All tagged trust

This morning, I would like us to deal with the worry that we might have at times, or in some manner or circumstance in which we have doubted that Jesus could help us when we have called out to Him or done some other thing that has exhibited little faith. Haven’t we on occasion dealt with a nagging fear that we might have stood at the well with Him and said... "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." Haven’t we told ourselves that we trust Jesus completely but then in a bad situation questioned His ability, and wondered if we were trusting in Him enough?

When we are called by God do we respond with reservation in our voices? Do we tremble as we step hesitantly forward? Or does our fear prohibit us from stepping forward at all? These are the things we will contemplate this morning. In order to gauge our own willingness to serve God with total confidence in His provision, we only need to look at the life of Jesus. He chose to live a pauper’s life of little and thus had nothing as He hung dying on the cross… not even His clothes. Yet throughout His life God provided for Him... He sent the Magi with gifts that might sustain Him in His youth, and this was only the beginning of God's providing for Him. Jesus received only those things He needed, when He needed them, and He endured this poverty and suffering so that we too might receive riches in glory.

My devotional reading this morning was focused on the simplicity of faith, and as I studied the truths in this concept I uncovered the depth of my similar belief. But I also began to see how I often followed the mantra I hear in commercials on television as they sing... "I want it now!" (NFL), or "It's mine!" (Diet Coke), or perhaps "I want it all!" (Dr. Pepper). I could see that I was applying this urgency to my relationship with God and Jesus Christ, and how I wanted every truth in a scripture, and every revelation of God, to occur instantly... right now! Had I lost the ability to wait patiently, and trust in the Lord?

This morning we are dwelling on praying during seasons of conflict. Paul gave these instructions to the Ephesians regarding being a Christian soldier, and they have served us well throughout the millennium...

“and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”

Ephesians 6:17-18 ESV

Do you pray and not receive? Have you blamed or doubted God for His silence towards your prayers? Well, sometimes He is answering and we are not listening or we simply don’t wanting to hear the answer. Sometimes our timing and His are out of synch, but often we are completely outside the will of God in our requests. The book of James speaks to our asking "wrongly" and that is what I am contemplating this morning; praying outside the will of God and how I can know and avoid this.

Seeing God in every good thing about us is a gift, but being able to see Him in our troubles is truly a blessing. When we see God in our distress it calms the spirit and reassures us because we grow in our absolute faith in His goodness. E.M. Bounds expounded on this by saying that if we can find God in our troubles that "we are warranted in taking them to God in prayer and seeking to get the greatest spiritual benefits out of them." So many of us only see our problems in a negative light, and miss the fact that they too benefit us.

One spring day my wife and I returned from Chattanooga where we had celebrated the graduation from college of a remarkable young lady, I plopped down in my prayer chair and was led to read a devotional message titled "Trouble and Prayer". The previous day I had written about this young lady's struggle with Multiple Sclerosis, but when we saw her this morning, after just a few weeks absence, she looked frail and was walking with a cane. It broke my heart to see her this way. Our prayers had been more than needed today, and now we waited confidently for God’s answer.

This morning, the day after I wrote about my encounter with the stock clerk at Publix, I couldn't sleep and rose early to pray. I was drawn out of bed for a very specific prayer... On the day before I had written about a man I met at Publix whose nine year old son was in a life or death battle against cancer. Now, on this the morning after, my prayers are focused on this boy and his family, and this led me to pray about the trust I have that God heals.

After studying Trust and how it is such an integral part of prayer, did we finally conclude that it is indeed a simple concept? So often we take something that should be viewed, and taken, as being quite simple, and by attempting to dissect and intellectually define it we transform it into something quite difficult, complex and hard to achieve. However, the Holy Spirit, and our soul, takes us where our intellect cannot, and they can reveal the simplest truth at the heart of the most overwhelmingly complicated things… such as “what is trust?”

From the moment I began to read Bounds' words this morning I was grasped and carried off into thought. The bold statement that "Trust brings eternity into the history and happenings of time" is a powerful statement that demands much thought and contemplation. This morning's devotional brings us once again into the spiritual realm of faith and our trust in God. The gist of Bounds' offering to us is that trust increases faith and faith increases trust. This seems to be a paradox until we remember that trust is perpetuated by those things that God has already accomplished and faith is holding to those things as yet unseen.

Trust is a wonderful word on which to begin our month of March devotional studies. I will dwell today on the observations of E.M. Bounds who wrote that faith and trust were feelings of the soul. I find it appropriate to discuss this topic in March because this is the month when we trust that spring is imminent and anticipate the coming renewal of life. This is also the time of the year in which our faith and hope are elevated to sheer joy as we realize that this is the season in which the Messiah fulfilled God's planned salvation of mankind. This is the culmination of Lent and the celebration of Easter. Easter is the one event which is truly the accomplishment of faith that prompted Bounds to say: "Trust is faith accomplished.... It is the feeling of the soul - the spiritual sight hearing and taste."

The title of the devotional message I read this morning was "Today's Manna" and in it E.M. Bounds spoke of praying for today's needs and trusting in God to provide for tomorrow. Bounds makes the statement that "The present is ours; the future belongs to God" It is so easy to say, and pray, words such as these but they are very hard to live out. For our opening bible verse today let’s turn to Isaiah 26:3 and read.