From Pastor's Heart :

How To Trust God

September 28,2018

One of the keys to a successful and victorious Christian walk is to know how to trust God in every circumstance. Whenever we are confronted with an adverse circumstance, we often hear this cliche, "just trust God." While we all know that we should trust God, do we really know how to effectively trust Him and get the results that we need? Judging from the tragedies in the lives of believers all around us, we can conclude that more insight is needed in this subject of "trust God."

How do we really trust God? Primarily, we trust God through His written Word and by His Spirit. In many circles, much of the emphasis is placed on prayer and being led by the Spirit when it comes to the subject of trusting God, and rightly so, because they are aspects of trusting God. But prayer and being Spirit-led must be built on the foundation of the written Word because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). Most people do not realize that God does not respond to prayer alone; He responds to faith. Prayer is simply a vehicle for releasing our faith. Prayer without faith is like driving a car without fuel, it goes nowhere. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6), and whatever is not of faith is sin, or missing the mark (Rom 14:23). Jesus tells us in Mark 11:24, "whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." James 1:6-7 tells us very clearly that if we doubt, we will not be able to receive anything from the Lord.

The best way to learn a Truth is to let the Scripture explain itself. Proverbs 22:17-19 tells us, "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge; For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips, So that your trust may be in the LORD." From these Scriptures, we can see three key aspects of trusting God - hearing the Word of God, meditating on the Word of God, and confessing the Word of God. They are also the building blocks of faith. Faith ultimately allows God to move on our behalf.

The first key aspect of trusting God is to hear the Word of God. There is no substitution for hearing the Word of God. Many people want God to do something but do not want the effort of spending time in the Word. Real Biblical faith can only come through hearing the Word of God. Jesus spent much of His ministry time teaching and preaching the Word to build faith into the hearers. Hearing the Word of God should be a way of life in the lives of every Christian. Jesus tells us in Matt 4:4, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Just as we need physical food in our daily life, we also need spiritual food in our daily life.

The second key aspect of trusting God is to meditate on the Word of God. We meditate on the Word of God by applying our heart to what we hear. The Word must go deep down into our hearts. It is interesting that Romans 10:17 mentions hearing twice. I believe there is a natural hearing and a spiritual hearing. When we hear someone speak, we hear first through our natural ears. The same thing can be said of reading something. We first receive through our physical senses, but there is a spiritual hearing that comes only through our inner spirit. Faith comes by hearing (natural hearing) and hearing (spiritual hearing) by the Rhema (Spirit-quickening Word) of God. Our spirit is the lamp of the Lord and is the place that God illuminates and gives revelation (Prov 20:27; I Cor 2:9-11). This spiritual hearing comes primarily through meditation. By hearing the Truth over and over again (applying our heart), we place ourselves in a position of hearing from the Spirit. How do we know we heard from the Spirit? The Truth will become a pleasant thing, in other words, we will be excited over what we hear and develop deep confidence. If we are not excited over what we hear, we need to continue to hear and meditate until we are fully enlightened.

The third key aspect of trusting God is to confess the Word of God. The Word of God not only needs to be in our heart, it must be firmly fixed upon our lips. Romans 10:8 tells us that the Word of faith is near us, even in our mouth and in our heart. II Corinthians 4:13 says, "But since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak." There are numerous references throughout the Bible on the importance of our Words. What comes out of our mouth can either bring life of death (Prov 18:21). We cannot say that we are trusting in God when our mouth is full of words that contradict the Word of God. We must speak only what the Word of God says in our situation regardless of what we see or what we feel. Trusting in God is trusting in His Word and will bring success as summed up in Joshua 1:8, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."