Nothing...

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, this is MJ and I am the creator and host of the Change My Life podcast.

[00:00:10] We talk about achieving positive change through inspirational messages and spiritual education.

[00:00:15] And today I want to encourage all of you to do absolutely nothing.

[00:00:23] I know you're thinking like, what?

[00:00:24] I don't have time for that.

[00:00:26] You must certainly do.

[00:00:27] And I'm going to talk about that and more in today's episode.

[00:00:31] So please stay tuned.

[00:00:33] When you call someone on the phone and ask them, hey, what are you doing?

[00:00:41] Sometimes they will say, nothing.

[00:00:44] When a person says that it's rare to see them just sitting there staring at a blank

[00:00:48] wall.

[00:00:49] When we say nothing, that is equivalent to not working.

[00:00:54] So they may be just laying down watching TV or reading a book or scrolling through their

[00:00:58] phone.

[00:00:59] So they are not doing completely nothing.

[00:01:02] They're just not working.

[00:01:04] We as human beings are created in the image of our heavenly Father and in His likeness.

[00:01:11] And He is a worker.

[00:01:14] He is always working.

[00:01:17] The entire universe was made by Him and is being controlled by Him.

[00:01:24] But even He set aside a day to do nothing, to rest from working.

[00:01:31] If our heavenly Father who has all power in heaven and in earth gave Himself a day to rest,

[00:01:38] it's okay for us to do it too.

[00:01:40] It's actually commanded for us to do it.

[00:01:43] Exodus 20 and 8.

[00:01:46] Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

[00:01:49] The thing is, we need to know when it's good to do nothing and when it is a bad thing to

[00:01:57] do nothing.

[00:01:59] The Word of God talks about both.

[00:02:01] So let's talk about the bad first.

[00:02:04] James 2 verses 17 and 26.

[00:02:08] Even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone.

[00:02:14] Hebrews 26 says, For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead

[00:02:20] also.

[00:02:23] Noah is one of my favorite people in the Bible.

[00:02:26] He gets much respect because he showed great faith.

[00:02:33] God instructed him to build an ark because God was sending a flood to the earth.

[00:02:39] If Noah had not obeyed and moved in faith by building this ark, he and his family would

[00:02:46] have died but his faith saved his life.

[00:02:51] And there are many others in the Bible that moved in faith.

[00:02:54] They didn't sit around and wait.

[00:02:58] They worked towards something and in doing that they received victory and safety.

[00:03:06] But there's another story in the Bible where God told Abraham that he was going to do something.

[00:03:12] He was going to bless him and his wife with a son, but his wife, Sarai, got in the way.

[00:03:20] Genesis 16 verses 1 through 4.

[00:03:24] Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bear him no children, and she had a handmaid in Egyptian whose

[00:03:29] name was Hagar.

[00:03:31] And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing.

[00:03:36] I pray thee, go in unto my maid, it may be that I may obtain children by her.

[00:03:42] And Abram harkened to the voice of Sarai.

[00:03:45] And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt

[00:03:49] ten years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

[00:03:56] But he went in unto Hagar and she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, her

[00:04:02] mistress was despised in her eyes.

[00:04:06] See what can happen when we get in the Lord's way?

[00:04:11] We can cause turmoil, drama, distress upon our own lives.

[00:04:18] We have to remember the Lord's ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our

[00:04:23] thoughts.

[00:04:24] Instead of waiting on the Lord, we try to help him and rush him into fulfilling the

[00:04:31] promise.

[00:04:32] But you have to understand that you don't know the future and the Lord knows you better

[00:04:39] than you know yourself.

[00:04:42] He knows what you can handle, what's best for you, and what timing is perfect for

[00:04:48] you.

[00:04:50] So in those instances, you really have to use faith and trust the Lord's timing for

[00:04:55] your life.

[00:04:58] So let me clarify.

[00:05:01] When God tells you he is about to do something or it's something completely out of

[00:05:07] your control, then you need to get out of the way.

[00:05:11] In other words, do nothing.

[00:05:15] Just trust and believe that he will do what he said and that he will work it out

[00:05:22] for you.

[00:05:23] But if it's an assignment he gives you, maybe it's a ministry, a business

[00:05:29] idea, a book, something of that nature, then you still need faith, but then

[00:05:36] get to work.

[00:05:38] Give it all you have because if the Lord's hand is on it, it will be

[00:05:43] blessed.

[00:05:44] I know sometimes doing nothing is really hard.

[00:05:49] Our thoughts are all over the place and we're thinking about how we can work it

[00:05:54] out.

[00:05:55] But Philippians 4 and 6 says this, Be careful for nothing but in everything

[00:06:02] by prayer and supplication.

[00:06:04] With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

[00:06:08] In other words, don't worry about anything but give the Lord your needs and

[00:06:17] let him handle it.

[00:06:19] And I have good news.

[00:06:23] You don't have to do anything to receive the Lord's love.

[00:06:28] That's right.

[00:06:29] Nothing.

[00:06:30] He loves you just as you are.

[00:06:33] You don't have to work to look a certain way or act a certain way.

[00:06:37] He loves you for you.

[00:06:39] He made you and he's very proud of what he made.

[00:06:43] He adores what he made.

[00:06:45] I'm encouraging you to first really believe that, then receive it, then embrace

[00:06:51] it and surrender to it.

[00:06:55] You would be surprised but there are a lot of people who think they have to

[00:06:59] work for the Lord's love.

[00:07:01] Yeah, I'll come to church one day.

[00:07:03] I need to work on some things first.

[00:07:06] Have you heard that before?

[00:07:08] I have.

[00:07:09] They want to get things right and then they'll come to church.

[00:07:14] It's unfortunate but many people think that the Lord will love them once they

[00:07:17] get right and that's not the truth.

[00:07:21] Now of course he wants you to come out of sin but let me tell you once you truly

[00:07:27] surrender to the Lord's love and you submerge yourself in the depths of it,

[00:07:32] you really won't want to go back to your old life.

[00:07:36] It would be like being treated like royalty and then going back to an

[00:07:40] abusive relationship.

[00:07:43] No one in their right mind will want to do that.

[00:07:48] God's love is something that is ready and waiting for you.

[00:07:53] I heard a beautiful word, a prophecy some years ago in a church

[00:07:58] service I was in and I never forgot it.

[00:08:02] The Lord spoke through this pastor and said,

[00:08:06] I am the drill that will break through the hard and ground.

[00:08:12] Sit before me, present your heart and I will drill.

[00:08:17] I will break through the deep and hard places and I will unleash the

[00:08:24] springs that will well up, that will bring life to all the dead places.

[00:08:31] I am the drill and I am the water.

[00:08:35] Just come and sit before me.

[00:08:38] I will heal, I will make well, I will raise to life.

[00:08:43] My words are life.

[00:08:46] You don't need to work, you don't need to toil, you don't need to bring

[00:08:51] anything except your heart.

[00:08:55] I will make new.

[00:08:58] Did you hear that?

[00:09:00] I mean did you really listen to that?

[00:09:04] Who is doing the work?

[00:09:07] The Lord is.

[00:09:08] All you have to do is present your heart.

[00:09:12] Some of us we come to church and we bring our problems to the altar,

[00:09:17] our situations and then when that portion of the service is over

[00:09:22] we pick it right back up and we take it home with us.

[00:09:26] Well that's a time where you are required to do nothing.

[00:09:31] Just take it to the altar and leave it there.

[00:09:35] Some of you are waiting on promises from God.

[00:09:39] So what do you do?

[00:09:41] I'm telling you, nothing.

[00:09:44] God makes it so simple for us.

[00:09:46] We make it hard.

[00:09:48] God doesn't need our help and most times when we try to help him

[00:09:53] we end up making things worse.

[00:09:56] So please take your hands off.

[00:09:58] It can't be that easy, can it?

[00:10:01] We live in a world where we have to work for everything.

[00:10:06] But the Lord is saying when it comes to what I want to do in your life,

[00:10:11] what I promise, what I already spoke concerning you,

[00:10:15] you don't have to do anything.

[00:10:17] You can't rush the perfect timing of the Lord and you can't rush his work

[00:10:22] in due time he will instruct you.

[00:10:26] He will guide you and he will tell you what to do.

[00:10:29] He wants to see when.

[00:10:32] He will never set you up for failure.

[00:10:35] So until you hear from him, just rest.

[00:10:39] The only thing I suggest you work on is building your faith,

[00:10:44] your prayer and fasting life, and let the Lord do the rest.

[00:10:50] I hope you enjoyed today's episode.

[00:10:52] Thank you so much for listening.

[00:10:53] If you have not already, please subscribe because there'll be many

[00:10:57] inspirational episodes that will be coming away.

[00:10:59] And I'm also inviting you to check out our website,

[00:11:02] witcheschangemylifepodcast.com.

[00:11:05] I will leave the link in the show notes.

[00:11:08] Wow, who knew doing nothing would change my life?