No unbelief or distrust made him waver
(doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was
empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God,
21 Fully satisfied and assured that God was able
and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised.
Romans 5:5 tells us that hope maketh not ashamed.
The Amplified Version renders this verse as: “Such
hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured
out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.”
Therefore, hope is more than just wishing that
something will happen. Hope is confident expectation that what you are hoping
for WILL happen. This kind of hope never disappoints us. This kind of hope is
the foundation of faith … faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
It will take more than just hope alone for a
promise from God to come to pass. Hope is just a part of it. It’s going to take
faith and confident expectation working together to see the manifestation of
what you are believing for. It’s also going to involve “speaking” the
promise.
2 Corinthians 4:13 says, “Yet we have the same
spirit of faith as he had who wrote, I have believed, and therefore have I
spoken. We too believe, and therefore we speak.” AMP
You do not need hope for what you can see. Romans
8:24-25 (AMP) tells us:
24 For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the
object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already
sees?
25 But if we hope for what is still unseen by us,
we wait for it with patience and composure.
The Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we become
tired in the waiting and don’t know what else to pray. Romans 8:26-27 says,
“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right
alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't
matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless
sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows
our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God.” THE MESSAGE BIBLE
When the Lord appeared to Abraham saying that by
this time next year Sarah will have borne him a son, Sarah overheard the
conversation and laughed within herself. It was a laugh of unbelief and
amusement. Besides the fact that she was barren and too old to have children,
Abraham was now also too old. The Word says his body was as good as dead. And
Sarah’s womb was dead. However, the Lord is a God of resurrection life.
Genesis 18:12-14 (AMP) says:
12 Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying,
After I have become aged shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord (husband),
being old also?
13 And the Lord asked Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh,
saying, Shall I really bear a child when I am so old?
14 Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the
Lord? At the appointed time, when the season [for her delivery] comes around, I
will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son.
What if you are facing a situation in which it’s
not going to happen unless a miracle takes place?
We can have hope because Jesus still performs
miracles today. If God put life back into Abraham’s body and woke up Sarah’s
dead womb, then He can do any other miracle in our lives. After Sarah died,
Abraham was still youthful and he remarried and had six more sons.
What is a miracle?
In the New Testament, the Greek word for miracle is
dunamis (Strong’s NT:1411). It’s defined as: from 1410; force (literally or
figuratively); especially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle
itself).
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Greek Lexicon defines
dunamis as: strength, ability, power (specifically, the power of performing
miracles).
Strong’s # NT:1410
is the word dunamai, meaning “to be able or possible.” The Word says
that with God, ALL things are
possible (Matt 19:26, Mk 9:23, Mk 10:27, Lk 18:27).
God says in Jeremiah 32:27: “Behold, I am the Lord,
the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah said in
Verse 17: “Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your
great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.”
What is a miracle?
The Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines a miracle as:
“An event in the external world brought about by
the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use
of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and designed to authenticate
the divine commission of a religious teacher and the truth of his message (John
2:18; Matthew 12:38). It is an occurrence at once above nature and above man.
It shows the intervention of a power that is not limited by the laws either of
matter or of mind, a power interrupting the fixed laws which govern their
movements, a supernatural power.”
Do you believe that God will do a miracle in your
life?
It is God's will that no one should perish (end up in hell), but that ALL should come to repentance.
For God so loved this world that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God did not send His Son into this world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him would be saved.
The thief (Satan the devil) comes only for to kill, steal and destroy. But Jesus has come to give us life, and life more abundantly, until it overflows.
I urge you to come to the Cross today and receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord. He will wash away all your sins and make you as clean and white as fresh snow.
Just pray this prayer and mean it with your heart:
Dear Lord Jesus (if you are not able to call him Lord yet, then just say "Jesus")
I receive You as my Savior and Lord. I give my life over to You. I believe that You died and rose again, and that if I call on the Name of the Lord I shall be saved.
I accept you into my heart right now, and confess that You are Lord and have risen from the dead and forever live to make intercession for me.
Thank You for washing my heart pure and clean and making me whole, and for giving me peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Thank You that now I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. The old has gone and the new has come.
And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh (carnality and sin), but walk after the Spirit. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
If you prayed this prayer, I believe you got born again and are now heaven bound and will be with the Lord forever and have eternal life. Your sins are now forgiven. You are accepted in the Beloved.
I would encourage you to find a good Bible based local church to help you grow in your faith, to learn the Word of God, to praise and worship Him, and to have fellowship with the saints.
Serving Christ is the best decision you will ever make.
God bless you!!!
