Trusting in God: Part #1:
Scripture Reference: Proverbs 3: 1-8
’My son, forget not My law, but let thine heart keep My commandments, for length of days and long life, and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, Bind them upon thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart. So shall thou find favor and good understanding in the Lord. TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL THINE HEART AND LEAN NOT UNTO THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING. IN ALL THY WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AND HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS. Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the LORD and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones."
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
Each One of Us Place Our TRUST ---Our Confidence -- Our Hope --- Our Assurance In Someone or Something.
There is Something We Feel Secure and Safe In. Perhaps It May Be Your Job --- Your Spouse --- Your Family --- Your Education --- Your Church. However,
Are you SECURE ENOUGH that it will HOLD YOU WHEN THE HOWLING WINDS OF ADVERSITY ARE COMING AT YOU FULL FORCE? WHEN THE GROUND YOU HAVE STOOD UPON BEGINS TO TREMBLE AND QUIVER AND SHAKE UNDERNEATH YOUR FEET -- WILL YOU STAY ANCHORED?" Things May Be Fairing Pretty Good For You At This Moment But I Assure You There Will Come a Time and it May Not Be Very Long, When The Storms of Life Will Come Blowing In Against You With Full Force ---- WHAT WILL CARRY YOU THROUGH THEN? It’s Hard to WAIT Until the STORMS COME and Then Go Out and Try to Find Something to Anchor Upon or a SECURITY You Can TRUST in. The 3 Hebrew Children were anchored before they went into the fiery furnace. The 4th man in the raging fire was no stranger to them. They were TRUSTING in Him before they were cast into the flames.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU TRUST IN? UPON?
HOW SECURE IS IT?
The Word of God forcasts some TROUBLESOME TIMES between now and the return of Jesus for His Bride. Are you trusting wholeheartedly in Jesus -- The Solid Rock?
In Times Like These You Need a Saviour
In Times Like These You Need an Anchor
Be Very Sure, Be Very Sure
Your Anchor Holds and Grips the Solid Rock
This Rock is Jesus, Yes He’s the One
This Rock is Jesus, The Only One
Be Very Sure, BeVery Sure
Your Anchor Holds and Grips the Solid Rock
-----------------------------------------------------
IN THE 19TH CENTURY --- THERE WAS A VERY FAMOUS ACROBAT KNOWN FOR HIS TIGHTROPE SKILLS. 160 FEET ABOVE THE NIAGARA FALLS --- ON A ROPE --- A ROYAL PARTY FROM BRITAIN OBSERVED THE ACROBAT AS HE WENT ACROSS THE TIGHTROPE ON STILTS. THEN THEY WATCHED HIM AS HE WENT ACROSS BLINDFOLDED. AFTER THAT, HE WENT ACROSS AND STOPPED HALF WAY AND COOKED AN OMELET. NEXT, HE WHEELED A WHEELBARROW FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER AND THEN HE RETURNED WITH A SACK OF POTATOES IN THE WHEELBARROW.
THEN THE ACROBAT APPROACHED THE ROYAL PARTY AND HE ASKED THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, "DO YOU BELIEVE I COULD TAKE A MAN ACROSS THIS TIGHTROPE IN THIS WHEELBARROW?"
"YES, I DO." ANSWERED THE DUKE. "WELL, HOP IN." REPLIED THE ACROBAT. HOWEVER THE DUKE DECLINED THE INVITATION. YOU SEE HE BELIEVED THE ACROBAT "COULD" BUT HE WASN’T ABLE TO "TRUST" HIM WITH HIS OWN LIFE.
AND THAT IS THE WAY IT IS WITH SO MANY PEOPLE TODAY, EVEN SO MANY PROFESSING CHRISTIANS, IN THEIR PERSONAL WALK WITH GOD. They say they TRUST in GOD, BUT when it comes down to actually "TRUSTING in GOD" -- HIS ABILITY -- HIS KNOWLEDGE -- HIS POWER -- HIS DIVINE CARE -- HIS PROVIDENCE -- HIS LOVE AND HIS MERCY AND HIS GRACE --- TRUSTING in Him Enough to GET INSIDE THE WHEELBARROW AND DECLARE "HERE WE GO GOD, IT’S JUST YOU AND ME --- GOING ACROSS THIS TIGHTROPE --AND THOUGH I TRAVEL IN A WHEELBARROW --- 160 FEET ABOVE THE NIAGARA FALLS --- I WILL FEAR NO EVIL -- FOR THOU ART WITH ME --- AND NOT ONLY ARE YOU WITH ME --- YOU ARE CARRYING ME--- YOU ARE GUIDING ME--- AND I PLACE ALL OF MY TRUST IN YOU."
The entire 23rd Psalm is built upon TRUSTING in the SHEPHERD. "....Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me..." .... "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall abide in the house of the Lord forever." That is DAVID’s Testimony of TRUST in God.
------------------------------------------------------
When the Golden Gate Bridge was first being built, 23 men fell to their death. The work on the bridge was estremely slow as the men worked in constant fear of their lives. Then someone had the idea of putting a huge net under the bridge. They did exactly that. After the net was put into place, 10 more men fell but they were not killed as the others were. And after the net was in place the work on the bridge went at a greater pace becuase the men had their TRUST in the net. If they did accidently fall, the net would sustain them.
And Child of GOD, THAT’S EXACTLY THE WAY IT IS WITH US AND God. If we may accidently fall God will catch us and pick us up and set our feet upon solid ground. WE CAN PLACE OUR TRUST IN GOD!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ’FAITH’ THAT DECLARES: "I BELIEVE GOD "CAN" -- BUT YET REFUSES TO JUMP IN THE WHEELBARROW AND TAKE OFF --THAT KIND OF FAITH --- AND TRUST --- IS NOT MUCH GOOD TO GOD OR TO THE ONE WHO POSSESSES IT. God wants us to TRUST HIM WHOLEHEARTEDLY -- without reservation.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
JESUS TAUGHT US IN MATTHEW 17:20 "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, (WHEN PLACED IN HIM) You shall say to this mountain (That Thing You Are Struggling With -- Battling With -- That Thing That Causes You Pain and Worry, Heartache and Strife, That Thing That Stands in the Way of Where God Wants You to Be -- That Fear -- That WORRY -- That Carnal Habit and Vice) Be Thou Removed to Another Place and It Shall Be Removed." "PRAISE THE LORD!!" Jesus Did Not Say, "IT MIGHT BE DONE.." or "IT COULD BE DONE" --- NO --- CHURCH, He Said "IT SHALL BE DONE." "SHALL" represents a POSITIVE statement!
_____________________________________________________
Isn’t that Awesome! That’s Not Some Televison Preacher Crying Out "Send Me a $100 and I Will Pray For You.." Neither Did These Words Come From Some PSYHIC ADVERTISEMENT with a 900 # ----. NO, THESE WORDS --- THAT PROMISE IS OF YOU AND ME --- (Lay People) PRAYING A PRAYER --- A POWERFUL PRAYER THAT BRINGS A MIRACLE IN OUR LIFE --- CAME FROM THE WORD OF GOD-- THE VERY BOOK WE STAND UPON --- INSPIRED AND ANNOINTED BY THE HOLY GHOST ---THIS BOOK CARRIES A SPECIAL ANNOINTING UPON IT! Satan has tried his very best throughout time to destroy THE WORD OF GOD, yet it still stands today with all of its power and glory. We Can Place Our TRUST in that Book! IT HAS SURVIVED EVERY DEMONIC ATTACK!
CHURCH -- GOD IS STILL IN THE BUSINESS OF DOING SOME "GOD THINGS" --- THINGS --- POWERFUL THINGS THAT ONLY GOD CAN DO! HE HAS DONE THAT VERY THING --- TO SEVERAL PEOPLE --- HERE WITHIN THIS VERY CONGREGATION THIS MORNING ---- SOMEONE OUGHT TO SHOUT "PRAISE THE LORD!" Give God Some PRAISE and GLORY!
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
That’s The Power of TRUSTING IN GOD --- TINY
PORTIONS OF FAITH REMOVES MOUNTAINS!
HOWEVER, THERE IS ANOTHER SIDE TO THIS COIN.
TINY PORTIONS OF DOUBT CAN KEEP MOUNTAINS FROM
BEING DELIVERED. Satan Would Like For Us to
Simply Settle for Unanswered Prayer and Say to
Ourselves, "Well, it must not have been God’s
Will, Because My Prayer Did Not Get Answered."
However, the real truth may be, we failed to
PLACE ALL of OUR FAITH and TRUST in GOD. There
Was Some DOUBT that BLOCKED our FAITH and TRUST.
I pastored a church several years ago, where this lady approached me after church, and asked me to pray for her husband. He had left her several years ago and was living with another woman. I thought surely this was a request that God would be glad to answer. However, before she could get the request stated she added these words. "However, I don’t believe it will do any good to pray for him. I’ve been praying for him for years and nothing has happened yet." Her doubt voided her prayers.
James 1:5-8 " If any of you lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But
let him ask in FAITH nothing Wavering, For he
that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven
the wind and tossed. For let not that man think
he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double
minded man is unstable in all his ways."
We May PRAY and Get Up BELIEVING "God is ABLE to
Do All Things" --- However, Until We Truly Say,
"God Will Watch Over Me-- God Will Provide foe Me"
And all we have to do is to place out TRUST in
Him. Job declared, Job 13:15 "Though He slay me,
yet will I TRUST Him.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
Poem: Simply TRUSTING:
Writer Unknown:
Simply Trusting Every Day,Trusting Through a
Stormy Way.
Even When My Faith is Small, Trusting Jesus,
That is All.
Trusting as the Moments Fly, Trusting as the Days
Go By,
Trusting Him What Err Behold,
Trusting Jesus, That is All.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
Let’s Go Back to Our Text Verses Found in
Proverbs 3: 5-6
Let’s Break These Verse Apart and See What God
Is Speaking Unto Us.
------------------------------------------------------
"Trust in the Lord with all thine Heart, and
Lean Not Unto Thine Own Understanding. In all
thy ways acknowledge Him and He Shall Direct Thy
Paths."
#1:) TRUSTING IN THE LORD WITH ALL THINE HEART:
As We have Already Noticed --- God Distrubutes
Faith ----- "God has given to every man a measure
of Faith." and Then He calls upon us to
exercise that faith and learn to TRUST in Him to
Do All That He Said He Would DO.
GOD DOES NOT LIE:
NUMBERS 23:19 "God is Not a man, that He should lie, neither the son of man, that He should repent, Hath He said, and shall not do it? Or hath He spoken and shall not make it Good?"
The Key Word Here Seems To Be "TRUST"
God Gives us FAITH -- And With That FAITH we
GIVE UNTO GOD --- TRUST.
That word "FAITH" may at times be hard to define
However We Know What It Is To Exercise Our TRUST.
We Find Ourselves Having to Exercise TRUST every
Day We Live.
1:) We Trust Whoever Built Our House ---It
Won’t Fall Down Upon Our Heads -- 2:) We
Trust the Bank to Not Spend the Money We
Deposited So It Will Be There When We Want
to Use It...3:) We Trust Our Alarm Clock to
Go Off When We Set It For a Certain
Time ....4:) We Trust the Lights to Come
on When We Flip the Switch 5:) We Trust the
Car to Start When We Put the Key in the
Iginition --- And We Will Continue to Trust
All These Things Until They Fail Us For Some
Reason.Can We Not DO the Same With God? He
Will Never Fail Those Who Place Their Trust
In Him!
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
Let’s Listen to DAVID as he shares his testimony
of TRUSTING in God!
Psalm 2: 12 B " Blessed are all they that put
their TRUST in Him."
Psalm 4:7-8 " Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for Thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety."
Psalm 9:9 " The LORD will be a REFUGE for the oppressed, a REFUGE in times of trouble."
Follow along with me here in the 18th Psalm as David refers to a TROUBLESOME TIME in his life when he placed his TRUST in God.
Psalm 18: 1 - 20 Above the heading of this psalm it states; "To the chief musician, a psalm of the servant David, who spake unto the LORD, the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said.
I Love This Psalm David Wrote. Listen To It and Begin To Envision As God Moves For David When He Places His TRUST in God.
18: 1-20
"I will love Thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, and whom I will TRUST; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cries came before Him, even into His ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth. There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret place, His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before Him His thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His voice, hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, He sent out His arrows, and scattered them, and He shot out lightnings, and discomfited them,Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at Thy rebuke. O LORD, at the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils. He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me, for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity; but the LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because He delighted in me. The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me."
NOW LET’S DROP DOWN UNTO VERSE # 29
For by Thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried; He is a buckler to all those that TRUST IN HIM."
"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart."
God Will NEVER DISAPPOINT YOU!
We CAn LEAN UPON GOD:
GOD WILL NEVER STOP CARING ABOUT US
GOD WILL NEVER BECOME SICKLY -- WEAK -- HE WILL NEVER BE THE UNDER DOG ----
WE CAN TRUST IN GOD --- TO DO THE THINGS WE NEED IN OUR LIVES THAT SEEM IMPOSSIBLE WITH US.
WE STRIVE AND WE STRIVE --- STRUGGLE AND STRUGGLE --- WRESTLE THIS AND WRESTLE THAT --- AND STILL END UP CONFOUNDED AND DISAPPOINTED.
To Us --- To the Natural Eye -- It Looks Impossible --- It looks Hopeless --- Struggle a Life Time --- When God Can Do It -- In a Moment of Time ---When We Actually TRUST in Him.
Matthew 19:26 " ... With men this is impossible, But with God all things are possible."
I love that about God. Nothing I Need Is Out of His Ability To Provide For Me.
FAITH IS NOT REALLY FAITH UNTIL WE PLACE OURSELVES IN THE WHEELBARROW OF TROUBLE AND ADVERSITY AND WE DECLARE UNTO GOD: "I BELIEVE YOU CAN TAKE ME SAFELY O’ER."
------------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSION:
The Words of a Precious Old Hymn:
Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus
verse: Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to trust Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know Thus Saith the Lord
Jesus, Jesus, How I trust Him
How I’ve proved Him O’er and O’er
Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more.
I’m so glad I’ve learned to trust Him
Precious Jesus, Saviour Friend
For I know that Thou art with me
And will go with me, till the end.
Jesus, Jesus, How I trust Him
How I’ve proved Him o’er and e’er
Jesus, Jesus Precious Jesus
O for grace, To trust Him more.
