13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Abounding hope” comes from the power of the Holy Spirit. Joy and peace are supernatural exhibitions from the Holy Spirit. Abounding in hope does not come by hyper-enthusiasm but from the Holy Spirit. It does not come by stimulus from the self or by human resources, but from the Comforter.
PRINCIPLE:
Hope is fundamental to the Christian life.
APPLICATION:
We need the power of the Holy Spirit to function as Christians. Left to ourselves we possess nothing in self to live the Christian life. There are dimensions of the Christian life that we cannot do alone. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to enter into those elements.
Jn 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
No enlightenment will satisfy a person who is implacable and unbelieving. He prefers to remain in his doubt. However, a Christian who believes God’s promises has a completely different starting point for his confidence. He has a supernatural perception of truth. He is not credulous because he believes God’s Word. He has joy and peace in believing, for God initiates his faith.
Becoming a Christian involves a transformed life. It means leaving a whole way of life and starting a new one by faith. This transformation does not come from human capacity but from the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
