glistening hope

hope is all about your view of life.  all about what you believe you were created for.  if you believe you were born to go from crisis to mediocre & then back to crisis, you'll constantly live from average.  i believe God is delivering us from mediocrity & giving us a whole new thinking to walk in radical hope & joy.  we can't take mediocrity with us were we're going.  they are like bricks in a backpack.  must unload the lies i've built my life with.  innocent, unknowing, sweet little lies.  must cast off those weights & reach for something higher, something better, something glistening.

"any area of your life that does not glisten with hope reveals that you are believing a lie & is a stronghold of the devil." francis frangipane

this is salvation.  salvation from mediocrity.  from average.  from common experience.  my battle is for hope.  and the battleground is the mind.  what i believe, i create for myself.  and so what do i believe about God, about myself, about others, about my circumstances.  not what i have said i believe, where do i have hope & where do i not?  reality is a result of my past belief system. my future depends on my beliefs.  and my emotions are usually an accurate indicator of my beliefs.  once we lose our hope, we lose. there are no hopeless circumstances, only hopeless people.  all christian life is meant to be a progression of trading lies for truth, average for revelation.  all these years i've walked thinking character was the goal.  and knowing i will always come up short in that department.  you're not good enough. too small. too fat. too sensitive. too young. too insignificant. too flawed. the lying one whispers, and i am all too eager to take his encouragement & meditate on it until it produces empty, hopelessness.  but you don't receive by feeling, you receive by faith.  feelings, ultimately, always follow what you believe.  the more hope in your future, the more power in the present.

"according to your faith, so be it." Jesus, matthew 9: 29

those who say they can't & those who say they can are both right.  stop believing that you can't and you'll get a different experience.  it wouldn't matter if i had the biggest names in town pray over me, had the greatest encounter.  breakthrough can only be sustained if it changes what i believe.  we are not victims of others or circumstance.  we are a product of what we believe.  and by the grace of God, He is always gently leading us down the path of change.  good, soul reviving change.

"may the God of hope fill you with all joy & peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." romans 15:13

if what i believe does not produce joy, peace & hope in any area in my life, no area too insignificant, i need to take a good audit to see where i have been lied to & then take an axe to the root.  ask for the revelation and He gives it.  hold onto truth.  soak in it, bathe in it, drink it in... daily, hourly, minute by minute if need be.  hope is just a way of viewing life that is birthed out of the promises of God & His goodness, which always advances the kingdom & overflows peace & joy.

i used to think that repentance was just feeling really bad about what i did & then promising not to do it again.  but it is so much more than that.  it is a lifestyle.  the lifestyle of change.  my repentance isn't over until i am walking in glistening hope in every area of life.  so pull down those strongholds, let the demolition begin & remove those old ways of thinking so intricately sown into our everyday experience.  dig up those hideous, hidden lies, buried deep in decay, so that the actual presence of Christ can be manifested, resurrected in us. 

cheers to the relentless journey of glistening hope.

{notes from steve backlund's message 'abounding hope' with a little creative license taken & expanded upon...}