{"id":1039,"date":"2019-06-20T06:06:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T06:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2019-12-03T15:57:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T15:57:17","slug":"five-ways-to-start-relying-on-gods-promises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/2019\/06\/20\/five-ways-to-start-relying-on-gods-promises\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Ways to Start Relying on God\u2019s Promises"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\"A<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Today’s guest post is written by <\/em>Troy E. Schmidt, author of Fish Sandwiches: The Delight of Receiving God’s Promises<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When two people first get married, they give of themselves as much as they can in light of having only limited information about each other.\u00a0 Then, as the years go on, and they see each other in action, they grow closer as their trust increases.\u00a0 True intimacy takes time; it\u2019s not instantaneous.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"A<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The same is true of your relationship with Jesus.\u00a0 As you mature in your faith and learn more about Jesus through his word as you study his Word, you see how much more he can be trusted.\u00a0 As you see prayers answered and sense his hand moving in your life, you surrender more and more of yourself to him.\u00a0 Qualities such as security and confidence build over time and you experience increasing peace as the relationship matures.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So how do you start relying on God\u2019s promises to strengthen that relationship?\u00a0 Let me offer you five ways.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"A<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

#1: Know God\u2019s promises.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Read the Word of God daily\u2014every chance you get.\u00a0 Let it be the soundtrack of your life.\u00a0 When I gave my life to Christ, I read the Word of God every day, taking notes and underlining passages, and I even listened to the Bible on cassette tapes when I worked out and drove in the car.\u00a0 You can\u2019t trust the promises unless you know them and make them the foundation of your life.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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#2: Test God\u2019s promises.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In my book, Fish Sandwiches: The Delight of Receiving God\u2019s Promises<\/em>, I tell a story of being a new believer and one day finding myself with very little money in my bank account.\u00a0 I had one bill on my desk that I needed to pay or risk being past due.\u00a0 The amount in my checking account matched exactly the amount of the bill.\u00a0 If I wrote the check, I would have exactly $0 remaining.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But I remembered reading in Matthew 6 that Jesus tells us not to worry, because after all, he is faithful to feed the birds, and we are much more valuable to him than they are.\u00a0 I said to myself, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s see if this is true<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 So I wrote the check by faith, trusting that God would take care of me.\u00a0 Well, I found out that it was<\/em> true, and I did not<\/em> starve.\u00a0 My account was replenished by money generated from jobs that suddenly appeared and the generosity of others.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Embrace those moments of trial by going out on a limb and trusting God in ways that seem idiotic, but actually demonstrate your faith in him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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#3: Pray God\u2019s promises.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus offers a model prayer.\u00a0 He says to start our prayers with praise, acknowledging God for who he is, where he is, and what he can do.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Then we must pray for his will to be done.\u00a0 God promises that his will shall come to pass, but we must be open to his will. Prayer prepares our hearts to carry out his will. Then we will acknowledge and understand it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Jesus also said we can pray for our daily bread\u2014our sustenance to survive\u2014as well as for forgiveness and protection.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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#4: Trust God\u2019s promises.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Proverbs 3:5-6 says,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cTrust in the Lord with all your heart
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and he will make your paths straight.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What does that kind of trust look like?\u00a0 Trust is a heart decision, a willful surrender of all your heart.\u00a0 Half-hearted marriages never work and no husband has ever gotten anywhere by saying, \u201cI love you, honey, with most of my heart.\u201d\u00a0 No, wives want it all, and so does God.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The greatest threat to trusting God is our own understanding\u2014how we see things or how we\u2019ve experienced life before.\u00a0 Once \u201cour\u201d mind starts to process and determine our steps, we get distracted, taking exits and wandering down detours.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"A<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Trust is a step-by-step process of submission, following the straightest path to the destination God has determined for us.\u00a0 We would never take the longest route suggested by our GPS; we always prefer the shortest route with the least amount of travel time. And yet, we often find ourselves exhausted when we scrap the straightest paths to satisfy our disoriented desires.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Instead, trust God\u2019s promises to take you where you need to go.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

#5: Rest in God\u2019s promises.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Resting in God\u2019s promises is the next step in trusting God\u2019s promises. The opposite of rest is worry.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"A<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 6:25-34 not to worry about food, drink, our bodies, our clothes, our shelter, or anything else in life.\u00a0 He said that since God takes such good care of the flowers in the fields, why wouldn\u2019t he also take care of the people he created and loves?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Worry does not add a single hour to our lives.\u00a0 In fact, it subtracts hours from our lives.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When information about God\u2019s promises enters our minds, we hear it and understand it. However, we must then apply the truths of those promises to our hearts.\u00a0 We must keep at bay the notion of wanting to process our needs over and over in our minds to figure out our own solutions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Once we trust, we can relax, take a breath, and truly say, \u201cGod\u2019s got this.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a freeing admission of God\u2019s love and strength.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"A<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

God\u2019s promises were meant to allow us to enjoy the best possible life we can have.\u00a0 In heaven, we will experience the full potential of this rest, an eternal Sabbath free of all stress, worry and fear.\u00a0 There will be absolutely nothing causing us any stress or pressure to perform, complete, compete, or meet any deadlines.\u00a0 Everything will be done in view of an eternal timeline ahead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But for now, we can experience some of that rest by seeing God\u2019s perspective on today in light of the eternal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That\u2019s a promise.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible,\u00a0New International Version<\/em>,\u00ae<\/sup> NIV.<\/em>\u00ae <\/sup>Copyright \u00a9 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.\u00ae<\/sup>\u00a0Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\r\n

\"Front<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Check out Troy’s great book, Fish Sandwiches: The Delight of Receiving God’s Promises<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Troy E. Schmidt<\/strong><\/a> is an accomplished writer for television and film, including the series The American Bible Challenge and The All New Mickey Mouse Club. He was also the writer for Max Lucado\u2019s Hermie & Friends children\u2019s video series. He runs the website Reason for Hope: Answers to Your Bible Questions (reasonhope.com). He lives in Florida, where he serves as campus pastor for First Baptist Church Windermere.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s guest post is written by Troy E. Schmidt, author of Fish Sandwiches: The Delight of Receiving God’s Promises. When two people first get married, they give of themselves as much as they can in light of having only limited information about each other.\u00a0 Then, as the years go on, and they see each other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[10,11,135,7,157],"tags":[140,118,14,31,24,260,141],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}