Romans 15:13 AMPC
May the God of your hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing what He believes, that in the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.
Because of our union with Christ, the God of hope lives in us in the power of the Holy Spirit. Joy and peace are always the offspring of hope. Remember, the word “hope” biblically has nothing to do with wishing for something good to happen. The word literally means “confident expectation and anticipation.” Hebrews 6:19 says that hope is the anchor of our soul, and Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for.” If you are not a person of hope, then you will never live a life of faith, for the atmosphere of confident expectation gives birth to a lifestyle of faith. Hope actually equips us with an attitude that attracts God’s astounding solutions.
Romans 15:13 is not an invitation for the God who lives out there somewhere in heaven to open up the top of our head and pour hope and joy and peace into us. Instead, it is reminding us that the God of hope lives in us, and His disposition is always one of hope. If we live by the faith of the Son of God according to Galatians 2:20, then we also should live by His hope. There’s nothing that you and I ever face where the God of hope doesn’t anticipate His solution. Our part is simply to believe in what He believes about anything going on in our lives. We may not know exactly what He is going to do, but He does and His hope never wanes. He is absolutely confident in what He is doing a what He intends to do. Our job is to abide in His perpetual hope. When we do, that perpetual bubbling over kind of joy that the God of hope is always experiencing, fills us. Not only that, but His unimaginable peace that has nothing to do with our understanding, but everything to do with His, also fills us. This is about the God of hope who lives in you, filling you from the inside out, not a God outside of you filling you from outside in. This is all happening in us in the power of the Holy Spirit, who makes our union with Christ a vital reality. Living in hope has got nothing to do with your or my personality type. This is a supernatural hope that Paul is talking about, and the God of hope transcends all personalities.