Can
You Trust God?
By Michael
A. H. Back
Part Two: Is God Dependable?
What is trust?
Trust
1 - assured
reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something
2 - dependence on
something future or contingent
Trustworthy:
1 - Worthy of or
deserving our confidence; dependable.
The key issue on trusting
God for many of us is that deep down inside, we are NOT completely
confident that God is dependable, that we can rely on Him. On the
first level, we have the record of God's dependability in the
scriptures. In the Bible, we see that God has proven Himself to be
dependable and reliable over and over again. This is particularly
noteworthy in fulfilled promises and prophecies.
However, the problem for
many of us is that what we experience in our own lives does NOT seem
to match what we find in scripture.
Bad
things happen to good people. Where is God?
He
says He will give us anything we ask for, yet we have unanswered prayers.
Our
loved ones get sick and die, and God does not heal them.
And so on . . .
Most of these actually
boil down to this: We pray for God to do something in these
circumstances, and He doesn't. God says, unconditionally, that He
will give us WHATEVER we ask for, but it doesn't seem to work that way.
So to us, the test of
God's faithfulness is PRAYER.
But does the Bible say
that? Is the promise of answered prayers unconditional?
The assumption in
scripture is that you will NOT take the teachings on doctrines
and principles out of context, and often, the full context of
something is found is several different places. For example, Paul says,
"Everything is
permitted, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permitted,
but not everything is constructive." (1 Corinthians 10:23)
Does Paul really mean
that EVERYTHING is permitted? How about adultery? Theft? Murder?
Lying? Are all these things "permitted"? No.
There is an inherent
understanding that this "everything" that Paul speaks of is
actually roped in by certain things: the commandments of God - by
what is holy, moral, loving and good. The full context of Paul's
statement is "Everything that is not CONTRARY to the commands
of God is permitted." And then Paul's point in this verse is
that EVEN within that group, not everything is beneficial or constructive.
So what does God ACTUALLY
say about prayer? What we find is that each passage that talks about
giving us "whatever" we ask for gives us a portion of the
requirements to have our prayers answered as well.
CRITERIA
FOR HAVING OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED
1) True,
authentic, Biblical faith.
"I tell you the
truth, anyone who has FAITH in me will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
And I will do WHATEVER you ask in my name, so that the Son
may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for ANYTHING in
my name, and I will do it." John 14:12-14
The FIRST and most
obvious criterion for getting our prayers answered is that we need to
have faith. Recall from part 1 that faith is made up of 5 facets:
1)Mental:
Confidence or acknowledgement
2)Physical:
Putting our faith into action
3)Moral: Listening
to God and having a clear conscience
4)Focus: God is
the object of our faith
5)Worldview: Faith
changes us, and how we view the world
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Most of the time, when we think of lacking faith, we think we must be
lacking facet #1 ("confidence in the truth," mental
acceptance), but many times, the real issue is facet #5 (worldview).
We are lacking true, authentic Biblical Faith because our WORLDVIEW
has not changed to a God-centered, love driven worldview, and as a
result, WE ASK AMISS! Our lives and our worldviews are still
self-centered, and thus, we are lacking authentic Biblical faith. |
"What causes
fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that
battle within you? You want something but don't get it. So you kill
and covet, but you cannot have what you want. So you quarrel and
fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you DO ask,
you do not receive because you ask with WRONG MOTIVES, that you may
spend what you get on your pleasures." James 4:1-3
Having authentic faith
changes our heart. It changes the way we view the world. It changes
what we WANT. We are not asking for childish, dangerous, or pleasure
oriented things, but for things that will allow us to fulfill God's
plan for our lives, will help us love others, will aid us in
delivering the message of a loving God to a suffering world.
When we ask for selfish
things to spend on our pleasures, just as a parent would to a child,
God will usually just say "no." One of the key points of
scripture is that God is not overly concerned with our
"comfort," but He is very concerned with our CHARACTER! Our
culture is the exact opposite: we care about comfort, but put fairly
little value or emphasis on character. Like a selfish child in need
of a new perspective on life, the answer we "want" and the
answer we "need" are not always the same thing.
"For those whom
he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."
Romans 8:29
God's focus for our lives
is first and foremost that we become Christ-like, NOT that we face no
hardships or trials.
So not only do we need
ALL 5 FACETS to have the kind of faith Jesus is talking about, but
just as with Paul's statement about "everything being
permitted," the "whatever" or "anything"
that we ask for in our prayers is understood to be inherently roped
in by the Biblical worldview (summed up in "Love God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength" and "Love your
neighbor as yourself").
"Do not conform
any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. THEN you will be able to test and
approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."
Romans 12:2
When our minds are
transformed (our worldview becomes a Christ-centered worldview), THEN
we can figure out God's good, pleasing and perfect will, and our
prayers will line up accordingly.
2) Live
our Christianity EVERY DAY
"If you
REMAIN in me and my words REMAIN in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it will be given you." John 15:7
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This is talking about a consistent walk, not a "holy on Sunday,
worldly the other six days" lifestyle. This does not mean be
perfect and sinless, it means be sincere. When you sin, repent
quickly and get back into the grace and holiness of God. Live your
faith EVERYDAY. This is living your faith, NOT as a series of |
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sprints, but as a
continuous marathon. Constantly working at drawing closer and closer
to Christ.
Live so that your life
really IS a witness of Jesus.
A sincere believer is a
consistent believer, a believer who REMAINS in Christ.
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