{"id":3714,"date":"2014-01-14T13:03:22","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T12:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pender.org.uk\/?p=3714"},"modified":"2018-01-27T21:52:02","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T20:52:02","slug":"faith-hope-and-wishful-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2014\/01\/faith-hope-and-wishful-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith, hope and wishful thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!
\n1 Samuel 4:5 NLT<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Eli was waiting beside the road to hear the news of the battle, for his heart trembled for the safety of the Ark of God. When the messenger arrived and told what had happened, an outcry resounded throughout the town.
\n1 Samuel 4:13 NLT<\/p>\n

These are two different examples of faith covering the same event. In the first, the Israelites gain new hope after a defeat at the hands of the Philistines. They are convinced that, now that the Ark is in their midst, they will have victory. In the second, Eli has no faith that it will bring victory, even to the extent that the Ark itself will be lost or damaged! Because of his knowledge of the prophecy given through Samuel, Eli knew that there were no grounds for hope.<\/p>\n

Faith isn’t based on hope: hope is based on faith, and that faith has to be grounded on God’s will.<\/p>\n

Whenever I am going to exercise faith, I need to ensure that it is not just hope or wishful thinking gone mad. My faith needs to be strong, but it also needs to be based on the word and will of God. It needs to be what he wants, not just what I want!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake! 1 Samuel 4:5 NLT Eli was waiting beside the road to hear the news of the battle, for his heart trembled for the safety of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-XU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1865,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/11\/can-i-help-mr-cameron\/","url_meta":{"origin":3714,"position":0},"title":"Can I help, Mr Cameron?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"28\/11\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was interested to read that Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, is going to spend \u00c2\u00a32million on measuring the happiness of the British people. 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