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Building Blocks: Intro to Faith, Hope, & Love Series

By Hawi Bekele Bengessa

Building Blocks: Intro to Faith, Hope, & Love Series

Faith, Hope, Love

First blog post, yay!

TL;DR
Faith, hope, and love are essential to entering and remaining in His Rest:

  • Faith: The gift of faith can carry us through seasons, but only the Faith OF God can carry us into Rest (Mark 11:22, Galatians 2:20).

  • Hope: As a Son of God, it’s not normal to be hopeless. The very substance of Hope (Christ Himself) lives in us (Colossians 1:27). This revelation comes from a shift in our perspective and understanding of time (Romans 8:24-25).

  • Love: No lies, no strongholds, no generational curse, no demon in hell, from before time until eternity, can separate us from His Love (Romans 8:38-39). The evidence of this is not just what Christ did for us on the Cross, but what that means for us here, today, right now. Fully believing in His unconditional love for us is the door to enter into His Rest and be conformed to His image (1 John 4:16-18).

*Disclaimer: Since this post is just introducing the series, I’ve added Scripture references to statements I make, but I don’t go in-depth since well...we’re doing a whole series on each topic lol.  

What Does Faith, Hope, and Love Have to Do With Rest?

Great question. I like you already. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul breaks down the essence of love. There’s a characteristic to it that goes beyond a warm, fuzzy feeling. Love is an identity.

In fact, God is love (1 John 4:8). An essential part of entering into His Rest is becoming partakers of His nature—that is, love (2 Peter 1:4). But we can’t do that on our own. Our identity as Sons was bought at a price, a transaction we had no part in and can’t add to (1 Corinthians 6:20).

Being partakers of His nature (love) is a free gift that we grow in by faith. And so we have this hope, this mystery, that we can walk like Him (1 John 2:6), while at the same time already having His DNA (Galatians 4:6-7).

Again, not in our own strength, but by His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6, Romans 8:11). There’s no human effort that could ever scratch the surface of this transfiguration into His likeness. That’s why entering into His Rest is key to walking out His nature here on Earth.

Our Faith vs. The Faith of God

We were born again by believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10). It took faith to believe that Someone thousands of years ago walked this Earth as a perfect offering for all the sins of humanity—past, present, and future. But remember, with man, it’s impossible to come into salvation (Matthew 19:26). So how did we get saved?

The Father is the One who draws us in (John 6:44). The miracle of salvation can never be put into our hands. We’re the ones who choose to receive, but it’s He who gives us the grace to encounter this free gift of life (Ephesians 2:8-9).

To enter into His Rest, we must walk in the Faith OF God (Galatians 2:20, Mark 11:22). The same faith that saved us from eternal damnation is the same faith that will keep us. It’s a gift, inherent in Holy Spirit who lives within us (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). When we focus on the strength of our own faith, we miss the bigger picture: His Rest.

That’s what stopped the Israelites from entering into His Rest right (Hebrews 3-4)? Because their hearts were hardened and they didn’t believe God at His Word. Their belief was based on the faith they could muster up, what they saw (or didn’t see) in the wilderness. It takes the Faith OF God to believe God at His Word. But we can choose to surrender our own faith, and take up His (more on that in this series). 

Think about it—would you rather someone who has worked up years to build their faith lay hands on your dying cat or someone who walks in the fullness of the Faith of God? The Faith of God is unquantifiable, to the point that if we’d only have a mustard seed’s worth, we’d be able to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). And moving mountains is the least of what we could do with His Faith. 

Series Summary:

  • Submitting Our Faith to the Faith of God

  • The Root of Unbelief 

  • Hearers of the Word 

  • The Promised Land & Rest 

The Science of Hope

When you’ve entered into Rest, hope takes on a different form. It becomes the culmination of God's promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).

We’re used to hope being an emotion dictated by circumstances, the "what ifs" of the future. But the hope we carry in Rest is eternal (Romans 5:5). It’s inherent in the revelation that it—whatever it is—is already finished (John 19:30). Whether I get the job or not, it is done. Whether I recover from this illness or not, it is done. 

Sounds good in theory, but let’s be real. When we’re faced with incredibly difficult situations, it’s hard not to feel hopeless. 

That’s because Hope has two characteristics: perspective and time. Let’s say a person has been battling with cancer and after praying, fasting, doing everything they know to do and they’re still dealing with it 3 years later. The 1st year they may have been full of hope, fixing their eyes on Jesus. The 2nd year, they were still going strong, faltering here and there but steadfast. In the 3rd year, the lies started to wear them down and their hearts grew sick.

“God, why aren't You healing me? It’s been 3 years, I’ve obeyed Youu and never turned away. Why won’t You heal me? I know You can, just do it, please.”

If their hope is in getting healed, it would be hard not to lose hope, especially after 3 years of dealing with a chronic illness. And please, hear me. This is not a bad thing to hope for. Trust me, I would’ve hoped for the same thing. 

But when our hope is in one Truth—Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)—it transcends the visible, beyond what we can see, touch, hear, or taste. Our hope enters the realm of the invisible God. Into Rest. In Him, where we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28).

Series Summary: 

  • The Science of Hope: What It Is and What It’s Not 

  • The Mystery of Christ in Us 

  • Becoming Carriers of His Hope


Inseparable From His Love

We are inextricably linked to the love of God. Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). It’s shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). What would life look like if we believed this with our entire being? 

A Son of God knows they’re fully known and loved by the Father (1 John 3:1). Because they believe this truth, they can boldly come before Him through the good, bad, and ugly (Hebrews 4:16). They don’t hide or try to separate themselves (impossibly so) from God’s love. They know they’re safe in Him. This is Rest. 

The belief that God’s unquenchable love is wholly dedicated to us and un-take-back-able is transformative (Jeremiah 31:3, Ephesians 3:17-19). This revelation is a deep ocean and if all we do is sit with this, we’ll still never reach its depths. For now, we know in part, but there will be a time when we fully understand, as we are fully understood (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Until then, these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Series Summary: 

  • What Manner of Love is This?

  • Safety in His Love 

  • Without Him (Love), We Are Nothing

  • A Day in the Life of a Beloved