All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith
All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith
BREADCRUMBS OF FAITH DEVOTIONAL 21: From Routine Devotion To Authentic Commitment
Have you ever found yourself more committed to your hairstylist than to your spiritual life? You're not alone. Join me, as I uncover the surprising parallels between our commitment to daily routines like gym memberships and our dedication to prayer.
Reflecting on my own spiritual journey from a checklist Christian to someone who genuinely craves a deeper connection with God, I share how our commitment levels can ebb and flow and what it means to truly seek the Lord with all our hearts.
With Jeremiah 29:13 as our guiding scripture, we explore the transformative power that comes from seeking God with wholehearted dedication.
Hey there, you're tuned into another episode of All Things Skin Wellness and Faith, a podcast where you'll learn simple ways to implement skin care and wellness techniques from a holistic approach. On this podcast, we'll explore practical ways to address skin health and overall holistic spiritual well-being, while deepening your faith. I'm your host, natasha Diaz, a licensed holistic esthetician, day spa owner and a faithful believer and follower of Christ, and it's time to get ready to get encouraged and empowered as we dive into all things skin wellness and faith. Hey there, welcome back to this week's Bright From A Faith by All Things Skin Wellness and Faith.
Speaker 1:Today, I want to talk to you a little bit about your commitment level. Nowadays, we are committed to a lot of things and we don't also commit to a lot of things. There are things like our hairstylist, our nail girl or even a local massage therapist even that we can commit to with ease, and then there are some things that we do not commit to on a regular basis, some things that we can kind of fall off from. One of those things for me, the top thing that comes to mind is like a gym membership, because I can think of several times where I've signed up for a gym membership, or maybe I've even signed up for a course that is not, you know, not like a serious, serious college course, but just something extracurricular that I may have signed up for. That I said I was going to commit to learning. Maybe a side hobby crocheting, knitting, any of those things we can kind of pretend to commit to, but then we don't. So what I want to talk to you today about is your commitment to the Lord, and what does that look like? Which category does he fall into? Does he fall into the category of where he's vital, that you need him? It's necessary that you say you're going to start a prayer time and you fall off from it, or are you all completely in? Do you kind of treat him like a gym membership that you signed up for at the beginning of the year, or do you basically taste and see that the Lord is good? Do you commit to him? Do you submit to that prayer life and then start to see him work in your life and then you just get so thirsty per se that you just want to go all in and dive in. Well, that's what we're talking about today.
Speaker 1:The Bible says in Jeremiah 29, 13,. An amplified version says in Jeremiah 29, 13, an amplified version. It says then, with a deep longing, you will seek me and require me as a vital necessity and you will find me with all your heart. So when we come to the point that we begin to desire the Lord, when we come to the point that we crave him, we thirst for him, it really changes things. I can say, when we get to that point, it's like the Lord totally shows up and shows out when he sees our commitment level, when we kind of just put him on the back burner, when we're just like, oh you know, I read my three verses for the day, I read my devotional for the day, I said a prayer for a family, I'm all set. Or when we just commit to our Sunday services or maybe a Wednesday night fellowship or a Bible reading plan.
Speaker 1:On you version it's not the same, it doesn't. I guess you can say it doesn't exactly kind of hit the same per se and I hate to use slang like that, but that is the first thing that came to mind with me is just like, how deep is your commitment? Because when you're committed to something it really changes and things you know, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. But when you kind of slack on something to it, the more you get out of it. But when you kind of slack on something, then you can kind of see how things don't exactly come out the same. And it's no different with the Lord. I've been in this area myself. In both areas I've been just a religious style Christian and I've been like, oh, I bought all my Christian books. I've gone to Walmart, I've gone to different places, I subscribe to Bible reading classes and I'm like I'm just going to check off all the boxes and I can tell you it's not the same as where I'm at now in my walk with the Lord. And don't get me wrong, I mean this is, it shouldn't be, but it can be in the beginning, especially when you're getting used to it, when you're embarking on a new journey, when you're trying to put a new habit in place. It takes some practice.
Speaker 1:That level of commitment doesn't just come overnight. But what I want to talk to you about is the seriousness, the passion, the desire you have behind it. Because one thing I've noticed is that when I have a true passion or desire for something, yes, I may fall off here and there. But when you fall off a horse and you get up and get back on and you say, okay, I may have fallen short today, but I'm going to get back on up and I'm going to do it tomorrow, it really is different from when you're just doing something just for the sake of doing it.
Speaker 1:So when we truly begin to seek the Lord, when we try to or not try to, when we put our prayer life as a very important, vital necessity within our lives, the Lord is faithful. He meets us exactly where we are, and this is a level of growth that is going to have to start, that you're going to have to start with. This is not something that is just going to pick up overnight, but I guarantee you that as you seek the Lord with all your heart, then everything else will be added unto you. That is what it says in Matthew 6, 6, 33. So as we try to climb to new levels, he is surely to meet us where we are in our walk. So I want to encourage you today to take a dive, to take a real commitment unto the Lord, because when you do, you will start to see things totally change in your life, and when you start to make an effort and he meets you in one area. What that's going to do is that's going to teach you, or not even teach you. That's going to encourage you to get to the next level.
Speaker 1:When you come and you have a divine encounter with him, when you're in your personal time with him and you hear him begin to speak to your heart. And you hear him begin to speak to your heart when things start to resonate in your everyday life, when you start to see him show up in just the tiniest, smallest areas, from something as simple as getting a really good parking space to all of a sudden receiving grace in the area, whether it's a bill being paid, a deposit being made in your bank account that you weren't aware of. Those are the little things that I like to call God winks, a little wink from God that just lets you know that he's there, that he sees you and he sees your effort. And I've talked to a lot of different people at many different levels in their faith walk, and we all get these little winks of encouragement from him, and what he does is that he'll give us those little winks, or what I like to even call bread crumb, hence the name of this portion of the podcast that's actually where it came from and he'll just give you these little things to kind of lead you along the way, to show you that he is there, he's alive, he's encouraging you along the way, and when you start to get these little increments of goodness from him, it encourages you to move on and to move further in your faith.
Speaker 1:Walk with him. But you know what. You've got to start somewhere. So I encourage you to just give him serious time, just not something that you're just doing just for the sake of checking off a box and saying that I did it, but from a place of true desire, from a place of true craving For me it became more so a place of okay, god, they say that you're this, they say that you're alive, they say that there's all these supernatural things that take place with you, but I don't see that. How do I get to that next level? And so what I did is I had to set aside time to pray with him, set aside time for him to meet with me. I mean, if you're constantly running all the time and you don't set up a time to sit down and spend time with somebody, then how would they spend time with you?
Speaker 1:Matthew 5 and 6 says in the TPT how enriched are you when you crave righteousness, for you will be satisfied that right. There is another staple, stellar verse that I love, especially in regards to what we're talking about today when you crave for righteousness, when you crave for the things that the Lord is basically laid out in his word, when you start to begin to change your lifestyle according to what his word says and he sees that true desire in your heart, boy oh boy, will he show up like nobody's business. So I just want to encourage you today to get to that next level where you can really see the Lord show up, where you could really start to experience the supernatural things of the Lord. When you can start to go beyond the veil and beyond just reading a scripture and reading a devotional, and you can truly start to see him work, hear his voice and you can truly start to build up a relationship with him. That is when your relationship starts to get established and that is when things start to get really serious and that is when you begin to actually encounter the Lord and enjoy him on a whole, nother level.
Speaker 1:All right, guys, that's it for today. We're going to wrap it up for there, for today's breadcrumb. I thank you so much for tuning in, until next time. Ciao, for now, bye.