The power of hope

Romans 15:13 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. Let’s draw our first blast of encouragement today from the fact that God is a God of hope. He is a God of hope because He keeps His promises and watches over His word to perform it. God gave us the Scriptures to instruct us, and He gives us perseverance and encouragement through them so we might have hope. The hope stems from God’s character, His faithfulness, His love to all those who believe. So in believing in God’s faithfulness, which is according to His mercy, we may be filled with all the varied dimensions of joy and peace. As the Holy Spirit fills us, He applies the promises in God’s Word to our lives which causes our hope to abound or grow exceedingly. Now let’s connect hope with love for our live to love encouragement. Paul’s letter to the Colossians illustrates what Paul understood about the relationship between hope and love. He wrote in 1:3-6, “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you.” Hope produces faith and love. The more we treasure God’s word with its promises in the power of the Holy Spirit, the more hope grows. As we see the beauty of what God has promised and done for us in Christ, the more we trust and love Him. The more we trust and love Him, the more we are filled with joy and peace. That’s what Paul prayed for the Roman believers, and what I’m praying for you today. 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.