Hope, part 1

Hope = confident expectation based on the character, promises and plan of God.

 Hopefulness can be more than a feeling; it can be a choice.

Hopefulness can be more than a choice; it can be your natural “default” outlook on life (a character trait).

Choose today to be hopeful no matter how you feel.  Make that choice based on the character, promises (read your bible for the details!) and plan of God (read your bible for more details!).

Commit to do this faithfully every day and eventually the accumulation of those choices will shape your character into a “hopeful stance of life.”

• The ONE THING for today: Life is so much better when your “default” outlook is automatically hopeful.

Romans 5:1-4 (The Voice)

Since we have been acquitted and made right through faith, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King. ² Jesus leads us into a place of radical grace where we are able to celebrate the hope of experiencing God’s glory. ³ And that’s not all. We also celebrate in seasons of suffering because we know that when we suffer we develop endurance, ⁴ which shapes our characters. When our characters are refined, we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness.