The Overwhelming Importance of Christians Seeking and Finding Hope in God’s Word!

24 Jul 2026 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Scrip-Bit   24 July 2026   Romans 8:24.

Romans 8:24.         For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

‘It’s Friday, it’s Friday, it’s Friday! Thank God it’s Friday and the weekend is here at last!’ It was indeed an ecstatic Friday Mantra that we declared this morning, what with a beautiful, cool, sunshiny summer’s day in the offing, and knowing that the work week will soon end. It’s certainly interesting and amusing the change that the upcoming weekend can produce in us. Only wish Monday could produce the same positive exuberance. (smile) But I don’t think we’ll ever see that the way our society and its working conditions are now set up.

However, there’s one thing we always have as believers in Christ Jesus, that’s HOPE! Hope, which in general is a basic kind of optimism that things will get better, life will improve and our society won’t degenerate any further. But the Christian hope goes deeper than that; for we are assured that things will indeed get better through the Word of God. So let’s check out a few scriptures that give us that solid foundation of hope, of expectation, of optimism.

And the first one comes right from the Lord Himself, when He declares through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil (calamity) to give you an expected end (a future and a hope).’ (Jer. 29:11)  And if the Lord God Almighty, the Creator and Controller of the universe says that, then we know we can believe it, because He does not lie and His promises are true and faithful.

Then, as Bruh Paul writes in Romans: ‘For whatsoever things were written aforetime (beforehand) were written for our learning, that we through patience (perseverance) and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.’ (Rom. 15:4) There we have more confirmation, more of a solid base for our hope, because the scriptures were written to encourage us to have patience and hope in God’s Word.

And way back in the Old Testament the Lord also promised that He would send us a Messiah, a Saviour, who would cleanse and wash away our sins, and when the time was right, He sent His Son Jesus Christ, to die on the cross at Calvary to pay for our sins, and give us the options of salvation and eternal life, with the Holy Ghost dwelling in us, as our comforter, guide and all around man Friday. And we get that salvation through a hope that leads to faith.  

Bruh Paul puts it thus in Romans: ‘For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience (perseverance) (eagerly) wait for it.’ (Rom. 8:24-25) Yes, hope is something in the future, not something you can see or already have, and as Christians we are expected to be filled with hope of all the good things that the future will bring, and are expected to wait eagerly for them.

Therefore, Bruh Paul, when talking about the unity of Christian Jews and Gentiles could say: ‘Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.’ (Rom. 15:13) Yes friends, our God is a God of hope! He promises and He comes through when we put our hope and faith in Him.

And if you’re wondering what’s faith; faith for our purposes is basically strong hope in Jesus Christ. We believe that He is who He says He is, and will do what He says He will do; receiving His promises as truth and living the way He desires. And you cannot have faith without hope, for hope is the very basis of faith. As it’s broken down in the LOVE chapter of 1 Corinthians: ‘And now abideth faith, hope, charity (LOVE), these three; but the greatest of these is charity (LOVE).’ (1 Cor. 13:13)

So hope is indeed an essential ingredient in our Christian journey, for without it, we’re lost, we have no starting point, and belief in Jesus begins with hope. And that hope is certain, as Bruh Paul says in his letter to the Colossians: ‘We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the LOVE which ye have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.’ (Col. 1:3-5) There we have it my people, hope is laid up in heaven for us, we’re sure of that from the truth of Christ’s gospel.

Consequently, we can now go to the throne of grace, through our Friday Chant, seeking divine aid in these turbulent and uncertain times. Altogether: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work. It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. You know our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving, and we desperately need your help to fix them. Heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. So please give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly.

And despite the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times, help us to be responsible, and get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that we can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out next week and further your glorious kingdom by the good example we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

But you know what friends, we too also need to wake up and smell the coffee, for all the talk and prayer in the world won’t help until we actually get up off of our derrieres and get out into the evil world and do some serious work for Christ! It’s our bounden duty! We need to at least try and stop our world from degenerating any further. So let’s rally round the cross and show our hope, faith and LOVE! Much LOVE!

…HOPE…the expectation of good things to come…and eagerly waiting with patience for them…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 September 2013 Isaiah 54:17

01 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Isaiah 54:17.   No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of (from) me.
 
Oh Friends, it seems like I owe my poor, departed mother another apology on this Sunday morning, the first day of September 2013. Not only did it take me almost two years to go and visit her, it seems that I was so taken up with T&T’s Independence celebrations yesterday, that I failed to mention it was also the second anniversary of her going to be with the Lord. I guess the ole fella’s simply showing his age and human frailty. (smile)
 
Thanks for reminding me Di, although as I told you, it wasn’t a complete forgetting, because the flowers on the altar at church today will be donated in her memory. And you know Mols sugar, that whatever nonsense or mistakes your Sonny Boy might make, he will NEVER forget you!
 
How could I eh, after the wonderful relationship we shared for sixty something years, especially since it was an experience chocked full of LOVE? For as Cousin Sol says in his Song, your banner over me was one of continuous LOVE! That’s not to say there weren’t some tumultuous times, but they were few and far between and never lasted very long.
 
And I’m not the only one who thinks that time is going by rather quickly, because everybody I tell that she’s been gone to Paradise for two years now can’t believe that it’s already been that long.
 
That’s why, my fellow believers, we can’t afford to dilly-dally with the work we’ve been commissioned to do for Christ here on earth, since we can be called home unexpectedly at any time. And what are we going to tell the Father when He asks why we didn’t do a better job eh, that we didn’t have enough time?
 
No Friends that’s not going to pass muster, because he’s going to turn back the clock and show us all the time we wasted being involved in sinful worldly endeavours, when we could have been spreading His Word.
 
That brings us to our Bit: ‘No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of (from) me.’
 
Now a lot of us claim that promise, and so we should, but as with a lot of other scriptures, we take them out of context, and only use the parts that seem beneficial, while conveniently forgetting the other aspects. And in this particular promise, we always seem to leave out the very important proviso: ‘This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord…’
 
Yes Friends, if you’re not a servant of the Lord, then that promise is null and void! And furthermore, whatever righteousness we might have, doesn’t come from our own efforts, but from the Lord God Jehovah, our Creator and Provider. And having straightened that out, (smile) let’s look at some scriptures that fortify that, no, those awesome promises, because we’re promised physical, vocal and spiritual protection with righteousness.
 
Wow! And people still refuse to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! How unwise and foolish!
 
Isaiah himself tells us, re Ariel (Jerusalem; lit- lion of God) and her enemies, that though the Lord distresses Jerusalem, yet in the end:  ‘And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel (Jerusalem), even all that fight against her and her munition (fortress), and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
 
It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite (still craves): so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.’ (Is.29:7-8)
 
And just before our Bit, Isaiah trills thus to God’s everlasting LOVE for the children of Israel, and those who follow His commandments.  ‘And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
 
Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument (weapon) for his work; and I have created the waster (destroyer) to destroy.’ (Is.54:13 -16)
 
So my people, there’s nothing to fear if we are walking obedient to God’s will, for as we’ve seen, He has promised on several occasions to protect us from our enemies when we so do. But unfortunately in these evil, turbulent and dangerous times, we have forsaken our God, have not even taught our children His Word. So what else can we expect but disaster, calamity and misery eh?
 
I don’t know if there’s ever been a time in man’s history, even during the two great wars, where mankind has been engaged in warfare on so many fronts at the same time. The scale of fighting might not be as large as in the two world wars, but we have many more nations inflamed in both external and internal strife. It’s possibly easier to pick out the few nations that are not involved in some kind of deadly strife.
 
Oh Friends, when are we ever going to learn eh? The Most High God created us, and though He’s given us freedom of choice, He still retains overall control. And He has continually warned us to keep His commandments, to serve and worship Him in sincerity and truth, while also providing glaring examples of the disastrous happenings disobedience can bring.
 
So it’s up to us now Friends to rally round the cross of Christ and try to drum some sense into the hard, stubborn minds of our fellowman. That is if we want our children and future generations to live in a somewhat peaceful world. 
 
And in closing, I know that some people try to knock the Old Testament, saying it’s out of date and of no use now. But my brethren, that’s a fallacy, pure foolishness, because the Old Testament is the setting, the foreshadowing, for fulfillment by the New Testament. And throughout the New Testament you’ll find Jesus and all the disciples and apostles quoting important scripture from the Old Testament.
 
So please don’t listen to anyone who tells you that nonsense! You can’t properly understand the New until you understand the Old, just like you cannot tell where you’re going, until you know where you’ve come from. Much LOVE!
 
…our earthly pilgrimage may be rough and rocky…but if we concentrate on walking with God…then though we occasionally stumble…we’ll never fall…that’s the Lord’s faithful promise…