November 20, 2024
"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope."
- Romans 15:4 (NIV)
In Hebrews we learn that faith is a substance of things we hope for. Therefore, to get faith, we must have hope.
How do we get this hope, to then get the faith we need? The way to get the hope is reading the Bible and finding something we can relate to, that can encourage us and give us this hope.
Psalms 119:49 says, ‘remember Your word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope’. Therefore, the basis of hope is the Word of God.
Imagine being an immigrant in new and foreign land. Is there a story or insight in the Bible that can give you hope? What about the story of Joseph? Could you relate? Finding stories and insights like this can make you feel like you are not alone, and that the challenges you are facing too shall pass.
The basis of hope is the Word of God.
As you begin to immerse yourself in the story of Joseph, you begin to see that even when it seems like things are over, things are truly not over. You begin to realize that if you hold on to God, things will eventually change for the better. When we read stories like that constantly, something begins to shift inside of us – this is hope. Hope is patient expectation.
A lot of times, we have envy and not hope. For example, if we see someone who has a new car, and we covet that car, that is envy. We cannot have faith based on envy. Faith must be based on hope. Real hope, scriptural hope, comes from the encouragement of the Scripture. Fundamental thought processes begin to turn into thoughts with a deeper foundation. This then brings about hope.
Instead of daydreaming, let us put our energy into hope. Before we conclude that something is not working, we need to check if we have hope. If there’s a pressing need, something we need to build our faith on, let us begin by building our hope which we can do by submerging ourselves in the word of God as many times as we need to. May God help us in the name of Jesus.
Song of Worship
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But only lean on Jesus’ name
Song: My Hope is built on nothing less, by Edward Mote
Prayer - Dear Father, thank You for Your love and kindness towards us. Help us build our Faith, with hope and patience. Give us the strength to study your Word regularly, to build up our hope and faith by hearing, that we may continually remember that You are sovereign, and You always want the best for us.