“HOLD ON TO HOPE….” BIBLICAL HOPE
Be hopeful. God is working in our world. Through all of the pain and conflict, in the personal and private tragedies as well as in the public world-shaking crises – our God is at work to bring about His peace on earth. Consider these ten benefits of hope to carry you into 2015 …
- Hope provides you joy in any situation.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12 NIV 2011).
- Hope generates faith and love.
“We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel” (Colossians 1:4–5 NIV).
- Hope causes you to live like Jesus.
“All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3 NIV).
- Hope inspires you to persevere and endure through difficulty.
“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV).
- Hope uplifts your depressed soul.
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 43:5 NIV).
- Hope prompts you to praise God
“As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more” (Psalm 71:14 NIV).
- Hope anchors your soul during the storms of life.
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain” (Hebrews 6:19 NIV).
- Hope moves you to take action with great boldness.
“Since we have such a hope, we are very bold” (2 Corinthians 3:12 NIV).
- Hope develops your patience.
“If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:25 NIV).
- Hope establishes your sense of security and safety.
“You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety” (Job 11:18 NIV).
Hold onto hope! Don’t let today’s disheartening, distressing headlines smother your joy. Experience true joy in anticipating a glorious and certain future while anchored in the guaranteed assurances of biblical hope.
by June Hunt from THE CHRISTIAN POST