The Power of His Presence - March 18 - 20 - 2010

Christ, According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed...."

In this scripture, Paul uses two different words from the Greek language, each of which can be translated hope. One of them means the happy anticipation of good. The other can be defined as eager longing, strained expectancy, watching with an outstretched head, and abstraction from anything else that might engage the attention.

Hope keeps you focused on God's promise. It keeps you seeing that promise on the inside, even when you can't see it on the outside. It keeps you operating by the spirit of faith.

When you have hope, the devil can't beat you down. He can't tear you down. He can't stop your faith from working. Everyone around you can just stop in their tracks, but you'll keep right on going.

When the devil knocks you down, you just get up with a deeper resolve to hit him harder the next time...and harder the next time...and harder the next time.

You get to the point where you expect God to move with such vigor that all the distractions in the world can't turn your head. All the failures of the past drift into nothingness. You can't even remember them

anymore because you're so absorbed with the expectation of what God is about to do.

When that happens, you no longer sit around wondering what went wrong. You blast off into the glory of God, laying hold of His promises and watching your dreams come true. You live the kind of life that those who give up hope will never know.”

-Kenneth Copeland

God wants to restore your hope to its fullest. That hope comes from the realization that He is faithful and trustworthy; that He can be depended on even when circumstances and the facts of life try to tell us differently. If your hope has suffered in the battles of this past season let God begin to minister to the hurts and renew your trust in Him. Let hope rise again so that faith can be walked in this year. There is so much God longs to do through your life this year and He longs for you to enter it with expectation and hope -hope that is so strong it fills you with courage...and hope plus courage will become faith with action!

(If you would like a copy of the complete article by Kenneth Copeland just email me and I’ll email it out to you.)