This is one of the scriptures that will lay a solid foundation for you, enabling you to accept and carry out the call of God on your life. It says, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful that promised)."
I want you to particularly notice the phrase "hold fast." This phrase is taken from the Greek word katecho, which is a compound of the two words kata and echo. The first word, kata, carries the idea of something that comes "downward."
You could say that this word carries the force of something that comes down so hard, so heavily, that it is overpowering and dominating. When this force arrives on the scene, it conquers, it subdues, and it immediately begins expressing its overwhelming influencing power. This is a very strong and dominating force.
The second part of the word katecho is the word echo, which simply means "I have," and it carries the notion of "possession." We might say that it is the picture of someone who has sought and searched for a thing their entire life.
After years of seeking and searching, they have finally found this object of their dreams and desires and joyfully they rush forward to "seize it and hold it tight." They wrap their arms around that object, making it their very own, until finally they can say, "I have it," or "It's finally mine!"
When kata and echo are compounded into the word katecho, it means not only "to embrace something," but "to embrace it tightly." Because of the word kata, we know that this is the image of someone who finds the object of their dreams and then holds it down, taking control of it, dominating it, or I say, "sitting on it!"
If you do this with your word from God, your dream cannot get away from you, neither will anyone be able to take it away from you!
The phrase "hold fast" is so strong that it can actually be translated "to suppress" a thing. As a matter of fact, the phrase "hold fast" (katecho) is actually translated as the word "suppress" in Romans 1:18. Here, Paul describes ungodly men, "who suppress the truth in unrighteousness."
Because Paul uses the word katecho (suppress), we know that these ungodly men are not ignorant of the truth. They know the truth, but they do not like it! Therefore, rather than let the truth get out where it can positively affect people, they "suppress" the truth or they "put a lid" on the truth.
Often the media is told to "sit on a story" rather than publish it, because they do not want the truth to be told. They do not want the trust to get away from them. This is another example of the meaning of katecho.
Now this same word, which is used so negatively in Romans 1:18, is used in Hebrews 10:23 to describe the strong response we should have to the plan of God for our lives.
When we have finally discovered God's will for our lives, when His plan begins to awaken in our souls and we know exactly what we are to do, what job to take, what business to start, what our calling is, if we do not hold fast, tightly embracing what God has shown us, the dream thieves will see to it that we slowly let it slip away from us.
This is the very reason we are told to "hold fast" the dream, the vision, and the word that God has spoken to our hearts. If we do not seize it, wrap our arms of faith around it, hold it down, hold it tight, place all of our weight on top of it, the dream thieves of life will come to steal the wonderful plan that God has for our lives.
In so doing, they will steal our uniqueness, our specialness, and our individual purpose in the magnificent plan of God. There is nothing more tragic than this.
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing