Marvelous, wonderful, infinite God
Author of all that is good
Faithful Provider and Giver of life
Source of all power and love

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise
Refuge of strength to the end
Righteous Redeemer and mighty to save
He’s the Anchor of Hope for the souls of men

Gracious, compassionate, merciful God
Radiant, holy delight
Beautiful Father, Victorious Son
Source of unchangeable Light

You are Light in the dark
You are healing for the broken heart
You are Hope
You are Lord
You are Life
You are Love that endures

Powerful, constant, unwavering God
Shepherd who comes for the lost
Rock of salvation, remarkable Love
Savior who died on the Cross

Ellie Holcomb
written along with Brown Bannister

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This…all of this!…is our reason for Hope!  Biblically, hope is an assurance, something we depend on and count on happening. To the world, hope is ‘a wing and a prayer.’

HOPE – verb

1. To entertain or indulge hope; to cherish a desire of good, or of something welcome, with expectation of obtaining it or belief that it is obtainable; to expect; – usually followed by for.  “But I will hope continually.” – Psalm 71:14
2. To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; – usually followed by in. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God.” – Psalm 42:11
3. To desire with expectation, or with belief in the possibility, or prospect of obtaining; to look forward to as a thing that is desirable, with the expectation of obtaining it; to cherish the hopes of.  [Charity] hopeth all things. – 1 Corinthians 13:7

(quoted from Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary)

I would like to encourage you, friends, to grasp this Hope as the Truth!  We are often so good at encouraging others…reminding our brothers and sisters of the Hope they have…speaking to the unsaved and telling them of the Hope they can have.  But speak this Truth to yourself.  Hold to it.  Depend on it.

Your Lord IS your Hope!  He is…

• the Light in the dark
• Refuge of strength to the end
• Healer of your broken heart
• Rock of salvation
• Savior Who died on the Cross
• Anchor of Hope

In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise
the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,
so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie,
we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement
to take hold of the hope set before us.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,
where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us,
having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 6:17-20

At the foundation of it all: ‘this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast…’.   A hope that we have had no part in securing, no part in determining, no part in bringing to pass.  But we do have a part—we simply must hold onto this hope—an Anchor of Hope in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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I pray this blessing from 2 Thessalonians 2:16 and 17 for each of you.

“…our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who loved us and gave us everlasting consolation and encouragement and well-founded hope through [His] grace, <would> comfort and encourage your hearts and strengthen them [make them steadfast and keep them unswerving] in every good work and word” in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.