LEARNING DAILY

Galatians 5:22-23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Pastor Jonathon Moore, Lead Pastor at NorthRock Church, brought a second message this weekend I needed to hear. He spoke on the fruit of faithfulness. To me this echoed the message given at Community Bible Church regarding the presence of the Holy spirit in my life and yielding to Him. “The natural result of having a healthy relationship and staying connected to the Holy Spirit is fruit being produced. Lack of fruit being produced is result of walking in the flesh” (JM). Colossians 1:9-10 tells us, “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”.

Pastor Moore defined “faithfulness” as “being loyal, trustworthy, steadfast, reliability, moral integrity, with an emphasis on relational trust and commitment.” Habakkuk 2:4 tells us, “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.” (New Living Translation). His first point was, “Faithfulness begins as a response to God’s faithfulness to me.” Audrey wrote in her notes, “God is faithful. Always. He will never abandon or forsake us. His mercies are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Read 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself.” This amazes me and has me in awe of God; Believers who struggle (and that probably includes all who read this) are kept and held by God. He remains faithful even when they do not! So, Believers follow Hebrews 10:13, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” “Biblical hope is not wishful thinking but anticipatory thinking, holding on to what you know and to what is going to happen. Faithfulness is the foundation of my hope, my anchor in the storm; God is unchanging!” (JM).

Pastor Moore stated, “Faithfulness grows in a healthy garden” (I was very curious to hear what he meant by this!). “The Fruit of the Spirit grows from the inside out” (JM). Audrey wrote, “Faithfulness is spirit in origin, but we must foster it.” Pastor Moore went on, “My role is to make sure it grows, to be sure the environment is right by tilling the soil.” How does the Believer do that? “Faithfulness grows in a relationship with God.” “The closer we get to the God who is, the more faithful we are” (Audrey). You know how to do that -- reading/studying/meditating on the Word of God, being in prayer, and walking in obedience on the narrow way. “So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17).

“Faith grows when I’m surrounded by faithful people.” “The enemy’s number one way to try to destroy the Believer’s faithfulness is to try to isolate him/her.” When the enemy isolates a Believer, he can work on him/her to create doubt, compare themselves to others, and be in a pity party. It is important to be around the family of God for support, prayer, and serve.

“Faithfulness grows in the small things.” “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” (Luke 16:10). “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21). Pastor Moore reminded us that simple obedience everyday grows one’s faith. It is doing the little things each day that will draw us closer to God because His faithfulness can be witnessed., not only by us, but by those around us.

Let God’s faithfulness keep you close to Him each day!