Hope
Hope: A trusting expectation that God is going to keep His word. Author Unknown
If it were not for hopes, the heart would break. Thomas Fuller
Hope in God’s promises, therefore, is not a wishful longing but a faith-filled confidence for the future. It is simply impossible to trust one of God’s promises and not anticipate its coming true. To know God is to trust Him. And to trust God is to trust His promises. And to trust God’s promises is to be sure of their fulfillment. This assurance concerning the future, anchored in God’s promises, is what the Bible calls “hope.” Scott Hafemann
The word hope I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith. John Calvin
Despondency does not become a prince, much less a Christian. Our God is “THE GOD OF HOPE”; and we should hope in Him. [We] should hope in His mercy, in His patience, in His provision, in His plenteous redemption. [We] should hope for light in darkness; for strength in weakness; for direction in perplexity; for deliverance in danger; for victory in conflict; and for triumph in death. James Smith
Do not look to your hope, but to Christ, the source of your hope. C.H. Spurgeon
Every Christian who struggles with depression struggles to keep their hope clear. There is nothing wrong with the object of their hope – Jesus Christ is not defective in any way whatsoever. But the view from the struggling Christian’s heart of their objective hope could be obscured by disease and pain, the pressures of life, and by Satanic fiery darts shot against them… All discouragement and depression is related to the obscuring of our hope, and we need to get those clouds out of the way and fight like crazy to see clearly how precious Christ is. John Piper
Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19), because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a “wish” (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made. R.C. Sproul
Hopelessness in not a physical problem; it is spiritual. It has lost sight of God’s kingdom purposes that use even suffering to accomplish His ends. Edward Welch
If you are hopeless, there may be many contributors, but two are certain:
- You have placed your hope in something other than God…and it has let you down.
- You may understand that Jesus conquered death, but you live as though He is still in the grave. All hopelessness is ultimately a denial of the resurrection. Ed Welch
Christian hope, biblical hope is “a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future.” And from that definition we can see three things that must be true about something if it indeed is to be the object of biblical hope.
- What we hope for must be something good.
- What we hope for must be in the future.
- What we hope for must be certain, not doubtful, so that our expectation of its coming to pass may be confident, not wavering. Steve Roy
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). William Gurnall
Hope is a waking dream. Augustine
Without Christ there is no hope. Charles Spurgeon
He that lives in hope dances without music. George Herbert
In our sad condition our only consolation is the expectancy of another life. Martin Luther
Every thing that is done in the world is done by hope. Martin Luther
Jesus gives us hope because He keeps us company, has a vision and knows the way we should go. Max Lucado
Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19), because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a ‘wish’ (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made. R.C. Sproul
Do not look to your hope, but to Christ, the source of your hope. Charles Spurgeon
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us. Samuel Smiles
Me, I say my prayers,
then just light myself on fire
and walk out on the wire once again. Counting Crows, “Goodnight Elizabeth”
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all. Emily Dickinson
