Above Only Devotional Monday 10th February 2020 *Holding on to the Hope of the Gospel*

Above Only Devotional
Monday 10th February 2020

*Holding on to the Hope of the Gospel*

Colossians 1:25-27 (NLT) God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people…

God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

2 Thessalonians 2:14 (GNB) God called you this through the Goodness we preached to you; he called you to possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You and I are privileged to be partakers of the power and blessings of the gospel of Christ. By receiving and believing this gospel of Christ, there is a hope that has been delivered to us. The Bible calls it the hope of glory. Christ in us is the hope of glory. The hope of the gospel is the absolute confidence in Christ and His promise to manifest the fullness of His glory in our lives. We are so privileged to be God’s children and we have a sure hope of experiencing the glory of Christ, both in this life and also in Heaven.

The hope of the gospel produces a victorious lifestyle in us. Our faith is actually a product of this hope, Heb. 10:37-39 and Heb. 11:1. In Colossians 1:4-5, Apostle Paul said the love and faith of the Colossae believers was produced by the hope of the gospel they received. In 1 John 3:1-3, John tells us that we are so loved and privileged to be sons of God right now though the world does not know this. He adds that we shall be like Christ when He returns and this hope makes us purify ourselves. Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, Heb. 12:2. He will complete the good work He has started in you the day He returns, Phil. 1:6. Jude 1:24 says God “… is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy”. As long as our faith is in Christ, our place in eternity is sure. Christ has reconciled us to Himself by His death and if we continue in the faith and are grounded and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, Christ will present us holy, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight, Col. 1:22-23. This is why we must keep hearing the gospel of Christ and keep getting deeper in it.

Prayer Focus:

Thank God for the grace to be His child and for the hope of the glory of Christ you have received. Tell God that your faith is absolutely in Christ.

Bible in one year reading plan: Leviticus 8-10, Matthew 25:31-46.