Study of the Watchtower, Let us keep our hope strong, Week of December 26 to January 1, 2023, Comments and Practical Answers.

Watchtower Study, 26-December-1-January 2023, Let's keep our hope strong, Comments and Answers.

"Put your hope in the Lord" (Ps. 27:14).

1. What hope has Jehovah given us?

The precious hope that Jehovah has given us is of eternal life on earth.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

There is another hope, some hope to live in heaven, so we see that there are two, one in heaven and one on earth.

It should also be noted that those who were eternally on earth will not live in the conditions we are in now, obviously they will be in perfect health and happiness.

2. On what is our hope based, and why?

Our hope is based on faith and trust in Jehovah, and it is so, because we are convinced that Jehovah wants and can carry out everything he has promised us and will without fail. That is why we can say that our hope is based on evidence and reality and not on illusions or simple wishes.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, it is not an illusion, it is based on evidence, it is evidence that Jehovah has already demonstrated and how it is mentioned in Number 23:19, he is not a man to tell lies or change his mind, what he promises he fulfills.

It is interesting how The Watchtower already marks a main idea for us when the Bible talks about hope, it associates it with security and certainty because it comes from Jehovah.

As we see in Romans 15:13 it mentions that we can have that security because Jehovah is the one who gives this hope and also mentions that we have a lot of hope by the power of the holy spirit, so we can have a lot or little if we stick to Jehovah we can have a lot 

3. What will we see in this article? (Psalm 27:14).

In this article we will see how this hope is protected. We will also see what an anchor and helmet looks like for us. 

OUR HOPE IS LIKE AN ANCHOR

4. Why is hope like an anchor? (Hebrews 6:19).

This illustration made by the apostle Paul is very interesting, since the idea it conveys to us is that just as an anchor stabilizes a ship, our hope is like an anchor that stabilizes us so that we do not stray from Jehovah when we go through problems. That is why if we have our firm hope, we will be sure that better times will soon come, and this will help us face the storms or tempests of life.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Because just as an anchor gives stability to a ship, hope gives us stability so that when we go through problems that are like storms we can stay close to Jehovah.

It can also be said that our hope is like an anchor because it not only prevents us from drifting but also helps us to maintain the course of our Christian life.

As Jesus said in John 15:20 we will have to face storms because we will be persecuted, but with the hope we will be able to have emotional mental and spiritual stability and endure trials.

In the account of Acts 27 about the shipwreck that Paul lived, it says that the sailors dropped 4 anchors because it was night and they could not see where the shore was, so they decided to fix the ship so as not to run aground until daylight, similarly to us we also live in a dark world it is night we can say, so until we see the light of the new world we need that hope.

5. How did hope sustain Jesus when he came face to face with death?

He supported him when, despite knowing that he would die, he had the hope and conviction that God would resurrect him and that he would have the joy of returning to heaven with his father. Being clear about his Hope helped Jesus to remain faithful, despite knowing from what a cruel death awaited him.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

And even though Jesus knew that he would have to die because he knew that hope had come to earth for that, the hope that kept him firm was that he would return to heaven with his beloved father, we also wish to see our loved ones and live in a better world and this must be our firm anchor to continue serving Jehovah.

Hebrews chapter 12 emphasizes it to us because it says that because of the happiness that was because in front of him he was able to endure what he suffered, it did not produce any joy to die on a torture stake considered a blasphemer but Jesus knew that by his faithfulness he could vindicate and sanctify the name of his father will return to be in heaven with the resurrected being, and meditating on this also helps us, as verse 3 says, not to get tired or give up.

6. What did a brother say about hope?

Brother Leonard Chinn, during the first world war, for refusing to enlist in the army, was put in jail and was held incommunicado for two months and subjected to forced labor, and regarding this experience he said that what happened to him taught him that for to endure, hope is very important, since both the example of Jesus, the Apostles, the prophets and the valuable promises of the Bible, are a great hope for the future and gave him strength to endure, that is why we can say that hope for our brother was an anchor and it can be for us too.

7. How is our hope strengthened by going through trials? (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:12).

Knowing that Jehovah gives us his approval when we are going through trials strengthens our Hope.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, what I was going to comment is that when we go through the test and notice how Jehovah has helped us there, our hope becomes even stronger and than when, for example, we learned the truth.

We could really visualize hope as a muscle, the more we endure, the more we strengthen it, also on the contrary, if we do not endure it, it weakens and we need our faith to be strong as an anchor.

When reading the text of Romans we might think well and because Paul mentions hope here why perhaps he did not have much hope the first time we met Jehovah, it is evident that Paul was not referring to this initial longing but that it was something that goes beyond Since by enduring faithfully as a consequence, we realize that we have the approval of Jehovah and this has a profound effect on our initial hope, what it does is that it increases and strengthens it.

The anchor is attached to the ship with a chain, if the chain breaks the anchor is useless, our chain would be the union that we must have with Jehovah at all times go to him in prayer to be able to study his word and face and obey the commands he gives us.

It encourages us because, for example, in paragraph 2 it has been said that it is not based on illusions or simple desires, hope is not only a feeling but it is something real and since we know that it does not disappoint, we can be sure that Jehovah is behind us. that hope.

And we also know that if we hold on we are going to get God's approval and this approval is precisely what will make that hope that we have that all problems are resolved and that we have what we miss so we can get it back come true. 

OUR HOPE IS LIKE A HELMET

8. Why is hope like a helmet? (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

In the paragraph a very interesting example is mentioned, that of a soldier who wears a helmet to protect his head from the blows of his enemies. We also have an enemy that attacks us or bombards our mind with harmful ideas, that is why we also have to wear a helmet. Just as the helmet protects the soldier's head, hope is like our spiritual helmet, which protects our mind, and in this way we can remain faithful to Jehovah.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, because a helmet protects the head of the person who wears it, then we now have to protect our minds from all the temptations and ideas that are in the world of Satan that can damage our minds, so hope is going to be like that helmet that will protect us so that we can remain faithful to Jehovah.

And we must protect ourselves because the devil Satan bombards us with temptations and ideas that damage our minds.

9. What happens when people have no hope?

Well, they live for the present and to enjoy the pleasures.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

When people do not have hope, it happens that they make bad decisions, they think about their own desires, and if they ever have any hope, it fades away. And that is what we can see in 1 Corinthians 15:32 Paul said that there were Christians who lived for the present, and that is what happens today there are many people who do not trust the promises of God and only live for the present and to enjoy pleasures just as these Christians of old did.

That is precisely what happened to the Corinthians some had completely lost faith in the promise of the resurrection and therefore were living for the day and their own pleasures.

First Corinthians 15:32 is cited where Paul wrote if the dead are not going to be raised then let us eat and drink because tomorrow we will die, that was the feeling of some Christians in Corinth and that is what many people today also reflect, they live only for the pleasures that this system presents.

In addition, verse 12 Paul was telling them that their entire faith was faltering because it was no longer a matter of having this hope and doing things well, but what they were preaching was that Jesus had risen from the dead, for So if they didn't believe that there was no point in leading the life they led.

10. How does hope help us fight false ideas?

If we have strong hope, we can fight against the false ideas that this world promotes. That is why hope helps us to focus on Jehovah's promises and on his desire for us to achieve eternal life. For example, there are many people who think that it is not worth trying to please God. And that is something that is very common, since due to our imperfection we may think that we will never be able to receive eternal life because we will not reach the level of what Jehovah asks of us. But we must never forget that Jehovah wants all his servants to live forever and he will help us achieve that goal.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, just like Job had false friends who did not help him at all in everything they told him, Satan also tries to deceive us with lies or ideas totally contrary to what Jehovah has promised us, so we must not let these enter our minds. ideas and make us think that it is not worth trying to please Jehovah because we think that we are not up to what he asks of us, we see that Jehovah wants us to live forever.

Yes, as the paragraph says, it says that Satan wants us to think that we will never win the battle, however the text of First Timothy 2:3 and 4 says that what God wants is our savior and his will is that all kinds of people they are saved and come to have exact knowledge of the truth, we can determine what degree Jehovah is going to give as valid, the effort is what Jehovah sees the effort to fulfill his word.

And these feelings are sometimes common in brothers who, because of committing a serious sin, have separated from the congregation, no longer serve Jehovah, because they no longer believe themselves worthy that Jehovah could have forgiven such a serious sin, but for that reason, Jehovah once and for all. again he says that he wants them to return, in fact he has even prepared a brochure for that because Jehovah is merciful and what he wants is repentance and no matter how recorded the sin has been, he receives it again.

HOW TO KEEP HOPE STRONG

11. Why must we be patient until the day comes when our hope will come true?

We must be patient because that way we can keep our hope strong until the day comes when God makes what he has promised come true. But in reality it is not easy to do it, since we can come to think that Jehovah is taking a long time to fulfill his promises. That is why we must remember what 2 Peter 3: 8,9 mentions, that Jehovah does not see time the same that we Although it seems that it is taking time, the moment will come where everything that Jehovah has proposed will be fulfilled.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We are not completely clear when Jehovah is going to fulfill his promises but if we look at verse 9 of second Peter 3 Jehovah is not slow to fulfill his promise, we are clear about that when we do not know but he will fulfill it.

And what verse 9 says is also very interesting because Jehovah really is patient because he wants many more people to be saved, so this will also help us to be patient and maintain hope.

Perhaps that can be easy when we have been in the truth for a short time but many of us have been raised in the truth for decades perhaps many were young and now they are not so many, and having that hope so strong and balanced and stable is not easy above all because we see that the thing seems to be taking off but it is not like that, these are false lies, it is an idea of ​​our mind that can produce, that is why this article is useful and those paragraphs are useful. 

12. According to Hebrews 11:1, 6, what is the relationship between hope and faith?

In Hebrews 11:1,6, he relates hope to faith that Jehovah exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. That is why the more real Jehovah is to us, the more we will trust that he will fulfill all his promises.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

It is a direct relationship, it is a fundamental quality that will help us keep that hope strong, verse 1 says it is the certainty that what faith is expected will happen, so it is essential to keep that hope strong and alive.

And as we have seen in the end, that hope depends on the Faith we have in Jehovah because all those promises that he is going to fulfill are encrypted in him, so the more we trust in Jehovah, the more we will trust that this hope will come true.

In verse 6 we have read that without faith it is impossible to please God and faith consists in being convinced that God exists, who is a real person and that he rewards those who seek him, then if he has promised this hope, the more real it is Jehovah for us more convinced we will be that this hope will also come true. 

13. How can we be friends with God?

We can be friends of God, if we take the opportunity to listen to it when we read the Bible and meditate on it, since when we read about how Jehovah cared for his loyal servants in the past, the result will be that our hope will grow stronger each time.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, to be friends of God, like any friendship relationship, it is a conversation and the way to converse with Jehovah is by praying and reading the word of God, which is the way he communicates with us, because as Jeremiah 29:12 says that we have to call him we have to go to him in prayer and that is how he will respond.

In Romans 15:4 it mentions that all the things that were written were so that we have endurance and through the comfort of the scriptures we have hope and we know that it is so, everything that was written in the past the deer of the past was so that we By reading these stories, let's learn from them and have hope.

ILLUSTRATION

According to what we have analyzed in this paragraph, we see a sister who is praying with confidence, Jehovah is perfecting that hope, she is asking Jehovah for strength to endure any trial, and on the left we see a brother who is reading the Bible and perhaps meditating as it says in as Jehovah fulfilled what he promised to Abraham, then thinking about how Jehovah blessed this faithful servant or other faithful servants of the past helps him to continue enduring and strengthen his hope as well.

We see how this brother, his circumstances are different from before because he is in a wheelchair, he is sick and this illness limits him and perhaps discourages him, but he is meditating and looking at photographs of how Jehovah has cared for him in the past. that Jehovah has done for him, possibly joys that he has had of serving him full time wherever he is and this strengthens his faith and makes him like the anchor in front of him, stabilizes him despite having illnesses and problems, gives him stability in his life.

Praying and meditating keep our hope strong. (See paragraphs 13 to 15). 

14. Why is it good for us to reflect on what Jehovah has done for others?

It is good to reflect on what Jehovah has done for others, because in this way our faith that Jehovah will fulfill his promises will be strengthened. For example, in the case of Abraham and Sarah, they were elderly and could not have children. However, Jehovah told them that if they were going to be parents and Jehovah fulfilled his promise, stories of how he teaches us that we can always trust that Jehovah will be faithful to his word even though it seems impossible for our eyes to come true .

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Because when we see that Jehovah has always kept his promises, for example in this case with Abraham and Sara, our faith is also strengthened that the promises that remain to be fulfilled, our hope will come true.

Meditating on these stories like these teach us that we can trust in Jehovah and we have modern accounts of our time and nearby in our congregations now seeing how the brothers are feeling the hand of Jehovah because they put him first in difficult situations because being able to know and Meditating on these modern examples also strengthens our hope.

I really like the words of Romans 4 in verse 20 that says that the fact that what seemed so impossible to happen made Adam feel powerful and Abraham felt powerful because of his faith and that is what happens to us when we see in These stories as Jehovah has fulfilled his promises gives us strength and power to continue keeping hope firm. 

15. Why should we reflect on what God has already done for us?

We should reflect on what Jehovah has done for us, because this will strengthen our hope in what he will do in the future.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Yes, without a doubt, there are many promises that come to mind, let's think about what Jehovah did when we were in the midst of the pandemic, he always gave us so much spiritual and physical food, and the words of Matthew 6:32, of that Jehovah would give us everything we needed. Meditating on what Jehovah did at that moment will strengthen our hope and give us the assurance that he will also fulfill all his future promises.

In theory, we know that Jehovah cannot lie, he always fulfills what he promises, but that must be put into practice and when we start to reflect on everything that Jehovah has done for us, for example, if we make a list of everything that Jehovah has done by us and we see it later graphically then that really strengthens our faith and also helps us to be more grateful.

Well, for example, how he has taken care of us throughout our lives, not only giving us what we need to live but taking care of us emotionally, consoling us, because when we have passed tests or are going through and forgiving us many things, then we can see that Jehovah has done a lot for us.

During these last years of the pandemic, for example, we have been able to see the hand of Jehovah giving us the spiritual food we needed, we saw that the promise of Matthew 24:45 that there was someone who would give us food at the appropriate time has been there, so during these years when we thought we couldn't meet we couldn't preach we have had everything we need to be able to continue nourishing ourselves spiritually.

REJOICE FOR HOPE

16. Why is hope a valuable gift?

Hope is a valuable gift because it brings us closer to God and is proof of the deep love he has for us. If we keep our hope strong and bright, it will benefit us greatly, since our hope is like an anchor that will help us face all trials, persecutions and even death, and it is also like a helmet that protects our minds and protects us. It will help us reject everything that is bad and cling to everything that is actually good.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

It is a beautiful gift because as we have seen, on the one hand it is like an anchor because it helps us face trials and persecutions or even anything that may come our way, here it is even mentioned until death and on the other hand as a helmet because it protects our mind and helps us reject what is bad, even false lies that come from Satan, making us believe that we are not valuable in the eyes of Jehovah and what makes it possible for us to hold on to what is true.

If, in addition, this hope that Jehovah offers us is proof of the deep love he has for us and how interested he is in us, then this is a gift and it is appreciated and this makes us get much closer to our creator. 

17. Why does our hope make us happy?

Our hope makes us happy because it gives us the assurance that Jehovah will fulfill his promises as mentioned by a psalmist in Psalm 146:5,6, happy who puts his hope in Jehovah his God, who is always faithful.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We are sure that Jehovah will keep his promise, he cannot lie and as the happy psalmist said, who puts his hope in Jehovah, his God is always faithful.

And as we have seen, hope is not a simple desire but rather a truth that Jehovah offers us and thanks to that we can be a little happier in our day to day life because we know what we are fighting for and what path we are following. 

WHAT WOULD YOU ANSWER?

Why can we be sure that our hope will come true?

We can be sure that our hope will come true, we are sure of that, because this hope comes from Jehovah, it is not from an imaginary friend or from a politician or from another human being, it comes from the creator of the true God Jehovah. We know his promises and we know that he always keeps them. We are convinced that Jehovah can carry out all that he has promised us that he will do. So our hope is not based on illusions or simple wishes but on evidence and reality.

Why do we say that hope is like an anchor and like a helmet?

Just as an anchor stabilizes a ship, hope stabilizes us in the midst of trials so that we do not stray from Jehovah, what about the helmet, the soldier wears a helmet to protect his head from attacks, in spiritual warfare our hope helps us it protects from spiritual attacks, which in the physical world come to be human philosophies, human ideas that question the existence of God and question the promises of the Bible and God's love for his servants. They pose an indifferent God who is not interested in his faithful servants, they are unbiblical ideas and that is why we must read the Bible, study it so that these ideas do not change our way of seeing spiritual matters and thus be able to distinguish what is correct from what is not. which is not.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

It is like an anchor because just as the anchor gives stability to a ship when there is a storm, it also stabilizes us, it helps us to face trials, persecution, even death.

And it's like a helmet because just as it protects the head of a soldier from the blows of a battle, hope also protects our minds from Satan's attacks.

It also protects us from our own erroneous and negative thoughts such that I will never measure up, Jehovah will not reward me, hope will not come true. 

What will help us keep our hope strong?

We must pray to Jehovah, read the Bible we do not see Jehovah, but we can be his friends. Since we don't see many other forces that exist around us, we can talk to him when we pray to him. For example, we don't see cold, but it exists, we don't see heat, but it also exists, and so we can mention noise, we don't see it, but it also exists, we don't see gravity, but it also exists, we don't see wind, but it also exists. Therefore, with much more reason we do not see Jehovah but he exists and reflect on how he fulfills his promises what he did for Abraham and Sarah, thinking in our particular case all this will help us to keep strong in an individual sense our hope.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, one way to do it is by being friends of Jehovah, one way to do it is by maintaining communication in the same way that we communicate with a friend by speaking ourselves and listening when our friend speaks because in the same way we talk to Jehovah praying to him but Jehovah speaks to us through the Bible and therefore we have to read the Bible to see what it tells us.

As the text of Romans 15:4 mentioned, the effect of reading what is written in the word of God is that it gives us endurance, comfort and hope.

Reflect on how Jehovah has kept his promises and we saw an example like that of Abraham, one of them how Jehovah fulfills what he promised despite the fact that it seemed like a super difficult situation, so thinking about these things makes us see that Jehovah is faithful to what he that promises and that makes us trust him.