Believing in God for a better future requires a faith much like lowering a ship’s anchor. It is a faith that sets goals and takes action that leads to positive outcomes.
By setting goals and taking positive actions, you activate God’s power in your life. That type of faith will mean ignoring the naysayers and doubters and pressing into God.
Going Beyond Hope
Leaving a ship’s port requires the crew to put their hope in the anchor. But when storms come or ships enter harbors with no dock, crews must put their faith in the anchor by lowering it.
When the woman with the issue of blood touched “[Jesus’] garment” (Matthew 9:20), He knew “power had gone out of Him” (Mark 5:29). But reaching out and touching Jesus’ garment turned her hope into faith.
Pressing through a faithless crowd by faith, she activated Jesus’ deliverance power. He turned to her and said, “your faith has made you well” (Mark 5:34), not ‘your hope’ or ‘my power’ but ‘your faith.’
Before she touched His garment, she said to herself, “if only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well” (Matthew 9:21). Hope caused her to see an opportunity, but faith caused her to seek that opportunity.
Activating God’s Power By Faith
To understand salvation, don’t look at it as only a future event, rather see it as God’s power laying dormant in you. That power will lay dormant in you until you activate it by pressing into Jesus by faith.
Differentiating between hope and salvation, Paul wrote of the “breastplate of faith. . . [and] . . . the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Hope of salvation is like having hope for a better future, whereas faith means taking action.
“I was suffering from depression and through the teachings on GOD TV I was brought to faith and was healed of the depression I was suffering from.” – Sofia, Norway
Activating God’s power to deliver you will allow Him to ‘convey’ you into the “Kingdom of the Son of His love.” That type of faith will allow Him to work through you to accomplish His purpose in you.
Holding onto the Hope of Salvation
In 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Paul told his audience to put on the “breastplate of faith” and the “breastplate of faith and love.” Hope is the anchor, faith is the act of lowering the anchor, and love is the chain that gives the anchor its purpose.
“I had to move and was feeling very alone. The first night in my new home I switched on the TV and GOD TV came on. Without GOD TV I would not be here.” – Gail, UK
So, faith and love are not exclusive, rather both are necessary to God’s purpose. One without the other is no more helpful to the Christian than an anchor without a chain is helpful to a ship’s crew.
Paul emphasized the importance of love when he said, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). An anchor without a chain is useless, and hope and faith in Christ without love is a “sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).
So, the hope of salvation is the expectation that God will deliver us from the storms of life. But “[we] are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation” (1 Peter 1:9). Our faith activates God’s power in our lives leading to positive outcomes.
The Cross as an Anchor to Christ
Anchoring ships to surfaces of oceans and seas provides sailors safety and security. Safety amidst tumultuous waves and security within portless harbors.
Just as the anchor of a ship serves a dual purpose, so also does the grace of God through salvation.
Paul described that dual purpose in Colossians 1:13:
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
Though grace is neither the anchor, the act of casting the anchor, or the chain of the anchor. Grace is the ship offering deliverance from the storms of life so we can experience God’s power to convey us.
So, salvation’s first purpose is deliverance and the second is conveyance. The woman with the issue of blood acted in faith and received deliverance from her infirmity. That deliverance led to her conveyance “into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
Running Your Race
In Hebrews 12:1-2, the writer called Jesus the “author and finisher of our faith” because “for the joy that was set before Him [He] endured the cross, despising the shame . . . .”
Facing the shame of the cross allowed Jesus to deliver us from the power of the darkness. And His deliverance power in us leads to His power to convey us into the Kingdom of God.
Pressing through a faithless world allows us to experience salvation’s dual purpose. We both experience and express His power to deliver us when we turn our hope into faith.
In this same passage, the author encouraged his audience to “run with endurance the race that [was] set before [them]” (Hebrews 12:1-2). Jesus endured the cross because of “the joy set before Him.” But those who came after Jesus are to run their race because “[they are] surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”
In Hebrews 12:1, he told his audience to, “run with endurance the race that [was] set before [them]….”
In Hebrews 6:18, the author said, “hope [is] set before us.”
Focusing on the “joy set before Him” allowed Jesus to endure the suffering of the cross. Focusing on the hope set before us will lead us to run our race by faith.
The hope of salvation, which begins with the hope of deliverance, is the hope set before us. We have that hope “as an anchor of the soul” (Heb. 6:19), but turning that hope into faith activates God’s power to deliver us.
So, the hope of salvation in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 is the anchor of the soul in Hebrews 6:19. It is also why Jesus said to His disciples, “For indeed, the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
After calling our hope in Christ an “anchor of the soul,” the author of Hebrews called it “sure and steadfast . . .” Our hope in Christ is “sure and steadfast” meaning it is active and able to deliver you from the power of darkness.
But the ability to deliver you is not deliverance, thus you must activate it by faith. Activating His deliverance power will allow Him to convey you into the Kingdom of the Son of His light.
Holding Onto Hope
Just as the author of Hebrews reassured his audience they did not need to lose hope, you do not need to lose hope. You can activate God’s deliverance power in you by stepping out in faith.
Though you may or may not experience the outcome you hope for right away, acting in faith will build your faith. And the more you build your faith, the more God will use you in ways you did not expect.
By turning your hope into faith, you become like the woman with the issue of blood. Her hope became faith when she stopped hoping and pressed through the crowd into Jesus.
Pressing through a faithless world into God will activate His power to deliver you. You can do nothing thinking your hope is enough. Or you can step out in faith, set goals, take action, and begin to live out God’s purpose for you.
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