James 4:13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.” (NIV)

Our Christian walk has three powerful dynamics and they are faith, hope and love. When these three are in operation nothing can stand against them; nothing can stop them. Another way to say the same thing is, “It is a force of heaven”. Once the Christian has gained a revelation of the heavenly forces he or she can start to live in a victorious life.

For the purpose of this study we are only looking at HOPE in some detail.

 1Corinthians 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. 13 But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (ASV)

 (GW)  So these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the best one of these is love.

(ISV)  Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Q1/ Without faith we can’t please God. (True or false)

Q2/ Love is the greatest of the three. (True or false)

Faith

Simply faith in Jesus is to believe without seeing him and when we face some difficulties, faith in God helps us through.

Love

Love of the Father is what has given us eternal life through His Son’s death on the cross. Jesus also asks us to demonstrate our love towards each other, to show that we are his disciples.

HOPE

Now when people have hope in someone or something it is hard to control them. There are governments and people groups who advocate that you cannot have religious belief and be a member of their organization. They ask the people to believe in their constitution or charter. This is a religion in other clothing.

Hope is a powerful part of our walk with Jesus. That is simply to say we believe that everything is going to be ok. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have struggles or difficulties. Also it doesn’t mean that we give up trying to improve ourselves.

Hope.

Hope is a good thing.

Hope is what dreams are made of.

When your home is in flames.

Hope is all you have.

Hope to rebuild.

Hope is a good thing.

With hope I can live on.

While you are away.

My hope is for your return.

Hope to continue on.

Hope is a good thing.

May be the best thing.

For no good thing dies.

For perfect love cast out fear.

Love and hope will win out in the end.

Hope in God’s promises.

That He will restore.

That He will provide.

That He will protect.

That He will withhold no good thing.

This is our hope.

Q3/ Hope mean we won’t have any troubles. (True or false)

Q4/ We don’t need to improve our life. (True or false)

(CEV)  From the time of John the Baptist until now, violent people have been trying to take over the kingdom of heaven by force.

(GW)  From the time of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful people have been seizing it.  

When the Kingdom of God comes upon man it comes with force; it is transforming and compelling. It is a force that brings about repentance. Because it is a force, that causes those that it touches to eagerly desire and pursue with vigor the things of God.

Q5/ Once we are converted our life will never be the same. (True or false)

The nature of man is changed by this dynamic of the Holy Sprit and man forces his way into the Kingdom of God. This is the same force that a baby experiences when it is being born. Hence we come to what Jesus said, “You must be born-again”.

Q6/ We must be born-again. (True or false)

The other violence is that which comes from the devil. A critical time in the life of man is the moment of birth. It is at this point many things can go wrong. We often talk about the miracle of birth.

If we look at the parable of the sowing of the seed we can see that the seed can be choked by the worries of this life.  The devil tries to destroy people’s lives after they have found Jesus.

Q7/ The devil can’t take anything if it isn’t there. (True or false)

Q8/ The devil is always late. (True or false)

God wants us to worship in Spirit and Truth.

Spirit is where we have an experience that goes beyond normal feelings. It is a physical experience or manifestation of His Spirit in our lives.

Q9/ The Holy Spirit moving into the heart of man is a physical manifestation. (True or false)

This could be an area where people become excessive in their emotions towards the things of God because feelings have a ruling majority in their decision making.  

Warning  / Feelings

Feelings are based on our experiences throughout our life.

Some good some bad.

Your feelings are real. “What you feel is true to you.”

But is it THE TRUTH or a truth?

Feelings can be a lie, a deception coming from a bad experience or a bad teaching.

First sign that a feeling is not telling us the truth is that we have lost our peace.

How can we find out if our feelings are lying to us or not?

Go to the Word of God to see what God has to say about your situation.

Our walk with Jesus is not based only on our feelings towards Him, but on the knowledge of our FAITH.

Hebrews 11:1 Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see. (CEV)  

If your life is based on your feelings you will not experience the full JOY of the Lord.

Q10/ Hope is a powerful part of our walk with Jesus. (True or false)

Q11/ Feeling don’t always tell the truth. (True or false)

Q12/ A life based on feelings is not very stable. (True or false)

Add truth to feelings

The truth is the knowledge of the power and the workings of God gained by the study of the word of God. I know He lives because He lives in me.

The supernatural is normal in your life and you won’t go around telling everyone, “I believe that it was God” you will know its God and you won’t need anyone’s confirmation.

Q13/ To know what and why you believe something and to know why you feel certain thing is a place of strength. (True or false)

Hope

Christian hope is not a vague sort of wishful thinking, such as child saying, “I hope I get a computer for my birthday”. Christian hope is the absolute certainty that the thing the person hopes for will come to pass.  

Q14/ Hope is a wish for something. (True or false)

Q15/ Hope is a confident desire: a God given feeling that something desirable is likely to happen. (True or false)

Hope is a source of success or relief: somebody or something that seems likely to bring success or relief.

Q16/ Hope is trust or a God based feeling of trust. (True or false)

We as Christians have a belief based on knowledge of the Word of God and His Spirit. This could be said, “as a knowing in our spirit; it is a surety of His protection, deliverance, provision, and continuous presence in our life. We could say, “I know I know He lives because He lives in me”.

Q17/ We have a knowing in our about the things of God. (True or false)

Q18/ Our hope is continuous protection, deliverance and provision. (True or false)

Because a Christian has this knowing, he or she cannot be controlled because they believe in a supreme God who is in control.

Q19/ We must have faith to please God. (True or false)

We need to receive His love, which is shown in grace, and to show love to mankind too.

Q20/ Now we have.

Faith + love + hope = A powerful Christian person who is not easily moved by the things of this World.

(True or false)

1Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (MKJV)

Titus 2:13 looking for the blessed hope, and the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (MKJV)