Hi, I’m Joni and God’s been teaching me some wonderful things!
Welcome to Joni and Friends, where this week I am celebrating the way God strengthened my heart through all those rounds of chemotherapy. Because as you can imagine, there were plenty of times when the side effects were so awful, I felt so physically weak, so “out of it,” there were times, friend, when I just felt like giving in… I just felt like caving into discouragement. There was one day I came home from the clinic after a chemotherapy infusion… I couldn’t eat my lunch; I couldn’t eat my dinner… every part of my body was aching (which for me, as a quadriplegic, it’s a very strange feeling)… Ken helped me into bed, but still I couldn’t get comfortable. It was not fun.
But lying there in bed, feeling my soul shrinking and getting small and shriveled, it was like I heard the Holy Spirit whisper in my ear Hebrews 10:38-39 where it says, “‘But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but are of those who believe and are saved.” I would hear that Bible verse and I’d tremble. Believe me, as awful as I felt, I couldn’t bear the thought of reneging, of doubting in the darkness what I boldly once proclaimed in the light. I couldn’t bear the thought of God not being pleased with me for doing that; the thought terrified me, and so I tell you, I did not allow myself the luxury of shrinking back, no. It’s amazing how that one Bible verse, time and again, was used by the Holy Spirit to keep me even-headed and my focus fixed on Jesus.
Now maybe you’re not dealing with cancer or chemotherapy, but today you find yourself in the midst of a painful ordeal and you, too, feel like caving in emotionally, like giving up. It’s understandable – we live in a fallen world and in this world, Jesus said, you will have trouble… oh, he’s right. But if you feel like reneging on your commitment; if you feel like back-paddling, friend, don’t do it. Don’t give in to discouragement and defeat. The righteous shall live by faith; it means you’re not supposed to understand right now all these painful trials… you’re not; by faith you’ve got to know that in the end, though, God will make it plain; he will one day give you the answers; God will open up his mighty arms and embrace you at the end of the road. So please do not be of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but be among those who believe and are saved.
So would you join me in holding on to that verse from Hebrews 10, it’s really an incredible verse. Look it up and memorize it. And to encourage you with other verses that really helped keep my head above water these last few months, I share more in a video we’ve posted on our radio page at joniandfriends.org – so when you have a moment today, would you visit joniandfriends.org and just join me in celebrating how the Word of God, time and again, keeps us from falling and helps us to persevere and endure. The encouragement is all right there for you on our radio page. Finally, if you are one who has shrunk back… if you are one who has reneged on what you’ve always believed about God and his Word, then there’s one more word for you – an uplifting one from Micah 7:8. For it says, “Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.” Friend, if you have fallen, you will rise – let the Lord Jesus be a light to you and before long, his Word will be that lamp to your feet… that lamp which will enable you to be among those who believe and are saved and move forward in faith. Join me next time for more insights from God’s Word right here on Joni and Friends.
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