In my earlier post titled “Rest,” I wrote about resting in the Lord and based the post on the verse Isaiah 30:15, which reads, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (NIV). In this post, I would like to expand more on trusting the Lord. For some of us, trust is automatic; we expect goodness and therefore, trust comes easily. For others of us, trust needs to be learned, developed.
Our expectations are either positive or negative based on our mindsets. We know what our mindsets are by our first reactions to a situation; meaning, as we enter a situation, we are either expecting a positive outcome or a negative outcome. Our history with people can negatively shape our mode of expectation but the Lord is not like us. In John 14:27, Jesus tells us:
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Jesus is trustworthy as His love for us is perfect and unconditional. The fruit of the Spirit is not just something we as Christians are aiming to walk in as described in Galatians, but they are descriptions of the essence of the Lord. The Lord is love; He is joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). If we really understand and believe He is the Spirit, then we can believe He is all of the fruits of the Spirit. Therefore, we should be expecting Him to be all these things for us.
In any area where you are lacking an understanding of who Jesus is for us, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you. The Holy Spirit was given to us to guide us into truth (John 16: 13) and teach us who Jesus is, and He loves to teach us about Jesus. So when you enter a situation or your first thought is negative (e.g., fear, anxiety) don’t stop and hang out in negativity but ask the Holy Spirit to teach you who Jesus is for you in this situation. I would suggest starting a journal and writing down scriptures; write out what the Spirit teaches you. He may bring back to mind, for example, a situation in the past where Jesus was faithful to provide. So now you have a testimony and you can thank Him for his past faithfulness. As we are thankful, we enlarge our capacity for more of His truth. Then, pray every day, giving thanks for His faithfulness. We enter His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise (Psalm 100:4). This is not just an exercise to be positive but it is how we enter into His realm of reality and learn to see from His perspective. But we can’t get there by being fearful so we have to change the way we see. When we choose to worship Him with a thankful heart, we open the door to understanding the way the Lord sees our situation and we learn to expect His goodness no matter what we are facing.
Moreover, Jesus states in John 15:9: “As the Father loved Me, I have loved you;”
Remember, when we are born again, have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, He is living in us. Therefore, when the Father sees us—He sees Jesus in us. The Father loves the Son more than anything and His covenant with His Son is a guarantee that He will never ever leave you or forsake you. Therefore, you can be confident in His word that states He works out all things for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Notice the verse states all things. All means everything. So no matter what you are facing, the Lord is already working on your behalf.
Understanding the love between the Father and Jesus is a powerful foundational truth to understanding how much they love you. In John 17, Jesus prays for all believers:
“I in them, and you in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (v. 23, emphasis added).
We see in Jesus’ prayer, the Father loves us as He loves Jesus. It is the same love and thus, the same faithfulness. When you have Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, You have all of the Father’s love and Jesus’ love, and therefore, all of heaven working on your behalf.
When the disciples were in the boat in the storm, they didn’t understand that Jesus was in the boat with them and thus, there was nothing to fear. Jesus slept; He was in perfect peace despite the storm. Jesus understood and lived the example of the Father’s declaration in Exodus 33:14, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” His presence means that even in extreme situations where it would be considered natural to be fearful, we can stay in rest because He is trustworthy. It is a supernatural rest. It is Jesus with us.
So even as the world may be in chaos, and fear and anxiety fill the airwaves, remember that you are in Jesus and He is in you and thus, you have nothing to fear. You can trust the Lord and therefore you can rest in His peace.
Perfect love casts out all fear (I John 4:18). Jesus is perfect love. So when you focus your attention on Jesus and abide in His love, fear can not stay. Praise, thanksgiving, and worship all position our hearts and minds on Jesus. When we abide in Jesus, we enter His peace and His rest, which also increases our capacity to know Him more and what He thinks about our situation. We may see only the present and fear is rooted in what we may think will happen in the future. But Jesus knows all things and has already worked out our future.
Trials and hardship can wear us down but Jesus invited those who have suffered to come to Him:
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Rest positions us to look for Jesus in every situation. Each situation is an opportunity to learn who Jesus is for us in that particular situation. It is an opportunity to know Him deeper and experience more of His attributes. So, instead of allowing fear to grip you, rejoice because you have just been given an excellent opportunity to experience Jesus in a new way. To learn how marvelous, wonderful, and beautiful He is and how very much He loves you.