Producing the Outcome of God's Purpose - Part III
The Attacks Against Your Hope
by Dr. John Tetsola

Last month we saw that while the wilderness was the school for the children of Israel, today we have the classroom of delay. The enemy’s plan is to wipe us out in the midst of delay, making us so spiritually anemic and hopeless that we surrender the blessings of our wilderness season. Hope gives life and healing to a believing heart. But when hope is gone, fear and despair set in, making the picture of your expectation bleak. The following are ways to maintain your hope to keep the expectation of your future intact.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12 AMP

Hope is a vital ingredient in developing and maintaining a believing heart. Without it, the strength of a believer’s heart gets weakened and eventually gives out. What is hope? Hope is the picture of your expectation that’s framed in the gallery of your soul until your expectation becomes a reality. Hope keeps your believing alive, and believing is tied to your manifestation. The enemy will attack your mind to replace the picture of your expectation with one of defeat, but fight back by keeping your hope alive. Hope creates the excitement, passion, and momentum to pursue your promise. If you continue to see the picture of your expectation in spite of what the enemy is doing, you’ll maintain the momentum of victory.

BEARING THE CROSS OF YOUR PROMISE

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2

Jesus’ hope and expectation was kept alive by His ability to deal with the pain and fear of His cross. Every single promise given to us as believers comes with a cross, and that cross must be borne before its manifestation. What does the cross signify? The word cross speaks of the responsibilities, attacks, difficulties, disappointments, and pain we experience as we make the commitment to pursue the manifestation of a promise or desire. There is no promise that will be easily manifested without the willingness to bear the cross for that promise. When Jesus made the commitment to accomplish the purpose and promise of God over His life, He experienced hostility, disappointment, rejection, shame, and pain as part of the journey to seeing the Father’s desire fulfilled. Without this revelation, the fear and pain of the constant hostilities and disappointments of your cross can weaken your hope, causing you to lose the picture of your expectation. This is dangerous because whenever hope is diminished, so is your strength and passion to pursue. Therefore, whenever God gives you a promise, know that you’re going to experience a cross. There’s going to be opposition, attack, and disappointment against the manifestation of your promise. But don’t quit and give up. Like Jesus, endure your cross. To endure simply means to outlast the problem. It means to pursue without yielding, and to bear up under the circumstances with the right attitude. If you will endure your cross, it will become a bridge of hope that leads you to success and victory.