Lesson 14: God’s Power Gives Us Protection and Hope

Titus 2:14 - "[Jesus] who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works."

On the surface, this passage does not seem to speak much about God's powerful protection towards His children. That is, until you focus on the phrase, "a people of His own." In the Greek, it literally means "a people of His own private possession." It is made up of two words: one means "around," as a circle, and the other means "to be." The picture in the Greek is like having a person totally surrounded by a circle. It is as if we walk around in a God bubble. Nothing enters the sphere of our lives without His divine permission. Therefore, if God allows it, it must serve a good purpose because He is a good and loving God. That is how powerful God's protection is!

In fact, the Bible shows us that God's protection is not just two-dimensional, but multi-dimensional. For instance, we have God before us (Isaiah 48:17), God behind us (Isaiah 30:21), God on our right (Psalm 16:8), God on our left (Job 23:9), God is above us (Psalm 36:7), God's arms are underneath us (Deuteronomy 33:27), and His Spirit is within us (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Romans 15:13 - “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

With such protection, it is pretty obvious where our hope comes from. It comes from God.

This is why the Bible says over and over again that Christians should not be filled with worry, anxiety, or even fear, because even though we might not "see" God's power moving, it is still real, and this gives us hope! In fact, most of the time we do not even recognize God's power moving in our lives until after the fact, like this missionary learned:


A missionary told his home church of a young man who told him that he and some friends had followed him on a trip he had made on foot to visit another village, and these young men had planned to rob and kill him. But as they approached his camp they were suddenly faced with armed guards surrounding him. They counted them: there were 26 guards. They left in fear.

As this missionary stated the date and time, a man in the congregation stood to say on that day and time God had placed a heavy prayer burden on him, and he asked the men who had joined him in prayer to stand. The missionary looked out on the congregation to find twenty-six men standing.

We may never see God's presence or even fully understand His power this side of heaven, but it is nonetheless real. He totally surrounds us at all times, and it is trusting in this truth that gives us hope for today! There are no hopeless situations. There are only people who have given up hope. They lose sight of God and His power to do what He says He will do.

* Memorize Romans 15:13, above.