Day 98 - "Don't Get Your Hopes Up."
Today we're fasting from the thought that says, "Don't get your hopes up."
To hope is to look up—to have expectation! To hope is to live. Hope is like oxygen. It's like light in a dark and negative world.
Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." There are many great truths from this Scripture.
When hope is put off to the side, your heart becomes sick. When your hopes are dashed to the ground, your heart becomes sick. Most importantly, your heart becomes sick when you STOP hoping. Hope HEALS!
LET'S CHANGE IT TODAY
1. GET YOUR HOPES UP, no matter what. Psalm 78:7 says, "that they might set their hope in God." Put your hope in our unfailing God; not in people, who disappoint.
2. KEEP THEM UP. I John 3:3 says to FIX your hope on Him, and it will purify you. To fix means: to remain, to attach, to be glued. Glue your hopes on God. He will not disappoint.
3. It's okay when you don't see what you're hoping for. The fact that you don't see something gives hope a reason to remain alive in your heart. Once you have something and see it, you don't need to hope for it anymore. It's when you don't see it, that your hope has a reason to exist.
4. Get faith. Faith is a tangible force. It is a substance. If you are exercising faith, no one will be able to tell you that God's promise will not come to pass. Faith gives substance to what you are hoping for. Hope comes from the encouragement in Scripture (Romans 15:4).
5. Meditate on the love of God. Hope that IS NOT DEFERRED (delayed, or disappointed) comes from love. Romans 5:5 says, "and hope does not disappoint (or leave you with shame), because the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart." Keep your mind fixed on God's love for you.
6. Fire the "management" team! Free yourself from people who think they're doing you a favor by "managing" your expectations or protecting you from disappointment. Get around hopers, and dreamers, and people who are filled with expectation! It's okay if people want to help DEFINE your hopes, but NEVER let them CONFINE your hopes.
THINK IT AND SAY IT
My hopes are up! I eliminate the notion of lowering my expectations. I refuse to accept people's advice to "not get my hopes up." I get my hopes up NOW, and I keep them up. I expect God's promises to come to pass in my life today! I expect good to come to my life today, in my family, in my home, in my church, in my job, in my relationships, in my body, and in my finances. I expect ideas, favor, and wisdom. I look up, expecting to receive the best of what God has for me today, in Jesus’ Name!
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment