Tag Archives: trusting God

March 10, 2015 · 7:18 AM

Renovating Your Life



Ever since we moved into our house, my wife wanted to renovate the living room. She hated it because it was dark and out dated. I fought her on the renovations because I liked the room and also because I knew what renovations would entail. I knew that once we started, it wouldn’t end with a simple paint job and floor change. Once we began, it would set off a chain of change for the foreseeable future and I wasn’t ready to do that. With the help of friends, she finally convinced me to let go of my fear and embrace the renovation. I saw in the process how God wants to renovate our lives.

God desires for each of us to undergo the process of renovation in our lives. He wants to take out old ways of thinking and replace them with the mind of Christ. He wants to remove the hard parts of our hearts and put in a heart of flesh. He wants to give us fresh insight into His Word, but we have to be willing to submit to the renovations. We have to quit fighting God on the changes He wants to make and allow Him to do His work. Psalm 51 is all about renovating David’s life. In verse 10, he surrendered and prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.” The first step of renovating your life is submission to God’s will and design.

The next part is counting the cost. In my living room, I allowed the cost to keep us from renovating. It was more than I was willing to pay because the outcome was unsure. Once I let go of the purse strings, the work began. The same is true in our personal renovation. We have to understand that there is a price to pay in renovating and we have to let go of the fear that keeps us from releasing God to do in our lives what He wants to do. It may cost us time, relationships, location or money, but in the end, we will receive more than we lost. Renovations in our lives increase our ability and usability. 

The last thing I learned is that you have to be patient in the process. It wasn’t long into ours that my wife said, “We’ve made a mistake. We shouldn’t do any more. What if we keep going and lose a lot more money?” She was right. In the middle of the process, we lost sight of the vision. We questioned the renovation and almost gave up. We decided to see it through and love the outcome. In the Message, Philippians 1:6 says, “there is no doubt in my mind that God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish.” It might get messy and you might lose sight of what God is doing in your life, but be patient. God will complete the work in you and it will be more amazing than you can imagine and worth the cost.

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February 24, 2015 · 5:30 AM

1-1-Six

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I was talking to a guy at work the other day when I noticed his tattoo. It said, “1-1-six”. I said, “Isn’t that Lecrae’s logo? You must really like him!” He laughed and said, “It’s more of a movement than a logo. It stands for Romans 1:16, my favorite verse in the Bible.” In my head I quickly went searched through verses I had memorized and remembered it said, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation for the Jew first and also to the Greek.” I then replied, “Indeed, it is a great verse.”

The more I’ve thought about our quick conversation, the more I wanted to dig into that verse. Yes I had memorized it as a kid, but memorizing something only helps you to recall it, not to understand it. I read it in different versions and the Amplified stood out to me most. It had three main parts that I loved. It interprets that verse this way, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God’s power working unto salvation, for deliverance from eternal death, to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and a firm reliance, the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

The first thing that popped out at me was the phrase, “to everyone who believes with a personal trust.” The trust you have in God has to be personal. It can’t be vicariously through someone else’s faith. You have to experience God for yourself to fully trust Him. The more personal God is to you, the deeper your faith is. The way to get a personal faith is to spend time being honest with God. If your faith isn’t personal, it won’t survive hard times. It will be like the seed sown by the way side that quickly sprouted, but was burned by the sun because the soil wasn’t deep.

The next thing that I saw was the phrase, “a confident surrender”. It sounds like an oxymoron as first. How can you be confident in surrendering? God requires that we surrender our will for His. He wants us to let go of what we have for all that He is. Reading this reminded me of the cartoon you see below. We can confidently let go of what we have because He wants to give so much more. The only thing He asks is that we let go. We can confidently surrender when we have a personal trust.

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The final thing that stands out is “a firm reliance”. When we’ve learned to personally trust God and have confidently surrendered, we can have a firm reliance that He will do what He said He will do. Andy Stanley defines faith as, “The confidence that God is who He says He is and that He’ll do everything He’s promised to do.” To know who God is and what He said He will do, you will need to know the Gospel of Christ. And when you know it, you will not be ashamed of it. You too will get caught up in the “1-1-six” movement that lives their lives with a personal trust, a confident surrender and a firm reliance.

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December 5, 2014 · 7:35 AM

10 Scriptures On Trusting God

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1. “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. (John 14:1 NLT)

2. Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. (Proverbs 3:5 AMP)

3. But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” (Psalm 31:14 ESV)

4. It pays to take life seriously; things work out when you trust in GOD. (Proverbs 16:20 MSG)

5. But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. (Psalms 13:5 NLT)

6. Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord. (Psalms 27:14 GNB)

7. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:4 ESV)

8. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:9 NLT)

9. [Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is. (Jeremiah 17:7 AMP)

10. “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. (John 3:16-18 MSG)

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December 1, 2014 · 7:53 AM

Target Practice

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I spent some time recently with my family doing target practice. We were shooting at the target from about 30 yards away with a 9 mm. I aimed at the bullseye, squeezed the trigger and hit the bottom left of the target. I aimed at the bullseye again and got the same result. I adjusted my stance and aim, then lined up again and hit the bullseye. Out of ten shots, I was only able to hit it three times. I found that I was inconsistent at trying to hit the mark.

Living the Christian life is a lot like that. We aim for the perfect Christian life, but over and over again, we miss the mark. We adjust our approach, we change our stance and do what we can to hit the bullseye. We get it right some of the time, but a lot of times, we just don’t measure up. When that happens, we try harder. Sometimes that just messes things up worse. In the end, a lot of us get frustrated because we just can’t be consistent and live this life the way we wish we could.

Paul faced a similar struggle. In Romans 7, he described the struggle well. In verse 15 he said, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” He continues in verse 19, “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” Paul understood the frustrations of trying to live a perfect christian life. In fact, in verse 24, he said trying and failing just made him miserable. He knew that no matter what, He couldn’t do right all the time. Sound familiar?

We fail when we think that being a Christian is within our own power and abilities. We are not perfect and therefore cannot be perfect all the time. Besides, our salvation is not dependent on our actions, but rather on the work that Jesus did on the cross. Yes, we should try to live godly lives in response to what He did, but don’t get misled into thinking that living a perfect life is how you get into Heaven. Our lives should be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:5-6 says, “Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace.”

If your life looks like my target and you’re miserable because you can’t live up the the perfect expectations you’ve placed on yourself, spend some time in Romans 7 and 8. Paul found that the answer is not in our own abilities, but in His. Jesus” death on the cross makes up for all the times we miss the mark. We have to accept His grace and allow Him to apply it to our imperfect lives. It starts with admiring you can’t do it (Romans 7) and finding that the answer lies in Jesus (Romans 8). Don’t give up. Keep living for Him and learn to rely on His grace instead of your actions.

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November 24, 2014 · 7:55 AM

God The Giver

When I was involved with a scouting program, I used to take groups camping. One of the things I would do for the kids is give them a checklist of everything they needed for the camp out. I figured the list would make it easy for them and their parents to decide what they needed. Inevitably, some would bring more than what was on the list and others would bring very little from it. I typically packed extras of the things that really mattered in case anyone forgot theirs. I just wanted them to have everything they needed to have a successful weekend.

II Peter 1:3 tells us that God has done the same thing for us. It says, “By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” He not only knows what we need, but He’s given it to us already. I like that because He wants us to be prepared for the life He has called us to live. So many times, we think we can’t do it. We know our weaknesses and want to give up trying, but God has given you everything you need to be successful at living out your faith.

In the next verse of that chapter, Peter says that God has given us His precious promises as a means of helping us. He said, “These are the precious promises that enable you to share in His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” God is an enabler. He is not a restrictor as many see Him. His goal is not to hold you back or pin you down, but to truly set you free. It requires faith to walk in that freedom.

I also like that He helps us escape the world’s corruption caused by our desires. When we let God have free reign in our lives, He begins to get rid of our desires and He replaces them with His desires. Our desires are selfish in nature and are contrary to what He wants from us. They keep us from serving Him because we are focused on serving ourselves. The scriptures says that when we accept Christ, we become a new creation. Old things (habits and desires) pass away. All things (habits and desires) become new.

You have the power within you to live a life that pleases God. He has given you new life and new desires. Don’t revert to your old way of living. Accept the promise God gives that you are a new creation. Trust that He is working out His will in your life. I’ve learned that I can’t see the overall plan for my life, but He can. I may not understand what He’s doing or why. I have to trust that He is working in me to fulfill His plan for me. He has given me the tools I need to be successful. I just need to pay attention to what He’s given and then to put it into practice. He’s not asking me to pack anything for this trip. He’s got it all planned out. We just have to trust.

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November 20, 2014 · 6:41 AM

Active Faith

I’ve always enjoyed reading the miracles that Jesus performed. There are a lot of similarities in them. A lot of the times Jesus tells the person, “Your faith has made you whole.” That phrase has always stood out to me because it puts the power of the miracle in the hands of the one receiving it. Other times, Jesus tells the person to go and do something and as they turn away to do it, they receive their healing. Again, it was their action that triggered the healing. In the miracles that I can think of, it’s always a partnership between the person in need and Jesus.

The disciples found five loaves and two fish and jesus fed 5,000. The blind man at the Pool of Siloam had to go wash his eyes for sight. The invalid lowered through the roof by his friends had to pick up his mat. Peter had to cast his nets on the other side. The woman with the issue of blood had to touch the hem of His garment. The ten lepers had to go show themselves to the priest. Each of these required action on the person’s part. They had to act in faith to receive their miracle.

At work, I study Brian Tracy philosophies in sales. One of the things he talks about is the Law of Belief. It says that your beliefs become your realities. He adds to it that people always act in a manner consistent with their beliefs. I immediately translate that to a life of faith. Peter believed if he got out of the boat, he would walk on water. No one else got out of the boat. It makes me think that he was the only one who truly believed he could do it. Each person in that boat acted on their belief. I quickly realized that my beliefs are not what I say they are, but rather what I act on.

There’s a difference in saying I believe in something and in acting on that belief. My actions speak louder than words. James put it this way: faith without works is dead. You could also say, “Faith without action is dead.” The Bible is full of miracles and promises of God that require action on our part. You and I are part of the equation that God uses to solve problems. When we truly believe that He can use us, we start acting in a manner consistent with that belief. We actively become His hands and feet. Until that point, as James put it, our faith is dead.

What has God asked you to do that you’ve been holding back on? Where has He asked you to go, but you still haven’t moved? Put your actions where your words are. Step out in faith and act on what you believe. Peter did and he’s the only disciple that can say he walked on water. It’s time we got out of our boats and started trusting God to do the impossible. If we truly believe that all things are possible with Him, we’ll act in that manner. Believe what God tells you, trust in His Word and put your faith into action. Your life will forever change at that moment.

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November 10, 2014 · 6:00 AM

Being Little Children

It becomes increasingly difficult to remember what it was like to just be a kid. Running around in the woods behind our house, picking blackberry’s along trails, or making mud-pies in our dirt driveway. I fear that we are not growing-up as much as we are dumbing-down. Why do we let the creativity, passions, and the joy of life taper off as we get older? Who said that we were supposed to stop playing in puddles or gazing at the stars for hours? I’m reminded of what Matthew 18:3 tells us Jesus said, “‘I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven’.” I’ve heard many commentaries on this passage of scripture over the years, and I think many of them miss the mark. Yes, it is true that we need to have a child-like faith and we need to be open, receptive, and trusting toward God. But, there is a freedom that children have, a resilience they possess that has all but vanish from us by the time we enter adulthood.

True, it is utterly impossible for us to “become like little children” in the natural. For that matter, we can’t do it mentally or figuratively without divine intervention. The biggest problem with this idea, the Jesus-curve-ball if you will, is that he was asking everyone to be something that they had spent the better part of their lives trying not to be! Think about it. We can probably all recount the days of wishing, in hopeful naivety, about how great it was going to be when we were teenagers, or 20-something, married, etc. We literally wished our lives away. Now, here sits Jesus telling everyone they can’t even get into his Kingdom unless they start acting like little children – little, clueless, simple-minded, needy, helpless children. But what if he knows something we don’t? I know, it’s a stretch of the imagination to say the God of the universe, creator of both seen and unseen, could know things in greater depth than you and me. Notwithstanding, what if he is trying to bring us back to a place of wonderment and innocence. What if he is trying to free us from our need to be in-control, and independent?

I would wager that Jesus is saying that he desires for each of us to simply give-up. Imagine how different would the world look to you if you became a child again? We couldn’t reach the tall shelf in the closet. We couldn’t lift the heavy branch that fell in the back yard. We wouldn’t be able to touch the pedals in the car or reach the steering wheel. But we would know who to ask for help. I’ve watched my own kids risk life and limb to climb cabinets and strain while attempting to lift an impossibly heavy object. My kids always knew that they were just one prayer (or request) away from getting exactly what they need. Maybe Jesus is asking us to stop all the trying and striving to be “grown-ups” and humble ourselves to simply ask – simply trust. This I know for sure, he is eager and willing. The question is, are we?

This post was written by Chris Brown. He serves as the Director of the School of Missions for coreluv.org and is a worship leader. You can find more of his life perceptions at beingaltered.com.

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September 15, 2014 · 7:27 AM

Don’t Worry

Whenever I get overwhelmed by my circumstances, I search the Bible for God’s promises. I try to find people who were overwhelmed too. Some of the greatest leaders of the Bible needed encouragement as much as I do. They looked at their circumstances as well as what God called them to do and I can imagine their panic. We don’t always read that they were panicked, but we see what God said to them and can tell that they were. Joshua is a great example of this.

He had been to the Promised Land, seen the giants and declared that they could defeat them. In Deuteronomy 31 when Moses passes the torch to Joshua, the reality of that prediction fell on his shoulders. He said they could be victorious so God said, “Ok, then you get to lead the charge.” As Moses was passing the torch of leadership to him, he said, “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated… He (God) is right there with you. He won’t let you down; He won’t leave you…Don’t worry.”

Those words weren’t recorded just for Joshua’s sake. They were written to remind you and me that whatever we face in this life, God is with us. We can be strong and courageous. We can be assured that God won’t let us down so we don’t have to worry. There may be an impassible river in front of us today, but God will part it. There may be giants in the land ahead of us, but God will give us the victory. We may see all the impossibilities that stand in our way, but we don’t have to be intimidated.

You and I aren’t the first ones to be lead into the unknown. We aren’t the first ones to have to face giants. What God has done for others in the past, He will do for us. The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not change. We can fully trust that He will part the waters, knock down the walls, defeat the giants in our life and give us victory. What He requires of us is to have the courage to walk to the waters edge, circle the walls in our lives and face the giants that stand in our path.

When we do our part, He will do His. Our step of faith preceded His provision. He encourages us to be strong and courageous because we need that in order to step out in faith. Don’t let fear hold you back. Don’t be intimidated by what you see in the physical realm. Our God makes things happen in the spiritual realm that affect the physical realm. We have to trust Him completely and act in accordance with His Word and He will give the victory today. God won’t let you down or leave you, so don’t worry just believe.

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September 8, 2014 · 7:31 AM

Trust Equals Action

In Genesis 20, there is a story that many of us are familiar with, but we forget about it. Abraham told King Abimelech that Sarah was his sister and not his wife. At this point, Abraham had already been told by God that he should leave the land he was in and head to the place He would show him and he and Sarah had already been told they would have a son. He had already made his mistake with Hagar and had Ishmael. You would think that he had learned to trust God at this point.

Just like you and I, he still had some room for growth in his trust with God. You would think that a man who heard God speak to him, met with angels, watched Sodom and Gomorrah burn and got a woman pregnant when he was nearly 100 years old would be able to trust God. When you hear what Abraham said to Abimelech in Genesis 20:11, you see that he was afraid that people might kill him and take Sarah. He let fear drive his decision making instead of trusting in God.

I’d get upset with him if I didn’t have the same problem. Too many times I hear God speak to me and I let fear take me on a different path or keep me from acting on what God told me to do. There’s the fear of what others will say. The fear of living by faith. The fear of change. The fear of stepping into the unknown. All of these fears repress my desire to do what God asked me to do. I have a choice to make each time that fear steps in. I can listen to it and allow it to keep me from action or I can listen to God and act on what He said.

If Abraham learned his lesson, I can too. It was just a few chapters later when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Without hesitation, Abraham woke up early and began to act on what God told him to do. He acted on God’s word before fear got a foothold in his mind. If we can learn to act on what God says before we allow fear to take over, we will begin to see the hand of God more in our lives. If we can trust God more than we trust fear, there’s no telling how different our lives would be.

David understood this principle too. In Psalm 56:11, he wrote, “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” David had wrestled with fear and trust as well. Ultimately, you see that he learned the principle that you and I can adopt. We need to trust God when He asks us to do something. We need to block out fear so that it doesn’t keep us from accomplishing all that God has for us. In the end, it’s God’s opinion of us that matters, not man’s. Act quickly on what God speaks to you before fear has a chance to rear its head and stop you.

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July 1, 2014 · 7:36 AM

The Fog Of Life

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Have you ever had to drive in the fog? Some days I have to go through fog so thick it seems my headlights only light a few feet in front of my car. Even though I know where I am, it creates fear. What if there’s a wreck I can’t see? What if the road turns and I miss it? What if there’s something in the road? High beams, that help you to see far when it’s clear, only make the situation worse. You have to slow to a crawl just so you can feel safe in moving forward. You have to take your time in getting to your destination. You have to accept that you aren’t going to get where you are going when you planned on getting there.

Faith is a lot like driving in a fog. It’s dangerous at times. It requires us to slow down and pay attention to everything. We don’t always see what’s right in front of us. It gets revealed to us little by little. God wants us to slow down and to make each move purposefully. He doesn’t want us to get in a hurry. That’s when accidents happen. We have to trust that we will get to where He wants us when His timing is right. That’s one of the hardest parts of being in a fog. We have our own ideas of when we want to get where He has us going and we try to get there as quickly as possible.

I’m learning just how important the journey is. It’s not always about getting to the destination. The fog, the slow times and the detours are all part of God’s purpose for our lives. They build our faith and give us the seasoning that we need so that we are ready when we finally do arrive. I’ve seen how the slow times and the hard times in my life have prepared me for where I am today. I know that as time goes on, I’ll have a better perspective on the foggy times. It’s in those times that I didn’t rely on my headlights to see what was ahead. I used God’s lights to light each step of the path as I took them one by one.

It’s easy to get frustrated when your vision is clouded by the fog of life. It’s hard to slow down and wait. I understand completely. I’m a person who likes to move. I like the sense of accomplishment I feel when I get to my intended destination. That’s what’s comfortable to me. Taking a detour and a route I’m unfamiliar with isn’t comfortable. Slowing down isn’t easy. Taking in the journey isn’t what’s natural for me, but it’s in those times that I trust God the most. It’s on the detours that I learn more about who God is and who He wants me to be. It’s when I slow down and take life one step at a time that my vision really becomes clear. I don’t have to worry about tomorrow or my destination. I’m called to be in this moment.

Maybe you’re like me and you don’t like it when you can’t see very far ahead of you. We can learn a lot when life gets foggy. Don’t panic because you can’t see into the future. Don’t let fear of the unknown consume you. Our God knows your future better than we do. He sees through the fog and will guide us. Trust Him completely with each step. This uncertainty that comes from the unknown is meant to grow your faith and build your relationship with the Father. Don’t rush though it trying to get past it. Be in the moment and trust Him to use the foggy moments to get you where you’re going right on time.

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