(Rev 3:11-12) “Behold, I am coming quickly! 1HOLD FAST what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God…”1to use strength to seize or retain.
(Jude 1:3) “…it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly 2contend for the faith…” 2to struggle for
(2 Timothy 4:7-8) “I have FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and NOT TO ME ONLY but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
(1 Corinthians 9:25 NIV) “Everyone who competes in the games goes into STRICT TRAINING. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that WILL LAST FOREVER.” Crown: the eternal blessedness which will be given as a prize to the servants of Jesus Christ: the crown (wreath) which is the reward of the righteousness of the saints
We have a battle on our hands! Do we have any kind of guarantee the we will be victorious? (James 4:6-8) He gives MORE GRACE. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but GIVES GRACE to the HUMBLE.” SUBMIT yourselves therefore to God. RESIST the devil, and he will flee from you. DRAW NEAR to God, and he will DRAW NEAR to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Is grace a weapon?
(Philippians 2:12-13) “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for IT IS GOD WHO 3WORKS IN YOU both TO WILL and TO DO for His good pleasure.” 3energeo: to be active, to be mighty in.
(1 Corinthians 15:10) “…I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but THE GRACE OF GOD THAT WAS WITH ME.“
(Philippians 2:13) “…it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
It is God’s grace that gives us the desire (to will) and the power (to do) His will. It is His pleasure. We are and were created FOR HIS PLEASURE.
(Psalms 16:11) “At His right hand are pleasures forevermore…” (Psalms 139:10) “…YOUR right hand shall HOLD ME.”
JUST THINK; IT IS GOD’S PLEASURE TO HOLD US IN HIS HAND.
-Bill Stockham