Faith Without Hope

There are many Christians who are trying to believe God for specific things, when they are still burdened by a sense of despair.

Without hope, a believer will struggle to be able to believe the promises of God’s Word and trust in Him for even a short period of time. Without hope, a person will never expect good things to happen, and therefore, will by nature be insecure.

Galatians 6:15 says that faith works by love. Without love a person will have no hope, and without hope, they will never expect anything good to happen. Without hope, a person will always be living in a state of dread and despair – even when circumstances aren’t really all that bad.

Fear causes people to exaggerate the challenges they face. Remember the ten spies who gave a bad report in Numbers 13:31-33.

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 "There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
Numbers 13:31-33

It is for these reasons that many Christians seek after the promises of God in such a short time frame. They are trying to implement faith without dispelling fear and implementing hope. Then they get frustrated when God does not bless them how they want, when they want. When this happens they get angry with God and those people who encourage faith in God’s Word. These people have a soul which is on the defensive, so they instinctively make up all kinds of doctrines to defend their position, provide an excuse when things go wrong in an attempt to make sense of what is happening in their life.

This creates a great deal of dissension in the Body of Christ, with some believing in prosperity, faith and healing and others being opposed to it. Unfortunately, there are many misnomers and extremes coming out of teaching on subjects such as prosperity, faith and healing. This further encourages those opposed to seeing the power of God moving in His people, on this earth and in this time.

Most of the time it is not faith teaching which is at fault, but the attitude and motives of fearful, insecure believers who try to make it work for them in a way that God does not intend.