6.17.2013

hope unhinged.

"my faith is stubborn & my hope is intractable. i'm hope unhinged." 
corey booker

hope, in our everyday use of the word, means a wish. it's a positive feeling of optimism toward the future. but biblical hope is a little bit different.

biblical hope is the joyful, anticipation of something good. the absolute certainty of future good. something sure & trustworthy. the best illustration of hope i've heard was bill johnson describing some old family video tapes of his wife's christmas morning when she was a kid. her & her siblings at the end of the hall, literally bouncing off the wall. so excited for what was about to come, one of them even wet their pants, waiting for the moment when mom or dad say 'merry christmas' and they are able to bound down the hall, around the corner & dive under the tree opening their christmas presents. that bouncing around at the end of the hall is hope. that is the joyful, anticipation of something good just around the corner.

paul prays for us when he writes that we would know the ecstatic, anticipation of something good that we were destine to. hope is so important, he warns us to always wear the helmet of our hope of salvation, never being sloppy, always protecting & washing our mind with the revelation of our Hope, our salvation.

true biblical hope can only really be found in a revelation of the resurrection. in the revelation that He has seated me at the right hand of the Father, in heavenly places {eph 2:6}. tragically, this often remains a concept instead of an experience. but when it becomes an experience it becomes a place from which you see. when we actually find ourselves seated beside our Father, above any & all situations we may find ourselves in on this earth, that is when we truly, biblically begin to hope. we begin to see. and we are hope intractable. hope unhinged.


"by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know & understand the hope to which He has called you..." {eph 1:18, amp}

"and now i want each of you to extend the same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. don't drag your feet. be like those who stay the course with committed faith & then get everything promised to them." 
{heb 6:9-12, the message}

"we who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands & never let go. it's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up His permanent post as high priest for us..." 
{heb 6:18-20, the message}

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