HOPE equals Joy and Peace

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. Romans 15:13

This, one of my favorite verses, doesn't mean as much til needed... til a "hopeless" situation stares you (me) in the face. The county zoning man likes to throw his weight around and is actually violating the county code when he told us we cant build ( on 54 acres with just one house currently on it). Hopeless? Don't know. Seems like it (with two other cases somewhat similar to ours now in the state supreme court.)

I love my wife and I'm grateful for the little fifth wheel we inhabit, but a traffic light is needed in the narrow aisle at the corner of bathroom on the left and stove on the right. As I focus on the circumstances am I filled with joy and peace? NYET I have a tinge of guilt because many in the world have far less in the realm of living accommodations. And a little frustration with the zoner man. As I focus on God (and do what is appropriate to meet this man's psycho-neurotic expectation) the results are joy and peace because my HOPE is in HIM. An activity not conjured up in my ability, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hope: our joyful and confident expectation of good coming from the hand of CreatorAbba PaPa (ROmans 8:28).

Would appreciate your prayers in this matter.

Hope - Source of wholeness

Just like laughter leads to healing, so also does “hope.” In my many years of counseling practice, one of the more productive questions I’d ask my clients was, “How could the pain you’re experiencing be a good thing.? What can you learn through the adversity you are experiencing? Why is this good for you?” Those sound like very cold and unfeeling questions. And they would be if I hadn’t walked through the pain with them first so that they understood I empathized with them.

Those questions can lead to hope when the situation looks hopeless. In the context of the totality of Scripture, the Loving God who is all-powerful, who actively works in human events, could have somehow alleviated the adversity. So if that didn’t happen, then He promises to cause everything that happens to His children who are walking with Him to be used for our good.

Consequently, as a person walks through their pain, feeling it fully so as to avert repression, there comes a time when a decision must be made – either be a victim or be a victor. A victim looks at the circumstances and is overwhelmed by them or at best assumes a survivor mode.
How can one be a victor in a hopeless situation? Romans 15:13 tells us, “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.” AS our focus changes from the situation to searching how God wants to use this for our good, hope can bring healing. And peace. And joy.

I sometimes get that question asked of me. A few months ago, as I lay in a Denver hospital experiencing a loss of strength in my legs – lying there for hours waiting for the doctor to give his diagnosis, telling Theresa, “If he doesn’t come very soon, they’ll have to admit me to the psychiatric ward.” “It was then that Theresa asked, “Why is this good for you, Ray?” She tells me that if looks could kill, her burial would have emminent.

She got a kick out of sharing this story at my birthday party this week, because the people there have heard that question from me at some time or other.

May the God of hope (not the hopeful or hopeless circumstance) 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.

Meditation: Hope

Nothing in life heals the soul from grieving pain and from gaping wounds of loss … and that comforts, heals and restores one from a state of helplessness and discouragement more than Biblical hope. Biblical hope is not wishing, and it is not aching for something better; it is expecting with joy that something better will happen in the future. W.M.Ramsey

“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.” Romans 15:13

Our part:
1. Spend time with God in His Word and prayer consistently to know Him – to know of His love that produces for us hope, joy and peace. The more we know Him, the greater is out trust in Him.
2. Trust the Holy Spirit to work deeply in our “dark night of the soul,” to overflow us with Godly hope. This faith, when exercised in helpless feeling situations, provides an anticipatory expectation with joy that something better will happen in the future. It is desire of expectation of fulfillment.
God’s part:
The “Divine Dentist” does the filling. What a special gift to those who walk with Him in faith!