Hope Brings Encouragement

Posted by ajenkins on November 30, 2009 under Devotionals | Comments are off for this article

Advent and Christmas are seasons that remind us of God’s hope for us and in us. God’s Promise fulfilled in the Savior born and the King who will return is our source of hope. Your church staff’s prayer for you and your family is that you would experience the joy and power of Hope.

“We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13

“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”            Joel 2:25

“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 1:6

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,”  1 Peter 1:3-4

“Therefore encourage each other with these words.”             1 Thessalonians 4:18

If there is one characteristic that marks a person as a follower of Jesus Christ over all others it is that the Christ-follower has hope. In fact, we who are disciples of Jesus have hope that is unique and available solely to us. No other person, group or religion may have it. As the apostle Paul said to the Christians in new church in Thessalonica, “we don’t want you to grieve like the rest of men who have NO HOPE.”  As followers of Jesus we have hope that is unlike hope available to any other person, group, or religion.

Now before you begin to think of hope as wishful thinking, let me remind you that our hope is not in ourselves, it is not in our abilities, our hope is found in God and the fulfillment of His promises in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20) And, before you begin to think that our hope is pie in the sky, meaning our hope is just a hope to get to heaven and no earthly good for you now, read on.

As followers of Jesus we have hope for our past, hope for our present and hope for our future

HOPE FOR THE PAST

Do you have wasted years in your life? A time or season that maybe you regret or are ashamed of? I have a good friend that has often told me of his “dark years.” These were years during which he was so depressed that he hardly has any memory of them. Too often I heard his regrets and his sadness that continued to hold him hostage, even now. Then one day, the Word of the Lord (Scripture) came alive to him and he heard the promise of God through the prophet Joel, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…” My friend’s sadness was removed and replaced with HOPE. Now he has hope in God’s promise that God would restore the time, the life lost in those years. He has hope for the restoration of his past and that became a great encouragement for him.

HOPE FOR THE PRESENT

All too often I hear people, both church-goers and people who don’t go to church, tell me that Christianity is fine and everyone wants to go to heaven, but they need help and hope NOW! You know what? I understand. That is exactly why I follow Jesus, because I need help and hope now. I need help with my temper. I need help with my thoughts. I need help with my direction. I need help with my patience. I need help with…. Oh, you get the picture. I need help with everything. That’s why I’m a Christ-follower. It is because I know He has promised to inhabit my life, to live in me as I allow Him. When the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi he took comfort in his confidence “that he (God) who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Paul’s comfort came from his own experience and confidence that God was working daily and diligently in their lives. Our hope is not only in the promise of heaven; it is also in God’s promise that He is active through grace and redemption daily in our lives. God is giving us blessings and direction and protection and healing and redemption that we don’t even see or acknowledge. In this “very present help” we can be confident and it IS our hope and our encouragement.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

It is a disciples’ confidence in their future that molds our life now. Again, a Christ-follower has a different future than is available to anyone else. That future, that promise, that hope is not just in going to heaven. It is the perfection of God’s creation as seen in the City of God in Revelation, chapter 21. Because our future molds our present, we are not afraid of a day of death or the little deaths and hurts we experience now. What is our hope? What is our future? “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” Our future, our hope, our encouragement cannot be defiled, it cannot perish, it cannot fade because it is kept safe for us and it is not kept by us. God keeps it. Our hope for the future is our encouragement now.

“Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

Arthur

Romans 15:13