TRUST AND HOPE IN GOD! (PART 2 OF 3)

28th  JULY 2023

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD – Jeremiah 17:7

This is a continuation of our message on how to trust and place hope in God. Other ways you can build your trust in God are as follows:

Commit your UNBELIEF to God

The Scripture says those who put their trust in God are blessed. Therefore, placing trust in God is a good way to go, even though difficult to do.  It is not that God is not capable of helping or fulfilling your desires; It’s just that oftentimes, something in you tells you that what you are asking for is beyond you or that you do not deserve to have it. Sometimes, you also feel that what you are asking for is too much for you! That is true to some extent, but certainly not the case all the time. When you develop such thoughts all the time, it simply means that you do not yet have the faith to build trust in God and have what you desire!

The Scripture narrated an episode in Mark 9:23-25, where Jesus had told the deaf and dumb man who needed healing, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”  In this case, the father of the invalid did not believe that his son would receive healing. But he prayed to Jesus to help his unbelief. Jesus heard him and healed the invalid son. It, therefore, follows that when you are entertaining thoughts of unbelief, your prayer should be that God’s grace should strengthen your weakness, especially your unbelief.

Put God First in Your Life

How do you put God first in your life? We do that by showing Him that we truly love Him. The Scripture says; “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” (Proverbs 3:9–10) Can we truly trust God with the first fruits of our crops in this modern world? Certainly, you can! But if you are not comfortable dropping it in the church or temple, you can apply it for laudable purposes such as spreading the gospel and doing other humanitarian work. God who sees the hearts of men will definitely reward you. When you do that constantly and you are receiving God’s blessings, your trust in God will gradually build up.

 Examine yourself by God’s word

Not many of us can evaluate our conduct properly. We will go to great lengths to justify our behaviour, our actions, and our sin. Oftentimes, we pretty much find a reason for any bad thing that we do. The prophet Jeremiah captures this very well: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) If we are ever going to trust in God and flee evil truly; we have to know exactly where we stand. We have to find an objective measure that tells us the truth. And that truth comes from God and His Word. Of course, that doesn’t mean we will always like what we see or how we see it. Sometimes it takes something bad happening or seeing ourselves in a bad light before we finally admit that we need to change. And the more we are in the Scriptures, the more likely we would avoid sin, and that is also the surest way we can begin to trust and hope in God.

Today’s word tells us to trust God and be blessed. The more we trust God with our life and everything that pertains to us, the more He will be moved in turn to bless us. He is a faithful God!

PRAYER

Father in the name of Jesus Christ, I thank you for the seed of faith planted in my heart. Yet, even as I trust in you, I decree the seed grows beyond my imagination. AMEN.

FURTHER READING: Psalm 32:10; Joshua 1:9; Psalm 118:8; Hebrews 11:1; Psalm 32:10; Isaiah 26:4; 1 John 5:14; Psalm 62:8