Faith

Faith as Precious as Peter’s: Embracing Your Spiritual Value

Tammy M Cardwell2 Comments

Timing is so interesting.

I make the anointing oil we sell in the church coffee shop. I’ve been making it myself because every oil I considered carrying retailed for more than I felt comfortable charging. Also, as I researched, I found myself wondering how most of the oils were made. By that I mean, were they simply another commercial product? Were they even prayed over?

My conclusion was that the only way I would be satisfied was if I took on the project myself. Then I could control the blending, the decanting, and how each bottle would be handled through the whole process. Yes, obviously this includes a lot of prayer, and usually worship.

Recently, someone was looking at our oils and asked me who anointed them, was it the pastor or intercessors or… I took the question to mean, “Who prayed over them?” and I explained what I’ve just told you. She seemed…less than satisfied.

She didn’t know who I was, of course, but apparently someone with an unknown title was questionable. At least that’s what I got from her withdrawal, and her reaction made me sad.

The sadness wasn’t because she doubted me; that’s no big deal. I was disappointed because she apparently believed you have to be “somebody” to qualify to pray over oil that will be used for anointing. That sort of assumption is dangerous. Too often, we fail to understand who we are in Christ Jesus, and that failure can really hold us back.

Which brings me to why I say timing is interesting. Shortly after that brief encounter I read 2 Peter, and in chapter 1, verse 1, Peter addresses his readers as those who “have been granted a faith just as precious as ours.” He’s serious, and he’s right.

Peter walked with Jesus and was one of those closest to Him throughout His ministry. He has worked for decades to help the Church grow and mature; at this point he is in prison and God has already told him he will die soon. Yes, his faith is precious, but in what is apparently his last letter he particularly wants his readers to understand that their faith is every bit as precious as his.

So is the faith of all those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. You don’t have to be “somebody” for your faith to have value. It was the first batch of oil I made that was used to teach me this truth. I had taken it to someone whose faith I know to be great and asked her to pray over it. She agreed to pray but also assured me that I could pray over it myself, that I was every bit as prepared as she was for the task. Until that moment, it had never occurred to me that I was “qualified.”

You don’t have to be “somebody” for your faith to have value. You have value as a child of the Most High God and you are very much somebody in the ways that truly matter. So don’t limit yourself. Do you make your own anointing oil? Pray over it. Do you write worship music? Use it to worship, both alone and with others. Does Holy Spirit teach you as you read the Word? If what you learn excites you, it may excite your friends as well. Share it!

Your faith, dear Christian, is just as precious as that of the Apostle Peter. Never discount what God has done in you.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

True Humility: Casting Your Cares as an Act of Trust

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I love it when the Word of God catches me off guard, when a single word or phrase causes me to stop and ask, “Wait… What?”

Walk with me through 1 Peter 5:6-7 in the NET, which is the translation I’m reading from today.

And God will exalt you in due time

We see this promise and others like it many times in the Word. Psalm 91 offers another great reminder in verse 15 where God says, “I will rescue them and bring them honor.” We are grateful to know that we will see this happen in due time, but when is our due time? Well, the sentence isn’t finished yet. As is common with God’s promises, there are conditions. In this case…

if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand

Ah. There it is. That little word, “if,” followed by that big phrase, “humble yourselves.” Seriously, we humans have a hard time with humility, which isn’t surprising when you consider that the devil’s sin is pride. If he fell for it, so can we. And we do. I mean, have you ever caught yourself being proud of how humble you were and then abruptly realized, “Um… Well… Maybe I still have some work to do here”? I have. It’s been a while, but I have. 

To continue…

So far so good, right? It’s not news that God demands humility. If I were to start tossing out passages that address this specific issue you’d stop reading before I was done; there are that many. It was the next word that really caught my attention this time, the word that had me reading what follows very carefully. The word is “by.”

by casting all your cares on him because he cares for you.

Yes, here we are at a verse fragment we’ve all heard repeatedly. “Listen, dear Christian, cast all your cares on him because he cares for you!”

But are we really paying attention to what Peter is saying here, or are we repeating a cliche that has become too familiar to affect us anymore? This verse isn’t merely about us turning all our cares over to God, which sounds easy when we all know it’s usually not. No, this is about much more.

Read 1 Peter 5:6-7 again, slowly.

And God will exalt you in due time, if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand by casting all your cares on him because he cares for you.

We humble ourselves BY giving God all our cares, everything that has us concerned, tied up in knots, or scared half out of our minds. This isn’t merely a pleasant-sounding platitude: It’s a command, and if we want what Peter mentions at the beginning of verse 6 we’d best be on the mark by the end of verse 7.

We must humble ourselves under God’s hand. How do we do it? By giving all our cares over to Him and trusting Him to deal with them. This trust both requires humility and inspires humility. If we insist on hanging onto our cares, not surrendering them to Him, we deny His divinity, His omnipotence, and we demonstrate that we imagine we are more able to handle the things that matter to us than He is.

Don’t get me wrong. If you’ve been around here long at all you know I fight this battle myself. Sometimes I hand my concerns over to Him only to look down and find I’ve somehow drawn them back into my own hands without even realizing it. The key is that I humble myself all over again and throw them back to Him. Yes, I mean throw. That is what “casting” is. It’s sending something away from you with force. It’s crying out, “God, I really don’t want this even if it looks like I do. Please take it back again! I do trust you!” as I chuck it at him and put my figurative hands behind my back.

True trust requires humility, and we prove that we have humbled ourselves (He doesn’t do it for us.) when we entrust all our cares to Him and leave them there. And, when we cast all our cares on Him, we are inevitably humbled by His loving response and faithfulness. It’s a beautiful cycle.

It’s so beautiful that it’s hardly necessary to go back to the first part of verse 6, but of course we will.

And God will exalt you in due time…

Your due time is coming my brother, my sister. I don’t know how or when, but if you do as Peter says you can know God will respond. Just do it. Humble yourself under His hand by trusting Him to handle everything you care about, and your due time will eventually come.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Seeing Beyond the Now: Finding Strength in God’s Promise of Eternity

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When a baby wants to be fed, he wants it NOW.

When a toddler races for a toy, obstacles that delay him frustrate him.

When a child is put in time out, a moment can feel like a month.

But children grow, and so does their concept of time. While “next year” seems impossibly far away, “tomorrow” eventually becomes acceptable, and then “next week,” “next month,” etc.

As adults, we can excitedly anticipate a vacation six months from now while understanding that we have things to do in the meantime. Depending on what those things are, we may walk through the days so busy that suddenly we look up to see that The Day has arrived. On the other hand, when life is in the process of throwing everything and the kitchen sink at us, we may be back to feeling like the clock has slowed and every moment is a month. Either way, we know that a special day is approaching, and the promise of tomorrow’s vacation empowers us to take each day as it comes.

Second Corinthians 4:17-18 reminds us that this life, even if it’s a life filled with trials and heartache, is nothing compared to eternity. First Peter 1:6 assures us that those “momentary trials” are helping us become the people of faith we are called to be. The more we’re in the Word, meditating on verses like these, and the more we are in fellowship with Him, the greater we understand this truth. Like the growing child who develops an increasingly accurate time sense, so do we who are children of God, as we grow spiritually, develop an increasingly accurate eternal time sense. It is this that makes life bearable even during the bad days (weeks, months, years…).

I explained in my Surviving Narcissism series that this one revelation was what made the difference in my ability to stay with and care for my disabled, narcissistic husband. I realized one day that, when compared to the eternity in which I’ll live, my life here isn’t even ten minutes. While thinking about it like that, I decided I can do anything for ten minutes.

And that’s what I told God. It went something like, “I can do anything for ten minutes, so if You want me here with him until the day I die, I can do it. With You helping me, I can.” If you know my story, you are aware that I outlived him, but with a true revelation of eternity I was able to say those words and mean what I said. Bible teacher TeDese Ross expresses it beautifully:

Hope for the future gives us strength for the present.

So, if you’re living in a world where a moment seems like a month, where hope is hard to come by, I advise you to turn to God and ask Him to give you that same revelation, to help you fully grasp the fact that while your problems and trials seem endless, they – and this life – really are “but for a moment.”

One revelation can change everything!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Swept Away by Grace: Releasing Failures with the Holy Ghost

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Our church opens our doors for two hours every Saturday in January so we can gather to pray. I just returned from tonight’s session, and I returned with a word from Him to me – and you.

“Let the wind of the Holy Ghost sweep away your attachment to your failures.”

For years, I battled a tendency to not let go of my failures, to keep beating myself up for them even after I’d repented and received God’s forgiveness. I broke the worst of that tendency a few years back when God rebuked me. As He reminded me, if I were to criticize and berate one of His kids the way I was attacking myself He’d call me out for sin. And, obviously, He then reminded me that I am one of His kids too – and it was still sin.

What He said tonight hit me in a fresh way. God specializes in that, you know. If you don’t fully understand the first time, He’ll say it differently. In this one sentence He said so much!

  • The Holy Ghost has the power to sweep away those attachments if we let Him.
  • They are our attachments. Those failures aren’t attached to us; we’re attached to them. They’re nothing but memories and have no power on their own. The devil can toss them up in our faces, but as long as we’re not attached to them, they’ll slide right off and hit the floor, powerless.
  • We must choose to let the Holy Ghost remove them. Then we must decide, every minute of every day, if necessary, to refuse to pick those threads up again. We can: We can either pick them back up and get attached (and attacked) all over again, or we can refuse to ever touch them again. It’s not easy, but it is doable.

God says so! Here’s some proof.

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Philippians 3:13-14 NLT (emphasis mine)

Paul, of all people, had things he could have refused to forgive himself for, mistakes from his past that he might have permitted to drag him down. He chose to forget the past and only look forward.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Hebrews 12:1 NLT (emphasis mine)

“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down,” the teacher says. Yes, that definitely includes those past mistakes, even the huge ones. If they (or anything else) slow us down in our pursuit of God, they’ve got to go!

And…

He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
Psalm 103:12 NLT

If He’s removed the sins, they’re gone. Only the memories of those sins remain, and we have no business digging them up or entertaining them if the devil tries to do the digging. If God removes our sins so completely, it stands to reason that He removes our mistakes, big ones and small ones, as well.

Be at peace. Let the Holy Spirit rid you of those attachments forever.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

God’s Question That Stopped Me in My Tracks

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I was thanking God for a friend a few days ago. Some time back, she volunteered to handle a specific task every month. It’s not super complicated, but it does take time and requires her to run an errand that otherwise wouldn’t fall on her. Month after month, she consistently covers this project for me. “I’m so grateful for her, “I told God. “I know I can hand her this job and she’ll get it done.”

I meant what I said, every word of it. My heart was full of gratitude. Then God asked me a question.

He wanted to know why, if I trust her so easily, I sometimes doubt Him and whether He will “get the job done.”

OUCH!

We’re talking punch-in-the-gut stuff here. I like to think I’m a woman of strong faith, but He wouldn’t have asked me the question if it didn’t apply. Do I really, at times, trust a human friend more than I trust my God? I mean, this is GOD we’re talking about. Of course He will get the job done, whatever that job is!

I do tell Him on occasion that it’s not Him I’m doubting, but me. More specifically, I too often doubt my own ability to hear Him clearly. Did I really hear God’s voice, or did I go off on a tangent of my own creating? Yes, I have those moments – more than I like to admit. I wonder if this is part of what He’s talking about, that in doubting my own ability to hear Him I’m doubting His ability to help me understand. Possibly?

I’m still thinking about this one, about how I have at least on occasion failed to trust The Creator of the Universe, how at times I apparently put more faith in the one who holds my project in her hands than in the One who holds my whole life in His hands.

This faith walk? One of its most important factors is self-assessment – making sure we are who we think we are, and repenting if we’re not. If we’re not listening and judging ourselves when He asks questions like this one, we’re not getting the job done.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

What My Cervical Traction Device Taught Me About Faith

Tammy M Cardwell2 Comments

RESTCLOUD Neck and Shoulder Relaxer

This funny looking thing is a cervical traction device, AKA my neck stretcher. Other than going to the chiropractor, this is the best tool I have for fighting neck issues. As I lie on it, this bit of oddly-shaped foam gently pulls at my neck, slightly separating the vertebrae, releasing pressure, and helping relieve the headaches that pressure can cause. It’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made, and I encourage you to check it out if neck issues plague you.

I use it often, like at least once a day, and there is something I’ve noticed while using it. Obviously this process takes time, which means it requires patience. I’ve also discovered, however, that for it to work most effectively, I must relax fully while lying on it.

Sounds simple, right? I mean, it should be. The funny thing is, I’ve discovered I can honestly think I’m totally relaxed when suddenly I’ll exhale or move slightly and a muscle I haven’t even realized I was keeping tense will abruptly loosen. When this happens, my head shifts slightly and I feel a definite release; in an instant, everything is totally different – better. Over time, I’ve learned to consciously pay attention to all those little muscles, intentionally relaxing them as I rest on this “pillow.” When I do this, the effects are amazing.

Interestingly, as I was lying there thinking about this during a twenty-minute session a few days ago, I realized just how much the experience parallels my faith walk. Having faith in God, trusting Him, also requires patience and relaxation. For my faith to work the way it’s supposed to, I must consciously let go of anything that holds me back from “relaxing,” from leaning into Him and trusting Him to do what He’s promised.

It’s funny, really. We know that faith without works is dead (James 2:26) and it seems that my first work of faith in any situation is to choose to put my trust completely in Him, to consciously set aside any worries, fears, and distractions that would interfere with me resting on His love, grace, and mercy.

Anyone with experience knows it’s not always that simple. When you hear the devil yelling at you, it’s relatively easy to recognize his voice and throw the Word at him. The real challenge comes when he whispers; it’s in the little things. Like a tiny muscle that tenses when you clench your jaw without realizing it, a snide comment from a “friend” can tear away at your faith. A glance at online banking can lead you to wonder if God is going to come through this time. Doubt doesn’t always run in; it often sneaks in the back door.

The key is to stay alert and keep that door locked, to be conscious of your spiritual state and aware of what is and is not affecting you. Keeping your focus on Jesus, refusing to be distracted by the doubt-inspiring signs around you, helps you stay on track, maintain your trust in God (which is what faith is), and rest in Him.

You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Trust in the LORD always,
for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.
Isaiah 26:3-4 NLT

It’s easy to give in to fear, to abandon the fight and let the giant win, but that’s not what God has called us to do. He’s called us to remember whose kids we are, that we are children of The Most High God and He is the Ultimate Faithful Father.

Yeah, let’s do that.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

THE MOTHER OF RANDOLPH

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     She led me first to God;
Her words and prayers were my young spirit’s dew;
     For when she used to leave
     The fireside every eve,
I knew it was for prayer that she withdrew.
                                                                        Pierpont

The biographers of John Randolph mention the interesting fact that his mother taught him to pray. This all-important maternal duty made an impression on his heart. He lived at a period when skepticism was popular, particularly in some political circles in which he had occasion to mingle; and he has left on record his testimony in regard to the influence of his mother’s religious instruction. Speaking of the subject of infidelity to an intimate friend, he once made the following acknowledgment:

“I believe I should have been swept away by the flood of French infidelity if it had not been for one thing- the remembrance of the time when my sainted mother used to make me kneel by her side, taking my little hands folded in hers, and cause me to repeat the Lord’s Prayer.”

______

Excerpted from Noble Deeds of American Women
(Patriotic Series for Boys and Girls)
Edited by J. Clement
——
With an Introduction by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney
Illustrated
BOSTON: Lee and Shepard, Publishers
Entered by Act of Congress, in the year of 1851,
by E. H. Derby and Co., in the Clerk’s Office of the Northern District of New York
______

God Has a Reason

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Story time, and it’s a story with three lessons.
1. When God says, “Move,” you need to move.
2. When you know you need help, ask Him.
3. When He tells you what to do, do what He says.

WHEN GOD SAID, “MOVE.”

I was having a rough night. Allergies ruled and I could not settle down to sleep even though I’d been in bed for quite a while. In the midst of my struggles, God told me to get up and use my neti pot. I didn’t want to, but I’ve been trying to practice quick obedience, so I did. I got up, turned on the light, and headed to the sink.

As I was washing the neti pot afterwards, I literally said something along the lines of, “Well, I don’t know why you had me do that; it doesn’t seem to have done anything.” And it hadn’t, not really, BUT.

I should stop a moment and explain that after the horrible reaction I had to all of the gnat bites back in June/July, I got a gnat tent (Like a mosquito tent, but with tinier openings) for my bed, and it’s still there. I’ve about decided it’s going to stay there, to be honest.

So I got back to the bed, pulled aside the curtain, and saw why God had me get out of bed. It wasn’t because I needed to use my neti pot. It was because there were two of us inside my tent and He knew what would happen if the other came upon me unawares. That’s my Kindle in the lower right corner, so you can see how big it was.

Yes, I’m now aware this is a wolf spider, which would not have hurt me and is beneficial, but I remind you that this giant spider was trapped inside the tent with me, in the dark. God alone knows what would have happened if it had crawled on me in the middle of the night. As I stood facing the thing, we were both frozen. I knew I was in trouble if I didn’t handle this the right way, and I know next to nothing about spider behavior. So…

I KNEW I NEEDED HELP.
I ASKED THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD HELP ME.

As I stood there, I recognized that I was way out of my element. The spider had to not only leave my tent, but also my little apartment or I might never have peace again. I literally told God, “This one’s on You. You are going to have to handle this because I can’t!”

He told me to step outside and get the net we use to sweep leaves up off the surface of the pool. I had no idea the net was even there because It’s often attached to the pole, but I slowly crossed to the door, never taking my eyes off the spider, and took a super quick glance outside to find that the net was exactly where He said it would be.

Then I stood there, glancing back and forth between spider and net, and informed God that He had to make the thing stay right where it was. Does it sound like I was desperate? Good, because I was.

I DID WHAT HE TOLD ME TO.
I DID IT THE WAY HE SAID TO DO IT.

I was back at the bed, net in hand, in about two seconds, controlling my breathing and reminding myself that God always has my back. Again, I was talking to Him, telling Him I needed precise instructions so I wouldn’t blow my part of this adventure. (No, I didn’t think of it as an adventure at the time, but I can laugh about it now.)

God told me to move slowly and to gently put the side of the net right by the spider. I did, and that spider stepped onto the net as pretty as you please while I stared in shock. I then moved very slowly, backing out of the bed and heading for the door. I only disturbed it once on the way out; it was actually a lot more calm than I was.

I would love to say I settled right down to sleep after the spider and I parted ways. I didn’t. Every time I thought about what could have happened if the thing had crawled on me in the middle of the night, I thanked God one more time for telling me to get out of bed. I had that thought and reaction over and over for hours. In fact, this situation made me even happier that I’m aphantasic, because as a total aphant my imagination couldn’t toss visual possibilities at me, only concepts.

We live and we learn, and sometimes we just get reminded of basic truths. God knows what’s going on, and if He tells us to do something there’s always a reason. Unlike this particular experience, we don’t always actually see His plan, but we can be confident that He has one and trust that our obedience is serving a purpose.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Lets Talk About the Jews

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I haven’t talked much about October 7 and the mass insanity that has flooded the world since that day, but I’ve done a lot of watching, praying, and hurting for Israel and the Jews around the world as well as those I know personally. Even now, I’m hesitant to start this post because there is so much on my heart that I’m concerned it’s all going to spill out in a jumbled mess of words and emotions.

First, to make myself clear,
I fully support Israel in this war and in general.
If you believe in replacement theology,
you and I are not on the same page.

Here are some of the reasons why:

Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Psalm 94:24: ” For the LORD will not cast off His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance.”

Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”

Ezekiel 37:21: “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;”‘”

Zechariah 12:9: “It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

Bottom Line: If God were to change His mind about the covenant He made with Israel, He would immediately become a God you couldn’t trust not to change his mind about you. It’s ridiculous to even think about God in the same way as you would a cheating husband. You know what I mean: The other woman is just sure he’d never cheat on her, but if he cheated once… No. That’s not my God.

So, again, I have a heart for Jews, those I know and those I don’t, and for the nation of Israel, so seeing her vilified is beyond painful. I can’t even fully express how the rampant Anti-semitism hurts. How a world of people can choose to utterly ignore the reality of what happened on October 7th and what is being revealed in Gaza in favor of the carefully orchestrated…

No, I can’t even go there. I simply cannot comprehend the insanity.

If all you listen to is regular media and celebrities, you may think I’m nuts. If this is the case, I challenge you to download the Telegram app, subscribe to Amir Tsarfati’s channel, and pay attention to what he shares. I actually encourage everyone to do this. He’s a Messianic Jew living in Israel. He was a Major in the IDF, so he understands military campaigns, and he presents information in a way that makes sense. Just make sure you subscribe to his real channel, not one of the endless list of fakes. You can see in this picture that he has over 500,000 subscribers, so that’s the Amir Tsarfati you’re looking for.

Amir is someone I’ve trusted for years. He’s also an expert in End Times Prophecy and has several excellent books, both non-fiction and fiction, that are well worth checking out.

Ok, I’m determined to control my potential rambling, so I’ll say one more thing.

This is a spiritual war.

I’m not talking about the war in Gaza right now. I’m talking about the devil’s war on Jews everywhere. He hates the people God called His own, and we’re seeing that hatred exposed like never before, even in the church, which is heartbreaking. What’s happening isn’t natural; it’s supernatural, backed by demonic forces. What I’ve realized recently is that it’s also not limited to Jews who lives in “dangerous” areas.

True, I’ve spoken with a limited number of friends about this (talking about both practicing and Messianic Jews), but what I’m seeing leads me to believe that a full-blown demonic attack has been launched against all Jews everywhere. People who have been doing ok are suddenly fighting battles they never dreamed they would face, battle after battle in a seemingly never-ending cycle.

They need our prayers. Wherever they are, whoever they are, they all need our prayers.

I stand with Israel, and I stand with the Jews.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Worry is Insidious

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It’s also a form of fear.

Shakespeare assured us that a rose, no matter what you called it, would still smell like a rose. Fear, no matter what you call it, is still fear, and as Christians we too often put God in the position of having to remind us of this fact. Like He reminded me not too long ago.

I was made aware of two situations that had me very much in God’s face, reminding Him of His Word, asking Him to move on behalf of the people involved, talking at Him a LOT.

Nothing wrong there, right?
So I thought at first.

Yes, I was interceding on behalf of my friends, which was undeniably the right thing to do. But then I woke up to what I was really doing, and my prayers changed. “What do you mean, Tammy?” I’m so glad you asked!

I was recently approached about a conflict and asked for advice. I felt strongly that one of the people was in chronic worry mode, being motivated by fear, and if they would conquer that fear (with God’s help, obviously) the conflict would resolve itself.

So, I took that situation and the person in question, to God. In no time at all, He connected this person’s situation with my earlier, somewhat desperate, prayers and strongly advised me to come here and share with you. 

Here’s the bottom line. In both cases, no matter what we called it, even if we assured ourselves that we were merely concerned or anxious, or perhaps admitted we were worried, we were both being motivated by fear.

In case you don’t realize it, God addresses the issue of fear hundreds of times in the Bible and makes it clear that faith and fear don’t mix. They are, in fact, diametrically opposed. Faith is confidently putting something in God’s hands. Fear, in any form, is refusing to leave it in God’s hands. Fear thinks God can’t really be trusted. Fear interferes with God as He is working.

You know how, in cooking, you prep some things and then put them on the stove where you must leave them alone for a while? That time when it’s left to cook is vital; if you give into temptation and stir the pot, you may ruin all you’ve worked for.

So, picture God prepping and putting the pot on the stove. He’s watching it carefully, but in your fear and impatience you grab a spoon and start stirring.

You mean well. You really do. Even so, in your worry that God won’t get it right you decide you need to take control of the situation, or at least feel like you’re taking control. God loves you, and the truth is He’ll let you yank that spoon away from Him even though He knows better than you do. If you’re a parent who has dealt with childish actions like these, you can imagine how your lack of trust makes Him feel.

Motivation matters regardless of what we’re doing. I really care about the people I was praying for, but it was only when I moved beyond my initial fear-founded prayers and into faith-based prayer that my prayers had true power. It was only then that I found genuine peace even knowing that, in that instant, nothing had noticeably changed. It was then that I was able to hear the voice of God and know what to do next.

Fear is insidious and wears many guises. We all must keep our shields up and ensure we don’t slip into being motived by it instead of faith.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C