CROSSOVER
The Posture of Hope
The 4 Postures that will change your story…
Circumstances of life do not define your story. Your posture towards God does!
The power in life comes from the strength in your relationship with God.
The Posture of Gratitude – positions us for peace.
The Posture of Authenticity -positions us on the side of truth.
The Posture of Praise – places us in the presence of God’s character.
The Posture of Hope – moves us forward with divine confidence.
The Posture of Hope
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
—Psalm 31:24
What Do We Know About God’s Character?
When we lose our faith, hope, joy, and passion, we are questioning God’s character.
Satan’s primary attack against us is to cause us to lose sight of WHO God is.
When we lose sight of Him, we start to doubt everything His personality has introduced into our lives.
When things go wrong, Satan wants us to blame ourselves, others, and God. That way, he introduces bitterness and strife, blame and shame.
When we step away from His personality being present in our lives, we lose the very essence of our lives.
When we stop forgiving others and harbor offense – we have lost his forgiveness for us.
When we lose our joy – we have lost sight of his plans for us.
Our marriages become passionless and loveless – we have lost sight of his passion and love for us.
We become so busy that we live exhausted, and we no longer have the time to feel Him being with us.
Circumstances overwhelm us because we have lost focus on finding the answers in His wisdom, and we now believe we can find the answers ourselves.
Doctors, medical tests, and psychologists all have a place in our lives, but not to replace the wonder of our miracle-working God and the blessing of the Power of Jesus to bring us into relationship with him.
THE GODS WE MAKE
That is what pagan nations like the Egyptians did. They worshiped what they needed.
They needed the Sun, so they worshipped it and called it Ra. They needed the Nile so they worshiped it and called it Hapi. They needed their livestock so they worshipped it and called it Apis.
But we still do it today…
We need money and so we worship it and call it “blessing.”
We need to feel like we are good so we worship it and call it “religion”.
We need to feel good about who we are and so we worship it and call it “identity.”
We want to be healthy, and so we worship it and call it “medical specialists”.
We want to feel like we add value, so we worship it and call it “drama”.
We want to have what we want now so we worship it and call it “entitlement”.
When we lose hope, we have been worshiping our own circumstances and have lost sight of the promises and prophetic balance of God’s character and the effect of His qualities on this world.
“If you want to change what you hope for, you have to change what you worship for.”
HOPE IS A PRACTICE NOT AN EMOTION
So then, prepare your hearts and minds for action! Stay alert and fix your hope firmly on the marvelous grace that is coming to you. For when Jesus Christ is unveiled, a greater measure of grace will be released to you. As God’s obedient children, never again shape your lives by the desires that you followed when you didn’t know better.
—1 Peter 1:13-14 TPT
Hope is not an elusive state of mind, but it is something that can be prepared for and acted on!
Dreams don’t become reality on their own.
And when we live lives where hope is never realized, we grow sick and tired and downtrodden. (Proverbs 13:12)
The Christian approach to ANYTHING is with HOPE and not fear.
Hope: a person or thing in which my expectations are centered as it relates to my future.
Hopelessness: the feeling that comes with knowing that the person or thing in which you placed hope will not, or even worse, had no intention of coming through.
When we feel hopeless, we feel helpless. When we feel helpless, we feel powerless. When we feel powerless, we start to live in fear!
For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.
—2 Timothy 1:7 TPT
Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.
—1 Corinthians 13:13
We hope IN God’s Love and we have hope BECAUSE He IS Love.
May your unfailing love be with us Lord, even as we put our hope in you!
—Psalm 33: 22
HIS HOPE IS OUR HOPE
We have to believe that God is still active and accomplishing his purpose, in the places of most uncertainty even when we can see no physical evidence.
HOPE IS FOUND IN HIS WORD
Trusting in the “fairy story” words of Jesus, gives us an assurance and a hope that transcends the terror and pain of this world.
The hope of the full Gospel of Jesus will…
…Allow you to go to bed at night with the confidence that God has not abandoned you.
…motivate you to become more aware and be on the lookout for his Grace and intervention.
…keep you from leaning in directions that only make things worse
…protect you from despair.
Seeing that which is hoped for becoming a reality is going to take a faith focussed mindset. No distractions. (Hebrews 11:1)
Here is how to get your hope back!
The Story of Habbakuk.
How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore, the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails…
—Habakuk 1:2-3
Habakkuk is upset, has lost hope, and his circumstances have become overwhelming, and he does not hold back telling God what He should be doing about it.
WHY DOESN’T GOD SEEM FAIR?
Habakkuk doesn’t get it. He knows God could intervene but doesn’t.
HABAKKUK’S PROBLEMS WITH GOD:
1)You don’t seem to really care.
2)You aren’t doing much when you could.
3)What you are doing doesn’t seem fair.
GOD’S RESPONSE:
Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I will do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.
—Habbakuk 1:5
So it is about what God Does?
Habbakukl gets his hope back before God does what he says He will do.
*Hope is a connection to the character of God not the solution to our circumstance. *
A committed hope, hope-filled believer can wrestle with honest questions AND embrace a genuine relationship with God.
RECONNECTED WITH THE WHO.
LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
—Habbakuk 1:12-13
Questioning Your Circumstance Not Your Hope.
- God understands your pain.
- Welcomes your questions
- He would rather have you yell at him than walk away from him.
WHEN YOU ARE WRESTLING
1. LISTEN
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he [God] will say to me…
—Habbakuk 2:1
What do I know about God?
2. WRITE
Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets.”
—Habbakuk 2:2
3. WAIT
For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
—Habakkuk 2:3
WHEN YOU ARE IN THE VALLEY
1. REMEMBER.
God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble…
—Habbakuk 3:3
The most passionate praise is the praise before the provision not after it.
When you can no longer remember what He has done, you will never be able to embrace what He is about to do.
2. EMBRACE.
I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
—Habbakuk 3:16-18
It’s not about making the best of a bad situation. It’s about celebrating who God is.
If you don’t walk away, you will never quit on God. And if you don’t quit on God, you will have the faith and hope that sustains you.
Psalm 33
The statements of your story. Postured towards gratitude, authenticity, praise, and hope:
I am ready.
I am consistent.
I am devoted.
I am generous.
I am faithful.
I am a finisher.
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