Trust in God

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3-4. We frequently get frustrated and needlessly upset about life situations, whilst believing that we are believing and trusting in God. But in fact all we are doing is worrying, talking negatively and trying to figure everything out on our own. We may think that we are trusting God because we are saying, "I trust God", but inside we are worried and anxious. Our trust in God is developing but there is still work to be done. Trust and confidence are built up over a period of time and it usually takes a while to overcome an ingrained habit of worry, anxiety and fear. That is why it is so important to 'hang in there' with God. Don't quit and give up, each hurdle you jump over gains you experience and spiritual strength. Each time, you become a little bit stronger than you were the last time, and if you don't give up, you will be more than the devil can handle! When you enter into a crisis or encounter a problem, the devil wants us to run to people and not to God as this stops our relationship with God strengthening. But, the truth is that God is the only one that can truly help us. We need to learn not to tell people all of our woes. We need to learn to suffer privately, in God, at times - "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth" Isaiah 53:7. Once you reach a certain point in your walk with God, this is one of the golden rules for gaining even more strength in Him. "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7. It would be great if we could get to the point where we had stability, did not worry, were not full of unnecessary reasoning and could cast all our care upon God. Trusting God is one of those areas in which we have to get experience for ourselves. We don't get it by going through a prayer line and it isn't something that anyone can just give us. We have to get it for ourselves by ensuring that we are heading in the right direction and that we are learning, willing to change and open to growing in order to overcome worry, anxiety and fear. Far too many of us spend years of our lives tormenting ourselves with worry and anxiety, trying to cope with things that we can't handle and as a result, those years are wasted. We would be wise to cast our care on the Lord and live our lives, but sometimes in trying situations our worry levels get in the way of us doing what we should. We function best when we have a calm, well-balanced mind without fear, worry or anxiety. When our mind is in this state we are able to look the situation over effectively and decide what to do about it. We get into trouble when our mind is out of balance as we either move into a state of total passivity, expecting God to do everything for us, or we become hyperactive and operate in the flesh. We need to become well-balanced so that we are able to handle any life situation appropriately, making correct use of our own responsibility and God's help. Believe in God to help you in your situation and be prepared for Him to expect you to do something, and whatever it is that God shows us to do about our problem, we need to be diligent enough to do it then trust Him with the outcome.