“Trust God.” This phrase is easy to say, but when we think about what it really means, trusting in him is much harder than many people realize. To trust is to have a firm belief in the truth, ability, or strength of someone, to rely on them, or to have total confidence in them. This requires tremendous courage, and it’s just what God calls us to do.

Courage isn’t the absence of fear, but rather the willingness to turn it over to God. All of the people God used in the Old and New Testaments felt fear to some degree, and sometimes it even knocks on our doors today when we hear him speaking to us. Most of us have experienced situations in which the intellectual part of our brains tells us one thing, and our hearts say something completely different. It’s at these moments that we need to step out in faith. “What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You” (Psalm 56:3, AMPC).

There are moments when we sense God answering us after we prayed for something in our hearts. Maybe we were unaware we were praying the entire time, and we are startled to get a crystal-clear, illuminating thought we know didn’t come from us. When he speaks to us, we must decide whether we’ll run away, or follow his prompting. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). When the answer we receive goes against worldly rationalization, but lines up with his written word, following him requires our trust.

Relying on God means moving out of our comfort zones. When we feel the tug on our hearts signaling instructions from him, sometimes he asks us to do the very thing of which we’re most afraid. Our fears are worse than whatever he wants us to accomplish, but when he brings us through the task, we’re no longer afraid of it. “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4).

We’re so accustomed to living in the physical world and relying on our five senses, that sometimes we forget a spiritual world also exists. Fear is a spirit, and if we let it paralyze us from doing the right thing, it puts us in bondage. The truth is that when we believe the word and refuse to submit to fear, this courage liberates us. “As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:30-32).

Moses showed courage when he trusted God enough to lead a nation of people into the wilderness, and Jesus’ disciples showed courage when they left behind everything they knew to follow him.  We show it by responding to his call despite physical manifestations of fear. It’s up to us to decide if the freedom of Jesus is worth it. What’s your decision?