Word
for the Day January 20
By: Evang. Cascille
Hammack
"You give me Your
shield of victory, and Your right hand sustains me; You stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn."
Psalm 18:35,36
The foundation of our confident hope comes from the nature of the Lord. We know from His Word and experience
that He is faithful. Psalm 124:8 says, "Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth."
Hebrews 13:6 says, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" We are redeemed
by Christ from the power of Satan, sin and the world. We belong to Him and can trust Him, so we have hope.
Those without
God have no reason to hope. Ephesians 2:12,13 says, "remember that at that time you were separate from Christ,
excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Jesus."
Jesus is our
hope. Hope is the rope and we cannot let go of our hope. We can not let go of Him. Col. 1:25-27 says, "I
have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness- the mystery that
has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Saints. To them God has chosen to make known
among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory." Christ living in us is our assurance of eternal life and glory. Only His indwelling
in us and our communion with Him can remove doubts. To have Jesus is to have life.
Here are reasons
for our hope. We have hope in God's grace and deliverance in the suffering we undergo here. Psalm 33:18,19 promises,
"The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is on His unfailing love, to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine." We have the hope of our new home in heaven. John 14:2 Jesus promised,
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you." We have the hope of Jesus' appearing. 1 John 3:2 says, "Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." We
have hope of receiving a crown of righteousness. 2 Tim. 4:8 says, "Now there is in store for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who
have longed for his appearing." Finally, we have the hope of eternal life. This is the guaranteed
life to all who believe and obey the Lord Jesus. 1 John 5:11-13 promises, "And this is the testimony: God
has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal
life."
With all of these promises we are given reason to hope. Our hope and trust must not be in other people, material
possessions or money. It is the Lord who gives us victory. Psalm 20:7 says, "Some trust in chariots and some in
horses, but we trust in the Name of our God." Take your eyes off of your circumstances and put them on the Lord.
He is our hope for today, tomorrow and forever and He alone is faithful.