Hope That Does Not Disappoint (Part 1/3)

Break free of negative thoughts and begin to develop a confident expectation of God’s goodness toward you every day! In this three-part series, Pastor Joseph Prince shows you why you can continue to trust God for your breakthrough. Be encouraged as you begin to take this journey of experiencing God’s great love for you!

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I hope I get the job. I really need it.


I hope my daughter gets accepted into this school. It’s the best one in this area.

I really hope this condition I have will clear up and not get any worse.

I’ve heard many people utter these sentiments—and many more like them—without any sense of real hope that what they want to see will happen. Oftentimes, their expressions of hope are laced with discouragement and concern that the very opposite may happen instead.

How can we have a hope that is not left to chance or the forces out there, or to the whims and fancies of fickle human beings? How can we have a hope that is not affected by the mistakes we have accumulated, or dependent on our limited knowledge and abilities?

My friend, I want to introduce you to what I call “Bible hope”—the kind of hope that does not disappoint or play you out.

Why is it so sure and certain? Because it’s anchored to something immovable, unshakable, and utterly trustworthy—the love of Christ and His finished work at Calvary.

I pray you get this deep inside you today: Nothing can ever separate you from Christ’s love. Nothing can ever undo His finished work. If there’s one man you can trust a hundred percent all of the time, someone who will never
 fail you, it’s Christ Jesus. When you hope in Him and His love for you, that hope will not disappoint!

A MOTHER’S HOPE REALIZED

Anita, a single mother living in Virginia, United States (US), with her two teenaged kids, shared a testimony with me about having exactly this hope alight in her, giving her strength throughout her wait for her breakthrough.

Laid off from her position as a production supervisor in a manufacturing plant, Anita faced the very real possibility of financial strain in paying household bills on time and putting food on the table unless a decent-paying job came her way. Refusing to entertain fears and negative thoughts during her period of unemployment, Anita chose instead to look to the Lord, His love, and His wonderful promises for her found in His Word. She kept her focus on His grace as she listened to my sermons non-stop, playing them even while she was asleep!

Full of the Lord’s love for her, she prayed and asked Him for her dream job—a position as a human resource manager.

She told me how, in the months that came and went as she waited for employment, a deep abiding assurance and confidence guarded her heart.

Her hope in the Lord to provide what she and her family needed was so strong that when people asked, she just told them with unshakable certainty that everything was going to be fine.

What kept such a hope alive in her and what did it result in? I’ll let Anita tell you in her own words:

As I listened to the sermons, the love of my heavenly Father and Jesus became so true in my heart that I just knew everything was going to be fine. Whenever the bills were due, I would hear the Lord tell me, “Take no thought for tomorrow, My grace is sufficient for you.” Sure enough, everything always worked out fine.

After ten months, the chief executive officer of an organization gave me a call. She told me that she was looking through 
the former human resource manager’s desk and came across my résumé, and just had a desire to interview me. At the interview, she hired me on the spot! When I told her my salary expectations, she responded by saying that she was going to give me significantly more than what I wanted. Praise the Lord. I am now employed in my dream job and I know the Lord sent me here. It’s just wonderful!

What an encouraging testimony! The steadfast hope that Anita experienced guarded her heart against paralyzing fears and anxiety and possibly bad financial decisions during the period she was unemployed.

Her hope was unshakable only because she knew how much the Lord loved her. And she wasn’t disappointed.

The Lord never failed to provide for her family’s needs when they arose. And not only did He answer her prayer and give her her dream job, but He also gave her a higher-than-expected salary.

HOPE ANCHORED TO GOD’S LOVE

My friend, this is the kind of hope that I want you to have. Bible hope is a strong, joyful, and confident expectation 
of good happening to you that is based on the unchanging Word of God and not the changing words of man. It is anchored to the perfect love of our Lord and not to the imperfect love or ability of man. And it has, as its solid, unshakable foundation, the finished work of Christ.

This is why Romans 5:5 says, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” His love is what guarantees our hope. The reason you and I can “know so” rather that just “hope so” that good things will happen to us is that God loves us! And He demonstrated this love at the cross when He gave up His own Son to die for our sins. Now, if He spared not His Son, how will He not with Him also freely give us all things (see Rom. 8:32)?

Beloved, God does not want you to go through the storms of life with a wishy-washy, hope-so attitude, tossed to and fro by uncertainties, anxieties, and fears.

No, He loves you so much He wants your soul stable and anchored with know-so Bible hope—a confident, positive expectation of good from Him who doesn’t disappoint. He wants you to enjoy sure, steadfast hope that carries you through every trial to amazing breakthroughs and victories.

So I want to encourage you today to hope in the Lord,
 His love, and what He has done for you through the cross. If you are facing some financial trouble, I want you to go from saying, “Things are bad and I’m just hoping I’ll pull through” to saying, “I am confident the situation will turn around and I will be abundantly supplied because Jesus loves me!” Bible hope will give you the confidence to believe and say this.

My friend, you can live each day with a confident expectation of good happening to you because you are not like the people of the world—you are a child of the Most High God. You have a heavenly Father who watches over you carefully, loves you deeply, favors you highly, and has nothing but good plans for your life!

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>> Read Part 2/3 of Hope That Does Not Disappoint

>> Read Part 3/3 of Hope That Does Not Disappoint

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The Good Life – A Confident Expectation Of Good