Hold On part 2
We think we are holding on to God... but really God is holding on to us. And He will never let us go. So we can rest assured that no matter what we have to go through... we WILL get through it. Praise be to the Lord who can (and will, and does) keep us from falling. Guys. We don't have to keep falling down and struggling back to our feet. We can break the cycle. We can let JESUS break the cycle. HE holds us up. HE keeps us from falling. And our part--our only part--is simply to be grateful for who He is and what He's done for us. To live with an attitude of gratitude. To receive and release what we've been given. To experience and enjoy what we've been given by sharing it. By giving it away. Yesterday I quoted Hebrews 6:3. Today I want to really hone in on the phrase "...if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing..." Because that's what it means to hold on to love. Have confidence in it. Rejoice in it. Don't chase it. Don't try to get it. But know and believe that you have it. Again: Receive it and release it. Don't try to get it. Know that you have it. Look at 1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." That's the ONLY battle that we're supposed to fight on this side of the cross. Because Jesus--on the cross--fought and won the war to end all wars. That means there are no more wars. The only thing we have to do is lay hold of the gift we've already been given. Not getting. Receiving what we've already got. Receiving and releasing. Receiving BY releasing. Releasing by receiving. We hold on to God's love... by letting it go. By giving it away. With confidence and joy. There is no fear in love, because perfect love casts out fear. So we don't have to be afraid to lose what we've got. We're connected to the unlimited source. Literally the God who IS love. He lives in us. He has filled us up with Himself. And all we need to do is fill ourselves up to overflowing with what we've been filled with. All we need to do is let God love us, and then love Him back by loving the people that we come into contact with. Lay hold of the gift of eternal life that we have already been given. By fighting the good fight of FAITH. By knowing it and believing it. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God--which is Jesus, which is love. When you hear that still, small voice of God deep inside your heart saying "I love you, I love you, I love you" with every beat of His heart in your chest... that's where faith comes from. It doesn't come from wanting something. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The substance. When your desire is manifested. When God shows His love to you. Proves His love to you. That's when you can have faith in it. When you know that it's real. So the way we hold on to God is by knowing and believing that He is holding on to us. The way we lay hold of the gift that we've already been given is by fighting the good fight of faith. Letting God love us, knowing and believing that He loves us, and loving Him back by loving each other! That's what we hold on to. That's what is holding on to us. LOVE!