Monday, June 01, 2009

God's Faithfulness

A dictionary defines the word "faithful" as reliable, trustworthy, or believed. When we say someone is faithful, we mean that he is true to his word, promises, vows, etc.

So when we say that God is Faithful, we therefore think of Him as 100% reliable,Someone who can be fully trusted to mean what He says, and will carry out what He said He would.

Like the rest of God's attributes, faithfulness is unfathomable. Our attempt to explain it will barely scratch the surface of what it truly is. The little we know of His faithfulness boggles the mind and transcends our understanding.

Notwithstanding, join me in looking into God's faithfulness from a couple of perspectives:

As an ATTRIBUTE
A brief survey of Scriptures tells us that God's Faithfulness is

--Immense (Psalm 36:5)
--Established in the heavens (Psalm 89:2)
--Great (Lamentations 3:23)
--Shield and Bulwark (Psalm 91:4)
--Extends to all generations (Psalm 100:5; Psalm 119:90)
--Abounding (salm 86:15)

As an ACT
--His work is done in faithfulness (Psalm 33:4)
--He keeps His covenant of love (Deuteronomy 7:9)
--He makes sure that His people are not tempted beyond their capability to bear and resist it (1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Thessalonians 3:3)
--He will sanctify and preserve blameless His people until the coming of Christ (1 Thess. 5:23,24; 1 Cor. 1:8)
--He forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)
--His reason for disciplining us (Psalm 119:75)

Continuing our brief survey of Scriptures, we are told that God's faithfulness is
--To be declared (Psalm 40:10; Isaiah 38:19)
--To be made known (Psalm 89:1)
--To be praised in the congregation of saints (Psalm 89:5)
--To be shown forth (Psalm 92:2)
--To be sung (Psalm 71:22)



Our response to God’s faithfulness:
Love Him and Obey His commandments
Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV)
9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

John 14:15 (NASB)
15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

John 14:21 (NASB)
21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."

Cultivate Faithfulness

Psalms 37:3 (NASB)
3 Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Revelation 17:14 (NASB)
14 "… because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful."

Matthew 23:23 (NIV)
23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Serve Him in faithfulness
Joshua 24:14 (NIV)
14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD