faithfulness

Abide: Faithfulness

May 29, 2020 By Joe

…to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith.”

Exchanging vows facing your husband or your wife, who ever thinks “This is a waste of time, I can’t wait to cheat on this person!”? Oh, maybe some think evil like that, but those vows said face-to-face and in front of a pastor and witnesses are binding to God. Faithfulness pleases the Lord God because He is faithful.

Faithfulness is so central to our God’s character that He promises to grow it in our lives. By His Spirit God puts this in the fruit in Galatians 5:22. Faithfulness is to be absolutely trustworthy and always true to your word.

How can we grow in faithfulness when so many around us are not trustworthy or true? How can we demonstrate faithfulness when we have so often not kept our word to others?

Thankfully God records His faithfulness in His Word, and it’s precisely because God is faithful that we can grow in faithfulness. Consider the display of God’s faithfulness in Hosea 2:16–20

[16] “And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ [17] For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. [18] And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. [19] And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. [20] I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. (ESV)

The background to this passage is the sad tale of Hosea’s own marriage. God had commanded Hosea to marry a woman who would be unfaithful to him, turning to other lovers (chapter 1). Hosea marries Gomer, and she is as unfaithful as God promises. In chapter 2 God explains in the context of Hosea’s broken marriage His complaint against His bride Israel. In chapter 2:16 God says a time will come when Israel will no longer call the LORD “my Baal.” Linguists say that in this time period “my husband” and “my Baal” sounded so similar that those in Israel fused the two words together. God said this would end. How? By the allure and intoxicating fragrance of His own faithfulness.

Seven times the LORD says, “I will,” pledging Himself to His people. He promises that He will reverse the damage of the curse, that He will end the threats of war, that He will provide safety for them. But best of all He pledges that He will show them righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy and faithfulness. This has been God’s consistent theme throughout history. Do you trust Him?

Exodus 34:6 – The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

Deuteronomy 32:4 – “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Psalm 25:10 – All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

For every remembrance of your unfaithfulness, meditate deeply on the faithfulness of your God.

Soon your heart will begin to exhibit the same faithfulness toward Him and others. You will say like Jacob in Genesis 32:10, “I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.” You will be doing what the Prophet Samuel urged Israel to do in 1 Samuel 12:24 – “Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.”

You will so experience the Lord’s faithfulness that you will say with Psalm 115:1 – “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”

God will produce this fruit in you, my believing friend. However unfaithful you have been, He promises to make you into a faithful person, reflecting His great faithfulness.

A song for today (of course!): Great is Thy Faithfulness

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control

Counsel for the Heart: Bearing Spiritual Fruit (Gal. 5:22-23)

May 11, 2020 By Joe

Would you like to know a guaranteed way to glorify God?

The Lord told us in John 15:8 –

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

We glorify God by bearing much fruit. Today we go back into Galatians 5:22-23 to examine more closely the fruit of the Spirit. By knowing what type of fruit the Holy Spirit produces we will grow in opportunities to glorify our Father. This is also our memory passage, so remember to meditate and memorize as you read today.

Galatians 5:22–23

[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV)

Getting to the Heart:

One of the most helpful things we can do with this list of spiritual fruit is to understand what each part of the fruit means, what it replaces, and even what tends to be a counterfeit version of each part. I’ve been helped so much by the Bible study resource Galatians for You by Tim Keller¹, and I’ve created a chart below based on his helpful explanation of the fruit of the Spirit.

Fruit	Definition	Opposite	Counterfeit
Love	Love and care for a person based on their good, not on what they bring to you	Self-protection; self-promotion	Attraction for someone based on what they add to you or how they make you feel
Joy	Happiness and delight in God for Who He is and what He does in the world	Hopelessness; depression	Happiness based on changing circumstances
Peace	Confidence and rest in the sovereign wisdom and control of God	Anxiety and fear	Not caring about something; feeling indifferent
Patience	The ability to stand up under the pressures of life without lashing out in anger toward God and others	Resentment toward God and others	Cynical lack of care
Kindness	Motivation that serves others for their good in a practical way, out of a sense of complete inner security in Christ	Envy; refusal to rejoice in another’s prosperity	Serving others to ultimately manipulate them or prove to God or others our worth.
Goodness	Also means integrity; being one person or the same person wherever you are	Hypocrisy	Speaking your mind and not holding back truth to make yourself feel better or look good
Faithfulness	To be absolutely trustworthy and always true to your word	Being a friend only in good times	Being loving but never willing to confront when needed
Gentleness	Humility, specifically self-forgetfulness, prioritizing others and responding calmly even when they are aggressive	Attitude of superiority or self-absorption	Spirit of inferiority, speaking ill about yourself
Self-control	Ability to endure in hard times by focusing on the important not the urgent	Impulsiveness or recklessness	Willpower to endure difficulties to prove your worth or strength

Sometimes it’s necessary to slow down in our Bible reading and really dig in to specific words to better know the Lord’s message. This passage with this list is a case in point: we need to really understand these aspects of the Spirit’s fruit. It’s all so we can bear the fruit that brings joy and glory to our Father.

Today a group of men came to our home to cut down some trees that we had let grow over the years but that had become a nuisance. It is amazing how much more light, area to grow other things and even just to play in that the removal of those trees provided.

Walking in the Spirit is like that, I think. All of us have some motivating attitudes that are contrary to the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus came to deliver us from that ruling flesh that loves to assert self and sow destructive works. The Holy Spirit is the power to come in and chop those works down at their root level and open up your life to the light and freedom of God (Gal. 5:1).

Let’s talk it over:

Where are you seeing growth this week in the Spirit?
Do you see any opposites in your attitudes and actions?
Do you spot any counterfeits to the Spirit’s fruit?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we believe that it is for freedom that You came to set us free. That freedom is the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that the Spirit produces. This is the fruit we see in You, Lord. We love You because of who You are and how You shared that fruit with people all the time. There was never a time when You were not bearing fruit, and You are worthy of the greatest freedom and joy. Yet You took on our record of fleshly works and received the punishment for reckless, self-absorbed living that defied God and defiled our fellow man. Oh, we love and thank You for paying for those many many sins. But we love and thank You all the more that now You share Your Spirit with us so that we might walk with You and experience what You alone deserve. Help us to glorify our Father by bearing much fruit today. Amen.

Worship in Song:

His Mercy is More

_________________________________

Galatians for You resource by Tim Keller. Pages 141-142 used for the chart above.

Counsel for the Heart: God is For Me (Psalm 56:9-11)

April 29, 2020 By Joe

I have a vivid memory of getting lost in the woods at summer camp. I was 9 years old at the time, and it’s undoubtedly fear that seared that event into my memories.

Times of fear heighten our emotions and sharpen our senses. I recall waking up in my bunkhouse in the dim light of late night needing to go the bathroom. I didn’t want to wake anyone up, and I was certain I could find my way to the bath house just a short hike through the woods. So, I got up quietly, set out to find the bathroom and promptly got lost!

I tried backtracking but that didn’t help. I ended up on some small footbridge that I hadn’t seen before and not far away from the cabin full of girls – an area that at that time in my life I had the firm intention of staying far away from! I remember looking all around me, at the woods rising high above, obscuring sky and stars, and feeling panicked. Not to mention that I still had to go to the bathroom!

So, I stopped and prayed. I asked God to help me, and I remembered a verse I’d learned either at church or at home:

Psalm 56:3 – When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (ESV)

As young as I was, I was learning to turn to God when overwhelmed with fear. And as I repeated that verse I continued to ask God to help me get to the bathroom and get back to my cabin. Not long after that I calmed down, and by looking around I could see that the bathroom was just a short distance away from the footbridge I was on. And from the bathroom another small path back to my cabin.

By remembering God, His nearness to me and His promised help, I triumphed over fear.

Psalm 56:8–11

[8] You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
[9] Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me.
[10] In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
[11] in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me? (ESV)

Getting to the Heart

David had his own times “lost in the woods.” In this Psalm David remembers the time when he first fled for his life from Saul and ran straight to Gath in Philistia. It was a foolish move motivated by fear. David was fleeing for his life, not thinking straight. When he arrived in Gath (with the sword of G0liath of Gath tucked in his belt!), the Philistines recognized David and seized him. How did David escape? He started acting insane, letting spit run down his beard and scratching the gate posts in Gath. It was the Lord’s mercy and protection that allowed this façade to work, and David gave God the full credit by writing Psalm 56.

“This I know,” David says in reflection on that occasion when he was gripped by enemies, “that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Ultimately believers feel afraid. We get in situations like I did that night on the footbridge, or like David did by running into enemy territory. Often those situations are the result of our fears, and we face real threats due to making fear-motivated choices. David did wrong in 1 Samuel 21. He should not have run to Gath, and he might have lost his life, if not for the truth that God was for him. David worshipped God in repentance in Psalm 56:1 “Be gracious to me, O God.” David was counting on the Lord’s character of absolute graciousness toward him, and the Lord was true to His character.

Are you in a mess due to fear-motivated choices? Turn to the living God. Seek His forgiveness for choices made by fear. Trust Him for His grace and deliverance as you re-orient your life to “walk before God in the light of life” (Psalm 56:13).

Let’s talk it over:

Have you ever gotten in trouble by running scared like me in the woods or like David in Gath? What happened?
What truths about God from Psalm 56 can you find to pray to God and remember about God the next time you feel afraid?

Prayer:

O God, You are so gracious to us! We are prone to fear over things small and big. You know this about us, but You have promised to be for us as we follow You and live life according to Your Word. Sometimes we fail You and wander away from Your path because we feel afraid. Forgive us for those times and help us to worship You and trust You from Psalm 56 and other verses that remind us of Your graciousness and help in times of fear. We love You and thank You that You are our Helper! Amen.

Worship:

Great is Thy Faithfulness

“Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!”

Thomas Chalmers, 1923

Memory Passage for this Week:

Hebrews 13:5–6

[5] Keep your ___ free from ____ of ______, and be ______ with what you have, for he has said, “I will _____ _____ you nor ______ you.” [6] So we can ________ say,

“The Lord is my _______;
I will not _______;
what can man do to me?” (ESV)