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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