Trusting God

Reposted from Rooted Thinking.

We need a God-centered, faith-filled expectancy as we pursue Gospel ministry. There are many reasons why we as believers in Jesus Christ should serve Him with a spirit of expectancy that God will work through us in evangelism. We looked at two reasons for such expectancy in a previous article. Now let’s look at three more.

We should have a spirit of expectancy because we have experienced the power of the Gospel

• “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”* (Rom 1:16a).
• “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor 1:18).

This good news of Jesus Christ is the most powerful message in the universe—for those that believe it! No believer in Jesus Christ would ever question the power of the Gospel, would they? We know what the Gospel of Jesus Christ has done for us. We remember how our lives were changed and how we have escaped the power of sin because of God’s grace. We now know God and have a relationship with Him! We have hope of eternal life and purpose in our lives! But somehow over the course of time we can forget what God has done. If God can save me, He can save others! If he saved you 20 years ago, He certainly has that same power right now!

Reposted from Rooted Thinking.

What am I doing here? Who am I to be giving the Gospel to others? Why would God use me? Why should people listen to me?

I imagine that most Christians have asked questions like these when seeking to obey Christ and witness. When these thoughts come, what we do with them becomes extremely important. If we allow ourselves to dwell on our weakness, we will witness less and ineffectively, if we witness much at all.

Hindrances to Expectancy

When it comes to making disciples for Jesus Christ, no matter who we are or what our circumstances, all of us struggle at times with man-centered thoughts that handicap us. We make ourselves too important.

When God brought judgment on Ahab and Israel in the form of drought and famine, he sent Elijah to a secluded retreat somewhere along the Brook Cherith (1 Kings 17). During this period, God’s care for Elijah reveals an interesting pattern. The details are memorable and exceptional, but the pattern is not.

And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. (ESV, 1 Ki 17:6)

Here in 2022, we need to look closely at how Elijah responded to God’s provision. The record is clear that Elijah ate what these ceremonially unclean ravens (Lev 11:13-15) brought. In Elijah’s mind, he was not choosing between trusting God and trusting ravens.

To put it another way: Elijah saw no conflict between trusting in God and trusting in the means God used to preserve his life and health.

Elijah’s story doesn’t end there.

And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. ⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him, ⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” (1 Ki 17:7–9)

Here we see a second feature of Elijah’s thinking that is important in our day. Elijah didn’t reason that since brooks tend to dry up in droughts, he should reject brooks as a water source. Instead, he chose to make the most of what God had made available, limited though it was.