It’s been said that a person can live forty days without food, four days without water, four minutes without air, but only four seconds without hope. I don’t know if there is any scientific evidence that supports this, but it does make a point, hope is essential!

The world and the church are being shaken, there is no question about this. The battle lines in the heavenlies are drawn. The war rages between good and evil, right and wrong, absolute truth or “your” truth, fear and faith, vaccinated or unvaccinated, jobs kept or jobs lost. We are in ideological and spiritual warfare where the very foundations of life and faith are being contended for.

The Kingdom of God is the only sure ground to stand on. Our Father in heaven is not shocked, panicking, or wandering what should be done to stop the madness. His Kingdom is unshakeable.

Hebrews 12:28 “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.” (NLT)

This is the reason we must put our hope in God and God alone.

Hope is a confident expectation in who God is and the promises He’s made. Hope in God is made alive by faith in God. Faith says I believe, hope says I anticipate. Faith is courageous, and hope is contagious. Hope gives. Hope encourages. Hope requires strength and swims against what we currently see and experience. It flows from encounters with Him.

Apart from God, hope is powerless. It’s just a wish. Hope flows from the love of God. Hope is supernatural. When I feel hope slipping, I have to go to the Lord and get more.

Romans 5:5  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

We must choose to put our hope IN GOD, not in man or politics. If I give more attention to mainstream media than the Word of God, and I become discouraged and feel hopelessness, then my discouragement and sense of hopeless is self-inflicted.

Hope requires strength and focus. It’s given, not earned. I’m learning that when things feel out of control, or when I feel powerless, I MUST turn to the Lord and receive hope from Him.

Psalm 31:24  Be strong and take heart,  all you who hope in the LORD.

It’s hard to see a rainbow with your head down. Hope looks up and believes in seeing God’s activity during the storm.

I have three words circled in my prayer journal - Faith, Hope, and Love. I have to keep these front and center in my life intentionally, and I must ask God to fill me with all three. If not, I lose heart.

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

When I anchor my heart in heaven and receive faith, hope, and love from the Lord, I’m changed. This change impacts those I love and lead. I find myself responding to the Lord and not reacting to the culture.

If your hope is waning, don’t give up or give in to discouragement. Take time right now to be in His presence, encounter the God of hope and receive an impartation that can only come from the Lord. Let this hope in God arise and be your fuel. May it overflow and renew you and bring hope to the world around you.