How can Hope Abound in a Heart?...Advent 2015 #3

Our God is a God of hope - 

I mull this over in my mind...

why does the writer begin with this thought?

Our God is a God of hope - 

the source of hope is found in Him...

This verse shows there is a relationship to being filled with joy and peace and having hope...

that seems to be the opposite of what I try to do - I try to stir up hope,

hoping that joy and peace will follow...

but here, the Spirit is saying that God will fill us with joy and peace

~ as we believe ~

and THEN hope will abound...
because He is THE GOD OF HOPE...

All that is, all that exists,
reflects a facet of the nature and character of God...
God IS love.
God IS joy.
God IS peace.
He calls Himself "I AM....."
He IS whatever it is I want or need...

If I want more peace...
If I want more joy...
I need more God.

He will fill me with all joy and peace as He fills me with Himself...

God is the God of hope,
Hope is a person,
and hope has a name...
Christ Jesus our hope.
{1 Timothy 1:1}

And how does He fill me (and you)?
As we spend time with Him, He imparts Himself to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

When we compare the Spirit-filled life described in Ephesians 5:18-21 with the Word-filled life in Colossians 3:15-17 we find that both passages promise the same things:
a song in your heart,
a thankful attitude,
a pliable, yielding spirit...

A mind that is filled with and yielded to the Word of God has the same effect on our emotions as the mind filled with and yielded to the Holy Spirit.

The Lord imparts Himself through the Holy Spirit as we spend time with Him
in the Word and in prayer.

The definition of hope is this: (1680) elpís (from elpō, "to anticipate, welcome") – properly, 

expectation of what is sure (certain); hope.

Joy and peace are as certain as His Presence
I am praying that He is
filling you with joy and peace 

so that His hope can abound all the more in you and through you - 

- ask Him to impart His revelation concerning this to you!