Trust, Hope, Faith.....

The LORD is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trust in Him with all my heart.” (Psalm 28:7).

It is interesting to me the path we take in our trust walk with God. That’s what so much of our relationship with Christ depends upon doesn’t it? Not that his power is measured by anything we do, but the realization that having been given free will, we have a choice to fully trust Him or not. It is a simple but difficult truth we will struggle with our entire lives. I have been blessed to know and love some amazing people in my life who exude this amazing persona of boundless faith and trust in God. I confess there have been moments in my life when I found myself envious of those who seem to have a stronger faith, a better trust in God than I have. I have learned by getting to know the depth of their faith walk, that in fact they had to endure some significant pruning in their own lives to get to that place of deeper faith and significant trust in our Father God. We have so much to learn from one another, if we simply choose to stop fretting, yapping, groaning, lingering about what we don’t understand and don’t possess ourselves, and be willing to listen and learn.

I think at some point when we have accomplished much and gained a level of “success” that boosts our confidence in this life, humility fades and pride threatens to take over what was intended to be a place where only the Holy Spirit resides. We have to be cautious and wise as we walk through this life, to ensure even when we hit the mark and meet those goals we set for ourselves to accomplish, that we keep our priorities in line. He is first, He deserves first, He is intended to be first in every area of our lives. The desire to be the best, to hold that #1 spot in life, to get the trophies, the headlines, the notoriety, puff up the chest and beat it declaring, “I’ve done it! I am the winner! I am the best!”, well, gets you something, that’s for sure. At the end of that, what remains? Where do you truly stand? All that stuff is great, but I want my life to have far more eternal significance, don’t you?

When we commit to a relationship with Christ, we need to adopt a persona far more humble. There is not enough humility being exampled in our world today. There is a whole lot of pride being vomited upon us every day through social media, community and world events, politics, etc. I personally have grown far more concerned about how we are arming ourselves with the Truth of the Gospel, and seeking out the truth in what our country and our world needs, than getting on my soapbox about what upsets me most in the day’s latest events. I would much rather put my time and efforts to best use in prayer, than in blasting my opinion about something all over the internet. When God doesn’t respond to our prayers as we expect, are we quick to jump on social media and moan and groan about how bad we’ve got it?

Here’s reality: We are selfish and incredibly foolish, and we will often fail more than we succeed BUT God is faithful, God is good and His timing and purpose are absolutely perfect! You say you don’t understand, you are overwhelmed, you need this one thing so very badly and if it doesn’t work out by this date/time, well then, you’re done. There’s no hope. That’s the end of it. Guess what? That’s not the end of it and there is hope. There is always hope. Our hope is built on Jesus, and when we CHOOSE to wait, listen, pray……wait, listen, pray…..wait, listen, pray…….

HE WILL PROVIDE.

What do we gain when we act impulsively and out of desperation? Is your problem solved? Not likely.

Our faith is built, our trust is built, our hope is built, on nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness….

I wholly lean on His name! Are you leaning WHOLLY on His name?