need
Ask Him
Yes, your Father already knows what you have need of, but He still wants you to ask Him for what you need.
For your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him
(Matthew 6:8)
You Don’t Need More Faith
When doubt and unbelief comes, I am reminded of what my pastor said a few weeks ago.
You don’t need more faith.
You just need to hear more of the word of God.
This is how faith comes.
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).
A God Question
Question: Why can’t I meet someone who has everything I want in a man?
Answer: If you meet a man that has everything you want, then you will never want or need ME.
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
Psalm 23:1
Store Up
store up: to keep something until the time is right to use it; to keep a lot of something to be used in the future
I was due to give birth in the middle of March, but my son decided he wanted to come two weeks early.
I remember that day so well.
It was a Saturday. I woke up that morning and took a shower while my then-husband and daughter were still asleep. When it was time for me to come out of the shower, I felt a sharp pain. I yelled for my husband and he found me bent over on the bathroom floor. We weren’t prepared like we were with our firstborn. No one had packed a hospital bag or anything because we thought we had a little more time.
But I was about to have a baby.
We lived about 20 minutes away from the hospital and I just knew I was having that baby in the car. When we arrived to the hospital, they didn’t place me in that big, beautiful labor and delivery room as they did with my firstborn. Instead, they placed me in a small room on a tiny bed. There was no time to prepare for an IV. There was no TV or ice chips. My cervix had dilated between 8 to 9 centimeters and it was almost time to push.
But this is what I really wanted to share with you.
When I was pregnant with my first child, my husband and I thought it would be fun to take a Lamaze class. But when it was time to give birth to my daughter, I think the labor pains took away my memory because I didn’t remember anything I learned from that class.
Nothing.
But who would have thought that two years later I would use in my second pregnancy what I learned in my first pregnancy? I didn’t attend Lamaze class while pregnant with my son, I didn’t take a refresher course, but I remembered everything I heard and learned back then for this moment. I remembered the breathing exercises. I also remembered to use a focal point. I found what looked like a square in the ceiling of the hospital room and I stared at that square until it was time to push. I didn’t focus on the pain. I didn’t focus on what the nurses were saying or what was around me. I focused on the square and it helped me through labor.
The psalmist wrote that he hid God’s word in his heart (Psalm 119:11). When we think about the word ‘hid’, we think about concealing a thing or putting something in a secret place, but another definition of hid is to store up. My pastors have been warning the church for some time now to store up perishable items, water and to save our money. They were telling us this so that we would be prepared for whatever lies ahead.
The same way you store up items in your home to prepare for a hurricane or a pandemic is the same way we need to store up the word in our hearts. After Job and his wife lost their livestock, their property, their servants and their children, Job’s wife told him to curse God and die, but even with boils all over his body, Job refused to sin with his lips. Read, study, memorize and meditate on scriptures daily so that what you put in your heart now will come out of your mouth – when you need it.
And you’re going to need it so…
Store up.
Need Versus Want
I never understood why this individual asked me to be in a relationship with him.
He only talked to me when he felt like talking to me.
I only saw him when he wanted to see me.
When I wanted to talk to him, I would call him, but he wouldn’t answer his phone.
How could he go days without talking to me?
How would he get to know me if he never spent time with me?
He told me a couple times that he needed me, but he never made me feel like he wanted me.
I soon realized that once he got what he needed, he wouldn’t need me anymore – until he needed something else again.
Unfortunately, this sounds like the type of relationship that a lot of Christians have with Christ.
We know that we need Him, but do we really want Him?
There’s a difference.
God Doesn’t Want You to Miss a Thing
One day, the angel appeared to Manoah’s wife. Before he announced what God was going to do for her, he told her about herself. You are barren (Judges 13:3). God wanted her to know that He knew her condition and that He had forgotten about her. The scriptures doesn’t mention whether it was her desire to have children or if she and her husband had prayed for a child. All I know is that God saw a need. He (Samson) shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines (vs 5).
To conceive a child seemed impossible. Manoah and his wife had tried for years, but what had been impossible with man was about to become possible with God. He was going to make it happen. There was a problem and God was going to create the solution for that problem.
The angel gave Samson’s mother two promises. First, he promised her that she would conceive. Then, he promised her that she would bear a son. Not everyone that becomes pregnant gives birth, but she was going to do both.
There is a need and the people in your home, on your job and in your community need someone who will pray on their behalf. They need someone who will choose to live holy. And God needs someone who will be consistent, faithful and who will do what He tells them to do.
The angel told Manoah’s wife what not to touch, eat or drink because of what she was carrying inside of her. I don’t think we carefully consider what we are carrying inside of us (the Spirit of God, the word of God, etc). If we did, we would make better choices.
But for the next nine months, she gave up some things. She put away some things. She stopped doing certain things so that the needs of the people would be met. You see, God wasn’t just giving her a son, but He was giving a deliverer to a people that He loved and called His Son (Exodus 4:22).
My prayer for every person who is reading this is that you will not MIS-carry, be MIS-led or MISS what God has for you or what He wants to do through you for His people.
Will It Be You?
While the disciples walked with Jesus, they never had a need so they were able to meet the need of others.
A very great multitude had been with Jesus and for three days they had nothing to eat. Some of them had come from far distances. If I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way for divers of them came from afar (Mark 8:3). When Jesus made this statement, he wasn’t looking at the disciples. He was looking at the people. They were weary. They were hungry.
They had a need.
So what did Jesus do? He didn’t go looking for food. He asked the disciples, How many loaves do YOU have? They only had seven, but Jesus took what the disciples had, gave thanks, brake and gave it back to the disciples to give to the people.
As my pastor was teaching this past Wednesday, I thought about how I’m still concerned about my need when there is a very great multitude that is still waiting for their need to be met. I also thought about how in some ways I’m still waiting for God or for someone else to do what He has given me to do.
Then, I read this question on social media this morning: God will carry out His plans and purposes on the earth. The only question is, will YOU be a part of them or will you let ANOTHER fulfill what He has called YOU to do?
When Mordecai pleaded with Esther to go before the king on behalf of the people, he told her that if she kept silent at this time, relief and deliverance would come for the Jews, but from ANOTHER place (Esther 4:14).
God not only has a plan that involves healing, relief, deliverance and salvation for His people, but He made us a part of His plan.
Will YOU be the one He uses or will He have to choose ANOTHER?
(This blog was inspired by my pastor and John Bevere)
Stop Trying to Fix It
Underneath my car is this thing called an undercar cover or shield and let’s just say that thing has been through a lot.
One night, I got too close to the parking lot bumper and the cover split in half, but someone from my church came over with their tools and fixed it for me.
Then another night, an animal ran in front of my car as I was going home. Again, it tore the engine cover. I did everything I could to hold on to that cover. I even used duct tape.
Well, some time had passed, but I eventually ordered a new engine cover. The parts and labor was a little over $200.
My car was finally fixed and it looked good.
Then, one day as I was driving to the movie theater with my son, I saw something in the road. It looked like Spanish moss. But, instead of swerving to the right or left, what did I do? I drove over it and apparently it got caught in the cover and pulled it as I was driving. The next thing I heard was the sound of something dragging on the highway.
My new cover was damaged again and that was money that I couldn’t get back.
So, I let the cover drag as long as I could because I wasn’t getting this fixed again. When it was time for my next oil change, a young man (from a different auto shop) looked at the cover for me.
Minutes later, he comes in the waiting area holding the cover over his shoulder. I’m waiting for him to tell me the price of the parts and labor, but he says nothing. So I said, What is it going to cost?
He said, Nothing. You don’t need it. You can drive without it.
And you know what? He was right. I was trying to fix something that really didn’t need to be fixed. I didn’t need the engine cover to drive the car and it didn’t stop me from reaching the places I needed to go.
Why am I telling this story?
Because sometimes we try to fix situations that God can only fix and we try to change people that only God can change. We try to get to certain places in our life, holding on to things or people that was more of a burden than a blessing. And the enemy will use ‘what we think we need’ to get us off course, to keep us going in circles, to pull us away from the voice of God and to lead us in the wrong direction. Such distractions have cost many of us too much time and too much money.
I learned three things from this car as it relates to my life:
1) I can’t fix it.
2) Not everything needs fixing.
3) There are some things that only God can fix.
God Can Take Care of You
Stop trying to take care of yourself and trust God to take care of you. ~ Joyce Meyer
Your Father knows what you need before you ask. ~ Matthew 6:8, KJV
I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you. I will give you help and rescue you. ~ Isaiah 46:4, GNT
You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need. ~ Philippians 4:19, MSG
The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. ~ Psalm 23:1, KJV
Cast all your care upon Him, because He cares about you. ~ 1 Peter 5:7, MEV
God can and will take care of you.
Don’t Worry
worry: anxious, torment, troubled, lack of trust in God
Don’t worry about things.
Worrying doesn’t add to you. It subtracts from you.
It steals your peace and your joy.
Only people who don’t know God and the way He works worry.
Take one day at a time.
Don’t worry about what may or may not happen tomorrow or next week.
Give your attention to what God is doing now.
The enemy wants to distract you from what is really important.
It is more important that you seek God rather than the things He can give you.
You have tried it your way. Now, do things His way.
Find out what He wants you to do and do it.
Live as He wants you to live.
Be more concerned about giving than getting.
Your heavenly Father already knows what you need.
If He takes care of the birds, will He not take care of you?
If He gives them what they need, He will give you what you need.
Don’t worry.
[Scripture reference: Matthew 6:25-34]
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