Saturday, October 08, 2005

Daily Devotional Day 5 Saturday

Hope.
For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.
Psalm 71:5
God has made many promises to us. Faith believes His promises. Hope anticipates the fulfillment of His promises, and patience quietly awaits the results. Faith, hope, and patience are core dimensions of praying God's promises.
Hope, like faith, sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. We cannot live without hope, because hope is the anchor of the soul, the stimulus to action, and the incentive to achievement.
Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark, and it is putting faith to work when doubting might seem easier. Life with Christ is an endless hope, but life without Him leads to a hopeless end. Charles L. Allen reminds us, "When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God." With God, there are no hopeless situations or hopeless people.
Zechariah said we are "...prisoners of hope." Zech. 9:12
"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Jer. 17:7
Therefore, we must, "Hope to the end." 1 Peter 1:13
Lord, I believe in the power of hope. Thank you for imparting hope to me that keeps me from all shame. You are the God of hope, and I ask you to fill me with all the joy and peace that comes from believing so that I will abound with hope through the power of your Holy Spirit.
With your help, I will put on the breastplate of faith and love, and my helmet will be the hope of salvation. Thank you, Father. Your great love for me has given me an everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.
Therefore, I will lay hold upon the hope you have set before me. The hope you give is an anchor for my soul, and it is sure and steadfast. Thank you, Father. Through your grace, I will hope to the very end. I will hope continually, and I will praise you more and more.
Because of the hope you give to me, I will no longer have to experience sadness or disquietude in any form. Instead, I will ever hope in you, O God. I will always praise you, because you are the health of my countenance, and you are my God.
And everyone said, AMEN!

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