“Sticking beside Him” Series (part 1)
Hey readers, welcome back to the blog! This entry starts our journey through what faithfulness looks like in Christ Jesus. I am making this a series for this site because I feel like this is what God wants to put an exclamation point on in this time we are living in. Where wickedness is prophesied to increase greatly and pastor after pastor is being exposed or stepping down from leadership positions, I feel like the Lord is not only calling me to learn more about what it means to be faithful to Him but he’s calling the body of Christ to do so as well.
Faithfulness- steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant.
Devotion- to appropriate by or as if by a vow; set apart or dedicate by a solemn or formal act; consecrate.
Point 1: We can’t be faithful to God without acknowledging who God is.
To be faithful to God requires first the knowledge and reverence for who God is. Amongst the many other attributes of him, we have to first understand that God is holy, God is sovereign, God is always right and never wrong, and God is good. If we put the temptations of the human flesh aside, I wonder how many self proclaiming Christian’s disregard these truths about God as is. This prompts me to ask, “Why did you come to Christ in the first place?” Was it because your parents told you so? Was it just to receive relief in one tormenting area in your life? Did it just seem cool to do at the moment? Or was it because you truly believed in your heart that Jesus defeated death, hell, and the grave to reunite you with the true and living God again? Whatever the reason was, it is fair to assume that in our humanity we can misplace the fact that God has all of these attributes but if we allow time to go on without remembering who he is then we leave room for the enemy to lie to us about the attributes of God and our thinking becomes clouded. (Ephesians 4:18-24)
Point 2: We can’t be faithful to God without believing what is written ENTIRELY in His word.
To the “Bereans” reading this blog, I know this may seem silly to stress but if we’re laying the ground work to what faithfulness looks like for the believer, it just has to be said. The loud truth is that every other religion and spiritual practice incorporates pieces of the Bible into their beliefs. They mix in a little of this scripture and a little of that scripture to feed to their followers and it is easily received because it seems true and is said to be of God. Some have mixed their doctrines so well that followers of Christ have been swayed and therefore have no longer remained faithful to God. Disciples of Jesus Christ have to believe every word written in the Bible because all of it is God breathed. (2 Timothy 3:16) If you are struggling to do so, pray that the Lord helps you to understand what his word means. Ask him to help you understand it because it is spiritual text in need of his spiritual interpretation.
Point 3: We can’t be faithful to God without disciplining ourselves to seek him daily.
Spending time with God is expected for all believers. God expects his children to spend time with him. Simple. For the past month, I’ve been intentional about waking up early in the morning again. We see in scripture that Jesus would get up before the day started many times to go and pray; therefore, we should be doing the same. If early morning doesn’t work for you, don’t feel less than. The point is that it’s a part of our faithfulness to God that we prioritize spending time with him. Discipline isn’t easy especially when your body is used to a certain routine but connecting your daily routine around time spent with God will never work against you. Be intentional. Understand that your flesh will never help you but what has been working for me is telling myself every morning in the midst of my tiredness that God is more important than my temporary sleepiness. Sometimes I have to tell myself that multiple times before I sit up in the bed. Other times I just roll off and as soon as I feel the carpet under my feet, I wake up hahaha !
Point 4: We can’t call ourselves faithful to God without being devoted.
To be faithful to God is to be dependent on him for the trajectory of your life. To be faithful to God is to “stick beside him” no matter what the world is doing around us. To be faithful to God is to devote our selves to prayer, fellowship, sound doctrine and the breaking of bread (Acts 2:42). It is the standard. We stand firm in his word and believe that as long as we are connected to him through Christ Jesus, he will make good on his promises because he is a good father.
In this series I hope to be able to communicate all that I feel the Lord wants to highlight again in all of us. Until next time, God bless you!
***Let me know in the comment section if God has been pulling you to greater faithfulness as well. Has this refresher blessed you? What are something’s you are looking forward to reading in this series?