The Substance Of Faith – Part 5

WARM-UP

Sometimes, Christians still struggle with the following thoughts:

• “Well, I asked for God’s blessing, but my business collapsed”
• “I prayed for increase financially but instead, I got fired”
• “I asked for a Godly home, but my marriage is falling apart”
• “I prayed that God would heal me, yet I’m on my death bed.”
• “I prayed for obedient children but they all went astray”

Sometimes our experience will contradict our faith.

ONE BIG IDEA

Trust is a firm belief, dependence, and confidence in the  reliability, truth or ability of someone or something.

STUDY (John 14:1-6)

““Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also  in me. 2There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.  If

this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to  prepare a place for you? 3When everything is ready, I will come  and  get you,  so  that  you  will always  be with me  where  I  am.

4And you know the way to where I am going”, 5“No, we don’t  know, Lord, “Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are  going, so how can we know the way?” 6Jesus told him “I am the  way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father  except through me.” (NLT)

LEARN

LET NOT YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED.

When Jesus told his disciples, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust also in me.”, He didn’t remove the  uncertainties. He didn’t tell them “Guys, you know what, it’s not  going to be so bad” Instead, He prescribed an essential choice: to trust or to panic. Jesus promised comfort not from trouble but  in spite of it.

Trust is the birthplace of a vibrant relationship with our God. Since  He is completely outside the sphere of our understanding, the  only way to relate to Him is through trust. But trust cannot exist  without uncertainty. Until you are uncertain, you cannot trust. We  trust God even if we don’t know what He is really going to do; but  we do know it is for our good. He was saying “Just hang in there,  I’ve got a better place for you”

SURRENDERING TO GOD MEANS:

OUR DESIRES COME FROM OUR HEARTS.

Suppose I want something from God, perhaps a promotion.  That’s a desire and it’s from my heart, so does it mean God has to  give it to me? Of course not. Listen to what God says about our  hearts:

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who  can understand it?” Jeremiah. 17:9 (NIV)

OUR DESIRES ARE DICTATED BY OUR SENSES (HUMAN  PERCEPTION).

Our desires originate from our soul and oftentimes, they are  misguided.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. “And  my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” Isaiah 55:8  (NLT)

WHO IS LORD?

If God granted every one of your desire–that house, that car you  claim, that wife, that job, so on and so forth–then who would be in  control of your life? This “God” whom you consider your genie  doesn’t seem to be the God of the Bible at all. If you consider  God as your Lord, then you should accept the fact that not all of  the things we ask from Him should be granted. The truth is “Not  all our desires should be granted. Not all our prayers should be  answered,” but we can only trust that God always has the better  plan than our plans.

THE PRICELESS VALUE OF “NO”

When God says “no” to our prayers, there’s always a greater  value in it. We just need to find it. We may need to look at the  positive side of it. If God gave us all the desires and I mean  everything we wanted, then we would all be pain-free, stress-  free, hassle-free and problem-free, right? But guess what? We  would also be a weak, over-gratified, spoiled brat. Do you know  why? Because all the traits of godliness such as patience,  kindness, goodness, even faith itself, only come by way of  adversity, setbacks and pressure. These things called trials and challenges or even those contradictions taught us lessons that made  us stronger.

CONCLUSION

Oftentimes our prayers are not answered not because God is mean. He is not uncaring because He did not do what we wanted, when we  wanted or how we wanted. Sometimes, God is just God. We should  acknowledge that. He’ll do what He wants, how He wants and of  course, if He wants. Let’s not get shocked when God acts like God. Our trust in Him should not diminish when He fails us because He has  reasons unfathomable to us humans. And for as long as we know it is  His will, we can always be sure, it is always for our own good.

GROW

Application Questions

1. In all honesty, who do you run to when you encounter a problem that seems too hard for you? What do you do? (Do you worry, blame God, fix problems on your own?)
2. Is it easy or hard for you to trust God? What are some  things that you just don’t understand about God or   following Jesus?
3. Share out of your personal experience, the joy of trusting  God especially in the most difficult times and how your  unwavering trust helped you get your prayers answered.