His Hope!

[After I wrote this post, my pastor gave a sermon on Sunday night about this exact topic. It was very refreshing and I'd encourage you all to listen to it as well. http://sermons.gbccv.org/?sermon_id=1159 God bless.]

"...But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?" (Romans 8:24b)

I think I can safely say that everyone at some point in time has struggled with hope. Hope is not something we can handle, and we as finite human beings tend to have more faith when we can see or touch something. Hope often means waiting--waiting for something that we cannot see or cannot have...yet. In other words we are trusting that something will happen even if we have no clear evidence. Hope comes in different levels and forms. A four year old may hope for a certain gift. A twelve year old may hope to attend a birthday party with friends. A seventeen year old hopes to finish high school soon. A twenty-three year old hopes to find a job and get married. A forty year old hopes to see his grandchildren. It goes on and on...

"For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth." (Ps.71:5)

"...God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col.1:27)

What is our hope? Our hope is God. Our hope is in God. When all circumstances seem to be failing, when all possibilities are ruled out, when there is absolutely no reason to keep going, when there is nothing left but us and God, then we will see where our hope is. If it is in man, situations, money, or anything else, then our life will crumble. Man is fallible. Those we love will let you down--no matter how hard we try to ignore it--they will. Our complete hope cannot rest in man. Situations change all the time. They may be comfortable one moment and intensely emotional another moment. They will change frequently and shatter normality. Money is never certain. Economies fluctuate and banks change. We cannot think that money will give us hope when we need it. Whatever else you may hope in will let you down. In a depraved world nothing can remain the same at all times. A hope in God is a hope that never disappoints.

Our hope is God, and only God.  He is the only One who will never leave us--even when family and friends have left. He is the only One who can give true strength--even when our strength has ceased. He is the only One who be our Giver--even when all financial aid is gone. Our hope must be in God. If it isn't, our life will be nothing. We will have no hope of salvation, eternal life, or security in this world. If we can trust God for our salvation, why can't we hope in Him for the rest of our needs? His hope will never let us down--never in this life, and never in the next, either.

"Through him you believe in God, who raise him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God." (1 Peter 1:21)

We can take hold of hope by trusting in God and by following where He leads even when we can't see the pathway ahead of us, and even when all the world is against us. To rest in His promises and daily surrender to His will is when we will embrace hope. It requires endurance during a waiting season. God doesn't call us to wait and hope in Him if He will not fulfill His promises. "We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized." (Hebrews 6:11) Our hoping in Him does not go unnoticed, but we will need diligence in our daily tasks and perseverance to keep going when there is no other hope but God.  He will reward our patience. "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded." (Hebrews 10:35) Be like Abraham who "when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going...And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore." (Heb.11:8, 12) He had hope in an unchanging God, and God never, ever, once let him down. 

Don't give up. Hope in the Lord and He will renew your strength. His mercies are new every morning. Don't rely on yourself. "If you put your hope in the sovereign grace and power of God and not in your own strength, or in the approval of others or in money or in fleeting pleasures or in status, then when the limelight shifts off your ministry and your life, and the praise of man is gone, and the glamour of self-denial evaporates and all the supports of men crumble, then you SHALL endure—with the endurance of hope." (John Piper) 

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:19-20)

We have a hope that is sure and steadfast. It will not fail. Ever. Though our hope may fail daily, His hope will never cease to give us grace and strength. He will give us the grace to see anything through. Our faith and hope must be in the One who calls and our confidence in doing what He lays before us. The results are in His hands because our tasks are beyond our strength. We do not choose to battle, but it is come. And we can have hope, because the outcome of all our battles is victory. We serve a risen Savior—a Victorious Savior!

“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)

Sometimes we go through trials

That are so hard to bear

We lift our face toward heaven

“God are you really there?”

I’ve asked that same question

And I’ve been down that road.

Looking back I now can tell you

He’s always let me know:

There is hope so hold on;

There is hope.

God has sent me here to tell you

There is hope.

And He knows just what you’re going through

And what the future holds.

As long as Jesus lives

There is hope.

In Christ,

Kaleigh