Starting my day, I wrote out my favorite verse in my journal to just starting thinking on truth. But I missed a line! I first wrote: "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." I knew something was wrong, and it took me a second. I then inserted "for I have put my trust in You" appropriately after "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love." It reminded me that trusting God has been an issue for me recently. It might be one of those underlying struggles we all have now and then, but it has been pretty overt for me this season.
Getting it wrong made me think about that little line I missed and what I've been learning about trusting God. Worry & anxiety prove a lack of or a misplaced trust. Every time I reason with myself, the solution I arrive to is that we have reason to trust God because of the blood spilled by His One and Only Son. It wasn't just any blood. It was the atonement for our sins - a sufficient grace, a worthy sacrifice in our Father's eyes. Worry is the evidence, not the cause, of a wrongful doubt. It is a scheme to mentally unravel a situation over which we lack control. It is hopeless, useless, and at its core, a sin.
Those three words alone are worth obeying, even without the loving explanation that follows them, because of the character of the One who spoke them. If you want to waste the hours of your precious life away, denying the sufficiency of God's grace for you, moving towards powerlessness rather than ability, then by all means, spend time worrying. Counting all the things that may cause you to dread and fear the enemy's work in the world - the work of the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, the one who is the father of all lies.
When you worry, even though things might turn out "all right" and your loved ones are safe & sound in the end, surely he has still won something against you. When you worry, you allow him to steal precious time you could have given for the Kingdom's sake in intercession. When you worry, you allow him to kill your spirits, the hope of your heart in Christ in those hours. Of course, Jesus is no man that might be held by death - He is the Resurrection & the Life. So when you decide that worry is a waste of time and a waste of life, a destructive instrument to your mind, then REPENT of your worrying, for you have sinned. You may not see physical evidence in the given situation - but there is spiritual evidence in you of a very real disobedience to God. Turn to the Lord Jesus, and tell Him not just that you trust Him, but that He is worth trusting. Tell Him that His grace is sufficient for you. Ask Him to make His power perfect in your weakness. Ask Him to resurrect your hope in Him. Love Him well, because He made you. He holds your life, and the stars, and all the world in His gentle Hands, directed by His infinite wisdom. Can you not trust that Man? Who breathed His last at Golgotha, thinking only of the joy set before Him. Can you not trust Him?
Believe that the Holy Spirit empowers you for PRAYER, and believe that prayer really means something in the heavenly realm. Do that thing that you are able to do--PRAY, LOVE, HOPE--and let the Lord take care of everything else. He is able. He is able to mobilize other believers and even motivate unbelievers to do His will at times. One with God is the majority. There is victory in Jesus, Jesus only. Believe that, and be satisfied by Him.
Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love,
For I have put my trust in You;
Show me the way I should go,
For to You I lift up my soul.
other translations say "For to You I entrust my life."
{I. love. this verse. So much. Psalm 143}
Getting it wrong made me think about that little line I missed and what I've been learning about trusting God. Worry & anxiety prove a lack of or a misplaced trust. Every time I reason with myself, the solution I arrive to is that we have reason to trust God because of the blood spilled by His One and Only Son. It wasn't just any blood. It was the atonement for our sins - a sufficient grace, a worthy sacrifice in our Father's eyes. Worry is the evidence, not the cause, of a wrongful doubt. It is a scheme to mentally unravel a situation over which we lack control. It is hopeless, useless, and at its core, a sin.
"Do not worry..." - Matthew, chapter 6
- Can you believe that? How dare the Bible take away
the one thing I know to do when things get tough!
Worrying is the only thing I can do!
I can fix it if I could just think of a way...
I can, I can! - . . . WRONG.
Those three words alone are worth obeying, even without the loving explanation that follows them, because of the character of the One who spoke them. If you want to waste the hours of your precious life away, denying the sufficiency of God's grace for you, moving towards powerlessness rather than ability, then by all means, spend time worrying. Counting all the things that may cause you to dread and fear the enemy's work in the world - the work of the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, the one who is the father of all lies.
When you worry, even though things might turn out "all right" and your loved ones are safe & sound in the end, surely he has still won something against you. When you worry, you allow him to steal precious time you could have given for the Kingdom's sake in intercession. When you worry, you allow him to kill your spirits, the hope of your heart in Christ in those hours. Of course, Jesus is no man that might be held by death - He is the Resurrection & the Life. So when you decide that worry is a waste of time and a waste of life, a destructive instrument to your mind, then REPENT of your worrying, for you have sinned. You may not see physical evidence in the given situation - but there is spiritual evidence in you of a very real disobedience to God. Turn to the Lord Jesus, and tell Him not just that you trust Him, but that He is worth trusting. Tell Him that His grace is sufficient for you. Ask Him to make His power perfect in your weakness. Ask Him to resurrect your hope in Him. Love Him well, because He made you. He holds your life, and the stars, and all the world in His gentle Hands, directed by His infinite wisdom. Can you not trust that Man? Who breathed His last at Golgotha, thinking only of the joy set before Him. Can you not trust Him?
"The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent."
John 6:29
Believe that the Holy Spirit empowers you for PRAYER, and believe that prayer really means something in the heavenly realm. Do that thing that you are able to do--PRAY, LOVE, HOPE--and let the Lord take care of everything else. He is able. He is able to mobilize other believers and even motivate unbelievers to do His will at times. One with God is the majority. There is victory in Jesus, Jesus only. Believe that, and be satisfied by Him.
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