Tag Archives: trusting God

February 19, 2026 · 5:30 AM

Trust God Anyway

To me, one of the worst feelings in the world is the feeling of being helpless. When everything seems to be going against me and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, there’s a sense of fear and desperation. In those times, all my efforts to help myself, or to get myself out of it, are fruitless. Many times when that happens, the harder I try to get out of the situation, the worse it gets. It’s that feeling where you’re stuck in the mud and the more you push the gas, the worse you get stuck. My feelings and thoughts quickly turn negative, and if I’m not careful, those feelings and thoughts can dictate my actions. We all face times like these, even the heroes of the faith who are in the Bible.

David often found himself in desperation. You can see how his thinking affected him and his actions. In Psalm 28, he’s going through a helpless situation. In verse 1 he prays, “I pray to you, O Lord, my rock. Do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you are silent, I might as well give up and die” (NLT). At this point, he’s not even sure God is going to come help. His fear is causing him to doubt just like our fear does to us. If we trust our feelings over our faith, life can feel a roller coaster. Emotions were given to us to help us gauge a situation. They were not meant to be what we trust in. They often lie and manipulate us. We must learn to trust God over our emotions and over how they’re making us feel about our situation.

In verse 7, David moves his trust his emotions to God. He reminds himself, “The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” When we switch where we place our trust, our emotions follow. We need to trust God with all of our heart instead of our emotions. He sees what you’re going through, and He will not abandon you in it. He doesn’t always remove us from the situation or give us the answer we’re hoping for. The question is, will you trust Him anyway? Will you have faith that whatever it is, He can turn it for your good? It’s not easy to do. However, where you place your trust will determine how well you come through it.

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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February 18, 2026 · 5:44 AM

Training Your Faith

In 2019 I was offered a voluntary severance package from the company I had been at for nearly 15 years. After a lot of prayer and answers from God, I accepted the package and started my own business. After a few months, things were going well. I was getting steady customers and starting to grow. Just as things were looking up, Covid hit and pretty much shut me down. In that moment I had a choice to make. I could look at my friends from my previous company who were getting a steady check, and I could be upset at God, or I could remember that I heard from Him and trust that He’d always taken care of me in the past. When crisis hits, our natural inclination is to think God has abandoned us. However, I’ve learned that spiritual maturity is built on remembering the faithfulness of God.

In Exodus 17, the Israelites were in the middle of the wilderness and there wasn’t any water. One version says they were tormented by thirst and they began to complain and argue with Moses asking why he brought them out of Egypt if they were just going to die of thirst. These people had just witnessed the plagues God brought on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea and were receiving daily manna from heaven. Their current crisis had them thinking God had abandoned them and their mind said they would have been better off living in slavery. Moses went to the Lord and God told him to strike the rock and water would come out of it. Moses named the place “Arguing” because they had argued whether God was with them or not.

In Psalm 77 Asaph was going through a tough time and starting to think that God had forgotten him. Then he penned verses 11-12, “But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works” (NLT). He chose to remember God’s faithfulness in a wilderness season when God was silent. He chose to lift his hands toward heaven anyway. Faith is having a well trained memory that looks at God’s faithfulness over time instead of our current thirst. A good habit is to write down times God has been faithful to you in the past, to share them with others and to read them when times get tough. Doing this will help train your faith to trust in the wilderness.

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January 26, 2026 · 5:34 AM

Wisdom Is Calling

I’ve seen several interviews that Captain Sully gave regarding the Miracle on the Hudson. I’ve also seen reenactments and clips from the movie that was made about that day. From the moment the birds took out both engines, alarms started going off. They read manuals, put out a distress call and had conversations about procedures all while the computer is calling out to them. It was a chaotic noisy environment. Every voice was telling him to turn back to LaGuardia, but wisdom was telling him to land in the Hudson. Afterwards the incident was investigated by the NTSB and it was determined that he made the on,y correct choice. Anything else would have resulted in a crash, yet because he listened to wisdom everyone survived.

In 1Kings 12, Solomon’s son became king of Israel. The people came and asked him to relieve the workload they had been under during Solomon’s reign. With pressure mounting, he consulted with his father’s advisors. They told him it was wise to listen to the people and give them a break from all the construction projects. Then he invited more voices in. They were his friends who were also young and inexperienced. They told him to do more than his father and increase the workload. Verse 13 says, “The king answered the people harshly and ignored the advice which the elders had given him” (AMP). In a room full of voices, he ignored the voices of wisdom and paid the price of having a revolt and divided kingdom.

In Proverbs 1:20-21, his father Solomon tried to teach him, “Wisdom shouts in the street, She raises her voice in the markets; She calls out at the head of the noisy streets [where large crowds gather]; At the entrance of the city gates she speaks her words.” When we need wisdom most, it’s often noisy and chaotic like the entrance to an ancient city. Lots of voices and chaos calling out trying to distract you, but wisdom is there among them speaking to you. Listening to her is critical to your success and future. Even in the most pressure filled, chaotic moments you can call out to God to give you wisdom and help you to know what to do. James 1:5 says He will give it to you. However, like the people mentioned above, only you can choose to act on it or not. Wisdom is calling out to you today. Take time to listen and do what she says.

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January 20, 2026 · 6:06 AM

Trading Inheritances

In Genesis 12:1 God told Abraham, “Go away from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you” (AMP). What God was asking him was more than to leave his home. God was also asking him to walk away from his inheritance. In that time period, your inheritance was everything. It was your security for your future. Abraham left on a promise with trust in God. When the Lord had brought him to the place He was leading him, He said, “I am the [same] Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land as an inheritance.” God not only promised to give him descendants, He also gave him a greater inheritance than had he stayed at home.

In Matthew 19 a young man approached Jesus asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to obey the commandments. He told Jesus that he had done that his whole life. Then Jesus said, “If you wish to be perfect [that is, have the spiritual maturity that accompanies godly character with no moral or ethical deficiencies], go and sell what you have and give [the money] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me [becoming My disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking the same path of life that I walk].” The next verse said he walked away sad and distressed. He wasn’t willing to let go of his earthly security the way Abraham was. He failed to receive the inheritance God offered him because he couldn’t let go and follow where Jesus would lead him.

Philippians 4:19 reminds us, “And my God will liberally supply (fill until full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” What has God been asking you to walk away from or to let go of? Are you holding on tightly like the rich, young ruler? Or are you willing to walk into the unknown like Abraham? God is our source. He is the one who will supply all of our needs. Sometimes we will receive our inheritance from Him in this life, and other times we will receive it in eternity. God calls us to walk by faith and not by sight. When we cling to earthly security after He’s asked us to let go, we’re showing we believe we are our source and not Him. God is always willing to trade inheritances where we give up to temporal for the eternal.

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January 15, 2026 · 5:30 AM

Turning North

One of my favorite visual lessons to use in a group is to have everyone close their eyes and to then point north. What usually happens is you will have a room full of people pointing just about every direction including up. I then have them open their eyes to see where everyone is pointing. Immediately some start laughing, but others start trying to convince others they’re right. I then pull a compass out of my pocket and show them which way is north. I’ll ask them to again close their eyes and point to north. Most will point in the direction the compass did, but there will still be some who point in other directions. I tell them that if they don’t know which way north is, and you’re lost, it’s hard to get where you’re going.

All throughout the book of Jeremiah, Israel was lost. Each person was doing what was right in their own eyes and doing what they wanted. Even though they had the compass of The Law, they chose to go in different directions. In Jeremiah 18, God had Jeremiah watch a potter work with some clay. After making a piece of pottery, the potter didn’t like it, then crushed it and started over. Then, in verse 11, God said, “Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds” (ESV). He was telling them to repent, which means to change directions. He wanted them to turn north towards Him.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path” (GNT). God has given us the compass to navigate this life by giving us His Word. It will guide us in the direction we should live and in how we make choices. However, just like in the room full of people knowing which way north is, we still have to make the choice each day to point north or to point in a different direction. God always gives us that choice. If we head any direction but north, we risk facing the consequences of our actions. His way is the only right way to go north. His word lights the path so we can see where we’re going and also guides us in the paths of righteousness. It’s up to me and you to continually turn north when everything else is trying to get us to turn in different directions.

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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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November 17, 2025 · 5:48 AM

Promise Keeper

Have you ever said, “Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye”? Or ever made a pinky promise before? When we were kids, that’s how we made sure the other person knew we weren’t going to break our promise. As adults, we live in a world of broken promises. I can’t remember the last time I heard someone say, “My word is my bond.” It seems like people cared about their reputation and keeping their word a lot more in the past than they do today. When you find someone who makes a promise and keeps it, you think it’s a rare find. You can trust a person that keeps their promise to do what they say. You don’t have to worry about it, remind them constantly or question them when it doesn’t happen on your time table. A person like that is someone we should strive to be like.

In Genesis 22, God approaches Abraham years after He fulfilled the promise of giving him a son. God told him to take his son of promise to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him there. Abraham didn’t question it. He got up the next morning and headed for the mountain. When Isaac asked where the sacrifice was, Abraham replied, “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son” (NLT). Abraham had learned to trust God despite his circumstance. He made it to the top of the mountain, built the altar, tied up his son and had his knife raised when God intervened. He didn’t know how God would save his son or raise him from the dead, but he trusted God would keep his promise to give him as many descendants as the stars. God kept his promise and provided a ram.

Psalm 145:13 says, “The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does.” You can always count on God to keep His promises. You may feel like Isaac where you are bound up and wondering when God is going to show up. You may feel like Abraham where you’ve trusted God, but time seems to have run out. Keep walking in obedience though. God’s timing is not like ours. He will keep His Word and His promise. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Trusting God isn’t always easy. It requires faith. We must learn to see with our spiritual eyes rather than our physical ones. God is gracious and merciful in all He does. He will always keep His promise.

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November 13, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Leaving Stress Behind

Steven Covey taught that many of us aren’t as productive as we could be because of how we spend our time and how we manage the tasks we face. He divided up tasks into four areas. There’s urgent and non urgent, and important and not important. One of the problems many of us face is that we live in the quadrant that is urgent and important. It sounds good on the surface, but the truth is that all we’re doing is putting out fires constantly. We’re doing a lot, but we’re going nowhere. We need to be spending our time focusing on the important, but not urgent quadrant. That one will help us plan for the future and prevent many of the fire drills we face.

In Luke 10, Jesus was visiting the house of Martha and Mary. Martha was in the quadrant of urgent and important. She was busy trying to clean, cook and serve. Mary was in the quadrant of important and not urgent. She sat at Jesus’ feet to listen and learn. Martha got upset at Mary, just like people who live in that quadrant do, and told Jesus to have her help. Jesus replied, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (NLT). Jesus understood how tiring it gets living that way being distracted and constantly worrying. Martha wasn’t stressed out or distracted. She was calm because she focused on the right things.

Psalm 37:5 says, “Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust him along the way, you’ll find he pulled it off perfectly!” (TPT) God knows what is best for you. Cast your cares, your schedule and whatever else is distracting you on Him. Give Him to right to guide your life. He knows what’s best for you mentally, physically and spiritually. Refocus your heart on Him, spend time daily sitting at His feet listening. You’ll find your life will be the way He intended it. Commit all your ways to Him and trust Him in every area of your life. You’ll find peace and rest for your mind, body and soul. He knows what’s best for you and will lead you beside the still waters.

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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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November 6, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Be Patient And Wait

One of the hardest things for me to do is to be patient while God is at work on my behalf. I live by the motto, “Work like it depends on you. Pray like it depends on God.” But there are seasons, like the one I’m in now, where God is at work and He says, “Be still and be patient.” Everything in me wants to jump up and do something as if God needs my help. There’s a line in “Way Maker” that resonates with me right now. It says, “Even when I don’t see it, you’re working. Even when I don’t feel it, you’re working. You never stop working.” Faith is truly about trusting that God is at work when you don’t see it or feel it. It’s about being patient in the waiting knowing that God is going to bless you according to a His goodness and not your good works.

I don’t think Abraham was much different. God was at work, but he couldn’t see it. God had promised him a son when he was 75. Ten years later, there still wasn’t a son and he was getting older. He decided to help God out and married Hagar, his wife’s handmaiden. But when she got pregnant, God let him know that wasn’t what He promised. Sarah would give him a son, but Abraham had to wait another 15 years. That’s a long time to be patient and to trust God to fulfill a promise, especially when your physical condition, or things around you, are telling you the possibility is going down daily. Yet God still requires us to have faith and to be patient.

Psalm 37:7 says, “Be patient and wait for the Lord to act” (GNT). I understand that having patience and waiting on God is tough. It can feel like you’re missing the boat and that you need to do something to make it happen. Learn from Abraham though. If God has promised it, trust Him to fulfill it in His timing, not yours. Even when you see the window of opportunity closing, trust anyway. God does not need our help. He is able. If He can speak the universe into existence, surely He can say the word and turn your impossible situation around. If He can give Abraham a son at 100 years old, He can make a way where there seems to be no way. It’s in the waiting that our faith is stretched and we are prepared for greater things. Don’t give up too early or try to jump in and help. Be patient and wait on the Lord.

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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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October 28, 2025 · 5:57 AM

Staying In Sync

Have you ever had the chance to watch a military marching band? It’s one of the most incredible things to watch as a hundred band members play instruments and march in beat while creating formations. No one does it better than the Fighting Texas A&M Aggie Band. Sometimes they are spread out over the space of an entire football field. Between the echoes of the music coming off the bleachers and the distance apart from each other, if they relied on sound, they would be off. Instead, the band members keep their eyes on the drum majors to keep in step and in time. The drum majors set the tempo, the direction and ensures that the members stay in sync.

In Acts 10, Peter was on a rooftop praying when God gave him a vision of a picnic cloth coming down out of heaven. In it there were all kinds of animals that were considered unclean to eat. He heard God say, “Kill and eat.” However, he pushed back thinking it was a test. The lord said, “Don’t call unclean what I have called clean.” It repeated three times and then was drawn back up into heaven. Just then some Gentiles, who were sent by an angel, knocked on the door looking for him. The Holy Spirit told him to go with them. Peter obeyed and salvation reached the Gentile world. Peter had to adjust his thinking and beliefs in order to stay in step and sync with the Holy Spirit. He followed the Spirit’s lead rather than his flesh.

Galatians 5:25 says, “If the Spirit is the source of our life, we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives” (TPT). The Greek word Paul used for “to direct every aspect of our lives,” invokes images of soldiers marching in sync with disciplined movements. He was reminding us that the Spirit is our drum major and we must listen to Him and allow Him to direct every aspect of our life. We can’t rely on preconceived notions or what the culture around us tells us. We must trust the Word of God to give us direction in our life and to guide our decisions. When we keep our eyes on Him, He will direct us so that we march with His tempo and direction, as well as to stay in sync with His plans for our life.

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Here’s a video of the Texas A&M band marching in sync.

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October 23, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Insurmountable Odds

2 Kings 18 tells the story of King Hezekiah. He was a good king who was compared to David in his zeal for the Lord. Verse 5 says he trusted in the Lord like no other king in Judah. In his fourteenth year as king, the Assyrian army came to attack. They were the world’s most dominant army at the time. No one could stand against them. They were undefeated, and Jerusalem had a small army at the time. The king of Assyria took control of the city’s aqueduct and then sent people to try to get Israel to surrender. They started off in verse 19, “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?” (NLT) Hezekiah had confidence in God while he was facing insurmountable odds in the face of defeat.

In chapter 19, King Hezekiah did what we need to do when we’re facing insurmountable odds. He went to the Lord in desperate prayer. He then sought a word from the Lord from Isaiah. God said he would send him back to Assyria where he would be killed. However, the stand off continued. The king of Assyria taunted more. He said, “You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?” He reminded them of all the other people they destroyed, but Hezekiah still went to God for help even when it looked like God wasn’t answering like he said. Then God moved against Assyria killing 185,000 of them in one night. The king broke camp, went home and was killed.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see” (GNT). You can have confidence in God even though you’re facing an insurmountable odd today. Whenever you’re feeling like the situation is taunting you and it looks like you can’t win, turn to God. When you look at what it has done to others and the thought comes that says, “Why should you get a different outcome,” turn to God in faith. There is nothing God cannot do. There are no insurmountable odds that He can’t overcome. Faith is to be sure of what He can do in the face of what you can’t overcome. Don’t listen to the voices of doubt or the words that tell you there’s no hope. Trust in God no matter what insurmountable odds you face.

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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. G

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