Ignore Almost Everything

True faith ignores everything . . . except God’s Word and its truth.

This one statement will change the way we do life.

I know you might be thinking this is so elementary, but that’s just the point—it’s so easy—so fundamental that we forget to make it the standard we choose to live by.

All day—every day, words and thoughts flood our mind, emotions and heart. I challenge you to consider this one thought and to make it your standard.

Standard? I understand this is a huge statement but if we intentionally apply this concept to our life everything will transform. The way we perceive God and our self, will take a turn, and we will begin to walk out the life Jesus died to give us (John 10:10).

Words like destiny and purpose will begin to have real meaning. We can stop listening to words from our past. Negative people and their opinions will fade. We will control our emotions—they will stop controlling us. Our heart will swell with possibilities and dreams—we will no longer just read about the impossible—but we will do the impossible.

Mark 4:37-41 recently arrested my heart. The story is—Jesus and the disciples (my catechism teacher used to call them the dirty dozen) anyway, they are on the ocean, in a boat and a horrible storm hits. The disciples are really scared and begin to panic. Jesus on the other hand is asleep, on a pillow, in the stern of the boat. In their anxiety they wake Him saying “Don’t you care that we are perishing?”

Who can relate to this story? I sure can! We get all worried and call out to Jesus . . . JESUS!! There’s a storm! Where are you???

Awesome, peaceful Jesus wakes up and says to the wind and sea “Peace be still.” The wind ceased its threats, and a great calm settled on them.

The disciples’ fear began to drain away and a new sort of fear arose—The Fear of the Lord—an awe, a wonder and the reality of who this amazing man—Jesus, really was. “Who can this be, even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

But that’s not the end of this story. No, Jesus now turns to the disciples and says “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” In other words “Why did you panic? After all you have seen me do—you still don’t believe? ”

I would have been thinking “No faith? Jesus—I turned to you, called on you to rebuke the storm” forgetting to mention I called to Him in panic!

In this faith strengthening journey, that I’m on, Jesus is making it clear—relationship is my base—calling on Jesus is always the bottom line. The shift that’s happening for me is realizing this relationship empowers me (and you) with faith and if we will choose not to waver—our possibilities are endless.

So instead of our first reaction to a storm being fear and calling on Jesus in worry, we can stand in the face of the storm and do business with it—this act of obedience is a display of our faith in who Jesus is. And it releases Him to do His part—calm the storm.

This is where ignoring everything but God’s Word comes in. We must ignore our feelings, disregard nay sayers, shut the mouth of the lying accuser and listen to Gods Word only.

We have been commanded to rebuke storms (hardships), speak to mountains (obstacles), and lay hands on the sick. And when we obey and do acts of faith such as these, we must expect the storms to calm, the mountain to be cast into the sea and the sick to be healed.

Power to impact the natural realm has been given to us—we do it by taking direct authority in the spiritual realm.

Simple.

Some of you might need a paradigm shift to live this way (I did), or maybe just a nudge to your faith—a reminder of your authority and position in Christ. Because Jesus overcame—we are over comers.  He’s victorious—we are victorious. Because Jesus was beat and crucified we are healed and saved.

Be encouraged today to strengthen your faith and to ignore everything except—God’s Word.

John 14:12
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

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Just Do It

When we read these words we think of Nike right? Did you know these words come straight from the Bible? Yep, 1 Chronicles 28:20

Be strong and of good courage, and do it, do not fear or be dismayed, for the LORD God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you

What has God asked you to do?

Whatever it is, He is saying don’t be afraid, be full of courage and just Do It! I Am with you—I love you, I believe in you. I will strengthen you—sustain you, I’ll never leave you and if I Am for you who could ever stand against you?

If you don’t feel strong or courageous remember in your weakness, as you lean into Him, His grace is sufficient.

What’s more—God wants to make you great. True fact stated in 1 Chronicles 29:12

Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

God is no respecter of persons if His Word says; it is in His hand to make great and strengthen all—then that means you!

So go ahead don’t hesitate, ask God to strengthen you and make you great!

Just a word of encouragement today, to accept God’s gifts of strength and courage. Just Do It—be all He has created you to be! (or at least start to move in that direction!)

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What Mountain?

Have you ever found yourself facing a mountain in life? A mountain of trail so vast—discouragement immediately sets in?

But what if your mountains could simply melt like wax?

Metaphorically speaking Psalm 97:5 says just that!

“The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.”

In order for the mountains we face to melt, we have to realize what exactly the mountains are. Take a look at the following scripture in Mark 11:20-23.

“In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’ ‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.”

Essentially Jesus is saying, if we do not doubt—but believe His Word with our whole heart—mountains, the minute they present themselves can be tossed into the sea—just like that! And we can confidently live our life saying “What Mountain?”

Question, why would Jesus answer Peter’s remark about the fig tree “Have faith in God?” Jesus is always teaching us something bigger than what our eyes see. He must have known Peter’s (and our) biggest struggle was faith in God—alone.

Our faith has to be about Him alone, therefore; “Have faith in God.” Faith is not about our works or the methods we use to get God to move on our behalf. It’s about simple truth in the only One who never lies.

The mountains are not the things that we face at all.

A troubled marriage, finances, rebellious children, depression, addictions, impossible circumstances, grief, illness—depending on our faith—these feel as enormous as Mt. Everest.

But in all reality the mountain we face is unbelief.

Everything in life that would present itself as a mountain originates from unbelief. Therefore, if we have true faith in God, there would not be mountains to face, because true faith in God believes He is bigger than any problem or trial that tries to rise against us. True faith in God does not worry or fret wondering if God will perform—true faith in God knows God can and will come through. True faith in God rests in thy will be done and does not try to manipulate Him to do what we want Him to do. Accordingly, if we have true faith in God everything that appears as a mountain melts like wax before the Lord our God.

You’ve got to love this!

The mountains we face are not objects of opposition at all. The mountain is what’s in us—it is what we believe or do not believe about God.

Our Christian mindset is not exactly faith in God. It is faith in God and me. When our faith is divided between God and self, or God and methods, faith becomes diluted, therefore making faith weak, becoming unbelief and is rendered ineffective.

The mountain of unbelief that resides in people is the most difficult to move. Why? Because the battle is no longer God and me against adversity—but our soul against our spirit, (Gal. 5:16-18) “Me” against God. It’s easy to look at the attack of the devil against us, but when the battle lays within, it is a different story because to win, self must decrease.

In regard to overcoming unbelief—follow the methods mentioned in my last blog: Fully Convinced (click to read).

Most importantly what we must recognize about mountain moving faith is that it’s about relationship with God the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit. We must live a Christ centered life where Jesus is enough. Remembering God is not a genie. In this setting—as we spend time with Him, our faith increases and the mountains melt like wax before the Lord our God.

Please be encouraged to make your new saying “What mountain?”

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Fully Convinced

Do you ever wavier in your belief?

Are you fully convinced God will do all He’s promised? I’m not sure why this is such a tall order—but it is.

Romans 4:20-22

He [Abraham] did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

What has God promised? Well, the entire Bible is promise after promise. And we must be fully convinced that God will do all He’s promised. Fully convinced—no doubting.

A doubting person is said to be double minded and unstable in all their ways. It’s crucial to fully believe so we are not unstable in all our ways

James 1:6-8

Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Remember God’s Faithfulness is Not On Trial (click to read). He is faithful—He can be trusted. No matter what hasn’t happened in the past, it’s essential to take God at His Word—understanding, He’s not a man that He would lie (Num. 23:19). Every Word is truth—every Word can be believed.

Recently I experienced a crisis of belief. The story unfolds as this…it was an extremely windy, cold day and I was at my son’s soccer game. I was working on being thankful for the weather and felt as if the Lord asked “why don’t you pray and ask for the wind to stop?” So I did—I prayed and asked Him to please stop the wind. After praying I looked around, semi waiting for it to stop and when it didn’t I just shrugged. I got what I expected—nothing.

Then my other son, who was hunkered down next to me, asked “why don’t you ask God to stop the wind.”  I responded “I did.”

What he spoke next stabbed deep—as if God Himself were asking. He said, “Did you believe it when you asked? I truthfully had to say “no.”

My crisis of belief was that I didn’t even expect God to answer. I just routinely asked Him. It was true lip service—not heart knowing belief.

Yes, I have faith for a lot of things but that just won’t do, I’m thirsty for more and on a quest to become a whole hearted believer, fully convinced that every promise in His Word is true!

In the world of Christ centered people fractional faith should not exist. It’s imperative that we be fully convinced He answers prayers. We need to want to be the kind of people who ask without doubting—just as the Word says.

How do we move from half-hearted belief to fully convinced?

Romans 4:20-21 says [1] He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, [2] but was strengthened in faith, [3] giving glory to God.

1.      We don’t wavier

·         Determine to believe—Isaiah 50:7

2.      We get strengthened in faith by

·         Repenting and asking forgiveness for  unbelief—Acts 3:19

·         Submit unbelief to God, resist the devil—James 4:7

·         Pray asking God to heal unbelief—Mark 9:24, John17:5-6

·         Exchange unbelief for faith—Isaiah 53:3-6, Galatians 3:13–14

·         Read, hear and obey the Word of God—James 1:22-25, Romans 10:17

·         Worship—Luke 4:8

·         In everything give thanks—1 Thessalonians 5:18

·         Fast—Mark 9:29,

·         Invite the Holy Spirit into the empty place of unbelief in our heart and life—Galatians 5:22-25

·         Wait on the Lord—Psalm 27:14

3.      We give glory to God

·         Humbly acknowledge God, giving Him glory for everything—John 7:18

Please join me in my quest to become a whole hearted believer.

Be encouraged to set your heart and soul to be fully convinced that what He promises He is also able to perform—and your faith will be accounted to you as righteousness!

 

Romans 4:19-25

Abraham didn’t focus on his own inability and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That’s why it is said, “Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right.” But it’s not just Abraham; it’s also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.

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Submission as a Lifestyle

The S word—submission—kind of has a bad rep, but truthfully, grasping the concept of submission and living it—is a very fulfilling lifestyle.

It may seem ominous and understandably there will be questions. In this blog I hope to ease your heart and answer the most popular of questions regarding submission as a lifestyle.

What does a lifestyle of submission mean?
A lifestyle of submission translates to freedom. Freedom from the devil, the world and our flesh—freedom from addictions—freedom from self-absorption. This kind of freedom allows us to draw near to God—to know and love Him as the scripture in Matthew 22:37 says we should.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

What does a lifestyle of submission look like?

Submission as a lifestyle needs to have its foundation in three truths.

• It’s about the heart—check and realign your heart attitude to embrace submission
•  It’s about trust—trusting God is good, and only has good for you
• It’s about all—loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

Living this lifestyle entails the giving over (and not taking it back) of our heart, soul and life to God daily—allowing Him to be Lord over every detail of our life. Giving Him the controls.

Why should we willingly live this lifestyle?
We must first settle, in our self, to know that a life of submission is not a choice. Why? Because when we give our life to God and ask Him to be Lord—we now live in a kingdom—where God is King—He’s the ruler.

We choose this lifestyle because of love. He loves us—went to the cross—because of love. And because He loves us, just as an earthly father should love and care for his children—God, our Father has our best interest in His heart—He will never steer us in the wrong direction. God is always for us—constantly faithful. Submitting our life to His kingship signifies our love for Him. (For more on the subject of God’s faithfulness: click here to read) God’s Faithfulness is Not On Trial 

How do we live a lifestyle of submission?
We decide to trust God—giving Him everything—all the time.
Trust is a choice—be willing to make it!

In the last blog The S Word (click here to read) we learned a lifestyle of submission first starts with surrender. It’s when we’ve tried all these different ways to live our life and be in control, but yet being our own lord is not working—something’s missing—so we surrender.

Most all of our problems can stem from an un-submitted heart, soul and life. A submitted lifestyle brings the freedom and fulfillment of rest, peace and joy to life.

Please be encouraged to love God with all your heart, soul and life—thus submitting!

Romans 10:3
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

God’s Faithfulness is Not On Trial

The bottom line is—God’s faithfulness is not on trial, nor should it ever be. God is faithful.

If we ever doubt His faithfulness—it’s not God who needs to be questioned—quite the contrary—we have only to look at our own heart and soul—questioning ourselves about our unbelief.

God continuously comes through—maybe not always when or what we want, but He does come through.

I know there are times when we can’t see or feel God’s faithfulness, but that does not contradict the truth about who He is.

If we ever find our self pummeled by the unforeseen—in a place of suffering—that leads to questioning His trustworthiness—we must simply believe what we can’t see—but know to be true.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us,

 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We step into God’s faithfulness by faith—faith is believing what we cannot see. We trust what we know is truth—the Bible says God is faithful—therefore by faith—I believe.

It takes faith to apprehend God’s faithfulness.

The evidence of what we believe is seen in who God is and in what He has done for us and others.

God is not human therefore He is perfect.

Numbers 23:19 says,

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

Have you ever met anyone so faithful? Humans lie and change their mind—humans disappoint—God never does.

James 1:17 expresses truth,

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

Psalm 121 straightforwardly states the God who watches over us never slumbers or sleeps.  Hebrews 13:8 says, He’s the same yesterday today and forever!

Be encouraged to seek and rest in God’s faithfulness—you will never be disappointed.

For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. Psalm 33:4

Grace is a Force

Star Wars anyone?

This current season of digging deeper into God’s grace and its true meaning, is changing not only my everyday life, but my embedded opinions of the power of grace.

For a few weeks now God has been speaking to me about grace being a force. Consider that statement for a moment. Grace is a force.

Force defined as:  Strength, energy, power; intensity, influence and effect.

Until now, I have never thought of grace as a force—but it makes perfect sense. (Remember in a previous blog I said I lived in sloppy grace—using grace as an excuse not to do things I should. See blog titled Grace.)

When I woke the other morning, I had thoughts of Star Wars—weird—because although I like Star Wars and have seen all the movies, multiple times—I’m not a huge enthusiast. But I was pondering Star Wars in light of those who struggle to overcome sin.

I was reminded of grace as a force, and the words “May the force be with you,” came to mind. I began to ponder all that the “Force” does and is for the characters of Star Wars.

I’m putting my disclaimer out there—I do not believe in the force from Star Wars and merely view it as something in a movie—I am not into cult practice or magic! Don’t get all religious on me and not read this because I’m using the force to relate to grace! Relax and just go with it!

The force gives the people in Star Wars supernatural ability. God is supernatural and gives us supernatural abilities. One of these supernatural abilities is grace to overcome—grace to live holy—grace to do the things God asks of us—grace to obey—grace to move forward—grace to love and forgive—grace to find God in impossible situations—grace to heal.

As I’m diving deeper into accessing grace and applying it to daily life, I’m finding that I’m able to do things I did not think I had ability, heart capacity, time or money to do. It’s the simple everyday things—such as getting things done, restored relationship, giving, meeting needs, praying more, living healthy, feeding people and  meeting writing goals. What’s interesting is that God is not increasing my natural resources, but there’s this dynamic taking place where I have the ability to do more and press further. It’s the force of grace working in my life. I do believe it has always been at work, but since I’m seeking more knowledge about grace—I have a new deeper revelation and I’m able to, by faith and the Holy Spirit, step into the fullness of grace.

When we view grace as a force it changes not only our perspective on grace, but or natural abilities.

God’s Word says in 2 Corinthians 12:9,
“My grace is sufficient for you for, My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

In regards to overcoming, this scripture informs us that His grace is what we need—it’s enough. If we feel too weak to overcome—it’s okay—His strength is made perfect in us—in our weakness.

When we are weak and become too scared or apathetic to overcome, is when we most definitely have to lean on grace as a force to help us. We access grace by faith. (Romans 5:2) But what if our faith is weak? This supernatural force will help even when our faith is lacking. Just muster up enough faith to call out to God—by His grace, He will strengthen us and our faith.

In areas where we lack maturity, God’s grace will carry us to maturity.

When I was a new Christian I thought I could linger in an immoral relationship and use the reasoning that God’s grace covers me. Well, it sort of did cover me—but really it carried me to maturity where I found and learned to believe God’s truth about sin.

Another time when I was not so new of a Christian, (that’s an understatement! I had been a Christian for twenty-five years!) Anyways, after following Christ for a quarter-century, God pulled the plug on a very serious issue that I struggled to overcome and foolishly lived with—fear.

That’s right, fear was my biggest road block; it debilitated me spiritually, because its root cause was unbelief—unbelief in God’s trustworthiness. I had been so hurt and disappointed in life—trusting did not come easy, if at all.

The Lord very boldly told me one morning that the grace to live in fear was over.  If I wanted to be in a relationship with Him, I would have to abandon fear and the lifestyle of mistrust I lived in because of it.

At first I was shocked that I had grace to live in fear, but the way God explained grace to me in this situation, is that it carried me to maturity. It was as if grace was the training wheels in my life—not God’s best for me—that’s for sure. Have you ever seen a twenty-five-year-old ride a bike with training wheels? Gross, right? That was a natural picture of my spiritual condition. Obviously, I was not accessing grace as a force during that time in my life. No wonder God in His mercy pulled the plug!

Devastated, I had to overcome fear. This is where grace as a force took over. Remember force defined as:  Strength, energy, power; intensity, influence and effect.

I knew I could not live without God—so I had to relinquish fear as my safety net in life. It was agonizing, no doubt. But the exchange was priceless. I traded fear for faith and trust. I did it by God’s love and grace (a force) moving me—undergirding me to heal and mature and believe in His faithfulness.

Can you see how weak we become when we live in sloppy grace? And when we don’t  use grace as a resource to overcome, but as an excuse to live a half-hearted life

Surely a half-hearted lifestyle cannot be God’s best for us. God’s best is that we overcome—live victorious—live holy—press forward—heal—exchange our weakness for His strength. This comes by knowing God’s grace as a force and believing in His love to change us through and through.

Please be encouraged to find this force, life is too short to settle for good enough—we should live in God’s best! May His force be with you!

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

Disappointment

Disappointment is an irritating nag that suffocates joy in our life. Learning the liberating secret that frees us from its heaviness—is vital. If we don’t get out from under disappointments thumb, we end up cynical and distrustful in life.

If disappointment is your constant companion as it used to be mine, I’ve got good news for you—disappointment is not a way of life.

Disappointment is a spirit that settles on you. It’s the opposite of wearing rose-colored glasses, you’re wearing glasses alright, but they are tinted with disappointment—everything you see, hear and do, comes and goes through their filter.

Disappointment established its residence in my life when I was young. I grew up without my father, seeing him maybe twice a month. He constantly promised big things and I believe he really wanted to deliver them, but because of his own dysfunction—he lacked the ability to see his word through. I always wanted to believe he would keep his word, even though my mom consistently warned me that he wouldn’t. Mostly he would show up late, or not at all and very seldom keep his grandiose promises.

As I grew up I continuously expected to be disappointed, that way when things didn’t work out, the pain of being let down would be softened.

I lived with the expectation that people would not keep their word and that they would eventually disappoint me. The problem with that mindset is that it’s judgmental. Wearing the glasses of disappointment causes us to weigh and measure others unjustly. These glasses also cause us to get into the mode of self-protection, where we mistrust and doubt love, becoming prone to offense.

Accordingly, we unhealthily guard our heart from love—forming walls. Every disappointing offense is brick and mortar—building for ourselves a nice little fortress around our heart—making it difficult for loved ones to penetrate, let alone God. The interesting fact about self-protection is that it breeds selfishness and sets us up to live in a world dictated by self.

The secret I’ve learned, is that my trust was misdirected. Granted parents, spouses and family should be trust worthy, but because we live in such a fallen selfish world, where sin abounds, some people are dysfunctional and do not know how to properly love each other. I now have grace for such people, since I myself used to be one!

What I mean by misdirected, is that we are trusting in all the wrong things and in the wrong people.

This may sound harsh, but God really is the only one who is completely trust worthy. Why? Because God is not human. Human nature at its best is not flawless, but God is.

This is a hard shift to make but completely doable, mainly we take a huge leap of faith and decide that yes, God’s Word—the Bible, is true and I am going to believe it! God is worthy of my trust and I am going to give it to Him!

Numbers 23:19 says,

God is not man, one given to lies, and not a son of man changing his mind. Does he speak and not do what he says? Does he promise and not come through?

At first it’s an issue of the will, we will ourselves to trust and believe in Gods faithfulness—He provides grace for such a task. With the issue of trust settled, it becomes a heart issue. We learn to allow God to heal our heart and soul, thus possess it.

Now, all our trust is in God and His will for our life. We no longer trust in our job for money—no, God’s the one who supplies all our needs and the job is just the tool He is using.

We no longer trust people or situations to rescue us, but we trust God—He’s the rescue. He will use people and situations, but they are not our hope—He is.

A lot of the time we say “If I just had that job (or that house or that spouse or that situation) then my life would be easier or better. The truth is, with that mindset our trust is misdirected.

Instead we ought to live our life knowing—Yes, God does bring opportunities that better our life and make it abundant, but those opportunities are not what we place our hope in.

Our Hope is Christ. Everything else is extra!

Proverbs 13:12 says,

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

Please be encouraged to place all your trust in God, where your hope will not be deferred!

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. Jeremiah 17:7

When Life Rages

Sometimes life just seems to rage and difficult situations arise one right after the other. Do you ever feel as if life is hard? Do you ever wonder if it’ll get easier? I used to have this false belief about life, that at some point you get to the other side of hard times. As time has passed, soberness has sunk in relaying the truth that opposition is part of life.

I have to be honest—my life is far from picture perfect. (Shocker right?) Although wouldn’t it be nice to Photoshop life? Just edit out bits and parts?

It’s a fact, trials happen.

With that in mind, what are we to do? Truthfully, I’ve tried a few options but the one choice that I’ve landed on, is to rely on God’s faithfulness.

Psalm 91:4 says,
Under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.

• Worrying doesn’t help—the Bible instructs us not to worry. (Matthew 6:25-34)
• Being fearful is torturous—the Bible says God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
• Taking matters into our own hands never ends well—the Bible counsels us not to lean on our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)
• Giving up does no good—the Bible tells us not to harden our heart. (Psalm 95:8)
• Ignoring problems will not make them go away and only leads to bigger crisis—the Bible admonishes us to be diligent. (2 Timothy 2:15)
• Telling God what I want Him to do about my situation is foolishness, we are not God, we only see in part. We do not know what He should do for us—the Bible is clear—it’s not my will be done but Your [God’s] will be done. (Matthew 6:10)

So you see, when life rages, relying on God’s faithfulness is not only the best option, but the only option.

How do we rely on God’s faithfulness?

Questions such as this one used to overwhelm me. I’m a doer, I like to know how to practically do what God wants me to do. When I get a directive from the Bible or from God Himself I always have to say “Okay, but how?” How do I, in my everyday life actually walk out your directives?

Below are a few ways I have learned to rely on God’s faithfulness.

First things first, we have to stop handling trials in our usual manner. (Such as the list above, that I gave.) One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results. At some point we have to realize our ways aren’t God’s ways—then adopt His ways.

Relying on God’s faithfulness is a matter of trusting.

This next part is for those who have a hard time trusting God:
Because of various situations from my past, I used to have a hard time trusting God. Not that He did anything to cause me not to trust Him, but I was stuck in the lie of thinking that God was equal to people. I knew God was able to help me but I didn’t think He was willing. I knew He loved me. I read, prayed and believed scriptures about His faithfulness but still doubted He would help me. I went through healing and deliverance from my past, which helped me tremendously, yet I was terrified of being hurt again so trusting did not come easily.

Finally I realized it was a matter of the will. I had to will myself out of the sin of not believing God and His Word. By God’s grace I made an exchange—my unbelief and untrusting heart for faith in God. I also had to will myself to stop self-protecting my heart and rest in God’s faithfulness.

Once our will is in order—our mind and emotions can be as well. Our heart will follow our soul (mind, will and emotions) that’s why it’s so important to get our soul into submission to God’s Word.

Our heart was created to be God’s home, therefore it is very content to trust and believe in God’s faithfulness. This is one reason why we can’t find peace when our heart and soul are out of alignment.

To stay focused and believing in God’s faithfulness we must:

• Guard our will from becoming bent the wrong way
• Protect our heart from becoming hard
• Remember, our heart is to be God’s home
• Watch over our mind—keep it from doubt, negativity and from believing the enemy’s accusations against God.
• Control our emotions instead of them controlling us
• Read the Bible, pray and worship
• Be thankful and give God praise
• Take up a shield of faith
• Learn from each trial and look at it as another chance to trust God
• Know that God causes all things to work together for our good

When life rages you do not have to be afraid, but can find your peace, rest and trust in God. Please be encouraged to will yourself to rely on His faithfulness—He will never disappoint you!

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust! For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. Psalm 91:1-3