God has ordained that our entire relationship with Him is based on trusting Him, or in other words, faith. Our salvation is based on putting our complete trust in Him and the finished work of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. “Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification”. Romans 4:25

Following that, the quality of our relationship with Him as His disciple, rests completely on trusting Him and obeying His Word day by day. “If anyone loves Me he will keep my Word”. John 14:23

With me so far? The real challenges come when our faith is tested! Death of a loved one, cancer, financial disaster, rebellion by one of of children. When things don’t go smoothly the enemy of our souls, satan, comes and whispers in our ears, ” Does God really love you?” Where is this God of yours?

I just finished reading the well known faith chapter, Hebrews 11. WOW! Their faith was tested to the max! The amazing thing is that they trusted Him when trusting Him was the hardest thing of all! And God saw it! He wrote it down!

Now obviously God did not want a bunch of robots in His family! He wanted a family, a people, that would love Him and trust Him from their hearts, ESPECIALLY when the going got tough! That’s why we see countless examples of it in the Bible like Hebrews 11 and many, many exhortations to trust, to obey.

At the same time, I know I wouldn’t have any faith at all unless God gave it to me. “By grace you have been saved by FAITH, and THIS is not your own doing it is the gift of God”. Eph.2:8,9.

It is God’s gift! Now don’t get all wrapped up in the apparent contradiction as to whether it is all your responsibility or God’s gift. The Bible teaches both sides of this wonderful truth over and over.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God” Heb. 11:6, so if you lack some faith (hint: all of us do at times)) then just ask God to increase it because He is the source of it!

I like this little saying, “courage is just fear that has said it’s prayers”. Trust Him when trusting Him is the hardest thing of all.

Pastor Terry