Pwertehon sa Paglaom o Pano ni Paglaom

Abounding in Hope

What is HOPE?

Feeling of expectation

May piglalaoman

Gabos siguro kita we struggle with hope

For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord,
‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future.’” – Jeremiah 29:11

Sapagkat batid kong lubos ang mga plano ko para sa

inyo; mga planong hindi ninyo ikakasama kundi para
sa inyong ikabubuti. Ito'y mga planong magdudulot
sa inyo ng kinabukasang punung-puno ng pag-asa.
Jeremias 29:11 RTPV05

Mawara na daa ang gabos dai sana ang hope

Kaya ini prayer ko para saindo

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you
trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the
power of the Holy Spirit.” – Romans 15:13

HOW POWERFUL IS HOPE?

“Hope itself is like a star – not to be seen in the sunshine

of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of
adversity.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.”

Martin Luther

A person can do incredible things if he or she has enough

hope.”
Shannon K. Butcher

“Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out
the windows which hope has opened.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps
moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that
helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a
dream.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

Hope can get you through anything.”

Jamie Ford

“Hope keeps you alive.”

Lauren Olive

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Love of God: Past and Present

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that

while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Notice that “demonstrates” is present tense and
“died” is past tense. “God demonstrates His own
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.” The present tense implies that
this “demonstrating” is an ongoing act that keeps
happening in today’s present and tomorrow’s
present, which we call the future.

The past tense, “died” implies that the death of

Christ happened once for all and will not be
repeated.

“Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter
3:18).

Why did Paul use the present tense (“God

demonstrates . . .”)? I would have expected Paul to
say, “God demonstrated (past tense) His own love
toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.”

Was not the death of Christ the demonstration of

God’s love? And did not that demonstration happen
in the past? So why does Paul say, “God
demonstrates . . .” instead of saying, “God
demonstrated . . .”?

I think the clue is given a few verses earlier. Paul

has just said that “tribulations work patient
endurance, and patient endurance works proven
character and proven character works hope, and
hope does not put us to shame” (vv. 3-5).

In other words, the goal of everything God takes us

through is hope.
He wants us to feel unwaveringly hopeful through all
tribulations.

But how can we? Tribulations by definition are anti-

hope. If they felt hopeful in themselves they
wouldn’t be tribulations. What’s the underlying
secret of actually growing in hope through
tribulation?

Paul answers in the next line: “Because the love of

God has been poured out within our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (v.5). God’s
love “has been poured out in our hearts.”

The tense of this verb means that God’s love was

poured out in our hearts in the past (at our
conversion) and is still present and active.

So Paul’s point is that the Spirit-given assurance and

enjoyment of the love of God is the secret to growing
in hope through tribulation.

Tribulation works patient endurance and proven

character and unashamed hope because, at every
point of the way, the Spirit of God is assuring us of
the love of God in and through all the trouble.

Now we can see why Paul uses the present tense in

verse 8: “God demonstrates His own love toward us .
. .” This is the very work of the Holy Spirit referred to
in verse 5: God, the Holy Spirit, is pouring out and
shedding abroad in our hearts the love of God.

God did demonstrate his love for us in giving his own

Son to die once for all in the past for our sins (v. 8).
But he also knows that this past love must be
experienced as a present reality (today and
tomorrow) if we are to have patience and character
and hope. Therefore he not only demonstrated it on
Calvary, he goes on demonstrating it now by the
Spirit.

He does this by opening the eyes of our hearts to

“taste and see” the glory of the cross and the
guarantee that it gives that nothing can separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).

God is the God of Hope. Go to God when you are

losing hope.

Believe in Jesus and in what He has done for you.

And the Holy Spirit is able to give you HOPE.