hope (hōp) --- noun a feeling that what is wanted is likely to happen; desire accompanied by expectation; verb to trust or rely ...
I was standing with a large group of people preparing for a performance of a program, and as I was reading through the lines assigned to me I was struck by a piece of wisdom that gripped my heart then and now. It was simply some words on a page that were being attributed to the Character of God.
All of the sudden I heard something like this: hope doesn't just come from Jesus; hope is Jesus; Jesus is hope. It is His character to give us hope AND to be our hope.
That means in finding real hope we find Jesus. Do you ever get to the place that I often find myself when I need to spend time alone with God? I need to hear His voice. Maybe there is some specific direction I am in need of or just a sense that He is moving and in control. But I need Him. I'm there pretty often, and we all need to be there.
Jesus is hope. As I sit and think about God, I find hope. As I talk to and pray to God, I find hope. As I listen to the things God says in the Bible and in my spirit, I find hope. All that is true because I find God himself wrapped up in His gift of Jesus and the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. I find hope
And his name will be the hope of all the world.
Whose name? It is Jesus' name. He is the hope of the world. I was talking with a mom this morning who was in deep, dark distress. My prayer became "Jesus, give her and be her hope."
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.
I'm not a patient person, yet the more I wait on God, the more hope I find in and through Him. To be connected to God makes all the difference in the world. Feeling that isn't always easy which means you and I have to let hope sink deep inside and believe what God says and not what I feel.
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.
Do you pray for people? I do. I often pass those prayer needs on to you and to others. Lets spend extra time finding real hope for ourselves. Doing that we will help others find real hope for them as well. Finding real hope means we have found Jesus!
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