Trusting God: Friends On The Faith Journey

Faith and trust are integral to a relationship with God. While faith is always a noun, trust can be a noun or a verb, but both are necessary for a relationship with God. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Trust in God means believing in His reliability, His Word, His ability, and His strength. Trusting God is a choice to have faith in what He says, even when your feelings or circumstances might suggest otherwise. Trusting God is not about ignoring your feelings or reality but about living a life of belief and obedience to God, even when it's difficult. To strengthen your faith and trust in God, you can pray, reflect on His promises, seek truth in Scripture, and remember that He is always with you.

Trust in God's constancy

Trusting God is a choice. It is a conscious decision to have faith in Him, even when your feelings or circumstances tell you otherwise. It is about believing in His reliability, His Word, His ability, and His strength.

Trusting God is more than an emotion; it is about choosing to have faith in what He says and who He is, even when your feelings or circumstances suggest otherwise. While your feelings and circumstances are important and worth paying attention to, they are not reliable enough to base your life on. God, on the other hand, is unchanging and constant. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

How to Trust God:

Seek Truth in Scripture:

The Bible is God's Word and is unchanging and completely trustworthy. It is a place to turn to when you feel unsure. It reminds you of God's trustworthiness and that He is faithful, whatever your circumstances.

Be Honest with God:

You can be honest with God about your feelings and where you are struggling to trust Him. You can tell Him when it is difficult to believe, and ask Him to help you.

Share Your Concerns with Fellow Believers:

You don't have to go through difficult times alone. God provides other believers to walk with you. Share your struggles with a fellow follower of Jesus whom you trust, and who knows God's Word. They can encourage you, pray for you, and remind you of God's character and truth.

Spend Time with God:

God wants you to come to Him with your circumstances, but also just to spend time with Him. Establish a consistent time to spend with God, so that when things get rough, you continue to turn to Him. Read His Word, pray, meet with other believers, and serve those around you.

Look for Things to be Grateful For:

Even in difficult circumstances, there are things to be grateful for. Giving thanks fights the lie that everything is horrible and helps you to see God's presence and grace in your life.

Walk with the Holy Spirit:

The Holy Spirit lives in those who trust in Jesus, and He is always there to point you towards Jesus. He will guide you and lead you in obedience, giving you direction and reminding you that you are not alone.

Benefits of Trusting God:

God Cares for Your Hurts:

God is attentive to your struggles, doubts, and pain. He cares about you and wants you to bring everything to Him in prayer.

God is For You:

Knowing that God is on your side strengthens your trust in Him. He is always working for your good, even when you cannot see it.

God Provides Security:

When you trust in God, you are not looking for security in other things. Instead, you look to Him to hold you securely, especially in difficult circumstances.

God Sustains You:

Even when you are at the end of your strength, God is there to sustain and provide for you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Final Thoughts:

Trusting God is a choice—a decision to believe in His reliability, His Word, and His character. It is a choice to follow Him, even when you cannot see the whole plan laid out before you. As you seek to trust Him, He will faithfully guide and lead you, strengthening your faith and drawing you closer to Him.

Pray and praise journal

A pray and praise journal is a simple yet powerful tool to keep your focus on God. It is a way to tangibly record your conversations with God and track how He has shown up in your life.

Use a journal to write down your prayer requests, including the date. When you write down your prayers, be specific about your needs and concerns. For example, instead of writing, "Please help my friend," write, "Please help my friend find a new job that brings her joy and provides for her needs." Then, add the date you entrusted these requests into God's hands. When God answers your prayers, record that in your journal as well. Your journal will become a testament to God's faithfulness and a reminder that He hears your prayers and cares for you.

Benefits:

• Helps you stay focused on God, especially during challenging times
• Allows you to see God's faithfulness and how He has moved in your life
• Provides a tangible record of your conversations with God, which can be encouraging to look back on
• Enables you to identify answers to prayer and recognize God's provision and guidance
• Serves as a tool to deepen your trust in God and strengthen your faith

Tips:

• Be consistent: Try to write in your journal daily, or set aside a specific time each week to write. Consistency will help you develop a habit of prayer and reflection.
• Be specific: When writing your prayers, be as specific as possible. This will help you clearly understand your needs and see how God is working in your life.
• Include praise: In addition to your requests, include prayers of thanksgiving and praise. Reflect on God's goodness and the ways He has already provided for you.
• Look back: Periodically review your journal entries to see how God has been faithful and how He has answered your prayers. This will build your faith and encourage you in difficult times.
• Keep it with you: Consider using a small journal that you can carry with you, so you can write down your prayers and praises whenever and wherever you feel led to.

Scripture to reflect on:

• "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV).
• "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7, NIV).
• "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path" (Psalm 119:105, NIV).

Reflect on God's promises

God's promises are the commitments He has made to His followers, as laid out in the Bible. These promises include His pledge to always be with us, to provide for us, and to ultimately save us.

Reflecting on God's Promises

Reflecting on God's promises can be a powerful way to build your faith and trust in Him. Here are some ways to do this:

• Remember God's Faithfulness: Think about times in your life when God has intervened or helped you through a difficult situation. This will remind you that He is faithful and can be trusted.
• Start a Prayer and Praise Journal: Write down your prayer requests and the dates you prayed them. When God answers your prayers, add that information to your journal. This will serve as a tangible reminder of God's faithfulness.
• Pray God's Promises Back to Him: Find Bible verses that contain promises from God and pray them back to Him. This will help you to believe that if God did it for someone else, He can do it for you too.
• Read and Memorize God's Word: The more you know and understand God's Word, the deeper your faith will become. Memorizing Bible verses will help you when facing trials, and you will be able to trust in God's promises.
• Reflect on Past Times When God Has Been Faithful: Think back on times in your life when you made a change or decision, and you can now see, in hindsight, that God was guiding you and had a plan for you. This will help you to trust that He is still doing the same today.
• Focus on God's Promises in Times of Doubt: When you are facing difficulties or struggles, intentionally focus on God's promises. This will help you to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and trust that He is working for your good.

Trust God's plans

Trusting in God's plan can be challenging, especially during difficult times. However, it is important to remember that God's plan for us is always good, even if we cannot see it in the moment. Here are some ways to help you trust in God's plan:

Remember God's Faithfulness

Look back on your life and reflect on the times when God has come through for you. When you are going through a hard time, pray and seek the Lord's help. Know that He will intervene because He cares for you. Each time God shows up for you will build your faith and help you trust Him more deeply.

Start a Prayer and Praise Journal

Writing down your prayers and the answers to them that you receive is a powerful way to build trust in God. When you are feeling doubtful, you can look back on your journal and see tangible evidence of God's faithfulness in your life.

Reflect on God's Promises

The Bible is filled with stories of God's children overcoming obstacles with His help. When you are facing your own mountains, ask God for the strength to climb them or to make a way through. As you experience God's faithfulness in your life, your trust in Him will grow.

Bad news and difficult circumstances can shake us to our core and fill us with fear. In these moments, it is crucial to trust that God knows your future and has a plan for your good. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us that God has plans to prosper us and give us a future filled with hope.

Pray God's Promises

Praying for the promises found in the Bible is a powerful way to increase your faith. When you pray God's Word back to Him, you are reminded of His faithfulness and His power to fulfill His promises.

Seek Truth in Scripture

The Bible is God's Word, and it is unchanging and completely trustworthy. Spending time in Scripture allows you to see how God has responded to His people in difficult times in the past. It reminds you that He is trustworthy, no matter your circumstances.

Trusting in God's plan requires a conscious decision to believe that He is good and that He has your best interest at heart. By implementing these practices, you can grow in your trust and experience the peace that comes from resting in His plan for your life.

Pray God's promises

Praying God's promises is a powerful way to deepen your faith and trust in Him. Here are four to six paragraphs on this important topic:

God's Promises in Scripture

The Bible is filled with God's promises, which provide assurance, hope, and guidance for our lives. These promises reveal God's character and nature as faithful, loving, and trustworthy. By praying God's promises back to Him, we align our hearts and minds with His will and strengthen our faith.

Praying with Faith and Trust

Faith and trust are integral to our relationship with God. Faith involves believing in God's reliability, truth, ability, and strength. It is a confident expectation in what we hope for and assurance about what we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). Trust goes hand in hand with faith, demonstrating our reliance and commitment to God. When we pray God's promises, we are expressing our faith and trust in His Word.

Benefits of Praying God's Promises

Praying God's promises has several benefits. Firstly, it helps us to remember and meditate on God's faithfulness, which strengthens our faith. Secondly, it reminds us that God is active in our lives and has a plan for us, even when we cannot see it clearly. Praying God's promises also allows us to bring our requests and concerns to Him with confidence, knowing that He hears us and cares for us.

Practical Ways to Pray God's Promises

• Start a prayer journal: Write down specific promises from God's Word that resonate with you. Pray these promises regularly, declaring them over your life and circumstances.
• Reflect on God's faithfulness: Recall times when God has been faithful to you in the past. This will build your trust and confidence in His promises for the future.
• Memorize Scripture: Commit God's promises to memory so that you can recall them easily during prayer. This will also help you hide God's Word in your heart, allowing it to transform your mind and deepen your faith.
• Personalize the promises: As you pray, personalize the promises by inserting your name or the names of those for whom you are praying. For example, you could pray, "Lord, thank you that Your plans for me are to prosper me and not to harm me, for a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11)."
• Pray with expectation: As you pray God's promises, expect Him to be faithful and powerful. Believe that He will fulfill His Word and answer your prayers according to His perfect will.

Examples of God's Promises to Pray

• "The Lord is my strength and my shield. I trust in Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving" (Psalm 28:7).
• "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).
• "God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?'" (Hebrews 13:5-6).
• "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
• "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

As you pray these and other promises from God's Word, your faith will be strengthened, and your trust in Him will grow. Remember, God delights in hearing your prayers and desires to fulfill His promises in your life.

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