May the God of Hope Fill You with Joy and Peace as You Trust in Him
by David Peters - During the night of January 1/2, a scripture came repeatedly to me as I slept. It was Romans 15:13, which says, “Now may the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” When the Holy Spirit repeats something like this, it is both urgent and important. I believe this is a key scripture for 2026 and one we will need to walk in by declaring and praying it.
People the world over are searching for joy and peace. In Iran, millions yearn for it. Many thousands have given their lives protesting the cruel regime that controls them. If we trust God, we can have joy and peace freely. And he will add overflowing hope.
Hope is waning in our world. Moral decay and violent global conditions are infecting many with hopelessness. This is already driving a young generation back to church and back to the Bible. When hungry hearts meet believers full of hope, a great harvest will follow.
True hope is more than wishful thinking. In theological terms, hope is a confident and patient expectation of good. It is based on an unshakeable conviction that God is good no matter what happens. In fact, as one pastor put it, “Hope dissipates in direct proportion to our loss of understanding of God’s goodness.” It’s easy to believe that God is good when all is well. It’s harder when adversity strikes.
Hosea 2:15 reveals one of the great scriptures on hope. God promises, “I will transform the valley of trouble into a gateway of hope.” In every valley, there is a door of hope waiting to be found. We can choose to stay trapped in the valley of despair or go through the doorway. Multiple sclerosis confined my first wife Jane to a wheelchair for over twenty years. Finally, the disease took her. The long valley of trouble we endured then became much darker. Yet, I found the kindness of God in that time and saw a gateway of hope open before me. Jane was promoted to heaven, and God brought Greta into my life, herself bereaved a few months after me. In loss, we gained.
1 Corinthians 13:13 says that faith, hope, and love are the three most important virtues in life. The laws of physics give an understanding of how these three virtues work.
The law of gravity says that objects will always fall to the earth. But the law of aerodynamics, being a higher law, overcomes the law of gravity, making flight possible. It then takes a specially designed craft to make this happen.
Similarly, life has a gravitational pull. Things will happen to pull us down. But it is possible to counteract this downward pull on our souls. Hope is like the law of aerodynamics, allowing us to rise above life’s pain and difficulties. Faith is the aircraft that takes us there. Love is the fuel that propels the plane along.
May we soar this year in hope. Let’s believe that our heavenly Father wants us to experience Romans 15:13 in all its fullness. When you feel down, quote it. When you feel hopeless believe it. God always honours those who believe his Word.
Blessings
David Peters
David Peters the founder of SpiritLife Ministries and is on the leadership team of Church Unlimited, a large, multicultural church in Auckland, New Zealand. David has many years’ experience in prophetic/teaching ministry.
He and his wife Greta travel extensively, inspiring people to have unwavering hope despite life’s trials, equipping them to operate in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit in daily life, and ministering prophetically to leadership teams.
David has spoken at several PK events. Here is a video of his PK message, “Jesus, teach us how to pray” [click here to watch]