Hope is a living thing. Paul says hope “abides.” To abide means “to live.” Only living things abide, so hope is a living thing and you have to guard it and nourish it with the Word of God. You have to feed it with the Word so it can grow.

If you’ll do that, hope will paint a picture of God’s promise fulfilled in your life. It will give you an inner image of yourself healed and prosperous, with your loved ones saved, your marriage restored or whatever else you’ve been hoping for. Hope will paint that picture so clearly inside you and make it so real, you’ll begin to be blind to what you see on the outside.

As you meditate on those inner pictures hope has painted with God’s Word, you’ll begin to believe you are what the Word of God says you are. You’ll begin to realize you’re not what the world says you are. You’re not what your parents or your friends say you are. You’re not even what you think you are. You are what God says you are! You’re the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21)!

Let me give you an example: You’ve prayed for your son to be set free from a drug habit. You can get such a clear picture of what that child is going to be like after he has been delivered that he starts looking great to you now—even though he still may be giving you trouble!

You’ll actually get to the point where you won’t see what a challenge he is being right now, because you’ve seen him in Jesus with the eyes of your spirit.

If you’ll continue to look at him that way and not let the devil shake you, if you’ll refuse to jump up in that child’s face and tell him how sorry he is, one of these days that child of yours will look on the outside just like you see him on the inside. He’ll be delivered!

That’s what hope does. It is strong spiritual stuff!

So how do you get some? You go to the same place you do to get faith—the Word of God. You bathe your brain and your spirit in that Word every day. You think about it all the time, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. You keep your faith tapes going. In short, you just keep feeding your spirit…and allow the Word to paint those pictures! That’s hope at work in you.

Speak the Word

Hope surely and steadfastly anchors my soul. (Hebrews 6:19)