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Four Key Steps to Unlocking Your Faith
Guest Post By Tashauna T. Lane
Have you ever been at a place in your life where you felt like every time you tried to fix something, it made it worse? For example, one of the best decisions I made was joining the military. After years of pondering and praying about what direction I should take and for the betterment of my family, I made the tough decision to get out. Unfortunately, my timing couldn’t have been worse.
At the time the country was in a bit of a recession and the state that I lived in was hit hard. During those dry times when you must make decisions that not only affect your life but, directly impacts the lives of others, it can make the situation that much harder.
By being in a dry place I was afraid to even trust my own judgment when it came to making decisions. I felt like I had to ask two or three people within my inner circle before I would even act on an idea. Not only had I found myself in a very dry place, my faith was starting to waver.
Most times my journal entries looked something like this, “Never thought my life would be like this… it seems as if the struggle is getting harder and not easier. I don’t know why I’m hurt and overwhelmed. I just want the situation to turn around. I hate living in fear. Fear of losing everything, fear of never reaching my goals. I have no solution to the problems… every time I try to fix it, it makes it worse. What do I do now? What’s my end game? How do I fix it?”
“”True, he struck the rock and water gushed out, streams flowing abundantly, but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?” When the Lord heard them, he was furious; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel, for they did not believe in God or trust in deliverance. Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven.” Psalm 78:20-24
Other times it looked like this, “Heavenly Father, I can feel your love strengthening me. Your love is everlasting. When I need to be held, your there. When I need a shoulder to lean on, your there. Father, I know you will never leave me nor forsake me and I will just continue to pray that your will, will be done in my life. Houses built on a sandy foundation can never withstand the storms of life. But a house built on the ROCK is unshakeable and unmovable. I pray you continue to give me the strength to fight this battle. Lord God, your words are embedded in my heart and I will put on the whole armor of God and fight. Pain produces power!”
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12
See the difference?
In one entry even though I had prayed about the situation, I started to doubt if it was going to be fixed and started trying to fix it in my own strength (Which didn’t work out too well for me). I had become desperate and in my desperation, I began to allow fear and doubt to block my faith.
In the second entry, although it was the same level of desperation, I allowed my faith to take over. I stopped trying to place my hand on everything and learned how to activate my faith by using the four key steps below.
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Prayer – Intimate time of communication with God
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door to pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray do not heap in empty phrases like the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:6-8
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Fasting – Breaks strongholds
“Even now,” says the Lord, “Turn and come to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance]. With fasting and weeping and mourning [until every barrier is removed and the broken fellowship is restored]; Joel 2:12
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Praise – Expresses our gratitude to God
And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. 1 Chronicles 29:13
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Worship – Gives honor to God
And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. Exodus 34:8
During times of struggle or while we are operating in dry places we often feel powerless. We feel like we have no direction and we view this season as a season where nothing grows. This season is quite the opposite, our perception is off and we must start viewing things by using our spiritual eyes not our physical ones. Great civilizations have flourished in desert or dry places, we must unlock and then activate our faith, to start flourishing as well.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
To learn more about the types of fasting mentioned above, see our previous post HERE.
Tashauna T. Lane
Knocked Down – But Not Out! (www.knockeddownbutnotout.com)
Tashauna T. Lane, is a mother of two, a coach, consultant and a blogger; whose aspiration in life is to enable women who have been knocked down by life rid themselves of the lack mindset. She writes at www.knockeddownbutnotout.com.To connect with Tashauna, you can find her on Instagram @Knockeddown_butnotout or on Facebook @KnockedDownButNotOut11
Waiting on God: In Humble Fear and Hope—Waiting on God
“Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him,
upon them that hope in His mercy;
To deliver their soul from death,
And to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul hath waited for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
According as we wait for thee.” (psalm 33:18-22)
God’s eye is upon His people: their eye is upon Him. In waiting upon God, our eye, looking up to Him, meets His looking down upon us. This is the blessedness of waiting upon God, that it takes our eyes and thoughts away from ourselves, even our needs and desires, and occupies us with our God. We worship Him in His glory and love, with His all-seeing eye watching over us, that He may supply our every need. Let us consider this wonderful meeting between God and His people, and mark well what we are taught here of them on whom God’s eye rests, and of Him on whom our eye rests.
“The eye of the Lord is on them that fearHim, on them that hope in His mercy.” Fear and hope are generally thought to be in conflict with each other, in the presence and worship of God they are found side by side in perfect and beautiful harmony. And this because in God Himself all apparent contradictions are reconciled. Righteousness and peace, judgment and mercy, holiness and love, infinite power and infinite gentleness, a majesty that is exalted above all heaven, and a condescension that bows very low, meet and kiss each other. There is indeed a fear that hath torment, that is cast out entirely by perfect love. But there is a fear that is found in the very heavens. In the song of Moses and the Lamb they sing, “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?” And out of the very throne the voice came, “Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him.” Let us in our waiting ever seek “to fear the glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD.” The deeper we w bow before His holiness in holy fear and adoring awe, in deep reverence and humble self-abasement, even as the angels veil their faces before the throne, the more will His holiness rest upon us, and the soul be filled to have God reveal Himself; the deeper we enter into the truth “that no flesh glory in His presence,” will it be given us to see His glory. “The eye of the Lord is on them that fear Him.”
“On them that hope in His mercy.” So far will the true fear of God be from keeping us back from hope, it will stimulate and strengthen it. The lower we bow, the deeper we feel we have nothing to hope in but His mercy. The lower we bow, the nearer God will come, and make our hearts bold to trust Him. Let every exercise of waiting, let our whole habit of Waiting on God, be pervaded by abounding hope—a hope as bright and boundless as God’s mercy. The fatherly kindness of God is such that, in whatever state we come to Him, we may confidently hope in His mercy.
Such are God’s waiting ones. And now, think of the God on whom we wait. “The eye of the Lord is on them that fear Him, on them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” Not to prevent the danger of death and famine—this is often needed to stir the waiting on Him—but to deliver and to keep alive. For the dangers are often very real and dark; the situation, whether in the temporal or spiritual life, may appear to be utterly hopeless. There is always one hope: God’s eye is on them. That eye sees the danger, and sees in tender love His trembling waiting child, and sees the moment when the heart is ripe for the blessing, and sees the way in which it is to come. This living, mighty God, oh, let us fear Him and hope in His mercy. And let us humbly but boldly say, “Our soul waiteth for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. Let Thy mercy be upon us, O Lord, according as we wait for Thee.”
Oh, the blessedness of waiting on such a God! a very present help in every time of trouble; a shield and defense against every danger. Children of God! will you not learn to sink down in entire helplessness and impotence and in stillness to wait and see the salvation of God? In the utmost spiritual famine, and when death appears to prevail, oh, wait on God. He does deliver, He does keep alive. Say it not only in solitude, but say it to each other—the psalm speaks not of one but of God’s people—”Our soul waiteth on the Lord: He is our help and our shield.” Strengthen and encourage each other in the holy exercise of waiting, that each may not only say of it himself, but of his brethren, “We have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
“My soul, wait thou only upon God!”
—Waiting on God