The Word To Live By:2-25-26
Phil Waggoner
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7
The Word To Live By: To begin with, I’m not done with the race. In fact, I’m in the process of planning my 100th birthday party, dance/worship party. But what I want you to see is two things here. First of all, we are in a fight. I know a little about fighting and one of the most important things to know is you can’t quit. You can’t lay down and say, “I’m done.” If you do that, you will get one more kick to the head and you will be done, done. The other thing is in this fight keep the faith, the faith by which you are saved by grace. Don’t let go of your faith in God no matter what the outside circumstances look like. David didn’t let go of his faith in God even when it was facing a giant circumstance. Joseph didn’t let go of his faith even though his closest relatives threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery - even though he was falsely accused by a woman of no reputation of something he didn’t do (in fact, what he did was the right thing) and thrown into jail. I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego watching the men assigned to throw them into a fiery furnace burn to death, and yet not let go of their faith. There are so many to mention. Daniel in the lions’ den is another one who refused to let go of his faith. One of my favorites is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28, “Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.” But the Lord delivered him from them all. In the world you will have tribulations but fight with your faith because Jesus has overcome them all.
Read through the Bible in a year: Matthew 6:1-18; Exodus 33,34; Proverbs 15;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 25, Matthew 28:11-20, 1 Corinthians 12
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160