In this message I want to stir up the hope that is within you, the hope that all creation is in, and that which is about to break for us: the hope for the manifestation of the sons of God and the liberation that will come to us. God is going to bless and bring many fulfillments to us.
Many of us labor along, and we seem to forget the good things that God does for us. Our hope begins to fade because of the things that are yet undone. We have won many of our skirmishes, and always we have had the promise that full victory was ours, yet the things that we see war against hope.
For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Romans 8:24, 25.
People have difficulty keeping an eager perseverance when they see no evidence of their deliverance nor evidence of the answers they have sought. Even the witnesses of the Spirit seem to be tormenting, for I have had witness of financial and spiritual release for the people of the Lord, only to find after the excitement of that wonderful witness, it still was not accomplished as far as the sight was concerned, and we had to resort to hope. We had to decide whether we would keep on hoping or really despair.
This passage in Romans speaks about hope a great deal. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18. We will need to believe that Scripture more and more in the days to come. In the evaluation we have of our lives, do we consider the good and the blessing that shall come to us, and that the things we go through now are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall come?
To explain, I think this applies to the natural as well as to the spiritual, so whatever your circumstances are, no matter how far you are in the Lord, give attention to this thought because it could mean much to you. Many things come to the unbeliever. The man in the world who is ambitious may work very hard to accomplish certain things. When he has accomplished them he looks back and considers the price that was paid, and he says, “It wasn’t worth it.” A certain lawyer who had worked hard to build a large law firm was asked, “Do you think it was really worth it? His answer was, “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t do it. I gave myself to building this law firm, and the next thing I realized was that my children were grown up and gone. I was aware that in the best years I’d missed them and didn’t even know them.” That is the price the world pays. What about you and I?
Paul says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed toward us.” I believe that. I believe it and I accept it by faith, knowing I have gone through many difficulties, yet I will believe the word of revelation that the fulfillments ahead of us are so great that anything we have been through is not worthy to be compared to it and that our ultimate viewpoint will not be like the man who said, “It wasn’t worth it; I wouldn’t do it again.” We will say, “Yes, I would have done it a thousand times over again.”
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Romans 8:19–21.
Nature doesn’t give you too much when you commune with it. You are aware as you sit on a beautiful summer night how beautiful it is, what peace and tranquility, until you hear the squeal of a rabbit being devoured by a coyote. As you are slapping mosquitoes that come to eat, you are aware that everything is feeding on something else. There is a futility, a devouring principle, and the balance of nature is that one thing feeds another, and another feeds another. Everything is preying on something, and man comes along and shoots it all down and destroys it. Something of futility is on creation. Communing with nature is mostly done by hunters who go out seeking something to kill with high-powered guns with rifle sights that can zero in at a distance. They kill, not really to eat, but just for the joy of killing. Futility—and yet God says that in the midst of all of it He subjected creation to that futility in hope, with a real living hope in it: a hope and a desire that it was going to be liberated by the freedom of the sons of God when they come forth.
We have that hope within us. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit… Romans 8:22, 23. That is the first witness.
There is an Old Testament Scripture that talks about the desire for the first ripe fig: … my soul desireth the first-ripe fig. Micah 7:1. Ah, to know that you would have to have a fig tree like we had when I was a child, looking and waiting for the first ripe fig. But we are waiting for the firstfruits of the Spirit. We are waiting for the first breakthrough out of this futility. Some of you are going to go deeply scared into it, but I have been carefully weighing personal objectives—what you think you need in your life for fulfillment, for completion; what you think you need for happiness—and I have come to the conclusion that you better have this hope burning within you, the hope that God puts within His children. There may be many people who, because the perfect will of God leads to a life of sacrifice, will have to say, “God brought me forth in this generation, not for my personal pleasure, nor for my personal fulfillment on a human level, but to be a part of the sons of God in this great liberation that is coming to all creation. I shall contend, no matter how bitter the battle against me, and believe for my place in the great Kingdom of God.”
Oh, seek first the Kingdom of God, not a little fringe benefit. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these other things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). Believe that God is able to give you all of these things you have desired. You don’t seem to get them, nor do they seem to mean much to you, until the Kingdom is first.
And not only this, but we also ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one also hope for what he sees? Romans 8:23, 24.
That brings us up to the present time. We are looking for so much to happen. I have never known as many people in the Body who have had a deep witness in the Spirit of impending victories and fulfillments. I have never known as many to report visions and dreams of what God is ready to do. We are anticipating rapid expansion and multiplication, actually tripling the capacity of all of the ministries at the present time. We have all of these marvelous witnesses within our hearts and yet some of that seems to still be in an unseen area. As we break into a double portion of the Holy Spirit and start moving into the things we have interceded, cried, and believed God for, we will see many things happen, ministries actually rising up.
Have you sometimes felt as if you were moving under a cloud, fetters on you, restrained, and yet you kept seeking the Lord, believing His word with a hope burning within your heart? Nevertheless, within yourself you could see no evidence that you were really free, that you would actually be able to accomplish that which you envisioned in your heart. On a cold Monday morning, one look in the mirror and you were ready to tell yourself, “Don’t kid yourself anymore!” And yet you couldn’t; hope was coming up strong within your spirit. You were getting ready for something more.
I am believing with all my heart that we are going to have a double portion. I believe that the Lord is ready to pour out upon those who have waited and thought, “I don’t see it coming. Lord, I’m impatient!” They had a word but nothing is happening. With endurance we press into it.
But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Romans 8:25. Many of our people are waiting for something to happen, not discouraged in any way. I don’t think that they feel: “Well, praise the Lord, I want to serve God anyway. Nothing’s ever going to happen for me, it’s always happening to somebody else.”
Do you wonder if you have been excluded from the blessings of the Lord? Has God caused His lightning to strike everywhere else, leaving you standing there missing the whole thing? Has God rained upon the earth and yet you are found someplace too late without the blessing, not open? I can look upon you and see those moments of discouragement and pressure. I see your eyes mirror what I feel, many times. We are all going through it together, and there are times we feel like companions in misery, as if nothing is actually going to happen for some of us. I have felt it for so many years, but I would just battle it and say, “Thank you, Lord, for the word that flows through me. I believe in it. It is a true word, and You are going to do it for all these people.” And that is where I would stop. It would seem as if not too much was happening for me, yet I know I have to be a first partaker of the fruit. You know that too, so you have a problem which may be even greater: “Lord, I know you’re going to do this for Brother Stevens, and I’m going to pray through until God looses him to the world in a great apostolic company. I’m going to believe God will do it for him.” And yet you are sitting back and saying, “When I’ve seen that happen I’ll lay down and die, because God isn’t going to do anything for me.” I know you have felt that at times. I have heard people express themselves that way, “Well, Brother Stevens, God’s going to do it for you.” He will do it for you too; we are in it together.
One of the most difficult objectives is to maintain that glow of hope within your own heart that you too are a child of destiny and God will use you, and yet the awareness of that is dawning on many of you. You are beginning to prepare your heart and renew the hope that is within you, that hope that helps you to persevere and say, “Okay, I’ll be faithful here and do my little part; it doesn’t matter what happens to me.” How many times have I heard that sad song, “Nobody loves me.” Remember the childish saying, “I guess I’ll go out and eat worms”? You can’t take that attitude.
Today is the day that you open your heart to the fact that God does not want you to despair. Numbers 21:4 tells us how the children of Israel were much discouraged because of the difficulties of the way. There are times that the way discourages us. We may know that we came out of Egypt, and we may know that we are free, but it doesn’t help much when our feet are blistered and the sands burn beneath our feet. The fact that we are enroute to the land of promise does not take away from the rigors of today, and we have to say once again, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glories that shall be revealed to us.” It is very difficult to believe in the bounty and the fullness of the Lord when you seem to be so restricted, so hemmed in, and so discouraged on every hand. Therefore, it takes faith to reach up to the Lord and say, “Lord, I’m not going to fail, because Your strength will uphold me. I’m not going to draw back, because You are with me. Nothing within my spirit is going to give up at this point.”
A message like this isn’t easy to take—who does it apply to? People in old order had an ability of hearing a sermon with a scoop shovel. They would simply be dumping it, just scooping it right over their shoulders to the other fellow, as they were being told, “This is wrong; that is wrong.”
“Oh, yes! Amen. I hope Brother So-and-So is listening to that. He sure needs that word.” But people in the new order, when sermons of deep conviction come, say like the disciples said, “Lord, is it I? Am I the one?”
However, when sermons of blessing come, we still have a tendency to waver and say, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know whether the Lord is including me in this or not.” Well, I tell you, He is including you to this extent: He is bringing judgments to the house of the Lord, and those judgments first of all will be corrective. He will deal with you. He will lay many stripes on you. He will chasten you with the chastening of the Lord that you might be a partaker of His holiness, that you might come into what He has; so you just keep seeking the Lord. If you step out of line you will get it, and that is the best blessing you could have. You ought to rejoice because He scourges every son whom He receives, and it is with patience that we are to endure this.
Yet the main thing is to realize that God is dealing with a people who must have faith. We must believe God loves us and He is bringing us through. Everyone in the Body, in one way or another, is going through a deep time of heart searching. We are going through a time in which God is digging down to bedrock, and we are discovering, as He deals with us that way, the deep hidden fears, doubts, and restraints: things in our spirit that have kept us from walking on with the Lord. It is good this is happening because it means that God is purging and chastening. He is pruning the vines so He can bring forth more fruit. He is gearing us to the greatest time of fruitfulness the world has ever seen as it comes forth in the remnant of the Lord.
You must come to the place where you are no longer satisfied with what you are and what you have, and you seek for the double portion. You may feel so discouraged when you look at yourself, and your own appraisal is that you are desperately lacking. I don’t know whether or not this is true of you, but it is certainly true of me. I have been looking it over, and I said, “Lord, are You sure that I’m your boy? You have said a lot of things here, Lord.” I have felt deep unworthiness; have you felt that same thing? Deep unworthiness, and yet, God has chosen us. God put His hand on us. He put His hand on us until, regardless of our qualifications, we are a people that will move nations for God. We will see the work accomplished in this generation, and that right suddenly. We will be geared to it. We are already geared to a great deal of sacrifice, but beyond sacrifice comes something else. A man can lay down his life with almost a wish to die: “Good; go ahead and martyr me; I’m tired of living anyway.” Your attitude can sometimes be very discouraged until it all builds up in your mind: “Alright, it doesn’t matter what happens to me now,” sort of a don’t-care attitude. But don’t allow that; hope just a little while. What does the Word say?
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Hebrews 10:35, 36. Keep on pressing in.
We will watch a time of fulfillment with one thing after another taking place. Things we have believed to see, that depended upon the sovereign moving of God, will be launched. We pushed on doors that wouldn’t open. We tried and it didn’t seem to happen. But they that waited upon the Lord will soon behold such a moving of the Spirit of the Lord upon them. I believe, and I have this hope in my heart. I would impart it to you and say, “Here is the hope. Here it is!” In hope we have been saved, but the hope you do not see, that’s it!” The things that you see—that is not hope. If you saw them there would be no need of the hope. But let the Lord stir up that living hope within you; you are going to see the salvation of the Lord. Stand still, trust the Lord, and press in a little bit more.
Have you been ready to become discouraged because of your own personal walk? Has it seemed to be deteriorating? Have there seemed to be things within your life which were not responding to your faith, to what you really wanted? Have you looked at yourself and your circumstances with discouragement and despair lately? Have you looked at the whole walk with God and said, “Oh, I have been believing for so much to come, and much has come. But there’s so much that I had believed to see that I don’t see.” Come on, hope! Believe! It is not going to happen automatically, only for the people who persevere in the Lord. Believe the Lord with all of your heart, and you will be established.
Lord, kindle again all of the hopes and dreams of yesterdays. Stir the fire of hope where the ashes are cold and dead. Bring again those who shall turn back and pick up those golden promises they thought were valueless, and they shall unfold them within their heart as the only treasure there really is in this world.
A man can walk without bread and he can walk without shoes, but he can’t live without the hope eternal that God puts within the heart. We say in our heart, “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Our hearts would fail and we would draw back, except we will believe and hope yet for the salvation of the Lord that shall come. It is important that we do not fail at the last moment, that we do not turn aside and say, “The Lord was deaf to my cry.” We believe the witness of the Holy Spirit within us that tells us of the day that is to come, and how gloriously we will walk in it.
Revive Thy heritage in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known. O Lord, Thy heritage needs to be revived and strengthened in their spirits. Some may have only a little flicker, just a little flame burning in their heart, and that pilot light of faith may have been put out. God, ignite it again; let them turn to You. Let them know the blessing You are going to pour upon their spirits. We believe not for an existence, but for the abundant life, the complete fulfillment of all Your purposes and promises in our lives. We don’t look to ourselves but we say, “Lord, consider not the failures, the weaknesses, the frailty of the vessels that You have chosen, but take us and perform Your wonder in us. Let us have this glorious treasure in earthen vessels.”
We rebuke despair, discouragement, and anything that comes against us, in the name of the Lord. We believe for a fresh witness of the Holy Spirit within the hearts of everyone who would feel, “I don’t care anymore. It’s not important. Nothing’s going to happen to me.” We rebuke the lying spirits that come, for everything is going to happen to this generation, and many with expectation will be standing, waiting for the rain of heaven to come upon them. We loose them out of their restricted faith into a faith that believes God for impossible things to come. We open our hearts for a renewal, for a revival, for a strength.
God deal with the spirit and soul that has become embittered, with those who have put up walls and withdrawn because the words had come to their hearts, and in a moment of testing they abandoned them. Let the Holy Spirit deal like a hammer breaking that rock in pieces, and let their hearts turn once again with faith to the Lord, believing that the Lord is going to meet them.
We rebuke the whining spirit; we must have a shout of courage and faith. We rebuke passivity that refuses to enter into the battle, lay hold upon promises, and obtain the things of the Lord: that which causes people to settle into some rut without any expectation, living without any anticipation, with no eagerness within their spirit from moment to moment. O God, speak to these dead, that they arise and begin to live with hope, expectation, and faith in the things God is going to do in their hearts.
In the book of Job it says, “Thy words have kept men on their feet.” God give us all that anointing. Anoint us that we will have words that will keep men on their feet.
Some of you had buried your hopes. You were beginning to try to live with unfulfilled hope, and it was necessary that you get it out, cut the wound open again, bleed, and say, “Come on, you’re going to have hope.” Don’t come to the house of the Lord, covering things over, worshiping as if it were business as usual, but not having the real expectation of faith, that real living hope in your heart. It’s not going to be that way.
We are not going to become another movement where hopes die, where people walk like spiritual zombies, but we are going to walk as the army of the Lord, taking one stronghold after another in the name of the Lord. Lord, kindle a fire on the altars of our hearts. We do not want hope or faith to wane in any degree. We must be fervent before the Lord. There must be nothing short of loving the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind. With all our strength.