YOU CANNOT HAVE FAITH WITHOUT TRUST AND TRUSTING GOD MEANS YOU WANT HIS WILL OVER YOUR OWN! And 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. Hebrews 11:6 Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time. -Oswald Chambers TRUST SAYS THAT LIFE WILL NEVER MAKE SENSE APART FROM GOD AND I WILL TRUST HIS NATURE AND HIS TIMING DESPITE WHAT SEASON I AM IN. While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. Hebrews 5:7-8 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:15-16 While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. Hebrews 5:7-8 In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. Hebrews 5:9 Trust in the lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. Psalms 103:1-2
THE WAYS GOD IS FOR US
1. BY GIVING US UNCONDITIONAL FORGIVENESS AND RESTORATION He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. Psalms 103:3 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 1 Corinthians 5:15-20
2. BY GIVING US AN INHERITANCE. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. Psalms 103:4 No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 We are God’s children But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12 We are heirs to God Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. Galatians 4:7 We are royalty! But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. 1 Peter 2:9 We are Chosen, holy, and blameless Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4 3. BY GIVING US TRUE FULFILLMENT. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! Psalms 103:5 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. . . . So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 2:10-11, 17
“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” Mark 8:36-37
TAKE HOME WE’RE NOT MOTIVATED BY REWARDS, BUT WE ARE MOTIVATED BY OUR CONFIDENCE IN THE GOODNESS OF THE GIVER OF SAID REWARDS. PRAY WITH A HEART OF SUBMISSION “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.” Luke 22:42-44 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. Psalms 103:11-13
