Trusting God Box

I was recently reading a book called "Confessions of a Pastor: Adventures in Dropping the Pose and Getting Real with God," by Craig Groeschel. What I really appreciate about him is that he is one of the people that so many put on a pedestal and yet whenever he writes he is real and honest about his walk with Jesus Christ and about his struggles in all aspects of his relationship with God, including trusting him. He had this awesome idea called a "Trusting God Box" Here is an excerpt from his book:

"Whenever you are worried about something you can't change, write your worry on a piece of paper and put it in the box. Once it is inside the box, it is God's property, his responsibility, not yours (it never was). From the moment you give your problem to Him, you're not allowed to worry about it. If you want to worry about it you have to go to the box and physically take the concern away from God. And when you do, you'll visually and physically act out what's really happening inside, you're choosing to stop trusting God."

Ouch! Physically taking the control away from God and physically choosing to stop trusting God. Ouch! How many of us stop trusting God on a regular basis by choosing to do so and taking back those things we nailed to the cross or surrendered to him, over and over again? I know I do. Things I thought I had surrendered to God, I have chosen to take back in an attempt to control them. The reality and the truth of the matter is I can't control them. I can't handle them. I can't do it on my own. That is why I gave it all the Him in the first place. I know you all know what I am talking about. No need to come up with some excuse or another about why you "can't" surrender X, Y, Z to God. It's not really a "can't" but instead a "won't". And why? We want control. If we are really honest with ourselves, sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between Lousy Larry or Jilted Jane who hurt us in the past when we trusted them with something precious to us and Jesus Christ. God is the ONLY one who will never fail us. He is the ONLY one who is 100% trustworthy all the time. He is the only one who keeps his promises and he is the ONLY one who loves us enough to sacrifice his son for our benefit. The Bible is full of promises reguarding God's trustworthiness, faithfulness, availability, and love. That is why we have the Bible in the first place. To KNOW GOD. Maybe many of us struggle so much with trusting him because we really don't KNOW God. Sure, we go to church. We sing about him. We can read about him. We believe in him and we claim to know him. But, do we really? Maybe the "Trusting God Box" would be a good exercise for us to see whether or not we really trust God. I took some time to make one, but you can use something that's already made.

Here's the challenge for you (and I will be doing it as well)

1) Get ahold of a "Trusting God Box" whether you make it, buy it, or use something lying around the house. Get one.

2) Take some time (and I don't mean a few minutes. I mean some serious time to sit and reflect on the areas in your life that you do not trust God in. Or maybe you might even need to revist those areas you think you trust God in. Perhaps you really don't. That is for you to discover. Ask God to help you, that is what he is there for.

3) Write down the areas of your life that you want to trust God with and place them in the box. Pray to God telling him that you are giving these things over to him and that you are no longer in control of them (you never were anyways) Tell him that you want him to handle them because you can't (be honest, you can't handle them and neither can I)

4) Do not take those papers back out. If you do I want you to visualize physically taking them back from God and physically choosing not to trust him. That is, afterall the purpose of the box.

5) Get to know God. Pick up your Bible and read. That is how you get to know God personally and not just know of him. That is how you get to learn who he is and what he is all about. That is how you learn to trust him, when you see that he is trustworthy (and he really is!) Below are some verses to get you started.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7, NIV)

God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. (Psalm 18:30, NLT)

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28, NLT)

Clear the Stage....

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

( 1 John 5:21, NLT)

Ross King wrote a beautiful song called "Clear the Stage" Below you will find the words to the song. Take some time to read them. Anything we place above God is an idol. 1 John 5:21 was warning us to stay away from anything that we may even be tempted to place before God and to keep away from anything that would steal you away from God. That is what this song is about.

Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze
If that's the measure that it takes to crush the idols.
Chuck the pews and all the decorations too
Until the congregations few then have revival.
Tell your friends that this is where the party ends
until you're broken for your sins you can't be social.
Then seek the Lord and wait for what he has in store
and know that great is your reward and just be hopeful

Cause you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want to
you can sing all you want to
And don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.

Take a break from all the plans that you made
And sit at home alone and wait for God to whisper.
Beg Him please to open up his mouth and speak
And pray for real upon your knees until they blister.
Shine the light on every corner of your life
Until the pride and lust and lies are in the open.
Then read the word and put to test the things you've heard
Until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked and broken.
Cause you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want toyou can sing all you want to
And don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.

Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.
Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol.
We must not worship something that's not even worth it.
Clear the stage and make some space for the one who deserves it.

Cause I can sing all I want to.Yes I can sing all I want to
I can sing all I want to
And still get it wrong, worship is more than a song.
And you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to
But don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.

Amen Ross King, Amen.

Love - It's More Than A Feeling

⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

(1 John 4:7-12)

Every single person on this earth wants to be loved. It's a desire that is ingrained into our very being by the one who created us to love. Real love is an action, not a feeling based on selfish intentions or motives. Romans 5:8 says; "God DEMONSTRATED his love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ DIED for us." "God SHOWED how much he loved us by SENDING his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him." (1 John 4:9) Those are actions. God fully demonstrated his love for us by choosing to send his son to live and die in place of us. God sent his son, perfect and blameless, and without fault to die for people who would deny him, hate him, spit in his face, torture him and kill him. Why? So we wouldn't have to suffer the penalty for our sins and so we would have a chance at living the abundant life that God desires for us. Real love is a choice, not something you fall into or out of. God is our source of love and Jesus is the example we should live by. Everything in Jesus' life showed his love for others. The fact that he was willing to die in place of each and every one of us is the biggest example of sacrificial love. Jesus was willing to pay the penalty for your sins and my sins. Why? Because he loves us. Real love requires sacrifice and death. As Christians, we need to die to ourselves. This means we lay aside our selfish agenda; our life of choosing to follow our fleshly desires and allow Christ to rule and reign in our hearts. Then his love will spill over into our lives and into the lives of people around us. It is impossible to love as God loves without surrendering to the helper that Christ gave us, the Holy Spirit. He gives us the power to love others. He changes us and transforms us little by little and we become more and more like Christ. Choosing to love others is difficult, but the Holy Spirit enables us to do so. Are there people in your life that others deem "unloveable?" Are there people in your life that YOU deem "unloveable?" To be honest, up until about a year ago, there is no way I would ever take the time to interact with people who were addicts - current or former. "Those people" were just not the kind of people I wanted to be seen with. That is the honest truth. I purposely avoided people that I didn't want to associate with. People that in my heart and through my actions I was deeming "unloveable" I was choosing not to love them because I was being selfish. It is easy to love someone we think is loveable. It is not easy to love someone that the whole world (and ourselves) deems unloveable. God has been changing my heart over the past year. I have had the opportunity to spend some time with people the world has essentially pushed aside and forgotten. People that I had previously pushed aside have been teaching me some ugly things about myself and I have been given the opportunity to choose to love them and show them this through my actions. Since I have been involved with Celebrate Recovery, I have seen how judgemental and ridiculously unloving I was. I have heard some amazing stories of God's rescuing and unconditional love through the lives of the very same people I chose to ignore. I have heard the stories of how people loved them when they felt unloveable. I have lived stories of how people have loved me when I felt unloveable. The common thread that each and every one of us has with one another is our need for love. For someone to consciously choose to love us not based on what they can get from loving us, but on loving us without reward and without worrying about what others may think. We are all looking for someone to show they love us by what they do, not merely by what they say. Is there someone in your life that you can choose today to love? God will help you love them. Is there someone you can show God's love to through your actions? God can help you show his love to them. I am reminded of this old hymn...

"They will know we are Christians, by our love, by our love. Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love."