(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 (encourage) you that you should earnestly 2contend for the faith…” 2to struggle for.
(2 Tim. 4:7-8) “I have fought [to struggle, to contend] a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Finally there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto ALL THEM also that love his appearing.”
(1 Corin. 9:25) “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 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 He says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto 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.”
Is grace a weapon? (Phil. 2:12-13) “…WORK OUT your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both TO WILL and TO 3DO of his good pleasure.” 3energeo: to be active, TO BE MIGHTY in
(1 Corin. 15:10) “…I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the GRACE OF GOD which WAS WITH ME.”
It is God’s grace that gives us the desire (to will) and the power (to do) to do His will. It is His pleasure. We are and were created for His pleasure (Rev 4:11) At His right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psa. 16:11) “…your right hand shall hold me.” (Psa. 139:10)
JUST THINK WILL; IT IS GOD’S PLEASURE TO HOLD US IN HIS HAND…
-Bill Stockham