Is your piggy bank full?

In each of our relationships, we have something like a "trust bank" for the other person. The more we trust them, the more they have "in the bank."

When someone keeps a promise to us, we make a deposit in their "trust bank."
When someone helps us out of a difficult situation, we make a deposit.
When we have a need, and someone fills it, we make a deposit.

On the other hand,
When we're betrayed, a withdrawal is made from the betrayer's "trust bank."
When we realize that we've been lied to, a withdrawal is made.
When we need help and someone isn't there for us, a withdrawal is made.

You may have never thought about it in these terms, but I think you know what I'm getting at here. Our experiences with people either build trust or destroy trust, laying the foundation for how our relationship will be in the future. The more trust we have in a person's account, the more likely we are to rely on them, to put our safety or our feelings in their hands.

Hopefully, the people we love the most are also the people we trust the most - the ones we know we can trust, know we can count on, know we can believe in - and we have that level of trust in them because we have evidence that they have proven themselves trustworthy in the past.

Just like we keep list of accounts on the people we have relationships with, each of us keeps a "faith account" on God as well.

When we see a promise that God made come through, our account on God grows.
When we see God's hand at work in our life or in our family, our account on God grows.
When we understand some new aspect of God's character, our account on God grows.

On the other hand,
When we're in the middle of a difficulty and have a hard time seeing God, our "faith account" on God shrinks.
When we don't understand where God is taking us / the plan He is working out in our lives, our account diminishes.
When we can't see God's goodness because of some circumstance in front of us, our account on God goes down.

Because our relationship with God is the most important thing in our lives, it's important for us to find strategic and creative ways to keep our account on God going and growing strong each day. There's a couple of things we can do to accomplish that:

1. Remember the promises God has kept

People in the Old Testament had an interesting way of remembering when and where they saw God keep a promise to them.

We're all familiar with the story about Moses parting the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to escape Egypt on dry land. What you may not remember is that God repeated that miracle 40 years later with the Jordan River. After Moses died, Joshua was leading the people into the Promised Land, and the Ark of the Covenant was leading them. As the priests carrying the Ark put their feet into the Jordan, the waters parted and the people walked across. It was an amazing experience of God showing His strength and power to His people. Here's what happened next:

Joshua 4:1-9 – When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight." So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

Now, this same thing happened lots of times – whenever people had an experience with God that reminded them of God’s strength, power, faithfulness, or forgiveness, they would build an altar at that place – they would grab a bunch of stones and stack them up as a monument to God’s character and every time they saw that altar, it would remind them that God loved them and that God kept His promise to them. When their children saw those altars, they would tell them about when it was built and how God showed his love and care and faithfulness to them.

If we're going to keep our "faith bank" on God filled up, we have to take the same approach! I’m not really suggesting that we go around building piles of rocks, although if you can do that, great! But I think we can accomplish the same thing without the rocks.

We can commemorate the times that we see God’s promises in action by marking the occasion:

We can keep a journal of answered prayers – reminding ourselves that God listens and answers the sincere prayers of His people.
We could draw a picture or write a poem about the experience, then every time we see it or read it, we remember how God proved Himself.
When we read a promise that God has kept in our life, we can simply circle it in our Bible and write the date.
We could put a sticker on the bathroom mirror, sort of like the buckeye leaf stickers the team manager puts on an Ohio State football helmet after a big play.
It might be something simple like circling the date or putting a star on our calendar – or putting it into the calendar application on our cell phone.

You may not like any of those ideas, and that's OK - the truth is that it doesn’t matter what we do – the point is that we create a way that helps us remember that God always keeps His promises – something we can look at and see that our faith in God is safe – that we can rely on Him and put our lives in His hands.

It’s important for us to do that because there will come a time when you need that reminder. Something will happen that makes you wonder if God has forgotten you – or even worse, that He has left you or forsaken you.

In that moment, we need an altar to remind us that God keeps His promises, that He loves us, that He has our best in mind, and that He’s always there to help us and care for us.

We keep our “faith account” on God full by remembering that He is good and that He always keeps His promises. And we have to be deliberate about remembering - I used to be able to remember lots of stuff without hardly trying - the older I get, the more strategic and intentional I have to be about remembering. Otherwise, I end up walking back and forth to my car 12 times every time I leave the house.

Knowing and remembering that God keeps His promises is crucial – but along with that, there's another step:

2. We have to know just what God has promised!

The more of God's promises we know, the more opportunities we'll have to see Him prove Himself true and faithful.

If you know that God promises to love you forever, you'll be able to see Him prove Himself true to that promise over and over, day after day.

If you look a little further into God's promises, and remember 9 more, you'll have 10 times the chances to see His character and goodness in your life.

If you learn 99 more promises, you'll multiply your chances to commemorate God's goodness by 100 times!

Here's a few promises to get you started:
Psalm 30:5 - For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 34:19 - A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.

Isaiah 43:2 - When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

John 6:35 - Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

John 12:46 - I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

John 14:1-2 - "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you."

John 14:12 - I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Romans 4:21 - being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

2 Corinthians 12:9 - But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

1 John 2:25 - And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

Revelation 21:4 - He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Do you have a favorite promise? A favorite story of God's faithfulness and strength in your life? Another great approach to keeping your piggy bank full is hearing the encouraging stories of God's goodness in the lives of others!

So share your stories and let's fill up those banks!

Until next time - RevPhil