Power of Hope

There are no hopeless circumstances, there are only hopeless people. - 

• “. . . there are no hopeless circumstances, there are only hopeless people. And once people get true hope, circumstances cannot stay the same. Hope is an unstoppable force. If something’s going to change, somebody has hope. And one of my favorite definitions of hope is this: . . . hope is the belief that the future will be better than the present and I have the power to help make it so.”

• “Our hope level determines our influence level,” Steve says. “He who has the most hope has the most influence.” He explains, “I believe after love, hope is the most powerful leadership and influential quality there is.”

• “God loves to partner with unreasonably optimistic people.” Steve gives two examples of “unreasonably optimistic” leaders. “Can you imagine David going after Goliath today?” he says. What if the people around him had looked up, on their phones, what “the experts” had to say? They would say he’s about to die and he should go back to tending sheep or “life as it is.” What about Ezekiel? The experts would have told him, “do a deeper study on the bones’ dryness, so that you’ll become more realistic.” They would have told him, “When you speak to the bones, nothing’s gonna happen.” Steve summarizes it when he says, “God has not called us to be realistic, He’s called us to be supernatural.”

• Continuing with the Ezekiel story, Steve points out that God asks Ezekiel if he thinks the dry bones could live, because “what you think is gonna determine what I [God] can do.” Then God told Ezekiel to prophesy and Steve points out that “you can’t prophesy to something you don’t have hope for, at least you can’t prophesy life.” God needed “to partner with somebody who has hope.”

Lord, what should I believe? -

• Steve and Wendy, his at-the-time girlfriend, were saved as hippies. After being saved, Steve still felt that he had to “get saved again, just to make sure” anytime an altar call was given. Then God told him, “You’re saved even when you don’t feel saved.”

• Even still, he had “this spirit of heaviness” on him, but God told him not to go down to the altar again. Then God told him “it’s not by doing something different, it’s by believing something different. You want a different emotion, have a different thought, have a different belief.” Steve says, “the kingdom of God is not moved forward by good conduct, it’s moved forward by good beliefs. Conduct is important and [...] character’s important. People aren’t going to trust you without it. But even to have a higher way of living, we need a higher belief before that.” “The greatest question of the hour is not ‘Lord, what should I do?’ The greatest question of the hour is ‘Lord, what should I believe?’”

• Steve and Wendy were in the church where they were saved for about 15 years and “it was a season of living in Romans 12:1 where it says ‘. . . beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you give your bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord.’ Basically, it was a season of surrendering our heart, our will, everything to God.” God was showing Steve and Wendy that to build on rock, to have longevity, to have “true happiness and fulfillment,” they have to surrender. “And I’ve never done anything God’s way and said ‘bummer, I wish I wouldn’t have done it God’s way.’”

Start thinking and saying something higher than what you’re experiencing. - 

• God sent Steve and Wendy to the pastor in the desert of Nevada. They knew they were called to be there, but it was not logical. They were certainly not climbing “the who’s who ladder of pastoral ministry.” Steve says, “We’re not [...] climbing spiritual ladders to become famous Christian pop celebrities.” 

• “How many know God likes to send people to deserts to teach them how to repent? And one of the best definitions of repentance is to change the way you think.” God moved Steve and Wendy into a season of Romans 12:2. Steve quotes the verse saying, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? The renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and excellent and perfect will of God.” God loved the Backlund’s desire to surrender their hearts and wills, but they also had to surrender their beliefs, “‘cause transformation doesn’t come from surrendering your heart, it comes from surrendering what you believe.”  

• Through examples, Steve teaches that our poor beliefs about ourselves are not who we are, but who we have become by renewing our minds “with past experience.” Steve also confronts the idea that, “if it feels this true, it’s gotta be true.” He demonstrated trying to make a deal with God, saying, “I’ll get better beliefs when my circumstances start getting better.” Yet, God answers, “You got to get better beliefs in the same set of circumstances. I want you to surrender that belief. I want you to start thinking and saying something higher than what you’re experiencing.” 

Every area of my life where I believe the truth, I get free. - 

• On this topic, God showed Steve John 8:32, “the truth will make you free.” Steve says, “Every area of my life where I believe the truth, I get free. Every area of my life where I believe lies, I’m not free.” Steve continues when he says, “I get saved by believing in Jesus. I get free by believing like Jesus.” 

• Steve makes a distinction between “Holy Spirit freedom” and “true freedom.” Steve describes Holy Spirit's freedom as to when you are in a specific atmosphere and you are experiencing joy, “believing right,” and knowing you have the victory. He describes truth freedom as the freedom you have because you are believing the truth. “I remember the only time I used to think right,” he says, “was when I was in the manifest presence of God. . . . But outside of the manifest presence, I was pessimistic, victim mindset, insecure, worried, frustrated.” Steve points out that “what I think after the meeting is a reflection of my true beliefs.”

• Because believing truth is so important, we need a way to know we are believing truth and Steve provides an indicator for this. Steve learned in Francis Frangipane’s book The Three Battlegrounds that “every area of your life that doesn’t glisten with hope means you’re believing a lie and that area is a stronghold of the devil in your life.” After some reflection and prayer, Steve “got a revelation: almost everything I believed in my life was a lie.” 

 Your hopelessness about a problem is a bigger problem than the problem  -

• God told Steve, “I want you to make your lack of hope a bigger enemy to you than the devil.” 

• Steve remembers God showing him Romans 15:13: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Steve highlights the “abound in hope” line as he says, “you become this hope abounder. You get so much hope, you get the Tiger anointing.” “I used to have the Eeyore anointing,” Steve reflects. “Oh, it’s only gonna get worse, don’t get your hopes up. Protect yourself from disappointment. That’s your highest goal: to never get disappointed.” Steve says, “nobody wants to follow Pastor Eeyore or Worship Leader Eeyore.”

• Steve assures the students, “. . . there’s no condemnation if we’re believing lies. . . . But if we don’t know what our problem is, we have a real problem.” Steve had to learn that his problem was not the devil, the people around him, his past, or God. Steve had to “ask the Lord, ‘What’s the lies that are creating your [my] lack of hope in key areas of your [my] life?’”

• The idea that “your hopelessness about a problem is a bigger problem than the problem” changed Steve and Wendy’s lives. For example, Wendy “surrendered her beliefs [...] that she can’t speak well in front of others” and now she is “one of the most influential speakers” Steve knows. Wendy chose to “not trust any belief in her life that didn’t have hope attached to it.”