The best advice I have ever heard came through a speaker on a Christian radio program this past month.
Upon hearing it, I was immediately convinced of its importance.
It literally stopped me in my tracks, and I determined right then and there that I would apply this advice to ALL matters in my life - immediately.
You may not consider this the best advice YOU ever heard, but it has certainly changed the course of my life, thoughts, and purpose for living, I think, FOREVER.
This website was created to inspire Christian women, and that is what I hope to do – INSPIRE!
My prayer is that you, too, may see the importance of this advice I am about to share, and apply it to your life, as well.
So, there I was, a few weeks ago, sitting at my desk in the middle of paying bills at work, listening to this Christian radio station with my earbuds, when something that was said suddenly perked my interest.
“What is this guy saying?” I prompted myself to listen closely.
I laid down the invoice I was about to pay and grabbed a pen and paper.
Something this speaker said quickened me, and I wanted to write it down. Recognizing this feeling, I knew the Lord had ordained for me to hear something specific for my life at that moment.
A man’s voice was continuing to talk passionately through my earbuds. I turned the volume up so I would not miss anything.
Last Christmas, my husband gave me a pair of Bluetooth earbuds and I absolutely love them. I keep them at work plugged into a charger under my desk. As soon as I am alone in the office, I activate the earbuds, place one in my left ear and turn on either the radio, music, or an eBook, and away I go, doing my office work and enjoying audio entertainment at the same time.
My husband’s gift has blessed me repeatedly.
Sometimes it can get lonely in my office, being the only female. So, I have appreciated other voices streaming through my earbuds to keep me company. Today, my radio companion had something important to say – and I did not want to miss any of it!
My attention was at its peak and I was writing notes furiously, for this topic was speaking directly to my heart!
I missed the speaker’s name, but he was speaking to a live audience of men and women, and everyone was laughing over his depiction of how differently men and women’s brains are wired.
It is always fun to listen to speakers or comedians talk on this subject, because it is so very true, and all couples can relate with our extreme differences.
After bringing out some spiritual truths and laughing over the male’s tendencies, the speaker jumped back to discussing the female’s brain and her tendency to get involved in too many projects.
His contrasting point was that the male brain likes to focus on one project at one time while the female brain likes to focus on MANY projects at one time.
I thought this was a funny comment, and it made me laugh.
Just days before, my husband covered his ears when I was talking to him about another idea for a project I had, and he said, “My ears are hurting! How can you have so many ideas all the time? You literally have 1,000 ideas a day to my one idea. Sometimes it’s too much!”
Of course, he was being funny with me, but it was very truthful at the same time!
Yes, the speaker had my full attention. My female nature could greatly relate with what he was saying!
Do you have a lot of projects going on? Or ideas in your head you want to fulfill? Then you may think this is the best advice you have ever heard, too! Keep reading!
At present, I have several in-depth projects in the works, and like I said, I’ve even mentioned in passing to my husband the other night that I was thinking of venturing into a new one.
Mind you, a couple blog posts prior to this one, titled, A Simple, Beautiful Life, I shared that I was determined to take a break from my projects for the summer.
Well, I listened to myself for one month, anyways. I rested, took it easy, lived a simple life, and focused on being thankful instead of striving for so much – and boy did I learn a lot, too!
This is so funny, but I even turned my resting period last month into a project itself. LOL! I did not realize this until just now. But I wrote a blog post about it, titled, My Thankful Project.
When I first set out to live a simple life in the month of June, I wanted to focus on being thankful. What transpired was totally miraculous.
The Lord was so faithful to meet with me: He brought me rest as I lived a simple life, renewing my heart of thankfulness, and gave me spiritual treasures that will last forever.
My husband asked me to speak about my blog post, My Thankful Project in a service recently, because he felt the church needed to hear the precious things the Lord revealed. It was such a joy. The message resonated within the hearts of those who were present, and many voiced wanting to apply the truths that were shared.
So, when I mentioned another new project the other night, my husband’s answer was, “Why would you want to do that to yourself!? Why don’t you finish what you have already started? Then, when you are finished with those projects, you can start a new one.”
Wow. I never thought of that. LOL! Husbands are so logical!
Yes, in an ideal world, I would finish one project and then start the next, but what fun would that be? The more projects the merrier! Does anyone agree with me!?
So, let’s get back to me sitting at my desk listening intently to this Christian radio speaker. He was giving me the giggles and had my full attention. Like I said, the Lord quickened my spirit to pay attention, and this guy was making it easy to listen.
“When women have a lot of things going on at one time,” the speaker said, “they don’t realize they are not only stretching themselves too thin, but are stretching their heavenly resources too thin as well.
Before a project is started, there must be prayer. During the work of the project, there must be prayer. At the end of the project, there must be prayer.”
Laughingly, he said, “That oughta slow our females down, don’t ya think guys?”
Then he got serious: “Husbands, wives, this advice is for both males and females. Prayer must be implemented before anything is started.”
“If we want the Lord’s blessing over our ministry, our projects, our goals, there has to be prayer. ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, then all these things will be added unto you.’ Prayer must be in the equation! If you are not covering the thing you are involved with in prayer, then you are not experiencing the FULL blessing of the Lord and you will be wasting your time.”
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective, and you want to insert this power and effectiveness in everything you do! So, you want to cover EVERYTHING in prayer.”
“Consider a tree, and think of it as your project, or your ministry, or some task that is your responsibility, and now imagine the root system of that tree.”
“A tree can only grow IF there is room for the root system. The roots provide nutrients and keep it established.”
“If there are no roots, there is no tree.”
“If there is no prayer, there is no project, no ministry, no goal that is worth attaining, except through the effective prayer of a righteous man who is seeking first the kingdom of God.”
In my mind, I could envision a tree symbolizing a project of mine, and it was trying to stand upright on the ground, but it was falling over because there were no roots holding it to the ground… Why? Because there was no prayer giving it strength to be effective.
I remember an elementary teacher of mine in 4th grade showing the class a scientific picture of a tree with its entire root system.
The roots were as big as the tree itself.
As the teacher held the picture up for all of us to see, she told the class the roots create a mirror image of the tree underneath the earth. She said, the root system is the exact size of the tree itself, just underground. This amazed me as a child. To think there is enough room underground to allow a huge root system to grow blew my mind.
Going home after school that day and standing under the biggest tree on our city block, I looked up and measured it with my eyes. I tried to imagine a root system the same size underground. It was crazy to think about.
The speaker added, “You do not want to get to a place where your tree (your project, your ministry) is larger than your root system. This is where failure happens. The tree cannot sustain itself. Your root system is your life, your power, and the source of your effectiveness, and when the roots can’t grow with the size of the tree, it topples over.”
“Always, always, always, cover every project in your ministry, or in your personal life with prayer. If you start to get ahead of yourself, stop, and realize you are growing faster than your root system. Get on your knees and pray. Devote just as much time in prayer as you think you need to give to your project.”
Quickened with the Holy Spirit, I sat stupefied. This went straight to my heart, filled me with resoluteness, and I saw everything in a new light.
I believed this with all my heart. There was nothing more I wanted, but to tap into the true source of power and effectiveness! Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to hear this message!
No more rushing into projects, no more jumping to do this or that. No more! If it is not covered in prayer, I will not do it! Prayer comes first. Seeking God’s will, His heart, and His kingdom will come first.
I want the Lord’s blessing on all that I do, and I do not want to waste my time thinking about or doing anything that He is not a part of from the very beginning.
The picture in my head of a tree being too big for its root system was all I needed to set me straight.
Experience has told me that the Lord is faithful to quicken me with what to do next, and He is faithful in answering prayers. He would not tell me to be faithful in prayer if He was not faithful in answering prayers.
So, I set myself to doing just that: to be faithful in prayer.
Last month, I learned SO much about being thankful! Miracle after miracle happened within my heart and I was a much happier, contented person after I finished My Thankful Project.
This month, I have come into a fuller sense of the power in prayer, having this confidence: that I can approach God with any request. He will hear me, without a doubt, and answer me according to His will, and He will provide the power behind all that I do IF I seek Him first.
There is not one thing I will set out to do this month, without praying about it first, giving it the attention due its weight.
First, I will thank him for whatever is before me. Then, I will present the matter to the Lord, and trust Him to lead me.
Then, I will sit quietly and imagine Him growing my root system in faith and producing within me the power and effectiveness for whatever matter is at hand.
Some matters are much weightier than others and need much more time in prayer in order to grow a large root system. Others are smaller matters that do not need as much attention, but going to Him first is just as important.
“Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12, NIV).
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Ephesians 6:18a, NIV).
The Lord was making it clear to me that He wants to bless the work of my hands, my marriage, and our ministry at the church. But the blessing is not going to come through me or my husband; it is going to come through Him, by way of POWER and EFFECTIVENESS.
I found these three translations of Romans 12:12 enlightening:
“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (Romans 12:12, ISV).
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (Romans 12:12, ESV).
“The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect” (Romans 12:12, KJV).
As I set my heart to do just that, grow my root system, the Lord has been faithful to meet with me just like I knew He would. Faith works in mysterious ways. You believe He will meet, but you never know HOW He will meet.
He just wants us to keep on asking Him to meet with us, to keep on seeking His guidance and to keep on knocking until He answers, because He will eventually answer those prayers!
His power and effectiveness revealed itself in supernatural ways as I committed to pray before doing anything this past month.
The day I knew I was going to speak at church about My Thankful Project, I prayed for power and effectiveness for a long time before I began putting my notes together, and the Lord was faithful to meet me with grace and might.
Before ministering to the Lord in music at services, I seek His power through prayer, inviting Him to move through those ministering in music, and He has been faithful to meet with our praise and worship services. We have experienced a great flow in the spirit lately.
After seeking the Lord how to handle a social media platform for this website, He revealed a couple key things for me to implement on Pinterest and I watched my views soar from 200 per month to over 100,00 per month. LOL! I don’t know if I can keep those statistics up for long, but the Lord proved Himself to me this month by growing my root system with insight on what to do.
Someone from Pinterest marketing even contacted me to find out what agency I was working with to get so many views. This made me laugh! Should I tell her I've partnered up with God?! Because He has been my campaign manager! Isn't this funny? I sure thought it was.
Follow me on Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/mysunandshade
This revelation of the root system has transformed my outlook on prayer. It behooves us to pray all the time, for all matters. We cannot afford NOT to pray.
The weather has been lovely this summer and I am finding myself sitting on my back deck a lot lately.
As I sit still, my spirit wants to commune with the Lord. The sounds of nature are all around me, and it becomes a sweet backdrop to my prayers.
During these times of sitting still on the deck, things in my heart surface and I end up praying to the Lord about them. As I express my cares to Him, He helps me refocus on what is important. Then in His mysterious way, He provides direction, guidance, wisdom, and grace to do His will in all matters.
An arrow starts to point me in the direction I should take.
Once I choose the path the Lord is quickening me to take, power and effectiveness are mine to behold.
And they can become yours to behold as well.
“Seek the Lord and His strength. Always look to Him” (1 Chronicles 16:11, ISV).
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7, KJV).
“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you” (Jeremiah 29:12, ESV).
“Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, ESV).
May all God’s riches be yours in Christ Jesus, as you look to Him for guidance and direction with every step you take in life.
I hope you have been inspired by what I feel is THE BEST ADVICE EVER!
Now, go forth and pray!
Steps to take today BEFORE you start anything:
Go to the Lord with a heart of thankfulness.
Present your matter to the Lord.
Ask the Lord to meet with you.
Seek His guidance.
Keep on praying until He answers.
Grow your root system of faith.
Let His arrow point the way.
Receive power and effectiveness through the Spirit.
Start your project or attend to whatever matter is on your heart.
Watch the mysterious ways in which the Lord will move!
If you have been inspired by this blog post, leave a comment! Share the great things the Lord is speaking to you through this word of encouragement.
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