Hope

Romans 15:13
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.
As I was sitting in church Sunday night supporting JD as he was bringing the message my eyes glanced at this little verse tucked away in Romans 15 and the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. I have heard before that if we have hope we can get through any and all situations. Depressions worsen when hope is gone; suicide becomes the answer when there is no more hope; love withers and dies when hope disappears; cancer and other life-threatening diseases overcome us when we feel that hope has left us.
Jesus said that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. Paul said that the most excellent way is love. I think that one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind is hope. Last week some fishermen hung on for dear life for eight days on a sunken boat with rationed food and polluted water praying for a miracle, believing that they had too much to live for and hoping to be rescued.
Hope has been described as getting to the end of your rope then tying a knot instead of letting go. We can all recall moments of desperate situations when the only thing that kept us going was that flickering light of hope.
Hope that our sick child would pull through; hope that the check would come in time; hope that we would get that job; hope that there would be good news from the medical tests; hope that we would be forgiven even when we know it is undeserved;
I love this verse because it tells us where our hope comes from. The Almighty is the God of Hope and he is the one that has given us this beautiful gift. He knows that if we have hope we will be filled with joy and peace. This will only happen if we learn to trust in him. He has given the Holy Spirit to each of his children as they are born into his kingdom and by the Holy Spirit’s power we will overflow with hope. We need hope to get through each day as we deal with life situations. The good news is that we have an ever-flowing source of hope and all we have to do is ask.
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.
September 1, 2009