The following is from an article in Leadership magazine, written by John Ortberg, called HOLDING OUT HOPE.  REALLY GOOD.

It's not their giftedness, although effective ministry always requires alignment with spiritual gifts.  It's not education, although theologically reflective leaders are sorely needed nowadays.  It's not resources or connections or IQ or support systems, though all those are good things.  What makes an enduring and healthy ministry possible?

It's hope.

It is an unforced, consistent conviction that somehow God is at work in the midst of our efforts, and that therefore they are not in vain. "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations" (Rom. 4:18).

Why is hope so central?...  When hope dies, motivation dies.  There is no longer any reason to try anything.  But once hope enters a marriage - or a church - anything is possible.  It's not some "don't worry, be happy" attitude, but a deep sense that with God we will prevail.

HOPE DETECTION

I've had to learn how to monitor some hope indicators to give me a kind of early detection system so I know when hope begins to run low.  One indicator is how I face the morning.  Clinical researchers say that mornings are generally the times when anxiety and depression are most likely to run the strongest.  There is a reason why the Scriptures say God's mercies are "new every morning."  When I find myself waking up feeling overwhelmed by the tasks to be done during the day, I know hope is running low.

Another indicator is what I think of as recovery time.  When a few weeks off don't recharge my batteries, I know hope is in short supply.  When my hope tank is full, I have energy for outside activities.  When my hope stash is dwindling, taking on anything new feels like a drain.  Also, I find that my emotional sensitivity in relationships tells me something.

HOPE BANDITS

I've also had to learn how to arrange my life so that I can keep filling up on hope.  Partly, this means I have to watch out for hope-killers.  No encounter with another human being is purely neutral on an emotional level.  Every conversation I have with someone either fills me with a little more hope or drains a little of it away.

HOPE DISPENSERS

I need to identify those who fill me with hope.  I think of my friend Kent.  Kent is a hope-giver to me because he does two things consistently.  He always speaks truth to me.  And he is always for me.

One of the most important practices I've had to learn is precisely that one: how to encourage myself in the Lord my God.  Hope "in the Lord".

Sometimes all I do when alone with God is to rehearse my inadequacies and problems.  So, as an act of discipline, sometimes I force myself to lay those aside.

I read passages that speak of God's love for me.  I go to settings where the beauty of creation will remind me of the goodness of God.  I listen to music I love.  I write down twenty blessings I'm grateful to God for.  I think about what will matter a million years from now.  My current burdens lose their weight.  I sleep.  I listen.  I shift my focus from what I'm hoping for, to who I'm hoping in. 

A friend of mine used to say that one day every circumstance, every situation we're hoping for is going to wear out, give out, fall apart, melt down, or go away.  When that happens, the question is about your deeper hope . . . about your foundational hope . . . it's about your fallback hope when all your other hopes are disappointed.

The whole testimony of the Scriptures points to this One Man, points to a God, not because he'll be able to give us this thing or that thing we were hoping for - because that's always going to give out eventually.  Instead it points to the One that we put our hope in.

ULTIMATE HOPE

Ultimately, I don't hope for some thing at all, but for some One.  I hope for the One who rose on the Third Day.

The Third Day is God's day.  The Third Day is the day when prisoners of Pharaoh get set free.  The Third Day is the day the mountains shake and rivers are parted and people go into the Promised Land.  The Third Day is the day a harem girl like Esther faces down a powerful king.  The Third Day is the day prophets like Jonah are dropped off at seaside ports by giant fish.

The Third Day is the day stones are rolled away.  The Third Day is the day a crucified carpenter came back to life.

You never know what God is going to do, because God is "God of the Third Day."

You never know what might happen on the Third Day.  I cling to that.  I put all my hope in a Third Day God.