living hope

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The Hope Series – “Hope Against Hope!”

hoping against hope_wide_t_nvThere will be times in our life when we have to hope and believe God will do what He said He will do, even when our circumstances scream at us contrary. This is Hoping Against Hope.

What do you do when…

►There is not enough money to pay your bills, let alone by groceries, and it is only the 5th of the month?

►You were just fired from your job and your spouse has been laid off for several months?

►Your car just broke down and you have no money to get it towed, let alone get it repaired?

►You just received news you have cancer?

►You found out your Mother just died and she was your rock you leaned on.

►God spoke to you years ago that you would do great things, but you are at home changing diapers?

►God promised you a promised land but all you can see is rejection, brokenness, and shame?

Paul tells us that Abraham Hoped Against Hope!

Romans 4:18 NASB

“In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.”

Hope against hope. What does that mean? It means “To have hope even when the situation appears to be hopeless.” “To Hope very strongly that something will happen, although you know it is not very likely” (www.idioms.thefreedictionary.com).

Why would anyone in their right mind believe hope against hope? Logic tells you otherwise. It is easy to take the comfortable road of logic. It is the road most traveled. Logic fights with faith every minute of the day. It is logical and understandable to look at the facts and base your decision on what you know. God asks us to step out in faith and believe.

Just like Peter stepping out of the boat, it defied logic, yet it happened. Logic would have told him to stay in the boat. But [] staying in the boat means you are a boat talker and not a water walker.

In Reginald T. Steele’s book, “Get Out Of The Boat” he states: “A boat mentality is a mental condition that only functions in logic. A person who has a “boat mentality” always wants to play it safe; rarely taking a risk that is beyond their own comprehension. They want to remain in the boat, because the level of risk is comfortable. Rarely do people with a “boat mentality” remain in uncomfortable situations; they would rather stay in the boat and be a “boat talker,” but never a water walker.”

Are you a water walker or a boat talker?

If you Believe that God is real you maybe a water walker. If you Believe God sent His Son, you maybe a water walker. If you Believe your sins are forgiven and that God has great plans and a purpose for you, you may be a water walker. All this is based on hope and willing to believe in the unthinkable. But if you are a person who doesn’t believe in God, or maybe you believe, but you are unwilling to step out in faith for what God is calling you to do, you are a boat talker. Playing it safe seems right and comfortable, but often will never get you anywhere.

Paul tells us that Abraham’s faith was “Accredited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:19 – 24 NASB

“Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

Everything around him, and in him, said there was no reason to believe what was promised (and what he desperately wanted) would take place. Yet Abraham went on in faith believing the promises would be fulfilled.

At age 75 God first promised Abraham he would be a father of many nations. At age 86 Ismael was born from Hagar. Sarah made Hagar, her maid-servant, sleep with her husband to bring an offspring. This was not God’s plan or promise. It wasn’t until Abraham was 99 years old when Sarah finally conceived, and a year later bore a son, Isaac. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. 25 years from when the promise was spoken until it’s fulfillment.

Have you been waiting for a promise from God to be fulfilled?

Abraham was very old and much time had passed since God first told him he would be the Father of many nations. Sarah’s whom was dead. No life all these years ever came from her.

But God said they will have a son. Against all hope, Abraham believed that God would give him a son! This is faith!

Romans 4 tells us Abraham’s living hope, his hope against hope, for the future he looked for was based on his conviction that God could call things into existence which did not exist and He could bring throbbing life out of death.

Now that is fact! God brings life out of the dead. God brought life to Adam from the dust of the earth. It happened with Jesus being raised from the dead. It happened when Lazarus was raised from the dead and it can and will happen to you as you stand in faith believing, in spite of your circumstances or what your logic is telling you.

In hope, against all human hope,

Self-desperate, I believe; . . . 

Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,

And looks to that alone;

Laughs at impossibilities,

And cries: It shall be done! 

Charles Wesley 

It shall be done! I love that. This is what God can and will do for you to! Sometimes we “hope against hope” in our own lives. We have to. If we don’t, we will fall into despair and hopelessness.

It is easy to struggle with what God promised and what the facts are before you. Struggling with God’s promises is not doubt, just as temptation to sin is not itself sin.

Hope refuses to doubt and trusts in God’s promises, even when no way of fulfillment is humanly imaginable.

Abraham’s hope was shown because he was fully persuaded that God’s promise was certain and His power sufficient, because he was, as Paul states in Romans 4:21, fully convinced/assured that God was able to do what He had promised.

Trusting in a person’s promises requires believing they not only have the power to keep them, but also the will to do so.

Behind all promises lies the character of the person who makes them. Do you keep your promises? Be trustworthy and do what you say you will do!                                                                                                                                         

Pastor Kris Belfils

God keeps His promises with you, shouldn’t you keep your promises you make to others? Absolutely!

You may know of someone who makes empty promises? They promise they will do something and they don’t show up. They promise to help and then cancels at the last minute. They are unreliable. This is not the case with God.

God has proven Himself over and over again. We see him prove Himself in the lives of others. We see Him prove Himself in our own life. He is trustworthy.

  • The question is: how big is your God? The answer to that question will determine how big your hope is. Is your god only the god of the everyday, simply maintaining the status quo? Or is your God, the sovereign God of the universe who delights to show people that everyday He accomplishes the humanly impossible to show that with Him, all things are possible (Matt 19:26)?

Abraham had a definite word from God about his future. He knew what God had promised, but he had no indication about when the promise would be fulfilled. The same is often true for us. While we are waiting for our manifestation to come forth–waiting for a breakthrough–we may grow frustrated or impatient. Sitting in the waiting room of life is not always easy!

You may possibly have lost hope in your situation, but you have to understand that one Word from God will change the situation for your good, for when everything else fails [] God’s Word cannot fail, for God watches over His word to perform it, and His Word is forever settled in heaven.

Hope against hope! One Word from Your all powerful God is all it takes! His time frame and ours are two different things. You tell yourself; “It’s not over!” You speak to your spirit and say, “God has a plan!” Tell yourself, “God sees me!” He is working things out for my behalf.

What is the word you need? Abraham waited and it was finally his season to receive the blessing promised. He stood on it daily. He spoke to God about it. This is what we need to do.

Stir yourself up! Don’t allow yourself to fall into self pity! Don’t allow discouragement to set in your spirit. Hope against all natural hope and push into the supernatural of God’s Living Hope that He will bring a break though in your life. Do you believe it? Do you trust Him?

Weak faith results from giving consideration or meditation to the circumstances that you are faced with. In order to have strong faith you must stay focused on God’s Word as the final judge for all life’s situations.

Unbelief is at the bottom of our staggering at the promises of God. This is being double minded and unstable in your heart. Strong faith is born as you stay focused on God’s promises without wavering with a fervent persuasion that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us.

God’s Word brings hope to the hopeless in spite of the circumstance as the Word is received and acted upon.

Tell yourself: “I may be down, but God is lifting me up!”

Tell the enemy; “You thought you had me. You thought I was giving up, but God is setting me up for my victory!”

It may seem hopeless, but put your hope in God and He will bring the answer!

Circumstances may be screaming at you, but God is BIGGER! How big is your God? Remember this determines the size of your hope.

Speak to your circumstances and tell them they have to line up with God’s word.

His word says that ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD!

His word states; “ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME!”

HE IS GOD AND DOES NOT LIE!

It is your time and your season of change in Jesus’ name!

Be willing to step out in faith and risk possibly all that you know for something you have been longing for. The worse that could happen is NOTHING! So what do you have to lose?

Your sister in Christ,

Pastor Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

www.hopefellowshipspokane.com

www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com

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The Living Hope Of Easter

The Living Hope Of EasterWhat Jesus did on the cross is everything. He died so that we might live. But He didn’t stay in the grave, No, He is risen. He is alive! It gives us hope for tomorrow.

Hope is the sustainer of life. It’s the motivator to action. It’s the promise of tomorrow.

What each one of us needs more of is hope. What our country and world needs is hope.

What is hope? Often we use the word hope as a form of wish. “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow.” “I hope the Seahawks or Bulldogs win their next game.” However, hope in the Bible, has quite a different meaning.

Hope in the Bible is a “confident expectation of a divinely provided future.” Biblical hope is a confidence and expectation that God has provided for a good future for you. This morning God wants to fill every person here with hope that God has a great future planned for you.

The opposite of hope is despair or hopelessness. We see examples of despair and hopelessness all around us.

”Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

I would like to add to this quote;

“Despair cannot drive out despair: only HOPE can do that.” 

Pastor Kris Belfils 

How many times do we try to drive out our own despair with more despair? This will never bring encouragement.

The word despair means: “A state in which all hope is lost or absent, The feeling that everything is wrong and nothing will turn out well, abandon hope; give up hope; lose heart. Other terms:  Discouragement, disheartenment, dismay, hopelessness, pessimism, resignation, surrender.”

This happens to many people everyday. When a tragedy occurs or our expectations have not been met, we can fall into despair easily. We can fall into despair just by thinking wrong thoughts about our self and others.

There are really only two things you can have in life: 

1. Despair

2. Hope

Hope in the dictionary means: “A general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled, grounds for feeling hopeful about the future, Someone, or something on which expectations are centered, One of three Christian virtues (‘Faith, Hope, and Love’), expect and wish, intend with some possibility of fulfillment.”

Having hope is so essential to surviving in life. If we lose hope, we have lost the race.

Despair and hopelessness drives people to harm themselves or others in many ways. Hopelessness leads people to try to escape life’s despair through different kinds of addictions. Despair about your future saps the joy from life.

Where can we get the hope that we need in life? …….Our hope comes from Jesus.

Matthew 12:21 (NIV)

“In his name the nations will put their hope.”

Some people put their hope in wrong things and they are disappointed. But everyone who puts their hope in Jesus will never be disappointed. Easter is all about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

 A Living Hope

Peter 1:3 – 5 (NJKV)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

“…a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!” God’s Word Translation states this phrase; [] “We have been born into a new life that has a confidence which is alive because Jesus Christ has come back to life.”

Hope is something that is living and alive! This Living hope is like living waters flowing from a constant spring which never runs dry, it is always flowing, always giving and constantly moving and active.

I want you to note that a living hope means that it is not dead, or lifeless. It is not the kind of hope that we use to stir positive thinking for the moment, but does nothing for us beyond the grave. It is not the kind of hope that gives us meaning and motivation for life but is dead and lifeless beyond this life. This hope is for this life and beyond.

I also want you to recognize that a living hope means that it is not a probable hope; it is not the kind of hope that may or may not come. It is always present, always working in us. We just have to believe and stand on it! This is called “faith!”

The hope that God gives is a hope that is real and true, a hope that actually exists. A living hope is active and functioning; it acts and works both within the heart of the believer and within heaven apart from the believer.

Eternal life is a living hope because it is reality; it is a life that really exists in another world, the spiritual world, that is more real than the world in which we live. The believer’s hope for eternal life lives, acts, and works within the believer now, even while they are on earth. It is not that the believer is going to receive eternal life; they have already received eternal life. Their hope for eternal life is living, acting, and working within them right now. This is the glorious hope of the believer, the living hope of living forever with God face to face.

Eternal life is promised to believers in Christ:

John 3:15 – 16 NKJV

“That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 John 2:25 NKJV

“And this is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life.”

Romans 6:23 NKJV

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

1 Peter 1:3 tells us how this kind of hope is possible—it is due to the source of our hope: the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Our living hope finds its source in the Living God in whom all things “live and move and have their being” (Acts 17:28). This kind of hope dispels all fear.

Our God’s not dead He’s surely alive!

I watched the movie “The Hunger Games” and one line in the movie stuck out to me: “Hope is the only thing that can stand against fear.”  There is truth to that.

Having hope propels you to keep trying in the middle of your fears. This is the action or active part of hope. Hope helps us to stay focused. If we don’t have hope, we will fall into our fears and doubts and give up. Don’t give up!

We hope in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. The word “resurrection” means: “Standing up again, that is, a resurrection from death: raised to life again, rise from the dead, rising again.”

Let Hope arise in you today! The Hope of Jesus Christ is powerful. No one can take that away from you. Hope sustains you. Hope keeps you.

You might be living in a hard situation right now. It might seem hopeless, but remind yourself Who is living inside of you! Jesus, the conqueror of death! Jesus, the giver of new life and new beginnings!

Death could not hold Jesus! We have that same spirit dwelling in us everyday!

Romans 8:11 (NKJV)

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Romans 8:11 (Message)

“It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!”

God can breathe new life into any situation, circumstance, or issue, and bring forth life again.

Jesus was raised from the dead. Resurrection Life came from the One who is the Resurrection and the Life.

We have to remember the term: Resurrection Advancement! The bigger the stone the enemy places on you to stop your advancement in life, the stronger, and bigger the stage of your advancement so rejoice! Just look at the stone the enemy tried to place in front of Jesus’ tomb. Even death could not keep that stone in place. If you feel a huge stone has been placed on you, get ready for a resurrection advancement!

When I say; “the enemy” I am referring to the devil. He is the enemy of our soul. The Bible tells us that He is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). But remember that this lion has no teeth. He may roar, but has no power because Christ took it from him when He was resurrected.

When the stone was rolled away so was our sin. When the stone was rolled away so was our disappointments we have experienced. Rolled away was all our regrets. Rolled away were the hurts and un-forgiveness we may be holding onto. Rolled away were any lies we’ve said or mistakes we have made. New life and a new beginning is there for you to walk in.

Don’t let anyone or anything make you feel “less” in life when God gave His Son for you to be and live the best!

Don’t look at the big stone in front of you. Look to Jesus who didn’t let anything, or anyone stop Him from bringing Living Hope to this world. You are being set up! If your way seems blocked, if your dreams have died, if you have no hope, REJOICE because God is setting you up for greater things. It could be the “midnight hour” for God to do the impossible, but He WILL do it! Don’t give up! Don’t lose hope!

Hebrews 10:35 (NASB)

“Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.”

James 1:12 (CEV)

“God will bless you, if you don’t give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves Him.”

How would you describe your level of hope today? Is your “hope tank” on full or is it dangerously close to empty? Is the hope your experiencing right now one that is merely based on positive thinking or probability, or is it a living hope resting on the promises of God?

God’s design is for you to know and experience this living hope. He has done everything necessary to make it available to each of us as a living reality. Will you accept His offer today?

Allow the Living Hope to rise up inside of you. If you don’t know this Living Hope, Jesus Christ, today is your day. Don’t delay in asking Him to come into your heart.

Your sister,

Pastor Kris Belfils

www.krisbelfils.com

www.HopeFellowshipSpokane.com

www.krisbelfils.wordpress.com