hope & strength

Hope and Strength

12-30-08

A man’s strength is found in his relationship with Me. Though a man will defend truth, his ability to endure comes from love. If a man will endure to the obtaining of My kingdom, he must know Me, for the enemy will hold nothing back in his attempt to turn My people against Me (see Dan 7:21,22).

A man may measure his faith by words of Mine which have come to pass. I look at a man’s hope. Hope makes not ashamed (RM 5:5). Hope is bound together with goodness on the part of the one who hopes and sees goodness in the giver. A man may hope in something apart from his own sense of self-worth for hope comes from the heart. A man’s estimation of himself comes from the mind. The mind of a man can recall his victories and defeats and obtain a standard whereby he measures his faith, but I look on hope. What a man hopes for he will struggle in his heart to maintain faith for. And when hope and faith are united in a heart, then desire comes alive.

A passionless Christian is an easy target for the arrows of disappointment. He will suffer pain and bitterness, growing in his offense of Me with each new trial. When mocking, scorn, and scoffing come upon him he will know his heart has been overrun by the enemy. But if love, hope, and faith reside, though a man wait a long time for My word to come to pass, yet his desire will grow, and his love will keep him from the enemy of his soul.

There is no shame in hope. Though the enemy would caution you to “not get your hopes up because you might get disappointed,” yet he only serves his own purposes with this lie. He paints a picture of shame and sorrow in the minds of man, as one offering sweet counsel on how to avoid damage. But hope in Me and My words will make a man strong and give him endurance. How simple are satan’s lies, yet how thoroughly they weaken the saints. Keep hope alive. Fan the flames of desire in your hearts. Let your relationship with Me make you strong, for the kingdom is coming, and what you see in your hearts will begin to be manifest around you.

I am returning men and women to a heart of faith. If I said, “when I return will I find faith on the earth” (Lk 18:8), then know that what Man calls faith is not what I call faith. I have recorded the faith of the faithful (see Heb 11) who laid a foundation for others to build on, not having seen yet the bringing to pass of my spoken word to them. Yet they held faith in their hearts, hoping for that which was to come, and did not waver. They were willing to wait for you to come, and accepted that they would not be complete without you (Heb 11:39,40). You also will build a foundation according to your faith, which others will stand on. This is faith; that you hope in that which is unseen (Rm 8:24,25) and that your works will set the stage for My words to come to pass. For each generation is appointed a part of the entire work of God, and none are complete within themselves. Faith is the assurance that what I spoke is surely going to come to pass, and apart from that faith no man will stand in this hour. Do you have faith to build a foundation for others to complete? That is what the fathers of faith did. Their suffering was for that which they believed in, but didn’t see in their life-time. If a man will not hope in the unseen, his discouragement will stop him in his labors and I will hand his portion to another. Amen.