“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” (Rom. 15:13, NIV).
We all know that fear and deception are the enemy’s most basic weapons. Today I’d like to bring to the light one of his favorite forms of deception: hopelessness. Hopelessness is one of his top favorite lies. How he wishes to keep us pulled down into that despondent place where we believe his whispers that there is no hope for the situation we are facing!
I was reminded by one my favorite preachers today, “Any area of our lives lacking hope is under the influence of a lie.” Is this true? If so, why would it be the case? Because in Jesus, there is always hope! For even the most impossible situations, there is hope. For even the darkest of anguished nights, there is hope. (I have been through quite a number of these, so I say this from a place of deep compassion for the hurting; not glibly).
Our Scripture today reveals to us another essential part of who He is: the God of hope. Hope is part of His nature, so if we are in Christ, we are in hope. This promise will never lie: we will see His goodness in the land of the living. His goodness will be applied to whatever we are going through right now.
The radiant light of this truth exposes hopelessness as a lie. Once we see the falsehood “There is no hope for this” exposed by the light, it loses its power over us. It’s like that moment, as a child, when you were terrified of a shadow in your room. And then an adult turned the light on, and you realized it was just your friendly, familiar toy that created that weird shadow. It immediately lost its power to terrify you when you saw it in the light.
You know what else? Jesus is your Intercessor. He is praying today’s Scripture over you right now. This verse reveals His perfect will for you: that you would overflow with hope. Not just have a smidge of it or just enough to scrape by; no, His prayer for you is that you would absolutely brim over with it. That you couldn’t contain it. That hope would spill out of the overflow of your heart and get on other people around you.
How? It’s there. “By the power of the Holy Spirit.” When hope overflows, it truly is a demonstration of His Spirit being poured into our lives. Pray this prayer over yourself, in agreement with your Intercessor, Jesus. “Lord, may I overflow with hope by the power of Your Spirit. Pour Your Spirit into me more than ever before today!”
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Is it really possible to overflow with hope, during the times that we are living in? What do you think?
Feeding On Jesus 
Hopelessness comes about, I think, when we get too wrapped up in matters of this world, forgetting that we are pilgrims on our way to paradise. Without exception, we all walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but the key is to not stand around— hope allows us to keep walking. On a cold Kentucky morning, God bless– Mike
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SUCH a foundational truth for living in hope, my dear brother! I am grateful for your sharing it. And I have to admit, I am grateful to be near the equator currently where I am in shorts and a tank top ;). I did get to visit the U.S. recently, though, and enjoyed some cooler weather then. Variety is also a blessing!
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Not sure about “overflowing” all the time, but in dark times in which we live, the frontporchwriter hits the nail on the head. This is not our final destination and in this we Hope, not like a wish that we could win a lottery, but a Hope that is as solid as our Faith; knowledge that Jesus WILL come again, and if not before we die, that we will join Him when He returns.
Lex is 34F (+1.1C) this morning, with light snow, and will stay 34F all day!
❤️&🙏, c.a.
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He sure did hit in on the head! How I love, love, LOVE meditating on the hope of heaven! It makes all the difference, doesn’t it? Speaking of heaven, will it ever be that cold there do you think? Hehe. I am putting in a request that my mansion be in the tropics up there 😉
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There is no question in my mind, that if Father provides us snow here as one of the most amazing pieces of evidence of His existence, He will certainly provide us with some in Heaven for skiing! 😎
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That absolutely resonates. I think you hit it on the head with that one!
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Well, there is nothing impossible with God. With the weapon of praise at our disposal, the most seemingly hopeless situation can still take a new shape🙂
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Preach, my brother! What a mighty weapon indeed we have at our disposal, in praise!
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Sis, your message about hope is related to something I wrote last week about prayer; the Lord always answers the prayers of His people, although not always in the time frame or way we think or “hope.” Take a look if you’re interested: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2023/01/26/four-types-of-answers-to-prayer/
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Thanks so much for sharing, I will indeed check it out!
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Also, being called Sis just made me smile big again! I feel Jesus’ family affection in that, and it sure does bless me, enough to say so again!
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