I Want to Be Faithful, Part II
I Want to Be Faithful, part II:
“I Want to Want to Be Faithful”
by Pastor Kent Munsey
January 12, 2020
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
1 Timothy 1:12, NKJV
We should want to want to be faithful. In 1 Timothy 1:12, the Apostle Paul says that God considers him faithful (or trustworthy in the NIV). Yet as a young man Paul persecuted Christians and even killed them. When Paul was knocked off his donkey, he encountered Jesus and became a follower by God’s grace. In spite of his past failures, God counted him faithful.
We should desire faithfulness in all circumstances.
1. Be faithful in the waiting.
In Hebrews 11:11, Sarah waited on God to give her a child. Even though she was well past normal childbearing years, she was faithful in the waiting because she knew that God would be faithful to his promise. When she was 90 years old, Sarah bore a son named Isaac, and Abraham became the father to the nation of Israel.
As long as the Earth remains, there will be seed, time, and harvest: God’s word is sown, and then there is a waiting period before the harvest. We don’t want to lose faith in the waiting because we don’t see the harvest yet. Waiting on God is never a waste of time.
2. Be faithful in the delays, detours, and discouragements.
Caleb teaches us to be faithful in our delays, detours and discouragement (Joshua 14:12). The Israelites waited for forty years to enter the land that God promised Moses, and Caleb still had faith to take the land, even after years of delay.
Are we still willing to be faithful to God even when we are detoured or delayed? If God started it, then he will be faithful to finish it. We should never lose the desire for what God has for us. God always comes through.
3. Be faithful in the fight.
We should be faithful to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12). David learned to fight early to defend what his father had given him. Because of his circumstances--that he had been born out of an adulterous affair--David had to fight for every opportunity that he received. His experience fighting lions and bears to protect his father’s sheep prepared him to defeat Goliath. Regardless of David’s circumstances, God had a plan for him.
Our enemy is not the people who oppose us, but spirits and principalities. Our enemy is not flesh and blood; we are fighting a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:12). David was faithful in his fight with Goliath. He fought and defeated the Philistines to show off the extraordinary power of God (1 Samuel 17:45, MSG).
Likewise, we are to fight the good fight of justice and freedom for God’s glory. Sometimes there are fights that we don’t want to fight, but if we give the enemy an inch, he’ll take a mile. If we are not fighting, we are falling. We need to stand our ground.
4. Be faithful even when we fail.
The Bible says that “a righteous man falls seven times, but he gets back up,” (Proverbs 24:16). What makes him righteous is where he’s standing--that he doesn’t stay down but gets back up. God can do more than we can ask, think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20), but we have to choose to fight, to get back up. We must refuse to see failure as final.
David fell into sin with Bathsheba, and Samson with Delilah, but even after their failures, they were faithful, and God restored their relationships with him. After Samson failed, he went onto accomplish his greatest act of faith, setting Israel up for victory and defeating their enemies. He looked to a future beyond his failure. Samson and David were both men who failed but wanted to be faithful to God, even after they had failed. We may think we have disqualified ourselves after we fail, but God is faithful to restore us.
5. Be faithful in our relationship with Jesus.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Sometimes we feel as if we can’t be honest with God about our desires, even though he already knows everything. There may be areas of our hearts that we are afraid to surrender. When we make God the delight and desire of our hearts, then we have righteousness, peace and joy in him. When we’re truly delighting in the Lord, then our desires will be aligned with his desires.
Let’s ask God to help us want to want to be faithful in the waiting, in the delays, detours, and discouragement, in the fight, even when we fail, and above all, in our relationship with him.
Reflection/Discussion Questions:
Think of a time when you waited on God and were faithful in the waiting.
Have you ever experienced a time of failure that God restored you from?
How can your stories of failure and restoration help others with their faithfulness?
Take some time to write a letter to God thanking him for his faithfulness and asking him to help you desire more faithfulness in the challenging areas of your life.