Dr. Larry Ollison - Finding Hope When Things Look Hopeless

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Finding Hope When Things Look Hopeless

ISBN: 978-1-68031-202-7

Copyright 2017 by Dr. Larry Ollison

Published by Harrison House Publishers

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74145

www.harrisonhouse.com

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

(Psalm 50:15)

Bible hope is the intense expectation

and the confident knowledge

that what God has promised

is on its way and will come to pass.

W hen it comes to hope, there are two kinds. First, there is the temporary hope that comes from the knowledge of man and earthly wisdom. Earthly hope involves the soul which requires the continual management of emotions. Spiritual problems cannot be solved by soulish methods.

The second type of hope is Bible hope. Bible hope is permanent and lasts forever. This is because Bible hope is based on the belief that Gods promises have been established. Bible hope transcends the soul. It is established in the heart and because of this, emotions and surrounding circumstances are of no effect. This hope is eternal.

Biblical hope is different than wish or desire. Hope has the expectation of obtaining and the certainty of possessing. Hope knows the promise will come to pass, it just doesnt know when. Hope is ever expecting. Wish and desire can be accompanied by depression or despair because wish and desire can exist without the expectation of ever receiving. But hope is accompanied by pleasure and joy because it anticipates the good that is on its way.

Hope builds confidence, which is the highest degree of expectation, because the confidence is based on a promise from God. Hope on anything that is not solid is false hope and nothing more than a wish or a desire. True hope is grounded on substantial evidence that has been proven by God himself.

When Bible hope is established in your heart, hopelessness will become a memory. With the disappointments of life behind you, you will be able to step forward into the peace, rest, and joy that await you in the days to come, knowing that the promise of God is true. Your best days are yet to come!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

Dr. Larry Ollison

Your Dream Is Not Dead

O ne of the greatest hurts that can ever be experienced is living without hope. Hope is the spiritual force that keeps us moving forward. It fills each day with anticipation, excitement, and joy. With hope there is life, but when hope is stolen and our dreams are crushed, we are left with emptiness. Hopelessness brings the pain of loneliness and despair. The feeling of failure becomes almost unbearable. The Bible says hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12).

However, there is hope for your life. You can break free from the heaviness and fog that is trying to pull you into darkness. Like sunshine flooding a room when the curtains are pulled back, hope will flood your soul, and you will see the possibilities that the light exposes when you discover the truth that has been hidden from you.

God has a plan for your life, and His plan is glorious. While the forces of darkness want to torment you and pull you down, the truth will illuminate the promises of God. The truth will lift you up and set you free. There is hope for you.

If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:31-32

In the Hebrew language, the word for hope is tikvah . In Strongs Concordance (H8615) it is defined as expectation, hope and everything that I long for, but literally as a cord. Patient waiting is always a part of hope.

In English, the word hope is more of an abstract thought, but in Hebrew the definition gives a solid visual image of a bound cord, rope, or thread. Not only can the cord be seen, but it is an object we can grasp firmly with our hands. Hebrew Bible hope is not abstract, but something that we can cling to or hold onto.

In the Bible when the two Hebrew spies entered Jericho and encountered Rahab, they swore that if she would tie a cord of scarlet thread in the window that her entire household would be spared from the impending attack. In Joshua 2:21 we are told that as the spies departed, she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line (tikvah) of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your fathers household to your own home.

Joshua 2:17-18

In this story, the Hebrew word tikvah is translated as cord (or line) and it gives us a visual image of how hope should be viewed. Rahab placed her hope in the word of the two spies and more specifically in the scarlet thread. It was the visual covenant that she and her household would be spared when the Israelites conquered Jericho. The cord was visible, but she still had to wait for the actual manifestation of the spies promise.

This story of Rahab reveals how Bible hope should be understood. Too often people forget that hope is rooted in waiting. While it is not often easy to wait, hope and patience by their very nature imply that waiting is necessary. For Rahab, the cord in the window represented her hope, and she trusted that she would see what she believed.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.