God wants us to operate at a high level of trust - in Him and within the church.  God is trustworthy and said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."  And so we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid" (Hebrews 13:6).

We need to learn to trust God and the Bible completely.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5).  Our experience of placing our trust in God should increase our faith and our capability to trust, and encourage us to build trust in our friendships and people we lead.

Not only is God Himself trustworthy, but He chooses to place His trust in us.  To earn this, trustworthy people have to be consistent.   Their actions and lifestyles need to show that they have integrity and commitment.

We need to look into the mirror to see whether the person there is the kind of person we want to be, respect and believe in.  We need to let the Holy Spirit lead and direct our lives and give to Him the control of our time, possessions and desires.  If we do this, we have the assurance that the Spirit will point out those things which are not in harmony with our Christian walk, and help us to deal with them.

We encourage others to trust us when we are willing to take people into our confidence and share our views, thoughts and plans with them.  We may need to overcome a desire to hold back from sharing our personal needs and feelings.

People will only trust us if they can always depend on us to do what we say we will do.  We also need to be trusted to maintain our commitment to a relationship, and not "blow hot and cold."  We need integrity in our behaviour so as not to favour one person over others, or lack fairness in our handling of situations. Finally we need to remember that, if others are to place their trust in us, we need to be trustworthy and be willing to place our trust in others.  Remember, trust needs to be earned!

Joshua had led the Children of Israel into the Promised Land and they had conquered all the enemies and were now settled in their own lands.   When the people of the Tribe of Manasseh needed more land (Joshua 17), they complained to Joshua and he told them, "Clear the land for yourselves!"  They argued back as they were fearful because the Canaanite people had iron chariots and so they wanted Joshua to fight their battle for them.

 But Joshua wisely answered, "Though the Canaanites have iron chariots and are very strong, you can drive them out."  It was time for the people of Manasseh to stop depending on Joshua and step out on their own.   They needed to trust God for themselves.  Joshua trusted them to rely on God and when they did, they conquered and got the extra land that they needed!

Think about your trustworthiness and what areas of your life may reduce the trust people place in you.  Caleb said, "I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly" (Joshua 14:1-15).  He was completely trustworthy and was one of the twelve spies who had scouted Canaan (Numbers 13:14).  Only he and Joshua had urged Israel to trust God and invade Canaan then.

And now at 85, Caleb still actively trusted God and asked for a parcel of land that was occupied by the warlike Anakite people.  He confidently said, "The Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as He said."  And he did!

We need this type of trust in God so that we too can be trustworthy people.

You need blindfolds, two long ropes and a number of cardboard or plastic crocodile cutouts about 30cm long.  Set up a narrow swamp outlined by the ropes and scatter crocodiles over the area.

Teams of 6 to 12 teens are blindfolded and two members are placed on the far end of the swamp.  They call instructions to the rest of the team who must help each other to cross over the swamp.  Any person touching a crocodile is "eaten".  The team with the most "alive" survivors wins.

God Bless!