The Lord calls us to be faithful, not just in the big things, but in all the small things. We cannot be immoral in a few things and call ourselves moral. In the same way, if we want to be faithful, then we must be faithful in even the smallest things that we do.
He will test in the little to see if He can trust you in the much. “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10 NKJV).
Being faithful is more than what we do but who we are on the inside. We may be faithful in our actions, but are we faithful in our thoughts? Our thoughts represent who we are at a deeper level than what we do. It is in your thoughts that the Lord wants to change you.
It is a great thing if you trust in the Lord, but an even greater thing if the Lord can trust you. The Lord said, “Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house” (Numbers 12:7 NKJV).
Are you faithful with your eyes? Does what you look at on social media or television line up with how the Lord would have you live? Our eyes are the gates that determine what comes into our minds. If we don’t guard the gates, then evil will invade, and our minds will be darkened.
If you focus more, you’ll get distracted less. “Keep your eyes focused on what is right, and look straight ahead to what is good. Be careful what you do, and always do what is right” (Proverbs 4:25-26 NCV).
Are you faithful with your ears? Does the media, the conversations, and the music you listen to pass the test of what would be acceptable in heaven? Our ears are also the gates of what comes into our minds. Words have power, and it is up to us which power we allow to influence our life.
You can talk yourself into anything, so listen to God to do the right thing. “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or to the left” (Isaiah 30:21 NLT).
Are you faithful with your time? Do you devote time to the Lord with prayer and service? Do you learn about what God wants and then take the time to apply it to your own life? If we would stop wasting so much time on the unnecessary, we would have an abundance of time to do what is necessary.
When you have nothing but a prayer, you have everything that you need. “Yahweh is near to everyone who prays to him, to every faithful person who prays to him. He fills the needs of those who fear him. He hears their cries for help and saves them” (Psalm 145:18-19 NOG).
Are you faithful with your words? Does the speech coming from your mouth help others, or is it meant to hurt them? Would you be embarrassed if some people heard the things you said? Our words can either speak life or speak death, and there is rarely anything in between.
Only speak in secret what you’d want others to hear someday. “For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all” (Luke 8:17 NLT).
Are you faithful to your family? Do you help your family when they need it? Are you willing to put the needs of your family in front of the wants of your own desires? We don’t get to choose who our family is, but we most certainly get to choose how faithfully we help them.
The Father takes care of His family, and He expects you to take care of yours. “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8 NKJV).
Are you faithful to your current or future spouse? This is not only being faithful physically but also with how you look at others or speak with them. Faithfulness extends into the deepest areas of our being, and it is there that we want to give to our soul mates everything that is pure.
It is the most intimate union with no natural bloodlines that establishes a spiritual bond never meant to be broken. “And hasn’t He made [them] one [flesh] in order to have spiritual blood-relatives?…take heed to your spirit, and don’t break faith with the wife of your youth” (Malachi 2:15 CJB).
Are you faithful to the Lord Jesus? Do you tell Him everything, or do you try to hide in the garden? Do you include Him in everything, or do you only invite Him from time to time? Your faithfulness to the Lord will reveal the degree of your spiritual maturity more than anything else.
You can’t serve the Lord so long as you have your own agenda. Jesus taught, “If anyone serves Me, he must [continue to faithfully] follow Me [without hesitation, holding steadfastly to Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]; and wherever I am [in heaven’s glory], there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:26 AMP).
When we are failing in one area, we are failing. The Lord does not convict us to crush us but to rebuild us into all we were meant to be. With however you are falling short of your potential in Christ, it will be Christ who can help you to get there. The only barrier is if you won’t let Him.
Don’t compromise an inch, and God will give you a mile. “Yahweh will make you the head, not the tail. You will always be at the top, never at the bottom, if you faithfully obey the commands of Yahweh your Elohim that I am giving you today” (Deuteronomy 28:13 NOG).
Blessings to you,
Paul Balius
Excellent post. Thank you for the reminders of how we need to pay attention.
Thank you!
Wow! Wondrous wisdom, set forth so straightforward, as is characteristic of you, beloved brother Paul. Thanks much for such sentient and salient sense, supporting sanctitude of self, for soaring in the Spirit.
The sum of a person, rightly or in reality, recognized or not, incontrovertibly flows out of their heart. In the exceedingly excellent economy of our consummate Creator, the heart is the doorway, the threshold, the flashpoint of our entire everlasting being, expressing, manifesting, and demonstrating who we, in all actuality, are in every moment, movement, and matter of our existence. By the heart, intrinsically and inextricably involved is our personality of individuality, conceptuality, intentionality, directionality, rationality, effectuality, potentiality and emotionality.
In his book The Economy of God, Witness Lee indicates this function. On page 75, he states, “Our relationship with the Lord is always begun and maintained by the heart. Of course, to contact the Lord is a matter of the spirit, but this must be initiated and maintained by the heart, for our heart is the gateway of our whole being.”
Oh, for a wealthy, heavenly healthy heart of happy holiness! Alleluia!
Burning blessings of Jesus’ Beauty in your being and every intimate blessing of affection from His holy heart as King of heaven
Thank you so much for your kind words! And thank you even more for all you have written here. Your writing is an outpouring of your heart and I am so blessed to see what is inside your heart. That sounds like a great book. I am a huge fan of Watchman Nee, and need to explore more of the works of Witness Lee. Thank you for being such a blessing to me!