Monday, May 13, 2013

The Seat of Faith

"What if NOT fearing was the giant secret 
of really living?"
Ann Voskamp


If you visit my cyber home often, you know that fear has been a major player in areas of my life regarding safety.  It has not stopped me from living, but I believe it has affected my relationship with God.  To quote Ann Voskamp again, " God and I have trust issues."

For a long time I did not recognize this as being true for myself. My faith is strong......and yet interwoven with fear and distrust.  Since beginning my journey to wholeness, God has opened my eyes to this "issue". It isn't pretty.

Fear is one of the major weapons of warfare the enemy uses against us.  It opens the door to so many distractions and takes our eyes off of the King of kings.  Recently I listened to a woman speak and during her teaching she mentioned she felt that we pray from three different "seats".  A seat of faith, a seat of fear, or a seat of selfish ambition.  As I pondered this, I became very aware of Holy Spirit whispering with love~  "A seat of fear."   Yes, I often pray from a seat of fear..........For example, "Please take care of my children" (because I fear they will be harmed.....) comes from a place of fear.  This takes my eyes off of Jesus our provider, our healer, our protector and gives the enemy an open door.  It is like partnering with the enemy..... I know when aware of the choices. I desire to partner with Jesus and NOT with the Satan.  We all do!

Does God hear our prayers no matter what drives them?  Of course!  But I believe we empower the Holy Spirit within, and keep the enemy away when we make the choice to pray from the seat of faith......partnering with Jesus in prayer.  One way we keep ourselves on the seat of faith is through gratitude and thanksgiving. 

Today as I join others over at A Holy Experience I am so grateful to be able to partner with Jesus in prayer.  So grateful that when fear knocks we can send Jesus to answer the door.  I am so grateful that God promises to always be with us.   Grateful for those who teach, those who pray, and those who provide.  So grateful for the seat of faith that sustains us.

5 comments:

Jennifer Dougan said...

Hi Renee,

Nice to meet you. I'm hopping over from Ann's link up. Thank you for your honesty about fear here. Counting his gifts is a great way for me to fight against the fear that comes to me some days. It helps me build trust.

Counting with you, Renee,
Jennifer Dougan
www.jenniferdougan.com

Sharon said...

I really found this post about the three seats to be very interesting. Yes, I also operate from a *seat of fear*. And yes, I do have trust issues. It isn't that I don't think God can do anything and everything - (I DO!) - it's just that I don't trust life!

However, a seat of faith is the best place to be - because faith is firmly seated in the sure knowledge that God is in control, and works ALL things for good!

GOD BLESS!

Renee said...

Hi Jennifer
Thank you for stopping over from Ann's cyber home. Bless you on your counting journey.

Renee said...

Hi Sharon
I agree...trusting life gets in the way for me trusting God completely!

Gayle said...

Oh it is a hard one to let go of our fears and trust God. I can identify...