Celebrating the Light of ChristmasSample

Hope Expects Children know a thing or two about hope—especially at Christmas! For them, it’s a time filled with wonder and hope for the wonderful things the season brings. Time with family, special treats baking in the oven, and of course, presents under the Christmas tree! That spirit of expectancy is what fuels their faith in what is to come. It is a hope that is a far cry from a wish or what one would consider a long shot. Maybe you’re facing something this Christmas. You think you have hope for your situation—but ask yourself this: is it natural hope or Bible hope? Real Bible hope involves supernatural expectancy. The kind of hope the Word of God talks about is much stronger than natural hope because it’s not based on wishing or wanting. It is based on your covenant with God and the anointing God has provided to carry out that covenant in your life. Just knowing God’s promises, however, isn’t enough. Hope comes when you begin to see yourself with what God has promised you, instead of seeing yourself without it. Real hope stands firm. It doesn’t move, and it isn’t distracted by natural circumstances. It is an expectancy that keeps your faith alive until those things you are believing for are pulled from the spiritual realm into the natural. This Christmas—whatever you’re believing for—turn it into a hope that expects to see a manifestation. Before Jesus was born, so many people were hoping to see the Messiah come into the earth. Those who were expecting were those who were the first to see Him.