Faithful With Very Little

Luke 16
10 Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
…
13 No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

Faithful is not a title we can claim for ourselves but a characteristic only others can attribute to us. Faithfulness, like love, is proven in action and not bound by fluctuating feelings. Faith without works is dead as love without faithfulness is dead and both are proven in the very little.
The “very little” things are often overlooked or despised. They are thought little of, easily missed and easily forgotten. They are insignificant to most people and beneath others; unglamorous, inconvenient moments of servitude for which no praise or thanks is given. Faithfulness is proved in little minutes and moments of life, in the unseen and unnoticed parts. It is a daily, moment by moment discipline/battle. It would be easy to stop, most people would understand, even encourage you to take it easy and relax!
On the other hand the flesh in me is eager to prove an ability to be faithful in the “much”. The idea of promotion to something greater appeals to my ego, but spiritually, that is to miss the mark entirely. The great vastness of God’s immense love is proven and demonstrated in the very little, consistent daily details of our lives! “His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23. There is great wonder and awe in knowing God spoke all creation into existence in six days but that same voice still faithfully holds all things together and it is in the menial task of caring for each and every sparrow that we get a glimpse of the vastness of His omnipotent love and omniscient care. To have the opportunity to serve our Saviour in the “very little” is far greater testimony of the majesty of God than any notoriety or momentary significance. His tender mercies, loving kindnesses and compassions are seen far more clearly in the very little things that we do for others in His name.
The greatest honour for a man is to be found in faithfulness to God in the least of things. Oh may we be so in love with The Lord that we joy to serve Him faithfully and joyfully in the very little.

1 Corinthians 4
2 Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

Luke 18
8 … However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith on the earth?”

Our Father

Luke 11
2 And He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done [held holy and revered] on earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us daily our bread [food for the morrow].
4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended us or done us wrong]. And bring us not into temptation but rescue us from evil.

“Our Father”
When Jesus teaches on prayer there is no individuality. There is no focus on the personal self life. We are not taught to say “My Father”. This is a striking and powerful truth.
It is wonderful that we can personally, individually and intimately call upon The Heavenly Father but with these opening words our gaze/focus is immediately off of ourselves and on others, HIS body and HIS family. We are immediately in intercession for others rather than personal petition. Of course it is not wrong to pray for personal needs and petitions. We are encouraged to do this elsewhere in scripture but as a single teaching, a singular example/template this prayer from The Lord is markedly unselfish.
I’ve found this to be such a wonderful provision in my own prayerlife. When I have so many people to pray for and so many petitions to bring, when I feel overwhelmed with burdens and unable to pray effectively, this prayer truly and completely fulfils every request/need. With my heart on every brother and sister as well as my own circumstance I can pray “Our Father”. I find myself united in heart, on the same Spiritual plane, standing alongside my brother/sister in Christ.
Saying “Our Father” I can stand in representation of all who I desire to pray for, no matter the length of the list or span of the needs. I come before The Father with the burden of all who are on my heart, and I plead “OUR Father”!
We will never fully appreciate or understand how incredibly wonderful it is that we can call Him Father. We will never understand the lengths that He has gone to and the price that He has paid for our Salvation, but we can live in the wonder, awe and joy of such a truth. It is something we ought to meditate on more often. Let us take care to not let the words become too familiar and common. We are sons and daughters of God, joint heirs with Christ!! Hallelujah!! What a hope is ours!! We have been given the best robe, a ring on our finger, shoes on our feet and all of heaven rejoices in our Salvation!! Oh, praise the name of Jesus Christ! Bless Your name Heavenly Father! Glory be to You!
Brothers and sisters, when we pray let us, reverently and joyfully, say “Our Father”!

From Broken To Burning

Luke 24
32 And they said to one another, Were not our hearts greatly moved and burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and as He opened and explained to us the Scriptures?

These two disciples had been walking along sad and broken hearted. Their hopes were dashed, life hadn’t worked out as they had expected or hoped. With their faith crushed to pieces, they talked in the past tense trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
⁠They did not recognise Jesus! The very one they had hoped in! The one they had followed for so long. He was walking and talking with them but they were ignorant of His presence. Their gaze so inward and their sight so blinded by self pity, disappointment and defeat that they did not recognise their risen, victorious Lord and Saviour was with them.
But Jesus, after a straight but gentle rebuke, corrects their understanding and lays firmly the foundations of the gospel message. Slowly they came to realise how their expectations had been wrong! Their focus and understanding had been on the wrong thing, it had been fleshly, without Spiritual understanding. Slowly, by knowledge of The Word, their faith began to stir again… Of course Jesus had to die! It was prophesied, it was necessary, it was God’s plan for Salvation all along! They gradually became certain and assured of the scriptures, they started to believe again, truly Jesus was risen, they didn’t know where He was but it didn’t matter any more! They were reassured in the scriptures, took God at His word and trusted in Him! Their hearts burned with excitement, expectancy, hope, joy and rejoicing in all that God was doing.
When their hearts burned in the Spiritual, Jesus revealed himself in the physical! Only after their hearts burned with faith did He open their eyes to see He had been there all along!
May our faith be so stirred and may our hearts burn with such joy, expectancy and trust! Hallelujah! HE IS RISEN! PRAISE THE LORD!!

Immersed In God

Exodus 40
34 Then the cloud [God’s visible presence] covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle!
35 And Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud remained upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

1 Kings 8
10 When the priests had come out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Lord’s house,
11 So the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.

Acts 2
2 When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.
…
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words].

•⁠ ⁠Three different dwelling places of Almighty God. Each one with its own baptism (immersion) of God! Each one filled with His presence and His Glory! Each one with a clear manifestation of God’s delight to dwell among his people. God’s deepest desire and glory is that He can dwell among His people! Hallelujah, What a Saviour! What a Gospel!
•⁠ ⁠None of these experiences were continuous though. They were symbolic of God’s acceptance and delight to dwell in the place prepared! But life and service continued on after these precious moments.

John 16
13 But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all Truth. For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].
14 He will honour and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.

•⁠ ⁠The immersion had come and now there was work to be done. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was to be proclaimed and that’s exactly what the apostles did! The experience of Acts 2 is never mentioned again with longing. The disciples never looked back at the physical experience of the upper room wishing they could have that again, but they walked with a forward focus, proclaiming Jesus Christ, and taught us with obedience, joy and boldness to walk in The Holy Spirit, and to be being FILLED with HIM!
•⁠ ⁠But if we find that we feel empty, if we find that we hunger for more of Him, if we find that we feel a thirst and a dryness, we can do so rejoicing in all that He has given us! If we are thirsty, PRAISE THE LORD, we can drink from the Living Waters! If we hunger, PRAISE THE LORD for we shall be filled!! OH HALLELUJAH! There is never a reason strong enough to ever stop praising The Lord!! So let us continue to bring our sacrifices of praise, for The Lord inhabits the praises of His people! And if we bring to The Lord our songs of praise and rejoicing we shall never leave empty but full of HIM!!

No More Sad

1 Samuel 1
15 …I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I was pouring out my soul before the Lord.
16 Regard not your handmaid as a wicked woman; for out of my great complaint and bitter provocation I have been speaking.
17 Then Eli said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.
18 Hannah said, Let your handmaid find grace in your sight. So she went her way and ate, her countenance no longer sad.

•⁠ ⁠There was no sudden and miraculous change in Hannah’s circumstance. When she left the temple that day she had to go back to the same bitter enmity and ridicule that she had been dealing with for so many years. In the flesh there was no immediate comfort, support or remedy to her pain. The storm still raged, the enemy did not draw back…
•⁠ ⁠The only change to be seen that day was in her face, meaning her disposition or her attitude. She was no more sad. She was no more in defeat and shame. She was no more hopeless and sorrowful. She was no more overwhelmed, exasperated, frustrated or weary.
•⁠ ⁠So what did change for Hannah? She lifted her gaze. She was no longer looking at her self through eyes of flesh but seeing, by faith, the loving kindnesses and tender mercies of The Lord. She was no longer looking earthward but Godward, to the promises and testimonies of The Lord. She looked beyond her self and saw The Lord. Hanna cast ALL of her care upon The Lord. She lay all of her burdens down at His feet. She cast herself upon His goodness and mercy and she truly trusted in Him. She cried out and vowed that the fruit/blessing of The Lord would be HIS testimony and for HIS glory and honour. She was no longer lusting for the blessing but found comfort, peace and rest in the one who blesses.
•⁠ ⁠We only know Hannah’s name because of the fruit of this faith. There was nothing royal or powerful about her. She was just a woman longing for a child, longing to be fruitful. But as she cried out to The Lord and poured out her complaint to Him, as she yielded to His will and glory, she became a woman of quiet, confident, assured faith. The testimony of The Lord came from that faith. It was not until Hannah rose up no more sad that fruit and testimony came. A Mighty work, far more than Hannah prayed for or could have imagined!
•⁠ ⁠May we learn to have such faith as Hannah. May we be like Moses, “for he had respect unto the rewarder of the reward… for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:26-27

Romans 15
13 May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.