Be Filled With Hope

Job 11:13-18 (CEV)

Surrender your heart to God, turn to Him in prayer, and give up your sins - even those you do in secret. (Psalm 19:12) Then you won't be ashamed; you will be confident and fearless. Your troubles will go away like water beneath a bridge, and your darkest night will be brighter than noon. You will rest safe and secure, filled with hope and empty of worry.

Psalm 43:3,5 (Similarly Psalm 25:4-5; 33:20-22; 62:5)

Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me...

(O my soul) put your hope in my God and Savior, and praise him.

Lamentations 3:24

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Romans 15:4

Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope (confident assurance) fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1: 17-18

(May) the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saint.

Colossians 1:27

To (the saints) God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God

Living beneath the cross, looking unto Jesus, toiling for Jesus, testifying for Jesus, and cultivating conformity to Jesus, let us be always ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us; and be always ready to enter into the joy and fruition of that hope, the substance and security of which is—"Christ in you the hope of glory."

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Titus 2:12b-13

…live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…

Hebrews 6:19

We have this hope (Christ's return and eternal salvation) as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

Hebrews 10:23

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

1 Peter 1:3-5

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

John Calvin

Commentary on the Psalms; on Psalm 25:19

We should ask God...to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak and raise it up when it is overthrown.

Instruction in Faith

Hope is nothing else than the expectation of the things that faith has believed to be truly promised by God. Thus Faith believes God to be truthful: Hope expects that He will show His veracity at the opportune time. Faith believes God to be our Father: Hope expects that He will always act as such toward us. Faith believes the eternal life to be given to us: Hope expects that it shall at some time be revealed. Faith is the foundation on which Hope rests: Hope nourishes and maintains faith. For, just as no one can expect and hope anything from God, except he who will have first believed His promises, so, on the other hand, it is necessary that our feeble faith (lest it grow weary and fail) be sustained and kept by patient hope and expectation.

John Howe Sermons on The Prosperous State of the Christian Interest Before the End of Time, 1678

Plain it is, there is not a more stupifying, benumbing thing in all the world than mere despair. To look upon such a sad face and aspect of things through the world as we have before our eyes; to look upon it despairingly and with the apprehension that it never will, never can be better…But hope is a kind of anticipated enjoyment and gives a present participation in the expected pleasantness of those days, how long soever they may yet be off from us…

William Gurnall The Christian in Complete Armour

http://www.ccel.org/g/gurnall/armour/gurnal03b.htm

There are two graces which Christ useth above any other to fill the soul with joy; and they are faith and hope. Faith tells the soul what Christ hath done for it, and so comforts it. Hope revives the soul with news of what Christ will do. Both draw at one tap—Christ and his promise.

Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called "The rejoicing of hope" (Hebrews 3:6).

This hope of salvation, where it is steadfast, makes the Christian active and zealous for God. It is called ‘a lively hope’ (1 Peter 1:3). They are men of mettle that have it. Why are men dull and heavy in their service of God? Truly because their hopes are so. Hopeless and lifeless go together.

Nothing better to expectorate and clear the soul of this dull phlegm of sloth and listlessness of spirit in the service of God, than hope well improved and strengthened. It is the very physic which the apostle prescribes for this disease: ‘We desire that every one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not slothful,’ (Heb. 6:11-12).

Hope is the handkerchief that God puts into his people’s hands to wipe the tears from their eyes, which their present troubles, and long stay of expected mercies, draw from them. ‘Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and there is hope in thine end,’ (Jeremiah 31:16-17)

Thomas Lye on Hebrews 6:19 "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul..."

Amidst all storms and tempests, yea, in a hurricane of sorrow and misery, faith knows where and how to cast anchor; a believer must cast his anchor upward. God often brings his people into such a condition that they do not know what to do. He does this that they might know what HE can do.

Rowland Williams, Psalms and Litanies, Counsels and Collects for Devout Persons

O God, the Redeemer of our souls, and the Comforter of them that mourn, whose will is our peace, and to whom obedience is true freedom; grant me so to be led by Thy Holy Spirit, that I may be free from vain hopes and repinings, and from all wrong desires; but may I through patience have experience, and through experience hope (Romans 5:3-5), and not be ashamed of hoping in Thee, our Father and our Friend, whose holy will be done now and forever.

J.C. Ryle Old Paths, Chapter 4 - "Our Hope!"

http://www.preachtheword.com/bookstore/old-paths-ryle.pdf

The man who has a good hope founds all his expectations of pardon and salvation on the mediation and redeeming work of Jesus the Son of God. He knows his own sinfulness; he feels that he is guilty, wicked, and lost by nature: but he sees forgiveness and peace with God offered freely to him through faith in Christ. He accepts the offer: he casts himself with all his sins on Jesus, and rests on Him. Jesus and His atonement on the cross, Jesus and His righteousness, Jesus and His finished work, Jesus and His all-prevailing intercession, Jesus, and Jesus only, is the foundation of the confidence of his soul.

A.W. Tozer

The Christian's hope is sound because it is founded upon the character of God and the redeeming work of His Son Jesus Christ. For this reason Peter could call it "a living hope" (1 Peter 1:3). It is living because it rests on reality and not on fancy. It is not wishful dreaming but vital expectation with the whole might of the Most High behind it.

Paul Baloche "My Hope"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wslWBp0Tm4

Thomas à Kempis

In Thee, O Lord God, I place my whole hope and refuge; on Thee I rest all my tribulation and anguish; for I find all to be weak and inconstant, whatsoever I behold outside of Thee. For many friends cannot profit, nor strong helpers assist, nor the books of the learned afford comfort, nor any place, however retired and lovely, give shelter, unless Thou Thyself dost assist, strengthen, console, instruct, and guard us. For all things that seem to belong to the attainment of peace and felicity, without Thee, are nothing, and do bring in truth no felicity at all. Thou therefore art the Fountain of all that is good; and to hope in Thee above all things is the strongest comfort of Thy servants. To Thee, therefore, do I lift up mine eyes; in Thee, my God, the Father of mercies, do I put my trust.

F.B Meyer Our Daily Walk

Cherish the sense of the Presence of God; cultivate an illimitable Hope; be conscious of a Love flowing towards you and from you. Dwell on the loving-kindness and tender mercy that have preceded and followed you all the days of your life.

Frederick T. Keeney, “January 2nd” in God’s Minute, A Book of 365 Daily Prayers Sixty Seconds Long for Home Worship

Heavenly Father, save us from the sin of despair. Light the lamp of hope in every heart.

Not much hope here

Richard Dawkins River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life

In a universe of…blind physical forces...some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.