Don\’t Draw Back!
Scripture: Hebrews 10:35-39
Cast not away therefore your confidence [your precious of faith], which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Obviously, there is a reward that accompanies the lifestyle and acts of faith which the Lord requires of His children, as we see even more clearly in The Living Bible translation of this passage:
Do not let this happy trust in the Lord die away, no matter what happens. Remember your reward! You need to keep on patiently doing God\’s will if you want him to do for you all that he has promised.
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrews 10:38,39-
But the just shall live by faith [My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man\’s relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it]; and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him.But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by faith preserve the soul.
What the writer is saying here is, \”I have drawn a line in my life and I refuse to step back from it. For me to do so would be to compromise what I know to be true from the Word of God. Satan has a way of stepping right over our lines and intimidate us with sickness or poverty or catastrophe or anything it takes to make us back down and give up without a fight. One way or another, Satan is going to put us to the test to see if we are really serious about taking a stand of faith and not drawing back. If we have any tendency at all to compromise, the devil will soon find it out. And so will the Lord.
Our heavenly Father is longsuffering, but He has declared that He has no pleasure in those who take a stand and then draw back from it. On the other hand, it pleases God when He finds a person who will stand firm in faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please him [God]. We cannot please the Lord if we do not live by faith. But even if we live by faith, we will not be pleasing to Him if we fail to pass down to future generations the marvellous heritage of faith that has been bestowed upon us.
PRAYER.
Casting Down Imaginations
If you are to fulfil your divine destiny, you must be prepared to engage in spiritual warfare. The blessings of the Lord don\’t come easily or automatically. They are not going to just fall upon you from heaven like a ripe apple out of a tree. You are going to have to take your sword, the Word of the living God, and hew your way through the demonic forces that are trying to stop you from receiving God\’s best in your life. Jesus defeated the devil on the cross so that believers can exercise the authority over Satan Jesus provided for them. You are going to have to stand in that victory, warring a good warfare by \”holding faith and a good conscience.
Father, though I live in the world, I do not wage war as the world does. The weapons I fight with have divine power to demolish strongholds — arguments and every pretence that sets itself up against the knowledge of You. I take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
In the name of Jesus, I ask You, Father, to bless those who have spitefully used me. Whenever I refuse to take on fear, terror, and dread into my bosom. I will trust in You. When I reject feel miserable, I express thanksgiving; and when I feel that life is unfair, I will remember that You are more than enough. When the enemy attacks me with shame remind me that I wear your glory. I am delivered from the fear of disgrace; I will not be humiliated. I relinquish the shame of my youth. It is well with my soul, for You have redeemed me. You have called me by name.
I am in Your will for my life at this time, being transformed through the renewing of my mind. I am able to test and approve [for myself ] what Your will is — Your good and acceptable and perfect will. You have good things reserved for my future. All my needs are met according to Your riches in glory. I replace all worry about anything with prayer and thanksgiving.
You are love, and perfect love casts out fear. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scripture References
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV Luke 6:28; Isaiah 43:1 KJV; 54:4 NIV Romans 12:2 KJV, AMP
Jeremiah 29:11 AMP Philippians 4:19; 1 Peter 5:7; 1 John 4:8,18.