With All Your Heart

With All Your Heart

Proverbs 3:5-6 

Intro: I believe I can fly.

What we put our trust in will shape the course of our lives. This is something we learn -sometimes painfully- as we grow and mature. If we rely on the
faulty ideologies of this world to direct us, then we often find ourselves at frustrating dead ends. If we lean on the broken things in this life to
support us, we often fall. It can be enough to harden a person’s heart toward trusting at all.

There are few things in this life that deserve our full confidence, but if there is anything that has earned our wholehearted trust it’s the Lord’s promise.
So, today we are looking at a verse that encourages us to have faith in God in all that we do and above anything else!

Read: Proverbs 3:5-6

The Bible is sometimes referred to as the instruction manual to life; a place we can turn to for help and direction. And it is true that your life will
look a lot more like it’s meant to if you follow God’s guidance. However, for best results, we need to put this verse into practice! If you fully and
eagerly commit your way to the Lord, you will be led down the path of your calling. So, don’t miss out on God’s best because of your hesitation, but
with all your heart, rely on Him!

I. Trust in the Lord

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

• The calling that we have to trust in God is foundational to our faith.

• From your deepest friendship to your most passing connection, you need some level of trust in order for the relationship to function.

Illus. Mechanics and Parents

• The relationship we have with God requires us to place even more confidence in Him. We are trusting Him with our very lives.

• This is true not only with the turns we take or the stops we make, but with our eternity. It’s a level of surrender that can only be given to someone
  perfectly trustworthy.

Psalm 146:3-7 Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free.

• You can only rely on people and the establishments of this world to a certain extent, eventually all of it falters or comes to an end.

• Our God, however, transcends these things as creator of all. He is faithful forever, and you can rely on Him eternally.

     A.  You can lean on Him

• The Lord is more than able to guide us, He is worthy of our full confidence. Still, it can be difficult for us to trust God with our whole heart.

• Instead, so many rest their weight on the very people and systems that we know to be faulty.

Illus. Forest Fall

• As the things that the world has proclaimed trustworthy prove to be precarious, damaged faith can begin to scar.

• Once we have been hurt enough times, some of us learn never to put too much trust into anything. If you don’t put your weight into it, you can’t fall.

• The issue is, we can end up leaning entirely on ourselves, never fully relying on the one who does deserve our trust. Jesus!

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

• In ancient architecture the cornerstone was the first part to be laid. It was the foundation and orientation point for the rest of the building. Our
  cornerstone is Christ. He is our foundation and the one we can test truth by.

• While the world may fail us, and people fall short, Jesus is steadfast, righteous, and never failing. He is the one who deserves our unhindered trust.

• However, whole-hearted faith is so rare and even looked down upon in the world. To those without Christ, it is foolishness to fully rely on anything
  other than oneself.

Illus. Mirages

• Jesus is the true oasis. Even if people would call us fools, we must put our faith in the God who is faithful.

• This trust that God calls us to is in opposition to the world. Even our own instincts may rebel against completely depending on the Lord. Because of
  this, we need to hold His word in higher esteem than any other.

     B.   Believe God First

• Today’s scripture instructs us not to lean on our own human understanding. As hard as it may be to put your own thoughts in the passenger’s seat, to
  live your life to the fullest you must trust the Lord more than even your own perception.

Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.

• When we choose to trust anything- even ourselves- more than we trust God, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Our true strength is not in our
  flesh, but in the Lord.

• We find blessings when we trust in Jesus. His guidance and provision is perfect, even if we are convinced we know better.

Illus. Dropping Audrey

• We need to have the humility to listen to greater wisdom than our own. There is no understanding that can even compete with the Lord’s!

• Although we may agree that this is true, can you honestly say that you believe God more than your own senses, more than your own wisdom?

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

• God sees things from an entirely superior vantage point. Our thoughts aren’t even in the same league as His.

Illus. A bad match up

• Gratefully, you don’t need to compete with God. He is on your side. The Lord will give wisdom freely to those who ask in faith (James 1:5-8).

• If we are willing to trust God before our own minds, we find that His plan for us is good. While it can be heart-pounding to hand over the wheel, we
  can have confidence that God is a better driver.

• We just need to be bold enough to depend on Him. Let us step away from self-assurance and trust the path the Lord has laid, because at some point human
  understanding breaks down and erodes. When that happens, it will be clear what foundation we each put weight into.

      ll. Acknowledge Him

Proverbs 3:6 – In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Illus. Google Maps

• Now, if we wholeheartedly trust God and His wisdom, then we should have every reason to seek His guidance and blessing in all that we do!

• By holding nothing back from Christ, we invite Him to work out His will for us in our lives. We need to be genuine before the Lord and ask Him to establish
  our path.

• This means that through trials, suffering, pain and perplexities we need to seek the Lord. When we are lost and have no idea what to do, we can turn
  to God for guidance.

Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

• Even when the trial is so dark that we can’t see our destination, God can illuminate a path of deliverance!

Illus. A dark and stormy road

• However, it isn’t just in lostness that we need to turn to God. We also need to acknowledge Him when we know exactly what we want to do.

• At times we can hesitate to seek wisdom because we know it will ask us to give up our foolishness.

Illus. Talking to the Wife

• When your heart is set on something, it can be very painful to let it go. We can go to great lengths trying to protect our pet desires. Even to the
  point where we avoid the voice of truth.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

• Don’t neglect the voice of Love because you dislike what He has to say. His wisdom truly does exceed ours. So, trust that He cares about you and knows
  how to give true blessings.

     C.   He will make your path straight

• Our God does not have a heart set on depriving us. God’s desire is to draw us into His loving purpose for us.

• If we avoid the Lord’s guidance, all we do is convolute our path to God’s best.

Illus. Jonah and the Great Fish

• When we go off in our own direction -instead of acknowledging and accepting God’s plan- we are choosing to at best delay and at worst forsake the blessings
  of the Lord.

Illus. The Cruise

• Let’s not resist what God is trying to accomplish. His path for us is paved with provision and eternal blessing.

• The way in which God will lead you is the most direct route to where He wants you to be. Any other way is either a dead end or a detour.
  

     D.  Follow His Path

• Trust the Lord with your whole heart, always seeking Him and His will for you. Then, commit to walking the path God has established for you.

• If we can live this way, we are inviting the one who created us and knows best how to bless us to lovingly craft our lives.

Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

• Acknowledge God in everything you do, seeking what He has for you, but don’t stop at recognizing His will, follow it.

• We need to entrust everything we are into God’s hands. Withholding no part of our lives form Him. Walking out our lives with an “all in” mindset.

• If we only choose to trust God when we understand, or acknowledge Him when we like what He has to say, we are primarily hindering ourselves.

• Don’t be half-hearted! Choose the beautiful destiny and direction that the Lord has crafted for you. There is nothing better in this life -or the next-
  than what God can give.

Will you trust with all of your heart?

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”