Hope in Letting the Word Speak for Itself

Hope in Letting the Word Speak for Itself

I will be posting all future "Hope" blogs at the site below. It is my new "A Door of Hope" web site. If you have subscribed via RSS feed, be sure to re-subscribe at my new site. There is also the option to subscribe via email on the new site. : )

A Door of Hope

Hope in His Help

Romans 11:33-36

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

There will be things in our lives that we do not understand. In fact, we may go to our grave having never fully grasped what God was doing in a certain situation in our life.

We must, however, remember that God's wisdom and knowledge are so deep that we cannot know them. We could search our entire lives and never understand His ways.

He is that much greater than we are.

So why is it that we try to tell God how He should do a thing?

I find myself constantly informing God of situations that need His intervention. Or I go to Him in prayer, only to begin praying out my plan for how He could solve a problem.

What in the world am I thinking?

Ah...maybe that's the problem: I am only "in the world". I am human. I am not divine. I do not have the tiniest inkling of the understanding and wisdom that God has.

Let's have the faith to stop micromanaging God. Just let Him take care for things. Take our hands off the situation, and with a heart full of hope in His promises, give it to our awesome God.

He has promised that He will work it to our good. Allow this trial to work out a greater faith and trust in your heart as well.

God, help us to leave it in Your hands. Amen.

How to Hope

Romans 8:24-25

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

How do we hope?

The above verses tell us that we "wait patiently for it."

I'll admit that is easier said than done!

But it does give us a goal, doesn't it? Sometimes it helps to simply know how to pray for hope.

Then there are times when we have no idea how to pray. That's ok. God has an answer for that too.

Romans 8:26-27

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

We must remember that God knows the future as well as He does the past. He knows what is in store for us in every situation.

When we have no hope, and we are not able to wait patiently, we can go before His throne and just simply "be" there.

There is no need for us to try to put into words the deepest longings of our hearts. He knows. His Spirit helps us.

He makes intercession for us. (intercede - to mediate between parties with a view to reconcile those who differ or contend.)

He brings our hearts and desires into agreement with the will of God; and He promises that no matter what happens in that circumstance that we are facing, it will work out for our best.

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

We can hope in His promises, and wait patiently for His blessing, knowing that every situation in our lives will bring about His blessing and benefits to us.

God is trustworth, and we can safely place our hope in Him.

Hope in the Freedom to be Holy

Before we became Christians, we were in bondage to sin. I know it felt like "freedom" at times, but in truth, we were enslaved by our lusts and the desires of the flesh. We had no freedom.

Now that we have believed Christ, and have become new creatures in Him, those things that we were enslaved by should be dead to us. Instead, we should be alive to Christ and the desires that He has for our lives.

Romans 6~
[19] I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
[20] For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
[21] What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
[22] But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

• The fruit of our lives before Christ was death.
• The fruit of our lives after salvation are holiness and everlasting life.

We like that "everlasting life" part, but too often fail to practice the "holiness" aspect.

If you are continuing to practice the same sins that held you in bondage before your salvation, something is seriously wrong.

You need to spend time in the Bible with the Lord to make sure of your salvation; or you need to spend time in the Word to fortify yourself to abstain from those sins. (Either way, time spent in God's Word is profitable for us all.)

We will all face occasional temptations to return to the sins that used to hold us captive, but with the living Word of God as our sword and the shield of our faith, we can quench the fiery darts of the enemy and live a life of freedom and holiness before God.

Hope in Today's Obedience

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.

So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which [is] the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Esther 2:15-17

You know, our God is so good to us. He brings blessings into our lives that we might not even recognize today. But next year, one day you'll realize how He blessed you in a specific way that makes your way easier at that time.

Think about Esther. She might have felt that her life was being wasted in that palace. Maybe she had a sweetheart that she had to leave behind. You know she must have had dreams of being a Jewish mama and carrying out the traditions of her people and her God.

She had to leave all that behind, and joyfully do the job that God had entrusted to her: being the wife of a heathen king!

She made great sacrifices to do God's will. Remember she had gone to the palace as a virgin. But at the appointed time, she was in position, and had apparently been a very good wife to the king; because God knew the king would grant her whatever petition she asked of him.

She was able to save her entire race, because she was faithful and obedient to the task God gave her.

We have no idea what God will bring into our life this very day that may mean the difference between life and death next month...or next year!

Let's be faithful to the tasks God gives us today. Who knows, we may receive a blessing today due to our faithfulness in the past! Wouldn't that encouraging?

There is hope in obedience - even when it doesn't make sense today!