MYF episode 3

The podcast discusses the importance of having unwavering faith and trusting in God's will. The speaker emphasizes the need to diligently seek God's word and know His will in order to have faith. Personal anecdotes are shared to highlight the power of staying rooted in God's guidance and experiencing supernatural provisions. The speaker encourages listeners to make the decision to trust God and live a life of faith, reminding them of God's love and good plans. The message emphasizes the need for believers to step into their identity and authority through faith. You are listening to the Marry Your Future podcast with Christina Armstrong, where we hope you break up with your past so you can marry your future. Christina is an author, English coach, and speaker who is passionate about helping women journey from breakup to boss up. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. So we're talking about faith that doesn't retreat. And really, it's making that decision. It is coming to the end of yourself in deciding that you're going to trust his word over what you see, over what you feel, over even over what you think, and it goes back to that scripture that says, pulling down every thought that rises up against the knowledge of Christ. You literally have to decide that you are going to settle this, that you're not going to be moved, you're not going to be shaken, you're not going to come off of your post, you are going to stand in your faith. And so you know, one of the things that I love about faith, one of the key, one of the very, very key points to living a life of faith is faith begins where the will of God is known. If you don't know that it's God's will to heal you, how do you have faith for that? If you don't know that it's God's will for you to have a healthy relationship, how do you have faith for that? If you don't know that it's God's will for you to prosper, how in the world do you have faith for that? And the problem is, we don't know the will of God and we don't know the will of God because we don't take the time to diligently seek him to seek out his word. You know, religion will tell you, oh, God is so mysterious. You never know what he's doing. Mysterious people don't leave a book. You have a book. You have a Bible that's filled with the thoughts and the plans and the will of the father. We're just too lazy. And we want to get fed by a pastor instead of going in and reading our own word and doing our due diligence and studying and having the Holy Spirit, who's the teacher, lead us and guide us into all truth. It doesn't work like that. And so if you're struggling in the area of faith, I believe that this is going to be a very, very, very impactful series for you. And so we're going to be going through the seven steps to living a life of faith. And really, the Lord has been taking me on a journey of supernatural faith, like living supernaturally. And when I say living supernaturally, I mean bringing home a check with like $400, you know, a paycheck and rent is $1,200, you know, plus electricity, plus, and nothing, nothing gets turned off. Nothing gets, I never get put out. That's supernatural living, you know, at that particular point in time, I was only because of what the Lord had led me to do. I could only work four hours with all the other responsibilities I had. And when I sought the Lord, about, you know, God, this doesn't seem right, this, this, this don't, this one plus one ain't equaling two God. When I sought the Lord, I had a confirmation, this is what I want you to do. And I'll tell you, again, it goes back to faith begins where the will of God is known. I knew that I was in this season by the, by the leading of the Holy Spirit. I didn't bring myself here by myself. I didn't choose this place. I didn't decide to, you know, quit my job and my good job and leave my stability on a whim. No, this was a decision to follow the Lord. This was a decision to know his will for my life. And this was a part of it. And so in doing that, I was able to know the will of the Father, okay, God, you called me here. Okay, God, this job, I can only work four hours. Do I take this job? Or do I go and try to get two and three jobs? What do I do? And I'll never forget it. I was, I went to sleep, and that was a question I had for the Lord. And the next day, I woke up with a song in my head. And it was a part of a rap verse, this Christian rapper, I don't even know the name of the song today. But in the song, he said, I just turned down, I just turned down a million bucks just to be home with my son. And so there was that was my answer. That was the Holy Spirit speaking to me, because my big question was, God, do I take these this job that's only working four hours making way less than what I'm used to making? Or do I go out and try and get something else? Because meanwhile, I'm also homeschooling my son. And that was the answer. And so I knew at that particular point in time, that's what I needed to do. I knew at that particular point in time, that was the will of the Father for my life. And so since that was the will of the Father for my life, I had faith. Every time a bill came, I was like, Lord, you I didn't tell myself to work four hours, you did. And so I was really planted in the place that the Lord had called me. I was really planted in where he told me to be. I was planted in the decision, and I was not going to be moved. I did not move based on what I was doing based on how I was following the leading of the Lord. And so you have to know the will of the Father, you have to know that it's him leading you and not yourself, not your own motives, not your own desires. And you that's where the whole dying to self comes. And so, you know, before, like, literally just sitting in the midst of the situation, every time a bill would come, every time the rent would come up, it may not have been paid on the day that it was due. But let me tell you, it got paid, whether it was, you know, the rent and the late fees, whether it was just the Lord teaching me and how to have integrity in my communication when I owe something, whether it whatever it was, and then there was also a level of rest in that. But knowing the will of the Father is the primary, primary, primary step to making sure that you are rooted, to making sure that you don't move, because if you know that you know that you know that your Father has given you this instruction, then nothing else matters. And we have to get to that point where our hearing is tuned in. You know, there's a scripture that says, your ears shall hear the voice behind you saying this is the way, walk in, whether you turn to the right hand or the left. You know, this is something that the Father leads and guides us in. And so when we are walking and operating in faith, we have to decide to stick it out no matter what it looks like. We have to decide that this is how we're going to live. And you know, there's a scripture where the Lord says, if you retreat, why, why, why would you retreat? I'll have no, no pleasure in you. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. So why would you want to live any other way? Now, like I told you guys on the last few episodes, faith can be a little traumatic. I mean, you know, I tell all of my business. And so you guys know that I had some traumatic, just really wild rides with the Holy Spirit and I was like, this, this is, this don't feel good. This don't feel like it's gonna work, but I stuck it out. I stuck it out and I got to witness the provision, the love, the way the Father orchestrated things. I got to witness His faithfulness, but it all started with the decision of deciding to stick it out no matter what, deciding that I wasn't going to move, deciding that I was going to be firmly planted and rooted. And you know, uh, that other scripture, it says, uh, and that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the things, what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ. When you realize how loved you are, when you realize that the God of the universe, the God of the planets, the God of the world knitted you together in your mother's womb, when you realize that he knows the number of hairs on your head, when you realize that he has good thoughts and good plans about you, when you realize that you are the apple of his eye, then the, the direction that he gives you is easy to follow because you know he loves you because you're rooted and grounded in my daddy loves me. So even though this doesn't look like what I think it should look like, even though it looks scary, even though it's a little traumatizing, I'm going to decide to stick it out because guess what? My father loves me. My father has good thoughts about me, good plans for me. And when we decide to stick it out, when we decide to make the decision from a place of trust, from a place of dependence on him, man, will your life change? Will your life change? You know, there's a saying, it goes, if you want to live like no one else, you're going to have to live like no one else. And that statement is so true. We read about the generals. We read about Abraham. We read about Noah. We read about Joshua, Jacob, we read about all of these generals of faith. When are you going to step into that realm of being a general of faith? You have better promises today. You have the same spirit of the living God who raised Jesus from the dead dwelling on the inside of you. You have no excuse. But the problem is we're lazy. The problem is we're comfortable. The problem is we're used to this microwave world. The problem is that we have to be in the driver's seat, and we have to know what the Lord is doing, and we have to know the turn before the turn. Trust me, I get it. I am one of those people, if I'm following the GPS, and I have to make a right in three miles, I'm already in my right lane. Like that's me. So I get it. But you can only be grounded and rooted when you know that you know that you know that he loves you, when you know that you know that you know that he's for you, and when you know that you know that you know that his plans are good, and you know his will. It literally is time for us as believers to shape up. It is time for us to walk in our full authority and our full identity. And that requires faith. That requires faith. And the truth of the matter is you have faith in something, but is it beneficial to you? You got faith in something. You have faith that your paycheck is going to be there when they say it's going to be there. You have faith in the chair that you're going to go and sit down in. You have faith in that relationship that you have no business being in. You have faith in yourself. You have faith that when you go out to the car, it's going to start. When are we going to put our faith in the creator? When are we going to trust him with every aspect of our lives? Because what we do is we compartmentalize and we say, okay, God, you can have this part. You can have, you know, you can have my finances, but you can't have my relationship. Oh, no, no, no, especially mothers. We are horrible at this. We'll say, God, you can have my marriage, but you can't have my kids. I got the kids. No, absolutely not. No. Faith begins with the will of God is known. Faith. When you know the will of God, your prayers become targeted. Your prayers become laser. You know, there's another scripture. It says this is the confidence that we have that if we ask anything according to his will, you have to know his will. When you know his will and you ask, you can have that confidence, that faith, that whatever I ask according to his will, not only does he hear me, but I have the petitions that I've asked of him. That's how you get rooted. You know the will of the father. That's how you get rooted. You know what he's going to say about the situation. That's how you get rooted. You spend time and you ask his thoughts and his opinions about the situation. That is how you get rooted. You begin to recognize that you are the loved, the beloved daughter, the beloved son of the most high. Guys, we've got to get rooted. And I'm not just talking to you. I'm talking to me because although I've had some wins and I've been able to live out this supernatural life, I'm not finished. There's levels to this. There are levels to this. I'll give you an example and I may have said this last episode, but you know, there was a time when the Lord told me in that season where the check is only $400 every two weeks now, $400 every two weeks. I have every bill due. And the Lord tells me a trip to Chicago comes up for to go meet with my mentor and the community. And at first I'm like, okay, cool. Yes. Thank you. My faith is boom, boom, boom. And I was like, all right, I'll be there. But then as we start to get closer and closer, I'm looking at tickets. It don't look like this is going to work. And a part of the problem was I thought I knew the will of the father, but really I knew what religion would say. And so to me, it did not make sense. It was not a wise decision to buy a ticket, a one day ticket to get to Chicago when my rent is due, past due, and every bill in the house is past due. And I literally, I literally have, I don't even know, I have less than a hundred dollars in my account for sure. And so automatically I'm like, no, that can't be wisdom. That can't be, you know, what it is. And the Lord corrected me and he said, you're supposed to be there. What? Do you see what's going on? And, you know, I had to, I had to literally repent because his ways are not my ways. I didn't, I didn't inquire of him before making the decision. And so when I finally did, it really messed with my religion because I was like, that's not wise. That's not being a good steward. But when I really sought the Lord out, when I got his will, when it was like, no, you're supposed to be there, you need to go, oh, this is going to be a faith journey. Okay. Well now I know the will of my father. The will of my father is to go despite what it looks like. Okay. So what's my next step? Well, faith without works is dead. So now I'm looking up tickets and I'm like, okay guys, Lord, do you know what's in my account? Clearly either you going to pay for this ticket, I'm going to supernaturally get, something's going to happen because if you're telling me I'm supposed to be there, then okay, we're going. And I started looking for tickets. I let my mentor and the community know, I'm like, Hey, this is the situation I'm looking for tickets. This is what it looks like. And money starts coming in. Boom. Here you go. Boom. Here you go. Boom. Here you go. And before I knew it, before the day was over, I had the money to buy a one way ticket to Chicago. Do you know, I got to, I drove to Denver airport, made it to the flight, took a flight, was in Chicago, uh, and I was where I was supposed to be. And there was so much impartation there. I'm so glad I didn't miss it. But how did I get there by faith? How did I get there by being rooted and being grounded and being in alignment with what his will was for me, his will for me was that I would, I would be there. That's what he wanted. And so even though I didn't have the finances, I had faith. And one of the things the Lord told me, one of the things that he's been teaching me is, uh, faith is like Visa. It's accepted everywhere. And I was like, wow. Okay, Lord. He was like, you don't have money, use faith. You don't have, you don't have what you need, use faith. And it's knowing again, his will, what is his will? What do you want me to do in this situation? How, how are we going to do this? What's the strategy, Lord? What are your thoughts about this situation? He gives you, he gives you the strategy, he gives you his will. He lets you know what the plans are. It's up to you to believe them and to walk in faith. No matter what it looks like. No matter, and I'm telling you, if you're praying for your kids, and it begins to look crazy, keep pressing because the will of your, the will of the father is that he has good thoughts about them, good plans for them, his, his thoughts and plans outnumber the grains of sand on the earth. His thoughts for them are good. He desires for them to go and grow and multiply. He desires for them to be the blessing. He desires for them to be a walking billboard of his goodness, his character, his grace. He desires for them to prosper in all things and be in health, even as their soul prospers. So if that's not the reality that you see, you get grounded in the faith, get grounded in the will that that's what he wants for your children. And when all hell begins to break loose, you dig your heels in, you get 10 toes down and you knock until you buck and you do not move. We have an adversary. We have an enemy after our children, after our finances, after our marriage, after our lives, after our legacy. But we're too self-centered. He's for you. The question is, do you know that? The question is, do you believe that? The question is, do you know the will of the father pertaining to your situation? The question is, are you rooted? Are you grounded? Are you 10 toes down? Because if one of them toes is up, you are balanced. We're going to spend a lot of time going over what faith is and how to walk a faith of life walk a life of faith. And we're going to really explore just some tips and tools that the Lord has really poured into me. I do have a resource that I am working on for you guys and so you will hear it first here on the podcast. So make sure that you are tuned in and make sure that you are following so that you don't miss any of the updates, but it's going to be a really cool resource that the I'm putting together with my team and we're going to get it out because I believe it will be a blessing to you. And so I really just wanted to encourage, it may have been hard, it may have been some tough things to hear, but the truth of the matter is we have a loving father and he has good thoughts about us, good plans for us. When are we going to tap into that? When are we going to believe that? When are we going to accept that? And if you want to access anything from heaven, it's going to require faith. So I hope that you will rock with me over the next few weeks. We're going to be again just diving into this and of course, you guys know I will keep it all the way real. You'll know the good, the bad, the ugly and so I'll give you all my business because I believe that real life testimony, real life stories are very helpful and impactful. So make sure you share this episode with someone who needs to be encouraged and stay tuned. Peace. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to check out the website at itschristinaarmstrong.com for more content. And remember, God can't hear who you pretend to be. It's time you break up with your past so you can marry your future.