Have you given up hope that you’ll ever be well again? Perhaps you have a voice in your head telling you that hope in God is over-rated. I believe after reading this post you’ll have a fresh revelation of how to apply a Bible (or Elpis) hope in God to your journey.
You’ll be lifted from that place of despair to a place of excitement; from disappointment to dreaming and from weariness to living.
You can’t have faith, without having hope. Today I give you 5 steps you can take to apply Elpis hope to your world.
To me this revelation really was a secret ingredient to the journey so I had to share it with you.
I had been waiting and waiting; the months had turned to years yet still no breakthrough. I’d resigned to the fact that this illness was here to stay.
I was so disappointed.
Are your symptoms persisting and your pain continuing for what seems like a lifetime? Maybe you’ve also started to tolerate your situation believing that this is your lot in life.
I hear you and I know that despair. Here are 5 steps that show you how you restore Elpis hope.
THE RISK OF WORLDLY HOPE
Surely it’s dangerous to keep on putting hope in God after so many years. Think of the disappointment that lies ahead.
There’s nothing the enemy wants more than for you to give up hoping for a better life, a better future. He wants you to stand still and accept things will never change.
If we’re looking at worldly hope, then yes it’s a big risk because it’s not based on a solid foundation, it’s nothing more than wishful thinking. “I hope it’s sunny tomorrow…” There’s no power here, it’s a gamble.
But hope in God is based on the blood of Jesus so you and I can have such security in it’s quality. This is what it means to have God’s hope in a situation.
WHAT IS ELPIS HOPE?
Elpis hope, or hope in God is “joyful, confident, expectation,” and it’s automatically ours because of what Jesus has done for us. But in order to receive it, we need to believe it.
Doesn’t this fill us with such a rest and a confidence for our healing?
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:1
Bill Johnson says that hope is the environment where faith grows; if you want faith, you have to have hope in God first.
Hope is your ability to see something that isn’t a reality at the moment. This means seeing it with your heart, or your imagination.
Do you remember when you were a child, dreaming and being creative? It was such fun. God is asking us to be like children once again and to start imagining.
STEP 1 WHAT ARE YOU DREAMING FOR?
God designed us to DREAM
Proverbs 23:7 says “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”. God looks at our hearts, so wouldn’t it be great to fill our hearts with all our dreams and desires instead of all our worries and fears.
We don’t see hope with our physical eyes. It is something we see with our spiritual eyes or the eyes of our hearts. THIS IS DREAMING.
I’m talking about those secret desires that you long for.
Could you make a list, draw, paint, collage……whatever takes your fancy, of all the things you’re dreaming of. This is your vision board.
If you don’t see it on the inside, you won’t see it on the outside.
Mindbody doctors talk of the power of visualisation. Our brains don’t know the difference between what is real and imagined.
If you can get the feel of your future, you will start to feel the benefit of DOSE (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphin) sometimes called ‘happy hormones’.
These will drip into your system and mute the danger signal.
STEP 2 KNOW YOUR HEALING VERSES
I’m sure you’re familiar with the story of Abraham. He was childless even despite God’s promise.
Every day he reminded himself of the promise of God. This is how he applied Elpis Hope. He looked at the sand or the stars to get the image down in his heart.
This fed his imagination, a bit like having a vision board. Romans 4:18 tells us “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed”
For us, we look the the Bible and to our healing scriptures. We speak the Word over our situations. See FAITH COMES BY HEARING (THEN HEALING FOLLOWS)
We know that God is a God of love, but He’s the God of hope too! The Bible tells us in Ephesians 3:20 that He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”
In other words, you have to imagine (or have hope) first, before God will do the impossible, this is the power within you.
STEP 3 CAST DOWN OPPOSING THOUGHTS
Unfortunately for many of us, as the time continuum increases, we start to see reality instead of hoping for a great future. Disappointment, tolerance and acceptance sinks in.
The Bible warns us of this and tells us what to do.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ
2 Cor 10:5
If your thinking is against the promises you’re believing God for, you cast them down. You can choose to replace those thoughts which hinder your Elpis hope.
See TAKING EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE. 5 SIMPLE STEPS
Image: Rebekah Ballagh Journey to Wellness
Otherwise that disappointment will consume you.
STEP 4 THE LOVE OF GOD
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:5
The Bible says that it’s the love of God that will keep on encouraging you in your hoping, even if you’ve been unwell for many years. You will never be disappointed when you know how much God loves you.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
Ps 33:18
STEP 5 REMOVE THE TIMELINE
What causes disappointment?
Oftentimes we have a timeline when we think the journey will end. But we don’t know the future so we don’t know when our symptoms will go.
By being more present in the here and now, we get to live whilst we are waiting.
Image: Rebekah Ballagh Journey to Wellness
Keeping your eyes fixed upon promise maker, not the promise itself, will keep you in that zone of Godly hope, not disappointment. This is what it means to hope in God.
See PATIENT IN AFFLICTION: 5 WAYS TO WAIT WELL
What would it look like if you and I knew how to access the Elpis hope available each time you felt despair and disappointment?
I think we’d have a confident, joyful and steadfast kind of hope that would carry us through each day of the healing journey.
Are you too scared to get your hopes up in case of disappointment? Or maybe you have a timeline in mind? Let me know.
I hope this helps you today.
Lorna
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