All tagged trust
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
This morning our thought and study is on being not only the children of God, but going one step further and having the heart of a child; or being childlike. Jesus tells us this directly in scripture when he says that unless we are converted and become like little children we won’t enter into heaven. Have we been converted and prepared in this way?
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.
This morning I am writing on the topic of wrestling in prayer. We will be contemplating what E.M. Bounds describes as that "inward force or ability planted and inspired by the Holy Spirit" or "the intercession of the Spirit of God in us." Sometimes we yield to the Spirit quite easily, but at others it seems that our pride wrestles with Him for control over our problems, and prayers.
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?”
Have we prayed in solitude during our own daily lives? Have we dedicated a comfortable chair in a quiet place, where we go to pray, study the Word of God, and be with Him? This is the kind of place where believers build a deep trust in God, and it is a quiet and intimate place of prayer where their relationship with Him takes root and grows.
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.
08/05/2023 - The Simple Five Letter Answer to - "Why Lord?"
Is what God is doing, or not doing, in your life a frustrating mystery? Do you pray for a certain thing over and over again, but it doesn't seem to be heard? How about the troubles in your life; does God's plan for you regarding them confuse or stump you? Well don't feel alone, and let's explore this mystery today.
Trusting solely in God, this is my contemplation this morning. There is none but Him who is true and always dependable. He is worthy of our trust and His Word never wavers. Yet, despite this knowledge, we have a tendency to place our confidence in our own ability to resist temptation, and each other’s loyalty and selflessness. By doing this we find ourselves disappointed over and over again, and yet we persist in this behavior. We are fallible, and in being such we have the propensity to let others down that have put their trust in us, but God never fails us and His Word is forever true. Even Jesus acknowledged the inability of man to be trusted.
Today we are exploring our obedience to God and Jesus without questioning their instructions. We are looking at obeying them without the need for us to weigh their guidance against our own worldly beliefs and desires. We are looking at obedience based upon absolute trust.