Mission Venture Ministries

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) 

Here Paul is praying for the believer stating that when we place our trust in God, the source of hope, He will fill us with peace and joy, through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

It is important to note that this impartation of hope requires the power of the Holy Spirit, as Christ promised Him to His disciples in Acts 1:8. The Holy Spirit is a gift that each born again believer receives and He enables us to overflow with hope. 

God proves His faithfulness to His people throughout the Bible, by leading them safely through unimaginable circumstances and delivering them from their predicaments and uncertainties. We need to understand that if we walk in fellowship with Him, God will never leaves or forsakes His people; His plans are to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). 

Sadly most people understand hope as wishful thinking. This is not what the Bible means by hope. The biblical definition of hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unknown, as we wait patiently and confidently for their realization (Romans 8:24-25). 

God wants us to trust in Him. Psalm 147:11 tells us that the Lord’s delight in those who put their hope in His unfailing love, and in Hebrews 10:23 we are told to rely on Him for He who promised, is faithful. 

To trust is to believe, to have confidence in the promises of God in all circumstances, even in those where the evidence seems to be to the contrary. Hebrews 11 talks about faith, which is accepting and believing the truth that God reveals about Himself; supremely in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, the practical consequence of faith in God is trust, which we prove by living out our full acceptance of God’s promises day by day. It is by this trust that we are promised peace: “You will keep in peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3). 

Proverbs 3:5 tells us to: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” This verse sums up the Bible’s teaching on trust. It is in the Lord in whom we are to trust, not ourselves or our plans, and certainly not in the world’s ways. 

We trust in the Lord because He alone is truly trustworthy. His Word is trustworthy (Psalm 111:7; Titus 1:9), His nature is faithful and true (Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 25:10; 145:13; 146:6), and His plans for us are perfect and purposeful (Isaiah 46:10; Jeremiah 29:11). 

Further, because of God’s nature, we are to trust Him with all our hearts, committing every aspect of our life to Him in complete confidence; and we are not to trust in ourselves because our understanding is temporal, finite, and tainted by our sin nature. If we trust in ourselves without consulting God, disaster inevitably follows. 

Jesus is our solid Rock and therefore Christians can find peace during times of crises and trials that often drive others to do unthinkable things. Peace is the blessed comfort that the Holy Spirit, who indwells every born again believer, gives us. 

Christians can have the peace, joy, and hope that passes all understanding, (Philippians 4:7) even in the midst of terrible devastating experiences, because, even if we reach what we consider to be our most unbearable point, God’s Word says that He will never leave or forsake us, (Matthew 28:20). 

The Lord will give us peace and comfort even in the worst of circumstances, because, with Him, nothing is impossible. Always remember that “those who wait upon the Lord will get new strength. They will rise up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weak” (Isaiah 40:31). And the Lord said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). 

For that reason our soul should be quiet and wait for God alone, because, our hope comes from Him (Psalm 62:5). Therefore, “let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

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