Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Your heart, what God desires the most, the thing that is most fickle, is a prime target for the enemy’s attack.
To trust God with all your heart, you must first put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Yes sis, the breastplate of righteousness. Because the breastplate guards and protects your heart from deception.
It keeps you from believing the lie that says God’s not coming through, or that you have to take matters into your own hands.
With the breastplate in place protecting your heart, you can truly begin trusting God.
When Scripture speaks of your heart, it’s referring to the intersection of four internal characteristics: your mind, will, emotions and conscience. The heart is the centerpiece of the soul.
Priscilla Shirer, The Armor of God Bible Study
With these four heart components in mind, here are 4 Ways to Trust God With All Your Heart.
1. Trust God with your Mind.
You trust God with your mind by meditating on what He has done, who you know Him to be, and who His word says He is.
Hebrews 11:11 says, “and by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.”
Sarah considered God faithful.
That’s where I’ve gotten mixed up at times. Instead of meditating on the One who made the promise, that He is good, faithful and working things for my good, I kept focusing too much on what I wanted God to do for me.
If I asked myself, “Do I believe God will meet this need, pay this rent, or open that door…” I may feel a little doubt in my heart.
But when I asked, “Do I believe God is faithful and keeps His word?” I could answer with a resounding yes! And that confidence brought the peace that kept me from entertaining doubt.
Sarah considered Him faithful. Do you consider God faithful, friend?
Hebrews 11 also says that Abraham did not consider his age or Sarah’s womb.
Many times we begin to look at what we can see, that unpaid rent, that closed door, and start to consider them, because that’s what we see with our natural eye.
But Abraham did not consider.
So if you find yourself focusing on your lack or insufficiencies, begin to meditate on God’s faithfulness. Begin to consider God’s great love for you.
Go to God’s Word as often as you need to.
Even if it’s hour by hour and minute by minute. Just like a muscle, when you work that faith in God, it will grow, sis.
2. Trust God with your Will
You learn to trust God with your will, or your ambitions: All the hopes, dreams and plans you have for your life. Just like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, we trust God with our Will.
Not my will, but your will be done.
Jesus
But what if you’re unsure that God’s will is best for your life?
What if you’re standing in front of an opportunity that may or may not be the will of God, but it seems too enticing to resist?
Should you still trust God’s will instead of your own?
In your uncertainty, remind yourself how God has never failed you:
How He formed you in the safety of your mother’s womb, and how He lovingly laid out the plans He had for your life.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
Psalm 139:15-17
How it pleased God to think of who He created you to be:
- Remember how generous God is and how much higher His desires are for you. “(exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think).”
- Consider your own children. Wouldn’t you give them the world if you could? Your Father doesn’t want to stifle you, but to show you what’s truly possible through Him.
I guarantee, you won’t dream as big as God can. We don’t call Him a good, good Father for no reason. Amen!
3. Trust God with your Emotions
This is where you need an arsenal of scriptures at the ready. When you begin to fear and doubt God’s faithfulness, say them out loud.
Remind yourself that you don’t have to agree with fear, sadness or discouragement. This may be controversial, I don’t know, but those are not of God. God commands us not to fear, reminding us that He is always with us.
I say that to give you good news.
You don’t have to agree with fear! You don’t have to accept it as it comes, because, aren’t you a new creation in Christ, sis? Aren’t you born again? Haven’t the old things passed away and made room for the new? Don’t worry I’m preaching to myself too.
Submit yourselves then to God, resist the enemy and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
By simply disagreeing with fear and agreeing with God, your mind and body learn to respond to the truth instead of the negative emotions triggered by trauma and memories.
God is renewing your mind.
The Bible is more than a history book; it is God speaking to you now. God’s Word is alive. It is the living voice from heaven. You can fearlessly act on the written Word of God—by renewing your mind—just as you would if Jesus called your name and spoke with you personally!
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
Determine to place scripture above everything else; blindly and recklessly, no matter what comes your way.
Why? Because God said you could.
And if the Creator of your being said you could do that, then you can sis. Amen!
Side note: And can I say, as a believer, there is NOTHING shameful about battling with fear, anxiety or depression. Nothing! Breathe and accept that we are imperfect who serve a perfect God, and are in a process of sanctification. You are a strong man or woman of God, period.
4. Trust God With Your Conscience
You can trust God with your conscience, your moral compass, by diligent devotion to His Word. As a believer, our moral compass is heavily influenced by the Holy Spirit.
For example, if we feel something is ok to say or do and don’t feel bothered by it, we do it.
But later we might feel a gentle tug in our heart, as if to say “that wasn’t the right thing to do, or you need to go apologize.” That’s the holy conviction of the Holy Spirit affecting our conscience, compelling us to apologize and repent.
How do you trust God with your conscience?
Make spending time in the Word of God your top priority each day so you can discern the difference between what’s right and wrong. Or in most cases, what’s right and almost right.
Because our heart can’t tell.
It’s easy to become persuaded by the culture’s idea of what’s right, our friends and family’s ideas, or even our church.
Sometimes the line is so fine that, without diligent devotion to God’s Word, there’d be no way to tell the difference.
For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.
Matthew 24:24
The deception is real. And it doesn’t come wearing red devil horns carrying a pitchfork…
But it comes as something that sounds good or feels right.
I remember I had started following Angels with Fran, a woman who heavily teaches manifesting miracles from your heavenly staff: God, the Holy Spirit and the Angels. And I was with it, until I thought, wait a minute…God’s word says something different.
God’s method for prosperity is about sowing and reaping and giving and receiving.
And God doesn’t change. Fran’s teachings sound great because she mentions the Bible and the Holy Spirit, but is this really how God operates?
Then when I went to his Word and I was like, nope. And I had to unsubscribe.
I later found out she speaks of listening to spirit guides and our ancestors…familiar spirits according to God.
Right and almost right.
Do you see the trend here?
Meditate on God’s Word.
The only way we can trust God with all our heart is taking each day and making sure we get God’s Word in us; somehow and someway.
It’s no wonder the author of Ephesians charges us to put on the belt of truth before anything else.
The belt of truth is what holds all the other armor pieces in place.
To trust God with everything in us, we first have to discover the truth and then believe it. And keep going to His Word until we believe enough to act on it.
Learning to trust God takes time, and like a seed planted (God’s word) and watered (daily meditation), it will grow.
Prioritizing the Word of God has truly helped me through the hardest of times. I’ve not arrived, of course, but I am miles away from where I used to be. I believe God more so than I ever have before.
And that’s everything to me.
I’ve put together a free Morning Routine Planner to help get you started.
If you only have 15 minutes in the morning, or if you’ve got 2 full hours, this morning routine planner can give you some fresh ideas on how to get God’s Word in you, no matter how much time you have. No more struggling. No more drifting from God and losing hope.
