The gauges on your spiritual dashboard III.

It's difficult to say to God "Thy will be done" if we don't trust Him. And it's difficult to trust God if we don't believe in Him. Yet John 7.17 is very clear that if you will to do God's will, then you will know whether what Jesus says is true or not.

We're stuck in a kind of "does the chicken come before the egg? or the egg before the chicken" quandary, because our ability to believe and our ability to obey are so closely linked.

So, let's say you did a test of your "Thy will be done" gauge, and you discovered that you couldn't commit 100% because you didn't believe you could trust God. Maybe your experience of your earthly father led you to have some negative pre-conceptions about the fatherhood of God.

You may read that "God loves you", but you remember your human father telling he loved you too, but more often than not he was irritable and impatient. If he said, "I love you," there was a haranguing tone in his voice. The words were always coupled with a lecture, with some sort of proof that you didn't measure up.

Let's take a look at the gauges on your spiritual dashboard that have to do with your beliefs.

The big guages are Scripture and Tradition. I don't mean the kind of tradition that is man-made, I'm referring to the kind of revealed tradition that comes down from the Apostles who were actual eyewitnesses to Jesus's human and divine nature and to the miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit. Through their faithfulness, and the faithfulness of the prophets before them and the martyrs and saints after them, we have a tradition of an approach to Scripture--that we take it as a whole--that we do not change things in it--that we believe that Scripture is God-breathed--that we believe in God as a Trinity in Unity---and that's part of tradition because you won't find the word "Trinity" in the Bible, but you'll find lots of references to Father, Son and Holy Spirit that can only be properly explained by creeds like the Nicene Creed.

How do your beliefs today measure up against this creed? Against the whole counsel of God in Scripture, and not just one or two proof texts taken in isolation?

If you find that you're entertaining doubts, or beliefs that are contrary to Scripture or to this Creed, or the belief statements you might find in most Bible=believing churches, then examine what those beliefs are.

It says in Scripture, Romans 3.4 "Let God be true and every man a liar.

For your belief tune-up, try taking every belief you have that seems to have a grip on you---belief that God doesn't care, belief that God doesn't love you, belief that God is weak, belief that God is a legalistic creep, belief that you have to save the day because God will never provide---try taking every belief like this and confessing that you are believing something that is contrary to Scripture and the Creed.

As for God's forgiveness. You may want to renounce your belief in this lie out loud. Then thank God for forgiving you. And affirm your choice to believe in His word, and the truths of His church.

You'll be amazed at how this tune up will free you of bondage to lies and falsehoods.

Try it and let me know how your spiritual engine is running.