True or False?

True hope just like real faith is based on the Word of God. If we hope for or believe in other things we’re likely to end up disappointed because the power to bring it to pass is comparable to the one who made the promise.

“Thus says the Lord:

"Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.

7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
Jer 17:5-8 NKJV

False hope comes from trusting in the ability, desires and dreams of man including ourselves. It’s fragile and bound to fail. No matter how bad we want something to be true it won’t come true just because we want it to. It’s either true or false and way to discern which is to consider the source. Who said it? Why do we believe what we believe and hope for what we hope for? Is it because God said it or something that we’ve contrived and derived in your own mind? If it’s our plan then we’re responsible to provide the power to bring it to pass and if it’s God’s plan then it’s by His power. Deciding our own dreams is like building a nice sand castle on the beach, we can shape it however you want, it’s beautiful and makes us happy but only until its put to the test. It can’t last or survive the storm because it’s too fragile. It’s not built from or established on the Truth of God’s Word. And when our own creation is swept away we look to God and say, “Hey! Why didn’t you wash away my castle?” And it’s because we can’t live in that false hope.

Matt 7:24-27
24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
NKJV

So our faith and hope and therefore our lives are to be founded on and established by the very Truth of God Himself. If we’ve been disappointed it probably because we’ve been making our own appointments. So it’s time to get back to what we know that God said for sure and especially the words of Jesus Himself. What do you know directly from His Word? Not from traditions and expositions but what specifically has He quickened to you? Because that’s what’s True and what He said He will do. And it doesn’t matter how long it takes. And we don’t like waiting but God always brings His Word to pass. Joshua and Caleb spent forty years in the wilderness at the funerals of all their friends, can you imagine? But at the end of it all they possessed the promise because kept their faith and hope in the God’s Word and overcame the many years of adversity. So even though the enemy would like to sift you like sand I’m praying that you will stand and that your faith will not fail. Hold onto the Truth because the longer you do the stronger you get and we haven’t seen anything yet!

Josh 14:7-12
7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. 8 Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. 9 So Moses swore on that day, saying,'Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.' 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. 11 As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. 12 Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said."
NKJV

Josh 21:45
5 Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
NKJV

Josh 23:14
"Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.
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Josh 24:13-15
13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'

14 "Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
NKJV