Psalm 42:11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.
Hope is a powerful force given to us by God to color the way we see things. We are designed by Him to live with a confident and favorable expectation toward good things. This positive anticipation of good and inner picture and feeling of what we want to happen will happen is what the force of Bible hope gives us. When hope is in our heart there is an inner future picture of something favorable is going to happen. The negative inner picture of something unfavorable is what fear creates. We often say fear is the opposite of faith but really it is the opposite of hope. Fear is a spirit that causes the anticipation and expectation of evil; whereas hope is a spiritual force that causes the anticipation and expectation of something good.
Life’s experiences can create hope or fear in us or positive pictures of the future or negative pictures of the future. Romans 5:3-5 says, “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; AND EXPERIENCE HOPE. 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
Experience produces hope or good unseen, inner, future pictures. Experience produces bad unseen, inner, future pictures (fear). Every bad experience you have ever had is designed by the devil to steal your hope. Satan’s attack is always against your expectancy (the image or picture inside you). Very few people lose faith but rather lose their hope. You can have all the faith in the world to provide blessing, healing, etc. but if you lose hope, faith lies dormant.
Many things in life can make us lose hope and motivation for running the race set before us. We ask ourselves, why should we fight to stay motivated when it seems easier to stay discouraged, down and out, or just quit. Well, if quitting would bring you joy then just quit. If quitting would generate more peace, then quit. We all know plenty of people who quit but they are still miserable and quitting did not produce the desired result. Fighting the fight of faith and laying hold of the hope set before us in a promise can bring the kind of victory that relieves everything 1 John 5:4. The truth is there is no reason to quit. It is our focus that needs adjustment. David said in Psalm 42:11, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.”
The Good News is that the Word of God can change the inner pictures and thus change our anticipation and expectation of the future. The Word of God is full of hope or full of God’s picture making power. Every promise of God can paint the picture in us of a better tomorrow. Our past may have been filled with darkness and it makes us feel that our future will be more of the same. Our past does not define our future, the Word of God defines our future. The Word and promises of God have hope built into them and can paint a different picture. Proverb 4:18 says But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Our future is as bright as the promises of God. it may be getting darker in the world but for the righteous our future is bright.
Pastor John Rasicci is the founder and Pastor of Word of His Grace Church in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where we are building people who are building the Church. Pastor's ministry mission is to help people discover God's dream for their Life, the Local Church, and the Last Days' Harvest. With a strong emphasis on the grace of God and with a prophetic voice, Pastor John preaches and teaches in churches, conferences, and crusades both locally and throughout the world. He has produced books, tapes, and other teaching materials to empower, enable, and equip Believers with the Word of God. Pastor John is married to his wife Candy who with their three children, Krista, Joanna, John Anthony, and two son-in-laws, Matt and Doug, serve together in the ministry. After graduating from Kent State University, Pastor John pursued a career in professional baseball before accepting the call to the ministry. He and his wife, Candy, received their ministry training from Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
John Rasicci 
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