Trusting God starts with how we see Him.

You want to trust God. You say you do. But some areas won’t budge. Finances. Health. Your past. Your future.

Big Idea & Biblical Frame

If you see God through a distorted lens—past wounds, performance, fear—you’ll hesitate to trust and struggle to surrender. But when you see the Father as He truly is—revealed in Jesus—faith springs from relationship, not striving. Right vision → real trust → joyful surrender → Kingdom life.

John 10:10 (ESV)
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Why Trust Stalls: The Lens Problem

You don’t relate to God as He is; you relate to God as you see Him. If the lens is tinted by rejection, shame, control, or a harsh earthly father, you’ll expect distance, disappointment, or punishment. That lens breeds self-protection and partial surrender. The enemy exploits this—creates chaos, then blames God. When circumstances scream, “Where is your God?” you retreat, hedge your bets, and call it wisdom. But Scripture says the thief steals; Jesus gives life. Don’t assign Satan’s handiwork to the Father. The Cross is the proof of love; your circumstances are not the measure of it.

• Bad circumstance ≠ God’s character.

• The Cross = God’s character displayed.

• When you misread God, you mistrust Him—and where there’s no trust, there’s no surrender, and without surrender there’s no peace.

Faith Is Born in Relationship, Not Performance

Biblical faith isn’t mental gymnastics. It’s not “say it harder, believe it faster.” Faith is the fruit of seeing Him—of knowing His heart. As you behold who He really is, trust stops being a chore and becomes your reflex. He is love. He is good. He adopts you. He chose you. Jesus doesn’t just talk about the Father; He reveals the Father. So when you watch Jesus heal, forgive, welcome the broken, feed the hungry, and confront darkness—that is the Father’s heart on display. Faith birthed in encounter outlives every storm because it rests in Someone, not something.

• Shift: From “try to believe” → “behold and trust.”

• Practice: Secret place over self-effort; communion over performance.

Expose the Lies: How the Enemy Attacks God’s Character

From Eden on, Satan has whispered, “Did God really say?” It’s not random; it’s a character assault: “God’s holding out on you.” He sows distortions—“God is disappointed… God’s punishing you… You must earn His love… Surrender will ruin your life.” Lies create bondage; truth creates freedom. Many carry church hurt, parental rejection, or theological confusion that twist how they see God. Don’t project man’s failure onto a perfect Father. Return to Him. Let truth rebuild trust.

Common trust-killers to renounce:

• Fear (especially the dread that full surrender means loss).

• Pride/control (being your own source).

• Shame/unworthiness (“I can’t be close to God”).

• Church hurt & disappointment (confusing people’s bondage with God’s character).

• Twisted doctrines (fatalism about sovereignty; grace as license; legalism as ladder).

Seeing the Father in the Face of Jesus (Dense Teaching)

Here’s the turning point: Jesus is the exact imprint of the Father’s nature (Hebrews 1:3). That means every word, touch, and tear of Jesus is the Father speaking, touching, and weeping. When Philip said, “Show us the Father,” Jesus replied, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). If you’ve believed the Father is disinterested, harsh, or perpetually disappointed, look at Christ again. He moves toward lepers before they’re clean, forgives before they can repay, multiplies bread for the unprepared crowd, and sets captives free. He does only what He sees the Father doing and says only what He hears the Father saying—so your picture of the Father must be calibrated to Christ. Pair this with love’s definition in 1 Corinthians 13: love is patient, kind, not irritable, not resentful, rejoices with truth, bears, believes, hopes, endures. If God is love (1 John 4:8), then this is who He is toward you. Love “does not seek its own”—God’s commands protect you, not His ego. The wages of sin is death not because God is petty, but because sin dismantles the life He longs to give. Grace isn’t permission to stay bound; grace empowers transformation through intimacy. The more you see the Father rightly in Jesus, the more legalism melts (you can’t earn a gift) and license dies (you love too much to grieve Him). Right vision produces glad obedience; obedience deepens intimacy; intimacy births unshakable trust.

Break Agreements with Lies: From Bondage to Freedom

Agreement determines atmosphere. When you agree with lies, you step into darkness—fear multiplies, striving returns, peace evaporates. When you repent—literally return to God—you step back into the Light. Confession isn’t groveling; it’s alignment. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive… and to cleanse” (1 John 1:9). Lies lose legal ground. The Spirit bears witness: You are wanted, welcomed, adopted.

• Truth brings freedom; lies bring bondage.

• Repentance breaks the lie’s power and restores peace.

Surrender Without Fear: The Father’s Goodness Secures You

Many fear God’s will will cost their joy. But the Father’s ways are for your joy—holy joy that doesn’t rot into regret. As He reshapes desires, you don’t lose yourself; you find yourself in Him. That is why surrender, far from misery, becomes your safest, most fruitful posture. You lay down counterfeit control and gain real rest. You trade anxiety for a yoke that is easy because it’s shared with Jesus.

• God’s will isn’t a trap; it’s a table.

• Desires are transformed in intimacy, not suppressed by willpower.

Practical Application — How to See God Rightly and Grow Trust

1. Ask for Revelation
   Get honest: “Father, how am I seeing You? Where is my lens distorted?” Invite the Spirit to surface the root—fear, shame, performance, or disappointment.

2. Identify the Lie & Find the Truth
   Write the lie in black ink; write God’s Word of truth beside it in red or blue. Build a “Lie vs. Truth” journal. Use Scripture to answer each lie.

3. Repent & Renounce
   Out loud: “Father, I repent for agreeing with the lie _______. I renounce it in Jesus’ name and break its power. I receive Your truth: _______.”

4. Behold Jesus Daily
   Read the Gospels to watch the Father in the Son. Ask: “What does this story show me about the Father’s heart?” Pray it back. Thank Him for it.

5. Practice the Secret Place
   Close the door. Pour out your heart. Wait. Listen. Return tomorrow. Relationship over “quick fixes.” Ask to be rooted and grounded in love.

6. Speak Life
   Stop confessing, “I can’t hear God.” Start declaring: “I am His sheep; I know His voice” (John 10 imagery). Shape your tongue to Scripture.

7. Release Control
   Cast burdens on Him. Name the people/situations you’ve carried. Hand them over. Ask, “Father, show me where I’ve tried to be my own source.”

“Seeing God rightly breaks the lie, brings faith filled trust, and makes surrender a joy.”

Key Takeaways

• Wrong views of God produce mistrust; right views produce peace and surrender.

• Jesus perfectly reveals the Father; calibrate your lens to Christ.

• Lies bind; truth frees. Repentance is alignment, not punishment.

• Faith grows in relationship, not performance or pretense.

• Surrender isn’t loss; it’s life with the Good Father.

• The secret place is where God heals your lens and anchors your trust.

Reflection Questions

1. What lie about God’s character have I believed—especially in the area I struggle to trust?

2. Which story of Jesus most corrects my distorted lens of the Father, and why?

3. Where am I still trying to be the source (control), and what would surrender look like today?

4. What would change this week if I truly believed the Father is patient, kind, and near?

5. Who needs me to share this truth so they can exchange lies for freedom?

Scriptures to Meditate On (Full Text, ESV)

Hebrews 1:3
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

John 14:9–10
“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.’”

1 John 4:8
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

James 1:17
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Romans 8:15–17
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

John 8:32
“and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 14:6
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

1 Corinthians 13:4–8a, 13; 14:1a
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends… So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Pursue love…”

2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Psalm 42:3
“My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’”

John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Prayer

Father, I come to You in Jesus’ name.
I repent for seeing You through a broken lens—through fear, shame, and disappointment.
I renounce every lie about Your character and receive Your truth: You are love; You are good; You are near.
Jesus, show me the Father. Heal my heart in Your presence.
Holy Spirit, root and ground me in love.
Teach me to trust and to gladly surrender all.
Cleanse me, align me with truth, and fill me with Your peace.
Amen.

Final Thoughts

Seeing God rightly changes everything. You were made for the secret place, not survival mode. Let Jesus correct your lens of the Father until trust becomes your reflex and surrender your joy. When lies lose their hold, the Kingdom’s peace, power, and intimacy rush in.