A Prayer of Faith

This was written by Mary A. one of our guest writers.

Hope is something we all need and search for. Life can be overwhelming and it can be discouraging. Hope is often connected with faith and charity in the scriptures. We exercise our faith in God and in Jesus Christ and we show charity, or the pure love of Christ, toward others. But what about hope? Where do we find that?

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4).

There is one place where we can find hope—in the scriptures. How often do beautiful words inspire us to hope? And if our source of those beautiful words is the scriptures, how much more hope is inspired by the truth behind the words?

There is another place we can find hope—through the power of the Holy Ghost:

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost (Romans 15:13).

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith (Galatians 5:5).

Paul tells us the ultimate source of hope for us in the first verse of 1 Timothy:

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; (1 Timothy 1:1).

And in Hebrews, we read:

For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil (Hebrews 6:16-19).

I like that phrase “which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.” Doesn’t hope bring comfort, safety, and a starting point for venturing out upon life?

The Restoration has brought more reason for hope:

And again, the voice of God in the chamber of old Father Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, and at sundry times, and in divers places through all the travels and tribulations of this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! And the voice of Michael, the archangel; the voice of Gabriel, and of Raphael, and of divers angels, from Michael or Adam down to the present time, all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood; giving line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, and there a little; giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come, confirming our hope! (Doctrine & Covenants 128:21).

There are many scriptures that speak of hope. I’ve picked some that aren’t as frequently quoted. There are also scriptures that bring feelings of hope, even though the word “hope” isn’t mentioned. They tell the stories of the gospel and the teachings of Jesus Christ and stir hope within us.

Faith brings hope, but hope gives us reason to continue in faith. Hope encourages charity for others. We see the big picture and recognize others as sons and daughters of God, just as we are, and so we see reason to help them on their journey, as others help us. You might call it hope in companionship—that encouragement that we get from one another.

And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise (Moroni 7:41).

The Atonement brings us the hope for forgiveness of sin and for eternal life. We hope for salvation and we hope for salvation for those we love, that we might spend eternity with them. Best of all, we have hope of returning to the presence of our Heavenly Father and spending eternity with Him.

Hope is found through scripture, prayer, church meetings, the temple, and anywhere we might speak of Christ. There are many things that give us the hope we need to endure to the end, that help us to continue when we are discouraged or afraid. And if we can share that hope with others, then we have helped them even as we strengthen ourselves.

Mary A. was born in Oklahoma and has lived there all of her life, except for the six months that she lived in Snowflake, Arizona, where she learned about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and joined it. Mary is a commercial lines insurance underwriter and has a B.A. in English. Her ward callings are ward website administrator and visiting teacher. She loves to write and to study many different subjects.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 at 1:44 am and is filed under Every Word. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.