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Anonymous

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FAITH IS HUMBLE TRUST (Apr 27, 2008)

Prayer Request:

FAITH IS HUMBLE TRUST

The highest level of faith is trust because it goes beyond our own understanding.

Jesus quoted from Micah 6:8, which named the three “weightier matters” of the law:

Jesus carefully linked His Father’s ancient requirements for greatness named by Micah the prophet with the most important issues in life: judgment, mercy, and faith toward God.

Although Micah says humility is a requirement for greatness, Jesus substituted the corresponding and parallel virtue of faith in His rebuke in Matthew 23. Humility and faith are directly related to one another.

“How do they correspond, preacher?” The highest level of faith is trust. Trust requires great humility because it requires you to believe God’s promises when you have no human understanding of how God will accomplish His promise.

After every promise has been rehearsed and you have searched desperately for God’s hand in your life with no avail, always remember, you can trust God’s heart.

God teaches us how to trust Him in all things. That is what pleases God. Humble trust is demonstrated by an obedience to God’s Word before having a revelation of it. In the middle of trials and temptations, t rust will obey God without needing all the answers.

It should go without saying that God is trustworthy. He not only has our best interests in mind, but He has proven it through His loving acts of mercy and sacrifice throughout history! No one can really obey the commands of God unless they cross the great hurdle of trust. Much of what happens to us that we do not understand occurs because God just wants to bring us home safely. Be prepared for miracles when you pray, “Order my steps in your Word, O Lord, and let no sin have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:133).

God has designed us to believe His Word, to honor it, to quote it, and to live it. When we pray and believe His Word, He has promised to perform it. We have the responsibility to know and understand what God’s Word says about our lives. What happens when we can’t hear what God is saying specifically about our situation or problem? What happens when all the Scriptures we have prayed over and truly believe are not producing results? That is when we trust. We never stop believing God’s Word and what He promised. We recognize that He is faithful to His promise, but in the meantime what is being developed in us is a greater good-faith and patience. It’s great to see immediate answers to prayer and instant miracles when we believe. But perhaps it takes a greater faith to put your faith in the Lord and trust Him when you don’t understand His ways. It should give us great peace to know that we don’t have to be in control because God is in control.

Our God is jealous for our attention and affection. Sometimes He gradually removes things in our lives that keep us from totally loving and trusting Him. In Jeremiah 18:4 the Lord told Jeremiah, “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”

Our biggest struggle is when God makes another vessel and He uses the hammer of His Word or the fire of His Spirit. The molding process can hurt! We think, “If God really loves me, He would bless me.” But we have to realize and accept that His Word declares: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19a). God knows what love really is. It’s not merely a feeling. God’s love toward us provokes us to change to become more like Him. God’s love chastens us in order to make the insignificant into the important, the irrelevant into true reality, the nobodies and the nothings into great big somebodies and somethings. When we truly become the vessel that God has chosen us to be, it won’t really matter what we have.

Many of Christ’s followers never advance to the greatness of their callig because thy look for the immediate blessing of faith rather than trusting God when He is silent. God is as faithful in His silence as He is when He is talking. Those silent times teach us the depth of faith, which is trust.

God has perfect and gracious intentions for us. No matter what He asks or commands us to do, when we trust Him it is not difficult to obey because we know that “Father knows best.”

God builds basic trust in us as He patiently deals with our imperfections. He even models everything He wants to see established in us! He teaches us gentleness and tolerance by patiently working with out inconsistencies. Jesus gave His own life for us out of pure love and gave us the supreme example of giving. He also teaches us grace by mercifully making allowances for our strong wills until we can trust His Word of simplicity:

In the initial stages of building trust, a little child will ask many questions. God patiently explains many things to us, and He even condescends to graciously reason with us-creatures whose intellect is not remotely on par with His, and whose questions are nearly always tainted with self interest, excuses, or impure motives. “What is man that thou shouldest magnify him? And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?” (Job 7:17). God’s desire is to reveal Himself to us so clearly that we know His character and are sure His intentions for us are good, in order that we will instantly and joyfully trust and obey Him exactly as Jesus did.

As we learn about trust, our heavenly Father reveals His forbearance towards us by allowing us a certain amount of liberty to err in order to show us how to minister grace to others. Some people find it harder to trust than others because their natural wills and fleshly tendencies are stronger and more obvious. God gains their trust by meeting them at their level.

An example can be the best teacher for some of us. God’s abundant tolerance for human weaknesses establishes a rich foundations of trust that is described in 1^st Peter 5:2-4:

Teachers and ministers who are wise enough to balance the need to guide and instruct with tolerance and understanding are able to minimize fear and condemnation in those they lead. On the other hand, those who put a heavy emphasis on concepts of “headship” and “rule” could be more concerned with corporate management than with personal leadership. They may emphasize headship at the cost of personal growth and loving relationships. This can produce fear and misunderstanding in those they lead.

Fear and torment thrive when people must live under the threat of heavy punishment. God, however, wants us not to fear but to trust Him. Greater trust in a relationship produces greater submission in a relationship.

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3) It takes trust and a willingness for us to humbly walk with God. The Lord purposely describes us as His children and Himself as our Father, for that is the clearest image of the relationship He has desired from the beginning. Just as Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day, our Father God longs to walk with us every day of our lives.

Trust is the deepest form of faith because it goes beyond our own understanding. When we trust God, our lives reflect a humble and single minded walk through life based on the simple fact that nothing can separate us from the love of our God.

Trust is expressed when you make choices that are contrary to your human will or thought, and when you choose to follow the values of God instead of human reasoning. Every time you choose to believe God instead of circumstances, and every time you stand on your belief that God has a destiny for you no matter how long it takes to fulfill it, you are demonstrating humble trust. God is blessed when you choose to believe that you are what God says you are! You are powerful, not pitiful. You are loved, not lacking. You are received, not rejected!

How do we build trusting relationships? What helps trust to flourish and grow? Since trust is a foundation in relationships, here are a few facts that help us develop trust.

Trust grows when we stay faithful to our promises to others. God has given us His Word, and He has never failed to honor it. He commands us to follow His example and “swear to our own hurt and change not” (Psalm 15:4). He wants us to keep our given word as diligently as He does, and God “hastens over it to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12).

Trust thrives in the presence of joy. God rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah           

3:17). He loves being with us. Our trust in God deepens as we see His rich sense of humor. When we see how relaxed God is on His throne, then we can relax and trust that life is good.

Trust grows as we share intimate times together. God says, “Be still, and know that I am God…”(Psalm 46:10). The most precious moment in life is when God speaks to us personally. Insecure people always feel compelled to be busy or to talk when there is a lull in a conversation. God wants us to wait on Him, to hear His voice, and to know Him better through those times of intimacy.

Trust grows as we realize that God is sensitive and has feelings too. God demonstrated His infinite trustworthiness through the greatest love letter ever written. His footprints in the dusty roads of Israel and the blood trail leading to the hill of the skull openly declare God’s unequalled love for our fallen race!

Trust grows as we learn to understand God’s way of thinking. God does nothing through force or compulsion. We are not puppets on a string because God gave us the right of choice. We are loved, accepted, and even encouraged to become great in God’s eyes.

The first characteristic of trust is obedience. Obedience is a characteristic of trust. When there is a genuine love that exists in a relationship, obedient submission is much easier. We desire to serve those we love. When we obey at the times when it is risky, true trust is demonstrated.

When Gad came to David in the cave of Adullam, David was comfortable and safe there. But, “the prophet Gad said unto David, abide not in the hold; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah” (1^st Samuel 22:5a). Adullam was a stronghold, which is a place where water was in abundance and food was stored. It was also a secure military base.

When we are in our own secure place of abundance, provision, and protection, then it is hard to move on to another place. God will often require us to move out of the comfort zone to a discomfort zone in order to develop trust in our character.

Comfortable Christian living and trusting in the ways of man do not produce the God-kind of faith. When things get uncomfortable as a Christian, just know that God is working some greatness in your life. He’s teaching you to trust Him above your own abilities, strengths, and provisions. He wants us to know that He is all you really need.

The second characteristic of trust is joy. This means that no matter what circumstances look like, if you are trusting God, you have an inner joy because you now God is your provider, protector, peacemaker, and the possessor of your life.

When everything in life seems like it’s falling and failing, the one who trust in God can laugh. Joy and peace are evidences that the Kingdom of God is ruling in our lives. Christian joy does not have its roots in success or failure, abundance or lack, good times or bad. Joy springs up in our hearts because it knows the salvation and deliverance that comes from God

The third characteristic of trust is fruitfulness. Jesus looked at the fig tree and cursed it from the roots up because it was barren. He said, “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:19-20).

Jesus didn’t say we’d know them by their works. He said we would know them by their fruit. Why? Because you can counterfeit works, but you can’t counterfeit fruit. Fruit is a result of what our trust is rooted in. It is a result of our attitude toward God.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance….”(Galatians 5:22-23).

Fruitfulness is characterized by our commitments: Some Christians are floatful instead of fruitful. That means rather than staying in one place with the same people and bearing fruit, they float from place to place living off the fruits of others. God calls this type of wandering spirit a curse. Such people look at life somewhat like a lottery. If they could just find the perfect church, the perfect mate, the perfect job, or the perfect friends, they will be fruitful.

Life is not a lottery. Life is a garden in which whatever we plant and tend bears fruit. God says in Psalm 92:13, “Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.” The only real way to bear lasting fruit is to plant yourself and let God allow you to bloom where you are planted

Fruitfulness has its foundation in trust. That’s the reason God emphasizes to parents the need to train up their children in the way that they should go-when they are old they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). Parents that do not sow into their children’s lives do an injustice to them.

Knowing God is the only way to really trust Him. Take time right now to get to know Him. Do you want to progress toward knowing the greatness of God? Put everything aside for awhile and get alone with the Great One. Let His Spirit rub off on you. Let Him change you. It’s what you have been waiting for. It’s the thing you have been searching for. It is what really matters.

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