TRUSTING GOD MORE
(week 03/11)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Hebrews 11:1 AMP: NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
Faith is trusting in the integrity of God’s Word without any evidence of its physical reality.
We need to develop our faith as trust in God as a person: just like we have trust in the integrity of a husband, wife or friend in a situation where their integrity is called into question because of a lack of sufficient evidence to prove their integrity.
When later on the physical evidence comes forth to confirm their integrity, the person would be so glad that you trusted them even when there was no evidence because of your knowledge of their character: this is also how God feels when we trust the integrity of His Word when initially there is no physical evidence to show that His Word is true.
This is what Abraham did when he trusted that God would give him a son through Sarah when the evidence of their physical bodies dictated otherwise:
Romans 4:16-21 MKJV: Therefore it is of faith so that it might be according to grace; for the promise to be made sure to all the seed, not only to that which is of the Law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (17) (as it has been written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) –before God, whom he believed, who makes the dead live, and calls the things which do not exist as though they do exist. (18) For he who beyond hope believed on hope for him to become the father of many nations (according to that which was spoken, “So your seed shall be”). (19) And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead (being about a hundred years old) or the deadening of Sarah’s womb. (20) He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also able to perform.
Pristinely faith is trust in God’s character, wisdom and power without physical evidence.
We trust in God’s character knowing that He is a God of loving-kindness, righteousness and justice, who will not lie to us or deceive us:
Jeremiah 9:24 AMP: But let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me [personally and practically, directly discerning and recognizing My character], that I am the Lord, Who practices loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord. [I Cor. 1:31; II Cor. 10:17.]
Genesis 18:25 MKJV: Far be it from You to act in this manner, to kill the righteous with the wicked. And far be it from You, that the righteous should be as the wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
1 John 1:5 MKJV: And this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
The more we know God personally and intimately through fellowship with Him in prayer and His Word, the more we will trust Him.
To trust God more, we need to develop our trust in:
1. God’s character based on the integrity of His Word:
Hebrews 6:17-18 MKJV: In this way desiring to declare more fully to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, God interposed by an oath, (18) so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us,
Jeremiah 1:12 NIV: The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
It is instructive to note that God’s Word is the legal framework within which everything is created and so ultimately all created things must conform to what is written in God’s Word. The Lord Jesus with the plan of redemption inherent in Him, is the Living Word, which was now expressed in detail in the written Word given to men as the plan of redemption unfolded over 4000 years.
John 1:1-3 MKJV: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
Revelation 13:8 MKJV: And all dwelling on the earth will worship it, those whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain, from the foundation of the world.
Psalms 89:34 MKJV: I will not break My covenant, nor change the thing that has gone out of My lips.
Psalms 119:89 MKJV: LAMED: Forever, O Jehovah, Your Word is settled in the heavens.
This is why faith comes by hearing God’s Word.
Romans 10:17 MKJV: Then faith is of hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
2. God’s wisdom by tapping into the hidden divine wisdom in His Word by praying in tongues and for the spirit of wisdom and revelation:
1 Corinthians 2:7 MKJV: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which God has hidden, predetermining it before the world for our glory;
1 Corinthians 14:2 MKJV: For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. For no one hears, but in spirit he speaks mysteries.
Ephesians 1:16-20 MKJV: do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, (17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, (18) the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, (19) and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us, the ones believing according to the working of His mighty strength (20) which He worked in Christ in raising Him from the dead, and He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies,
3. God’s power released as we pray with tongues and travail to create by manipulating men and circumstances to bring into physical manifestation the reality of God’s Word that is not yet physically evident.
Romans 8:26-29 NIV: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. (27) And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (28) 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. (29) For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Ephesians 6:18 MKJV: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching to this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Galatians 4:19 MKJV: My children, for whom I again travail until Christ should be formed in you,
As we practice all these things diligently, 2011 will be a year in which we will trust God more!
