To lock up in hope means you have held yourself captive in hope. You can’t get away from it. I should be discouraged by what I am going through, but I still believe that God is on the throne and that He is turning things to my advantage. The scripture says, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” Micah 7:7
This sickness doesn’t look good, the medical expert said I’m not going to get well, however, I am already locked up in hope and I still believe strongly that Jehovah Rafa, the Lord my healer (Exodus 15:26) is restoring health in me.
You are locked in, you can’t be talked out of it. You are praising when you could be complaining, you are thanking God when you don’t see any sign of it. You are talking like it’s going to happen when nothing is improving.
One interesting thing about life is that you are going to lock up in something negative if you allow it: lock up in doubt, lock up in shame, lock up in discouragement. Get out of those confinement. God wants you to be confined in hope; people who don’t fall apart when challenges come, people who keep believing, keep praising and keep expecting, knowing that the challenges are setting them up for an unusual blessing.
“Well, pastor, I don’t think this is ever going to happen for me. You don’t know what I have been through”. The enemy would love for us to lock up in doubt, thinking that we are stuck. Lock up in shame, “I have made too many mistakes, that is why I’m not expecting anything good”.
Lock up in bitterness, “They hurt me, they walked out on me”. The situation here is that you have locked up yourself wrongly. God wants to pay you back, He wants to give you beauty for those ashes, make the rest of your life so rewarding that you don’t think about who did you wrong, you don’t focus on the pains of the past. However, you have to break out from that confinement of defeat, bitterness, and self-pity and confine yourself in hope.
“God, I know you didn’t bring me this far to leave me. I believe my latter days will be better than my former days. That this challenge is setting me up for new levels of my destiny”. It was meant to set you back, but God is going to use it to set you up, to propel you, to favour you, to take you where you have never imagined.
God wants to make you a trophy of His grace. Not just bring you out, but cause you to blossom, to see favour, great opportunities, and great relationships. Now, do your part and give Him something to work with. Don’t have a disadvantaged mentality, have an increased mentality. That’s what allows God to show out in your life.
The Israelites had been in captivity in Babylon for many years and were not allowed to return home. They had all these disappointments and hardships. Their ancestors had been in slavery, so mistreated, now that same spirit of defeat and disadvantage was on them. The prophet Zachariah showed up while they were locked up as captives of war but rather chose to be captive of hope. He said to them, “Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you.” (Zachariah 9:12)
Imagine the battle taking place in their mind. “He is saying: be locked up in hope! But look what we have been through, look what we are up against. There is no way we could live a blessed life, be free or have abundance! They had to make a decision, “Am I going to lock up in defeat by focusing on all the past hurts, the disappointments, how it’s never going to work out? Or am I going to believe what this prophet is saying, that God has double for this trouble, that He is about to pay us back for the unfair things that have happened”?
They changed their mindset from being locked up in defeat to been lock up in hope. They saw God take them where they never dreamed. Like the Israelites, you may have had more than your share of challenges, opposition, disappointments and people who did you wrong.
God is saying to you what He said to them, “I’m about to restore double, I’m about to pay you back with twice what should have been yours”, but there is a requirement: you have to get rid of that survival mentality, and have an increase mentality. Instead of being locked up in doubt, switch over to being locked up in hope. Believe that God is working. That is what’s meant for harm He is turning to your advantage. That challenge is setting you up to come out with twice what you had before.
The enemy meant it to stop your purpose, to push you down your gifts, keep your personality from shining. The good news is it’s going to backfire. God is going to use it to take you further than if it had not happened. Or the door that closed in your business, that contract didn’t go through, it’s not setting you back, it’s setting you up. God allowed it because He has something much bigger, much better. Double is coming, double the resources, double the influence, double the favour.
TWICE THAN WHAT YOU HAD BEFORE!
God said in Isaiah 61:7, “Instead of your shame you shall have double honour, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.”
Sometimes it seems like we get a double dose of trouble, it’s one thing after another – that’s not how your story will end. Get ready, twice the blessing you envisage is coming, twice the favour you envisage, twice the health and vitality, twice the opportunity and influence you envisage is coming!
Get this down in your spirit: twice blessing for that trouble. “Well, pastor, you are just trying to get people’s hopes up”. Yes, I’m trying to convince you to lock up in hope, to where you can’t be talked out of it, because when you do, God says twice what you envisage is coming. NLT translation of the verse in Zachariah 9:12 says, “I will pay two blessings for each of your troubles”.
God says here: when you have one disappointment, I’m going to pay you back with two blessings. When you face one setback, I’m going to give you two promotions. When one friend walks away, I’m going to bring you two new friends, better friends. When you face a sickness, I’m not only going to restore your health, but I’m going to give you greater peace, a double blessing.
The fact that God allowed the challenges is a sign that He wants to increase you, that He has something greater in store. If you will pass the test, on the other side of that challenge is double honour, double favour, and double resources. And no, we don’t like the trouble. None of us like the disappointments, the injustice, but without it, we wouldn’t see the fullness of our destiny. Don’t let the challenges cause you to give up, or get sour. Have a new perspective: trouble means twice the blessing you envisage, so be expectant and lock yourself up in hope.
Could it be the challenges you are going through is God getting you in position so He can give you double? What if Job (Job 42:10-17) had known early on that this was all a setup for God to do something amazing in his life? He would probably handle it differently. He would have trusted God in the trouble, stayed in peace in the trouble, and kept that attitude of faith, knowing that it was all going to work out to his advantage.
It would be easier if God would promise our expectations without the challenges, but usually, there are some tests that we have to go through, challenges and things we don’t understand, that’s when we prove to God what we are made of. That we are faithful in the fire, that we are calm in the chaos, that we trust Him even in the challenges, that we praise in the challenges, that we are unshakable, we are immovable, we are locked up in hope.
We know God wouldn’t have allowed it if it wasn’t going to work for our good. So when trouble hits, instead of having a defeated mentality, we have a double mentality. “The enemy meant it for harm, but God, we believe we are coming out with twice increase, promotion and better than we were before”.
Praising through the challenges, keeping a good attitude when it’s not fair, believing when there is no sign of things changing. Because you are locked into hope, you are passing the test… I believe and declare: what God promised you, twice your expectations is coming, something you have never seen, twice the joy, twice the resources, twice the influence, and twice the blessing, in Jesus’ name.
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’
