God of Hope

I did not have a full sense of hope before I accepted Christ. I hoped in a lot of things that proved temporary or did not fulfill a need like I thought. A hole remained within and nothing I learned in school could tell me what fit there. Actually schooling only made it worse because we supposedly randomly happened out of a sludge pool and may have evolved from apes. None of it explained why we were here and without a true purpose it is easy to flounder around.

God provided the hole inside, which is Jesus sized. It’s where we plug into Him and He can indwell us via the Holy Spirit. It’s this full relationship that can give us hope, which the world can never duplicate. I would have loved to known the Lord much better in my childhood instead of finally knowing Him in my thirties.

Psalms 71:5 NLT

O Lord, you alone are my hope. I've trusted you, O LORD, from childhood.

Now we can not only have hope, but confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul prays for this when he is writing to the Romans.

Romans 15:13 NLT

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Once we understand where this hope comes from, we realize we should also obey what God tells us. He did not make His regulations and laws to punish us. He made them so we could understand how to live and relate to everyone as He would. The following psalmist wanted to be sure that God’s word was never snatched from him or he would lose his hope.

Psalms 119:43 NLT

Do not snatch your word of truth from me, for your regulations are my only hope.

We can reach the point where we can rejoice over problems and trials. I get hung up on this though I’ve seen Him work things out in the most interesting ways right on time for myself and others. A lot of times we get stuck in our problem box and can’t see all the help outside it and the hope we could have. Realize we need God and grab onto Him for He will not disappoint.

Romans 5:3-5 NLT

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Ephesians 1:18 NLT

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

God is calling all of us if we will listen. What are you waiting for? The true and confident hope you want in life is waiting with Him.