Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. ~Psalm 31:24 (NIV)
Hope is a beautiful thing. It is defined as a feeling of desire for something coupled with confidence in the possibility of its fulfillment. Notice that definition doesn’t stop at desire. If it were just desire that would not be hope. No hope is desire filled with confident expectation. Are you filled with confident expectations after you pray? When you pray, are you expecting by faith that God’s power is going to show up in your life and miracles are going to happen? If you aren’t then you don’t believe the promise Jesus made in Matthew 21:22 when He said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (NIV) In Hebrews 6:19 we are told that our hope in God is an anchor for our soul. That anchor keeps us grounded no matter what our circumstances say. The only time our hopes can be filled with a confident expectation, which is our faith, is when we put our hopes in God and in His promises because real hope can only be fulfilled by God. God expounds on this subject in Romans 8:24-25 telling us “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (ESV) When our desires rest on what we are able to provide or even fathom, we have put God in a box. It should be easy for us to rest in God when we put the burden on Him to step in to do only what He can do. We know our hope is coupled with faith when we expect in the Lord to bring to pass the desires of our hearts because we are trusting in Him alone.
What are you hoping for today? Most of us are hoping for things to be just a little bit better in one area of our lives or another. But a little bit better isn’t what the God we serve has planned. We have to learn to expect the unexpected, above all we could ever even ask or think. One of my favorite promises is Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” (ESV) Do you truly believe God is able to do far more than you can ask or think? Don’t limit God by your minimal expectations and don't fail to keep your hopes up! The Hebrew word for God Almighty is El Shaddai – the God who is more than enough - more than sufficient. It means that He has the power to fulfill promises of blessings and prosperity throughout generations because He is the great I AM. He is our eternal God. Everything God does is over the top, more than enough, a surplus, super-abundant, overflowing, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over! What would a miracle look like in your life today? Don’t just ask God for enough to get by…ask for the miraculous! Ask for more than enough so you have plenty to share! Pray big and push your prayers to the edge of impossible and watch God show you what He is capable of. We should be seeing miracles every day and if we are not, it might just be because we have quit hoping for one.
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. ~Job 9:10 (NIV)
What are you hoping for today? What would a miracle look like in your life?
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