Would you freely give your life for your Faith?

This is something that has plagued my thoughts a lot over the last couple of days.  A conversation about this that I started with a small group of people yielded some ideas that I really struggle to wrap my head around. And perhaps it is because of the way I see my Faith and the way I feel the Spirit within me. It was said that we never really know what we will do until we are faced with a given situation, and in general circumstances I would agree with that assessment to a point. But when it comes to my Faith, I have to be more deliberate and clear. If I am anything other, then how is it Faith at all. I firmly stand on the premise that I KNOW the word of God to be true, and His promises are never broken. And if I truly stand on that with all my heart, soul, mind, and body; then I have no other option when faced with a treat based on my Faith then to plant my feet even more firmly in that same Faith and know that no matter what the outcome of any situation, that God will take care of me and use it for good.

We are not called to only follow Jesus, but we are also called to be Apostles. And if we look at the ones in the bible, they had such BOLD Faith and faced threats that most of us in the modern world will never experience. But they stood firm on what they KNEW to be true, no matter what the earthly consequences were because they knew the promise of God would not go unfulfilled.   Now I know that many as did someone in the group conversation, speak to fact that Peter denied Jesus, and then went on to lead thousands to Christ.

Lets examine that just a little bit and see what actually happened.

Each time we read about Peter being BOLD in his actions he was always with Jesus, and as any Bible believing Christian can tell you, being in the presence of Jesus gives one a strength like nothing else if we allow it to flow through us. But once Jesus was arrested Peter no longer felt the strength he had with Jesus. And as we know by the events of the last supper, the Holy Spirit had not yet descended upon them. So, Peter probably felt alone, lost and a lot of fear. But after when Jesus returned to them after the resurrection, and after the ascension, what we know as the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and they were filled with the Spirit of God. There is no mistaking the BOLDNESS they all displayed, especially Peter, once they were again in His presence.

That I think is the part that we often miss, when we acknowledge that we are always in His presence and we lean into Him for His strength and power, there is no threat for me to fear. Because even though I don’t know what I don’t know, I know that He holds my eternity in His hands. And nothing that others try to do to me are of any consequence so long as I walk with Him while I am here.

Now I know that there are always non-believers who will say all kinds of things about how they don’t believe so these things don’t apply to them, or even people who claim to believe but want to straddle the fence of living in the world and believing in God, but no matter how we try to rationalize or justify our wrongdoings, it doesn’t change the outcome. Just the same as saying I disagree with the posted speed limits so that means they don’t apply to me.  But disagreeing with something doesn’t change the TRUTH or reality, no matter how much we want it to.