Is Prayer Your Steering Wheel Or Your Spare Tire?

            Relationships…there are many different types. There is the relationship between an employer & their employee, mother & daughter, father & son, boyfriend & girlfriend, husband & wife, neighbors, etc. While all these relationships are important, the most important relationship that any of us have is our relationship with God. Our relationship with God should be exalted above any other relationship that we have, but sometimes that is not always the case. I know I am guilty of doing this. If you were to ask someone right now what they have observed is the most important relationship in your life, what do you think they would say? Would they say your relationship with God? Something to think about and check. #idolcheck

            Take a look at all the relationships in your life. One thing that all your thriving relationships have in common is good communication. For any relationship to continue, the two parties involved must talk. They have to communicate with one another. They have to express what they are feeling and they have to be able to listen to each other. Communication involves both parties talking and not at the same time because you are not listening when you are talking. We communicate with God when we pray. I know many times we talk about how prayer is a dialogue and not a monologue, but today I want to talk about this quote from Corrie Ten Boom:

 

            I saw this on Instagram about a month ago and ya’ll should have seen my face…my eyes got so big! This definitely struck a chord with me. #convictedmuch Allow me to tell you what God showed me through this quote, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” First I want to look at the difference between a steering wheel and a spare tire. Most of you have a car and a job. Thus, you use your steering wheel everyday most likely to take yourself to work, the grocery store, shopping, church, etc. But if you are like me, you don’t use your spare tire nearly as much, often times it is forgotten. I’ve had my car (Her name is April lol), for almost a year and I have yet to be forced to use my spare time. When prayer is your steering wheel it should be like unto a steering wheel, you use/do it every day. You and God communicate every day. You consult and acknowledge Him every day. You live by Proverbs 3:4-5, which says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” You and God know each other, you are familiar with one another, you’ve had so many conversations. You are aware that your relationship’s growth is dependent on the two of you communicating with one another, just like any other relationship. Those that you are closest too are those that you talk to the most, and nothing stops the communication, not even distance. My best friend, Angel and I talk every single day in some form, usually a couple forms. We text, call, tweet, groupme, facebook chat, Instagram, etc…you get the picture. The same is true with your relationship with God. I Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Never stop praying.” The communication between you and God should never stop. You talk to Him when things are good, bad, happy, sad, ugly, beautiful, etc.

            Let’s look at the other side of this…when God is your spare wheel. This is what God showed me about when God is your spare wheel. Spare wheel, as in you only pray when incidents and accidents come up. Basically you have an IF/THEN prayer life. What is an IF/THEN prayer life?!? It basically means that IF something outrageous happens, something you didn’t see coming, you have exhausted all other options and are forced to turn to God, THEN you pray. God is your backup plan. You only go to Him when you are in great need. But IF that is not the case THEN your prayer life does not exist. YOUR PRAYER LIFE IS CONDITIONAL. #ouchthathurt Certain conditions and prerequisites have to be met in order for you to communicate with God. It sounds really bad when you put it like that doesn’t it? But that’s what it is. If these conditions aren’t met, then you don’t find yourself praying and that shouldn’t be the case. Prayer should be a common occurrence, not a sporadic incident. If you are like me, you are so guilty of this. Essentially, you do your own thing when God is your spare tire, you are in the driver’s seat, you are directing your own path and its only when something goes terribly wrong that you find yourself offering up a prayer. God being your spare tire reminds me of those people in all of our lives that we only hear from and see when someone is sick, dying or getting married. I personally find that incredibly annoying…how do you think God feels. Oh she only talks to me when things get bad or she needs something. It’s like you only acknowledge God when something BIG happens. This is when you need to expand your definition of BIG. God woke you up this morning. That is huge! Someone didn’t wake up this morning, someone passed on during the night. We can’t only acknowledge God when we are forced to do so, when we don’t feel in control, not realizing that we were never in control in the first place. God is in control of the universe, but He is a gentleman and gives us free will and will allow us to take the reins until we realize that He knows far better than us and we let Him take the reins.

            Sometimes we look at our relationship with God and wonder why we aren’t growing and thriving in our relationship with Him. I would say, take a look at your prayer life. How often do you talk to the Father? I saw this on Twitter once, “You are currently as close to God as you want to be.” If talking is a huge part of your good, thriving relationships with people why wouldn’t it be a huge part of your relationship with God. We have to be intentional about setting aside time for God, time to pray and just talk to Him. I myself am still growing in this area y’all and I need to do better. So, how important is your relationship with God? Do you exalt praying to Him, like unto the steering wheel of your car or is praying to Him more like the lowly spare tire in your car, that is often forgotten about until some incident or accident occurs?!? Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?!? #checkyourself I pray that this blesses you like it did me and that if you discover that prayer is like your spare tire that you pray to God and ask Him to help you and that you would make every effort to make prayer your steering wheel. I pray that all of us would have a craving for the time we spend on our knees talking to God, that we would want to talk to Him all the time. I love you all so much and so does God! God bless you!

Mariah

No More Condemnation

There is no more condemnation. This post is inspired by something my best friend, Angel said in her VLOG on Humility.

                Now this is not something I’m proud of, but I’m going to share it anyway. I remember in college cheating on an exam and getting caught. Now this was not the first time I had cheated, but this was the first time I got caught. I had to meet with my professor and discuss what course of action she was going to take against me. I remember going to my dorm, getting in my bed and just laying there with this sinking feeling in my stomach and wondering how I had got to this point. The guilt I felt was overwhelming. I didn’t tell my two best friends at the time because I was too ashamed. I didn’t want them to look at me differently. I nearly broke down when I had to tell my parents. Let’s just say that was the worst Winter Break ever because I was so consumed with my guilt. I ultimately didn’t get what I deserved, my professor showed me mercy and I was not brought up to the Honor Board. I took a failing grade in the class and ended up retaking the class (using a repeat forgiveness) next semester and passing with a B. I remember crying and praying to God and asking Him over and over again to forgive me. I just knew that God wouldn’t forgive me for what I had done. **Added Bonus** I’m gonna throw this in for free. As Christians sometimes we sin once and when there are no immediate consequences or we feel like we haven’t been seen by anyone or got caught (completely forgetting that God sees and knows all! He is omniscient), and we can find ourselves doing that thing again. It’s like if I got away with it once, I can get away with it again. Now, we know this thing that we are doing is wrong. We know its sin and felt guilty the first couple times we did it. But sometimes you do something so many times that you don’t even feel guilty anymore, you’ve become desensitized to your sin. It’s become second nature. You don’t want to ever get to this point! The point where God has to let you hit rock bottom so that you go back to Him and turn away from your sin because you’re not even aware its sin anymore.

                If you’re like me at one point in your life you’ve been consumed by your guilt over something you have done. You’ve known that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, we’ve felt ashamed. And ultimately just felt what I’ve done God can’t forgive me of. I’m here to tell you God can and will forgive you if you come back to Him and repent. What you’ve done does not condemn you. Romans 8:1 tells us, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” You are not condemned for what you’ve done. That is a tactic of the Enemy to prey on your emotions and feelings of guilt and shame and make you think and feel you can’t go back to God after doing what you’ve done; God will not welcome you back or forgive you. The devil is a liar!!! We are not living in Old Testament times where people are stoned to death for the sin they’ve committed. Jesus told the people ready to stone the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” No one was able to condemn to woman and neither did Jesus. He instructed her to go and sin no more.

                One of my favorite worship artists is Steffany Frizzell Gretzinger. I feel like I mention my girl, Steff all the time, but she is amazing! Be sure to check her out, she will have you on your face! There is a video of her on YouTube singing the song Stronger. My favorite part of the song says, “You are stronger, you are stronger. Sin is broken. You have saved me. It is written, Christ is risen. Jesus, you are Lord of all.” Jesus is stronger and bigger and more powerful than your sin. Your sin is not too great that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross didn’t cover it. You’ve not fallen so far from grace that you can’t come back to God. Jesus knew every sin you would ever commit and He still died for you. He still went to Calvary for you. Another part of the song says, “There is love that came for us, humbled to a sinner’s cross. You broke my shame and sinfulness. You rose again victorious.” Stop allowing your sin to have power over you and dictate to you, whether or not you can be forgiven by God. Jesus didn’t die for specific sins, He died for all sins. He died for the worst possible thing you’ve ever done. He died so that horrible sin you committed couldn’t keep you from the Father. The blood Jesus shed on the cross will cover your entire wrap sheet of sins, not just the ones you deem as little sins. His blood that was shed on the cross is your full coverage plan! If you get nothing else from this post, grasp this: Our God is a God that forgives and restores. After Peter denied Christ three times, Jesus didn’t chuck up the deuces and tell Peter he could no longer be a disciple. Jesus forgave him and restored him.  God will forgive you and restore you no matter what you’ve done. You are not condemned, there is no more condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. I pray that this blessed you.

Love you all to pieces,

Mariah

Here is the VLOG on Humility by Angel that I mentioned that inspired this post and the song by Steffany Frizzell Gretzinger.