Want More Faith and Less Worry in 2019?
A Practical Tidbit On How To Trust God In Life For All Of Living Life
Some people are enamored with preaching. I’m not! I really and truly love preaching on the one hand but I don’t like it on the other hand. The reason that I don’t like it is because as I study this wonderful perfect word many of my sins and issues are revealed and in some ways my preaching is a pontification of my hypocrisy. I do however strive to live life in light of the gospel even though often I fail. With that said this Sunday’s sermon has prompted me to practice even more what I preach. I stated in Sunday’s sermon that having a good year is more determined by how we honor and glorify Jesus in all things as we live this life by faith. Therefore I want to share a few tidbits on some practical ways that we can apply the principles of living all of life by faith to my own life. We can trust God
I. Because of who He is - One of God’s attributes is His sovereignty meaning that God controls everything. For me I have some concerns and some desires of which I have been petitioning him about. One concern is the opportunity to advance on my job. So far that has not happen. What is my responsibility and course of action where I am right now? First my attitude is to thank God for the job I have and to truly be grateful. Next to work my job as unto Him. I am to be a faithful witness by what I do and how I go about doing it. Since He is sovereign, He obviously have a reason for not promoting me right now. One reason I may not have received that advancement is that I am not adequately prepared. All throughout scripture before God uses a person, He prepares that person. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness even though he tried to be a leader earlier and ended up killing a man. David was a shepherd of sheep before he became a leader of people. Joseph spent time in prison before he took over fully the control of the palace. In each of these people’s lives while they were in what seemed to be their lowest position in life God was controlling all things for their good and His glory. He is sovereign.
II. Because of what He can do - As a minister of the gospel, I would be the first to tell you how powerful God is and that He can do anything. My words are perfectly accurate but my actions may contradict my words which ultimately points to the fact that I am not trusting God in life for all of life. The bible teaches us that the hearts of kings are in the hands of the Lord. It tells us that He opens doors that no man can shut and He shuts doors that no man can open. If I am truly trusting Him then my faith is not in my ability or my accomplishments but God’s ability to move me up if that is His will. I know that networking is important. What better network can any person have than to be connected to the all powerful God who can open doors? Therefore I must trust in what God can do.
III. What God has promised - Is there a promise that God has given me on which I can hold on to by faith? Here are a few for my consideration and maybe even yours
Ps 37:23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;
Prov 16:9 - The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Ps 37:5-6 - Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Prov 16:3-4 - Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Once I remind myself of who God is, what God can do and the many promises God has given to me (us) then I (we) must go back to the hammer that drives and solidifies my (our) will to have a deeper faith and trust in Him. That hammer is Jesus! All that we know about God and have been given to us by God has all been done because of Jesus. This is what His word tells us in Rom 8:32. “ He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? It is because of Jesus that we can see how good it is to place our full faith and trust in Him. So if (when) I (you) come to a circumstance, situation, or decision in life, the fact that God gave us Jesus should be the hammer that drives our faith and trust in Him in all things in life.
As we move into the New Year my prayer is that these principles will help guide your (my) practice of living by faith in all of life so that 2019 will be your year to glorify our God and Jesus our Savior!