Week 8 ~ Loyalty is everything. It looks out for others.
Truth Verses
Galatians 5:22 the fruit if the spirit is...faithfulness
Exodus 36:6 The Lord, The Lord the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love
and faithfulness
Deuteronomy 7:9 The Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God
Proverbs 3:3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you
Proverbs 20:9 ...but a faithful person who can find?
Proverbs 17:17 A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in the time of need.
Truth Story
I have a life-long friend who treats me like I was his brother. In fact I joke that we are brothers from a different mother. Through our thirty-nine year friendship, through the good times and the bad, he has proven himself to be loyal friend beyond my wildest dreams.
Several years ago I had experienced a traumatic series of events that had caused me to step back and resign from my chosen profession.
While recovering from the setback and while searching for gainful employment, my lifelong friend intervened to become my rescue-ranger. During these months of uncertainty and lose of income, he actually placed my salary equivalent into my account! His faithfulness and generosity was extraordinary. He helped me to meet every normal monthly commitment, without ever being left short for any mortgage or utility payment. This faithfulness demonstrated a kindness and allegiance that I shall never forget until my dying breathe. True friendship is a rare commodity, but one to cherish.
Truth Unpacked
Contrastingly, did you ever feel let down or betrayed by someone you considered a friend? Being double-crossed by someone, particularly someone you have considered close, is gut wrenching to say the least. It seems some people are so caught up in the vortex of their own agendas that they willfully do something to you or say something about you which only confirms, (when push come to shove), that they are clearly demonstrating traits of disloyalty and unfaithfulness. Often unaware of narcissism and self-centredness, they are blinded, to the fact that they often only use their close contact with you as stepping-stones to protect some sort of vested interest, make some sort of a point or possibly attain some sort of warped power-position status. They simply perceive their priorities more important than the joy of the deep bond found in true allegiances.
The repercussions of such fair-weathered friendships can either make us better or bitter. Just like sucking on a lemon, we need to, as my life-long friend says, turn these "friendship lemons' into lemonade!
Therefore, let us ask that the Holy Spirit will help us to discern the real issue. Call out their betrayal and unfaithfulness and ask the Lord to do a work in their hearts and minds that would bring about a positive change.
Ask Him to infuse our lives daily with His presence, to enable us to demonstrate His life-giving self-less allegiance, that God-given quality of an enduring spirit both of loyalty to God and to others.
Quote Blood makes you related Loyalty makes you family (Anon)
Praying the Word
Lord, confidence in an unfaithful person is like having a toothache (Proverbs 25:19). Lord help me to return good for evil (Romans 12:17-21). Help me to demonstrate your faithfulness by being loyal to others, both when they are right and particularly when they are wrong (Proverbs 27:6). Help me be a life-long friend and give me the grace to keep my allegiances, and even to challenge, support and journey with friends through the tough times (Proverbs 22:24-25: 27:5-6). Let me express a faith that is faithful at all times (Proverbs 17:17). Amen.
Lectio Divina [Prayer reading]
Pray, read and reflect.
• Have those that are willing pray, asking that the Holy Spirit would help them hear His voice (John 10:27).
• Read the scriptures again.
• Then go around the room [allowing for ‘neighbour nudging’ to let people opt out should they not want to share]. Have everyone willing then reflect, acknowledging one thing they sense the Holy Spirit is saying to them as they read.
Pray, reinforce and contemplate.
• Close the connect group time by praying that the Spirit would help empower everyone to demonstrate Jesus-like characteristic of loyalty.
• Reinforce this by participating in symbolic gesture or creative activity that does something to express our desire to receive this change (e.g. Create two-person prayer buddy partnerships and commit to be loyal to pray for each other throughout the incoming week. Make a checklist on your mobile phone and every day you remember to pray place a tick on the list).
• Ask everyone to contemplate; to consider how they can demonstrate this characteristic more in their everyday lives.
