Posts Tagged ‘hope’

You are Full of Hope

Monday, October 9th, 2017

you-are-full-of-hope

You are full of hope! You might not feel that way right now, but if you are a Christian, at minimum, you have the hope of heaven, to have your sorrows completely gone in the presence of Jesus. But that is not all. God promises all things to work for our good (Romans 8:28), so we have hope that at some point God will turn things around and bless us for any suffering that we’ve been through.

And these three remain: faith, hope, and love…” Why is hope listed as one of the three most important qualities that are needed in a believer’s life? I understand why faith is important; faith in God and Christ’s death on the cross is required for salvation. I also understand the importance of love; it is the greatest commandment to love God and others. But I always wondered why hope was in the middle of faith and love. What’s so vital about hope, that without it, we fail to thrive?

hope-papers

First I would like to define what hope is: “a favorable and confident expectation; it has to do with the unseen and the future; the happy anticipation of good.” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary)

God is the author of hope, and He is the one who gives it:

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NASB)

God never rebuked Job for feeling despair over his unjust treatment and loss. God called him righteous. And when Elijah was in despair, God took care of him and encouraged him. He was never rebuked for feeling despair, since he had served God faithfully and just had nothing left. Both Job and Elijah had given their all. They were completely wiped out.

hope-art

The Psalms express this same despair:

“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.” (Psalm 42:5 NASB)

This Scripture holds the keys to overcoming despair and grabbing hold of hope:

  1. Hope in God. The Lord will bring us through the situation.
  2. Later we will praise God for the good that He did in the future. Therefore, since a good future is secure because God promises good from all that happens to us, praise will come out of our mouth after the fact. So we might as well praise Him before the fact, since we know that He will do it. The ability to do this is called faith.
  3. His presence is what will help us to overcome despair.

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God is sovereign over all things, and He will bring you out as gold on the other side of suffering. I have seen over and over again, God bringing good out of the worst situations in my life. God is faithful.

Don’t allow yourself to remain in anguish, or it will incapacitate you. The enemy wants to torment you and keep you from living life to the full and serving Him. Hand your anguish over to God, and praise Him with songs until your hope comes back. God is in control of the situation and will bring good from it. God is working even when you don’t see it.

My favorite verses of hope happen in the midst of Jeremiah’s despair in the bottom of a dark, muddy pit while starving to death:

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:21-23 NASB)

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you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

Faith and Hope in Prayer

Friday, March 18th, 2016

faith-and-hope-in-prayerHow do faith and hope relate to prayer?

Are you in the middle of a trial, something that you’ve been praying for that relies on God working on another human being… and there is nothing you can do about it? You have to commit your way to the Lord. You have to continue seeking Him. When that trial drags on and on and on, how do you keep your faith in God? How do you keep from giving up hope?

We can put our hope in God. Scriptural hope is strong and secure. It’s not a wishful thinking. Hope is solid like cement. I’m talking about spiritual hope in God and in His promises that are ironclad. For example, if you are saved and your life has been transformed by God, you have the hope of heaven. This doesn’t mean you are wishing that you might go to heaven–no–you know for certain because Scripture promises eternal life when we make Jesus Lord of our lives. The hope of eternal life is a certainty. Heaven is something that is secure.

In the promises of God, if we align our will to God’s will, God promises to answer us:

And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.  1 John 5:14-15 ESV

Our hope, then, is in God and His Word. If God is not a liar, He will accomplish what He has set out to do, and we know His will through the pages of Scripture. A command in Scripture is the will of God, so if you ask God to help you to obey Him, He will answer. If you ask God to repair your marriage, God’s will is that a husband and wife be one, so He will answer you. The timing is the only thing we have no control over. Otherwise we are to pray without ceasing until the will of God is done in our lives. We have faith that God will do so.

Faith and Hope in Prayer (Video # 11)

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