Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose Hope is the LORD. Jeremiah 17:7

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV)

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (NKJV)

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, " plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. (AMP)

Only a look at Jesus oh so bowed downed with care. He has promised to defend me. He will all your burdens share. Only a look at Jesus, He’s merciful and He’s true, through storms, through clouds, and through trials. He’ll lead you safely through. Only A Look, Only A Look will turn me away from sin one look one look will bring salvation eternal eternal life to win.

HOPE defined is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: to give up hope a particular instance of this feeling: the hope of winning grounds for this feeling in a particular instance: There is little or no hope of his recovery a person or thing in which expectations are centered: We hope that our children will be successful. something that is hoped for: Her forgiveness is my constant hope to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence to believe, desire, or trust: I hope that my work will be satisfactory to feel that something desired may happen: We hope for an early spring to place trust; rely hope against hope, to continue to hope, although the outlook does not warrant it: We are hoping against hope for a change in her condition.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment. To look forward to with confidence or expectation. A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation. Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. The promise by Jehovah is given through His prophet Jeremiah to Israel during their Babylonian captivity, a time when all their earthly hope of a future deliverance had vanished because of the destruction of the Holy Temple and their beloved Jerusalem. This temporary discipline by God however did not mark the end of Israel's hope, for this hope was and is ultimately contingent upon God's eternal covenant promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3 Jeremiah 31:31-40) to give his descendants the land of Israel. This future hope will come to full bloom when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Romans 11:25) and then all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, The deliverer will come from Zion (Messiah’s Second coming), He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins. (Romans 11:26-27)

Thou are my HOPE; O Lord GOD, Thou are my confidence from my youth. Psalm 71:5 Fanny Crosby (who was blind) caught the idea of expectant living in her famous hymn Blessed Assurance. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my Savior am happy and blest, Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. The blessed hope is the absolute certainty that God will do good to us in the future and includes the idea that we are looking forward to this hope. Our blessed hope is the desire of some good with expectation of obtaining it. Our blessed hope is the totality of blessing that awaits the Christian in the life to come. Our blessed hope in the NT is an expectation of something good to come but it is something we must wait patiently for. Our blessed hope gives us confident expectancy. The nature of hope is to expect that which faith believes. (R Sibbes) Hope is a "?confident reaching out for the eschatological future." Hope according to the Baker Evangelical Dictionary means To trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future. Hope is indispensable for survival and this is especially true when people are confronted by misfortunes, uncertainties, and bitter disparities in life. Hope is faith holding out its hands in the dark.

Joseph Addison wrote that the blessed hope..."not only bears up the mind under sufferings but makes her rejoice in them." Isaac Watts wrote that Hope thinks nothing difficult; despair tells us that difficulty is insurmountable. G K Chesterton said Hope means expectancy when things are otherwise hopeless. Jeremy Collier said that our blessed hope is a vigorous principle; it sets the head and heart to work and animates a man to do his utmost. The Puritan Thomas Manton wrote What an excellent ground of hope and confidence we have when we reflect upon these three things in prayer the Father's love, the Son's merit and the Spirit's power! Gabriel Marcel said Hope is for the soul what breathing is for the living organism. The Holman Bible Dictionary defines our blessed hope as "Trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of God's promises. Biblical hope is the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God's guidance. More specifically, hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future. This contrasts to the world's definition of hope as “a feeling that what is wanted will happen.” Understood in this way, hope can denote either a baseless optimism or a vague yearning after an unattainable good. If hope is to be genuine hope, however, it must be founded on something (or someone) which affords reasonable grounds for confidence in its fulfillment. The Bible bases its hope in God and His saving acts."

John Piper writes about the blessed hope declaring that "This confident hope gives us the encouragement and enablement we need for daily living. It does not put us in a rocking chair where we complacently await the return of Jesus Christ. Instead, it puts us in the marketplace, on the battlefield, where we keep on going when the burdens are heavy and the battles are hard. Hope is not a sedative; it is a shot of adrenaline, a spiritual blood transfusion." A study of concentration camp survivors found that those prisoners who were able to hold onto their sense of hope (‘things are going to get better’ or ‘we’re going to get out of here one day’) were much more likely to survive. Hope then is not optional but for these prisoners proved to be a matter of life and death. "But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13) Hope is one component of this great triad.

Faith and hope are inseparably linked. We believe and so we hope. Hope is a confidence born of faith. When we have faith in God, we claim His promises, and they give us hope for the future. This blessed hope is an exciting expectancy because God controls the future. When Jesus Christ is your Savior and your Lord, the future is your friend. You don't have to worry. In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, so shall your descendants be. Romans 4:18 What does Paul mean by hope against hope? I like Kenneth Wuest's explanation that Abraham’s faith is described. It was both contrary to hope (as far as nature could give hope) and rested on hope that God could do what nature could not.” People without hope are people without a future. We have a future and a hope. The believer participates in a new quality of life now and which will be consummated when our "Blessed Hope" the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Meditate on your blessed hope, for it is Christ alone who gives us the hope that makes this life worth living. This sure hope is set before us that it might be an anchor for our souls, and a motivation for us to exhibit the same diligence that saints of the first century church exhibited even in stressful times.

God willed to His saints to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 This truth was not revealed in the OT and is the greatest mystery in the Bible, Christ living in believers. Those who are without Christ are "without hope and without God." Eph 2:12 Believers have no other title to heaven than Christ Himself and the truth that He indwells us, makes heaven as sure as if we were already there. Christ is our hope of glory and the glory of our hope. 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our HOPE without wavering, for He who promised is faithful 24. and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds 25. not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:23; 24; 25

God's faithfulness is the ground of our sure hope and thus firmly grounded we can "hold fast the confession of our hope (not of despair) without wavering" A true believer’s faith and hope are never in vain, because they are in a God Who is faithful to His promises. “Faithful is He who calls you and He also will bring it to pass." 1Th 5:24 God’s answers may seem to be a long time in coming, and our waiting may be uncomfortable or even painful. But He will always do just as He has said He will do. This is the reason we can hold fast to our hope without wavering. God will do His part and the believer will also do his!

The world says I hope this or that will happen this type of "hope" is why the lottery system is thriving in many states! Many times we use the word "hope" in casual conversation, it has a wavering, uncertain sound. St. Luke 23:8 Acts 24:26 neither Herod's nor Felix's hope materialized. Most people live in hope that things will improve for them and that they will finally be satisfied. One of the frightening observations of our day is that there are so many, particularly the young, who have no hope. Suicides are on the increase annually, and a recent poll said the majority of teens in our day have no hope for the future. We see so many of our young living recklessly hoping to find satisfaction in the present moment. Our society is characterized by a pervading sense of hopelessness. The Church is not immune to this hopeless feeling. Many who claim to be born again believers in Jesus Christ are searching for fulfillment in life. The truth of Scripture is that we were not made for the present, and the present was never intended to satisfy us. "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied" 1Co 15:19 We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Let hope keep you moving forward. Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer. Romans 12:12 Blessed Hope of future salvation Romans 5:1-5 stimulates present joy and potentially enables us to live our daily Christian lives with “the eagerness of a pilgrim going home”. Paul warned us against remaining content with earthly joys and counseled us to “raise our minds to heaven, that we may enjoy full and solid joy.” Matthew Henry reminds of the relationship between our blessed hope and our ability to rejoice writing that the joy and peace of believers arise chiefly from their hopes. What is laid out upon them is but little, compared with what is laid up for them; therefore the more hope they have the more joy and peace they have Christians should desire and labor after an abundance of hope.

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. When used in a religious context, hope carries a connotation of being aware of what Christians see as spiritual truth. In Christian theology, hope is one of the three theological virtues faith, hope, and love, which are spiritual gifts of God. In contrast to the above, it is not a physical emotion but a spiritual grace. Hope is distinct from positive thinking, which refers to a therapeutic or systematic process used in psychology for reversing pessimism. The term false hope refers to a hope based entirely around a fantasy or an extremely unlikely outcome. In some religious contexts hope changes from being a verb to a noun. For instance, when Christians say they have hope in God they are not saying they hope God will give them good things and make their lives happier but that God is in fact, their hope.

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Romans 8:24-25. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

Dr. Matthew A. Barber is the youngest son of his beloved parents Rev. William and Annie Mae Barber. He is known for his human but divine, life-applicable, realistic approach to preaching and teaching God’s Holy Word. He is the Pastor and Visionary of Open Door Tabernacle Training Center in Johnson City, Tennessee where he continues to build reputation as a force for reconciliation and harmony across ethnic, denominational, generational and geographic lines. Starting his Christian and musical education at an early age, during childhood he was a member of the Mt. Sinai Baptist Church were his father Rev. William Barber, Sr. was the pastor. Dr. Barber now serves as Overseer of the church. In addition, he is Founder of the I Believe God Ministries, Int’l.

“Keep On Movin”

Dr. Matthew A. Barber
E-mail:  theinterpersonalconnection@live.com