Tag Archives: trust jesus

September 5, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Trust Comes First

When I’m talking with someone who is a newly appointed leader, I don’t want to overwhelm them with a bunch of information. There’s really one thing they need to focus on with their new team, and that is trust. Without trust, nothing else really matters. You can give inspiring speeches, set daring goals and create easy to follow plans, but no one will do much until they trust the leader. Think of a leader in your life that has produced the most growth in you. They had your trust I’m sure. You would follow them anywhere they led because of that trust. People will follow any leader to the extent that they trust them. If there’s little to no trust, there will be little to no progress. The way you build trust is to say what you’re going to do, and then do what you said you’d do.

We often think of people as leaders, but the Bible is full of people who followed God and did amazing things. For each of them, there was a period where they learned to trust Him. Moses learned to trust God at the burning bush. He gave all kinds of excuses as to why he couldn’t do what God was asking because there was little to no trust. God answered them all and showed him many signs to build trust so that he could lead the Israelites out of Egypt. In a similar fashion, God had to build trust with Gideon. He was timid and afraid of his enemies when God called the mighty warrior out of him. He built trust by placing dew on his door mat. So much trust was built that Gideon trimmed down an army of 32,000 to 300 men in order to fight 135,000. It didn’t make sense to him, but because of that trust, he was able to lead them to victory.

How much do you trust God? You may not have had a burning bush experience or dew on your mat, but God has been doing things al, your life to build trust with Him. Proverbs 3:5 says, “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” (TPT). Trusting God completely is what we’re called to do, but like Moses, we tend to make excuses as to why we can’t. Or sometimes we’re like Gideon where we don’t see our own potential the way He does. Either way, you can only follow God’s leading in your life to the extent that you trust Him. If you’re not experiencing the growth or movement that you want, check your trust level. God is ready to lead you into a greater life and relationship with Him, but you must trust Him with all your heart first.

Photo by Sammie Chaffin 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.

Trusting The Truth

I have a friend who is both a pilot and a flight instructor. Being a trainer myself, I asked him about ways he helps people to remember things. He shared that two things he tries to teach pilots are to trust the instruments and also to go to the manual when there’s a problem. He said that many pilots have died because they trusted what they thought they saw instead of the instruments. They have special visors that block the pilots view of everything except the instruments to teach them to trust them. To teach them to go to the manual, he distracts them mid flight, then he shuts off the engines when their not looking. He lets them panic until they remember to go to the manual. Once they do that, they go through their checklist, find the problem and restart the engines. It’s a lesson they never forget.

Both of those are great lessons for us to remember as well. We can’t trust what we feel or even see with our eyes. Feelings lie to us and manipulate us. They’re there as warning signs, but if we constantly live by our feelings, we’ll have a miserable life. We live in an age where people believe truth is relative to the individual. What’s true for me may not be true for you. Living like that is like flying by what you see and not by the instruments. It’s dangerous. Jesus said He was the way, the truth and the life. He is the absolute truth that we must use to guide our lives with beyond our feelings. He told us that we’re going to have trouble and face things that will cause us to want to lose faith, but He also said that He has overcome the world and will give us peace. We get that peace when we trust Him more than what we feel or see.

We’ve also been given an instruction manual in the Bible. It is also absolute truth. When the engines of our life shut off and we start to nose dive, go to the manual God gave us. I love how Philippians 4:8 starts. It says, “Fix your thoughts on what is true” (NLT). Don’t let fear dictate your thoughts and actions. Compare everything to what is true. If it’s not true, don’t give it space in your head. What God says is more true than your situational feelings. Fix your mind on God’s absolute truth and not on your feelings. Fix your mind on the truth of God’s Word and not what others tell you is true. This takes discipline, but it gives you peace when everything seems to be falling apart. Jesus has not abandoned you or forgotten you. He’s right there in the cockpit of life with you reminding you to trust His instruments and His Word to get you through.

Photo by Oskar Kadaksoo on Unsplash

The Bread Of Life

Not long ago, I read the story of a fisherman who was forced to move because of a house fire. In the move, he asked his aunt to hold onto his good luck charm, which he had kept under his bed for over 10 years. He took her a 75 pound pearl that his boat anchor had caught on all those years ago. Each day, he would touch it before going fishing hoping it would bring him luck so he could catch a lot of fish. It turns out, as he’s struggled to make a living for the past ten years, he’s been sleeping over a $100,000,000 pearl! He had no clue what’s its value was as the world’s largest gem quality pearl.

That story reminds me of Jesus feeding the 5,000 in Mark 6. There were hungry people and it was getting late. The disciples asked if they should spend 200 silver coins to buy food for everyone. That’s when, in verse 38, Jesus asked them, “How much bread do you have?” (GNT) They went to check and came back to tell Him, “Five loaves.” Jesus then had them seat everyone. He broke the bread and the two fish they had, fed all 5,000 men (plus women and children), then took up 12 baskets of leftovers.

When Jesus asked how much bread they had, they had already seen Him heal the blind, raise the dead, cure leprosy, and so much more. In fact, they had just returned from being sent out to the towns and villages performing miracles themselves. They knew the power of God was with Jesus and had flowed through them, but it never crossed their mind to ask for a miracle for a crowd. Until this time, with the exception of the wine in Cana, most miracles had been for individuals. But to me, the question of how much bread they had was a test.

They had more than five loaves. They had the Bread of Life with them and not one of them thought to include Him in the number of loaves of bread. Whenever you add Jesus to whatever you have, you will always have more than enough. We can’t stay in the same mindset they had. We can’t look at physical problems expecting spiritual results unless we are willing to add in the Bread of Life to the equation. We can’t see through blocked roads, huge obstacles, or insurmountable odds because we’ve been keeping Jesus under our bed as a good luck charm. He’s worth more than $100,000,000. He’s the answer to your struggles. Give what you have to Him and watch Him multiply it.

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Tagged as bible, Christian, daily devotional, Devotion, fisherman finds pearl, god needs to intervene, help, hope, i need god to intervene, jesus feeds 5000, need a miracle, no way out, struggling, trust jesus, worlds largest pearl