INTRODUCTION
It is a priviledge to be a disciple these days. God has been speaking about a time He will move among men in a unique end time revival. It is for this purpose He has been raising many sons, laboring on lives to be conformed to the image of His dear Son. Our spirits must rejoice for witnessing the beginning of the days He has been describing to us as the years of His right hand. We are at the outset of an outbreak of God in our generation. Many souls are becoming burdened for revival prayers. The walls of partition between different denominations are falling and members of the Body of Christ enclosed in different denominations are finding their ways to gather as one to call on God to revive His work. It’s been observed that the number of couples who are seeking God and expressing their resolve for them and their household to seek the Lord are increasing.
Anyone who would last in this revival must understand how to conduct himself or herself. Every disciple is called to live by faith. For us to live is Christ and like Paul the apostle, to die is gain. Now what does it mean to live by faith? We shall consider living by faith in the context of placing one’s trust for day to day living on the sustaining and provident hand of God.
God’s plan is to fulfill His promises in our lives. All of our experiences in life ranging from meeting our daily needs to the results we obtain in our service of God, to the victories we obtain in our personal and professional undertakings are all meant to be expressions of the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lives. In that sense, we have to wait on and for God to attend to us in everything. This waiting on God to receive what He has promised us is “Living by Faith”.
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”
(Hebrews 10:35-39 NKJV).
Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”
(Heb. 10:36-38 NLT).
THE PROMISE OF HIS INVOLVEMENT
“… so that … you may receive the promise: …”This statement, taken from the passage quoted above tells us that there is a promise to receive. God has promised us many things and that we need to do some things to be able to receive the promise. The first thing you need to keep in mind is that it is not the plan of God to abandon you to fend for yourself all on your own without His help. He promised to send you what you need from time to time as you do His will. God wants to be actively involved in your labour for His name.
DOING THE WILL OF GOD
“… after you have done the will of God …” What God assigns to a person or a group of persons to do is what is called the will of God in this context. The revival God is talking about now is made up of the effects of several small assignments that He has committed to the hands of His faithful children all over the world. He is strategic about posting people he has raised over the years to reach several lives in all facets of human endeavour. For example, many are in the villages and remote regions laboring to reach the lost. Some are positioned by God to capture the lives in the hospitals for Him. Some are dispatched into schools at different levels of learning while many are in the market places or government offices to mention but few.
I hope you are aware that it is God who has posted you where you are working or living at the moment to occupy the place for Him and make the people over there to acquire the image of Christ. Your attitude towards life is important. You must define the reason you are living as a child of God in order to know whether you are in the category of those God considers to be doing His will. Remember, the will of God in this context is the work of God in your hand. Everything you do is expected to be for Him. Locate yourself in the program of God. Live for Him all the time. Relax your grip on yourself and all that God has kept under your influence and let all be yielded for His service and look up to Him for your daily need. He never disappoints in taking care of His own.
There are many things God will do for you. But it has to be “… after you have done the will of God …”It is after, not before. Doing the will of God comes first before expecting God to fulfill His promises. He actually does not expect you to bother yourself too much about whether He will fulfill His promises or not. He is faithful. None of His promises will go unfulfilled. “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:11 NKJV). He expects you to concern yourself with serving His interest as your first and only priority. You can trust Him to do His part by taking care of your daily needs. “Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.” (Matt 6:31-34 ERV).
THE NEED FOR ENDURANCE
We have established that God will not neglect you in the heat of “building God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do.” He will always make available all that you need to be able to continue to do his will. It is important for you to note that God is always busy attending to the requests of His children. He releases the needs of His children to them at their points of need. But He is a Spirit. That is why those who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth. We relate with God in the spirit. He is not a man. We must be careful not to judge Him with our feeble mind. I am not suggesting that it is because He is busy attending to His numerous children that He has not gotten to your turn. It doesn’t work that way. We are dealing with the supreme God who can do all things. He can attend to everyone at the same time. But one of the attributes He is building in us is patience or endurance.
“For you have need of endurance, …” There are instances God strategically delays answers to your prayers to assist you to learn patience. Patience is an element of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Through patience, God expect us to possess our souls (Luke 21:19). It is also through patience He expect us to receive the promise (Heb 10:36). “… he that believeth shall not make haste.”(Isaiah 28:16 KJV).“For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.”(Isaiah 52:12 KJV). Patience is one of the traits that marks out a child of God. God will not permit Himself to be dragged by a man who is limited in understanding into doing things He knows the proper time for it is a little ahead. He who must walk with God must learn patience.
So what does God expect from you as you keep on waiting to receive what He has promised you? Let us pick it from our passage. “Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” Heb 10:36 NLT. God expects you to continue to do His will. Don’t withdraw from your duty post. Keep on working and laboring for your God. He has not forgotten you. He will not forget His own on the site of labour. “But the Lord says, “Can a woman forget her baby? Can she forget the child who came from her body? Even if she can forget her children, I cannot forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15 ERV). God cannot forget you. It is not in His nature to forget those who are faithfully serving Him.
Have you dropped your working implements because of frustration or a feeling that God has forgotten or neglected you? Cheer up, pick up hope and get back to work. “… don’t lose the courage that you had in the past. Your courage will be rewarded richly. You must be patient. After you have done what God wants, you will get what he promised you. He says, “Very soon now, the one who is coming will come and will not be late. The person who is right with me will live by trusting in me. But I will not be pleased with the one who turns back in fear.”(Hab. 2:3-4 Greek version; Heb 10:35-38 ERV).