In the Shadow of God's Wings I Rejoice!

By John Q.H. Dang

The truth is that life is short and death is real, eternal and sorrowful if man does not have hope in the eternal God. But life is everlasting and death becomes celebratory and rejoicing if man has learned to trade in his whole being and his life for God’s mercy and compassion for eternal life…

By virtue of the unfathomable mercy and compassion of the eternal Father, the eternal Son has acquired our whole being through His own blood; therefore, our soul, body, and nothingness belong to Jesus Christ, and we no longer have a say on our existence and life anymore, nor do we own our sickness and pain, or affliction and death any longer, nor are we held responsible for our weaknesses and sins again. After we have been sold to the Lord and have become His assets, our whole being is undergoing spiritual restructuring, and our personal problems will soon be fixed. When our real name is ready for public listing in His Kingdom, and when our authentic being is ready to be enlightened and revealed, we will see God face to face. Our Authentic Existence will reflect the glory of God and will be glorified by all the angels in heaven forever!

On the judgment Day, you are invited to the largest ever and one-of-a-kind heavenly banquet in Heaven. No matter who you are provided

• restless desire for the eternal life with hope;

• fervent hope for it with patience;

• enduring patience with what you believe in;

• unwavering confidence in what you desire for, and

• genuine living out your desire with love

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512706246

John Q.H. Dang

"John came from a dysfunctional family. He lived through the Vietnam War and was twice a refugee. He also lived under the Vietnamese communist regime for a number of years. He worked as a Catholic minister for six years. He left the ministerial work due to his physical, psychological, and spiritual crises. Having been recuperated from illness and anguish, he has written a book "In the Shadow of God's Wings I Rejoice!" based on his experience walking with the Suffering Servant, Jesus Christ. The book is simple and entertaining but also a powerful, biblically based guide to basic meditation, helping readers to develop the personal, intimate relationship with God that leads to inner peace and eternal life. He believes that his asset is not his education in philosophy, theology, and psychology but faith and hope in the Risen Lord. He holds that besides prayer and charity, affliction and involuntary sin can also empower us to develop a personal, intimate, relationship with God. He finds great comfort in Ephesians 2:8-9. He testifies that God the Father grants us eternal life, not because our good works that impress Him, but invincible faith in the Son, and fervent hope for eternal rest. He has been excited about and engrossed in writing his second book "The Heavenly Banquet." John is currently living in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada."

Book preview

In the Shadow

of God’s Wings

I Rejoice!

John Q.H. Dang

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Copyright © 2015 John Q.H. Dang.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-0625-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-0626-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-0624-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015912590

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/10/2020

Contents

Preface

Invitation to the Heavenly Banquet

Introduction

Chapter 1 – My Creator Reveals Himself to Me as My Father

Chapter 2 – My Father Makes Me One of a Kind

Chapter 3 – My God Adopts Me as His Own Son

Chapter 4 – My Father Nourishes Me with His Whole Being

Chapter 5 – My Father Consoles Me in My Affliction and Sin

Chapter 6 – My Father Comforts Me in My Battle with Sin

Chapter 7 – My Father Assures Me of The Everlasting Life

Chapter 8 – My Father Loves Me as I Am

Conclusion

You are invited to the Heavenly Banquet

About the Author

Preface

A decade ago, while reading Psalm 63, I was attracted to verse 7, In the shadow of God’s wings I rejoice! ¹ The line took hold of me, and I was suddenly inspired to write a book on it. My desire to do this never reduced. Nevertheless, I did not see a way to make this possible, and I found justifications for refusing the challenge. I did not have much to share with the public. I did not have the expertise to write a spiritual book. I was not an influential writer, and I wondered who would want to read my book. I could not imagine myself rejoicing when I was besieged by misfortune, ignorance, sickness, weakness, and sin. As a Christian, I viewed such a project with caution because I suspected my publishing desire could be a temptation to cynicism and narcissism. But anxiety, apathy and impassivity were my main reasons to put my thought aside until a decade later.

One morning, while walking in the bush I burst out enthusiathcally saying, I am going to write about my faith. Initially, I planned to write a journal to witness to myself about God’s love for me. But I was disturbed by the word witness. I wondered how I could witness to myself about God’s love in my affliction and sin without witnessing to others who might suffer the same way. Above all, publishing a hundred-thousand-word book was beyond my imagining.

To my surprise, as soon as I sat down and started organizing my thoughts, I was overwhelmed by ideas and memories. As I reflected on God’s intervention in each moment of my life, my heart leapt with joy. Although the flood of ideas sometimes kept me up at night, I welcomed them. I enjoyed the streams of grace that guided me to write and helped to lessen my despair. I believed God had been challenging me to testify to others about His love for sinners and for the afflicted.

Although I had overcome anxiety, apathy, impassivity, and other obstacles to writing a book, I was now confronted with theological and spiritual challenges. How could I share with readers the mystery of hope that surpassed my knowledge? How could I share my hope in God without also talking about the virtues of faith and love? How could I, a sinner, witness to others about these virtues when they touch on my principal weaknesses? How could I, being spiritually impaired, share with others the mystery of our loving Father, who is incomprehensible? How could I write a book that was simple and entertaining but also a serious, biblically based guide to basic meditation, helping readers to develop the personal, intimate relationship with God that leads to eternal life? I felt that I had been assigned to walk a tightrope while writing this book. I beseeched the almighty God to carry me as I took up this challenge. With vigilance, fear and trembling, I have completed this work.

God is our only hope in this life and in the next. Though we live in sin and distress, if we desire eternal life, we can still develop a personal, intimate relationship with God by living a life of hope in Jesus Christ. If we have hope in our eternal brother, we can gain the Father’s divine mercy regardless of who we are.

Invitation to the Heavenly Banquet

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

The eternal Father sincerely requests the honor of your presence at the heavenly banquet, which will be held on the judgment day. The banquet will celebrate the triumphant return of His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to save the living and the dead.

This first angel-man party will host my countless human children and will be the largest celebration held in the kingdom of God since the creation of the angels.

By the merit of the unfathomable divine mercy of the eternal Father, you are cordially invited to this one-of-a-kind banquet. The liturgical celebration chanted by the angel-man choir will be spectacular; the meal will be the most delicious ever offered; the reward to each person will be unique and interesting; the party will be exciting and entertaining. The agape God has been patiently waiting for you for all eternity, anticipating this most joyful day when His earthly children will have great fun with His angels.

Voicemail invitations have already been sent out to all of you. When you receive a voicemail in your conscience, you will be urged to activate it immediately so that I can start preparing you for the banquet. If the voicemail box in your conscience is full of junk mail, you might need to reactivate it a number of times. You can also call upon God directly from your inmost depth to receive special attention. I will dwell in you and show you the way to secure your reservation to the banquet.

Your loving Abba has assigned me to guide you in all your ways and to dress you up in unique and splendid attire for this celebration, provided you:

– have developed a good conscience,

– desire eternal life,

– fervently hope for it,

– are steadfast in what you believe,

– and have absolute confidence in your desire.

Eternally yours,

The Advocate

The Holy Spirit, the Third Divine Being,

Guardian of Those Being Formed for the Heavenly Banquet

(The invitation to the heavenly banquet is based on Proverbs 9:1–6, Isaiah 25:6–9, Matthew 8:11, 22:1–14, and 25:31–46. To make this banquet come true, we must develop unwavering faith and fervent hope in God. Sharing my way of developing a closer relationship with God is my purpose for publishing this book).

The truth is that life is short and death is

real, eternal, and sorrowful if man does

not have hope in the eternal God.

But

life is everlasting and death becomes celebratory

if man is willing to surrender his whole

being to God’s mercy and compassion!

Introduction

The truth is that life is short and death is real, eternal, and sorrowful. No human being has lived in this world forever. Scripture tells us that man’s ultimate happiness is determined by his hope in God. We have become preoccupied with this temporal life while overlooking or even deliberately ignoring the next life, which is eternal. Yet, we know that we cannot escape death and that we will die sooner or later, whether from an accident, an earthquake, burning, beheading, natural causes or other means. After we die, our souls will live forever, either in heaven or in hell. Scripture tells us that if man chooses to ignore God’s call to eternal salvation, which his inmost being perpetually desires, he will live his first life in despair and his second life in hell. In fact, a hopeless man’s first death is not as dreadful as his second death when he will be eternally condemned to hell. Psalm 18:4–5 (NIV) depicts man’s first death in despair: The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. ²

The psalmist advises us that if a dying person has developed hope in God, he can call upon Him for consolation: In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears (Psalm 18:6).

The psalmist also assures us that God will comfort a dying person who calls upon Him: He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me (Psalm 18:19–20).

If you are dying, you have certainly been busy with and distracted by things that must be prepared and resolved before departing from your family and friends. You also want answers to many questions such as: Why do tragedy and suffering besiege me? How do I explain to my loved ones that I am dying? How do I prepare a living will and a funeral service? How do I accomplish many more things before I can rest in peace? If you have these questions in mind, you probably fear death and do not know what to do with yourself.

When you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and are haunted by death, you might think that you can get support from family and friends. But you might sometimes experience their lack of sensitivity. For example, you might want your family and friends to reassure you that there is life after death. Instead, they might try to talk you into taking an easy way out of suffering by means of an unnatural and premature death, touting the so-called right to die. You might be tired of listening to those who keep reassuring you that you are fine and will live a long life when you know that you will die. You might also be tired of seeing the sad faces that remind you that you are dying and miserable. You certainly know that you are dying and miserable, so why do you need them to remind you of these?

You might sometimes want to be alone. But when you are alone, you feel lonely. When you seek comfort in television, you might sometimes wind up feeling discouraged. You see people traveling, eating, drinking, shopping, and having exciting birthday dinners with their loved ones while you are living in pain, dying and lonely. If you are elderly or dying, your circle of friends might change. You will be astonished when old friends and colleagues who used to flatter you no longer have time for you. While seeking support from people who lack sensitivity, you might overlook others who could become true friends, offering comfort in your affliction. One of your true friends is your Creator, your heavenly Daddy.

When you calm down and comtemplate the meaning of life, you will be amazed to see yourself differently. You start asking yourself, Where I originally came from? Why I was born into this world, and where I will go after death? By searching for meaning in life, you are drawn to your Creator, and realize that He has the answers and He loves you. You will no longer fear death because by abiding in Him you find meaning to live your life to the fullness.

Death is our ultimate destination, whether we are healthy or sick, rich or poor. Death will be horrible and disgraceful if we have no hope in God, but it will be cause for celebration if we have developed a child-father relationship with Him.

You will experience that your Abba Father walks with you in your distress. He is your last hope. You can develop and strengthen your relationship with Him by placing your hope in Him. To develop your relationship with Him, you will need His divine light to guide you because your natural light or reasoning is not enough to comprehend the mystery of your Father. You must beseech Him to bestow upon you the light of faith so you can walk and communicate with Him effectively.

If you have developed unwavering confidence in your Father, you can beg Him to forgive all your sins and implore Him to grant you eternal life because nothing will be impossible with God (Luke 1:37). ³ If you desire to join the one-of-a-kind heavenly party on the last day, you must fervently hope for it. If you are steadfast in what you believe, your desire will be granted.

I am John Dang, a sinner but a happy one. My sole purpose in writing this book is to share with you my way of developing a personal, intimate relationship with God leading to eternal life. If you would like to search for God and develop an intimate relationship with Him, you might find this book helpful. You might draw hope from this book if you fear imminent death. Moreover, you might find this book consoling if you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and expect to die shortly. You might also find in this book the power to change your mind if you have been considering terminating your life by means of euthanasia. And above all, you might find in this book the power to change your heart when you discover the invaluable treasure concealed in the sting of suffering and death.

When you read this book and contemplate its messages with persistent prayers, you will be opened to grace that will eventually change your despair into hope for this world and the next. If you are willing to develop a personal, intimate relationship with God, you will live a meaningful life on earth while looking forward to returning home in heaven where you will live joyfully forever.

The book is designed for all levels of Christian and non-Christian readers. It contains many powerful biblical passages that will remind you of God’s love for you. It constantly draws your attention to Psalm 63:7, which assures you that each human person can rejoice in the shadow of God’s wings even though he or she lives in anguish and sin.

To develop absolute confidence in

the Father’s divine mercy,

you must go beyond your limitations

to hope for what you believe in.

If you have fervent faith and hope

in the Son, even though

what you wish might be impossible and

what you hold on to might be unreasonable,

your inmost desires will be granted by

the Father with divine assurance.

Chapter 1

My Creator Reveals Himself

to Me as My Father

Human nature is weak and fragile; our ultimate destiny is sickness and death. This is a fundamental truth. No human person has lived forever, except Jesus Christ, who is from God. Our end in sickness and death is real, whether we are rich or poor, ready or not. As Job says, Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised (Job 1:21).

Everyone will experience death sooner or later. On the television news, we see countless people get sick and die each day. We might suffer a shocking accident and believe we are about to die. As a teenager, I was nearly suffocated after falling out of a coconut tree. As a refugee, I struggled to survive on the Pacific Ocean for three days and three nights after my boat’s engine malfunctioned.

We may also experience a brush with death in dreams. I once dreamed that I was standing just twenty feet away from a giant tornado. I thought I would die but I was not ready for death. From age eight to twelve, I had a recurring dream that a high mountain blocked me from reaching my eternal rest. I felt extremely lonely every time I awoke from this dream. I am sure you also have had dreams about your death.

In the past, death frightened me, which, for years, impelled me to search for the meaning of life. But even after I found it, I still feared death. I knew that God was my heavenly Father. I also knew that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, died for my sins so that I might live forever. But I continued to fear death until a few years ago. I now realize that knowing the meaning of life does not reduce my fear. In fact, trying to cope with this fear by giving meaning to death could be self-deceptive unless I live out that meaning in God. I have learned through experience that God walks with me at every moment to better prepare me for everlasting life.

I have been learning to develop a personal, intimate relationship with God and have experienced that the more I search for God, the better I come to know Him. But I also feel that the better I get to know Him, the farther away I am from Him. Yet, with faith and hope, I realize that God is ever closer to me, even though I do not feel Him.

I have been learning to place my hope in God, but that does not mean I find my earthly life hopeless. On the contrary, I enjoy my earthly life, not so much in the material sense but in the spiritual sense when I learn to live out the meaning of my life. I enjoy my beautiful life on earth, but I also look forward to my last days here because I want to go home. I know that I cannot escape death and will die eventually. I might as well pray for the grace to enjoy my last breath on earth, whether from an earthquake, an accident, natural causes, beheading, burning or other means.

I have promised myself that I will laugh heartily when I see my Father face to face for the first time, because I believe that my Creator will be greatly entertained when He finally greets His favored idiot, whom He has been awaiting for all eternity. I earnestly desire to live eternally with my Creator because He has eternally desired to love me. He wants me to love Him and to be loved by Him. Having lived all these years on earth, making countless mistakes and committing many sins, I realize that my heavenly Father has been incredibly patient with me.

God has thought about me for all eternity. He has not enjoyed seeing me sin, but He has wept for me and has been patient with me. It is beyond my imagining that the omnipotent God has been crying over my sins for eternity and has been waiting for me to come home. It is also beyond my reasoning that the omniscient God waited through eternity for me to be born into this world so that I could learn to love Him one step at a time. I have no idea why it means so much to the Father to hear me ask for the first time, Does God exist? And it makes no sense to me that He should want so much to have me say to Him, Abba Father, I love you!

Scripture tells me that the Son of the living God died for my sins to redeem me from eternal damnation so that I may live forever in Him. He has been waiting for me to finally admit that I am fed up with my sins and to cry aloud, Father, forgive me, for I have sinned against you and my neighbors. I have been trying to love my Father even though I have no idea how to love Him without hurting Him. I can only tell my Father that I love Him so His Spirit dwelling in me will love Him on my behalf. I love Him by expressing my desire to be with Him for eternity. I desire to go home to my Abba Father even though I do not know which way I should take and what I should do with myself. But I do know that my Abba knows the way because He knows me better than I know myself. After all, He created my being and knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).

Knowing the true meaning of life from the gospel can help us understand why we are suffering, but this may only satisfy our curiosity. By living out the true meaning of life with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), we can develop a personal, intimate relationship with God. If we know that there is life after death, we might say, So what? But if we have established a personal, intimate relationship with God, our souls will cry aloud from their inmost depths, I hope to go home.

Before we explore how to develop a personal, intimate relationship with God, we should reflect on the following questions: Does God exist? Who is God? What does He want us to do for Him?

The existence of God

No doubt, most people living on this planet believe in God though they worship Him in different ways. Some people who claim to be atheists believe in God through their consciences. Others believe in His existence through common sense:

• Causality: How can the universe, regardless of whether it is developed through evolution, exist by itself?

• Natural laws: How can physical bodies such as the sun and the moon behave in certain ways all the time, year after year, without natural laws to guide them? How can trees, flowers, and fruit grow in harmony within the order of the four seasons without an intelligent universal engineer?

• The beauty of nature: How can flowers, trees, oceans, rivers, and creatures, including human beings, have such loveliness and allure without a powerful artist?

• Conscience: How does a human person know what is morally good without being guided by a being who is perfect?

Who is our God?

Our God is the God of the universe. He is a mystery and can never be fully known to humanity. Yet, out of love, He reveals Himself to us. He does this indirectly through nature and explicitly through the Bible. In the Old Testament, God reveals Himself to the people of Israel as the Creator of heaven and earth. He has created us so we may have life forever. Because our original parents, Adam and Eve, chose death, the power of death has conquered the world; as a result, we all die. In Old Testament times, the living God consoled our ancestors through the prophets. In the New Testament era, the living God saves us and comforts us directly through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. So we understand that God’s first loving act for humanity is creation; His second act is salvation. To abide in Christ is to live in harmony with the justice of God.⁴ Throughout history, countless Christians and non-Christians have died for the sake of justice. People who follow Jesus Christ are called Christians. But our God does not belong to Christians. He belongs to all men and women.

The nature of God

In the Bible, God reveals Himself to us as a self-existing being (Exodus 3:14). He is created by no other gods (Isaiah 45:5). Our God is immortal, for He is not the God of the dead but of the living (Matthew 22:32). God is holy (Revelation 15:4). He is all-powerful and all-knowing (Daniel 2:20–23). He is the Creator of heaven and earth (Genesis 1, 2). He can do whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3). Although He hates sin, He saves us from our sinful acts (Genesis 50:20). The nature of our Creator is love (1 John 4:7, 19). He is merciful and compassionate, providing sunlight and rain for the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). He is also the Redeemer (Isaiah 54:5–8). Our God is a triune God, who is one in three divine beings—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who is also called the Advocate (John 10:30, 14:16, 26). Each divine being is unique, but the three are one inseparable God. Unlike the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is true God and true man by virtue of His taking on human flesh and being born of the Virgin Mary (John 1:1–18).

The Catholic Nicene Creed below reminds us that the three divine beings express their love for one another by serving humanity. The Father creates us for the Son; the Son redeems us for the Father; the Holy Spirit sanctifies us for the Father and the Son:

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. ⁵

What does God want from humanity?

God wants us to return home. He wants us to know who we are, where we originally came from, and what we need to do to have life forever. In modern times, we have different ways of interpreting and understanding the meaning of life, but I like the old, simple way because it is easy to grasp and to remember:

Question: Why are you born into this world?

Answer: To worship God in order to save my soul.

Question: What does it mean to worship God?

Answer: It means to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him.

Question: What does it mean to save my soul?

Answer: It means that after my death, I will not lose my soul in hell but will have everlasting joy with my God in heaven.

God-man relationship is developed through

Christian virtues

Christian virtues include but are not limited to justice, courage, humility, temperance, poverty, simplicity, faith, hope, and love (charity, agape). I will elaborate on faith and hope in this and the following chapters.

Due to the original-sin infection, human beings were deprived of a share in God’s eternal rest. But Jesus Christ died on the cross as a ransom for our sins to redeem us from eternal damnation. Through baptism, human beings once again become God’s adopted children and are invited to return home to share His life and His glory. Unfortunately, weakened by the original wound, we are born partly deaf and blind to the divine and may have problems recognizing God, who constantly speaks to us. For this reason, God initiates His healing process by bestowing upon us the gifts of faith and hope so that we can hear His Word and see His work, and follow Him.

God bestows upon us the gifts of faith and hope to help us develop a personal relationship with Him. Faith and hope are virtues because they are also our gifts to God insofar as we respond by showing confidence in Him and clinging to Him. Faith and hope are gifts awarded to us for our eternal salvation. If we fail to live them out in our daily lives, we may be vulnerable to temptation and sin. If we do not abandon our minds and our wills to God, we may be tempted to surrender ourselves directly or indirectly to the Devil. Then our destiny will be eternal death. Therefore, praying for the gifts of faith and hope and living out these virtues are our utmost responsibilities.

Our eternal salvation will be achieved through our personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. As Scripture says: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God chooses to glorify us through His Son, Jesus Christ; we choose to glorify God by following our Lord in His way. Jesus laid down His life on the cross for our salvation. We respond to the Father’s call by abandoning ourselves to Christ and by living a life in accord with His commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37–39).

But how do we know the ways to love God and our neighbors? The light of faith and hope shows us.

What is faith and what is the relationship between faith and hope? Faith has two meanings: believe in the truth and trust in God. ⁶ The truth is that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is our life and salvation. To believe in Christ is to trust Him and to follow Him. If we have faith in Christ, we desire Him and hope to be with Him. If we live in faith and hope, we live in the state of grace. The grace of God inspires us and empowers us to develop the personal, intimate relationship with Him that leads us to eternal life.

According to Saint Paul, … faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). If faith is the reality of what we know but do not see, hope is the reality of what we desire but have not yet attained. If the triune God bestows upon us the light of faith and hope, His Spirit dwells in us and shows us the way to Him.