Faith – Part 1 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning,

Heading into a new week, and we want to go to God’s word, the Bible, and see what he has to say to us today. Don’t forget that when you read the Bible or hear the Bible read, it’s not just an interesting book with some good morals, it’s God’s word to us. God revealing Himself, his own heart, his way of seeing the world, his way of thinking about life, which is reality.

And so often, we get into problems in our lives when we allow our way of thinking about life, which is just so focused on – what’s happening right now at this moment to me – to distort reality and make us think wrongly about life. It’s so valuable and positive each day to just take a few minutes and read from God’s Word the Bible and let God shape our thinking about life.

We’re talking this week about faith, and I want to start out with a well-known verse from the Bible from the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament, chapter 29, verse 11, which says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Well, I just want to think about those first few words of that verse where God says, I know the plans I have for you.

One of the great things that we can rest our faith on as followers of Jesus Christ is that God has a plan for each one of us. It’s a good plan, a plan with future and with hope.

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Now the reality is we often short circuit that plan that God has for us by our lack of faith and our attitude towards Him. You remember that God came to King Saul in the Old Testament and said, I’m going to replace you, and I’m going to put David on the throne. I would have established your kingdom forever. Your descendants would have sat on the throne of Israel. But because you didn’t trust me, I am replacing you, and so often we short circuit what God wants to do in our lives by our lack of faith.

One of the most foundational things we need to come to in our relationship with God is this trust. God, you see the big picture. You know me. You shaped me the way you wanted me, and you have a plan for me, and I’m going to trust in your plan for me. You know, when you trust in God’s plan for you, then you follow his lead in your life.

If you trust someone, then you’re willing to trust what they say to you. When you are little and you trust your parents, you go where they want you to go because you know their heart and their love for you, and it’s the same in your relationship with God. If you want your life to turn out according to God’s plans for you, you need to reach out to Him and say, I trust you, God. You have a plan for me.

It’s a good plan, plan not for evil, but a future and a hope, and I’m going to go the way that you have planned for me. When you put God in that place in your life, you find that God responds to that and focuses on you and puts his hand of guidance and blessing on your life. You can never be more committed to God than He is to you.

If you trust God and put him at the center, you will find his hand guarding and guiding your life.

I’m John North.