Hope!

Monday, October 31, 2011

9:25 AM

As I was doing my Bible study this morning, this verse really spoke to me.

Romans 15:13(NKJV)

13Now 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.

A God of hope.  We serve a God of hope!  And our God wants us to abound in hope.  What's that mean?  He wants us to have LOTS of HOPE.  How cool is that?

Why is hope so important?  Well I don't know about you but to me it's what makes living our daily lives worth while.  The hope that tomorrow will always be better than today.  Now in reality, will it?  Of course not. 

A Christian's everyday life is full of many of the same ups and downs as any other person's life.  The difference is that even in the down times, because of God's promises, we can always have hope.  Here is another of my favorite verses that illustrates this point. 

Romans 5:1-5(NKJV)

1Therefore, having been justified by faith, £we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

2through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

3And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 

4and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

5Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

We are told to glory in tribulations.  Love that word picture.  Instead of getting all down about the struggles (tribulations) that we face in life, we are told to "glory in them".  What does glory mean in this case?  Here is one of the definitions of glory when used as a verb.

Glory

Verb.  10.  to exult with triumph; rejoice proudly (usually followed by in): Their father gloried in their success.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/glory>

How can you rejoice in your struggles?  Without God I can see where that would be hard to understand.  However when you serve the God of hope it becomes much easier because He gives us hope in abundance.  It also becomes easier once you understand the purpose of those tribulations. 

And what is the purpose?  Tribulations give us a chance to grow and learn.  They give us a chance to exercise our hope.  Let's look at the progression that God tells us we can expect. 

3And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 

4and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

5Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint. 

So I invite you to live a life of hope through Jesus Christ.  How do you do that?  You can get started by  simply saying a prayer something like this:

Dear Lord, I don't know all of the details but I do believe in my heart that you raised Jesus from the dead and I am now asking Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of my life.  Amen!

Remember what God has promised:

Hope does not disappoint!