Ask & You Shall Receive

Intro Hey everyone, this is it's Giving Grace with Madeleine Grace where we talk all things Jesus, living for him, walking with him, the UPS, the downs, the good, the bad and the ugly. A place where we can all feel safe to just come as we are and learn together. He's changed my life and I know if he's done it for me, he can do it for you. So let's talk about it. Speaker 2 Hey, everyone. Welcome back to It's Giving Grace. My name is Madeleine Grace, your host. Speaker 1 And today we're going to talk about asking and receiving. Ask and you shall receive. In the Bible there is a handful of verses where it talks about. Ask and you shall receive Asking for the things that we want and a lot of them say that if you do ask, you will receive. And I think it's important to understand really what that means because it's easy to read a verse like that and be like, OK, I can ask God for anything, right? And so. Speaker 4 If the Bible says. Speaker 3 Ask and you shall receive. And I'm asking for XY and Z and it's not happening. Then God, you must not be a man of your word. And then discouragement and doubt can start to creep in. So I think it's so important to understand the balance. Speaker 2 Of asking and receiving and making sure that it's in alignment with God's will. Speaker 3 There have been many, many moments in my life where I've been disappointed and have had to wait for the things that I want or not gotten the things that I want and received bad news and bad news. So I thought because bad news to us is really great news when it comes to God's plan coming to pass because God always knows best. And every single time I've gotten a no in one area, I'm able to see how much God has used that no to really bring me to exactly where I'm supposed to be. So ask and you shall receive. I'm super, super passionate about that statement in that phrase and the verses that connect with that because it's truly how I discovered Jesus was real. Discovering Jesus For a little context and back story to my journey, I came to know Jesus back in 2013 through a challenge. It was a 21 day challenge called the Burning Hearts Challenge made by Becky Tirabasi and it was in those 21 days that I was just really honest with God. I was journaling about all of my insecurities, about how I felt so bound and fearful and cared what people think and and had so much self rejection and self judgement and people pleasing. I was a stage 12 people pleaser. I was such a massive people pleaser that I had no idea who I was because I was too consumed with trying to figure out who everyone else was so I could try and be that. And so during these 21 days, it was like a moment where I got really honest in journaling about, OK, who am I? And I remember I did one journal entry where I was like, OK, I'm going to write down everything about who I am and own every aspect of it. Because I used to be someone who was afraid to even admit certain music that I liked, whether it be Justin Bieber or whatever. But I was too consumed with, oh, is this wrong? Is this not right? Is this lame that I, I didn't know what I enjoyed. I didn't know how to own what I enjoyed. So I journaled my favorite color, my favorite music. Speaker 1 What I like to do? Speaker 4 What things make me me and just kind of got to know who I am for the 1st? Speaker 3 Time and so throughout these 21 days as I was getting to know myself and being honest with myself and bringing God into that, I would journal things that I wanted help in. I would be like Lord I. Speaker 4 I'm feeling so insecure here. I really want to be someone who's so confident. I really want to be like this person who exudes so much peace and and confidence and fearlessness when they speak. I want to be able to enter any room and and not feel some type of way because someone else might be in that room. I want to be able to be consistent in my identity no matter who I'm around. I want to be a woman of my word. I want to be able to own who I am regardless of what people think. I want to be able to own how I dress and feel confident in the way I dress and in my own skin. And just had a laundry list of things that I really wanted to see change in my life. And it was in being honest and asking God for what I wanted instead that I saw those things start to change within my heart within those 21 days. And so I started to feel more confident. I started to feel more more at peace with who I am more more contentment in in the life I've been given because I have God walking me through it. And I just started to feel certain insecurities start to shrink and levels of confidence start to build. I started to feel myself, have a voice. I started to feel myself get creative in what I wanted to dress and feeling comfortable to own it. I started to feel layers of who I am and the ability to own those layers for the first time in my life. And that was so crazy to me because I had tried to do it before Jesus. I tried to figure out who I am. I tried to to do all the things, but my way didn't work. And so the moment I pursued Jesus and I sought him out and I asked for the things that I wanted to see, that's when I started to receive it. It's really what happens when you pursue Jesus. You're asking for the freedom attached to Jesus. So simply by you pursuing relationship with Jesus, you are going to receive freedom. You are going to receive the goodness of God. Because when you pursue Jesus, you can't help but start to learn truth. And when you learn. Speaker 1 Truth you get set free. Speaker 4 Jesus is the way, the truth and the life the truth. The more you pursue Jesus, the more you pursue truth. And so when you start to understand what truth is, anything that's a lie, you start to understand the difference. And so you start to understand as well the power of our mind and how truth is so important to pursue because we can so. Speaker 2 Easily be deceived. Speaker 4 So I think there's different layers of asking and receiving and there have been so many times in my life and still today where I ask him for anything and everything, whether it be I wake up and I'm feeling exhausted and I have a long day. It's like, OK, Lord, give me supernatural energy. I have this, this, and this I need to do. Please give me strength, Please give me energy. Please help me accomplish these things because I feel weak. And that is a great example of asking and, and hoping to receive because it's you partnering with Jesus in the midst of your weakness. And God's power is made perfect in our weakness. So what a great opportunity for God to step in and to give you what you're asking for. And it's not to say that every single time you're going to be like, Oh yeah, God came through. And if he doesn't, then then he doesn't care about you. It's just an awareness of, oh, OK, I need to constantly ask and have open dialogue with God about the things I'm wanting because you and I have free will. So God just doesn't take over. He's a gentleman. It's a relationship for a reason. And any relationship, the other person just can't take over. Like you have to be honest about what you want and what you prefer and what you're wanting to see and your vision and what you desire. And it's in that expressing those things that you hopefully receive it from your partner or from whoever you're in relationship with because you're wanting to create a healthy relationship where you build and you want to love on each other the way that you both desire. And so with God, it's like He loves to come through when we get specific. He loves to come through when we ask because it's us at the same time, putting our faith in Him through the ask, through the prayer that He can do that you simply asking God to do something is a level of trust that's a mustard seed. Because if you're asking Him, there has to be some level of belief that you think he can do it. And even if it's tiny, even if it's small, God can use the faith of a mustard seed to become anything, to become someone who has faith that doesn't fail, someone who has the strongest faith that we've ever seen. It can start as a mustard seed, and that's all God needs. That's the only room God needs to move mountains and to start to change things in your heart. It's my favorite thing in the world because it really just speaks to the reality of the relationship we all have available to us. Ask and you shall receive. Let's actually read it. So it's Matthew 7/7. This is one of them. I have like 7 verses we can go through but the first one is Matthew 7 seven and it says keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be open to you for everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. I love it because how often do we give up on the things that we want because it's not in our timeline? That's another thing is just because it's not happening when we want it to doesn't mean God's not moving, doesn't mean God's not working. God has a perfect divine timeline that most often does not align with ours because we live in a culture where we want it and we want it now. We don't like to feel uncomfortable. We like to to, to get what we want. And when we feel uncomfortable, that's when we start to go to other things to meet those needs and other options and other decisions, rather than waiting on God to answer us, to give us exactly what we're needing because. Speaker 1 We don't always. Speaker 4 Know what we need. We know what we want. We don't always know what we need, but God does, and He gives us what we need rather than what we want. Because He knows when He gives us what we need, it prepares us for the future, for the things that we do want. Sometimes we need to go through the waiting season and the character development and that's what we need. What we need is for God to delay because that's what helps us understand it's not our timeline. That's what helps us let go and let God. That's what helps us get out of the way, surrender control and allow God to be strong for us when we're weak. Allow God to be the leader of our life because if, if we got everything we wanted in our timeline, would that be real trust? Or would that be us being able to trust ourselves? Because when we ask it, we get it. And so it's us kind of taking the steering wheel if we're always getting what we want in our timing and, and following our schedule rather than, OK, Lord, I know that you know best. This is what I'm wanting. I trust you with the rest. I trust you with the outcome. I trust you with the timeline because you know so much more than me. We don't know so many things. We don't know what we're needing sometimes because we have fleshy tendencies. We have many moments of falling into sin and being confused and having the wrong perspective. But God always knows what's best, and it's in the waiting that. Speaker 1 Is actually God giving us what we're asking for? It's funny asking you shall receive. If we ask for a husband or a wife, we may not get the husband and wife right now, but he's going to. Speaker 4 Give us the things we need in order to get there. He's going to give us what we're needing right now to help get us to the end goal if it aligns with his will. And then you might be like, OK, well. Speaker 1 How do I know if if what I'm wanting aligns with God's will, does what you want aligned with the character of God, does what you want aligned with God's truth, with his word? Because if what you're wanting aligns with God's word and aligns with His heart, I would argue it's just a matter of time. I would argue that he wants to give that to you. It just has to do with is it now or is it best later, or is it best in a different version of that? Like God is able to take what we're what we're desiring if it's in alignment with his will and sometimes give us something that's even better than what we were asking for. And it reminds me of the verse. Take Delight in the Lord and He Will Give You Your Heart's Desires I think it's Psalm 34. Let's go to it. Psalm 34, The wave. Why did that commercial just go in my head? What is that called? The wave? Psalm 37, four. And it says, and it says, take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires. Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your heart's desires. If you are pursuing the heart of God, if you are pursuing relationship with God and you're learning who He is, you're starting to understand the character of God. You're pursuing His heart on a daily basis. The Holy Spirit is going to be doing a work in your heart. Anything that's not like Him is going to come to the surface, which is why when you start to walk with God, a lot of times you enter a wilderness season or difficult seasons of struggle or or a lot of self work because you're learning how to be more and more purified. You're learning how to look more and more like Jesus. And that can't happen until we go through those purification, sanctifying seasons where God refines us, where God reveals the parts of our heart that don't look like him so that we can rely on him for healing in to help get our needs met in that healthy way. In a way that's sustainable, in a way that's healing and whole and not painful and sinful, and in a way that draws us away from God, but in a way that draws us close to God. And I would say, looking at my walk with God over the past decade, there have been many desires that I've had where I've been like, Lord, I really want this. I really, really, really want this. Please, please, please. But looking back, a lot of times my motive wasn't right. A lot of times I thought this would be good, but it was coming from a motive of, of a need being unmet of, of wanting to feel enough, of wanting to feel worthy, of wanting to feel chosen and desired of wanting to feel like, like I'm accepted and and not rejected. It's all about the motive. And so I always, always, always ask God to purify my motives. It reminds me of that verse Search me and know my heart. What is that verse? Let me look it up really quick. It's like search me, know my every thought do do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do do and know, know my heart. Oh, I think this is it. Psalm one 3923 through 24. It says search me God and know my heart, Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the and lead me in the way everlasting. That is a powerful prayer because that will effortlessly check your motives. Search me and know my heart, Lord, test me and know my anxious thoughts. I always say, Lord, purify my motives, purify my thoughts, help my heart to be in alignment with yours. Get rid of anything that's not of you. Get rid of anything that's that's, that's drawing me away from you or trying to to encourage me to get my needs met in a different way. Lord, purify my motives so that my heart can be in alignment with your will. And the more we pray prayers like that, the more our heart will become more in alignment with his will. And then we can rest with a verse like Psalm 37, four that says, take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires. Pursuing the Heart of God Take delight in the Lord. What does it mean to take delight? Be delighted in relationship with Him. Grow in relationship with Him. The more you grow in relationship with God, the more your motives are going to become more purified because that's what happens when you pursue the heart of God. The Holy Spirit can't help but purify who you are to be the most pure version of who He created you to be. The thing about sin is it draws us away from our true identity. Speaker 4 It it steals from us, it brings death to our identity. So when we pursue the Holy Spirit, pursue Jesus, the only person who has freedom over sin that you and I now have access to. Speaker 1 We now have that same spirit living within our heart, which means we can become more and more purified. We can learn how to become more and more purified, to become like the original identity He created us all to become. Because He created us separate from sin. Sin wasn't a part of our identity when we were created. We were born into a sinful world with a evil, sinful devil. Speaker 4 Who's coming after US 24/7? Those things try to change our identity. Those things try to draw us away. But now that we have access to the Holy Spirit, we have a way to. Speaker 1 Stay out of that. We're not going to be perfect because our flesh and our spirit are going to be wrestling until the day we die and get to be in heaven. But that's the good news is we don't die. We get to go to heaven to live on. And so it's in not only a, a freedom that we need to experience right now, but it's eternal freedom. It's freedom after we die because with the power of the Holy Spirit, I love this, this visual, because we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our heart. The Power of the Holy Spirit When we die, we get to rise again and go to heaven, just like Jesus died and rose again. It's like, OK, the same Spirit that rose Jesus back to life is the same Spirit that's going to give us access to heaven when we die because the grave can't hold us when we have the Holy Spirit living within us. And that's not only a cool perspective to think about when we actually do die and go to heaven, but it's a really cool perspective to think about on a daily basis that you and I have the opportunity to die and rise again from the things that we struggle with daily. So anything you're struggling with, any addiction, any perspective, any stronghold, you have the ability to die and rise again from it. You have the ability to get freedom from it. You have the ability to heal from it. It's all about pursuing the one who has that power necessary to. Speaker 2 Help you get. Speaker 1 Through it and it always brings me back to a verse like Matthew 77. Ask and you shall receive. What are the things that you feel like you're still bound in? What are the things that you're still struggling with? Where are the areas that you need help in? When we're aware of our weakness and are aware of our flaws and are aware of our need for God, that is the most beautiful heart posture to be in. Because when you have humility, that's humility is knowing your need for God, knowing where you fall short, knowing you need God because we can't do it without him, knowing that when you tried to do it without him, things didn't go well for you. So Lord, I need you. I know my need for you. I know how much I mess up. And so when you have a really clear understanding of where you fall short and you run to God with those areas and you seek him, you're going to find him and you ask for help. You're going to get help. You're going to get strength, you're going to get freedom from the things you're struggling with. It may not be in our timeline, but I guarantee it's going to be in his. And if it's in his timeline, everything will work out because we may need to struggle with certain things longer than we want in order to get us to a perspective of full surrender. The amount of times in my life I've hit my rock, rock bottom in my perspective in order for me to really get to a perspective of let go. You aren't in control. You do not have control. You can't be in control. You cannot save yourself. You can't fix yourself. This is why Jesus had to come. Jesus had to come because we could not fix ourselves. We kept falling short and God said, hey, I need to come up with a master plan so that my children can get freedom from sin, can be redeemed and restored and saved because sin kills us on a daily basis. And so his master plan was Jesus. His master plan was sending his Son was coming to earth in human form so that he could prove to the world that he has power over sin and that he did overcome the grave and. Speaker 2 It's just so cool because. Speaker 1 He left that same spirit for all of us. He left that same Spirit for all of us to learn how to tap into, for all of us to learn how to abide in, for all of us to learn how to follow and to continue to see the goodness of God transform our heart from the inside out, because that's what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit transforms your heart from the inside out. One of my favorite demonstrations is the one where you have One Cup full of mud, one pitcher of water. You pour the water into the cup of mud and it what becomes muddy water, right? But if you keep pouring water into that cup, it'll filter out and it'll become less and less dirty. This is what the Holy Spirit does to our heart. We will continue to be refined and refreshed and restored and renewed and made stronger, going from glory to glory the more we pursue the heart of Jesus and we follow the Holy Spirit's lead and we. Speaker 2 Ask. Speaker 1 And we seek and we knock and we pursue the heart of God. The heart of God will just start to abide in yours. And you're going to start to reflect the character of God. You're going to start to reflect his nature. And so you're going to be an effortless vessel to love others through. You're going to be an effortless testimony to the goodness of God, which is the whole point, right? Anything God's doing in in our lives, in my life is really just to show the goodness of God, to be a testimony to anyone else who who may need to find him, who who doesn't know him. And so we are walking vessels of God's love when you're in relationship with Jesus, because his love effortlessly speaks to who we become. Who we become when we follow Jesus is the perfect testament to who God is and what he's capable of. I just love the stories where you hear like, wow, how did that person find God? Like they used to be like this. And I think about myself like, This is why I'm so passionate about Jesus and identity, because I used to be a completely different person. I used to be so fleshy and, and full of the world and in the party scene and, and getting my needs met through boys and, and attention and and alcohol and things of this world to make me feel something, to make me feel loved. And it was in pursuing those things, the things of the world that altered my identity that confused the heck out of me with who the heck I am. I had no clue who I was or what my identity really was. I get fired up because I know if God did it for me, he can do it for anyone. And if I can be saved from who I was, I I all I want to do for the rest of my life is help people get there too, because I used to be so bound. The thing about fear and sin is it's torture. It's you feel like you're in chains when you have a fear of people and people pleasing and unworthiness and you're falling into the party scene and you believe that alcohol helps you become who you really are. And you get trapped in all of that and the things of the world. You become a shell of yourself. You become a shell of yourself because you're allowing the sin to lead your life, which is separate from love. We're all deeply craving love, but we're going to things that starve us from receiving true love. So the cool thing about Jesus is you get to experience true unconditional love and get filled up and feel whole, separate from the things of the world that steal from you and bring death onto your identity. Pursuing Jesus and letting God's unconditional love affect your heart is the only thing that helps you stay out of sin is the only thing that sets your heart free is the only thing that shows you how priceless God's love is that it's really the only thing that matters. It's really the only thing that matters. And so I just want to encourage anyone, if you are feeling lost in your identity, if you're feeling confused about who you are or, or you're, you're battling with insecurity or fear of speaking or saying the wrong thing or being judged or, or you have like physical reactions of fear or you feel like you have a muzzle on in your mouth. Because that was me. I was so fearful of speaking up, so fearful of what people thought that I was a mute. I was, I was so quiet and so afraid of being wrong that I thought it was safer to never say anything at all. And the moment I started to pursue Jesus is the moment I found my voice. I started to learn what my voice was, that my voice has purpose, that I was created for a reason, that I have self worth. And, and it was a journey for sure. Because I look back on 10 years ago and I was having these crazy moments of, wow, God, you're so real. You're setting me free. I don't feel like there's a muzzle on my mouth anymore because he's removing the fear. And when you and when he removes the fear, you have more real estate in your mind to think about who you really are and what you enjoy and what, what you have to say. And so you go on this journey of of pursuing the person of love, which helps you understand that you are unconditionally loved and that you were created for a purpose. The trash man is here. Can you hear that? This is the thing about content creation is you just have to surrender control. You know, I didn't used to be so OK with this. Gosh. And now I lost my train of thought. What was I saying? Holy Spirit, bring me back. Was I saying when you pursue the person of love, you start to understand what love really is and that we're loved first? The cool thing about God is we're loved first, but we function opposite. We try to prove to the world that we're lovable. We tried to prove to ourselves that we're worth being loved. We do things to gain love all the time, and God is just trying to teach us, hey, hey, you're already loved. There's nothing you have to do to prove your worth. You existing is proof that you're worthy of love because I chose you. I wanted you to be born. And it takes the pressure that you need to be anything because who you are is already in there. The moment you start to pursue Jesus, your identity that's already in there starts to become ignited. The only reason why we get confused about who we are and and we struggle to figure out why this thing can't be ignited is because the sin crouches in and hardens our heart and and confuses us. That is what sin does. It causes pain and heartache and confusion and destruction and addiction and it ruins. Speaker 4 Us, but when we. Speaker 2 Pursue Jesus, it sets us free. Speaker 1 And then once we start to make room for God, he takes us on this journey. This is where I left off. He takes us on this journey of learning who we are. And so I I bring that up too, because. Speaker 4 In my 10 years with following Jesus, there have been so many years. Speaker 2 That is so loud. Oh, the trash can man is here and he's being so loud. Can't you see we're recording in here? Speaker 1 We have so many other verses. Wait, what's that other verse I want to cover James 4/2 through three. Let's just go there while we're waiting. Are We Safe? James 420, Dang it, are we safe? And I bring that up to. Speaker 4 Help anyone who may feel like, oh, I have to make it to a certain version of me or I have to become a certain version of me to be used. I need to hurry up and not sin anymore. I need to hurry up and be healed and whole. God has you on a journey of being healed and whole in his timeline. We so badly want to fix ourselves and don't like certain parts of ourselves, but sometimes we have to sit in that in order to really gain the lesson, in order to really tap into the fullness of the the lesson that God is trying to teach us. And so when you just surrender your need to be any level of whole and healed in your. Speaker 2 Walk with Jesus. It allows yourself to be loved as you are because you are. God loves you as you are today, which prevents you from needing to strive to become anything and try to strive to become whole or healed or to fix yourself. Speaker 4 In your own strength, because that won't work either. We, we have to surrender our need to fix ourselves when we want to be fixed because God is the only one that can fix us. God is the only one, the Holy Spirit is the only one that can heal us and reveal things to us and teach things to us. And I would say that's my biggest testimony this year is surrendering my need to fix myself and allowing myself to be human and having my human moments and, and being a mess one day and, and loving myself through it because I'm a human that lives in a sinful world and, and life is tough and, and leaning on God every moment through that, that I'm able to stop running from my human moments and allow. Speaker 2 God's love to. Speaker 4 Fill my heart in those moments instead, which will make me less scared when they come up in the future because I'm showing myself, hey, I can cope when I'm having a low moment or the devil is a liar or my perspective is off or or my timeline doesn't come through or I'm disappointed or I have doubt. I'm able to be OK because I have history with God bringing me through. I have history with God loving me no matter what emotion I was feeling. And so when they come up, you don't have to run for them or reject yourself or talk to yourself as if you're not a good believer or you're not following God's plan well or you're not going to have a good life because you don't have enough faith or enough peace or enough joy. That's not how God talks. God loves you through your human moments. And actually, blessed are those who are poor in spirit. God says So when you're poor in spirit, you are blessed because you have an opportunity to see God show up in a powerful way. Every single defining moment in my life was when I was depressed, when I was at my lowest, because it was when I was at my lowest that I was the most surrendered. Speaker 2 To to his. Speaker 4 Plan and getting out of my own way and putting my eyes back on him and being desperate for Him to take over, to give me a new perspective, to give me joy, to help me do this life that He gave me. Because we didn't ask for this, right? Speaker 2 He created us all to be. Speaker 4 Here. So Lord, if if you created me to be here and you have a plan for my life and I'm struggling with depression, I'm getting out of the way. You have to help me get through this because if not, I'll just be a shriveled little shell of myself forever. But I, I bring that up because every single low, low moment of depression or hopelessness or anxiety or worry or fear, it really just revealed how real God is in my life. And I am so grateful for every day that I was depressed because it shows me that God can set me free from it. It shows me that it's temporary. It shows me that it's not who I am, it's just the things we struggle with. It shows me the power of my mind and how I need to be more disciplined in my mind and read God's word and no more truth and fight against the lies. It shows me the importance of community and and relying on the people around me when I'm having those low moments. It shows me the power of prayer and how I get specific with Lord. I'm feeling depressed, I'm feeling numb, I'm feeling hopeless. I'm feeling that I'm unworthy, that I don't have a plan, that I don't know what I'm doing with my life that that I'm behind. It showed me the power of being honest in prayer because it was in the honesty and the desperation that I saw God set me free in a moment, that my perspective was renewed, that I found joy. The next day, circumstances hadn't changed. Still the same life, but completely different from the inside out, completely different person. Simply because God's love showed up, simply because I pursued the heart of love, which gets rid of the sin, gets rid of the bad perspective, gets rid of the lies, gets rid of the strongholds and, and the spiritual powers of this world that come at us. Because we're not fighting against flesh and blood. We're fighting against principalities and darkness and evil and and. Speaker 2 It's just so. Speaker 4 Refreshing when we understand that because then we understand, oh, any battle in my life is not going to be overcome in my own strength. Holy Spirit set me free, protect me, guard me, teach me, lead me, help me to follow you well because I can't lead me. And when you get to that perspective and that heart posture, you were in a really good place to have Psalm 37 four come to. I want you to have Psalm 37 four come to pass. Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your. Speaker 2 Heart's desires. Speaker 4 When you have moments of being set free from depression or coming out of depression or or any low moment, your delight in the Lord thrives because you see the power of him, right. You see what he's capable of and that with him you have hope. With him you can get out of anything, accomplish anything and and live a beautiful life. Taking delight in the Lord will give you your heart's desires because the more you pursue the heart of God, the more his desires become your desires. So he puts desires in us. So if we're having desires in the midst of pursuing Jesus and walking with God, he puts them in there so we can start to trust our desires more and more that oh, I really want this God. I feel like you want it for me too because I'm feeling more led and passionate about this. And it's in the taking one step towards that desire that you're able to see, OK, is there favor here? Is God helping open doors for me? Is this feeling more seamless because those are the little signs that God is leading you when things just start to unravel and it feels effortless and, and, and that there's a lot of favor. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy. There's going to be probably a lot of uncomfortable feelings because you're having to take leaps of faith. It's uncomfortable when we don't know what we're doing. It's uncomfortable when we don't have a plan. It's uncomfortable when God is the leader because most often he doesn't give us the full picture. When God is the leader, we kind of have to step blindly and trust because it's in the trust and the stepping blindly that God's power gets to come through. And and that is actually a blessing. Because if we knew the whole plan and we could do it in our own strength, then that would be really overwhelming. Because that would communicate to me that I have to continue to keep the strength, that it's my job to continue to make my purpose come to life, that it's on me to maintain this freedom or maintain this favor. But when you understand that it's God that's doing it in your life, that is a really comforting feeling because it's not something you have to maintain. It's not something you have to sustain because it's not coming from you, it's coming from God. So you get to just let go and let him move in your life. It's scary because you have to step when you don't know what you're doing. You have to take risks and, and, and not put your trust in money and in people and in things of the world. And those are the lessons we have to learn. We have to learn. Speaker 1 OK, Lord, I want you to be my main provider. I want to learn how to trust you with my finances. So if that's the prayer, God's probably going to take you through a season of your finances being really uncomfortable and you learning how to ask and receive and depend on God wholeheartedly with all of your finances. But that's a blessing because now you're able to let go of even your money and just be like, oh, you even are the one who gives me everything that comes into my life, whether it be finances, jobs, opportunities, it all comes from him. So when we remember that, it helps us let go and, and, and simply prioritize him. Because when we prioritize him, everything goes well for us. It won't be easy, but it'll go well because you're pursuing the One who is the King of the world, who has power over all evil, who knows the plan for your life, who knows the blueprint on your life. When you pursue the One who knows the blueprint of your life. How refreshing that you just get to be loved as you are. No striving. And the more you pursue God, the more He reveals the things you're supposed to be doing. Speaker 4 So it's just this. Speaker 1 Really beautiful journey of relationship and following God's lead. But it's tough, I'll tell you first hand. Speaker 2 It's so, so tough. Speaker 1 Like my prayer for as long as I can remember is, Lord, I just want your plan. I want to be so surrendered. I just want to follow your lead, Holy Spirit, I want to, I want to do anything that you want me to do. Just just make it clear for me. And with those kind of prayers, it comes with learning how to surrender. It comes with learning how to forgive when you don't want and learning how to fight when your perspective is off, when you feel waves of depression or numbness. It's holding on and pursuing Jesus in the midst of that. It's knowing how to have patience when you're so frustrated. It's, it's, it's, it's learning the long-suffering. It's learning patience waiting on God in his timeline. And that's tough because life is difficult, right? We live in a world where it's so easy to compare. It's so easy to believe that we're less than because when we're feeling weak, it's an open door for the devil to tell us lies. And so we're vulnerable to those lies when we're in a weak state. So This is why it's so important to be aware of when you're weak, when your flesh is weak, because you need to stand guard. You need to be someone who runs to God when you feel weak and and and prays and goes to prayer immediately rather than allowing the lies to fluster, because it's easy for them to fluster when we feel weak or, or when we feel off or when we feel disappointed or doubtful. So our homework is pursuing Jesus, keeping our eyes on Jesus because that is how we're going to overcome anything. That's how we're going to maintain a good perspective. That's how we're going to fight the battle that comes at us. I also really want to read James 4/2 through three because it has to do with the ask and you shall receive. James 4:2-3 Oh, James, where are you? There you are. OK James 4. Whoa. James 4 Two through 3 The title of this portion of scripture is called Drawing close to God and it says you want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want, because you don't. Speaker 2 Ask God for it. Speaker 1 And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong. You want only what will give you pleasure. This verse pairs really well with Matthew 77, the ask and you shall receive knock and the door will be opened. And it also pairs really well with Psalm 37, four, how when you take delight in the Lord, he gives you your heart's desires. Because when you take delight in the Lord, your will becomes more in alignment with His will for your life. So his desires become your desires. And this verse speaks really clear how. Speaker 4 A lot of times we don't get what we want because our motives aren't right. Even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong. You want only what will give you pleasure. This is super important to remember, going back to praying for pure motives, going back to how God doesn't give us what we want sometimes because our motives aren't pure. And if you were to give us the thing we're asking for when our motives aren't pure, that wouldn't be a very good father. That would be an unloving father because it would be dangerous for us. We would be getting something with the wrong motive, which means we're going to learn how to put our trust in something that isn't good for us or, or get something that we're not ready to handle. And so God needs to make sure that our motives are pure before we get the things we're desiring, because then he can trust that we can handle the things that we're asking for. He can trust that we'll be able to to handle what we're desiring with a heart that's in alignment with his heart. To think of a good example, like I used to work at Soul Cycle back in the day and love Soul Cycle shouts out to all my Soul Cycle peeps. And I really wanted to be an instructor. I wanted to be a fitness instructor. I always knew that. My superpower was my voice because God had set me free from so much bondage and and feeling bound with my voice and learning how to own my voice and I just felt like it was the beginning stages of me learning that. Speaker 1 There was something there that I know God wanted to use my voice in some way. I just didn't know what. And so I loved fitness. I love cycling. And so I saw teaching and I was like, whoa, that would be so cool. I could I could teach fitness because I love it, but also give encouraging words and be the secret agent for God on the mic and and use my voice as a testimony to spread the good news and. Speaker 3 It sounded perfect. It sounded. Speaker 1 Textbook to what I felt like God wanted me to do and what I was born to do. I just had this vision of being a fitness teacher and and giving motivation. I think I tried out like 3 different times and didn't get it and I was so bummed. I was like why why why am I not getting this? I feel like like this is such a perfect route, but looking back, it's like I think I really wanted it because if I were to get it, it would prove to myself that I was enough, that I was doing enough, that I was worthy. And so there were certain motives that weren't pure. And not only that, but I don't believe I was ready for a mic in my hand at all. Like the ability to lead back then, I was so new in my understanding of who I am and who God was that he had to give me those no's in order to really continue to build my character and to strengthen my identity and give me more confidence and help me be OK no matter what I did. Help me to feel loved and worthy and accepted no matter what I did for work, no matter what kind of message I gave. And I think that's something we have to learn sometimes is before God gives you a certain calling or purpose, we have to learn how to get all of our identity from Him before we enter in any sort of purpose. Because if he gives us the purpose when our identity isn't rooted in him, then a lot of times we start to put our identity in the things that we do and we start to get self worth from the things that we do and the impact that we're having. But God needs us to have true contentment in him alone. True identity in him alone, because the things of this world are so futile. The things of this world fall away in a moment. Relationships, people, places, things, money, status, loved ones, they can all go away in a moment. And so when our identity is rooted in what we do or anything like that, it's super dangerous. For one, those things can't tell you who you are. It's a false security, but they can leave you in a moment and then what? You're doomed and you're having an identity crisis. But when you go to God to tell you who you are and you find true identity and fulfillment in him alone, not only does he give you access to freedom because he gives you power over sin. He takes you on this journey of learning who you are, but you can be so whole and rooted in him alone that no matter what the world throws at you, you may have to take a seat for a day and, and process and feel all your feelings, but you'll get back up again because you know God is good and he carries you through and he has a plan and he uses everything for good. And he, he, he's able to redeem and restore anything that was lost to make it 10 times better down the road. And really just becomes a part of your testimony that you can use to influence more and more people to pursue the Kingdom of God. So I bring that up to say that the nose in our life are on purpose. They're so on purpose. It sucks because we don't like to hear no one. We really want to, yes. Speaker 4 But the more. Speaker 1 You walk with God, the more you start to see those Nos are little blessings and how cool that God is such a good Father that He only gives us what we're ready for. Because if he were to give us the yes when we want it, when we're not ready, then we would crumble. It would be too overwhelming. We wouldn't have the character necessary. He a lot of times is protecting us from entering into more and more pain and anxiety and fear because if He were to just give us the thing we're wanting when we're not ready, that would probably crush us. We wouldn't have the strength or endurance or history with God to know that He can carry us through history with God, to know that when we're feeling weak, He can still use us. So, so when we have low moments or weak days in the midst of the blessing that He gives us, we're able to continue on and lean on Him for strength in the midst of our weakness because we have history of God doing that in our past. He uses everything for good and it all has a purpose. So ask and you shall receive. If I can leave you with any message, it's ask everyday. Ask what are you needing? Peace. Ask joy, ask confirmation, ask financial help. Ask for your burdens to be lifted for anxiety. Speaker 2 To go away for. Speaker 1 You to have strategy for how to create content for you to have strategy for how to write a book for God to give you. All the right people to publish a book for God to give you. Speaker 4 Consistency of peace in your mind for God to restore your family and bring family members to Christ, for you to become a leader to help lead your family to Christ. For you to walk out the big dreams that you have on your heart for you to dream with God. Lord, help me to dream with you. If you're feeling like you don't have purpose or motivation or strategy or vision, that is where you start. Ask him for all of that. Lord, I don't have vision. I feel kind of blah. I don't have passion. I know you created me for a reason. Help me to gain passion for whatever it is you want me to do. And I kid you not, you will start to get passionate about something. You will start to stir up something in your heart and and give you ideas and and it's in the pursuing the one fun, exciting idea, even if it's small, that your trust in following the bigger ones down the. Speaker 2 Road will grow so. Speaker 4 Start small, don't make this big plan that you need to have all this passion for this big dream and this big goal. If you're lacking passion, OK, what's the tiniest thing you're passionate about? Oh, I'm passionate about jump roping. Let's go jump rope and, and, and go have fun doing that. Or I'm passionate about talking about identity because I know God has set me free from so much identity. Maybe I'll start sharing my story online and see where that goes. And that's not to say that that's going to be your path, but it's to say that you're honoring what you're passionate about with one little step. And the more you honor what you're passionate about and taking those little steps, the more you're building trust in yourself and trust in him. Because again, the more you pursue God, the more his desires become your desires. So if you have passion about something and, and you're pursuing him and what you're desiring is in alignment with the heart of God, run with it. Take the step, do the thing, do the baby step of whatever it is that you want because God honors the faith. He honors the step and he's going to guide you. If that's not the right way, he'll shift you and he'll move you this way. He uses it all. The one thing that's scary is he can't use us if we don't do anything because He can't force us to do things. He can't force us to take the step if we're too afraid. But the good news is if you're pursuing the heart of God, He's going to help deal with that fear first. He's going to help address that fear and help you navigate OK. How can I let go of the fear? How can I learn more of God's truth, to believe more truth so that the lies don't cause more fear? And this is the grace of God and how He reveals one thing at a time. He's going to help you. Speaker 2 Deal with your. Speaker 1 Fear first, so that then. Speaker 4 Ten months from now you can take the baby step of faith that can lead to a massive dream coming to pass. And this is how God is so cool and how his timeline is so cool and how we can trust His timeline. Because even if the fear is causing you to be stuck and to feel paralyzed from your dreams. If you are pursuing God and relationship. Speaker 1 With him and reading his word, it's just a matter of time that that fear will diminish. It's just a matter of time. Speaker 4 That he's going to show you how to overcome the fear. Because having faith isn't the absence of fear. It's knowing that what you're doing is more important than the fear. Fear is going to be there, you know, like no matter what we're doing in life, things are going to be scary and we're going to feel overwhelmed and, and, and have that fear come at us. But that's when you choose faith. Speaker 1 Rather than listening to the fear, the fear is going to feel scary, but you know who lives within you, so it's choosing faith and continuing to step in faith no matter what the fear tells you. Speaker 2 Ask and you shall receive. Ask him anything. Literally you guys. Speaker 1 I mean, one thing that comes to mind is I wanted a purity ring when I started my walk with God back in like 2014. And I really loved this like chain Tiffany ring. I don't know what it's called, but I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about. It's like this. Like I don't know if chain is the right word, but it was this. Speaker 4 Thick chain ring and I loved it. It was super popular back then and. Speaker 1 I didn't have the money to buy it, but I really wanted it and I really wanted a purity ring. I was like, Lord, I really want that ring. I really want a purity ring. And I kid you not, you guys at my job at Soul Cycle at the time, guess what ring showed up and lost and found in my size? The Tiffany chain ring. And that is how God can show up specific. Speaker 4 He loves to bless us. He loves. Speaker 1 To to have these crazy specific moments come to pass because it speaks to how real he is and how intentional he is and how he's listening and he's he cares about the little things he loves to have us have those moments of you are kidding me. What what? Because it's it strengthens our faith. How can a Tiffany chain ring that I was just asking for show up and lost and found. And of course you wanted the policy. If anyone comes back, you give it. But if certain amount of days pass, the staff can do what they please. And I'll just never forget that because God heard a thought of mine and he said, I'm going to have some fun with this. I'm going to give her this ring and through lost and found to show that I'm here and I and I and I love her desire to have a purity ring. I love that she's wanting to honor me with that. And so of course I want to give her a good gift. Of course, I want to give her what she's desiring, and so I just share that to again, share that nothing is off limits. If you want a purity ring, pray for it. If you want something in relationship, pray for it. Whatever you want. If you need Peace of Mind, ask for it. If you need financial help, ask for it. If you need friends, ask for it. The testimony I've had this year with friends and God surrounding me with a whole crew of people when I didn't really have many in the in the new year is crazy. Ask and you shall receive because God is a good Father who wants to give you exactly what you need. All we have to do is pursue Him. Pursue Jesus in relationship. Ask for the things that you're desiring and He's going to give you exactly what you need and more. And that's why for the Jesus challenge, I love to start with journaling every morning. I'm just, I give him my heart. I share with, I share the things I'm wanting and desiring and the things I'm working through and struggling with. And it's in that being super raw and honest in my struggle and in what I'm desiring and what I'm wanting, that God is able to step in and be like, OK, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's, let's continue to get healed here. Let's, let's walk out this dream together. Let me show you that I could be strong for you here, that I can hold your hand here, that you're capable of accomplishing this. I'll give you the people for this dream. I'll surround you with all the right people that you need to run with, to have community and and to see the goodness of me in people and to start to have a heart for people. Speaker 2 God is so good you guys. Speaker 1 Ask and you shall receive because he gives you everything that you need and and and things that we don't even know that we need that are like crazy answered to prayers. So for any verse references it was Matthew 7 seven first John 514 through 15 is a good one. Psalm 37 for James 4, two through 3, Matthew 711, Philippians 4/6 and John 624. Those are all verses that talk about asking and receiving and pursuing the heart of God and God giving you your heart's desire because he's such a good father and he's just worth pursuing. He's the best decision he'll ever make. And how fun to to ask for fun things, you know, get creative. That's my homework to you. Get creative, specific, raw, honest, because nothing is off limits with God. So ask and you shall receive. I can't wait to hear about all the things that come from this and that. Speaker 4 God gives you from your obedience and asking and seeking Him. I would love to pray for you guys before we end. Speaker 2 Lord, thank you for this time together. Thank you for just putting this message on my heart. I'm so passionate about it because I've seen you come through in so many ways. Ask and you shall receive. Lord, you're such a good father. You always listen. You always give us what we need. And so I just pray for anyone that's listening to this or or watching this God that you would just rise up this thing in them to pursue you, to ask for the things that they're wanting to to to go to you to get that their needs met. To ask for any breakthrough that they're desiring or any healing or any strength that they need or any strength that they need to fight the temptations they're battling with or the sin they're struggling with. Lord, just help all of us ask for the things we're needing and to pursue you and to make space for you. Because when we ask and we make space for you, you get to do your thing. We get to step out of the way and and let go of control and let you do what you're best at, which is giving us everything that we need, purifying our heart, making us look more like you, giving us strength and the fruit of the Holy Spirit to help us live a really blessed fruitful life and a purposeful life and a life that honors. Speaker 4 You and gives you. Speaker 2 Through all the glory, Lord. So I just pray the same testimony that I've had, Lord, and seeing you come through with my heart's desires and asking and receiving. I just bless anyone who's listening, Lord, that they would just start to get so creative in their journal and their prayers and their ability to lean on you on a daily basis. Whether it's they need peace, they need help with anxiety, they need help getting out of depression, they need help coping, they want a purity ring, they want redeemed relationship, they want a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a husband, a wife, they want their kid to succeed in school, whatever it may be, Lord, help us to pursue you with every single one of our hearts desires. Because even in our pursuing you with our hearts desires, that's when the worry starts to go away because we're trusting you with them. We're putting it in your hands, which helps us stop worrying about the things we can't control because we're not in control. I just pray that a lot of testimonies would come from this, Laura, that you would show up for people in a way that they've never seen that they would start to see how real you are on a new intentional, specific, detailed level. And it would just make our faith be fun. You love to have fun with us. You love to blow our mind and, and give us things we could never imagine, Lord. So just rise up a new level of fun and excitement and connection and relationship with you and that that's what this is. It's a relationship. We get to do life with you. We get to depend on you and ask, ask for things and any good father wants to give their kid good gifts. And so Lord, help us to trust that. Help us to grow in our trust that you do want to give us good things that you do give us what's best for us. That sometimes waiting is what we need. So when we ask and we we have to wait, that's us getting something. That's us receiving a season of waiting, which is really a blessing, Lord. So help us to see it all in that perspective. Give us eyes and ears to hear whatever you're saying about our situation so that we can rest with faith and with confidence and clarity that you're a good father. You know what you're doing, and all we need to do is pursue you. Ask, knock and pray for the things that we're desiring because you do the rest. We love you Lord and I just pray that all of our faith grows from here and that we get to see the goodness of you get revealed in new ways every single day in Jesus name, Amen. Speaker 3 I hope this was encouraging for you guys. Speaker 2 Go get in your journal, ask, knock, pray, get specific and let me know. If you have any testimonies also let me know. Speaker 1 What kind of topics you guys want to cover in the comments? Any themes? I'd love to hear it. OK, bye.