“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!
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing
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.
Rick and Denise's friendship has led to lifelong love and a powerful partnership in building the Kingdom of God. After a decade of ministry, first as pastor and then as itinerant ministers, Rick and Denise Renner embarked on an adventure of a lifetime. In January 1991, the Renners and their sons Paul, Philip, and Joel left behind all they knew to relocate their family to serve the region that only weeks earlier had become the former Soviet Union.
Rick and Denise remember kneeling together as a family and kissing the ground when they arrived at the airport in Latvia on that cold January day. At that moment, they all committed their lives to the will of God and to the people of their new homeland. The following year, Rick moved forward to launch and establish the first of its kind, and eventually the largest, a Christian television network in that region of the world.
Over the years, Rick and Denise pioneered three churches, a Bible school, and a ministerial association that serves thousands of Russian-speaking pastors throughout the former USSR as well as parts of the Middle East. As Rick began training and mentoring leaders in the early days, Denise also developed a women's ministry that is actively involved in changing the lives of women and their families today. Specifically, they minister to the needs of orphans, women prisoners, the homeless, and drug-and-alcohol addicts.
Rick, Denise, and their children began as a small circle of five, willing to go beyond their comfort zone to reach the uttermost parts of the world. Today that circle includes their sons' wives, six grandchildren, and a large ministry staff that helps the Renners extend their reach as they exalt Jesus Christ as the Hope of all nations.