This week as I’ve been preparing my lesson for Power House, I’ve been thinking about faithfulness a lot, and what it means to be faithful. Being faithful isn’t the same as having faith, though they go hand in hand. Having faith is when you believe in something you cannot see, while being faithful is when you don’t give up on God, or doubt Him, no matter the situation. Daniel, in the Bible, is a prime example of someone being faithful to God. Daniel had every reason to give up on God, but He didn’t. Daniel’s situation:

Daniel had a very high position in King Darius’ kingdom. The King saw that Daniel succeeded in everything that he did, so he promoted him even higher to be in charge of his entire kingdom. However, there were some officials and royal leaders who were jealous of his role so they came up with a plan to get rid of Daniel. They knew that Daniel prayed faithfully, three times a day to his God, so with that thought in mind, they went before the King and told him to set their new law into motion. The new law, that the king made official for them, stated that anyone who prayed to any other god or man besides him in the next thirty days would be thrown into the lions’ den.

When Daniel found out about this law, he could’ve easily stopped praying and went on with his life as usual for the next thirty days to avoid being torn to bits by lions. He had every reason to stop being faithful to God; but Daniel loved God with all his heart and wasn’t willing to let anything get in the way of that love, so, as always, he went into his room, got on his knees, and prayed to his God. Daniel remained faithful to God even in the hardest of times.

Soon enough, the officials and royal leaders were back before the king, telling him that Daniel was still praying faithfully to his God, and not to the king, despite the new law. This news troubled the king greatly, the last thing he wanted was for Daniel to be harmed in any way, Daniel was his right-hand man. But, since the the officials kept on insisting and reminding him that the law was the law, he had no choice but to have Daniel thrown into the lions’ den. That same day, the men threw Daniel into the den…

The next day, at the break of dawn, king Darius hurried to the lions’ den to see if it was possible that Daniel could somehow still be alive. He called out… And there was an answer! Daniel was alive! He told the king that God had sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions and that he was not hurt in anyway.

Daniel could’ve taken the easy way out and not prayed to God, only for 30 days, but he remained faithful, even with the possibility of being thrown into a den of hungry lions. Daniel loved God so much that he was willing to suffer any pain or go through any trial to prove his faithfulness and love, and God rewarded Daniel by saving his life.

The Bible says in Proverbs 18:25 that God will show Himself faithful to those who are faithful to Him. In other words, be faithful to God, and He will be faithful to you. He wants you to show Him how much you love Him by serving Him faithfully so that He can bless you. You can serve Him by being consistent in volunteering with Power House or with other ministries that reflect His heart, you can serve Him by being kind and forgiving to people you don’t usually get along with, you’re even serving Him by ’sacrificing’ your TV or Facebook time to get into His word and pray.

There are so many practical ways to be faithful to God, and He will reward you. If not on earth, then in heaven. Be faithful to God, even when its hard, and He will be faithful to you.

By: Hilary Christman
Power House Intern