Stand Tall For Jesus

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

STAND TALL FOR JESUS

Heb 10:32-39

32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."   39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

NIV

Once again it would be sad to break this up and only deal with a portion of this truth. Do we all remember that first few months or years of being saved? Was not our faith so full that we believed God for everything and anything? And did He not fulfill our every need? Life was exciting and energetic full of miracles and provisions from the hand of God. And there were the old people content to stand up on testimony Sunday and say, “Praise God, I have been in the way thirty five years”. The excitement, the enthusiasm was gone; the expectation of miracles was no longer in their eyes and their voice. Their trust in God for all they will ever need was replaced with retirement accounts, investment, and the accumulation of material goods for later years. Have we become like them? Have we thrown away our confidence? No, we must not allow that to happen. We must continue to put all our trust and confidence in our God. He has provided salvation; He has provided all we will ever need. All the world has to offer is temporary things, but God offers eternal life. We cannot afford to be distracted by the world, getting sidetracked about things, about our stuff, about our own sense of security. Nothing is secure except God. If we are to be considered among the righteous we need to live by faith, faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ for our life, for our salvation, for everything. Even if we are living by faith another question is, have we silenced our testimony so as to not be publicly exposed to insult and persecution? Can we live in faith in silence? It would seem that is not the case. We need to continue to stand our ground, stand up tall and hold fast to our faith out loud, speaking the Word of God to the world. Yes, if they do not believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, if they are not born again, they will not go to heaven but instead be cast into the lake of fire which is the second death and be destroyed. Out loud, Stand up, be seen, be heard and if we are mistreated for the sake of the Gospel, Praise God! We need to persevere and we will receive what God has promised. We cannot be among those who shrink back; we must be among those who stand tall for Jesus.