‘Let me pour my hope into you. Hope is arising. What does hope mean?’
‘Is not expectation the currency for manifestation? Hope is stronger than faith. Doesn’t it say faith, hope, and love? I put it in order for a reason. My hope does not disappoint. Look up faith.’
Hope is a confident expectation, an absolute I will come through for you. Faith is a divine persuasion; it’s a turning to believe me at my word and that I am faithful—learning of my faithfulness, works, and character, then acting on it. Let my hope and expectation arise in you.
Hope has been misused. Hope is looked at through man’s empty promises.
To cherish a desire with anticipation. To want something to happen or be true
Merriam-Webster: Hope
Examples: hopes for a promotion, hoping for the best, I hope so.
I do not make empty promises. Does it not say that hope deferred makes the heart sick? Not, faith deferred makes the heart sick.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Proverbs 13:12
Too many of my children have been told they didn’t have enough faith, and that is why they are still sick. This is evil. This has caused them to give up and give in. Their hope deferred has made their hearts sick. They are on a hamster wheel of never being able to live up to the expectation of faith. While well-meaning Christians pass judgment on them, they sink into depression. A pit that leaves them no way out thinking it is all their fault they are still sick. Faith is a gift from me. How? Because I persuade them towards my goodness. Many are sick for other reasons, and seeking my face is the only answer; I will show them the way out.
Because man fails each other, hope has been twisted. But godly hope is a specific expectation; you know it will happen. If I say I will come, You know it will happen; you don’t know when. I told Saul that Samuel would meet him in seven days to make a sacrifice, but Saul got anxious and didn’t think Samuel would show. He didn’t trust in my protection, allowed doubt to overcome him, and disobeyed my instructions. Samuel showed up later than he expected on that seventh day. (1 Samuel 13-15). Hope is a certain expectation that you know it will happen, even if it is later than expected.
My gift of Faith is me divinely persuading you by my character and faithfulness. Look at David; he constantly stirred up his faith in me. He reminded himself of my faithfulness. When I told Abraham and Sarah they would have a son of promise, and as many descendants as the stars in the sky, I birthed a hope of a promise. A natural mind has a hard time wrapping its brain around it. At first, they are in awe, but then they start to use their logical thinking. In Abraham and Sarah’s circumstances, they reasoned that their bodies were too old to bear children. They needed encouragement and my persuasion. Again, I appeared to Abraham and Sarah, convincing them of my promise. (Genesis 15-18).
Simply put, faith is an action. You are divinely persuaded, so we take action. Faith without works is dead. Works are one aspect of the translation. It can also be translated into action. Faith without action is dead. Let’s look at some examples.
When God first spoke to Moses about his plan to free the Israelites, he protested his speaking ability, so the Lord let Aaron speak on his behalf. Moses could’ve kept opposing, but he did what God told him to do. Do you think he felt fear as he stood before Pharaoh? If Moses didn’t do what God asked, he would not have walked out his faith and trust in the Lord. (Exodus 3-5).
When the woman with the issue of blood heard rumors of Jesus and the miracles He performed, hope finally came to her to receive healing for her sickness. Her hope in Him, His power, and goodness built up in her and caused her to seek Him out and touch His robe. Her faith was the action of seeking him and touching his robe, but her hope, was in me and she believed. She had a confident expectation that if only she touched his robe, she would be healed. Faith caused her to go to him. If she had not gone to him, her faith would have been dead (unfruitful). Hope expected in his goodness to heal her. She had a confident assurance that if she went to Him, He would heal her. (Luke 8)
Every believer, when they come to believe in me, there is an action to that belief. They hear the word preached in a church, through a loved one, on the streets, or on TV. Then they take the action of speaking to me and inviting me into their lives. It could be them crying out to me, it could be a simple prayer, but this is an action. Faith is an action, a response to my divine persuasion. A response to belief. They are starting to believe they may not be 100%, but they take action and soon learn that a leap of faith changes everything. Looking back, they know 100% that the action they took was right, but at that moment, it was a very small mustard seed. That tiny seed was a leap of faith that felt like a big leap; that seed turned into a tree. Give me your seed, and I will do the rest. Their hope in me gives them a confident assurance.
Through the unction of my Spirit and the power of my presence, I give you faith. Your action is to come to me. It is not to confess it 10 billion times to the point where you are beating your head against a wall and so stuck in the works of confessing you exclude me from the equation. You can’t confess your way to perfect faith. Faith is the action of walking out your hope in me. Come to me. Spend time with me. Let me lead you. The Pharisees were repetitious, too. They were so focused on it that they blocked themselves from hearing and receiving me; they were so caught up in their work. They took me out of the equation and forgot my heart. The seed of my rhema word builds your trust in me and grows into a great tree. Doubt tries to come in and snatch or kill that seed in you. So water your faith in me with the word of God. Time spent with me in prayer, worship, the word, and fasting. Get encouraged by not forsaking the gathering together with other believers.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1
“the state of being assured: such as being certain in the mind
Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Assurance
confidence of mind or manner : easy freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty”
With this knowledge of hope, faith, and assurance. We could write the verse like this.
Now faith (God’s divine persuasion to believe in his promise and character) is the assurance (certainty of mind to stand under a guaranteed agreement) of things hoped for (a confident trust and expectation on a matter.)
God’s divine persuasion to believe in his promise and character is the certainty of mind to stand under a guaranteed agreement, a confident trust and expectation on a matter.
One day, when I was feeling anxious about my current circumstances, I started quickly flipping through my phone, from email to YouTube to Instagram, hoping to find some encouragement. God spoke to me, saying, “What are you hoping to find? Your only hope is in me.”
We don’t look for faith when we need encouragement; we look for hope, something to grab onto and start the action of walking out (faith is the walking out part); what we hope for that was given to us by the Holy Spirit.
Godly hope is a specific direction the Holy Spirit gives, an expectation of what is certain. Hope is birthed when someone receives a prophetic word of destiny over their lives from the Lord. The Bible says hope deferred makes the heart sick. Another way to say it is destiny delayed makes the heart sick. Our faith is the action of walking out that destiny or hope birthed within us. Maybe God told you that you will write songs touching the nations. Perhaps you don’t play an instrument. Faith is walking out that promise God gave you. Walking it out may look like taking music lessons, buying an instrument, starting to write and sing, the act of being faithful to develop that gift in the way the Lord leads you. As you are faithful, God can partner with your faith and lead you on the right path to write music to touch the nations.
Godly Hope encourages us to keep fighting for what we know is ours. The Holy Spirit wanted me to share when my sister was in the trauma hospital from a terrible car accident. The doctors had us come in because they did not think she would make it and wanted to give us a chance to say our goodbyes. This was the summer after covid hit, and because they thought she might die, they bent their rules and allowed two visitors to come in. We didn’t say goodbye but prayed specific scriptures the Lord had given us over her. Over time, it was a slow road to recovery, but she recovered more than medical staff ever thought would have been possible. During this recovery period, it was like tiny breadcrumbs of progress she made daily. She was in an induced coma because the pain would have been too great for her. The tiny bread crumbs of progress looked like her brain pressure was .01 point better than the previous day, but we celebrated each progression.
Because she was in the hospital during the covid shutdown, I was only allowed to call her. Every day, I asked the nurse about her progression, then spent time speaking and praying for her on Zoom.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”
Matthew 6:33
The Lord said to look up seek.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Seek
to resort to, go to, to go in search of : look for, to try to discover, to ask for, seeks advice, to try to acquire or gain: aim at
I find it interesting how it says, “Put a demand.” Before the Lord healed my back, I told him, “God, you told me you wanted me to work this job, so you had better heal me; otherwise, I cannot work this job.” I’m not sure why I said it like that. Some might say that’s bold talk to the one who laid down everything.
God said he wants us to boldly come to his throne room. It pleases Him when we do. It pleases Him when we take Him at His word. It pleases Him that we treat Him like our Good Father and trust in His word.
Seek me, put a demand on me to give you the key. It pleases me when you do so. For you are having faith in my good nature to not leave you nor forsake you in this area but give you wisdom and knowledge to receive the healing I paid for.
“for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6
When the woman with the issue of blood heard about Jesus, hope was birthed in her. She had given up hope; she spent all her money on doctors to be well, and no one could cure her. When she heard stories of Jesus healing masses of people, hope was birthed in her. Jesus was her only hope. She knew she would be healed if she encountered Him. Her faith was pursuing Him; she pushed through a crowd of people. She was determined and put a demand on touching him to get her healing. Another obstacle could’ve been exhausted from her illness. When she saw the crowd surrounding him, she could have been discouraged and given into doubt.
‘Today is not my day; there is no way I will get a moment with him or even get his attention. He has more important things to do than stop for me.’ The hope birthed in her was so strong she knew if she only touched his garment she would be healed. So she pressed through and touched his robe; her faith healed her. Hope caused her to be confident he was her healer, and he would heal her. Testimonies of his goodness, and I am sure the ministry of the Holy Spirit persuaded her to seek him no matter the obstacle and get her healing. That was her faith. She put a demand on his goodness, and touching Him would heal her because she believed in who he was.
I learned faith is a lot more simple than I thought it was. It seemed like some mystical invisible thing I could never grasp, I had no understanding until I started asking the Lord, “What does faith really mean?”, and finally admitted to him that what I heard on it didn’t make sense to me. When I humbled myself instead of thinking I was incompetent at faith, he was able to teach me.