Hold fast the confidence
By A.B. Simpson

      The attitude of faith is simple trust. It is Elijah saying to Ahab, There is a sound of abundance of rain (1 Kings 18:41). But then there comes usually a deeper experience in which the prayer is inwrought. It is Elijah on the mount, with his face between his knees, travailing, as it were, in birth for the promised blessing. He has believed for it and now he must take it. The first is Joash shooting the arrow out of the window, but the second is Joash smiting on the ground and following up his faith by perseverance and victorious testing (2 Kings 13:14-25). It is in this latter place that many of us fall short. We ask much from God, and when God proceeds to give it to us we are not found equal to His expectation. We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end (Hebrews 3:14), and trust Him through it all. Fainting soldier of the Lord, Hear His sweet inspiring word, "I have conquered all thy foes. I have suffered all thy woes; Struggling soldier, trust in Me, I have overcome for thee."