Training Your Heart to Believe God’s Goodness
by Bill and Sue Frisbie
Do you ever question whether or not God is truly good?
That’s actually a great question to ask because if you recognize you’re having a
problem believing He’s good, that’s a sign of the Holy Spirit at work. He’s already
tinkering in your heart to make you aware of something, and He’s bringing this
issue to the forefront.
Realizing you have trouble believing He’s good should actually comfort you,
because if He’s at work in that area, then He wants to heal it. He wants to bring
you through this process and shift you away from NOT believing He’s good to
believing He’s SO GOOD. You will have sign after sign after sign of His
goodness in your life.
What can you do to help train your heart to believe the goodness of God?
1. Begin keeping a journal.
The way we see God is a key Elijah House lesson. How we view Him is directly
related to how we saw our parents when we were kids. Our circumstances
growing up, our life experiences both as children and young adults—these things
shape our view of who God is today.
That’s why so many of us struggle to believe He’s good. We were trained to
believe He isn’t good, but that training does not line up with His reality.
To figure out what you believe and don’t believe about God your Father, start
journaling how you see Him. Ask yourself questions and spend time writing out
the answers:
“How do I see God? What do I believe to be the truth about who He is?”
2. Look up Bible verses about God’s character.
The Word of God truly is our mental health, especially in this day and age. It’s
filled with statements and pictures of who God the Father is, and one of the
strongest, most practical references concerning His nature is found in Jesus’s
parable of the prodigal son.
Read the story in Luke 15 and ask yourself, “What are the characteristics of God
in this story? Who is He? What do I sense about His heart for me after I read this
story?”
Do some soul searching. “What does the Word of God say, and why do I not
agree with it?”
The Holy Spirit will begin to reveal to your heart why you think the way you do.
He will remind you of things that happened to you as a child, painful
conversations that sent you down a wrong path, etc.
Look at what He shows you and ask Him, “What is Your truth about who You
are?” Listen to what He tells you.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you who the Father is.
After you’ve read what Luke 15 says about the Father’s character, ask the Holy
Spirit to tell you about the Father’s nature at an emotional and practical level.
Purposefully give Him access to your dream life and your thoughts.
“God, I want to know who You are. Please come and show me who You are.”
Give the Holy Spirit permission to pull out all the stops and speak to you in
whatever way He wants. He could speak to you through anything—in a dream,
through something you see in the natural like a license plate, through the words
of a friend, through His internal audible voice, etc.
When you ask the Holy Spirit for help, He will communicate to you in a “rhythm”
that is familiar to you, so you know it’s God. His sheep hear His voice and they
know Him (John 10:4).
Though these steps are not difficult to follow, being still and listening to God take
time. So pull in a deep breath, and allow yourself to grow in this area slowly. He’s
good, you know—He’s okay with time.