Hope Births Vision

This morning this came into my spirit, Hope Births Vision. I am sure that others have said this but I can say that I have never heard this. I am thinking about in God's economy. To have a vision from Him you have to have hope in Him to accomplish what He has said. Jesus said many times the Kingdom of God has come near. This was to bring hope and change their vision of Israel. They had waited for years for the Messiah and were missing Him, because Jesus came at a time of utter hopelessness and did not bring deliverance the same way the judges of the Old Testament had. God is always doing new things and we need to see a greater vision. The way He brought other moves of His Spirit or breakthrough is not the way He is going to bring it this time. We have to have Hope in a God of ever greater abundance and creativity. Is God the God of life and change or of death and stagnation?

83% of Americans are unreached and have no hope.

I am reading a friends book called 83 lost sheep by Gerry Stoolfoos. He said that the church is fighting over 17% of america and we are not reaching the other 83% of America. I am wondering how do we give them hope? How do we partner with Jesus and bring the hope of God's gospel message? We either believe the Gospel message is supernatural to change others or we don't- (Wes Davis quote). I believe hope is the supernatural part of its message. Hope that God accepts them right where they are in their life journey right now. Can you give hope to someone today?

Is Hope maturing in you

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ro 5:1–5.

In different seasons of our lives we see the scripture differently. Things jump out in front of us that have not before. In these five verses what has been happening in me is spelled out. I am not complete in any of these by far but growing in each one. I never realized that the last few years I have lost hope. I have lived my life feeling the weight of everything upon me and my performance. When my Dad and Mom divorced I became the man of the house and had to do a lot of growing in a hurry. Unfortunately some things that should be apart of my maturing during the teenage years is not there. I went from 12 to 18 very quickly. My mom and sister needed my strength and so I gave it to them. I became a loner and someone who was very self sufficient. I went to work at 14 to help my mom pay the bills because my Dad did not pay any child support. I once replaced a clutch at 16 with a younger friend and a chiltons manual. We are lucky we didn't get hurt and that it ran after. I remember after the fact that the guys at the restaurant I worked at asked me where I got the special tools to get the engine and transmission lined up. I said what do you mean it just slid on. Then I was proud, now I know that God was in the mix of that. After a long life of many battles you loose hope that they will ever stop.  That what where they for, and in the midst of them some want to coddle you, some say shut up, and some judge you that you put yourself there. Today though I see that God has been using them to get me to grow hope in Him that will sustain me. I have taken hope the last six years in three things. My abilities, man's favor, and man's plans of how to accomplish it. I choose from now on to have hope in my God who loves me and is helping me to accomplish His will. I am going to choose to allow the Hope of God to grow in me and my family. Then it can spread to those we minister to everyday. God who is hope, please read below it may help you.

In Scripture hope often is substantive as well as active. One may “have” hope, since to do so is to possess God who is hope. Thus hope came to be regarded as one of the “theological” virtues in the triad of faith, hope, and love (e.g., Rom. 5:1–5; Eph. 4:1–6; 1 Thess. 1:3; Heb. 6:10–12). The three belong together and always function as one; none is possible without the other. As an act, hope may be thought of as the prospective totality of the response of faith to love, i.e., to God who is love. Love is the “greatest of these” virtues in that it is primary, being the very nature of God who is the source and goal of hope, but all three virtues—faith, hope, and love—abide (1 Cor. 13:13).

Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 501.

Faith and Hope

Biblical hope is inseparable therefore from faith in God. Because of what God has done in the past, particularly in preparing for the coming of Christ, and because of what God has done and is now doing through Christ, the Christian dares to expect future blessings at present invisible (2 Cor. 1:10). The goodness of God is for him never exhausted. The best is still to be. His hope is increased as he reflects on the activities of God in the Scriptures (Rom. 12:12; 15:4).

R. V. G. Tasker, “Hope,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 480.

When our kids where little and would only eat one thing everyday my wife Stephanie would call it a food jag. I sometimes have also been on a food jag. I have missed the connection between faith and hope. I have focused for years on faith but missed that the thing that gives faith stamina is hope. In the above definition of Hope there is a sentence that reads "The goodness of God is for him never exhausted." God is good and loves us so much. When we get into ruts waiting for the promised thing to come forth it is because we have lost hope that God is good. God wants to deliver us and give us the things He has told us to stand for. IF we loose hope than we get into a spiral of works trying to make it happen and our prayers become a form of striving trying to force God to move. Instead of resting in the promise of God and having hope that He is good and we can have a foundation of hope in Him. I am tired of pushing things through and trying to force things to happen. Do I need to work hard yes but from a place of rest and hope not striving and worry.

We can only give hope if we remember where we come from

   18       For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
   19       because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
   20       For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
   21       For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
   22       Professing to be wise, they became fools,
   23       and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
   24       Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
   25       For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.


New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ro 1:18–25.

These are a hard set of scripture and many of us Christians use it as a hammer to smash all of the arguments of our culture. We use it to reveal God to them, to make them conform to the image we portray of Him. We become the world's judge instead of allowing God to do that from heaven.We all have places in our lives that bear the fruit of unrighteousness and thereby we suppress the very truth we are trying to proclaim.  In these scriptures I have had a change from seeing the sin and seeing the God I hope in being able to save me. HE is the one in control because believe it or not He turned us over. As Christians I see places where our culture has done the same things as those we are against. I am never going to be perfect but through Christ I can be a over comer and I have chosen to not hide any area of my life from Him. HE knows it anyway and I want Him to change me so that my life no longer suppresses the truth. Then my heart will change and I will see others who are trying to figure this thing called life out and I can come along side them and help them to understand what God has done for them also. I am allowing God to break my heart for those who don't know Him so that I can bring the Hope of God to them, then they will have Faith in Him, and let Him Love them. Will you leave the judges seat and choose to walk with someone today if they know Him or not we all need a friend not a judge?

What is Hope?

      18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
         on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
      19 to deliver them from death
         and keep them alive in famine.

      20 We wait in hope for the LORD;
         he is our help and our shield.
      21 In him our hearts rejoice,
         for we trust in his holy name.
      22 May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,
         even as we put our hope in you.


The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ps 33:18–22.

For the next three weeks I will be a student of Hope. I have placed my hope in many things over the years and some things have panned out and others have not. I am at a place in my life where God is dealing with some big things in me. I am a self righteous man who has hope in himself and his abilities. For this to change and for my hope to shift I have to study and learn to biblically apply hope. For the last few years I have been in a forge where God is driving my hope in man out of me. You see I may have spoke a good game, but on the inside I trusted in man. I have shown through my actions that I trust in man and his opinion more than Gods. This is a rough thing to know and understand. Now some amazing men have helped me and I am so glad they are in my life. I am not talking about that, I am dealing with a Daddy wound that has scarred me deeply. I have made a decision to deal with this wound and put it in proper perspective. I am going to learn to have Hope in Jesus and through Him God the Father. Below is a theology of hope that may help you as it did me.



In the Epistles the theology of hope is fully developed and becomes an explicit and prominent theme. As in the Old Testament, God himself is the Christian’s hope; he is “the God of hope” (Rom. 15:13; cf. 1 Tim. 4:10; 1 Pet. 1:21). But Paul also identifies Jesus Christ as the ground of hope (“Christ Jesus our hope,” 1 Tim. 1:1; cf. Eph. 1:12; 1 Thess. 1:3), the evidence of which is the resurrection (1 Cor. 15; 1 Pet. 1:3). The work of hope comes “by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13; Gal. 5:5). Hope is produced through the witness of the written scriptures (Rom. 15:4), but the new covenant provides “a better hope” (Heb. 7:19) because of the promises inherent in the priesthood of Christ (6:18–19).

Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 501.

A new year

Happy New Year 2014!!! It has been a crazy and difficult year but a great year. I have had to walk through so many things and choose to grow through them that I sometimes feel like one preparing for the Olympics. One area that has come alive to me has been the fruit of Grace. In Pentecostal circles we do not understand grace. It is something we all want but many are not willing to give. I have almost deleted my Facebook account many times because all I see is harsh knee jerk reactions to things that we want to say and we use the bible as our platform. Recently it has been the whole Duck Dynasty issue, I am not going to respond to the issue but the fruit of what I have seen. In Romans it says that while we were still in sin Christ died for us, it also says that it is the grace of God that brings us to repentance. When we sit there and put all of these scriptures out there and start to react to things using the bible as our soap box then we are doing the same things as those we are speaking against. In many ways we have taken on the wrapper of those we are suppose to be bringing hope and love to and are spreading hate and anger. We start putting partitions together saying that we are going to not go to this store or watch this show, let me ask how is that going to bring people to Christ. When Jesus met the women at the well he didn't come against her or belittle her, He revealed Himself to her and showed her the way to hope and salvation. Then this women steeped in a lifestyle contrary to the law, ran and proclaimed the new gospel she had heard to the whole village. They then came and heard Jesus themselves and it started a change in the region. If Jesus had used history and the law as his pulpit He could have destroyed every argument she had. He did not He gave her grace and hope that she could be changed. SO in 2014 please choose to operate in grace and love those around you. We have a whole world that is dying and living as if they have no hope. Lets give them hope maybe it will change them for eternity.