Reset Your Faith To Trust God

How do you reset your faith to trust God with your circumstances, your kids, your job, your past and your life?
I can help you with that. 

If you’d rather watch a video than read this, you can see it if you click here.

My hubz, Dave (or Mr. 4-Ever as we call him) and I spend a ton of time in the car. While he drives, I read, play video games, write on my laptop, gaze out the window or nap. I don’t have to stare at the road looking for hazards, because I trust Dave to do that.

Driving with, … oh let’s call her “Mary” is an entirely different story.
I’m on high alert because Mary is forever running over the rumble strips on the highway.
She fiddles with the radio, checks her phone and yells at other drivers.
It’s exhausting to be in the passenger seat.
I can’t trust her driving.

The key to trusting God is to know him.
To know his character and his heart.
To know he is competent and that he has your best in mind ALWAYS!

How do you do that?

The first way to get to know God is to stick your nose in his big book – the Bible.

Read the accounts of God’s faithfulness to his people. They trusted him in the direst or most peculiar of situations. Then you will begin to see that what was provided for some is possible for you.

Now before you tune me out about reading the Bible, let’s talk about how to make it fun, valuable and effective. There are LOTS of ways to make it interesting.

First off, get yourself a Bible in language you can understand.

Don’t worry about it not being the King James Version or a translation of the original Greek.
Use the New International Version, the New Living Translation, The Living Bible or The Message Bible.

This reading of the Bible is not to pass a test on a genealogy of Jesus or the historical validity of the Wise men or even the number of times an angel appears in the book.

This is recreational reading to get to know the author, not to complete an assignment or obligation.

Next, you’re probably asking, Where do I start and how much is required?

You can start at the beginning of the Old Testament or the beginning of the New Testament.
You could start by reading the Psalms or Proverbs.
How much reading is required? is probably your next question.
I’m a list girl, so I like to use a reading plan.
There are reading plans that will get you through the Bible in a year. That is waaaaay too ambitious for me.  I have read the whole book in 80 days, but all I got out of that was bragging rights. I don’t recommend that!

What I do recommend is that you test drive some reading plans.

I read a chapter a day.
One chapter a day.
One chapter most days.
That’s what works for me right now.

In other seasons, I have read the same chapter of the Bible for a month.
You can read a Proverb a day – handy that there are 31.

One year a friend of mine read the Gospel of John over and over for a year.
Another friend read Genesis for a whole year.

Which plan seems good to you? Any of them?
Do that one or keep reading for more suggestions.

If you’re a girl who is very familiar with the Bible, you might explore reading the Bible in different version than you’ve been using. Shake things up with The Message or a Chronological Bible.

Remember, this is recreational reading for the purpose of getting to know God so well that you can distinguish his character traits enough to find him trustworthy.

If you HATE to read, I have great news. You don’t have to.
You can get a Bible app that will read to you or you can buy a dramatized audio version of the Bible.

Or…this may raise some eyebrows, but it completely legit!

If you are just overwhelmed by the volume of the Bible or you want to change things up, use a devotional that is paraphrased Scripture. When I first started out, I used Our Daily Bread. You could try My Utmost for his Highest, He Holds My Hand, 31 Days of Praise, My Princess, or Jesus Calling.

Get to know the author of the book by reading the book,
listening to the book
or using cliff notes like a devotional.

It’s all good!

One more way to get to know God through his Word is to use a skinny Bible study book.
These are thin Bible guides that expound on the text to help you understand what you are reading. They clarify the historical references, the cultural influences and the relevance to my life.

The Infuse Line is good.
So is the Women of Faith line.
The Intervarsity Press Life Guide studies are super rich and skinny.

Reading God’s word will help you see that God was trust worthy in the pages of scripture so you can trust him, too.

I can’t wait to hear what you decide to help you read the Bible on a consistent basis.

Tell me what’s your plan for reading the Bible.

Also, tell me what would change for you if you had the confidence to trust God to lead you on your journey to trust.

Let me know in the comments below!  I’m going to read every one, and I’ll respond to as many as I can.