Trusting God is THE foundation of your relationship with him, and it establishes a place to develop and grow faith.  Faith is a muscle that can to be trained, but just like any other muscle development, it takes work.

 

I have learned over the years, that faith is necessary to follow God.  I know, way to state the obvious, right?  I know, stay with me.

 

Faith is the product of your choice to trust him and his response to that act of worship.  When you yield and surrender it all before his throne, it is the most fragrant offering that attracts him like no other thing.  Trusting God activates and stirs up faith.  Your choice to lay it all out for him opens the door for an increase. That’s how faith grows.

 

When I think about strengthening my faith, I always track it back to this question—do I trust God?  Go ahead and look at a current problem or hardship in your life and apply the question in that context, where do you land?

 

Listen, it’s okay to be honest.  God likes your honesty, even when it’s ugly.  Honesty is the fruit of humility, which clears the way for truth.  God can work with your honesty; it’s the lies that block it all up.

 

Trusting God is the choice that activates faith, but there are also some helpful habits that you can do to help strengthen and develop that faith muscle.

 

 

Trusting God: When Nothing Makes Sense

 

Three years ago, while on a ministry trip to Guatemala, I received a prophetic word from one of the intercessor at the church where we ministered.  She told me that every time I led worship, the LORD gave her a prophetic picture of me.

 

In this picture I was very pregnant, ready to give birth, but not in the natural.  This “baby” was a new thing that God was going to birth out of me. After she shared this word, she encouraged me to press into the victory songs of King David, which I understood as the Psalms.

 

Let me back up a bit and give you some context.  This was a difficult time for me.  I was still trying to find footing after suddenly losing my father earlier that year.  I was tired and I felt like my emotional tank was pretty low.  Spiritually, I was pressing in, but I just felt lost and unqualified to do anything.  So, in light of all that this prophetic word felt a little unnerving.

 

Let me just say, that if you find yourself in this state—broken and messed up—you are not alone.  This is a hard place to stand and find footing, because it literally feels like life is a tsunami, rushing in with the full force of destruction.  But the truth is bigger than all of that.  God loves you and He never abandons you to the circumstances.

 

Trusting God when nothing makes sense is an excellent definition of faith.  I know, it’s hard, but it’s totally doable.  In my case, I simply received this prophetic word, laid it out before the LORD, and determined not to worry about what I didn’t understand.  You see, God always reveals the details in the right time.

 

 

 

 

Trusting God: When Details are in Short Supply

 

Later that summer a visiting missionary came to share about what God was doing with her team in their corner of the world (Location not disclosed for the safety of the mission team).  I think I literally played and ministered on the piano for hours that night, so when I stepped down to just rest in the presence of LORD, this beautiful woman of God came and sat with me.

 

We chatted quietly as the Holy Spirit continued to minister around us.  I didn’t really plan to unload my heart, it just sorta happened.  I confessed my curiosity about the prophetic word I’d been given a month earlier and shared that as I prayed into it more over the weeks, the LORD had reminded me of other words given to me over the years.

 

I experienced some breakthrough that last week, so I felt cautiously optimistic.  We sat in silence for a moment or two and then she burst out laughing.  As our eyes met she leaned in and said, “Big Baby, Maureen—BIG Baby!”

 

I laughed out loud as I let the words sink in.  This woman, who had only known me as we sat on the front pew of the church that night, prayed and ministered to me.  God spoke through her in such a profound way, that it shifted how I practice my faith.

 

She simply said this: Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.  This woman of God continued to speak saying, “Just as a woman in labor has to fix her eyes on a focal point to get through the intensity of contractions, so it is for you. Trusting God is active and you need to keep your eyes on Jesus and Maureen not just you, Ryan (my husband) too.”

 

 

 

 

Trusting God: Cutting Down the Idol of Self-Sufficiency

 

Okay, let’s get real.  How do you do all that?  Trusting God when nothing makes sense or the details are few and far between is never easy.  Believing and following his direction and leadership in life can feel impossible especially when the circumstances of the season contradict everything you’ve ever thought you’ve learned about God.  Your faith will grow as you trust God.

 

Trusting God means cutting down the idol of self-sufficiency.  Ugh.  I know that sounds pretty gross, right?  I am not accusing, I’m simply exposing the way of the enemy.  He likes to distort and contradict truth and he’s willing to do it any way he can.  Eve, who walked in perfect fellowship with God in the garden wasn’t even immune to the cunning lies of self-sufficiency.

 

So there is no shaming here, because the goal is always to get to the heart of the Father.  Trusting God opens the way for light and truth to take root, but it means you have to cut down your belief that you’ve got it all under control.  Because, can I be honest, you don’t have under control—not even close.

 

Trusting God is the first step to developing your faith, but understand it is never a once and done thing.  This is an active, organic choice that you must learn to apply to everything.  This is how you cut down the idol of self-sufficiency.  You continually submit everything before the LORD and wait patiently for him to act.

 

“Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.” Psalm 37:5

 

 

 

(Habit #1) Trusting God: Keep Your Eyes Fixed On Jesus

 

Faith is the product of a heart that trusts.  Trust is active and practiced as you keep your eyes fixed on him.

 

Fixing your eyes is not an easy exercise to learn.  I’ve learned as I teach my piano students to read music that the BEST way to get through it successfully is to literally read the score, one note at a time. So, I teach them, painstakingly, to train their eyes to recognize each note.

 

Trusting God is much the same and fixing your eyes on him requires discipline and practice.  There is no way to actively trust the LORD unless you submit and surrender it all to him.  If you submit and surrender your doubt, fear, and disappointment the only thing left for you to do is to look up.

 

When you fix your eyes on Jesus it means you wait on him.  You strip off doubt and fear (which is sin) and you set your eyes on Jesus, waiting for God to do what you can’t do anyway.   Start by asking God to help you.  How easy is that?

 

After that night in the church with my missionary friend I began to ask God to teach me how to keep my eyes fixed on him.  I realized that this was about digging into deeper degrees of trust; it was an invitation to trust him more.

 

I disciplined myself to intentionally turn my attention to Jesus before anything else, and I started by simply speaking his name.  I remember waking up early, while the world was still dark, and the first word I spoke was Jesus’ name. This is still my practice.  When I wake up to other things I intentionally push them away, speak the name of Jesus and wait for him to act.

 

 

 

 

(Habit #2) Trusting God: Learn to Identify the Lies

 

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

 

Trusting God means you have to learn to identify the lies that set you back and shut them down. This is the part of the battle that only you can do.  God will pursue you relentlessly and unapologetically, but he won’t force his way.  He waits for your permission.

 

God isn’t sneaky and obscure.  His desire is for all of his creation to be restored, so he doesn’t hide or make it complicated. God speaks truth and reveals himself all around, but he never violates your will to choose him.  Here’s the problem: when you come into agreement with lies you open the door and give the enemy permission to come in and wreak havoc.

 

The enemy is also relentless in his pursuit of your attention, but not because he cares about you.  His plan is always about how to take you down.  He is jealous of your relationship with the Father and will stop at nothing to hurt you.  Learn to recognize the lies so you can cut them off.

 

You have to do the hard work of this battle, which is not really what you think it should be.  The only way to recognize a lie is to be intimately aware of what the truth is.  God will renew your mind and increase your faith, but you must guard your heart and mind with truth.  You do this as you develop intimacy with God.  If you want to know the ways of God, you have to know the heart of God.

 

 

 

 

(Habit #3) Trusting God: Wrap Yourself in His Promises

 

“He will cover you with his feathers.  He will shelter you with his wings.  His faithful promises are you armor and protection.” Psalm 91:4

 

This is one of my favorite verses-ever!  The LORD gave me this verse during a long season of learning about his idea of rest.  The very picture of promises being a shield and defense inspired me to dig out all of his promises.  If you’ve never thought about it before, then press in and ask the LORD to reveal his promises.

 

Like I said before, if you want to know the ways of God, you have to know his heart.  Trusting God is the active choice to take hold of his testimony and witness.  His truth is a shield.  So when the enemy comes at you with a lie, you hold up the truth and send him out.

 

Trusting God means you wrap yourself up in the promises and let the truth establish your defense.  God will increase your faith, as you lean into him.

 

 

 

 

Here’s the thing about habits.  In order to be classified a habit; there must be an established repetition of the practice.  In other words, none of this is once and done.  These are habits that you want to incorporate in your daily life, because faith gets bigger and better the more it’s practiced.