Hope is not just a possibility or probability but a confident expectation.
Hope is not just a possibility or probability but a confident expectation.
June 16, 2020
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
New International Version (NIV)
Have you checked your hope gauge?  It is even more important than your gas, oil and temperature gauges on your car.  As the son of a mechanic, I remember dad saying, “Make sure you have water and oil in the car.  Run out of either one and you will find yourself walking.”  Run out of hope though, and it is hard to even walk.  The problem, as I perceive it, is that hope tends to leak.  We think we have enough to get us through and then something else happens, and we start looking for hope and can’t find it.  This season of watching the coronavirus has revealed some of the cracks in the hope cistern. 

We are doubly blessed!  Paul gives us two benedictions in one chapter.  They both start with “May . . .”  Earlier he wrote, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves . . .”  (15:5-6).  The church struggled with disunity so Paul wanted them to help each other and accept each other.  This second benediction is all about hope.  The God of hope is our source of hope.  God lives in perpetual confident expectation.  To give us hope, he fills us with joy and peace as we trust him.  Then we overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  So the Spirit of holiness is the Spirit of hope.  Hope is not just a possibility or a probability but a confident expectation. 

Lonnie Watson was a deacon who knew how to deak, so to speak.  He mowed the yard for Williams Creek Baptist church.  I had a bad habit of locking myself out of the parsonage.  Lonnie could always get me in the house when I locked myself out.  He also spoke with wisdom in difficult times.  One day he went out to Lubbock for a family reunion and ended up in heaven for a bigger family reunion.  I called his son Jerry, a banker in Red Oak, Texas and he said, “I just keep hearing this song in my head:  “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness . . .”  Keep on trusting God.  He will fill you with joy and peace and top it off with hope.  When you need it most, it will be there.  He promises.

Pray with me:         
Father, we thank you for the gift of hope.  You tell us that when everything else is gone, faith, hope and love will still remain.  Father, our hope is running low these days.  There is no end in sight for the pandemic.  People are struggling visibly.  So we return to you, the Source of Hope.  Fill us with joy and peace so that we overflow with hope today, by the power of your Holy Spirit.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.  
Join us in memorizing the Word.  Scripture for this week:    
Matthew 6:3-4
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,  so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Our 2020 Every Day with Jesus readings will follow the Foundations New Testament reading plan.  Copies of the reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download your copy at REPLICATE.ORG 
We would love for you to join us as we read the New Testament through this year, five chapters a week.  In addition I will continue my long-standing practice of reading one Psalm a day through the year.  Use Robby Gallaty’s H. E. A. R. plan to study each chapter (also found at REPLICATE.ORG). Highlight verses which speak to you, explain what they mean in your own words in a journal, apply them to your own life, then respond by doing what God tells you to do.  
Joyfully, 
Duane 

About Duane Archives
Subscribe to our email list.