10th July 2006- Hoping in the Lord

Turn Up Your Hope
By Kenneth Copeland

You know, that's what I want to be...running over with hope! I want to dare to throw my whole life and everything I have into building a dream that comes from the heart of God. I want to get out there so far that without God's help, I can't get back.

Many people don't think that way though because they're afraid to fail. Fear of failure is dangerous. If you let it dominate you, it will cause you to do the one thing that inevitably guarantees failure and that's not attempting at all.

How do you counteract the fear of failure?

You turn up your hope. You get alone with God and listen to Him. You meditate on His promises until the picture is so clear on the inside of you that nothing can jar it out of you.

If you're lying on a sickbed and the doctor has told you you'll never walk again, instead of wallowing around in that bad report, you start dreaming. You start building a dream of climbing mountains and witnessing to people in the backwoods. Go to the Word that promises that those who wait upon the Lord shall run and walk and not faint or be weary. Look at it until you see nothing else. Picture yourself walking for miles and running from one place to the next, telling everyone that Jesus has raised you up and made you whole.

That's what hope is all about. It's a divine dream. It's an inner image that's bigger than you are because it's built on the promises of God. If you're a Christian, you ought to be a dreamer. Take the Word of God and build some dreams today.

• Point to Ponder: Hope ia a divine dream that is built on the promises of God.

• Scripture Reading: Psalm 33:18-22

• Verse: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

• What you can do about it: Get alone with God and listen to Him. Meditate on His promises until the picture is so clear on the inside of you that nothing can jar it out of you.

_____________________________________________

Scripture Reading (Psalms 33:18-22):

33:18
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
33:19
to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
33:20
We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
33:21
In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.
33:22
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.
New International Version

_____________________________________________