Circumstances and Hope

Circumstances have taught me patience and made me look upward to God for hope. Romans 8:28 basically means "Christian should always have hope" and later in Romans 15:13, "Hope comes from the Holy Spirit." As much as I hate to deal with certain circumstances, I always (I tried and will try) put my hope in God to guide me through my circumstances. As A.W. Tozer said: "Faith is confidence in the character of God, and hope is the sweet anticipation of desirable things promised but not yet realized. Hope is an electronic beam on which the Christian flies through wind and storm straight to his desired haven. To the child of God, hope is a gift from the heavenly Father 'who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope' " (2 Thessalonians 2:16). Reading A.W. Tozer's books (as you can tell Tozer is probably one of my favorite theologians) have taught me that "overflowing hope is the gift of the God of hope by the power of the Spirit. It is that hope that carries us through the difficult experiences of life." The Christian's hope is founded upon the character of God and the redeeming work of His Son Jesus Christ. Peter call it "a living hope" (1 Peter 1:3). Hope is living because hope rests on reality and not on fantasy. I must be careful that I do not use this as a wishful dreaming but realistic expectations from my Loving God. Using some of Tozer's words from one of his writings . That by practicing my faith with godly hope, I can have my own personal spiritual revival within my own family. I can open myself to the Spirit of God. I can make the changes He indicates and do it by His enablement. I can live by the Spirit.