Before you can understand how important
hope is, you have to realize that real,
Bible hope is not “wishing.” That’s worldly hope.
People in the world say, “I sure wish I would
get a raise at work,” when what they mean is,
“I want a raise. I don’t think I will get it...but
it would be nice if I did.”

The kind of hope the Word of God talks about
is much stronger than that because it’s
not based on wishing or wanting. It is based
on your covenant with God and the anointing
God has provided to carry out that covenant
in your life.

In fact, Ephesians 2:12 says before you knew
Jesus, you were “without Christ [or without the
anointing], being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world.”

“But, Brother Copeland,” you say, “I’m a believer.
I know God’s promises. Doesn’t that mean I have
all the hope I need?” Not necessarily. You see,
hope comes when you take those promises, keep
them before your eyes and in your ears until they
begin to build an image inside you. Hope comes
when you begin to see yourself with what God has
promised you—instead of seeing yourself without it.

When you have hope, you have a supernatural
expectancy that what God has promised
will come to pass in your life.  The Apostle Paul
talks about that kind of supernatural expectancy
in Philippians 1:19-20 where he says, “I know
that this shall turn to my salvation through your
prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
according to my earnest expectation and my
hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed….”

In that scripture, Paul uses two different words
from the Greek language, each of which
can be translated hope. One of them means
“the happy anticipation of good.” The other
can be defined as “eager longing, strained
discovering the power in supernatural
expectancy, watching with an outstretched head,
and abstraction from anything else that
might engage the attention.”

When divine hope comes alive in you, you’re so
locked in on the Word of God, you can’t be
distracted from it. I know what that’s like. There
have been times in my life when I was so focused
on something God had called me to do, and I was
so tuned in to what the Word said about it,
I couldn’t think about anything else.

People would try to have a conversation with
me and I’d always end up talking about
my hope. It would come up so big inside me
that at those times, I was bigger on the inside
than I was on the outside.

When your hope gets that strong, it doesn’t
matter what kind of unbelief the devil
tries to throw your way, it just bounces off you.
You’re so one-track minded, you can’t
be drawn off course.

Back when Gloria and I first found out about
faith, I was like that all the time. If someone
walked up to me and said something that
sounded like unbelief, I would just one word
from god can change your destiny explode all
over them. (I’m still like that, actually, I’ve just
learned to be a little more gentle about it!)

One night I was in a bookstore, in a church
where I was preaching, when one of those
explosions took place. I had stepped up to the
cash register to buy my book and when I
reached in my pocket to get my money, I sniffed.

I just sniffed! I don’t know why I did it.  I guess
I just felt like sniffing. When I did, the lady
running the bookstore said to me, "Is it a cold or
hay fever?”

Almost before I knew what I was doing, I had
opened my mouth and started spurting the Word
as fast as I could talk. “THE WORD OF THE LIVING
GOD SAYS IN GALATIANS 3:13, I’M REDEEMED
FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW. DEUTERONOMY 28:61
SAYS ALL SICKNESS AND DISEASE IS UNDER THE
CURSE AND I AM REDEEMED FROM THE CURSE OF
HAY FEVER. I DON’T HAVE COLDS, IN JESUS’ NAME!
I’VE BEEN WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS! AND
BY JESUS’ STRIPES I AM HEALED! discovering the
power in supernatural expectancy HE BORE MY
SICKNESSES AND CARRIED MY DISEASES....”

I nearly pinned that lady to the wall with the
Word of God. Finally, she exclaimed, “Forgive me,
Brother Copeland. I knew I was in trouble when
I said that! But I finally understand what you’ve
been preaching about. I’ve had migraine headaches
all my life. I have one right now, but if you’ll lay
your hand on me, I’ll be healed.” I did—and she
was!

What happened to her? That explosion of the
Word went into her heart and suddenly she could
see herself healed. Her hope came to a crisp
sharpness. She saw an inner image of who she
is in Christ Jesus and that no migraine could stay
in her body. The minute she did, the force of
faith went to work and brought that image to pass!

That’s what the Bible means when it says “faith is
the substance of things hoped for”!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries