Hold Fast To That Which You Have

I was thinking about that line of scripture  (Revelation 3:11),the other morning as I was going back and looking at journal entries I have written over the past few years.  

What really surprised me, was how many things I had forgotten.  Things the Lord had shown me that I had not held fast.  Important things. Things I didn’t think I would forget.  Some, I had even walked in for a while, until other things pushed them out of my mind.  Maybe it was the cares of this world.  Or, maybe at times it was  just the opposite. Have you ever noticed that when things are going along well,  we can tend to let go of things we have learned, because we think we don’t need them at that  particular time? 

Whatever it may be that causes us to  let those things go , it can put us in a dangerous position.  We can forget to keep watch over our territory. Suddenly we might notice that things are not going so well.  We realize that we haven’t kept our armor on. (Ephesians 6:10-18).  We haven’t been wielding our shield of faith and some of those fiery darts may have gotten into our lives. Perhaps we weren’t wielding the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God; but instead we may have been speaking negative things over our lives.   

Or maybe we become aware we aren’t where we want to be with God. We have gone along not paying attention to what’s happening, then it could be we notice that  we have things in our body that need healing.  Or we are having difficulties in relationships with friends, family or co-workers.  We may think these things happen “all of a sudden”.  In truth, many of these things happen little by little, over a period of time so we don’t notice until it becomes a problem.  

Sometimes my pastor will take some time and go back and preach on basic subjects.  He tells us he does this  because we have a “leaking problem”.  Things that we know or once knew can tend to “leak” out of our remembrance.  Just like the things in my notebooks did to me.  

The dictionary gives us a couple of definitions of what it means to hold fast.  The first definition says it means “to remain tightly secured”. The  second definition says it means  “to continue to believe in or adhere to an idea or principle.”  Maybe its the continuing part that we most need to work on.

There are many places in the Bible where we are told to “hold fast”.  Hebrews 10:23 tells us to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering”.  1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to ” examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;  Hebrews 3:6 tells us to “hold fast our confidence”. Reminders that our part is to not let go.

Even as we are still learning we  need to remember to hold fast to all that we already have.  All that we already know, all that we have learned.    The enemy is always looking for ways to steal the Word from us.  Our job is to make sure we don’t let him.  And isn’t it easier when we are staying on top of things then when we have to start all over again with what we know to do?

One thing is sure.  We need to have daily manna from the Lord.  Reading the Word every day can help us in remembering to hold onto those important things.  That in itself is a habit we need to hold on to.  I know from my own past experience that when you don’t keep up with reading the Word, and too many days go by, each day gets easier and easier to just let it slide until you realize weeks or even months may have gone by.  

When I stand before the Lord I want to make sure that I have held fast to everything that needed to be held  onto and let go of everything that needed to be let go of!

I’m very grateful to the Lord for the times He gently reminds me that I’ve let things slide.  Like any good Father, He wants to keep His child from being hurt or making mistakes.  I’ll take a reminder or correction any day over consequences that could happen if I continue on the way I was.  Wouldn’t most of us?