Words are powerful, yet what makes a word powerful is not the word itself but the meaning we attach to that word. The word for this week is one of the most powerful words in the Christian vocabulary. The word is hope. Biblical hope means certain hope or assured hope. Biblical hope stems from your faith in an Almighty Jesus who conquered sin, death, and the grave! When you put your trust in Jesus you have a hope that is able to say “nothing is impossible with God” ([1] Luke 1:37). What a powerful statement!

When others tell you to give up, you still have hope. When the doctors tell you there is nothing else they can do, you still have hope. When all seems hopeless, you still have hope. Why? Jesus is on the throne! Paul used the illustration of an expectant mother to illustrate hope. The woman has an expectant hope that one day she will have a child though she cannot physically see the child (of course Paul wrote before the days of modern medicine). However, as the pregnancy continues the woman grows (literally) in her expectation and her joy increases in the expectant hope of the birth of her child ([2] Romans 8:22-25).

This is what hope offers you, a joyful expectation of a sure and certain future. This week remember you have hope. Do not give up. Do not quit. “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” ([3] Isaiah 40:30-31).

Have a hope-filled week,
Pastor Gary