Tag: Faithfulness

The Fruit of Faithfulness

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“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

– Hebrews 10:23

God is faithful to fulfill all that He has promised. He placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise to Noah. He told Abraham to look up at the sky and count the stars as a sign of the promise He made to him. We need only look up to remember the promises He has made to us. When we look at the fruits of the Spirit, we quickly begin to realize that they are all rooted in the character of God. The more like Him we become – the more fruit we bear. We can be faithful, because He has been faithful.

Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is trusting in what we cannot see. We trust gravity to continue holding our feet to the ground. When we flip a light switch, we trust the electricity to light  up the room. We trust our heart to keep beating. We trust our lungs to keep filling with air. We trust our minds to keep instructing our hands and feet to move and operate. We are trusting in invisible, unseen things. We are trusting in work that is being done behind the scenes, beyond what our eyes can see. We don’t see the rainbow until after the storm. The stars shine brightest when the night is darkest. We take the first step of faith before we see the stairs in front of us. Peter didn’t step out of the boat because the waves seemed steady and secure enough to hold His weight – He stepped out of the boat because He saw Jesus. Our faith looks like foolishness to those who don’t know our Jesus. Those who can’t see with eyes of faith, don’t understand.

As the song Waymaker says, “Even when I don’t see it, You’re working. Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working.” We know He is faithful, because we have experienced His faithfulness. He is a promise-keeper, a miracle-worker, a light in the darkness. That’s who He is – His faithfulness is part of His identity. To be faithful is to be steadfast. It means holding steady through trials and tribulations. It means showing up consistently when fears and doubts arise. It means being reliable. It means being dependable. We can depend on our God to be there in our times of need, because He has promised to never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). He is an ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). We can trust Him because He is worthy to be trusted. We can put our faith in Him because He is faithful to fulfill what He has promised.

“The primary reason we lose faith is because we forget the faithfulness of God. Maybe that’s why the word ‘remember’ is repeated 250 times in Scripture.”

– Mark Batterson

When we remember God’s faithfulness, we are reminded of our own faithlessness. In Matthew 26:75 when Peter heard the crow of the rooster, he remembered what Jesus had said to him… “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” The same Peter who had enough faith to step out of the boat and onto the crashing waves towards Jesus, had denied Him three times, just has Jesus had told Him he would. Scripture says Peter then “went out and wept bitterly.”

But God is faithful, even in our faithlessness. He doesn’t leave us. He doesn’t abandon us. His promise still stands. We have hope because of the resurrection. The cross was not the end of the story. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples on the Sea of Galilee and three times He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” And three times Peter responded “Yes, Lord, You know I do.” And three times Jesus responded, “Feed my sheep.” Jesus had made a promise that Peter was the rock on which He would build His church, and that promise was not made void through Peter’s denial. Peter went on to feed the sheep. He helped establish the church. And Peter was martyred for his faith – dying upside down on a cross because he didn’t deem himself worthy to die in the same manner as our Lord, Jesus Christ. Faithfulness comes with a cost. Jesus commands us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24).

One of the best examples of the faithful love of our God is the story of the Prophet Hosea. God instructed Hosea to marry Gomer, a woman who was described as a harlot and an adulteress. In their marriage, Gomer bore three children. The Bible is not clear if the second two children were biologically Hosea’s, but their names indicate that they were not. Gomer had been unfaithful to her husband. Eventually she left her husband and returned to a life of harlotry, but Hosea went back and purchased her from those who were holding her captive. He ransomed her. He redeemed her. Their story is symbolic of the redeeming love our God has for us. When we run back to our life of sin, God brings us back into His arms of love. He paid the ultimate cost for our redemption. His love is unrelenting. He never gives up. He doesn’t stop pursuing us. His love never fails. In our unfaithfulness, He remains faithful.

He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). His love knows no bounds. Psalm 89:8 says, His faithfulness surrounds Him. We need only get close enough to Him to experience the fullness of it. His faithfulness strengthens and protects us (2 Thessalonians 3:3). His faithfulness does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to withstand, but gives us an escape route so that we can be faithful to endure the temptation when it comes (1 Corinthians 10:13). And when we allow ourselves to fall into temptation, when we miss the escape route and fall into sin then we need only confess and He is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9). 

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

– Philippians 1:6

It is difficult for us to wrap our minds around the faithfulness of our God when we live in a culture that is “increasingly characterized by rapid change and instability” (Life on the Vine by Phillip Kenneson). We live in a culture where things are not built to last. Your cellphone only lasts until the latest version comes out. Furniture is often cheaply made and falls apart after only a few uses. We buy disposable cups, plates, and silverware that we can throw away after a single use. We design products that will “save us time” but what do we actually do with the time we’ve saved? It takes time to build something that lasts. It takes time to design something that fulfills a purpose. It takes time to maintain something that will continue to endure throughout generations. Even our jobs and our relationships seem temporary and fleeting. In businesses where you used to interact with people, now you’re interacting with computers and screens. We live in a “cancel” culture where people are dismissed if their views don’t align with your own. We live in a culture where “ghosting” is a term the younger generation uses to describe simply cutting off communication in a relationship without explanation. It takes commitment to maintain a relationship. When we put time and energy into maintaining our relationships and our commitments with people, we are making an investment in a future we cannot see. We are practicing faithfulness.

We practice faithfulness when we abide in the love of God. We practice faithfulness when we trust God’s promises. We practice faithfulness when we make and keep promises. We practice faithfulness when speak truth. We practice faithfulness when we keep showing up. We practice faithfulness when we keep putting forth effort.
Our efforts are weak and imperfect – but they make our Father proud! His faithfulness gives us the strength to endure.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 says “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes, but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.”

In the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:15 Jesus says, “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul wrote, “For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude” (Colossians 2:5-7).

We can’t bear spiritual fruit if we are not firmly rooted in who God is. God’s faithfulness  lays the foundation for us to bear the fruit of faithfulness. As we trust Him, our roots extend, bringing more stability. With more stability, comes more security. With more security, comes more confidence. With more confidence comes more boldness of speech and action. In this manner, faithfulness creates a ripple effect. We are being built up so that our branches can grow out, and the fruit we bear can bring nourishment to hungry hearts. We are being built up so that our fruit can bear more fruit.

Taste and See

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bread

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Scripture says He hungered (Matthew 4:2). I’ve read before that for hunger pains to return after such a long period of fasting, it was sign that Jesus was literally starving to death.

Has the Spirit of God ever led you to a place where you felt like you were starving to death?

Spiritual hunger, much like physical hunger, makes us desperate – desperate for relief, desperate to be filled. Hunger humbles us. It produces a need for provision.

So how do we react in these wilderness seasons? How do we react to to the hunger? Do we look to Heaven for manna? Do we look to Jesus with His five loaves and two fish?

Or do we walk around downtrodden? Do we question God’s goodness for leading us to a place of such emptiness? Do we question His faithfulness leaving us so hungry?

I’ve noticed throughout Scripture, and in my own personal experiences, that when Satan attacks – the first thing he wants us to question is the goodness of God’s character.

He did it with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He did it with the Israelites roaming in the wilderness. And He tried to do it with Jesus…

But Jesus answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 KJV).

Jesus was prepared for Satan’s attack, because He had found nourishment and sustenance in the Word of God. Jesus counteracted Satan’s attack with a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3 – a reminder of what God had done for the Israelites.

The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years. God was leading them to a promised land, but they were longing for the days of slavery. They couldn’t see where they were going, and couldn’t understand why God was taking them the way He was. The desert is a dry and desolate place. It makes us doubt the goodness of God. It makes us doubt His presence, doubt His power, and doubt His promise. But even in our doubting, God is faithful still. The Israelites were starving in the desert. They hungered – they longed to be filled. The wilderness felt like a wasteland, like a waiting room – and death was just beyond the door. But the Lord heard their grumbling, heard their complaining, and He said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions” (Exodus 16:4 NIV).

God was faithful to provide what they needed most, when they needed it most. But God’s provision didn’t look like what they expected. In fact, God’s provision didn’t look like anything they had ever seen before. Scripture says when the Israelites saw it the next morning, they said to each other, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was. They called it manna, which literally means “What is it?”

In her book One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp writes, “Hungry – they chose to gather up that which is baffling. They fill on that which has no meaning. More than 14,600 days they take their daily nourishment from that which they don’t comprehend. They find soul-filling in the inexplicable. They eat the mystery.” I love that connection – because we all go through wilderness experiences in our lifetimes. We all go through dry seasons. We all go through times when we can’t wrap our minds around why God does the things He does. But if we could wrap our mind around it, would He even be God?

One of the Scriptures that brings me the most comfort in wilderness seasons is Isaiah 55:8-9 where the Lord is speaking and says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts’” (NLT).  We have to trust in that. We have to believe that God has something greater in store than we could ever imagine. We can’t fathom His faithfulness, because we can’t imagine the thoughts He thinks or the path He has prepared. All we know is what we see, and all we see is what we feel. We feel lost when a loved one dies, because we can’t see a future without them in it. We feel thirsty wandering a desert with no water in sight. We feel hungry when our strength is fading and there is nothing nearby to satisfy what seems to be our deepest need.

The sky may grow dark with sorrow, but by God’s grace, the sun will rise. Joy comes in the morning – even in the mourning. And in the morning, when we rise, we’ll see God’s grace. We’ll see His grace in the form of drops of dew on the ground. And from that dew will appear “thin flakes like frost” – and we’ll ask “What is it?” And we’ll hear the words of Moses echo, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat” (Exodus 16:15 NIV).

The Israelites gathered the manna – whatever it was – and ate it. They ate the mystery, ate the provision. And Scripture says it tasted “like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31 NIV). When we taste God’s mysterious manna, we will taste and see that He is good (Psalm 34:8). The Israelites couldn’t see the future. Their eyes couldn’t see, their ears couldn’t hear, and their minds couldn’t imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9). But when they tasted that manna – they were getting a foretaste of glory divine. They were getting a foretaste of the Promised Land – a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 33:3). They were getting a foretaste of the Promised Messiah – a Messiah who said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35 NLT).

When the disciples gathered with Jesus at the last Passover meal, they couldn’t see into the future to know it would be their last meal with Him. When He broke the bread and gave it to them, it was like gathering manna. They didn’t understand what He meant when He said, “This is my body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19 NLT). The manna doesn’t make sense when it’s in your hand, but once it’s digested – you’ll look back and see the faithfulness of God. You’ll see His presence with you in the toughest battle. You’ll feel His power fighting along beside you. You’ll understand that the path He took you along was the path you needed to travel to fulfill His greatest purpose.

The disciples didn’t know what they were doing when they took the bread and ate it. But when they saw His body broken on the cross – did they remember the broken bread in His hands? And flash forward to a few days later… Still blinded by sorrow, they journeyed to Emmaus with the resurrected Savior and still their eyes couldn’t see, their ears couldn’t hear, and their minds couldn’t comprehend. They didn’t even recognize Him… until they sat down to eat. Scripture says, “As they sat down to eat, He took the bread and blessed it. Then He broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 24:30-31 NLT). What was it that caused them to recognize him at that very moment? Every scar tells a story – was it the scars on His wrists that reminded them? Or was it the bread – the manna, the mystery? Did the words He had spoken replay in their mind at that moment?

“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Everything we do should be in remembrance of the Lord. Every time we sit around a table and break bread together – it should be a reminder of the body broken for us. We need to be reminded. That’s why the Lord commanded the Israelites to preserve some of the manna. He had them put a portion of the manna in a jar, and that jar was placed with the tablets of the law in the sacred Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 16:32-34). He wanted them to preserve it for years to come so that future generations would also be able to see and know of His faithfulness in the wilderness.

The disciples recognized Jesus at the moment they did, because they remembered. They had seen the scars and heard the stories, and they remembered His faithfulness. The manna they had tasted at that Passover meal had since digested. Looking back, they saw with more clarity the hand of God at work. The manna made sense – it wasn’t so mysterious anymore. No longer blinded by hunger – they had tasted and seen! They had tasted the Bread of Life, and received the Word of Life. Never to hunger again, never to thirst again – Completely satisfied, completely fulfilled. Even in the darkest of days and driest of seasons – The Word of God remains, and His Bread sustains.