Trusting is putting your situation into someone else’s hands.  You trust someone to drive safely on the road when you are on your way to work.  You trust your doctor to examine you and treat you with the correct drugs for your ailments. You trust your bank to make the right deposit to your account.  But do you trust someone with your life?  Do you trust someone with your eternity?

1 Corinthians 2:5 says “I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.” When Paul first went to Corinth, he went showing weakness with timid and trembling.  He did this so that the people would not focus on Paul but on his message of Jesus Christ. How does your light shine forth?  Are people looking at you or at your message?  If they are looking at you, you will lose their trust.  You will fall short of their expectations.  But if your focus is on Jesus Christ, they won’t lose heart.  They won’t lose trust because their trust will come from Jesus.

When you speak to someone on the street to tell them about Jesus, they may not listen to you if they are not ready to come to Christ. Sometimes I feel like I am holding their soul in the palm of my hand.  Will God still use me if I mess up?  You bet He will.  Just look at the people he used in the Bible.  Moses was a murderer.  David was an adulterer. Saul killed Christians.  But if God calls people through your mouth, they will come.  Just be sure to place trust where trust belongs.  And that is in God and Jesus Christ.

Do you trust someone with your eternity?  I do.  I trust God the Father!

A simple thank you goes a long way these days.  The Lord said, “this is the day the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Show your gladness or your happiness by using manners and saying thanks. We need to be grateful for each and every day our Father God has Blessed us with.  Whether you feel like it or not, be grateful.  Share those feelings with others.  It will go a long way.

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.  His mercy endures forever.”  You are still here.  God has a reason for you being here.  We don’t know what that reason is but God always has a plan.  Live each day to the fullest and use manners when talking to people.  It shows that you respect them. Have you thanked God today?

Jesus “humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. ~Philippians 2:8 (NRSV).

We’ll be wrong at times, no matter how pious we started out. Ironically, this is how God receives the glory always due, but often cut off from, the Lord of Glory. This is done by absorbing the wrong, even when by our own admission we aren’t wrong. Being wrong or not wrong isn’t the point.

Where the glory’s going; that’s the point.

WHEN WE’RE WRONG

With a firm view of our wrongness – to be focused there, in a worldly sense – gets us down, and keeps us down, unless the Spirit leads us there for repentance. Hurt occurs for many reasons.

But it’s when we’re wrong that we have the perfect opportunity to send glory into Glory.

This is about honesty. The Lord will fight to clear our name if we’re honest. There’s no shame in mistakes. Think about how rarely the world sees manifest, courageous honesty these days. But the power in this integrity goes before us, and God’s glorified in the heavens. Defending ourselves when others know we’re wrong is deplorable – it wrangles with the average person’s sense of justice.

We need constant reminding: we will be wrong, and often enough. It is okay to be wrong.

WHEN WE AREN’T WRONG

Though he was never wrong, Jesus could separate fact from emotion, and in being accused of wrong, he could see the Father’s purpose.

Acting like the silent Lamb, who didn’t even open its mouth (Isaiah 53:7), we can assert our freedom to withstand the temptation to fight as the world fights. After all, God fights much better! The Lord’s just a little slower at taking up the cudgel. But that justice of God’s, from the perspective of eternity, is as swift as it is final. We do well to remember, as far as God’s plan goes, this has already occurred. It’s destined to happen, and it will happen.

There’s a discreet departure from the ‘doormat’ experience here. The difference is we’re actively choosing to step right out of the way, avoiding the shards of stray shrapnel splintering chaotically from within the conflict to the outermost reach of its array. Wise avoidance is spiritual bullet-proofing.

WHEN TO FIGHT

Choosing when to be ‘wrong’ and when to fight – and how – however, is a vast wisdom. Jesus fought when he needed to. The difference is the court.

If we’re before a kangaroo court – adjudged by peers or otherwise nobodies – the former approach is best; an asserted silence.

It’s when we’re before proper authority – among processes of justice we can and should trust, however, that we need to state our case clearly, honestly, and succinctly, with no thought of embellishment.

Could it be our highest Christian aim: to send the glory, due God in any event, heavenward? We do this via situational wisdom of inaction or action.

� 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Steve Wickham is a Registered Safety Practitioner (BSc, FSIA, RSP[Australia]) and a qualified, unordained Christian minister (GradDipBib&Min). His blogs are at: [http://epitemnein-epitomic.blogspot.com/]http://epitemnein-epitomic.blogspot.com/ and http://inspiringbetterlife.blogspot.com/

Did someone cut you off in traffic today?  Did you forget to defrost dinner and now have nothing to fix quickly?  Is your to-do list growing longer each day and fewer items are getting scratched off?

Some people smile all the time.  They might not admit problems they are having to you.  Everyone has bad days.  We just need to move on. When a problem occurs that you can’t seem to find an immediate solution to, you need to start quoting scriptures.

Stand on God’s Word.  Pray that God help you through whatever it is that you are going through.  In Psalms 23, it says that we will go through the valley of the shadow of death.  Read that again, ‘through!”  It doesn’t mean we get stuck in the mud there, God said we will go through.  I stand on His Word when praying reminding Him that He said I will go through this valley. So I know that it will pass.  He gives us His Grace and that is sufficient for today.  Only take one day at a time.  Don’t worry about tomorrow because it will have problems of its own.

Believe that God will help you get through today.  Live by faith, not by sight.  Have little faith!

There are times when we feel that our lives are so off track, even though we are still walking with the Lord. We have the faith to believe that Jesus Christ came down from heaven, was born of a virgin, and walked among men. We believe that he bared our sins on the cross as he died. We also believe that our God and Father, resurrected Jesus with all power and that he sits at the right hand of his God interceding on our behalf to God. We believe that he is the redeemer of our souls, and yet we cannot believe Him for the simple day-to-day miracles.

We as Christians long deeply for a greater trust in God. We desire to grow in the Lord but our faith is weak, unsure, and unstable at times even though we want to believe. However, we do not have to long always; we can grow our faith in God. The word says, “Without faith it is impossible to please the Lord” Hebrews 11:39 (KJV). We must have faith to please the Lord, and like anything else we have to grow in our faith and most often it is a process. Learning the process is simply following what works for you in your life. Here are some basic steps for growing your faith in God, and learning how to trust the Lord at the same time.

Step One: Create a Faith Journal

Writing is a powerful way to build faith. Creating a faith journal is simple. Find a book with bound blank sheets of paper and begin to journal your weaknesses. Each time you write, be sure to include the date. Journal entries should include the areas where you are struggling to trust God. Write as often as you have doubts and include your prayers asking God to help you believe. Over time, when you return to read your entries, you will find that God has resolved many of the problems in your journal. You will find that God answered your prayers which will offer concrete proof what God has done and that he will do greater things in your life. When you begin to search for faith to trust God on greater levels, you can read how God has worked on your behalf in the past.

Step two: Devotional time

Devotional time is a very much needed in our lives to build our faith in God. Yes, many of us are busy and our spare time is limited in each day. Nevertheless, we must take time to spend with the Lord on a daily basis. Participating in daily devotion unto the Lord will keep your heart focused on God and the power in God. Start a daily devotion with a quiet or guided meditation, read scriptures on faith, and remember to attend your devotional services and Bible study at a church. When you feel doubtful or hopeless, grab hold of faith through your devotional time.

Step Three: Obey God

Another necessary step to grow in faith is listening to what God has to say. When you are in line with what the Lord expects of you, then you can expect his promises to be fulfilled. There are many promises from the Lord in the Bible. However, each promise rests upon our actions and level of belief. When you are aligned with what God commands of us as his children, you can confidently rest in expectation that God will fulfill his promises. One promise from the Bible states, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7 (KJV)

Step four: Filter Your life

Let’s be honest, sometimes we need to filter a lot of junk out of our life that drains our faith. When we live a godly life, and walk with God, our faith will start to grow. When you walk with your entire mind focused on God and with a pure heart, you are bound to grow in faith. Our faith increase over time, and with time, it will start to spring up. However, that only comes when you have purified your heart. If you do not filter out the impurities in your life, like fear, doubt, negativity, and unbelief, it is hard to have faith in God. Instead of trusting God, we start to look at our circumstances. Just as we filter our water that it will be fresh to drink it, we need to filter a lot of the things we watch, and listen to that contaminate our spirit.

As we know, “Faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrew 11:1).We might not see faith, but have to know that faith is there. The scripture says we not going to see it, we just have to believe it. God sees our shortcoming, and he knows our weaknesses. He knows that our faith will grow as we mature in Him. At times God will even test our faith. The Bible says, (1 Peter 4:12): “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you”. We are going to be tested, and we need faith to carry us through it. That is why we have to grow in faith by devoting our time, obeying God, and filtering out our lives.

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Most people are in a hurry.  In their hurry, they cut me off in traffic and don’t even realize they did it.  My response to that person should be to forgive them.  In Exodus 34:6, God tells us He is slow to anger and filled with love.  We should strive to be like Him.  I know it is hard to show love when my neighbors are showing hatred to me.

Look at Psalm 32.  David tells us what happens when we don’t forgive someone, ” my body wastes away, and I groan all day long.”  What that means is that it eats away at you.  Your insides feels funny, maybe like you are sick but you are not.  Our God is an awesome God and He forgives us for all our transgressions.

When someone cuts you off in traffic, don’t be angry at them, Bless them.  If you know them and see them later, you can tell them what they did wrong.  But still Bless them.  That anger can attack you.  When you Bless them and they still are mad, the Blessings will come back to you.

How do you react to being cut off in traffic?

When you finish drinking your soda pop, do you pitch it?  Where?  In your back seat?  Out the window?  Our environment is filling up with garbage.  Our streets look trashy.  God Blessed up by telling us we can rule over the animals.  We are Blessed with a conscience and a brain although most people don’t use it.

When riding around the country, I notice the trash in a city, maybe because the one I live in doesn’t get much attention.  I know a guy that saw an older man in a parking lot put a plastic bottle on the ground knowing he was going to leave it there as trash.  So, this guy pointed it out to him saying, “mister, you forgot this bottle.”  The older man said that he didn’t want it.  So the guy said, “ok, then take it home with you and put it in the trash.”  The older guy got huffy and took it and threw it in his car and left.

Maybe we should all do something like that.  If we all take care of our trash, maybe our planet will last longer and look nicer.  Don’t throw trash out of your car.  Dispose of it properly.

God didn’t create a planet with trash on it already.  We created our own garbage.  We need to take care of it.  How do you dispose of your trash in your car?

The Bible says “the joy of the Lord is my strength.”  If I look to the Lord Jesus for my daily strength, I will be lifted up and will feel secure during my day.  If I look to material things, my happiness is temporary.  If I look to the lord for my joy, I get my joy on the inside and no one can take it away.  Determination is my daily goal.  Every day when I get up and stand on the scale, I say, “this is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”  I look to the Lord and not to the scale.  Eating makes me temporarily happy but not joyful.  I can eat when I’m sad or when I’m happy.  That’s why I said to look inside for your joy.

The same thing works if you like to shop.  Do you get your happiness from making a purchase?  It makes me happy temporarily but that type of joy will not last.

Read your Bible.  Look inside yourself.  Determine that today you will be full the the joy of the Lord.  Happiness is usually outside or external things.  Joy is what we feel deep down inside our spirit.

What makes you happy?  Where do you get your joy from?

Look to the Bible.  What did Jesus do?  How did He give love?  When they were about to stone Mary Magdalen, Jesus loved Her without even looking at her.  He was writing in the sand.  What was He writing?  Love.  Not the word, but the meaning.  Jesus’ heart is full of love.  No matter what we do, He loves us.

Remember when you picked on your little sister or brother?  Remember when you yelled at your kids?  Remember when you passed up someone who needed your help?  Jesus remember, too.  But yet He still loves us.  When He passes that love to us, we should pass it on to others.  Keep the love flowing.  Remember to stop and smell the roses.  Jesus created them.  Thank Him for his love.

How have you shown love today?

Do you rattle off all your good qualities or do you humbly relate all you have to the Glory of God?  When you get a bonus like an extra pay check, or a Christmas bonus, or you sell something online or at a flee market, do you give Glory to God or do you say, ‘I worked hard for that?’  All we have is from God.  All the food I have in my refrigerator is from God.  The gasoline in my car is from God.  The joy in my heart is from God.  Whether it is material things or something special in your heat or soul, it is from God.  And God must get the Glory.

When King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and Daniel knew he would be able to answer the King’s questions, he came forward.  See Daniel 2:14-16.  He knew something deep down inside of him.  He knew God was his provider and would provide the answers.  What did he do first?  He called his Godly friends together and asked them to pray.  Is that the first thing you do?  Pray?  God will answer if you put Him first.  Give Him Glory.  Daniel trusted the the Lord would give him the answers to give the King.  And He did.  In verse 27, Daniel explains the King’s dream.  But he is only able to do that because he trusted in the Lord.  Do you?

Trust in the Lord for everything.  Then He will fulfill your desires.  But remember, trust comes first.  How has the Lord helped you today?