The Pursuit And Power Of The Hope Of God's Calling
What is the Hope of God’s Calling
God’s calling in my life radically affects my every day. I pursue the hope of God’s calling through my decisions, actions, and prayers. I want my loved ones to also experience the effect of the hope of God’s calling in their life. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17-19 is my favorite prayer to pray for myself and those I love the most. I wrote about it in a past blog post, Ephesians 1:17-19 Is The Most Powerful Prayer You Will Ever Pray.
Right in the center of that passage is the heart of Paul’s desire for the Ephesian church. He prays for them to know the hope of God’s calling. (Ephesians 1:18)
Hope and God’s Calling
Ephesians 2 gives us clear details about our true spiritual calling that we received from our God and Creator.
We are His workmanship created for good works.
Ephesians 2:10
We were once separated from God and His promises.
We were without hope.
Ephesians 2:12
Ephesians 2:14-18 says that Jesus changed everything. He broke down all barriers and brought us into the commonwealth of Israel. He brought us into His family that we partake of the same covenants of promise. He gave us His Holy Spirit, and He gave us hope.
We spend so much time talking about our calling and pursuing our calling. However, Scripture speaks of more than our calling saying, “the hope of God’s calling.” To overlook the hope minimizes the pursuit and power of God’s calling. Therefore, I believe having a perspective of hope is as important as pursuing God’s calling for our lives.
Let’s talk hope in the biblical sense.
The meaning of hope in the Bible looks different from how we view hope in our day and time. We often think about hope more like wishing and wanting. Biblical Hope means confident expectation. Confident means self-assured. Expectation speaks of a strong belief that something will happen. If we put all that together, we can say that hope means being self-assured with a strong belief that something will happen.
Some of our greatest problems come when we overlook hope. No matter what area of life we look at, we need hope. Maybe that means we change what we are looking at or looking for. We need to look for hope and keep perspective of hope in everything we do.
Sometimes we find ourselves in need of hope.
When in need of hope, look to God’s word. The Bible is filled with hope. One of the quickest places to find hope is in the book of Psalms. Below is a hope reference list. I encourage you to write these verses down and keep them. Use them to meditate on day and night to help you pursue hope and develop a perspective of hope.
These passages speak of hope in the Lord: Psalm 25:5, 21; 33: 20, 22; 37:9, 34; 39:7; 42:5, 11; 43:5; 62:5; 65:5; 69:6; 71:5; 130:7; 131:3, 146:5; 146:5.
The Psalmist also wrote about putting his hope:
in God’s unfailing love – Psalm 33:18; 147:11
in God’s name – Psalm 52:9
in God’s Word – Psalm 119:43, 47, 74, 81, 114, 147
Now let’s talk about God’s calling.
The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament says that calling metaphorically means an invitation to the kingdom of God and its privileges. That is why I pursue the hope of God’s calling and pray for my family to know the hope of His calling as well. I want them to enter into the kingdom of God and experience its privileges.
What can we know about God’s calling?
· When God invites us in, we are always invited in. His calling stays the same. Once called, always called. It doesn’t change.
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Romans 11:29
Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.
1 Corinthians 7:20
· His calling is a high, holy, and heavenly calling. God’s calling is something bigger and better than this life. When God invites us into His kingdom and its privileges, He calls us to step up to life on another level.
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us
in Christ Jesus before time began.
2 Timothy 1:9
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
Hebrews 3:1
· Because of this high calling those who are invited in are also called to walk worthy of that calling.
Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you
to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
Ephesians 4:1,
Therefore, we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy
of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness
and the work of faith with power
2 Thessalonians 1:11
What is the hope of God’s calling?
It is first a perspective of hope. God’s calling isn’t always easy. If we ask Paul who wrote many of the bible verses we looked at today, “How easy is God’s calling?” I’m sure he would not classify it as easy, knowing all the tribulation and persecution that he faced. But it didn’t stop him. I believe that the hope of God’s calling was the power behind Paul’s unrelenting pursuit. Paul looked for hope.
Hope is our confident expectation. God’s calling is based on the fact that God uniquely gifted and specifically invited us to impact this world for His kingdom. Hope keeps us pursuing what is ours and believing that the fulfillment of the hope of our calling will happen and is currently happening.
Dear Sister, as you pursue the hope of your calling, I want to encourage you to always look for hope. Keep a perspective of hope as a necessary element of your pursuit of God’s calling.
