Keep hope alive in your heart… this reminds me of the passage in 2 Kings 4:16 when Elijah tells the Shunammite woman that the Lord would be giving her a son, she replies back to him saying “Don’t get my hopes up like that” (NLT). The Lord wants you to get your hopes up. The Lord wants you to keep hope alive, keep dreaming and keep desiring. Hope is a wonderful thing!
You may ask, what is hope? Hope is great expectation, desire and yearning for certain things to happen in your life. You may be hoping for an increase of faith, you may be hoping for a job promotion, you may be hoping for restoration in relationships, whatever you are hoping for, the Lord has put in you the ability to hope for things.
Hebrews 11:1 in the passion translation says that faith brings our hope into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. Today, I want to encourage you to stir up the measure of faith that the Lord has given you, put your faith in action and begin to thank the Lord for the things you are hoping for… thank Him for answered prayer and thank Him for the manifestation of the things you are hoping for.
Colossians 1:27 (KJB) says “Christ in you, the hope of Glory”. Because of what Jesus did on the cross for you and me, because Jesus is living in us, because we have the mind of Christ, He is our hope of Glory.
The Mirror Translations says in Hebrews 11:2, “It was faith that made their hope tangible.” This same translation says in Hebrews 11:1 “Faith celebrates as certain what hope visualizes as future”. (Jesus is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of everything the prophets foretold. The unveiling of Christ in human life completes mankind’s every expectation.)
Friends, Christ in you, is the hope of Glory for many. People will see Jesus in you and His manifest presence in your life will give hope to many, reminding them that Jesus is real… Jesus is alive, Jesus is Who we serve and love and Jesus is our only hope. When the world around us is going crazy, we place our hope in Jesus Christ, our soon coming King.
Blessings on you, Esther
