Hope is needed in the handhand combat required to put off the natural man

Hope helps us to walk by faith, not by sight. This can actually be safer. When unaided spiritually, natural sight often shrinks from the odds (see 2 Cor. 5:7 It is immobilized by improbabilities. Mauled by his moods and intimidated by his fears, the natural man overreacts to, while hope overrides, the disappointments of the day.
Hope is particularly needed in the hand-to-hand combat required to put off the natural man (see Mosiah 3:19 Giving up on God and on oneself constitutes simultaneous surrender to the natural man.

Author: Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Source: “Brightness of Hope” Elder Neal A. Maxwell Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles