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I still remember sitting in the car...

On the way back down from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, where I experienced God's presence. Wow, I was humbled, and I knew I had experienced a new beginning in every way imaginable. I could feel the filament in my spirit glowing, just like a lightbulb would, flooding my life with light.

The Holy Spirit isn’t just a friend who hangs out inside of us—He is the Spirit of God, changing us from the inside out. Like a master gardener, He’s always working on us, planting, watering seeds of joy and peace—to grow an abundant garden of hope. Pruning, making things just right. This is how He matures and strengthens us.

In Ephesians 3 [16-17], Paul prayed that God would empower the people with inner strength through His Spirit so that Christ would make His home in their hearts and their roots would grow down deep into God’s love, keeping them strong. Wow, what a picture. What a life!

That is the power of the Holy Spirit. It develops hope in our hearts.

Romans 15:13 is a prayer with a promise:

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." [NLT]

What a passage! With God as our source of hope, we learn to expect God’s faithful care, and we begin to overflow with confident hope!

Do you feel like you’re overflowing with hope?

Life doesn’t always feel full of hope. Sometimes it feels like nothing but struggle.

And, we have to remind ourselves over and over again that when we're filled with the Holy Spirit, when we know Jesus, life becomes bigger than the things we struggle with.

No matter what happens in our lives, we have this spiritual deposit—this well of life dwelling within us. We can tether our hope to Jesus, not our circumstances, and know that He is the one person who will never let us down.

Hope doesn’t come from the difficult parts of life going away.

We can possess His hope even when we don’t “feel” it in our emotions.

The hope of God is what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Philippians when he says…

"...I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach, or empty—with plenty, or little. I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." [Philippians 4:11b-13, NLT]

God invites us to look beyond the “things” in our lives, and see Him—an ever-present and powerful God! When we focus more on Him than on our own struggles, our abilities, our lack, we activate the confident hope of the Holy Spirit. Let’s put our hope in Him!

Pray with me today…

Lord, we say today that our hope is not in the things of this world, but in You alone. You are faithful. Your love for us never changes. If there is anything in my life blocking my view of You, would You help me to see even that situation in the light of hope? Help me remember that Your goodness—Your faithfulness—outshine every circumstance.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.