Hope and the Heart 1 Corinthians 13:13 13 There are three things that remain—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. Love – the purity of motive that gives purpose and strength Hope – the vision that love brings to life Faith – the action that maintains movement toward that vision The necessity of Hope – when it is diminished, the heart is sickened and lack of movement causes faith to die. Hope not set correctly infects the heart Proverbs 13:12 12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. Without hope – no substance of faith Hebrews 11:1 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What to do when your hope has died, your heart is sickened, and you’re no longer moving? When you’re going through hell – keep moving. Don’t let surroundings determine hope – actively set it elsewhere. Hebrews 12:2 2 Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [Psa 110:1] Setting the Lord as our hope heals the heart. Psalms 16:8-10 8 I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. 10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. Psalms 73:26 26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. In Him/His Word/Promises Psalms 78:5-7 5 For he gave his laws to Israel and commanded our fathers to teach them to their children, 6 so that they in turn could teach their children too. Thus his laws pass down from generation to generation. 7 In this way each generation has been able to obey his laws and to set its hope anew on God and not forget his glorious miracles. Psalms 119:81-83 81 I am worn out waiting for your rescue, but I have put my hope in your word. 82 My eyes are straining to see your promises come true. When will you comfort me? 83 I am shriveled like a wineskin in the smoke, but I have not forgotten to obey your decrees. Christ has established for us an unshakeable place to set our hope Hebrews 6:17-20 17 Accordingly God also, in His desire to show more convincingly and beyond doubt to those who were to inherit the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose and plan, intervened (mediated) with an oath. 18 This was so that, by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before [us]. 19 [Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it–a hope] that reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil, [Lev 16:2] 20 Where Jesus has entered in for us [in advance], a Forerunner having become a High Priest forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek. [Psa 110:4] 1 Peter 1:3-5 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Set hope by considering His faithfulness over our failures 2 Corinthians 1:9-10 9 Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead. 10 [For it is He] Who rescued and saved us from such a perilous death, and He will still rescue and save us; in and on Him we have set our hope (our joyful and confident expectation) that He will again deliver us [from danger and destruction and draw us to Himself], There is a flooding of light by the Spirit that supernaturally sets hope in His calling Ephesians 1:18 18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), Intentionally divert from temporary expectations to assurance of an eternal one. 1 Peter 1:13 13 So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed.