What Does It Really Mean to Trust God? (Faith) | Season 07, Episode 03 | Simple Truth Podcast

Have you ever said, "God, I trust you." and then started trying to figure everything out on your own? Or maybe you're facing an important decision about a job, a relationship, or even where to live. You believe in God, and you want to follow him, but you're not sure what he wants you to do. And maybe you've prayed for something that really mattered to you. You believed God could do it, but things didn't turn out the way you had hoped. And now you're wondering, "I thought I had prayed in faith. So, why didn't God answer my prayer? Why didn't he give me what I asked for?" In this episode, we're going to answer three important questions about faith. First, what does it mean to have faith in God? Second, why should I trust what God says? And third, what does trust in God look like when I have a decision to make? [music] Welcome to the Simple Truth podcast. I'm Ted Ross, and this is season 7, episode 3. What does it really mean to trust God? We're talking about faith. Last episode, we talked about repentance, changing your mind, turning away from harmful behaviors and thoughts, and toward God and his will. Now we're talking about faith toward God, believing what he says, trusting him to fulfill his promises, and responding obediently to the leading of his spirit. So, we're going to answer three questions, starting with question number one. What does it mean to have faith in God? Most Christians would probably tell you that they have faith in God, but if you ask them to explain what faith means, you might get some very different answers. Some think faith is believing God exists. Others think it's believing everything will just work out. And some treat faith like a feeling, something we have when we're hopeful and we lose when we're discouraged. But God considers faith one of the foundations of our entire Christian life. So, it's important that we understand faith correctly. Hebrews chapter 6 verses 1 and 2. As a reminder, all Bible verses are from the New King James version of the Bible, so feel free to follow along. We're going back to Hebrews 6 as we started our very first episode in this season, and we're going to see here that faith toward God is one of the Christian basics we need to build a strong Christian life and grow into spiritual maturity. Hebrews 6:1, quote, "Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, that was the last couple episodes, and of faith toward God, that will be these episodes, and of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." These folks are the six Christian basics that we will cover in this season. So, in verse 1 it says, "Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles," right? The beginning teachings of Jesus Christ, "let us go on," the writer says, "to perfection." That's maturity, that's completeness. He says, "Not laying again this foundation of repentance from dead works," that we drilled in in episodes 1 and 2, "and of faith toward God," right? Faith, it's trust, it's confidence, it's reliance on God. That's what we'll be discussing over the next few episodes. It's such an important topic. So, when you're told to have faith, do you understand what it means? I know as a Christian I've had times where I heard that word all the time and I did not know what it means. And that's what this episode is all about. Faith is too important to leave vague. It's one of the Christian basics that's listed here in Hebrews chapter 6. And as we saw in the first episode of this season, it's one of the very first things Jesus taught going into ministry in Mark chapter 1:14, coming out of the wilderness he says, "Repent and believe the gospel." He says, "Repent, turn back and have another mind and have faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ." Repentance and faith are cornerstone and it's critical for you to understand it. If we're going to build our Christian lives on faith, we need to understand what gives us that confidence. After all, how can we be so sure of something that we haven't seen with our own eyes? Hebrews 11 helps us understand what this confidence even means. Hebrews 11:1-3, we're going to see here that faith, it isn't just hoping something will happen. It's having confidence in God and what he has said even before we see it. Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." Right? So now, faith, trust, confidence, reliance on God. It's the substance, it's the assurance in what we hope for. Right? This faith, this trust, this confidence, it's an assurance in what we hope for. Right? It's evidence, that means conviction, that means proof of things not seen. This faith, it's an assurance and it's an evidence, a conviction of things that we haven't even seen yet, yet we have this faith in our heart. It says, "For by it, by faith, the elders, right? Our our forefathers, the men and women who lived before us, who were people of faith, people who heard God, believed God, and followed after and had really great and powerful things happen in their life, things that you've read in the Bible or even just a parent or a friend or someone that you read about. These are all examples of elders who've obtained a good testimony, a good reputation, because they had faith and they moved on that faith. And it says by faith we understand that the worlds were framed, that the world around us was formed, it was prepared, it was put in order the word means, by the word of God, right? That God spoke as we saw in Genesis 1 and it came into being. And it says so that the things that we see are not made by the things that are visible. Why? Because the things we see we know by faith, we know in our heart, we have a conviction, we have an assurance, and we have a proof in our heart that they was not made by the things we see around us, but we know the things that we see were made by God, right? So, how can I be confident in what God says when I can't always see what he's saying? Your confidence comes from trusting God, his word, and his character. We're going to talk more about this. Faith isn't simply wishing something will happen. It's trusting God and what God says, even when you can't see what he's doing or how things will work out. And that confidence, it doesn't come out of nowhere. It grows as you get to know him. Remember how he's been faithful in your life, right? And become convinced that he's a loving father who knows what's best for you. But here's something else that's really, really important. Faith isn't just something that helps us through difficult times. It's something God actually expects from us. Why? Why does God expect this? Well, let's see what verse 6 says. Hebrews 11:6, God expects us to believe in him, to trust his character, and to earnestly, to sincerely seek a relationship with him. Hebrews 11:6, quote, "But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Right? So, it says, "But without faith, without trust, without confidence, without reliance on God, it is impossible to please him." That means it's impossible to be acceptable or to be pleasing to God. That's a strong statement, isn't it? It says, "For he who comes to God must believe, must accept as true, must have confidence in that he is God." Right? And that he is a rewarder. That's one who gives rewards, one who repays. A rewarder of those who diligently seek him, who earnestly search for him, who actively pursue him. So, without faith, there is no pleasing God. For the person, that's you and me, who comes to God in prayer, in praise, and worship, right? Who's seeking after something, must believe that he truly is God and that he rewards, he gives a reward and repays people who earnestly, sincerely seek him with their heart, and who actively pursue him. So, if I believe God exists, isn't that enough to say I have faith in him? People will say this, "I believe there's a God. Isn't that enough to say that I have faith?" No. We see here in Hebrews 11:6, and we can look at many other verses, that faith is more than believing God exists. It means trusting God and making an effort to know God. So, believing God exists, it's one thing, but learning to trust him is another. And most of us didn't start out knowing how to do that, right? Some of us grew up hearing about God, while others didn't give him much thought at all, including myself when I was growing up. So, how do we go from simply knowing about God to actually having faith in God? Let's think about how that relationship begins and grows. How does faith begin and how does faith grow? I always thought this was really interesting. God gave us revelation, so we wrote this down and we're talking about this. But, think of it this way, faith is trusting in something that you cannot explicitly prove. You have had experiences and you have faith and you have it for a reason. You didn't grab it out of nowhere. You're rational, you're logical, and you have faith. But, if someone were to say, "Prove God." I can't pull something out and just show it to them. Sure, we could talk about the Bible and all the historical accuracy and all the prophecies. And sure, we can talk about all the millions of people who bear witness to it. And sure, we have a testimony and we have experiences. There's so many things we could list, but it's impossible to explicitly prove it. From your youth, you were either not seeking God, right? You were raised in a Let's say a non-religious household, so God wasn't someone that you were just seeking after in your youth, or you were told to seek God, but you didn't really know him at first. You can take a child and say, "You should know God." And they'll say, "Sure." But, if you were raised in a religious family, just because you're told to know God, doesn't mean you really know God. But, something happened, right? Whether you were raised in a non-religious family or a religious family, you end up having a compelling experience with God. You became born again. And for many of us, these are very different experiences. Sometimes you were born again in church. Sometimes you heard it on the radio, on the internet, or you saw something on social media, or you were having a very difficult time in your life and you got on your knees and you repented before God, or a friend led you to Christ. All of us have different reasons and different experiences, or you're just reading the Bible. But, you had that experience and then you began pursuing more experiences. In other words, you had a powerful initial experience and then you wanted to have a relationship, right? With the spirit that moved in you that caused that initial experience. You wanted to know God. The relationship then builds on your initial experience. So, you were gathering knowledge about God, but then it requires trust and obedience across many other things. You know, it's one thing to be in a crusade to come up to in front of a church and to say, "I believe God, I'm born again, and pray a sinner's prayer, etc." But, it's another thing to leave church and then start having to trust and obey God across other things in your life. In other words, it's a different thing to have faith. You have real experiences with God over time, right? You create a testimony. All of us have a testimony of the different experiences that we had with God, but you can never explicitly prove it to someone else. All you could do is tell them your experiences, but you still continue to walk in faith. As the relationship with God grows, your faith becomes more than believing he exists, doesn't it? It means you start trusting him enough to follow his direction. And the more you follow his direction, the more mature you become, and the more mature you become, the more you grow in your Christian faith. As you look back on your own relationship with God, you could probably see how your faith has grown. You came to believe in him. You began to know him personally, and you learn to trust God in different areas of your life. But, that trust it also starts to affect decisions that you make, right? And whether you're willing to follow his direction even when it gets difficult. Now, your faith gets challenged. So, here are three important parts of biblical faith that work together. Faith, you can say, is belief plus trust plus obedience, right? Faith is more than mere belief. That means it's more than just acknowledging God exists. Faith also includes trust, which is reliance on God, and obedience, which is compliance to God. Let's talk about this. In Hebrews 11:6-8, we see three elements of faith. We see belief, right? We see the idea that we need to accept that God exists and what he says is true, right? It says in that scripture, "For he who comes to God must believe that he is." Right? Must believe that he is God. So, right there we see this element of faith, which is belief. It's an acceptance that God exists and what he says is true. But, we also see trust, which is relying on God's goodness, his character, and his promises. We see in Hebrews 11:6 that he is God and a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. That requires trust. So, we believe God for who he says he is, and then we trust God because we believe that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. But, then we also see obedience. In verses 7 and 8, we see that responding to God by doing what he says is a part of faith. In fact, when you read Hebrews 11:6-8, you see not only these statements that you need to come to God and believe that he is God and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Then in verses 7 and 8, you see Noah preparing an ark and you see Abraham obeying God's direction. If you pull it all together, you quite clearly see that faith is a belief, it's trust, and it is obedience. Faith begins with what I believe. It's then strengthened by trust, and it becomes visible through obedience. AKA works. Faith includes trusting both implicit truths from God's word, right? We read things in the scripture, we read that let's say our sins are forgiven, and so these are implicit truths. We read them and we accept them and we believe them, as well as following explicit guidance from the Holy Spirit. Such as you may receive a job offer and you've been praying about it and it doesn't sit well in your spirit, so you turn it down. So, involves both implicit truth. God doesn't have to tell you, you don't have to hear the voice of God to hear that your sins are forgiven. You see that throughout scripture, and you believe these implicit truths, but also you know that God can explicitly talk to you, such as where to live, a relationship you should or should not be in, turning down a job, etc. So, faith involves both implicit and explicit actions. Sometimes faith means implicitly trusting what God has revealed about his character and his promises, and other times faith means trusting his explicit direction for our life as communicated by his Holy Spirit, which often comes to us through prayer, through fasting, or through worship. Either way, faith means more than just believing in God. It also means trusting and obeying him. And sometimes that means doing something before we see or understand why it's even necessary. That's exactly what happened to Noah, isn't it? God warned him about something that he couldn't yet see. And Noah had to decide whether he trusted God enough to act on what God said. Hebrews 11 verse 7. Here we're going to see that Noah demonstrated what it means to have faith in God. He believed what God said, he trusted God's warning, and responded with obedience. Hebrews 11:7, quote, "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." You know, we often read Hebrews 11 verse 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and sometimes we disconnect verses 7 and 8. Yet verses 7 and 8 are explicitly connected to Hebrews 11:6. So, by faith Noah, right? So, by trust, confidence, and reliance on God, Noah was divinely warned of things to come, which means he was warned and instructed by God of things not yet seen. He had not seen a flood and yet he moved with godly fear, which means reverent respect and a concern to obey God. Put yourself in Noah's shoes. God is saying a flood is going to come, rain is going to fall and everyone around Noah goes, "You are crazy." So Noah though has to say within himself, "I have faith. I believe what I'm hearing in my spirit." And he had a reverent respect and a concern to obey God. So much so that he put a tremendous amount of time and resources and his reputation into something that he did not physically see. And it said, he prepared an ark. To prepare is to build, to construct, to make ready this ark for the saving of his household. By which he condemned the world by simply building the ark and having faith and trusting God and obeying God, he judged against and showed the world to be wrong. Wow, that's a lot to be put on a person's shoulders. And it said and he became an heir of righteousness. That means he was counted right through the faith that was shown by his obedience. That's powerful. He became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. So God counted him right, gave Noah a right standing based on the fact that Noah believed what he heard from God and he obeyed it in the preparation of the ark. Are you willing to follow God's will even if you can't see what's coming? Noah did. He's one of those elders we saw before that obtained a good report, a good testimony, a good reputation. He's one of many. When you read the book of Hebrews, you read many people and it even says that there's not enough time to list all the people who have walked in faith and obtained a good report and received promises and blessings from God because they had faith in God. We shouldn't have to see the outcome to trust God, should we? We shouldn't have to know what's going to happen or see it physically before we trust and do what God says. So, what does it really mean to have faith in God? That was the question we asked here. Well, Noah gives us one of many practical examples in the Bible. Noah didn't wait for the rain to start before building the ark. He would have been too late. He believed God's warning. He trusted that God knew what was coming, and he obeyed what he was told. Right faith. He had belief. He had trust, and he had obedience. That's what made his faith more than just something he believed, and it brings us to our first simple truth. Simple truth number 127. Faith means believing God, trusting him, and obeying him. Think about it. We don't usually trust someone just because they tell us to. We trust people because we've come to know them. We've seen their character, and they've given us reasons to believe them. So, what is it about God that gives us the confidence to trust what he says? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Well, question number two. Why should I trust what God says? I know some of you might say, "Well, that's needless to say." But, is it? You're a Christian. You're walking in faith. You have to have an answer for why it is that you're doing what you're doing. And when you are under pressure and you're being tested, that answer is going to be tested. There's going to be pressure, and you're going to be in like what feels like being squeezed in a vise because you're going to be tested on what it is that God has told you to do. And what are you going to do in those moments? What are you going to do with that time? So, imagine someone promising you something that's completely impossible, and they promise it to you. You'd probably wonder, "How in the world is this thing going to happen that I'm being promised?" Well, Abraham was in that exact situation, wasn't he? God had promised him and his wife, Sarah, a child even though they were far beyond the normal age to even have children. So, why did Abraham keep trusting that promise? Let's see in Romans chapter 4. Romans 4:19-21, we're going to see that Abraham trusted God's promise because Abraham was convinced that God could fulfill it even when his circumstances made it seem impossible. And Sarah's circumstances, it takes two people to have a child. Romans 4:19, "And not being weak in faith, he," and that's Abraham, "did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he, that's God, had promised, he, God, was also able to perform." Right? It says that Abraham not being weak in faith did not consider his own body and that he did not waver. Abraham did not doubt, did not hesitate. He was not divided in judgment at the promise of God, at the commitment or the assurance that God had given him. He didn't waver at the promise of God through unbelief. Instead, he was strengthened. He was made strong. He was empowered in faith, right? In trust, in belief, in the assurance and the relying on God. Praise God. And it says, "And being fully convinced," that means completely assured and persuaded, "that what God had promised, he was able to perform." So, why should I trust God when my own circumstance seems impossible? Because God is able to do it. He's God. He is not bound by time. He is omnipotent. He's omnipresent, right? He can do anything. He can be everywhere. He's God. And we're not just making up myths here. You've experienced God. You have been in the presence of God. You were born again, and when you felt that presence on you, you didn't sit around start questioning it. You said, "Dear God, this must be God." Because what you experienced is so powerful and so impactful and so compelling that you chose him. And now that you've chosen him, you're called to walk in him. But God doesn't want spiritual children, does he? He's working to grow us up. So, what I found in my life more and more is while God moved heaven and earth to convince me to believe him, once I started to accept him and I said, "Jesus is my Lord." I then started to run into more and more difficulties. I ran into challenges. I had to believe God for things that were a lot tougher than I thought I'd have to believe God for. And honestly, God took me into wilderness situations where and many of you can testify to that too in your own life where you asked yourself the question, "How could this possibly even be God?" But it is God. You prayed and you fasted and you read your scriptures and it kept confirming over and over again that you belonged there and that the only way out was to believe, trust, and put your reliance on God. And if you continue to persevere, and if you continue patiently believing the gospel and being led by God's spirit and doing the five disciplines of reading and praying, being led by the spirit, meditating on God's word, you keep seeking him and repenting of the things that he's showing and fighting to have faith, you will be delivered from everything that will hinder you. Praise God. God is faithful and he's reliable. As the scripture says, "I was young and now I'm old, and I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." God is faithful. God is worthy. And that experience that you had was God, and he will continue to bear witness and show he's faithful. But your faith will absolutely be tested, right? Because God is able to do it even when you and I can't see how. That's why the most important thing is not whether God or can or can't do it. God can do it. The question is was it God? So, you pursue God. You seek God and say, "Is this you, God? If this is you, I'm doing it. I don't know exactly how it's going to end, but I'm pursuing you to see you in it. I'm not after my will. I'm not chasing the things I want cuz those things won't be blessed. But when things get under pressure, I can't look left. I can't look right. I need to look for the way of escape as the scripture says, and I will pray and I'll fast and I'll read my scriptures and I'll lay aside the social media and the television and the radio and whatever it takes because I need God. And when you're at that point of desperation and you put your faith in God, he will move heaven and earth on your behalf. God bless you. That's how that works. Abraham had every reason to think having a child was impossible. Do you understand to be a 100 years old with a spouse and to say, "Yes, I believe that we're going to have a child because God said so." But he trusted God because he knew that God was able to keep his promise. Now, you might be thinking, "Well, that's great for Abraham. What does his story have to do with me?" Well, there's a reason his faith was recorded in scripture and it has everything to do with what God has done for you through Jesus Christ. Romans 4:23-25, "Our confidence in God as we're going to see here in the Bible isn't just based on what we hope he'll do. It's based on what he's already accomplished for us through the gospel." Romans 4:23, quote, "Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him." We're talking about Abraham, "but also for us." "It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, the Father, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification." Praise God, right? It was not written for Abraham's sake that it was imputed, that it was credited or accounted as righteous. Abraham believed God and it was counted as righteous, but it wasn't just about Abraham, was it? It's about us, too. It's about us believing God and we're not believing God per se to have a child at 100 years old. That was Abraham. It's about us believing God that Jesus died for our sins and he was buried and he rose again the third day and that we're forgiven and we're justified and that we're reconciled and we're made righteous, right? These are the things that we believe. And so, it was imputed to us who believe that trust, rely in, have confidence in the Father who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Remember, Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses, our sins, our trespasses against God and he was raised on the third day because of our justification so that we could be declared right by God and acquitted. If you want to learn more about this and you haven't seen yet, please watch our season on the blood of Jesus Christ. So, what has God done for us that should give us reason to trust what he says? Well, he's done many things, but he's proved his love through the gospel, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The only reason why you had a born-again experience, why you even experienced God in the first place, is because Jesus came to this earth. He was born of a virgin and he walked this earth righteously. He had no sin, but he became sin for us that you and I could be made the righteousness of God through him as the scripture says. And on top of the gospel, which is really all that is really required, you and I have had experiences with God, so many experiences with God that also convince us. So, Abraham trusted God because Abraham was convinced that God could do what God had promised. We have that same reason to trust him, but we also have something extraordinary to look back on that Abraham didn't have. We had what Jesus accomplished for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. And think about all the other ways that God has been faithful in your own life, right? When you put all of that together, you have every reason to approach God with confidence and hold on to his promises knowing that he is faithful. You may not feel it right now, but feelings are deceptive. Feelings are emotions. Sometimes you feel high, sometimes you feel low. You could watch a movie, it'll make you want to cry. You could watch something else, it'll make you angry. You could watch something else, it'll make you want to laugh. That's just feelings, they move in all sorts of different ways. Forget about your feelings. Remember, remember, think back, remember about all the wonderful and powerful things that God has done in your life, including the fact that Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose the third day. God is faithful and he is worth putting your faith in. So, let's look at Hebrews chapter 10 and see what that confidence should look like and why we can have that confidence. Hebrews 10:19-23. Remember, Jesus made a way for us to approach God confidently and trust in God's promises. Hebrews 10:19, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, Jesus Christ flesh, right? His crucifixion. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised, that's God, is faithful." Right, there's so much in these verses that I'd love to unpack, but we're going to quickly touch on it and then move cuz there's so much more to go. It says, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness," which means confidence, freedom to approach openly. Wow, we can have confidence that we can enter the holiest, God's holy presence. And we do so by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We have freedom to approach openly, morning, noon, night, anytime of the day, you have freedom to come into God's presence. Powerful. By a new and living way. It did not exist in the Old Testament, and it was consecrated, it was set apart for us through the veil. And this isn't the veil as shown in the Old Testament temple. No, no, no, no. This veil is Jesus' flesh that was crucified and it was broken for you and me. A punishment and a sacrifice that was made purely for you and me, so that we could enter into God's presence. And we have a high priest, not a human high priest who dies and another one needs to replace, but we have Jesus the high priest, eternal over the house of God, over the entire family, everyone who calls themself a Christian. And it says, "Let us draw near. Let us come close to God with a true heart and full assurance." That means complete confidence, firm certainty of faith, right? Of belief, of trust, of confidence in God. And have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, our bodies washed with the water of his word, and we could hold fast that confession, right? Without wavering, for he who promised, that's God. He's faithful. That means God is trustworthy, he's dependable. God is reliable. So, why? Why can you believe God? Why should you have faith in God? For all the reasons that we're just discussing, and you can come boldly, that means confidence, you can have faith. God is faithful, he's trustworthy, he's dependable, he is reliable. Think about all the times that God has been faithful to you. Think about them. I'm sure you've forgotten many of them, but recollect, go back, think back about some of those times. Maybe he answered a prayer. Maybe he helped you through something difficult. Maybe he provided what you needed when you didn't know what to do. And beyond all of that, look at what he's accomplished for us through Jesus Christ. We have plenty of reasons to trust God, and that's our second simple truth. Simple truth number 128, God's faithfulness in the past gives you confidence to trust him today. It's encouraging to look back and remember how faithful God has been to us. But what about those times when we pray for something important like a job or relationship or someone's healing and things don't turn out the way we hoped. Does that mean God wasn't faithful or that we didn't have enough faith? Let's talk about this for a moment. Faith doesn't mean getting everything you want. Do you understand? Faith does not mean getting everything you want. So, does trusting God mean I get everything I ask for? The answer is no. God keeps his promises, but not everything that we want is a promise from God. God wants us to ask, so we should pray confidently and persistently. If you want to read more about that, check out Matthew chapter 7:7-11 and Luke chapter 18:1-8. How we ask also matters. God instructs us to pray with faith, with humility, and the right motives. You could read more about that in James chapter 1:5-8 and James chapter 4:3. God answers according to his will. What did Jesus even pray in the Garden of Gethsemane? Not my will, but your will be done, Father. So, God answers according to his will, not simply because you and I want something. You could read more about that in 1 John chapter 5:14-15. God may answer differently than we expect. Even Paul didn't receive exactly what he had asked for. And when you read the book of Acts, God did mighty things through Paul. Paul had faith, but even Paul didn't receive exactly what he asked for. You could see that in 2 Corinthians chapter 12:8 and 9. Faith isn't trusting God to give you everything you want. it's trusting him with what you ask for. So, if you want to learn more about this, check out Simple Truth Podcast episode 3.7, How to Build a Powerful Prayer Life, for more information. So, it's one thing to say, "God, I trust you with this outcome." But, what about when you actually have to make a decision? Maybe you're considering that new job, thinking about getting married, or wondering whether it's time to make a big change in your life. And you want to follow God's will. But, how do you know what that is? And how does faith help you decide what to do next? That's question number three. What does trusting God look like when I have a decision to make? Have you ever prayed, "God, just tell me what to do"? I know I've prayed that before. Maybe you've been waiting for a sign, or a feeling, or something that makes the decision really obvious. Wouldn't that be great? But, sometimes we're so busy looking for an answer that we overlook what God has already told us. So, before we make a decision, where should we start? Let's see what Romans chapter 10 says about where our faith actually comes from. Romans 10:14 and 17. So, how can we trust God to guide us if we don't know what he says, right? Faith begins with hearing God's words and believing it. Romans 10:14, quote, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Verse 17. So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Powerful. It says, "How shall they call on him? How shall they appeal to or seek help from God in whom they have not believed, in whom they haven't trusted in, relied on, or had confidence in?" How can a person seek God if they don't even believe God? And how shall they believe, how shall they trust and rely on, or have confidence in God if they haven't heard, if they haven't listened to, received, or understood a message about God or from God. And how shall they hear, how shall they listen to receive or understand God's message without some form of preacher, some kind of messenger? It could come through YouTube, it could come through in person, it could come through reading scripture, however it is, but the message is getting delivered to you. It says, "So then faith, trust, confidence, reliance on God, it comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." That's the spoken word, the statement or the message of God. It's all-encompassing. Faith comes by listening to receiving and understanding a message that's a spoken word, a statement or a message from or about God. So, knowing God's word and his character, it helps us to trust God with our decisions. Wouldn't it be so easy if the Bible just told us exactly which job to take, where to live, or who to marry? But a lot of life's decisions, they're just not that straightforward, and honestly, they shouldn't be. Why? Because God wants us to have a real relationship with him, not find a book somewhere that tells us exactly what to do. He wants us to know him and be led by him. He wants to be our father, and he wants us to be his child. So, what do we do when we know God's word, but we're still not sure what God wants us to do? Well, God doesn't expect us to figure everything out on our own. James 1:5-6, sometimes we know what the Bible says, but we're still not sure which decision to make, and that's when we need to ask God for wisdom. James 1:5, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." It says, "If any of you lacks wisdom." What's wisdom? It's skill, it's ability to choose right or to do something. That's wisdom. I don't know about you, but I could use a lot of wisdom in my life. I would love to have not just knowledge, but skill and the ability to choose the right thing or to do something well. And it says if any of you lacks it, if any of you doesn't have it, let him ask of God. Ask God for it. Who gives to all liberally. That means God gives freely and he gives it generously. Praise God. You want skill? You want the ability to choose right or to do something? Well, go to God and ask for it because he gives it generously. He doesn't hold back and he does it without reproach, which means God gives wisdom without criticism and without finding fault in you. Praise God. And it says, but let him, let that person ask God for wisdom in faith, with trust, with confidence and reliance on God. Remember we said in Hebrews 11:6, come to God believing that he is God and a rewarder of those who diligently seek God. So, James is echoing the very same concept. Let that person ask in faith with no doubting. For he who doubts, right? He who wavers is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Think about what that means. The person who's doubting, who's wavering, who's double-minded, who's jumping back and forth is like a wave of the sea who's pushed along by an outside force. Which means they're not obeying or submitting or doing God's will, but something outside of them is pushing them in different directions. You clearly want to be somebody who is guided and focused in doing the will of God because when you're doubting and wavering, something else is pushing you around much like how the wind will push a wave of the sea around. Wow. So, does God expect me to figure everything out on my own? No. Ask for wisdom. Seek him. Use the five disciplines that we had early in the Simple Truth podcast seasons and listen for God's guidance. Now, here's where things can get a little uncomfortable, okay? Sometimes we ask God what to do, but deep down inside we've already decided what we want to do. So, are we sincerely looking for God's direction or we just hoping that God will agree with our direction? In other words, we need to be willing to follow God's direction when it doesn't line up with what we think is best. Do you understand? Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and 6, trusting God means recognizing that his wisdom is greater than our wisdom. His skill, his insight, his ability to choose right is far superior than yours or mine. And allowing him to guide the decisions that we make. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Trust, that's rely on, place confidence in, have faith in the Lord with all your heart, that's your inner unseen parts of a person, right? Your soul and your spirit. And lean not on your own understanding. Don't support yourself or depend on your own understanding. Right? Your understanding is your own reasoning, your own analysis, and your own judgment. In the parts of a Christian when we discuss the whole Christian, spirit, soul, and body in that season, we talk about the idea that some of us have inclinations. Some of us are naturally more emotional people. Some of us are very stubborn and strong-willed people. And some of us can be very intellectual people. An intellectual person can have great confidence in their own reasoning, their own analysis, and their own judgment. And sometimes, you know, they may have a high IQ and they just feel like they're smarter than the people around them. You're not smarter than God, to be clear, but you may be overconfident in your own reasoning and in your own judgment. So, as you interact with God, you may be inclined to lean on your own reasoning, your own judgment because it served you so well when you were going to school or arguing with friends or whatever it is that you may be. And it says in verse 6, "In all your ways, acknowledge him." Acknowledge God. Recognize, regard, honor, and submit to God. That's what that word acknowledge means in Hebrew. "And he shall direct your path." He shall lead correctly, make straight. He will make right your paths. That's your way of life. That's the direction you are walking. The path is not one time, it's ongoing. So, when God directs your path, he takes the way you're living, the direction that you're walking, and he leads you correctly. He makes that direction right. So, God promises to direct our paths when we acknowledge him. But when we're facing an important decision, how do we know which direction he wants us to take? And how do we learn to follow his will instead of our own? Well, Psalm 143 shows us a simple prayer that we can make asking God to teach us his will and to lead us by his spirit. Notice that we're talking about being led by the spirit in the Old Testament because nothing is new. So much is prophesied, so much is done. God's spirit was leading people in the old as he does in the new. Psalm 143:10. Here we're going to see that God doesn't leave us to figure out his will on our own. He gives us his spirit to guide us and to help us follow his direction. Psalm 143:10, quote, "Teach me to do your will for you are my God. Your spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness." He says, "Teach, instruct, train, help someone learn. Help me learn to do your will, Father." To do is to carry out, to perform, to put into action God's will. That's God's desires, God's pleasures, what God wants us to do. This those four five words right there are extremely powerful. He says, "For you are my God." Your spirit, right? The spirit, the breath, the wind, who specifically here he's talking about God's Holy Spirit is good, right? It's beneficial. And he says, "Lead me in the land of uprightness. Guide, direct, show me the way in the land of uprightness." So, what does trusting God look like when you're making a decision? Well, you know his word, you seek wisdom from God, you follow his Holy Spirit, and you trust him. Look, God may not give us step-by-step answers to every decision that we face, but he hasn't left us to figure out everything out on our own, either, has he? We can seek him, we can listen for his voice, his guidance, and we can take the next step in faith, and we can trust those outcomes. And that's really what this final simple truth is all about. Simple truth number 129, make decisions through God's word, his wisdom, and his spirit. It's easy to agree with all of this, and then go right back to making decisions the way we always have. You can say, "Amen, Brother Ted, this is great." And then go off and do your own thing. But what if we made a real effort to involve God in our decisions this week? Let's talk about how to put this into practice. So, what should I do now? Okay. So, faith means believing God, trusting God, and obeying God, right? Faith equals belief plus trust plus obedience, not just believing God exists. Wonderful. I know now that I need to remember God's faithfulness, right? Not only in the things that I've seen God do, but also know that he sent Jesus Christ to die for us and to be raised again the third day. That's a super faithful action on our behalf. Second, I need to let God's word, his wisdom, and his spirit guide me. I need to bring my decisions to to and be willing to follow his lead, even when I don't like the answer. But what does this look like in my life? Well, try this out for the next 7 days. This is what we call the trust God here 7-day challenge. You heard me? Trust God right here 7-day challenge. Okay, day one, if you want to try this out, bring one decision to God. Choose a decision that you're facing and tell God what you hope for, right? You can do no such thing wrong. It says in Philippians to sit put your request before God. Make your request known to God. Take that one item and tell God exactly what you're hoping for and ask him to guide you even if his direction is different from what you want. Days 2 through 7, seek God's wisdom and direction every day in days 2 through 7. Read James chapter 1 verses 5 and 6 and Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and 6. Read those each day. Pray for wisdom and listen for his spirit to guide you. Check what you believe, right? What do you believe God is showing you? So as you're praying and you're seeking guidance, may do some worship, may do some fasting, do some reading and meditating on God's word and you may start to see that God's showing you something. Feel free to check what you believe God has shown you against scripture. Feel free to seek wise counsel when needed. You know there's people who are more mature in Christ or as mature in Christ. Ask them what they think and give them the whole story so they can weigh in on it. In days 3 through 7, take a step of faith. Right? Act on what God you believe has made clear to you even if it's not your first choice. Better to do the right thing before God than to do the wrong thing before God and have to deal with the chastening and the discipline associated with disobedience. Better to do the right thing and then God may do all sorts of things to bring you about to where God wants you to be. If you're still unsure, keep seeking him but certainly don't force an answer. And if you're still unsure, feel free to watch episode 3.8, how to hear and recognize the Holy Spirit. I pray God bless you and God keep you as you seek his wisdom and you follow the leading of his Holy Spirit. Next episode, we're going to talk about how to trust God even when you can't see how things will turn out. We're going to have another conversation about faith. If you need more help with today's 7-day challenge, remember watch episode 3.8. It's on your screen right now on YouTube or visit subscribe to this channel for more simple, biblical, and essential truth.