You can have real hope in Him.
September 7, 2008 (Sunday)
”May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 NIV). With these words, Paul gives encouragement to the Christians of his day, and to all of us.
Consider “The God of Hope.”
The God of hope finds you. All of us are need of being found, because like sheep we have gone astray (Isa 53). God searches for you in many ways – through a human witness, through the Spirit’s direct work in your heart, or in one of countless additional ways. He ultimately finds you, and rejoices (Luke 15). The angels of God around His throne rejoice every time God finds another, giving that one salvation and hope.
The God of hope fills you. He fills you with joy and peace (Romans 15:13). Enlarge your desires and increase your expectations of what God is able to do in your life. Would you like to have a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Let God fill you with all these. Jesus came to give us abundant life.
The God of hope frees you. He releases you from the false hopes of this world, and gives you substantive reasons to be optimistic. God’s hope is like a clear bubbling spring, different from the world’s hope which flows from murky streams. He frees you from despair and despondency, as you see his promises fulfilled time after time. He frees you from fear and gives you hope.
Jesus is our example in having hope. He endured the cross “for the joy that was set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). His greatest joy is finding, filling and freeing people. His joy can be yours. You can have real hope in Him.
“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” (1 Peter 1:3 NIV).