I Can't Stay Like This
As I started to write this, I'm wondering if I should've released this before the last devotional. But I'm going to be obedient and write this how God gave it to me.
In the last devotional, I mentioned several of the miracles in the Bible. The ones I mentioned specifically were cases where the receivers called on Jesus. But there's something that has to happen first: you have to make up in your mind that you won't stay like that any longer.
As many of y'all know, I'm a member of the God and Goals Faith Tribe. It seems like every call, Ms. Crystal says you have to do the mental work first. Before you work on any business, you have to change your mindset. Y'all have no idea how many times I have to hear this (I work for a business consultant part time). Who would've ever thought it would be the same thing for a miracles?
It is your mindset that produces actions. I don't know about y'all, but when I have my mind set on something, there is absolutely nothing you can do to change my mind. There is nothing anybody can say to convince me otherwise. If faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things unseen, then I hold unto that hope until I see that thing come to pass. I can keep hoping, believing, and praying that something will happen, but what actions am I taking? Too many times people say they are "waiting on God," but in reality God is waiting on you.
He's waiting on you to call His name. He's waiting for you to do the work.
The Bible says
So if I have real faith, why wouldn't I do the work? If I didn't believe that that thing was going to come to pass, why would I work on it? Listen, God told me that I would be in a new location by the end of the summer. So what did I do? I started looking for jobs there and apartments there because God spoke a word, and I believe that it will come to pass.
Faith will make you do the unthinkable
Naaman did what no man ever dared to do. Most people who have leprosy are banished from the city, but Naaman went to go see a man. He made up in his mind I have to do whatever it took to get his healing. If that meant he had to go to Elisha, then he would do it. That's exactly what he did.
Now the funny thing is Naaman was mad that his healing didn't go as he planned. Sometimes when we hear something from God we expect things to go down a certain way, and that's not what happened. I was expecting God to make this transition for my move really easy. I asked for an exit strategy, and everything here in Augusta started going crazy, and it frustrated me. It forced me to gain understanding that I was not in control and that I had to do things God's way.
The thing here is Naaman never lost his faith. He was mad, but he went anyway. Sometimes you have to get a nevertheless in your spirit.
Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Peter was listening to a CARPENTER about fishing, and Peter was a fisherman. That doesn't even make sense, but he did it anyway even when Jesus told him to cast his net, he still did it.
When you make it up in your mind that you want the abundant life that God has promised you, and move by faith, miracles happen. It's time to make a move!
In the last devotional, I mentioned several of the miracles in the Bible. The ones I mentioned specifically were cases where the receivers called on Jesus. But there's something that has to happen first: you have to make up in your mind that you won't stay like that any longer.
As many of y'all know, I'm a member of the God and Goals Faith Tribe. It seems like every call, Ms. Crystal says you have to do the mental work first. Before you work on any business, you have to change your mindset. Y'all have no idea how many times I have to hear this (I work for a business consultant part time). Who would've ever thought it would be the same thing for a miracles?
It is your mindset that produces actions. I don't know about y'all, but when I have my mind set on something, there is absolutely nothing you can do to change my mind. There is nothing anybody can say to convince me otherwise. If faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things unseen, then I hold unto that hope until I see that thing come to pass. I can keep hoping, believing, and praying that something will happen, but what actions am I taking? Too many times people say they are "waiting on God," but in reality God is waiting on you.
He's waiting on you to call His name. He's waiting for you to do the work.
The Bible says
James 2:14-17 New Living Translation (NLT)
Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
So if I have real faith, why wouldn't I do the work? If I didn't believe that that thing was going to come to pass, why would I work on it? Listen, God told me that I would be in a new location by the end of the summer. So what did I do? I started looking for jobs there and apartments there because God spoke a word, and I believe that it will come to pass.
Faith will make you do the unthinkable
2 Kings 5 New Living Translation (NLT)
The Healing of Naaman
5 The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.[a]
2 At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. 3 One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.”
4 So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. 5 “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold,[b] and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.”
8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.”
9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.”
11 But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.
13 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir,[c] if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” 14 So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!
15 Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
16 But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused.
17 Then Naaman said, “All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord.18 However, may the Lord pardon me in this one thing: When my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to worship there and leans on my arm, may the Lord pardon me when I bow, too.”
19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said. So Naaman started home again.
Naaman did what no man ever dared to do. Most people who have leprosy are banished from the city, but Naaman went to go see a man. He made up in his mind I have to do whatever it took to get his healing. If that meant he had to go to Elisha, then he would do it. That's exactly what he did.
Now the funny thing is Naaman was mad that his healing didn't go as he planned. Sometimes when we hear something from God we expect things to go down a certain way, and that's not what happened. I was expecting God to make this transition for my move really easy. I asked for an exit strategy, and everything here in Augusta started going crazy, and it frustrated me. It forced me to gain understanding that I was not in control and that I had to do things God's way.
The thing here is Naaman never lost his faith. He was mad, but he went anyway. Sometimes you have to get a nevertheless in your spirit.
Luke 5:1-10 New Living Translation (NLT)
The First Disciples
5 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,[a] great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon,[b] its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”
5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.
Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”
Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Peter was listening to a CARPENTER about fishing, and Peter was a fisherman. That doesn't even make sense, but he did it anyway even when Jesus told him to cast his net, he still did it.
When you make it up in your mind that you want the abundant life that God has promised you, and move by faith, miracles happen. It's time to make a move!
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