HOPE -- A PARTNER TO FAITH !

HOPE -- A PARTNER TO FAITH ! "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1). The God kind of faith is the substance of things, but hope is a necessity. Sometimes people say, "You don't get anything by hoping." And that's true to a certain extent, for there is no substance to hope. But hope is a very important partner to faith. Hope is the goal-setter. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The substance of "things" --- what things ? The things you hope for. What do we hope for ? We hope for the things that God has given us or promised us. That's why the Bible says in (Hebrews 11:6), "But without faith it is impossible to please him. . . God is not pleased when we don't enter into the provisions that He made for us. Some things we will never enter into except through faith. God's willingness is multiplied to us through the knowledge of God and of Jesus. We must know what God has given, or we can't have faith in that promise. Jesus who is the Christ, is God's Grace and peace. "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain into life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue; By which are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises, that by the you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." The King James Bible. Notice in (V.4). "By which are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises, That By These You Might Be Partakers Of the Divine Nature," just because these things are in the Bible does not mean that because you are born again that these things automatically happen in your life. It says that by these you might ! Now, let's look at the same versus in the amplified Bible. "May Grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him who called us by and to His on glory and excellence virtue. By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and be come sharers (partakers of the divine nature." You and I must choose to do what the Bible says, to do about each situation !