“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 do not know when and where He will work next, except that it will be where the Word of God is rightly used and where Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are administered 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.]
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Romans 8:19-21
All of God’s creation was placed under a curse when mankind fell into sin, and it awaits the day when those who have faith in Christ are raised up and glorified, for then it too will be set free from the curse of sin and partake of the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Keep us in the true faith, O God, that we may be raised up unto life eternal in the new heavens and earth which You will create, where there will be no more sin and no more death. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
