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A ‘Signing Your Life Away’ Kind of Trust

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“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD.”
Jeremiah 17:7 NASB

It was not on my bucket list of things to do. I was terrified the week before the jump. “I don’t want to die!” I kept telling my husband. However, I found myself willing and somewhat excited to be celebrating a ‘wedding in the air’ to be performed by my chaplain husband. Instead of walking back down the aisle at the end of the ceremony, we’d all be making a tandem skydiving jump and landing on the ground two miles below. Yep, you heard me right. And yep, that’s me in the picture.

Signing your life away is pretty much what you do before making a jump. You peruse through a lengthy contract agreeing that you, and you alone, are responsible for what you are about to do. You can hold no one liable in case something goes wrong. I about chickened out just filling out the paperwork!

I did live through it all, obviously, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. On the other hand, the experience gave me much to think about from a spiritual perspective on the topic of trust.

After signing your life away, you meet a total stranger who coaches you on what is about to take place. You dress in appropriate skydiving paraphernalia, are given instructions on what to do and not do, and head to the plane. Once on board, you are strapped like glue to your instructor. You are so like one that if he moves, you move. Before you have time to think, you’re in the plane doorway, and -BOOM –  out you go. No. Turning. Back. Your life is literally in his hands during the jump, and if you have any sense, you will trust him and do what he says.

God IS our trust (see theme verse) and asks us to recklessly surrender our lives to Him (Matthew 10:37-39). He clothes us in His robes of righteousness (Is. 61:10). He instructs and guides us through every experience that comes our way through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). We become as one if we abide in Him and Him with us (John 17:21). God will never leave us or forsake – ever (Heb. 13:5). Our lives are literally in His hands – always – and because He knows what’s best, you should trust and obey all that He says.

Dear ones, you can rest assured that no matter what life throws at you, God has your back. You can fearlessly trust Him to maneuver you through any trial that comes along. Even when you are plummeting out of control, Father has you in His hands. Trust Him. Your life depends on it.

[Digging deeper – Ps. 56:3, 11; Ps. 62:8; Prov. 3:5, 29:25; Isaiah 26:3-4; Daniel 6:23]

Relying on Him,

 

Beverly <><

 

The Desires of Our Heart: Dwell in the Land

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“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:3-4 seems a little short and simple to study for a full week, but the longer I sit with these two verses, the more I’m finding new troves of treasure in each of them. Truthfully, I find myself focusing on that last part – the Lord giving me the desires of my heart – with much more excitement and passion than I feel in the instructions before those words. I spend so much time chasing a calling or a desire of my heart, that I forget the instructions he has so beautifully laid out before me: Trust in Me. Do good. Dwell in the land. Befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in Me. 

I’d love to spend this week together turning our attention to those things and seeing how the Lord transforms and grants us the desires of our hearts when we put things in their right order.

 

Dwell in the Land

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 

Psalm 37:3

 

SONY DSC“Dwell in the land…” has a little bit of a double meaning, I think. There’s the obvious physical meaning of committing your life and energy to where you are, not where you aren’t. Dwelling speaks of letting roots grow down, digging in, and settling in to stay. We are to live where we are and embrace the cities we live in. This physical sense of “dwelling in the land” is necessary to doing good. He has placed you in the your city and in your neighborhood because He wants you there to reveal the gospel, not because He wants you to hide out in holy huddles or perceived safety and comfort.

But, how do we “dwell in the land” while still being set apart and holy? How are we to be in the world, but not of it? I think it’s a heart issue. Rejecting the people around us because of their lifestyles, or choosing to simply talk about how terrible something or someone is without taking steps toward engaging in relationship and conversation with them is not what God has called us to do. Where do we see Jesus during his time of ministry on earth? With the people the church called offensive and unclean, unworthy and too messy.

We have to move outside of our realm of comfort to places of discomfort. We have to talk about faith and other issues. Most importantly, we have to relate with grace and love rather than going to war with the culture around us. This is how we remain set apart as we engage with the culture and the people in our hometowns and workplaces.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few years dwelling in a lot of different lands. For me, dwelling in the land has looked like learning the language, learning the culture, and participating in usual daily life according to the land I was living in, not demanding it change to suit my American way of life.

Learn the languages of the people around you – how do they express and receive love? What do they need to hear from you? How can you better communicate about Jesus and His love and forgiveness?

We also must learn the language of the One in whom we truly live – our Father. This verse speaks to our truest and deepest dwelling place with Christ. Where we truly abide is with the Father.

Learning His language means learning to listen to and discern His voice, and the only way we can do this is by spending time with Him. The more we learn His language, the greater ability He gives us to learn the language of those around us. As a result, the deeper our trust grows, and the more good He empowers us to do.

Chelsey

Stay With Me.

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“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

John 15:4, NIV

start-with-jesus-stay-with-jesus-end-with-jesus-quote-1One of the definitions of “remain” in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “to stay in the same place with the same person or group.” Pretty simple. Or so it would seem.

But any of you who have or have had small children know this is not always so easy. How often have you been in a public place and told your children, “Stay with me,” and yet, you turn around, and they’ve wandered a few feet away, or even to another aisle where you can no longer see them? They have no concept of how dangerous it is to stray from you and the safety of your watchful eye.

We’re a lot like that, you know. We think we can “just go look at this” or “just step over here for a minute,” without thinking how dangerous it is to step away from Jesus. And just like a child who has wandered away from Mom and suddenly realizes he can no longer see her, we look up and realize just how far we’ve wandered from Him. He’s still there, just like the mom on the next aisle. We just can’t see Him at that moment. The difference is, He can still see us, and will patiently wait until we come back.

The Bible says “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (NIV)  are the “fruit of the Spirit.” If we, as branches, are to produce this fruit, we must remain in Him. That means we must stay in the same place with the same person – Jesus! With Him is not only the safest place to be, it’s the only place to be if you wish to bear fruit in your life.

He said so Himself.

“Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” 

Remaining in Him,

Amy