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CONSISTENCY: HOW TO WEATHER THE STORMS OF LIFE

 

Song:

The Lord that answereth by fire

He will be my God

The Lord that answereth by fire

He will be my God

Matthew 7:24-25

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

If we hear the words of God and do them, the storms of life won’t shake us for we are founded, established and confirmed on "The Rock", Jesus. This is an awesome promise conditioned on our obedience to God’s word.

By our "consistency" we possess, bring under control, our soul. Our soul (mind, will, emotions) wants to control our spirit and direct our body in accordance with the "fleshly" desires of this world. But God wants our "quickened" spirit in union with the Holy Spirit to possess and control our soul. Our consistency in obedience to the word of God brings this about.

Since consistency in doing the word produces fruit, accesses the promises of God, enables spiritual control of our soul and produces spiritual maturity, it is very important we understand the five primary reasons Christians are inconsistent:

1. We abuse the grace of God, expecting God’s grace to accommodate our spiritual laziness and disobedience.

Romans 6:1-2 says: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

The grace of God has been given in greater measure than needed and will always be "more than enough" for sinner’s with a repentant heart (Romans 5:20b). But, this in no way implies that Christians should flagrantly disobey God’s word and presume upon God’s grace. The phrase "God forbid" used in this passage and Romans 6:15 is the strongest greek idiom for repudiating a statement and literally means "No! May it never be." The grace we receive was purchased by the precious blood of Jesus; GOD’S GRACE IS NOT CHEAP! We need to recognise the ultimate price God paid to redeem us and heed the admonition of Hebrews: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” (Hebrews 10:26-27), for "it is a "fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:30,31).

2. We "grow weary" in doing good, doing the word of God.

Galatians 6:9 says: "For let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

The greek word "ekkakeo" translated "weary" means to be faint hearted, to become despondent, literally we become discouraged from the trials and difficulties we face. Discouragement is almost always rooted in the past and is a product of a negative past experience that we either experienced first hand or know about. The Apostle Paul admonished us to forget those things which are in the past: The greek word "epilanthano" translated "forgetting" in these passages literally means not to remember, to put out of mind - don’t think about, and denotes continuous action. We must wilfully and continuous put aside and refuse to allow it to bring discouragement and weariness to our commitment to God. And we are to reach forward unto those things that are ahead of us, and to press toward the mark, the standard in conduct, obedience and consistency that Jesus established for us. We have a very high calling and an awesome prize! “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

3. We become slothful, spiritually lazy in doing the word of God.

Hebrews 6:11-12: "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

The word "sluggish" means lazy, stagnant, slow inactive and dull. All of these adjectives present a slightly different sense resulting from a basic attitude of no desire. The Apostle Paul, in these passages, admonishes us: DON’T BE SPIRITUAL SLUGGARDS but be followers (i.e., imitators) of people who through faith and "consistency" inherit the promises of God. This same message of "faith and consistency" is repeated in James: faith ... if it does not have works is dead (James 2:17). The word "works" used here is works of faith, works springing from faith. So we see that faith without "works of faith", without consistent action, is dead.

The cure for a spiritual sluggard is found in Hebrews: “We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.” (Hebrews 6:11). Show diligence. Diligence (carries the sense of earnestness and zeal, and denotes that haste is to accompany the action. To be consistent in doing the word requires diligence; we must have zeal, be earnest and “redeem” the time, and we must do this "unto the end". “ We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” (Hebrews 6:12).

4. We allow sin and weight to ensnare us.

Hebrews 12:1: "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"

In this passage the Apostle Paul likens the Christian life to a race which requires "patience", A consistent and sustained expenditure of effort. Two things are identified here as working against or hindering the consistency in doing the word that is required in our Christian race, "sin: and "weight": Sin is anything contrary to the word of God. We cannot experience God to any degree or consistently live the life God has willed for us with known sin in our life. Christ must rule the throne of our heart and our old sin nature must die, totally.

"Weight" is a category of "things" distinct from sin, which we allow into our lives; the use of the word "every" indicates the author had no particular hindrance in mind. Although distinct from sin these "things" are, none the less, very important for they impede the progress of our spiritual growth, they slow us down and absorb time and energy that would otherwise go to the race. These "things" can be attitudes and/or activities, literally anything that absorbs our time and energy and pulls our focus off God. I think we all know what things hinder our spiritual progress, and if we don’t we should ask the Holy Spirit to reveal them to us.

The things we do in our life are a product of our desire; we behave, spend our time, in accordance with our strongest desires. If these desires are not taking us closer to God we need to change our desires.

5. We lose our joy

James 1:2-3: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."

What kind of joy is this passage describing?

  • The joy of salvation: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13:44).
  • The joy of the disciples when they found the empty tomb: “So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” (Matthew 28:8).
  • The joy of the Blessed Virgin Mary at being chosen to be the mother of the Messiah: But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” (Luke 2:10).
  • The joy of the disciples at seeing the resurrected Jesus: And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" ( Luke 24:41 ). “Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. “ ( Luke 24:52 ).
  • The joy of the "70" when they found even the demons were subject
    to them: The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." (Luke 10:17).
  • The joy in heaven over one sinner repenting: “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” ( Luke 15:7 ). “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." ( Luke 15:10 ).
  • The joy of the kingdom of God: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” (Romans 14:17)
  • The joy produced as fruit by the Holy Spirit in us: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,” (Galatians 5:22).
  • The joy of Jesus who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. “ (Hebrews 12:2).
  • The unspeakable joy full of glory that comes from believing in Jesus: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,” (1 Peter 1:8).


The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). We are to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-27).

God Bless you

 Evang. Oseh J. B.