“O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.” Psalm 30:2
Have you ever “missed the mark”? I have. It often happens when I think I’ve understood something, and I really haven’t got a clue as to what was the intent. When it comes to spiritual things, I often think I’ve “got it,” but later I realize, I didn’t get it at all. Leaning on my own understanding is not always reliable, and just recently I found out that it has led me down the wrong path for many years in a very critical area of my spiritual life.
The Bible says to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17), so I have always incorporated prayer into my Christian life. 1 Peter says we should be “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you,” so I pray. I have prayed for many things, sometimes physical, sometimes spiritual. Sometimes for me personally and sometime for others, but many times the answers didn’t seem to come. I knew in my heart that God could answer my prayers, but I didn’t have the faith that God would answer them.
This made it increasingly hard for me to pray in faith, but I still went through the motions. It was easy to say the words, but I was a prayer warrior whose arsenal was empty and ineffective. My prayers were like spitting into the wind; they just came back to hit me in the face. Needless to say, I was like “a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James1:6), and I didn’t even know it! Oddly enough, I wasn’t angry about the seemingly lack of answers to my prayers; I just assumed that was how prayer was supposed to be. Sometimes my prayers were answered, and sometimes they weren’t. I became that double-minded man that James wrote about, unstable in all my ways (James 1:8), but I was still oblivious to my sad state.
Recently, when I was out of the country, I was able to watch a Sunday school class on my church’s livestream broadcast. The lesson was about stress, and Pastor Jackson spoke from the book of James. He referenced the first part of chapter one, and as he elaborated on it, I realized that I was that double-minded person tossed about by the wind! After this sank in, I listened more intently, and when the broadcast ended, I knew that I needed to change, but how?
If there ever was a time when I knew I heard the voice of God, this was it. Of course, I know I didn’t hear His voice audibly, but I heard Him in my soul. He simply said to me, “You don’t trust me.” I was shocked! What? Of course I trusted God… didn’t I?
Time for some serious self-examination. The Holy Spirit led me to Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” I was not doing this! Instead, I was trusting in my own understanding. I was not trusting in God. I was stunned, especially when I realized that God had been trying to answer my prayer for years, but my pride kept me from hearing it. After I asked God to forgive me, I spent more time studying about prayer, and always Proverbs 3:5 continued to echo in my mind. Finally, my perspective on prayer began to change when I realized the answer really was in trusting God… completely.
Some studies have shown that when people pray, only 10% of the prayer involves worship. The rest focuses on supplication. Today, I make sure my prayers begin in worship. I acknowledge God for who He is and what He’s done. I rejoice in my relationship with Him, and I give honor and praise to His name. Then I share my heart with Him. My thoughts, my needs, my hopes. Lastly, I trust Him to answer in His time, according to His will, and in the way that is best for me and those for whom I’ve prayed, and then I thank Him once more.
Sounds super simple, doesn’t it? Maybe it is, but for me, it has made such a profound difference in my prayer life. No longer do I believe my prayers are empty words. Instead, my prayers are important to the One who created everything! The One who can do anything, and the One who will always do what is best for me. My soul is no longer doubtful, but hopeful! I know that God WILL answer my prayers, and I can rejoice in God, my Saviour for His goodness to me. I know He hears my cries, and He heals where healing is needed. Hallelujah!
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
(from “Sweet Hour of prayer” by William W. Walford)
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The Oxford dictionary defines trust as the “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.”
The KJV Dictionary defines trust as “to place confidence in; to rely on; to depend on.”
I define trust as “knowing without a doubt that what God says He will do, He will do.”
How do you define trust?