adventure # 3: the faithfulness of God

This week I'm continuing what I began last week..an adventure into the faithfulness of God. Many places in Scripture talk about the faithfulness of God and many songs have been written about it, like:

Lamentations 3: 22, 23 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

and

Psalm 119: 89, 90 "Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations." 

Yet, despite the fact that Scripture is loaded with these kind of references, we still find it rather difficult to believe, don't we? The reason we find it difficult to believe is because of the flesh that is still present with us. But I think its incredibly important that we make an effort to fight against this tendency, to break through the darkness of this kind of thinking, into the light of truth. A firm footing on a God you perceive to be faithful will see you through life; but a wobbly footing on a God you're not sure of, is going to only cause you to stumble and trip..its a bit like trying to run with a nasty little stone in your shoe. This week, we're going to get rid of that nasty little stone and embrace the truth. And the truth is..God IS faithful. 

What is faithfulness? The Hebrew word that we translate in English as 'faithfulness' means 'steadfastness, firmness, fidelity'. A faithful person would be someone who never changes their mind, never says anything they don't 100% mean, always does what they said they were going to do, never has a disloyal thought towards you. In other words, a person of impeccable and faultless character, a person who you could always, always believe and trust. 

God is described as being such a Person. And the more we get to know Him, the more we can testify to this fact. There are three main ways that we can get to know God better - by studying His Word, by contemplating His working in our own lives and by learning to hear and follow His voice. And so this is what we're going to focus on this week. 

Monday

Watch the video. Here it is for your convenience. Don't forget to comment and to share your experiences either under this blogpost, on the youtube channel or on the Change Your Life Facebook page. 

Tuesday

God's faithfulness cannot be separated from His Word. He is, in fact, faithful to His Word. The more we study His Word, the clearer it becomes that He is indeed faithful to what He says. One of the best ways to study the Bible in order to gain an unshakeable certainty regarding the faithfulness of God, is to use the Biblical Theology approach to Scripture that sees it as one, unfolding story from Genesis to Revelation. The course that I wrote in collaboration with my husband The Big Picture is based on this approach to Scripture. Go here to find out more about this. 

Wednesday

Pray in tongues for 5 minutes. Then worship to this song. 

Pray again in tongues for 5 minutes. Then worship to this song.

Pray again in tongues for 5 minutes. Now worship to this song. 

Friday

Spend time today reading through and contemplating this devotion inspired by Oswald Chambers.

Click here

Saturday

One of the best ways to gain faith for NOW is to contemplate God's faithfulness to you in the past. Spend some time today worshipping the Lord and asking him to speak to you about his faithfulness to you in the past. Ask him to remind you of times and events and incidences that display his faithfulness and that will build up your faith. 

Sunday

Go to church. Think of it as an act of faithfulness. 

One last thing before I go. Last Sunday I had an amazing vision experience during worship that relates to adventure #2: the fragrance of Christ. I was deeply in worship when I perceived there to be numerous angels present. They formed a sort of avenue and as I 'walked' down that avenue I realised that they were escorting me to Jesus. When I reached Jesus he did an unusual thing..he pushed up his sleeve and rubbed his bare arm against mine. Immediately a beautiful fragrance was released that I could actually smell. I was so excited because this is the first time that I have experienced the fragrance of Christ since my encounter with him that I write about in my book. So, like I said in my last blogpost, there really is no harm in asking him to reveal himself to you in that way. I asked..and he did! 

That's it for this week. I'm looking forward to your Comments. Until next time, Avante! 

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