Thursday, December 10, 2015

Hope

By Lara Cook
Wait for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait for the LORD (Psalm 27:14). Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. —Hebrews 11:6

How do you bring hope to a world that is so full of tragedy and evil?  And what is hope exactly?  A couple of weeks ago in church we lit the hope candle on the Advent wreath.  Advent is a season of waiting and preparing – waiting and preparing for the coming of the only hope for you, me, and this fallen world.
Hope is defined as: 1. to desire with expectation of obtainment. 2. to expect with confidence : trust. —True hope is more than just a wish.  A wish is more of a dream and Hope is more of a possibility or something that one can look forward to. Hope is usually something that is doable and have a huge potential to happen.  The objects of hope are different for everyone.  For some, hope is waiting for financial relief from excessive debt.  For some, hope is waiting for healing in a broken relationship or marriage.  For some, hope means waiting for miraculous healing from disease or illness.  For some, hope means never giving up believing that a child that has strayed will come back to how they were raised. For others, hope means hanging on day after day and trusting God in a seemingly hopeless life.  Hope can be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in a life burdened by sin and shame.  But for all of these the only real hope they have is in someone or something outside themselves.
Faith and hope…they go hand in hand. 
In order to have real hope, we must have faith.  Faith is as strong as that which it believes in.  Real hope is based on a strong faith in a loving God.  It took many, many years for the prophecy of the coming King to finally come about, and truthfully, many of those watching and waiting probably lost hope and faith as well.  But He came.  He came and He brought hope to a hopeless world.  The gift of the baby in the manger was realized hope.  He came as man, lived and died on the cross for us so we could have eternal life, and hope.  We cannot save ourselves and we cannot save each other.  Jesus is the one and only true hope for all. He came as one of us and lived, died and rose from the dead.  We now live in the hope that He is coming again!  
This Christmas season prepare your heart and make room for the coming Christ.  Celebrate His birth and embrace the hope that is Jesus Christ.

Scripture to Claim

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27

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