December 3rd, 2020
Family Tree Devotional Series - Week 1 – Hope – Pastor Mark White
Hope & Encouragement
Romans 15:4 (NIV)
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
What happens to us when we lose hope? We give up. We quit. Hope and perseverance seem to go together. Hope is a future promise that keeps us going. It is like the carrot before the donkey. Hope knows that there is a goal and that it is worth pursuing, even through hardship and difficulty. If we don’t have hope, we won’t have perseverance.
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 15 that everything written in the Scripture exists to give us hope. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God’s faithfulness despite man’s sin. We see the saints of God going through times of suffering and discouragement. We see the saints exiled to the wilderness, with no apparent future. But we also see that in time, God brings them back for more extraordinary service than before. The kingdom of God never shrinks; it may flow underground for a season, but it always emerges mightier than before. God is not going to be the loser in history!
So, with the encouragement of the Scripture before us, we should have hope. And following God’s example, we should encourage one another. Paul writes in Romans 15:5-6 that we encourage one another when we live in unity, without being at each others’ throats, and that a fundamental expression of that unity is worship. When we stand together to sing God’s praises and pray, we encourage one another. That way, if one of us comes to worship downcast and beaten, we may emerge with new hope simply because of the unity of worship we have experienced.
Do you lack hope? Learn more of His Attributes and His Intentions, for the more we know Him, the more encouraged we will be.
Hope & Encouragement
Romans 15:4 (NIV)
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
What happens to us when we lose hope? We give up. We quit. Hope and perseverance seem to go together. Hope is a future promise that keeps us going. It is like the carrot before the donkey. Hope knows that there is a goal and that it is worth pursuing, even through hardship and difficulty. If we don’t have hope, we won’t have perseverance.
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 15 that everything written in the Scripture exists to give us hope. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God’s faithfulness despite man’s sin. We see the saints of God going through times of suffering and discouragement. We see the saints exiled to the wilderness, with no apparent future. But we also see that in time, God brings them back for more extraordinary service than before. The kingdom of God never shrinks; it may flow underground for a season, but it always emerges mightier than before. God is not going to be the loser in history!
So, with the encouragement of the Scripture before us, we should have hope. And following God’s example, we should encourage one another. Paul writes in Romans 15:5-6 that we encourage one another when we live in unity, without being at each others’ throats, and that a fundamental expression of that unity is worship. When we stand together to sing God’s praises and pray, we encourage one another. That way, if one of us comes to worship downcast and beaten, we may emerge with new hope simply because of the unity of worship we have experienced.
Do you lack hope? Learn more of His Attributes and His Intentions, for the more we know Him, the more encouraged we will be.
Posted in Family Tree Devos
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