Benefits of Consistency

All right, well, if you have your Bibles, let’s go to Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs chapter 10. And we are concluding the series that we’ve been in for the past several weeks called God’s Best. Everybody say, “God’s best.” God’s best.

Now, we hear that and it’s like, oh, this is the typical encouraging, positive message. How many of you know this, that God has a calling for your life specifically? That you didn’t just happen to exist, that you didn’t just come about, but the Bible says that before you were formed God knew you, and He’s fashioned you and He’s created you for a specific work, with a specific calling, and that there is a supernatural assignment that God has for your life. And for us to experience the best life that we could ever have, how many of you know that happens when we come into alignment with what we’ve been created to do? When it comes into alignment, when we are who God has created us to be.

And so we’re talking about God’s best. We receive God’s best when we come into alignment with His plans, with His purposes. Amen. And so for this to be a year of receiving God’s best, we’ve been talking about keys to receive God’s best, to walk in God’s best. And last week we talked about godly routines, and today we’re talking about the benefits of consistency. Oh, this is going to be everybody’s favorite message of the year. Benefits of consistency. Let’s say that: “Benefits of consistency.”

Easy to start, hard to stay

Man, it’s really easy to start something. It’s really hard sometimes to be consistent about it. It’s easy to get encouraged, to get motivated, to have that feeling of “I can do this,” but then all of a sudden discouragement comes. How many of you know discouragement is real? Amen. It’s a real thing. But how many of you know the blessing of God is also real, and He wants to bring blessing to your life? He wants to reveal Himself to you. He wants to show you and take you from glory to glory, from faith to faith.

And so that’s what we have been talking about, and today we’re talking about benefits of consistency, about being diligent in the things that God has called us to do. And so when we think about the plans that God has for us, and the discouragement that comes from the day to day, right — how many of you know what we’re talking about today is the antidote, or the opposite, of discouragement? It’s how we overcome the discouragement in order to be consistent.

So I would like for us to pray. Let’s open our hearts as we go into God’s Word. Father, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, we ask that You would speak to us through it. Lord, that Your Spirit would just speak to each and every person here, Lord, as we open our hearts, Lord, to receive what You have. Lord, that it wouldn’t just be mere words, that it wouldn’t just be the motions, but Lord, we give You this time, we give You our hearts, and we ask that You would come and speak to each and every one of us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The slack hand and the diligent hand

Amen. Proverbs chapter 10, and I want to start at verse 4. Proverbs 10, verse 4 says, “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.”

Now, we look at the Proverbs and we read those as wise sayings, their principles, their truths, and that’s very much the case here, right? This is a true principle. This is something that we can live by. But how many of you know this is exactly what happens with believers when we start to do what God asks of us, but then we don’t stick with it? When God gives us instruction, when He asks us to do certain things, or He gives us godly instructions on how to be with Him, how to spend time with Him, how to recognize His heart and the leading of His Spirit — He tells us these things. See, this is what happens when we start to do what God asks but we don’t stick with it.

It says, “He who has a slack hand becomes poor.” Becomes poor what? Spiritually. When we don’t give the proper attention to the things that God has said in our lives, we become spiritually poor. But it says here, “But the hand of the diligent” — everybody say, “Diligent” — “the hand of the diligent makes rich.” “He who has a slack hand becomes poor.”

Listen to what Jesus said in Luke chapter 9, verse 62. Jesus said, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” This is Jesus. Jesus is talking. He’s saying, listen, we need to be about what God has said, the things that God is instructing us to do.

And maybe you’re here today, and maybe there’s things that God has called you to do, and your hands are on the plow, but maybe you’re not really paying attention to what’s going on, right? Or you’re not really pushing, or you’re not really trying, you’re not giving attention to it, or you’re just going through the motions. But how many of you know Jesus is saying, listen, don’t have slack hands when it comes to the things concerning the Lord. Don’t have hands that are just going through the motions. Don’t just give up, don’t just quit. No, there is blessing for those who have diligent hands. I don’t know about you, but I want to receive the full blessing that God has for me. Amen.

It says, “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” Listen, there are benefits that come when we stick with the things that God has asked us to do.

When you get off track, get back on

If you get off track — because that’s going to happen, where you have an off day, or you miss a step, or you miss a day. I know recently we started our daily reading plan at the beginning of the new year, right? And there’s all those resolutions, and then all of a sudden you miss a day, and it’s like, “What’s the point? Why am I even — am I even getting anything out of this? Or am I really hearing God?” How many of you know the blessing comes when you don’t stop? The blessing comes when you get back on track. And if you get off track and you do mess up, or you do miss a day, you get right back on track.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.” “A righteous man may fall seven times.” What does that mean? A righteous person, when they get off track, they don’t just say, “Forget it, it’s over,” right? No, they get back on track. They get back into those godly routines.

You know, I know that for me, being lazy is something that I not only had to deal with when I was a teenager — right, there’s something that comes with that age range where all you wanted to do was just sit around and do nothing, right? And I think of all the things that my parents would ask me to do growing up, and I remember at the time I was like, “Oh my gosh, do I have to do everything?” And then you actually become an adult, and you realize, oh, there’s a lot more to what needed to happen than what I was doing, right? There’s a lot more responsibility. But even today there’s something in me where the Lord is having to deal with that lazy behavior, that desire to put things off or to quit things — things that maybe He’s even asked me to do. But God has had to teach me some of these things, to be consistent in the things He has asked of me.

Listen to Proverbs 14:23. It says, “In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.” How many of you know there are a lot of things that people like to spend their time talking about? And I always find it interesting when people talk about the same things over and over and over. But really, we all kind of do this, right? There’s things that pop up in the social atmosphere, and there’s things that grab our attention, and for maybe a season or for a time, right, we give all of our attention, all of our thought, all of our emotion to that one subject, and we miss the things that God actually is wanting to do. And sometimes we put God on the back burner. The things that God has asked of us, we put it on the back burner because we get so wrapped up in what is right in front of me — the idle chatter. “In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.”

You see, if we want to see God move this year, how many of you know we need to be intentional and consistent? If you want to have a greater revelation of who God is, how many of you know there are things that you need to be intentional and consistent about? If we just approach God the way that we always do — maybe you’re wanting to grow in the revelation that God is with you. Then I want to encourage you, you need to spend time in God’s presence. You need to spend time in praise and in worship and giving Him thanksgiving. You need to be consistent in your praise and thanksgiving. Are you guys with me today?

If you are wanting to understand and have God transform your mind — maybe you have just a naturally sour way of thinking, where the glass is always half empty, where you’re not seeing the things the way that God sees them, or the promises of God in His Word aren’t lining up to your life — then I want to encourage you, you need to get into His Word. You need to be consistent in His Word. How many of you know — we talked last week about godly routines, and in order for us to see the full blessing, to see God’s best, we can’t just do it when we’re emotionally there, or when we feel like we have it in us. How many of you know we need to be consistent? Amen.

You know, sometimes we want things so quickly. And you can hear messages about how, when we read our Bibles every day and you open God’s Word, God speaks to you. And so maybe you go home and you try it once: “I didn’t hear anything.” You go and try it again: “I didn’t hear anything.” And then you stop. How many of you know the blessing comes when we stay consistent, when we keep our hands to the plow? We don’t look back to what was or what’s behind, but we press on forward toward the prize. Amen.

You see, there are benefits that come when we stay consistent in the things that God has asked us to do. And so if we want to be people who are blessed by God, who are seeing His face, who are knowing Him and growing in our faith, who are growing in our experience of His presence in our lives, then we must be people who are consistent in the things that God has asked for us to do. “The hand of the diligent makes rich.” The hand of the diligent makes rich.

Do not cast away your confidence

I want to look at the spiritual side of this out of Hebrews chapter 10. And if you have your Bible, we’re going to actually be here the rest of the time, so if you have your Bibles, Hebrews chapter 10. I want to look at the spiritual side of this in Hebrews 10, and I want to look at verses 35–39. And there’s a lot here, so we’re going to unpack it, but it says:

“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: for yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”

That’s a good scripture right there. There’s a lot here. I want to break this down. Look at verse 35. It says, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence” — notice — “which has great reward.” How many of you know it takes confidence in order to be diligent? It takes confidence to do the things that God has asked you to do, to be diligent in them, to not just go for it for a day or a week. No, it takes confidence that God will do what He said He would do in order to remain diligent in our lives.

You see, one of the primary reasons people stop being diligent is because they lose their confidence. They don’t actually believe that God is going to do it for them, or that He’s going to speak to them, that He’s going to reveal Himself, that He’s going to provide for them — fill in the blank, whatever you have a hope that God will do. The reason we quit so often is because we lose confidence, and we start saying things like, “This isn’t really going anywhere. This isn’t really going to make a difference in my life. It doesn’t really matter.” Or, “I don’t actually experience the Lord the way He said I would.”

But notice what God’s Word says here. He says, “Do not cast away your confidence.” Why? Because it has great reward. Listen, if you can hold on to the confidence that God will do what He said He will do, you will see the reward. If you can hold on to the confidence that God will do what He said He will do, you will see the reward.

We can’t let circumstances tell us what will and will not happen. How many of you know we can’t live that way, where we just live by our emotions, we live by what we see? Why? Because we have a God — we have a God who sees us, a God who watches over us, a God who cares for us, and a God who has made promises available in our lives. And so we need to find out: what are the things that God has asked me to do? And then we need to stick with it. Amen. Tell the person next to you, “Stick with it.” You better stick with it.

Listen, you’ve got to hold out. You’ve got to stick with it and have confidence that God will do His part, and He will help you do your part. “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.”

You have need of endurance

Now look at the next verse. Verse 36 says, “For you have need of endurance.” Listen, if you are called by God — which should have everybody’s attention in here — God has a plan and a purpose for your life. It will require endurance. Meaning, it won’t always be fun. You won’t always get that feeling, that fresh feeling, right? That honeymoon phase where it’s like, “God has called me to do this, and I’m just living on cloud nine, and things are great.” How many of you know that’s not the world that we’re in?

The world we’re in is going to have resistance. There’s going to be resistance from your friends. There’s going to be resistance from your family. There’s going to be resistance in your workplace. There’s going to be resistance in your mind and in your heart and what you’re feeling. How many of you know there is resistance in this world? And so for us to endure, for us to be diligent, we need something called endurance — where maybe you’re not enjoying the results you’re seeing.

It says, “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” The promise from who? The promise from God. After you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise of God. You see, God will supernaturally bring His promise to come to pass when you have done the things He has asked you to do with endurance. With endurance.

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people quit the assignment that God has given them because they didn’t have the endurance, where they quit just before the promise. Where they were walking in obedience, right? They were pressing in, they were doing it, they were giving it their best. But when the expectations weren’t hitting, when they weren’t feeling it anymore, they looked for something else. And sometimes a lot of believers — the really mature believers sometimes — they’ll even come up with a different opportunity and say it was God, but it really wasn’t. They just didn’t want to be where they were at anymore. They didn’t want the pain. They didn’t want the enduring. They didn’t want that stick-with-it. “No, I’ve given it to God.” How many of you know that’s not the heart we can have, where we allow discouragement to get in our hearts and to rule them, rather than allowing God to rule us?

And may we be a people that says, “I can’t quit, because God has called me. God has given me a plan, a purpose for my life. He has spoken to me through His Word. I can’t quit.”

And let me tell you, when those times of discouragement come, our posture needs to be, “God, my heart is discouraged.” How many of you know God’s not caught off guard by your discouragement? But that when you feel discouraged, you would come to the Lord and humbly say, “God, my heart is discouraged. I’m not seeing the results. I’m not hearing You the way that I thought I would hear You. I’m not seeing what You have for me. I’m trying to press in, but I’m not seeing it.”

How many of you know, rather than just quitting, we can come to Him and just lift our hands and lift our hearts and say, “God, strengthen me. Strengthen me to do what You’ve asked me to do.” And He does it. Amen. Aren’t you glad we serve a God that doesn’t just do His part, but He’ll strengthen you to do your part too? I’m going to say that again, because God is always faithful to do His part, but how many of you know He also wants to give you strength to do your part?

But we have to cry out to Him when that discouragement comes. We don’t look at our circumstances. We don’t let our circumstances speak louder than God. No, we set aside all those things, we look to Him, and we say, “God, strengthen me, because my heart is discouraged. I feel weak. I want to give up. God, I need You to reaffirm. I need You to give me a word. I need You to speak to me.” And how many of you know, when we humble ourselves and we cry out to the Lord, He comes right in.

The just shall live by faith

Look at verse 37. Verse 37 says, “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.” How many of you know — we said this last week — Jesus is coming back? Jesus is coming back, and we need to be diligent as though that’s true. “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.”

Verse 38 says, “Now” — everybody say, “Now.” When is the now? How many of you know that now is that in-between place, between the promise and the reality of seeing that promise come to pass? The now is that in-between place. It says “now,” right before you see the fulfillment of the promise. Maybe you’ve heard God speak. Maybe there’s things you’re believing for. Maybe there’s things He’s asked you to do, but you’re not seeing it yet. Now, it says, “the just shall live by faith.”

You see, how many of you know, when Jesus comes — this is talking about the return of Jesus — and when Jesus comes, He’s going to come, He’s going to establish His kingdom, and we’ll all see Him. We’ll see the effects of His coming, and everything’s going to change, right? When Jesus comes back, everything will change. But between now and then, how many of you know, now we must live by faith. We must live by faith. We have to believe and live as though His Word is true. We have to live in a way as though the things that He has said are important — as though they actually are important. His Word should have meaning in our lives right now. Why? Because the just live by faith.

Verse 38 — but look at what it says. It says, “The just shall live by faith; but” — notice — “but if anyone draws back.” In other words, if anyone has a slack hand. If you’re going through the motions. If you’re just kind of giving up, or you’re saying, “You know, I was a lot better when…” It says, no, no, no, don’t look back. “If anyone draws back,” He says, “my soul has no pleasure in him.”

How many of you know we have to give attention to the things God has asked of us? We need to give attention to those godly routines that we talked about last week. Amen. Those things that He has asked of us, we have to give attention to them — not just put our hands to the plow and say, “Okay, Jesus, take the wheel.” No, no, no. He’s already done His part. It’s time for us to do our part, to be diligent in the things that He’s asked us to do. “But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

We are not those who draw back

Now look at this: “But we are not of those who draw back.” And I felt like this is what we needed to declare over ourselves in Jesus’ name: that we are not those who draw back. That we will not be people who have a slack hand when it comes to the things concerning the Lord. That when He asks things of us, He becomes our priority. That He gets our best, that He gets our fullest attention. That when we put our hands to the plow, we would not be people that look back, that say, “Well, what is this person doing?” or, “Man, it was a lot easier when…” But that we would be people who press on into it, diligently, into the promises of God.

It says, “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe” — everybody say, “Believe.” We are those who believe. And those times where our belief is shaken, that we would humble ourselves and cry to the Lord and say, “Lord, strengthen my unbelief. Lord, reveal Yourself. God, I’m running dry. I need You to fill me up.”

How many of you know you were never meant to fulfill this divine mandate on your life alone, but that you were meant to do it with Him? That He has designed your life in such a way that at the times that you feel weak, when you cry out to Him, He makes you strong. Why? So He can receive all the glory for the things that He will do in you and through you. But we’ve got to cry out. Amen. We’ve got to cry out.

“But we are not of those who draw back.” Everybody say, “That’s not me.” Everybody say that: “That’s not me. I’m not gonna draw back. I will be diligent.” That’s not who we are.

In fact, I want us to actually, literally say this. You know, as I’m talking, maybe there’s things that you already are recognizing: “Man, there’s things that God has asked me to do, and I just haven’t been giving it the attention that it’s needed. I haven’t had my hands on the plow the way I’m supposed to. I’ve not been diligent in the things that God’s asked me to do.” How many of you know, not only will He forgive you as we repent of that — how many of you know He’ll strengthen us to get back on track?

But I feel like some of us may have settled in our hearts that this is just how it’s always going to be, or, “I’ve tried that before and I can’t do it.” How many of you know you’re not meant to do it on your own? But that we would stand in faith, that we would believe that as we call out to the Lord, He will strengthen us to do the things He’s asked us to do, to be the people He’s called us to be.

And so here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. Just everybody, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, just say this with me: “In Jesus’ name, I am diligent. I have faith in God. I am confident in His promises. I’m going to be consistent. I’m going to do the will of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Amen. Amen. How many of you know God’s best comes when we don’t quit? And there is nothing more that the adversary would like to do than to get you off track and keep you there. And I will tell you, it is unnecessary, because we have a God who has done His part, and we have a God who has promised to give you the strength to endure to the promise.

So let us not settle. Let us not take our hands off the plow. Let us come back to Him. If you’ve been neglecting the things that He’s asked you to do, it’s time to repent of that and come back to Him. Amen. It’s time to come back. It’s time to be diligent, because there are benefits to consistency. And that we would be people who would say, “If God has told me to do it, I’m going to do it. If God has asked it of me, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.” You see, God wants us to see the benefits of consistency. Amen.

Coming back to Him

Let’s stand together, and let’s just come before the Lord this morning, and let’s just begin to open our hearts to Him. Remove the distractions around you.

But maybe you’re here, and as I was just saying, maybe there’s things that you need to confess or repent of. Maybe you have lost your confidence on some of the things that He has spoken to you, and you’ve been living according to what you feel rather than what God has said. Maybe you’ve been going through the motions rather than having faith to give it your best. And I just want everybody to take a moment right now, just between you and the Lord, and just say, “God, I repent of that. I repent of going through the motions. I repent of losing my expectation, rather than having faith and giving You my best.”

And just begin to let God forgive you. Receive His forgiveness. We just received communion, and that juice that we drink, it symbolizes the blood that was shed for us — that as we confess our sins to Him, He washes us and cleanses us of all unrighteousness. And maybe you’re here today and you’re like, “Man, I’ve missed it. I’ve missed the opportunity.” How many of you know the Lord said, “I will restore the years the locust has eaten”? When we submit ourselves and we get back on track with God, He is faithful to bring His will to come to pass. So let’s just let God forgive us right now. Let us commit ourselves to Him.

Thank You, Lord. Father, we thank You for Your forgiveness. Thank You, Lord, that You forgive us in those places where maybe we haven’t been consistent, maybe we haven’t been diligent to do the things You’ve asked us to do. Lord, forgive us for having a slack hand in any way. And we declare in Jesus’ name, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be diligent. We will be people who believe Your Word. That You are renewing our faith again today, Lord, that You will strengthen us, and that as we do Your will, we will see the reward that You have for us. Thank You for leading us. Thank You for guiding us. We will fulfill Your plan for our lives, because we believe and trust in You. In Jesus’ name. If you agree, say amen.

Amen. Amen. I don’t know about you, but I want this next year, this next season, to be a year of God’s best in my life. And that we wouldn’t just shake our head and say, “Yeah, I know the routine,” but that we would be diligent to do it. Amen. Be diligent to do it. And in those times you feel weak, call out to the Lord. Call out to the Lord and allow His Spirit to strengthen you. It’s not by might, it’s not by power, it’s by His Spirit. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.