Hope, Joy, Peace and Faith in Christ

Surely there is a future [and a reward], And your hope and expectation will not be cut off. (Proverbs 23:18)

For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in His promises. Personally I am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, amply filled with all [spiritual] knowledge, and competent to admonish and counsel and instruct one another. Still, on some points I have written to you very boldly and without reservation to remind you [about them] again, because of the grace that was given to me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I minister as a priest the gospel of God, in order that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable [to Him], sanctified [made holy and set apart for His purpose] by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have found [legitimate] reason for boasting in things related [to my service] to God. For I will not [even] presume to speak of anything except what Christ has done through me [as an instrument in His hands], resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles [to the gospel], by word and deed, with the power of signs and wonders, [and all of it] in the power of the Spirit. So [starting] from Jerusalem and as far away as Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel [faithfully preaching the good news] of Christ [where it had not before been preached]. Accordingly I set a goal to preach the gospel, not where Christ’s name was already known, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; but [instead I would act on this goal] as it is written [in Scripture],

“THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE,

AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD [of Him] SHALL UNDERSTAND." (Romans 15:13-21) For He was foreordained (foreknown) before the foundation of the world, but has appeared [publicly] in these last times for your sake and through Him you believe [confidently] in God [the heavenly Father], who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are [centered and rest] in God. (1 Peter 1:20-21)