“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first Fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not not yet have we wait patiently.” (Rom. 8: 22-26) New International Version, (NIV).
The birth of hope is not the moment of discovery or the solution of a problem or the acquisition of a new car or house or even a relationship. Hope in the scriptures is the belief that something will change, that a new creation is coming, that a relationship can be transformed for the better. It is a process of pregnancy, of nine months of waiting, longing and recognizing in advance that a birth is coming and that life is changing, growing and developing. Hope is an embrace through faith that we will recover; that victory will be won; that today will be better than yesterday and that our future will rise out of the past to a greater day of resurrection in Jesus.
We pray for hope. We pray in hope. We pray with hope. We pray while we wait, while we dream and while we believe that God’s victory over sin and death in Christ will be born and He will come again. If we hope, no matter how it looks on the outside, in the culture, in the suffering, in the toil or in the world’s resistance to God’s glory; it is coming non-the-less. So if you are feeling low, or anxious, doubtful and fearful, come to hope. Draw close to Jesus and He will draw close to you. We stand, you and I, under the banner of hope that victory will come and that a new creation will be born in us.