The God of hope gives hope to our prayers.
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· 1 viewThis message is an encouragement to pray, as we remember that our God is a God of hope and gives us joy and peace through the Holy Spirit.
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In June of 2013 news broadcasts across the country featured a little boy named Grayson Clamp doing something he had never done before. The three-year-old was born without the auditory nerves that carry sound to the brain.
Attempts to restore his hearing with a cochlear implant were unsuccessful, so doctors at the University of North Carolina tried an experimental procedure to implant an auditory nerve directly into Grayson’s brain. This procedure proved successful, and millions of people enjoyed seeing the look of wonder and joy on the little boy’s face when he heard his father’s voice for the first time.
Today with the technology available communication is instant—but even then it is a delight to hear from a friend or family member who is far away. Just as we respond to those familiar voices with pleasure, God delights in hearing from His children.
Why do we pray? Certainly it is not to inform God of what we need. He already knows everything about our situation, and, far better than we could devise, He knows the answer that will be best for us.
Prayer is meant in part to remind us of how dependent on God we truly are. But prayer is not just for our benefit. God enjoys hearing us pray! When we come to Him in faith and make our petitions before His throne of grace, His heart rejoices. He likes hearing our voices. Let us never go long without going to Him in prayer.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
This verse has much to say about prayer. It is the selected theme verse for the 2025 National Day of Prayer. In it, Paul refers to God as “the God of hope.”
For Paul, the hope of the Christian faith is found in God who is able to bring together both Jew and Gentile, atone for their sins in the sacrifice of Christ, so that people from all over the world can be a part of one family.
Toward this, Paul encourages the church in Rome to Romans 14:1
1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
And that the body of Christ is for edification of one another and glory given to God. Romans 15:1-2
1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
Paul was writing in a time when it was unpopular to be a Christian. He likely penned this letter from Corinth, where he had been kicked out of the synagogue, Paul had plans to travel westward, in hopes to bring the gospel to Spain. Along the way, he had ambitions to visit the Christians in Rome.
Some scholars believe that the earliest date for Paul’s letter to the Romans, was 54 A.D., some five years after the emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from that city in 49 A.D. .
The Christian faith had been well established in the empire’s capital city. Each house church was diverse- made up of both Jews and Gentiles. Therefore, it makes sense that Paul was addressing this situation of weaker versus stronger brother. He is writing so as to help the believers there to be ministers to those who were at a different place in their faith.
Ultimately, though, the God we serve is a god of hope because of the good news of Jesus Christ, that good news that Paul was not ashamed to proclaim in Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
As one commentator notes:
“Romans is Paul’s fullest, grandest, most comprehensive statement of the gospel. Its compressed declarations of vast truths are like coiled springs- once loosed, they leap through mind and heart to fill one’s horizon and shape one’s life.” (New Geneva Study Bible, 1764).
John Chrysostom, the fifth century’s greatest preacher, had the book of Romans read to him in its entirety once per week. It is because there is hope in it.
So what of this verse that contains just a few words? What does it say to us tonight, as we pray for our country?
First, we serve a god of hope. the Greek term
ἐλπίς denotes expectation.
Here, this God of hope fills us with joy and peace, in believing. Here, joy and peace are coupled to give the understanding of complete happiness and the absence of stress or worry. “Freedom from anxiety and inner turmoil.”
So our joy and peace are gifts, given by a God known for hope. It is a reminder that we serve a gracious God and that He is bigger than any problem we might face. Remember what the angel Gabriel said to Mary in Luke 1:37
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
He is also able to sustain us although we live in a difficult world that is often hostile to our faith. The fact that this was written in the first century, when followers of Jesus were the marginalized of that society, should give us tremendous hope as we live in settings that are becoming more secular as time goes on.
So we pray with a sense of expectation. That God is willing and able to answer our requests and petitions as we bring them before Him.
And that the Holy Spirit has a strategic role in our prayers. Remember earlier in Romans 8, we are reminded that we do not have to worry about saying the right words as if praying were a spell. But we are speaking to the very personal Triune God of the universe who assists us in prayer.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
And so we are invited this evening to pour out our hearts to God and expect Him to answer our prayers. Psalm 62:8
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Tonight we are praying for seven areas that are critical to the spiritual health of our country.
Let us begin by singing a hymn of great encouragement, Sweet Hour of Prayer, number 433. Please take note of the third verse provided in your bulletin.
