There’s a very well-known verse in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that says:

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

And you know, we talk and think a lot about faith and love. We hear many sermons on faith and love. We know we need to build our faith and learn to love better. But how often have you even talked about hope? Did you ever hear a sermon on hope or go to a Bible study on hope? Have you ever intentionally worked at building your hope, growing in your hope, becoming a more hope-filled person? Yet, God says it’s one of the three things that remain, and therefore it should have a place of importance in our lives, don’t you think? God places a high value on hope, and so should we.

A book by Ray Johnston entitled The Hope Quotient really caught my attention as I read it. I highly recommend the book to you because Johnston presents a compelling case for the importance of building our hope, maintaining our hope, making sure our hope is not crushed by life. I don’t have to tell you that it’s not easy to remain hopeful in this evil world, is it? Just think of the days when your hope has been dashed. It makes you want to give up; it saps your energy and drains your enthusiasm. And if you are not prepared to build your hope, to unleash hope even in the face of disappointments, you will find yourself sitting on the sidelines of life, discouraged and depressed way too often.

So, today I want to give you just a taste of some of the things that are covered in this book, The Hope Quotient, and hopefully encourage you to realize that you can, through Christ, unleash hope in your life in a new and exciting way. I can tell you that this book study has given me a new understanding of the importance of unleashing hope in my life.

Let me begin by making sure we know what hope is and what it isn’t. First, hope is much more than an emotion you feel. It is not wishful thinking or blind optimism. The kind of hope we’re focusing on comes from God through Jesus Christ, so you need to be a Christ-follower in order to tap into the hope he gives. You unleash this hope through the power of Christ in you. It’s not something you just work up on your own. It requires more power than you have in yourself, but if you know Jesus as your Savior, you have what is required to unleash hope in your life through the Holy Spirit and through Scripture.

Sadly, however, many Christ-followers are not unleashing hope in their lives, and they live in a state of discouragement and quiet desperation. Does that describe you? If you’re not doing what you need to do to keep hope alive in your heart and mind, you’re missing one of the greatest gifts, one of the greatest advantages we have as Christ-followers. We read in Hebrews that we have this hope as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure. An anchor is something that holds a boat or ship in place, keeping it from moving. Hope for a Christian provides an anchor of strength and support in the midst of this stormy world we live in. Hope is the thing that will keep you from going under.

So, what I’d like to do now is give you a taste of some of the very practical and biblical advice from this book, which I believe will help you begin to understand the importance of unleashing hope in your life and give you some tools to make that happen. I’ve often said that discouragement is the devil’s most effective tool in our lives. Hope is the cure for discouragement. It’s so very important.

In his book, Ray Johnston says that “Becoming a person with hope—defeating discouragement and building a new future—is always a result of raising seven hope factors. . .” I want to emphasize two of the seven factors that will unleash hope in your life.

The first one is: “Recharge Your Batteries.” If hope is to be unleashed in your life, you have to continually replenish the things in your life which fuel you. When you run out of fuel, all your expertise and giftedness and experience...