–This Confident Hope post is an excerpt from my latest Bible Study Gracefully Truthful submission
Ephesians 1:18-20
We Are Sealed
When we accept Christ’s wonderful gift of salvation, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like earnest money. His indwelling in a believer is the proof of God’s guarantee that He will follow through with His promise and bring us home to dwell with Him forever in Heaven.
This is our confident hope!
One glorious day we will be fully alive and free from the temptation to sin as we live eternally in God’s physical presence. We have a guaranteed inheritance through Jesus. Paul wanted the Ephesian believers to know the great magnitude of this rich inheritance in God’s people.
We are HIS Inheritance
We usually think only of our inheritance as salvation, righteousness, or Heaven, but Paul wanted the Ephesians to understand they were so precious to God that He considered them His own inheritance. Knowing our spiritual poverty, we wonder how God can find anything of value in us, let alone His own inheritance.
His Investments in Us
Yet God creates unspeakable riches out of poor men and women because He invests Himself in them. He has invested riches of love, riches of wisdom, riches of suffering, riches of glory, and riches of holy transformation. These things accrue to a rich inheritance in the saints. (Enduring Word) He has invested Himself in us and His return on that investment will be magnificent!
“Because of His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3-9)
It’s a Glorious Hope!
What a glorious hope we have! I urge you to read the entire passage in 1 Peter! No matter what we face, hope in Jesus is certain and sure, never fading away. This confident hope comes from the sealing of the Holy Spirit. We know, that we know, that we know, that God holds our lives and our souls for eternity, sustaining us through His Word.
We can trust Him with eternity, with our next breath, our next celebration or tragedy; He will never change or abandon us. We can remind ourselves of His faithfulness by
1. reading accounts of His perfect timing in human history (see The Hall of Faith in Hebrews; look for “faithfulness” in the Psalms 66, 74, 80, 81, 89, 111, 114, 135, 136; read God With Us by Christoph Barth );
2. read about His faithfulness to the apostles (The Acts of the Apostles);
3. and encourage one another about His faithfulness for all believers (Hebrews 10:23-25), including you!
Hold Tightly to Your Confident Hope
Holding tightly to our assured hope is hard, but if we keep a written record of God’s specific blessings, we can remind ourselves of His faithfulness when our faith is weak. In my own life, there have been many trials, but my hope is found in knowing God is faithful and never fails.
my hope is found in knowing God is faithful and never fails. #confidentHope Share on XWrite Your Own Psalm
I like to use Psalm 136 as a template to write my own blessings from God; repeating after each blessing, “His faithful love endures forever.” I pray you have this confident hope in Christ! It is yours by giving your life completely to Him. Leave everything in His hands and you will find peace, hope, and security.
This is just an excerpt of the Bible Study I wrote for Gracefully Truthful. Follow this link to read more.
Learn More about Knowing God here.
Pastor’s Wife (retired) & Chronic Pain Warrior blogs about how to make it through anything by relating her own life experiences to her writing. She is passionate about her love for the Lord and desires to spread that passion to others. She has a great desire to encourage women who are following behind her.
Thank you for these words of encouragement. I was encouraged by my Pastor’s wife this weekend to remember all the blessings and benefits God provides for us! I hope you have a lovely day!
Thank you, Jolene, for coming by. I’m glad you received some encouragement from my writing. God bless.