Thou Art My Hope

We are promised by Jesus, "he that loses his life for My sake, shall find it." Matthew 10:39.

For those who may read this that are new believers, studying scriptures in the light of truth found in one or two verses would be a good way to begin... That is, if you will commit your heart and mind to the Lord to teach you, God will be faithful to lead you in the scripture and speak to you what you need to know, daily.

In fact, He will show you your need for His truth over and over as you walk with Him, as He does with all of us.

The basis of what I am sharing can be found in the principle or doctrine known in Hebrews 6:1 as "repentance from dead works".

Since this is football season, let me open with a punt and get this ball in play for you here :
God weakens us, or rather, shows us our neediness. This is part of walking with Him.
For Jesus promises us a yoke.

See Matthew 11:28-30.
We must be led into or taken into His yoke to walk with Him.

We may think we are in it when in fact, we are not yet in it.
And then we find out where we are, as He works with us to bring us into it.

And ... We may believe it is a metaphor or something, and then Jesus begins to work with us by the Holy Spirit and make some very real changes to our perceptions. :)

So let me present to you some of the way - Some of the "how" He does this. This will help you to not be too surprised and to help you to converse with the Holy Spirit with some advantage.

Firstly, we have a promise ...
We have a promise of Life attached to the death of or the giving up of the old way, the old paths we walked in.
There is resurrection always, but there has to be death for there to be resurrection.

Secondly, we have a living hope in and that is, Christ Jesus. He has resurrected and He lives eternally. And our hope is found in Him, with Him, and He is our hope!

Thirdly, we have a chance to meet with God and be affected by Him, and become attached to this hope. Even bound to Him closely.

And so I will open these three factual comments to you to a degree by using Isaiah 40:31,

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, an not faint." (KJV)

Taking the Hebrew definition of the word "wait" as found in the Strong's concordance, the Hebrew word, qawa, there is a lovely definition here -

to hope in; to be gathered; to hope for, wait for, look for.

It is a verb. And this is the only qawa in the scriptures. This word only appears once, right here.

I will point out what I see in this: expectation, on the simple basis that if I am going to look for, wait for, or even hope for anyone, I would have a reason to. They would have to give me a reason, a foundation for acting this way. Nobody waits for nothing.

So hope has to come from somewhere. It has to exist from an understanding of God, of something He has said or done for us.

This Hebrew word is related to others found in scripture, one is miqweh and it means - hope, a collection of water, reservoir. And another is miqwa meaning - reservoir, and translated - ditch. There is something about all these together that paints a picture of hopeful waiting in a relationship, something related to a resource of water available, something about water stored.

Jesus is the living water and He promises we can drink of Him (John 4:10), and Jesus said here "If thou knowest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee..." So a knowing is needed in order to receive the water.

There is water and a thirst, a quenching and a reservoir associated with hope, the hope of the waiting on God, the expectation of looking for and hoping in God Himself. There is a satisfying that only God has, and He has it for us and will give it to us.

In Psalm 71:15, David says, "Thou art my hope."
The Hebrew word translated hope here is - tiqwa, and it means -

hope, expectation, cord.

Lord, you are my hope, my expectation, my cord.
A cord? Yes.

Let me explain this using another scripture:
Hebrews 6:19, speaks of our hope this way, "...which hope we have as an anchor of the soul."

The Greek word behind the word, anchor, is ankyra, which means -

anchor :)

And it is used figuratively to mean security.
It is similar to, related to another Greek word meaning -

fish hook, fishline with a hook on it

Does this remind you of anything Jesus said? He said to the disciples when He called them, "Come and I will make you fishers of men."
If we have come to Jesus, we have been "caught".

So, if you and I have been fished out of the depths of what this world has offered us, and if we have been caught by the love of God, the good news to our souls of what Jesus has done for us, and received Jesus as our savior, we then have been caught on the line of the cord of His love, which also is our very hope!

Hebrews 6:18,19 tells us what has happened to us this way, that we have "fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us;

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast..."

This fishingline that you and I have been caught with is hope that anchors our soul. It is sure and steadfast. It is made up of the character of God, because if I push back just a bit more...
verse 17 - "God, willing more and abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

verse 18 - "That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

verse 19 - "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil."

Firstly, what is within the veil is the presence of God, and all He is and all He has waiting for us. God, our Father.

Second, our consolation is the comfort of our souls, it is the basis of the peace within us and between us and God our Father, and we have this because of the immutability of God Himself and His word.

Immutability is a quality of God. It is the characteristic of His unchangeable-ness. He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever, Hebrews 13:8. God is utterly and completely reliable; He is a rock (Deuteronomy 32:4), the single most foundational and unmoveable person and source ever (Psalm 24), at all, in the universe.
He is the foundation of all things, HE is our rock, and our stability.

God took an oath and swore by Himself, Hebrews 6:13, by Himself, so  this scripture states, to bring us salvation, to give us a salvation that never changes; being the relational personification of saving us - to walk with and among us as God the Son, our Savior Christ Jesus; to do all that we needed to be saved (we have been reconciled - the books are balanced!), and then to also continually bring salvation to us: to save us utterly from the depths of the wayward ways in us, and the inability in ourselves to be faithful and true, the askewed way of our beings due to sinful natures, and due to never having anyone or anything to rely on and what that did to us... To save us from the ever moving sea of guilt, shame, and recourse on our enemies and the cycles of sin and death...
To become our solid rock of salvation, that appeared in our disparagement and fished us out of it's sea; To be our steady-freddie, a constancy inside us, miraculously!; To be our comfort and guide, so that we don't have to live the way we once lived and be on a new path, His path, and with Him.

To birth His word and promises in us, even New Life, and Life Eternal, never to die again! Never to be held by sin and death again! To be One with God, never to be alone again! ...

Let us look at this consolation and get real about it -
This is the Greek word paraklesis and means -

encouragement, comfort, consolation, appeal.

Who consoles you?
If we console ourselves, then we are going to return to the illness we had before salvation, making ourselves who is in charge, and operating by our own efforts.

If we consider this word paraklesis, it is a compound word and hidden truth in it. Listen to this...

para - meaning "with"
klesis from the word kaleo - meaning "to call, invite, summon; with the authority of the speaker dictating the nature of the calling."
Two examples: friends "invite" and kings "summon".

Hear it. You have been called if you have been hooked by Jesus.
You were called and responded to that call, you definitely have been hooked!!

Jesus is both your Lord and your brother, or better yet, your forerunner, if you examine all the way to the end of Hebrews 6.

There is an inviting but there is a summoning too. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords has summoned you, and this is part of your consolation, that there is authority in the voice of God as Jesus did speak and call you... and still calls you, "Come, ---".

See, you are called, invited into His presence, with the love of a brother who willingly paid everything for you; God Himself paid for us as our total family, we are royal prodigals.

But Christ Jesus is the FULL expression of the heart of our Father for us! Not only are we called, but we are called "unto" a vast vast array of provision made for us. On our behalf. Waiting for us.

We are called, we are no longer alone but called into the presence of God and Jesus Who have loved us and always will love us. We are no longer estranged but brought near (Ephesians 2:16-18).
We are hooked to Jesus by a cord attaching us to Him, our anchor,
Who is anchored someplace...

Where?
In God our Father! In the presence of God! Nothing in between! No holds barred!

Where Jesus goes, we go. Where He walks, we walk. Where He is, we are.
Connected. Pulled by our Father's calling and doing. Bound together eternally.

Hebrews 6:17 explains to us,

"God, willing more and abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel..."

God is willing and abundantly to show you and me the immutability, the unchanging-ness and solidity of his counsel:
His salvation, full and true; His life for us, all wrapped up in His plans and words and promises and decisions, provisions, and everything He is...
WE ARE the heirs of HIS salvation, yes, the heirs of His promise, because by FAITH, we are now the children of God!

So this hope is not a hope without promise, but a hope with promise!
Hope is a way of life - a living thing! Hope is alive with the promises of inheritance, that is, what is yet to be known by us and received by us by faith in God's word!! Because it is a hope IN God, a stirring of the cord that attaches us to Him, and if we follow...

It is a cord that Jesus will wrap us to Himself with! It is a cord of love and it pulls on us, to follow and come in to receive from our Father!

Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, "A cord of three strands is not easily broken."
This means a wrapping of cords. This is not just advice on how to make strong cords. It is the statement that more than one cord joined together, more than just our hope, when joined together hope strengthens hope, which increases the ability of hope not be broken.
This three speaks of the resurrection, Jesus and our resurrection, because it is the Hebrew word "salas" that means -

to do a third time on the third day.

Cool huh? Hallelujah! ...That is the same counsel of His will and promise again!

Returning our verses in Hebrews, this also states that the believers who have fled for refuge are also "laying hold" of this hope. So, there is a response to this hope.
At first that laying hold may be the desperate grabbing hold of the line that drew us out of the shark infested waters of sin and death. But now that we are on the rock, Jesus, we can lay hold more and more of this same hope...

In fact, I can guarantee that God will cause you get desperate so that you do just that, because He knows that without Him, you are not going to be able to do anything, just like Jesus was not able to.
So that's the case, the situation with us: We need God.

But the hope is, that He has us! He has us on the line He caught us with, and He is not letting us go!

We are yes, being worked on to know our need for Him, the light is shining on all our dark places, ... but not without promise for "blessed are the poor in spirit", Matthew 5, "for theirs is" what?
The kingdom! Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and all that that means! :)

Isaiah 40:31 - They that hope in God, that expect from God, they that wait for God, they that desire what He has in His reservoir of consolation, of encouragement and hope... We are promised they WILL RENEW their strength.

And here is our resounding finale, our big band finish (yes there are bands at the football games...) :

The Hebrew word in this verse behind the word "renew" is halap, meaning -

to go by, pass on, sweep by; to be new;
to pierce, cut through;
to change (preposition); to change, exchange, replace, renew.

Scripture interprets scripture, so let me add Hebrews 4:12 right beside this,

"For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

There is an operation going on. We are being operated on by the word of God, even the counsel of the Lord. His counsel is His word and His heart intentions.
(Greek word boule - meaning "plan, purpose, will and decision".)

When we hope in God, we enter His presence by Jesus anchoring us there. We pull on that hope and He shows up, or rather, we show up before Him. God shows Himself to us, indeed He passes by us and brings the sword of His word and operates on the parts of us that are in need...
He discerns the thoughts and intents of our hearts by His word and He alone makes the changes within us. He cuts at the death that does not belong in us any longer and deals with it, separates us from it. Yes, the parts of us in our soul that is in need of life renewing them, yes that are grappling on us and weighing on our spiritual walk with Jesus, dragging us down.

There is a need for separation from the old ways, the old modes of living, the ways we once walked in. We have to be changed in heart, in the very center of our beings, in our intentions.
It is more than a change of thoughts and more than a situation of seeing and believing because we agree to a certain degree.

We truly are in need of a knowing of God in such closeness that He is allowed the range of action that is needed to heal us through and through.
We know we are healed where there is new life in place of the old.

The strength we need and the power that we crave cannot be us in control any longer, if we are to hold onto the hope that we have found in Jesus. Jesus said we do find our life, we do gain our life, but we gain it through the losing of our lives to His life.

Romans 12:1 says we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, which is our "reasonable service".
There is an altar of decision before God that is part of our response to His calling, it is part of the process of what happens when we respond. It is the life and the death that God places before us. It is our cross, the death that leads to life...
That is, we encounter an altar when we encounter the cross. It is God's altar of sacrifice.
And we must give up ourselves if we follow Jesus. If we truly follow Him, we have to look to the cross and what He has done for us and examine what it is before us that God has called us to.

Listen to this: the Greek words for reasonable service are "spiritual-logical worship." Yes, the first word translated "reasonable" is the Greek work logikos and it means spiritual and logical at the same time.
And the Greek word here is worship, not service.

Jesus gave His all for me, and His blood purchased me and I am not any longer my own! I am a purchase, having been redeemed and bought back to my Father's house. Therefore, I am under His authority and I am not my own any longer.
I was not just saved from the enemy of my soul's grip, but I have been saved from -
ME.

Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy,
acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service."
Or as we now know - which is our spiritual logical worship.

HOW? By the mercies of God...
Present yourself to God and tell Him you are willing to follow Him and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you.
Place your confidence in Him, that if He has touched your life already and pulled you from where you were, He is able to affect your understanding now...

The Holy Spirit will lead you to those that you need to be bound to that strengthen your hope and your anchor in Jesus, as well as He will teach you in the quietness of your relationship with Him, by His word.

Remember, this is a matter of His word, His counsel, being shown to you - Hebrews 6:17. God is willing to show and "abundantly" to show, which means lots and lots... :)

We are being invited to, summoned to the hope that is indeed Christ Jesus Himself, and by Christ Jesus our hope, we are led into the presence of God to receive His counsel, His word, and be changed.
We are not called to be the best us, the superstar-humanity-loving-sweet-natural person maybe that we think we are, in the natural nature of our own goodness.
No - But we are called to the altar of sacrifice to present ourselves to God and be really and truly, fully His, and not our own. Not my will, but Thine be done.

Jesus said "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heaven laden."
If your life was so easy and good and you had great results, then you would not have responded to coming to Jesus because He saves and you would have to be saved from something. So if you came, you knew your need for His saving.

And - You were saved from the labor and the heaviness associated with trying to do this life on your own by your own judgement and your own mind and effort.

Jesus says, "I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me."
There is a rest promised in taking on His yoke, that is, being bound to Him and carrying His burden with Him.

What is God burdened for? What is in God's heart?
If you have been called and responded, there is only one way to find out what specifically it is that Jesus is going to call you to walk with Him under, that is, what you will carry to the world by your life, all by walking with Him.

But He promises that He leads, and He provides rest to your soul.
"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls,

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Wait for God. Present yourself to Him. He will come to you! He is the reservoir, the source of your hope! He will take your sacrifice of you, the real you -- and He will be ready for you, to both bring His word to cut through your struggles to set you freeeee, and to pour Himself into you...

And you will find His strength, His ability in you, yes the hope and the more hope that you need!

For in Him we have life and life more abundantly! See John 10:10. And be blessed and hope-filled, ok?