Through The Bible in a Year - September 7, 2026
“Remembering you in my prayers… that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you…” - Ephesians 1:18
Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. It’s not baseless optimism. It’s not a courteous, “I hope things turn out okay.”
Biblical hope is faith in the future tense. Trust is faith in the present tense. Present faith says, “I trust that God is at work right now.” Hope is faith in the future tense. Biblical hope says, “I am confident that God will do as he has promised and what God is doing will reach a good end.” Hope is expressed with the assurance that the God who has been faithful in the past and is active in the present will complete His purposes in the future.
This kind of hope doesn’t depend on circumstances cooperating with our immediate desires or expectations. It doesn’t require the news to be good or the situation to be improving. It rests on the character and the power of the God who does not lie and cannot fail.
Paul prays that the Ephesians’ heart-eyes would be opened to see this hope—the hope to which God has called them. Not a hope they manufactured, but a hope into which they were called.
A nurse working in a respiratory unit during a health crisis was asked why she would put herself at risk. Her answer: “I want to be there when patients wake up to give them hope.”
She understood what Paul was praying for. Hope is power. It’s life-giving. When people wake up in the middle of crisis—frightened, disoriented, sick—and someone is there who can look them in the eye and say, “There is more than this. There is hope beyond this moment.” That truth changes everything.
Our hope is not in circumstances we can easily explain or in outcomes we can predict. Biblical hope is not in human health or seasonal comfort or earthly reward. Biblical hope is in the God who sent His Son, raised Him from the dead, and seated Him above every name so that God’s eternal purposes would be fulfilled and would bless us beyond our plans, predictions, or understanding.
Respond: Where has your hope been anchored? Is it in your health, your finances, your relationships, your ability to control your situation? What happens to your peace when those things shake?
Biblical hope is anchored outside of circumstances—in the character of God and the finished work of Jesus that secures our eternity. Nothing that shakes your circumstances can shake the resurrection. Nothing surprises God, undoes his plans for you, or threatens your eternal security.
Today, name dimensions of your hope out loud. Affirm for your own heart your future faith, saying, “My hope is not in earthly outcomes or temporary rewards. My hope is in the God who raised Jesus from the dead. Through Him I have confidence in God’s eternal provision and purposes that cannot be shaken.” Let hope become the foundation of your actions and attitudes regardless of your circumstances.
Prayer: Lord, I confess that my hope has been too often anchored in things that can be taken away. When they shake, I shake with them. Open the eyes of my heart to the hope to which You’ve called me—a hope that is anchored in who You are, what You’ve done, and what you promise. Help me not to put my hope in what I can see or control. Whatever is frightening me right now, remind me You are still on the throne. Jesus still wears the crown. The Spirit still empowers all you intend to accomplish for my eternal blessing. That is my hope. Open the eyes of my heart to see it today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.