Multiplication Power – Hope

“Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.” ~Jonas Salk

I had someone say to me, each time we interacted, that my husband Ceaser and I were brave. She was our landlady at our very first campus when we opened a school. She is late now, but her words always come to mind. “You are a brave couple,” she would say every single time we met. I always wondered what she meant. I had never seen anything we had done to be out of the ordinary or ‘brave’ in any way. Today I feel differently. Today I know that even the seemingly simple things like getting out of bed and showing up, require courage. I used to take these things for granted. I don’t anymore. I am now so beautifully aware of the daily dance that takes place between the grace of God and my courage.

Ceaser once shared in a men’s group that the hardest and bravest thing he has had to do was decide to induce labour with our first baby. I had developed an infection inside the amniotic sac and the longer my body took to deliver the baby, essentially ridding itself of this infection, the higher the chances of that infection entering my bloodstream which could have been fatal for me. The trouble here was that our baby was nowhere near ready to face the world and this premature exposure would be devastating. Ceaser had to gently talk me through our options and inform the doctor that we had elected to go ahead. One of the things he said to me in the moments leading up to us pulling the trigger, so to speak, was that we would try again. “I can’t have another you, but we can and will have another baby,” he said as he held my hand, both of us grief-stricken.

“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

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” ~Isaiah 40:31

The hardest and bravest thing I have had to do is decide to believe I could be a mother. Choosing to believe that the dream wasn’t dead and that our previous losses would not be the end of the story. I had a new respect for Eve during that time. Eve was a G. Even after failure and loss, she picked herself up and did what was required to produce a seed that would later bring forth the Promise. Getting pregnant doesn’t happen miraculously folks, unless you’re Mary. Eve wasn’t Mary, and neither was I, but it wasn’t romantic intimate moments with my husband that led me to get pregnant with Caleb and then with Chiara. It was hope. I was pregnant with hope long before Caleb and Chiara were conceived.

Hope is defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. It is further defined in psychology as a positive cognitive state based on a series of successful goal-oriented determination and planning to meet these goals. While all this is true, the truest is the Bible-based definition that hope is a confident expectation of what God has promised which is strengthened by our belief in His faithfulness. Hope.

Our enemy the devil is after our hope. If he can convince us that we will never change, things will never get better, or that things can never be different then he has us beat. Much like habits, hurt and healing, hope, or a lack thereof, can be multiplied and passed on to the people around us. God wants our hearts to overflow with hope. He desires for us to have a confident expectation that what He has promised us will come to pass in our lives and the lives of those we love. Keeping guard and making sure this power of hope is not corrupted by the devil’s lies is vital if we are to stay strong and keep walking out our faith. Here are a few practical things we can do in our endeavour to stay hopeful.

Keeping track of the condition of our hearts

Rather than always praying for circumstances to change, let us pray for a change in our hearts. The real work of hope takes place in our hearts. Yes, there is work involved in hope. Trust me, I wish it was a passive activity too, but very few things of value are. Hope is precious and as we protect our hearts we also protect our hope. Philippians 4 tells us that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. God’s peace is our guard. Not circumstances, not our feelings, not even our knowledge. God’s peace is the consistent guard for our hearts because it is steady and doesn’t change its mind. There are times though, when we relieve God’s peace of duty and leave our hearts unmanned. Keeping track of the condition of our hearts will ensure that no matter what we may be facing or going through, God’s peace stays at attention, watchfully standing guard.

Keeping our eyes on the prize

Our prize is Jesus and our race is to become more and more like Him. Nothing more and nothing less. Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus will help us when we are tempted to lose hope. All the things that come our way are simply temptations to distract us, steal our joy, shake our trust in God and lose our hope. The joy of the Lord is our strength and it is usually the first to go when the devil is targeting our hope. We begin to look at our circumstances or at how well others are doing in comparison to ourselves and before we know it we are downcast. The opposite of joy is not sadness it’s despair, a complete loss of hope. If we can keep our eyes focused on Jesus, we will find that no matter what waves or winds may come, we remain standing, hopeful that He who began a good work in us is faithful and just to complete it.

Believing that God is for us

Psalm 55:22 tells us that we should cast our burdens on the Lord and He will sustain us because He will never permit the righteous to be moved. Never means at no time in the past or future; not ever. Are you a child of God? Are you His righteousness through Christ Jesus? If your answer is yes, then you have every reason to stubbornly hold on to hope because your God and Father will never permit you to be moved. In our weaknesses He is strong. The question is, “Do we really believe this or is it just a nice verse to quote when things get tough? The Apostle Paul said, “Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity. No wonder we don’t give up. Even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day. We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.”

Being brave enough to share our stories

There is nothing the devil likes more than for God’s children to cower in dark corners and remain silent. Even after we receive victory in different scenarios of our lives, he tells us that if we speak up we will attract more trouble. What a lie from the pit of hell! On the contrary, the opposite is true. Owning our stories gives us more confidence in God because we relive His miracles in our lives each time we talk about them. More than that though, it allows others who may be going through something similar to see that they are not alone and that if God, who is not a respecter of persons, could do it in you, for you or through you, then He can certainly do the same for them. This is what our enemy doesn’t want so he keeps us quiet. Let me remind you that we overcome by the blood of the lamb that was shed during Jesus’ work on the cross, AND the word of our testimony. Here is that participation again, that beautiful partnership. Jesus did His part, now it’s time for you to do yours.

Stay hopeful my friend. Even if all else fails, don’t let go of your hope. Let the joy of the Lord fill your heart and strengthen you in all circumstances. Allow His peace to guard your heart as you keep your trust in Him. I pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be so full of hope that it will overflow to those around you.