Are you ready to hand the keys over to God?

If someone were to say to you on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most and one being the least, where would you say your faith, reliance, and trust is in Jesus?

Do you think you would be able to put a number to the level of trust you have in Jesus, or is that beyond your ability?  Would you be able to answer the question honestly, and not worry about being a super Christian?  Or is it possible your level of trust, faith, and reliance in Jesus changes moment by moment and day by day?

I hate to admit this, but if I am asking you to be honest, then I must expect the same thing from myself.   My faith, trust, and reliance in Jesus changes day to day, moment to moment, and sometimes storm by storm.  There are some things in my life I have no trouble surrendering the control over to God, and then there are other things that I have grasped so tightly God is moving finger by finger to redeem His rightful control of my life.

When I am writing my trust and reliance on God is high.  I would say it’s a solid nine, because I know that there is no possible way for me to be doing this, and for it to be impacting people, unless it is God.

I have never been a fan of writing, poetry, and I really didn’t like reading either. Then one day I felt this desire to pick up the Bible and start reading it.  It was the evening of February 2^nd 2014 to be exact.  I had just had a conversation with my best friend about how I have never actually sat down and read the Bible, because I've never been able to understand and retain the information.  That night I started reading the Bible in John. 

After I had read a couple verses, again an overwhelming desire hit me to explain, in my words, what I had just read.  Before I knew it I had pages handwritten on the Light of Jesus.   As shocked as I was,  it made sense, and now I was left to wonder, what just happened.  I was/am thankful that I am able to recognize that this is a gift from God, and I am completely in His control in using this gift.

I think I am pretty normal, in the fact that we all have weaknesses, and strengths when it comes to trusting God.  We all still believe to some extent that we can take care of the problems we have.  For me, when I am thinking I can take care of the problems in my life, it’s not because I think I can do it better than God, it’s because it doesn’t dawn on me to take the problem to God.

 I know that in my current situation, there is nothing I can do to bring forth the restoration and healing of this relationship, so I can’t do anything about it… right?

Wrong… I can do, what I am doing, about my current situation, and I don’t recommend anyone making these things a habit in their lives.  

My issue, or one of them, is I worry.  I over analyze.  I reason and try to figure everything out, down to the smallest detail.  And lastly, I am negative with my thinking.  None of these things am I doing because I think I can do it better than God, no, I am doing them out of fear and needing to be in control.

I have had to maintain some composure and control in my life just to survive.  I was never able to really show my emotions and had to endure a lot of physical, mental and sexual abuse so I just disconnected from myself and my emotions.   I began to try to control my environment to the best of my ability and I haven’t figured out a way to stop doing that to this day. 

I have been able to recognize, very recently, that my need to continue to be in control, is because if I let go of the control, I am at risk of everything falling apart, and then what do I do? 

But when I am not allowing God to control my life, I am not trusting, relying and placing my faith in God.  I am actually blocking His ability to fully work in my life.  See why satan tries so hard to maintain those fears and doubts in our minds?  If he didn’t we would all be working for and serving God.

In Matthew 9:27-30 we see Jesus healing two blind men, this is all on heels of Jesus being called to come with a ruler, whose daughter has died.  Before that, on His way to healing the ruler’s daughter, Jesus had come across the woman with the issue of blood.  She had been bleeding for over twelve years and had kept telling herself if she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment she would be healed, and healed she was. 

Jesus spoke to her and said Take courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well. And at once she was restored to health.  Matthew 9:22.

Can you see the connection between the ruler whose daughter died and the women with the issue of blood?  Do you see what brings them the healing they so desperately need and want?

Their faith.

Now back to Matthew 9:27-30 As Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, shouting loudly, Have pity and mercy on us.  Son of David! (28) When He reached the house and went in.  The blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I am able to do this?  They said to Him, Yes, Lord. (29) Then He touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith and trust and reliance (on the power invested in Me) be it done to you; (30) and their eyes were opened.   And Jesus earnestly and sternly charged them; see that you let no one know about this.

And again, do we see the common thread in this story, and the other two shared tonight? Faith, but not just faith, faith in Jesus and His ability.

We see that in all three of these stories, the people had faith in His ability, but more importantly they had faith in Him.   We see different scenarios here.  One person, the ruler, was having faith in Jesus for his daughter.  His faith wasn’t for his healing; his faith was for someone else’s healing. 

To me, this is showing us, that it is possible and needed for us to have faith for those who aren’t able to have faith for themselves, right now.  This is saying, yes, you can have faith, and ask for healing for someone else based on the faith you have in Jesus Christ and His abilities.  This is amazing and can open the doors for so many hurting people in this world to receive healing from a complete stranger.

In the second scenario, the woman with the issue of blood.  Once again, her faith is what made her well.  Not her faith in her healing, but her faith in her Healer and His ability.  Her faith was so strong that she didn’t even worry about speaking to Jesus, having Him touch her, or having Him concoct some special mud antidote for her, no, all she wanted to do was touch the hem of his garment, and she believed she would be healed… and she was! 

Jesus made a point, in this scenario, to look at her and tell her directly that her faith has made her well!   Her Faith!!

In scenario three, we see the two blind men, who even though they are blind, followed Jesus around shouting loudly to have mercy and pity on them for being blind.  After what I am sure was an annoying walk, Jesus turned to them and asked them, do you believe I can do what you are asking of Me?  Their response, yes, Lord. 

What do you think happened next?  They were healed.  Jesus touched both of their eyes and said to them both, according to your faith, trust and reliance on the power invested in Him, let it be done, and they were healed.

There is a common threads in all of these stories, but to me, the one that has stood out the most, is the thread of faith.  All of these people had faith in Jesus but also His ability.  They knew from the depths of them that if they could get in front of Him, touch His garment or have Him travel to see their loved ones, they would receive the healing they were asking for.

Now, I ask you again, where are you on a scale of one to ten in your faith, trust and reliance in Jesus?  If you are able to say you trust God with everything you have, and walk with at a level ten, God Bless you, and mean it, sincerely.  I would think there are few people who can say they trust God 100%, but I would also venture to say, there are many people who long to say they trust God 100%.

From what I can gather from these stories tonight, trusting God is a decision.  It’s a decision that you make on whether you are ready to hand the car keys to God, and get in the passenger seat, or you want to continue driving for a little while longer. 

Having faith, trust and relying on someone is really difficult.  It’s dying to oneself and the trust we have in ourselves, but if there is ever a time to release the control of your life, it would be now, and it would be to God. 

Healing, Faith and Relying on God can be yours and mine, all we need to do is surrender and hand Him the keys!