The Source of Hope

Hi everybody. It’s Pastor Dave with another Daily Journal for your Alone With God journal. If you don’t have an Alone With God journal, you can get one at wordbymail.com. They are very cool and very powerful in your relationship with God. So, if you don’t have an Alone With God journal, it’s alright. You can use any blank journal you have. So, first, pause this recording if you need to, and go grab your Bible and open it to Romans 15, verse 13, and let’s walk through the steps of the Alone With God journal together.

Guys, the goal of the Alone With God journal is to help you spend personally meaningful time with God where you hear from God through his Word and by his Spirit, and you respond to him as he speaks to you. And so, to do this takes some time and some effort, more than most other journals or devotions that you’ll use. But guys, the rewards are immeasurably higher than the amount of commitment it requires. So, I pray that you jump in and do it with everything you’ve got with us.

Romans 15:13 (NLT)
13 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.

This is an incredible verse. The Apostle Paul prays that God, who is the very source of hope, will fill you completely with joy because you trust in him. And then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, the first step in the journal is for you to meditate on this verse, which just means to slow down. Slow down and read carefully. Read the words carefully, ponder them, and think deeply about them. So, in the MEDITATE section of your journal, the directions say, “What is God’s Word saying? What are the spiritual principles here?” And that’s exactly what you want to write in this section. This first section is not for you to write what this verse means to you. You’re not explaining the verse. You’re genuinely listening to what God is saying to you. Hear what he’s saying to you personally. And so, you take a minute, meditate on this verse slowly, and then just write simply what is God’s Word saying in this verse.

For example, this verse says God is a source of our hope. Our hope begins with God, is created by God, and it comes from God as our source. And next, the verse says we can be filled completely with joy and peace by trusting completely in God, who is the source of our hope. And then, the verse says, we will overflow with comfort and hope. And notice that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we will overflow with confident hope. So, pause this recording. Meditate on these truths. Write down in your MEDITATE section, and then come on back.

Now, under the APPLY section of the journal, it says, “How does this apply to my life today, personally and specifically?” Guys, we have to apply the truth of God’s Word to our life personally. And so, the question here is, where in your life do you need to apply this verse today? Where do you need to start walking in this truth today? It’s important to know that the joy and the peace that God offers us throughout the Bible is not circumstance based. The joy that God gives us comes from the inside, not from any circumstance from the outside. And the supernatural peace that God gives us, he can pour out on us in any circumstance.

And so, again, the question is, how does this apply? Where do you need this to apply in your life today? In what area can you take hold of this truth in your life today? And what area do you need to move towards living out this truth of overflowing with a confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit? So, you stop the recording, pause it, and write in your APPLY section about what area of your life these truths need to apply to today. Go ahead, and then come on back.

And now, we move to the response section in your journal under RESPOND. It says, “What action will I take today in response to this truth?” What response on your part is needed to allow God, who is the source of hope, to fill you completely with his supernatural joy and peace as you learn to trust in him more and more, regardless of your circumstances? What is your part to allow that to happen? Do you need to bring God right into the middle of a certain circumstance in your life? Do you need to fully surrender to God in a certain circumstance or situation in your life? Do you just need to believe God more – believe God’s Word more? Do you need to make a commitment to walk in this faith and trust that God is your source of hope and that he will fill you with joy and peace as you trust more and more in him?

What can you do? How can you respond so that you can grow more in your trust and faith in God? So that you can begin to move towards this promise in your life, knowing that God promises that you will overflow with the confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit? So, stop the recording again, and write in your RESPOND section, and then come on back one more time.

Now, finally, the last step in the devotion today is for you to write out a PRAYER to God. This is where you can cry out to God. Now, this is where you choose to believe. This is where you determine to put your faith in God, to trust him completely, and ask him to fill you with his joy, and his peace, and his confident hope, all through the power of the Holy Spirit. So, let’s end this devotion time with you writing your prayer to God. And then, maybe praying through your own prayer, or praying through the verse, or praying through what you’ve written. Take some time to interact with God on this verse. Ask him to fill you with this promise by his Holy Spirit, and commit to a response that will enable God to do this in your life.

So, I’m going to sign off but don’t stop your devotion time. Don’t stop until you’ve really interacted with God and written out your prayer and really met God in this verse. So now, enjoy your time alone with God, and I’ll see you soon. Bye-bye.