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Your loving kindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 36:5
Definition of Faithful:
Faithful (pistos from peítho = to persuade - induce one by words to believe, have confidence) is something or someone who is worthy of faith or keeps promises and is applied to God, humans, His Word, etc.
Webster says that "Faithful" means “firm in adherence to whatever one owes allegiance and implies unswerving adherence to a person or thing or to the oath or promise by which a tie was contracted.”
Faithfulness is God's attribute of absolute dependability, the direct opposite of everything indecisive and unpredictable
The faithfulness of God means that because he is the truth, everything he says and does is definite; meaning he is 100% reliable 100% of the time. He does not fail, forget, hesitate, change or disappoint.
Faithfulness reveals God's character as worthy of the love and assurance of man and guarantees us that He will without doubt fulfill His promises as well as carry out His threats against sin.
GOD'S FAITHFULNESS is:
PART OF GOD'S CHARACTERIsa 49:7; 1Cor 1:9; 1Th 5:24;Dt 7:9, 9:5 1Ki 8:56 Ps 36:5, 89:1, 105:8 ; 1Cor 1:9 Hebrews 6:18 1Pe 4:19
DECLARED TO BE:
- Great - Lamentations 3:23
- Established -Psalms 89:2
- Incomparable -Psalms 89:8
- Infinite -Psalms 36:5
- Should be pleaded in prayer -Psalms 143:1
- In his counsels -Is 25:1
- In afflicting his saints -Ps 119:75
- In forgiving sins -1Jn 1:9
- Saints encouraged to depend on -1Pe 4:19
- Spiritual blessings (1Co 1:9)
- Make possible of His own to carry on (Jer 32:40)
- Bringing to glory (1Jn 2:25).
“All Christians rest upon the faithfulness of God. Our unchangeable God who never falters, never fails in His promise (Josh 23:14, 21:43, 44, 45) is the very foundation of our faith and the ground of our security. That is what gives stability and strength to our faith; we can count on it. We have the same God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had, that David prayed to and wrote his Psalms in praise of -- all this constitutes for us the bedrock of security that we rest upon it in every single day.” Ray Stedman (from sermon "God's Faithfulness: Israel & the New Covenant")
C H Spurgeon reminds us that...
“We must be tried or we cannot magnify the faithful God, who will not leave His people. “
Action To Take: Think back to a time in your life when you doubted God’s faithfulness. Now list the ways He has since proven Himself faithful, the things He has done which He promised in His Word He would do.
-- How has God shown Himself to be faithful to you and your family in the past? How can you make sure you'll remember? With whom can you talk about it today? Precious memories of yesterday can be precious moments today.