“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 wait for it.” Romans 8:24-25
Hope, as it is used in the Bible, is based on the promises of God’s Word. Though we cannot yet see their fulfillment with our eyes, we believe the promises of God are true — that we have God’s pardon and forgiveness through faith in the shed blood of Christ Jesus and that He will raise us up on the Last Day and grant unto us and all believers in Christ the everlasting joys of heaven, where we will be without sin and its curse and serve God in true righteousness and holiness. Our hope rests in God and His Word, and we await the fulfillment of all God has promised us.
O Christ, we thank You for winning for us forgiveness and life everlasting. Come soon and take us to dwell with You forever in Your holy and glorious kingdom. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8
The Spirit of God works through His Word to create and sustain faith in Jesus Christ. We often see the results of His work in people’s hearts, but we do not know when and where He will work next, except that it will be where the Word of God is rightly taught and where Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are used according to the teaching of God’s Word.
O Holy Spirit, grant that Your life-giving Word may take root in my life and my faith in Christ Jesus grows ever stronger. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:22-23
As all of creation suffers and groans under the curse of sin and looks forward to its deliverance on the Last Day, so we, who have been brought to faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit and have a new nature of God’s making, long for and await that day when our bodies are set free from the curse of sin and enjoy the perfect freedom to serve our God without sin forever.
Come, Lord Jesus, and set us free to serve You without sin forevermore. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.“ John 3:6-7
It is not enough to be born of the flesh — a birth resulting from the union of a man and woman. To be a part of God’s kingdom, one must be born again of God — of the gracious working of God’s Spirit through God’s saving Word and Baptism.
Thank You, O Holy Spirit, for raising me up from spiritual death to spiritual life through “the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:26). Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5
The Pharisees rejected God’s will when they rejected John the Baptist’s call to repent and be baptized in the name of the coming Messiah and Savior (cf. Luke 7:29-30). Jesus told Nicodemus, a Pharisee, that one cannot enter the kingdom of God if he is not born again of water and the gracious working of the Holy Spirit. The Bible calls Baptism a “washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit. 3:5). It is “the washing of water by the word” through which God brings us into the new covenant established through the shedding of Jesus’ holy and precious blood on the cross. When we trust in Christ and are baptized into His name, God cleanses us from our sins and makes us His own dear children and heirs of eternal life (Eph. 5:26; cf. Gal. 3:26ff.).
Grant, O Lord, that I not neglect Your Word but take comfort in the Gospel promises of forgiveness and life, pledged to me by the Spirit through Your Word and the waters of Baptism in Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
