Consistency is the missing link between knowing about God and having true experiences Him. In this episode of Light on Life, we uncover how a life of habitual, continual, and consistent obedience to God’s Word transforms head knowledge into real, lived-out relationship. Drawing from 1 John 2 and the expanded insight of Wuest’s translation, we’ll see that experiential knowledge of God is not reserved for a few—it is the inevitable result of aligning your life with His Word. If you’ve ever wondered why some believers walk in depth and others remain shallow, the answer comes down to one word: consistency.

This Week: Consistency turns what you know about God into what you experience with Him.

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Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This weeks call is:

Stay Steady. Finish Strong.

Choose one area where you already know what God says—but you haven’t been consistent. Commit to it daily this week. Stay with it. Don’t drift. Don’t delay.

Consistency today builds experience tomorrow.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).

This week’s question is:

Question: Where have you seen inconsistency hold back your growth with God?

Share: What is one area of God’s Word you are committing to walk out consistently this week?

Remember: Growth doesn’t come from knowing more—it comes from doing what you already know.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 49 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 44 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Podcast Notes:

• Well again, welcome.
• Let’s pray.

Father God, we come to you and ask that you would help us, the listening and reading audience. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing so we ask for His help and by His Holy Spirit in us grant us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of you. Help us to know you more. We thank you for this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Consistency: The Path to Experiencing God—Opening Scripture

1 John 2:3–6 (NASB 2020) — 3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.

1 John 2:3–6 (WUESTNT) — 3 And in this we know experientially that we have come to know Him experientially and are in that state at present, if we are continually having a solicitous, watchful care in safeguarding His precepts by obeying them. He who keeps on saying, I have come to know Him experientially and as a present result am in that state, and His precepts is not habitually safeguarding with solicitous care, is a liar, and in this one the truth does not exist. But whoever habitually with a solicitous care is keeping His word, truly, in this one the love of God has been brought to its completion with the present result that it is in that state of completion. In this we have an experiential knowledge that in Him we are. He who is constantly saying that he as a habit of life is living in close fellowship with and dependence upon Him is morally obligated just as that One conducted himself, also himself in the manner spoken of to be conducting himself.

• In last week’s episode, we uncovered a sobering truth: your relationship with God rises or falls on how you respond to His Word.
• We saw that to reject the Word is not a small matter—it is to step into the very spirit of antichrist.
• Why? Because rejection is always rebellion.
• Rebellion uncovers a life that refuses to guard what God has said to us in His Word.
• But here’s the kicker.
• It’s one thing to talk about not rejecting the Word.
• But the only way to avoid rejecting it… is to do it.
• If the Word is not the foundation of your everyday activities, you are already off course.
• God’s goal for your life is that you walk in ongoing, lived-out relationship with Him.
• And that brings us to this week.
• Because if last week exposed the danger of rejecting the Word,
• This week reveals the power of consistently keeping it.
• Not occasionally.
• Not when it’s convenient.
• But as a way of life.
• And when you do that—something powerful happens.
• You don’t just know about God…
• You begin to experience Him.

Consistency: A Side Journey Into Wuest’s Translation

• Now, do a brief side journey for a moment into Wuest’s Translation.
• What is it?
• It’s a translation that unpacks the Greek verb tenses into English and also expands key Greek words so you can see their full meaning.
• This translation helps you see what is often hidden in the original Greek.
• Here’s an example of both:

1 John 2:3–4 (WUESTNT) — 3 And in this we know experientially that we have come to know Him experientially and are in that state at present, if we are continually having a solicitous, watchful care in safeguarding His precepts by obeying them. 4 He who keeps on saying, I have come to know Him experientially and as a present result am in that state, and His precepts is not habitually safeguarding with solicitous care, is a liar, and in this one the truth does not exist.

• Notice the adverbs ending in LY: experientially, continually, and habitually.
• The word ‘continually’ is the sense of the Greek as it pertains to your careful watchful care of God’s Word to obey it.
• The word ‘experientially’ is added to bring out the real meaning of the Greek word ginōskō—not just knowing about God, but knowing Him through a live, ongoing experience.
• The word ‘habitually’ points at the lifelong habit of being meticulous with God’s Word.
• Did you hear those words?
• Experientially. Habitually. Continually.
• That’s the life the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle John, describes.
• This adds the depth needed to live the life of Jesus.
• That’s walking the narrow road with consistency.
• And now here’s a fact of God’s Word.
• Godly consistency is what turns knowledge into experience.
• Experiences with God are not rare, once-in-a-generation events.
• They are the result of a life that consistently responds to Him.

The Sad Tale of An Inconsistent King

• Now, when we say consistency — we are talking about being consistent to the end of your life.
• Some start out well but finish poorly.
• Such was the case with King Asa of Judah who is recorded in both First Kings and Second Chronicles.
• King Asa reigned 41 years in Jerusalem.

1 Kings 15:9–11 (NASB 2020) — 9 So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah. 10 He reigned for forty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 11 Now Asa did what was right in the sight of the LORD, like his father David.

• He did what was right in the sight of the Lord.
• Second Chronicles 14 gives a list of the righteous acts that distinguished Asa’s rule.
• He removed foreign altars — cut down false gods — commanded Judah to seek God and much more.

2 Chronicles 14:1–7 (NASB 2020) — 5 He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was undisturbed under him.

• Asa brought rest to the people of Judah.
• For ten years they prospered, for ten years they undertook building projects — for ten years they had no war.
• They experienced the peace of God because of the king’s day-to-day devotion to God’s righteousness.
• Asa did the right thing because it was the right thing to do.
• But, Asa didn’t just do the right thing — he believed the right thing.
• In Second Chronicles 14:8, Asa was confronted with a million-man enemy army.
• He was outnumbered three to one!
• Asa’s response?

2 Chronicles 14:11–15 (NASB 2020) — 11 Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; help us, LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You.” 12 So the LORD routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

• Through Asa’s dependence on the Lord, God gave him victory over a million-man army.
• Why?
• Because Asa consistently trusted in the Lord his God.
• During the next several years, his consistent devotion and heart hunger spurred him to engage in wonderful Spirit-led reforms [2 Chronicles 15:1–18] in Judah that brought him all the way to the 35th year of his reign.
• The result?

2 Chronicles 15:19 (NASB 2020) — 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

• But in the 36th year of his reign, the fruit of a deeper shift in Asa began to show.
• You know, people don’t backslide in a day.

Proverbs 6:10–11 (NASB 2020) — 10 “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,” 11 Then your poverty will come in like a drifter, And your need like an armed man.

• A little compromise compounds.
• It never stays little.
• Asa stopped depending on the Lord—he became lifted up in pride.

2 Chronicles 16:9 (NASB 2020) — 9 For the eyes of the LORD roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will have wars.”

• This word was addressed to Asa—because his heart was no longer completely the Lord’s.
• It’s one thing to start the Jesus walk—it’s another thing to finish.
• To finish well, you must stay consistently committed all the way.
• Under pressure, Asa panicked.
• He stopped depending on the Lord—and started trusting human solutions.
• That internal shift led to external compromise.
• He trusted human solutions over God’s help.
• He bribed a pagan king for help.
• He took from the Temple of God to finance it.
• And when God corrected him—he didn’t repent.
• He reacted with anger.
• He imprisoned the prophet who delivered the rebuke.
• He mistreated his own people.
• People do not go backwards in a moment.
• Drift compounds just like devotion compounds.
• Asa served God consistently for 35 years out of 41—that’s 85% of his reign.
• God is not looking for a B+.
• He is looking for a heart completely His.
• How you finish matters.
• Are you that man?
• Are you that woman?

Consistent Hunger: The Key to Life Long Experience

• Your pursuit must be habitual and continual—that’s the language of real hunger for God.
• That hunger is the key to lifelong experience with Him.
• All of this funnels into consistent obedience to His Word.
• This is the kind of life God moves in.

Psalm 107:8–9 (NASB 2020) — 8 They shall give thanks to the LORD for His mercy, And for His wonders to the sons of mankind! 9 For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And He has filled the hungry soul with what is good.

• You see, God satisfies the hungry heart.
• The hungry heart manifests through the three words: habitual, continual, and consistent.
• Habitual—this is your pattern of life.
• Continual—your partaking of the Word doesn’t stop when life gets busy.
• Consistent—your walk holds steady over time.
• If you lack these things, you will have no depth of experience with God.
• You don’t experience God out of the blue—you experience Him through habitual, continual, consistent obedience to His Word.
• This consistency compounds into real experiences with Him.

Consistency Compounds

• The principle of ‘consistency that compounds’ is found in many places throughout the New Testament.
• For example…

Galatians 6:9 (NASB 2020) — 9 Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary.

• If we refuse to allow discouragement to sideline our consistency, we enter into the compounding effect.
• In Galatians 6:9, it’s the compounding effect of a single grain of seed.
• The point: A single act of righteous good, when planted, produces a harvest.
• Take corn for an example.
• It doesn’t look like much.
• It’s small.
• It’s easy to overlook.
• But when one corn seed is planted in the ground, something powerful begins to happen.
• It goes into the soil.
• It breaks open.
• It takes root.
• And over time—it grows into a full stalk of corn.
• Now here is where it gets eye-opening.
• That one seed doesn’t produce one more seed.
• It produces a stalk—and on that stalk are ears of corn.
• And on each ear are hundreds of kernels.
• It’s one for one: it’s one for hundreds.
• And if those hundreds are planted again?
• Now you’re talking thousands.
• The point? — Consistency compounds.
• Keep sowing the seed of good deeds.
• Keep putting into God’s system of seedtime and harvest.
• That’s how God designed it.
• You never reap what you sow—you always reap more than what you sow.
• One act of obedience.
• One decision to keep His Word.
• One act of righteous good kick starts God’s system.
• The consistency of righteous good compounds into a harvest at ‘due season.’

What Jesus Said About Consistency

Luke 16:10 (NASB 2020) — 10 “The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much.

• Consistency is found in the word faithful.
• God calls upon those who consistently exhibit trustworthiness and dependability.
• Those traits have come to be known as faithfulness.
• These trustworthy and dependable souls experience increase — more is given to them.
• As they prove faithful there the cycle continues and even more is added.
• Little grows exponentially into much — that’s the compounding effect at work.
• What’s the little?

John 15:7 (NASB 2020) — 7 If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

• Remaining in Jesus came via the new birth.
• You came to Jesus — confessed Him as Lord — and He pulled you out of the domain of darkness into God’s kingdom of light.
• You are in Him now — He is in you [by the person of the Holy Spirit.]
• That part is done.
• Now comes the next part: My Words abide in you.
• That’s your small part — getting the Word in you.
• “Do you mean all the Bible?”
• No, the passage speaks of answered prayer.
• If you abide in me and my words abide in you on the subject of prayer, then ask what you will and it will be done for you.
• Answered prayer is a marvelous experience.
• But you must be faithful to do the little to get to the much.
• At another point Jesus gave this parable showing the principle of compounding.

Matthew 25:21–23 (NASB 2020) — 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ 22 “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’

• This is the same thought.
• Consistent trustworthiness with two talents blossomed into many.
• Consistency compounds.
• The compounding effect makes you happy.
• You know it’s much better to stay consistent so you can enter into the joy of your Master.
• Consider the alternative.

The Regret of Refusing the Consistent Life

• Some people who make it to heaven won’t do it with joy.

1 Corinthians 3:15–16 (KJV 1900) — 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelt in you?

• Would you be happy if your works got burned up?
• Have you thought how faithfulness to do God’s things mushrooms into the increase He is looking for?
• What if you don’t play ball as the saying goes?
• What if you did your own thing instead of habitually and consistently doing God’s thing?
• My spiritual dad gave a lengthy utterance at the end of prayer seminar in 1982.
• I wrote it down — it’s like five pages long.
• In the prophecy it speaks of man to whom God spoke by His Spirit in that man’s spirit to do a certain thing.
• The man had other ideas.
• He chose his own vocation — he said ‘I will make money and support others — give to them — let them go and teach men the way that is right.
• With natural talents and talents inspired by the wicked one, he made money and everything seemed just fine.
• Until one day the Lord said to this man, ‘What about those words spoken to your spirit? Is the answer still no?’
• Well it was.
• And so the days, and weeks and months and years went by and then this man’s life was over.
• The prophecy concluded with these words:

“Heaven it will be but the cruel pangs of misery because I said no when He said Yes will sting and bring remorse throughout eternity.”

• It doesn’t cost—it pays to be consistent.

Climbing God’s Ladder of Consistency

• How can I be sure that what befell this man does not befall me?
• How do you climb God’s ladder to true experience?

2 Peter 1:5–8 (NASB 2020) — 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless nor unproductive in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• By the Holy Spirit of God, Peter points to a genuine life of layered growth.
• The end of this growth is experiential knowledge.
• Again, the word for knowledge is this same root word ‘ginosko’.
• Climb the ladder of firsthand experience.
• Don’t lean your ladder against someone else’s wall.
• You want your own experience with God.
• First hand trumps second hand any day.
• Do you desire to know God for yourself or through the eyes of others?
• You hear of a great testimony of God’s power and you marvel, rejoice and say “Wow, that’s wonderful—look what God did through that individual.”
• Wouldn’t it be great if that glory flowed through you?
• Don’t you want to be in a service where everyone gets healed at the same time like it did in the ministry of Jesus?
• I’ve heard of meetings where there was a lightning flash and all of a sudden, every sinner in that meeting was at the altar crying out for salvation.
• Every sinner!—Does that stir your heart to hunger?
• Could God even consider using you if you won’t even read your Bible everyday?
• Notice what starts the ladder effect in Second Peter: ‘applying all diligence.’
• ‘Applying all diligence’ to your faith gets you to moral excellence, which then gets you knowledge, then self-control, afterwards perseverance, which leads to godliness, and then, brotherly kindness, and love.
• Once you get to love you score the touchdown!
• Now what about this applying all diligence?
• What does it have to do with consistency?

Consistency Involves Applying All Diligence

• First things first—let’s define diligence and, with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
• So, what does ‘applying all diligence’ mean?
• If you want real experience with God, it doesn’t start with your feelings.
• It starts with continual seeking.
• It starts with habitual obedience to His Word.
• This word “diligence” is where everything rises or falls.
• The phrase carries the idea of hastening—moving with urgency and speed.
• Not delaying.
• Not drifting.
• Not treating the things of God casually.
• And it’s not just diligence—it’s ‘all’ diligence.
• That means nothing held back.
• No partial effort.
• No divided pursuit.
• It speaks of a serious bending of the mind—
• A focused, fully engaged, intentional pursuit of God.
• This word carries weight.
• Because your life is not drifting aimlessly—
• it is moving toward a moment of accounting before Jesus:
• The Judgment Seat of Christ.
• So when you put all of that together—this is what it means:

Applying all diligence means hastening with a fully engaged mind and full effort—holding nothing back—as you pursue God with urgency in light of the Judgment Seat of Christ.

• So what does diligence have to do with consistency?
• Diligence is the intensity of your effort.
• Consistency is the continuity of your effort.
• In other words:
• Diligence is how you work.
• Consistency is how long you keep working that way.
• You need both.
• Why?
• You can be consistently doing nothing and that just doesn’t work.

Proverbs 4:20–23 (NASB 2020) — 20 My son, pay attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 They are not to escape from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, And healing to all their body. 23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

• Can you see both consistency and diligence functioning in this passage?
• Incline your ears to God’s Word—what is this?
• Let them not escape from your sight—what about this?
• Keep them in the midst of your heart—does that sound like John 15:7 — ‘My words abide in you?’
• The word ‘healing’ gives us a clue to what this is.
• In the Hebrew, the word could be translated as medicine.
• The Word of God is medicine to your flesh.
• How are you supposed to take your medicine? — Consistently!!
• If you don’t, you fall back into your old condition.
• So, we need both consistency and diligence to live this Jesus life.
• Diligence starts it—consistency finishes it.
• Mark it down:
• Consistent alignment with God’s Word doesn’t just make experience possible—it makes it inevitable.
• You can take that to the bank.

How to Become the Consistent Soul

• So, how can we become the consistent soul that leads to experiential knowledge of God?
• Where do I already know what God says—but I’m not doing it consistently?
• Is it time in the Word?
• Is it prayer?
• Is it controlling your thoughts?
• Is it something God already dealt with you about—but you’ve let it slide?
• Select 2–3 Scriptures that speak directly to that area and write them down.
• Read those verses slowly every day—think about them.
• Keep your focus on God as you read them.
• Then, ask the Lord about them.
• Wait on Him for His input.
• Act on the Holy Spirit’s insight immediately—don’t delay obedience.
• Stay with it—don’t let discouragement interrupt your consistency.
• A single act of righteous good, when planted, produces a harvest.
• Consistency compounds—so keep sowing.
• If this message is speaking to you, don’t let it stop here—put it into practice today. Start building a consistent, Word-centered life and watch what God does over time. And if you’re ready to go deeper, explore more episodes of Light on Life at emeryhorvath.com—where we help you experience God’s Word working in your everyday life.
• And remember:
• Consistent alignment with God’s Word makes experiential knowledge of Him inevitable.
• Now, if you have not made Jesus the Lord of your life and you would like to, bow your head and pray this prayer after me.

Father God, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says that if I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ, is the Son of God, that He died for my sins, that He was raised from the dead and, if I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, I will be saved. Right now, I do that. I turn from my sin, and I receive Your forgiveness. I give You my life— my heart, my will, my future. I confess Jesus is My Lord. Fill me with Your Spirit, and teach me to walk in Your Word. Thank You for saving me. Thank You that I am now a child of God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

• If you prayed that prayer, let us know, send us an email so that we can help you get established in God.
• The Surprising and Powerful Impact of Godly Consistency.
• You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

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