A Finished Product

12/3/2016

Romans 15.13 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. – St. Paul

Hope is a finished product. When God speaks, it is already done and we hope in what He has said because it is done. Final. Finished. Fact.

Now, approaching a rickety bridge in our automobile, we say things like this: I hope that bridge holds. When running late, we say things like, I hope the traffic is light, or, I hope I hit all the green lights. That isn’t hope, that is wishful thinking. Hope is a decided affirmation in a finished product. Our hope isn’t in heaven and the Savior who awaits us because we want it to be, our hope is because He has said it is so. Big difference. So, we’re to live, trusting in hope of all He has said.

Paul said, I pray that God, the Source of Hope – the finished product of all He proclaims – will fill you with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then, he said, you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sometime last month, I lost the remote control to the garage. I knew I had put it somewhere but I couldn’t remember where, so I prayed and asked God to reveal it to me. Not a big deal, it costs $35 bucks to get a new one, but I knew it was somewhere and I prayed for God to show me where it was. I didn’t hope God might answer – no, I knew in hope, He would. I kept looking for it and kept not finding it, but I kept praying in the hope that God hears the prayers of His people and knows their needs. I prayed in hope for almost a month.

Hope is a finished product. We don’t hope God answers prayer, we pray in hope that He does. He has said He will, our hope agrees.

So, I was on my way to an appointment and I was deciding what to wear and I choose some brown slacks and a suitable shirt and I thought: I can also wear my brown plaid sport-coat on this sunny, but cold autumn day. So, I reached into the closet and grabbed the sport-coat and went to put it on and felt something in the pocket of the jacket…the garage door remote. I just laughed. I thanked God, but I just laughed. Hope is not a wish that it will, even though maybe it won’t; hope is a finished product to give us confidence in God, Who not only answers our prayers but faithfully provides for our needs. Even in the small stuff. I needed that same confidence later in the week for something much bigger.

So, my friends, let’s honor God by believing, not in what may or may not happen, but in the hope that is ours in Christ. Not only hope for heaven, but hope that builds our confidence in this Mighty God who calls Himself, ours; and calls us, His.

Father, thank you for the gift of hope. No fog, no fret, no faithlessness. Thank You that hope is a finished product and the You are the Source of hope to me. My days, my work, my life, and heaven beyond are all in hope. Amen