Do You Really Trust Jesus?

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JamalChristophr

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How does one grow in their trust in Jesus if they feel it is pretty poor?? What are the secrets to doing this? Or the impediments that keep us from trusting Jesus? He said to St Faustina that He is especially hurt when Souls that are dear to him, consecrated most of all, fail to trust in him, or do so very imperfectly. So what is to be done? (I often feel that my trust is far from what it should be.)
 
God is 100% dependable and trustworthy (Psalm 9:10; Isaiah 26:4). The Bible often emphasizes how God can be trusted in a way that human beings can’t (e.g. Psalm 118:8-9).

That doesn’t mean it will be easy for us to trust in God, but we should try not to let our human failings rob us of the comfort of God’s dependability. Sometimes we need to pray, like the man in Mark’s gospel who was let down by Jesus’ disciples, and then struggled to trust Jesus himself: "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).

Learning to trust God comes by getting to know the record of faithfulness to His promises. So it helps to read from the Bible regularly (daily, if possible) and to look for reasons to trust God. The gospel writers often quote from the Old Testament to show that God’s promises are being fulfilled in Jesus.
 
Please consider reciting O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I Place My Trust In Thee. It is such a simple but beautiful prayer and I hope it helps you grow in trust.
 
I do. Absolutely. My late husband used to say that I was too stupid to question God.
That made me cry.
Uncontrollably.
But I continued to trust, and then after he died, I met the most perfect husband. For me, anyway. We have many financial issues, immigration issues, employment issues, but I can tell you that Jesus has never allowed us to go hungry, we miraculously make the house payments, we’re healthy, and happy. And Joe is now a permanent resident!!!
I trust, I always have. I don’t know how. 🤷 I think it’s because my mother and father did. Not believing or trusting was never an issue.
They would have responded like this: :eek: if I had ever said I didn’t trust God.
As the ad says…just do it!
😉

That, and talking to God frankly in my prayers. Frankly. No fancy words, just sincerity.
 
Sometimes, it simply takes that giant leap of faith… there was one time in my life I prayed and prayed for guidance. In the end, I just had to figuratively jump off the cliff, hoping He would catch me. HE did, of course, and that event made trusting in God ever so much easier.

Blessings,
Stephie
 
Often times, the best way to fix it is to fail…

I remembered constantly saying the Fatima prayer… “My God, I believe, I adore, I trust, and I love you. And I beg pardon for all those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust, and do not love you.”

But when push came to shove, I found I was very fearful and did not trust God. I wanted my prayers to be answered in my perfect la-la land kind of way. I wanted other people to magically do a 180* so that I didn’t have to trust anyone… we’d all be hunky-dory on the same page working towards the same goal. And that’s not how God generally works…

I’m still working on getting to where I ought to be. The advice I got from a priest was, “Joyful trust.” And so instead of worrying about timelines, or being focused on “this is God’s will for me, so I’m treating people like checkboxes and trying to bulldoze over other people”, I’m trying a humbler approach… but realizing how shallow my trust was a major step in correcting my lack of humility. (Still working on that one, too! 😛 )
 
JamalChristophr said:
How does one grow in their trust in Jesus if they feel it is pretty poor?? What are the secrets to doing this? Or the impediments that keep us from trusting Jesus? He said to St Faustina that He is especially hurt when Souls that are dear to him, consecrated most of all, fail to trust in him, or do so very imperfectly. So what is to be done? (I often feel that my trust is far from what it should be.)
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I don’t know if you would call my feelings “not trusting in Jesus” it is more of, “is this you, Jesus, or am I being deceived.” IDK. I guess discernment is hard for me. If God would just in a loud booming voice say, “Kendra, you need to do such-and-such.” I would be totally down.
 
KendraDZ1902 said:
I don’t know if you would call my feelings “not trusting in Jesus” it is more of, “is this you, Jesus, or am I being deceived.” IDK. I guess discernment is hard for me. If God would just in a loud booming voice say, “Kendra, you need to do such-and-such.” I would be totally down.
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pianistclare said:
I do. Absolutely. My late husband used to say that I was too stupid to question God.
That made me cry.
Uncontrollably.
But I continued to trust, and then after he died, I met the most perfect husband. For me, anyway. We have many financial issues, immigration issues, employment issues, but I can tell you that Jesus has never allowed us to go hungry, we miraculously make the house payments, we’re healthy, and happy. And Joe is now a permanent resident!!!
I trust, I always have. I don’t know how. 🤷 I think it’s because my mother and father did. Not believing or trusting was never an issue.
They would have responded like this: :eek: if I had ever said I didn’t trust God.
As the ad says…just do it!
😉

That, and talking to God frankly in my prayers. Frankly. No fancy words, just sincerity.
Click to expand...
That is some awesome stuff piano lady.
 
For me, trusting in Jesus has built in a number of ways.

Prayers answered in one way or another. In the words or actions from people that could not be coincidence that helped to form an idea in my head that related to something I had been praying about. In events that helped me to resolve something I had been praying about. Reading the bible and having the random page I came to relate to… something I had been praying about. Even a bumper sticker - really! (I think God knows that He has to be very blunt with me…)

Mostly, listening and paying attention to the little events around you that relate to your prayer life. That is Jesus working in your life!

And sometimes, Kendra, there are grand gestures that you can’t make sense of and seem like the most horrid thing in the world, but then some time later you realize that you ended up in a much better place; closer to God BECAUSE you trusted. The horrid grand gesture might not be God’s perfect will, but you can trust that He will make something good come out of it. Daniel chapter 3 is a really good example of this!
 
My trust wavers at times - usually when I am a bit slack with prayer. But if I am faithful to prayer and meditation, I find that my trust grows and grows. I find the writings of the following “little souls” particularly helpful in building my confidence in God. Here are a few of them:
  • Sr. Benigna Consolata
  • Sr. Consolata Betrone
  • St. Therese
  • St. Faustina
  • St. Padre Pio
  • St. Francis de Sales
  • St. Gertrude
  • St. Mechtilde
  • Blosius
  • Sr. Gertrude Mary
  • Sr. Josefa Menendez
  • Marthe Robin
I’m getting carried away! Honestly though, their writings will fill you with confidence in God, Who alone is holy (“tu solus sanctus”), and Who is the cause of all our holy desires.

Peace.

Jesus to Sr. Benigna Consolata (Sept. 11, 1915):
"This God of love seeks only miseries to consume, imperfections to destroy, weak wills to fortify, and good resolutions to strengthen."
 
I do absolutely.

It must hurt Jesus more if a priest didn’t trust Him more than it would if a lay person didn’t trust Him.
 
Jesus, I Trust in You.

My Jesus Mercy.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Peace
 
If I feel anxiety creeping in due to a certain situation, I say short prayers such as “Jesus I trust in You”, and “Blessed Mother pray for me!”. I believe the Lord hears my prayers, and know that I don’t have to “feel” anything special.

Spiritual warfare is how we grow stronger by keeping our focus on the Lord.
 
Others have already provided really good insights. Here is my two cents.

Hi JamalChristophr,
I am usually my own worst impediment to trusting in Jesus, especially when I try to do everything in my own strength and act like I can handle everything without the Lord’s help. It’s kind of a ‘pride’ thing for me and pride usually occurs right before a fall.

The truth is, when I ask for the Lord’s wisdom, guidance, and blessing from the beginning on something, things usually go better for me in that endeavor.

However, since I am a bit hard-headed at times, it is sometimes takes a humbling experience to remind me that I realize I need to put my trust in Him and not in my own abilities.

Spending more time in God’s Word and praying for wisdom and guidance also usually boosts my level of trust in the Lord. Those things seem to boost my trust in Jesus.

Like the old praise song says, “Jesus Never Fails”, although I fail all the time.

By the way, Clare, whoever told you were stupid was very, very mistaken. 🙂
 
What exactly does it mean to “trust in Jesus”?

To believe in what the Church says about Him? Or is it more about our involvement – as in to focus our efforts at following His commands to love our enemies and do not judge?

If it means “take Him at His word,” then we don’t do such a good job, overall, IMO. We judge and harbor anger toward each other with wild abandon. How is it trusting Jesus, when we do things our own way without really even second-guessing ourselves when we fall right into the societal traps Jesus came to warn and teach us against? Not saying anybody in particular, but Catholics in general and even non-Catholic Christians, have a tendency to talk a lot about trusting and following Jesus, without actually conforming their minds and hearts according to His instruction.

We don’t expect Him to “make things according to our will” so that doesn’t mean we’re going to pray and “get what we want”.

What is the difference between “trusting in Jesus” and “resigning myself to that which I can’t control”? There may actually be an overlap there – as I think to trust the Holy Spirit means you have to accept that no matter what happens, as in Rom 8:28 it will all work for the best. Is that what “trusting in Jesus” might mean?
 
There have been a number of excellent answers!

Thank you everyone for responding. I sometimes feel fake if I say “Jesus I Trust in You” at the bottom of the Divine Mercy image, but perhaps it is meant to build our trust at the same time.

Sometimes, it seems to me that people who had strong relationships with their parents can trust more easily than others. Maybe I’m just making excuses.

And is it also, not a Grace that Jesus builds in us and can give us in time when we ask him for this grace?
 
JamalChristophr said:
There have been a number of excellent answers!

Thank you everyone for responding. I sometimes feel fake if I say “Jesus I Trust in You” at the bottom of the Divine Mercy image, but perhaps it is meant to build our trust at the same time.

Sometimes, it seems to me that people who had strong relationships with their parents can trust more easily than others. Maybe I’m just making excuses.

And is it also, not a Grace that Jesus builds in us and can give us in time when we ask him for this grace?
Click to expand...
Yes!

Jesus says: (Matthew 7:7) “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
 
I think my trust has wavered about half of my 63 years. It was strongest from birth to 16, then weak again until my son was born and grew stronger until a series of tragedies almost destroyed my faith for 20 years. I am trying to renew that trust because I have nothing left.
 
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