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TRUST JESUS TODAY

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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Trust and Obey (don't write about the song) (05/21/15)
THE BATTLES OF LIFE

What’s happening! After having a long discussion with my church board I went to my office steaming. Anxiety, frustration and all those other evil emotions were flooding my whole being. This battle was about broken promises. Church boards have a way of remembering only what pleases them. I hate confrontation but it seems within a church body you can’t avoid it.

Why am I telling you these things that seem to have no comparison to trusting and obeying. Nothing is further from the truth.

Many years ago two old hymns were sung during worship services. As a young believer I listened closely to the words. What did they really mean? Oh yes, the hymns were “Trust and Obey” and “I Surrender All.”

Three words from these old hymns stuck with me over the years and in hindsight I see clearly that these three words began and continued my growth process.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind and He will guide you”; Proverbs. This same thought travels within our Bibles. Trust is the word and when you search your Bible you can replace it with belief and then faith. I like to keep things simple. My opinion is that God gave His Word so ALL could understand so why not make it easy?

I trust and have faith when going up a ladder it will hold my weight. I trust, believe and have faith the sky will not fall on me. Trusting believes something to be true. Can I trust God? He is infallible and all the other theological terms? Can I trust Him, Why? Think about it???

If you believe God to be God and His Word to be true then logically, you can trust Him. You trusted Him while receiving His free gift of salvation, why not reach out further and trust Him in all things. Trust Him with your life; surrender all.

We are told that God is with us always and will never leave us. He has made many promises regarding our lives. Can we trust they are true? If we can believe and trust then we can give our lives to Him. He knows our lives from beginning to end and definitely knows the best path for us to take. Trust Him with all your heart, soul and mind and the sky will never fall on you.

OBEY. This can get a little harder. I have found when I obey God my life goes well. When I disobey my life is miserable. I notice also that at times when I disobey God just allows me to go on but then I miss the best and only get mediocre. The Bible stories are all about obeying God. I will say this, when we disobey there are consequences, some harsh, some softly applied.

To obey God you must listen to Him. Yes, I said listen. You must listen to understand what and why. Personally I have never heard God audibly. I listen when I pray, not doing all the talking myself. Listen to the Holy Spirit when you feel His push. Listen when reading the Bible. When your parents told you to do something you listened and then obeyed. If you disobeyed you got punished, it’s that simple.

Trust and obey, there IS no other way to be happy in Jesus. When giving ourselves to Jesus we believed He is “the way, the truth and the life.” We also vowed to make Him Lord. The word LORD is surrendering to Him. We trust Him. We obey Him. Hebrews 11:1 incorporates all the meaning of faith, belief, trust and obeying.

Ending with a short story. When first finding Jesus I knew nothing. At 25 my life seemed fine, soon finding all was not well with my soul. I had faith, I believed and I wanted eternal life. Then something happened and I knew things were going to get tough. I had baggage. Many of the old hymns were my theology lessons and they have been with me for more that forty years. I learned to trust. I learned to obey and then I surrendered all; my life began when I listened to that still small voice of the Lord. True all did not go smoothly, I got punished, I gave in most of the time but one thing always remained. God smothered me with His love, His grace showered me with blessings and He has never left me.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Toni Babcock 
05/30/15
Thanks for you challenging thoughts on trusting and obeying. One suggestion: I would begin this piece with the sentence "Many years ago two old hymns were sung during worship services." and move on from there - skipping the first part about the board meeting. For me, the incident about the meeting seemed too separate from the rest of the article - this is just a suggestion. It might make a great lead for another story however.
Loni Bowden-Horn 
05/30/15
I was interested in learning about why you were steamed with the church board. Did you want a different type of music infused into the service or did you enjoy the classic hymns that were the staples of your childhood? There may have been a totally different reason over a different theological reason. I liked your perspectives concerning "Trust and Obey"
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
05/31/15
You have a nice message here. My son is getting his Master's in Divinity and I edited one of his papers. It was about the importance of those old hymns. Many people remember and relate to them much better than a sermon or even reading the Bible, even though many old hymns are taken from Scripture. You make some great points.

Remember not to quote song lyrics because they could still be copyright protected. Just because they are old, it doesn't automatically make them public domain. Also, Deb stressed in the topic and on the message boards not to focus on the song, but the words, trust and obey.

You don't need lines like this: Why am I telling you these things that seem to have no comparison to trusting and obeying. Nothing is further from the truth.
Instead just jump right in with your story. By questioning yourself, the reader has to question you also.

I think the story at the end was a great message. Actually, I think you could have expanded on it, included dialog, and set the scene, and it would have been great all on its own and still would have been on topic. It helps the reader understand you and therefore, understand your lovely message even more.

Keep writing, and I'd also encourage you to read and comment on every story in this level and a few in the others as well, I can tell you have a huge heart and a desire to follow God's calling. I believe you have many good surprises waiting for you. Thanks for sharing,