The Importance of Releasing Your Faith

During my prayer time this afternoon I asked God for certain blessings that I desire to see in my life. I ended my prayer with the words "I release my faith." As I said those words an image of a fisherman casting his line appeared in my mind and everything became so clear...

Imagine yourself as a fisherman standing at the edge of a river that you know is FULL of fish. You say, "I sure would like to catch a lot of fish today," then you just stand there. What do you think would happen? More than likely nothing. This same premise holds true when it comes to prayer. When we pray we must release our faith in the fact that God is willing and able to bring that thing we desire to pass. Just as a fisherman has to cast his line in order to catch a fish we must release our faith in order to hook into the blessing and reel it in from the spiritual realm into the natural realm!

How do we release our faith?

1) Embrace peace. Have faith in God's ability and thoroughly pray about your situation or need and then give it to Him completely. That means you aren't worried or anxious about it and when it comes to mind you thank God that He is working to bring it to pass. You should have peace because the concern is no longer yours. It's God's. (See Philippians 4:6,7 and 1 Peter 5:7)

2) Embrace positive speaking. Proverbs 18:21 says that the power of life and death is in the tongue. If you want to see blessings made manifest in your life then  you should only speak positive confessions regarding your prayers. Many people are blocking or hindering their own prayers by what they say. Refuse to be double-minded (James 1:6). If you go to God in faith don't use your mouth in doubt by saying, "It will never happen" or "My situation is never going to change." Speak words of life instead.

3) Embrace patience. Most of us want our blessing yesterday! If we truly want what God has for us we must be patient enough to wait for His timing. No matter how long it takes keep believing and trusting that His timing is perfect. God is omniscient. He knows all and there may be a reason why He is making you wait. Just trust Him! Psalm 84:11 says "no good thing will He withold from those who walk uprightly." If he hasn't given it to you yet it might not be good for you right now.

4) Embrace the power to ignore what you see.  According to 2 Corinthians 5:7 we walk by faith and not by sight. That means turning a blind eye to everything that contradicts with what God has promised in His Word. Your bank account may be low, but you should look at it and say "my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory (Phillipians 4:19)." People may be persecuting you on your job but you should still believe that  "when a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7)." There may be pain in your body but know that "by His stripes you are healed (1 Peter 2:24)." Glory to God! No matter what you see, believe the Word of God and just watch it come to pass!

The Calling of Every Believer

   "So we are Christ's ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us."

II Corinthians 5:20               

 It seems that people are always trying to figure out what their calling or purpose is. Yes, God has a specific calling for everyone but along with your personal calling you are also called to be an ambassador for Christ. According to dictionary.com an ambassador is "a diplomatic official of the highest rank sent by a government to represent it on a temporary mission, as for negotiating a treaty." We have been sent by heaven to represent Christ during our temporary mission here on Earth with the goal of reconciling unbelievers to God through Christ.

Witnessing has recently become a way of life for me. It all started with an idea that God put on my heart to create small brightly colored cards that I could pass out to people while I was out running my day-to-day errands. These cards ask the question  "Are you saved?" and then explain how to become saved and what salvation means.

All this came about one day during my prayer time when I started thinking about people who don't know and have not accepted Christ and the fact that they would not receive the gift of eternal life. It drove me to tears and made me feel like I had to do something. I am so grateful that God gave me the idea to pass out these cards!

Initially, I just handed the card to people and then got out of there as soon as I could! I have always been a rather shy person but lately I have experienced a boldness that could only come from God.  Now I walk up to people, hand them the card, ask them if they're saved, and if they're not I share with them what salvation means. Sometimes I'm amazed at what God leads me to do because I have walked up to some scary, threatening looking people with no fear in my heart at all.

I'll never forget a young man named Nick who had piercings all over his face and a tattooed teardrop (which usually means that the person has killed someone). God put it on my heart to talk to him so I walked up to him plain as day and started talking to him about Jesus. My spirit was excited but my flesh was like "what are you doing?!" It turned out that he had just moved to town and was looking for a place of worship!!! He said he wanted to go to church but he knew people would look at him funny because of his tattoes and piercings. I excitedly invited him to my church and told him he could sit with me!

Please understand that I'm not urging everyone to go up to strangers and ask them if they're saved. Witnessing is the work of all believers but God calls us to do the work in different ways. The way you live your life may lead someone to Christ without you having to say a word. God may call you simply to pray for unbelievers. No matter the method we are all called to the ministry of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:18) and I pray that we all take it seriously.

Soon to come!-A Guide to Witnessing.

The Power of Positive SPEAKING

We've all heard the term positive thinking, but what about positive speaking?

The ability to speak things into existence is a Biblical truth. God didn't think "Let there be light". According to Genesis 1:3 "God said Let there be light; and there was light." We were created in His image and we have the same power to "call those things that be not as though they were" (Romans 4:17). That means speaking non-existent things into existence. Now, this doesn't mean that our thinking is not important. On the contrary, our thoughts play a vital role in determining the type of life we live. Often it is the thoughts we meditate on that blossom into the words we utter.

Lately, I have been repeatedly saying "Something good is going to happen to me!" (Oral Roberts was one of the first ministers to make the idea of saying this popular and recently Joyce Meyer has also been encouraging this thought.) I've been doing this for a couple of days and this morning my 3 year old and 2 year old started saying it!

Today we went to McDonald's and while we were waiting in line to place our order a man walked by, held out his hand to my daughter and said, "Give me a high five." I am very picky about germs so my first thought was "Oh man I'm going to have to wash her hands again!" My next thought was , "Get over it and be thankful that someone is being kind and friendly." So she gave him a high five and he smiled and walked away only to immediately turn back around take out his wallet and give my daughter and my son each a one dollar bill. We exuberantly thanked him and I thought back to the fact that before we left this morning they both said, "Something good is going to happen to me!"

Wow! God is amazing! Some might say well that was just two dollars or that was just a coincidence but I know who the praise is due to. For me it wasn't just the money, but the fact that God was confirming that the principles in His Word work! If a little child can speak positively and receive the favor of God then what's stopping you?

Isaiah 30:18 (AMP) says that "the Lord waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you."

I encourage you to start saying "Something good is going to happen to me!" Now don't just say it, believe it and expect it and watch God work!

Once you have a testimony of God's favor as a result of speaking positively please come back and share it with everyone by leaving a comment so we can all celebrate your blessing!

Greetings!

Hi all!

Welcome to my new blog! I've titled it "A Fresh Word" because so often in my quiet time with God I receive revelation and wisdom that is so awesome and life-changing that I feel compelled to share it. I pray that this blog will be insightful, informative, and encouraging.

I am writing all the time and some of the posts that you will see have come from my personal prayer journals throughout the years. If you ever have a spiritual question or a topic that you would like for me to explore feel free to e-mail me at love2write2011@hotmail.com or leave a comment. I would be more than happy to answer your question or research any spiritual topic.

One of the pieces that I'm working on now answers the question: What should I do when waiting on God makes me feel passive or stagnant? That is an issue I'm dealing with now because God has not shown me "the next" thing to do so I'm waiting for His instruction. The enemy is very crafty and he will whisper to you that you're being lazy or irresponsible because you're not doing anything, but he is a liar. It is unwise to run out and take action without hearing from God. This leads to frustration and often drives us away from the will of God. To tell the truth we actually are far from lazy when we are waiting on God because spiritually we should be praying, meditating on God's Word, and praising Him for what He's about to do.

I hope that you will return and read my blog daily to get "A Fresh Word."