Words of Life- Hope

 Words of Life- Hope

April15, 2026

Hebrews 6:11-12

11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize thefull assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:17-20

17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise theunchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

“It’s a hopeless situation.” “The doctors gave her no hope of survival.” Or you might hear people say, “it’s so dry. I hope it rains.” This is not what the Bible says. So what is Biblical hope?

According to the book of Hebrews, hope is an anchor of the soul. That is something a lot more concrete than “I hope it rains”. It an expectation that the promises of God are sure, reliable and trustworthy. It is an assurance that when Jesus “entered within the veil”, that is he entered the holy of holies, into the very presence of God, that He made a way for us to enter as well. In fact, our hope is anchored there, so that we have a firm connection to the presence of the Lord. It is not just a once a year event, like in the old temple, where the high priest entered to present the blood of the lamb on the mercy seat. This hope is an eternal expectation that we can dwell in the presence of the Lord and that He is with is at all times and in all places. The only thing more firm that our hope is our faith.

Hebrews 11:1

1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Our hope is in the promises of God, and our faith gives this hope assurance or substance. Watchman Nee says that he prefers the translation here as “faith is the substantiating of things hoped for”. Faith adds substance to hope, and gives us assurance that the things hoped for are not only going to come to pass, but are in fact already real, we just don’t see them yet. We get sidetracked by our logical mind when we doubt when we don’t see, but spiritual reality is not based on physical substance. Our hope and our faith are in things that are more real that what we perceive as reality. The God who created the whole world with His word, gives substance to our hope with a reality that is more real than our physical reality. I don’t know if that explains it very well, but it is true. As a scientist, trained in various aspects of physics, this was a hard thing for me to accept, but after following after the Lord lo these many years, I have come to understand that this is true. As the old hymn goes, “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness”. That is a hope that will not disappoint and a faith that is a firm foundation.

So if you see difficulties in your world. If there are diseases and ailments that the doctors don’t fully understand, do not lose hope. Our God is greater than these things and He is able to do far more than we can think of imagine.

Hb 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

Impossible Things

 Impossible Things

August 29, 2025

“God never asks us to do anything we can do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and to do a work which we can never do. Yet, by His grace, we are living it and doing it. The life we live is the life of Christ lived in the power of God, and the work we do is the work of Christ carried on through us by His Spirit whom we obey. Self is the only obstruction to that life and to that work. May we each one pray from our hearts, ‘O Lord, deal with me!’ “, Watchman Nee, Sit, Walk, Stand, p. 32

John 15:4-5

 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Ephesians 2:10

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

I was reading Watchman Nee this morning where he was commenting about spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6. The quote above struck me powerfully. “God never asks us to do anything we can do.” That explains a lot of things happening around us lately. We have been asked to pray for people with terminal illnesses, suicidal depression and other intractable problems. These are things that we are powerless to change, things that could overwhelm us and cause us to despair. But God! Recently I heard someone pray, “God, do what only You can do.” We are powerless but He is all powerful. It is His power that can move mountains, so we continue to pray and encourage those who suffer because we know that He is able to save, heal and deliver. It is when we come to the end of ourselves that we find God, or maybe I should say, He finds us. When we have no other hope, He is there and He is hope. So take heart. If you are facing problems too big for you to solve, know that there is One who is bigger than your problems. When He asked us to do things that we cannot do, He is there to do it through His power working through us.

Faith, Hope, Love and Peace with God

 Faith, Peace, Hope, Love

May20, 2025

Romans 5:1-5 - Results of Justification

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in ourtribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Most are familiar with the faith, hope and love verse in first Corinthians 13, but we also find faith, hope and love in Romans 5, but with the addition of peace with God. The discourse in Romans 5 systematically lays out the doctrine of justification by faith, and includes peace with God, hope that does not disappoint and the love of God. Thus he explains here how justification by faith is not just about salvation, as wonderful as that is, but is also about living at peace with God, having hope and experiencing the tremendous love of God, in everyday life now. There is great benefit from faith in life today, as well as eternal life in the here after. He goes on to expound on the love of Jesus, who died for us while we were yet sinners, but it is enough for now to consider how we are able to have peace with God and hope that does not disappoint not disappoint because of the love of God and our faith in Jesus. Jesus loves you and you can have peace with God and hope if you have faith.

The Longest Day

 The Longest Day

April 19, 2025

Luke 23:50-56 (NASB95) 

50 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man 51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man fromArimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; 52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. 54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Matthew 27:62-66 (NASB95) 

62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ 64 “Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until thethird day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

Luke 24:19-21 (NASB95) 

19 And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sightof God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. 21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.

Friday had been full of furious activity; betrayal, arrest, torture, death and burial. Sunday was coming with the great miracle of the resurrection, but what about Saturday? The scriptures don’t tell us much about that day. Luke tells us that it was the Sabbath so they rested. And Matthew tells us that the chief priests were worried about a fake resurrection, so they posted a guard on the tomb. In Luke we here that the disciples were still discussion things early on Sunday morning; “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” But what about Saturday?

All the disciples hopes were dashed. One of their own had betrayed Jesus and even Peter had denied knowing Jesus. W/hat was to become of them? What was to become of their hopes in one who was to redeem Israel? It was the Sabbath, but did they dare show their face in the temple, or would they be arrested also? What would the Romans do? Would they try to track down and crucify the other “insurrectionists”? It was a day of waiting, or death and despair.

Jesus had tried to tell them, but they didn’t really hear that there was a resurrection coming. That redemption and salvation were indeed about to be revealed to Israel. As the saying goes,”it is darkest before the dawn”. The disciples were down and uncertain about what to do. They had had a hope, but their hopes were dashed when Jesus died, and they were left with only uncertainty.

Have you ever been in such a place where your hopes were dashed and you didn’t know what tomorrow would bring? Waiting on the Lord is hard when everything around you screams death and despair. But have faith, because Sunday is coming! The resurrection brought renewed hope as well as actual salvation. The Sunday dawn revealed the power of God to overcome all enemies, even death. The prophet Hosea saw this many years before:

Hosea 13:14

14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?

Shall I redeem them from death?

O Death, where are your thorns?

O Sheol, where is your sting?

Compassion will be hidden from My sight. 

So take hope in the Lord, whatever your present circumstances. Friday is dark and Saturday is uncertain, but Sunday is coming…

Faith, Hope and Love

 Faith, Hope and Love

April 16, 2025

1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (NASB95) 

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Hebrews 11:1-7 (NASB95)

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith weunderstand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Romans 8:24,25 (NASB95)

24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we donot see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Faith, Hope and Love. Like it says in Corinthians, now we only see dimly so I can’t claim to understand faith, hope and love. The best I can recommend is to read the passages above and pray for understanding. I Corinthians1 13 is the best description of love in the Bible and Hebrews 11 is the definitive chapter on faith. We talked some about hope yesterday, and there is more in these references in Hebrews and Romans.

For the most part I’ll leave the discussion of love to I Corinthians 13. I will note though that Biblical, agape love is quite different from the modern concept of love which is more based on emotions that on actions. In the Bible, love is putting someone else before yourself and doing whatever is required for their benefit, despite the cost to yourself. This kind of love is greater than faith and hope.

“Faith is the assurance(substance) of things hoped for” according to Hebrews. Watchman Nee translates this as “Faith is the substantiating of things hoped for.” He explains that hope is for something in the future, which you would like to happen, but you don’t see. When you have faith, this hope becomes substantial or real. It is like it has already happened, but you just can’t see it yet. His example of this is colors. Colors are real things, but if you close your eyes they are not real to you. But if you remember what the colors look like and imagine the color of the object before you, you can substantiate the color, or make it real in your mind. Then when you open your eyes, the reality of the color will match if you have imagined correctly. The color was always real, but faith substantiated it so that it became real in your life. Thus faith takes a promise, or a hope, and makes it real so that you know that you will see it one day.

Romans then explains that hope that is seen is not hope. So hope is less substantial than faith. But hope is still essential for life. If we are without hope we have no reason to live. The hopeless live in despair. Hope for tomorrow gives us something to eagerly wait for. In fact, as we pointed out yesterday, in the Hebrew hope and waiting are the same word. We wait on the Lord, or we hope in the Lord were the same things to the Hebrews. Hoping and waiting give us a reason to praise the Lord and to look forward to all the great things that He has in store for us, even before we see what they are. When I look back on my life, I remember many wonderful things that the Lord has done for me that were even beyond the things that I hoped for when I was a youth. The Lord always exceeds our hopes and dreams when we put our future in His hands.

So Faith, Hope and Love; three essential elements of life; As necessary as air, water and food. So hope in the Lord and wait for His promises. Have faith in His saving power and mercy and love for us. And love one another as He has loved us. Do those three things and you won’t go far wrong.

Hoping and Waiting

 Hoping and Waiting

April 15, 2025

Psalms 31:23-24

23 O love the LORD, all you His godly ones!

The LORD preserves the faithful

And fully recompenses the proud doer.

24 Be strong and let your heart take courage,

All you who hope in the LORD.

Psalms 42:1-5

1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So my soul pants for You, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;

When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night,

While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

5 Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him

For the help of His presence.

Hope here in the Psalms can also be translated as wait. So hoping and waiting are related. This is not exactly like the old Buddy Holly rock and roll tune “Crying, waiting, hoping”. He was singing about a girlfriend that had left him and there was no real basis for him to hope that she would return. When we wait in the Lord, that is a different matter as that hope has a basis. Our God is a loving Father who will reward our hope. When we are strong and courageous, we have hope that the Lord will be on our side and vanquish the despair. We can cry in he night but we have hope that the new day will bring joy and we shall yet again praise Him. When we wait in the Lord and seek Him like the deer pants for the water brook, we have an expectation that He will come save us, That is a true hope. We take encouragement from the psalmist who teaches us to sing and praise the Lord, even in our despair. By encouraging ourselves in the Lord, we build up that hope, and hope becomes faith, which is the reality of things yet unseen, but in which we have the assurance that they will be. So take heart and wait in the Lord, hope in the Lord and expect to see His deliverance from all you problems.

Preach the Word

 Preach the Word

November 9, 2024

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV) 

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Now is a unique time in American history. Some are extremely happy and others are extremely troubled, but all are looking at the  world and asking, “what happened?” Those of us who see God’s hand in current events need to use this opportunity to reach out to those questioning their world view. Many will be open to hear the truth in a way that they haven’t been in recent years. We have been in a time when many would not endure sound teaching. They have been listening to the lies of the enemy, through main stream media and other secular voices. It is now our chance to preach the truth to them. God is good. He loves you and has a plan for your life, and Jesus is the answer. The basic gospel message of the four spiritual laws will resonate in a new way with people that are questioning their world view. As they start to see that the world did not end, Trump is not Hitler, and no one is going to put you in the gulag for voting for Kamala, they will hopefully open up to other truths. So pray for all Americans, especially those on the losing side of this election. They are currently disillusioned but hopefully will be more open to a message of hope. The message that Jesus taught to love your enemies is so powerful because it blows their minds! They are expecting hate and rejection from the victors, but if they receive love, acceptance, and a message of hope, they can be turned to the truth and welcomed into the Kingdom of God. So, like Paul urged Timothy to do the work of an evangelist, I urge you to do the work of what ever you have been called to. Teach, preach, feed the poor, whatever it is, now is the time to reach out and bring the gospel of peace to all Americans.

The Lord Sits on His Throne

 The Lord Sits on His Throne

November 6, 2024

Psalms 2:1-6 (ESV) 

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, againstthe LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 

4He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (ESV) 

13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if mypeople who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Today is a real Psalms 2 day. The nations have raged and the rulers of the earth have plotted against the Lord, but the Lord sits in heaven and laughs! It’s is a great victory for righteousness that many of God’s people won in the election, but we need to not forget 2 Chronicles 7:14. Now we need to pray in earnest that all of God’s people humble themselves and pray so that the Lord can complete the healing of our land. Today we are thankful for a great victory, but the work of cleaning out the evil from our land has just begun. We need to seek His face and all of us need to turn from our wicked ways. Evil will not go quietly into the night, so we must be Ephesians 6 type warriors and keep praying and keep working to hold the evil doers accountable.

 

I’m so thankful that the Lord is sitting on the throne and that He has given us one more chance to heal our nation. And now is truly a time for healing and reconciliation. There have been many people caught up in the evils of our age; child trafficking,j abortion, drug addiction, economic hardship, etc. We need to pray for them and bring the message of hope and healing to them. “We the people…” means all the people of Americas. Let us pray that the gospel of peace will reach every heart that is troubled today so that we can all rejoice together at what the Lord has done.

Hope

 Hope,  Psalms and Other Scriptures

It seems that hope is something that is short supply lately, so I looked at what the Psalms and other scriptures say about hope. So here are a few scriptures on hope without commentary as the Word speaks for itself.

Psalms 31:24

Be strong and let your heart take courage,

All you who hope in the LORD.

Psalms 33:17-18

A horse is a false hope for victory;

Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.

18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope for His lovingkindness,

Psalms 38:15

For I hope in You, O LORD;

You will answer, O Lord my God.

Psalms 39:7

“And now, Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is in You.

Psalms 42:5

Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him

For the help of His presence.

Psalms 42:11

Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.

Psalms 62:5

My soul, wait in silence for God only,

For my hope is from Him.

Psalms 71:5

For You are my hope;

O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth.

Psalms 71:14

But as for me, I will hope continually,

And will praise You yet more and more.

Psalms 119:49

Zayin.

Remember the word to Your servant,

In which You have made me hope.

Psalms 119:116

Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live;

And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

Psalms 119:166

I hope for Your salvation, O LORD,

And do Your commandments.

Psalms 130:5-8

I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,

And in His word do I hope.

My soul waits for the Lord

More than the watchmen for the morning;

Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the LORD;

For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,

And with Him is abundant redemption.

And He will redeem Israel

From all his iniquities.

Psalms 131:3

O Israel, hope in the LORD

From this time forth and forever.

Psalms 146:5

How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the LORD his God,

Proverbs 10:28

The hope of the righteous is gladness,

But the expectation of the wicked perishes.

Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 23:18

Surely there is a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:14

Know that wisdom is thus for your soul;

If you find it, then there will be a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 26:12

Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 29:20

Do you see a man who is hasty in his words?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Ecclesiastes 9:4

For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.

Romans 5:4-5

and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 12:9-13

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 13:13

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Ephesians 1:18

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

1 Thessalonians 2:19

For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?

1 Thessalonians 5:8

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

1 Timothy 4:10

For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

1 Timothy 6:17

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

Hebrews 6:19

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

Hebrews 11:1

The Triumphs of Faith

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.