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.
by George Runyan | Nov 18, 2014 | Devotional, George Runyan
Hebrews 10:35-37 – Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
Confidence comes from trusting in the Lord no matter what our circumstances look like. These Hebrew Christians needed to be encouraged in God’s absolutes because of the severe persecution they were enduring. It is difficult to keep your eye on the prize when you are being beat up on every side. Every believer goes through difficulties in their spiritual journey. Some have more challenges than others. Some believers have become discouraged and quit trying; others have been pulled into a fringe type group not teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.
As believers, we have been given promises by God. We all need endurance to keep going until we receive the promise. This is the life of faith. In the case of these Hebrew believers, the promise the writer is addressing is the return of Christ. “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:12-13). CLICK TITLE ABOVE TO READ MORE.
by George Runyan | Nov 17, 2014 | Devotional, George Runyan
Hebrews 10:26 – If we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
The writer of Hebrews gives this severe warning based upon what he had previously written concerning the “one-time offering of the sacrifice of Christ.” Remember, these Jewish believers considered returning back to their Judaism because of the severity of the persecution they were experiencing. The writer of Hebrews established the truth of the “one-time sacrifice of Christ” as the finished work of God. There remains no more sacrifice, only a fearful looking ahead to judgment.
The threefold purpose of the will of God can be seen in a summary of the New Testament:
Christ’s sacrifice and the power of His resurrection
The coming of the Holy Spirit to bring forth God’s new creation in the earth through believers in Christ’s eternal work. The result being Christ revealed in each believer as a witness to the world of the truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God
The return of Christ when He judges both the “quick and the dead.” In other words, the living and those who had died.
There is no more sacrifice to be offered, only what Christ has already done. The only thing remaining is Judgment Day. TO READ MORE PLEASE CLICK TITLE ABOVE.
by George Runyan | Nov 16, 2014 | Devotional, George Runyan
Hebrew 3:1 – Holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
The book of Hebrews has been called the “Royal Book.” It addresses the royalty of Christ. He is the One every true believer confesses as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our High Priest. “He ever lives to make intercession for us,” We can draw near with confidence to the throne because our redeemer has passed into the heavens. He is able to understand the weakness we have because of sin. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish believers who had been experiencing severe persecution. The intended readers were thinking of abandoning their faith and of lapsing back to Judaism. The author exhorts them to hold fast to their confession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Hebrews 10 is a powerful portion of Scripture that establishes what Christ has fully done for each believer. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:23-24).
In the past, these believers followed the Law of Moses which instructed God’s Covenant people to bring continual sacrifices for sin. The author wants these Jewish believers to understand the Law was only a shadow of the good things to come. Further, the sacrifices they once offered year by year could not make them perfect. If the Law could have produced perfection, the worshipers would no longer be conscious of sin. Instead the law was a constant reminder of their need to receive God’s forgiveness. In Hebrews 10, he writes of the impossibility of the blood of animals to take away sin. Those sacrifices atoned or covered up sin so God could have mercy upon His people. The Father looked ahead to the better sacrifice which He would offer on behalf of lost humanity. Only one sacrifice was needed now, the sacrifice of Christ. The one sacrifice of Christ is sufficient. CLICK TITLE ABOVE TO READ MORE.
