"God IS Faithful!" RESCUE RADIO with Marjorie Cole

0:00 I have an emergency. What is your location? Rescue Radio. 'Cause there's a war for your soul. Yes, indeed there is. Thank you, Lord God, that you have defeated the enemy and won the war. Thank you that thy kingdom come, your kingdom come, Lord God, your kingdom within us. That's where the kingdom battles are fought, inside of us, inside of our minds and our souls. So God, release your victory into our lives today, that we will walk in the fullness of your love and your goodness and your faithfulness. I thank you, Jesus, that you demonstrated the way to believe when you died on the cross. You went to the cross in obedience to your Father, and you knew and believed he was faithful to raise you from the dead, which he did. And I thank you, Lord God, that you put yourself in that position for us, dying in our place, that we might have your resurrection, your life, your atonement. Lord God, thank you for giving us your salvation, and thank you for giving us wisdom and power over all the power of the enemy. You said whatever you bind is bound, whatever you loose is loosed. Whoever sins you forgive, they're forgiven them.

1:28 And so I thank you that we forgive those who have offended and taken chances and risks and assaults against your kingdom, against each other, against themselves, against you, Father God. And we thank you, Lord God, for the mercy that endures forever. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for helping us, giving us eyes and ears today to see and to hear and to comprehend with what, with your word, within your word, what it means for your, for us to know your faithfulness, your goodness, and your love, because there's so many arguments against your goodness, against your love, against your faithfulness. So Lord God, also for divine protection over our families, that no weapon formed against us will prosper, that no word said, deed done, or action taken will be able to be used by the enemy to bring forth any shame, trouble, reproach, separation, discouragement, death, or destruction, Father God, those who pray for us, those who come here for help and prayer, those who work for us, those who love us, all those who are attached to us in any way. Father, we pray that you bless them this day with your protection and your love. In Jesus' name, amen.

2:34 Hey, you know what we're talking about today? I get— could you pick it up in the prayer? I picked it up. Okay. I'm pretty sharp. I'm telling you, God is faithful. God is faithful. When we're talking about God being faithful, that means he is He is fully dependable. He is trustworthy. Yes, he is trustworthy. In Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 9, it says, therefore know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments. And then if we're looking also at 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 9, we read there, God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

3:28 God is faithful. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, God is faithful. He will not allow us to be tempted above or beyond that he's able to keep us, but with every temptation he also makes a way of escape. So, God is anticipating that we are going to be tempted and attacked. And so he wanted to assure us in many, many places that he is with us. And like you said, he is the God of the covenant. He keeps the covenant in Deuteronomy. What that means is God is keeping his promises to us, those who follow him, those who've responded to his call. You know, he's calling everyone, not just a few of us to be saved. He calls everyone. He's not willing that any should perish in Romans.

4:09 So he calls everyone, but only those who answer the call can come. And so he's saying, He is faithful to keep his covenant with those. And Psalm 36 says his faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. But all of this kind of depends upon our ability to know the goodness of God. I mean, because here's the problem. God is faithful. He's faithful to us. His faithfulness reaches to the clouds and he's good. His mercy endures forever. Uh, in Lamentations it says, but the Lord's mercy is his mercy that we're not consumed because of his compassions. They fail not. They're new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. Um, and then in 2 Thessalonians it says, but the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil. Um, he is faithful to keep his words to us. He cannot deny himself. So God is really trying to establish his faithfulness here. Why, why is he taking so much time to impress us with his goodness and faithfulness? Do you suppose? Well, because the just shall live by faith.

5:17 Okay. You know, because he is worthy of our trust. You know, that there's— in the Old Testament particularly, we hear about all these different idols. You know, they're looking to their idols for their rain and their crops and their prosperity and all that stuff. Yeah. And he shows over and over again how these, these things will fail. They're trusting demons and not God. God is— that's— it's just his character. He is faithful. He is dependable. He is trustworthy. He is worthy of our trust. Yes. He says in Psalm 37:25, I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful and lends, and his descendants are blessed. So God is faithful for the long haul. Yeah. Right. He'd say, well, you know, and it's like, well, he doesn't— he's not a hit-or-miss God. And I'm just thinking, Marjorie, too, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 23 and 24, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.

6:38 So, well, I mean, here's— dependent— he's worthy of our dependence. Yeah, we're not going to just— he's not going to leave us hanging. He says in Hebrews, what is it, 13:5 or 6, he says, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. He told Joshua that— be strong— he, the writer to the Hebrews, is quoting from Joshua 1:5. God told Joshua, he said, when you go into this promised land I will not fail you. I will not forsake you. So you can trust me. And Joshua was going into a land filled with giants, hostility, unmarked territory. They didn't know what they were up against, but he knew God and God gave them tremendous victories.

7:20 You say, well, that was Joshua. That was the Old Testament. I'm not even sure that really happened. You know, we have all kinds of ways the enemy tries to put in our mind that, oh, that's not, that's not about me. But how do I apply God's goodness and his faithfulness to my situation? How does that work? Uh, it says in the Bible, Galatians, faith works by love. God says he will never leave us or forsake us, but do we know that we're loved? I believe the root of panic, the root of anxiety, the root of fear is the opposite of fear is love. So people are struggling with the faithfulness of God because they don't know the love of God. They don't know the goodness of God. They don't know that God is more committed to us and the journey than we are to the journey. Um, so we become fearful and anxious and stressed out because we do not have faith in the faithfulness of God. Well, the thing is, God is faithful even if we're not faithful. You think of— he cannot not be faithful because that's who he is. He can't be anything other than who he is, and he is faithful. And we think of in the Old Testament, you know, where the children of Israel for 40 years, they were wandering in the desert Basically most every one of them except probably 2, or, you know, Moses— well, Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. Basically they were complaining, they were dying, they were grumbling all the time. But what happened?

8:44 God still provided them water. He provided them manna. Exactly. I mean, he was faithful in that desert 40 years. 40 years. They never had to cook, or they just— I mean, he was faithful even to the unfaithful. Yeah. The Bible says that he makes his sun rise on the just the unjust. He makes his rain fall on the just and the unjust. The problem is not— because he's good. Well, he's good and he's faithful and he's love. But the problem is not what God is. The problem is who we are. And I believe that we have slipped into that position where we judge God. We judge God. We judge his faithfulness, his goodness, his love. We judge him by the things that he must permit because he is honoring— many times we say, well, why did God let that happen?

9:29 And God, where was God? And blah, blah, blah. But God, he is permitting, he has to honor our free will, the use of our free will, even though, you know, we sometimes choose and often choose things that we take the bait, believe the lie, make the excuses, use our free will to our own detriment. And, uh, and even, um, but even when we deny him and we're in this mess because of the mess we made and we say God's not faithful, Where's God? God is still there. So it's technically, um, uh, we have not realized how much we have been tangled in, estranged, programmed by the god of this world and compromised. Um, we're like children lost in the woods filled with wolves and we don't realize it, but we then judge God based on how he reacts to our bad behavior. So here's the deal. What would a good father, a good father do? What does he do when his child misbehaves or messes up or rebels or makes a really scary bad decision? Does he reward him for his rebellion or his carelessness or his, you know, or does— do we blame God for our disobedience and messing up?

10:43 That's exactly— I've seen that over and over again over the years. People, you know, their behavior is very in rebellion against God. They're abusing their bodies. They're believing lies is what they're doing. And then when they get sick or when bad things happen to them, they blame God. Here's another thing. They don't regard God for almost their whole life. And then when they're reaping the consequences of their behavior, then they find him back. They blame God. Or they find him. Or they find him. Yeah. So here's the— here's an interesting question regarding all of that. How often have we thought of this question in our lives when we're checking out everybody's motives and everybody's and God's faithfulness and God's goodness and blah, blah, blah? How often do we think about how many times we have tempted God? You know, how many times have we got— if we, you know, we forced God to live within the parameters of our choices. That's really what's happening. We're forcing God, tempting God, you know, are you going to deliver me even though I'm drinking diet soda every day of my life? Are you going to deliver me from diabetes or whatever? I mean, I'm not saying those two are connected, but I'm saying we make choices and God is forced to live within the parameters of our choices.

11:54 Um, so it's like, okay, you're jumping off the tower where you're, you know, having trouble with the faithfulness of God. Are you going to jump off the tower like Jesus was tempted? Satan says, well, jump off the high pinnacle and see if God will catch you. He says he's got his angels charged around you. So Jesus, what is his answer? He says, do not tempt the Lord your God. How many times are we in our foolishness or in our rebellion or in our ignorance, or whatever misleading, we're jumping off spiritual towers, physical towers all the time and putting God in a position where God has to decide, am I going to save them? Am I going to catch them? Or am I going to let them experience the crash? Yeah, and the mercy of God, and a lot of us that are hearing this today have— we've lived in rebellion, disobedience and stuff, and we've gotten into very troubled places.

12:48 Yeah. Not on earth. Yeah. But God has rescued us. Yeah. But here's his mercy has kept us alive. Yeah. Kept us from a lot of worse things happening than would have already happened. Well, going back to the temptation of Jesus, Satan is saying, Satan is the one testing him, tempting him to say, well, if you're God, if God loves you, if God is good, if God says jump down off this tower, Uh, this high pinnacle. And so Satan is the one I believe who tests us, tempts us to live recklessly, carelessly, foolishly, complacently, um, and see if God will catch us. And so the question is, how many towers have we been tempting God on jumping on because of disobedience, because of unbelief, because of I got to see it to believe it kind of thing? Well, going back to seeing it to believe it kind of thing, you know, there's, there's an interesting thing. Jesus taught, you know, not to worry about your food, your clothing. Uh, God gave them manna in the wilderness. Um, God kept his promise to Eve to bring the head crusher and fulfill that promise of redemption.

13:54 But many of us are like this. We have jumped on, um, the faith ride roller coaster, life faith ride roller coaster. And you know, on a roller coaster, you're, you're committed, you're, agreeing to get on it, you get on it, pay the ticket, whatever you do. And you know that that roller coaster is going to be full of ups and downs and scary tunnels and sudden turns and things popping up out of nowhere. But you stay in the car. You don't jump out because you know you have faith in, guess what? The designer of the roller coaster and the master of the carnival, because you believe that they're not trying to kill you. They're not going to set you up to kill you. So how many of us are on that life rollercoaster?

14:42 It goes up, it goes down, it's sudden turns, unexpected things, things popping out all over the place. We've become freaked and panicked. But you know that the faith of God and his good intentions are there to really undergird us and carry us through. Life's rollercoaster ride. Um, but you can't do that if you don't know that God is good. You don't know God is for you. You don't know God loves you. You don't know God is faithful. Um, because that's the requirement. You have to— this whole walk is about whose report are we going to believe? So our faith has to be in the faithfulness of God. Yeah. And if the enemy can, he keeps most of us I'd say generally in the— on the planet, most of us are blinded to the goodness of God, to who the true living true God really is. He substitutes, you know, the enemy substitutes idols and demon worship all over the place. But when we come to the place of having our eyes open where we see that God is good, that God is wonderful, a true revelation of God. The enemy keeps our eyes blinded, yeah, that we don't see the goodness of God, we don't see the grace of God. Even, even when those of us who love the Lord, we go through times where it's like, God, what is going on here? This seems really crazy, really evil, and there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it.

16:14 Well, there, you know, we have to realize that God is in a position We have put God in a position that not only tests his faithfulness, but also if you look in Romans 1, how that the human race was given over. It says, for the wrath of God, verse 16, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Satan knew that God wouldn't put up with this reprobate mind, this, this divisive, uh, wicked, um, suppressing of the truth. He knew Satan was going to get after us. And God also knew that he could not permit that.

16:57 So he was forced ultimately in Romans chapter 1, because of their unthankfulness, because they turned to the— they worshiped other gods. They worshiped creatures. Uh, they, they, they knew God, but they didn't glorify him as God. They were not thankful. They became futile in their thoughts. Their foolish hearts were darkened. Verse 21, that professing to be wise, they became fools. And so then they changed the glory of the incorruptible God that they were made in the image of God and his likeness into corruptible man, like birds and beasts and crazy stupid things like that. So God was also forced to give them up to uncleanness, to the spirit of vile passions. And he also had to give them up to a debased mind.

17:43 So we see that God in Romans 1, is forced to give them up. Um, because they had chosen to believe the lies of the liar. So whoever's— whoever you believe, whoever you follow, that's who has power in your life. So people were giving power to seduction and enchantments and sorcery. But then in Romans chapter 9, we go through a whole lot more— or 8, I'm sorry— a whole lot more discussion. And we find again, um, that God is in chapter 8, verse 29, that God is again establishing his faithfulness to whosoever will. Those who come out of that stupor, those who come out of that enchantment, those who turn their lives over to him, those who believe Jesus died for their sins, those he's giving another opportunity to know his love and faithfulness. So, here's another expression of God's— this is the ultimate expression of God's faithfulness.

18:38 Romans chapter 5, verses 6 through 8. For when we were still without strength— in other words, we're under this enchantment, we're under this evil of Romans chapter 1 where God lets us go, he's given us the free will, we, we go into all kinds of evil and all kinds of darkness. Yet verse 6 of Romans 5, for when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for who? The ungodly, those that are rebellious against him. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man some wouldn't even dare to die. This is in human terms now. But verse 8, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait till we, you know, got better. Yeah, because there's no way we can get better, right, on our own. But we can come, we can come, we can ask. Yeah. And he says, going back to Romans 9, he says, for whom he foreknew, these he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So God's first goal, if you will, after he created us, he foreknew.

19:53 Who did he foreknow? Everybody. So who did he predestine? Everybody. He says, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. So his goal is for us all that he knew, who he knew everybody, to be conformed to the image of his Son. And then it says in verse 30, moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. So he called everybody that he foreknew. So God isn't picking out certain people to be saved and certain people to be lost. However, God is honoring our free will because he didn't want— he couldn't create us as robots. That's not love. You're not freely loving God at that point. You're just being forced to love him and that's not love. So he had to give us the free will.

20:33 So that love would prevail so we could have our freedom to do or not do, to come or not come, to believe or not believe. And so those he called, he called everybody. It's like everybody gets the invitation to the wedding. Everybody gets, but not everybody shows up. Some people reject the invitation. They got other things, better things. They don't want to do it. It doesn't work in their schedule, whatever. So only those who show up at the wedding, can toast the bride and groom and eat the wedding cake. It's so, it's not that God is selecting people he doesn't want in heaven. He has given that opportunity to whosoever will, everybody. I mean, he died for everybody, but then the caveat is whosoever will. So he can't just automatically die for us and we're in because of the free will piece. And so people have got to know that they have even the tiniest little nod. I just heard yesterday a story of a guy who was, rejected God all of his life.

21:32 His people were praying for him, praying, and he got to be old and he was laying on his deathbed and someone came, one of his people came in and again presented the gospel of salvation to him and they said, if you want this, if you believe, just squeeze our hand. He is already beyond the point of speaking. And he squeezed the hand. He got into heaven because he squeezed the hand and acknowledged the truth with that one tiny last gesture. God is not willing that any should perish. And that's why God puts so much urgency upon those who pray that you will, you'll pray that person in, but you have to pray against the demonic spirits that have gripped them almost all their lives. And these things get really entrenched. So, um, again, if we're having trouble with God's faithfulness, look at what we're doing. God is faithful. He doesn't change.

22:25 He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He loves us. He cannot not love us. He is good. He cannot not be good. If God is not good all the time, then he's not good at all. But sometimes he doesn't look good because like any earthly father doesn't always look good when he's bringing a correction or he's bringing instruction that's going against the will of the person who's just been rebellious. So, um, we— God is faithful. And so maybe we should look at, what we've been doing to tempt God, judging God, and ask God to forgive us for setting him in a position where he looks unfaithful when in fact it's we who are unfaithful.

23:07 Yeah. And then getting back to that story of that man that gave his life to the Lord on his deathbed, sometimes I think of this as that way. You know, we eat the apple and we, at the end, we hand God the core of our life, of our life. It's like, Yeah, that's true. You know, it's better, better late than never, right? But in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 1, remember, remember now your Creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them. So, and he concludes the whole matter is to fear God and keep his commandments. That's the conclusion of the whole matter. But a lot of us, you know, didn't come to the Lord when we were young. Some of us did.

23:53 Uh, Margie and I did. We were fairly young, quite young, younger than we are now. Really? Imagine that. But anyway, 50 years later. Yeah. But anyway, still following Jesus, still following the Lord. And, uh, so that— remember, you— if you listen, if you're young, if you— a lot of— it's something somebody had, this little saying. It says, youth is a wonderful thing, too bad it's wasted on young people. Because you get wise later. You get wise, but it's okay. God's got you. God's got you. He's still got you. So today, right now, today is the day of salvation. So even though maybe you may have wasted a lot of your life in the days of your youth, or afraid or panicking, evil things, or whatever, start worrying. Start now.

24:40 Don't let your past determine your future. Start now. Now is the accepted time. Today is the salvation day of salvation, says Lord, let's go right now. We're going to go with you. We're going to go with your faithfulness. Lord, we lay down the worry, the anxiety, the panic, the fear, and judging God and asking the question and allowing Satan to present these questions in our mind. Where is God? What is God doing? Why isn't God here? Why isn't God faithful? I thought he was faithful. Look what he's doing. Lord God, we're going to stay with you. We're going to ride the roller coaster of faith with you all the way to the end because you are a faithful conductor and you know the beginning from the end. You know every moment You know every place on the road. You know every place where we are today where the enemy is trying to pull the rug out from under us, destroy us, take us down. Lord God, our life belongs to you. Our problems are actually your problems, and so we turn them over to you today. We let you be the God of our lives, of our day, of our breath, of our strength.

25:40 You are the one who has died for us. You are the one who wants more than anything for us to know you. So forgive us, Lord. For judging you as unfaithful, as against us. Forgive us, Lord, for entertaining these thoughts. Forgive us, Lord, for entertaining the thoughts of the enemy who has caused many minds to become vile and debased. Father, forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us, Lord God, and forgive us, Lord God, for judging you. And we ask now for a new mindset, a new reset, in our spiritual attitudes towards you this day and in the days ahead, that you'll put your joy in our hearts. And it's not just a feeling, it's a solid knowing. That's where the joy comes from. So God, help us now in Jesus' name to walk in your faithfulness. Amen. Here's another example of faithfulness.

26:30 Oh, you know, there's examples all through scripture of God's faithfulness. And if you've walked with the Lord for a while, you can see when you honestly see that God has been faithful to you. You, even the times when you are not faithful. And really, I really believe that obedience to God really makes us aware of the faithfulness of God. You know, he's faithful to his people, who is people who even who those who rebel, but especially those who are trusting him and following him. It says at the end of, toward the end of the book of Joshua, in 21, chapter 21, verse 43. So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. The Lord gave them rest all around according to all that he had sworn to their fathers, and not a man of all their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered all their enemies to them into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. And then it's said again, right when basically Joshua was saying goodbye to Israel before he passed away. And in Joshua 23:14, behold, this day I'm going the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts you know in all your hearts and in all

28:04 your souls that not one good thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you. Not one word of them has— Hallelujah! Not one word of God has failed. Praise God. He said— Joshua said, you know that you've experience the faithfulness of God. And we have basically walked with him. Amen. Walk with him. Continue to walk with him. Amen. So let the courage and the strength of God cause us to be able to walk with him. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, you've got a lot of books about God and his faithfulness. Um, Taking the Devil to Court is kind of a breakthrough book. It's like, uh, Well, not breakthrough, it was original, right? It was original. That's where, as the Lord was showing you a lot of truth there, that's the one that kind of came out first, right? And it's still— it's amazing that the truth is the truth. And doesn't change. When you— things that you wrote years ago, things that you taught years ago, you look at it now and it's still the same. The truth does not change.

29:20 Yeah. So Taking the Devil to Court, a good place to begin. It's got a lot of, um, you know, examples, I believe. And it's also got a lot of teaching that is advanced beyond what most people get in their first instructions about God. So, and it's easy to understand. It's not complicated. So give yourself an opportunity to take ahold of it. Uh, you can get it as a PDF or you can get it as a, uh, a hardbound— not hardbound, a soft copy, um, In the Name of Jesus: Taking the Devil to Court. So God bless you. Thank you for joining us, and tell your friends about Rescue Radio. I have an emergency. What is your location?

30:21 Rescue Radio, 'cause there's a war for your soul.