“Pastor, I had hopes of getting married when I am 26, but I’m now 31, what can I do?”

Add substance to your hope! That’s what you should do. It’s okay to have hopes; but as Christians, we don’t live by hope, we live by faith.

I’ve said this before, that one of the greatest secrets you’d learn about faith is revealed in Hebrews chapter 11:1. It says, “… faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. In other words, faith is the assurance of your hopes.

While hope is the expectation or desires of man, faith is the conviction birthed from God’s word concerning man’s desire. So if I hope to get a car some day, that’s just hope and there’s no life in it. But if I receive a word from God or find a scripture in the bible relating to owing a car or anything, and I choose to believe that word, then my hope is no longer lifeless, it has been enlivened. Faith enlivens the hope of man.

Now you’d understand why the bible would often encourage you to believe each time the words “desire” or “hope” is mentioned. It’s because God knows that if you live by your hopes alone, then you may wait for ever, but when our hopes are mixed with faith, then we’d have what the bible calls “lively hope”, hope that is alive.

Mark 11:24 says, “… What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”. Did you notice the words, “Desire” and “Believe”? Many people pray about their desires, which is okay, but the challenge is that if you pray about your desire without believing a word that enlivens your desires, you’re very unlikely to receive it. Just because it’s a desire in your heart doesn’t mean it has a voice in the realm of the Spirit. It is faith that gives your desire a voice. So it tells you to believe when you pray. It’s okay to have hopes, but even in your hope, believe.

We were told that Abraham was against hope, yet he believed in hope. Which means there are times when even your hopes may seem like a hopeless situation, but your faith in the word for that hope can give you your desires, just like it did for Abraham. The situation was hopeless, but because God’s word spoke about it, he kept his hope alive. It’s okay to give up your hopes and your dreams as long as God hasn’t spoken a word about it, but if God has spoken, then believe in hope. Blessed is anyone that believes, because there’d always be a performance of those things which were spoken by the Lord.

The children of Isreal hoped to be free from Egypt some day, but they didn’t believe God’s word concerning their freedom. They murmured and provoked God, even ten times. Let’s read from scriptures:

Numbers 14:
21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
35 I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

Just look at that, they distrusted God ten times. And for that reason, a journey which should have taken 40 days took them 40 years. They hoped to be free from Egypt, yet there was no substance in their hope. They distrusted God. If you want your hopes to manifest, then you have to add substance to it, and that substance is called faith.

In simpler terms, if you’re hoping to get something done some day, carry your Bible or at least an inspirational book and read until you find a word from the Lord that is in-line with your hopes. Once you do, believe that word, and it won’t be long before your hope begins to manifest.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

#EmekaAnslem
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