TRANSLATING OF JOY, PEACE AND HOPE

 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, for your trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

We live in a culture immersed in activities and offer more options than we have time to embrace. Sometimes our feeling tends more toward emptiness than toward overflowing. However, Paul's prayer for the Christians in Rome was so that their souls would be so filled with joy, peace and confidence that they would overflow with hope. This should happen not only by their own efforts or willpower, but "by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Would you like to overflow with hope? Would you like to be someone whose joy seems to illuminate every room, whose peace can be felt even in the most tense situations? Then, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, praise God! It is not by accident that Paul quotes in this passage excerpts from the Old Testament about praising God, singing hymns to his name and rejoicing! This is how we find hope in God: through praise and worship. When we communicate with God and honor His presence in our lives, when we praise Him for His character and the evidence of His works in us, we have so much of Him within us that it overflows. The gifts of God in us infect those around us. It is then that we overflow with joy, peace and hope that can only come from God.

Prayer Dear God, help me resist things that deplete my soul or downplay my strength. Fill me with the peace, the hope and the joy that come from you, so that they overflow from me to others. I praise you for who you are and thank you because as I do this, your Holy Spirit sheds new life on me. Fill me again with Your Spirit today and take from me every lack of hope.

Daily Readings with Stormie Omartian