Hope is a feeling of trust, a security, and a reason to keep going. It is a passionate desire of our heart. It is a feeling of expectation and a longing for a certain thing to happen.
~Verity Russell
Hope.
We use this word so often in our everyday language.
I hope the kids clean up.
I hope it doesn’t snow.
I hope England wins the World Cup.
But kids will be kids.
It always snows in Canada.
England sucks! Lol.
To verify point #2, snow was falling while I was composing this post. Oh the irony.
Do we use the word hope so often that we have lost reality with what it really is?
I HOPE that every village in the world will soon have clean water.
I HOPE that the girls working the streets are safe tonight.
I HOPE that Christians in Iraq are given the strength they need to make it through.
If our hope is something that can be replaced with, “I would like” instead of, “I pray”, then it shouldn’t be a priority to us. We need to reconsider what we are really hoping for.
So what does it mean to have hope?
Psalm 71: 5&14 says:
For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
Psalm 71 goes on to say that God will never grow tired or weary of us; He will give us strength and power. We can accomplish more with Him than anything without. He is our hope; He is the only one who can answer our prayers and the desperate pleas of our heart. We cannot use the word hope without connecting it to our Father, for whilst we have breath, we have Jesus.
Here are a few resources I have used or are currently using on days when the going is a little tougher.
1. Rick Warren’s daily newsletter called “Daily Hope” – a daily dose of scripture, encouragement and hope delivered right to your inbox. http://rickwarren.org/devotional/english
2. “Cornerstone” by Hillsong – a song that is really speaking to my heart these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWHgvkEPJiQ
3. Five passages of scripture that give the heart a dose of hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Psalm 27:4-5
Romans 5:1-5
Hebrews 11:1
