With all that’s going on in the world, it’s easy to lose hope. In just a matter of weeks, one single virus has turned the world upside down. People are dying, crying, and unsure about the future. More than 30 million jobs have been lost in the U.S., and food banks can hardly keep up with the overwhelming need for emergency food and supplies.

Many of us are maintaining in the midst of this new normal. We’re biding our time and taking things one day at a time. Yet if we’re honest eFam, there is a subtle gnawing feeling each time we get an update from the news, or even just from our neighbors, families, and friends. If left unchecked, this subtlety can eventually eat up our strength.

Our last eBlog looked at faith from the perspective of the force we need to productively shelter-in-place. Now, let’s look at the importance of faith in retaining our hope.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). A substance is a particle, a matter that when amassed with itself creates a tangible, solid presence. (Sort of like flour or yeast does for us bakers.) So when faith particles bind together like dough, the individual pieces become unseen, yet together they form a solid presence of hope. Faith is what helps hope take shape. In other words, faith is the stuff that makes hope come alive! And, hope is key to enduring the cares of life to the very end. Without hope, our strength weans and we become weary. We need hope.
Why?

 Hope keeps us energized. (Romans 12:12)
 Hope builds our character trait of patience. (Romans 8:25)
 Hope pushes us to expect things to get better no matter the circumstance. (Romans 4:18)
 Hope gives us peace, joy, and strength through the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
 Hope helps us believe in the power of prayer. (Romans 8:25-26)
 Hope keeps us from feeling ashamed. (Romans 5:5)
 Hope even comforts us in knowing that a virus is not the only thing that can turn the world upside down! (Romans: 15:4)

“But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down…” (Acts 17:5-6 NKJV)

Our hope, produced by faith, also has the power to turn the world upside down! Our hope can strengthen us in the face of any adversity and help us see our circumstances through a God’s eye view.

Faith is the constant backdrop of our walk with Christ. It’s what enables us to accept Him as our Savior in the first place. In times like these, however, we must not only acknowledge the presence of faith in our lives but what it was meant to produce in our lives – hope. Faith is the main ingredient of hope.

So, keep generating more faith by adding a pinch of prayer, a whole lot of the Word, and mix it up with other believers. Use your measure of faith (Romans 12:3). Kneed the particles of it together constantly until it becomes an ever-flowing dough of hope. Build its layers into a spiritual cake that’s nourishment for your soul.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” 

(Romans 5:1-4 NKJV)

Min. Stacy Adams

VKMI eBlogger