I have dealt with many apparently hopeless situations in my life, as well as in the lives of those people I have pastored and ministered to. And what I have discovered is that what a believer has done prior to facing their desperate situation, and what they are doing in the middle of it, completely determines if they come out on the other side victorious and as an overcomer or not. And I for one, have determined to be an overcomer.
To be an overcomer we need to not only learn about faith but hope as well. Hope is the blueprint of faith. And what hope does is it creates an inner image of what God has promised us in His Word. And since faith is the substance of things hoped for, without it our faith cannot produce a thing.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 KJV
Now look at this same verse in the Amplified Bible.
“NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].” Hebrews 11:1 AMP
What this verse above is describing regarding that which is not seen is the inner image that hope produces. And this inner image is created through meditation in God’s Word. Yet when people are in trouble or facing a critical situation, their focus is almost entirely placed on the problem and a very limited if any amount of time is spent meditating the promises of God. And that is why things begin to look hopeless so rapidly in people’s lives.
If you get your eyes off from the promises of God’s Word, hope will leave and faith will fade.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 AMP
The verse above describes what happens when our hope is deferred. Some other words we could insert in the place of deferred are, to be put off. So when you place your focus on the natural circumstances, it will cause your faith to fail, because you are putting off your hope. And that’s why when you are in trouble, you must lock in like a laser beam on what God promised you in His Word.
And perhaps one of the reasons we have fewer testimonies from people today being overcomers is because somewhere along the line the pastors and ministers have stopped training God’s people to do these things, and it is costing them victory after victory after victory.
If you don’t guard against it, you can develop evil imaginations that contradict the promises of God. So you must cast down and destroy all such thought and imaginations immediately (see 2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Instead of allowing your imagination to run wild, determine to build your hope and faith on what God said in His Word about your current circumstances.
God’s hope will hold your mind, will and emotions firm on God’s Word, even when the storms of adversity are raging all around you. And hope keeps you from drifting away from the promises of God. So you may have to pull away from everything else and feed on those things God said about you and your situation until the peace of God fills your heart and mind.
Whatever you give your attention to will regulate what you believe in your heart.
And whatever you are placing as the treasure of your heart will directly determine the outcome of your life. The hope that God gives us through His promises should become the treasure of our heart. And then when you change the heart the fruit that is produced or the outcome of a particular situation is changed.
“18 This was so that, by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before [us]. 19 [Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it — a hope] that reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil….” Hebrews 6:18-19 AMP
If your soul is not anchored it is only a matter of time before someone or something draws you off base from the Word. If this occurs, you will forfeit your victories and the manifestation of God’s Word that you have believed for.
Those who are not anchored with hope from God’s Word and then remain steadfast when it appears that nothing is working, aren’t going to make it in these last days. Instead, they will get off course and become discouraged. But that doesn’t have to be how it turns out for you.
Instead, place your time and attention on God’s Word and build your hope and faith in what God promised, and then get yourself anchored in that hope. And then no matter how impossible things may seem at the moment, you will come out on the other side victorious.
