Holding Fast
January 08, 2014
How are you feeling on day 3 of our SUMite community fast? Are you a little shaky? Hang in there. In fact (please forgive the pun), hold fast to the Lord.
If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow – to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him – then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. — Deuteronomy 11:22-23
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens – Jesus the Son of God – let us hold fast to the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time. — Hebrews 4:14-16
Jesus knows our hearts. The Sprit intercedes and He knows our every thought. He understands our situations and has been tempted as we are tempted. (Matthew 4 tells about Him being tempted after a long fast when He was physically weak. So, let’s be on the alert in case Satan tries to take advantage of our hunger this week.)
We can trust Him. We can trust Him with our problems. We can trust Him to give us good advice. We can trust Him to give us strength.
Whatever we you are praying about during this fast, He hears you. The scripture above tells us that we can ask anything of Him. There have been times that I have not even known what to ask for… the situation was too overwhelming for me to get my head around. You know what I did? I just took the whole situation to Him. I didn’t even ask for anything. I was too tired. I just held onto Him. (OK. I cried a lot first.) Then, I prayed something like this, “Here it is. It’s ugly. I don’t know what to do. It is tearing me up.” Our King is mighty. He has a better idea of how to handle things than I do. Do you know what happened? The situation changed favorably in ways that I could not have imagined. Oh, what a great God we have.
Hold fast to the Lord. Think about this as we fast and pray this week. Christ also prayed for us.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world, so I have sent them into the world. — John 17:15-18
Don’t you love knowing that Christ prays for us? And, as we mentioned yesterday with Psalm 23, He calls us to be in the world. We are sprinkled among pre-believers like lights on a Christmas tree. We just have to stay “plugged in” to the Word and God’s power.
Conversation
Please add a comment below. What helps you to hold fast to the Lord? Is this different during times of difficulty vs times that seem ordinary and routine?
What do you think about our calling to be in the world, although we are separate from it?
Prayer
Abba, Father, we praise you. Thank You for showing us such great love. Thank You for sending Christ to not only die as a sacrifice for our sins, but also as an example of how to live on this earth. Thank You for Your constant presence. We can reach out to You with a prayer at any time. This gives us such great comfort, strength, and confidence. Prepare our hearts for eternity. Help us each day to live as a shining example of Your love so that our pre-believers come to know you.