Actions Speak Louder than Words - Lesson 2 - ... in Trusting the Lord

Testimony of Witness:
- Grandmother,
- Grandfather,
- Jim Kelly

Moral of the story –
You do not want to live a life of regrets.

‘The trust game.’

Ezra 8:21-23, ‘Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.’

Elaborate on this story.

How does this apply to us?





Psalm 37:3-9, ‘Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.’

Testimony of the courthouse.

How are you with fretting?





Psalm 40:4, ‘Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.’

This verse applies to us,
We get a little proud at times.
We also get turned aside by lies.
We don’t like when our children do it.
How do you think the Lord feels when we do the same things?

Your thoughts here…





There is nothing I hate more than going to someone,
with a problem I am struggling with
finally get up the courage to get help and their only advice is,
‘You can’t act that way.’
‘You shouldn’t do that.’

I don’t ever want to do that to you.
Some times we need to read the scriptures for what they say for that advice.

Isaiah 26:3, ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.’

When we struggle what percentage of the day are our thoughts on the Lord.
If our problems are occupying our every thought where is the room for the Lord?
We are all proud of ourselves for praying twice a day for three minutes,
And we don’t know why we are struggling
with the same nonsense we were a year ago.

We also wonder why we aren’t growing stronger spiritually,
We read our Bible every day,
Well most of the time,
Well some of the time
All right once last week.

What advice can you give us here from Isaiah 26:3?





Psalm 62:8, ‘Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.’

Pastor Moses explained to me that he believes Selah to mean,
Stop, Look and Listen.
So his advice to us was to read a verse again when it has Selah in it.

Is God your refuge or do you go to Him as a last resort after you have tried everything?





Psalm 84:11-12, ‘For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.’

As I said last week I believe my purpose is to take away excuses, encourage
And promote thought.
If we look at this verse closely does it say or imply that
if we have things withheld from us we are then not walking uprightly?

I also want us to read the Bible for ourselves,
Not just parroting what others have told us a verse to mean.
I also do not want us to take a verse out of context
or read half the verse and run with it.

I believe when you read you will find that the promises of God
have a condition for us before His promise is handed out.

Proverbs 3:5-6, ‘Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’

Having read those two verses there are three things we are to do
before the Lord is obligated to fulfill His promise.
He can fulfill it even when we do not deserve it.

Can you share your thoughts here or give a testimony…

Definition of Grace and Mercy.

Grace is when you get that which you do not deserve and
Mercy is when you don't get what you do deserve.





Closing thoughts.

How do you feel when your spouse doesn’t trust you?
How do you feel when your children don’t trust you?
How do you think the Lord feels when we don’t trust Him?

Even if you feel you are trusting the Lord as much as you can, remember,
99% loyalty is 100% disloyalty.

We are God’s children, He loves us more than we deserve.
He wants what’s best for us.

Do you trust Him?
Do you truly trust Him?
Even when you can’t see the road up ahead?
Even when you feel you have prayed long enough?

Don’t give up,
Don’t stop trusting,
Trust more today than you did yesterday
And more tomorrow than you are today.

Because He will not give up on you.

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