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"Let us hold fast to the profession of our faith..." (Heb. 10:23).

In the King James Version, the word "our" is italicized, which means that it does not actually appear in the original language. Thus, we should translate this phrase, "Let us hold fast the profession of faith...."

We are to tightly hold in our hearts and come into divine alignment with the word which God has placed in our hearts, and this word, whether it is a direct quote from the Bible (the Word) or something very specific that He has spoken to us regarding our lives (a word), will always be a word of faith.

The Bible speaks to us most strongly about faith in Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

While some may say that Hebrews 11:1 is a definition of faith, I see this as a description for the behavior of faith.

The Word of God tells us that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," and I especially want you to notice the word "substance." It is the Greek word hupostasis, which is another compound word.

The first part of the word if hupo, which means, "alongside." The second part of the word is stasis, which means, "to stand." Taken together as one word, it means "to stand by something," or "to stand right alongside of something."

This tells us something extremely important about faith: when faith finally finds what it needs or wants, it never moves again until it gets what it wants.

Or, I say that faith is like a bulldog that has finally found the bone of its wildest dreams! Once that bulldog wraps its jowls around that bone, no one is going to pull that bone out of its mouth. Though someone may tug, pull, and try to jerk that bone out of that dog's mouth, that dog isn't going to let go. He is going to "stand by" that bone and never, ever relinquish it.

By understanding this meaning of hupostasis ("substance"), we know that this kind of faith is a determined, committed, unrelenting faith, a faith that knows what it wants and won't let go until it gets it!

This is a faith that knows how to put its foot down. It is a resolute, steadfast, grit kind of faith that knows how to look right into the face of opposition and refuse to move. You could say that this is a no-nonsense faith that takes the bull by the horns, sticks to its guns, and makes no bones about what it is doing or what it believes.

The firm, unhesitating, unflinching, indomitable, tireless, obstinate, and inflexible faith that knows exactly what it wants—a faith that will not bend under pressure—is a faith that has resolved to believe at any cost, any price, rain or shine, sink or swim, through the thick and through the thin, until it sees the manifestation of what God has said or promised.

This is faith with gumption, faith that has backbone. This is the behavior of faith that is described in Hebrews 11:1.

This is bulldog faith

You could translate the verse, "Now faith is tirelessly and determinedly standing by and never letting go of things hoped for...."

You may say, "Where do I get that kind of faith?"

Such faith is the overflow of a divine relationship that develops as we hear a word from God and wholeheartedly commit ourselves to stand by that word until we see it fulfilled in our lives.

Then, as we come into this divine alignment, faith rises up from our hearts and floods our souls, and we supernaturally have the ability, the tenacity, the stubbornness of will and holy boldness, to stand by the word, the dream, the vision, which God has imparted to us.

In this state of oneness with God we become as tenacious about that word, dream, and vision as a bulldog is about his bone!

It doesn't matter how long it takes, how many obstacles there are to fight, or how hard someone or something is trying to take that word, dream, or vision from our heart or convince us that it is not ours.

We have heard from God, and no matter what it costs us, we are not going to let go of our dream. This is the real behavior of God's imparted faith.

So often, I encounter people who try to make the teachings on faith sound so deep and complicated that, in the end, no one is quite sure what the message really is! In reality, living by faith is very simple to understand.

The behavior of faith is demonstrated by a tenacious, unrelenting decision to stand by a word from God and never let go until you see it totally fulfilled.

Nothing else will do, nothing else will satisfy, if you are really moving in genuine faith!

Source: Dream Thieves by Rick Renner
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing

Author Biography

Rick Renner
Web site: Rick Renner Ministries
 
Rick and Denise met while they were each on an individual quest to wholeheartedly follow God's plan for their lives. Rick was a college student, growing in his teaching ministry. Denise was a talented vocalist. She chose not to pursue a course that held the prospect of performing with the Metropolitan Opera so that she could instead pursue a relationship with Rick and fulfill her heart's desire to enter full-time ministry.
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