STRENGTHENING HOPE
We discussed the concept of hope and made an important observation that hope is not just a-makeme-feel-good-emotion-or-thought that we choose to piggy bag on as and when we struggle with issues of life. It is not about selective choice of a miracle defined by self with passive engagement on our side. Hope demands far more on us especially if we seek to plant it as a repertoire to define our lifestyle to influence the totality of our human development. Hope comes with a cost on us to demands shift especially the position of our mindsets.
Notwithstanding, there are hope destroyers and or barriers to effective development of hope. Anything that is good is bound to attract opposition and therefore as we work on building a solid lifestyle fully anchored on hope, just know that there will be a counterattack. A counterattack that is not preempted and fully confronted, can take away the purpose, will, call and destiny of one’s life. Counterattacks on hope may come from an unbelieving and doubtful mindset and this can influence decision-making capability. Allowing negativity to infiltrate our thought patterns can be dangerous hence the need to diligently guard our hearts for out of it are the issues of life.
There is power in words and similarly, words are influenced by our thoughts and inner transactions including our spirit being. It therefore is imperative to be aware of the thoughts that feed into our language and to subject these to our positive influence. A worldview that is full of negativity can only be a breeding ground for destructive and unedifying talk. Therefore, clouding ourselves with environmental toxicity predisposes us to counterproductive sources of hope and this includes negative self-talking language. Anything that is permitted to enter our spirits, souls and bodies through our physical and spiritual senses such as eyes, ears, touch, taste and intuition colours the structure built on messages of hope. The question is what is feeding our hope and how do we sustain the level and extent of this hope.
Several strategies and means of managing our hope are varied and complexly weaved in many other things but in this context, we will be sharing and learning from personal and other experiences. Hope needs to be rooted in our daily styles of living and not be a by the way kind of thing called as and when we need to solve our pressing issues. When hope is inbuilt into our lifestyles, it becomes an integral part of our worldview hence it contributes to shaping how we structure our lives. If we therefore learn to train ourselves in seeing hope from a perspective that filters everything that meets this lens. By so doing, we come to know how to stand against anything that tries to disconnect us from our hopeful being. We also need to define what shapes our hope for there are diverse sources that shape our thought patterns.
For instance, the Word of God is one powerful influence that shapes the perspectives of life because the word is alive and active and the hope in it quickens our mortal bodies. We need to meditate and repeatedly think through it to allow it to sink into our being as we draw life into our spirits. We do this through the power in declaration, confession and pronouncing the good news that we know are spoken of us in divine order. By praying we also surround ourselves in fellowship by the same kind of spirit and that helps in cleansing and washing our minds to guide and direct our hope in the way we desire. It is evident that “Death and life are in the power of our tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Proverbs 18:21). We are also informed, that there is a “mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27).