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I am so enjoying and grateful for all the words you have submitted. There is much encouragement to be found from each other’s inspiration. Our word for the week is consistency. For our purposes here I’ll focus on this aspect of the definition: the quality of being enduring and unchanging.
God is our gold standard for consistency—"He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow,” (Hebrews 13:8). “He does not change like shifting shadows,” (James 1:17). “For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does,” (Psalm 33:4). Without fail, He causes the sun to rise and set each day, (Psalm 50:1). He is “called Faithful and True,” (Revelation 19:11).
God’s consistency means that He is trustworthy in all He does. If God has promised to do something He always follows through. Knowing that He is trustworthy fills us with peace; it is a source of security and stability. His consistency brings order to our chaos, structure to our lives, and calms our hearts and minds. With God we know what to expect—He is our safe refuge and our loving home.
God calls us to a life of consistency too—a consistency in our faith, in our relationships, in our home, in our jobs, our tasks, and our roles. A life built on the consistency of drawing near to God can’t help but overflow with faith, joy, strength, confidence, and love. A life that incorporates daily prayer has a peace that passes understanding. A heart that’s continually filled with God’s Word is rooted in unchanging truth; it remains unshaken when everything else changes.
Good relationships are built on consistency—the faithful confidence of a friend, the unconditional love of a parent, the loved one who always shows up. A home with consistency flows smoothly in God’s grace. Order is something we all need and desire. Structure to our days makes us feel safe and secure. A schedule is helpful in creating such things—mealtimes, bedtimes, putting limits on phone and computer time are good for us all. Make time for work and take time for rest and play.
Consistency requires that we have self-discipline and self-control. Consistency is a habit we must purposefully put into practice—it doesn’t naturally happen. It takes focus and is established one step at a time. And if this is difficult, we can pray, and God will help us to be more diligent.
· Where do you see God’s faithful consistency in your life?
· In what area of your life do you need to be more consistent?
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Below is an excerpt from my book “Worship and Wonder: Faith-Filled Devotions.” It contains many verses about the consistency of God. He is the only one we can accurately say always does some things, and never does other things. Only He can be so perfectly consistent, but with His help we can grow.
Always and Never
Using the words always and never, Scripture gives us a clear picture of God’s character and a firm foundation on which to stake our faith. There are many things God always does, and many things He will never do. These words describe the essence of His being and offer us profound hope in His consistency and in His faithful promises to us. Read the following verses to hear these truths for yourself.
Psalm 40:11, “Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me.”
Psalm 119:132, “Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name.
Psalm 119:144, “Your statutes are always righteous; give me understanding that I may live.”
Isaiah 58:11, “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
Keep reading, there are more to come…
Jeremiah 12:1, “You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you.”
Matthew 28:20, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
John 5:17, “In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
2 Corinthians 2:14, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
1 Corinthians 13:6-7, “[God’s] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. [God’s] Love never fails.”
Genesis 9:11, “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
(The rooftops of Paris with a rainbow over the city. God's enduring promise to never again flood the whole earth.)
Still a few more verses of hope for us….
Judges 2:1, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,’”
Deuteronomy 31:6, 8, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you… Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Psalm 9:18, “But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.”
Psalm 89:28, “I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.”
Psalm 94:14, “For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.” (We are His inheritance.)
Lamentations 3:22, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.”
Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Luke 1:32-34, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
John 6:35, “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:37, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”
John 8:12, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:51, “Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
1 Peter 1:3-5, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Revelation 3:5, “The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.”
How do these always and nevers encourage you today? Is there a particular verse you especially needed to hear?
Tuck these promises into your heart and carry them with you wherever you go and for whatever you face.
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