HOPE DEFERRED
By Bill Burns

August 14, 2000

For several months now my night watches have occurred at
3:00 a.m. I have been awakened several times at this early
morning hour with the word of the Lord coursing through my
spirit.

I believe that the Master has chosen this time because it
points to the third day of Christ in the church. Again, on
Sunday morning, I was awakened at 3:00 a.m. with the words
"hope deferred" and "prisoners of hope" running through my
spirit.

At this point, I got up and went to sit at my desk for
understanding. The Lord began to speak to me about the
many of His flock who have been wounded, and His desire to
restore them. We are about to enter into the fullness of
the third day, and Hosea 6:2 tells us that after two days
He will revive (restore) us.

He then told me that many will miss the third-day
blessings because they have not received the things that
they have "hoped" for, and they are, therefore, not in a
place of faith to receive the third-day anointing and the
blessings that come with it.

Proverbs 13:12, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But
when the desire comes, it is a tree of life."

The word "deferred" means to be drawn out. This would mean
that hope has been lost because of the length of time that
has occurred in which many have not yet received the
manifestation of previous promises, words, or
expectations. This condition has caused a heart sickness
(broken or in some cases hardened).

The Lord is telling us that we need to renew our faith
according to the desire that was created according to His
promises. When desire returns, then we will again be like
a tree of life watered by the Spirit.

The other scripture the Lord gave me was : Zechariah
9:11-12, "As for you also, because of the blood of your
covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the
waterless pit. Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of
hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to
you."

This speaks of restoration. Many have been made prisoners
of hope deferred. We are told that if we will return to
the stronghold (of our faith in Christ) and have our hope
renewed, then we shall receive a double portion. The
double portion speaks to me of the old promises (desires),
but it also speaks of the blessing that will come with the
third day of His power.

Hosea 6:1 tells us to "come and return to the Lord." We
need to return to our position of desire in Christ, have
our hope renewed, and then He will heal us and bind us up
and carry us forth into the third day. The third day
represents the power of His resurrection (day of His
power--Psalm 110:3).

Philippians 3:10-14, "That I may know Him and the power of
His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may
attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have
already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on,
that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has
also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to
have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forward to those
things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the
prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Hosea 6:3 also tells us to "know" Him -- to pursue the
knowledge of the Lord, for the time of this third-day
visitation is established (a set time), and He is coming
to us as the rain of the Spirit.

Brethren, it is time to have our broken hearts mended and
the fallow ground of our hardened hearts broken up if we
are to be able receive the rain that is about to fall--a
double portion, the former and the latter rain together.

Let us, therefore, lift up the hands that hang down. Let
us cast off the weariness that has overtaken us. Let us
forget those things which are behind us. And, let us press
on in faith towards the high calling. Let us reach forward
into the third day and receive His touch. The Master is
waiting for us to renew our hope in Him, and He will then
restore us! Oh, praise His wonderful name!