Change the Image
"For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a
man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it."
-- (Romans 8:24-25)
According to Romans, hope is actually looking at something that you
can’t see. How do you do that? You do it by looking at the promises of
God in the Word until with your inner eyes--the eyes of your spirit--a
picture is formed.
For example, one of the hardest things I ever had to do was face the
fact that the inner image I had of myself physically was fat. It didn’t
matter how hard I tried to change, it wouldn’t go away. I was always on
a diet. I must have lost (and regained) hundreds of pounds over the
years.
I finally had to admit that as long as my inner image of myself was fat,
my outer self was going to match it. Remember, it’s faith that changes
things, and without the inner image of hope, faith cannot work.
So I decided to fast for seven days. I searched my Bible for every
scripture I could find on food and eating and I found many.
I meditated on every one of those scriptures and prayed in the Spirit
for seven full days. What was I doing? I was laying hold on a different
inner image.
This is not something you can do overnight. It takes time. Especially if
the inner image you’re changing has been there for years.
But you can do it. Go to the Word of God today and begin to change the
images inside you. Change them from images of despair to images of hope.
Get a blueprint in your heart and your faith will build on it!
Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
In the final analysis, present salvation is a hope. Many things can happen before the final change to immortality and eternal life
Twenty-three conditions of eternal life:
1. Come to Christ (John 6:37,44,45,65).
2. Eat His flesh—drink His blood (John 6:50,51,53,58).
3. Labor (John 6:27).
4. Reap—win souls (John 4:35-38).
5. Hate (love less) the life in this world (John 12:25).
6. Know God and Christ (John 17:2-3).
7. Enter right gate (Matthew 7:13-14).
8. Cause no offense (Matthew 18:8-9).
9. Keep commandments (Matthew 19:17).
10. Forsake all (Matthew 19:27-29; Mark 10:28-30; Luke 18:28-30).
11. Live free from sin (Romans 5:21; Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:1-13; Titus 2:11-14).
12. Continue in well-doing and seek eternal life (Romans 2:7).
13. Sow to the Spirit (Galatians 6:7-8).
14. Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on it (1 Tim. 6:12,19).
15. Be sober and hope to the end for it (Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7; 1 Peter 1:5,9,13 with Romans 8:24).
16. Endure temptations (James 1:12).
17. Let the promise of it remain in you and continue in God and Christ (1 John 2:24-25; 1 John 5:11-20).
18. Love everybody (1 John 3:14-15).
19. Keep yourself in the love of God, looking for eternal life (Jude 1:20-24).
20. Overcome sin (Rev. 2:7,11,17,26; Rev. 3:5,12,21)
21. Be faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10; Hebrews 12:14-15).
22. Believe and obey the gospel (John 3:15-19,36; John 4:14; John 5:24; John 6:40,47,54; 2 Cor. 5:17; Romans 1:5).
23. Be born again, hear Christ, and follow Him (John 3; John 10:27-29).
We get eternal life now and keep it forever if we meet the above conditions, but it does not become an unforfeitable eternal possession until we enter into it (Matthew 7:13; Matthew 18:8-9; Matthew 19:17; Romans 6:22); receive it (Romans 6:23; James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:13; Rev. 2:10); reap it (Galatians 6:7-8); and inherit it in the world to come (Matthew 19:27-29; Mark 10:28-30; Luke 18:28-30), and at the end of this life (Romans 6:22). See note, §John 3:16
b [sealed] Confirmed by giving Him the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:33-34).
Romans 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
SCRIPTURE READING: Romans 4:16-21
Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Because of this it can be for all people.
Romans 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Romans 4:17
a [I have made thee a father of many nations] Quoted from Genesis 17:4-5. This is a prophecy fulfilled before New Testament times.
b [who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were] Two things of God here:
1. Resurrection (Romans 4:17; Romans 8:11; John 5:21; John 6:63; 1 Cor. 15:22,35,45; 2 Cor. 3:6; Galatians 3:21; 1 Tim. 6:13; 1 Peter 3:18)
2. Faith (Romans 4:17; Romans 8:24-25; Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:22; Mark 9:23; Mark 11:22-24; Hebrews 11:1). True faith is counting things that be not as though they were. This is what God exercised when He called the worlds into existence (Hebrews 11:3; 2 Peter 3:5; Genesis 1:1; Job 38:4-7)
Romans 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Here Paul describes the faith of Abraham in order to explain what gospel faith is like (Hebrews 11:6; James 1:5-8).
Romans 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb:
Romans 4:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Romans 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Romans 4:21
a [fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform] His soul was full of confidence that the Word of God bound Him to fulfill what He had promised. After 25 years, it was fulfilled. Faith was imputed for righteousness (Romans 4:3-22; Hebrews 11:8-12).
