Trust in God? You can do it with one simple change

To trust in God, we singles need to change one simple thing in our lives. We need to listen to him instead of the world.

That's hard because we've been conditioned to believe what we can physically hear. We can hear the television. We can hear movies. We can hear our friends, but we can't audibly hear God.

  So how do we hear God? When we read his Word, the Bible, something supernatural happens. Our soul hears God through the power of the Holy Spirit. I can't explain how this happens. It's a mystery.

Trusting in God is the linchpin of the Christian life. Fortunately, we don't have to work up this faith by ourselves. Christ does the work for us as a gift.

Through his grace (unmerited favor), he helps us do the things we can't do on our own.

Trust in God goes against our nature

You and I live in a physical world, with sights, sounds and smells. We tend to believe what we can see and experience with our senses, because we are physical creatures.  

But we have a dual nature. We're also spiritual creatures. You have an immortal soul that is invisible. It's your connection with the invisible world. "My kingdom is not of this world," Jesus said. (John 18:36, NIV)

Heaven isn't visible, but God is there. We believe in heaven, and in God too.   All our lives, we've been brainwashed into believing only the visible is real. Not so!

It may take faith to believe in an invisible God, but we know he exists from his Word and from the handiwork of his creation. Don't let anyone try to convince you this universe just popped into existence from nothing but a Big Bang. How far-fetched!  

You have to use a different kind of thinking to grasp this perspective. You are a Christian because you believe; you know in your heart that Jesus Christ is real and is everything he said he is.  

Once you believe God is real, more real than any solid human being you know, the next leap is to trust in him.

Trust in God takes courage

One of the reasons many singles never become Christians is because they simply don't have the guts. It's scary.  

Trusting in yourself or your job is easy. That's what the world tells us to rely on. After all, your job pays the rent, buys your food and clothing, and provides money to do all the things you want to do.

Here's something you may never have thought of:

God provided you with that job and everything you have comes from him.

Don't be so arrogant to think you're doing it all on your own. Whether you're a Christian or not, God gave you your intelligence, health, and even made your education possible. Life and everything involved with it come from God.

Now you may be thinking, "Well, if I have all that already, why do I need to trust in God? He's already supplying it. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing."

Have you ever worried about losing your job? Losing your health? Both of those things happened to me. I got laid off from a good-paying, fulfilling job I liked because of a reduction in force. When I was 25 years old, I got cancer, seemingly out of nowhere.

When I was looking for a new job, when I was fighting for my life against illness, I was helpless. I had to trust in God. I had no other choice.

I needed courage to do both, courage I did not have. Do you know where I got that courage? God gave it to me. Again, it's a resource we can't create on our own. The power to keep going comes from the Holy Spirit, and he's happy to supply it.

Trust in God takes acceptance

When you take this leap of faith, things don't always come out the way you'd like. That's part of surrendering your will to the Father's, another scary element. 

You have to be spiritually mature to accept what God gives you. You have to accept that his way is better than your way. Sometimes his way involves defeat or sadness.

We humans want to be happy all the time, but sometimes God's will makes us unhappy. Relying on him means knowing that even if things don't work out for us in this life, they will in the next.  

God is trustworthy.  

You can trust in God because you know that no matter what happens, he will never abandon you. He is close at hand to help you. He listens to your prayers. He may be invisible, but he is not distant. He hears you even when you feel as if he doesn't, because feelings can't be trusted. God's promises can.

Trust in God takes understanding

Here's what you and I need to understand: All this may seem risky, but it really isn't. It may seem scary, but that's only our imagination at work.  

The hard, cold reality is that trusting in God is the smartest, safest thing a person can do. When you step onto his path, God rewards your faith in him.

The deepest kind of love requires trust. You prove your love for God when you trust in him.  

Still, that little voice, whether it's Satan or the world or your own fears, will try to hold you back. It will tell you the commitment isn't worth it. Don't listen to it!  

Listen to Jesus instead. Listen to him talking to you through the Bible. Look at the cross and see the tremendous love he has for you, love that led him to sacrifice his life so you can live with him forever. That kind of love deserves your trust.

Start slowly if you have to, with small steps. Remember, God does all the work in this, not you. If it seems overwhelming, you're putting your trust in yourself, not God. Focus on him, not your own inadequacy. He is more than up to this task.

Once you make the decision, you'll feel as if a thousand-pound weight has been lifted off your back. You've learned the secret of the Christian life: You were never meant to do it alone.

Jesus lives his life through you when you trust in God. 

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