Welcome to the blog of Pastor Alton Stone, from Simpsonville, SC. Pastor Stone is a retired Ordained Bishop of The Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee with over 45 years of pastoral ministry.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Faithful

I don’t think we can ever talk enough about the faithfulness of God. It’s the starting place of any big prayer or act of faith.

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown himself. 2 Timothy 2:13

But I also believe that there’s another side to the connection between our faith and God’s faithfulness that we can’t afford to ignore. God is faithful even if we are faithless. But God shows His faithfulness in a special way towards those who show their faith in Him.

I’m not talking out of both sides of my mouth. It’s simple, really. God is always faithful. But it’s the people who step out in faith that have the opportunity to see God come through for them and move in ways that those who are faithless don’t.

While the Bible is clear that God’s faithfulness is the solid ground of our faith, it’s also clear that our faith gives God a way to display His faithfulness.

God would have remained faithful if Moses had remained in the desert, herding sheep. But because Moses had the faith to be God’s representative before Pharaoh, he had a front row seat to the 10 plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. He saw God's faithfulness firsthand.

God would have remained faithful if Daniel hadn’t had the courage to keep praying to God when he was told not to. But because Daniel had the faith to persist, he had a close view of God’s faithfulness in the lions’ den.

God would have remained faithful if Peter hadn’t walked on water. But because Peter had the faith to step out of the boat, he got to see Jesus’ faithfulness in a way the other disciples didn’t.

Maybe we could sum it up like this:
God has demonstrated His past faithfulness to give us a foundation for our faith.
Now show God your faith. And He’ll show you His faithfulness.

Not because you would have earned it. But because you would have put yourself in a position to see it.

Pray big.
Dream big.
Take big steps of faith.

Because of how you’ve seen God’s faithfulness in the past. And because you want to see Him show His faithfulness in ways you haven’t seen yet in the future.

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