Trusting Toward

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith. It emphasizes the importance of trusting in the Holy Spirit to speak through us in moments of persecution. It encourages cultivating an atmosphere of trust towards God and relying on Him to guide our paths. The transcription also discusses the significance of obedience and assurance in fostering this trust. The Bible is seen as a source of instruction in righteousness and a guide for righteous living. Religion is criticized for adding unnecessary rules and regulations. Overall, the message is to lean towards God, trust in His guidance, and live according to His principles. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Mark 13.11 When they lead you away and deliver you up, don't be anxious beforehand or premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Don't be anxious. Don't worry. You'll be given what to speak when those who persecute you for my name and my sake bring you before their authorities. Don't try and rehearse. That's a great command, and there is a great example of this in Acts 4.8-12. Peter and John had been brought before the council, and Peter spoke unto the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The council marveled at his words, verse 13, because they clearly saw that A. Peter was uneducated, and B. that they, Peter and John, had been with Jesus. Peter spoke beyond his abilities. Stephen did the same in Acts 7. Neither of them had time to prepare. In the moment, they spoke what they were given to speak. They trusted in the Holy Spirit, and they weren't let down. Moreover, they showed the exact same qualities that Jesus did when he was before the council and when he spoke with the religious leaders, and they recognized him in them. Now, this doesn't mean that we should count on being given sermons every time we're called to speak. Jesus, in these verses, is specifically talking about persecution. When it comes to teaching and preaching, while the Holy Spirit does inspire, guide, and correct us, we're still called to study and form our thoughts. It's just that the Holy Spirit might take us off script or in a totally different direction in the moment of execution. There is still benefit from study and preparation. In fact, without the study and preparation, our ears might not be tuned in enough to hear what the Spirit has to say in that moment. We can trust in the Spirit to guide us, but it doesn't release us from the responsibility of learning and study. But when it comes to persecution because of Jesus, it is not us on trial but him. Since he's the one on trial, he wants to speak in his own defense. It isn't about saving or not saving us from earthly punishments, Matthew 10, 28. It's about providing the best testimony of Jesus that we can, which is only really accomplished by the Holy Spirit through us. Jesus is his own best defense, and it's best we don't get in the way. This verse is pointing us toward trust. Not only in the Holy Spirit to speak through us when the time is right, but also cultivating an atmosphere of trust toward God. Not just in God, but toward God. It's a different thing. Proverbs 3, 5-6 tells us, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight. In Hebrew, the word we translate as in, because it makes the most sense in English, is eil. It's defined as to, into, and toward. Psalm 25, 15 uses it as, My eyes are ever on, or toward, the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. We are to trust toward the Lord. It is an action command to endeavor in all things to lean toward him and not ourselves. And by grace it goes the other way, too. Leviticus 26, 9-13 tells us, The Lord will lean toward us, or respect us, and bless us. We lean toward him, and he leans toward us, and together we can accomplish anything. Matthew 19, 26. This is the kind of atmosphere we're called to produce around ourselves. Whether you look at these verses as a principle or a promise, I work to take the Bible literally, as written, while also acknowledging the symbolism, the allegory, and the examples. I believe the Bible means what it says. If it says A, then it's A, even when B might also be true. We serve a multifaceted God. Since all Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, I believe he will back up what he says. The catch is always on our end. When the Spirit says he will do B if we do A, then if we do A, he will do B. So if I lean toward the Lord with all of my heart, and I don't lean on my own understanding, if I acknowledge him in all of my ways, he will make my path straight. Because if I am leaning toward him, and I'm thinking of him, and I'm always bringing things back to him, I am always giving him the opportunity to correct my steps. So I'm not lost in the dark, twisting and turning. I am walking a path that goes straight, and when I try to turn, he brings me back, and when I try to turn, he brings me back, and when I try to turn, he brings me back. So I'm walking straight with a clear goal in front of me, sanctification through Jesus, so I'm reaching the Father. It's a principle to live by, yes, but I also believe it is a firm and clear promise. It is always, in my mind, it is always a question of whether we are truly doing or able to do the A part. If we will acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, he will make our path straight. But are we truly acknowledging him in all our ways? Psalm 66, 16-20 says, Come and hear all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue. If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn't have lessened. But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me. If we're seeking to apply the promises of God by obeying the principles of the Word, and we do that, which we can in Jesus, he is faithful to fulfill his promises. But our will and what is in our hearts has a huge say of whether we're standing in the blessing zone. If we aren't in his yard, there's nothing that he will do. We have free will, and he does not violate it. If we are not choosing to abide in Jesus, we are not in the blessing zone. He cannot do it, because he has made a limit on his sovereignty when it comes to our free will, in order to give us free will. Otherwise, it wouldn't be free will. So on a practical level, what does it mean to lean toward God? Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31 Now, Peter is stating this in and around the issue that the Corinthian church was facing about food in the marketplace that had previously been sacrificed to idols, and whether it was okay to eat it. Paul mentions the spiritual principle that everything we do is to be for the glory of God. That means everything we do should be done in the light of the will of the Lord. Romans 14.23 That means that everything we do or think or say should be according to a principle of the Bible. It should line up with the law, even though we're motivated by grace. When I say law here, I am speaking of the Word and the instructions that we find inside it. I am not talking of the rules and regulations that humanity has added to help us follow the instructions. Those are just religious chains that make the yoke of Jesus burdensome, which it is not in any way. Matthew 11.30 The Word isn't rules and restrictions. Not even the books of Moses. You know, the ones with all the do's and do not's. The Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. We just see them as rules and restrictions. But they're not. They're instruction in righteousness. They're an open door showing us what righteousness really is. It's instruction in life. And not just life, but life abundantly. It's instruction on how to be under the covering of His protection. It's instruction in how to receive His blessings. How else could Jesus say, don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy, but to fulfill. Matthew 5.17 Where do we find that statement? Right near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, which was a long discourse instructing us on how to live. It's like the Constitution of the born-again believer. Jesus never shied away from instruction or from the standard of righteous living that the Father set. And Jesus could hardly be called a rule jockey. In fact, the only group of people who hated Jesus, the group who were responsible for killing Him, were the religious leaders. Remember, He said He didn't come to destroy the law or the prophets. He did come to destroy the extra rules and regulations of the religious leaders. They recognized that, and they hated Him for it. The Jews didn't kill Jesus. The religious leaders did. Oh, sure, they incited the crowd to vote against Jesus. And sure, the Romans carried out the sentence. But it was the religious teachers at whose door the guilt falls. Religion is a bondage that tried to choke the Word and tries to choke the Word every chance it gets. Matthew 13.22 Jesus isn't about that. Matthew 11.28-30 How do we foster this atmosphere of trusting toward the Lord, the atmosphere that we need to have this yoke around our shoulders? Well, it's simple. Obedience with assurance. Well, what is assurance? Assurance is defined as easy freedom from self-doubt and uncertainty, excessive self-confidence, being certain in the mind, and something that inspires confidence. For us to be assured of the Lord, we need freedom from doubt and uncertainty. We need excessive confidence in the Lord. We need to be certain in the mind, and we need to have something about the Lord that inspires confidence. The Word inspires confidence and eliminates uncertainty. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5.13 It was written to all of us who believe that in their hearts they may be comforted, they being knit together in love and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom all the treasuries of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. Colossians 2.2-3 We can trust the Lord because we know that He keeps His promises. Nothing failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. Joshua 21.45 Then the Lord said to me, You have seen well, for I watch over my word to perform it. Jeremiah 1.12 When the Lord starts a work in us, He sees it through. Philippians 1.6 Romans 8.16 Tells us the Spirit inside us testifies and assures us that we are the children of God. And Acts is full of examples of ways in which they trusted in the Lord and trusted toward the Lord, and they again and again and again were delivered, were helped, were guided. And for our purposes today, the final word is Romans 5.1-2, which says, Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We have blessed assurance and can indulge in total excessive confidence that the Lord will see His word through, that what He says will come to pass, will come to pass, that His promises are good forever and always, that when He speaks His word on something, it always produces a work, never coming back to Him void. If that is how we view God, then how can we have anything but an atmosphere of trust? The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27.1 The only remaining question is what you are going to do with that trust. Faith without works is dead. James 2.17 Meaning that if we have true faith, we cannot help but act in accordance with it which produces works. The works are the result of faith, not the thing that justifies or creates the faith. In the same way, if we trust toward the Lord, we will be obedient. The obedience isn't the trust, but the result of trust. In my mind, the gold standard of this was Elijah. Then the Lord's word came to him, saying, Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Kareth, which is before the Jordan. When you shall drink from the brook, I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. 1 Kings 17.2-4 And Elijah went. You think about that. He is traveling to where there is no food, very little shelter, none of which was man-made. And the only water was from a tributary of the Jordan, a small mountain-fed stream, in a major drought, in a land hostile to his presence, while he had a price on his head by royal decree. And he went, that is obedience, without indwelling of the Holy Spirit, without a book of prophecy dealing with his situation and his position in times to come, surrounded by idol-worshippers, and waiting for birds. But he wasn't relying on the stream. He wasn't trusting in the birds. His faith came from the Lord. His trust was toward the Lord. His reliance was on the Lord. Elijah had an expectation. It ran throughout his whole life, whether he was hitting it right or missing the boat completely. He trusted toward the Lord. When the water ran out, he stayed. Verse 7. And he stayed put, until the Lord told him the next step in the journey. And he walked in that too. We have a better covenant than Elijah. The Lord told him something. Part 1 of the plan. Elijah had to walk that out. He didn't get the next part until he had been faithful in the first part. Obedience as the demonstration of his trust toward the Lord was required before the next miracle could take place. Why? Well, twofold. First, if we aren't obedient in step 1 or step 422, then we aren't ready for step 2 or step 423. When we are obedient and faithful with what we have been given, then we will be given the next thing. Second, free will. We give permission for the Lord to work in our lives. We need to because it's our legal right to refuse Him. We could say no. We could go it alone. We could insist on our way. Foolish, foolish, but it is our God-given right. Genesis 1.26 In order to foster an atmosphere of trust toward the Lord, we need to admit that we need Him. That there is nothing and no one more important to us than Him. That we show our love for Him by obeying Him. John 14.15 That we show our love for Him by walking out our trust toward Him. The best part of that is our trusting toward Him. We are always moving closer to Him. Toward Him. Never in another direction. Never with a thousand twists and turns like some daytime soap opera. We can be assured by straight paths featuring Him on the road in front of us. Encouraging us like a parent their toddler. We can do it. That's right. One step at a time. By grace. Through faith. In Jesus. By Jesus. And for Jesus. He is our all in all. He is the substance we walk in. The completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself. Ephesians 1.23 Weymouth New Testament Don't be anxious. Don't be anxious. Don't fill up your days worrying about what a future day will bring. Matthew 6.34 Trust toward Jesus. Trust toward Yahweh, Lord God Almighty. Trust toward His mercy. Trust toward His loving kindness. Trust toward the all in all. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Psalms 66.16-20 If there is a sin in our heart, how can God hear us? God hates sin. God hates prayers motivated by sin. James 4.3 He does not hear them. They are as if they don't exist. We pray for healing, but we harbor dark passions. What are you going to do with your healing? Be boastful? Be prideful? Go out and indulge in passions you shouldn't even be imagining? Am I saying that every unanswered prayer is because of sin? Nope. But the Father answers every prayer that's prayed according to His will and His word. We know that. Jesus said that in John 14.13-14. That's a biblical promise. That is word truth. Why aren't we seeing manifestation of it then? Like all the time? I don't know. But when our zeal to seek the face of the Lord overwhelms us, we will be able to stand in truth and proclaim, but as for me, my prayer is to You, Lord, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of Your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of Your salvation. Psalm 69.13 It isn't only about trusting toward Him as an action in our whole lives. It isn't only about repenting and keeping no hidden sin in our minds and in our hearts. It isn't only about standing on our declarations of His promises. It's about loving Him. If we love Him as He loves us, we will obey, yes, but we will also give up self. That is the cross we bear daily. That is the thing we nail to it with every thought and every word and every deed we do in faith. The self. Which means timeline of promises don't matter. Order of fulfillment doesn't matter. Scope and means and the particulars don't matter. While we will trust toward His word and have excessive confidence that He will do what He says He will do, we don't care when or how. No matter what the problem, we trust toward Him, taking all confidence that it is already a done deal. And then we praise Him in the interim, never wavering, never faltering, never doing anything but standing. The winds of change might blow. Doubt might storm against us. But while the world laughs, I will be standing on a rock. His rock. The rock. I will not falter because He cannot be moved. I will not fade because joy in Him is my strength. I know that He hears me because He wiped my sin clean. I know that He answers me because I pray what He tells me to pray. I know that He fulfills my prayer because He watches His word to fulfill it. Now, later, whenever He wills. It's His schedule. I don't care because my care is on Him. I don't worry because my worries died on the cross. I live and walk and love in Him and on Him, toward Him, on purpose, every day. As we close, remember that you have birth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us. That God has sent His only born Son into the world that we might live through Him. And this is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.