Cultivating Spiritual FruitSample

Faithfulness

"Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens." Psalm 89:2

I don’t think we can ever talk enough about the faithfulness of God. It’s the starting place for all big prayers or any act of faith. Throughout our spiritual lives we build on God’s faithfulness; His faithfulness is foundational to our own faith.

Our faith may fail, but God’s faithfulness never will. Faithfulness is part of God's character. Therefore, we do not build on a “fault line of feelings or the flood plain of our performance” (Steven Furtick). We build our faith on the solid bedrock, Jesus Christ. He is the Higher Ground, the firm base that is the true testimony of God Himself. Because God can’t disown Himself, He remains faithful even when we are faithless.

There is another side of this characteristic that relates to our faith. While the Bible is clear that God’s faithfulness is our Rock (Ps. 31:3), it’s also clear that our faith gives God a way to display His faithfulness. We see His display of faithfulness throughout Biblical history. Hebrews 11 tells us how God led His people by His faithfulness out of bondage, through the wilderness, and through many dire situations. In every circumstance, God showed His faithfulness towards those who showed their faith in Him.

We see these examples of His faithfulness, but when adversity pressures us, doubts often arise. We want to see the whole staircase before we lift our feet. We want a full download before we obey Him. However, God wants us to have faith in Him, not in ourselves. When the Lord provides direction and instruction, we must take up our faith first. Many times we're so busy looking down at each footstep, each little pebble or pothole in our journey, we aren't even looking to see where God is leading us. We need to look up to our eternal destiny and get our eyes focused on Jesus. Only then can we totally walk by faith and not by sight.

To learn trust and obedience, we will walk through some experiences that we won't understand. Faith begins in the dark. When we believe truth, the Spirit produces the faith we need to trust God completely. Then, we’re led through the dark by His faithfulness.

Do you need to grow your faith?