Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Now at the end of your life on the earth, as you enter into a new realm of living, there are three things that remain and abide in your spirit forever. These continue with you, and these three are faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love, for hope and faith work by love and rest on the foundation of love.
Faith is for NOW, and wherever you are in your life it is always “now,” hope reaches to future expectations, you are not hoping to receive what you already have taken possession of, and love covers past, present, and future. Love covers and raises all into your relationship with Me, for I AM, I was, and I will be. And that is the Memorial Name I gave to Moses for all generations, the LORD (יהוה) (Yahavah).
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” Revelation 4:8.
To be an overcomer you need faith, hope, and love operating in your heart continually. These three are your connection with Me. In our prior Life Lesson we talked about faith as a relationship between you and Me. The longer, more continuous and connected that relationship is the stronger your faith becomes until you have great faith, and as My servant Paul stated, nothing from the enemy moves you.
Why would nothing move you off course? Not because you have developed a stoic personality and things do not affect you, if you recall Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus and He wept over Jerusalem and is well able to sympathize with your weaknesses, but because, though trials come in this life, you know the One in whom you have believed and that I am able and willing to deliver you from all that Satan has planned for you.
So let us look at hope. Hope is a confident expectation that things will turn out the way I have promised in My Word, thus hope is a continuous expectation of good. But hope even goes beyond that, hope gives you the ability to go forward with enthusiasm and peace even when it looks like what you hoped for is not going to happen.
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4.
You see in this passage upon what your hope is based, not just your imagination, though that helps to visualize what you are hoping for, but based upon the solid foundation of the rock of My Word on which all things that will last must be built.
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Hebrews 12:26-27.
I am the God of hope, perseverance, and encouragement. Romans 15:5,13.
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.
Hope comes from My Word as revealed in you by the Holy Spirit. And faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. There is joy and peace in believing. It keeps you from fear and torment. And it calls into being that which was not there, it brings the provision from the spiritual realm to the physical realm in hope realized. And hope mixed with faith does not disappoint.
Jairus was hoping for the healing of his twelve-year-old daughter and faith gave him the assurance of that hope. His hope and his faith in Jesus moved him to go to Jesus and to bring Jesus to his home to lay His hands on his sick child so that she would be healed. On the way to his house, however, Jesus stopped to minister to a woman who had been ill for twelve years, but while that took place, messengers came to tell him that his daughter had died and not to bother Jesus further.
At that point his hope could have died and he could have given up going forward and told Jesus to forget it, that it was too late. He still had the faith that if he had just gotten Jesus there on time her life would have been spared, but now he had no hope of the good result. Jesus, however, still had hope and He knew how important first words are in the results you receive, so Jesus commanded Jairus, “Do not be afraid, only believe and she will be saved.” Luke 8:50. And this gave Jairus new hope in the now impossible situation becoming possible, so he took the wise way out and said nothing but he did keep going forward. With the encouragement of Jesus, he did not draw back from his original request but put his hope into full throttle and hope did not disappoint. It happened just as he had believed, his daughter was healed and raised.
But what is the hope that keeps you going forward, that fills you with peace, and makes you complete? Everyone’s heart longs for meaning, for purpose, and for fruitfulness that will endure to generations to come. I blessed you with that empowerment from the beginning and I make all things work together for good for those who love Me and are called according that that purpose for your life. Romans 8:28.
What is it will give you the future and the hope I promise you when I tell you that My thoughts, plans and purposes for you are for your SHALOM (abundant life in every part of you, spirit, soul, and body complete with health, prosperity and peace) and not evil, to give you a future and a hope? It is the hope of living the life of good deeds that I prepared for you in advance in Christ Jesus that you would walk in them, for that is the life that will fulfill and satisfy that emptiness within you in every way, until you overflow with good. Jeremiah 31:14 (“And My people will filled to overflowing with My goodness,” declares the LORD.”)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10.
And these are precious plans that I have towards you that outnumber the sand that were all written in the book of the plan I have for your life from before you were formed in your mother’s womb.
Your eyes have seen my embryo; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:16-18.
When Abraham died he was fully satisfied, filled with good days and long life.
These are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, one hundred and seventy-five years. Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied; and he was gathered to his people. Genesis 25:7-8.
He walked the life I had for him since the day he heard My call and followed without knowing even where he was going. I told him I would bless him if he followed and that he would be a blessing to every family on earth. And that was just what he wanted to be, blessed to be a blessing. And that became his future and his hope. He just walked it out with Me day by day in the light that he had each day.
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. Proverbs 4:18-19.
It is true that at first he did not understand My ways and he wandered a bit, but he was always willing to obey and get back on course when the light he walked in got brighter and he matured in his relationship with Me, which caused his faith to increase to a point that he was fully persuaded that anything I directed him to do was something that he wanted with all his heart to do and anything I promised him, no matter how impossible it seemed in the present circumstances of his life, would be performed.
David too understood the great benefit of being led in right paths by Me. He prayed:
Make me know Your ways, O LORD, teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:4-5.
And where did he direct his attention?
My eyes are continually toward the LORD for He will pluck my feet out of the net. Psalm 25:15.
But his hope for living the fruitful life of righteousness close to Me focused on being led by Me as his good Shepherd and I have fulfilled that hope for every one of you in Jesus. He will lead you in right paths for My Name’s sake.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Psalm 23:1-3.
But there is more hope for you, even in dark times when it looks like your hope is gone, when you have gotten yourself in the dark valley of the shadow of death, He will lead you on to the hope of dwelling in the abundance of My house.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:4-6.
Yes, I will turn your valley of trouble into a door of hope.
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. Then I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor (trouble) as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.” Hosea 2:14-15.
Do you see what it took to turn your valley of trouble into a door of hope? You had to sing there. And that is what Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah did when they faced the enemy with My promise to them of victory. They sang praise as they marched to meet the enemy and their valley of trouble became a valley of blessing. 2 Chronicles 20:26.
You are My children and I want your lives to be amazing, filled with excellence, beauty, and My glory. Jesus said He gave Me glory on earth by finishing the good works I gave Him to do and now I, in turn, would reward and glorify Him in the Kingdom, and that is your future and hope as well, for as He is, so are you in this world.
And that is why I call the mystery of Christ in you your hope of glory.
The mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. Colossians 1:26-28.
All My many magnificent promises are “Yes” to you in Jesus, He is your hope.
I love you. I have given you a future and a hope. Do not be acting like the unbelievers who have no hope. You have the hope of eternal life now and forever and eternal life is to know Me, the one true God, and the one I sent to save you and be with you always, Jesus, My Son. And hope, like faith and love, comes from knowing Me and abiding in Me by abiding in My Word. I am your future and I am your hope and your very great reward.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you and your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1.