The Relationship Between Hope, Faith, and Trust
Greetings and good morning, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series
where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years,
the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them
with you. This morning we seek to understand the relationship between hope, faith, trust.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Relationship between Hope, Faith, and Trust
"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing of a better hope did, by which we draw nigh unto
God." Hebrews, Chapter 7, Verse 19.
Brothers and sisters, in today’s broadcast, we shall examine the relationship between hope, faith, and
trust as they relate to our perception, acquirement, and realization of spiritual values and meanings.
We shall briefly define these spiritual qualities and then relate them to each other.
Today in our world as we move amidst the riptides and cross-currents of material reality, we need
more than ever the assurance of spiritual reality. As we view our world from the short-term, it is
chaotic and at times discouraging. The world today is bogged down by wars and other conflicts.
Economic chaos appears to be the queen of the day, as prices keep getting higher and higher. Is there
hope in the face of despair?
Hope is what the heart responds with when confronted with such a spectacle of defeat. Why does
hope spring to the forefront of our consciousness at such times? When we cry to the heavenly Father
for help, hope is our Father’s response and our spiritual help. It strengthens us so that each day we
grow stronger in our souls. Hope inspires us to fully meet the challenges of life without fear. Hope
allows us to take one day at a time. It allows us to live in the moment: this is where the Father always
presides. His ears are always open to the cries of his children, and he always responds by supplying
us with hope.
If hope is a desirable quality, the only way we can develop it is to be constantly confronted with
insecurities and recurrent uncertainties. Here we see readily the process of transmuting the spiritual
potentials of hope to actual hope in our experience. Daily living, with its insecurities and recurrent
uncertainties, produces hope--the desire to escape, modify, and finally to overcome. This desire is
like a life buoy thrown to a drowning man. It literally pulls our souls to safety. And as long as this
hope remains alive in our souls, then will we master this life by asserting in the face of each
apparently hopeless situation that nothing of spiritual value is lost; we maintain in any and all
circumstances, "Not my will but your will be done." And even though this may not change the
material situation, it does change the spiritual situation. And this eventually delivers our souls from
this "vale of tears."
Now faith occupies a supreme position in the life of our souls as well. It is provided in response to
our cries for assistance. Having expressed our need, there must be some mechanism that brings this
help about. There must be some force that acts while hope is sustaining our souls. And it is obvious
that in order for hope to sustain our souls through the unrevealed vicissitudes of life, our souls must
believe that hope can, for if our souls do not believe that hope can sustain us through the ups and
downs of life, we will give up, allow hope to die. This is faith. If faith is a desirable quality to have
(and we ““have”” something by developing it), there is only one way we can obtain it: there must
be a need for it. We must ever know less than we can believe. In this life, we are constantly asked
to believe more than we know. Ignorance of unfolding events is the very soil that makes it possible
for the quality of faith to operate in our lives. And like hope, it is also the gift of the heavenly Father
to our souls. This faith has the sure effect of transmuting that which we do not know into that which
we do know spiritually.
Faith functions in this way: as our souls looks out from the darkness, it sees a beckoning light. This
light--while not providing factual knowledge of the future status--does provide spiritual knowledge
of the future. It provides the values and meanings of the future life, and gives our souls the assurance
that they will be around to actually experience this future factual. Our souls crave knowledge of the
Father’s presence. Our souls crave the Father’s presence itself. This faith is the knowledge of the
Father’s presence. This faith is the Father’’s presence to the extent our souls can comprehend. We
experience the amazing flow of the fruits of the spirit when we exercise faith. The Father is love.
Faith actually transmutes the potential values that the soul hopes for into the actual values that the
soul experiences.
Finally having grasped the qualities of hope and faith, we now move to the essential quality that
actually makes it possible to realize these spiritual values. Having hoped for them and be exercising
faith received these values, there remains the final step of realization that is so necessary to change
the attitude of our souls. That final step of realization is trust. If trust is desirable spiritual quality,
the only way we can develop trust is for there to be a need for it. The heavenly Father is so absolutely
real that there is no material reality that can be offered as proof of his reality. Always will we know
him because we trust him, and our belief in him is wholly based upon our experience with him. Trust
is the only way that we can know the heavenly Father. If we trust him, we will experience him. The
question of whether to trust or not always calls into consideration whether or not the person is
trustworthy, but it also calls into question whether the person has the power, intent, and love
completely to satisfy our trust. What father would disappoint his son; what father would prove to be
untrustworthy of his son? If the ideal earthly father can shoulder this mantle of trustworthiness, than
surely the absolute, perfect, infinite, and eternal all merciful, all powerful heavenly Father can
shoulder the mantle of absolute trustworthiness. Trust is a reflection of the Father’s goodness, and
the Father’s goodness which our souls directly experience is the foundation for the trust within our
souls. The Father will never disappoint his children. He loves them with an infinite and eternal
absolute affection.
We now describe the relationship between faith, hope, and trust. Hope is the desire for a different
reality. Implied in this definition is the perception of a future reality. For without this, there would
be no basis for hope. Faith is the power potential for actualizing this future reality. The wholehearted
belief in a future reality of true values and meanings is the actuality of such future values and
meanings. Faith connects our souls to hope. Without faith, there exists no way by which future
spiritual values can be actualized. Trust is the mechanism whereby after receiving spiritual values
and meanings, we realize them. When we trust, we actually make decisions to use them, and when
doing so our status changes. Without hope, there can be no tomorrow of spiritual values and
meanings. Without faith, there can be no transmuting of the spiritual values and meanings perceived,
and without trust, there can be no realization of the values that lie waiting in the soul and mind for
use. Without hope, faith, and trust, there exists no way in which the supreme command can be
obeyed: Be perfect even as the heavenly Father is perfect.
This concludes today's message on understanding the relationship between hope, faith, and trust. We
hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
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By Dr. James Perry
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The Relationship Between Hope, Faith, and Trust
