"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  ~Romans 15:13

As powerful and comforting as these words are, there is one section of the words that struck me this week in a way they never have before.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him…”

As you trust in Him. 

May God fill you… as you trust in Him.  It’s not knowledge, experience, reason, or status that positions us to receive from God; it’s trust. 

God can’t fill people who don’t trust Him. 

God isn’t being difficult, cruel, or uncaring.  Trust positions us to be filled like a cup placed beneath a faucet or a bucket beneath a hose.  God pours into us as we stand under Him- as we choose to trust His word, teaching, love, and direction.  When we trust Him, we position ourselves to receive from Him and be filled by His Spirit. 

Without trust, we cannot be filled. 

God cannot fill someone who does not trust Him; it’s just not possible.

So, I’ve got to ask, “Do you trust Him?”

As a kid, my church summer camp experiences almost always included a trust-fall experiment. 

Kids would stand on the edge of an elevated platform and fall backward to see if their friends would catch them.  It was easy to believe they would catch you when you were standing on the ground, but standing on the platform with your arms crossed, eyes closed, heart racing, and facing away from your friends was a totally different experience. 

Standing on the edge pushed our belief to its breaking point.  On the edge, belief either became radical trust or nothing more than a good thought that buckled under the fear of the freefall. 

You see, when God calls us to faith, when the scriptures say we are saved by grace through faith (the same word for trust in Greek), they’re not talking about a theory or a set of ideas – however good they may be.

God calls us to faith, to trust, to allegiance, to going all-in on Jesus, and to radically reordering our lives under the Lordship of Jesus so that, positioned in trust, we might be filled with the fullness of God.

God fills those who trust Him and when God fills - don't miss this - God fills to the overflow.  God is many things, but stingy He is NOT. 

So, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” – amen! 

Want to take this further? 

• Explore Matthew 14:22-23 and read it through the lens of faith as trust; as a radical reordering of one’s life under Jesus. 
  
• Listen to the song “I Am” by JUDAH.  Part of the song says, “Sometimes trusting Me looks like a freefall, but either way I hope that you jump.”  It’s a great follow up to today’s blog.
• Reflect on where God might be calling you past knowing true ideas about God to trusting God beyond those ideas - to stepping out in faith to follow Jesus into something new.

Where is it time for you to 'freefall'?