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Faith creates hope, so where faith is conceived hope is birthed. Yes, hope is the daughter of faith. Those who profess to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior possess hope. Hard times try to hinder hope’s comforting company, but it is unhindered where faith in God is the focus. Those who hold on to hope are happy. Where faith peers hope makes clear. Where there is a wall, hope finds a door. Where there is darkness, hope looks for a light. Hope expects Christ to come through.
What is hope? It is confidence in Jesus Christ, period. Confidence He is faithful. Faithful to follow through with His promise to provide us peace in the middle of our turmoil. Faithful to answer our prayers in His most productive process. Faithful to give our children what they need as long as they look to Him. Faithful to facilitate financial resources when we steward well what we already have. He is faithful by His restorative grace to heal relationships severed by sin. Hope bursts forth in possibilities when we embrace the promises fulfilled by the Lord’s faithfulness.
You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
Job 11:18
Since your security is in your Savior Jesus who has conquered sin, sorrow and death, hope is your wise weapon. Your Heavenly Father holds you in the palm of His hand,
Since your security is in your Savior Jesus who has conquered sin, sorrow and death, hope is your wise weapon. Your Heavenly Father holds you in the palm of His hand,
therefore nothing can reach you lest your divine protector gives permission. The Holy Spirit is your guide, thus you have a trusted leader who directs your path. “Your hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.” Your two-handed grasp of God includes His double fisted hold on you!
When hope is deferred avoid rejecting God and giving up. Wait on the Lord and hope in Him. He helps you when you feel helpless. He empowers you when you feel powerless. He encourages you when you feel discouraged. He gives joy when you feel joyless. Hope never disappoints.
When hope is deferred avoid rejecting God and giving up. Wait on the Lord and hope in Him. He helps you when you feel helpless. He empowers you when you feel powerless. He encourages you when you feel discouraged. He gives joy when you feel joyless. Hope never disappoints.
We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. Psalm 33:20
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to hope in You when all seems hopeless.
Related Readings: Psalm 33:22; Proverbs 13:12; Lamentations 3:21-29; Romans 4:18; 1 John 3:3
Post/Tweet today: Like Mount Everest, your hope is unmovable, so hold unswervingly to your living hope: Jesus!
© 2013 by Boyd Bailey. All rights reserved.
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Praise to God for a Living Hope
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Peter 1:3-7 New International Version (NIV)
Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
An avid amateur gardener, I was excited to take on the large yard around our new home. Rainfall was sparse, and for almost five years I struggled to grow vegetables and flowers in the hot, arid climate and extremely poor soil conditions. I often felt as if I were fighting a losing battle; what the scorching heat did not cause to dry up and die, the roaming livestock chewed and trampled into the dirt. Eventually, I was forced to give up my dream of a lush garden outdoors and to settle for potted plants inside the house and on the front porch.
- Romans 5:5 (NRSV)
I saw a single, brilliant red flower coming from a leafless stalk in the middle of the garden. A hibiscus shrub I had long ago stopped watering and thought was dead had somehow put out a solitary blossom. What a beautiful and encouraging sight! What a symbol of hope! In the years since, I’ve often thought about that hibiscus shrub and compared it to some of life’s situations that we tend to give up on: a broken marriage, a rebellious child, a dead-end job. Yet God’s word gives us assurance that even in these seemingly hopeless circumstances we can have hope that someday, one day, our situation — like my lone hibiscus flower — will start blooming again.
Prayer
O God, help us to continue to put our trust in you and the hope you have given us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prayer focus - Someone feeling hopeless
