Six More Things to Know
In How to Experience Hope Part 1, [please link to previous post over title] we looked at what hope is and examined four of the 10 ways you can experience hope. Let’s look at the remaining six ways today. Remember, hope is assured, but experiencing hope is optional. Hope is not dependent on us. Our hope is in Christ. It’s like a giant reservoir of hope promised to us.
So, let’s continue with how you can experience hope:
5. Go deep into His Word.
Psalm 119:147 says, “I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word” (NKJV).
If you are not experiencing hope, you have to get into His Word.
Meditate and memorize Scripture.
As God speaks to us through His Word, and we allow His Words to speak to us through Scripture, that elevates that intimacy, that closeness, the feeling of help. Even if you do not feel it, continue to do it because Scripture reminds us how very powerful His truth is in our lives.
6. Guard your thinking.
1 Thessalonians 5:7-8 says, “For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet” (NIV).
In order to experience hope, you have to guard your thinking. The helmet is to protect your head. In verse 8 of the NIV it says, “But let us who live in the light be clearheaded.”
Think on the Truth.
Scripture brings people back to the truth. Paul gives us a list of what we should think on in Philippians 4:7. He also says to take captive every thought out of obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 2:5 para).
7. Help others and hope will grow in you.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 Paul is writing to the Church, “After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you!” (NLT). Interestingly the church is you. Paul is saying His hope and joy comes from ministering to others and bringing people into the kingdom. If you want more hope in your life –
be others focused.
Your hope grows when you tell someone about Christ or what He has done in your life.
8. Be ready with a defense for your hope.
1 Peter 3:15 encourages, “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you” (NKJV). You do it with gentleness and respect.
When I look at our Christian community, we have become so much a part of our culture, that I wonder if people even see any difference in us, and yet Peter is saying you are to always have a defense for why you believe what you believe.
Tell your story!
We need to know how to tell our story. What is our story? People are going to ask. You will get opportunities to build hope in others. People hear what God is doing in your life and it changes people.
9. Rejoice during difficult times.
We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials because we know they help us develop endurance, and endurance develops strength of character. Character strengthens our confident hope of salvation (Romans 5:3-4 para). Paul is saying we really need to learn to rejoice during difficult times. That is not an easy thing to do.
Use problems to grow.
You either learn to grow through these difficult times, or it kills you, right? We grow, or we die. We get stronger or weaker. It’s like a muscle – it either gets stronger with the challenges or they become atrophied, so we are learning to rejoice. It’s not easy to do, but it is a command for us.
10. Seek Him!
Lamentations 3:25 says, “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him” (NKJV). Developing a craving for God is really a habit.
Develop a craving for God.
Maybe you noticed certain things that can set off a habit. We can develop a craving for Christ, a craving to seek Him. It’s nothing more than developing a habit.
I shared these 10 things to help you. I hope you will use these for yourself and to minister to other people. I pray that it is helpful and encouraging.
If you missed the first blog with the first four ways to experience hope, check out How to Experience Hope Part 1.
