“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 NLT).
The apostle Paul prayed that the Romans would overflow with confident hope. What is this hope and how can we obtain it? It is Christian hope. This is different from the hope we express as a wish. When we say, “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” we are expressing a wish without any promise of fulfillment. But Christian hope is like a rope anchored on both ends. One end is anchored in the historical fact of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, while the other end passes through the veil and is anchored to the throne of God where Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand. This confident hope is anchored to God’s fulfilled promise in Christ’s first coming on one end and anchored on the other by God’s future promise in Christ’s return. So we can take hold of this hope like a rope anchored on both ends.
Yet, even more this hope is from God who abides in us when we believe and “overflows” in us through His Spirit. This confident hope is marked by joy and peace because we are confident that God has kept His promises and will always keep His promises.
How can we obtain this hope? Take hold of Christ who is our hope. Christ is God’s promise to us both fulfilled and future. We can have this overflowing and confident hope because it is anchored in God through Jesus Christ.
PRAYER: Father, thank You for the hope we have today in Christ Jesus. We take hold of this hope afresh today. Help us to cling to You rather than depending on any other in this world. As we abide in Your Holy Spirit today cause us to be filled with joy and peace, overflowing with confident hope. In Jesus’ name, amen.