hope

Hope is the confidence of a fulfillment, a ground for expectation. Hope in action gives a content of reality to the promises of God. Hope should be acted on, not merely contemplated or believed. The greatest hope is when the odds are against you. Abraham is described by Paul as "who against hope believed in hope that he might be the father of many nations." Abraham had that hope and it was accounted to him for righteousness because of his faith. Hope makes us not ashamed of the Lord Jesus because the love of God is in our hearts and we have been give the Holy Ghost. "For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

Saint Paul teaches us in Ephesians that you should know what the hope of His calling is on you. At one time you were without Christ, having no hope. Through the blood of Christ He is now our peace and we are now reconciled to Him. We now have access to Jesus by His Spirit unto the Father and we are no more strangers but fellow citizens. Each one of us are now fitted together unto a Holy Temple. Paul now asks us to walk worthy of the vocation to which we were called and in the unity of the spirit. He gave some apostles, some evangelists, some prophets, pastors and teachers, "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." This is the five-fold ministry that we teach. Again, what is the hope of your calling? If you do not know, find out. Of course, you should always speak the truth in love and maybe that is enough. Maybe you are a prayer warrior with the gift of faith. You may be one of the five-fold that is listed. Paul writes elsewhere that we should earnestly desire the higher gifts. This means that we have a say in the matter. If you do not know what your gift is, hope for your calling and ask of Him. He is a loving Father and will not refuse gifts to His children.

Job was a man of hope. Even though Job was perfect and upright, who feared God and turned away from evil, he still incurred total disaster, Job never lost hope. His friends would have him give up but still Job never lost hope. "God has delivered me to the ungodly and turned me over to the hands of the wicked. I was at ease but He has broken me asunder, He has also taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces." "And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it?... He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head. He has destroyed me on every side and I am gone and my hope has He removed like a tree." But Job still never lost hope. He did not hope in gold or his lost wealth or the destruction of those who hated him or condemned him. "But He knows the way that I take, when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held His steps, His way have I kept and not declined... All the while my breath is in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit. God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove my integrity from me... Does not He see my ways and count all my steps? If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity... What then shall I do when God rises up? And when He visits, what shall I answer Him?.. Oh that one would hear me! Behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that my adversary had written a book. Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown to me." This was the hope of Job, even though God had taken all hope away from him, Job still hoped in the answer of the Almighty to his prayer. And Job was not disappointed.
[172, Romans 4, 5, 8, Ephesians, Job 17, 19, 31]



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