The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

THE GIFTS OF CHRISTMAS: Unwrap Hope // Anticipation and Expectation of God's Promises

• Tosha Williams for FDM • Season 5 • Episode 15

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This Christmas, let's unwrap and examine some of the most profound gifts God has given us, starting with the gift of HOPE. In this podcast, I (Tosha Williams) share about the  surprising origins of hope in Genesis 1:9, which caught me off guard and has captivated my heart. Listen in to this episode, then seek the Lord in the following "Devotion Driven Discipleship" guide. Then be encouraged to begin a meaningful conversation about HOPE with someone God has entrusted to you!

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“The Lord is good to those whose HOPE is in him, to the one who seeks him” Lamentations 3:25 NIV

SEEK HIM: Devotion is Meeting with God in Our Own Lives! The Bible teaches us that God gives us a gift that He wants us to anticipate, look for and hold onto, not just at Christmastime, but throughout life. Let’s “Seek Him” in this conversation for what He wants to show us about His gift of HOPE! 

  • WHAT:  What is God saying through this Scripture? Just like we anticipate the fun of Christmas, God wants us to anticipate what He is going to do. This kind of watchful expectation is called HOPE! God promises goodness and blessing to people who hope in Him and seek Him, and this is something we can all do! ~ What are you looking forward to this Christmas? How hard is it to wait? What are you looking forward to God doing in your life? How are waiting and hoping similar?
  • WHY:  Why does this Scripture matter? Sometimes we may be disappointed by other hopes and expectations, but God promises:  “I am the Lord; those who HOPE in me will not be disappointed” (Isaiah 49:23b). When we anticipate how God is going to work in our lives, and when we wait expectantly for Him to fulfill His promises, we can know that He will always, always, always do what He has said He will do.” ~ How does this truth encourage you? What is a promise from God that gives you hope?
  • HOW: How does God want us to respond to this truth? Each of us can choose to watch, wait and hope in the Lord, saying:  “As for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me” (Micah 7:7). We “unwrap” God’s gift of hope as we experience His answers to our prayers, His help in hard times, and the fulfillment of His promises. ~ Do you really believe that God hears you? How does knowing God sees and hears you give you hope?

SPEAK HIM: Discipleship is Making God Known to Others! Scripture says, “In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the HOPE that you have…” (1 Peter 3:15). Thing is, as we unwrap hope, we shouldn’t just keep it to ourselves. We can share God’s hope with our families, and we can also be prepared to share God’s hope with others He places in our paths. Be encouraged to share the gift of God’s hope intentionally in Devotion Driven Discipleship with those He entrusts to you. 

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

Speaker 1:

Ask any kid what their favorite part of Christmas is, and to a child, I am certain they'll say presents. Indeed, one of the most fun things about Christmas is the presents. We enjoy buying them, wrapping them, displaying them, giving them, opening them and sharing them. There's nothing like a good present. Thing is, when we give our kids or loved ones a present, we don't want them to just glance at it and set it aside and move on. We want them to really look at what we've given them. We want them to hold the gift, to examine it, to really see it for what it is. We want our gifts to be meaningful and enjoyed. The same is true for the gifts that God gives us. Scripture tells us about so many of the gifts he's given us, gifts that are beyond numbering, gifts that are beyond measure. There's even gifts that eye has not seen nor ear has heard about, so much that God has given and still has in store for us. Thing is, the Bible says that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, down from the Father of the heavenly lights. We could talk for a year about all the different gifts that God has already given to his people. But this holiday season, let's talk about four specific gifts and let's not just talk about them and then set them aside. Let's unwrap them and examine them together together with the Lord as we seek him, and then together with our people as we speak him. The four specific gifts of Christmas we want to unwrap this month are God's gifts of hope, peace, love and joy. Let's pay attention to each of these this month. Let's examine them and just see what God has to say to us personally about these presents. Let's spend some time with him in our devotions about these four specific gifts.

Speaker 1:

With each of these, we'll start with a podcast introduction like this one. We'll tie in the story of Christmas and I'll add some additional thoughts for you to consider. I encourage you to listen along as you're driving to work or doing the dishes, maybe doing your workout or whatever time is convenient. The goal of this podcast is to encourage you with these scriptures, some extra thoughts and ideas that will then equip you to engage meaningful biblical conversations with those God has placed in your life. In this episode, let's unwrap our first gift, the gift of hope. My prayer is that you won't just listen to me, but you will listen to the Spirit of God speak into your life, then you'll turn around and intentionally share that with someone else. This is what we call devotion-driven discipleship. So let's spend a few moments right here, unwrapping this gift, the gift of hope, and see what God has in store for us with it. Gift of hope, and see what God has in store for us with it.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. If you have a real relationship with Jesus, then you're in the right place to be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you seek Him, speak Him. The mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry is to inspire devotion-driven discipleship, which is something we believe every Christ follower can do.

Speaker 1:

Discipleship starts with a conversation, so let's get going with that right now. Hope is one of those words that can be used oh so flippantly in our everyday speech, right, you know what I mean. We say things like I hope I make it there on time, or I hope I get through that light, or I hope I get such and such for Christmas. In this sense, the word hope is like a casual wish, right? However, through the ages, the truest use of the word hope has been the deep, deep desire for the most important things in life. And from the beginning of time, nothing has been more essential for humanity to hope for than God's salvation. Ever since the Garden of Eden, we've needed God to come help us fix our mess, heal our brokenness, mend our hearts, knit our families back together, restore our purpose and redeem our relationship with him. This is the hope we're referring to in this conversation and this hope in scripture. Well, it's not just a casual wish, it's not just a passive wait and see. Hope in Scripture is a confident, anticipating, expectant, waiting and watching and looking that's based on the covenant relationship of God with His people. The foundation of hope is God's promises, and God's people have stood on this ground for lifetimes and generations. You know, as I've been unwrapping hope and examining it for my own life and in preparation for this podcast episode, I saw something that I've never before seen in Scripture and something I've never even heard taught about from Scripture. And I have to tell you, this truth about hope has absolutely riveted me. I can't stop looking at this, I can't quit thinking about it and, what's more, I don't want to. I feel like this revolutionizes the way that I see and experience God's hope. You see, a moment ago, when I said that God's people have stood on this ground of hope for lifetimes and generations, I mean that quite literally. It just started with me saying God, show me something new about hope, and then diving into his word, unwrapping it deeper, doing more examination in scripture about hope, and this is what I found.

Speaker 1:

I am no expert in the Hebrew language, but as I studied the Old Testament and as I looked at the original words used for hope, I saw that the root word for hope actually first appears in Scripture, in Genesis, chapter 1. In verse 9, God gathered the waters apart from the land. Scripture reads and God said Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry land appear. And it was so and it was good. I've read that verse 50 million times. I never once realized that it had anything to do with hope. But here's the thing. The word there translated quote be gathered is the word for weight throughout the Bible.

Speaker 1:

So not only is the need for true hope inseparable from the core of our beings, it is inextricably woven into our planet, it is the very ground upon which we walk, it is the underpinnings of the ocean itself. It was in this hope that Jacob stood saying I wait for your salvation, o Lord. It was in this hope that David stood singing you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. It was on this hope that Isaiah prophesied that peoples would stand from around the world saying behold, this is our God. We've waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation. Yes, godly.

Speaker 1:

People throughout history have stood on the hope of God's promises, looking to the Lord for his divine intervention in this world, for heaven to quite literally meet earth. And then came the day when hope arrived. It didn't show up like anyone expected. The hope of all the world arrived in a barn. Now I have a barn at my house and it's a lovely place, but talk about the ground. Our barn is full of manure and dust and mice and dirt. And well, I can tell you I would not have wanted any of my grandbabies born there. But in a barn, in the dust and the dirt of the ground of the earth, the hope of all the world was born Messiah, that is Jesus. He was the fulfillment of not just the Jewish people's hope, but scripture also says in Matthew 12, 21, that he was the hope of all the world.

Speaker 1:

And here's the thing about hope in the Christmas story. The word hope is not expressly found in the traditional Christmas narratives in Matthew and Luke, but the essence of hope is all over the story. Multiple people illustrate hope in the Christmas story Joseph he followed the angel's instructions because of hope. The wise men well, they went on their star-following journey because of hope. The elderly Simeon and Anna they watched and waited in the temple because of hope, just like Jacob in the Old Testament. They were waiting and watching with hope for God's salvation, were waiting and watching with hope for God's salvation. Earth and skies, land and seas, watching for hope to appear the foundation of the world, meeting the highest of heavens as God brought hope to life. All this in mind, this Christmas season, this mama, this grandma, is looking at and talking about hope in a new way. My family has four new family members this year and while I'm thinking about new traditions to incorporate and enjoy in our family and in this, my goal is to lead us to unwrap the gift of hope in a new way, because hope is essential to life and I want my family to hold on to hope, not just at Christmas, but always. And here's my thought Throughout the years at my house we've had different games that we've played as a family during Christmas time.

Speaker 1:

You know games where you hide a stuffed animal or an elf on the shelf in different places and each morning the kids find it somewhere around the house. It's always fun and it brings laughter and smiles. But this year I thought I would do a twist on that particular tradition. This year, for Christmas, I'm going to be hiding a hope stone around the house. I'm going to use a rock on which I paint the word hope, because that, to me, is reminiscent of how hope was first woven into the very fabric of our world, according to Genesis 1-9. When family members find this stone, we'll stop for a moment, we'll talk about hope. We'll talk about where it's found or who it's from or where it can be seen, or what scripture has spoken to us about hope, and so on. However, each brief moment of conversation carries us. I'm not exactly sure how all this is going to work out. I'm going to keep studying the scripture and see what else God wants to personally show me as I unwrap his truths about hope. I'll let you know next year how our new hope stone tradition unfolds, but in the meantime, maybe you would want to do this in your life and family as well.

Speaker 1:

Thing is unwrapping hope at Christmas isn't just about getting the present, taking the wrapping off, looking at it and setting it aside. God wants us to continue to examine his gifts to us, and I don't know about you, but I need hope in my own life, in my family, in the lives of my loved ones, and I'm pretty sure that you and your loved ones need hope as well. So this year, I want to encourage all of us to be intentional about unwrapping hope in our Christmas traditions, celebrations and conversations. Let's personally meet with God about hope in our own lives, and then let's make Him known and share His hope with others. No matter what this year's holidays or circumstances hold, let's hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, because the one who promised is faithful. So now, friend, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of his Holy Spirit. Be encouraged, go with God, friend, have a wonderful start to your Christmas holiday. Until next time.

Speaker 2:

God bless, as well as word about our soon-to-be-released app. Sign up to be the first to know at familydisciplemeorg. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, help us get the word out by leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. God bless you, friend. Now go seek Him, speak Him.