How To Trust God, Even In Difficult Times

Life is not predictable. There are ups and downs along the way. Many of us want to trust God. When times are good, it can feel easier. But when times are difficult, it is even more important to trust God. God’s unchanging character can give us a firm foundation when things feel unsteady and uncertain

Life can be going along smoothly for a season. Your job is satisfying, your friends and family are enjoyable. Your goals, finances, health, and outlook seem bright. Then, all of the sudden, life throws a curveball. Someone you know gets sick. You lose your job. A friend or family member betrayed you. The things you felt secure in all of the sudden are shaky and uncertain.

How do you trust that God is good in these circumstances? How do you trust him when you do not understand what is happening? When you cannot see a resolution? These are valid questions and God wants to help you navigate them.

What Does It Mean To Trust God?

To trust is to believe in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of something. So, when it comes to trusting God, that means believing in His reliability, His word, His ability, and His strength. The Bible says that God cannot lie. That He always keeps His promises. That He loves you and has good in store for you. Trusting in Him means believing what He says about Himself, about the world and about you is true.

Trusting God is more than a feeling; It’s a choice to have faith in what He says even when your feelings or circumstances would have you believe something different. Your feelings and circumstances matter and are very much worth paying attention to. God cares about them both. But those things alone are not reliable enough to base your life on. They can change at any moment, even in an instant. God, on the other hand is not king. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and therefore is worthy of your trust.

Trusting God it’s not about ignoring your feelings or reality. It is not pretending that everything is OK when it isn’t. Trusting God is leading a life of belief and in obedience to God even when it’s difficult.

How To Trust God

Now that you know what it means to cross God, how exactly can you do that in your every day life?

If you trust someone, you feel comfortable being honest with them about anything. God is much more reliable than even your most trustworthy friend. When things get difficult, he doesn’t ask you to keep those feelings to yourself.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my cues in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

Psalm 58:8

Because God loves you, you can show your trust in Him by talking about all your feelings and circumstances with Him – the good and and hard through prayer. Don’t let your emotions run your life; Bring them to God so He can help you address them. He is not disappointed or frustrated by your struggles, doubts or pain. He cares about you, and you can trust Him with all things.

When you trust, you go to God and His Word when life is hard. You also act on obedience and trust that He will ultimately take care of the rest. In trust, you do not look for security and other things, you look to God to hold you securely in difficult circumstances. You won’t do this perfectly, but God is kind and patient with you while you learn to trust Him.

My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, He said you’re gonna stay here and keep watch. Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yeah not what I will, but what You will.

Mark 14:34-36

Jesus Himself felt overwhelmed by what was before Him, and He went straight to His Father.

He cares for your hurts. He pays attention. How comforting is it know that the God of the universe is also paying attention to you. Knowing that God is for you will strengthen your trust in him during times of hardship and the unknown.

Here are seven practical ways to trust God in your every day life:

Seek Truth In Scripture

Scripture, or the Bible, is God’s Word. God knows you need somewhere to go when you feel unsure. That place is His Word. It is unchanging and completely trustworthy.

The Bible records which God has responded in difficult times in the past. It reminds you that He is trustworthy whatever your circumstances. Many people in scripture even reference other parts of scripture to encourage themselves and those around them.

The truth and scripture review from the expectation of earning your salvation (John 8:32). It also frees you from unrealistic scenarios that you run to in worry. If you don’t run to the Word to remind you of truth in difficult times, is easier for you to be led into lies about your life and who God is.

We need a strong foundation of scripture to stand on, especially when we feel uncertain. The Bible is God‘s unfailing, unchanging Word. You can cling two is truth when life throws you a curveball.

Confess Your Unbelief

Be honest. Allow God to remind you of who He is and what He promises, and then be honest with Him. You can tell God how you feel and what areas of your life you are struggling to crush Him.

First, it is good to acknowledge that His character is good and trustworthy. You can agree with him that all He says is true. You can also tell Him when it’s difficult for you to believe.

According to Mark 9, A man brought his son to Jesus for healing from being possessed by a demon. He ask you to fill heal him “if you can.” Jesus asked the man if he did not believe that He could heal, and this was his reply.

Immediately the boys father exclaimed , I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!

Mark 9:24

He believed, but it was difficult to believe so he asked for help.

It is one thing to know the truth. But it is sometimes hard to believe it when life takes unexpected turns. You’re human. You’re able to confess to God with your feelings and beliefs are not lining up with His truth. You can ask Him to help you believe what He says is true,

This help you except that God is bigger than you could ever understand. Confession help you humble yourself and allow you to grow in trust. He hear your request and answers them he want to help you grow in your faith.

Share Your Concerns With Your Community

You are not facing these difficult times alone. Lord is walking with you every step of the way. He also give you other believers to walk with.

The Apostle Paul was a follower of Jesus and a leader in the early church. He shared this with a fellow believer as encouragement.

I pray that your partnership with us and faith may be affective and deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ

Philippians 1:6

Paul reminded his friend that partnership is important and helps us to have a greater understanding of God and His plan.

When you are struggling, share those concern with another follower of Jesus who you trust – someone you know is pursuing a relationship with God regularly and who knows God’s Word. You do not have to share your struggles with everyone, but find those people who will encourage you and share the truth with you, not just tell you what you want to hear.

Fellow believers can remind you of God’s character through encouragement and accountability. They can pray for and support you. They can remind you of the truth when you’re struggling. Community remind you that you are never alone, even in hard times.

Remember God And Spend Time With Him

God is bigger than your circumstances. Difficult times may feel like they last forever, but they are temporary. God is present amid the bad times as well as the good. He is always faithful.

God wants you to go to Him with your circumstances. He wants you to come to him simply to spend time with Him. You should not let your circumstances shape your relationship with God. God can shape your review of the circumstances.

Spend regular time with God. Establishing a consistent time with the Lord when things feel good well hope you continue to go to Him when things feel rough. If you have not established that, it is never too late to start.

Read His word. Spend time in prayer acknowledging who He is. Meet with other believers and set your eyes on things that are bigger than your circumstances. Serve of those around you. These simple practices will help you see God outside of difficult things, which will establish trust in your heart that he will move in your circumstances.

Look For Things To Be Grateful For

Difficult circumstances feel all consuming at times. It’s really hard to see past them to other good things going on. But God’s grace is in all things. In your waking up. In the sunny days. In a call from my friend. He is in all of it,

But those good times often get overshadowed by even more complicated things going on. In the face of both difficulties, God shares His will for you and how you should respond to them.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Thessalonians 5:16-18

God called you to give thanks. He is always working in your life and in the world. In the moment when everything appears to be falling apart, it can be hard to see how God is at work, but no His mercy is consistent.

Giving thanks bites the light that everything is horrible. Even in tragic circumstances, there will be light and grace. God is present and Himself known. You need only look. Trust grows as you look for God’s presence in what feels dark and heavy. He never leaves.

Walk In The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit lives in anyone who trust in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is your constant helper, pointing you to Jesus.

When Jesus was telling His followers that He was going to be killed, He knew that they would be worried. They would feel scared about being left alone. So He shared this with them to give them comfort.

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 14:26

The spirit comforts and remind you of the truth. The spirit will also lead you in obedience. He will bring direction to you.

A common struggle in difficult times and feelings of hopelessness and worry about an unknown future. The leading of the Spirit can ease struggles by guiding you to act of obedience. He does not always give you the big picture, but He will show you the next step.

Walking closely with the Holy Spirit will not only give you direction but remind you that you are not alone. God is not distant. He is with you in difficulty. He is making a way for you.

Wait On The Lord

The Holy Spirit will lead you in what you should do. Sometimes what you need to do is wait. Faithfully continue to seek the Lord, but wait on His timing. Wait on Him to act on your behalf wait on Him to do what you cannot do yourself.

In the book of Isaiah, God responds to the Israelites who thought that God had turned away from them. He reminds them that he does not sleep or take a break. He always sees them and you always working for their good.

They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; it’ll run and not be weary; To walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

He will help you wait with the endurance. Waiting on the Lord reminds you that you are not in control. Thank goodness! He is bigger than any of your circumstances. He will sustain you and grow your faith in waiting.

God is never neglecting your life. If He seems to be silent, remember His promised is that He is always hearing your prayers and responding.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles.

Psalm 34:17

When Trust Falters

God is trustworthy even when you don’t see your prayer answered or problem-solving right away. Life is unpredictable and difficult at times, and that difficulty may persist for longer than you had hoped. It may even bring you the end of your strength. So, what do you do then?

Wait, trust and remember that God loves you. You can trust Him to sustain you, provide for you and be with you even in the mist of your hardship. Jesus guaranteed his followers that they would be hard times (John 16:33), But He promised that He would always be with them (Matthew 28:20).

God is completely trustworthy, but He does not ask you to trust Him blindly. He wants you to learn to trust him I can get to know Him. You can get to know God through personal time with Him and through His word. Spending time exploring aspects of His trustworthiness in Scripture.

In the book of Romans, one of the early followers of Jesus, Paul, right you believe her about the present life. He reminds them that this life will have hardships and that our bodies will fail, but God is still working for our good.

And we know that all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

In times of doubt, remember His promises. Remember who He has always been. Even in doubt and uncertainty, if you keep going to Him, He will continually show Himself to be trustworthy.

The 5 Truths About Hell

It is easy to avoid the topic of Hell because it’s an uncomfortable topic to talk about. Did you know Jesus talked more about Hell than He did anything else in the Bible? He didn’t avoid the tough conversations, and He knew the gravity of eternity.

We all will die, and there are two places we will either end up: Heaven or Hell.

Before we look at these truths about Hell, we need to know how the Bible describes Hell.

Hell is described in the Bible as 3 words:

Abyss

A bottomless pit, the underworld, the primal deep, The realm of the dead (Psalm 71:20; Luke 8:31; Revelation 91, 3, 11, 17:8; 20:1,3).

Hades

The underworld, a land of darkness, a prison (Job 10:21; 26:5; Psalm 30:9; 115:17; Luke 8:30-31; Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Peter 3:19; Revelation 20:7).

Gehenna

A fiery place of eternal punishment where the body and soul are judged (Matthew 13:42, 50; 25::41; 46; Mark 9; 43; 45;47). Gehenna originally referred to the valley of the son of Hinnom, lying south of Jerusalem where children were sacrificed to the god, Molech, as they walked through fire (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; 23:10; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Joshua 15;8; Isaiah 31:9).

Hell is a fiery, dark, and bottomless pit where there is eternal judgment for those who don’t believe in Jesus and continue to live like they want  to live, just honoring and obeying God intentionally.

The 5 Truth Of Hell

1. Hell is the point of separation from the greatest presence of God (Matthew 13:41-42.

2. Hell is the place of outer darkness and gloom (Mark 8:12; Jude 7, 13).

3. Hell is a place in conscience extreme sorrow and regret (Luke 16:22-24, 27-28; Revelation 20:10).

4. How is a place of fire (Matthew 5:22; 13:43-50; Mark 9:43; Luke 16:24; Hebrews 10:26-27; Revelation 14:10-11; 20:10, 14).

5. Hell last forever (Mark 9:43; Matthew 25:41, 46; Isaiah 66; Jude 7, 13; Revelation 20:10).

I have heard many people say Hell is going to be just one big party. Maybe they say it and make them selves feel better. I really don’t know the answer. But what from Jesus says about Hell In the Bible it doesn’t sound like a party to me.

Let Pain Teach You To Live

Breaking Open, Not Breaking Down

We will all face breaking points, and many times we will splinter and crack. We all know broken hearts and broken relationships intimately. But with Jesus these are the opportunities not to fall down and stay down but to fall and rise differently. To rise with power, with hope, and with purpose. That is the goal. We get to rise, open to a new way of living.

To do that, though, we can’t avoid the breaking. We can’t stuff it down deep under a coping mechanism. We can’t outrun it by moving fast enough. We can’t numb it with another drink or another cynical.. comment. We can’t avoid it by manufacturing drama to gain attention. There’s only one way to thrive in life, and it’s definitely not by shutting down, it’s by remaining open.

Jesus encountered brokenness and, instead of using a supernatural field to hold suffering at bay, he embraced it fully, And he himself broke. But Jesus did it in a way that brought healing, that brought others in, and brought life.

Better still, Jesus invites us to live a healed whole life as those who break open toward God. For Jesus, this isn’t about leading us down a road where we break. He knows the road we are on is broken, so he is leading us to hope, healing, and wholeness.

Remember when we talk about breaking that is headed to a wide-open space that Jesus is preparing for us, where all the broken places are made whole. And so when we break, we break open to Jesus. We break open towards others instead of seeking the tempting allure of isolation. We break open and live life desperate, vulnerable lives that invite others to do the same.

Nehemiah had one of the most notable breakdowns in the Bible. It is found in the book that bears his name in the Old Testament. Nehemiah was living in a very difficult time for his people, the Jews – the people of God . They were in exile, which meant most of the things they held dear had been stripped from them. They had been uprooted from their homes and forced to serve a new king and a new kingdom. They had lost things like family, connections, familiar ways of life, and religious patterns. But like most difficult times, there were some who managed to do okay. Nehemiah was that guy.

In the midst of exile, he was actually prospering. He was prospering externally, at least. He had a good job. He had a prominent position in the kingdom. Sure, the king was not really treating his people well, but the king was treating Nehemiah well. We all have friends like this. While the COVID pandemic was one of the hardest season ever for many people, most of us know one friend who got a new job or house or whose child got into a good college. That was Nehemiah. And even amid all the good things in his life, he broke down too. It turned out the Nehemiah’s external condition did not mirror his internal one. It took Nehemiah’s hearing that his people were suffering in Jerusalem for everything to come apart. Things were going well for Nehemiah but not for the people he loved, and that was a great burden to him.

Nehemiah said this is his book: “when I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven” (1:4). He sat down on the ground and mourned and prayed and he didn’t eat, For some days, he did this. If you see me on the ground for days crying and I’m not eating, you can call it what it is a breakdown.

But the only reason we know of Nehemiah’s account is because he broke open. His mourning and fasting led him closer to God. In fact, everything about Nehemiah’s breakdown involved staying open to God. His heart was broken because he knew there were people who weren’t safe, weren’t well fed, and weren’t happy. He didn’t even his high position as separating him from the condition of others. It broke him, but it broke him open in a way that led to action.

Nehemiah did some amazing things. He rebuilt the walk around Jerusalem. He stood up against dangerous enemies. He restored the people of God back to health and connectivity. But when Nehemiah story started there was so much crying and so much sadness. I think Nehemiah would say, “I could never have done all that, had I not let go of my desire to control it all, had I not given everything to God and resolved to keep going.”

We all have breaking points, breaking moments. Would you choose to break open? To let go? Try opening your hands up right now. As you physically open your hands, think about the things you need to let go of in your heart. Breathe out what you need to let go of to keep going. Breathe in the resolve to keep moving.

To choose hope.

To let go is to choose hope. To keep going when your body and mind say that you can’t go on is to choose hope.

To choose hope is the opposite of losing hope. And we all lose hope sometimes. For mow, let’s just believe together that there is hope. We can let go, we can keep going, because we have reason to hope. Believe that God has a full, good life coming for you. Let hope fill you deep in your being.

What in life has caused you to breakdown?

Did you break open and find hope in Jesus?

What Are Justification And Sanctification?

The words justification and sanctification have largely fallen out of use in Western culture. Sadly, they are also fading from sight in the church as well. One reason for this decline is distressing is that the Bible uses the words justification and sanctification to express the saving work of of Christ for sinners. So what does the Bible teach about justification and sanctification? How do they differ from one another? How do they help us understand better the believers relationship with Christ?

Justification is as simple as A-B-C. Justification is an act of God. It does not describe the way that God inwardly renews and changes a person. It is rather, a legal declaration in which God pardons the sinner of all his sins and accept and accounts the sinner as righteous in His sight. God declares the sinner righteous at the very moment that the sinner puts his trust in Jesus (Romans 3:21-26, 5:16, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

What is the basis of this legal verdict? God justifies the sinner solely on the basis of the obedience and death of His Son, our representative. Jesus Christ. Christ’s perfect obedience and full satisfaction for sin are the only ground upon which God declares the sinner righteous (Romans 5:18-19; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7;Philippians 2:8). We are not justified solely on the basis of Christ’s work on our behalf. This righteousness is imputed to the sinner. In other words in justification, God puts the righteousness of His Son onto the sinner’s account. Just as my sins were transferred to, or laid upon, Christ at the cross, so also His righteousness is reckoned to me (2 Corinthians 5:21).

By what means at the center justified? Sinners are justified through faith alone when they compact their crush in Christ. We are not justified because of any good that we have done, are doing, or will do. Faith is only an instrument of justification, faith add nothing to what Christ has done for us in justification. Faith merely receives the righteousness of Christ offered in the gospel (Romans 4:4-5).

Finally, saving faith must demonstrate itself to be the genuine article of producing good works. It is possible to confess saving faith but not possess having saving faith (James 2:14-25). What distinguishes true faith from a mere claim to faith is the presence of good works (Galatians 5:6). We are in no way just justified for our good work. But no one may consider himself to be a justified person unless he sees in his life that fruit and evidence of justifying faith; that is, good works.

Both justification and sanctification are gracious of the gospel, they always accompany one another. They deal with the center sin. But they differ in some important ways. First, word yesterday for cake and address of the guilt of our sin, sanctification addresses the dominion and corruption of sin in our lives. Justification is God declaring the sinner righteous.

Sanctification is God renewing and transforming our whole persons – our minds, wills, affections, and behaviors. Sanctification simply put made “set apart” Set apart unto God for His use and glory. Until we are sanctified, God is limited and he should be will be show case as His is crown of glory and His royal diadem. It’s the delivery choice to live a holy and blameless life before God and Man and it doesn’t happen by chance, only by choice. You must want to choose to be sanctified by God by casting aside your own which is in desired and diligently following and obeying God.

It isn’t always easy, but God strength is made perfect in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and a silver, but also award and of earth, and some few honor armor and some fidgets on her. It’s a man beer for purchase himself from the Eashalle be a vessel up on her, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepare unto every great work.

Timothy 2:20-21

What will believers receive in heaven? We are sanctified by our great works. God promises those who are faithful will receive the crown in heaven. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 Paul describes or us how we crowns are rewarded.