Podcast Summary: Living Influence with Bill Thrall and Scott Boyd
Episode: Trusting God With Your Future
Date: January 29, 2026
Overview
In this episode of Living Influence, co-hosts Bill Thrall and Scott Boyd dive into the concept of "trusting God with your future," the culmination of a three-phase process of spiritual maturity. They discuss how moving from a self-centered ("me centered") faith, to an other-centered, and ultimately a Christ-centered approach impacts personal relationships, self-identity, and the way believers engage with life’s challenges—especially when it comes to trusting God with what lies ahead. Drawing from their personal lives, marriages, and leadership experiences, Bill and Scott explore what it means to believe who God says you are, how it transforms relationships, and why freedom and trust are foundational to living as Christ intends.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
The Three Phases of Spiritual Maturity
- Step 1: Me-Centered Phase
Initial trust in Christ for personal salvation; growth begins but is focused on individual needs. - Step 2: Other-Centered Phase
Learning to trust Christ with your present self and allowing others to influence and love you. - Step 3: Christ-Centered Phase
The mature stage: trusting Christ with your future, stepping out in faith despite uncertainties (00:55).
“The final step in this process of maturing is the Christ centered phase, where I begin to trust Christ for my future, which may be one of the scariest steps of all.” – Scott Boyd [01:16]
Trust and Influence in Marriage and Relationships
- Trusting Others to Love Us on Their Terms
Bill shares a personal story about his wife Grace’s loving influence, guiding him towards healthier habits (02:09–02:57). - Letting Yourself be Crafted by Others
Allowing your spouse to influence you, not as a form of control, but as an act of love and mutual submission (03:05–03:37). - Permission and Respect in Addressing Needs
The importance of seeking permission before addressing issues, and being willing to accept "no" without manipulation (04:00–04:52).
“When I ask permission, I have to learn to receive a no. And I must never manipulate her into a yes. Because at that point she will lose trust in me.” – Bill Thrall [04:31]
- Seeing Each Other’s Needs Through Love
Instead of trying to fix your partner, focus on loving them and meeting their needs as a team—transforming relationships from “me” to “we” (05:02–06:35). - Trust as a Prerequisite to Receiving Truth
In marriage, without mutual trust, attempts at honest feedback sound like criticism, rather than loving help (06:33–06:43).
“If couples haven’t learned to trust each other, they can’t hear each other's truth. It'll come across as critique, criticism and disappointment.” – Bill Thrall [06:33]
Leadership, Strengths, and Wounding in Community
- Managing Strengths that Hurt Others
In a work context, a team member’s strength can sometimes wound others unintentionally. The solution isn’t to diminish the strength, but to protect and help others interpret it (07:07–07:47). - Risk and Patience in Love
Modeling Jesus’s risk-taking love in relationships—being patient with a partner’s growth and willing to give space and time for change (08:25–09:19).
“Love is willing to take risks for the benefit of the other person. Patience can often be very risky.” – Bill Thrall [08:25]
- Commitment to Process Life Together
Growth in marriage comes from processing issues as a couple, not individually. True commitment means tackling life’s challenges as a team, shifting from “your” issue or “my” issue to “our” issues (09:33–12:27).
“Whatever issue you have, we have. Whatever issue I have, we have. It changes our whole perspective.” – Bill Thrall [11:56]
Living in Freedom: Identity and Trust
- Foundation of Freedom: Identity in Christ
True freedom is rooted in believing what God says about your identity (12:50–13:10).- Seeing oneself as a saint with a new heart, not as a “sinner,” allows the Christian to read scripture through the lens of possibility, not obligation (12:50–14:30).
- The danger in thinking of yourself only as a sinner is bondage to external rules and perpetual inadequacy.
“If my theology still sees me as a sinner, not a Saint...I will read the New Testament through the eyes of what I ought to do to become godly, and that is bondage. There is no freedom when I read the Scriptures from what I ought to do.” – Bill Thrall [13:02]
- Trusting in Your New Heart
Bill reflects deeply on the struggle to trust oneself, explaining how life changes when you finally believe what God says about your new identity (15:56–17:13).
“The words will never affect me until I believe them to be true about me...many Christians never, ever pursue [freedom], because...they still see themselves as a sinner, B, they still see themselves with a heart that shouldn't be trusted...they live the best life they can in the bondage of not being enough. That's called misery.” – Bill Thrall [15:55–17:10]
- The Church and Freedom
Many de-churched believers leave because they hoped for a place to be known but found only criticism (17:13–17:43). - Purpose Flows from Trust
Believers often try to serve God without first trusting Him, leading to burnout and disappointment—especially visible in missions (18:28–20:31).
“Almost 80% of all new missionaries do not last 15 months on the mission field… My experience says all of these young, enthusiastic people devoting their life to God have never been taught to trust the God they're devoted to. And then reality sets in, and the endings are often critically negative.” – Bill Thrall [19:10–20:30]
Concluding Thoughts
- Returning to Core Questions of Identity
The episode closes by reinforcing the importance of internalizing what God says about you:
“Who does God say I am? Am I a saint? Do I have a new heart? Does he delight in me?” – Scott Boyd & Bill Thrall [20:41–20:43]
- The Ultimate Point of Faith It’s not about what you do for God, but what God is doing in and through you (21:26).
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “You let your spouse influence you...on their terms. So they brings because they love you.” – Scott Boyd [03:34]
- “It's about helping people interpret them and understanding. Okay, here's what they're doing. And this is why you want this on your team, because it's really powerful. When you change it into loving that person for who they are, it changes everything.” – Scott Boyd [07:20–07:47]
- “In a marriage relationship, this is going to sound weird, but … I think they go together to get help.” – Bill Thrall [09:19]
- “And the same is true then. This whole idea of freedom is a word that many, many Christians never, ever pursue … they live the best life they can in the bondage of not being enough. That's called misery.” – Bill Thrall [16:30–17:10]
Important Timestamps
- 00:55 — Introduction to the three steps of the maturing process
- 02:09 — Bill’s story: Grace’s loving influence
- 03:34 — Allowing your spouse to influence you
- 04:31 — The power of permission and accepting “no”
- 05:02 — Meeting needs with love vs. trying to “fix” someone
- 07:07 — Strengths and wounds in workplace dynamics
- 08:25 — Love, risk, and patience in relationships
- 09:33–12:27 — Processing issues as a couple: “our” not “my/your”
- 12:50 — Living in freedom: Identity as a saint, not a sinner
- 15:56 — Bill’s personal struggle with trusting his heart
- 19:10 — The problem of young missionaries and misplaced trust
- 20:41 — Does God delight in me? Core questions of identity
- 21:26 — The point is what God does in and through you
Episode Tone and Style
The conversation is warm, authentic, and deeply personal, with both hosts sharing their vulnerabilities, failures, and hard-won insights into trust, love, and spiritual maturation. Their tone is encouraging and relational, aiming to inspire listeners to pursue a deeper, more Christ-centered understanding of identity and purpose.
For anyone seeking a life of genuine influence—within their marriage, family, or vocation—this episode emphasizes transformation rooted in trusting God fully with your identity, your relationships, and your future.