Nov 9

Deuteronomy 7:6-9
6 For you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.
7 “The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!
8 Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
9 Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.

A commercial appeared on television some years ago featuring a famous singer. She started singing an impressive operatic-style song and then let loose with a piercing high note. Suddenly, the focus of the camera shifted, and the singer's form was in the background while the camera focused on a fine crystal wine glass. As the singer hit the high note, the glass shattered. Immediately, however, the camera angle widened to reveal a tape machine running, and an announcer's voice posed the question, "Is it live-or is it Memorex?" The point of the commercial, of course, was that a Memorex cassette tape could duplicate a sound so accurately that even the recorded version might conceivably shatter glass. In other words, the recorded version was so true to the original that it was difficult to tell the difference. That's a pretty fair description of what faithfulness means: to be true to the original. God has shown us what faithfulness looks like. The Bible says that "he is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and constantly loves those who love him and obey his commands" (Deuteronomy 7:9). He keeps his word-even for a thousand generations! He never stops loving those who love him. He never disappoints those who count on him. He never deserts those who need him. We Christians are faithful when we are true to the original, to the example that God has given us. Faithfulness means keeping our word, never giving up on those we love, never withdrawing our love from those who love us, never consciously trying to disappoint those who count on us, never deserting those who need us. That's faithfulness-being true to the original, our faithful God. And being true to God has benefits: "A faithful man [or woman] will be richly blessed" (Proverbs 28:20, NIV).

REFLECT: Faithfulness means being true to the original obeying God's commands and being like him in our relationships with others. How true are you to the original? How good are you at keeping your word? How good are you at not giving up on those you love? at not withdrawing love from those who love you? at not disappointing those who count on you? at not deserting those who need you? If you need help, don't try to do it yourself; rely on God to do it in you through his Holy Spirit.

ACT: Look up the dictionary definition of faithful. Copy it onto an index card or slip of paper and place it in one of your schoolbooks or in a prominent place where you'll be likely to see it often in the next few days.

PRAY: "I want to be true to you today, God. Help me to be faithful, especially when I..."

i didnt really understand the short story about the glass and memorex thingy...but i did get the overall message. God is our faithful God that has created us humans for two reason, to love and to serve. im pretty sure i have mentioned this before but that is what first came into mind. humans arent made to be trusted but to love and to serve. i guess for us, faithfulness comes with be trustful, loving and serving to our God. but really to be faithful to God is really hard because there is always doubts in your mind which is the devil trying to tempt you into something and turn against God. that is why humans cant really be trusted....there are always betrayals and other stuff because of lack of trust in humans. love the Lord for creating you and serve the Lord full heartedly because of the priviledge we have for being his number one creation. ignore the devil and continue to love and to serve then your faith in God will continue to grow and your bond with him will be better.

um didn't really understand this devo, as a result, I didnt get anything from it.
I guess its just about how we should be consistently faithful and always try to build it up.

God has always kept his promises.
He has watched over his children throughout time.

In the bible verse that was for today made me think about moses' journey after leading god's people out of egypt. When they were thirsty, they complained to god asking for what they want. So god then provided for them fresh water. When they grew hungry, they complainer again. But god still provided.
Eventhough these people have witnessed many miracles from god, they still did not have faith in him.
Even when they were escaping from Egypt, they were blocked by the water and began to have little faith. And we all know what happens, the sea splits. They've been constantly protected by god yet they still could not fully believe. If it wern't for god, they would have still been in egypt.

Trust in God's choices and know that he is always looking over his children.
~Audrey~

Faithfulness not only means the original obeying God's commands but also believing that there is a God because none of us have been shown any proof of Gods presence and we wont for awhile until our faith is strong with God. I believe that all of us try and try to be more true with our faith. I personally try to keep my faith strong, but all of us go through times where it cna be hard... all we ahve to do is pray and be one with God and he will show you answers. We all disappoint and also impress people... but there will always be a time when we need help. That where our faith and God comes in. if we cant do it ourselves, pray and rely on God to help you and he wont let you suffer... he will help you if you are really in need.
Be faithful that God is there and that he will help you when you are in need.

This talked about faith but to be honest,
The message is clear but it's a bit hard to reflect.
I mean we obviously can't keep our faith to God
We can't keep our word to him, we always hurt him with the same sin
But we all know he does just the opposite for us.

Just as what was mentioned today, faithfulness is trusting God's character, even though nothing in scripture may not give particular answers to questions.

8 Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

But everything does have a way to turn out for the better, no reason to doubt his power, but to know why his Name stands so high.
Easier said than done, having to see all the suffering, especially your loved ones, or yourself. A recent prime example was when I saw my friend not deserving the mark that he received. I wouldn't know the feeling, especially because I don't study as hard as he does, or just the fact that I'm not in grade 12 yet. He's just been so depressed lately, and I don't know what to say. He doesn't know God on a personal level, yet bad things shouldn't happen to good people. Or receiving things you shouldn't. But I do know that God will work in Him, believer or not, WE are his children, we just don't all know it yet.

...the message I suppose I should have gotten is not too clear to me... but I have a message that I thought of while reading the devo!
and that is: that we should be authentic and put our best feet forward not only when it comes to our relationship with God but also, in our relationships with others.

I don't know about you guys, but putting others before myself is what I've known to do ever since I can remember.
And through that, you'll also be putting God before yourself which is harder to do than one might think.
It's hard to be the absolute best Christian and always put God above everything else.
There's just too much going on. And I know that isn't something that is easily said, but it's true.
God SHOULD be number 1, but isn't always and one way we can put him first is by putting others first!

i think something we can get from this devotion was that we are the people God chose to carry out his will. out of the millions upon millions of creations, he picked us. it really put's us on the spotlight and asks of us to wake up and realize who we're working for.

I think that a big part of being part of Christ is seeing the reality of how much to the bone we really represent his nations.

9 Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.

What i got from this is that, our God is soo faithful in us so why shouldnt we be faithful to him? He has made promises waaaay past we were even born but still a lot of us struggle to be faithful because of the fact that we have never seen him or never heared him before. But we on the other hand, struggle soo hard to be faithful towards him and we just struggle soo greatly.
While God is faithful we on the other hand struggle soo hard to be faithful towards a God that has doen A LOT for us.