May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Rom. 15:13
Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Prov. 23:18
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isa. 41:10
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for revealing yourself as the God of hope—the one who intends our hope to abound; who promises our hope will never be cut off; the God who is our hope. We praise, bless and adore you.
Because the gospel is true, we live by hope, not by hype; by having faith in you, not by having faith in our vacillating faith; by collapsing on Christ, not by pulling ourselves up by our spiritual bootstraps. It is your righteous right hand that upholds us, not our sweaty-palmed, tired-fingered grasp of you.
We come boldly to your throne of grace today, bringing with us some of our challenging stories into the storehouse of your goodness and faithfulness.
Father, for our children who have yet to find their peace, rest, and home in Jesus, we declare our hope is in you—not in our parenting skills, our “getting it right”, our groveling over past mistakes, or our anything.
Father, for our marriages, which need refreshment, reconnection, and renewal, we declare our hope is in you—not in our spouses changing, some “magic bullet” marriage conference, or finding the “perfect” counselor.
Father, for our own brokenness and weaknesses, we declare our hope is in you—not in our multiplied resolutions, certainly not in beating ourselves up, not in our doing more and trying harder.
Our hope is built on Jesus’ blood and righteousness. Our hope is in your steadfast love. Our hope is your commitment to Father us, pursue us, change us, and bring to completion your good work in us. And this hope will not disappoint us, or put us to shame (Rom. 5:5). Hallelujah, many times over. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ wonderful and merciful name.
