What does it mean to "trust in Jesus"

[Neighbor]

5 hours ago, missmuffet said:

We have blind faith even though we can not see Him. 

 

Hi, for me I find that ; "we" do not have blind faith, well least I do not. For my own faith is en"light"ened by the Holy Spirit  to where I see God the Father and the creation by God the Son in all that is, even faith itself is visible to the mind if not the eye. Christians to my knowledge seem to walk by faith, rather than by sight alone, but are not blind to God, for all of creation speaks of Him and the Holy Spirit makes it heard felt and known to those that have been given to Jesus by His Father. God has never told me to walk blindly in ignorance trusting.Instead He has told me and scolded me to learn  his word the Bible, make it my guide that I may see and have it revealed for use in all that is to be done. Faithing is a continuing lesson with much to see and learn, even when walking in an educated faith not born of sight but of revelation in the word of God and by all that is around to be seen felt and experienced, all that confirms the word.

To me, faith is not blind, not in the sense of ignorance being blind.

[Neighbor]

30 minutes ago, Sonshine☀️ said:

To trust in Jesus is to lean on Jesus for everything!  I truly need to work on this.  For example, just the other day, my husband and I were told by the authorities to stop feeding hungry feral cats or else… …  I know this example must seem pretty unimportant, but still, we worry about it…. “They’ll starve!” My husband said to me, “There comes a time when we just have to trust Jesus.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 King James Version (KJV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Amen.

 

I guess you mean that Jesus will feed them. ???

I am a couple feet from a feral cat now. "Cookie" our Texas outlaw feral cat has taken up a position on the desk chair of my bride competing for "her" own space, in command, high up in the room. She has trust in my bride alone, and lately after three years sometimes me. She came with my bride, a take it or leave it proposition, both being kind of Texas outland's dwellers. poor Cookie she has found the city a challenge unlike her acres and acres of lands to prowl, but she is also comfortable in her old age, finally a house cat. Happens to the best of us I guess.

Today is my bride's wedding anniversary, She just  put  Van Morrison's Starting a New life (Our Song) on. I will soon respond with Lionel' Richey's "Hello", our courtship song.  What a privilege. God provides.

[Neighbor]

Ha, Just had the thought. It took a little trust in Jesus to marry at my age. Been twice blessed, once for a 50 year relationship. now a new three years marriage, and maybe, - who know's another fifty will make for some very wrinkly featured anniversary photos to place on a mantel eh?

[turtletwo]

25 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

Today is my bride's wedding anniversary, She just  put  Van Morrison's Starting a New life (Our Song) on. I will soon respond with Lionel' Richey's "Hello", our courtship song.  What a privilege. God provides.

 Happy Anniversary! God bless you both. He already has...

with one another. And with Himself. 

[gordon7777]

Its told anyway, its exampled, God has the world see the way, and unless someone is continuing on that same way as Jesus and as Paul, thy have no trust..

The unjust knows no shame, they also know no trust, they insisted they do, they still do, insist too..

 

Zephaniah 3:Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!² She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God.³ Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.⁴ Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.⁵ The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.

 

Trust is not what is of this world, it is a different food complete,to trust in, that they know not of..

John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

John 4:³¹ In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.³² But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.³³ Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?³⁴ Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

 

This is Jesus the Son of Gd trusing in the Father, unto HIs death on the cross, and taking the reviling for trusting in GOd even while on the cross for them..

 

Matthew 27:³⁹ And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,⁴⁰ And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.⁴¹ Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,⁴² He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.⁴³ He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

Anyone notice it is the same sufferings, and that is:  pressed out of measure, despaired even of life, sentence of death in ourselves, to not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead..

2 Corintrhians 1:⁶ And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.⁷ And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.⁸ For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:⁹ But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:¹⁰ Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

[GandalfTheWise]

17 hours ago, cantankerous5 said:

but anyway, my whole life changed and I was back with Jesus.. which.. I know those words don't tell you much.. which is why I started this thread.. Trusting Jesus means different things to different people. What it should mean to all is.. following him wherever he may lead..

following truth is following Jesus.. but truth can be a little scary, if  it is not truth we are familiar with. I say  this because Jesus leads us in very peculiar ways... 

What you write reminds me of my Christian roots and brings back some good memories.

In the part of the world I grew up in (rural Midwest US), there was a dearth of evangelical churches.   A lot of the Christians I know (including myself) were born again while in mainline churches.  It was often during retreats, concerts, special events, where God drew many a soul to Himself at altar calls and during prayer times.   For probably the first decade or so of my Christian walk, most Christians I knew had been saved in mainline churches and stayed in them.  One of the more effective evangelists in the area I grew up in was a charismatic RCC nun.  She was constantly traveling the area as a special speaker in churches talking about what Jesus Christ had done in her life.  The few times I saw her speak (and her testimony seemed as sound as anyone else's I've heard), she had people respond to altar calls.  I overheard RCC school class mates talking about her.  One of my best friends is a former RCC priest who was born again through the charismatic movement of that era.  He's now been a Christian for decades.  There are Christians who will be with us in eternity who were saved while in the RCC.  Some immediately left.  Some stayed and continued to testify of what Jesus did in their lives.

Of course, some of us bolted for the door at the first opportunity to join an evangelical or pentecostal church, but many stayed in the mainline churches.  For a long time, I couldn't understand that and tried to convince many to leave, but over time I realized that we each need to walk where God calls us to walk.   Looking back at those times about 4 decades ago, God was moving and changing hearts.  I recall weekly worship meetings held by a UMC pastor (father of one of my best friends in school) where a number of Christians who belonged to different churches would get together to worship and pray.  In hindsight, those were no different than the many worship and prayer meetings I've been at in a range of evangelical and pentecostal churches.   What some evangelicals would condemn today was indeed where two or three were gathered together in Christ.

In hindsight, I have nostalgia for those simple days of being a Christian where the main thing that mattered to us was whether someone was born again and walking with God.  It was when I was just simply excited to hear someone's testimony.  I was excited to hear what God was doing in people's lives.  It was the days when contemporary Christian music was starting and there was just a simple joy in hearing and singing songs in something other than 4 part harmony accompanied by an organ.  It was like everything was focused on what God was doing in people's lives.

Somewhere along the line, I lost that simple joy and wonder of walking with Christ.  I started to worry more about holding proper doctrinal beliefs than what God was doing in someone's life.   I slowly stopped seeing Christians and churches by what fruit there was in their lives but by whether or not I thought their doctrine was sound.  I joined in the raging doctrinal fights over issues Christians love to think are so vital to being a "good" Christian and spent more effort trying to convince other Christians why they were wrong and proselytize them over to the "better" Christian church I belonged to.  I stopped simply enjoying singing songs and spent more time criticizing their theological views.  Over time, I formed a long list of doctrinal tests that would tell me if another Christian was healthy for me to be around.  I reached a point where I started to see other Christians primarily for what doctrines they believed rather than what God was doing in their lives.  Over time, I reached a point where I was truly uncomfortable around certain other Christians because I was convinced that they were wrong about some matters.

Over the past decade or so, I've finally started to go back to that simple childlike view that what God is doing in someone's life is of more importance than if they can use the proper theological words and ideas to explain and describe what God is doing.  I think it was C.S. Lewis who said something like "someday you'll become old enough to enjoy reading fairy tales again".  As children, we have an awe and wonder and playfulness as we approach the world that we lose as we grow up and take on responsibilities.  At some point later in life, we sadly realize all the pressures and responsibilities we obsessed about for decades are not what life is about and just start to enjoy things like listening to birds, looking at trees, and sitting outside again.  It sometimes seems like the two groups of people who most enjoy looking at silly simple things like a bug walking on a flower or a bunny nibbling grass are young children and old people.   I think I see something similar in Christians.  We start off our walks in Christ with a naive wonder and awe and thrill and just meet anyone else in the body of Christ with unbridled enthusiasm and friendliness.  At some point, we become indoctrinated with worries about stranger danger and become distrustful and wary of anyone outside our little Christian clique and soon our list of Christians who believe the wrong things grows and grows until we want nothing to do with entire denominations and churches.  At some point, there are as many born-again Christians we are uncomfortable around as comfortable with.

As young Christians, we unabashedly get excited and rejoice when any other Christian talks about what God is doing in their lives.  We then grow up to become cynical wary adults who are more concerned with screening out doctrinal error than looking for what God is doing to reach out into people's lives.  We hear testimonies and start to think, "yes but...." and wonder how much better that Christian's life would be if they believed like we did, belonged to our church, and agreed with us on all the important things.  We start to think we need to fix everything through our teaching and explanations.  We evangelicals often have this foolish notion that it is doctrinal correctness that makes us holier, more pleasing to God, and in general better Christians compared to those who don't hold the same doctrinally correct views that we do.  At some point, God eventually brings us to a realization of what we've lost and we start to take joy in the simple childlike wonder that is related to just looking for what God is doing in someone's life and rejoicing in it rather than pouting that it wasn't done correctly or wasn't good enough.  

Anyway, the random wanderings of an increasing curmudgeonly and increasingly older Christian who was reminded of the good old days when life seemed simpler.  Sigh...for the days when I could simply rejoice in what God did in someone's life without having those nagging "yes but...." feelings and thoughts that I know better than God what to do in that person's life.  Though happily I am once again starting to focus more and more on the fruit growing in people's lives and hearing about what God's doing in their lives rather than worrying which of my litmus tests they pass.  I've found it's easy for any Christian to say the right words and follow the right rules to look good, but true fruit of the Spirit is impossible to counterfeit.  I've started to once again rejoice in that wherever I see it.  Where fruit of the Spirit is growing in someone's life, God is indeed doing something.  That is always something to be enthused and excited about.

[missmuffet]

11 hours ago, Joulre2abba said:

Yes, it's true that we cannot see Him, but our faith sees what cannot be seen.

To the world, our faith is blind .. by their perspective we trust God without evidence in the natural. They say "seeing is believing."

But for us, believing is seeing.

The Bible says that "Faith is the substance and evidence of things not seen." Faith in God is not blind faith. It's seeing what cannot yet be seen in the natural.

Faith sees better than the natural eye can see. Natural sight is blind to what can be seen by faith.

Jesus said in John 20:29 "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe." And also said in Mat.13:16 "Blessed are your eyes for they see."

2 Cor.5:7 says that "we walk by faith and not by sight." But we are not blind because 1Jn.1:7 says "we walk in the light as He is in the light."

1 Cor.2:9-10 "What eye has not seen and ears have not heard, nor has entered into the heart of those things that God has prepared for those who love Him. God has revealed to us by His Holy Spirit."

2 Cor.4:4 "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

It is not we who are blind, or have blind faith. It is them. They don't believe because they cannot see what we see. Their faith is blind because they walk in darkness.

Heb.11:6 says that anyone "..who comes to God must believe that He is." (to believe without seeing with natural eyes).

In Acts 26:18 Jesus told the apostle Paul.. "I send you to them, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me."

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see.

By blind faith I am saying that even though we can see Him we believe. 

[frienduff thaylorde]

6 hours ago, Sonshine☀️ said:

To trust in Jesus is to lean on Jesus for everything!  I truly need to work on this.  For example, just the other day, my husband and I were told by the authorities to stop feeding hungry feral cats or else… …  I know this example must seem pretty unimportant, but still, we worry about it…. “They’ll starve!” My husband said to me, “There comes a time when we just have to trust Jesus.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 King James Version (KJV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Amen.

 

Feed those kittys dear sister .    they Gods animals .     What on earth is this world coming too .    I can see it now ,  today a lady was arrested for FEEDING STRAY CATS .

My goodness this is sad .  

[frienduff thaylorde]

15 minutes ago, Sonshine☀️ said:

shhhhh, don’t tell anybody… shhhhh… I’ll tell ya a secret, frienduff… We’re still feeding them … when no one’s around.  shhhh... don’t tell nobody …

This world is quickly tanking .     Think about this for a second .   If we feed strays we seen as evil ,   if we warn or wont participate in drag queen library day , we seen as evil .

IF we don't bake for gays we seen as evil .     If we cannot see we are truly in the last days ,    we better really start WATCHING .    cause the signs are truly all around .

And many peoples false savoir the Pope and his daughters are destroying and have destroyed many churches with this all inclusive message and ever growing relgioin too . 

And that law makes no sense .     IF one feeds strays they can tame the strays ,  even get them neutred .   This not feeding the strays makes no sense period .

Oh , I know they are worried about unregistered breeding .    But a tame cat is easier to fix than a half wild out of its mind kitty .    

Take a feral wild cat to  a vet that has double large saucer like eyes and a tail to match , and watch the look on a vets face .  exactly .  This makes no sense .

Besides cats are good for keeping rodents and other diseased vermin at bay .       Feed them kittys sister .   

[simplejeff]

20 minutes ago, frienduff thaylorde said:

This world is quickly tanking .     Think about this for a second .   If we feed strays we seen as evil ,   if we warn or wont participate in drag queen library day , we seen as evil .

IF we don't bake for gays we seen as evil .     If we cannot see we are truly in the last days ,    we better really start WATCHING .    cause the signs are truly all around .

And many peoples false savoir the Pope and his daughters are destroying and have destroyed many churches with this all inclusive message and ever growing relgioin too . 

And that law makes no sense .     IF one feeds strays they can tame the strays ,  even get them neutred .   This not feeding the strays makes no sense period .

I thought you meant homeless people - feeding the 'strays' - which is now illegal in several states, even for a pastor or church to feed the homeless,  unless they get a permit to feed them,  etc etc etc

The world's ways are 100% bad.      Where is the GOOD ! ?     (I KNOW YOU KNOW,  THAT'S WHY I ASK! :) )