How many of you admit, you need a little more hope?
Hope for a better tomorrow… Hope for better today… Hope for things to change.
Exactly why we are going to talk about a lesson in HOPE.
Hope by definition is, “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.”
Too many water down this notion of hope.
Hope feels unrealistic, like some made up idea to make us feel good about our present circumstances. It’s like an escape from our present reality. I admit, this was my perspective too. It was like overriding my present obstacle by trying to think about something positive only to negate the current problem.
This is not what hope is.
Hope is an unveiling of possibilities, but it’s not something based in future longing, it’s based in past truth.
Right there. That’ll blow your mind.
Your hope is not based on what MIGHT happen. That’s faith. That’s important, no doubt, but that’s not where our hope comes from.
Your hope is based in what HAS happened. It’s found in our TRUST of the Father who has already proven time and time and time again that He is good and He is God and He’s got this whole world, including yours, in the palm of His hands.
That’s the essence of hope.
You see, I have shared with you many times that your dreams require FAITH. “Faith is the conviction of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” FAITH requires TRUST. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” If I’ve said it one, I’ve said it a million times… your dreams take you to where you’ve never been, they blow your mind, they get you so far out of the boat, walking on water that most of the time, you can’t even see the boat, and THIS, this step of faith requires TRUST. Deep rooted trust in God, in yourself, in the dream, in timing, in all of it. When you trust, the by-product, the outcome, the proof in the pudding is HOPE.
Why?
Because I trust.
And I am moving in FAITH.
I believe.
And it’s my HOPE that fuels my FAITH that continues to strengthen my TRUST with every step I take and all of a sudden, I build the momentum that’s needed to accomplish my dreams, the destiny, the things God’s out on my heart to do.
I have seen that.
I have tasted and I have seen the manifestation of this process IN ACTION, friends.
And I am here today, as a testament of this process…
Not as an example of perfection but progress…
Someone who also has and does struggle with being a fraud, feeling way out of the boat, under-qualified, and all the things.
I am here today to tell you that this world IS waiting for your dreams. And yes, it’s going to take FAITH to step out of the boat of comfortability. It’s going to take TRUST to sustain your faith. But in that, the HOPE for this world and for your dreams is found and it’s in this place of HOPE that potential, dreams, heaven on earth is realized. And it’s in this HOPE that we begin to burn even brighter and we learn a couple of key principles of what it means to be a dreamer:
- It’s not about the goal… it’s about who you become
- It’s not about a perfect plan or knowing every step, it’s about trusting the process
- It’s not about “waiting ‘til” you get there, the joy is found HERE. It’s found smack dab in the center of the process
I, like you have watered down my dreams… I have doubted myself… doubted God,… doubted my role, my abilities, people. I have run from it, hide from it, drank to not hear it, judged to not feel it, AND I have overcome.
The manifestation of this book, and this launch party is not just about THE THING… though I believe this book and our mission will change lives, the real manifestation of it is simply encouragement to summon you to just say YES. To exemplify to you that IT IS POSSIBLE IF you say YES.
And that’s all boldness is… a willingness to say YES.
And that’s all our world needs at this point in time is a group of people who have simply decided to say YES, and not stop.
Because the truth is, the first hardest day is the day you say YES. The next hardest is the day you want to quit.
Don’t quit.
Say YES and DON’T STOP.
What you are looking for… love, joy, peace, hope, fulfillment, freedom, life IS FOUND in saying YES. YES to God, YES to your dreams, YES to the journey.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4: 20, “Never doubt God’s might power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all.”
I wanna know, will you let Him?!?!
Will YOU let Him?
Will you position yourself to let the God of this Universe blow your socks off?
Will you allows space for Him to show up?
How do we do that?
If you read a few verses prior, the instruction is clear:
“I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. THEN, by constantly using your faith, the life of Chris will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life. THEN you will be empowered to discover what every hold one experiences-the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love. How enduring and inclusive it is.” Vs 16-19
THEN by constantly using your faith it says.
Release your faith today.
WHEN YOU DO, the resting place (TRUST) will become the very source and root of your life. WHEN YOU RELEASE YOUR FAITH, you will find His resting place… this is the place of TRUST. It will be your source and root. THEN you will be empowered to discover (HOPE) his love… his love is in all things. All of it, if you will be empowered to discover.
To discover in the hard, unknown, overwhelming places…
He has called us to be a city on a hill, the light IN the dark. He says he has set a table in the middle of our enemies. Why? BECAUSE He never promised perfect or easy, just that He would be there. So NOW…. NOW. NOW is the time.
It’s time friends, dreamers to say YES. TO RELEASE YOUR FAITH that you may find the resting place – a place of unbelievable trust – that you may be empowered, LIVE HOPE and set this world on FIRE.
