Isaiah 40: 31

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; 

they will walk and not be faint.

A few days ago, I talked about my word of the year. I thought I was going to end up with MERCY for a third year, but God gave me another word–HOPE. One look at the verse above shows us what hope in God can do for us on a daily basis. Just reading the verse fills me with hope and joy and optimism for the coming year.

Hope is a powerful spiritual tool that can help us overcome the trials and tribulations of this life. But what exactly is biblical hope? It is so much more than wishful thinking. It is the confident expectation that God is working in our lives. Hope is a firm assurance regarding the things of God.  Biblical hope is based on the confident expectation that God’s promises are true for all of us–not just a select few.  To have biblical hope is to trust God and to expect good things from God in the future–in spite of our present circumstances. Biblical hope goes hand in hand with trust and faith in God, His Word; and His promises.

Let’s look at a few of the words we used today to define hope:

CONFIDENT EXPECTATION

ASSURANCE

TRUST

FAITH

PROMISES

I don’t know about you, but those are all really good words. I’m looking forward to this year of HOPE. I’m making that the focus for this blog as well. Not that I won’t talk about other things as well, but I plan to make HOPE a part of my Bible study this year. And so that means, I’ll be writing devotions about it as well.

YOUR TURN: What’s your word for this year? Don’t do a word, that’s OK, share with us some of your hopes for the coming year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR & MAY GOD BLESS YOU!