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.

Romans 15:13

Paul’s prayer for the Christian church in Rome is an encouraging statement about the power of God and how it can impact a Christian emotionally and mentally. He calls God the God of hope, which reflects on how the Lord always keeps his promises and never steers us wrong. This is something we need to hear on a daily basis to help us persevere in the trials and tribulations of life.

God is the only true, eternal source of hope we have. Everything else on this earth is temporary and eventually passes away. Friends’ and families’ promises might never come to pass or hold up. Sometimes, people break their promises, and the hurt of their rejection is almost unbearable. With God, we know all of his promises are true and will come true. This is why we can have hope in him.

God can fill his followers with joy and peace, which stem from his hope. Believers who trust in the Lord will be rewarded by their faith. This is not something we can do on our own. We can never achieve true joy and peace without God. He helps us keep the faith. When we believe in him, we can see the characteristics of his nature shine through. 

It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can abound in this hope. Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit after dying on the cross for our sins and coming back to life. He brings us that eternal salvation we can never earn on our own. His grace provides us with hope, and through that, it gives us joy and peace. With encouragement and guidance from the Holy Spirit and God’s power, we can make it through our struggles. We have hope because of what Jesus did for us.

Jesus promised us that he would never leave us nor forsake us. He gave us the Holy Spirit to assure us of that. His truth is something we can put our hope in. His power to overcome death to save us from our sin gives us something to believe in. He is our God of hope and the source of our strength. He is our Savior and Lord.

This week, pray that God will strengthen us through his Holy Spirit to help us persevere through the temptations of sin. It is only by his power that we can live the best of our lives for him.