May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace believing, so that by the power of the
Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13 ESV

 
When I think of the topic of HOPE, the chorus that always comes to mind is… “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name.” Jesus- the name above all names. (Philippians 2: 9-11) Truly our hope is in the truth of the baby boy born in Bethlehem to be the Savior of the world. Emanuel, God with us in the flesh born to save us from our sins…. The perfect lamb of God. If a person places hope in anything or anyone other than Jesus, it will be a hope that eternally will be disappointing. Hope without Jesus is a temporary hope at best. What does the Christian hope look like?

UNASHAMED… Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 ESV God has poured His life into ours. We were dead in sin and now as Christians, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with life because God has made it so by His own choice. He did not have to send His Son. He did not have to let him die. He did not have to adopt us as his children. But He did this, by his own choice, so my hope is built upon Him and not in myself to live good enough rather to love Him much because he first loved me.

BOLD…. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 2 Corinthians 3:12 ESV We are bold because Jesus has set us free from the power of sin and death. We are able to face death with no fear because we live in the power of the living God. This power is living in us by the Holy Spirit! We can be secure in this fact that we are His and no one or anything will separate us from His Love. ( Romans 8:31-39)

FREE … For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 6:23 ESV …. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2 ESV We are unashamed and bold because we have been set free from the consequence of our sins by God through His Son Jesus. We should live as free and not be entangled in what steals our freedom to begin with…. sin. Sin and the memory of sin will always burden you with the chains that hold you, but the hope in which we live in Christ will set us free. Free, because God has made it so. The Bible teaches us that, If we confess or sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 ESV This is the hope that I want to live out loud in my life. A life set free by God.
 
Let me close this day with this passage. 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. Romans 15:13 ESV
 
Because of His Grace ~ Pastor David