(February Letter) Trust: The Foundation of Beautiful Solutions

In the Old Testament there were 2 times when the foundation of the temple was laid in the 2nd month. February being the 2nd month is a reminder that we need a solid foundation in our lives. In the Abundant Life Blueprint our foundation is built by trusting in God's word. 

Trusting in God's word means we trust his intentions, that he will keep his promises, and that we trust his timing. Every area of our lives... Purpose, health, family, finances, order, time, and community are supposed to be built upon a foundation of trust in God. It is this trust that leads to beautiful solutions in each area of our lives. 

Often in life we have problems or issues and we try to fix them, but usually our solutions lead to side effects and other issues we weren't expecting. For example, we focus on fixing a problem at work but it comes at the expense of our family or health.

A beautiful solution is one that happens by God's grace and it sets us free while also creating a ripple effect for good in every area of life. 

But, these beautiful solutions are built on a foundation of trust in God, and learning to trust God requires going through a process, because trust is built over time. 

In Romans 8:30 it says that those God predestined he also called and those he called he also justified and those he justified he also glorified. I think these are 4 phases that lead to beautiful solutions in our lives. A beautiful solution that comes by grace leads to God getting the glory, rather than saying it was all of our effort that led to the solution. In the Abundant Life Blueprint all of the weight and pressure of the rooms in the house is meant to sit and rest on God's word, not on ourselves. Often we try to put the pressure on ourselves to make everything happen, and we must learn to take the pressure off of ourselves because we weren't meant to handle it, and instead let all of the areas of our lives rest on God's word. 

First, God has predestined us. Jesus said he came to do what was written about him in God's book. David said that all of his days were ordained in God's book. God has written a book about our lives. 2 Timothy 1:9 says we have been called to a holy calling, not according to our works, but according his purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

God has a beautiful plan for our lives and then he calls us to a holy calling that is full of purpose and grace. Grace is his empowerment to make it happen and do things we can't do in our own strength. This grace allows us to tap into Gods unlimited and inexhaustible source of peace, joy, love, faith, energy, power, and much more. But, we have a choice as to whether we will accept the call or reject it. This happens in the big picture of our lives and also during each day. We can choose whether to follow our own plan or God's plan in each day and in the big picture of our lives. 

Recently we talked about writing what we want in life because Jesus says we can ask for anything in his name. For a while I was seeking God about what to ask for. If we can ask for anything what should we ask for? The conclusion I have come to is that the best thing to ask for is to be doing what God wrote about in our book according to his purpose and grace in Christ Jesus. 

How do we know what is in our book? Seek and you will find. What are the nudges or promptings you are getting from God? What do you know to do? For example, if you know you should be writing a book, starting a business, taking a certain step of faith, forgiving someone, eating better, exercising, being more present with your family, etc are you going to take action? Once you know what to do take action and do it with a good attitude relying on God's empowerment to help.

Justification has to do with the reason you are doing what you do. Abraham and Rahab took action because they had faith and trust in God. In James 2 it says that Abraham was justified by his works when he offered Isaac and that Rahab was justified by her works when the helped the spies. Their faith was made complete by their works and they were justified by what they did. In Hebrews 11 it says that Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he reasoned God could raise the dead. God has predestined us and called us according to his purpose and grace but then we must take action and prove that we actually believe this. Faith without works is dead. We must prove that we believe by our actions and actually do what is written about in God's book for us. 

Justification is a legal term. Satan is accusing us before God continually and the biggest thing he is accusing is our reasons for why we do what we do. We need to present God with some proof that we actually trust him by acting on what he says. If we say we believe but never take any action, do we really believe? 

Part of trusting is timing. Often there will be a time when we are taking action and doing the right things but we haven't seen the results or the beautiful solution yet. It is during these times that we must continue to trust in God and his timing rather than trying to intervene and figure it out ourselves. Many times it can seem like God is late so we step in and try to effort or force things to happen by coming up with some crazy plan. This is what happened when Abraham and Sarah has Ishmael. Part of trusting God is learning to wait for his beautiful timing to unfold. Often beautiful solutions require faith, trust, and patience. 

As a practical example, I had a time when God showed me it was going to be a Miracle Year, and toward the end of the year despite doing what I thought was the right things, I was in a position of only having 2 days left to move my gym business with nowhere to go. There were a few options but I knew they were not God's best beautiful solution, they would have been me intervening trying to force things to happen. With tens of thousands of dollars on the line I continued to wait until we only had 2 days left. My reasoning or justification for this, because it looked crazy, was that I was trusting that God said it was going to be the Miracle Year. And it turned out that this situation set me free out of my business and led to a beautiful solution. It caused a cascade of good things in every area of my life, and the timing was perfect. 

We are justified not only by what we do but why we do it. We are showing proof and evidence that we truly believe. When people ask why you are so hopeful it is because our hope and confidence are in God.

These beautiful solutions come by grace as we trust, and they lead to God getting the glory, because he creates solutions that are better and more beautiful than anything we could dream up on our own.