![]() ![]() This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” ( 1 Peter 1:3-4). “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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” ( Titus 2:11-13). “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness - in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” ( Titus 1:1-2). “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock” ( Psalm 27:1, 5). “You are my refuge and my shield I have put my hope in your word” ( Psalm 119:114). Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you he will never leave you nor forsake you” ( Deuteronomy 31:6). “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” ( Philippians 4:19). “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” ( Matthew 6:31-32). (By the way there are more, I just couldn’t fit them all in one article.) As you read these remember what hope is, knowing that God will come through for you. The verses I am going to share with you are all things God has said he will do for you. If that is what he said you can be certain that is what he will do. Because of hope you have confidence knowing God will respond and come through on your behalf. This does not guarantee that your situation will change immediately but the beauty of hope is that even if the situation remains, so does your hope. Regardless of your situation, find out what God has said about it and let that be the truth you believe about it. I call this type of hope “in spite of.” In spite of what you see in spite of what is going on in spite of how dire the situation looks, you can have hope because God cannot lie. It is the reason why you can have hope today. ![]() This anchor that it is impossible for God to lie is the foundation for your certainty and the backbone for your hope. Anchors are designed to keep you steady so that you will not be moved. ![]() This trust therefore becomes an anchor for the soul. If God has said it, you can trust his promise because it is impossible for God to lie. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” ( Hebrews 6:17-19, emphasis added). 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. “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. There is one underlying reason why hope should spring into your heart as a believer. Photo credit: RNS/Klimkin/Creative Commons Without that, your hope simply reverts back to a wish. If God is not the object of your hope then you don’t have true biblical hope because the certainty has been removed. Your hope should be based on the fact of who God is and nothing else. The thing that separates the basic definition of hope and the biblical definition of hope is what I call The God Factor. What matters most is the object of your faith and hope – that makes all the difference. However, you don’t just have faith in faith or hope in hope, there is no real value in that. In essence, you have hope because you have faith and you have faith because you have hope. Why do I bring up this verse? You cannot have hope unless it is tied together with faith. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” ( Hebrews 11:1). Let me use a verse from Scripture to illustrate the point. One is a wish or desire, the other is a certainty or guarantee. Hope is an expectation with certainty that God will do what he has said. Hope (Bible) – A biblical definition of hope takes it one step further. Hope (Dictionary) – The general consensus from all dictionary definitions is that hope is a feeling of expectation, a desire or wish for a certain thing to happen. Let’s start by taking a look at what hope is from both a dictionary definition and a biblical one. ![]()
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