“And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

We have taught a lot about Faith but I think it’s high time we began to supply people hope. Trying to teach Faith to a hopeless person is like trying to tell a dead person to take some walk. He must be made alive first. It is hope that produces life. A hopeless man is a dead man. Even in Medicine, it has been observed that people survive critical and terminal illnesses to the extent that they have hope. A patient with a more terminal illness but very hopeful has the likelihood of surviving than one with a mild illness but hopeless. It is hope that keeps us alive.

Hope remains the foundation for a life of Faith as seen in the scriptures (Hebrews 11:1). Therefore, every New Testament minister or ministry must be dealers in hope. God’s expectation over our lives as ministers of the New Covenant is to be the supplier of hope unto His people. Don’t forget that the coming of Christ ushered us into a better hope (Hebrews 7:19). Christ came to bring in a better hope. Christ came to stir our hearts into knowing that we have hope in God and with God.

Christ came to tell us that God is doing in our future more than the devil has done in our past. He came to redeem us from a gloomy past to a bright future. Representing Christ correctly in this dispensation is letting people know that there is something better and more glorious for them in God. It is to say like the writer of Hebrews that, “we are confident (hopeful) of better things concerning you, even things that accompany salvation” (Hebrews 6:9). It is when we begin to do this that we begin to lay the right foundation for Faith to come alive in people. Abraham, the Father of Faith was also the Father of Hope, as he hoped against hope and was not weak in faith (Romans 4:18-19).

The Bible is the book of hope (Psalms 119:43, 49, 74, 81, 114, 116, 147). You cannot truly study the scriptures and be hopeless. This is why the devil often wants you to abandon your Bible when you are going through stuff. He knows that inside the Bible is where your hope, sustenance, direction, motivation and victory lie. The devil knows that with the Bible you have what it takes to journey towards a glorious future. In the Bible, you find what God has said concerning you and it becomes the anchor that holds you stayed and steady in the pursuit of divine destiny (Hebrews 6:19).

Friend, when you study the Bible what do you see? A glorious future or a gloomy one? Do you use the world to read the Word (Bible) or you use the Word to read the world? You must let the Bible interpret situations and circumstances of life for you and not the other way round. The word of God must be the lens with which we see life. It must be the anchor that holds us stayed and steady. It must be the motivation that keeps us going when all else are saying STOP.

May hope arise in your heart today as you stay glued to God’s plans and promises for you as revealed in the scriptures in Jesus name!

© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria