Faith and Hope keep us Alive !
Autor: Júlio César | Publicado: 2010-02-20T07:17:00-08:00

Yesterday,While I was meditating on the Word of God, I read a verse I really like and God blessed me a lot.It was Romans 12:12, That says: "Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying".While I was reading this text, I was thinking about the big importance it has in the christian's Life, specially what it means to me.I believe hope is something very close to faith, or even a part of it, because the bible says: "And this hope is what saves us. But if we already have what we hope for, there is no need to keep on hoping." (Romans 8:24)We also learn that Salvation is by faith (Ephesians 2:8).So, they are really close to each other.We also can see hope and faith together in this passage: "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (Romans 4:18).So I came to the conclusion that hope is the element that has the power to keep our faith alive, For it not only helps us to believe as it also help us to keep believing.So we can see the reason why many people say they have faith, but the stop believing, that's because they had no hope, a little one, or they totally lost their hope." We must hold tightly to the hope that we say is ours. After all, we can trust the one who made the agreement with us".(Hebrews 10:23)Yep, only hope can save us when the situation of our life is the opposite to what we believe.Just because of hope you keep believing, because You hope God is going to bless you, just the way He said he would do, Because He is Powerful and faithful.We keep believing in hope, and our faith is kept stronger, alive, based in the things that we can't see yet, but we are sure that they exist.Once I heard someone saying something like this: "It's in the midst of troubles that our faith is proved, because when everything is calm, it seems to be sleeping, but when our boat is shaked by the big waves of life we have to awake our faith and it will keep us strong".That sentence reminds me of a very wise proverb written by Solomon : "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. " (Proverbs 24:10)Yes, That's the opposite of  what habakkuk used to do, we can see it clearly: " Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls--     yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.     The LORD God is my strength; and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places."(Habakkuk 3:17-19)In English the word hope is both a verb and a noun, but in Portuguese the verb 'Hope' means to wait and the noun is "Esperança", that can be translated as having good expectations.Sometimes that we have to accept is that our expectations not always are like the ones God has to us...Because His expectations for us are greater and more excellent that we have always imagined for ourselves.We want good things, but we can't look to the future and see if they really were the best things we could have or at least as good as we thought they would be.If we gather all the material goods, money, and properties of the whole world, We will definitely see that they can't be compared to the grandeur of God's plans to us and also his precious and eternal salvation that He have already prepared to us.We should never exchange the certainty of God's eternal plans for us by the pursuit of personal happiness.So if they come into conflict, choose God!It's like what Jesus said "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"(Matthew 16:26)We can see that waiting is the essential aspect of faith and hope, because We know that something good happens if we believe, but we have to wait patiently..."I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry."(Psalm 40:1)Hope brings joy and helps us to keep believing, it's because of Hope we can wait patiently.It makes us believe that we are waiting for something that is worthy, and we'll not be disappointed."And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."(Romans 5:5)To remain strong in hope, we'll also need endurance, which we receive day by day when we wait patiently.Yes, We need perseverance, and being patient we can reach it !"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (Hebrews 10:36)The last part of the verse talks about prayer and the necessity of never give up praying.We don't need to see things to pray, but we need to keep believing.So we can see that the invisible things are spiritual ones, or in another words, things that still don't exist here (in this natural world)...Through Prayer we'll ask God to bring this things to the existence, to make them appear here.You may not see your dreams yet, but you have to believe that God is preparing it to you, and in the right time He'll give it to you.We have to take our eyes off the problems and put in in God, Who is powerful to change any situation.It's Like Abraham did " Abraham, against all hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, "So shall thy seed be." (Romanos 4:18).When we receive a promise from God, we have to believe, to let hope gives us joy and to keep patient in faith, and we'll be blessed.When we gather faith, hope, joy and endurance, Do you know what we will have ?P-E-A-C-E !And through this peace we can be patient and remain strong in the midst of troubles, and we certainly will be blessed !So, Never give up your dreams, Persevere in prayer, keep believing, never give up.And you'll see that it was good to believe, because when you receive the blessing you're waiting for, you'll be very happy.And you will forget the times you cried, for the happinnes will be bigger than that !"At night we may cry,  but when morning comes we will celebrate."(Psalms 30:5b)May God bless you so much !