HOLD FAST IN HOPE

“Let us HOLD FAST the confession of OUR HOPE without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” – Hebrews 10:23

God’s pertinent mandate for every Believer Today is to HOLD FAST in HOPE: “Let us HOLD FAST the confession of OUR HOPE without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb.10:23). Hope is confident expectation in the Lord and in His intention and ability to bring to pass something good in our future. So, we must hang in there come what may. Hope defeats despair and enables us to stand in Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. God is saying to His children: “Hang on in there”!

Yes, times may come when our bodies are extremely exhausted, our minds heavily burdened, and our hearts so depleted that we’re merely hanging to life by a thread. At such times we know God is with us, but may not find the words to tell Him what we need: times when one is worn out and worn down, wordless and weary; stretched thin or poured out; distressed and discouraged, carrying the ache of a sapped soul and an anguished heart. But that’s when God loves to show up!

God’s special way is to show up through His Word: “For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]…” (Heb.4:12a, AMP). The moment the Word begins to seep into our weary souls, Hope begins to rise! His Word releases power and might to the weak body; activates, enlivens, and strengthens the sapped soul; and energizes the fatigued mind. Sometimes, simply meditating on or declaring just one verse of scripture or singing a psalm or refrain of praise will lift the sagging spirit and buoy the haggard heart with Hope. Anxiety suddenly turns into peace.

With the entrance of the Word, Light flushes out darkness (Psa.119:130). Our circumstances may not immediately change, but something within us does. We may still be stretched, but we are no longer sinking. We may still be poured out, but we are no longer empty. We may still be fatigued, but no longer drained. As we to hold on to God’s promises, we’ll progress to see His promises upholding us. That’s the wonder of God’s Word: It sustains us and supports us. It restores us and remakes us. And when we take hold of its truth, the Truth holds us, too, especially when we are tested almost to the breaking point!

The Christian walk is not always a smooth journey, but no matter how rough, tough, or what comes our way, we can persevere in Hope: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph.6:18). Jesus exemplified such kind of Hope: “But Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we HOLD FAST the confidence and the rejoicing of the HOPE FIRM to the END” (Heb.3:6). We should follow in His footsteps of enduring Hope: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us HOLD FAST our confession” (Heb.4:14). We can keep hanging on against all odds!

As humans, we are constantly in a battle against our mortality, the limitations of our physical bodies, and the wear and tear that comes with aging. Moreover, persevering, waiting on God, and enduring for Christ’s sake are not comfortable; and the tendency would be for us to try to bypass the disciplines of the Christian walk and skip into the Promised Land. We can’t afford to lose hope or give up on ourselves and on God’s promises, because God will never give up on us: “He who promised is faithful”! We must not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some” (v.25a). As we abide in Christ and in Zion, the Lord will walk with us, giving us strength to hold fast and firm in Hope!