“We should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (2 Cor. 1:10 NKJV).

Here is a line from the past to the future: God has delivered us in the past, does deliver us in the present, and will deliver us in the future. This statement makes our confession of faith and our Christian witnessing simply a matter of declaring what the Lord has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do.

Sometimes, fear suppresses our outward profession because we are hesitant to make any verbal pronouncement about the future. Uncertainty and insecurity tend to shut down our own interior faith and to quell our exterior Christian witness to others.

When some skeptic asks you, “How do you know God is going to heal you (or prosper you, or answer your prayer)?” how do you answer? Do you mouth vague expressions of wishful thinking? Do you make excuses for your own lack of firm assurance? Do you have any basis for expectation that God will intervene on your behalf?

Paul did. He would have answered that question like this: “I know that God is going to heal (prosper, answer) me because He has delivered me in the past and is delivering me in the present. Therefore, I am trusting Him to do the same in the future.”

Since Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8), and since our God has said, “…I am the Lord, I do not change…” (Mal. 3:6 NKJV), why not put your whole trust in Him for deliverance? Remember, Paul says that it is not ourselves that we trust, but God – the same Person Who delivered Christ (and us) from death.