Dear Precious Friends,
Good Morning Precious Friends,
I pray you are embracing the gift of this day and remembering who our HOPE is! Today as we celebrate the first of 4 Sundays of Advent, we are reminded of the greatest gift of all, the coming of Jesus into the world. He is our hope. We remember the incredible prophecy of the prophets, especially Isaiah, who foretold the birth of Christ. Isn't it amazing how our ABSOLUTE TRUTH, GOD'S WORD shows us how our HOPE would come! Isaiah was given this truth 700 years before Jesus came! Exactly how it was foretold is exactly how Jesus came. How does anyone miss this???
Read Isaiah Chapter 6-9! When Isaiah pens the words in Isaiah 9:6, and claims that this child will be mighty God—there is no doubt that this is a reference to the deity of the Messiah—Christ the Lord. The child promised is none other than the Lord of hosts of Isaiah 6. God with His people is the message of joy and the hope of the gospel.
We can't begin to fathom the darkness in which the Israelites found themselves captive. The bright piercing light of our Hope shimmers with expectancy for a Savior, a King who will come to rescue them, to be their hope.
This hope is ours today throughout all generations.
We hear from Romans 15:13 who is our hope:
"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."
Our world desperately needs hope. We hear so much negativity each day from our news media that it can really affect us! I know I am not the only one feeling battered and fatigued from all the negative news.
No wonder we long for hope. No wonder we all need hope.
WELL I HAVE GREAT NEWS FOR US!!!!
I love the reminder from Romans 15:13 of who is our hope! This verse starts out refocusing our eyes and heart on the God of hope. What a wonderful name for our Lord.
He is hope. God is an immense ocean, fathomless and overflowing with hope. God’s hope is excessive and beyond measure and given to us in abundance. Hope, His positive creative energy, drives us forward, seeking Him, longing for Him.
The God of hope – is the source of all hope and the reason to rejoice. He won’t leave us in despair – God shares this gift of hope.
Advent calls us to hope in the promise that God is calling us to greater things and will be with us as we live them.
Hope is the recall of good in the past, on which we base our expectation of good in the future, however bad the present.
It digs our heart for memory of God’s promise to bring good out of evil and joy out of sadness and on the basis of those memories of the past, takes new hope for the future.
Even in the face of death.
Even in the fear of loss.
How does our God of hope bring us hope? Through his gifts of joy and peace. Through what we celebrate this Christmas... Immanuel... God with us!!! He came.. He is with us!!!
It is in joy and peace that hope arises within us. And notice the adjective before joy and peace – ALL. This doesn’t mean occasionally or whenever he feels like it, or when I am good, or if I pray and obey…Joy and peace are gifts of the Spirit and given freely out of God’s love and mercy and grace. We have these gifts right now, so we have hope.
God has not left us hopeless.
Living in His joy and peace, God is always with us even in the difficult times. He never leaves us, even in the dark times. And he loves us in all of our times. He is our OVERFLOWING HOPE!
Because Advent is about the future, we live in hope. Anticipating a better tomorrow even when we struggle with the realities of today, we keep our eyes on the God of hope.
“May you have enough happiness to make you sweet,
enough trials to make you strong,
enough sorrow to keep you human,
enough hope to make you happy.”
Author Unknown
This week I am praying, pondering and beholding hope. How about you?
