This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, How to Face Your Future.
We live in uncertain times, but as we look at God’s Word, and at Man’s history, we see that every age has been an age of uncertainty and will continue to be so until Christ returns. We need to employ faith and follow biblical principles to navigate our own circumstances and to shine a light for those around us for such a time as this. (See Esther 4:14.)
We need mountain-moving faith that overcomes fear and enables us to trust God with tomorrow!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Listen to Pastor Adrian Rogers’ sermon on faith and trust in God, “How to Face Your Future.”
It is the heart’s response to God’s character.
Our heavenly father is patient, loving, just, merciful, and holy. How do we know? First, the Bible tells us so. Second, as we trust God’s Word, heed God’s call, and follow God’s plan, God’s character is revealed in our own personal circumstances. Our faith grows as we experience His abiding presence in every situation.
Pastor Adrian Rogers said, “True faith is rooted in evidence, but it goes beyond evidence; true faith becomes its own best evidence. We can’t find God based on human reasoning. Nothing will hold anything beyond its own capacity. Do you think you can cram God into your mind? Your mind doesn’t have the capacity to contain God. So, don’t try to eliminate God because you don’t understand Him.
“To have a God that I can worship, He must be a God greater than my mentality. If I could understand God, God would be no bigger than my intellect, which is far too small a god for me to worship. If we could understand God, we wouldn’t need God, but we don’t have to understand Him to know Him.”
For Scriptures that reveal some of the attributes of God’s character, see the list at the end of this article.
It is the gift of God. If you have any faith—even the smallest amount—you can and should thank God personally.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We must spend time in God’s Word, and time with God Himself in prayer—listening to His Spirit as we meditate on His Word. (See Psalm 1:2 and Joshua 1:8.) We must live out our faithfulness in worship and in fellowship with other believers.
As we go through both good times and bad, walking close to the Lord and following God’s plan, we learn to trust Him.
Consider Job, who loved God and enjoyed a wonderful live, but who also endured more suffering than most people can imagine. Job lost his children, his wealth, and his health. He was maligned by his friends and belittled by his wife. But Job did not curse God, even when, in his struggle, he could not understand why he was targeted for such misery. Instead He proclaimed His faith, saying: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
From the beginning to the end of the Book of Job, we see Job’s faith grow because he learned to trust God in both good times and bad. In Chapter 19, though he is still suffering, Job’s faith in God’s promises pours out in glory to God:
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27).
We remember God’s faithfulness, meditate on His goodness, thank Him for His benefits, confess to Him our weakness, and ask Him to help us trust Him for the future.
When you are besieged with doubt or fear, make a mental list (or an actual list, if you like) of the good God has provided throughout your life, rehearsing those times in your thinking. Thank Him for everything good in your life past or present. Confess your fear and ask Him for greater faith.
Read the Psalms often because, in them, we find a helpful pattern for how to move from fear to faith.
David, whom God called “a man after God’s own heart” (see 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22), learned to suffer well. In various psalms, David first expressed his pain and fear, then followed those laments with an expression of faith in God’s ability to bring good from his circumstances.
In Psalm 69, for example, David cried out to God in desperation:
“Save me, O God! for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God. Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they are mighty who would destroy me” (Psalm 69:1-4a).
David did not blame God for his suffering. Instead he tuned his thoughts to God’s goodness, saying:
“But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation....Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies” (Psalm 69:13,16).
David knew that in order to suffer well, we must cry out to the One who understands our suffering. The suffering in Psalm 69 was a form of persecution from those who hated David “without a cause.” In another circumstance, David brought on his own suffering through his sin with Bathsheba. Even in that instance, David cried out to God, expressing his sorrow over his sin and seeking forgiveness.
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:1-3).
In both cases, David showed us that in order to suffer well we must cry out to God, confessing any sin and professing faith in God’s promises—promises which cannot fail because they are based on God’s revealed character.
We express our faith to God and live out our faith around others, especially during difficult times. This is not the same thing as keeping a stiff upper lip. We can be realistic about our circumstances and, at the same time, enjoy the peace of God as we face the future with confidence, knowing God is with us and God is in control.
When people see us suffering and, at the same time, remaining faithful to God, they are encouraged in their own struggles. As we express faith in God’s plan, we give others hope for tomorrow. This is the power of trusting God.
When we come through personal storms, God opens opportunities for us to minister to others. The Apostle Paul said this in a letter to the church at Corinth:
“(God) comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4; word in brackets added for clarity).
How many times have you seen someone minister to another person going through a similar struggle? This is a ministry God has graciously given to all of us. When we hurt, we often learn how to bring healing to others.
We can also benefit others as we are faithful in fellowship—building up the Body of Christ as we serve others.
Faith calls us and empowers us to be good stewards of our time, talent and treasure. If you are not serving in your church or small group, you are missing an opportunity both to grow your faith and to benefit others. Make a list of the things you are interested in and/or good at, and pray over that list, asking the Holy Spirit to make clear where He wants you to use your energies for serving others.
God calls us to fellowship with other believers so that we may build the City of God, the only secure dwelling in our world. It’s important that we discover and develop our spiritual gifts so that God may be glorified. In the process of completing the work He planned for us, our trust in God will grow further still.
Finally our trust in God and our faith in Him will grow as we obey His command to share the Gospel. Jesus said:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
This is a mandate for every believer given by Christ Himself. No one is to be on “standby.” No one is “waiting to be drafted.” We are each to be on mission, to “go therefore,” whether in our neighborhoods and workplaces or on a foreign mission field. Fortunately, every believer is also given the power of the Holy Spirit to help us understand God’s Word and share it with others.
If you’re looking for a way to get started, download the Share Your Faith Booklet at no cost or take our free evangelism course. You might also be interested in the Bible Study, Go Therefore, a six-week study on the urgency and mandate for every believer to share the Gospel. This study, which includes a discussion guide, is suitable for both personal and small-group use.
Psalm 30:5 and 103:8; Nehemiah 9:17; Romans 15:5; 1 Timothy 1:1; 2 Peter 3:9
Jeremiah 31:3; John 3:16; Romans 5:8 and 8:38-39; 1 John 4:8, 4:16, and 4:19
Exodus 14:15; Deuteronomy 3:24; Job 34:12; Isaiah 30:18 and 61:8; Luke 18:7
Joel 2:13; Lamentations 3:22-23; Micah 7:18; Matthew 9:13; Luke 6:36; Hebrews 4:16
Exodus 15:11; 1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 41:10; 2 Peter 3:8; 1 John 1:15; Revelation 4:8
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6).
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1).
"Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not [c]arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-33).
