Every person has hopes; things that they hope will happen; the hope of a bright future. And it is hope that often allows people to fix their eyes ahead with greater joy and confidence, rather than choosing to live in their memories.
Yet, in a world that regularly tries to destroy hope, we struggle with how to find hope. How can we enter each day with joy and confidence?
When we give what we ourselves need, we do more than just help others. We open the door to what we gave away. Allowing what we need to manifest in our lives.
We plant the seeds that will produce a harvest!
The Need for Hope
Everyone needs hope.
And while we all have hopes, most of us can safely say that we have known the sting of hope that was crushed or destroyed. This can cause us to put up walls. To distance ourselves from the hope for anything good…
Yet, this is not how we were created to live.
We are meant to have hope. After all, Jesus Himself came as our hope.
It is through Him that three things remain—faith, hope, and love (see 1 Corinthians 13:13). Hope may not be the fulfillment of all the Law like love is… and it may not be the mountain mover that we know faith to be… but hope that continues in all circumstances, hope that finds itself one day fulfilled… that is a precious thing.
We need hope. This is certain. Yet, how do we overcome jaded opinions? How do we find hope for the future?
A Step to Hope
God is certainly the center of our hope. He is the one who provides us with a future. He is the one who brings us joy and confidence. But… accepting that hope is still a choice.
We can let walls build up that prevent us from walking in hope. We can find ourselves listening to the enemy’s claim that there is no hope, no future, no joy, no confidence. But we are King’s kids—children of God—when we walk in this, we know the enemy is lying to us and that God is our hope!
In God we can find hope! In God we have a future to look forward to! In God we open our hearts to joy and the strength His joy brings! In God we can be confident!
So, how do we overcome? How do we pull down the walls of doubt, fear, and unbelief? How do we enter through the door of hope?
We are not limited to one way to do this. We can take a variety of actions that allow our hearts to soften and accept hope…
Repenting and disassociating from fear, doubt, and unbelief is one key to finding the hope we need.
Another is giving hope to others. Not allowing the fear of missing out to dissuade us from giving. But why is giving an important action? How does it release our breakthrough?
When we give—or fail to—we are deciding the measure that is to be used to give to us. By giving with a generous heart and out of love, by refusing to allow fear to dictate our giving… then we essentially are choosing a good, full measure. One that will be used to give back to us, by God Himself! Further, God will not just pour out until we are filled; He will continue to fill us! He will have us overflow in all the wonderful things He has in store for us!
We have a good God. A generous God. One who desires us to have every good and perfect gift.
Just because we have experienced disappointed hopes in the past does not mean that our Father will not allow any of our hopes to come to fruition. He sees the whole picture. He knows what is best for us. And what He has planned for each of us is beyond all that we could ask or think…
He loves us!
That means that He has planned something so good for us, that it is beyond any hope…
We can trust Him to fulfill His Word. For our God is not a man that He should lie (see Numbers 23:19). He will answer and see to it that everything He has decreed and promised will come to pass!
Giving is a Blessing
We know that giving is better than receiving (see Acts 20:35). And we know that our giving in many ways determines the measure we ourselves will receive (see Matthew 7:2, Mark 4:24, and Luke 6:38). But what is it about giving that is such an important principle?
Our God is a great giver. He has given us our being, dominion, and even the ability to talk like He does! He has given us His love, everything we need… even His very life!
We are made in God’s image; meant to emulate our Father in Heaven.
With the knowledge that we are made in the image of our God who loves to give… not just enough to sustain, but extravagantly… we begin to understand why we are meant to give. Not only to those who are in our immediate family or circle of friends, but to all those the Father asks us to give. And this giving is not simply in money or presents, it is in love, generosity, joy, hope…
It is not limited to those areas where blessings have been given to us, but also in those areas where we are lacking. Because it is often the key to tearing down the walls we have built up. Reminding us of the wonderful nature of our God!
When we give, others are blessed. God is filled with joy. Our books in Heaven are lined with good things. And the blessings that our Father so greatly desires us to have are not hindered… creating an overflowing and abundance of blessings in our lives!
Complete, Abounding Favor
When we give, we receive. That is a unique and beautiful characteristic of giving. However, it is not the only reason we should give.
Instead, giving should come from other areas—for Kingdom good and out of love—with goals that are not limited to the known reward.
Certainly, we are not meant to be ignorant of how giving releases an outpouring—God did not create us to be ignorant of Kingdom details—however, just as we are meant to keep our eyes on God’s face and not what is in His hands, we are meant to give without focusing exclusively on what we may receive.
We ought to be moved by things that draw our focus in the right direction. To choose to give based on things such as:
- God and His Kingdom; being Kingdom minded
- Fulfilling what is written in our books in Heaven
- Becoming more like our Heavenly Father
- Walking in love
- Giving God the glory
- Creating disciples
Certainly, there are other good reasons why we ought to give where God directs us… but in these few we see how much God, His Kingdom, and His principles are involved.
When we give, we are trying to be like our Father. We are choosing to study the ‘family business.’ To walk in the Kingdom principles we were all created to follow!
It is not legalistic. It is not tied to ‘trying to get on God’s good side.’ God already loves us. He loved us while we were still sinners. He gave His life for us! And there is nothing we can do to earn what was given so freely. But we can choose to be like our Father. We can give and, through giving, discover untold blessings and favor; of true wholeness, that can only be realized through our Father! We can live life abundantly!
