Romans 1:17, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

In these verses, Paul was explaining that the Gospel was the answer to not only salvation from our sins but it is also the answer for how God made a way for us to be able to live a life that honors Him.  By giving us His Spirit He has given us the power to live our lives in a way that someone who doesn’t believe cannot live.  In my Jewish Study Bible the Rabbis translate verse 17 this way, “For in it is revealed how God makes people righteous in His sight; and from the beginning to end it is through trust ~ as the Tanakh(Scripture) puts it, “But the person who is righteous will live His life by trust.” (Habakkuk 2:4, “Look at the proud; he is inwardly not upright; but the righteous will attain life through trusting faithfulness.”) 

So in other words, “in IT”  ~ The Gospel~  it is revealed how God has given us the ability to live right because when we accept Him as our Savior He gives us His Spirit.  I remember being in children’s church when I was little and the teacher talking to us about allowing God to have full access to every area of our lives and to trust Him that He would do what was best and even as a child I can remember thinking “what about this….”  Our human spirit so often wants to step in and choose what areas we will give to Him and which ones we aren’t quite sure we want to trust Him with or give up.  Why?  God doesn’t force us to give it all to Him, He asks because it is through trusting Him that we can do all He created us to do.  When we pick and choose we limit ourselves.  He knows what is best and He knows the way to get there so it’s through trusting Him that we become who He created us to be. That is why we are told too in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace’s longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such, there is no law.”  That is the proof of His Spirit living in us.  

I love too how it tells us that “the person who is righteous will live His life by trust.”  So, in other words, our “righteousness” can, to one degree, be measured by our trust or faith.  So when life is all upside down and backward and all hell has come against you so to speak, do you trust Him?  It’s easy to trust and keep a right attitude when everything is going well, our trust/faith is tested when things are not good and we can’t see what to do and at times aren’t even sure what to pray.  Do you trust Him then?  God who is the author and finisher of our faith has provided the way and He will continue to guide us if we allow Him to so we can live well and finish well.  It is crazy that we so often think that we can have a better handle on our lives than God can or we fear that if we give it to Him somehow something terrible is going to happen.  Life happens and we are much better off if we are trusting Him when it does.  

So, I would like to encourage you that no matter what is going on in and around you ~ you can trust Him to lift you up and put you on solid ground again.  He loves you and wants you to trust Him with everything in your life.  He has a plan but the only way to follow His plan is to choose to walk with Him in all you do and trust Him with it!  If you are struggling His desire is to bring you through, teach you what you need to learn, and use that to help and guide others and glorify Him!  Think about it ~ is there anyone else including yourself that can handle everything and everyone in your life better than Him?  No, I didn’t think so either…. So let’s give it all to Him and trust that He will bring us through whatever comes our way ~ His best is yet to come!