The Road to Trusting God
Burdens are easier to bear when we walk together. See for yourself – come talk to a mentor.
“TRUST in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3: 5,6)
As we face the day -to -day challenges of life we are told to “trust God” with the uncertainties that worry us. Trust God with the blind corners and with that next step – even when it feels there is nowhere to place your foot. It can sound so trite at times when our minds swim with the “what if” possibilities. When we are in the trenches of financial struggle, relationship anguish, health crisis, joblessness, or any number of seemingly brick walls it can be difficult to know how to actually put feet to trusting God in those moments.
There may be a big issue facing you right now OR it may simply be the small stuff of every day life that can become perplexing and confusing. It may be something within yourself that causes you to stumble as you walk. In whatever it is that concerns your heart and mind today these 3 steps will bring your heart to rest in God and trust Him fully with the outcome.
RELEASE – Name the concern, the issue, the source of confusion, the circumstance that is worrying you or the thing within yourself that you know you need to change. Then offer it to God sincerely. Take it out of your mental backpack and place the weight of it in Jesus’ lap. See the love in His eyes as He takes your burden from you.
“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
Releasing your worry to God means that you place it entirely with Him. You give up your need to control the outcome and you give it to Jesus to deal with as He sees fit. It doesn’t mean you no longer take any actions, it simply means you leave the outcome for God to manage. This is the hardest step. We all have solutions that we feel would be best and we often want God to work things out according to our plan. Releasing our current concern to Him means we leave the outcome in His hand.
RESIST – The enemy of your soul will come to steal from you. He wants to rob you of your peace and your confidence in Jesus’ ability to carry your burden for you. When the negative and doubting thoughts come, and they will, resist the desire to play them over in your mind. Capture them and stand firm on the truth that “the Lord will perfect that which concerns me…” (Psalm 138:8)
“…Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
Capturing your thoughts means paying attention to what is playing in your mind. When worry begins to take hold recognize it and resist the thought. Declare again that you have cast that worry onto God and you are believing the word of God which says He cares for you and will perfect what concerns you.
REJOICE – Give God praise for who He is and for His love and faithfulness to you. Thank Him, in all your circumstances, that He is the author and finisher of all things. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Offer your thanksgiving as a sacrifice to Him. Declare it out loud even when your feelings aren’t following. The sacrifice of thanksgiving has great power in the spiritual realm as it honors God and actually paves the way for God to work.
“He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” (Psalm 50:23)
Father God,
Thank you that You are with me and able to help me trust You with my life. Please help me today to identify what it is that is stealing my joy. Help me to give it completely to You and to release my need to control the outcome. When worry tries to settle in help me to resist letting it take hold in my heart and mind as I set my thoughts on You and Your promise to perfect what concerns me. Help me grow in thanksgiving and offering my thanks to you especially when it is a sacrifice to do so. I trust You today with all my heart. May I not lean on what I think is best but simply look to You to direct my path this day. Thank you that You hear my prayer and know my concerns. In the strong name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
Questions: Are you struggling with anxiety and worry and having a hard time trusting God with a particular situation? Release, resist, and rejoice and give your cares to God today.
11 Responses to “The Road to Trusting God”
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Thank you God for the spirits you have set on my path, some to teach me, some to show me, some to enlighten me and some to awaken me to my own decisions based on self that put me in a position to be hurt. Trusting in you means I take responsibility for the decisions I do make or have made, that i stop blaming and see that it from not seeking your will for me and asking for the power to carry it out that I lose the connection. Thank you God for my learnings. Thank you that I’m alive, awake and drug, pill and alcohol free. Amen
Thank you. You have no idea how much i needed to read this prayer as this is exactly where I am in my journey, turning my will and my life over to Gods care. Under all conditions. Not to try and control, fix or change it or others. Requires belief. Thank you.
Thanks for trusting us with this Mary Frances. One statement in your explanation really jumped out at me: “things that are not in my control”. So often we spend a lot of energy worrying about things that we do not have control over. It is wasted energy because it accomplishes nothing except take our focus off of the things that we can do. Jesus said, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)
Let me recommend that you do three things: 1) when the anxiety comes immediately talk to God about it. Ask that His Spirit point out things that you can do/He wants you to do about the situation. Perhaps there is a letter you can write to remind your ex-husband of his responsibility or connect with your lawyer to find out what steps you should take to facilitate the final separation of you and your husband financially; 2) if there is nothing that the Holy Spirit directs you to do, or there is something and you obediently follow His direction, talk with God and let Him know that you are now going to leave the rest that is out of your control in His hands. Remind yourself of the promises of God to care for all of your needs (Matthew 6:25-34 is full of promises and directions about God’s provision. Do a Bible search on the providence of God and find many other verses that describe God’s faithful care for His people). Remind yourself that to worry is to express doubt that God is able or willing to care for all of your needs according to His promises. Remind yourself of all of God’s faithful acts on your behalf in the past. Talk with other believers and listen to their stories of God faithfulness. Ask for God’s help in trusting Him (remember the request of the father speaking to Jesus in Matthew 9:24? “I do believe; help my unbelief”) and then trust that He is helping you; 3) Thank God for His help, His care and stop thinking about it. When the anxiety raises its head again, affirm for yourself that you are trusting God and so you don’t need to think about it again until He shows you the next thing He wants you to do. Believe that God is helping you and choose not to worry. Say to yourself, “I will not worry because the Lord is looking after me. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!”
The more that you allow the Spirit to control your thoughts about these issues the more you will find the worry losing its grip on your mind.
Lord God, I pray for Mary Frances. She needs Your help in putting the sin of anxiety behind her. I pray that Your Spirit would bring to her mind all of Your promises of Your provision and care. Transform her mind so that she does allow the doubts of Your goodness to gain any ground. Let this struggle with anxiety become a means for her to deepen her relationship with You and become a clearer reflection of Your character to others. I pray that her husband would be compelled to set her free from his damaging practices and that their relationship would be healed from the anger and hurt. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Thanks Jamie
The thing I worry about are all financially related and things that are not in my control as they are left over from my divorce. Simply put my x is supposed to make certain payments and he does not. So since the debts are still in my name [he was to refinance in his] and the assets are in his name I feel trapped. He has a way of manipulating me and I take on a co-dependent – care taking role. I fight it – I want to let go. I am so tired of the leash around my neck. Since the divorce there have been rare occasions where I have felt peace and freedom from the worry. The anxiety issue is new and it is the whole thing, rapid heart beat, constant headache etc. I am doing a lot of prayer and meditation and I am also trying to separate myself from dwelling on things. Taking care of things when I have to them letting go. Its not easy because while I want to let go I still feel attached.
Hi Mary Frances, I understand the grip that anxiety has on your heart. It can be a terrible thing to break. But the wonderful thing about our God is that He is more than able to set you free.
Let me ask you, what things do you worry about? Are there specific issues that cause you worry? Are they the same ones or do new issues come up all the time that you get anxious about? Is this soomething that you have dealt with all your life or has the anxiety developed recently?
Our Lord has rescued me more times than I can count. He saved my life, got me through illness, helped me through rough financial times, protected me during abusive periods when i was married, He let me feel everything I had to feel during my divorce, He let me grow and I am in a better place now – yet I struggle with completely turning worries over to Him. I get into these spells of extreme worry and despair – especially when i have time on my hands and i am supposed to be resting – why is it when i know He holds me in the palm of His hand I still worry? I even pray that He take the worries out of my mind so i can rest in Him – i still worry.
Isn’t that wonderful EB? To think that God has already provided the answer for you in a devotional that was written and scheduled for this week months ago!
Thank you to each of you, Baldwin, Carol and NJ as well for stopping by and letting us know you were here. Blessings to each of you!
Dear God,
Today ,i surrender my fear ,anxiety,confusion and all that comes in my mind i surrender to you my lord and to take care of me in all my fears all to you in jesus name.
Amen
thank u God that u care about me and my problems,help me to trust in you and waiting on u in obedience. this message it is a blessing for me. thank you jesus.
The reading today has surprised me…because I have been trying to solve a delema recently all on my own. The thought of giving my problem to HIM is a relief now that I gave it to the Lord. I feel hope now and less agitated.
Thank you for publishing this at this time.
Dear God;
Today,i surrender my fears,anxiety,confussion and all to you in Jesus name.
Amen.