Man is not promised an endless supply of strength for him to store up. Rather, God promises to provide the necessary grace and strength for the present trials.
Throughout man’s sordid history, people have mocked, rejected, and forsaken the Lord. They have chosen to look to gods that cannot save or help.
In spite of all that God has done for man, men still refuse to have respect for Him. The Lord never has nor ever will compete for respect from man.
Although there are times where God respects some while rejecting others, God’s acceptance of one and rejection of another is never a baseless respect.
The idea of the word respect is that an individual looks at two things and chooses to look at one of them a second time demonstrating favouritism.
What can you learn from those who paid the ultimate price for their faith? How could you use more of the faith that they demonstrated in their deaths?
A martyr is one who is killed for his faith. Only two individuals are specifically named as martyrs in scripture: Stephen and Antipas.
The Lord permits no rivals. In Isaiah 43:11, He said, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” Yet, there is a battle on the horizon that will bring all matters to a head. The Antichrist will sit in the temple of God claiming to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). He will torture the people of God (the Jews) and blaspheme the name of God. He will set up his image and demand that the people worship him (Revelation 13:14-15). This peak of idolatry and blasphemy will lead to the culmination of God’s jealousy when He returns to judge the world (Revelation chapter 19).
Mankind’s list of rules for pleasing God has become increasingly invasive upon the lives of those affected by such man-made decrees. Yet, the reality is that God most desires for man to trust Him in the present (through faith) as well as in the future (through hope). The Lord is well pleased when an individual chooses to place all of his hopes solely upon the Lord and upon His word. Simply put, man was created for only one purpose—to please the One who brought him into this world in the first place (Revelation 4:11). This single purpose is impossible to fulfil without faith (Hebrews 11:6) and hope in the Lord (Psalm 147:11). The Lord promised that He would one day return for His church. Placing all of one’s faith and hope upon that promise (of the Lord’s return) demonstrates an unfailing love for the Lord!
In a very basic sense, the word hope means desire, yet the true meaning is not nearly as weak as the world presents. The word hope in scripture is associated with the word expectation (Proverbs 10:28; Proverbs 11:7). Hope is not simply some type of wishful thinking; it is something that someone trusts in dearly (Jeremiah 17:7). This type of hope is not something visible to the naked eye of man (Romans 8:24), but it is believed and held firm by faith (Hebrews 11:1). All men live their lives based upon hope; however, not all hope is the same. One man’s hope might be that there is no life after death. Another might place his hope solely upon the payment for sin provided by the Lord Jesus Christ.
