The Study Watchtower, "Article 44", 26-December-1-January 2023, Let us keep our hope strong, Answers.
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"Put your hope in the Lord" (Ps. 27:14).
1. What hope has Jehovah given us?
Jehovah has given the hope of eternal life to the vast majority of human beings who hope to live on earth forever enjoying happiness and perfect health, as he promises.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
In Revelation 21:3,4 and according to 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 those who hope to live in heaven as spirit beings have been given the hope of immortality by Jehovah.
We also have the hope of enjoying living here on earth in good conditions and we value that hope a lot.
2. On what is our hope based, and why?
Our hope is based on the certainty that the promises that Jehovah has made to us will be fulfilled, we have this conviction because Jehovah has both the desire and the power to carry out everything he has said, so our hope is based on evidence and in the reality.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
In addition, since this hope comes from Jehovah, we can be sure that everything that Jehovah has promised was fulfilled, so our hope is firm.
Numbers 23:19 | Because as the numbers say, God is not a simple man who tells lies and a son of man who changed his mind and that is why we have safe hope.
3. What will we see in this article? (Psalm 27:14).
In this article we will see how hope protects us, for this we will first see why we say that hope is like an anchor and a helmet, then we will analyze how we can strengthen this Hope. Very important details as evidenced by Psalm 27:14, because if our hope in Jehovah is strong we will be able to endure the tests and look to the future with courage and joy.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Because if our hope in Jehovah is strong and triple, as the Bible says, we will be able to endure the tests and look to the future with courage and joy.
And we are also going to see how we can strengthen our hope.
OUR HOPE IS LIKE AN ANCHOR
4. Why is hope like an anchor? (Hebrews 6:19).
Hebrews 6:19 shows that just as a literal anchor steadies a ship from drifting or hitting rocks, our hope steadies us so that we do not stray from Jehovah when we experience troubles like storms, and it is also an anchor because it helps us to keep the course in Our Christian Life.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Just as an anchor steadies a ship, our hope steadies us so that we do not stray from Jehovah when we experience troubles that are like storms, hoping to weather the storms of life.
Although perhaps no one has traveled by boat, I hope the apostle Paul made many trips in which he is well through a storm that he has gone through difficult situations, we know that when the anchor is pulled it gives stability to the boat and does not let it go away adrift and that way it can make a stone and break its hull and everything, that's why the hope that we have in Jehovah is also based on how firm an anchor is that sustains us day by day.
That is why meditating on the rewards of Jehovah's promises makes us stabilize and stay on course and not lose faith, because it is very difficult in the face of a storm, the boat obviously moves, the problems move worse and worse, that is why we need this information to be more prepared.
5. How did hope sustain Jesus when he came face to face with death?
According to Acts 25:28 Hope sustained Jesus when he was face to face with death because it gave him the conviction that Jehovah would resurrect him and not allow him to suffer corruption. She also knew that later she would fill him with joy in his presence as a reward for his faithful service, in this way, thanks to his Hope, Jesus was able to face his painful death with integrity and courage.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
He knew very well that the promise or the word of Jehovah was fulfilled and that is why he really knew that Jehovah was not going to allow them to see the corruption but how do we know that on the third day he raised him up again and then sat him down again next to him fulfilling the psalm that is quoted here, then we can be sure that Jehovah always acts in the same way.
He knew he was expecting a hard, cruel death and he was the second most important person in the universe, the son of God, however he had the firm hope that his father was going to raise him up, that's why he was able to face her how he did.
And that is why what Hebrews chapter 12 says was fulfilled, that because of the happiness that was placed before him, he endured a torture stake regardless of the humiliation, he knew the glory that he was going to receive later, that is why he did not reach feeling bad about the fact that he has to face the humiliation before the ignominious death that he had and all that this meant, so that really as shown here how it continues is an example for us that we can really face the same thing similar things to see if Jehovah will reward us.
6. What did a brother say about hope?
Brother Leonard Chinn during the First World War was imprisoned incommunicado for two months and subjected to forced labor for refusing to enlist in the army, he tells that the example of Jesus the apostles the prophets and the valuable promises of the Bible were like an anchor for him, since they gave him the necessary strength to endure all that difficult situation.
OPTIONAL ANSWER
He was imprisoned, well, many sad and ugly things happened, but he says that the experience that the passage taught him to endure and always think of hope and also took into account everything that the Apostles went through and also Jesus himself, so thinking about that hope and what the anchor means to be stabilized, well, all of that he was able to cope with those ugly moments.
7. How is our hope strengthened by going through trials? (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:12).
Romans 5:3-5 shows that going through difficulties or tests produces endurance and endurance makes us have Jehovah's approval, in turn Jehovah's approval produces hope, for his part James 1:1,2 adds that happy man who continues to endure during the test, because when tested, the crown of life that Jehovah promises to those who continue to love him is received. So knowing that Jehovah gives us his approval when we endure trials strengthens our hope.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
It is strengthened because in the face of these tests we see the hand of Jehovah we see Jehovah's help and that gives us more strength because we know that Jehovah will always be on our side that makes our trust in him bigger and bigger, that he will let's love more
Remaining loyal under the position of trials and difficult situations makes us have Jehovah's approval and having Jehovah's approval as it is not going to strengthen our hope, then this is how one goes hand in hand with the other, being well before the trials will strengthen our hope.
That Satan uses the tests of the pressure of the problems that they put in the middle to discourage us and that is where our trust in Jehovah comes in. Knowing that Jehovah is going to strengthen us will not abandon us makes our hope stronger.
OUR HOPE IS LIKE A HELMET
8. Why is hope like a helmet? (1 Thessalonians 5:8).
We fight a spiritual war in which we have to protect our minds from Satan's attacks, since he bombards us with temptations and with all kinds of ideas that pervert judgment. Hence, in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 it is said that our hope works as a helmet of salvation, since it protects our mind and our good judgment.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
The helmet protects from the blows of the enemy in the same way this spiritual helmet protects our minds from the traps that Satan sets for us.
As the paragraph says, we are in a spiritual war here, at least in Argentina, we are not in physical danger, but the mental attacks do not stop and temptations come from all sides, ideas that can easily creep into us, so it is very important that we have this helmet.
9. What happens when people have no hope?
When people have no hope, they live only for the present, their faith weakens, they lose trust in God and his promises, they live only to enjoy pleasures and satisfy their desires. And they also make bad decisions that ruin their friendship with Jehovah, that was what happened to the Christians of the ancient city of Corinth as shown in the first letter to the Corinthians 15:12,32, and unfortunately that also happens today to many people.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
When people have no hope, they only live for today, their plans, their projects only refer to the present and they seek different pleasures in their lives to satisfy or seek that happiness, that is why First Corinthians 15:32 is quoted where they think that only eating and drinking is enough because tomorrow they are going to die.
So with their life they don't do anything really significant because for them their life has no meaning and if there is no tomorrow to answer for their actions then they don't have to think about consequences either, that's why at the end of the day for many nothing they do it really matters because they live an empty life.
That is why we have been seeing that in the previous paragraph it says that we are bombarded with problems and with situations that endanger our minds, that is why it can also happen that our desires or lead a life with our desires could be that that hope will weaken and Satan wants that, which is why we have to be more careful than ever because we are very close to the end, so we must take this warning into account.
That happened to the Corinthians, they had weakened, they had not protected their minds and one of the fundamental teachings of Christianity they lost the hope of the resurrection and that is why it is so important as we have been saying to protect the mind.
And Paul tells these Corinthian brothers that they had lost hope that they were surrounding themselves with people who thought differently, so he tells him that bad companies spoil useful habits.
10. How does hope help us fight false ideas?
Satan wants us to lose hope because that would take us away from Jehovah. Hence, we are constantly bombarded with false ideas so that we think that we will never receive eternal life, that we are not up to what Jehovah expects of his servants or that we cannot be pure due to our imperfection, in all these cases hope helps us focus on Jehovah's promises and his desire for us to achieve eternal life, and that he will do everything possible to help us achieve this goal .
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
The helmet of hope protects us from the idea that it is not worth making an effort to please Jehovah, ideas such as that we are not going to receive, we deserve eternal life, that we are not that good, that we will never be up to what Jehovah expects of his servants and many of us have these feelings, see if I am going to get by having other spiritual brothers who are so good, that is what Satan wants us to think but we have to fight with these lies and focus on Jehovah's promises.
And this has already happened in the past and it is currently happening, perhaps we have people around us who can make us believe, just like Job, he was going through a very difficult situation and obviously the things that Eliphaz told him could have affected him, obviously it was Satan the one who was speaking for Eliphaz, but well, how much do we have to be careful with this and pay attention and well and be firm with the issue of hope and not pay attention and get these thoughts out of our heads and not allow others to perhaps give us these false thought.
We read a text that said that God's approval gives us hope, that is, if we think that we will never be able to have Jehovah's approval, we cannot have this hope either, so here he invites us to focus on the fact that Jehovah is not someone strict with us, but as it says in first Timothy 2:3 and 4 he wants all kinds of personnel to be saved and also mentions him as our savior.
We can say that Satan is constantly aware of everything we do and he knows very well that if we keep thinking about negative ideas, he will really try to discourage us and we will lose hope, which is why it is essential to be able to wear this helmet.
Meditating on all that Jehovah has done for us to achieve eternal life should help us strengthen this hope because we know that Jehovah has paid a high price for each one of us and that this should encourage us to trust in Jehovah.
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 in this way we keep our hope strong, which is not always easy, because if we get impatient we may start to think that Jehovah is slow to keep his promises and we end up getting discouraged, but if we are patient we will make our hearts firm and we will see the presence of the Lord closer and closer as James chapter 5 verse 7 and 8 says.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
If someone were to ask us if we want the end to come and everything promised to be fulfilled, we are going to say that we want now, but it is not Jehovah's time, as Jehovah says, he is eternal and he does not see time the same as we do, but we do know that he will. comply.
And if we are not patient and we get impatient, perhaps we begin to wait for the time that one wants to be fulfilled, not what Jehovah asks for, and by not seeing what happens we can get discouraged and leave everything.
Peter makes us reason well, he says that yesterday is like a thousand years for Jehovah, it is not something long, he is eternal, and apart from the 9th of the second of Peter, he says that he is patient, that he wishes he did not have to destroy anyone, but that all people will benefit from the sacrifice of his son.
And for us to have patience, Santiago says that we have a firm heart because it is not easy and he also compares it to a farmer and it is understood that the farmer does not go by his times, he does not decide when he is going to grow, he always has to wait for the early rains. the latter rains, we also do not depend on us and why it does not depend on us we have to be patient.
12. According to Hebrews 11:1, 6, what is the relationship between hope and faith?
According to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 and 6, the relationship of faith with hope is that Jehovah exists and that he rewards those who seek him with determination. Therefore, the more Jehovah is real to us, the more we will trust that he will fulfill all his promises. in this way faith strengthens our hope.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
One depends on the other, if our faith is weak, our hope will be much weaker, therefore, as the paragraph says, the more Jehovah is real to us, the more we will trust that his promises will be fulfilled.
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.
13. How can we be friends with God?
We can be Jehovah's friends by praying to him and reading the Bible, since when we pray to him it is as if we are talking to him and when we read the Bible it is as if we are listening to him. So maintaining good communication with Jehovah makes it possible for us to become his friends and to this same extent our hope will grow stronger and stronger.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Well, although we cannot see him and we have prayer, so one way is to make friends with Jehovah is by speaking to him through prayer.
Of course, but if we speak to Jehovah it is as if it were nothing more than a monologue, that is why it is key that we read his word, then we are talking with Jehovah, we tell him that we are concerned about what we feel and he answers us through his word.
And how many times in the territory we read Jeremiah 29:11 and 12 to the people and when we see the reaction of the people that they can approach Jehovah and that Jehovah listens to them, it touches his heart how much more do we who know that we are his servants and We are sure that if we ask him for things, he will always listen to us, but for this we have to read the Bible in depth and meditate on it.
When we also read how I take care of his servants from the past, that gives us a lot of confidence and that way we know more about Jehovah and his feelings and also when they tell us about the experiences how we have been told in that case that we have seen everything that this brother suffered in change Jehovah did not abandon him and he came out strengthened that also strengthens our faith and gives us confidence in him and his promises.
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.
It shows that just as a helmet protects a soldier's head and an anchor stabilizes a ship, our hope protects our minds and does not stabilize when we face trials.
In the illustration we can see a sister praying to Jehovah full of confidence, while a brother meditates on how God fulfilled what he promised to Abraham, and another brother reflecting on the blessings he has currently received, from these images we learn that praying meditating on the Bible and trusting in Jehovah's promises helps us keep our hope strong.
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 because it will help us trust more that Jehovah will fulfill his promises, for example reading the promise that Jehovah made to Abraham and Sarah that they would be parents, at the time it perhaps seemed impossible to fulfill due to the ages of these biblical characters . However, Jehovah did not disappoint them and fulfilled his promise, in this way Jehovah shows us that he is faithful to his word and will always fulfill everything he promises us.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Because when we reflect on this, our faith in Jehovah is really strengthened and that he is really going to fulfill what he promises us, how it was in the case of Abraham, he had faith and Jehovah did not disappoint him, so the same is going to be in our case.
Actually there are so many examples to have faith in Jehovah for example from Isaiah 41:10 that promise that gives us very encouraging that always gives me encouragement and strength.
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.
15. Why should we reflect on what God has already done for us?
We should do this because it will strengthen our hope in what Jehovah will do for us in the future. Jehovah through Jesus promised to forgive us and help us with his Holy Spirit, giving us what is necessary to live and feed us spiritually abundantly, Jehovah has fulfilled all of this at present, therefore we should not question the fulfillment of his promises for the future, meditating on it will strengthen our hope.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Every ship that has an anchor has links that join it to the ship and many of the ships with the greatest load that carry many tons require maintenance of these links, they are often greased so that friction does not break it, well the same happens with us and Our hope, meditating on how Jehovah acts in the future, how he does it today with us, helps us to keep these links well-oiled so that the chain does not let go and our anchor does not remain adrift either.
We saw what Matthew 6:32 and 33 says in the pandemic, how many of our brothers have been left without work, have not had food and since Jehovah took care that they had what they needed, so what Matthew says was fulfilled there so we should never doubt our hope and that he will help us at all times.
PICTURE
Of course the note makes us like a review of the entire study, the helmet protects our thoughts the anchor that stabilizes our emotions gives our life a direction, all of that protects us as shown here in the case of the three brothers and how we do it This is good praying to Jehovah with confidence, meditating on him and as he did with the servants of the past as well and reflecting on how Jehovah helped us in the past to also think the same in the future.
REJOICE FOR HOPE
16. Why is hope a precious gift?
It is a valuable gift because it comes from Jehovah, also because it speaks to us of a wonderful future and, like an anchor, it helps us maintain our Christian course and face trials, such as persecution and even death, also because it protects our minds to that we reject everything that is bad and cling to what is good, thus constituting our helmet of salvation, and above all because it is a sign of Jehovah's love and his desire that we be very close to him.
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.
Hope is like a helmet because it protects our mind and helps us reject what is bad and hold on to what is good.
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.
Today's study is also a reminder from Jehovah, because he reminds us in this way and shows us his love by reminding us again what we must do and how we have to protect both our minds and our hearts and make good decisions.
17. Why does our hope make us happy?
We are happy because if we remain faithful we will have eternal life and because we are sure that Jehovah will keep promises as Psalms chapter 146:5,6 says.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
We can also rejoice because, for example, unlike Paul, we are very close to the end and we are closer to that hope and we see that it is being fulfilled, so with more reason we should be more joyful that we are so close to the end.
And the psalm also adds another reason, it says that Jehovah is always faithful, so accustomed to a world where people are not faithful, they do not keep their word, they do not keep their promises to us, on the contrary, we have a God who has demonstrated through many years that always delivers what it promises.
WHAT WOULD YOU ANSWER?
Why can we be sure that our hope will come true?
We are sure that our hope will come true because it comes from Jehovah.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Because it is Jehovah who makes us this promise of eternal life and as numbers 23:19 mentions, he is not a simple man who tells lies or who can change his mind what Jehovah promises he does.
We are convinced that Jehovah wants and can carry out everything he says 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?
We saw that on the one hand it was compared to an anchor because just as a ship was allowed to experience a storm and have stability, hope allows us, despite the problems, however great they may be, to have that stability that allows us to be close to Jehovah.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Just as an anchor steadies a ship, our hope steadies us so that we do not stray from Jehovah when we experience storm-like problems.
Just as the helmet protects the soldier's head, hope protects our mind so that we remain faithful to Jehovah.
The helmet of hope protects us from the idea that it is not worth the effort to please Jehovah.
Just as the helmet protects a soldier in battle, it protects his head, hope protects our head from Satan's attacks because that is where we receive temptations and they can damage our mind, so it allows us to remain faithful to Jehovah.
And it works with our head with the perhaps also emotional part that one begins to think that it is useless that suddenly Jehovah is not going to be happy with us and well what I notice is that it is a lie that gives a lot of results that is why we constantly have to be working with this helmet so that it does not make our hope go away.
What will help us keep our hope strong?
Let us reflect on how Jehovah has fulfilled his promises.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Let's think about what Jehovah has done for us.
Our hope will remain strong if we are close to Jehovah because he is the one who guarantees that it will come true. That is why the Bible shows us in Hebrews 11:1 and 6 it says that it relates hope to the faith that Jehovah exists and that he rewards those who they seek him with determination, then the more real Jehovah is for us, the more we will trust that he will fulfill all his promises.
How we stay close to Jehovah well, we saw that by praying and reading the Bible in this way we establish communication and we also saw that it is important to reflect on how Jehovah fulfilled his promises in the past and what he did particularly for us as well.
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