David & Linda Barnard

Hope & Faith

"The very thing they were delivered from was now chasing them. What God had delivered them from…..was wanting them back. Chasing them, pursuing them. They either had to GO Forward….OR GO Backwards."

Hope II - Hope Will Help You Now
Thoughts & Mediation From Romans Chapter 8 And More

During the once a month 1st Wednesday Praise & Worship Communion Service at Fellowship Church, Grapevine, TX, I called out to God for the subject of hope as it pertains to me. Most of the night following and into the next morning I continued to read, pray and study. I want to share some insights the Lord gave me on HOPE. Hope not for my present circumstances, but HOPE for every aspect of life and service for Jesus Christ, present and future.

I. Hope Is The Core Key Relevant Word From Start To Completion Of Romans 8:24-28

Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? KJV
Romans 8:24 For in (this) hope we are saved. But hope (the object of) which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees? AMP Bible

Hope enables us to hang on through the tribulations, pain, hard times; develops patience, then leads us to faith. Faith claims, receives, accepts, welcomes, relies on what we have been hoping for. Hope has to be in someone with more wisdom, power, knowledge then we possess so as Paul is saying, it must be in the person of Jesus Christ. For many years when I was younger, I had hoped my life would change for the better. Hoped I would find inner peace, strength for overcoming habits, attitudes, guilt and freedom from sin. Hope directed me to faith in Jesus Christ. Total salvation. So hope was no longer needed. I now saw and experienced what I hoped for all those years. Freedom through faith in Jesus Christ to live in a relationship with Him.

II. Hope Comes Alive When The Word Of God Fills Our Heart

Romans 8: 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. KJV
Romans 8:25 But if we hope for what is till unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure. AMP Bible

God’s word becomes alive in our hearts. His promises open a whole world of possibilities for seemingly impossible changes in circumstances, events, problems, people we pray for; so hope comes alive. Hoping does not come up with the solution; but rather the conviction, inward hope, belief that some how God will work with the impossible bringing the hoped for solution. The solution we hope for but are incapable of knowing how it will become a reality requires the “hoper” (that’s you and I) wait (Oh I hate hearing that word but it is there) with patience and composure (Calm) until God brings our HOPE to reality and we see and take hold, claim as ours, BY FAITH.

I know that is says in Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, but I have not gotten the understanding how this would fit into my above statement of hope leading us to and take hold, claim as ours, BY FAITH. Maybe the Holy Spirit will quicken you on this line

III. Hope requires us to wait and depend on the Holy Spirit to intercede to the Father

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. KJV
Romans 8:26 So too the (Holy) Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. AMP Bible

So here you and I are hoping for something we do not see, do not understand how to ask for; something that is beyond our capabilities to make happen, but all the while you and I are hoping.

That’s when the Holy Spirit comes to our aid. He takes over in our weakness. Take at look at verse 26 “in our weakness” Paul says, the Holy Spirit prays though us to the Father for such unseen HOPES that we hold in our re-born spirit. The Holy Spirit prays, bears us up to the Father with intercessions and pleading for the HOPE we have inside us. Too deep for utterance. (revised –The Holy Spirit has access to inside confidential information from the Father that we don’t) You and I can’t even put into words what HOPE we are feeling BUT, praying in and thorough the Holy Spirit, He articulates, forms words, communicates in the Heavenly tongue understood by the Father.

IV. The Holy Spirit Intercedes To The Father For Us

Romans 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. KJV
Romans 8:27 And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is IN THE MIND of the (Holy) Spirit (what His intent is), because the Spirit intercedes and pleads (before God) in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will. AMP
The Holy Spirit pleads before God on our behalf. Pleads what? HOPE that resides in our heart for things yet UNSEEN, yet things that God will make, happen and allow us to see, embrace, take hold of as being in harmony with God’s will.

V. We Have To Know That God Is In Control. We Are Not On Auto-Pilot

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. KJV
Romans 8:28 We are assured and know that (God being a partner in their labor) all things work together and are (fitting into a plan) for good to and for those who love God and are called according to (His) design and purpose. AMP

The way the Holy Spirit is opening my understanding to these passages, Romans 8:-24-28 is as follows.
• Hope is the core key relevant word from start to completion
• Hope comes alive when the word of God fills our heart
• Hope requires us to wait (there’s that word again) with patience and composure (calm) And He (God) Who searches the hearts of men (God looks at our hearts looking if we are basing what we are waiting for on FALSE HOPE –Carnal, fleshly, selfish hope, hoping for things outside of the will of God) knows what is IN THE MIND (He knows what is TRUE HOPE – OPPOSED TO FALSE HOPE) of the (Holy) Spirit (what His intent is)
• HOPE helps us believe all things are possible for God
• Hope will become a reality in accordance to the will of God’s plan and purpose when we allow the Holy Spirit to take control of the HOPE.

VI. God’s Ultimate Plan For All He Allows Is To Happen Is To Conform Us To The Image Of Jesus

Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. KJV
Romans 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? KJV
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to (all) this? If God is for us, who (can be) against us? (Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?)

So what else can you and I say? If God is for us, who can be against us! Who can stop God?
• We can. You and I by not surrendering our past to the Father and asking for deliverance from our past mistakes, errors and sins.
• By giving up. Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
• Not waiting on God to do what He wants to do.
• By becoming the Chairman of our own “Ways and means Committee”
• Living with or having a FALSE HOPE. Hope based on something outside of God’s will for his purpose and plan for our lives.

Consider the instructions God gave to Moses. (Thanks to my life long preacher buddy, Leo Price of Leo Price Ministries, Oklahoma City for this great truth from one of his messages)

Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. KJV

Bring the hard things of your life to God. This is how the passage spoke to me listening to Leo’s preaching.
• We must accept God's SOLUTION.
• Some things are just to hard for us to handle.
• There are some things I just can’t fix.
• We don’t like NOT being in control.
• We must accept God's CONCLUSION.
• Don’t jump to our own conclusions.
• Let God do what He does best. The Hard Things!
• Cease from our own imaginations

Here is what I received from reading the command “and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it to me..”
• Faith in God-Is allowing God to do what you can’t
• Trust in God-Is allowing God to help you do what you can

Further Thoughts On HOPE & FAITH

In Exodus the children of Israel we in bondage; slaves to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
They prayed for hundreds of years for God to send a deliver; HOPING for a change. God sent Moses to lead them out of bondage Each time Moses went to Pharaoh with the command, “God says, Let my people GO” Pharaoh’s heart was hardened; hardened by God himself. Exodus 9:7 And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
Hope was killed each time Pharaoh did not obey the command of God given by Moses. Hope rising and falling was the daily, weekly process they experienced. Look at the following verses.

Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

God allowing hope rise and fall; as it were, testing them, seeing where their hope was, who it was based upon, who they were look to for their deliverance. After 10 plagues (One for each of the 10 Commandments, one for each finger of our hands) God sets them free.

Their HOPE is now a realty. They are free. Delivered from bondage. Off they go following Moses taking all the riches of Egypt with them. Happy, rejoicing and now Moses is the man set from God as their deliverer. But, once again HOPE is dashed Pharaoh comes after them.

Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
14:5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
14:9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
14:17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
14:18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

So here Moses and the children of Israel are now faced with a Red Sea in front of them, which in a normal circumstance was not a problem, for they could take a detour around it and go on with there journey. BUT, when they looked back from where to came, they see the army of Pharaoh pursuing them. I wonder what the children of Israel thought?

Oh, maybe we forgot some things back in Egypt and Pharaoh is bringing them to us. Perhaps Pharaoh has changed his mind and he wants us to come back and we will have get better wages, working hours of 8-5 with Saturday and Sundays off. Better working conditions. No it was none of these. He was coming to destroy them and their HOPE for better things to happen in their lives. No, here is what they were seeing. The very thing they were delivered from was now chasing them. What God had delivered them from…..was wanting them back. Chasing them, pursuing them. They either had to GO Forward….OR GO Backwards.

SPIRITUAL KEY - Move forward from HOPE to FAITH into the MIRACLE.

Exodus 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

Moses holding the rod in his hand and the Red Sea parts. Faith is a fact, But faith is an ACT. He obeyed God word and God did the rest.

I want to reiterate the thought of WHAT GOD DELIVERS YOU AND I FROM WILL STILL BE CHASING US. WE HAVE TO MOVE FORWARD FROM HOPE INTO FAITH AND THE MIRACLE OF GOD.

Jesus spoke of the unclean spirit being cast out of a person and what happens if they do not go forward.

Luke 11:24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
When God delivers us from spiritual bondage, habits, generational curses, soul ties to people in our past, guilt, insecurities, anger, demonic oppression or anything we know he has truly set us free from, we must go forward with a daily deepening of our commitment and devotion for the Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul wrote in the following scripture to all followers of Christ.

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

What the Holy Spirit is speaking to my heart is this. If a person, once delivered from bondage of whatever does not fill up the empty cleaned up life with a personal, daily relationship with Jesus by the reading of his word, praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, power from God almighty to live a victorious life, then the old spirit is lurking close by gets active. Ready to bring back with him seven other spirit worse then himself. Look again at the words of Jesus.

Luke 11:25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

What the person was delivered from has been chasing them. Wanting them back, like Pharaoh wanted back the children of Israel.

Paul commands us to do the following in order to keep moving forward from HOPE and LIVE in FAITH.
Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Thus to put on the whole armour of God to stand against the past coming after us; the present circumstances we mare be battling and future attacks.
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth (the truth that God has shown us that has set us free –David Barnard’s comments), and having on the breastplate of righteousness; (our right standing before god; forgiven, sinless, covered with God’s grace and mercy - David Barnard’s comments)
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, (our confession, based on our position of who we are in Christ- David Barnard’s comments ) ( wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation,(Protection of our mind, thoughts- David Barnard’s comments) and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

This closing scripture is added to my daily prayer which is, “Lord change my desires, for only then will my habits, and my choices change.”
Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Please understand all that is shared is on a first person basis – intended for David Barnard’s relationship with Jesus Christ. If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you too, use it. Apply the word to your life.