WHEN HOPE BECOMES HOPELESS.

Wednesday 9 July

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. Romans 4:16-18 (KJV)

Did you remember the covenant that God made with Abraham that He Himself performed? This covenant was by grace through faith. Everyone in Genesis were under grace despite sin being in the world because the law had not been given so therefore sin was not accounted for or imputed. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments which are also grace based as there are no consequences for breaking them. Then the law came in which brought the law of sin and death to life and was an unwanted interruption into God’s redemptive plan. It was created by Moses because of the hard heartedness of the Jews who rejected Christ at Mount Sinai. Only the Jews were ever under the law but the Gentile also stood guilty due to its very existence. After some time Jesus manifests Himself in humanity. He began operating in His ministry as the seed of Abraham in the gospels and brought about a New will, contract, agreement or Testament by His death as the testator of the Father’s will which brought about salvation by grace through faith in Christ.

But… Even before the New Testament era, there were those who lived by grace and their faith was hope in a future promised Messiah not the faith in the gospel because Christ had not died and rose again yet. We know that Moses found grace in God’s sight and so did Abraham because he believed God when he was shown the gospel of Christ on Mount Moriah.

What I want you to understand here is the phrase in Romans ‘who against HOPE believed in HOPE’ This first HOPE here in Romans 4:18 is not the faith of the elders as explained in Hebrews 11:2. ‘By it (faith) the elders obtained a good report.’ Hebrews 11:1a confirms that their faith was the substance of who they were hoping for… ‘Now faith is the substance of things HOPED for.

The second HOPE in Romans 4:18 is the Old Testament saints promissory note that they were given for believing in the future Messiah. In other words, faith before Christ. Their physical actions such as animal sacrifices were the physical substance and proof of their faith i.e. future expectation in Christ. Elpis the Greek word for hope means to have an expectation of good.

Back to Abraham. Let’s look at this phrase again ‘who against HOPE believed in HOPE.’

Simply put, the first HOPE was a natural expression of what was possible to expect in any given situation. Think about it. Abraham and Sarah were both barren due to old age and so it was not hopeful that they could produce a son. If they were both in their twenties or thirties then would have been more hopeful to achieve it. The hope therefore in the natural for them to have a child was hopeless.

So what did Abraham do? He BELIEVED IN HOPE. This was not a natural hope or expectation. This was a SPIRITUAL hope. Hope in what God had said despite the fact that it seemed hopeless in the natural. He shifted from natural hope to hope in Christ. There is nothing wrong with natural hope when it is in your scope of ability but when it’s impossible, you only have two options. Give up or take God at His Word.

There are times in life where the Word will conflict with everything that you see, hear, feel and even know! We also can find it hard to believe God’s Word because of our past experiences that seem to contradict what it says.

We are to ‘demolish arguments and every high thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of Christ and bring into captivity every thought and make it obedient to Christ’ as 2 Corinthians 10:5 instructs us to do.

But how? You build your spirit and rise above it.

In Acts 20:32 Apostle Paul says,

‘So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to BUILD you UP and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.’

So you build or fortify yourself internally in your spirit.

Jude gives us another way in verse 20 ‘But you, beloved, BUILD yourselves UP [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, RISE like an edifice HIGHER and HIGHER], praying in the Holy Spirit;’

He is telling us that our spirit needs to rise higher than ‘every high thing’ that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ’ in our lives. The influence of our spirit goes beyond the limitations of our body.

How? Meditating on the Word and praying in tongues. In this state, your spirit generates the necessary power and the Word is the key that unlocks the power to produce a miracle.

Fill your expectation with God’s reality. Don’t forget everything in the natural realm is only temporary. Everything that exists in the Spirit is permanent. Natural facts are fleeting. Truth on the other hand or the hope that Abraham believed in, is in essence a spiritual fact that is established because the reality of it exists permanently in the Spirit. Truths are facts that have already happened. Past history in the Spirit.

God ‘calls those things which be not as though they WERE. Past tense. If you begin to agree with God that ‘old things ARE passed away and ALL things ARE become new’, then YOU are a candidate for the living hope that Abraham believed for in Christ. The Spirit realm is absolute. Absolute health, prosperity, goodness, grace etc. etc. etc. Because WE live in the Spirit, ALL things pertaining to our lives and to godliness are OURS. There is NO such thing as a hopeless situation when our faith is in His Word!

You have all the power resident within and the keys of the kingdom of heaven in your hands. They are all the promises of God which are YES and the amen is spoken by us to the glory of God.

When facing something hopeless in the natural, Instead of saying what you see, hear, feel or perceive, try a different approach. Only say what God says and drown out every other voice. Be like Abraham. Against hope believe in hope!

APPLICATION

Make a daily decision to live according to who the Word says you are, what the Word says you have and what the Word says you can do and refuse all else.