"Don't Get Your Hopes Up"
Today we're fasting from the thought that says: "Don't get your hopes up."
This mindset has subtly found its way into our heads. We have been trained by doubt and unbelief to lower our expectations -- to brace ourselves for mediocity and status quo.
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
- 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 people who disappoint.
- KEEP THEM UP. 1 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.
- It's ok when you don't see what you're hoping for. The fact that you don't see it 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.
- 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). And faith comes from hearing God's Word (Romans 10:17). As you exercise faith by believing what God says, you overcome opposition and faith helps bring to pass what you are hoping for.
- 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." Love is the FORCE that eliminates disappointment when you are hoping for something. Keep your mind fixed on God's love for you.
- 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 ok if people want to help DEFINE your hopes but NEVER let them CONFINE your hopes.
THINK IT AND SAY IT
FEATURING: 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. Faith and love are
keeping my hope alive and will protect me from
disappointment. I have unlimited and unhindered hope and
expectation. In Jesus' Name.
*** reprinted from Gregory Dickow's "Start Thinking Forward"
H = HAVING
O = ONLY
P = POSITIVE
E = EXPECTATIONS