In going back over past notes of things I have learned in the past I found what is below – from 1994. It is notes on trusting in Him and distrusting my own self, on relying on Him to work things in me rather than trying to change myself, on learning to live in His strength being made perfect in my weakness.
I find that I am still slipping into the same patterns of trying to improve myself and change myself and failing at it again and again. I know there is a better way. These studies and scriptures shed some light on it.
Get the burden off yourself completely. Get every bit of it on the Lord.
Casting ALL of your cares upon Him BECAUSE He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7-8 – Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
Psalms 37:5 – Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.
Proverbs 16:3 – Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.
Psalms 55:22 – Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).
I am out of balance when I focus more on my shortcomings, sins and faults than His care. I can’t fix myself or the situations around me, but I can trust in Him. So my part is to cast my cares, my ways, my works, my burdens, my whole self upon Him – because HE CARES.
You’ve discovered yourself a failure. So what? Distrust yourself and trust in Him – in Him alone! Know that without Him you fail. You are not without Him. Trust Him to work in you, for you, through you; trust Him not yourself.
Knowing I can’t do it on my own is the first step to walking in Him. The life that I now live is not only me; it is Christ living in me and through me. My part is faith in Him who LOVES me and lives within me. I can only walk in His strength to the degree I am aware of my weakness. His strength is made perfect in my weakness.
Humble yourself before Him, casting the whole of your care (all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns on Him (even all of yourself) – for He cares.
Work out your salvation with self distrust, not in your own strength, for it is God who is all the while effectually at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)
Rest and peace come when my cares and concerns are on Him and I trustingly let them stay on Him, when I put and keep all the burdens of my life on Him. Only then can I live at peace with myself. Part of trust is release and relaxation. He is the object of my trust. It is on Him I rest and relax.
Jude 24 – Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight]—
It is not me who’s responsible for this; it is Him. It don’t keep myself without stumbling or slipping or falling. I trust in Him. I work out my salvation with self distrust, not in my own strength – FOR IT IS GOD who is all the while at work in me…
Hebrews 13:20-21 – Now may the God of peace… strengthen (complete, perfect) and make you what you ought to be and equip you with everything good that you may carry out His will; [while He Himself] works in you and accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ (the Messiah); to Whom be the glory forever and ever (to the ages of the ages). Amen (so be it).
HE IS THE ONE who will strengthen me, complete me, perfect me, and make me what I ought to be and equip me with everything good that I might carry out His will – while HE WORKS IN ME and accomplishes that which is pleasing to Him.
I don’t work on me and to try to fix or improve all of my faults. I work on trusting in Him while HE works in me what is pleasing to Him. I trust and yield and obey. HE completes and perfects me and makes me what I ought to be. HE equips me with everything good that I might carry out His will.
Hebrews 7:25 – Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them.
My part isn’t to save myself to the uttermost completely, finally and perfectly. It is my part to come to God through Him.
2 Corinthians 1:21 – IT IS GOD who confirms and makes us steadfast and established us…
Put all your care on Him and KNOW with quiet and calm acceptance that you can do nothing but fail in yourself and instead trust Him. It is a mistaken belief that is very common in the Body of Christ that we are to work on ourselves, improve ourselves and make ourselves what we ought to be. This only leads to continual failure and frustration and then hiding because it seems everyone around us has it all together and only we can’t figure out how to change.
But our focus should instead be on trusting in Him, resting in Him, coming to God through Him, yielding to Him, obeying the inner witness of the Spirit, distrusting ourselves and trusting in Him instead to work all of these things in us.
Hebrews 4:11 – Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell].
Our exertion and diligent striving is to enter His rest – NOT TO MAKE OURSELVES BETTER!
Galatians 3:3 – Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?
Say, “In you alone, Lord, will these things be accomplished. I can’t do them, and if you don’t, they won’t.” And then don’t care. Leave it up to Him. Then He will be free to work. And you will see the results you desire and have been striving to accomplish.
Say, “So what if I seem to be a failure in myself. He’s not! This is what the Gospel is all about. I couldn’t. He could. So He did. And now it is mine.” This applies to my whole life and entire salvation.
Be still and rest in the Lord, wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself… Commit your way to the Lord (roll and repose each care of your load on Him; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him, and He will bring it to pass
The Lord doesn’t take pleasure in my abilities. He takes pleasure in me when I trust Him and hope in His mercy.
Psalms 147:10-11 – He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.
I don’t get deliverance and help by my great will power or natural abilities. I get help and deliverance when I trust in Him.
Psalms 33:16-22 – No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You.
Join me and take the time to go over these scriptures in many translations, over and over until their truths enter your heart and become a part of you. Then your life will be different. You will be different. You will find yourself FINALLY living as you have always desired, finally having success at being conformed to His nature and will.
