Crestwood Church Blog

We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone’ Psalm 33:21-23

This year the church of the UK celebrate a year entitled Hope, a year where churches join to tell the communities about the love of God.

Crestwood has a big vision for its community and the Lakeside community and we will be sharing the message of hope to its streets in the near future. But what is hope. Many of us hope to go on holiday, others hope to have a rise in salary, others hope that the sun will shine this summer, is this what is meant by hope.

Hope is a awesome word, it takes us out of the difficult world we live in and transports us forward into a better life. Hope is not a longing for better, it is based on facts and understanding in that which we are putting our hope in.

There is little today that we can put our hope in, there is no guarantees, in this life. House prices could go anywhere over the next few years and political change is almost certain but in what direction.

God asks us to look upon him as the one who we should depend and trust. One in whom we trust. Hope in God is not empty or blind or on a whim, it is based on his character and his promises.

The word hope in its original sense was not about could be’s and might happens, it was a firm, sure, God powered fact.

The bible says,

they that hope in the Lord SHALL renew their strength,

So why is it we are not so good at trusting God, and having hope in him? Sometimes it can be out of ignorance, many believers around the world have no access to a bible or any form of it, in some ways they have a great excuse.

In this verse alone God inspires us to have hope in him, why because of who he is. I may agree to make a cake for the nurture group, but there are no guarantees that I will remember to make it. If after several weeks of remembering and bringing one, the groups hope of a cake is greatly increased. With God we start far beyond this point right from the beginning, he is faithful, we can trust in him, he is full of unfailing love, his name is holy (perfect and true).

As we learn to know God for ourselves and as a church our hope in him becomes stronger and absolute, because we become accustomed to the fact that he does not and will not fail us, the birds look to him, the cosmos looks to him, the whole universe, has hope in him do you?

Andy Hodson

posted by Andy Hodson - Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 16:49
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