Faith: Courageous Confidence In God

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial.
Revelation 3:10

Near the end of a long run, the weary but determined jogger is sorely tempted to ease up, to quit a few steps early. But the mind has ways of overcoming the muscles, and a few dozen steps later he reaches the finish line. He has done what his body told him it was impossible to do.

Revelation 3 speaks of the goal of patience that seems unreachable to many believers. And yet it is a goal that God is committed to developing in the lives of his children.

Oswald Chambers gives insight into the relationships between patience, confidence and faith.

WALK WITH OSWALD CHAMBERS
“Patience is more than endurance. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and he stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says, ‘I can’t stand anymore.’

“But trust yourself in God’s hands. Maintain your confidence in Jesus Christ by the patience of faith. You cannot see him just now; you cannot understand all he is doing, but you know him.

“Shipwreck occurs where there is not that mental poise which comes from being established on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the heroic effort of your life, as you fling yourself in reckless confidence on God.

“God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us; now he wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in him.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
God calls you to trust him even as you are being stretched to the limit. Patience comes when you look ahead and see God waiting at the finish line of life. He is the one who controls all the circumstances, knows the limits of your endurance and will reward you at the end.

You can be confident he’ll finish the good work he has begun in you (see Philippians 1:6).