The past couple of posts we’ve studied the enormous subject of trust: what not to trust in; what and who to trust in, and this week we are studying why we trust God, specifically in the area of receiving His Promises for our lives.  Perhaps most of us would say we trust our Heavenly Father, that we trust His Word, and certainly that we trust Jesus His Son, our Savior.  But to be quite honest with you, speaking for myself anyway, I’m not so sure we are always experiencing the benefits of trusting our God.  There could be a number of reasons but two of the most vivid reasons that come to my mind are that of not knowing what those benefits are, or not exercising our faith to receive those benefits. So let’s gets started on this week study.

I hope we all recognize that the real reason of “why” we trust God is because HE IS ALL TOGETHER WORTHY of our praise and trust.  He is faithful to His Word and we can trust Him. I do hope we have already established that truth.

So let’s move on to the understanding two things:

1. We can only believe God for the promises or benefits that we know He has provided.
2. We have access to His Promises because of our Covenant rights in Jesus.

No one, and I mean no one, can believe God for something that they don’t know to believe for.

So the problem for not experiencing the benefits of God stems from the lack of knowledge of Him and His Word, or not exercising our faith to believe His Word; and not from the standpoint of Him not providing for us.  As a believer in Jesus Christ these are principles we need to know to walk according to His Word.  In Hosea 4:6 we see God talking to His people Israel about not having knowledge of Him and rejecting knowledge of Him.  Hebrews 4:2 teaches us that we must “mix our faith” or exercise faith in the Word for it to profit us.  Since God never changes then His principles never change either.  If Israel can be destroyed because of their lack of knowledge of their God, then it can happen to us too.  The easy solution to that problem of course is to learn the Word of God.  It’s that simple.

Example: Years ago I suffered with a lot of sinus problems; seemed that every year I would have a least one if not two.  At that time I didn’t know that God had provided healing with the Salvation in Jesus provided by the stripes on His back and His death and resurrection. When I learned that truth and applied my faith to that truth I began to experience the benefit of that truth.  Does that mean I never had another sinus infection, no, but it does mean that those attacks of sickness are fewer and less severe because I know now my Covenant Rights in Jesus my Savior.  I exercise my faith for healing when I do get attacked, BUT I also continue to exercise my faith to maintain my healing for good health.

Some of the benefits from trusting God are, Salvation through Jesus (the forgiveness of our sins), joy, mercy, healing, guidance, safety, His ever presence with us, and an inheritance.

Salvation is our redemption from our sins; the restoration of our position of authority that we lost when Adam sinned.  Salvation is our relationship restored with our Heavenly Father when we receive His Gift of Salvation through Jesus His Son (Ephesians 2:8).  When under the control of sin we are alienated from God.  When we believe and confess Jesus as our Savior and Lord, God receives us into His family; we become a child of God (John 3:16, John 1:12). (I realize that many of you may know this, but it is always good to renew our mind to the truths in the Bible).  God provided Salvation for us in the redemptive work of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.  Jesus was sent to the world to save us, not to condemn us; to restore us, not to reject us; to heal us, not to destroy us with sickness and disease; to give us life abundantly, not to kill us.

God’s mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).  The very basic meaning of mercy is compassion shown to an offender.  Compassion is pity with action. In other words God had pity on us for the situation that mankind was in after Adam’s sin; and He put action to that pity which is called compassion; and in order to get us out of that predicament, He provided mercy through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.  Jesus paid the price for the wages of our sin and therefore redeemed us.  Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Thank You, Jesus.  First John 3:8 tells us that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

Healing and good health are also benefits of believing and trusting God’s Word.  We read all through the New Testament that Jesus had compassion on the people and healed them of all their diseases.  Jesus is our Healer.  We see the Prophesy of Jesus in Isaiah 53:5 that “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, AND by His stripes we are healed”.  This is in the Old Testament; they were looking forward to the Messiah, forward to the Cross. Then in First Peter 2:24 we again read, “who himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed”.  We look back to the Cross.  Healing for our bodies is part of the Salvation package.  (Psalm 107:20, Jeremiah 30:17)

Another benefit of trusting God is joy.  Yes, joy.  God wants us to be filled with joy (John 15:11, 1 John 1:4).  When our soul is satisfied we have joyful lips. Joy strengthens our emotions and spirit.  Have you ever just felt a little down, maybe a little lonely, and then a friend calls and joy rises up in your heart because of that friendship?  Well, if we can do that for one another, because of earthly friendships, then our Heavenly Father is able to do much more for us when we spend time with Him. When we put our trust in God we experience joy and that joy produces strength in us (Nehemiah 8:10).

Safety is a big issue nowadays.  We need to know that our Heavenly Father provides protection and safety for us. He has given us intelligence and wisdom to know how to take care of ourselves; and gave us His Word to have faith in to believe for safety in Him.  The whole chapter of Psalm 91 is great to read to build our faith in His Ways of protecting us.  Read it often.

God provides guidance, wisdom, and direction to us for our lives.  Psalm 25:9 tells us that with justice He guides the humble and teaches His Ways.  There are numerous Scriptures in Psalms and Proverbs about wisdom and understanding.  What better wisdom is there than the Word of God!  And the great thing is that we don’t have to lean on our own understanding, we can trust Him with all our heart (Proverbs 3:5).  When we lack wisdom, and need guidance, all we have to do is ask Him (James 1:5).  The way we walk (live) in His wisdom and understanding is by obeying His Word (Psalm 111:10 and 119:34).

Now all these blessings or benefits are because of Jesus.  He made it possible for us to be in the Kingdom of God-the family of God. Not only does our Heavenly Father accept us, He gives us son-ship/daughter-ship with Him, which means that whatever He has given Jesus, He gives to us. Because of this unique relationship with the God of the Universe through His Son Jesus, we have an inheritance of all the Promises of God’s Word.  We are His children.  (I just preached myself happy!!!!).  Even in the natural realm people leave an inheritance to their children.  The Old Testament is full of examples of how the father left an inheritance to his children.  So it is with God; we receive an inheritance from Him through Jesus (Romans 8:16-17).

Now I love all these benefits – as I’m sure you do too – but I really appreciate the fact that HE made it possible for me (and you) to be in His Presence all the time.  I don’t have to wait until a church service or a church conference.  The Bible tells us that He is with us all the time (Matthew 28:20).  What a great blessing it is to know that God not only loves me but that He is with me – all the time.  Praise the Lord.

I do hope that these lessons on trust have been helpful to you.  May you be encouraged to look into the Word of God and search His promises for your life, and learn of Him so that you can walk in the truths of His Word and experience “life abundantly” that Jesus came to give you.