Key Verse: Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Throughout human history there have many time periods where it seemed that hope was lost, as if hope had been extinguished by the blackest night. I think of the Middle Ages when the Black Plague killed over half of the population in Europe. I think of WW2 when Hitler’s Nazi regime blitzkrieged it’s way through Europe killing all who stood in their way. Even in our culture today with war, and hatred all around it is easy to lose hope. Romans 15:13 is a great reminder about how to always have hope even in the darkest night. Notice that joy and peace only come from the God of hope. What does the phrase ‘God of hope’ mean? It likely means that God is our source of hope, and possibly that He is the one who possesses hope and is able to give it to people. Another thing worth noticing here is that our God of hope gives joy and peace to those who are BELIEVING. Without faith in Christ, it is impossible to have lasting peace and joy in a world such as ours. He gives us joy and peace because we know that the trials of this life are only temporary. What about hope, how can we have hope? Paul says that the only way to abound in hope is by the power of the Holy Spirit! The word abound literally means to overflow. We can have an overflowing hope for the future because of our relationship with Christ. However, this does not come naturally, it comes by us submitting to the Lordship of Christ and heeding the conviction and direction of the Holy Spirit. When we do this we will find ourselves having hope despite our current circumstances! I want to challenge you today to allow the Holy Spirit to empower you with hope by submitting to His guidance! You have a reason to have hope! Let the Holy Spirit remind you!
