In this sermon clip, Bill Johnson talks about how to find hope, and why it is key to success. Hopelessness robs us of potential, but hope anticipates the goodness of God in our future, and sets us up to live in the fullness of what we were created for. Hope is not the product of determination, but the product of surrender.

I can’t be more interested in quantity

than I am with just quality time with

God remember it’s not about finishing

this is about you having a friendship

with God so that you can be in sustained

and encouraged and sense the presence of

God in a practical way not in theory but

no a friendship with God where you feel

and know that he is speaking to you

through his words

[Applause]

sometimes you know we can look at

people’s Instagram feeds and man their

quiet time Looks So Perfect don’t it

they’ve got their little white couch and

their little white coffee cup and

everything is so beautiful and amazing

and immaculate it looks like the most

beautiful photo shoot you have ever seen

in your life that can be discouraging to

regular folk who have you know like

dinner dishes sitting over there from

last night that we didn’t get to or

we’ve got all the toys from all of our

toddlers sitting around it or all the

homework papers from our teenagers that

are still scattered across the kitchen

table from all the online schooling or

we got the laundry sitting over there

every single load that you know we

washed and dried but we dumped it out on

the floor hoping that somebody was going

to come fold it at some point but there

it still sits still waiting on us and we

look at the chaos of our life and we

think

can I really have quiet time in here can

I really expect God to speak to me in a

space like this the answer is yes

the enemy always wants you to think and

me to think we’ve got to have something

different about our space or different

about our lives in order to actually

meet with God intimately and personally

ourselves but listen if the bathroom is

the only place where you can find some

silence and some Solitude I gotta be

honest with you and tell you that for

many years when my children were younger

I would sit on the edge of the bathtub I

would close the bathroom door I would

lock that door and I would sit there and

that’s where I would have time with the

Lord I have a friend when her children

were young she used to tell me that she

would go into her closet like she made

her actual closet her prayer closet and

she said listen I would sit right under

the blouses where the blouses were with

a flashlight that’s the only space that

I could find to have a little silence

and a little Solitude for many of you

it’s it’s in your car I mean you’re in

your car anyway why not make that car a

sanctuary a place where you can meet

with God because you’re in that car

anyway and you’re by yourself there why

not make that an opportunity where you

can make that space a Sacred Space to

meet with God

you’ve seen people who are doing that

you know they’re driving down the

freeway and you just see them worshiping

God and you see their hands outstretched

and you see they’re having a whole

prayer meeting a whole church service by

themselves in the car they have made

their car a place that can be a

watchtower where they can meet with God

around his word

position yourself

oh more now than ever brothers and

sisters we’re gonna have to prioritize

positioning ourselves we’re getting a

word from everybody else from the

newscasters from the media from the

politicians from our friends from

opinion makers we’re getting news from

everybody else we’ve got to position

ourselves not just to hear them but

we’ve got to prioritize positioning

ourselves to hear a word from God

so once you position yourself and you’ve

got your Bible or you know you’ve got

your electronic Bible in front of you

and you’re looking at a particular

passage of scripture I want to encourage

you to choose a passage not just you

know one verse here one verse there here

a verse there verse everywhere verse

verse it taking little verses out of

context like that can be incredibly

dangerous but what you can do is take a

whole book of the Bible

started verse 1 and go all the way

through

took me about two years to go through

the Book of John like this I would take

one verse or two verses a day and I

would make sure that I read right

through so as to not take anything out

of the context not only of the chapter

that it’s in but the book that it is in

because the story that God is telling is

linear meaning not only is every word

and every verse God breathed but the way

it is located in the scriptures is also

God breathed so take a whole book of the

Bible maybe one that stood out to you

recently that your pastor preached from

and it was from the book of Ephesians or

the Book of John or the book of habakkuk

and just decide you’re going to start

right at the beginning

and the second P actually has two P’s in

it I want you to pour over the passage

and paraphrase the major principles

pour over the passage and paraphrase the

major principles when I say poor over

the passage I mean that real

specifically I mean that as in

opposition to scan the passage when I

say poor I mean to meditate on it to

read it not just once but to read it

twice to read it in two or three

different translations so that you can

see different nuances of words that

maybe need to stand out to you in a

different way I mean that you open up

opportunity for you to have space and

time to think through what it would be

like if you were the woman that was

caught in adultery in that passage that

you just read

see how it would feel to have God speak

over you Jesus say to you go and sin no

more it means you mull over it for just

a little while

now what this means at least what it

means for me is that if I’m Really Gonna

pour over a passage not just scan it but

meditate on it and think about it and

wait for the Lord to speak to me through

it that means that I can’t do that with

a chapter or two at a time it means I

can’t be more interested in quantity

than I am with just quality time with

God remember it’s not about finishing

this is about you having a friendship

with God so that you can be in sustained

and encouraged and sense the presence of

God in a practical way not in theory but

no a friendship with God where you feel

and know that he is speaking to you

through his words so most of the time

that means one verse or two verses and I

read those two verses and then I read

them again and then I might underline

whatever words seem to LEAP up off the

page then I might look those words up

and I might think through the scenario

that is surrounding them the context

around them for example in Joshua

chapter 1. when Moses has just died and

the children of Israel are now being led

by Joshua into the promised land God

says to Joshua over and over again be

strong and courageous he says be strong

and courageous be strong and courageous

and then he says

be careful not to let the word leave

your mouth but keep it close to your

heart and close to your mind and

meditate on it day and night meditate

means to ponder it meditate actually

means to press your mind upon it to

think through it to evaluate it

do whatever you have to do to spend a

little time not just saying well I read

a verse a day and you know a verse a day

keeps the devil away this ain’t a

checklist

this is you developing a friendship with

God who is longing to speak to you

once I pour over a passage a verse or

two then I’ll paraphrase the major

principles I usually just have a

notebook that’s sitting nearby or I’ve

got the notes app on my phone or however

you want to do it and I just for each

verse write down a sentence or two that

paraphrases exactly what that verse said

now I want you to resist the urge to try

to be deep or to try to make it Rhyme or

sound clever you’re not trying to be

clever you are literally just taking the

words right out of the verse and writing

down a paraphrase of what that verse

says

usually when I get to this point in the

five piece I will close my Bible and

I’ll put it aside and now I’m just

sitting and I’m looking at the

paraphrased rendition of what the verse

actually says that takes me to the third

p

pull out the spiritual principles

this is where I prayerfully look at

those paraphrases

and I look to see what spiritual

principles are hidden in the paraphrase

ask God to show me

is there something he’s revealing about

his character

is there a promise here that I’m

supposed to heed is there a directive

I’m supposed to follow

is there Insight that I’m supposed to

uncover what is it that the verse says

that’s the paraphrase but now I’m asking

what does this verse mean

you will often find that there are

spiritual principles that are hidden you

would not have uncovered this is the way

God begins to speak you won’t uncover it

until you ask yourself what does this

mean

is there a direction that I’m being

given is there something about God’s

character that I’m supposed to believe

and that I’m supposed to trust in

prayerfully pray and ask the holy spirit

this is what the old preachers used to

call illumine the word ask the Holy

Spirit to illumine it and you will find

that there are spiritual principles

tucked there that begin to direct you