A Message of Hope

[WartHog]

ST. PAUL PUT HIS PEN TO PARCHMENT AND WROTE WORDS THAT EVERY PERSON ON PLANET EARTH NEEDS TO HEAR AT TIMES LIKE THESE.

"MAY THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE AS YOU TRUST IN HIM, SO THAT YOU MAY OVERFLOW WITH HOPE BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT."

READ THAT VERSE AGAIN, SLOWLY, UNTIL ITS MESSAGE PENETRATES YOUR SOUL. TAKE AWAY HOPE, AND LIFE, WITH ALL ITS FASCINATING VARIETY OF OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPERIENCES IS REDUCED TO A MERE EXISTENCE...UNINTERESTING, BLEAK, And DRAB, A BURDEN AND A PAIN.

THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST WAS THE BIRTH OF HOPE ITSELF! HOPE THAT A WORLD FILLED WITH ROMAN HATRED COULD KNOW THE UNSPEAKABLE JOY OF THE LOVE OF GOD.

THAT HOPE DID NOT INVADE THE WORLD IN THE FORM OF A SUPREME SULTAN RIDING DOWN MAIN STREET JERUSALEM ON A WHITE STALLION DEMANDING THAT MEN BOW TO HIM AS A REIGNING MONARCH.

HE CAME IN THE FORM OF A BABY WRAPPED IN SWADDLING CLOTHES LYING IN A DESOLATE MANGER SURROUNDED BY SHEPHERDS, SHEEP, OXEN, DONKEYS AND JOSEPH WHO WAS STRUGGLING TO UNDERSTAND THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THIS MOMENT.

THE HOPE THAT CHRIST BRINGS TO OUR LIVES GENERATES PEACE THAT SURPASSES UNDERSTANDING, JOY THAT IS UNSPEAKABLE, ENERGY THAT HAS NO LIMIT AND EXCITEMENT THAT NEVER ENDS!

TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS THE MOST JOYOUS FAITH ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. IT BEGAN WITH ANGELS SINGING OVER BETHLEHEM'S MANGER AND ENDS WITH THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT SINGING BEFORE THE LORD IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

I PRAY THAT FOR TODAY, TOMORROW AND EVERY DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE YOU EMBRACE OUR BLESSED HOPE THAT IS STEADFAST AND SURE. THAT BLESSED HOPE WILL MAKE EVERYDAY, IN SPITE OF ITS TRIAL AND TURMOIL, A BLESSED DAY!

FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOUR HOUSE, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Wrtten by John Hagee, Pastor, Cornerstone Church, San Antonio, TX

[derrinx]

cool