Growing in Trust

I'll comment more soon, but just wanted to get these down. Thanks again to Wayne Jacobsen for the inspiration. I'm not a WJ disciple, but God has used his words to begin some deep changes in me.

Some of the elements of trust in this kingdom...
• Everything about your life is in the Father’s hands.
Is there anything that could even possibly not be in his hands?

• Trust is not a choice it is the fruit of your growing confidence in Father’s love for you.
Trust in this purest sense is as natural as breathing. It is this kind of trust: I have so much confidence in His love for me that there is never any doubt about him taking care of me and doing what's best for me.

• Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of our faith, is the one who grows our trust in the real circumstances of life. I think it's majorly God and just a little bit of us. I think we give ourselves a little bit too much credit when it comes to our growth. He is the one who starts us on this journey of love and grace and he is the one who takes us all the way through it to the finish. We cooperate. We yield. We relax in him. I like the way The Message puts that passage in Luke 12 where Jesus tells us where our focus and energy ought to be:

29"What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. 30People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 31Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. 32Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.

That's our job, I think. Our job is to go with his flow, to learn to relax in him. Not just on occasion, not just on a retreat of some sort, but as a lifestyle. It doesn't mean that we don't do anything and aren't very active. It means that our work is more productive, growing out of a vital communion and connection with the Father. It isn't a frenzied searching after something to "do for God." My work is fruit. It is the fruit of his vital relationship with me. I ask him to show me what he is doing today and to show me how he wants me to get involved in that work. I ask him to show me where he is going today so that I can come along side of him and go there with him.

• He wants to free us from the preoccupation of getting from God so that we can simply live in the reality of what God gives. Again, the Luke 12 passage fleshes this out. He wants our focus on what he has already provided. Scripture is full of his assurance of provision. Provision in every sense of the word, material, physical, in every way.

• Know the story of Scripture well enough to know how God works.