I love this prayer prayed by the apostle Paul on our behalf found in Romans 15:13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] so that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit." It's uplifting to know that our Lord Jesus is the God of hope. Hope is the precursor to faith, and we can't have faith unless we first have hope, and we certainly can't have real hope without God. And our God of hope fills us with all joy and peace.

Again, my heart takes flight as I take the time to meditate upon this thought that He fills us with all joy, in other words He fills us with His supernatural strength. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us not to grieve, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Joy and strength go hand-in-hand, you can't have one without the other. And He doesn't want to give us a little bit of joy, but all joy. He wills that we are happy and strong in Him. Now this doesn't necessarily mean we are laughing all the time, but isn't it amazing how revitalized we are after a hearty laugh? I deal with the real hurts of people every day of my life, and I love how the Lord makes me laugh. He knows that I have to have a dose of His medicine—laughter—every day of my life. See Proverbs 17:22.

I guess this joy comes from knowing that whatever difficulties I experience, I have the peace of God that truly surpasses all human understanding and human intellect. This peace isn't based upon feelings, and it's not an emotion but an intimate place in our relationship with God. The closer you are to Jesus, the stronger this peace is.

This joy and peace are spiritual benefits from believing in the Holy Spirit's power. For me, it is reassuring that God doesn't expect us to do His work in our own strength, but in His. Zechariah 4:6 reassures us that it is not by our might, nor by our power, but by His Spirit. The power of His Spirit empowers us daily, if we accept His might.

And it is by the power of His Spirit that we will abound in hope. Other ways to say "abound with hope" would be to be "full of hope," "overflow with hope," "teem with hope" or be "or be packed with hope" When I allow myself the time to ponder the message of the Word, my spiritual understanding deepens. I like the visual of my spirit being teemed with His hope by the power of Holy Spirit.

I can overflow with confidence in His promises to me. This is not about being confident in myself, but being totally confident in Him, and in His faithfulness to keep His promises to me. Therefore, I can do as Hebrews 4:16 encourages to do, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Becky Dvorak is a prophetic healing evangelist and the author of DARE to Believe, Greater Than Magic, The Healing Creed and her new book, The Prophetic and Healing Power of Your Words. Visit her at authorbeckydvorak.com. You are welcome to click and have a free preview of Chapter 1, or you can click to purchase your copy now.

This article originally appeared at authorbeckydvorak.com.

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