As a new year is upon us, I have been looking to set a few goals. How about you? One at the top of my list is to endeavor to trust God more. I have experienced God doing amazing things this year and have experienced some disappointing times as well. But I am drawn to trust Him more. It’s my own reality show.
I’ll call it The Trust Factor. Of course you may have heard of the popular reality show The X Factor. The “X Factor” refers to the indefinable “something” that makes for star quality. Unlike their show, that “something” is Jesus Christ and His qualities are definable and available for me and all who put their trust in Him. We are His stars shining with His light to our world.
My reality begins with a faith filled trust in Jesus Christ’s saving power, accepting I am lost to making my life of any meaning with out Him. The process of my failed realities being replaced with Kingdom realities begins. Transformation in Christ begins to happen. But life happens and our trust breaks down. Old patterns rear their ugly heads. What’s happening?
Your adversary, the enemy of God, has set his course to ruin people’s trust not only in God but in each other. His goal is to devour you and your relationships in this life. Even as we choose Christ he will still try his best to turn you away from trusting the goodness of God. Maybe your ability to trust was never a solid foundation in your life to start. It’s possible in your relationships you have tasted the fruit of broken trust, failure, rejection and fear. But God has a better way.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3: 5 & 6 is a familiar passage of scripture we look at to realign our practice of trust. You may even have it committed to memory! Even so, read it out loud and hear the words again. The question is do I believe it?
Am I trusting GOD to heal me from the disappointments, the personal failures, the hurts? Am I trusting God in the successes, remaining humble? Will I be successful in my next endeavor? Am I holding on to my own understanding, my “safe” thinking not to have my expectations blown again? Maybe I am afraid to go on that next adventure with God? We desperately want God’s will but we must take these first steps.
Through all of life’s realities, we can come to God trusting He is good, always. The Spirit renews our commitment to trust Him once again no matter how our reality looks. We can continue to walk and serve Him with passion and anticipation for the greater things He has for us to do. Renewed trust enables us to stand before God holding out a greater container of measure for Him to fill so we can be used in a greater capacity. In this we find His will and peace along the path he directs us in.
What is evident from our earliest development is God has placed in us an innate ability to be able to trust and grow in that ability. We have been hard-wired with the goods to trust and as we grow that trust in people and things develop. Try interacting with any toddler (you don’t know) and the first response is a quick turn of her head toward Mom/Dad which says, “Is this stranger ok?” They look to their source of trust for assurance. Isn’t it amazing that God knew our frame so well that he prepared us with this ability which would be so vital to our life with Him and others?
Our God died for us, draws us to receive His life and then continues to build in us the trust which opens the treasures of His will for us in this life. What promise! What a reality! Stay tuned for the upcoming episodes-it’s going to be great!
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