Can You Still Trust God?. . . Choose to Believe (Thomas Nelson, 2021)
The full title of Dr. Charles F. Stanley’s latest book is Can You Still Trust God? What Happens When You Choose to Believe. Dr. Stanley founded In Touch Ministries and also serves as Pastor Emeritus of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. He served there for more than fifty years. Most significantly, Dr. Stanley underscores, a lack of understanding should not cause you to doubt God or abandon your trust. Therefore, it’s critical that you back up, embrace fully, and firmly commit to the truth about God and His relationship with you. Because that births a deeper trust. In addition, obedience to God evidences trusting Him as the source of your life. Furthermore, God always meets your needs in the context of making you more like Jesus.
No time exists in our lives when we’re cut off from God or His supply. And we never outgrow our neediness or mature to the point that we have no needs. Above all, Jesus comes to you in the precise way and from you need Him most. Also, since Jesus is always present, you never have to call for Him to show up. So, when you pray, ask, seek, and knock. For steadfastness represents a vital prayer element most people overlook. As Dr. Stanley counsels, you body simply turns the direction your mind faces. That’s important because Satan offers no defense against persevering prayer. Hence, meditation’s a wonderful way to listen to the voice of God for guidance.
God communicates things essential to our walk with Him. Thus, to listen openly means we accept God’s correction as well as His comfort. His conviction as well as His assurance. Consequently, to fully hear God, it’s essential that submission fully accompany listening. Meditation and its spiritual application serve as valuable aids to help us listen accurately to God. Also, meditation is a catalyst to obedient living and helps us see things from a different perspective. While concern is productive, forward-looking, and positive, anxiety is counterproductive, stuck in the present, and negative. Can you still trust God if you’re filled with anxiety? As a result, when anxiety strikes, ask God for His peace and His answers.
Finally, Dr. Stanley stresses, your response to suffering determines the degree to which things actually work out for your best interest. Either you trust God to glorify Himself through your suffering or you focus on your loss. However, the author observes, nothing gets the attention of an unbeliever like a saint who suffers successfully. Because you see suffering as something God’s trying to do for you, not to you. And you find success in the way you live day in and day out, pursuing what God calls you to be and do. Success centers on how you undertake the process called life, using God’s Word as your guide. Still trust God that someone on this earth needs your ministry. Anticipate a need and act to fulfill it without being asked. It’s never too late to discover God’s will for your life!
