The Power of Trust

Whenever you allow faith to rise above human reasoning, and then simply place your trust in God, He will work the miraculous in those seemingly impossible situations. "For with God nothing is impossible" (Luke 1:37).

How reassuring it is for us to know that when we trust in God, His plan for our lives unfolds perfectly - each moment of every day. And the impossible becomes possible! Proverbs 3:5 encourages you to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”

Note, trust is a heart matter not a head matter! And the degree to which you trust in God reveals the level of faith you have in His ability to positively affect your situation. Unfortunately most people have never actually trusted in God with ‘all their heart’. Most are simply leaning on their own understanding - trusting in their own ability to work things out!

Often I hear people use the phrase, "I don’t understand," and in this one statement we are showing that we are trying to find the answer to our dilemma on our own. We are trying to control the situation. Regardless of the problem or situation, we need to learn to accept, and trust that the guidance will come, and then patiently relax.

Many times in this life you won’t understand things. So if you learn to lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, He will direct your paths. In essence, when we “don’t” understand, that is a good thing. It’s actually splendid, for the Bible tells us to “Lean not, on our own understanding.” The bible goes on to tell us, our Heavenly Father’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. So if you are seeking human understanding to your dilemma, how then can you expect to receive any spiritual guidance? If you are relying on your own understanding, you won’t have the capacity to interpret the thoughts of God.

As we seek to live our lives in obedience, let us also seek to release control, release leaning on our own understanding, for in these small task of release, we are exercising Faith, and in exercising faith, we show our trust in our Heavenly Father. For in Him we live, in Him we move, in Him we have our being. Each time you hear yourself murmur the words “I don’t understand…” that is the precise moment you need to give it to God, and seek not your own understanding.

Heart-felt trust in God guarantees exceeding blessings! But there are three things you cannot do if you genuinely want to place your trust in Him:

You cannot be overtly anxious over anything. That is, troubled, worried, uneasy disturbed or distressed. And no anxiety, real or potential, is excluded! In Philippians 4:6 the apostle Paul urges his readers to break an established pattern - anxiety! The Greek word he uses has a very negative connotation, it describes someone attempting to carry the burden of the future (the unknown) all alone.
You cannot strive to get what you want. That is, strain, drive or use your own ability. In 2 Corinthians 3:1-8 two intriguing points are brought up, firstly that we are living "epistles", and secondly, that we are all "able ministers." Let's examine the second statement more closely. "Not that we are ourselves rendered fit to think anything as being from ourselves, but our ability is from God, who also made us fit and able as servers of the fresh new covenant." Your trust cannot be centred in your own abilities but only in the ability you get from God. For it is God who is the source of all abilities, gifts and talents!
You cannot be in a hurry to get there. That is, you should not be impatient, intolerant, solicitous or over-keen. Remember, patience is evidence that faith is being exercised. It provides confirmation that faith is present! Psalm 37:7 says, "Be at rest before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." Many of you can do neither. You are either too restless before Him, or too impatient with Him. But, do you know? God has equipped you with the power to endure any lengthy ordeal with joy! Yet this is never achieved without trust! Psalm 2:12, “Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”

It’s interesting to note that in the Thesaurus the phrase “to put one’s trust in,” is aligned with “to have faith in; to have every confidence in; to believe in; to pin one’s hopes on.” Which is exactly the attitude every one of you should have when approaching God!

I heard someone once say, “The secret to success in life is simply trusting God.” But this secret only works if you put this truth into practice - by making it such a powerful theme in your life that you view every event, every sorrow, and every prayer with the unwavering and resolute conviction that God is absolutely trustworthy. This is faith in action! Yet that's also where we’re all most likely to mess up. We want to trust in anything rather than the Lord. We'll trust in our own abilities, in our boss's judgment of us, in our money, our doctor, and even in an airline pilot. But trust in the Lord? Well…

Remember, it's easy to trust in things you can see. Sure, you believe in God, but to completely surrender and allow Him to run your life? That's asking a little too much! However, isn’t this exactly what our Bible heroes did? 2 Samuel 22:3, “The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Saviour, You save me from destruction.”

The bottom line is most people disagreeing over what really matters. Your wants may not agree with what God's wants for your life. After all, it's your life, isn't it? Shouldn't you have the final say over it? Shouldn't you be the one who calls the shots? Even more, God gave us free will, didn't He?

Trusting God requires that you abandon everything you have ever believed about what brings happiness and fulfilment. It demands that you accept the simple truth that God knows what's best for you. And that He has the ability to perform it!

But how do you make that leap from knowing to doing? How do you trust in the Lord instead of the world or yourself? The secret lives within you: the Holy Spirit. Not only will He convict you of the absolute necessity to trust in the Lord - He'll help you to do it! It's just too difficult to do on your own. Because the Holy Spirit knows you better than you know yourself, He'll give you exactly what you need to make this adjustment. He's infinitely patient, so He'll let you test this principle (trusting in the Lord) in bite-size chunks. Furthermore, He'll catch you if you stumble, and He'll rejoice with you when you succeed.

Anyone who has gone through serious illness, the death of a loved one, a broken relationship, or a career disaster, can tell you that trusting in the Lord is a lifelong challenge. You never finally ‘arrive’. Each new crisis calls for a fresh recommitment. The good news is that the more often you see God's loving hand working in your life, the easier this “trusting” becomes.

The psalmist put it nicely, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I ‘will’ trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). When you choose to trust in the Lord, you'll feel as if the weight of the world has been lifted off your shoulders. The pressure's off you and now it’s over to God; and with Him all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

God wants to make something beautiful of your life, but He needs you to trust Him enough to allow Him to do it. Are you ready? The time to start trusting is today - right now!

Here are some scriptures to encourage you:

Daniel 3:28, Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent His angel to rescue His servants who trusted in Him.” If you feel like you’re in the fire, trust in the Lord to rescue you.

1 Chronicles 5:20, “They cried out to God during the battle, and He answered their prayer because they trusted in Him. So the Hagrites and all their allies were defeated.” If the battle is raging around you, put your trust in God and He will give you the victory.

Nahum 1:7, “The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognises, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him.” God has intimate knowledge of every person who has placed his or her trust in Him.

2 Corinthians 1:9-10, “In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped trusting in ourselves and learned to trust only in God, who raises the dead. And He did rescue us from mortal danger, and He will rescue us again. We have placed our complete trust in Him, and He will continue to rescue us.” Your ongoing deliverance from potential disaster is solely dependant on you learning to trust in Him, and nothing else.

Chris Demetriou, 26/07/2009