In my quiet time yesterday, I put on a worship song. If I’m honest, worship music that I can bare to listen to is hard to come by these days. So much of our Christian music tends to put our focus on guilt, shame, and inability (the old man) instead of the new man that is already alive in us. I have found that if I continue to reuminate about my failures I forget about my authority.
But that’s a whole other blog post. ;)
A particular line in one song stood out to me. It said, “My anchor holds within the veil.” It comes from this verse in Hebrews: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” Hebrews 6:19 (NKJV)
Every time I think of hope I think of this scripture: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
When you put the two verses together they seem to contradict each other. Is hope an anchor or does it make your heart sick? And hope in what? Just hope for the sake of hoping?
God never wanted us to live in the hope deferred condition. He wants us to live with desires fulfilled. The key is putting your hope in the right thing. The answer to what we must put our hope in is found in the verses that precede Hebrews 6:19.
“Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument. So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath. Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.” Hebrews 6:16-18
There are two immutable things to put your hope in:
God doesn’t lie.
He guaranteed your inheritance of all the resources of the Kingdom of Heaven and sealed it with an oath by the sacrifice of Jesus.
I’m feelin’ like that is a pretty great place to anchor yourself.
Keep renewing your mind in everything Jesus died to give you. I say this all the time because I do it all the time. When I’m overwhelmed, frustrated, scared, sick, in grief, lack, or pain I recount what is already mine; what has already been done for me.
Here’s my list straight outta scripture:
· I have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything I need to complete my mission and fill my purpose is already here.
· Every promise God ever made to anyone is yes and amen for me because I am in Jesus.
· All things can work together for a victorious outcome if I will allow the Kingdom of Heaven to be my only reality.
· I can always be the head. I don’t have to be the tail.
· I can always be above. I don’t have to be beneath.
· God is always FOR me. He is NEVER against me.
· I am saved, healed, delivered, prospered, protected, anointed, set apart, holy, and righteous.
· This isn’t God testing me. He tested Jesus for me.
· Jesus won the victory and gave me the keys to the same authority over death and decay that He has.
Once you’ve renewed your mind to these realities your heart will begin to anchor itself in the right thing and you will begin to see desires fulfilled.
But if you keep hoping in “maybe God will help me” or “God can do whatever He wants whenever He wants so it’s up to Him what happens to me now” you’ll never have the faith to see what you’re hoping for through to fruition. God exercised His free will to give you authority, dominion, and the right to choose whether to partner with Him for your outcome or partner with chance.
In and of itself, hope has no power to anchor you.
Hope for the sake of hoping is not an anchor for the soul. Hope in the finished work of Jesus is an anchor for the soul.
Hoping with fingers crossed that God will do something will make your heart sick with fear of the unknown, longing, and desperation. But hope in the knowledge that the victory for what you’re facing has already been loosed for you in Heaven will anchor you. It will cause you to be immovable and unwavering about the outcome.
In a word, anchored.
And it’s the one who is anchored, immovable, and unwavering that is able to receive what they need from God.
“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” James 1:6-7 (NIV)
