The God of Hope Gives Me Overflowing Hope

The God of Hope Gives Me Overflowing Hope

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

This devotion is excerpted from my upcoming book, Overflowing Hope,

a devotional on discovering new levels of hope in our lives.

Steps on Your Journey to Embrace Overflowing Hope:

• Since overflowing hope, from Romans 15:13, is the theme of this series of books on hope, each one will begin with a devotional on this verse.
• Hope in English is often used synonymously with a wish. It is used to mean wish for or desire, with no assurance you will get what you desire. For example, if I were to say, “I hope the sky turns green,” I wouldn’t really expect it, but it’s something I can wish for.
• The biblical view of hope is a confident expectation of something that is going to happen. Even though we can’t yet see it, we know it will happen, because God has promised it; although we may not have any idea when it will happen.
• One of God’s names is God of Hope. It has two meanings:
• God possesses hope. That’s who He is. He has perfect, complete hope in Himself.
• He is the source of hope. When we need to find hope, we can go to God and find it. We can be confident that everything He promised will come true, because He is trustworthy and powerful enough to fulfill whatever He promises. God is the source of all real hope. If we are going to have hope (confident expectation), it must come from Him, for He alone has it to give.
• Notice what the God of Hope does for you from Romans 15:13, above. As you read each one, ask God to show you what He wants you to see from it.
• He fills you. The word for “fill” in the Greek is playrow, literally meaning to cram or level up. It also means to satisfy you. How have you seen the Lord satisfy you?
• With all joy. Joy in Greek is kara, also meaning cheerfulness, calm delight and gladness. The God of Hope wants to cram you full of His joy. The joy He gives is complete—all joy. Think about that.
• He fills you with all peace. Peace in Greek is eiraynay, also meaning prosperity, to set at one, quietness and rest. It’s similar to the Hebrew word, shalom. He wants to set our hearts and minds at one, so we are not worried, fearful and double-minded. In what areas do you need peace today?
• He’ll overflow you with hope. Overflow in Greek is perisuo, meaning to super abound, to be in excess. When God does anything, He does it over the top, superabundantly! Are you overflowing with hope today? Why or why not?
• He does it all by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for power is dunamis, from which we get the word dynamite. It means miraculous power, miracles, abundance, strength and more. You might want to ask the Holy Spirit to release His power in you in a new way so you can experience hope, joy and peace.
• We only receive all of the above, as we trust in God, according to this verse. The Greek word for trust here is pistuo, also meaning to have faith in a person or thing, to commit to trust and to believe. Trusting God means relying on Him and putting your confidence in Him. In what ways do you trust God? Do you trust Him for your salvation? What about for your need for love and acceptance?
• What keeps you from fully trusting God? Talk to Him about that. Ask Him to show you what is holding you back. You can also ask Him to increase your faith to trust Him no matter what. One prayer I often pray is like the man whose son was having seizures in Mark 9:24 (NKJV): “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” Jesus had just told him, “All things are possible for one who believes.” You might want to pray that prayer today and make it a normal part of your life.
• Consider all that the God of Hope does for you. How have you seen Him do these in your life or in other people? If you haven’t, ask Him why not. Maybe you haven’t been looking. Ask other believers to share how they have experienced this.
• I encourage you to write Romans 15:13 on a card or sticky note and put it where you’ll see it daily. Memorize it and meditate on it, asking God what He wants to show you from it.
• What does Psalm 62:5 (NLT) tell you? “Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
  for my hope is in him.” You can wait for God, because He is your source of hope. Are you waiting quietly for God? It’s easy to want to do something about our situations, rather than wait on God.
• I’m facing a very difficult and hopeless situation right now with someone very close to me. I’ve been sad and overwhelmed by the situation. I’m trusting God to work; however, just this morning as I was praying, the Lord showed me that I keep telling Him what should happen. I think I can see exactly what needs to happen and believe God just needs to work in those areas. He showed me that I’m not trusting Him to work in His way and His timing. I need to take more time to listen to what is on His heart and pray into that, rather than telling Him what to do. I confessed that and made a choice to trust Him in a new way. As I did, God filled me with new levels of hope, joy and peace. It’s difficult to know the balance between what to pray and what to entrust to God. I’m learning, but still have a long ways to go. If you’d like to learn more about hearing God’s voice, go to the back of the book.
• What challenges or struggles do you have in experiencing this overflowing hope?

A Guided Prayer:

God of Hope, thank You that You are my source of hope. Thank You for filling me with all joy and peace, as I trust You. Teach me to trust You more. Show me anything that holds me back from fully trusting You. I want to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I only need to do my part, trust You; then You do so much. Show me anything that keeps me from experiencing overflowing hope.

An Affirmation to Make:

I can overflow with hope when I trust God, because He fills me with all joy and peace.

An Action to Take

What might you need to do to discover hope in this area? You could also write your own prayer, expressing what is God revealing to you today.

Blessings on you,

Gaylyn Williams, co-author of Keys to Joy: How to Unlock God’s Gift of Lasting Happiness

© 2019 Relationship Resources, Inc.