Caste the grappling hook

I've never done mountain climbing, although I find it fascinating, but I've seen enough in movies to know that sometimes to get from one point to another, you need a little help.  That is often when a rope tied to a grappling hook is used.  The rope is swung rodeo style and then thrown to the next location and once you have a connection and the hook is stable, you can pull yourself from one point to another. 

That's precisely the picture I want you to have in mind when you consider these next few words (marked in blue):

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.


Hope and hoped are both important here.  Hope being future tense, is the spiritual force that gives us the courage to push on for God.  When we act positively in faith we caste our spiritual grappling hook from the place in life that we are now to where we want to be.  Hoped in the past tense will apply to the evidence we will discuss next time. 


Have you been standing in faith and believing God for something and wondering why it isn't coming to pass?  Well maybe it is because you haven't caste the grappling hook of hope to the place where you want to be.  To caste your grappling hook, you need to get a very clear picture in your mind of having what you are believing for in your life now.  When the picture is strong enough, you can pull yourself forward.