FAITHFULNESS

Anita Clark – Pastor, Grace Chapel, Carbondale, Kansas

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God , He is God, the Faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:9

The first thing we want to establish is that our God is a FAITHFUL GOD. Isaiah 49:7 declares “The LORD that is faithful...shall choose thee.” He chose Israel to be His own peculiar treasure and He has chosen us, all who believe, to be His own beloved people. God’s very nature is LOVE. (I John 4:8) Because of His great and marvelous love, He will always be faithful to those who believe in Him and love Him.
I Corinthians 1:9, states, “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” Also, in I Corinthians 10:13, we read about the essence of God’s wonderful enduring faithfulness. The Amplified Bible, which gives the meanings of the Greek words in the original text, puts it this way, “For no temptation - no trial regarded as enticing to sin [no matter how it comes or where it leads] - has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man - that is no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear, But God is faithful [to His Word and  His compassionate nature], and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out - the means of escape to a landing place - that you may be capable and strong and powerful patiently to bear up under it.”
II Thessalonians 3:3 tells us, “But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” From these Scriptures and many others, and in His dealings with us by experience, we are completely persuaded of God’s complete faithfulness in His dealings with us.
The other side of the coin, we might say, is OUR FAITHFULNESS to God. We can only be faithful by yielding to Him, and by letting the life of Christ dominate our being. This comes about by, “letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly,” as Colossians 3:16 says. The word “dwell” in some places mean “to occupy a house, reside, remain, or inhabit.”
When we believe in Christ a change takes place. We become a new person, as the Bible states, “a new creature” – II Cor. 5:17. As He dwells in us - we become more like Him. He is Faithful - we become Faithful! As we yield to Christ and His work in our lives, we take on the characteristics of Jesus Christ and our Father God.. Colossians 1:27, declares “Christ in you the hope of glory.”
One of my favorite verses is Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
In Galatians 5:22-23, The fruit of the Spirit is recorded. These traits are from the new life of Christ in us. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such there is no law.” The Amplified Version records that the word “faith” here speaks of “faithfulness.”
Of course we know that the life of Christ in us manifests “faith” but also, “faithfulness.” The Holy Spirit within us produces these traits as we yield our will to the Lord. Faithfulness will come forth in our lives as we walk with God and grow, becoming spiritually mature.
In the New Testament the word “Faithfulness” means “trustworthy, sure and true.” Some of the ways this is manifested in our lives is that others see this trait in us, we can be trusted because we are faithful. We learn to be faithful following God’s Word in spiritual things and natural things.
One of those things the Word teaches us to do is to recognize that we as a member of the body of Christ need to obey the Word in coming together in the body of believers, where God has placed us, to worship and minister to each other. As the Apostle Paul particularly teaches in his writings that each member of the body or church has a gift to serve and edify other members of the group, so if we are to be faithful to obey the Lord and the Word of God, we will faithfully fulfill whatever calling God has given particularly to us individually for the edification of other members of the body of believers. God has not called us to be alone, but has a wondrous plan to use us to help others grow up into Christ in all things.

LET US BE FAITHFUL BY GOD’S GRACE AND STRENGTH!