Part two of this series is about prayer. My great-grandmother was a prayer warrior. Every morning, she prayed for every single person in our family by name. She taught me to walk around the church building every Sunday morning before service and pray over every seat in the building. She taught me to pray over the person who would sit in each individual seat, and to pray that they would be transformed by God through the service. Anytime someone came to her with a problem, she prayed about it. That was always her very first response.
I’ve mentioned in a few previous posts that words have immense power. But have you thought about that fact in terms of prayer? Prayer is one of the most powerful things we could do. Speaking to God Himself is an amazing opportunity. A lot of times, people are skeptical of prayer because we don’t always get an immediate response. Sometimes we can pray and just like that God gives us an answer, but it's not always like that. We have to be patient and learn to wait on God and put our full trust in Him. When we do that, God will answer our prayers. And keep in mind that when I say God will answer your prayers, that doesn't mean that He'll always give you the answer that you want. He might say "yes", "no", or “wait”. Here are my two favorite verses on prayer: James 5:16 ...the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. When people have problems, prayer is normally not the first thing they turn to. They turn to friends or other things that they think will help them. For example, when people get sick, what is the first thing they typically do? Call a doctor or run to the store to grab some medicine. But what if before doing any of that, they stopped and prayed? James 5:14-15 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up... You can pray alone, get your family or friends to pray, ask your pastor to pray for you, or all three. If you have faith that prayer will heal you or someone else you're praying for, then the Bible says that they will be healed. Prayer can heal anything and everything, even diseases incurable by medicine. The Bible says that all it takes faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). In case you didn’t know, a mustard seed is about 1-2 millimeters in diameter. This is just proof that faith in prayer is the most effective and powerful weapon you can have. With prayer, you can have a one-on-one conversation with God, the Creator of the universe. So next time you have a tough problem, turn to God in prayer first; then you'll see the power of prayer. In closing, I’d like to give you an example of what prayer can do. I was born with something called genu valgum. There’s a bone extending from my mid-thigh down to my knee cap and it’s supposed to be straight, but I was born with mine curved in both legs. This caused extreme pain constantly. It was awful when I was sitting, but standing or walking just made it excruciatingly worse. I tried different medications, leg braces, and physical therapy. None of it worked. I went to several different orthopedic doctors to hear different opinions, but they all told me the same thing: the only way to heal my legs was to do a complete reconstruction surgery that would leave me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I’d never again get to play softball or basketball like I’d done since I was three. I’d never again get to run around with my five little siblings. I was devastated. Then, about two and a half years ago, my youth group prayed over me. Now, I had received prayer for my knees countless times before. I had begun to lose faith that God would ever heal me. But on this particular night, something was different. A guy in my youth group said he had a message from God. That message was this: “There is someone in this room who has been suffering from a disease her whole life. She’s been told that she’ll have to have extensive surgery and never be able to walk again. Bring her to the front and pray over her.” Keep in mind that no one outside of my parents knew about the surgery and wheelchair. That’s how I knew it had to be God. So I went to the front. The whole youth group prayed over me. Suddenly, I felt the bones in my legs shifting. When I looked down, my bones had been realigned to their proper position. I jumped up and ran around the room. I didn’t feel a single bit of pain, and haven’t since that night! Let my testimony be proof of just how powerful prayer can be if you have faith the size of a mustard seed.
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My late great-grandmother was an amazing, strong woman of faith. She was a beautiful Christian woman who didn’t let anything waver her trust in God. For the next few posts, I’m going to be writing a series titled “Lessons From My Grandmother”. The lesson we’re focusing on today is trust. My grandmother’s favorite scripture was: Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. That verse was on every birthday and Christmas card she ever wrote in my lifetime. And that’s the scripture I’m going to focus on today. I’m not one to trust easily. Some people trust until they’re given a reason not to; some don’t trust until they’re given a reason to do so. I definitely fall into the second category. If I tell you that I trust you, that’s not a phrase I use lightly. It’s difficult for me to trust the people around me who I interact with every day. So imagine how hard it is for me to trust someone I’ve never seen. Trusting God is a lot easier said than done. Especially when His plans are almost never clear. When you go through the things I’ve been through, it can be hard to “let go and let God”. But I’m going to give you a few scriptures to help you achieve that level of trust in God. Isaiah 26:4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. God is a rock. A firm foundation. And He’s not just any kind of rock; He’s an everlasting rock. When you put your trust in Him, you’re not trusting in something unstable. God is always there, even when it doesn’t seem like it. Psalm 37:5 …trust in him, and he will act. God isn’t one to leave you high and dry. You put your trust in Him and He will repay that action. God will help you through your situation. He will answer your prayers. It may not be right away, and it may not be the answer you want, but always remember that His thoughts are greater than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). God will come through for you. All you have to do is let Him. Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good. You might not see it right now, but things will work out in the end. God hates to see you suffer. We just have to trust that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. When all is said and done, everything will be good. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.” This scripture has always been of great encouragement to me. God has a plan for my life. There are 7.8 billion people in this world, yet God still has a specific plan for me. But not just any plan. A hopeful plan. A plan that gives me a good and prosperous future. It is true that I don’t know that full plan right now. But I know that by placing my complete trust in God, all will be revealed in due time. Take it from someone who has major trust issues: it won’t be easy to place your full trust in God. When you say, “Okay, God. I trust You,” you’re doing more than just saying meaningless words. You’re surrendering to God. You’re surrendering your future. Your family. Your relationships. Everything. You’re hopping out of the driver’s seat and asking God to take the wheel. And believe me when I say this: He will be more than happy to do so. Hope is a valuable thing. And while hope and faith go hand in hand, they’re not the same. Faith is knowing that something will happen, even if there’s no substantial evidence. Hope is wishing something will happen. I believe that it’s essential to have both. Life is full of seemingly hopeless situations. I’ve had my fair share of “hopeless” situations. I almost gave up countless times. I remember one day, I heard my mom talking to someone about me and she said, “I can just look at her and tell that she has no hope anymore.” And she was right. I had lost sight of the power of Christ. It took me a long time, but I finally realized that scripture gives us plenty of reasons to have hope, no matter the situation.
1. Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you… One thing that jumps out at me from this verse is the fact that hope isn’t always easy to find. It’s not always right in your face. Sometimes, you have to really look deep. Jesus has called us to have hope. No matter what. Not only in “good” situations. In every situation, we’re supposed to open the eyes of our heart and take hold of the hope offered through Christ. 2. Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Put simply: don’t give up on your hope. Even when times get rough. Because Jesus has promised us hope, and He is always faithful. Do not be swayed by the troubles of this world. Because the hope that Christ gives us is so much stronger. 3. Isaiah 40:31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength… Things may be tough right now, but keep your hope. God promises to give you strength through your situation. Even when you’re beaten down and tired, keep hold to your hope. The Lord will strengthen you. 4. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The Lord has already promised us hope. God had a plan of hope laid out for us before we were even born. All of God’s plans are good. Even if we can’t see it, we mustn’t lose sight of our hope. Hope is something that’s in short supply. We cannot get by in life without having at least a little hope. Take it from someone who’s been through a lot: hope is always there. Even if it seems like nothing will ever get better, remember that there is no such thing as hopeless. Hey everyone! Boy have I missed writing. I apologize that I haven't written in awhile, I have been super busy and just haven't had the time to sit down and write. But I'm back now! We'll be jumping back into our 2 posts a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. I'm posting today instead of Friday just because I felt like writing today. If you're subscribed to my email list, you'll notice that I now have that up and running.
Have you ever felt like God loves everyone else more than He loves you? I definitely have. Maybe it's because you've been praying for something and He's not answering your prayers with the answer that you want, or maybe He keeps allowing bad things to happened to you. No matter the reason, that's a horrible feeling. But I'm here to tell you that God doesn't play favorites. Jesus came to earth to die for you. If you were the only person on this earth, He still would've died. He died for every single person has ever existed and ever will exist. Not just for your pastor or youth pastor, or for that one super spiritual person in your youth group. God has something amazing for you, you just haven't gotten to that place in your life yet. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that it is really hard to look around and see all your friends receiving miracles such as supernatural healing or the gift of speaking in tongues. Ever since I was 9 years old, I had prayed for the gift of tongues. I was so upset at God because I thought that He didn't love me as much as He loved my friends because they all could already speak in tongues. But God doesn't necessarily give out gifts when we want to receive them, He gives them out when He knows the time is right. When you're close enough to Him. When you're at the right place in your walk with Him. I didn't speak in tongues for the first time until I was 13 years old and praying with one of my friends for her family. Another example, I've had really bad knee pain for years. My knee will randomly dislocate and I'll have to pop in back in place. It constantly hurts, whether I'm sitting, standing, playing sports, or laying on the couch. At first it was just one knee, but now it's the other one too. And recently, my hip/thigh has been bothering me a lot. I've gotten prayer for it I don't know how many times and God hasn't healed me yet. But last week, a friend of mine came to church with a brace on her knee and a wheelchair, but left being able to run and jump. And I was super happy for my friend, but I was also jealous and upset at God. Why was she healed but I still have to be in constant pain? I had to stop and remind myself that everything happens in God's perfect timing. That's something that you should remember too. I know it's difficult to see God working all around you, but it seems like He's not doing anything to help you. But just put your trust in Him and let Him work in His own perfect timing. On Tuesday we talked about how when we get left out, it can sometimes leave us feeling worthless. Today I'm going to give you three things to remember when you're feeling worthless.
There are many different things that can cause us to feel worthless. People making fun of us, not making a sports team or cheerleading squad or getting a bad grade on a test, or maybe you’ve actually had people tell you that you’re worthless. But whatever your reason for feeling the way you do, you do have worth. When people tell you otherwise, or say things that make you think otherwise, that is Satan using those people to attack you. I’m sure just about everyone reading this has felt worthless some time in their life. But there are some people who feel it more than others, and that’s because Satan knows your weak spot and he’s using it to his advantage. When you’re feeling worthless, here are a few things to remember. 1. Your Worth Comes From God Alone No person could ever take away the worth that God has given you. No matter what you accomplish or don’t accomplish in life, it doesn’t give you or take away your worth. 2. Your Appearance Doesn’t Define Your Worth I know some girls that think that if they’re not beautiful in the eyes of their peers, then they’re not worth anything. They think that if they don’t have perfect skin, hair, eyes, teeth, and weight, then they’re worthless. But that’s just not true. As I said above, your worth comes from God alone. 3. You Have A Purpose To Fulfill Each and every person on earth has a specific plan for their life. [“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11] That scripture is a promise from God to us that we do have a purpose on this earth. And even if you think you’re not worthy enough to fulfill that purpose, God says that you are worthy enough or else that scripture wouldn’t be in the Bible. People will try to tell you that you’re worthless. Satan will try his absolute hardest to get you to believe it because he knows that if you believe it, you won’t believe that you can fulfill your Kingdom purpose. Do not let him deceive you. The Bible says that when Satan spouts off lies, he is speaking his native language because all he knows are lies. There is not one ounce of truth in Satan. He is the father of lies and he will do everything in his power to get you to believe his lies. But God’s power is so much stronger than Satan’s. And God has also given us the ability to say no to believing Satan’s lies and to hold on to God’s truth. Don’t allow Satan to deceive you. Trust in God when He says that you do have a purpose, and don’t let others define your worth. Your worth comes from God alone, and nothing and no one could ever take it away. |
MissionIn short, I started this blog because I want to give girls all over the world hope. All of the topics I write about on this blog are things that I have struggled with or am still struggling with. I want to help young women everywhere achieve freedom through Christ. Archives
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