Hebrews - Holding Fast the Confession of Hope

The last three posts have established that (a) the devil meant to separate KatieLyn from her faith in God's plan for her marriage; (b) the devil's scheme was enabled by her mother for a variety of reasons; (c) then, like Eve in the Garden of Eden, who had once clearly known what God said to her, KatieLyn considered the lie and let go of her faith.

Today, we are going to look at the book of Hebrews to discover some of the things that could have helped her win her fight and save a husband. We will begin in Chapter 3:

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession... Hebrews 3:1

Jesus is the apostle (a delegate sent forth with orders), and the high priest (our representative in the heavenly sanctuary where he continually intercedes on our behalf) of our words, of what we confess and say.
Jesus, our officially commissioned messenger, will intercede on behalf of our confession—our words. We have to give Him something to work with. He is not going to be able to support doubt and faithless prayer. Sometimes when you don't "feel like" God is answering your prayer, the blunt truth is, yeah, you're right, He isn't. He isn't answering because it was not asked in faith. Here is the scriptural support:
James 4:3  When you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives...
James 1:6, 7  But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord.
Proverbs 1:28, 29  Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, Because they ... did not choose the fear of the Lord.
These verses offer three interlinked reasons, three sides of the same triangle: wrong motive, no faith, no respect for who God is and what God said.

A few weeks after KatieLyn, the runaway bride, ran off into the night, she posted on her blog—

Keep God always at the forefront, in all areas of your life. Sadly, I put mine (sic) and Joes (sic) relationship ahead of my relationship with God and that was my biggest mistake, a good healthy relationship should be leading you closer to God, not distracting you from Him.

There is a critically important lesson here in how Satan works and how he subtly twists the truth. KatieLyn was still deceived at the time she wrote this.  A God-given relationship is not, of and in itself, going to distract a person from God. It is irrational to assert that God is gives bad gifts that sidetrack a person from honoring Him and His plan for their life! In Joe's case, the engagement relationship led him much closer to the Lord as he dug into the Bible and studied how to be a good husband. It was KatieLyn's doubting what God told her that distanced her from God. It was her doubting words that went counter to what God had already said that's the culprit here.

Can you see how the enemy begins with an irrefutable statement like "keep God always at the forefront" to program the mind to agree to what comes next? A "healthy" relationship would have led KatieLyn closer to God, but the reason the relationship became unhealthy for her was because she was doubting what He'd told her! Her biggest mistake was only remotely connected with prioritizing relationships; her biggest mistake was listening to the voices that said God's plan for her life might not work, because these voices robbed her of her faith. Once that was gone, she did not know what to believe!

It was at this point that Satan, the Adversary of godly marriage, pulled out his ace and played it masterfully.  It went like this:

"Marriage is forever. Both parties need to be 100% sure. It's the only vow God allows us to make. If someone is having doubts, the marriage should not go forth." ~ Gwen

 Can you see how devilishly the truth is twisted through this narrative? We are not Mormon; this isn't celestial marriage we are talking about. It is not "forever." It is until death do us part. And one must be 100% sure about what? Sure about happily ever after? Sure about their "feelings?" I do not know what the "100% sure" is in regard to, but I do know one thing Gwen did not mean when she said that; by word and action she proved that she did not mean "all you need is to be 100% sure that God meant what He said." So the single most important thing to be sure about is not what she was referring to. The marriage vow is not the "only" vow that God "allows" us to make. It is not even the only one He expects us to keep. And if someone is having doubts... whom did she mean? the mother of the runaway?
Poor KatieLyn! Her mom had invested six months throwing around doubts, sometimes subtly, sometimes spoon-fed, sometimes aggressively argumentative, whatever felt good. And how was KatieLyn  robbed of her faith until she didn't know what to believe any more? She caught the doubt.

Hook.   Line.   Sinker.

The only winner here was the devil.

Going back to what KatieLyn wrote in her blog about about a healthy relationship leading a person closer to God, if her relationship with her mother had been healthy and given its proper place, then her mother would have known that KatieLyn heard from God, and Gwen would have supported KatieLyn in pursuing His will. That kind of  support would have helped KatieLyn have a closer relationship with the Lord.  But what KatieLyn has instead is an unhealthy codependency that questioned her ability to hear God and actively prevented her from knowing the blessings He was giving her.

Hebrews 3:14  For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
The Holman Bible says, "... if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start." Holding on to what you heard from God, not letting it slip, and running with endurance are on-going themes in the successful fight of faith. When faith runs out, people become quitters. No one ever accidentally lost a relationship, but many have quit and walked away. Or in KatieLyn's case, quit and ran. 
Demoralization and disheartenment are found in the devil's armory. Like 'doubt' that was discussed earlier, they also attack faith.  But instead of creating confusion and a chaotic mind, they leave their victims in despair, and over time despair may develop into depression. Fighting the good fight of faith can be hard, but losing the fight is often harder. 

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 
Once again we see Jesus in the role of High Priest as it connects to our confession. Again we see the link between the words that we say and the strength of our faith.  Confessing weakness and failure magnifies the adversary above the Father. Words spoken in fear destroy your own confidence in God's Word. We must learn to "Talk Faith" if we want to win the fight. As 1 John 5:4 says, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith."

Hebrews 10:21-23 "...and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 
Details are added when the same concept is underscored in chapter 10. Faith talk does not fuss or fret; it holds fast the unwavering declaration of the hope. Faith does not have misgivings. Faith words do not stew and talk defeat; they praise and believe. 

The Lesson
 It may be far easier said than done, but the basics are quite simple: Hold Fast; Talk Faith.