God’s Faithfulness
How often do you reflect on God’s faithfulness in your life and thank Him for all he has done?
Verse of the Day
‘Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.’
Today’s Devotional
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the holiday when we celebrate the many things we have to be grateful for. And there are so many things that we have the opportunity to be grateful for.
We have much more clarity as we look back over our days. Today, I want you to think about the last twelve months. What events have taken place in your life since this time last year? My guess is that not all of your moments have been happy ones.
When I look back over the last year, I can clearly see God’s faithfulness in my life that I am usually not capable of seeing in the moment. My journals are the best tool for this. So as I look back, I can see how God has been faithful to me even in situations that were incredibly difficult. He is simply so much better at orchestrating my life than I am.
But let’s look at how the Bible describes God’s faithfulness. In today’s verse alone, we see that God is faithful to be God, to keep His covenant to us those who come after us, and to lavish us with His unfailing love.
‘But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.’ (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
‘But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.’ (1 John 1:9)
‘Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.’ (Lamentations 3:23)
‘If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.’ (2 Timothy 2:13)
‘The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord ! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.’ (Exodus 34:6) Please notice that this is God describing Himself.
‘God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (1 Corinthians 1:9)
‘The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.’ (1 Corinthians 10:13)
‘He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.’ (Psalms 91:4)
‘Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
Strength, protection, forgiveness, cleansing, mercy, an invitation into relationship, an escape route from temptation, shelter, making us holy- this is an amazing list of how the Bible describes God’s faithfulness.
It’s easy to read these verses and others like them and intellectually agree that, yes, God is indeed faithful. But what if we took it a step further? What if we took the time to reflect over the ways God has protected us? What if we looked at every single thing we have accomplished as being done by His strength? We have a beautiful opportunity to sit at the Father’s feet and reflect on His faithfulness, not in a general way, but specifically in our life in particular. This might be how we take “head” gratitude and turn it into “heart” gratitude.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Write this question in your journal and then write down any answer that comes to your mind: “Holy Spirit, what specific act of God’s faithfulness do you want me to focus on and be grateful for today?”
Choose one of today’s verses and write out how God has been faithful to you in that area.
How has God been faithful to you in the last year? How can you express your gratitude to Him for that?