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Romans 5:1-5 – We see the word “hope” in this passage a number of times. We know that it has a range of meanings.
- “I hope we have nice weather.”
- “The hope of the glory of God.”
The opposite of hope is a miserable place. It is an awful thing. Despair. Darkness. Gloom. No encouragement. Nothing pointing to a good outcome, ever.
In this status of grace that we can be a part of we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Christ is our hope. Without him we are completely lost.
1 Timothy 1:1 – The Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.
Hebrews 18:19 – The hope we have set before us, an anchor of the soul, sure, steadfast – Jesus.
1 Peter 1:3 – A living hope, because of the merciful Lord Jesus.
1 John 3:2, Titus 2:13 – Our hope, and his appearing, Jesus Christ.
John 14 – I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place, I will come to receive you to myself.
There is a hope within us as children of the living God. A hope that we are redeemed, children of God, and a promise of a future with Him in heaven for all of eternity.
On the earth there are troubles, disappointments, sorrows, griefs. The hope that Paul is talking about isn’t just something in the future, but something that we can experience here as well.
Psalm 42 – a beautiful call to hope in God. Everything else is a false hope.
Most of us know what discouragement is. It can be in small areas or in very large areas. In these times we sometimes forget to remind ourselves that there is hope in God. There is hope in Jesus.
There are many reasons that can cause discouragement.
- Failure
- Health
- Accidents
- Finances
- Freedoms
- Relationships
We can reach a point where we think there is no way we can take one more thing. Then sure enough… one more thing comes along.
Paul encourages us to rejoice in these tribulations. How can we do that? What do we do when the way looks dark and confusing and uncertain? What have other victorious, hopeful Christians done?
This “panting after God as a deer pants for the brook” is often not thought about in context of the rest of this passage.
- Prayer – seems like a “no-brainer” but we often forget to go to God first. Allow your dark times to drive you closer to God. Often we don’t realize how desperately we need God, even when things seem smooth and like things are going well.
- Prepare – what are the things that are at the top of your mind as you prepare for your devotions or anything else. Worship. Hope. We need God’s help in times like these. Scripture promises that if we draw near to him, he will come near to us.
- Perform – often we don’t see the results we are looking for. At times we just need to recognize that small bit of clarity and take that step towards it.
In a Christian it takes grace to have godly responses. Godly responses bring more grace. Godly responses produce patience, endurance. Endurance produces evidence of God working in our lives, character.
Hebrews 12:11-13 – This hope we’ve been looking at is the working out of these verses in Hebrews.
“My creator is engineering my circumstances for my good. I rejoice in that truth. I will not accommodate the devil by giving in to self pity and discouragement.”
God, the tender shepherd, offers hope. Not just redemption and a promise of heaven, but also a hope that can be experienced here on this earth as well. Jesus with us.
Jesus told his disciples to, “be of good cheer… I have overcome the world.”