But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

Jude 20

Have you ever played the game of Risk? The game can be described in two steps. Step one: build up your army and develop a stronghold. Step two: move forward and conquer, keeping in mind that moving forward involves “risks.”

In a sense, the game of Risk parallels the church. We are the Lord’s army, and we are to be built up. We are to establish strongholds in our faith.

How do we establish strongholds? By diligently learning and applying God’s truths found in the Bible. By meeting together with other believers to encourage one another. By communing with God through prayer. As we are in the process of being built up, we are to move forward in faith. That means daily we are to seek God’s guidance and follow His lead.

Those devoted to God move forward in faith in spite of difficulty and risk.

This truth is revealed in the book of Ruth. Ruth followed the Lord God and her mother-in-law, Naomi, from Moab to Judah. Because she was Moabite, she faced the possibility of remaining a widow for the rest of her life. A foreign widow would have no one to care for her needs. She knew the risks, but in faith she moved forward. As a result, Ruth received blessing upon blessing and became an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

What is God asking of you that involves risks, and what will be your response?

What are you doing right now to build up your faith for the task that waits ahead? Is your devotion to God and knowledge of His Word ever increasing? Are you regularly gathering with other believers so that your faith might be strengthened?

And even though you know difficulty may lie ahead, are you ready and willing to move forward in faith and expectation that blessing upon blessing will be yours?

Lord, strengthen us in faith so that we are willing to risk everything to follow you!

Jan