The Ingredients of Trust

 

We Have to Know God!

Trusting God is learned behavior. We trust someone because we know that person. We believe whatever that person tells us is true. We have to KNOW that God is always steadfast and can always be trusted by His children.

We Must Be Patient

When we give something to God in prayer, we must be patient and wait for Him to act. I love the King James word for patient-long-suffering. In the Bible Study I attend, a gentleman said something about trust. He then said trusting involves waiting. This gentleman is correct in his thinking, To totally, absolutely trust God, we have to wait for Him to work.

We Must Believe that He Will Act on Our Requests.

Trust also involves reliance on the Lord. We cannot say we trust Him and decide to “do it our way”. When we choose to go our own way with a project or a simple action, we tell Him, as well as those around us, that we do not truly follow Him and His leading.

Now, just because we ask Him for something, He might not answer our prayer as we would like. might not think we are ready for the answer we ask. He may have something better in store for us. Maybe His answer is “Yes”, maybe it is “No”. Maybe it is “Not right now!” Whatever His answer to our petitions, He knows best and acts on our behalf.

Listening to or Hearing God

The Lord came and stood there,

calling as at the other times,

“Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

1 Samuel 3:10 (NIV)

Sometimes we hear words in our ears, hearts, or minds and dismiss them. Other times, we hear a thought in a sermon and decide it is meant for someone else.

We hear rain falling. We hear our children crying or are rejoicing but these are two different levels of hearing. We must intently listen to our loved ones as they speak of their sadness or happiness. They sometimes give us instruction that we need to heed.

In the Bible, Samuel hears a voice calling him. He runs to Eli and asks what Eli wanted with him. After the third time of this, Eli realizes that the Lord is calling Samuel. He tells Samuel to tell God, “Speak, I am listening”.

Do we truly listen to the Lord when He speaks to us? I know I could do better in listening to God and to His other children.

Asking God

 

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 Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and will find; knock, and it will be opened.

 Matthew 7:7 (NKJV)

 As children of God, we can repeatedly ask Him to do or bring about something for us. We can approach His throne any time we need to about any need we have. On the day I polished this essay, I had called a friend and left a message. She called me back. In the course of our conversation, she told me she had a prayer request to share with me. She asked that I make the request to others without using the person’s name. I understood the prefaced her petition to me. I will make this request anonymously when I contact others for prayer. 

 Yet, you do not receive because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss. James 4:2 (NKJV) 

 There are times we lack something we desire because we either don’t know how to ask or we forget to ask. Then, there are times we may ask wrongly. Sometimes, a person might not know that he or she can ask God for what is lacking in their lives. 

 When I was growing up, I had a favorite singer. He was going to be at the Indiana State Fair for a second year. I asked my parents if we could go. My dad told several of his friends that I wanted to go see that singer. These friends asked the same question, “Why didn’t you go last year?” Every time, his answer was the same, “She didn’t ask!” My mother, my grandmother and I went to see my favorite singer (at that time) perform. What I didn’t know was my parents would have taken me the year before, had I asked. Sometimes, we assume we know the answer to what we would ask. However, we really don’t know how God is going to answer. We have to learn to rely on His love to do what He believes is beneficial for us.

Thank You, Lord

 

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in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)

We have entered the season of giving thanks. What do we have to be thankful for? Thee are several things each of us have received and must give thanks to God for:

* Our Salvation

* Our lives

* Our families

* Our Friends

* Our health

* Our neighbors

* Those that keep us safe

When I was in third grade, my teacher talked to us about the Thanksgiving holiday. She said; “Thanksgiving is a day for us to give thanks for what we have, even if it’s peanut butter and jelly.” I remembered what she said several years ago.

Sometimes we get so ‘caught up’ with focusing on the material ‘things’ in our lives, we forget that these things are temporary, they could be taken away from us in an instant.

A part of our nation went through two hurricanes this fall. In western North Carolina there are towns in the mountains that are no longer there. The residents lost everything.Years ago, there was a message that was on the Internet that asked; “If you lost everything, home,car, belonging, would you still have Jesus?” Those people in the North Carolina mountains are living this.

I say all this to remind each of us that we must be grateful for everything God gives us.

Who Do We Trust?

 

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord

These four words tell me that we are to do as they say. My question is; “Do we actually trust God for all things?”

As I write this, our nation awaits the outcome of a presidential election. This election cycle has been difficult to read about.

Also, our world seems very close to several more major conflicts that seem to cause predictions of another World War, thought to be nuclear.

As I see it, we truly need to Truly Rely Upon the Savior’s Timing.

As I sit here, I await a phone call from our son. He will tell his dad of a medical lab test he had done. My husband is not well and does not realize the danger he is in himself.

All I can do is pray and trust God for the outcome.

<B>with ALL your heart </B>

We humans have a tendency to hold back from one another. If we ask someone; “How are you?” We might hear: “I’m good!” When I hear this I often wonder if that person is truly all right. When I am asked that question I need to answer; “Living one day at a time.” Or “Trusting the Lord.”

We must trust the Lord without fail. I believe that, if we would practice trusting Him to that extent, we would be better representatives of Him to the world.

lean not on your own understanding.

We are finite beings. God is infinite. We know not even a thimbleful of what God knows. We grouse about things when those things don’t turn out as we would like.It is possible that we truly did not know that what we desired was not good for us at that time.

October Reflections

 

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October Weather

We had all kinds of weather here in Indiana. The leaves were interesting; some changed colors and some stayed green. Some just fell off their limbs due to the drought. I collected some to show when I had Children’s Moments. I may do something for a Thanksgiving wreath.

Pastor Rick’s Message

On October 27^th. Our pastor chose to celebrate his birthday by sharing with the congregation his story about his stroke. He told his version and every once in a while his wife, Cheryl, told what really went on.

He told of incidents that some people did not know about.

Our Church as a Voting Center

Our church has been used as an early voting center for some time, General and Primary elections. This election, people have to stand in line. The first day, the people had to stand in line for an hour and 45 minutes. One day they had 1,000 people vote, on two other days they had 500.

Re-Reading a Devotional Book

I have a special devotional book that I have gotten back into. <I>disciplines for the inner life</I> compiled by Michael Benson Sr. and his son. Michael Benson. What brought me back to it was my searching for thoughts on prayer. (It is my desire to have a prayer retreat in late spring of 2025.)

Getting Back to Regular Blogging

I plan on getting back to regular blogging this month (November). Just been on the lazy side. I have had personal concerns and concerns about my family and my church.

A spiritual experience

Right near the end of October, I received a phone call from our son. He had to see a specialist due to some lab results that came back. I felt very confused about all that seemed to be going on around me. I was looking up scriptures on prayer. Romans 8:26 came ro me. How the Holy Spirit will go to the Lord on our behalf.

I texted a few of my friends and asked them to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help me. (Praise the LORD!) My mind and my heart cleared as I received responses from my friends that they were praying.

Two days later, our son called me and told me that the issue he faced can be treated by medication.

How Do We Pray?

 

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if My people who are called by My name

will humble themselves, and pray

and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,

then I will hear from heaven,

and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)

When we pray to God, do we ask Him to approve our plans or do we ask Him to guide us in the way He wants us to go?

According to what I read in the above scripture:

1.) We must humble ourselves. Admit that we are imperfect, and we do not know it all.

2.) We must pray to Him, seeking <I>His</I> guidance.

3.) We must spend quantity time talking to God. We are not to make it a practice of praying “on the run”. We are not supposed to have an attitude of “catch You later, God.”

4.) We must repent (turn away) from our sinful, evil ways.

5.) God tells us if we take these steps, He will (a) hear from heaven, (b) forgive our sins, and (c) 

 heal our land.

The above thoughts have become more real to me recently. I find that these thoughts and this question confront me when I have an issue with a topic or an issue that is close to my heart.