Trust, Faith, Believe

Every morning before I start the day, after giving thanks, I ask the Lord what He wants of me that day. Some days, He tells me simple things to do, but one Sunday, I heard a word, "Trust" and then another, "Faith" and then a third, "Believe." As I got my breakfast and looked through the Sunday paper, I kept repeating those three words in my mind, Trust, Faith, Believe.

To me at the time it seemed like a downer message. After all, the message the day before was, "Be Joyful, and Follow where I Lead." Much more up beat. And I needed up beat messages, what with uncertainty around every corner.

Then, while I was taking my shower, still repeating those words in my mind, a fourth message came following Trust, Faith, Believe, it was "And Rejoice." And that was just want I needed to hear, Thank you Lord.

As I have worked through writing this, other words have come to me in connection to those first words. The other day, I heard, "Trust in Me and be Free." And then the next day I heard, "Have Faith in me and Live." And that got me thinking that Believe in me, should then be followed by Rejoice.

We all need words of hope and encouragement. Maybe for you things are piling up, coming to a head and you don’t know where to turn. Look to the Lord and this simple message He has passed on to me, Trust in Me and be Free, have Faith in Me and Live, and Believe in Me and Rejoice.

Well now, let’s look at the message I received that Sunday. And then I’ll talk about those other words that go with the first three.

The first word was, "Trust."

In the King James version of the Bible, the word Trust appears in 134 verses.

2 Samuel 22:3 says,

The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

And in verse 31 of the same book is says,

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

107 times in the Old Testament alone, is the word Trust mentioned. While in the New Testament, it is used another 27 times.

It’s first used in Matthew 12:21

14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. 15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; 16 And charged them that they should not make him known: 17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. 19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. 21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

1 Timothy 6:17 says,

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

It is clear in the Bible, that we should put our Trust in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ.

A dictionary definition of the word Trust will state some of the following:

Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.
Custody; care.
Something committed into the care of another; charge.

I’m sure we all have a basic idea of what the word Trust means. But to use the context of this meditation, as a word from God, to Trust Him, is to rely on not only His integrity, ability and His Character, but to commit to Him the care of our lives. To give Him custody over us and what we are worried about. We Trust God to take care of us, or to take care of what is troubling us.

And in order to put our Trust in God, we must think about what that means. We need to ask this question - Is the character of God worthy to be trusted?

Well, we can get into quite a lengthy debate on this issue, but let me give you something to think about that reflects on the character of God.

James 1:17 says this,

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

With that in mind, I want you to think back to every good thing that has ever happened in your life. Meeting that special someone, getting that job, finding just the right house. And I’m sure you can think of many other good things that have happened in your life.

Now, think of all the things that had to go right in order for any one of those things to come out right. You had to be in the right place at the right time, and someone else probably had to be in that same place at that same time. Events had to happen just so, otherwise that good thing wouldn’t have happened at all.

Whether you believe God had anything to do with how well it turned out or not, the Bible tells us, He did. Even if you didn’t believe in Him, He believed in you enough to do that good thing for you.

I’ll be willing to bet, that even some of the bad things that have happened to you in your life, taught you something that helped you reach or get one of the better things that has happened to you. And God did that too.

For example, my first marriage was not a good thing and ended badly. But I learned a lot from the experience and if I hadn’t gone through it, I wouldn’t have been in the right place at the right time to meet my second wife, Cara, who I loved deeply. And even though the Lord took her home in 2003, I know she’s happy and that He’ll bring me though. But without having gone through that first bad marriage, I wouldn’t have been in the right place at the right time to meet Cara. And I could apply what I had learned in that first marriage to my marriage to Cara.

If God has been helping you all through your life, even if you didn’t know Him, His character and ability cannot be questioned.

If God has already given us so many things in our lives, I’d say by that test alone, we can Trust Him, we can put our Trust in Him.

Now, let’s talk about that next word, "Faith."

Faith appears in the King James Bible, in 231 verses, mostly in the New Testament. I could spend a lot of time and space quoting these verses, but I’ll just pick out a few of them for example…

Matthew 6:30 says,

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Another good example of faith is found in Matthew 8:5-10,

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

The centurion had faith indeed.

Matthew 17:20 says,

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

In Mark 5:34 Jesus says,

And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

I could go on through the Gospels with the all times Jesus uses the word Faith, but I’ll just pick a couple more from the later books of the New Testament.

Acts 6:8,

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

Romans 1:17,

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Romans 3:28,

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Romans 10:17,

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

If you look up Faith in the dictionary, you’ll see it defined with words like this:

Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance.

So, we might rightly state that Faith is a belief that something is true. And when we have Faith in God, we Trust that what He has told us through His word, is true. That we have Faith in God, we also Trust the things He tells us.

By now, you might be thinking, "This guys is nuts, he thinks God talks to him." And I answer that by telling you, that God does talk to me, and what’s more, He talks to you. You just have to listen.

If you don’t Trust that God talks to me and to you as well, then you need to have Faith and listen.

Part of having Faith in God, is Trusting in what you can’t always prove logically. But Trusting in what you read of the things He has done, and what His Son Jesus did.

As an example, I had Faith that God would help my wife through her pain and depression. And He did, He healed her, by taking her home. I have Faith that that she is happy and with God. I can’t prove it to you, but I know it to be true. I have Faith.

Let me add just one more thing about Faith, if you don’t believe in God, if you think that everything that happens is by accident, that all of creation is just an accident, then you have more Faith then I have.

And since I have now mentioned the word "Believe," let’s talk about that.

The word Believe appears in 131 verses in the King James Bible. In the Old Testament, 17 verses and 114 verses in the New Testament.

Isaiah 43:10

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Matthew 9:28

And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

Matthew 18:5-6

5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Mark 1:15, Jesus says,

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Mark 9:23

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Mark 11:23-24

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

John 9:69

And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

John 10:37-38

37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

John 14:1

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

And John 20:31

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

In a Dictionary, Believe might be defined using these kinds of words.

To accept as true or real
To credit with veracity
To expect or suppose; think
To have faith, confidence, or trust

You can see that when we believe, we also have Trust and Faith in what or who we are Believing.

We are asked to Believe in the Word of God, to Believe in what His son Jesus did for us by going to the Cross. We put our Trust in the Lord, have Faith in Him and Believe in Him.

We accept as True the Word of the Bible, Trust in the Word and have Faith in He that inspired it. We Believe that which is written.

Here’s a little story from Matthew that shows Trust, Faith and Belief.

Matthew 17:24-27

24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? 25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? 26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

Now Peter was a professional fisherman, he didn’t fish with lines and hooks, like we do. He fished with nets, taking in many fish at a time. But here, Jesus tells him to use a hook and line so that he might catch just one fish. This was probably strange to Peter, but he did what Jesus asked.

Peter had to Trust in the words of Jesus, he had to have Faith that what Jesus had said would come true and he had to believe that if he did what Jesus told him, it would happen as he said. That’s a lot of Trust, Faith and Belief, to go and catch one fish, and in it’s mouth find the money they needed to pay the tribute.

Matthew doesn’t record the out come of this fishing trip, but we can Trust, have Faith and Believe that Peter did as Jesus asked him. Went and caught one fish, opened it’s mouth and received money enough to pay the tribute.

I don’t know about you, but I Rejoice in my Trust, Faith and Belief in Christ.

So, let’s look at that word, "Rejoice."

Rejoice appears in 183 verses in the King James Bible. 142 verses in the Old Testament and 41 verses in the New Testament.

Deuteronomy 26:11

And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

1 Chronicles 16:31

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth.

Psalms 5:11

But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

Isaiah 65:17-19

17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

Matthew 5:12

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

John 12:22

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

Romans 12:15

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Revelation 19:5-7

5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

In the dictionary, Rejoice is described using these words.

To feel joyful; be delighted
To fill with joy; gladden.

I’d say, we all know what it means to Rejoice, we’re delighted and filled with joy. Like a kid on Christmas morning Rejoicing over all the presents for them under the tree.

But in order to Rejoice in the Lord, we first need to Trust Him, have Faith in Him and Believe Him.

In the story of Peter and the fish, I’m sure he Rejoiced when he caught that fish and found the money right where Jesus said it would be.

A thought came to me, a reason why the word Rejoice, and then Free and Live came later, and not at the same time as the others. That to be able to Rejoice, be Free and Live, we sometimes have to Wait on the Lord. The phrase, "Wait on the Lord" appears in the King James Bible in 3 verses.

Psalms 27:14

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psalms 37:34

Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

Proverbs 20:22

Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

And now, let’s put all the words together.

I won’t go into how many times the words, Free or Live appear in the Bible, I’m sure you can guess that they appear in many, many different verses.

When we Trust in the Lord, we are Free to Love Him, Free of the cares of this world. We are Free of the guilt of our sin. Trusting in the Lord, Frees us to be the kind of person the Lord wants us to be.

When we have Faith in the Lord, we can really Live the kind of life He wants us to live. We can Live by Faith. As is said in Galatians 3:11,

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

If we Live by Faith and Trust in the Lord, we shall be Free.

And lastly, if we Believe in the Lord, we can Rejoice in that Belief, knowing that we are Free because we Trust in Him, knowing that we can Live through our Faith in Him.

Many of us don’t follow these words however. We put our Trust, our Faith and our Belief in the things of this world, the things we can see and in ourselves.

And what does that get us?

When life comes down on us, when we don’t know what to do or where to go, what does having Trust, Faith and Belief in only ourselves and what we can see leave us?

Alone and lonely, that’s where.

For the things of this world, all the treasures we pile up and strive to have shall pass away, be burned up as 2 Peter 3:10 says,

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

And we all know one thing for sure, we shall pass away too. We die, at least to this life. So, why do we put our Trust, Faith and Belief in things that are going die or pass away? Why do we work so hard to accumulate all the things we do in this life when even if it out lasts us, it will all burn anyway?

Let's use this example…

At night when the lights go out, we Trust that the flash light will work. We put our Faith in the battery’s in that flash light to have power to make the light work. We believe that if we click the switch, the battery’s will power the light and it will turn on.

Are the battery’s always fresh? Does the flash light always work? And if they aren’t or it doesn’t, where are we?

In the Dark, that’s where. Stumbling around in the dark trying to find the light. But there is one who is "The Light" and He’s always there.

John 8:12 says,

Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.

God is Eternal. God is Forever. And we have Eternal Life through our Belief, Trust and Faith in Him.

John starts his Gospel with these words,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And in John 3:16, Jesus says,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

And so, through Jesus Christ and our Trust in Him, our Faith in Him and our Belief in Him, we have Eternal Life, we are Free and we can Rejoice in that.

Our life in this world will not always be what we would like it to be. But we must remember, we are only passing through this world on our way to an Eternal Life with Christ. And that through our Trust in Him, we are Free, through our Faith in Him we can Live and through our Belief in Him, we can Rejoice in the Eternal Life He has promised us.

Trust in Him and be Free…

Have Faith in Him and Live…

Believe in Him and Rejoice…