WEBVTT - Michele Jackson - Oct 13 - 3:30 pm 0:00:01.290 --> 0:00:05.370 Welcome to Converge Podcast with Michelle Jackson. Converge, where the 0:00:05.430 --> 0:00:07.470 flow of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God 0:00:07.550 --> 0:00:10.610 come together. It's in the flow where pioneers and emerging 0:00:10.670 --> 0:00:13.690 leaders run together to fulfill the call of God in 0:00:13.730 --> 0:00:14.630 this new era. 0:00:16.310 --> 0:00:16.989 Hi, everybody. 0:00:17.010 --> 0:00:19.960 It's Michelle Jackson. We're going to be talking about faith 0:00:20.100 --> 0:00:23.700 and hope and the relationship they have. Let's go straight 0:00:23.739 --> 0:00:27.120 to Hebrews chapter 11. And I'm going to be reading 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:31.780 in the New Living Translation today. And it reads, faith 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.480 shows the reality of what we hope for. It is 0:00:35.540 --> 0:00:38.710 the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, 0:00:38.770 --> 0:00:41.970 the people in days of old earned a good reputation. 0:00:42.310 --> 0:00:45.670 By faith, we understand that the entire universe was formed 0:00:46.170 --> 0:00:49.820 at God's command, that what we see now did not 0:00:50.060 --> 0:00:55.060 come from anything that can be seen. Faith and hope 0:00:55.080 --> 0:01:00.050 are powerful. The Bible is teaching us here That faith 0:01:00.310 --> 0:01:05.080 is a substance of our hopes. That it's the evidence 0:01:05.340 --> 0:01:09.399 of things that cannot be seen. In other words, your 0:01:09.540 --> 0:01:13.240 hope as a believer in Jesus Christ is not a 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:18.130 positive thought. It's not a positive vibe. It's not a 0:01:18.190 --> 0:01:24.709 positive affirmation. It is a spiritual force that gives evidence 0:01:24.950 --> 0:01:29.830 of God's power in the unseen realms. And your faith 0:01:30.770 --> 0:01:35.509 is the substance of those hopes. And so we serve 0:01:35.550 --> 0:01:37.710 a God we cannot see. We love a God that 0:01:37.750 --> 0:01:41.869 we cannot see. We serve him in surrender and with abandon. 0:01:42.290 --> 0:01:45.090 And so it's important for us to remember that our 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:50.360 hope in him who has promised the hope is important 0:01:50.380 --> 0:01:53.400 for us to steward. Hope is the substance that faith 0:01:53.500 --> 0:01:56.320 is energized by. Or another way to think about it 0:01:56.420 --> 0:02:03.140 is that faith is taking action according to what hope believes. Okay, 0:02:03.170 --> 0:02:05.890 so here's a practical example. How many of you guys 0:02:05.970 --> 0:02:08.210 are homeowners or have a place that you live and 0:02:08.230 --> 0:02:10.270 that you steward as your own? You got that in 0:02:10.310 --> 0:02:18.190 your mind? So hope is a blueprint for what you believe. 0:02:18.770 --> 0:02:23.150 Faith is the general contractor. Faith can only build what 0:02:23.290 --> 0:02:28.320 hope is mapped out. So sometimes we're wondering why our 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.660 faith is not working, but we have to examine our hope. 0:02:32.100 --> 0:02:35.090 Where is our hope? What is our hope in? What 0:02:35.100 --> 0:02:37.790 does our hope believe is true, right? 0:02:38.230 --> 0:02:43.470 So many times we have these mind maps of outcomes 0:02:43.510 --> 0:02:45.810 in our lives. We think certain things will happen if 0:02:45.870 --> 0:02:47.600 I do this, this, and this, and this. it's going 0:02:47.620 --> 0:02:49.700 to turn out poorly. If I do this, this, and this, 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:51.620 and this, it's going to turn out great. And so 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:56.560 we make choices based upon what we hope or what 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.660 we believe will be the outcome. 0:03:00.410 --> 0:03:01.549 Am I making sense? 0:03:02.030 --> 0:03:05.750 So based upon the outcome, we will believe or hope 0:03:05.790 --> 0:03:11.590 for something. And then we wonder, what is my faith broken? No. 0:03:12.250 --> 0:03:13.270 Hope is the blueprint. 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.859 And the general contractor comes in to build what Hope 0:03:18.260 --> 0:03:20.500 believes and thinks is the right plan. 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:21.340 Got it? 0:03:21.740 --> 0:03:26.720 So our faith is that general contractor. And so as 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.700 a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's really important 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:34.720 that we recognize that faith starts with believing. And what 0:03:34.780 --> 0:03:37.410 we believe is what we'll put our hope in. And 0:03:37.450 --> 0:03:40.170 the elders of old, all of the fathers of the 0:03:40.270 --> 0:03:44.030 faith in the Old Testament, you know, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 0:03:44.110 --> 0:03:46.510 and Noah, and all of these men of God who 0:03:46.590 --> 0:03:50.380 walked this earth by faith, they had a hope, a 0:03:50.510 --> 0:03:54.900 simple belief. in a supernatural God and a creator of 0:03:54.940 --> 0:03:58.820 the earth that was a keeper of covenant. And one 0:03:58.860 --> 0:04:04.160 of the basic aspects of faith is that it's how 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:07.500 we obtain a good testimony, how we obtain a good 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:12.170 testimony and a good report that's passed down. Come on, 0:04:12.210 --> 0:04:16.630 a commendation might be another word you might use for it, 0:04:17.710 --> 0:04:21.840 is by stewarding this hope and belief in God. This 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.940 hope and belief in God gives us a faith that 0:04:25.020 --> 0:04:28.690 is an assurance, a conviction of those things that we 0:04:28.770 --> 0:04:32.430 believe that we cannot see. And so I don't know 0:04:32.490 --> 0:04:36.150 about you, but I've been through storms and challenges and 0:04:36.470 --> 0:04:40.110 issues in my health where I had to believe that 0:04:40.230 --> 0:04:43.910 it's the will of God that I am whole. 3 0:04:43.910 --> 0:04:46.969 John 2, that the Lord wants me to prosper in 0:04:47.150 --> 0:04:49.570 all things and be in good health, even as my 0:04:49.690 --> 0:04:53.659 soul prospers in him. regardless of what the facts of 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.560 the situation were, there was a truer truth, which is 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.480 the word of God. And so many of us are 0:05:00.540 --> 0:05:04.110 dealing in situations where we see the facts and because 0:05:04.140 --> 0:05:07.320 of the facts, we begin to put our hope in 0:05:07.380 --> 0:05:13.430 the facts. We expect for what the facts to say 0:05:13.510 --> 0:05:17.490 to happen, meaning all people at a certain age have 0:05:17.510 --> 0:05:21.010 to deal with certain things. I don't know, dementia, diabetes, 0:05:21.390 --> 0:05:24.929 cancer other things I don't know what the doctor's report 0:05:24.970 --> 0:05:28.440 has been but there's a truer truth the truer truth 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.100 is that the Lord told his covenant people that he 0:05:31.140 --> 0:05:34.040 would take sickness and disease from the midst of them 0:05:34.620 --> 0:05:36.140 he told them that he. 0:05:35.980 --> 0:05:38.099 Was Jehovah Rapha the God that. 0:05:38.020 --> 0:05:42.120 Healed them And so the truer truth supersedes that when 0:05:42.180 --> 0:05:46.650 you begin to believe and have a hope that what 0:05:46.750 --> 0:05:49.650 God has said is true and that informs your faith. 0:05:49.890 --> 0:05:52.570 So then as you begin to believe, the Lord wants 0:05:52.610 --> 0:05:54.469 me to be healed. He wants me to walk in 0:05:54.510 --> 0:05:56.669 my healing. He wants me to be emotionally whole. He 0:05:56.710 --> 0:05:58.940 wants me to be mentally stable. He wants me to 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:03.700 be financially whole. He wants my marriage to be financially 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.700 whole and our relationship to be secure. He wants my 0:06:07.740 --> 0:06:10.520 children to walk in divine health. When we begin to 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.849 start to believe that, it begins to feed our hope. 0:06:14.270 --> 0:06:16.589 So today I want to ask you, what are the 0:06:16.650 --> 0:06:21.469 things and what are the thoughts that are building your hope? 0:06:22.089 --> 0:06:27.450 Because hope is the blueprint and the general contractor that 0:06:27.490 --> 0:06:30.150 builds on hope is your faith. And so we want 0:06:30.180 --> 0:06:32.860 to just get you stirred up today because the Lord 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.010 can speak a can speak one word, let there be 0:06:36.089 --> 0:06:39.370 light and cause light to be exposed and to be 0:06:39.450 --> 0:06:42.690 extracted from darkness. Can he not speak a word to 0:06:42.770 --> 0:06:44.990 you that would anchor and break you out of the 0:06:45.070 --> 0:06:48.390 lies of the enemy, out of the traditions of man 0:06:48.670 --> 0:06:51.370 that would try to supersede even in your mind, in 0:06:51.410 --> 0:06:52.820 your hope and in your spirit. 0:06:53.210 --> 0:06:54.400 What God can do. 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.560 This is the substance of faith. The word of God 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:02.190 is a substance of hopes and faith. The Bible tells 0:07:02.270 --> 0:07:05.680 us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.260 word of God. And so we've got to be able 0:07:08.310 --> 0:07:11.510 to hear that word and then begin to believe it 0:07:11.910 --> 0:07:13.650 and then begin to align our. 0:07:13.690 --> 0:07:14.980 Hopes with it. 0:07:15.460 --> 0:07:18.810 Come on, this is risky business. Walking by faith is 0:07:18.910 --> 0:07:22.590 risky business because sometimes it's going to cause us to 0:07:22.630 --> 0:07:25.990 begin to abandon the things that we've held true our 0:07:26.050 --> 0:07:29.130 whole lives. Come on, sometimes there are words that we've 0:07:29.180 --> 0:07:33.480 believed forever. You'll never be able to X or you'll never. 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:34.320 Live beyond this. 0:07:34.380 --> 0:07:37.760 We placed and other people have placed limitations on us. 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.230 But Jesus said in John 10, 10, I came to 0:07:40.260 --> 0:07:44.450 give you life. And life more abundantly. I came to 0:07:45.190 --> 0:07:49.220 allow you, John 16, 33. I came so that you 0:07:49.260 --> 0:07:51.940 could overcome the world. Yes, there will be troubles, but 0:07:52.180 --> 0:07:55.240 I've come that you can overcome. And so some of 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:57.620 the truths of what we believe that are building our 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:00.280 hopes are not the word of God. So we've got 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:04.380 a great opportunity today. to begin to allow our lives 0:08:04.420 --> 0:08:07.700 to be built on the hope of Jesus Christ. Come on, 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.720 y'all remember that song, my hope is built on nothing 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.460 less than what? Jesus' blood and righteousness, not built on 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:16.900 what my mama thought, not built on what my daddy 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.880 said I couldn't do, not built on what my friends 0:08:19.940 --> 0:08:23.920 said was impossible, but with God, all things are possible 0:08:24.220 --> 0:08:25.280 to him who what? 0:08:25.930 --> 0:08:26.570 Believes. 0:08:26.730 --> 0:08:30.510 And so today is a great opportunity to begin to 0:08:30.590 --> 0:08:34.720 stoke your hope because your hope becomes your faith and 0:08:34.750 --> 0:08:36.280 your faith becomes. 0:08:36.010 --> 0:08:37.660 Your reality and your destiny. 0:08:38.660 --> 0:08:43.360 And so in Hebrews chapter 11, we see many men 0:08:43.740 --> 0:08:47.650 here and women, because Sarah's in here too, and And 0:08:47.690 --> 0:08:50.410 I believe Ruth and some others. So anyway, so there's 0:08:50.429 --> 0:08:52.420 some women in there too. But the point is, is 0:08:52.460 --> 0:08:55.800 that they began to walk by faith in spite of 0:08:55.940 --> 0:08:58.980 what the facts were. And so I want to look 0:08:59.780 --> 0:09:04.770 at Abraham because he was an amazing man of faith 0:09:05.590 --> 0:09:09.730 and it's, His righteousness is accounted to him in the 0:09:09.770 --> 0:09:13.569 Bible because of his faith, not because of his perfection. 0:09:13.710 --> 0:09:14.130 Come on. 0:09:14.470 --> 0:09:16.810 Some of us are thinking we have to be perfectly 0:09:16.870 --> 0:09:19.500 walking with God in order for our lives to be 0:09:19.510 --> 0:09:22.520 an example to someone. But it was because of his 0:09:22.740 --> 0:09:28.319 faith that he was counted righteous. And so here, let's 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:33.250 look at it. Hebrews chapter 11 says, Go to verse 17. 0:09:33.250 --> 0:09:35.510 I'm reading in the New Living Translation. 0:09:35.929 --> 0:09:36.730 So here we go. 0:09:37.429 --> 0:09:40.160 It was by faith that Abram offered Isaac as a 0:09:40.260 --> 0:09:45.339 sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received 0:09:45.350 --> 0:09:48.250 God's promise, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.020 even though God had told him, Isaac is the son 0:09:51.340 --> 0:09:53.500 through whom your descendants will be counted. 0:09:53.500 --> 0:09:56.000 Come on, this is the ultimate sacrifice. right? 0:09:56.010 --> 0:09:58.300 In Genesis 17, God tells Abraham, circumcise yourself. I'm going 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:09.390 to give you the son. that's the son of the covenant. 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.100 I'll bless your son Ishmael, but I have a son 0:10:12.130 --> 0:10:13.060 that's going to come. 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.859 To you through your seed. 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.460 That I'm going to establish my covenant with. And then 0:10:18.740 --> 0:10:23.479 the Bible tells us that later God asked Abraham to 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.110 sacrifice that son, which is an act of worship. When 0:10:27.190 --> 0:10:29.990 God gives us a dream, he always will test us 0:10:30.050 --> 0:10:33.610 to make sure that that we don't love his fulfillment 0:10:33.730 --> 0:10:36.400 of his promise, his fulfillment of his dream to us 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.600 more than we love him because anything that takes his 0:10:39.660 --> 0:10:43.620 place in our heart becomes an idol. And so Abraham 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:49.790 was willing to trust God to sacrifice Isaac. Come on, 0:10:49.850 --> 0:10:53.530 this is huge because so much of our hopes and 0:10:53.590 --> 0:10:59.410 dreams and even our faith gets all clogged Because we're 0:10:59.650 --> 0:11:03.330 holding so tightly to the blessing of the last season 0:11:03.750 --> 0:11:05.770 and to what it meant to us and how we 0:11:05.830 --> 0:11:09.050 allowed it to define us that we're not even willing 0:11:09.090 --> 0:11:14.450 to say, okay, God, if I have to sacrifice this blessing, 0:11:15.190 --> 0:11:18.189 what was the sign of your anointing on my life? 0:11:18.570 --> 0:11:20.510 What was the sign of your blessing on my life? 0:11:20.690 --> 0:11:23.500 If you're saying to me, let this go so that 0:11:23.550 --> 0:11:25.599 you can continue to progress with me, I'm willing to 0:11:25.660 --> 0:11:29.160 do it. And Abraham, being full of faith, was willing 0:11:29.179 --> 0:11:33.559 to sacrifice his only son, meaning right now he's going 0:11:33.580 --> 0:11:38.540 to give to God with no agenda. The very thing 0:11:38.580 --> 0:11:42.800 that was going to fulfill God's covenant that would establish 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.110 him as a father of many nations. He was literally 0:11:46.230 --> 0:11:50.510 willing to sacrifice the promise of God over his life 0:11:50.990 --> 0:11:54.720 for God. for whatever God would ask him to do 0:11:55.140 --> 0:11:58.459 in obedience, he was willing to do it. Wow. This 0:11:58.500 --> 0:12:01.240 is a heart of faith. This is a heart of surrender. 0:12:01.260 --> 0:12:04.680 This is a heart that will follow the Lord. And 0:12:04.780 --> 0:12:06.960 so here's what it says in verse 19. It says, 0:12:07.140 --> 0:12:10.090 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to 0:12:10.250 --> 0:12:14.609 either bring him back to life, right? Was able to 0:12:14.630 --> 0:12:16.930 bring him back to life. And so in a sense, 0:12:17.410 --> 0:12:19.990 He did receive his son back from the dead because 0:12:20.170 --> 0:12:22.690 at the moment that he was ready to take the 0:12:22.750 --> 0:12:26.150 knife and to kill his son, boom, a ram appeared 0:12:26.350 --> 0:12:28.860 out of the bush. Sometimes God wants to see and 0:12:28.890 --> 0:12:31.360 he'll test us. Are we willing to give up those 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:35.520 things that he's given us as a blessing in order 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:39.470 to be closer to him and to be in surrender 0:12:39.550 --> 0:12:43.710 to him. The ram was there. He did not have 0:12:43.750 --> 0:12:46.720 to sacrifice his son. He was able to sacrifice the 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.080 ram to the Lord. And so he received his son 0:12:50.179 --> 0:12:53.590 back and he received the blessing back. And this is 0:12:53.620 --> 0:12:58.610 a powerful picture of faith because we don't know what 0:12:58.650 --> 0:13:00.780 today's sacrifice will unlock for us. 0:13:01.530 --> 0:13:02.260 We don't know. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:07.280 I can only imagine what that act of faith did 0:13:07.340 --> 0:13:10.239 for Abraham in that season of his life and his 0:13:10.380 --> 0:13:15.270 personal relationship with the Lord. You know, sometimes when we 0:13:15.390 --> 0:13:18.729 realize that the thing that we've been pursuing, the thing 0:13:18.750 --> 0:13:21.939 that has consumed us, when God asks us to sacrifice it, 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:26.770 we find a place of satisfaction and contentment because then 0:13:26.790 --> 0:13:30.190 we realize, Lord, you're my great pursuit. You're my great reward. 0:13:30.230 --> 0:13:32.220 You're the thing that I'm after. You're the thing that 0:13:32.250 --> 0:13:35.179 I'm seeking more than this thing. And so I think 0:13:35.220 --> 0:13:37.420 it's so important for us in this season as we 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.939 look at hope and faith to really. 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.180 Think about what am I hoping for? What am I 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:43.220 believing for? 0:13:43.740 --> 0:13:45.910 We all want to receive that well done, good and 0:13:45.929 --> 0:13:48.699 faithful servant. And we want to make sure that that 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.310 our actions today, the things that we're believing for, the 0:13:51.350 --> 0:13:54.150 things that we are hoping for, the things that faith 0:13:54.210 --> 0:13:56.180 is building is going to get us to the place 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.660 of God being pleased with us. Scriptures say it is 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.240 impossible to please God without faith. 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:03.680 So today what. 0:14:03.580 --> 0:14:08.219 We're talking about is essential, necessary, and important in order 0:14:08.260 --> 0:14:10.550 for us to learn how to please God. So the 0:14:10.650 --> 0:14:14.270 very things that we believe, the foundations of our beliefs, 0:14:14.970 --> 0:14:17.470 are the things that fuel our hopes and are the 0:14:17.510 --> 0:14:18.730 things that build our faith. 0:14:19.070 --> 0:14:22.020 So today there may be some areas and some cracks 0:14:22.180 --> 0:14:23.400 for us. You know, I went through. 0:14:24.610 --> 0:14:28.810 a ministry process, and it confronted ungodly beliefs. Man, we 0:14:29.090 --> 0:14:32.360 all have them and they erode the foundation of our lives. 0:14:32.670 --> 0:14:34.900 And so we really have to think about what we think. 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.200 You know, you might not be able to have this 0:14:38.260 --> 0:14:41.420 kind of conversation outside of like your inner circle and 0:14:41.460 --> 0:14:44.580 with the Lord and really start to process how you 0:14:44.620 --> 0:14:48.560 think and and really evaluate, does what I think and 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:50.880 what I'm believing and holding true, does it line up 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.160 with the word of God? Does it line up with 0:14:53.180 --> 0:14:55.700 the principles of God? Does it line up with the 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.620 character of God? Because sometimes the things we're believing him 0:14:58.660 --> 0:15:01.900 to do sometimes are not in alignment with his character, 0:15:02.180 --> 0:15:06.070 with scripture, with what he has designed for us. And 0:15:06.130 --> 0:15:08.630 so sometimes we can have visions and dreams and we 0:15:08.670 --> 0:15:10.890 can believe they're from the Lord and But when we 0:15:10.970 --> 0:15:13.530 judge them by the word of God, when we judge 0:15:13.550 --> 0:15:16.650 them by the patterns of scripture, we can recognize that 0:15:16.750 --> 0:15:20.710 either those dreams originated from the demonic realm or they 0:15:21.970 --> 0:15:25.370 originated from the soulish realm, meaning our own emotions. 0:15:25.490 --> 0:15:26.250 Will, and thought. 0:15:26.730 --> 0:15:29.310 And so it's important that we just really kind of 0:15:29.330 --> 0:15:33.080 just sift through, take some time, you know, This is 0:15:33.150 --> 0:15:36.880 this life can be so busy. And even with technology, 0:15:36.980 --> 0:15:39.400 it seems like life is moving at a faster pace. 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.520 And so we have to be like super intentional to 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.920 really take a beat and really sit and think and 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.760 process through and really give ourselves time to really be 0:15:49.820 --> 0:15:53.860 able to say, OK, Lord, I want to go in 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.320 this time of evaluation. I want to go in this 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.590 place of stretch with you to think about. What does 0:15:59.770 --> 0:16:03.100 it mean? What are the things that I believe? What 0:16:03.130 --> 0:16:07.740 does this mean? Where is my hope being fostered, right? 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.540 What's an incubation right now that's going to produce a hope, 0:16:12.140 --> 0:16:14.420 a faith, and a destiny, right? 0:16:14.860 --> 0:16:15.850 What are those things? 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.550 Because we want to make sure that the fruit of 0:16:18.650 --> 0:16:23.030 our lives reflect things that are acceptable to him. 0:16:23.670 --> 0:16:26.630 So the only goal... that we can. 0:16:26.550 --> 0:16:31.410 Really have that leads to satisfaction and joy is pleasing 0:16:31.750 --> 0:16:35.050 the one we adore, the one that is a source 0:16:35.100 --> 0:16:37.680 of our joy and our contentment. So I want to 0:16:37.740 --> 0:16:41.520 pray with you because this story of Abraham is so 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.300 powerful in that we have a lot of things in 0:16:45.380 --> 0:16:47.800 our lives that we start to, that God's blessed us with, 0:16:47.820 --> 0:16:50.870 that we start to love, that then begin to exalt 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.930 themselves and then begin to crouch the place that only 0:16:53.990 --> 0:16:57.170 belongs to God. And I believe today is a day 0:16:57.190 --> 0:16:59.930 to get back on track with hope and to get 0:16:59.990 --> 0:17:03.590 back on track with faith because remember, hope is the 0:17:03.630 --> 0:17:08.200 blueprint and faith is a general contractor and faith will 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.140 build what hope believes. Father, in the name of Jesus, 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.080 we just thank you right now. God, I just thank 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.140 you for each and every single person that's listening today. 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.639 Lord, I just pray. 0:17:19.270 --> 0:17:24.340 That they would believe that you are worth it. walking 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.940 with you is worth it in this season, Lord, that 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.160 no matter what it looks like it's going to cost 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.620 in this season, Lord, that you would just continue to 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:38.150 establish them in their way, that when strife comes into 0:17:38.190 --> 0:17:40.810 their marriage, that you're still worth it, that walking with 0:17:40.850 --> 0:17:43.330 you is still worth it. When the storms come in, 0:17:43.690 --> 0:17:46.169 when a child is not behaving, that their hope is 0:17:46.190 --> 0:17:50.980 still built on you. When depression or or other things 0:17:51.060 --> 0:17:54.399 come against them, disgrace, shame, or other things try to 0:17:54.460 --> 0:17:55.300 crowd at the door. 0:17:55.660 --> 0:17:58.720 God, I pray in the name of Jesus that they will. 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:02.830 Remember that their hope is built on you and that 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.590 that hope produces a faith that can contend against even 0:18:07.910 --> 0:18:11.870 the hardest situations. Lord, I just thank you because your 0:18:11.910 --> 0:18:14.950 word says it's impossible to please you without faith. So 0:18:14.970 --> 0:18:17.370 today I pray that you would just infuse us with 0:18:17.430 --> 0:18:20.860 a capacity and ability to put our hope and our 0:18:20.980 --> 0:18:24.800 trust in you like never before. Lord, we've never walked 0:18:24.820 --> 0:18:28.340 this way before. Society's never been this way before. And 0:18:28.859 --> 0:18:31.810 we want to be a part of your remnant and 0:18:31.830 --> 0:18:36.310 a part of your kingdom, occupying people in these last days. 0:18:36.390 --> 0:18:39.250 And so, Lord, I just pray that you will help 0:18:39.390 --> 0:18:43.140 us to be content in you and to be like Abraham, 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.609 to be ones who, if asked, to sacrifice even the 0:18:47.630 --> 0:18:50.710 thing that would fulfill the call of God, fulfill destiny 0:18:50.730 --> 0:18:54.050 in our life, that we'd be willing to say, Lord, 0:18:54.070 --> 0:18:57.530 I thank you. And I'm willing to give it to 0:18:57.590 --> 0:19:01.250 you because you're the one who it originated from. In 0:19:01.290 --> 0:19:03.830 the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. 0:19:05.910 --> 0:19:08.630 Thanks for listening. The next episode drops in a week, 0:19:08.670 --> 0:19:10.880 so make sure to subscribe so that you are alerted. 0:19:11.230 --> 0:19:14.770 Head over to BeautyTradesAshes.com so that you can get this 0:19:14.810 --> 0:19:18.860 month's free devotional download. Also, if you loved today's podcast, 0:19:19.020 --> 0:19:21.220 please share it with a friend or leave a review. 0:19:21.900 --> 0:19:22.700 Until next time.