I WILL TRUST IN THE LORD

“…Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14 (KJV)

 

Have you ever notice how little children are so trusting and believe everything people tell them? This unconditional belief is because they have not been tainted by life’s experiences that prove people, even parents, siblings and other adults in their lives may not be trustworthy. They have not been taught the horrible truth that sometimes the very people you need to trust in the most are the most untrustworthy. They still believe as Ann Frank wrote: “…that people are really good at heart.”

 

Through life lessons, most adults have learned that some people are not worthy of our trust. Some of us have learned this lesson so well that trust in anyone is a difficult task.

 

Lack of trust has destroyed families, ruined friendships and shipwrecked many hearts. It causes us not to believe anything we hear and only half of what we see. This lack of trust has most certainly affected our walk with Christ.

 

Our Christianity is based on the belief and trust that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, that He died to set us free from sin and death and to redeem us back to God the Father. Yet, when we run into difficulties we find ourselves leaning to our own understanding rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our path. We find ourselves trusting in what we used to do, how we were raised and the advice of our friends and family rather than the Word of God.

 

Why so much lack of trust in Jesus? Because, if the truth be told, most of us don’t know Him well enough to put our trust in Him. Oh, we know His name, we know a few Bible stories about Him, but we lack a close personal and intimate relationship and continued fellowship with Him.

 

We don’t spend time cultivating a relationship that would cause us to trust Him. Our prayer times are hits and misses and our Bible study time is either non-existent or “catch as catch can.” But we have not committed the time to really get to know the person we call our Savior and Lord.

 

If you’ve ever dated someone that you really cared about, you often found yourself giving up something so that you could spend more time with them. Over time, you found that rather than giving up things you enjoyed, you incorporated the person of your affection into your life to such an extent that everything you did, everywhere you went, and even much of your thought life was about them. And through this process you found that your trust in the person grew.

 

This is the kind of relationship we should have with Jesus. Unfortunately, in our Christ walk, we find that the relationship usually goes in the opposite direction. When we first accept Christ we are so happy and gung-ho that nothing can stand in our way. But, as time goes on, we lose our prayer life, stop studying the Bible, and our trust in Him drops off to nothing.

 

In the passage of scripture quoted at the top of the post, Jesus is clear that we must be like children in order to get into the heavenly realm. We must have child-like trust and unwavering faith in Him. Why? Because as we live out our faith walk there are going to be trials we must go through and difficulties that we must overcome in order to grow and become the Christian God has ordained us to be. Without complete trust, faith and confidence in God through Christ, we cannot move to a higher plan in Christ.

 

How do you get on your road to trust in Christ?

 

1. Set a time to meet with God in prayer everyday. DO NOT LET ANYTHING OR ANYONE STOP YOU FROM YOUR APPOINTED MEETING TIME. Take your phone off the hook, let the answering machine pick it up, make sure your children are in bed and that your spouse is watching his or her favorite television program. BUT DON’T GET SIDE TRACKED. This may mean you have to get up a few minutes early, take part of your lunch hour and find a quiet place to pray or turn off the radio in your car during your commute. No matter what time you commit to, STICK WITH IT.

 

2. Start attending Bible study at your home church. If you don’t have a home church or your church doesn’t have Bible study check into some Bible studies at churches near your home. Ignore the denomination; go and check it out. If they are teaching the Word of God – go with it.

 

3. You can tune into PrayLive, a 24 hour prayer line and e-worship center. You can join PrayLive at www.praylive.com or you can call them at 443-921-0098 code 7729. I teach the It’s Still Relative Bible Study is from 9 to 10 PM each Sunday evening and our church hosts the Shiloh Hour of Prayer Power on Sunday evenings from 10 to 11 PM each Sunday.

 

4. Realize that God made you a promise in Joshua 1:5 when He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” In times of difficulties or problems you can pray that promise this way: “God said He would never leave me nor forsake me, even now He’s with me. I can trust Him to be with me always and in all things.”

 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.” Proverbs 3:3-5 (NIV)

 

 

Grace and peace,

First Lady Anita Wamble