Seeking God with Hope

01/11/2026

Matthew 7:7-11 NIV

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!1

I hope I find what I’m seeking. I hope the door is opened to me. I hope I receive what I’m asking for. I hope the Lord gives good gifts to me as I ask Him.

What we actually means is we wish.

Qavah - to wait, to hope, to expect

Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV

28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint. 2

Tiqvah - hope, expectation, something you hold onto

Jeremiah 29:11 CSB

11 For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the LORD’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.3

Heart:

My story – I know what it’s like to lose hope. I know what it’s like to not even wish.

· Tumors, Surgery, Recovery, Pain attacks, “I can’t see a future.”

Hands:

To live with hope we must:

1. Bind ourselves to Jesus.

2. Cling to the hope that is Jesus and His Kingdom.

3. Root our hope in the faithfulness of Jesus.

4. Wait patiently, expectantly, and in tension.