Hope

This morning I had an amazing breakthrough. I was reading my Jesus Calling devotional like I normally do most mornings and the words just pierced my heart and the Holy Spirit flooded the room (also like they normally do when I set aside time with Him.)

I have always struggled with hope and the feeling of letting people down. I hate “getting my hopes up” and being let down when things don’t turn out how I had planned. I think this is why I hate doing that to other people. I cringe at the thought of disappointing others.

Through an unhealthy cycle of getting my hopes up and being let down, I have conditioned myself to just not get my hopes up when I really want something. For example, we are currently living in an apartment and really praying and believing God for a house this spring! We have been laser focused on achieving this goal for probably about the last year or so. Owning a home has always been important to us but this last year we have intentionally made decisions with this in mind. But sometimes, I find myself browsing through Zillow, daydreaming about my dream house and then I feel this nudge to come back to “reality” and not get my hopes up because chances are this isn’t going to happen.

But one of the verses in my devotional was Romans 8:24-25, “Hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.” I especially love verse 25 in the NLT translation that says, “But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.”

This is what gets me – FOR WHO HOPES FOR WHAT HE SEES? If you can see something or you already have it, there is no need to hope for it. But we hope for things we don’t see yet….and we wait in patience. This is food for my spirit. I need to renew my mind on this truth.

We have to hope for what we don’t see!

Hope does NOT mean wishful thinking. But God wants me to overflow with hope and hope for good gifts, hope for heaven, hope for my friends and family, HOPE FOR A HOUSE! It’s ok to get my hopes up…in fact I should be!

Lately, I feel like the stresses of life have made me yearn for heaven – a perfect place with no worries, no hardship, no wondering but pure paradise. As Sarah Young writes in this day’s devotional, the hope of heaven is meant to strengthen and encourage me!

I did a little more research on other times hope is used in the Bible and got another nugget of revelation. Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.” In other words, hope that is put off for a later time, postponed, or held up makes the heart unhealthy. And that isn’t God’s will for my life. I’m supposed to be whole, healthy and free meaning I cannot put off hope for a later time or when something finally happens (in which case, I’m too late.)

The last verse I looked up was Romans 12:12 which says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer.” This verse was nestled in a section of Romans verses 9-21 and the title of the section was “Marks Of A True Christian.” We must rejoice IN hope. We need to get our hopes up as an example for others to witness because our hope is in Jesus – a loving Father who desires to give good gifts to his children and who is preparing a place for us in Heaven to hope for. Our outlook on this life is one of hope!

So no more me saying, “I don’t want to get my hopes up.” I will get my hopes up and be patient and confident. And if things don’t go the way I want them, that’s ok because God has a better idea and it was for my good. He goes before me as a forerunner to pave the way for which He wants me to go.

I HOPE that you are encouraged to get your hopes up, to be patient and wait on the Lord, and to be constant in prayer as you let him into the deepest desires of your heart.