TODAY COULD BE THE DAY! (HOW HOPE IN GOD CAN CHANGE OUR DAYS)

     The title of my post is “Today Could Be The Day! (How Hope In God Can Change Our Days)”. You might ask—“Today could be the day—for what?” I’ll tell you my thoughts in this post.
     I’ve always had a little difficulty getting up in the mornings, even during the fifty or so years that I worked. I’ll let you know, however, that I was never late to work one day that I can remember. I retired a little over six years ago, and now I have nothing pulling me to get out of bed most mornings, so it seems my difficulty getting out of bed has increased. This has been bothering me for some time now, and I have been thinking about and praying for a way to solve this problem. I think the solution is simply—“hope”.
     Dictionary.com defines hope as the following:

“The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.”

     Ephesians 2:12 encourages us to think about a time when we were all ‘hopeless’. According to Paul, it’s when we were “without Christ” and “without God in the world.” And then to contrast it to now, with God, where we have hope.
     The Bible, over one hundred times, references having hope. I could likely fill 10-20 pages with hope-filled verses, ones that will almost knock your socks off with joy—but I’ll only quote a couple here, some that we’ve likely heard often, but perhaps don’t think too much about:

1. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
2. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13
3. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
4. "For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:24-25
5. “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

     I could go on, and on, and on with Bible verses that mention ‘hope’, but I think you get the message. Hope is a foundation of our faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ. What do we hope for then that will help us wake up each morning with anticipation for what lies ahead of us for that day, week, month, and year? Here’s a list that I came up with. Yours may, or may not, be different:

1. Hope that ‘today could be the day’ that God’s mighty Holy Spirit refreshes us anew.
2. Hope that ‘today could be the day’ that God, with His great wisdom and mystery, guides us on the path He has for us to share His wonderful love with others.
3. Hope that ‘today could be the day’ that God continues knocking on the doors of our loved ones to bring them to Himself.
4. Hope that ‘today could be the day’ that God starts a great revival where many people come to Him and don’t miss out on the wonderful joy of knowing Him.

     So, I’m praying that I keep in mind these things to help me get up every morning—and face each day with anticipation—and hope!