FATHER’S Divine Master Plan included a Bride HE can trust!
Our Heavenly Father designed a Divine Master Plan with a husband-wife relationship based on Agape Love, unity, and trustworthiness.
The term trustworthy describes a person who is reliable, honest, and deserving of confidence. It indicates consistency, integrity, and the ability to fulfill promises or function accurately. How trustworthy are you? If you are not trustworthy, can Jesus have an intimate relationship with you as member of His Bride?
As I wrote yesterday, sin is rooted in selfishness, which is the greatest obstacle to intimacy. Will Our Heavenly Father grant power and authority to someone who can’t be trusted? Our willingness to open suffer on His behalf is a sign of reliability and integrity. We are seen as being consistent and loyal to Our Lord.
Paul sums it up when he also wrote in 2nd Timothy chapter 2:
12 If we are joined with Him in His sufferings, then we will reign together with Him in His triumph. But if we disregard Him, then He will also disregard us.
13 But even if we are faithless, He will still be full of faith, for He never wavers in his faithfulness to us!
Would you share your most intimate secrets with someone who is untrustworthy? As we become more reliable, Jesus is able to establish a bond of trust with us. One of the most obvious signs of reliability is our consistency of how we deploy our personal finances. If I really trust The Word, I won’t hesitate to give, especially when The Holy Spirit directs me to give.
David expressed his trust in THE LORD as he recorded by The Holy Spirit in Psalm chapter 31:
14 I’m desperate, Lord! I throw myself upon You, for You alone are My God!
15 My life, my every moment, my destiny—it’s all in Your Hands. So I know You can deliver me from those who persecute me relentlessly.
16 Smile on me, Your servant. Let your undying Love and glorious grace save me from all this gloom.
17 As I call upon you, let my shame and disgrace be replaced by Your favor once again. But let shame and disgrace fall instead upon the wicked—those going to their own doom, drifting down in silence to the dust of death.
Paul had to warn and correct the church at Corinth because of their immaturity and untrustworthiness. He wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1st Corinthians chapter 4:
11 If you could see us now, you’d find that we are hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, brutally treated, and with no roof over our heads.
12 We work hard, toiling with our own hands. When people abuse and insult us, we respond with a blessing, and when severely persecuted, we endure it with patience.
13 When we are slandered incessantly, we always answer gently, ready to reconcile. Even now, in the world’s opinion, we are nothing but filth and the lowest scum.
14 I’m not writing this to embarrass you or to shame you, but to correct you as the children I Love.
15 For although you could have countless babysitters in Christ telling you what you’re doing wrong, you don’t have many fathers who correct you in Love. But I’m a true father to you, for I became your father when I gave you the Gospel and brought you into union with Jesus, the Anointed One.
16 So I encourage you, my children, to follow the example that I live before you.
Paul gave us great detail of his willingness to suffer on behalf of Christ. This is a clear indication of his trustworthiness as a mature believer in Christ. He was all in!
Jesus spoke in John chapter 15:
15 I no longer call you ‘servants,’ because a master doesn’t confide in his servants, and servants don’t always understand what the master is doing. But I call you My most intimate and cherished friends, for I reveal to you everything that I’ve heard from My Father.
Does He know you and me as His intimate and cherished friends?