With the recent mass-shootings in Orlando, Florida and on the grounds of Fort Hood Army Base in Texas not to mention the barrage of bad economy news, unemployment numbers on the rise, etc…it becomes increasingly difficult for one to be hopeful. But to the believer, hope is birthed in times of pain because true hope is rooted in God, not in the circumstances at hand.

You can’t hope for what you already have:
Romans 8:24 (NIV)
24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?

God has a plan for you:
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
11 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.

Even when the world seems to be crumbling down around you, you mustn’t worry – trust God:
Psalm 46:2-3 (NIV)
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

The believer’s hope is a living hope:
1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)
Praise to God for a Living Hope
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

The believer’s hope is in God:

1 Timothy 4:10 (NIV)
10(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

Difference between Faith and Hope:
There is an old saying:
Faith: always in the present, accepting. Hope: always in the future, expecting.

John Bunyan (author of the Pilgrim’s Progress) wrote:
“Hope has a thick skin, that will endure many a blow; it will put on patience as a vestment, it will wade through a sea of blood, it will endure all things, if it be of the right kind, for the joy that is set before it.”