To infinity and beyond!  Do you remember that? Buzz Lightyear played a huge role in our family’s life for a very long time.  Of course, he was a delusional cartoon figure who thought he was a real space ranger. But what I loved about Buzz was his lack of fear.  As a man who has struggled with insecurities and fear, I can say that I would like to live more like Buzz!

Why do we live in fear?  Fear is the perspective that imagines the worst.  It is the mindset that bad things cannot be undone; that what we see cannot change.  Fear is powerful. It stifles us. It makes us shrink back and not take chances. Meanwhile, the parable of the minas tells us that God rewards our boldness pursuing God’s plan for our life.  Too many of us bury what we have in the dirt when God has called us to soar with the eagles. How are you living?

The key to moving from buried to soaring is trust.  We must trust the Lord. And this brings us to the Verse of the Day:

Jeremiah 17:7

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

Listen to me peoples-God knows everything.  He knows what is going to happen. He knows how things are going to happen.  He knows what we and everyone else feels. He knows how every person will respond to any situation.  And He is powerful and He is able to change things and move mountains and undo what the enemy has done.  He knows what we need to do. He knows how we need to do it. And even if we mess it up, as long as we are trying to please Him, He changes the direction of the waterways to prosper those who honor Him.  What does this mean? It means we can’t mess things up as long as we are working and doing our best to please the Lord. And even in our worst place of sin, repentance moves the Lord to restore what the enemy has stolen.  He is always working all things together for our good. What do we really have to fear?

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Our life moves according to our trust in the Lord.  Deeper levels of trust move the Lord to smooth out our way to greater blessings.  A lack of trust in the Lord keeps us walking in circles like the Israelites in the desert.  Who wants to stay in negative cycles caused by fear, a lack of trust in the Lord? This is the premise of my recent book With All Your Heart.  We have to learn how to trust the Lord.  

Some might say that we do trust Him, but how much do we trust?  If you were on the top floor of a burning building and I was on the ground below yelling, “Jump.”  How would you know if you trust me? If you jump, then you put your trust in me. It doesn’t mean that you aren’t filled with fear the whole way down, but in the end, by your behavior, you have trusted me.  The same is true with the Lord. We often trust the Lord, but there are some areas of our life where we are not in full obedience. Perhaps we have not forgiven someone. Maybe we aren’t loving someone as we should.  It could be that we are not handling our money as we should. In crisis moments, we may not trust the Lord enough to be patient and kind rather than pointing out faults. There may be some places we need to jump into the Lord all the way, but we are holding back.  Those areas are keeping us in the negative cycles.

If you haven’t already, please check out my book “With All Your Heart: Ending the Negative Cycles in Your Life.”  I know those principles will help you to stop walking in the same old circles, have the same old arguments, facing the same old demons and move you into your promised land.

Live Blessed and Be a Blessing!