“The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.”

A famous U.S. General said, “Hope is not a method.”  He is right and even in my own company, I used to ban the word “hope” from being used in concurrence with business plans and objectives. But, let’s not underestimate the power of hope for causing people to dream, imagine and innovate.  If vision is “A description of those things not yet seen”, then hope is the magnet that can get vision to come out of us.  If we hope for better, then we will be drawn to come up with our own ways to make it better. The word hope got overused politically and maybe we shy away from it now because we don’t want to get labeled, but let’s not give up on hope.  Audacious and outlandish hope may well be the breakthrough that you have been looking for (and hoping).

As Isaiah prophesied the coming of Jesus, he also described a world that was filled with audacious and outlandish hope.  You need read no further than Isaiah Chapter 11 to see how crazy he was!  Or was he?  Indeed he was not.  He gave us a vision of what our eternal future will be, the power of God and what the Kingdom of Jesus can and will be for all of us who believe and accept.  When we get caught up in being cynical, suspicious and doubting we are casting aside God’s hope for us.  Is there not a better time than now to let our hopes be unbound and available for others to see?  Let’s put aside the rest and let our hope that comes from Him spring forth this week. 

Reference: Isaiah 11:8 (New Living Translation)