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HOPE
Notes taken at the 2005 Queen Camp by Mary Linda Kleinman
Hope- To anticipate and expect with great pleasure and great confidence. If you don’t have hope, you can’t believe.
Hopelessness- If you aren’t careful with your hope, you are at risk of losing everything. Don’t let your situation steal your hope.
How to Get Hope: Be full of the Word.
Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the loveof Godhas been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Col. 1:5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel..
Col. 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Titus 2:13Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ..
I Peter 1:3-8 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith---the salvation of your souls.
Jesus Christ is our Hope. Let it become a part of you. Hope toward God. The very things that bring hope protect it.
Protect hope by aggressively walking in the four elements and destroy the enemies of hope.
Elements of Hope:
- Need
- Desire
- Acceptance
- Belief
Developing the Elements of Hope:
1. Need
NEED SUBMISSION STUBBORNNESS
To develop need, submit to Christ.
Stubbornnesscomes against it and destroys need. Stubbornness is rebellion (witchcraft). It might be because of fear. Stubbornness means you can’t trust the Lord since you can’t submit to Him.
Submission - You don’t need anybody else, but you do need God. KNOW your need for God to protect and help you. Walk in hope that God will redeem you. To submit says that you need the Lord. Submission will destroy stubbornness and empower need. Submission shouts at stubbornness and tells need, “come with me; we are going to get hope.”
Need is maintained by submission.
2. Desire
DESIRE LOVE FEAR
If you don’t desire the things of God in your life, you will lose hope. Walk in love. Love brings desire and destroys fear. Perfect love casts out all fear.
Love shouts at fear. Walk in love and that will destroy fear. The main element of love is forgiveness. If you can forgive, then you can see how much God forgives you. Ask God to be merciful to those He will show vengeance on. If you don’t have forgiveness you will be riddled with fear.
Fear that God will mess up “that thing” again destroys desire. Love for people brings a desire to help people in spite of fear. I will desire the hopeful things of God. Find out where your desire has been. Do you want just enough of God to stay out of hell and live a happy life?
3. Acceptance
ACCEPTANCE GRACE REJECTION
Acceptance brings hope through grace. Grace is your inherited right to behave like Christ. Rejection is the enemy of grace and acceptance. You can do it because of who you are in Christ. Grace empowers your ability to be accepted. You are accepted by God and can do whatever you are called to do. His grace is sufficient. Grow in grace every day. (2 Peter 3:18) Grace means you can be awesome because Jesus is, and He is in you. You can do anything; nothing is too hard for you. You don’t have to be afraid. Jesus is in you and you need to know that and know that you are accepted. Grace is active and flowing; you can set it free anytime you want to. Grace brings acceptance. David’s acceptance of what God gave him (anointed as King and then had to endure Saul for a season) was because he was walking in the grace of understanding who he was. He walked in acceptance of that. You don’t have to “take the ground”; you already know you own it. If you don’t have grace in your life, you will always be struggling with rejection.
4. Belief
BELIEF FAITH GUILT
In order to believe, you must understand faith. Faith destroys guilt. Faith is: assurance, belief, conviction and truth. It is tangible. Faith embraces God’s Truth and says to guilt, you can’t touch my belief. Guilt will say you can’t have that good thing coming; you’ve got to protect yourself. Get full of the Word of God. When you become guilty, it is hard to find acceptance of God. Rahab had an unusual faith. Faith toward what she believed caused her to have hope. We need to expect and anticipate God coming on the scene - that is hope. God has made us not guilty. We become guilty when we act out.
Examples:
Abraham - You have to get rid of your Ishmael before you can do something big for God and so that the next thing can happen to you. You are not submitting if you are holding onto an illegitimate child. The Glory of God won’t come unless you get rid of Ishmael (anything done out of the flesh).
Abraham was told to not take his kindred. He didn’t take Lot; he just came along. Abraham didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so he kept compromise. He might have been getting some identity out of Lot. You won’t know how to really need God and get acceptance until you get rid of Lotand Ishmael. Cut yourself off from your bondage. Rattle the cage of your tormentors so badly that it will be too much for them and they will do anything to let you go. Don’t allow anything to get in your way. Don’t use it as an excuse. Reason becomes an excuse to maintain that posture.
Gen. 22:2 When God told Abraham to kill his only son, he rose early. He ran to it in obedience (submission). That is TRUST. Verse 8 Abraham said, “My Son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” Abraham was a man full of hope. He knew who God was.
Need and desire are maintained by submission and love; destroyed by stubbornness and fear. He loved God more than Isaac. Because of that, Abraham walked in hope. He submitted to the One he loved. NO FEAR. Give me your son, whom you love. If he became stubborn against God he would become fearful. Abraham didn’t say, “But God.” He said, “Okay, God You are in charge.” When you embrace the knife which is absolute Submission, you stop thinking of ways to be stubborn and fearful and want your own way. You can call it being organized and “in charge”, but it is still stubbornness, willfulness and independence. This happened after Ishmael was told to leave. Something has to be given away before you can have room for the new thing God is bringing.
Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” You are recognizing your need for the Lord, not fighting Him. You are submitting. Then His desires become your desires. You are not fighting for your own way anymore.
Luke 15:11-32 The prodigal son story. You may think you are running to Him, but He is running to you. Beautiful picture of the Lord.
Verse 25 Elder brother - When you don’t have acceptance in your life and nothing to believe in, you will move in anger and rejection.
Verse 28 The elder brother was angry and would not go in. There was no grace and faith in his life. He made someone who was enjoying the presence of his family come to him. How many people have you held hostage by your rejection and lack of acceptance? He was sucking the life out of his father because he couldn’t walk as a son because he thought he was a servant. He sounds rejected: He calls his brother his father’s son. Both had the inheritance. He resented the other one for having fun. The elder brother never accepted the grace that the inheritance was his. He never walked in his inherited rights. He never accepted it so he couldn’t believe. He couldn’t ask for a fatted calf if he was rejected and guilty. But it was his inherited right.
Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
Sick: - As a woman in travail, afflicted and weak and full of infirmity of every kind. Full of grief and disease. Worn out and wounded.
Deferred - Delayed to develop. The only way it won’t develop is because of you, if you need self more than God. “I can’t believe He will do this great thing for me.”
Desire - Longing for delightful satisfaction.
Tree - Strong, life producing. Abundance springing up with great joy.
Hope should be the most awesome thing; walking in something greater than you.
No hope - It takes over your body when you refuse to let hope develop.
Protect hope by aggressively walking in the four elements. Destroy their enemies.
Assignment:
You need to journal in order to help you walk in the four elements and destroy the enemies of hope. Write down when you know you have something to repent for.
Examples: Lord, forgive me for my stubborn heart. I submit to You; I need You. Forgive me for my fear of getting hurt again and that I need to protect myself and so I don’t walk in love. Love and forgiveness chase away fear. Help me to accept who I am in You. Help me to walk in grace so I won’t walk in rejection. Help me accept the good things God has for me. Forgive me for walking in guilt, for not believing You have something good for me. I believe You do. Increase my faith.
Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. Write things down. Journal who you can’t forgive and why. I have not forgiven so and so for this and I am forgiving them because God wants me to. Don’t forgive because God forgave you but because He told you to. Forgiveness is the foundation of love and being able to hold hope in your life; by forgiving because He told you to, you are in submission.
Hebrews 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
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