Tag Archives: trusting God

May 2, 2025 · 5:53 AM

Defiant Trust

One of my favorite things about the book of Job is that pulls the veil back for us. We get to read how Satan went to Heaven and sought permission to test Job. We know it was Satan causing all the calamity, death and loss for Job. However, Job didn’t get to know about that. He went through all his loss having to trust God and not blame Him. It’s easy to trust God when you’re living the blessed life, but can you still trust Him when everything is slipping through your fingers and it feels like He’s out to get you? Job fell and worshipped in that moment. In the face of such loss, Job showed defiant trust in God.

Here are some Bible verses on trusting God:

1. Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.

Job 13:15 NKJV

2. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.

Psalms 37:5 NLT

3. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 NKJV

4. But in the day that I’m afraid, I lay all my fears before you and trust in you with all my heart.

Psalms 56:3 TPT

5. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which can never be shaken, never be moved.

Psalm 125:1 GNT

Photo by Max Andrey on Pexels.

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May 1, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Quit Panicking

One of the most common Christian myths many of us believe is that when I do what God asks me to, there won’t be any issues and things will go smoothly. For me, it seems like when I step out in faith and do what God asks, things often start going wrong. There are times it feels like I’ve jumped out of an airplane, but I’m not the one who gets to pull the cord on the parachute. The ground starts getting closer and I start to panic. I cry out, “God, where are you? Did you tell me to do this? Why haven’t you worked on my behalf yet? Don’t you care about my reputation? My family? I thought you were going to work out everything for my good.” At that point, it’s easy to start questioning if I really heard God or if I’m really in His will because I’m looking at external factors and I’m believing the myth that everything should be smooth sailing when I’m in His will through obedience.

In Mark 4, after a long day of teaching, night was falling and Jesus said, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake” (TPT). They all piled in a boat, and several people from the crowd got in boats to follow them across the lake. Being tired from teaching, Jesus decided to call it a night. He laid down and fell asleep. That’s when a ferocious storm came rolling in with violent winds that were rocking the boat and causing it to take on so much water that they were afraid of sinking. In verse 39, they had a similar prayer to mine. They woke Jesus up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re all about to die?” Jesus, once He was fully awake, steps out, rebukes the wind and calms the sea. I’m sure He gave them a disappointed look as He said, “Why are you so afraid? Haven’t you learned to trust yet?”

Those words are ringing in my ears today as I shift my focus from my circumstances to who He is. When things don’t go the way we thought they should after our obedience, fear creeps in. Fear of failure. Fear of being embarrassed. Fear of going broke. Fear of our own ship going down. The storm you’re in may be great, but He is greater. It may feel like He’s asleep, but He knows what you’re going through. Push through the fear and panic, and trust that if He’s called you to it, He’ll get you through it. A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor, and easy times never stretch our faith. Yes, it might have been a big leap you took, but your faith has so much more room to grow. Now is not the time for panic. It’s the time for prayer and faith. He hasn’t ever failed you, and He won’t start failing you today.

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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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April 14, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Divine Interruptions

I didn’t grow up in a church that taught any of the reflective practices of Lent, so when my first ministry job was at a church that did, I had some learning to do. As we approached Easter, I had the opportunity to travel to Israel. I remember making it a point to walk down the Via Dolorosa and stopping at the different stations of the cross before finishing at the Garden Tomb. At Station Five, I came across a man I knew little about. His name was Simon of Cyrene. Mark 15:21 says, “A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus)” (NLT). He was coming in to celebrate the Passover, and through divine interference, he was forced to carry Jesus’ cross, which changed the trajectory of his family. Paul and Luke mention Simon’s sons listed here in their letters to the Early Church.

Take a moment to look back at your life when things seemed to go off the rails. Can you now see God’s hand in those moments? Simon didn’t know it, but when he was forced to carry the cross, he was able to see the Son of God up close. Like the Roman guard, he must have had a moment when he realized who Jesus really was. While he was on his way to sacrifice a Passover lamb, he came face to face with the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. I can see him rejoining his sons at the foot of Calvary, exhausted from the journey. I wonder if he stood near John and Mary as Jesus spoke to them. Did he cry as Jesus said, “It is finished”? I don’t know any of these answers, but I do know that he was chosen by God for this moment. It was no accident that he was the person the guards grabbed.

This story has me reflecting on divine interruptions in my life. In the moment, they take me off schedule, mess up my day, and wreck my plans. Divine interruptions can be frustrating in the moment, but I’ve learned that divine interruptions are where transformation begins. Proverbs 19:21 says, “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail” (NLT). His purposes often conflict with my plans. When I start to complain, I’ve learned to stop and ask, “Lord, is this You?” I’ve been divinely interrupted enough to know to be grateful when He does interrupt me. I want His transformation and purposes to prevail in my life. Without those intersections, I would simply stay on my current trajectory. What about you? Are you willing to invite God to divinely interrupt your plans in this season of Lent?

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April 10, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Learning Through Pain

One of the mantras that I’ve heard for a while is, “Change before you have to.” I wasn’t always sure what that meant, but I’ve found out a few times in my life and wished I had. Many times the Holy Spirit has sounded the warning alarms in my life, and many of those times I’ve hit the snooze button. His warnings are letting us know that if we continue on the path we’re on, we’re headed for trouble. When I’ve disregarded them, I’ve fallen flat on my face and gone through some painful times as a result of my sin. Sometimes I’m so hard headed and want to do things my own way that the only way I’ll listen or make the necessary changes in my life are to go through a painful time so that next time I’ll listen. God is more concerned with our holiness than our comfort.

It’s hard to put some things in perspective as you read the Bible. In some books, you may cover hundreds of years of history. I keep thinking, “How did they mess up again so quickly? Why won’t they learn?” Yet, their track record is better than mine a lot of the times. In Deuteronomy 30:19 God said He sets before us life and death, blessings and cursing, and that the choice is ours. He wants us to choose life, but when we don’t, their are painful consequences to help us to turn back to Him and to remind us not to go down that path again. It works for a while, but our brains are bent toward trying to do things our way instead of His. Pain is often one of the best motivators for our brain, and it can condition it to not repeat mistakes.

God knows you and I aren’t perfect. He knows we’re going to mess up. Thankfully He doesn’t wipe His hands clean of us and give up. His grace is greater than our biggest mistakes and His offer of forgiveness is open to us. God will do whatever it takes to bring us back, even if it means pain, discomfort or embarrassment. Proverbs 20:30 says, “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways” (GNT). He knows there are a lot of stubborn people like myself who need those painful reminders to come back home. The Prodigal Son lasted in his painful experience as long as he could before he finally decided to go back home. You and I have the same opportunity to return to a waiting Father who will run to us, love us and put the family robe and ring back on our finger if only we will return.

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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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April 9, 2025 · 5:43 AM

Obedience Brings Victory

Have you ever felt God leading you to do something that didn’t make sense? I’ve felt that way several times. Once I was facing a serious challenge to my character. My initial strategy was to go on the defensive and then attack. As I mapped out my plans, God had a different strategy in mind. It was to be still and quiet. It was the opposite of what I felt should happen. What I wanted to do made sense, and what God was asking didn’t. I had a choice to make. I could choose to do what made sense or I could obey. I decided to obey. What God asked me to do worked out better than anything I could have done.

In Joshua 6, the Israelites faced their first enemy in the Promised Land. Jericho had thick, intimidating walls. Israel didn’t have siege equipment or battering rams. I’m sure Joshua met with his military leaders to devise a strategy. Then he met the captain of the Lord’s army. He was told to simply march quietly around the walls for seven days. On the seventh trip around the wall on the seventh day, they were to blast trumpets and shout. It didn’t make sense, but Joshua had learned that victory comes through obedience. He followed God’s strategy, rather than his own, and God destroyed what had been impossible and intimidating.

Zechariah 4:6 says, “The angel told me to give Zerubbabel this message from the Lord: ‘You will succeed, not by military might or by your own strength, but by my spirit’” (GNT). So much in life depends on obedience to what God desires for us to do. However, we must first stop and ask what He wants in each situation. I don’t know what intimidating walls you’re facing today, but I do know that His strategy will work better than yours. It may not make sense or seem like the right thing to do in the moment. It might even seem crazy or counterintuitive, but remember that obedience brings victory. Follow His leading and plan, then watch the walls fall before your eyes.

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March 20, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Taking Your Promised Land

My son, who is in elementary school, is having to read Pilgrim’s Progress. I remember having to read it at a young age too. Quite honestly I think it should be required reading for every Christian adult because there is so much depth to it. In it, Christian Pilgrim reads about Heaven and begins his journey to find Christ. On the way he meets people like Evangelist and Helper who guide him toward the Celestial City. He also encounters people like Worldly Wiseman, Despair and Formalist who try to persuade him to get off the straight and narrow path. Each person warms him not to listen to the others and he has to decide who is right and suffer the consequences when he listens to the wrong voices.

In Numbers 13, God told Moses to send out one person from each tribe to go throughout the Promised Land to scout it. They saw how fertile the land was, checked out the terrain and saw the cities. They noticed that there were several nations living in the land as well. They all agreed that it was a good land as God promised, but they also saw that there were giants and fortified cities that would be difficult to go to war with. The people began to murmur and to doubt God’s promise to give them the land. Then in verse 30 it says, “Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, ‘Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it’” (MSG). You know the story. The people listened to the 10 spies with a negative report and faced the consequences.

What has God promises you? What voices are causing you to doubt Him? We often forget that there is a process to receiving His promises. There are battles that must be won, faith steps to be taken and moments where you push past what your eyes see. If God has promised something to you, there will be giants and people who try to persuade you away from going after it. There comes a point where you either trust God or you don’t. Receiving His promises is never easy. It takes faith and it takes courage to move towards it because others can’t see it or feel the passion God placed in you. Who’s voice will you listen to? There are consequences for listening to the wrong ones, but there’s also forgiveness. Ask God to give you wisdom in who you listen to and courage to proceed. Go take your land. You can do it!

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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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March 12, 2025 · 5:13 AM

Having Confidence

Several years ago, we were in London, and decided to tour the Tower Bridge. They took us to the top and there was a glass floor high above the street. We had confidence in it and walked across it. On another trip, we were in New York City. We found a place called the Edge. It is the highest outdoor observation deck in the western hemisphere. When we walked outside, they had a glass floor as well. Again, we had confidence in the builders and walked on it. Then just this week, we were driving through Memphis and my son wanted to the observation deck of the Bass Pro Shop pyramid. When we got outside there was a glass floor. He asked, Lohengrin thick is this glass?” I answered, “Hopefully thick enough!” We then stepped onto it. In each case, your brain fights you from walking on it, but you have to override it by having confidence despite what it thinks.

In Psalm 27, David expressed his trust in the Lord as his salvation. He put so much trust in Him that he said he wouldn’t be afraid of anyone. Verse 3 says, “Though an army encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, Even in this I am confident” (AMP). Overtime he had learned to trust the Lord in whatever situation he found himself in. If he was outnumbered and his brain told him he should be afraid, he continued to have confidence in God. That’s a pretty bold statement and makes me reflect on how much I trust God. Do I allow fear to control my decisions or faith? Do I allow my circumstances to override my trust in God? David determined that even if he was surrounded by his enemies, he would still have confidence in God.

Hebrews 10:35 says, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!” (NLT) When you’re surrounded with no way out, don you still trust God? Can you step out onto that glass floor and trust that He will be faithful to His Word? In the next chapter, the author reminds us, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” There is a decision we must make to trust in God no matter what before we’re in the situation. If you’re surrounded right now, you can still put your confidence in Him o see you through. He will not fail you nor abandon you in those moments. Hold on tight and remain confident in Him.

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February 27, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Broken And Beautiful

There are a few ways to do a puzzle. Some people open the box and pull out a couple of pieces at a time. Some people grab a handful to see if there are any matches. Then there are people like me who dump the whole box in the middle of the table. I like to see all the pieces I’m working with and begin forming the puzzle from the outside in. No matter how you start a puzzle, I think you’ll agree that it’s frustrating to get all the way to the end only to find that you’re missing a piece or two. You check the box, the floor, your chair and all around the table where you’re working. You need all the pieces if you’re going to be able to complete it. There’s just something satisfying about completing a puzzle with all the pieces.

If you’re reading this, then your life has been broken somewhere along the way. It’s part of the human condition. Our lives get shattered, we scoop up the pieces and try to move forward by putting them back together again. Sometimes our brokenness makes it hard to trust people again or even God. If only He would have intervened, then our life wouldn’t have been shattered. If only He would have answered our desperate prayers, then we would be whole still. When you’re holding the broken pieces of your life, it’s easy to look back and think that you’d be whole right now “if only (you fill in the blank).” The truth is we’re all broken to some degree and we’re holding the pieces of our life trying to put things back together the way they were. But what if you were broken so God could put the pieces back together in a more complete and beautiful way?

I love mosaic art because it’s formed from broken pieces. I believe it’s the same type of artistry God uses when we give Him the pieces of our brokenness and allow Him to put our life back together. Psalm 18:20 says, “GOD made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him” (MSG). For God to make our life complete and whole again, He can’t have any missing pieces. You must surrender all the pieces to Him. He knows there are parts of us that we hold back from Him because of fear, but He patiently and lovingly waits for us to trust Him enough. God rewrites the story and picture of our lives when we give Him all the pieces and He makes something beautiful out of the mess. He does His part when we do ours and surrender the pieces. He takes our brokenness and makes something beautiful out of our mess.

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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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February 12, 2025 · 5:28 AM

God Is Always There

I used to work for a cell phone company. Internally they always told us that we were a utility company and that we needed to be available at all times. When Hurricane Katrina moved into the gulf, they told me to pack a bag and be ready. I remember getting a call in the middle of the night telling me to grab my bag and head to work. It made landfall at night and we were headed to it. They said that we run to a crisis not from it. We put in twenty hour days getting communications back up. We sleep on the floor of the building we worked in to be as efficient as possible. We wanted the people of New Orleans and the gulf coast to know we were there for them in their time of crisis and that they weren’t alone.

A couple of years before that, I had gone through my own personal crisis. People that had said they would always be there for me, disappeared. When everything came crashing down, there were only a couple of people who were truly there to help me through it. Even though they checked on me and spent time with me, I was still alone at night. I couldn’t run from the pain or escape the thoughts that filled my mind. In those moments, I learned to run to God. I found that in my loneliest moments, He was there. When I didn’t feel like I could call someone in the middle of the night, I called on Him. He proved to be a very present help in my time of need.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God, you’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge! You’re a proven help in time of trouble— more than enough and always available whenever I need you” (TPT). It is believed that this psalm was written during a time when Jerusalem was besieged by the Assyrian army and there was no hope of anyone coming to save them. The people cried out to God and He sent the Assyrians home miraculously. He truly never leaves you and is there when there seems to be no way out or forward. He will make a way where there seems to be no way, and He will not abandon you. He will stick with you closer than a brother. He is always available when you need Him most. He had proven it throughout history and He will do it for you. Don’t despair. There is always hope because you have a place of refuge in your time of need who is more than able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than you need.

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February 11, 2025 · 5:44 AM

Victory Over Giants

I used to teach a class on the psychology of fear and how it keeps us from being productive. At one point, I introduced an activity without any warning that involves one of the greatest fears most people have. As I kept adding to it, I watched people squirm in their seats. I would stand next to them, look them in the eye and act like I was going to choose them. Before I proceeded, I would ask, “What are you feeling in your body and mind right now?” People would have sweaty palms, upset stomachs, the need to use the restroom and more. I explained that our brain wants out of the situation and will do anything to take flight. I told them that when we walk away or give into the fear, we miss out on opportunities.

In 1 Samuel 17, the Israelites and Philistines were engaged on the battlefield ready to fight. Each side was encamped on a mountainside with a valley between. Before the battle started, Goliath, a giant about ten feet tall, walked out and yelled at the Israelites. He taunted them and challenged them. When the Israelites saw him, they gave into fear and ran. For forty days, they were stagnant in this routine of allowing fear to keep them from the opportunity of victory. That’s when David stepped into the camp. He heard the same giant, saw everyone panic, but had a different response. He was filled with confidence and trust in God. He stepped onto the battlefield, looked the giant in the eyes, told him God would deliver him and then ran towards him. God honored David’s faith and trust in Him and gave him the victory.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation]” (AMP). What opportunity or victory is fear holding you back from? God says, do not fear anything standing in the way of what He’s called you to. It won’t be done in your strength. He will help you, but you must step onto the battlefield, look your giant in the eye and trust God. His hand of power and victory will be upon you when you trust Him. Don’t let fear keep you on the sidelines indefinitely. Courage is being unsure of the outcome, but stepping out in faith anyway. God constantly tells us to take courage and to be strong. It’s time to quit being held back from opportunities because of fear. Trust in the Lord and slay your giant.

Photo by Анна Рыжкова (Anna Rizchkova) on Pexels.

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