The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 139 - Praying for Resolve: The Secret Ingredient to Keeping Commitments
Ever notice how we're drawn to take the easier path, only to discover it wasn't the right one? That delicious dessert that wreaks havoc on our health, that shortcut that costs us more in the long run—our natural programming leads us astray more often than not.
Today we dive into the fifth category of trust, exploring the fascinating distinction between how we seek divine guidance in our material versus spiritual lives. While we need God's help navigating material decisions (where temptation often disguises harm as pleasure), our spiritual path requires a different approach. The Torah provides clear instructions for spiritual living, but we still need divine assistance in two critical areas: strengthening our resolve and surrendering outcomes.
The concept of balance emerges as a powerful theme throughout this discussion. Unlike those who advocate complete avoidance of worldly pleasures, we explore how Maimonides taught a middle path—embracing life's joys responsibly rather than living in constant denial. This balanced approach isn't necessarily 50-50, but a thoughtful integration that acknowledges we're meant to enjoy this world while elevating it. Just as we encourage children to become well-rounded through diverse activities, adults benefit from the same principle.
What makes spiritual commitments stick? King David's approach reveals the secret: first commit to God's way, then ask for help maintaining that commitment, and finally surrender outcomes to divine wisdom. I share my own simple practice before each podcast—a brief acknowledgment that while I control my effort, God determines whether these words reach and transform lives. This surrender isn't abandoning responsibility but recognizing the partnership that makes any worthwhile endeavor successful.
Ready to make your commitments bulletproof? Listen now to discover how prayer transforms resolve and how recognizing God's control over outcomes frees you to give your absolute best without carrying the burden of results.
Good morning everybody. Welcome to the Trust Factor, the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine teachings. My friends, we're segwaying into what is going to be the fifth category of trust, and how we're doing that is by discussing where it is that we have to rely on God to help us when it comes to the spiritual side of things. We've said that, when it comes to the material side, that we have to rely on him for almost everything, because we really know nothing, that we're living in a world that is considered a world of lies. Things are hidden from us in this world. In fact, things are made to look a certain way. We are tempted by the physical in this world, and that's why they are designed the way that they are. They are designed in a way that makes them seem good for us when in reality, they are very bad. So, having known that, we have now an obligation to ask God for even more assistance from the get-go. God, you need to tell me what I should be doing and what I shouldn't be doing. Is this right for me? Or is this wrong for me and hope and pray really right for me? Or is this wrong for me and hope and pray, really, that he puts you on the right track, because without him at our backs, my friends, it becomes very difficult to know what the right path is. When it comes to the material world, we're driven by our desires, and our desires we are all programmed similarly in that we all want to avoid pain and we all want to seek pleasure. That's how we're programmed, and so that means that when we're faced with a choice to make either left or right, good or bad the determining factor, nine out of ten times, for almost every single one of us, is to choose the path of least resistance. Don't make life difficult for yourself. If it's an easier path, take it. It doesn't necessarily mean that it might be good for you, but it is easier, it is less hassle, and so our nature wants us to avoid the pain. So we choose that which is easier.
Speaker 1:My friends, nine times out of 10, that's the wrong choice. Nine times out of 10. It's just like food. When you look at the food that we eat, the food that tastes good, that is sweet and is juicy and that really gives you an amazing sensation, nine times out of 10, it's not good for you, it's not healthy, it doesn't. And at the same time, the food that is somewhat bland doesn't have all the additions and the spices. Or the food that doesn't taste good at all, maybe it has bitterness to it. In fact, nutritionists will tell you that that food is what's very healthy for you. So oftentimes it's the exact opposite. But because we're programmed the way that we are, we gravitate to making the easy decision, the tasty choice, instead of the difficult decision or the bitter choice.
Speaker 1:My friends, life is about balance. Now, if you speak to some people, they will tell you you have to choose the bitter, you have to choose the tasteless and the bland, you have to choose the things that are good for you all the time, every time. My friends, that's not my approach to life. That may be yours, and if it is, god bless you, but my approach to life is balance. Just like Maimonides taught, it's important to have balance in your life. Now, balance can mean different things for everybody. It doesn't have to be 50-50. It doesn't mean that because I ate something good for one meal, I'll eat something bad for another meal and then I'll swap it up and I'll change it so that I'm always at 50-50. Balance could mean that you eat. The vast majority of your food is healthy and maybe not so tasty or sweet, but you also incorporate a reasonable amount of the other things that give you joy, that make you feel good.
Speaker 1:This is a life where we're supposed to interact with the world and we're supposed to elevate it and we're supposed to enjoy being here. It's not supposed to be torture, my friends. This life is not supposed to be torture for us. Yes, we need to come to work. Yes, we need to do things that are difficult, but that's not the entire purpose. Come to work. Yes, we need to do things that are difficult, but that's not the entire purpose. God created this world full of its pleasures, not to be avoided but to be embraced. But do it in a healthy manner. Do it in a way that is responsible, and you will always come out on top.
Speaker 1:That goes back to balance. You will lead a well-rounded life. That's why it's very important, when we're kids in school, that we get involved in after-school activities, that we become well-rounded life. That's why it's very important when we're kids in school, that we get involved in after-school activities, that we become well-rounded individuals, that we get into sports, that we do art, that we dabble in all kinds of different things, why? Why not just sit us in front of a teacher, in front of a blackboard, and give us all the meat and potatoes, all the math and all the sciences and all the difficult subject matter, and that's all you do? You want to have fun. It's when you leave school. It wouldn't be a healthy approach to life and that's why we are very, very keen on making sure that our kids lead a well-rounded life. Why is it only good for our kids? It should also be good for us. If you're working 24 hours a day, if you're working 18-hour days, days, six days a week or seven days a week, why is that good for you? But you would never expect that of your child. My friends remember, balance is the secret to life.
Speaker 1:How we went on the tangent I'm not exactly sure, but let's get back. What we were saying is that when it comes to material life, we need to rely on hashem, because we will naturally generally choose wrong. So we have to ask him for help to choose right. But when it comes to the, the mitzvahs, the spiritual life, there's no point in asking him to choose for us, because we know what we need to choose. It's there. It's clear. He's given us the torah full of instructions. So once we've established that we want to do his will, we want to live a life of godliness in torah, then we need to look for the opportunities to do the mitzvahs and then we have to implement them. Now what he says over here, and what he's going to segue into, is that we still have to pray for help with certain things when it comes to spirituality. We still have to turn to God to say I need your help. But where is it? Where do we ask him strengthening our resolve? I've made a commitment I'm going to start eating kosher Now.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I often find myself making commitments to do things, and sometimes I wish I never made those commitments, because they go nowhere. I try to avoid that. I try to do what I say I'm going to do, but if the more you take on, the more difficult it becomes to do all these things. And so you have to make a firm commitment and you have to put mechanisms in place to be able to make sure that you stick to those commitments. And then you need to pray, you need to ask for assistance, god.
Speaker 1:I can't do this on my own. I'm not capable. I'm flesh and blood. I'm only human. I need your help. I've committed to a life of godliness. I've committed to living life in a good way and elevating this world and succeeding emotionally and spiritually as well as materially. I need your divine assistance to make sure that I stay on target, I stay on point, I do not lose focus of the goal. That's number one.
Speaker 1:And then the second thing he says and he actually takes this from King David who, verse after verse, says this many, many times, but he always starts with before he prays to God for assistance, he starts with God I've committed to your lifestyle. I've committed to having you in my life. Now that I've made that commitment, I need your help. And it's the same thing over here. So number one place we need to pray when it comes and ask for assistance when it comes to matters of spirituality is keep me on track, make my resolve bulletproof, make it an iron wall that cannot be moved. When I say I'm going to do something, it gets done. That's number one. That's so important for so many different reasons, not just when it comes to spirituality, but also in the material world to be committed to your word, to know that I've made a commitment and I'm going to do whatever I can to see it through to fruition. Very, very important. It is a number one character building trait, my friends. That's number one.
Speaker 1:Number two that you need to dove in for, you need to pray and ask God for help, is is to finish the job, is to have a positive outcome. We've said many times, and you know what I'm about to tell you outcomes are out of our control. We do not control them. But what we can do is we could look up to the heavens, we could ask God for help, say God, look, I've done the first step. I've committed to your lifestyle. I've done the second step. I've taken upon myself to do X. The third is to actually do it and get it done. Have an outcome, a positive outcome. I'm not in control of that. I know that, god, you're in control of that. I know that, god, you're in control of that. But if it's good and you've told me that it's good, so if it's good in your eyes that I should do it now and in this situation, then you should make it successful in my hands so that I should see the fruits of my labor and that I should be inspired to continue to do more and more and more. That's the type of conversation you need to have with your creator, just like that.
Speaker 1:In your own words, god, I'm about to endeavor on something big here, or something small, my friends. It doesn't have to be big, it can be absolutely anything. I've told you in the past. I have a very small prayer that really just encapsulates that.
Speaker 1:Whenever I take on a challenge, even when I sit down to do a podcast, most of the time I say a verse, and it's a simple verse, but all that verse is is saying God, I'm about to embark on something over here that I know is good in your eyes, but in order for it to actually land, in order for people to listen to this podcast, in order for people to share the podcast, to listen to this podcast, in order for people to share the podcast, in order for people to change their lives in a positive way because of the podcast, I need you to step up. I can't control people's actions. I can't control outcomes of this podcast. I can only give it over. I can only give 100%.
Speaker 1:When I push send, when I click, when I'm done with all this, it is now out of my hands. When I push send, when I click, when I'm done with all this, it is now out of my hands. But, god, you control everything in this world. You determine outcomes, so please make it successful, make it that people should listen to it and that they should share it and that they should grow from it. It should become a routine for them. Every morning when they get up, they'll listen to this podcast and it'll help them along their way. That's the one statement that I make, encapsulates this entire concept, and you know how long it takes me Probably four or five seconds to say it. That's it. But now I've got him at my back and he knows that I know that anything that I do is absolutely useless without him at my back. He controls outcome. I just make the effort, my friends. Wraps it up for today. Let's chat again tomorrow.
