Don't Give Up Hope

Have you ever been in the middle of a faith stand, when suddenly it seemed like your faith just
quit working?
Maybe you were believing God for healing, or financial deliverance, or the salvation of your
family. Siritually, everything was in lace. !ou found the scritures that romised you what you
need. !ou were firing off confessions of faith like a machine gun.
"ut as time went by, your siritual battery began to weaken. #he ower you had when you first
took your stand began to wane, and you develoed a gnawing susicion that nothing would
haen.
$n deseration, you tried to shove those doubts away by confessing louder and longer. !ou
frantically tried to force your faith to work. "ut to no avail.
!ou wound u still sick, still broke, still surrounded by unsaved relatives...and wondering what
went wrong.
$n the end, you robably just chalked it u as a faith failure.
"ut $%m about to tell you something that will change your life if you%ll ay attention to it. $t
certainly changed mine. $t%s this& 'hat you e(erienced was not the failure of your faith...it was a
breakdown of your hoe.

Faith...or Desperation?
Most believers don%t ay much attention to hoe. #hey don%t think of it as very imortant. #hey
certainly don%t consider it to be as imortant as faith. "ut the fact is, faith won%t function without
hoe.
#hat%s because )Faith is the substance of things hoped for) *Hebrews ++&+,. Sometimes $ say it
this way, )Hoe is the bluerint of faith.) 'hen hoe is lost, faith loses its aim. $t no longer has a
mission to accomlish. $t just scatters uselessly in every direction.
$ remember one time in articular some years ago, when that haened to me. $ had given my
airlane to another reacher at God%s instruction, and then ordered another airlane to relace it.
-uring the weeks while the new lane was being manufactured, $ began to believe God for the
full amount $ needed to ay for it.
$ hooked u my faith to the romises of God and $ was going along fine for a while. "ut just a
few days before the lane was scheduled to be delivered to me, $ reali.ed $ was /01,111 short.
2s the delivery date grew closer, $ became more and more alarmed. $ started making faith
confessions as fast as $ could. $%d say, )#hank God $ have that /01,111. $n 3esus% 4ame, $5have5it5
$5have5it5$5have5it5$5have5it.)
"ut the roblem was, $ was no longer confessing in faith, $ was confessing out of deseration.
$ knew something had to change, so $ gathered u my "ible and my taes, got in my boat, and
went out to the middle of the lake to send some time with the 6ord. "ut when $ got out there, $
was still saying, )#hank God, $ have that /01,111. $n 3esus% 4ame, $5have5it5$5have5it5$5have5it5$5
have5it.)
Suddenly, the 6ord soke u on the inside of me& )78448#H, "8 9:$8#;) He said, )$%m tired
of hearing that. 3ust hush and let Me show you what $ can do.)
'hen He said that, something haened inside me. My hoe came alive again. Suddenly $ was
e(ectant instead of deserate. $ started eagerly anticiating what God was about to do, instead
of fearing what would haen if He didn%t come through in this situation.
Sure enough, the /01,111 $ needed for that airlane came in and the ilot who delivered it to me
ended u getting saved and filled with the Holy Sirit in the rocess. "ut none of that would
have haened if $ hadn%t ulled aside, locked myself away with the 'ord for several hours, and
let the Sirit of God rebuild and rekindle the hoe inside me.

Supernatural Expectancy
"efore you can understand how imortant hoe is, you have to reali.e that real, "ible hoe is not
)wishing.) #hat%s worldly hoe. <eole in the world say, )$ sure wish $ would get a raise at
work,) when what they mean is, )$ want a raise. $ don%t think $ will get it...but it would be nice if
$ did.)
#he kind of hoe the 'ord of God talks about is much stronger than that because it%s not based
on wishing or wanting. $t is based on your covenant with God and the anointing God has
rovided to carry out that covenant in your life.
$n fact, 8hesians 0&+0 says before you knew 3esus, you were )...without =hrist >or without the
anointing?, being aliens from the commonwealth of $srael, and strangers from the covenants of
romise, having no hoe, and without God in the world.)
)"ut "rother =oeland,) you say, )$%m a believer. $ know God%s romises. -oesn%t that mean $
have all the hoe $ need?)
4ot necessarily. !ou see, hoe comes when you take those romises, kee them before your eyes
and in your ears until they begin to build an image inside you. Hoe comes when you begin to
see yourself with what God has romised you 5 instead of seeing yourself without it.
'hen you have hoe, you have a suernatural e(ectancy that what God has romised will come
to ass in your life.
#he 2ostle <aul talks about that kind of suernatural e(ectancy in <hiliians +&+@501 where
he says, )$ know that this shall turn to my salvation through your rayer, and the suly of the
Sirit of 3esus =hrist, 2ccording to my earnest e(ectation and my hoe, that in nothing $ shall
be ashamed....)
$n that scriture, <aul uses two different words from the Greek language, each of which can be
translated hoe. Ane of them means the hay anticiation of good. #he other can be defined as
eager longing, strained e(ectancy, watching with an outstretched head, and abstraction from
anything else that might engage the attention.
'hen divine hoe comes alive in you, you%re so locked in on the 'ord of God, you can%t be
distracted from it. $ know what that%s like. #here have been times in my life when $ was so
focused on something God had called me to do, and $ was so tuned in to what the 'ord said
about it, $ couldn%t think about anything else.
<eole would try to have a conversation with me and $%d always end u talking about my hoe. $t
would come u so big inside me that at those times, $ was bigger on the inside than $ was on the
outside.

'hen your hoe gets that strong, it doesn%t matter what kind of unbelief the devil tries to throw
your way, it just bounces off you. !ou%re so one5track5minded, you can%t be drawn off course.
"ack when Gloria and $ first found out about faith, $ was like that all the time. $f someone
walked u to me and said something that sounded like unbelief, $ would just e(lode all over
them; *$%m still like that, actually, $%ve just learned to be a little more gentle about it.,
Ane night $ was in a bookstore in a church where $ was reaching when such an e(losion took
lace. $ had steed u to the cash register to buy my book and when $ reached in my ocket to
get my money, $ sniffed.
$ just sniffed; $ don%t know why $ did it. $ guess $ just felt like sniffing. 'hen $ did, the lady
running the bookstore said to me, )$s it a cold or hay fever?)
2lmost before $ knew what $ was doing, $ had oened my mouth and started surting the 'ord as
fast as $ could talk.
"THE WOD OF THE !"#"$G GOD S%&S "$ Galatians '()'* "'+ EDEE+ED FO+
THE ,USE OF THE !%W. Deuterono-y ./(0) S%&S %!! S",1$ESS %$D D"SE%SE
%E U$DE THE ,USE %$D " %+ EDEE+ED FO+ THE ,USE OF H%&
FE#E. " DO$'T H%#E ,O!DS* "$ 2ESUS' $%+E3 "'#E 4EE$ W%SHED "$ THE
4!OOD OF 2ESUS3 %$D 4& 2ESUS' ST"5ES " %+ HE%!ED3 HE 4OE +&
S",1$ESSES %$D ,%"ED +& D"SE%SES...."
$ nearly inned that lady to the wall with the 'ord of God. Binally, she e(claimed, )Borgive me,
"rother =oeland. $ knew $ was in trouble when $ said that; "ut $ finally understand what you%ve
been reaching about. $%ve had migraine headaches all my life. $ have one right now, but if you%ll
lay your hand on me, $%ll be healed.)
$ did 5 and she was;
'hat haened to her? #hat e(losion of the 'ord went into her heart and suddenly she could
see herself healed. Her hoe came to a cris sharness. She saw an inner image of who she is in
=hrist 3esus and that no migraine could stay on her body. #he minute she did, the force of faith
went to work and brought that image to ass;
#hat%s what the "ible means when it says )faith is the substance of things hoed for;)
Stic6 &our $ec6 Out
How do you develo that kind of hoe? !ou stay in the 'ord until your neck stretches out. $
articularly like that art of the definition of hoe because $ know what it means to have your
neck stretched.
'hen $ was a little boy, my grandfather was my hero. He was a full5blooded =herokee $ndian
and $ wanted to act like him, look like him, curse like him, chew tobacco like him and sit like
him 5 much to my mother%s chagrin. 'hen my mother would tell me that he and my grandmother
were coming to see us, $ would get so e(cited $ could hardly wait.
8very minute or two, $%d run to the window to see if they had arrived. 8very noise sent me
running for the door. $ tell you, my neck was stretched out in anticiation. My <awaw was
coming and $ e(ected him any moment.
#hat may sound like a silly e(amle, but the 6ord once told me if eole would just e(ect Him
to move as much as a child e(ects his grandarents to arrive, He could move on their situation
and change things drastically by the ower of His Sirit.
#hat%s what haened in 2cts C to the criled man at the gate "eautiful. He had been sitting by
that gate begging, his head down and his eyes to the ground. "ut when <eter and 3ohn walked by
and said, )6ook on us;) that man lifted his head and began to e(ect.
Hoe rose u in him because he was )...e(ecting to receive something of them) *verse D,.
Af course, he received a lot more than he was e(ecting 5 he e(ected alms, but he got legs;
#hat%s because his e(ectancy hooked into their e(ectancy 5 and, believe me, their e(ectancy
was running high;
$t hadn%t been more than a few days since 3esus had risen from the dead, defeated the devil and
all of hell with him. $t hadn%t been but a few days since 3esus had looked the disciles straight in
the eye and said, )4ow, you go into all the world and use My 4ame to cast out devils. !ou lay
hands on the sick and they%ll recover) *see Mark +E&+D5+F,.
$ can just imagine <eter saying, )Hey, 3ohn, you know that criled beggar down there by the
temle? =ome on, let%s go use the 4ame on him;)
#hey could see themselves doing what 3esus said they could do. #heir hoe was )white hot.) So
they went charging down to the temle and said to that crile, )...in the 4ame of 3esus =hrist of
4a.areth rise u and walk.)
'hen they said it, they grabbed him. He had to walk, brother; #hey yanked him comletely off
the ground;
'hat made them do such a thing? 8(ectancy;
#hey didn%t titoe u to that gate, look around to make sure no one was watching and then
whiser, )-ear 6ord, if it be #hy will, heal this oor criled man.)
#he only eole who ray )if it be #hy will) are those who don%t have any hoe or e(ectancy.
$f you%ve been raying that way, sto it; Go to the 'ord and find out what God%s will is. #he
'ord of God is His will. $t is His will for you to be well. $t is His will for you to be roserous.
$t is His will for you to lay hands on the sick and it is His will for them to recover.
So stay in the 'ord until you%re so confident and e(ectant that your neck is stuck out in
anticiation. Meditate on the 'ord until your hoe gets cris and that image inside you gets
strong and clear.
Stay in there until you%re so full of e(ectancy that when someone walks u to you and says,
)Good morning,) you jum on them like a chicken on a bug saying, )!es; "less God; $t is a good
morning. -o you have anything wrong with you? $%ll lay hands on you right now and you%ll get
healed;)
Ance hoe gets that strong, it becomes courage...and hoe lus courage equals the sirit of faith
in action;

The Spirit o7 Faith
#he 2ostle <aul refers to the sirit of faith in $$ =orinthians G&+C saying, )'e having the same
sirit of faith, according as it is written, $ believed, and therefore have $ sokenH we also believe,
and therefore seak.)
#he sirit of faith seaks; $t calls things that be not as though they were. $t makes faith
confessions 5 not because it%s )suosed to) or out of deseration, but because it%s so full of eager
anticiation and confident e(ectation it can%t kee its mouth shut;
#he sirit of faith says, )$ don%t care what God has to do, He%ll turn the world uside down if He
has to, but He will change this situation for me.)
8very time $ talk about the sirit of faith, $ think about my high school football team. Bor years,
the teams from that school had been losing teams. "ut something haened to the bunch on my
team. 2 sirit of winning got into them.
'hen we were sohomores, we were on the "5squad. 'e were the nothings. "ut we somehow
got the idea that we could win. 8very year the "5squad would have to scrimmage the varsity
team, and usually the varsity just beat the daylights out of the sohomores.
"ut the year our "5squad layed them, that changed. 'e didn%t just beat them, we had them
down by several touchdowns, just daring them to get the ball, when the coach called off the
game. He was so mad at the varsity team, he didn%t even let us finish.
'hat haened to that little "5squad? 'e reached the oint where we e(ected to win. 'e had
an inner image of ourselves as winners, and it eventually took the best team in the state to beat
us.
#he same thing haened to Gloria and me in +@EI when we went into the ministry. 'e began
to have an inner image of reaching the 'ord of God to thousands uon thousands of eole. $t
was +1 years before we could gather u more than a handful of them at a time for one service,
but we didn%t let that sto us.
'e saw the thousands in our hearts and in our minds and we just ket our necks stuck out 5 in
more ways than one 5 e(ecting God to bring the eole. Sure enough, He did.
Af course, there were some hard times. #imes when eole stayed away from our meetings by
the millions. #imes when $ reached to +I eole with the same intensity that $ would reach to
E,111.
#hat%s what hoe does. $t kees you intensely focused on God%s romise. $t kees you seeing that
romise on the inside, even when you can%t see it on the outside. $t kees you oerating by the
sirit of faith.
'hen you have hoe, the devil can%t beat you down. He can%t tear you down. He can%t sto your
faith from working. 8veryone around you can just sto in their tracks, but you%ll kee right on
going.
'hen the devil knocks you down, you just get u with a deeer resolve to hit him harder the
ne(t time...and harder the ne(t time...and harder the ne(t time.
!ou get to the oint where you e(ect God to move with such vigor that all the distractions in
the world can%t turn your head. 2ll the failures of the ast drift into nothingness. !ou can%t even
remember them anymore because you%re so absorbed with the e(ectation of what God is about
to do.
'hen that haens, you no longer sit around wondering what went wrong. !ou blast off into the
glory of God, laying hold of His romises and watching your dreams come true. !ou live the
kind of life that those who give u hoe will never know