Concerning the Crucial Matter of Hope

I have the habit of using the word 'hopefully', quite often!

Without dissecting hope fully!

1 Thessalonians 5:8

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, 

putting on the breastplate of faith and love, 

and the helmet of our hope of salvation.

Flowers bring such a glorious splash of cheer and beauty

to life but are powerless in matters of hope!

Sometimes I write a poem like today's poem

to remind myself of what can be easy to forget, 

seduced by the seen rather than secured by the Unseen

Our small group through our church, was discussing the topic of surrender last night,

reminding me, without full surrender to Christ,

through the new birth, by His mercy, into living hope,

hope is dead!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope 

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:3

My family thinks I listen to this song more than anyone else in the world

If so, there is a good reason for this.

I am forgetful!

CityAlight ~ Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me (Lyrics)

Hope is no helium balloon

On which we fix our eyes

No fling of flowers to festoon

The portent of its prize

No wild rush of adrenaline

No showy evidence

Hope is the heart’s cry anchored in

Unfailing Providence

Hope is no quick and easy fix

No genie in a flask

Wielding a big bag full of tricks

For anything we ask

Hope is a hand we cannot see

To hold us in the gale

The crux of immortality

Through love that will not fail

Hope is a hallelujah hymn

Defeating dread and doubt

A Beacon, no matter how dim

That nothing can put out

Hope is a banner billowing

In the thick of the fight

It is the staff to which we cling

Until faith becomes sight

It is a whisper none can hear

Save in God’s faithful word

It is the archrival of fear

Endurance undeterred

Hope is salvation’s Certainty

The faith that makes us whole

Hope is the cross of Calvary

The anchor of the Soul

Hope is not found in lucky charms

Like rabbit’s feet and such

Hope is God’s everlasting arms

We feel but cannot touch

Hope is intangible yet sure

Through what the cross has won

 Faith's unseen foothold kept secure

In Jesus Christ, God's Son

© Janet Martin

Heb.6:13-20

God’s Unchangeable Promise

13When God made His promise to Abraham, 

since He had no one greater to swear by, 

He swore by Himself, 14saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply your descendants.”c

15And so Abraham, after waiting patiently, obtained the promise.

16Men swear by someone greater than themselves, 

and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument. 

17So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear 

to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath. 

18Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, 

we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. 

It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

20where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf.

 He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

Remember, Remember-Alistair Begg 

Ephes.2:11-13

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth 

and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” 

(which is done in the body by human hands)— 

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, 

excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, 

without hope and without God in the world. 

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away 

have been brought near by the blood of Christ...