Keep Hope Alive

As a child, you were always asked this question, “What do you hope to be when you grow up?” From a very early age, you are taught to have dreams. You are told that you can be anything you desired. However, something happens to those dreams as years go on. We begin to lose our hope in dreams as the weights of life begin to burden us. We let people, problems, and situations kill our hope. It is not that we lose our dreams. It is that we lose our hope in our dreams.

Let’s look at some definitions of “Hope”:

1.       A feeling of desire for something and confidence in the possibility of its fulfillment.

2.       To want something to happen and have some reason to believe that it will or might happen.

3.       To look forward to with confidence or expectation.

4.       To expect and desire.

Look at the third definition, where it says, “with confidence or expectation.” As a child, if you want to be the next big movie star, you have so much confidence in this dream, that nothing or no one can stop it. But what happens as you grow older and that hope no longer seems realistic? Where was that hope lost? And how can we find it again?

 Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” So we can clearly see that God plans will give us hope. Simply put, God’s plans are tied to our hope. So how do we hope? With faith. “Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:21 NIV) As Christians, we have faith that Jesus died for our sins. We have faith that He rose. But why don’t we have faith in our dreams? 

If you have dreams that have not yet manifested, it is simply because somewhere you lost hope. In actuality, you lost faith in God that HE will fulfill your dreams. So how do we find our hope again? We put our hope in Christ. A lot of times, we put our hope in people. We hope that they will bring fulfillment to our dreams instead of putting our hope in Christ. We have to have faith that God’s Word in Jeremiah 29:11 cannot return unto Him void. “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11 NKJV)  

Sometimes, we have to revert back and have “child-like” faith again. We have to have so much confidence/hope, that every plan that God has for our lives will come to past if we have faith. As believers, we must take that same hope that we had when Jesus saved us, and apply it to our dreams. Start with asking yourself questions like, “What is my hope in? Is it in people or the Lord? Is my hope lost? Where was it lost?" If you are putting your confidence in people, simply repent. Turn completely away from putting more confidence in man than in God. People will fail you every time. Christ will never fail you once. KEEP HOPE ALIVE!

“…We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.” 1 Timothy 4:10 NIV