When Jesus spoke to the church in Smyrna, He did not promise them a life without pressure. He said, “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer” (Revelation 2:10) and He told them plainly that some would be cast into prison so that they would be tried. That does not sound like the modern gospel of convenience, but it is the voice of the Master who has passed through death and is now alive for evermore. James says the man that endures temptation will receive a crown of life (James 1:12). God does not waste suffering. Every pressure that meets you inside a vital union with Christ is meant to end in praise, honour and glory, not disgrace.
If you will grow in fruitfulness, you must have settled some decisions and buried them. There are matters that must be closed in your spirit so that you are no longer negotiating them with the devil. You settle that you will live by faith, even if it means standing when it is not popular. You settle that you will walk in holiness, even if it means losing some relationships. You settle that you will obey God, even when obedience looks like the slower road. The Lord told Smyrna to be faithful unto death. That is not only about physical martyrdom. It is a call to an attitude that says, “Satan, even if I must stand on this promise for as long as it takes, I am not backing down.” Many believers stand for a short while and then collapse when the answer delays.
The problem is not that faith does not work, the problem is that they did not stay long enough on the faith lane.
As we move further into this new year, God is looking for men and women who will not only shout hallelujah in church but will stand with Him on Monday morning when the furnace is hot. The three Hebrew boys told the king that even if God did not deliver them, they would still not bow. That is the kind of posture that makes the devil afraid of you. Faithfulness unto death is not stubbornness in your own will, it is stubborn loyalty to the will of God as revealed by the Holy Spirit and the word. Check your life today. Where have you been treating obedience as a trial arrangement that you can cancel if it becomes uncomfortable? As you stay in vital union with Jesus, settle your decisions, and refuse to give up, the same pressures that threatened to break you will become the pathway by which you wear your own crown of life.
THOUGHT TO PONDER: What decisions about faith, obedience and holiness do I still keep on the negotiation table whenever pressure comes, instead of settling them once and for all before God?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, deliver me from the fear of suffering and from a weak, unstable heart. Help me to settle my decisions in Your will and to stay faithful until the end in every assignment You give me. Amen.
BIBLE IN A YEAR:
Genesis 46:1-47:31; Matthew 15:1-28; Psalm 19:1-14; Proverbs 4:14-19
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