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36. Bible Verses for Faith When You Don’t See a Way Forward · Believe & Become | Ministry, Biblical Encouragement, God's Will, How to Change, Holy Spirit

• 0:00
  Speaker A: God often moves in our lives in ways we don't understand. The hard part is the waiting before we see the breakthrough. Today we're sharing biblical encouragement for standing strong in faith. When you don't see a way forward, like the song says, even when I don't see it, he's working. God is faithful and he will make a way. This is going to be a good one.
• 0:23
  Speaker B: If you're tired of leading others while secretly battling doubt, discouragement and mental warfare
• 0:28
  Speaker A: and you want practical tools to renew your mind and walk boldly in your
• 0:32
  Speaker B: calling as a leader, you're in the right place. Welcome to Believe and Become.
• 0:36
  Speaker A: We're Josh and Karina, your spirit filled coaches, here to help you overcome those limiting beliefs and lead others confidently.
• 0:43
  Speaker B: If you're ready to hear God's voice more clearly, to step into your purpose and find joy and strength in the
• 0:48
  Speaker A: everyday silence those Bible app reminders judging you from your lock screen and let's jump in.
• 1:00
  Speaker B: Hey friend, we have a quick invitation for you.
• 1:02
  Speaker A: We're so excited to be launching our very first workshop.
• 1:05
  Speaker B: We invite you to join us in our Move Forward With Clarity masterclass happening live online March 17th at 12pm Pacific.
• 1:13
  Speaker A: This is a free 45 minute workshop where you will learn how to hear God clearly, break free from what's holding you back and move forward with confidence.
• 1:22
  Speaker B: Head right now to joshandkarina.comworkshop to sign up.
• 1:26
  Speaker A: We'll see you there. Welcome to the podcast. We are so excited to have you here with us today and we're talking about what the Bible has to say about faith when you just don't see a way forward. We believe that God always makes a way and I have experienced this personally. Josh has shared many times on the podcast about his journey with deciding that it was time to go to ministry school, that we were going to move. And he always likes to say Karina already knew, Karina already knew what we were supposed to do partially because that's one of the ways I hear from God is I'm a knower. And so when there's something that I see him doing or I just know that's what we're supposed to do, it's really hard often to convince somebody else that that is from God because it's like, I don't know, I, I just know that that's what we're supposed to do. I just feel like that's the right thing. And so we, we spent a lot of those years with me going, okay, Lord, I know this is what you have for us, but I don't see how it's going to be possible. And especially in those months leading up to us actually moving, when I finally was like, you need to get some help for this anxiety. You know, we need to figure out what's going on here. It really didn't seem like we were going anywhere. It really still felt like, well, let's just, I just have to give it to God. There was many months where I just felt like, I don't know how this is going to happen, but God, I know that you are calling us into this place. And so we had gone to a conference. We had been talking about going to ministry school since October. January rolls around and Josh is just in a worse place than when we started, I felt like. But really what it was was God was bringing him to that place where he was willing to say, okay, yes, I'm going to get some help and I'm going to allow the Lord to speak into this. And it unfolded really quickly in just a matter of a of months. Where the clarity came, he could hear God's voice clearly. And we were able to move into kind of one of the biggest adventures that we've really embarked on besides being parents. I mean, it's one of the biggest adventures we've embarked on together. It was one of those times when I had to hang on to faith and I had to believe God was going to do something, even though I didn't know what it was or how he was going to do it. And it's just amazing to me that God always has a plan and he's always working it out, even when we don't see it. It feels hard in the moment, but we can stand strong in faith because His Word has so much to share with us, so much encouragement for us to help us stand on the truth.
• 4:11
  Speaker B: So if you have a big decision that you need to make or you just are unclear, unsure about where God is leading you, we invite you to join us in our Move Forward With Clarity masterclass. It's completely free 45 minute workshop that we're having on March 17th at 12pm Pacific time. If you're interested in that, go to our website joshandkarina.com workshop and you can register there. It's J-O-S-A-N-C-O-R-I-N a.com workshop. We would love to see you there and connect with you. It's a time where you can ask questions and we can interact. It'll be really fun. Yeah.
• 4:49
  Speaker A: So what does the Bible actually say about standing in faith when you don't see a way forward. One of my favorite verses, Isaiah 30, 21 says, Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. How clear is that? God's like, I will literally whisper in your ear, go this way, and you will know what to do. So often I think we feel like, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to go. I don't. I don't know what's happening, right? We get just caught up in this, this overwhelming feeling of I don't know. And, and the whole time God is right there whispering, this is the way, walk in it. I will show you where to go. I will show you what to do. I will hold your hand and walk with you. And so if you're struggling with this, just take this verse, take it for yourself, appropriate it, hang onto it and say, this is for me. Whether I turn to the right or to the left, God will direct my steps. He is guiding my every move because he wants to do that. He wants to take you by and lead you into the way you should go.
• 5:55
  Speaker B: God is always speaking to us. Even if we don't aren't aware of it, we don't hear it. Usually it's just because our receiver is broken. If you haven't checked out episode 35, the one that was released last week, check that out. We talk all about how to hear God's voice more clearly. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. And so sometimes we can't see what God is doing or it even feels like maybe he's not doing anything. But we know that God is always working on our behalf. He works everything together for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. We walk by faith, not by sight. Sometimes we just need to pay more attention to what God is actually doing. I've. In my life, when I've stopped, paused and said, okay, let's actually take an assessment. What is God doing? Yeah, and I can focus in. It's like, actually he's doing this. This. Next thing you know, you have a whole page full of things that God is doing in your life. When it felt like, where is God? And so if we just tune ourselves into the right channel, it is so much easier to see what God is doing. And that is so encouraging. If you feel discouraged, start writing a list of everything that God is doing. Write down Two or three things every single day. And then by the end of the week, you're going to have a whole page full. Even if it feels hard at first, it gets much easier as you start to pay more attention to that. And even throughout your day, you're going to go, oh, look what God is doing. Look. Oh, he did that. He did this when it felt like, I'm all on my own. But that's. Nothing could be further from the truth.
• 7:38
  Speaker A: Absolutely. And you can even do that with things that God has done. If you have trouble seeing what he's doing right now in the middle of where you are, look at what he has done for you in the past, or look at the promises that have been fulfilled, the things where he has come through that those testimonies prophesy into your future. And so you can look back and say, God, I remember when you did this. I remember when I was lost and you found me. I remember when I felt hopeless and you brought the solution just out of nowhere. I remember. And we can always remember the things that the Lord has done constantly throughout the Old Testament, God is reminding the Israelites, remember what I've done. Rehearse the miracles, Remember, you know, the psalms even are full of you. You, you parted the sea, you delivered us from Egypt. And they're constantly rehearsing the things that God has done because that prophesies into the future of what God will do for you. And so Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. We all know it so well. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. I think this goes perfectly with two verses, because we know that if we trust him, when we're walking by faith, we have to put our trust in Him. And so when we trust him with all our heart, and we're not leaning on our own understanding, this walk by faith and not by sight, that's leaning on your own understanding. What I understand is what I can see around me, the situation that I'm in, the. The way that I'm feeling, this is what I'm seeing, and this is my own understanding. But when I trust in the Lord, when I choose to walk by faith, then he's going to direct my path. He's going to. I'm going to hear him clear, clearly saying, hey, go this way, go that way, I'll direct your steps. And so we can trust that no matter what we're doing, where we're going, what we're in the middle of he is right there with us, and he wants to lead us and direct us.
• 9:33
  Speaker B: It all comes down to trusting the Lord that He is going to direct your path. Yeah, that's sometimes so hard when you're not sure where you're going or what the next step is. One of our mentors said it's kind of like the headlights on a car or a flashlight. If you're walking in the dark, sometimes it's just enough to see the next step. But God's gonna get you to your destination if you just take the next step one after the other. He's illuminating. He's lighting your path to where you need to go.
• 10:02
  Speaker A: Well, and I love how she says, too, it's not when you're driving home in the dark. It's not like your headlights show you all the way home. They don't illuminate from wherever you are to wherever you're going. It's just far enough that you can keep going. And God does that for us. He's not. Here's the end. He very rarely tells us the end. Have you noticed that? He very rarely goes like, here's where you're heading. It's often, trust me in this next step, and I'll get you where you need to be. And I think that is really what trust comes down to. And that really is we're walking by faith. Because even as I'm driving home in the dark, I have faith that whatever's beyond the lights is safe. Right. So I'm driving with what I can see. And it's the same with God. We want him to show. Like, I want the 10 steps. Turn here, turn. I want the. You know when you click on your gps? Yeah. And then it's. It says directions, and you can read the whole thing. You know, where you're going. That's what we want. And he's like, yeah, I left that part out. So just trust me because I know where I'm taking you.
• 11:05
  Speaker B: Yeah. Psalm 37, 23, and 24 says, the Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him. Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. Whoa. That's such a good promise. I love that he makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him. Wow. Oh, there's so much in there. I mean, delighting ourselves in the Lord is where we really find ourselves and we find our security. That's where our faith gets bolstered. When we get excited about what God is doing, when even in the Midst of a difficult circumstance where you don't know what's going to happen next if you stop and go, hey, God, I don't know. I don't know how this is gonna turn out. But I know you're good and I know you're gonna work it out for me. I'm excited to see what you're gonna do. And that gets hard. That can be really hard to do. But if you can stop and remind yourself of the promises of God, he's good. He's gonna do it. He's got. My future is secure. I know I can trust in him. I delight myself in him. That is gonna unlock that peace that we need. It's gonna unlock the security that we so desperately want. But we need to find that in the Lord, not in ourselves or our bank account or other people. God is the only one that we can really trust in.
• 12:26
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 12:27
  Speaker B: And I love that it says that though he may stumble, he will not fall. The Lord upholds him with his hand. So, I mean, there's no promises that we're not going to make a mistake or we're not going to mess up from time to time. Or maybe we do make a wrong decision. God's not gonna let you fall. He's bigger than that. Have more faith that God can redeem any mistake that you can make. Have more faith in that than that I'm gonna mess up my life. Oh, I made the wrong decision. It can't be redeemed. It's too late for me. That hopelessness really destroys us. But if we can put our hope in the Lord and say, yep, that was probably not the right decision. But I know God's gonna work it out. He's just like the GPS we were talking about. The GPS doesn't give up when you make the wrong turn. Oh, well, can't make it there. No. It says, recalculating. I'll find you another way. God's the same way. Yeah. Okay. That was a left turn. Probably shouldn't have taken it. Do you know what? I got another path for you that will get you where you need to go.
• 13:28
  Speaker A: Yeah. Amen. Thanks, God. And we love this whole Psalm 37. We got just blown away by the promises here, but really the action steps that it gives us. And so if you're struggling with the faith to move forward, the faith to believe that God is in this, we just wanted to give you some action steps from Psalm 37. We encourage you, grab your Bible and dig through. Sit in this psalm until you feel that faith rise. Up because it's so good. Verse four is the first step, and that is to trust in the Lord. We've told you time and again with every verse here, I think to trust in the Lord, but trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. This is just such a sweet. It's like a promise and a command all wrapped into one. As you trust in him, as you dwell in the land, he is going to be your safety. He is going to bring good to you. Trust in the Lord. This is the first step that you want to take on this journey is beginning to build that faith. Paul tells the New Testament believers to stir up their faith. And so this is what we're encouraging you to do. Stir up the faith, that faith that you may trust in the Lord because He has good things for you to do.
• 14:42
  Speaker B: And then let's go to verse five. It says, take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Whoa. I love that verse. That's one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. And it ties perfectly into the end of verse 4 there. Dwell in the land, enjoy safe pasture. God has good things for us, and he wants us to delight in him, to enjoy our life even when maybe things aren't going the way that we want them to. If we can still find pleasure in the Lord, we can still delight ourselves in all of his promises, in everything that he's done for us. Just giving his son, Jesus, saving us. He sacrificed everything just to get us back. That in and of itself is so much to celebrate and rejoice in. And there's so much more in our lives that God has done. It's incredible. So as we delight ourselves in the Lord, he will give us the desires of our hearts. And that can kind of go two different ways. One is that God plants things in our hearts. He gives us desires that he wants to fulfill. Dreams for our lives, our calling, our ministries. We all have ministries to our families, to the people around us at our churches. But then also he wants to partner with the desires that maybe were already in there. If you have a passion to reach lost people or to minister to women that have been through tough times or whatever it is that you have a passion for, that's from the Lord. God has put that in there, and he wants to see that happen. So start taking steps. That's one of the things I love to coach our clients and just take a step and try it out. If you feel calling in a direction, take a step. See how it Goes, see how it feels. See if God is in that. And then take another step. And then you learn. So much as you move forward, God starts to make a way. It's so much easier to steer a moving ship than one that's parked. If you've ever tried to turn a car that stopped, it's really hard. But if it's rolling, you can turn it a lot easier. It's the same thing. As we move forward, trusting in God, he helps us find that path.
• 16:57
  Speaker A: Yeah, and I love that picture of it's better to be moving. It's better to be moving so that he can steer you. Because when we allow ourselves to get stuck when, that's when we stop. Right. I thought this is what God said, but now I'm not sure. So I'm just gonna stay here and wait. It's better to go, no. Okay. If this is what God is saying to me, I'm gonna keep moving forward. Or if that isn't quite working out, why is it not working out? Did I actually miss God? Or is this resistance? I need to push through so there's. We can keep forward. All the while delighting ourselves in him and trusting that he is going to move us in the right direction. And verse six says, commit your way to the Lord. So as you're moving, commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him, and he will do this. He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. As you commit your way to him, he is going to get you to that place, that righteous reward that's going to be waiting for you. He has good things for you, like Josh said, and so trust him. Deliver delight in him and then commit your way to Him. Say, God, this is what I think, where. I think you're leading me. If. If I'm going in the wrong direction, redirect me, change, change my direction, let me know. But here, let's go together. I think that's the most important part, that we're doing it together with Him. We're cooperating, we're partnering with Him.
• 18:18
  Speaker B: Oh, it's. It's so much better when you get to live life working with God instead of for Him. Yeah, been there, done that. It's not very much fun, but once we partner with the Lord. Wow, that's totally different. So good. Verse 7 says, Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. We love to talk about this. Finding peace in God, getting away from the distractions of life, putting away the phone, the social media, just turning all that stuff off and finding actually the person of peace. Jesus is the person of peace. The Holy Spirit. Peace is a huge part of just his presence in us. So when we find peace, we're finding God. His presence overflowing in our lives gives us that peace that we so desperately need. I think just the world always feels crazy and it always feels busy. If we don't take a second to find our peace in God, we're going to be frazzled. And guess what? So many of us are. We all feel so frazzled so much of the time. God has a better way for us. It's his perfect peace.
• 19:22
  Speaker A: And I think that even we experience that often where it's like, we've gotten busy, we're dealing with sick kids. We're, you know, trying to fulfill some ministry obligations. And instead of making the time to be still, we get caught up in everything. And then we. It's like he has to go like, hey, guys, remember, come back, let's hang out. Don't forget to be still to abide in me. That's really what it comes down to, is abiding. And so we trust, we delight, we commit our way, we connect to the peace of God as we quiet ourselves before Him. And then verse 8 says, do not fret, it only leads to evil. I love this verse because it basically says, when you worry, you're just walking into a trap. Do not fret, it only leads to evil. How often do we get stuck in worry and anxiety and I don't know. And what ifs? And God says, don't worry about it. I've got it. I'm taking care of you. This passage is so, so rich. There's so much more here, but we really wanted to give you these steps. Trust in the Lord, delight in him, commit your way to Him, Be still before him, and don't worry about it. He has got you. He knows the way forward and you're not going to get lost.
• 20:38
  Speaker B: I love that. Do not fret. That's a promise.
• 20:41
  Speaker A: Actually.
• 20:42
  Speaker B: God never commands us to do something that he doesn't give us the grace to do. Yeah, because that would just be cruel and unusual. God's not like that. If he says, do not fret, there's a way to do it. Yeah, I'm not sure I've 100% figured that out. I'm still in process of really figuring out what it means to just completely give all those worries to the Lord. But I think it's a process of just doing that every single day or as soon as you start to feel, oh, it's coming back. I'm worried about this, I'm thinking about that. Stop, take a moment, take a deep breath, hand that to the Lord and ask him, what do you have instead of this? What do you want to give me instead of worrying? I receive your peace, I receive your presence, I receive your promises. Those are all so much more powerful like than getting stuck in worry and anxiety and all that that's going to destroy us. But God has life for us. He has abundant life.
• 21:38
  Speaker A: Absolutely. So if this is something that you're struggling with, you are struggling to have faith for what God will do, or you don't even know what steps to take, we would love to invite you to our Move Forward with clarity masterclass happening March 17 live online. We're going to spe 45 minutes together, digging in, learning how to hear God's voice, to align ourselves and our beliefs with what he's saying and then move forward with confidence. We would love to see you there. We would love to hear your questions, to see your faces, and to just encourage you in the Lord. So join us. You can register at joshandkarina.com workshop. That's J-O-S-H-A-N-C-O-R-I-N-A.com workshop. We can't wait. It's going to be so fun.
• 22:23
  Speaker B: And we just bless you with the grace of God to move forward in faith, knowing that he will never, ever let you down. And even if you've experienced what has felt like a disappointment from God, we just release over you the ability to go back to that and ask God, what were you doing in that moment and allow him to come and heal those wounds. Because I know we all have points in our life where it feels like, oh, God, I felt like, where were you in that? How did you let that happen? But to know that he has a plan in everything and a purpose and he's working it out on your behalf. So we just thank you God for what you're doing. Thank you God that you are a good father. Thank you that you have incredible plans, you have incredible peace and hope that you are releasing right now. And we thank you God that no matter what happens, we can trust in you. In Jesus name. Amen.
• 23:30
  Speaker A: Amen. Hey friend. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds seconds to share this podcast with someone who may need encouragement or practical tools for fighting their battle?
• 23:47
  Speaker B: Then rate and review this podcast. Help us spread the message of transformation far and wide.
• 23:53
  Speaker A: All right, time to walk back into the noise with peace purpose and maybe a tiny bit of guffing.
• 23:58
  Speaker B: We'll meet you back next Thursday for another episode.
• 24:01
  Speaker A: Bye.