Hope Beyond the Veil
by Bishop Christopher Carl Smith
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
Christopher 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?
