The Prophet Jeremiah shared these words from our heavenly Father in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Did you know that we can explain away and kill hope through human, or "fleshly" reasoning? All we have to do is say "I am nothing" and hope goes out the window. But the hope we get from Jesus is not an earned hope because we cannot earn it. The hope we get from Jesus is not a deserved hope because we don't deserve it. The hope we get from Jesus is not an understood hope because we cannot explain it from a human point of view. This hope from Jesus is beyond our comprehension and it is so "out there" that we try to look at it from our point of reference, but we fail miserably.
The great hope of Jesus is not something we can wrap our brain around, but it shouldn't keep us from experiencing it. If you want to truly experience the hope of Jesus, then your faith needs to deepen. Don't try to explain something so vast and just accept it. I don't know how Jesus could die on a cross for a sinner like me, but He did. I don't know how Jesus can continue to forgive me in my failings, but He does. I don't know how Jesus can be so patient with me in my lack of growth in the faith, but He is. Paul wrote this in Romans 15:13 ~ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Hope is part of the "filling" of the Holy Spirit we experience when we accept Jesus and that filling is constant and growing unless we minimize it. So.....DON'T MINIMIZE IT!
Hope is meant to be alive in each of us who have been born again and the reason it is alive is that it is Spirit driven. When this hope is Spirit driven it starts to make sense, even to someone who is so hardheaded like me. If you are looking at hope and there is nothing in it that thrills you, then you need to do this 1. Thank God for sending His Son to give us salvation. 2. Read the following words from Peter in 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 3. Get alone with God and ask Him to reveal Himself through the hope of Christmas and the holiday will come alive as never before. 4. Then every day begin your day thanking God for the hope of salvation so graciously given to us. You may have your own "formula" for realizing the great hope, so keep the formula ever present in your thinking because hope doesn't die, it is our lack of faith that causes it to wain.
This brings to mind the very important need for us to be in God's Word every day so we continue to crank out that hope and live our life with Great Expectation and victory. You may say why? Because we are in a world that desperately needs this hope and we know it is only found in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote this in Romans 8:24-25 ~ For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. LIve your faith in the "unseen" and hope will be "seen" and known by you and everyone you meet. That is our mission.
The Pilgrimage Continues...
David Warren
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