For many of us this last year has been a year of the ‘unexpected,’ caught off guard by the surprising circumstances of 2020. I believe what the world needs now more than ever is HOPE. Our hope is not in the New Year, 2021, but in the one who makes all things new! 

Hope is the joyful expectation of God’s goodness coming our way in every area of our lives. Hope is always future orientated. It is a vision of God’s good future before us, meaning where you are going is better than where you are and where you are coming from.  Our ultimate hope is discovered in seeing and savoring, prizing and praising, recognizing and relishing the glory of God in the face of Christ. 

Christ is our HOPE! He is the summation of all the promises of God, the source of all the riches of God, now and forevermore.  In Christ we have been given an inheritance of HOPE.

This glorious future is revealed to us through the written and reliable word of God!  God promises, commands, and reveals himself to us through his written Word! When our prayers are shaped by the Word, we are building on solid ground. We are responding to who God is and what he is doing! We are claiming his promises, and obeying his commands… there is no better way to pray! The Scriptures declare to us that God is much better than we think he is, and is doing much more than we  think he is doing and as we pray he will do even more for His glory and our good. As Paul prays in Ephesians 3:20-21,

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen”

Together we can Ignite Hope as we pray God’s word in 2021!

Fostering a culture of Hope is critical to effective and sustainable intercession!  As Paul declares to us in 1 Cor 13:13, “Now these three remain, faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love.”  The greatest of these three is love, however I believe hope comes first. Hebrews tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for. And of course we know that faith needs to work itself out in love (Gal. 5:6). 

So we could look at this way:  our hope is in hearing the music of the future, our faith is dancing to that music NOW!  And our love is brining others into the dance with you!  The song being sung is the beauty, majesty, and supremacy of Jesus Christ.   Let’s create a culture of Hope-empowered prayer in 2021!

As we pray the Bible, we are pleading the good promises of God!  Promises predict the answers by foretelling what to expect!  They are the molds into which we pour our prayers.  Promises like these, “call unto me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know” (Jer. 33:3). Promises like, “whatever things you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matt. 21:22). Promises like, “if you ask me anything in my name I will do it” (John 14:14).

When we pray God’s word we pray from the answer … with the answer in mind! When we plead God’s promises we are praying from the answer to the answer!  In intercession we are asking him what he asks us to ask him!  As we ask according to his will and for his renown, his activity increases releasing his power, his love, and his truth!  Five times in John 14-16, Jesus asks us to ask him or his Father, ‘in his name’  and then promises to do it!  In this way not only does answered prayer satisfy us, it also delights the heart of God by fulfilling his own Word and accomplishing his own purposes! 

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa 55:10-11).  

We pray fervently to the ‘Lord of the Harvest to hurl forth laborers into the harvest fields’ … why? Because Jesus promised, ‘the harvest is ripe.’ We ‘go and make disciples of all nations’… why? Because he promised us that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him and that he will always be with us even to the end of the age! We pray that every people group on the earth will hear the gospel, why?  Because Jesus promised that the gospel of the kingdom WILL BE preached in every nation and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14).  We pray Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven… why?  Because he promised that the Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14).

There’s no better fuel for our prayers than the Bible. By praying Scripture, we are ensuring that our prayers are anchored to God’s truth and aligned with God’s will.   If we don’t form the habit of praying the Scriptures, our prayers will almost certainly degenerate into vain repetitions around our immediate concerns, rather than God’s larger purposes. As Dennis Fuqua says, “Praying and meditating on Scripture is how his word produces his life and power in our lives. It is how the Spirit of God writes the Word of God on the hearts of the people of God.” The basic method is simple, “Open the Bible, start reading it, pause at every verse and turn it into a prayer” (John Piper).

According to Jesus, sitting at his feet and listening to his word is the most necessary thing in our lives! (Luke 10:41). Think about these promises of God’s word about God’s word!

• God’s Word releases God’s Fire within us!  (Luke 24:32, Jer. 23:29)
• God’s Word sanctifies us and produces the life of Christ within us! (John 17:17, 2 Cor. 3:18, Rom. 12:2-3)
• God’s Word feeds us and nourishes us! (Matt. 4:4)
• God’s Word awakens and revives us (Psalm 119:107, 154).
• God’s Word washes us clean (Eph. 5:25b-27).
• God’s Word sets us free! (John 8:31-32)
• God’s Word gives us power to overcome sin and walk in purity (Psalm 119:9-10).
• God’s Word provides direction and guidance (Psalm 119:105).
• God’s Word is our weapon of warfare that tears down strongholds as we wield it in prayer (Eph. 6:18-9).
• God’s Word teaches, corrects and equips us to be effective in ministry (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
• God’s Word blesses us making us happy and joyful (Psalm 1, Psalm 119:1-2).
• God’s Word gives us Hope (Rom. 15:4).

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have HOPE”

So let’s pray and plead God’s promises and make the Bible our prayer book this year! Here is a link to a prayer guide full of bible promises that we can use! 

We have a saying in our house of prayer, “little keys open big doors.” As we pray God’s word in 2021, we can be like little keys in the hand of the Lord to open up big doors called Awakening and Revival!  And this can only happen out of the place of abiding intimacy and fascination with Jesus. Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

And as we listen and hear his voice this year, let’s open the door and “let him in!”

“If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).

In the midst of increased shaking and uncertainty, let’s ‘Together Ignite Hope in 2021’ as we pray God’s Word!

Dr. Jason Hubbard

Download Jason’s free ‘Pray the Word’ Guide, - packed with teaching, outlines and practical advice on going deeper into praying the scriptures and unlocking the HOPE that we all share in Jesus.