FOOD FOR TEEN :THE HOPE IN FAITH

Dear teens, Let’s take a look at hope, I believe the topic of hope is not being addressed enough in the body of Christ today and as a result we are missing out on a lot because of this.

According to Hebrew 11:1 the Bible says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” From this scripture, it is obvious to see that without hope there is no faith. Faith was defined twice and in both definitions, there was hope, in the second definition, it says the “evidence of things not seen” things not seen there was referring to hope, because Romans 8:24 tells us that “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” So you can agree with me that an integral part of faith is hope. No wonder that same Romans 8:24a tells us that we are saved by hope. 

What then is hope? A lot of us think that hope is our desire, no. Hope is more than that, hope is God’s promise in His Word as a direct answer to your request. A lot of people think this is faith, no this is hope. For instance; Romans 4:17; “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. [18] Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.” In verses 17 the promise was made according to the written word of God, that promise is the hope, in verse 18, “who against hope” means when he couldn’t see the reality of the promise, believed in the promise, (remember hope is not seen).

Romans 15:4 says “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” The word of God speaking to you from scripture stirs in you hope, what you must do is to rejoice in hope, then convert that hope to faith, how? Through meditation. When you begin to look into the Word concerning your life through meditation, the Spirit of the Word begins to minister to your heart the reality of the things which God has spoken, though hope doesn’t inspire immediate action but once it turns into faith in the heart any person, it begins to direct his/her steps but the key thing here is meditation. It is how the promises of God becomes real to us which inspires either direct or indirect actions, no wonder 2nd Corinthians 4:17-18 tells us that “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

There’s something within God’s promises that is able stir up faith in you but you must believe it enough by exposing yourself to this words through meditation until it first create some form of understanding within you, according to Hebrew 11:3a, “through faith we understand” hope that is unseen starts becoming visible within your subconscious self, you don’t yet know how it will be done but now you know there’s a strong certainty from within that it is done. The actions to take to get out of that situation becomes clear as day, that’s why we can’t qualify faith as a risk, neither is it a guess work but a total alignment to God’s plan concerning a particular situation.

In summary, when you go to God with a request, the first thing he wants to give you is His hope through His Word, then you take the Hope as your anchor and go within the veil through meditation and then Spirit of the Word is quickened within you, with a strong conviction on the inside of the strong assurance of hope, this is what motivates your actions, which is the demonstration of your faith.

May God bless you as you do His word In Jesus name. See you next month.