Faithfulness

Faithfulness - being "BIG" in the "LITTLE" Things.

Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble.
 - Proverbs 25:19

Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow.
 - Psalm 78:57

These little things are unimportant in the eyes of the world but they are important in the eyes of God.

1. The SOURCE of faithfulness

The faithfulness that pleases God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
 - Galatians 5:22

We came to a point where we surrender ourselves to the Lord. And at the point of that surrender is the Holy Spirit that dwell in us. And the fruit is the faithfulness. But in all these we need God's help to receive the Holy Spirit.


2. The APPLICATION of faithfulness

Being BIG in the Little Things.

We are asked to play small roles without significance. But if we are faithful because we believe that God has called us to do these little things it blesses the name of the Lord and it blesses other people.

Faithfulness means a great reward from the greater rewarder.

He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
 - Luke 16:10

Being faithful in "little" things puts these to the test:
* our MOTIVES
    - why we are doing what we are doing?
    - who is it for?
* our CONSISTENCY
    - Being faithful till the end
* our SENSE of WORTH
    - where does our sense of worth come from? From applause of the people? Or from pleasing God?

Faithfulness is an "EVERYDAY" practice
- Has regular quiet time with the Lord
- Tithes regularly
- Keeps promises
- Is the same person at home, at work or in church
- Doesn't seek the limelight, but to finish the job
- Speaks the truth always
- Admits mistakes without rationalizing or blaming
- Takes initiative without being told
- Keeps accountable / gives update without being asked
- pay debts without being asked
- Meets deadlines
- Keeps right priorities - God, family, work, ministry, others
- Spends according to a budget
- Does not give up despite setbacks
- Cares for others' things  as if they were his own
- Keeps confidential matters confidential
- Flees from, rather than flirts with temptation
- Is true to his marriage vows

Faithfulness is a LIFESTYLE, comes from inside-out. We cannot do it alone without the Holy Spirit.

3. The MOTIVATION of faithfulness
    - Pleasing GOD -

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
 - Galatians 1:10

Real Rewards of Faithfulness:

His master replied, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master's happiness!"
 - Matthew 25:21

Our greatest motivator of faithfulness is because GOD is always faithful to us.

Balance Sheet of Life

I got this from my forwarded message from my D-group leader, just wanted to share it here :D

BALANCE SHEET OF LIFE

 

Our Birth is our Opening Balance!

Our Death is our Closing Balance!

Our Egoistic Views are our Liabilities

Our Creative Ideas are our Assets 

Heart is our Current Asset

Soul is our Fixed Asset

Brain is our Fixed Deposit

Thinking is our Current Account 

Acts of Self-giving are our Capital

Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade

Friends are our General Reserves

Values & Behavior are our Goodwill

Patience is our Interest Earned

Holiness is our Dividend

Children and Followers are our Bonus Issues

Education is Brands / Patents 

 

Personal Formation is our Investment

Experience is our Premium Account

The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet accurately

The Goal is: To make God smile when He looks at your Balance Sheet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Some very Good and Very Bad Things

 

The most destructive habit.............................. Worry

The greatest Joy....................................... Self Giving

The greatest loss............................ Lack of Sincerity

The most satisfying work................... Helping others

The ugliest personality trait..................... Selfishness

The most endangered species....... Dedicated leaders

Our greatest natural resource... Our youthfulness, beginning again

The greatest 'shot in the arm'............. Encouragement

The greatest problem to overcome.............. Cowardice

The most effective sleeping pill............. Peace of mind

The most crippling failure disease..................Excuses

The most powerful force in life........................ Charity

The most destructive act............................... Infidelity

The world's most incredible computer.........The brain

The worst thing to be without............................ Hope

The deadliest weapon.................... .........The tongue

The two most power-filled words.................. “I Can”

My greatest asset.................... “I am a child of God”

The most worthless emotion...................... Self- pity

The most beautiful attire.............................. SMILE!

My most prized possession............... ..... Reliability

My most powerful channel of communication... Prayer

The most contagious spirit..................... Enthusiasm

Life ends: when you stop Fighting for Holiness,

Hope ends:  when you stop Trusting God,

Love ends: when you stop Caring for the Others,

And Friendship ends: when you stop Sharing …!!!

Calm & Mildness

I'm a warfreak and Thank God I was able to calm myself in replying back to a Facebook friend (rather acquaintance). I went to a retreat last last week. And I posted pictures in my FB account. He commented about my baptism pictures, such as "Why are they drowning this poor kid?" , "Oh it's you, Why are they trying to kill you?" and even tag one of my picture as "Pool to drown innocent people in". During my one hour travel I was praying to the Lord to calm myself and stop me from replying back and arguing with him. By the grace of God, I was able to stop myself and calmly deleted all those comments, untag the pictures and just reply to what really matters. :)

Formula One Retreat

I attended a Single's retreat last June 25-26 @ CCT Tagaytay. I know I believe in my heart that God is my savior and I will be saved and have eternal life through Jesus. But, I never fully surrender myself to Him. I realize that I have God as a mere help with all that is happening to me. I pray and ask for His help. Little did I know that all I need to do is to fully ask Him to take control. For me to just surrender and have faith in Him that everything will be done according to His will.

It's really hard surrendering everything, because there's always this fear. Sometimes I want this and that, but God wants the other way. Either way, I need to trust God that He know's what's best and it's for my own good.

I wanted to be spiritually mature for my boyfriend so I could be his strength in times of need. I wanted to grow spiritually for him so we could face life challenges. After this retreat I came to realize that I wanted to be God's best for him as well. I pray that I will be.

Don't know what to pray for

Just when I'm lost and really don't know what to pray, I came upon on this verse during my devotion.

Romans 8:26-27
²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Pray and Pray

I read in devotion about - Praying until what you pray for has been accomplished or until you have complete assurance in your heart that it will be.

I have this prayer(s) and felt like God is no longer answering them. Or maybe He's answer is No. God reminded me that I shouldn't stop praying about it. He's listening and will answer them in His time.

Luke 18

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The Spiritual Practice of Trust

Trust is a spiritual practice that transforms us, that helps us obey the command against worrying.
Keri Wyatt Kent

One of the most startling and challenging commandments of Jesus is this: do not worry.

You may not even have noticed those three little words take the form of a command, or considered worry a "sin" to confess or avoid. But with this simple directive, "Do not worry about your life …" (Matt. 6:25, NIV) Jesus calls us to trust him, and to let go of having to control the outcome of every situation. When we do that, we will have joy, even in challenging circumstances. To do so requires a certain emotional detachment, a conscious letting go of needing to control the outcome of every situation.

It's not that we don't care; we do. But we cast our cares on him, let go of trying to control things that are truly beyond our control. Many of us are professional worriers. In fact, even our prayers are shaped mostly by worry. We get on our knees not to commune with God but to handle damage control for him, to alert him to what's going on in this crazy world and to suggest solutions.

Trust is a choice, the alternative to worry. Other people may misinterpret our trust as carelessness or irresponsibility. But really, we are simply turning over our lives, one moment at a time, to God's excellent and dependable provision. Trust is a spiritual practice that transforms us, that helps us obey the command against worrying.

Unlike other practices, such as prayer, study, solitude, and so forth, the practice of trust is not something we can schedule. We kind of have to wait for situations that would cause us to worry or fear, and in the midst of that situation, choose to believe that we are safe in the arms of God. We have to sail along and wait for a rogue wave or a sudden wind shift, and trust we will not capsize. We must be attentive to see the opportunity in a moment of struggle.

To choose to trust does not mean we don't care, but that we place our cares in the hands of one who cares for us.

In my book, Deeper into the Word, I wrote:

In English, the word "care" has two nearly opposite meanings. If someone cares, they are interested and concerned. If someone has a care, they perhaps have an anxiety or worry. Having someone care for us can alleviate our cares.

Likewise, in New Testament Greek, there are different meanings, but in some cases, several different words to signify those meanings. Merimna (and the verb form merimnao) means anxiety, or to have a care (this word is translated worry in Matthew 6:25). … Epimeleomai means to take care of, to provide for. It is used both in Luke 10 to describe the Good Samaritan's care for the wounded man, and in 1 Timothy 3:5 to describe the role of a bishop or overseer of the church—perhaps, some scholars suggest, alluding to a parallel between these two roles.

… 1 Peter 5:7 exhorts believers to give our anxiety over to the care of Jesus: "casting all your care (merimna) upon him, for he cares (melei) for you" (NKJV). It's an interesting play on words—we can release our cares (our anxiety, worries) to Jesus because of his care (his deep concern and loving provision) for us. This word care, when it refers to God, reminds us of his amazing love for us.

Jesus noted in Matthew 13:22 that the "cares (merimna) of this world" can choke out our spiritual growth. When life throws us challenging circumstances, we have a choice to make: will we worry or trust? Will we believe God is in control or expect the worst? This is the only place we have the opportunity to engage in the practice of trust—in the trenches of difficult circumstances.

Do you engage in the spiritual practice of trust? What will it take for you to embrace the truth that Jesus cares for you, deeply, and that you can entrust him with all your cares?