Hope and patience are the twin pillars of our faith. Our faith needs to be supported with both of these. Without them, our faith will crumble.
Therefore, we need to understand the role hope and patience have in our standing on faith. Not understanding hope and patience is the cause for many Christians to fail when standing on their faith.
Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. Romans 8:24-25 CSB)
Here we have hope, patience, and faith all in one passage from Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians. The three are intertwined and inseparable. Take faith away and there is no need for hope or patience. Removing either hope or patience and faith will fail without their support.
In this article, I will share with you what God has taught me concerning hope and patience being the twin pillars supporting our faith.
Hope and Our Faith
Let’s start with hope first.
What is Bible hope? Hope is the goal-setter for our faith. We take the promises of God from His Word and build an image of what we are hoping for. Then our faith takes hold of the image and brings it into reality.
Hope is to our faith like what a thermostat is for a furnace. We set our thermostat for the temperature we desire and then the furnace goes to work and makes that temperature a reality.
This is what hope does for our faith. Without hope, our faith has no goal. With no goal, our faith sits idle.
The key to this is based on what we build our hope on. Just like when building a house. If the foundation isn’t solid, the house will come crashing down. If our hope doesn’t have a solid foundation it will crash and bring our faith down with it.
No hope – no faith.
How to Build Hope With a Solid Foundation
So if hope is one of two pillars necessary to support our faith, then we need to know how to build our hope. There is a lot of false information concerning hope. Most often it is called “positive thinking”. This is not biblical hope.
When people practice “positive thinking”, they keep saying what they want to happen. Then it is supposed to come to pass. There is no reason for their “positive thinking” except they want it to happen.
Biblical hope is different. Biblical hope is built upon God’s promises. This is what provides the solid foundation for hope. When we use the Bible to build our hope, we are building it on the Truth. Truth never changes.
How to Build a Solid Hope
It isn’t difficult to build a solid hope that will withstand any storm that comes against your faith. Let’s look at the five-step process.
The 5 Step Process to Building True Hope
- Identify your need.
- Find the promises of God that solve the need.
- Say what God says about your need.
- Patiently stand in faith.
- Thank God for the answer before you even see the answer.
That is the five-step process anyone can do.
How Patience Works With Hope
Without patience augmenting our hope, faith would crash. We need patience along with hope to be able to stand in faith. Why? Because the answer to our need doesn’t always come immediately. To have God’s promise come to pass, we may have to stand, and stand, and stand, and stand before it comes to pass.
Look at Abraham, the father of our faith. He was seventy-five years old when God said to him, “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2 CSB)
Abraham was seventy-five years old with a barren wife and no children. He believed God’s promise for twenty-five years for it to come to pass. Finally, at one hundred years old, Sarah gives birth to his heir, Isaac. Twenty-five years of standing in faith.
Abraham’s Patience
Look at what Paul said about Abraham’s faith.
This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all. As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. (Romans 4:16-21 CSB)
As you read that passage pay special attention to the emphasized portions. All of God’s promises come by faith. Abraham believed God’s promise over the evidence that his body and Sarah’s womb were dead. Why? Because he was fully convinced that God would do what He said He would.
Patience is Endurance
Many translations translate patience as endurance. That is exactly what this patience is. It is endurance. It is enduring in faith until God’s promises come to pass. It is hoping in the Word when there is no reasonable human hope.
Without patience, we would receive very few of God’s promises with our faith. This is why so many Christians never see God’s promises come to pass in their life. They don’t have the endurance to last until it happens.
Sure, they stand for a few days, or even a week or two. But then, they give up and say believing in faith doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for them because they quit too soon. Probably just before it would have happened in their life.
Hope and Patience: The Twin Pillars for Our Faith
Develop your hope on God’s Word. Remember what God said concerning His Word, “So my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.” (Isaiah 55:11 CSB) That is God’s guarantee concerning His Word.
Then add patience with your hope. Be fully convinced what God promised, He will make come to pass. Then don’t waver. Stand for as long as it takes to receive God’s promise.
(If you want to learn more about unwavering faith, you can read about it in my article HERE.)
The Challenge
I challenge you to use your faith against a need in your life. Find God’s promises that solve that need. Then stand in faith for that promise for as long as it takes to have that need come to pass.
If you will do this once, you will be hooked forever. Your life will change using your faith as long as it is supported by hope and patience.
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