Faith is the opposite of fear. Hope is the forerunner of faith. When we find faith we can believe hope was there first. Hope generates a vision of transformation.

Hope is the expectation of becoming and overcoming, and every believer in Christ has an expectation, in one fashion or another, of being a “becomer” and an “overcomer”! Hope must have an object to act on, and the object of Hope is Expectation.

Hope is a character trait of the righteous, they have an attitude of anticipation with an expectation that something will happen to further fulfill the vision of transformation. Among many causes, our hope is based on God’s faithfulness, and He is always, eternally faithful. Our hope is a result of trusting God. Our hope is from remembering what God has done. Hope lifts our face, and in opposition, despair causes our face to drop.

We are silent when the enemy threatens to expose our past. We are silent for fear of rejection. We are silent in the face of persecution, being marginalized or minimized. We are silent many times to justify our own behavior while citing someone else’s. We are silent when words are about to be spoken and should not. Being silent without making a move towards resolve, like giving someone “the silent treatment”, is a power struggle in pain tolerance … the “silent treatment” means whoever wins shows they could care less the most.

Can we silence our conscience? We can be silent to others, and possibly silence our state of mind, but we cannot so easily silence our conscience … the only conscience which is silent is a reprobate conscience. Without a conscience, conviction has no foothold, and condemnation has full run of the field! Paul speaks many times, for a good reason, about the value of owning a conscience that is not silent.

Being silent for the right reasons is righteous, but i believe, by far and large, most of us are often silent for all the wrong reasons. Silence is truly golden, but it is not always the best choice. Let us believe God, take Him at His word, and put our foot on the neck of fear which drives us to silence so often.