Rise Up & Look: Our Lively Hope

Yesterday, I got home from the Rise Up Conference in St. Louis. The main focus of this conference was The Last Days and it was really an intense topic to try to tackle in a couple of days. Typically, when I've heard messages on the Last Days, particularly on our Savior's return, I get the feeling that the idea being communicated is a fear of the Lord's return and that this fear is to motivate me to be a "better christian". I was particularly encouraged by the perspective the speakers portrayed throughout the conference, one of HOPE as our motivator.


Joe Reese spoke on the Church in the Last Days. He reminded us that our salvation is not complete yet and that our hope is the consummation of our salvation, when our salvation is fully and completely realized when we are perfected in glory!

What do we know about our hope?
1. Our hope is unseen. It is real but is not seen and one day our faith will give way to sight!

2. Our hope is stabilizing. It is our hope that serves as an anchor and stabilizes our life.

Hebrews 6:19 "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast..."

3. Our hope is purifying. It is our hope that purifies and sanctifies our life. (more to come on sanctification in future posts)

4. Our hope is a confident expectation. Our Lord IS returning. It is imminent. And though we do not know the day or the time, we know that it WILL happen one day.

There are 3 principles which we can rest on through the Last Days:

1. Our faith in Him based on PAST personal experiences. We can hope today based on what God has done for me in days past. God has NEVER failed me and with confidence I can know that He will not fail me today because he did not fail me yesterday.

Daniel 3:17 As Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answer King Nebuchadnezzar "If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and HE WILL deliver us from your hand O, king."

Based on their experience of God's faithfulness in the past, they could tell the king with confidence that they would be delivered from his hand.

2. Our faith in Him based on what He's done for others. We can look all around us and see the grace of God. Others bear witness to His faithfulness.

Mark: 5:22-36 Jairus was there when the woman with the issue of blood was healed. He was there and witnessed the power of the Lord.

3. Our faith based on His promises. I have hope today because God has given me promises in His Word. God's promises are like checks that are meant to be carried to the bank and cashed out. Based on the personal promise that He will return for ME, I will NOT give up and I will continue on!

Romans 4:18-25 "...He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform...Now it was not written for his sake alone...but also for us."

All in all, I was encouraged as I realized that I have a lively hope in looking forward to the day that my Savior returns for ME. Yes, He will return for ME as His redeemed child. What a wonderful and blessed hope! It seems to me as though this Hope and love towards the Savior is a much more effective motivator towards Godly living than fear. And, it is THIS hope that motivates my heart to strive to live a life that honors and glorifies His name.

"Now hope does not disappoint..."

Do you ever find yourself discouraged with whatever season you are enduring right now? Things in life may not be turning out how you expected or how you planned, or maybe the job you have doesn't give you the satisfaction you thought it would. Do you ever find yourself looking at life circumstances and when you look around, you all the sudden find yourself in a "funk"? I don't know about you, but I know I've experienced the "funk" and I was reminded about where our true contentment lies when I read the following excerpt from "The Purple Cellar" in her post titled "Our Vital Need for Hope".

"Contentment is a choice, although at times it is hard to believe that. It just makes no sense. We would give anything to get out of the funk in which we find ourselves. But picking ourselves up by our purse straps just isn't going to do it. We need an answer; we need help. And if we do not get it, what starts out as a mild case of the blues can spiral down into depression, which leads to discouragement, and then, finally, to despair. There is a common thread in each slide we make down this awful spiral—a loss of hope. Each time we move a little lower, it is because a little more hope has died.


The key, of course, to not losing hope is to place our hope in the right things. If we set our hope on something, even a very good something, that we want in this life, we may well lose our hope, because there are no guarantees that we will get the things we want in the here and now. There is only one thing of which we can be sure, and that is God's presence and all the blessings that come with it. Our hopes will find increasing fulfillment if what we hope for is to know more of Christ. Our hopes will be realized if deeper intimacy with our heavenly Father is what we seek. Our hopes will not disappoint if we long to be free of our enslaving sins. We can bank our hopes on any and all of the things God has promised us in his Word."

I've recently been enjoying some posts over at "The Purple Cellar" blog on the topic of contentment. One post spoke that "Contentment is Always an Option" and that no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in or what season we are experiencing, there is always an option to choose to be content. But we have to be looking for our contentment in the right places, we have to be placing our hope where it will not be disappointed.

What a wonderful reminder to set our sights on the things above, to set our hopes where they will not be disappointed. And, the one place that our hopes can safely rest are in the promises of God's word. We find true contentment when we seek (and find!) an intimacy in knowing our Savior and seeking after the things that please Him.

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 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. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

Romans 5:1-6