6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:6-7 NLT
God tells us not to worry and to trust Him. He reiterates this dozens of times in the Bible…yet we still don’t put 100% trust in him. We desperately seek the desires of our hearts and find validation from people. We see “evangelists” on TV or read their books that tell us that our desires and feelings are good and we should give into them. That is our flesh talking…not God. The flesh is wrong (2 Corinthians 10:3)! It will deceive you and lead you astray…God never has.
I think the thing that holds people back the most when it comes to trusting God is letting go of their own desires. I always knew that trusting Him meant possibly giving up what I wanted. I wasn’t willing to do that… so I made the conscious decision to stay in control. The problem with being in control when you aren’t God, is that you don’t know what is best for you. The very thing that you are trying to control could be the very thing that is keeping you from truly knowing God. It may be keeping you in your sin pattern or allowing you to cause others to sin.
I was trying to control my career path. I wouldn’t let God control it because I didn’t want him to take it away from me. I worked hard for that specialized degree and He wasn’t going to take that away from me…so I thought. As I moved through my recovery, I started to explore what the cause of my current anger spiral was. I started to realize that my job was a primary factor in it. I prayed daily that God would work on my heart in regards to my job. I relinquished control. I told Him I didn’t want to carry the burden anymore and being god was exhausting. Immediately, I realized God was calling me to leave my job. I was at such peace about it because I had trusted God fully and knew he had a plan and it was perfect.
I never would have gotten to this place without my bible and prayer (2 things I never did before recovery). I admit all my bible knowledge came from my preacher. I’d sit in the back and pull up sermon scripture on my app and listen to what he has to say. I would even leave feeling convicted. Then Monday would come and I was back to my sin patterns. You CAN NOT be transformed from the back row once a week. It wasn’t until I started abiding daily and praying (truly, humbly praying) that I experienced peace and transformation.
It is not any easy thing to do…trusting God completely. I still struggle in other areas of my life. But you have to be committed. Any man that tells you it’s easy and tries to convince you that there are shortcuts, they are not teaching you biblical principle. But don’t take my word for it…read the Bible.
Here’s some scripture to help you get started:
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. Psalms 37:5 NLT
Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord, who have no confidence in the proud or in those who worship idols. Psalms 40:4 NLT
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 NLT
I love you and can’t wait to see you again!
Diane
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