Trust
How can you turn over
more of the control in your life to God?
Another key factor in a child of God's spiritual growth, is the development, of
trust, in our Creator/Father. Leaning has the sense of putting your whole
weight on something, resting on and trusting in that person or thing.
(Proverbs 3:5-8)"Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely
on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do and he
will show you the right way. Never let yourself think that you are wiser
than you are; simply obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong. If you do, it
will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your
pains."
God promises to guide those who obey and trust him. Those who obey must
actively explore God's Word. Depend on God in every part of your life,
and he will guide, protect, and comfort you.
This expression "God's guidance," or "God's will," is
really quite confusing. It seems so far removed from selling insurance,
cleaning house, or taking the dog to the vet for his shot. It seems to
imply being constantly ecstatic over "finding Jesus," or living on Cloud
Nine with out interruption. I suppose this could be part of it. But
so many Christians, new and old alike, drape so much glamorous ecclesiastical
jargon around it, that it gives the impression around it, of being for an elite
few "spiritual" or "saintly" people. That would leave
out most of us, wouldn't it, God?... Jesus told His disciples that He was going
away and would send someone to carry on for Him. This one would be a
Comforter, a Helper, to remind and to guide. If He wasn't supposed
to guide us in all things, how would we know when he was guiding and when He
wasn't?
It occurs to me that if I'm tuned in to You, Jesus, I'm guided in everything I
do. It could include simple things at the office, housework, even
answering the presumptuous ring of the telephone to give some lonely forgotten
soul a bit of myself.
After a lot of trial and error, God, I think I've learned something about Your
will in my life. And the key is so simple. So often I have
stubbornly knocked and banged my head against a door of decision or opportunity
i wanted to push open. And so often nothing happened. The door just
wouldn't budge. At other times when You and I were tuned in to the same
channel, I barely touched the latch, and the door swung open. Everything
poured out: happinesses, opportunities for creativity, spiritual presents,
deeper relationships with friends, and, when the timing was right, a chance to
share Your love with someone... Your guidance kind of snowballs, God,
from relying on You for dozens of little actions and decisions, we learn to
seek Your guidance in times of big events, even tragedies, in our lives.
Gradually we begin to rely on You in everything we do, no matter how
insignificant.
(From Struggles of a Sinner-Saint by Lucille Lavender)
Is your life like a hotel, with certain rooms marked "Do Not
Disturb"? Open one of those rooms to God. If you are a
pianist, give your practice or performance to God. If you are a
basketball referee, give your game to God. No matter what your role in
life or your occupation, live every aspect of your life to honor God.
How would you answer a skeptic who asked you "How can you believe
that?"
The essence and core of
Christianity is Trust in God.
Christ said; "Why are you afraid." He would go on to say;
"How little you trust God! Why are ye so fearful? How is it
that ye have no faith? O men, how little you trust Him!"
"Have faith in God." These quotes are fundamental to Christian
faith. It has to do with our understanding of life.
We believe in God - but may not believe God.
To doubt either God's power or God's love is to say by your actions:
"Lord, I do not believe your promises, I do not think you will take care
of me."
This is where Christianity has the answer.
To doubt either God's power or God's love is to say by your actions:
"Lord, I do not believe your promises, I do not think you will take care
of me."
God has designed us for happiness. He has created us for peace and
joy. It is His will for each of His creatures that life shall be free and
lived to the utmost for His glory.
Why is it that so few people find it in fun,
fellowship
good company,
good times
good humor,
and happiness?
Does your life experience fit into that? If not, there is something
wrong. People refuse the offer of Christianity, because they never dream
that what they want can be found there.
Christ offers us what we are really hungering for; but we don't believe
it. We won't give Him a chance. We prefer to attempt to carry God's
burdens also.
How can we find peace of
mind and heart?First, let us try to clear our thinking about the nature of
God. Let us make a study, a serious study - for it merits our best
efforts - to find out the nature of God.
Most of our difficulties, our lack of trust in God, spring from our basic
misunderstanding of what God's relationship to us.
We are not believers of the love and the power of God.
Where can I show my "Trust?"
If you want to know what God is like, look at Christ. Study what Christ
provided us.
Next, study the lives of others who studied his and followed him. Find
out how God dealth with them, and thus you will begin to find out about God.
The next step is to become personally acquainted with God yourself - in your
own way, according to your own needs and circumstances. "Practice
makes perfect" in this realm of your life, as well as in other things.
You see your real trouble is spiritual, so that the remedy must be spiritual
too.
The believer trusts himself to God... believing that God will watch over
him. Will you be one?
Will you leave with God - now - the troubles you have been carrying around for
so long, just like a little child? Will You?
(Proverbs 16:32-33)"It is better to be patient than powerful. It is
better to win control over yourself than over whole cities."
"Men cast lots to learn God's will, but God himself determines the
answer."
Who or what do you
listen, to direct your life?
We must gain control over our "Will" and then turn it over to God for
direction. When a child in a earthly family trusts his parents to provide
for him, he finds that he can enjoy life. If he has worries over whether
he is going to have enough to eat or where he is going to live, He cannot enjoy
life and have a good family relationship. To maintain your faith when
situations are difficult, keep your eyes on Jesus' power rather than on your
inadequacies.
(Matthew 14: 28-31)Then Peter spoke up. "Lord, if it is really you,
order me to come out on the water to you."
"Come!" answered Jesus, So Peter got out of the boat and started
walking on the water to Jesus. But when he notices the strong wind, he
was afraid and started to sink down in the water. "Save me,
Lord!" he cried.
At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, "What little
faith you have! Why did you doubt?"
What do you see in your own life that is similar to this?
Even St. Peter had trouble with trust. If a child trusts his father; that
he will only allow him in situations that he can handle, and that he will have
the capability to deal with the situation; he then can act effectively.
(Wisdom 1:2)"Those who do not try to test him will find him, He will show
himself to those who trust him."
What changes in my actions do I need to make?
We obviously are not
able to demand anything from God. We must trust him. This same
trust is essential in a marriage or a friendship. When two people trust
each other they know that the other individual would not intentionally cause
any unnecessary pain or put them in a situation they cannot deal with. A
father may share the creation of a baby with his wife, knowing full well that
she will have to go through the difficulties of birth. But they both
agree to go through with it, because they love and trust each other, and know
that it will create a new life. A individual may see that their friend
goes to a hospital for a treatment to improve life, even though there may be
discomfort, A father may encourage a child to play sports, knowing full
well that there may be injuries, but that better health will result.
(Isaiah 45:9-12)"Does a clay pot argue with its maker, a pot that is like
all the others?Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing?Does the pot
complain that its maker has no skill?Does anyone dare say to his parents, 'Why
did you make me like this?The Lord, the Holy God of Israel, the one who shapes
the future, says: 'You have no right to question me about my children or tell
me what I ought to do!I am the one who made the earth and created mankind to
live there.By my power I stretched out the heavens; I control the sun, the
moon, and the stars.'"
You can make an idol out of anything or anyone in life. A church building
can become an idol to us, when all the while it is simply a place to meet and
worship our Lord - nothing more. Your child can become your idol... in
subtle ways you can so adore that little one that your whole life revolves
around the child. Your mate or date can be given first place in your life
and literally idolized. Your work can easily become your God... as can
some pursuit in life. A house, a lawn, an antique car, a letter sport, an
education, a trip abroad, and even that goal of "retirement."...
Your Lord and Savior wants to occupy first place. Matthew 6:33 says that
when He HAS it, everything else will be added to you. How long has it
been since you've enlisted your Lord's help in a private, personal
temple-cleansing session? It's so easy to get attached to idols - good
things, inappropriately adored. But when you have Jesus in the center of
the room, everything else only junks up the decor.
(From Come Before Winter by Charles Swindoll)
Who created you?
Who can you ultimately depend on? Where can you find supreme truth?
Where can you find happiness? Did you answer anything but God for these
questions? If so, you may be in danger of falling into idolatry.
Pull yourself out of that trap and let God be the one you rely on.
How might the purpose of God be traced in some recent events?
Our control of our world is not one of the options we are allowed. We
either "Trust God" or we are not God's child. None of God's
children's accomplishments are possible without mutual love and trust.
There can not be a proper relationship between us and our Creator/Father without
this. We either believe he is God, and has created everything or he is
not our God. If he has created everything, he is in control of
everything. Therefore he does not need our help. Just as a mother
may allow a child to help her while she bakes a cake God will allow us to help
control the world around us. This mother could bake the cake better by
herself, but she does allow the child to help, for his growth. God
provides us the opportunity to be involved with the world in order to provide
us a growth experience. If we walk by our own light and reject God's, we
become self-sufficient, and the result of self-sufficiency is torment. We
risk torment later when these strengths fade.
(Isaiah 50:10)"All of you that have reverence for the Lord and obey the
words of his servant, the path you walk may be dark indeed, but trust in the
Lord, rely on your God."
We have already seen that the Bible teaches that God was a God of love.
he wanted to do something for man. He wanted to save man. He wanted
to free man from the curse of sin. How could He do it? God was a
just God. He was righteous, and holy. He had warned man from the
beginning that if he obeyed the Devil and disobeyed God, he would die
physically and spiritually....
All through the Old Testament, God gave man the promise of salvation if by
faith he would believe in the coming Redeemer. Therefore God began to
teach His people that man could only be saved by substitution. Someone
else would have to pay the bill for man's redemption....
Thanks be to God - that is exactly what happened! Looking down over the
battlements of heaven he saw this planet swinging in space - doomed, damned,
crushed, and bound for hell. He saw you and me struggling beneath our
load of sin and bound in the chains and ropes of sin. he made His
decision in the council halls of God. The angelic hosts bowed in humility
and awe as heaven's Prince of princes and Lord of Lords, who could speak worlds
into space, got into His Jeweled chariot, went through pearly gates, across the
steep of the skies, and on a black Judean night, while the stars sang together
and the escorting angels chanted praises, stepped out of the chariot,, threw
off His robes and became man!
(From Peace with God by Billy Graham)
Meditate on the things
God has saved you from: hell, drugs, despair, alcohol, sinful habits,
hopelessness, restlessness, and selfishness. Thank God for this most
wonderful gift of redemption.
What would it mean for you to start your day by trusting in God?
A five year old child may wish to drive his fathers car. But a Father
will not put his child in a situation where he would need to drive that car,
because he is not ready. The child may try on his own to drive, but only
certain trouble will take place if he does. But that same father will
provide the opportunity when the child is ready, the family is ready (i.e. car
is available), and the world is ready (i.e. legally of age).
"David dedicated this (23rd Psalm - 'I shall not want') Psalm to those
servants of God who forsake all worldly desires and rejoice in their own lot,
whatever it may be. They appreciate their simple bread and water more
than all of the delicacies of this world, for their attention is focused on the
spiritual pleasures of the World to Come" (Ibm Ezra).
If the child waits till his father provides the opportunity, the child feels
better about the situation along with the family, and the world.
(Proverbs 16:9)"You may make your plans but God directs your
actions."
What role should feelings , circumstances, counsel, conscience, scripture, each
play in knowing God's will?
If we learn to trust God, to provide us with opportunities to act when God's
plan calls for our action. We will find that we, God's family and the
world will be better for it. Be sure you understand what you're getting
into, before you take the first step, be sure you are following God.
(Proverbs 19:2)"People may plan all kinds of things, but the Lords will is
going to be done."
