Faith, hope, and love, are three pillars of the Christian faith. When you understand faith, hope, and love, that understanding can guide you into personal victory, and deep joy. Many Christians use these words, but they don’t have deep understanding of what they actually mean, and how that applies to their journey. Let’s continue on and grow in this knowledge together.
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
I Corinthians 13:13 NKJV
Think for a moment about why love is the greatest. What is it about love, that makes it greater than faith and hope? Love is the greatest, because love is the foundation of our entire walk with God. Faith and hope do not exist, or operate without love. God is love, so whatever is from God, has to be love too. If it’s not love it’s not God.
Hope is the confident expectation of good. Hope believes for good in the future. Hope is a resolve, that no matter what the situation looks like right now, it will get better. God will keep His promises, and because of that you can be optimistic about the future. If you know God, you know the eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, creator and sustainer of the universe. He dwells outside of time, because He created it. He knows the end from the beginning, because He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the alpha, and the omega. I’ve read Revelation. God wins. We win. Christ has won the everlasting victory. If you are in Him, that makes you a victor. That causes hope. But without love, there is no hope. Let me explain. If you do not deeply believe the love of God, and the love God has for you, you can’t believe in good for the future. Not consistently anyway. When you believe that God is love, and that He loves you, you will never fear the future. Hope springs forth from the knowledge that you are loved by an infinitely powerful and involved God. If God is in control and He loves you, it’s going to be ok. No matter what, good is headed your way.
“The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV
God’s love for you never stops. Because God is eternal, His love is eternal. Nothing can change that. Nothing can make God stop loving you. Your mistakes are gone. Your sins are paid for by Christ. He took your punishment on Himself. Therefore, you can hope. You can believe again. You can expect good in your future. Hope doesn’t disappoint.
“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.”
Romans 5:5 NKJV
God’s love is poured out in your heart. That causes you to hope. You rest assured in the Father’s hands; that He is bringing you to a good land, without scarceness and lack.
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
I John 4:16 NKJV
Love is necessary for faith to work. And faith is necessary to receive and walk in the things of God. What is faith? Faith is trusting and believing what God has said. Faith is believing God’s truth above what we see and feel. Faith is how we take hold of spiritual things. Faith is how we receive all that God has given to us by grace. Faith is not just agreement with, but total trust in God. Faith manifests the spiritual into the natural.
“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”
Hebrews 11:1 TPT
You can’t receive from God, or act in faith, without love . Love is the key. God doesn’t heal you because of your goodness, but because He loves you. Jesus didn’t die for you because He thought of some great work you might perform, but because He loves you. God won’t speak to you because of some religious pride you have, but purely because He loves you.
“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”
Galatians 5:4-6 NKJV
Every promise of God comes to pass in your life through faith. From salvation to healing, from deliverance to provision. It’s much easier to believe God when you know that He really is good, and that He really loves you with everything He has. Faith believes God for now, because God loves you.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
Romans 8:31-32 NKJV
God loved you enough to die for you. Won’t He do anything, and everything, that He has promised? Believe God to do what you are believing for, now. Live in hope, because you have a good, loving God. And rest in His love for you. If you will do this, you will live in victory, and abide in joy. You will dwell in mountain-moving faith, and do mighty exploits for God. That is refreshing grace.
If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life simply prayer this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”
Refreshing Grace 