Celebrating God’s Faithfulness; Claiming God’s Future

 

When you think of someone who is faithful, what kind of person do you imagine?

Well, I think of someone I can trust; rely on; depend on…someone who does what she says she’s going to do, a person who always keeps his promises.

We are to think the same of God when we read of His faithfulness, but, with God there is still so much more because being faithful is not something He does, it’s Who He is; it is His character, it is His nature.

Do you realize that Love is the driving force of faithfulness? If you think about it for just a moment, you’d see that without love no-one can be faithful. It is the great love that God has for you and me, and for His Son, Jesus Christ, that allows Him to remain faithful.

In Apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he let him know that God remains faithful because He cannot disown Himself.

This means that God cannot deny Himself, is bound by who He is, cannot contradict Himself, and therefore must be true to every facet of His character. In other words, God, who is Love, is also abounding in Faithfulness.

Understand also, that contained within the very Fruit of God’s Spirit is the attribute of Faithfulness, therefore Faithfulness, like Love, is an inherent part of God, so, when it comes to God, you cannot divorce one from the other.

God doesn’t suddenly decide that He doesn’t love something or someone. He doesn’t change His mind about His faithfulness based on trends or fashions or how He may feel from one minute to the next. God is steady, steadfast and unchanging.

Unlike people who will disappoint you or change their minds, God will always be there for you. His love for you will always be constant and His faithfulness toward you is far reaching.

Psalm 57 tells us that God’s faithfulness reaches to the roof of heaven. That’s incredible! Too often, we only look for God’s demonstration of faithfulness in certain ways and don’t recognize that God’s faithfulness is all around us, after all, it is His faithfulness that’s holding all of creation together.

Now that’s cause for celebration!

Believe me when I tell you that the moment you begin to truly realize how trustworthy God is, your perspective of life will change.

As you realize that He will always be there for you, that He’ll never let you go or let you down, you’ll find comfort in even the worst situations because you’ll know for sure that God really loves you in an amazing way and that will never change.

God thinks you’re amazing and has planned out your destiny, and not any old destiny but God has taken His time to design a good plan; He hasn’t left it up to you since He wants to ensure that your future turns out great.

In Jeremiah 29, verse 11(MSG), God Himself says, “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

What’s the future you hope for? Nobody hopes for a lousy messed up future. I know I’m not and I’m quite sure you’re not.

Imagine you’re reading a book. Now, you don’t go helter skelter, from one page to another, you’d read one page then move on to the next. Not so? And when you’re on the page you’re reading, that’s the page you’re seeing, right?

Well, that’s how your life is; you can only see one page at a time, but God, the Author of your book, your life, knows every word He’s written on every page of your life, even those things that haven’t yet happened in your sight, He is fully aware of.

Everything that God has planned for your future is for your eternal benefit. He intends for you to have a flourishing finish. And the awesome thing about God is that He watches over His word to perform it, so that you can confidently claim it.

Yes, it is that simple…remember God’s faithfulness, He is not like man, He does not lie…He won’t say something and not follow through, He will never make a promise and not act on it…all you have to do is take God at His word, believe Him, trust that, even if it doesn’t seem that way right now, He has already designed a brilliant future for you, and all you have to do now is claim God’s future.

Beloved, today, I urge you to be authentic in your commitment to God. God loves you immeasurably more than you can ever think or imagine, and it is out of this unspeakable passion that God is faithful to you and has lovingly created you with a complete plan for your best life ever.

So, I encourage you to celebrate God’s faithfulness and boldly claim God’s future, for they are both yours, an inheritance through Jesus Christ, your Lord and your Saviour.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Celebrating God’s Faithfulness; Claiming God’s Future” © 2017 (27-May-2017) revisited September 10, 2017

Blessed Assurance

 

What is that state of being that endures beyond the trials of life? That state of being that eclipses the emotions? That state of being that allows us to know that everything is alright despite all appearances to the contrary?

It is that state of peace that transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7) and is our inheritance from our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you.” – John 14:27 (AMPC)

The world can offer us nothing like this. This peace is not sentimental but is able to surpass the limitations of joy and sorrow, hope and despair. It has the capacity to garrison and mount guard over our hearts and minds.

Jesus, on the day of His resurrection, said to His disciples, “Peace to you!” – John 20:21 (AMPC), after which He breathed the Holy Spirit into them (v 22).

Peace is the Blessed Assurance of the Divine presence forever deep within us (1 John 4:13); the Divine indwelling that is active in our souls, always directing us to a unique place of calm in the midst of crises.

Beloved,

“Now may the Lord of peace Himself grant you His peace (the peace of His Kingdom) at all times and in all ways [under all circumstances and conditions, whatever comes]. The Lord [be] with you all.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:16 (AMPC)

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Blessed Assurance” © 2013 (7-Feb-13) revisited September 9, 2026

The Comforter

 

“and I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever…But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name…” – John 14:16…26 (JUB)

During His time on earth, Jesus was comforter to His disciples, but the time had come for Him to depart, to go back to the Father. At His announcement, the disciples were overcome by sadness as they contemplated what a future without Jesus would mean – loneliness, helplessness, desolation, victimization.

John 14:16 and 26 reveal to us that Jesus, very aware of the great sorrow that filled their hearts, promised them “another Comforter”, the Holy Spirit. Jesus assures them that He was not about to leave them comfortless; they would not be left alone, and Another, just as Divine as He is Divine, would take His place.

This promise of “another Comforter” was not for the disciples of that time only but is for every single believer, then, now, and in the time to come.

As Comforter, the Holy Spirit is not just called to our side, but when we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour – born again from above – abides within us. Therefore, as believers in and followers of Jesus Christ, the Comforter is our constant companion, ever present, ready and prepared to stand by us and take our part in everything in which we require consolation and help.

Beloved, today, determine to remember that you have an ever-present Comforter with you when troubles arise, in times of sadness, dejection, despair, loneliness, helplessness, and fear.

 

Let us pray,

Father, I thank You for the indescribable gift of Your Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Who never leaves my side. 

I thank You for this divine Comforter, the promise of all promises, abiding within me to bring me comfort in every area of my life. 

Blessed Spirit, my Comforter, You are here and so I am never alone. Reveal to me this day, the deep and glorious things about my Lord Jesus, things that fill my heart with comfort, joy, peace, and rest. 

I thank You divine Comforter for Your presence abiding in me and Your manifesting power working in me, as I pray in the Name of my Lord Jesus, now and forever more.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “The Comforter” © 2013 (20-Sep-13) revisited September 8, 2026

My Hope

 

 To those who were to receive what he promised, God wanted to make it very clear that he would never change his purpose; so he added his vow to the promise. There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us. (Hebrews 6:17-18 GNT)

Let us pray…

 

Lord, I believe with complete confidence that Your perfect plan for me will eventually happen – this is my hope, Lord.

Today, I accept the fact that You are in control, in good times and bad and I choose to praise You for the “what” even though I do not understand the “why”.

Lord, Your Word says that we are to “hold firmly to the hope placed before us” and that is what I am doing now. I am holding on firmly to the hope which You, throughout Your Word, have promised.

You never lie, so I believe that it is safe and sure.

Now to You Lord Who promised us hope even before the ages began, be all praise, honour and majesty, in the Name of Your Son and in the power of His Name.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “My Hope” © 2012 (28 Dec 2012) revisited September 7, 2026

Sword or Plowshare?

 

Beating Sword into Plowshare Statue at the U.N.

“…beat your swords into plowshares…Nation will not take up sword against nation…”

This particular phrase is found in Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3. What does it mean and how does it relate to us?

We know that swords are tools of warfare, while plowshares are tools used for preparing the ground for planting; a plowshare actually cuts loose the hard top layer of the soil.

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians tells us that we are to “Take… the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” to defend ourselves against our spiritual enemy (6:17).

So, from what we now know, it’s clear to see that we are not to use the Word of God as a weapon of warfare against each other but rather we are to take God’s Word and use it to soften the hearts of our fellowmen – to cut away the hardness of their hearts in order for it to yield – so that the Word may be planted.

When we use the Word as an instrument of condemnation, as we so often do, we create conflict in the hearts of others, and they remain conscious of their sin.

When we use the Word as an instrument of grace, we bring a sense of community and peace in the hearts of others and Jesus Christ is revealed, for they begin to “…walk in the light of the Lord” (ref. Isaiah 2:5).

Are you using the Word of God as Sword or Plowshare?

Beloved, God wants us all to “pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another” (Romans 14:19), in so doing God’s truth is illuminated in our hearts.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Sword or Plowshare?” © 2014 (6-May-14) revisited September 6, 2026

Jesus creates the sense of need

 

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. For my gift will become a spring in the man himself, welling up into eternal life.” – John 4:13-14 (Phillips)

Recently, a friend of mine took up the challenge to drink one gallon of water a day for thirty days. That’s a lot of water, but I’m sure that on day thirty-one she still became thirsty. No matter how much water you drink – pipe borne, bottled, sparkling, or filtered – you “will be thirsty again”.

That’s what Jesus impressed upon the woman at Jacob’s well. All the water that man can give you, from the deepest dug well, you’ll be thirsty again and again but He had water to give that would “become a spring” in her, continually bubbling like a flowing fountain. She’d never be thirsty again.

Intrigued, the woman knew that was the water she wanted, that was the water she needed. Jesus had created in her the sense of need.

The woman said, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may stop being thirsty—and not have to come here to draw water anymore!” – John 4:15 (Phillips)

Oh, what a turn of events! She was now asking Him for water – Jacob gave the well through long and hard labour (John 4:12) but drinking from it, one will be thirsty again. This is not the water that Jesus offers. His water is no ordinary water; Jesus has a hidden source of spiritual water which He wants to give to you.

This was now Jesus’ third statement, and still the woman hadn’t seen the spiritual meaning in what Jesus was saying to her. Like the ones on the Emmaus Road (see Luke 24:13-35), she too was slow to recognize that she was in the midst of a divine encounter, but that was about to change.

The beginning of the Samaritan woman’s transformation and ours starts with the realization that we are desperately in need of something so much greater than what our long and hard labour can accomplish.

Beloved, when we realize that nothing and no-one but Jesus can satisfy that sense of need in us, is when we realize our need for Jesus and cry out, “give me that water!” (John 4:15 GNT).

 

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Jesus creates the sense of need” © 2017 (March 21, 2017) revisited September 5, 2026

Quenching Your Spiritual Dehydration

 

Are you so dehydrated that even your bones feel dried up? This is no normal dry spell where a drink of cold water quenches your thirst. You’ve tried everything but nothing you do is satisfying this dryness that you’re feeling. That’s because your thirst is not physical but spiritual.

You’re in a spiritual drought, in the middle of a dry-bones valley with no hope of quenching your spiritual dehydration.

“…the middle of a valley; it was full of bones…and they were very dry.” (Ezekiel 37:1, 2 NRSVUE)

Right now, even though all you see around you is desert, know that there is hope, for God has provided a source of full and everlasting satisfaction for your spiritual dehydration.

El Yeso Reservoir Chile

Only God can make springs gush forth in the valleys (Psalm 104:10); only God can turn a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water (Psalm 107:35 NRSVUE) and to anyone who is thirsty, it is only God who gives water as a gift from the spring of the water of life (Revelation 21:6).

This God-given spring is a spring that never runs dry. This never-ending flow of rehydration is available to whosoever believes in His Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus Himself tells us of this wonderful thirst-quenching spring of water when He said, “…those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14 NRSVUE).

Also, in John 7:37-39 we read, “…Jesus…cried out, Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me, and let the one who believes in Me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now He said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive…” (NRSVUE)

This precious water is the Holy Spirit promised to anyone who believes. The indwelling Spirit of God is the source of this spring of everlasting satisfaction. Only He can quench your spiritual dehydration.

Beloved, how wonderful it is to have this bubbling spring of water within you that completely satisfies even to the bone.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Quenching Your Spiritual Dehydration” © 2014 (30-May-14) revisited September 4, 2026