God is called many things, some of which cannot be written here. Have you ever wondered why those that deny the existence of God use His name in vain?

God is called the God of hope. Hope is a very important aspect to life, especially to the lives of those who believe in God.

Without faith it is impossible to please God [Hebrews 11:6] and faith is the substance of things hoped for [verse 1]. The enemy of God and His people works overtime to dash believer’s hope. The reason for this is this ~

By destroying our hope our enemy can effectually cripple our faith. Faith needs hope to function ~ “Faith is the substance of things hoped for”. If he succeeds in removing our hope he creates an environment where we are hard pressed to please God.

“Hope deferred makes the heart-sick” [Proverbs 13:12]. Our heart is the area where faith functions. “If you believe in your heart . . . For with the heart one believes unto righteousness . . .” [Romans 10:9,10]. When our hope is deferred, delayed, postponed, or put off our heart becomes ‘sick’. The word ‘sick means weak, grieved, or tired.

If our enemy attacks our faith then our hope can resurrect it. That is how powerful hope is. Hope is classified in Scripture as one of the three things that remain [1 Corinthians 13:13]. The other two are faith and love with love being the greatest.

Our enemy does not have to attack the hope of people who are not related to God because those without God are without hope in this world [Ephesians 2:12]. This is another reason for us to reach the lost with the message of hope from the God of hope.

Listen to what Paul the apostle tells about the God of hope [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.”

There is only One God and He is the God of hope. All of the other so-called gods cannot deliver this vital resource called hope. That is why the societies that are governed by those gods are repressive in nature. Only the God of hope gives people the faith to believe that they can be free to become great.

What is hope? Hope is the unadulterated expectation of imminent good.  One of the greatest needs in the world today is a people who have great hope. Paul said that the God of hope will fill you [us] with all joy and peace in believing. Faith is supposed to be fun. We should be filled with joy and peace as we navigate through the difficulties of life. Life may be hard but navigating through it is not supposed to be hard.

God starts this process by filling us with all joy and peace in believing so that we will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. God is the bookends of this equation. God starts the process and He [the Holy Spirit] sustains it by His power.

God never gives just enough. He wants us to abound. I recommend you do a word study on the word ‘abound’. You will find some amazing things about God’s heart for you. You may find your hope tank filling up.

We are commanded to “always be ready to give an account for the hope that is in us” [1 Peter 3:15]. Notice Peter said we have hope. We may need to find it, but we do have it.

If hope is defined as having an expectation of imminent good then we can deduce that God wants us to be ready to give those without an expectation of imminent good the hope that God is good, and that He loves breaking into hopeless situations.

I remember when the God of hope invaded my hopeless situation the first time. The future of my history was changed that day.

People with little or no hope are a prime candidate for the God of all hope to invade. Their gods have failed them or are presently failing them, which was predictable.

Those of us who know and love God need to be ready to give those who are without God and hope in this world an encounter with the God of hope.

For HIS Glory!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury
A Hisstorymaker