(1 Cor 13:13 NIV) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
This morning we continue our series entitled, “Re-Energizing Your Prayer Life,” by continuing with hurdles to answered prayer. Yesterday we looked at the third hurdle, “Hearing the Word, but not absorbing it.” This morning we will look at #4, “Operating in hope instead of faith.” Let me tell you up front that hope in and of itself is not a bad thing, but you must understand the difference between hope and faith and operate in the right one at the right time.
Believers confuse hope for faith all the time, but they are not the same. Actually, in our text we see that they are clearly listed as separate and distinct things. The Greek word for faith is pistis, meaning belief, confidence, conviction, or assurance. The Greek word for hope is elpis, meaning expectation or confidence. Biblical hope is the precursor to Biblical faith. Hope is the confident expectation that God’s goodness will be manifested in our lives. But this expectation is open-ended, meaning that you can wake up in the morning with Godly hope and expect things to go well for you in the day, without having any specific promise to base that expectation on. The expectation and anticipation of good is the hope. However, faith is not open-ended. Faith is connected to specific promises. This makes the expectation and anticipation stronger because it is based upon something. Therefore, faith adds substance to the hope, because faith makes a connection between the anticipation and the Word (or promise) of God. The writer of Hebrews said, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (11:1).
Hope makes us expectant, but faith makes us sure and certain and we need faith when we pray! Hope is beautiful and necessary when thinking about going to heaven or the eventual return of Christ the King, but those are things in the future. When we pray, the Father wants us to have faith that we receive what we pray for NOW! There are things the Father wants us to have NOW, and if we operate in HOPE for those things, even Biblical hope, we won’t receive them by faith; they will always be out there somewhere in our future. If you have a need that you require to be fulfilled right now, then you need to pray in faith, not hope.
Remember, faith adds the substance of God’s Word to our hope. When we pray for something that clearly lines up with God’s Word, the Father wants us to be sure and certain that it is His will and that it will happen in our lives. Having faith will mean that we speak and affirm God’s promise until it manifests in our lives. We enter every day with Godly expectation for the manifestation of it. This is NOT open-ended wishful thinking. This is strong and definite faith!
Here’s an example that I see all the time. Let’s say you pray for something saying, “Father, I believe You and Your Word. I see in Your Word that You promised this to me and Your Spirit has led me to ask for it. I thank You for doing this in my life.” But then you end your prayer with, “Well, I hope it happens.” What you said at the end of your prayer exposes the fact that you are praying in hope and not faith and you basically just expressed doubt (and possibly even fear).
So what does this mean to you today? It simply means that the Father wants you to pray in-faith. Don’t come to God in prayer with wishful thinking. Come to the Father after you have already researched His Word concerning your situation. This way His Word will add substance to your hope and you will be able to pray in-faith, not doubting, nothing wavering, and your prayers will be effective!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for helping me to see the difference between hope and faith. I repent for having prayed hope-based prayers in the past. While hope is not bad, it is not Your best. You want me to walk, live, and pray by faith. I declare that I will. I will search Your Word concerning whatever situation I face, Your Word will add substance to my hope, and I will be able to pray in-faith, not doubting and not wavering. You hear the prayers of faith and You shall always hear my prayers. This is the confidence that I have in You, that if I pray anything in accordance with Your will, You hear me. To ensure I am praying in accordance with Your will, I will always pray in accordance with Your Word, because Your Word is Your will documented. Praying this way will produce results in my life! In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
