THE GOD OF HOPE!

 

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

 

THE GOD OF HOPE!

 

Rom 15:13

13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

 

          Paul, writing to the Romans, offers multiple views of God. In Romans 15:5, He is the God of patience and consolation. The patience is His and the consolation is ours! Here the word “consolation” is paraklesis and is the same word that is translated “comforter” when Jesus promised the Holy Spirit in John 14:16. The word is made more powerful by using a definite article making it “THE consolation.” Consolation is in the person of Jesus Christ.

 

          He is the God of peace in Romans 15:33 and the word “peace” is eirene and indicates both quietness and prosperity. It also is preceded by a definite article which makes it “THE peace.” Peace, both quietness and prosperity, is in the person of Jesus Christ.

 

          In our text this morning, He is the God of hope. Here hope is elpis (el-pece’) and means both expectation and confidence. Once again it is forcefully preceded by a definite article. The hope that we have in eternity is an expectant hope. It is like an “expectant” mother large with child. She is confident of delivery but uncertain of the date! Many signs, both visible and known only to her, assure her that her hope is well founded.

 

Dear Father, all around us are signs and evidence of your soon coming. Inside us also there is confidence that our hope is well founded. Thank you, Lord, that our hope, our peace and our consolation is firmly grounded in you. AMEN

 

BLINK AND STARE!

 

Monday, February 2, 2026

 

BLINK AND STARE!

(This is a “classic” devotional previously presented)

 

Gal 1:6

6 I marvel [I am surprised and astonished] that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

 

Mark 14:33

33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

 

After more than five decades in the “preacher business,” there are some things that simply cause me to blink and stare! The Bible uses a couple of terms to describe the condition of amazement. The first we see in Galatians chapter one and verse 6 where Paul stands blinking and staring because the Galatians had abandoned the truth of the gospel. It’s the “deer-in-the-headlights” condition. The idea from the original is to be “immobilized by disbelief.”

 

How in the world can a truly thinking person abandon salvation so freely given by grace and choose instead to adopt a plan of salvation that demands a cost impossible to pay?  We just blink and stare – and maybe toss in a crooked grin. Somewhere along the way these people had shut down their ability to reason!

 

I blink and stare that modern Christians have abandoned biblical Christianity for something that is a monstrous blend of Christianity, paganism and hedonism [the doctrine that pleasure is the chief good in life]. Some modern Christians have not abandoned grace but have embraced a belief system the Bible anticipated in the following verses.

 

Rom 6:1-2

6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

 

God did not save us from the slime pit so that we could continue playing in it without guilt! The whole idea just makes me blink and stare! How can someone who claims to be a believer continue to practice moral filthiness and indiscriminate promiscuity? How can a young lady bunk down with first one man and then another and still carry a two-ton Bible to Sunday school? Is this normal behavior? I am frozen in disbelief! I am amazed! I just blink and stare! How can a young man cheat on his wife, terrorize his children and still sit solemnly in church services week after week? I am frozen with disbelief! I just blink and stare!

 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy. The full weight of the sins of all mankind of every age was being lowered onto Him and even the Son of God found it incredible! As scene after scene began to be played on his mind in speeding fast-forward his spirit found it hard to comprehend. His mind shouted “why?” and there was no reasonable answer. Blink and stare!

 

Modern Christianity has blended heaven and hell into an inedible soup – tasty but deadly! Each week in huge churches people stand, clap and “worship” a God they do not truly know. They praise a God they never intend to serve. They agree and say “amen” to godly principles they do not intend to obey or practice. Blink and stare! So, if you tell me something, or show me something, and I respond with just a blank stare and a crooked grin, you will perhaps have a clue as to what I am thinking.

 

Matt 15:8

8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

 

Dear Lord! Help me to be honest in my dealings, pure in my practices and faithful in my worship. AMEN

 

A NEW GREAT AWAKENING?

 

Sunday, February 1, 2026

 

A NEW GREAT AWAKENING?

 

1 Peter 4:7

7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

 

Acts 2:16-17

16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; (See Joel 2:28)

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

 

It is still uncertain whether our present political, cultural and spiritual upheaval will usher the end of time or the next Great Awakening. We need to pray for both and be ready for either. One thing is for certain, one generation will see the end of all things. Perhaps it will be our own generation! 

 

It is troubling when a talk show host begins to call our nation back to God. Perhaps it is because so many ministers conduct themselves like talk show hosts. It is also encouraging that someone is speaking out about the need for a national, even global, revival. Who is to say what yielded instrument God may use?

 

Rev 2:29

29 He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

 

BE ALERT! – like a person anticipating a thief.

 

Rev 3:2

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

 

STAND FIRM! – Don’t release what God has already given you.

 

1 Cor 16:13

13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

 

MAINTAIN A STRONG LOVE FOR THE LORD!

 

Matt 24:12

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

 

DON’T COMPROMISE WITH SIN!

 

In two areas: (1) Idolatry: "Is there anything that commands your affections more than the Lord Jesus Christ?" (2) Sexual impurity: "Is the trend in your thought life and actions moving toward increased purity, or increased enslavement?"—Facts of the Matter

 

1 Thess 4:3

3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

 

BE PREPARED TO SUFFER IF NECESSARY!

 

Phil 1:29

29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

 

2 Tim 3:12-14

12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

 

Tough times lay ahead as we approach the end of the age. We wait for the return of Jesus – even so come quickly.

 

Dear Lord, please send another Great Awakening that our nation may be refreshed and revived. AMEN