Let the Faithful One Carry You!

If we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13, NKJV).

I’m a longtime supporter of Voice of the Martyrs and other such ministries. No doubt that connection fed my desire to write the Extreme Devotion fiction series, four novels loosely based on real-life events and individuals in other countries. As a result, when I hear others express their uncertainty and concern over how they would stand up under serious testing or persecution for their faith, I can reassure them by sharing what I’ve learned.
I too, particularly when I was a new Christian and just learning about what some believers endure for their faith, was apprehensive at what my response might be in such a situation. All I could focus on was my own feeble strength. But as my study of persecuted believers and Christian martyrs continued, I came to see a common thread in their lives—and deaths. None relied on his or her own strength. All recognized their frailties and weaknesses and instead clung to God’s strength and faithfulness to get them through.
I love that, don’t you? If I saw persecution on the horizon and knew I had to walk into it on my own, I’d probably just give up right now. But to know that the God who remains faithful, despite my own faithlessness, stands ready and eager to carry me through it enables me to sing with joy as the flames grow hot around me.
It doesn’t have to be a life-or-death choice that causes us to recognize our need to cling to the faithful One. We learn that reliance in the everyday choices of life. Will we compromise a biblical mandate for convenience…or throw ourselves on God’s mercy and ask for a changed heart to do the right thing? Will we deny Christ to impress the world…or willingly allow God’s Spirit to woo us into making the right choice?
It’s the little choices for righteousness that teach us to rely on God when the big decisions loom—and they will! Now is the time to put into practice the belief that even when “we are faithless, He remains faithful.” He will not leave or forsake us; He will carry us through to victory if we will climb into His arms and allow Him to do so.