because you trust in Him

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.  Romans 15:13 (New Living Translation)

The Apostle Paul prayed this prayer for the Christians in Rome, and I pray it often for myself and for others.  Today, I prayed it with open hands and a submissive spirit.  Trusting God and willing to receive from Him.  There is so much good truth in this one verse.

God is THE source of hope.  Hope is found in no one and nothing else.  We must have His hope or we will not survive in this dark world.  Do not be afraid to hope!  Hope is a gift of God and His hope will not lead to disappointment!  (Romans 5:5)  We who have this hope of God MUST share it with those who do not.  We have hope that is beyond our circumstances and beyond human understanding.  We have hope in the eternal God, who was, and is, and is to come!  He is all powerful and all knowing!  Hoping in Him will never lead to disappointment!  We can have overflowing, confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us!

Not only is God the only source of hope, but He can fill us completely with joy and peace.  Again I say, there is nothing and no one who can fill us completely but God.  Let your mind and your heart dwell on that for a minute...completely...nothing lacking, no emptiness, full to the top and overflowing with joy and peace and confident hope!  Selah!

All of this can be ours because we trust in Him.  It sounds simple, and it is simple, but we make it so hard.  We forget that God is in control.  Nothing catches him by surprise.  We fall for the lie that we created the problems and now we must fix them and we cling tightly to what we know.  We allow our brains mull over our problems, looking for solutions and answers that will never be there.  We MUST trust in God wholeheartedly, nothing held back.  He has answers and solutions that our human minds cannot even comprehend. 

Because you trust in Him.  Open hands, open heart.  Confident with hope.  Convinced that God is trustworthy and He will not disappoint us.  Ready to receive from Him.