Tag Archives: relying on God

May 21, 2025 · 5:37 AM

Provision And Protection

I love reading stories of George Muller. He was a German man who helped over 10,000 orphans. He lived completely by faith. One morning he knew the pantry was empty, but the kids needed to eat. He sat them all down at their tables for breakfast and prayed to thank God for their food. Not long after saying, “Amen,” there was a knock on the door. A baker said the Lord woke him up in the middle of the night to bake bread for the kids. He handed over enough bread for them to eat. Then there was another knock on the door. A milk delivery wagon got stuck and offered them all their milk. God provided for their need.

In 1 Samuel 21, Saul was trying to kill David out of jealousy. Jonathan warned him and he fled to the town of Nob, which was the spiritual center of Israel at the time. He was hungry and tired from his journey as he entered the tabernacle. The priest saw him and wanted to know why he was there. David told him he was on a mission, but needed food. The on,y thing available was the bread reserved for priests. Verse 6 says, “Since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the Lord in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread” (NLT). This bread represented God provision and protection for Israel. Ahimelech, the priest, understood God’s compassion and provided the bread to David.

Isaiah 55:1 says, “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!” God’s blessings and provision are freely given to us. They can’t be earned. He’s looking for those who are spiritually hungry and thirst to come to the place of His presence. He’s waiting for those who come to the place where they realize they can’t do everything on their own and must live by faith. When we come to that place, He offers provision and protection for us. When we realize we have nothing but what He offers is when we realize we have everything. What God offers can only be bought with desire, humility and surrender. It can be scary to stand there with nothing the way George Muller and David did, but they both trusted God to provide and He did.

Photo by Skyler Ewing on Unsplash

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October 25, 2024 · 5:29 AM

Relying On God

In Isaiah 36-37 the Assyrian army had invaded Israel and set up a blockade around Jerusalem. They were the most powerful army in the world at that time and they were undefeated. They called out to the people and told them to surrender. They also told them not to let their leaders convince them God was going to help them. The king sent word to Isaiah to inquire of God, and God spoke back to rely on Him and to pray, then the army would leave. The king humbled himself, prayed and reaffirmed his reliance on God. Because he didn’t rely on his brains, his strategy or anything but God, the Lord answered and sent them away. What or whom do you rely on when the odds are stacked against you?

Here are some Bible verses to remind us to rely on God::

1. But I have trusted and relied on and been confident in Your lovingkindness and faithfulness; My heart shall rejoice and delight in Your salvation.

Psalms 13:5 AMP

2. O my God, in You I [have unwavering] trust [and I rely on You with steadfast confidence], Do not let me be ashamed or my hope in You be disappointed; Do not let my enemies triumph over me.

Psalms 25:2 AMP

3. Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart And do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 AMP

4. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

Isaiah 50:10 ESV

5. I rely on your constant love; I will be glad, because you will rescue me. I will sing to you, O Lord, because you have been good to me.

Psalm 13:5-6 GNT

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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October 29, 2020 · 5:53 AM

Proven Promises

A friend of mine was in a wreck recently. As he went through an intersection, an On coming car didn’t stop. They broadsided his truck, pushed it about 15 feet into the median and caused him to roll over. As he got his bearings, he checked on his girls in the back seat. They were dangling in their car seat because the truck same to a stop on the passenger side. He got out of his seatbelt, dropped to the bottom, got his girls out of their seats and out of the truck through the back window.

After telling me all of this, he said, “The body of the truck did what it was supposed to do. It protected my family.” Before the first truck in that line was ever rolled out of Detroit, Ford tested the body style over and over in crash tests. They made adjustments to the design so that it could withstand a heavy impact like that. They thoroughly tested it so that the public could buy it with confidence that if they ever were in a wreck, it would hold up and protect like it did.

Psalm 119:140 says, “Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much” (NLT). God’s Word is filled with His promises to you and I. Those promises have been put to the test for generations all over the world. They have withstood the test of time and every situation, and that have proven to be true and reliable. When God says something, you can rely on it more than anything else in this world.

I did a Google search of “God’s promises,” and page after page listed thousands of promises found in God’s Word. Every one of them is something you can rely on. If you’re willing to step out in faith and put them to the test, you will find what billions of others have found out – they are true. Most of what God promises require you to step out in faith and activate it. You have to believe that they work before you see the result. That’s what faith is. Whatever you’re facing today, trust in God’s promise to you and not what your eyes and mind are telling you.

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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September 7, 2018 · 6:04 AM

Trusting In God

I’ve often heard stories of how pilots have to trust their instruments even more than their sight. Many of the plane crashes you hear about are because they didn’t trust the instruments and tried to do what they thought. Their eyes often deceive them and they make decisions based on false information. Great pilots have learned to completely trust their instruments no matter what. They also rely on the person in the control tower for updates and instructions. If they’re going to have a safe flight, they must learn to trust.

To me, being a Christian is a lot like being a pilot. We can’t trust what we see (or can’t see) in this world. Too many of us crash at times because we fail to trust God fully and we try to live our lives based on what we think. We must stay in constant communication with God, and we need to trust that He can see the things we can’t. When we live life fully trusting in God, we make our decisions based on what He says, not what we think. Our eyes can deceive us, but God never will.

Here are some Bible verses on trusting in God.

1. Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and] believe also in Me.

JOHN 14:1 AMP

2. The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

Hebrews 11:1-2 MSG

3. Commit your works to the LORD [submit and trust them to Him], And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance].

PROVERBS 16:3 AMP

4. You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you.

Isaiah 26:3 GNT

5. Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make.

Proverbs 3:5 TPT

Photo by yang miao on Unsplash

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June 3, 2015 · 6:48 AM

Your Greatest Strength

This morning, I’m remembering an old song by Steven Curtis Chapman called “His Strength Is Perfect”. It says, “His strength is perfect when our strength is gone. He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.” Those lyrics still speak to me nearly 30 years later. All my life, when I have found myself on the floor crying out, “God, I can’t do it any more,” I’ve felt His peace and strength come over me. He had been waiting for me to quit trying to do the impossible without Him. He knows I’m a strong willed, stubborn person who has to get to that point sometimes before I remember the truth that His strength is made perfect in my weakness.

In II Kings 4, there was a widow who owed the debts her husband had created. She had done everything in her power to pay them off. She had sold everything she owned to pay it and it hadn’t been enough. The creditors were coming to take her kids as slaves in order to pay the debt. When she was out if her options, she went to Elisha the prophet. He asked what she had at home and she said, “Nothing at all except a small jar of olive oil.” He told her to get as many jars from her neighbors as she could, to fill them with oil from the small jar and then to sell the oil. The miracle came when she was ready to admit her inability to do anything.

In Mark 5:25-34, we read of a woman who had an terrible bleeding problem. She suffered from it for 12 years and had spent everything she had trying to get better. The doctors couldn’t help her, she was out of money and out of options. Then she heard Jesus was in town. She knew that He could do what she and the doctors couldn’t. She thought, “If I just touch the hem of His garment, I will get well.” She had come to the point where she realized that her own strength, her own ideas and her money couldn’t heal her, only Jesus could. She crawled through a crowd on her hands and knees to draw power from the One whose strength is perfect and she was healed.

In our own lives we spend a lot of money, time and effort trying to accomplish God’s will for our lives. We think that God has somehow chosen us to do what He’s called us to do because of our gifts or talents. God doesn’t need your abilities to accomplish His will. He needs your willingness to rely on Him. If you could do it in your own strength, it wouldn’t be a miracle. If you could make it happen, He wouldn’t get glory. That’s why the things He calls us to are greater than ourselves and our ability.

Don’t grow tired trying to manufacture the miracle. Don’t grow weary trying to perform the impossible. Your greatest strength is your weakness. In II Corinthians 12:9, God spoke to Paul and said, “My power is greatest when you are weak.” The Amplified version says His power is most effective in your weakness. God doesn’t need you to be strong. He needs you to be humble enough to admit you can’t do it on your own. When you come to that place, you open the door for miracles. 

To listen to “His Strength Is Perfect,” click here. 

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August 28, 2013 · 8:23 AM

Walking Through Death Valley

Psalm 23 is probably one of the best known chapters in the Bible. It’s one of the first ones we memorize as kids. It’s in almost every funeral scene on TV and in the movies. They always quote, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” When we hear it so many times or have it memorized as kids, we lose deeper meaning in it because it is in our rote memory and not in our hearts.

I recently read that chapter in the Message to see a different angle beyond my rote memory. I saw something I had never caught because I had always looked at it or thought of it in King James English. If we look at the scripture quoted above and the end of the one before it in the Message, we see, “(You) send me in the right direction. Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk by my side.”

What I see in that is the “right direction” that God sends us in can lead us through Death Valley. We like to equate good times with being in God’s will and bad times with being out of it. Here we see that the direction God sends us in can lead us through difficult times. The good news is also that we don’t have to be afraid in those times because God is by our side. He’s there walking through the valley with you.

I know I’ve shared this before, but this made me think of the promise God spoke to me as I walked through the darkest valley of my life. He said, “I have not left you, nor forsaken you. I am by your side walking through this with you. I’m not in front of you or behind you. I am by your side walking with you.” I had never seen that word from Him in connection with this scripture until now. I just knew that when He spoke it, my fear of an uncertain future left.

The Amplified version refers to Death Valley as “the deep, sunless valley.” In those dark days when there is no light, no future, no promises to hold onto; God is there walking with you. He sees the road and uses His rod to protect us and His staff to guide us. When there is no light, you learn to fully trust Him to get you through Death Valley. You rely on Him to show you where the path is that leads out of that valley. Your faith and trust in Him grows deeper than it ever could in the light on a mountain top.

If you’re in Death Valley today, don’t assume it’s because you’ve taken a wrong turn. Even Job’s friends tried to convince him that he had hidden sin that caused his time in the valley. He was one who was upright and walked through Death Valley with God at his side. You can too. God is by your side in that deep, sunless valley today. He’s there to protect you and to guide you. Don’t leave His side. He hasn’t left yours. The “right direction” will soon lead you out of this temporary time in the valleys it’s a deeper trust in Him.

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