Examples of Joy in Hope

Abraham

Romans 4:18-20

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations,  just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”    Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead —since he was about a hundred years old —and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.    Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened  in his faith and gave glory to God,

Joseph

Psalm 105:17-21

sent a man before them—

 Joseph, sold as a slave.
    They bruised his feet with shackles,
 his neck was put in irons,
    till what he foretold  came to pass,
 till the word  of the Lord proved him true.
    The king sent and released him,
 the ruler of peoples set him free.
    He made him master of his household,
 ruler over all he possessed,

Daniel

Daniel 6:10

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward  Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees  and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Quotes 

.. If you have the Spirit without the Word, you blow up.  If you have the Word without the Spirit, you dry up.  If you have both the Word and the Spirit, you grow up. - Don Lyon

.. More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world, and more people have been driven from the church by the hardness and ugliness of so-called Christianity than by all the doubts in the world. - William Barclay