“God Wants to Paint a Picture of ‘Hope’ in Your Heart Again”
Jo Ellen Stevens, Connersville, IN

Hopelessness is the dread that there is no future for you. This is why God gives us faith to fight this hopelessness, because He is a God of hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (TLB), “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” The enemy wants us to believe that there is no hope so that He can make us sick inside. Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”
You’ve Been Sick in the Heart
I am hearing from the Lord that many of you have been sick in heart, sick in body, mind and soul because the enemy, through delays, has begun to try to steal your hope. But God is saying to come to Him again, even right now. He wants to paint a picture of hope into your heart again. He wants to show you that He is the God of all hope. I heard Him say that this is how He wants to heal you! He is once again going to give you hope. Not the kind that says, “I hope so,” but the kind that brings the joy of the Lord that will be your strength—to fight the good fight of faith until you receive the promises you have been standing and believing for.
Not only that, He wants you to know that He loves you even though you are not feeling as if He possibly could. He wants you to know that if you make your bed in Sheol, He is there and still loves you! If the enemy can convince you that God doesn’t love you because you have not received the promise, then he can steal your joy. Knowing the love of Christ that passes knowledge is how you get through this time of hope deferred.
I hear Him saying that He wants to restore your hope! He said there are some things you need to do to get there.
How Not to Lose Your Hope
1. Get before the Lord and let Him paint that picture of hope to you (He did this for Abraham several times until he hoped against hope). Turn off EVERY OTHER VOICE that is AGAINST what He told you in the beginning!
2. Let Him show you how much He loves you and get it into your heart!
3. If there is a word or words that the prophets have given you which rang true at one time, war a warfare with them. 2 Chronicles 20:20, “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.”
4. Get in the Word of God and CAST DOWN IMAGINATIONS. 2 Corinthians 10:5, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…” Take every thought that is warring against that word or words you have received, no matter who it has come from. Cast it down immediately! Get the word and the promise and put them into your heart.
5. Worship God and praise Him for what He has already done in the heavenly realm. It is settled in Heaven, so believe what has been established and say it! Then act like it is the truth. Sing the word. Dance the word. Act out the word.
6. Live like you believe it. Kenneth Hagin used to say, “Faith is simply acting like the Word of God is true!” I heard of a woman who was believing her husband would come back so she began to set the dinner table like he was there and one night he was!
7. Then, having done all to stand, stand therefore with your loins (reproductive parts) girded with that truth. Then pray, pray, pray in the Spirit; you are praying His perfect will when you do! Do all of this with the knowledge of Jeremiah 29:11: HE HAS A PLAN AND A FUTURE. The God-kind of hope is an anchor for the soul (mind, will, and emotions).
Throw your anchor in and then you will stop being moved by these storms that are trying to shake you from your hope and faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and faith is what moves God’s hand. Know that your God is big enough and “magnify” Him as David said. Make Him bigger in your heart than your situation. Then watch as God begins to show you who He is!
God is Not a Man That He Should Lie
Hebrews 6:17-20 (TPT), “So in the same way, God wanted to end all doubt and confirm it even more forcefully to those who would inherit His promises. His purpose was unchangeable, so God added His vow to the promise. So it is impossible for God to lie for we know that His promise and His vow will never change!
“And now we have run into His heart to hide ourselves in His faithfulness. This is where we find His strength and comfort, for He empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time—an unshakable hope! We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God Himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone in before us. He is now and forever our royal Priest like Melchizedek.”
Arise Shine!
Jo Ellen Stevens
TCIC Ministries
Email: jostevensariseshine@gmail.com
Website: dstevens7.wix.com/tcic