Hope

A matter of the heart 

Proverbs 8:17  I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

We can either fight God or find God in the midst of our challenges, confusion, and questioning. We can either reject or embrace His love.  It is a matter of the heart.  Our minds and our pride may try to erect barriers to God, but our hearts long for God to fulfill us. With our same hearts that are created by God, we need to diligently pursue God… not allowing our thoughts to impede us from finding His presence, power and truth.  His Spirit lovingly waits for our hearts’ turning to Him.  Seek God’s goodness, peace and answers from the heart.  

Photo: Riverbend church – Austin, TX

  

3-cord strand 

Colossians 1:9, 11-12  And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding… May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks...

There is tremendous power in asking our friends to pray for us and in their prayers for God’s will, strength, endurance and joy.  Our hearts are connected and strengthened with God through prayer; a three-cord strand is not quickly broken.  Nothing can unravel us from God’s loving Spirit.  His peaceful, powerful Presence is woven into our relationships.  Pray together, according to God’s glorious, mighty presence.  God binds us with His love! 

  

Craftsman of Beauty and Hope

And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship” (Exodus 35:31)

God, our master craftsman, designed us to create beauty and artistry in everyday life.  His Spirit in us encourages endless creativity, wisdom, and skillfulness.  Noah’s ark in Exodus is a beautiful portrayal of God creating art through man; as the floods subside, God graces Noah with a rainbow of hope.

Our souls resonate with the majestic beauty of God’s kingdom on display, and we desire to co-create beauty all around us. God is the master craftsman of hope, wisdom and beauty.  Our lives are art because of our artistic, beautiful God who inspires us to endlessly create with  Him. 

Photo: Iceland

  

Overflowing with Hope 

Romans 15:13 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.

This prayer expresses the power and the promise of trusting in God and the Holy Spirit: He fills us with ALL joy and ALL peace and OVERFLOWING hope. Real trust in God opens our hearts to receive His fullness of Spirit.  In God’s presence is complete joy, everlasting peace and abundant hope.  Especially when we trust in God in difficulty and suffering, we experience joy and peace the world cannot understand. Our hearts are eternally hopeful, for God’s Spirit is a wellspring of hope.  He always hears our prayers, comforts us by His presence, and fills us with his all-surpassing hope.  May His joy, peace and hope flow ceaselessly in your life as you trust in Him. 

Photo: New Zealand

  

Suffering, Perseverance, and Hope

Romans 5:2 “And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 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.”

See how God’s peace goes before our suffering and His hope comes out of our suffering. Because we stand firm in His grace, our suffering doesn’t cause us to give up, but to persevere; suffering leads to perseverance in Christ! Ever-growing perseverance develops a strong character; Christ is laying the firm foundation for who we are. Strong identification with Christ brings eternal hope, sealed by God’s love.

1 Peter 4:13 “… be very glad–for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.”

Richard Rohr says that people “who are in union with both the pain of the world and the love of God, are prepared to read the Bible.” As our mind is changed by our sensitivity to suffering and our acceptance of God’s love for us, we are able to understand God’s Word, know Jesus internally and serve Him outwardly. Sometimes it feels 2 steps forward and 1 step back, as we often first blame God for our suffering, or don’t feel His love in the moment… but if we persevere and willingly take on the mind and character of Christ, He can use and transform our suffering by His great love to lend deeper understanding of His Word and Will, develop our character, and deliver hope.

Photo: Barcelona, Spain