How do faith and hope relate to prayer?
Are you in the middle of a trial, something that you’ve been praying for that relies on God working on another human being… and there is nothing you can do about it? You have to commit your way to the Lord. You have to continue seeking Him. When that trial drags on and on and on, how do you keep your faith in God? How do you keep from giving up hope?
We can put our hope in God. Scriptural hope is strong and secure. It’s not a wishful thinking. Hope is solid like cement. I’m talking about spiritual hope in God and in His promises that are ironclad. For example, if you are saved and your life has been transformed by God, you have the hope of heaven. This doesn’t mean you are wishing that you might go to heaven–no–you know for certain because Scripture promises eternal life when we make Jesus Lord of our lives. The hope of eternal life is a certainty. Heaven is something that is secure.
In the promises of God, if we align our will to God’s will, God promises to answer us:
And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him. 1 John 5:14-15 ESV
Our hope, then, is in God and His Word. If God is not a liar, He will accomplish what He has set out to do, and we know His will through the pages of Scripture. A command in Scripture is the will of God, so if you ask God to help you to obey Him, He will answer. If you ask God to repair your marriage, God’s will is that a husband and wife be one, so He will answer you. The timing is the only thing we have no control over. Otherwise we are to pray without ceasing until the will of God is done in our lives. We have faith that God will do so.
Faith and Hope in Prayer (Video # 11)
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This is lovely, Susan. Great job.
blessings,
Shan {The How to Guru)
Thank you. I’m glad my post was encouraging to you!
Yes, I’m thankful for the confidence that we have when we pray. We can approach Him boldly because of who He is and what He has said in His Word.
When our conscience is clear and we have asked God to cleanse us from hidden sin, we are more than welcome to approach God’s throne because He is our papa!
Our hope has to be in the promises and spirit of God – and not anything else!
Yes, God’s promises in Scripture are sometimes all we have to give us hope in difficult circumstances.
I love that you point out the timing is only what we have no control over. It’s a great reminder that God has an answer–and it comes in perfect time.
I sometimes wish God’s timing didn’t take so long, but He knows better than we do!
Amen! So thankful for the hope we have in Christ. We don’t always know what the future holds, but we can always have faith that we can face it with Jesus in our hearts.
When our hope is in Christ, there is always hope!
That’s so key, your thought on aligning our will to God’s. Sometimes people get that confused. But when we desire to do what God calls us to, we can have hope and trust that He will come through for us in the perfect way.
Yes, our will and God’s will need to be one. When we are aligned with the Holy Spirit, we will see God answering more of our prayers.
So true Susan. When we put our hope in Christ and Trust Him we can pray with confidence!
I’m so glad that God welcomes us into His presence and wants us to have confidence as we approach Him as Abba Father.