True Forgivness - article Let's Be Thankful - article What Keeps Us from Blessings -article Secret Power of Being Thankful - article Life is better when you find companionship Ask questions, listen to answers Hope sees what faith will produce Should innocent party be punished? Are you sabotaging yourself? Have we covered up idolatry in our lives? Survival tactics for spiritual growth Get free by changing what you think Writers respond to "Divorced People Bad Risk" Exactly what does she mean by "secure"? Make a list of what you want in a partner What if "Love" makes you sick? Can your relationship pass the test? The beginning and the end of all love stories Toxic faith, new area of treatment Finding God's plan and purpose "Divorced people are a bad risk" Loneliness may open door to abuse Even if people reject you, God will not The glory is a revelation of Jesus What is being a doer of the Word? We change our lives with words Is your low-fat diet working for you? Who do you say Jesus is? It's dangerous to be foolish Give thanks with a grateful heart The sacrifice of thanksgiving God had antidote for depression Will He be able to say "Well done"? Return to HOME

Hope sees what faith will produce So often we get so hung up on faith and how to have faith and how to get our faith to work better that we miss an essential element in obtaining anything from God. That element is hope. Hope seems like a simple term. We use it so often, we have lost a true sense of its meaning. "I hope I'll get the raise I need," we say. Or, "I hope I'll get an answer to this letter." If you had to define hope, however, you might have a difficult time. We see it as something vague and obscure, like wishing for something we'll very likely not get. The book of Hebrews gives a high status to hope, however. The 11th chapter opens with this statement, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." We can see from this scripture that hope has to be present before faith can accomplish anything. Hope is the framework on which faith builds in order to bring something into existence in the natural world. Bible teachers have said that Heaven has everything we need, but in order to get something from Heaven to this earth, we must place an order. The way we place an order is to build an image in our mind of the thing that we want, based on the promises of God. This is hope in the Biblical sense. Then we apply our faith, believing that God is good, that His Word is true, and that He is right now giving substance to the thing that we need, through our faith and through the power of the Word. When you order something by mail from a catalogue, you have to be very specific about what you want in order to get the right item. The same thing is true when you are ordering something from Heaven. Go to the Word; see what God has to say about the subject. Make sure what you are hoping for is something God has promised; then build your hope on details. If you need a car, you should be able to see yourself in that car. What color is it? Does it have four doors or two? Is it a Toyota or a Ford? If you can't see yourself in it, your faith in God's promise to meet your needs has no framework to build on. If it's healing you need, you must be able to see yourself well. If you can't see yourself well, study the promises of God until you are convinced that healing is His will for you. If it's a marriage partner you need, you must be able to see yourself married to the person who is God's perfect will for you. If you're not sure what this person looks like, pray and ask God to fill in the gaps in your hope. Ask the Holy Spirit to burn that image into your mind so that your faith will have something to build on. Remember that hope is the framework, and faith in God and His Word gives substance or reality to what you hope for.   Copyright 2000, by Singles Scene/Spirit & Life Reproduction without permission prohibited Return to HOME