DO YOU NEED HOPE?

Do you need some hope today?

Today marks a time of change and chaos. A different president will lead our country while almost half the people did not vote confidence in his/her leadership. In truth, much of the feelings will be marked by anger and angst. The state of our world feeds anxiety. Some see the political results as the end of our world while others rejoice in how the world turns.

Do you have hope today?

Romans 15:13 expresses a wonderful prayer that God wants every believer to experience: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

We can easily get swallowed up in darkness and despair, not just in political circumstances, but also in personal life. We need some reality of hope on our horizon.

God gave us a PROMISE and a PRAYER for you to embrace and share with others.

• HOPE is the confident expectation that I will see and experience all the future good God has promised me…Somehow…Someway…Sometime.

No earthly events can stop that from happening. Read that verse again: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Now comes a question: “Does that verse even come close to describing you? Can you honestly say that your life is filled with all joy and peace? Do you abound in hope?”

How would you rate yourself on a Scale of 1-10? JOY…PEACE…HOPE?

How would your family or co-workers or those who differ with you about politics or cultural issues rate you on “being filled with all joy and peace in believing and abounding in hope?”

To varying degrees, we all fall short of experiencing that divine promise. You might have lots of hope, some hope, little hope, no hope, even hopeless.

However, I cannot imagine anyone expressing no interest in having joy, peace, and abounding hope. Would you choose to be depressed, down, gloomy, negative? Do you prefer worry, anguish, turmoil, stress, chaos? Do you like hopelessness and living in despair? I doubt it.

I cannot imagine that any of you would vote for no more joy, no more peace, and no more HOPE.

This Winsday Wisdom is for you and me and for those we know who are in need of hope.

HOPE IS THE CONFIDENT EXPECTATION OF EXPERIENCING ALL THE FUTURE GOOD GOD HAS PROMISED…SOMEHOW…SOMEWAY…SOMETIME.

God’s Hope is a certainty, not a wish or a possibility or a mind over matter thing, like “hoping” it will rain, or “hoping” you win the lottery, or “hoping” you can change your circumstances by positive thinking.

God’s Hope is a divinely and eternally guaranteed promise.

God does not tell us how He is going to do it. God does not explain to us the way or the timing. God’s hope is a confident expectation, a steadfast certainty, a dependable reality.

My go-to verse is found at the end of Psalm 27. “I would have DESPAIRED unless I believed that I would still see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” That is HOPE!

A common factor among those who are depressed is that they lack hope. Discouraged people and those who are apathetic about life lack hope.

Angry people lack hope. Anxious people lack hope.

This Promise is a practical verse for us all as we navigate life’s trials!

The God of hope wants you to be filled with all joy and peace so that you will abound in hope.

How does that prayer become a reality in you? Let’s consider a few truths which never change with the changes of political leadership.

1. God identified Himself as the God of Hope.

The Almighty God is the sole source and giver of hope. In this verse, the is a definitive article in the original Greek calling attention to emphasis. It literally translates God THE hope.

Hope is a Person. Romans 16.20 points to God THE Peace. If you know the Person, you have Hope and Peace.

There is nothing you can do better or that is more important than getting to know the Person of God…through the Word of God. That is the intent of the written Word of God. Romans 15:4:  For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

No matter what is going on in your life and in this world, you have a reason and the resources to hope! If you lack hope, the first place you should look is to God, who is the GIVER of true hope.

God is our God of hope, not just for tomorrow, not just for the future. He is the God of hope for today, our hope in the present.

HOPE is not the stuff of wishful thinking or fantasy dreams. Hope is grounded in the truth revealed in God’s Word. It is real, relevant, and reliable. It is supremely sufficient for your suffering and circumstances.

Everything starts with God. In difficult, unpleasant, and unwanted circumstances, we tend to lose sight of our God. When you know the God of hope, you have a different outlook on the whole world.

You will see HOPE on the horizon and feel HOPE in your soul. This Biblical verse serves as your spiritual binoculars for the changing cloud formations in our culture. It is your lighthouse for the rough seas.

2. The goal of hope is to fill you with all joy and peace.

LOOK at some of the words in this prayer.

• JOY is the deep-down sense of well-being and contentment in the heart. Your relationship with the Lord is independent of whether circumstances are favorable or unfavorable.
• PEACE is the inward state of calm which is also independent of circumstances. It refers to a sound mind…literally. bound together…not coming to pieces because of your circumstances.

Big Q: Where would the world notice we have joy and peace and hope? Most likely, it would be in the midst of our most challenging circumstances…sickness, suffering, loss.

• FILL means literally to fill “to the brim”. The Greek word means to make complete, to take possession of and ultimately control. This is the same verb used in Ephesians 5:18. “be filled with the Spirit.”

The idea is that what fills a person, exercises control over the person’s attitude and actions. 

My Dad loved his coffee hot, extremely hot. He also liked for his cup to be full, running over full. In the restaurant, he would always send his coffee back to be reheated. At home, he would take his piping hot, freshly brewed coffee and place it in the microwave on high for an additional minute.  

Why not ask God to fill you up to the brim and overflowing with Joy and Peace?

• ALL joy and peace in every part of your life without exception. The prayer is not asking for a percentage, portion, or fraction, but for all the joy and hope that God has promised. Complete. Total.

• BELIEVE. Our part in God’s purpose is to continuously and habitually believe that God has proven Himself truthful and trustworthy. Faith in God comes with the Power to hope.
• SO THAT-Purpose clause/reason. The Purpose of God’s Hope in you is so that (purpose clause) you may abound to overflowing with hope.
• ABOUND-to literally overflow. We become the containers of God’s super-abundant, overflowing hope.

The word “abound” is an interesting word in this text: it means that we have more hope than is necessary. We overflow. Our hope exceeds the container’s capacity measurements.

The same word is used when Jesus miraculously fed the five-thousand-plus multitude with the little boy’s food basket of five loaves of bread and two fish.

The disciple Philip declared it was impossible, much like what you are thinking about your life and its circumstance. When Jesus told the disciples “to gather” what is left-over—it was the same word as abound. You will have hope and enough left-over to share with others.

“Abounding” is the word used to describe the waves coming in on the beach. They crash in, continuously, relentlessly, one after another, unending, never ceasing. The waves continue to roll in whether you are awake or asleep, whether you are wallowing or wading. That is exactly the way God’s hope comes into your life.

You will have more than enough hope for your circumstances. Why more than enough? So, you will share with others.

• APPLICATION: Learn to think in terms of God’s character and not your circumstances.

Abound in Hope. Abound in the confident expectation of experiencing all the future goodness God has promised …somehow…someway…sometime.

Place your hope in God’s goodness, not doctors’ reports or medical research or the stock market gurus or any political election.

Hope in God is absolutely essential to living. We need it as much as we need air to breathe. Without it, the soul suffocates. People who lose hope struggle to live; they lose energy to confront life’s challenges. They have great difficulty getting out of bed in the morning and even greater problems putting the anxious mind to rest at bedtime.

Hopelessness makes the heart grow empty, the mind darkens with despair, and the steps falter along the journey. Whatever problem is causing you to feel anxious, you can be certain your anxiety will not lessen the problem. It will only make you more miserable. 

All of us need hope or else we cave in, fall apart, and give up.

This is my prayer for you today, that you may ABOUND IN HOPE.

Embrace the promise in Lamentations 3:21-24. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion; therefore I have hope in Him.

I would have despaired unless I believed that I will still see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

For the record, I have five loaves and two fish of Hope today …more than enough to share. Take some of the left-overs for you and for someone else who needs hope. Take as much as you need.

EYES UP! I LOVE YOU!