Hope vs. Faith

 

Hey y’all!!!!!

Whats up??!!! Hows everything going? I missed y’all so much. I missed blogging. The Lord has really been pressing me to be consistent in blogging. Let me tell y’all, blogging is a bit scary. Why?? Because most of the time I went through some rough stuff and that’s what gave me the blog topics. I remember when the Lord first placed it on my heart to start blogging again, I was terrified. I kept telling God “Please just give the topics, but don’t take me through the trials.”  Haha! Well  lets just say that ones of those prayers from my flesh and not my heart!

I first needed to examine my heart and find out why I stopped blogging to begin with. I thing the biggest reason I stopped because I got comfortable. I got complacent. I got content in my situation and current circumstances.  Although there’s nothing wrong with being any of those in certain seasons of life, it can be detrimental to your spirit if not handled properly.

I was content with my life, my kids, my friends, my new church, my weight loss journey and what I started to find is I was so happy and content in those things, that I lost sight of God for a moment. See, its easy to cling to God when things are going wrong but how do you act when things are going right for you?

I was so content in that season I looked up one day and realized somewhere along the way, I stopped dreaming. I stopped believing that God was working in MY life. Its like, I could see God moving in other people’s lives. I had faith that God was real and moving and blessing others. But I stopped dreaming for myself. I stopped hoping  He would fulfill my hearts desires and hoping He had greater for me.

Did you know that Faith and Hope is two different things?  (Yea, I had no idea until I experienced this.)

Faith in the biblical sense is described in Hebrew 11:1 (NIV) “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. The KJV bible says “Faith is the substance of thing hoped for and the evidence of things we do not see.” Amplified bible says (paraphrased) faith is the assurance, the title-deed.  In other words faith is believing and having confidence, being sure of things we can not see in the natural.

Now, I did some research on Hope and I couldn’t find it in a biblical definition. However the Merriam Webster dictionary defines hope as “To cherish or desire with anticipation, to expect with confidence, to desire with expectation of attainment.”

The difference between the two is Faith is believing in what you CAN NOT see, and Hope is a desire and expectancy of things you don’t see in your life yet. I believed God but I wasn’t desiring or expecting anything to happen in MY life. In a sense I was walking dead spiritually. I wasn’t sad or depressed or anything. I was just living life going through the motions. Getting up for work, taking the kids to school, cooking dinner, working out, sleeping, and then doing it all over again the next day. Weekends consisted of hanging out with my friends and church, and as the week started over I would repeat the pattern.

The problem with complacency is it doesn’t allow us to dream. It doesn’t allow us to work towards something bigger and better. It places our focus on self and current circumstances and doesn’t allow us to look towards the future. It doesn’t allow for us to grow, develop, and renew our minds to the things of God, His way, and His plans for our lives.

WHAT ARE YOU BELIEVING GOD TO DO IN YOU LIFE? WHAT IS THE CALL OF GOD ON YOUR LIFE? and The real question is WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO DEVELOP IN PURSUING THAT CALLING?

I don’t know about y’all, but Im believing God for some BIG things in my life, but I got to the point where I got discouraged because I wasn’t SEEING what I was BELIEVING God for so I stopped EXPECTING (lost HOPE) “it” would happen. Your “it” can be anything you are desiring.  I stopping hoping my teen son would start making better choices, I stopped hoping for my one day husband, I stopped hoping I would lose weight, I stopped hoping God would help me grow closer to the Holy Spirit, and the list goes on. See, the issues is I got frustrated on what I wasn’t seeing, I stopped hoping so I could stop the frustration I was feeling. CRAZY, right??? It wasn’t intentional, it was totally sub-conscience. See, the  bible tells us “… But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait eagerly for it with patience and composure.” We have to learn to WAIT on the Lord!

 

Maybe your issue isn’t you lost hope. Maybe you have rushed ahead of God and are trying to make “it” happen for yourself.  STOP!!!!  Please just stop. The word of God says “And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.” James 1: 4 In some versions of the bible the word endurance above is “patience”.

 

We have to allow God to do the work and we must be patient! “…but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance; ⁴ and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character, hope and confident assurance [of eternal salvation]. ⁵ Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us…” Romans 5: 3-4.  So you mean to tell me Patience is what helps us develop the character and spiritual maturity to develop hope in the Lord??!!! Say what???? and then it even says HOPE in the Lord will NEVER disappoint us. If I have FAITH in Gods word then I’ve got to develop in PATIENCE, to develop HOPE in the Lord! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Ok, so now what? What am I supposed to do while I’m developing patience and waiting? Remember that calling I asked you about earlier?  We all have a calling on our lives. This is the time you learn how to develop in that calling. Love God, Trust God, Praise God, Renew your mind to the things of God, Delight yourself in the Lord. Get busy doing the Lords work! Enjoy your life, your friends, and family. The thing is, you will find yourself busy with reading His word, developing your prayer life, developing in your home life, and serving where He leads, you won’t have time to get frustrated! You won’t have time to focus on the have NOT. You will be so busy thanking Him and enjoying what you DO have!

 

 

If you have ever been in a situation like me please, please, start dreaming again! Don’t walk around spiritually dead. DREAM AGAIN, HOPE AGAIN! If what you are believing is according to His will, HE WILL DO IT! HOPE again for that business venture to come to pass, that new job, restoration in your home, your marriage, your one day spouse. HOPE AGAIN! DONT GIVE UP!  You just have to be patient. It’s His timing and His season.

 

I hope y’all enjoyed this blog post! I love y’all and I’m always praying for you.

Andrea F.

andrea.fortson@yahoo.com