by George Runyan | Nov 23, 2014 | Devotional, George Runyan
Hebrews 12:28-29 – We receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.
The writer of Hebrews had been speaking of “the unshaken kingdom.” He admonishes the reader not to refuse the Lord who is speaking from heaven like those of old refused the one who spoke from earth, chiefly Moses and the Law. The ground shook when God spoke from the mountain to Israel. God promised to shake not only the earth, but heaven as well. The Lord indicates the removing of things that can be shaken. He also declares there are things which cannot be shaken. It is in this context the writer assures us that we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken.
As a believer our attitude should be one of gratitude. If we are in Christ Jesus through faith in His finished work in the cross, then we have been made partakers of an “unshakable kingdom.” No matter what happens around us, we are firmly established in Him. Shaking will take place. There are those things which will be consumed, “for our God is a consuming fire.” His eternal plans for His kids are settled. From this truth and our understanding, gratitude should dominate our life. From that gratitude flows – “an acceptable service.” The service the writer is addressing is a life of praise and worship.
Gratitude cannot be worked up, but is an attitude of the heart that comes from the knowledge of who we are in Christ Jesus the Lord. It is knowledge that we have a heavenly Father who has given us all things that cannot be removed for His praise and glory. With that knowledge firmly established, praise and worship becomes a constant in our life. TO READ MORE, PLEASE CLICK THE TITLE ABOVE. TO PURCHASE YOUR COPY OF “A DAILY DEVOTIONAL CLICK THE COVER.
by George Runyan | Nov 22, 2014 | Devotional, George Runyan
Hebrews 12:5 – My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.
This section of Scripture is one of the strongest affirmations of the Father’s love toward every believer. The phrase “my son” carries with it a very strong commitment of love. For Father God to address us as sons puts us on an equal level with Christ. Because of Christ’s sacrifice of His life for our sins, we have access to the Father as sons of God. This includes believing women, much the same way as believing men become part of the bride of Christ.
The writer begins his thoughts early in verse 4 saying, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.” In short, he is saying that Jesus shed His blood to deal with the issue of sin. You have not lost your life battling sin. Then he reminds his readers of the Lord’s exhortation found in Proverbs 3:11: “My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof.” Do we understand that hardships are really opportunities for the Lord to develop us as mature sons of God? As one grows older, it becomes easier to identify how the Lord used difficulties to develop a Christ-centered maturity in our life. The difficult times were really instruction times from God used to train us.
Solomon reminds us, “If you are slack in the day of distress, your strength is limited” (Proverbs 24:10). The word slack means “to give up.” Lack of strength means “not understanding God’s purpose in the times of trouble.” Trouble can prepares us to endure to the end. The Lord does not discipline our lives in order to cause us to give up, but rather for us to learn how to endure. Because He loves us, He instructs us by the pressures and trials of life. Even when He finds it necessary to punish us, it is always with a view toward our benefit. CLICK THE TITLE ABOVE TO READ MORE.
by George Runyan | Nov 21, 2014 | Devotional, George Runyan
Hebrews 12:3 – Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
When life becomes difficult through many trials and tribulations, especially personal attacks because of your faith in Christ, it becomes easy to grow weary and lose heart. This was the case for these Jewish believers. These believing Jews were the “remnant” who trusted Christ. The majority of their fellow Jews rejected Messiah’s Day. That majority made it very difficult on the remnant that trusted the good news of the Gospel of Christ’s overcoming kngdom.
As believers, we have faith in Christ’s finished work through His cross. We also trust in the promised future resurrection of all believers and His glorious return with His saints to judge all unrighteousness. By faith, we receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father. When persecution and resistance comes to our faith, it can cause a shaking. When our expectations are delayed, this too can cause us to lose heart as these precious saints were experiencing. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). The life of faith walks between these two tensions, “hope deferred and desire fulfilled.”
Our author speaks to us as he says, “consider Him.” Jesus’ life is our example. Jesus’ life in us is our hope. Paul exhorts each believer, “Put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him” (Colossians 3:10). Read Colossians and receive Paul’s instructions and his understandings of our battle. We must take action and “put on the new self.” His life is present, but by faith we must put it on day by day. In each new challenge, make it your habit to turn to God your Father and in Jesus’ name through the power of the Holy Spirit, put on the mind of Christ. You might ask, “How is that done?”. TO READ MORE – CLICK THE TITLE ABOVE.
by George Runyan | Nov 20, 2014 | Devotional, George Runyan
Hebrews 12:2 – Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (KJV).
Do we see Jesus simply as a part of history or perhaps an important religious figure? Is he a theological figure in the New Testament to us, a great teacher? Perhaps we have embraced Him as our personal Savior. In today’s Scripture, the writer says we are to “fix our eyes” on the Lord Jesus. Further, He is the “author and finisher of our faith.” Everything begins with Him and ends with Him. In the book of Revelation, Jesus calls Himself, “the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev. 1:8). John the Apostle calls Jesus, “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5).
Consider the instruction, “fixing our eyes on Jesus.” How often is He looked to first? How much time do believers spend thinking about Jesus and His human expression of God’s love lived out in our midst. He is our example. More than that, His life resides in the believer through the power of the Holy Spirit. A believer has a moment-by-moment choice: draw from the old self or receive from the new life rooted in Jesus Christ.
Fixing our eyes means more than to look upon. Obviously, we do not physically see Jesus, but we can look upon Him as the one who completely lived out the Father’s will. We can read and meditate on His word, and we can see the results for those who have trusted Him throughout their life.
Jesus authored our faith. The word finisher in the KJV means “perfected.” In order to fix our eyes on Jesus, we must read, study, and meditate upon the Word of God. We must learn what the author of our faith has said. Because He has already run the course and finished it, we can receive faith that leads to hope as we now run the course by His life that dwells in us. As He finished well, we too can finish well if we stay fixed upon Him. READ MORE BY CLICKING THE TITLE ABOVE.
by George Runyan | Nov 19, 2014 | Devotional, George Runyan
Hebrews 12:1 – Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.
The writer of Hebrews pulls all of his thoughts together in this verse. The fact is, many have gone before us, which walked through challenges, temptations, and impossible circumstances. If they overcame, we can overcome too, because the one they were looking for has come. Sin is a nuisance for the believer, but it can be conquered in the power of Christ’s life giving Spirit. Jesus Christ overcame sin and the devil. He overcame living in His flesh. When He was tempted by the devil, as recorded in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, He overcame by the Word of God. The devil tempted Him in the three major areas of a human’s life. He overcame in His spirit, His soul, and His body.
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, set an example for us in how He resisted the evil one and served the purpose of His heavenly Father. Jesus was able to overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit which has been poured out for all flesh. God the Father, through faith in Christ’s finished work, has given us the promise of the “Gift of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 24:49). It will take the “power of the Holy Spirit” to overcome the flesh and the devil (Acts 1:8).
In the Book of Hebrews the cloud of witnesses were all Old Testament saints who by faith, looked for Messiah’s Day. As we look back, the cloud of witnesses has greatly increased. It includes the saints of the first century and many others down through the centuries to our present time that are with the Lord and will come with Him when He returns to judge all unrighteousness. TO READ MORE, PLEASE CLICK TITLE ABOVE.
