{"id":352,"date":"2020-07-26T23:58:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T05:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/?p=352"},"modified":"2020-07-20T01:08:04","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T07:08:04","slug":"fruit-of-the-spirit-faithfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/2020\/07\/26\/fruit-of-the-spirit-faithfulness\/","title":{"rendered":"Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are in the final stretch of this guest blog series by Debra… I hope you have been challenged to press in to the Holy Spirit and cry out for greater fruit in your life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Today’s word from the Fruit of the Spirit is Faithfulness.  Let’s start with some definitions of faithful:  true to one’s word, promises, vows, etc; steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant; strict or thorough in the performance of duty.  My dictionary also says the synonyms imply qualities of stability, dependability, and devotion.  Faithful implies long-continued and steadfast fidelity to whatever one is bound to by a pledge, duty, or obligation.  Constant suggests firmness and steadfastness in attachment.  Loyal implies unswerving allegiance to a person, organization, cause, or idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow!  These sound serious!  I had never looked up the meaning of faithful before.  Think about these definitions as you read these Bible verses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, let’s think about God’s faithfulness to us.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

He never changes and He cannot lie.\u00a0 His promises to us that are written throughout the Bible will always be true.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 33:4\u00a0 “The word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful<\/strong> in all He does.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 86:15\u00a0 “But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 117:2\u00a0 “For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness<\/strong> of the Lord endures forever.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 145:13\u00a0 “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.\u00a0 The Lord is faithful<\/strong> to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, here are some verses on how God’s relationship with us is evident in His faithfulness to us.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1 Corinthians 1:9\u00a0 “God, who has called you into fellowship with His son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Thessalonians 5:23\u00a0 “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.\u00a0 May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The one who calls you is faithful<\/strong> and he will do it.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Thessalonians 3:3\u00a0 “But the Lord is faithful<\/strong>, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”Hebrews 10:23\u00a0 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, these verses are for us to live out.\u00a0 <\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The verse in Revelation is referring to the end times when God commands us to stay strong in the face of really tough decisions we might have to make as His followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proverbs 3:3-4\u00a0 “Let love and faithfulness<\/strong> never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.\u00a0 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 12:12\u00a0 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful<\/strong> in prayer.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revelation 14:12\u00a0 “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful<\/strong> to Jesus.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all know people who are faithful to sports teams, brands, companies or organizations, and political groups.\u00a0 Being faithful to our spouse, family and friends is vitally important for those relationships to thrive. But our priority as believers in Jesus Christ is to be faithful to God above all else, no matter the circumstances.\u00a0 Is this evident to the people around you?\u00a0 Do you share with them how faithful God is and how you choose to live in faithfulness to Him?\u00a0\u00a0 Can they tell that your relationship with Him is the most important and unwavering?\u00a0 Do we show God our faithfulness to Him through our thoughts, how we spend our time, what we watch and listen to?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our last verse is our challenge.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Go back and read the definitions again and see how you can answer this question as to your relationship with God.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proverbs 20:6\u00a0 “Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful<\/strong> man who can find?”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know people who are faithful to sports teams, brands, companies or organizations, and political groups. Being faithful to our spouse, family and friends is vitally important for those relationships to thrive. But our priority as believers in Jesus Christ is to be faithful to God above all else, no matter the circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[53,60,51,55],"class_list":["post-352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-blog","tag-challenge","tag-faithfulness","tag-fruit-of-the-spirit","tag-galatians-522"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions\/353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}