13 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
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, HOPE. 5 AND HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT US, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. Romans 5
The word ‘Hope’ is mentioned 14 times in the Roman letter, Paul’s Greatest exposition of the Gospel of Christ. Hope was and is an important theme for Believers, in the earliest days of the Church and definitely in these days. It comes from the Greek word ‘elpis’, which can mean, ‘AN EXPECTATION OF WHAT IS GUARANTEED’. The root word ’elpo’ means, ‘to anticipate with pleasure and to welcome’.
The commonest definition of Hope among Believers is ‘the Confident expectation of Good’. Another fuller description is, ‘the Confident expectation of what God has promised and its STRENGTH IS IN HIS FAITHFULNESS’.
HOPE CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GIVING UP AND HOLDING ON. HOPE CAN KEEP US GOING! Don’t give up your HOPE, trust in the Lord and He will guide and help you.
23 Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground;
they will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
THOSE WHO HOPE IN ME WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’ Isaiah 49, Speaks of the restoration of Israel
I have shared before that the last part of this verse from Isaiah 49 has a special significance for me. The enemy spoke to me as I awoke one Saturday morning with a negative thought, concerning a hotel booking. It was a short time before our wedding and I’d written to a hotel in the English Lake District, but hadn’t received a reply. At the beginning of the following week I received a phone call from the hotel, agreeing to let us have one of their superior rooms for slightly more that I’d offered them. The Lord was Faithful and my wife to be was very relieved.
13 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
Don’t give up your Hope, keep looking to God!