The Dentist, The Devil and The Dream - Hear and 'DO' The Word of God
Sometimes, I am a hearer of the Word only. I will hear the Word, I will read the Word, I will repeat the Word, but I struggle with actually doing the Word.
Recently, one night I was eating dinner. Or rather, trying to eat dinner. Let me explain. A few months back, I had a tooth that started hurting…badly. But it wasn’t hurting bad enough to overcome my intense fear of the dentist. So instead of going to the dentist to be treated, I began to cope with the pain. I altered the way I chewed and the side of my mouth that I chewed on. Once I began noticing that I was forsaking certain foods I really enjoyed because I couldn’t chew them due to the tooth pain, that was the moment God stepped in and spoke to me (again) about this tooth. My months of coping had morphed into a new lifestyle and these were all fruits from the tree of unbelief that was growing quite rapidly in my heart. Here I was, filled with the audacity of trusting God with supernatural miracles, but I couldn’t trust Him to carry me through a dentist visit.
Wow. Faith Check!
Faith is ALIVE! Faith is ACTIVE! Faith is EXPRESSIVE! You have to DO FAITH! You can be filled with faith until it oozes out of you, but it does no good until you DO what He whom you have faith in, tells you to do! The following business day, I made an appointment and was seen at the dentist the next day and had my tooth fixed. That easy! Everything I was afraid of; the stigma of having a bad tooth, the pain of the procedure and the cost to fix it were not even real-life issues. These were all worst-case scenarios that I allowed to play out in my head and hold me hostage and keep me bound to the fear of going to the dentist! And while I was at the dentist, I met with a lively 83 years young woman who shared her secret of what keeps her young and joyfully at heart…”she makes God the center of her life”! Message received Lord!
Yes, God is sovereign and His will will always be done. Perhaps if I prayed fervently, He would have healed my tooth supernaturally. But I know that He wanted me to go to the dentist more because in going to the dentist, I would glorify His name. The tooth was an issue however, my fear was the real root of what I needed to be healed and delivered from! He gives us the ability, and even the power, to be active witnesses to and for His glory! Me overcoming fear through the power of the Holy Ghost that lives within me AND getting my tooth fixed, brings God the greater glory than to just say He healed my tooth. Plus, I got a 2-For-1 deal in the process 😊
This whole experience made me sit and do some serious self-reflection. Specifically, what opportunities have I missed, what blessings did I bypass, what prayers were answered but I wasn’t at the place I was supposed to be at to receive because I failed to DO the Word? Maybe some of you need to be asking yourselves these same questions. Over the course of the past year, God has given me some really great ideas that, had I worked them as I was instructed to, who knows where I would be today. But I let my faith become passive because I was actively engaged in being afraid, being lazy and being a brat. Yes, I can be a total brat sometimes especially when I want my prayers to be answered a specific way, and I was not willing to negotiate. LOL that sounds so silly and dumb now, unwilling to negotiate with my Maker, but hey, I have to keep it real. And that is really how I was feeling! I look over some of the prayer requests I’ve been praying for the past year and wonder, could these prayer requests have been answered already had I just been lively, active and expressive with my faith?
I'm now on an active journey of doing! I sat with the Lord and recalled every creative act that He told me to do which I know I did halfway and no-way and I asked for (and obtained) forgiveness. Then I asked Him, should I pursue? And praise the Lord, most of the projects He told me to pursue because the door was still opened! So I am determined to pursue with a vengeance!
True to His word, what the devil tried to use to take me out, God turned it around for my good! Hallelujah!!!
