“Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done wonderful things,
things planned long ago.”—Isaiah 25:1 (NIV)
Do you ever struggle to remember God’s faithfulness? I do. Sometimes it’s easy to forget His faithfulness or to take it for granted, especially in the day-to-day, small things. My first reaction to unexpected difficulty is often closer to “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, God?” than it is to “God, I know you are faithful.”
Praise the Lord that His faithfulness doesn’t depend on our faithfulness to Him. He is faithful. It’s who He is.
Every year, usually around September, the ACSI Day of Prayer planning team meets to discuss the next year’s theme. This year, we bounced around a few different ideas before quickly landing on “faithfulness.” We knew from the start that the song “Great is Thy Faithfulness” would play a part, as well. I find myself humming it throughout the day or listening to it on repeat (My current favorite version is this one, if you’d like to sing along with me.) It’s been a way to remind myself of His great faithfulness.
The beloved hymn was written by Thomas Chisholm in 1923. Despite not having a high school or college education, Chisholm became a schoolteacher when he was just 16 years old and became associate editor of his Kentucky hometown’s newspaper at age 21. After accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior in his mid-twenties, he became an ordained Methodist pastor, as well. He wrote poetry and sent a collection of his poems to his friend, William Runyan, who created the melody to “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” The song grew in popularity when evangelist Billy Graham began using it at his crusades in the 1950s.
Based on Lamentations 3:22-23, the song declares God’s enduring faithfulness that doesn’t depend on everchanging circumstances. And throughout Scripture, we see that He is a God who keeps His promises. He is steadfast. He is trustworthy. He never fails. God is faithful. No matter how big or small your need, just like He fed the Israelites manna in the desert (Exodus 16), He will provide for our daily needs.
Just as God is faithful, we should remain faithful to Him to stand for righteousness even when it’s difficult. As we see the day of His return approaching, we should be faithful to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24-25). It is our prayer that this year’s theme allows you and your school community to celebrate God’s faithfulness while committing to staying faithful to God and to each other.
Our theme verse, Isaiah 25:1, reminds us that God has “done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” This simple reassurance can teach us and our students that God has a special purpose and plan for their lives, and He will be faithful to see it through.
Join Us!
On this seventh annual ACSI Day of Prayer, we invite you to join us as we pray that we would know God’s perfect faithfulness in our schools, our relationships, ourselves, and our communities. We know you pray every day, but today we ask you to partner with us and unite as a global community to pray specifically that our Christian schools, teachers, students, and families will experience His faithfulness. Will you pray with us?
Here are some easy steps to help guide your day:
- Visit this year’s Day of Prayer webpage—available in both English and Spanish.
- Read, share, and pray for requests on our interactive Prayer Map.
- Download the 2024 Prayer Guide—available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish—and other resources for suggestions of ways you can pray and activities you can use to help focus your prayers.
- Use the hashtag #SchoolsThatPrayon social media to share how you and your school are participating and follow along to see how others are taking part, as well.
Most of all, please know we are praying for you and with you, today and every day. May you know His faithfulness!
Sources:
Wyse, E. (2014, January 1). The History of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” Lifeway.
Brantley, T. (2023). Hymncharts.com
About the Author
Becki Rust is the Thought Leadership Project Manager at the Association of Christian Schools International, where she leads project management for a wide variety of innovative and timely initiatives, programs, and events. She also serves as editor the WLCE Blog. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.