This week I chose hope as my word. I have decided to do my 2 in 1 again, focusing on hope for two weeks. The word hope means the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. It also means a person or thing in which expectations are centred. The word hope along with faith and love are important concepts in Christianity. Hope biblically means a strong and confident expectation. It is the anticipation that there is something favourable coming under God. Hope is based on God’s promises and having confidence in them. This differs to the earthly hope where hope is a feeling that what is wanted. Earthy hope is a feeling where there there can be doubt. Biblical hope is an assurance that there is an favourable outcome-there is no doubt attached. The earthly hope definition can cause vagueness. However when hope is based on something and has a foundation, then it can be considered genuine. The bible bases its hope in God. The word of God gives us hope and gives us confidence for our hopes to be fulfilled.
Hope is a fundamental part of our lives. Without hope in our lives, life loses its meaning. In Job 7:6, it describes how your days can be lifeless without hope. The Bible states those who hope and trust in the Lord, they shall be helped. This is seen in Psalms 28:7. Additionally, those who have hope in the Lord will not put to shame or be disappointed (Isaiah 43:29). Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse that I love and live on. It reminds us that our hopes and plans are under all God’s control. He promises us not only a hope in the future but protection and help. God’s got it! In Matthew 12:21, we can find hope in Jesus. It in his name that we can all find hope. We can find this hope through the salvation that Christ gave us when he died for us. Through this hope, our lives are forever changed because the gift of salvation. We can have assurance that Christ is in our lives because of this. Christians can have hope in the return of Christ, resurrection of Jesus, the presence of the holy spirit, eternal life, the salvation of God, eternal glory and the promises of God.
Romans 5:2-5 tells us that there is glory in sufferings. This is because it states that our suffering produces perseverance, perseverance builds character and this gives us hope. This journey gives us assurance in the things of God. The things we may be expecting or hoping for may not happen at the time we want it. However, God’s time is the best. My hope is in God and his promises. Sometimes we may go through difficult things. It may be that we are facing rejections and having bad days but we have to remind ourselves that there is hope in Jesus. I am constantly reminding myself of this. I also have wonderful friends and family who tell me this too. Sisters and Brothers, Encourage yourselves!
Here are some bible verses on hope:
Romans 12:12 (NIV)- Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)- Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Psalms 33:22 (NIV)-May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
Romans 4:18 (NIV)-Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, So shall your offspring be.
Psalms 146:5 (NIV)-Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,whose hope is in the Lord their God.
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)-Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Psalms 39:7 (NIV)-But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.
1 Peter 1:21 (NIV)-Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Titus 2:13 (NIV)-while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ
Proverbs 23:18 (NIV)- There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
Job 11:18 (NIV)- You will be secure, because there is hope;you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 (NIV)-We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:13 (NIV)-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.
Psalms 119:81 (NIV)-My soul faints with longing for your salvation,
but I have put my hope in your word
Romans 8:24-25 (NIV)-For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Psalms 71:14 (NIV)- As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)-For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Psalm 43:5 (NIV)-Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
Job 14:7-9 (NIV)-At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)-Not only so, but wealso glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Psalms 119:49 (NIV)-Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NIV)-May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
Hebrews 6:18-19 (NIV)-God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.
Acts 24:15 (NIV)-and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked
Titus 3:7 (NIV)-so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Stay Blessed
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Renaissance Ideal 