Hello and welcome to the 6th month of the year. Time really is moving fast. I believe we are all going through somethings but we can all stand firm and say thank You Jehovah for something. Praise God for His faithfulness. This month of June as the Women of Prayer Community , our bible plan is on Hope. Hope is a beautiful word used by people all over the world. It represents the possibility of a positive outcome, as a way of a beacon of light in the darkness. The question is what is hope? Is it a form of unsure optimism? In today’s modern world , the idea of hope is “to wish for, to expect, but without certainty of the fulfilment to desire very much, but with no real assurance of getting your desire. Nowadays, hope is expecting something to happen, but not being entirely sure it will; it is more like a wish. For example, hoping it doesn’t rain or hoping your favorite team wins the championship, etc.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines hope as “to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or to be true.” This definition is based on doubt and uncertainty, BUT BIBLICAL HOPE is knowing for a fact that the desired outcome will happen. It’s not wishful thinking, but a confident expectation. For further understanding, let’s look at the Hebrew and Greek words for hope. In Scripture, according to the Hebrew and Greek words translated by the word “hope” and according to the biblical usage, hope is an indication of certainty. “Hope” in Scriptures means “a strong and confident expectation.”
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Hope is highly esteemed in the Bible, and many biblical characters spoke of it. However, hope in the Bible is different from its everyday use. Hope in the Bible is not a wish as used today that implies doubt. On the contrary, it is confidently expecting that something will happen and waiting patiently for it with joy and pleasure. Christian hope is a confidence that something will come to pass because God has promised it will come to pass. In addition , biblical hope takes its foundation from faith. Hebrews 11:1 states Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith and hope work hand in hand. Faith is grounded in the reality of the past; hope is looking to the reality of the future. Without faith, there is no hope, and without hope, there is no true faith. We cannot have one without the other.
Hope is looking expectantly towards the future based on our faith in God in the present and His faithfulness in the past. Christians need to have hope. It motivates us to move forward because life is a journey with many hardships and trials. When we have hope, we can navigate those troubled waters without despair. We can have joy and peace despite our circumstances because we know we have God on our side and He works all things for our good. Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
Characteristics of biblical hope
The Bible mentions the word hope in about 316 occurrences in 13 translations and it is one of the most important virtues of Christians alongside with faith and love. Here are some of its biblical attributes.
1. Hope is always in the future and never seen
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Hope requires trust in God; we do not see what we are waiting for, nor do we know when it will come. But through our trust in God, we are confident it will come, and we wait for it patiently.
2. Hope brings joy and peace
The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.
Hope produces joy because you know a favorable event will happen, and your wait is not in vain.
3. Christ is our living hope
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Christ is our living hope, the fulfilment of everything we wait for in this life. He is coming soon to make all things new, and Christians are expecting His return with joy.
4.Perseverance in our suffering brings hope
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
Romans 5:3
Trials, develop our endurance, and teach us to trust God despite our sufferings. And that perseverance builds our character and enables us to see beyond our current circumstances to the future God promised, which produces hope.
5. Without Christ, there is no hope
Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
If Biblical hope is waiting on a future event with confident expectation, and the word of God is the only sure thing in all of creation; therefore, without God, there is no hope. People that do not believe in Christ can not have hope in this life or the next.
6 .We have hope for a resurrection
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep
The Resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone of our faith, As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14, if Jesus has not risen then our faith is empty and without His resurrection, we have no hope for the next life. But Christ is risen, and we can confidently expect to rise on the last day.
7. Hope makes us bold
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
Hebrews 6:18 says God can’t lie. Every promise God makes will come to pass, and we can be bold and confident in our hope and even boast of it because we know it will happen.
Do you have this kind of relationship with God, where you believe and expect him to answer? Sometimes, we do not have the faith to expect God to answer things quickly regarding our personal issues. Sometimes our faith gets so low that we fail to see how much God really cares for us and wants to answer our prayers.
How do you develop the hope that expects God to answer?
This kind of bold hope is developed over time through intentional personal Bible study that builds and strengthens our convictions about who God is (Psalm 18:2-3 NLT), what His plan is for us (Jeremiah 29:11-13 TLB), and God being our personal God (Isaiah 43:1 Msg). When you combine this with unrelenting prayer (Luke 18:1), God will answer. There’s a saying that goes, “a closed mouth don’t get fed.” We don’t give God the opportunity to build our faith when we don’t offer up prayers for him to answer. The concept of expecting someone to answer you means believing they are paying attention to you and care about you enough to do something.
Do you think God pays attention to you? Do you believe that God cares enough about you to give you an answer? Sometimes God says yes, sometimes he says no, but the most difficult answer is “wait.” When God says to wait, we must fight to believe that he does care and He will move when He believes the time is right. (1 Corinthians 10:13).We put our biblical Hope in play , with faith , we know that God is for us and He knows the plans that He has for us, declares the LORD, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a future and a hope. Have Hope, Trust God and Believe God.
Bible Verses About Hope
Prayer for June
FATHER, I thank You for this month of June 2021. Thank You because the weapons of my warfare are not carnal but are mighty to the pulling down of satanic strongholds. As I go into prayer, I pray that You will manifest Your presence in my life. I declare that JESUS is Lord over my life ,spirit, soul and body. I am sanctified by the blood of Jesus. I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus. I am justified by the blood of Jesus. I have the life of God in me. Today, every word that I shall speak will please the Lord and glorify His name. These same words shall wreck destruction and havoc in the camp of the enemy in Jesus’ name. I decree civil war amongst demons, spirits, personalities and powers set up to oppose these prayers and I break their backbone by the power in the blood of Jesus. Right now let the angel of truth begin to read scriptures and torment every lying demon in Jesus’ name. Let the bonfire of the Holy Ghost begin to burn even as I invite the Holy Spirit and hand over my battles to the LORD in Jesus’ name. Father, I pray that you will release 12 legions of warrior angels to assist me in this battle. Let Your angelic host bind and restrain every demonic resistance. Let them intimidate and weaken every satanic opposition. LORD, I pray that You will dispatch special angels of battle to evacuate stubborn spirits and their agents to the land of the wicked for mass destruction by divine earthquake, thunder and brimstone in Jesus’ mighty name. I declare that I shall possess my possessions. Let 12 legions of angels of restoration go forth into the land of the living and of the dead to recover every blessing I have lost in the past in Jesus’ name. In this month of June , let the angels of favor be released to favor me in Jesus’ name. Let the angels of prosperity be dispatched to bring prosperity and abundance to me in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Prayer for Hope
I do trust You Lord but at times I wonder if my faith in You is sufficient. Praise God that my hope does not reply on my sufficiency but on Yours. My hope of eternal life in heaven with You does not depend on my righteousness or good works, but on You and on Your everlasting faithfulness, Your omnipotent strength and Your finished work of Calvary's cross.
What a wonderful God You are, and I am beginning to understand what it means that I must nor rely on my own strength, for my strength will fail, but I am to rely on Your everlasting Strength and Your eternal faithfulness to finish the good work that You started in me the moment that I trusted You as Saviour. Help me to abide in You and to trust in the promises that You have given to all Your children in the Bible, for Your Word is truth and cannot be broken. Oh thank You, Lord, that You chose to save all who trust in Jesus Christ, and have promised that even if my faith grows weak or fails, You will not forsake me, but have promised to remain faithful to finish the good work that You have started in me. Thank You Father, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Recent Blog Posts, incase you missed them.
https://www.womenofprayer.info/post/wop-devotional-strength
https://www.womenofprayer.info/post/wop-devotional-grace
https://www.womenofprayer.info/post/may-7-day-prayer-bullets-challenge-deliverance
https://www.womenofprayer.info/post/march-prayer-bullets-challenge-restoration-prayers
Have a blessed June!
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