Faith and Hope

Faith and Hope
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Everything concerning faith works in pairs. Two seems to be the number of faith. Faith needs to be believed in the heart and confessed with the mouth. Faith says "If any two shall agree on earth." "How can two walk together unless they be agreed." "If one can put 1,000 to flight, two can put 10,000 to flight."

Faith always works in combination with something. Faith works in combination with love. The Bible says faith worketh by love. The opposite force of faith is fear. Fear and faith cannot go together because they are opposite forces. What casts out fear? Perfect love. Faith needs to work in conjunction with love, because love keeps fear away. Also, patience works with faith. Hebrews 6:12 says "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

There is also a connection between faith and hope. I looked in a concordance one day and discovered there was almost as much in the Bible on the subject of hope as there was on faith.

The Word of God is filled with hope. We've had the wrong impression of hope for too long. I've laid hands on some people for healing and asked them if they were healed and they responded "I hope so." That's not even hope; that is wishful thinking! Hoping is not wishing.

Do you remember the song "Wishing and Hoping"? Well, the two don't go together. They are not the same thing. I want to teach you just what hope is, and how it works with faith.

Romans 4:17-18: "(As it is written, [and here we have a quote from Genesis chapter 17:4-5] 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. 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."

These verses are in conjunction with each other. Verse 17 says, "... before him whom he believed, even God."

The Word "believe" means faith in action. You have faith inside you, but to put it into action you must believe. You received the measure of faith when you were born again. But whether you ever get your needs met is totally up to you. You need to believe the Lord, and believe the Word. "What things soever you desire when ye pray, believe." Believers are designed to believe. Romans 4:17 continues "...who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were."

The voice of the inner man "calls those things which be not as though they were" because the inner man is born after God. Everything produces after its own kind. Cats produce cats, dogs produce dogs, and people produce people. It is always that way. Monkeys never produce anything but monkeys and monkeys don't produce people. Wheat produces wheat, corn produces corn, love produces love, finances produce finances, and time produces time.

Everything also has unique characteristics. Dogs have tails, cats have whiskers, elephants have trunks, and people have hands and legs. When I was born of God I received all of His attributes—every one of them. I received faith because faith is an attribute of God. I didn't have to work to get faith, I had it from the very beginning. Did you know I didn't need to grow up and beg the doctor to give me hands when I finally got to be four years old? I don't have to grow up to a certain point and beg God for faith. I already have it. I had hands when I was born in the natural; I received faith when I was born in the spiritual.

Everything born after its own kind has a voice. Cats meow, dogs bark, and babies cry. The inner man is patterned after its Creator, God, and the voice of the inner man calls those things which be not as though they were.

It is just as natural for your inner man to, "call those things which be not as though they were," as it is for a dog to bark and a cat to meow and a baby to cry.

This is what Abraham learned. Abraham patterned himself after God, the Father. God called those things that be not as though they were.

Whereas verse 17 discusses faith, verse 18 talks about hope. Notice what it says in verse 17, "(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations)." Is the phrase "I have made thee" past, present, or future tense? Past tense. Faith is always based on something past. You were born again because Jesus already went to the cross and bore your sins. You were filled with the Spirit because the Holy Spirit has already been poured out. You were healed because Jesus already bore the stripes for your healing.

Verse 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."

The first part of this verse says, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations..." Is that past, present, or future? Future. Hope is always future. It is not wrong to talk about the future. It is not wrong to express or speak your hope if, as this verse says, it is, "... according to that which was spoken."

Verse 18 says "... So shall thy seed be." The rapture of the Church is called the "great hope" of the Church. If it is wrong to talk about our hope, we could never talk about the rapture. We could only say we are seated with Him in heavenly places in Christ. That is our faith speaking. But one of these days our hope will take on substance because of what we believe right now; our bodies will be in heaven with our spirits, seated with Jesus on the right hand of the Majesty on High.

Did you know there are two types of faith? There is a natural, human faith and a supernatural faith. Everybody has a natural, human faith. When you walk into a church you don't ask the ushers if the seat will hold you. You would be surprised if it fell through when you sat down.

When you were born again, you received God's measure of faith and now you have the ability to believe for supernatural things. Why do we believe for natural things so much more quickly than we believe for spiritual things? Spiritual things are more real than natural things. You will never sit on God's seat of faith and fall through. Yet we are surprised when our prayers work.

It is the same with hope. In verse 18 hope is mentioned twice: "Who against hope believed in hope..." There are two types of hope: a natural human hope, and a supernatural hope. Verse 18 is saying against all natural hope Abraham found a supernatural hope. In the natural there was no way for him and Sarah to have a child, but God gave him a new hope. Aren't you glad when the doctors say there is no hope, the Great Physician says, "Yes there is." There is a limit to man's hope, but never God's.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The New English Bible actually renders Hebrews 11:1 this way: "Now faith is giving substance to hope." Faith must give substance to hope because in and of itself hope has no substance.

Hope is much like a dream. Have you ever had a dream that seemed so real you were sweating when you woke up? It might have been you had chased the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for years, but tonight you made it, you actually got there. You were just about to dip your hands down into it when the alarm clock went off when you discovered it was just one of those dreams that seemed real. When you woke up you would rather go back into that dream world than face reality. But you finally came to the conclusion the dream had no substance, even though it seemed like it did. Many people have gotten up from bed and given substance to their dreams by going out and making their dreams come true.

The Bible says faith gives substance to hope. Add faith to hope and it will begin to take on substance. The Lord spoke to me one day as I was reading Mark 11:24. The verse says "What things soever you desire..." and the Lord stopped me with the word desire and said, "Your desire is your hope." What things soever you hope for when you pray, believe. Your believing will give your desires substance. A desire has no substance; it is just a picture of what you want. I heard it put this way one time, "Faith feeds hope and gives it substance." However, if you ever give up hope, faith has nothing to feed. You can have all the faith in the world and nothing will happen.

Faith is a product of the inner man. Can the devil get to your faith? Yes, indirectly. Faith is a product of the spirit; it is inbred in the spirit. If you are born of God, the devil can't get to your spirit because your spirit is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The devil can get to other parts of you, but he can't get to your spirit. However, faith needs to cooperate with other powers to operate. The devil can get to your hope and if he does, your faith will not function." Hope deferred (put away) maketh the heart sick (weak)." Proverbs 13:12.

The devil begins to work on your hope. How can he do that? First Thessalonians 5:8 says, "But let us, (believers) who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." Faith and love are products of the spirit because they are called the breastplate, but notice what hope is called. Hope is called the helmet. The helmet is the hope of salvation and the helmet covers what? The mind, the head. Which shows us something. Faith is produced out of the spirit; hope is produced from the mind.

The devil can get to your hope because he can get to your mind and play havoc with it. That's why the Bible says to cast down imaginations and everything that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God." "Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report...think on these things." Philippians 4:8. Isaiah tells us, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Therefore, we see the importance of keeping your mind on the Word of God, because your hope is in your mind.

Many of you have been believing God for certain things in your lives, but have let the devil come in and steal your hope. The Word says without a vision the people perish. Your vision is your hope. Don't give up hope. Hebrews 10:23 in the Greek says, "Let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering." Constantly keep a new picture out there of what you are shooting for. Keep painting new pictures and setting new goals.

The gateway into the spirit is the mind. You have to receive the Word of God first to receive faith. The Word comes through the natural ear, into the mind, and then into your spirit.

If it were possible to receive the spoken Word of God into the spirit without going through the mind, we would have an easy time witnessing. Just stand on a street corner with a P.A. system and start preaching the Word of God and everybody would get born again whether they wanted to or not. It would just run right down into them and recreate their spirits. But it doesn't work that way. A person must have a desire to receive Jesus as Savior before he or she can be born again.

I've always been taught that faith was is first thing we receive from God. I began to reconsider it. If I received faith first, what good would that do? Faith without hope is useless. Faith needs to feed hope and give it substance.

A building starts out in someone's m ind. First it is a dream. Men come together and decide what they want and the dream keeps taking on new shapes. It is then put on paper and becomes a plan. As long as it remains on paper it is a plan; it will only take on substance when someone goes out and puts all the brick, mortar and steel up into a building.

What would happen if someone tried to build the building without a plan? It wouldn't work. You must have a plan first. The Lord began to show me that faith is the building material and hope is the plan. The first thing that "comes by hearing and hearing by the Word" is not faith, but hope.

Ephesians 1:13 says, "In whom ye also trusted, (hoped) after that ye heard the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed..." The first thing you received was hope after you heard the Word of truth. Next, you believed (exercised faith). Believing came after you hoped.

When you listen to the Word of God the first thing you receive is a hope. How many people walk out of a healing service or from a teaching on healing and they don't yet have faith to receive healing, but they have a new hope? Suddenly they can see themselves healed even though they don't have enough of the Word to really step out and receive it. They heard a message and they walked out saying they found the answer. The doctor gave me up, but I think Jesus has the answer. They have gotten new hope beyond natural hope and they start seeing themselves healed. There is a plan in front of them. Now is the time to drag in all the brick and mortar of faith so that they can begin building.

The Word comes into your mind first and produces hope. However, it must then go down into your spirit to produce faith. This is being a hearer of the Word. (Romans 10:17) Hearing is when the Word enters, producing hope and faith.

Doing is when the Word comes back out. Substance is produced as the Word comes out of your heart; that substance is given to your hope as the W ord comes out of your mind. It is the confession of your faith, which gives your new hope substance. It is the Word going in (hearer) and the Word going out (doer) that builds the results we desire in our lives.

Bob Yandian

If you like this article, check out Pastor Bob's series Principles of Faith at the BYM Store.