THE GOD OF HOPE

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NKJV)

We all need to abound in hope. Hope is the artist of the soul.

Faith fills us with joy and peace, which brim over in hope. When faith brings from God's Word the materials of anticipation and expectation, hope transfers the fair colors to her palette, and with a few skillful dashes of her brush delineates the soul's immortal and unfading hope. Faith thus excites hope to do her fairest work, until presently the wails of our soul become radiant with freshness. Our faith rests on God's Word, and hope rests on faith, and such hope cannot be ashamed. It is the anchor of the soul, which enters that which is within the veil, and links us to the shores of eternity (Hebrews 6:18-19).

Faith rests on the promises of God. She does not calculate on feeling, is indifferent to emotion, but with both hands clings to some word of promise, and looking into God's face, says; "You cannot be unfaithful." When God has promised something to you, it is as certain as if you had it in hand. Faith not only takes the Word of God, and rests her weight on it, but often when hard-pressed goes beyond the Bible back to God Himself, and argues that God is faithful and cannot deny Himself. Because God is God, He must ever act worthily of Himself.

It was in such a way that Moses argued, when he was with Him in the Holy Mount, to do thus would not be worthy of Yourself! (Numbers 14:13-20). We may be assailed with a hundred questions of doubt in the day, but must no more notice them than a barking dog. A business man once said that when he is convinced of the rightness of a certain course, he is sometimes assailed by doubts which arise like the fog of the valley, or the marsh gas from the swamp; but when thus tempted, he turns to the promises of God, often reading three or four chapters of the Old Testament. This brings him in touch with the eternal world, filling him with joy and peace and abounding hope in believing, through the power of the Holy Spirit. They shall not be ashamed that hope in Him!

PRAYER

Make me, Heavenly Father, to know the hope of Your calling, the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of Your power towards them that believe. Above all, grant me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Yourself. In Jesus' name I pray this, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #327:
I will root your heart in the depths of My love. 

Ephesians 3:17 (WEB)
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,