This has been my weekend to catch up.  Working my full time “day job,” plus a part time job, I have been behind on lots of stuff here at home.  But I am getting caught up.

This morning at our Glendale Fellowship I am going to teach on “Hope.”  I know there are some people who hope for this and others who wish for that.  But I am talking about having hope in God.

Hope Is Different Than Believing

Hope is expecting God’s goodness and care when you don’t know what to believe God for at the present moment.  Ever been there before?  We all have, many times.

When we don’t know what to believe God for and don’t understand what’s going on, or just can’t figure it out, we can choose to have hope in our God to bring us a solution; to bring us to a point where we do have something specific to believe.

Some get this confused, but I think it’s really simple.  If you are believing God, then you have something specific from Him to believe.  It could be a promise from the Bible or something He has revealed to you.  In other words, it is something specific from Him that you believe. And when we believe Him, we receive from Him.

On the other hand, having hope in God is much broader.  Some may call it, “trust.”  It is expecting and anticipating that God with all His love, goodness and care, will bring to you what you need.

Hopeless

Without hope, without expectations, without something to look forward to beyond today, people lose the desire to live life; they just give up; they have nothing to look forward to.  Yes, or course, we have the hope for the Return of Christ, the greatest hope there is, but, if you have no hope for this life, then you will give up.

When you genuinely have hope in God, you are enthused about living this life; you have genuine expectations of God working in your life.  But remember, it is a choice, day by day, and by choosing to put our hope in our God, we allow Him to be involved in our lives. And He is very willing to help us regardless of the situations we are faced with.

So now you have a preview of what I am going to teach in about an hour.

Mike

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