Payday Is on the Way!

Payday Is on the Way!

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
— Hebrews 10:35


If you have ever invested time, money, energy, and commitment into God’s Kingdom that no one knew about except you and the Lord, it did not go unnoticed. The Lord saw it all. And according to Hebrews 10:35, He plans on reimbursing you in full!

The phrase “recompense of reward” is from the Greek word misthapodosia, and it carries the idea of being reimbursed for an expense that a person has paid out of his own pocket in order to get his job done. Here’s a situation that is an example of this definition: A company sends an employee on a business trip. Because the company gives the employee no credit card or cash for the journey, the employee uses his own credit cards and puts his own money on the table. He willingly uses his own resources, at least temporarily, to cover these costs and needs for the organization. (For more on the word misthapodosia, see February 10.)

Of course, it’s always nice when an employee can use a company credit card or corporate cash to handle these travel needs. But because neither cash nor a credit card was available at the time, the employee has no choice but to cover the cost himself and then expect the company to reimburse him later for these expenses. Once the trip is over, it’s time for him to tally up the total amount owed.

Then he can be recompensed for what he willingly contributed at a difficult or inconvenient moment. Now the Greek word misthapodosia — which essentially conveys the ideas described above — is brought into play in Hebrews 10:35, where the Bible declares: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.”

The word “confidence” is the Greek word parresia, which refers to bold, frank, forthright speech. This bold kind of speech is often translated in the New Testament as the word “confidence.” Indeed, it does depict a confident kind of speaking — a daring to speak exactly what one believes or thinks with no hesitation or intimidation. Because this kind of speech is so bold, it frequently incites a volatile reaction.

An example of this can be found in First Thessalonians 2:2, where Paul writes, “But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.” The phrase “bold in our God to speak” is from the word parresia. Paul inserts the words “in our God” to let us know he was so bold that only God could have enabled him to be that audacious. His preaching caused a great stir; therefore, the verse could be translated, “...we were emboldened in God to publicly speak the Gospel and to be very outspoken and forthright in the way we proclaimed it, even though we were thrown into a serious fight with opposing forces that were very hostile to what we were doing and saying.”

Similarly, the word “confidence” used in Hebrews 10:35 also refers to very bold, frank speech — communication that is so strong, listeners may perceive the speaker to be arrogant, haughty, or overconfident.

So apparently the believers to whom Hebrews 10:35 was written were speaking something that was very bold and extraordinarily frank. What words were they speaking? They were speaking words of faith!

Apparently these Hebrew Christians had been speaking those words a long time — and they had been waiting and waiting for those faith-filled words to come to pass. After investing their lives, their time, their energy, and their faith into their walk with God, they wanted to see some action! Because their answers hadn’t come yet, they were tempted to throw it all away as though the manifestation was never going to come to pass. That’s why the verse screams at them, “Cast not away your confidence….”

God was saying to them, “Don’t throw away your bold confessions of faith!” Why did they need to hang on and continue believing and speaking words of faith? The verse tells us why: because their confidence — their bold confessions of faith — had great recompense of reward. As discussed above, the word “recompense” is misthapodosia.

God wanted these Hebrew Christians to know:

“...I know what you’ve done to serve Me. I am aware of the time, energy, effort, work, and money you have spent to do the job I sent you to do. Go ahead and tally up what is owed you, and boldly declare that you will be reimbursed. I will see to it that you recoup everything you spent along the way. You’ll get everything that you’ve spent and that you’ve been declaring by faith!”

You may be tempted to feel like you’ve wasted years waiting for your calling or your dream to come to pass. The devil may try to beguile you into thinking your bold confessions of faith are mere fantasies that are never going to happen. But God’s Word promises He will reward you for all you’ve sacrificed and invested along the way. He has heard every faith declaration you have made, and He will reward you and reimburse you for all the time, energy, commitment, and money you’ve given over the years!


MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, I am so thankful that You are always mindful of the time, money, and talents — as well as the blood, sweat, and tears — that I’ve poured into my life assignment. Sometimes when it gets hard or when I get physically or emotionally exhausted, I am tempted to think no one sees or appreciates what I have done. But You have seen it all, and You are going to be faithful to see that I am rewarded for what I have done. I thank You for being so steadfast and faithful and for promising that I will be recompensed for everything I’ve done with a right heart!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!


MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I boldly declare that God is going to reward me! God’s Word promises that He sees what I have done and that He will see to it that I am fully recompensed for all I have done in His name. Because I am convinced that God will take care of me, I boldly, frankly, and confidently declare that my payday is on the way! He knows about everything I have done in faith, and He will reward and reimburse me for all the time, energy, commitment, and money I’ve given to His work over the years!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!


QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO ANSWER

1. What are some of the desires of your heart that you’ve recently been boldly confessing by faith so God can bring them to pass in your life?

2. What is the biggest manifestation of faith you’ve ever experienced in your own life?

3. How long did you have to wait before it came to pass?