Hope

God knows that we all struggle with finding and holding onto hope. When you are facing tests of faith, even the strongest Christians can find it a challenge to find hope.

When you need encouragement and refreshment for your soul, turn to these Scriptures from the Old and New Testaments that offer hope and encouragement. These stories help us to recognize God’s love in our lives.  Everyone needs to be reminded from time to time of the hope that God, Jesus and the Bible offer to us.

• Put your hope in God (Psalm 42:11)
  Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

  The human heart runs on hope. When things are trying and difficult, we need something to anticipate. We need something to pursue and prepare for. Unfortunately, we so easily place our hope in things that never materialize or never meet our expectations.

  The psalmist addresses his discouragement by reminding himself to put his hope in God, where it belongs. No matter how dark things get for him, he will continue to praise his maker and trust in God’s goodness.

• Those that hope in the Lord (Isaiah 40:31)
  But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

  Isaiah perfectly explains the power of hope. Hope can give you strength and endurance. When our hope is in the Lord, we can continue to push through the difficult times. We’re able to run and not grow weary because we’re running toward the Lord.

• Hope does not put us to shame (Romans 5:1–5)
  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

  Paul tells us that, thanks to Jesus, we can be reconciled to God. We can brag about the glory of God that is present in our lives. It’s this hope that enables us to shrug off suffering, knowing that it’s increasing our endurance and ultimately strengthening the hope we have.