An Expressed Need = Two Needs Met - Warrior Mom Wisdom - Week of March 17
An Expressed Need = Two Needs Met
One of my best-friends called my crying a few weeks ago. She was at a Bruce Wilkinson You Were Born for This conference. She said that the Holy Spirit had moved in such a mighty way that she was convicted and overjoyed with love at the same time, rendering her speechless with tears pouring out of her eyes. She called me form her mini-van. “I don’t know how I am to go back in there, Kristina.” “You must go back in!” I stated. “God is doing something amazing for you right now, and you don’t want to miss it.” “I know,” she said, “but it’s hard.” Immediately, God interrupted the conversation and said, “Go down there with her.” As my friend continued to cry and talk about what God was doing, I began having a conversation with God. “Okay, God, if you want me to go, You will need to work out the details re: time and money.” My friend then said, “Look, I really need you to come down here and sit with me; if I pay your way in, will you come down?” I laughed to God, “Okay,” I said to her and God. I knew that I was to be obedient and go.
To make a long story short, which is not my forte, I went, my friend was blessed, and I was blessed beyond measure. God used this particular conference to meet about 5 needs that I had spiritually and physically. Haven’t you noticed, say in a small group atmosphere, that when one person admits a weakness or a need, it starts a cacophony of discussion and excitement of similar experiences and needs? There is a reason that God sent those particular people to that group for that moment or to that moment in your life. We must not hold God’s miraculous moments captive to our own pride.
Think about this line up: My friend had a need, she shared that need with me, I was obedient to go, and as a result, God simultaneously met my needs! Do you see how crucial it is that we state our weaknesses to our brothers and sisters? Do you see how important it is that we respond to the needs of others? Meeting their need will result in the meeting of needs we have that we don’t even know need to be met! We must express our needs so that other children of God may receive the meeting of their needs! Pride kept me quiet for years and in prison. For years, I sat in my solitude crying out to God, “Why haven’t You shown up?” Though I didn’t hear Him for years, He was saying, “Step out to serve, and I will give you your wildest dreams!” I realized that many others stayed in prison for extended sentences because I was too prideful to express my needs. When we remain prideful (and un-needy of our spiritual sisters and brothers), we become arrogant and self-righteous as if to say to God, “I’m fine over here by myself, and I don’t need anyone else or You.” God wants to encourage us, however, to express our needs so that the needs of others may subsequently be met - in order that a new-found freedom and blessing will be experienced by all.
This brings back to mind something else God said to me. Two years after stepping outside of my office to serve, I cried out to God one day and said, “God, I need more of You! In order to do this, I need more of You!” To which He replied, “The more you love others, the more of M you have.”
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has not deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 2:14-17.
I know realize that by allowing our brother to be physically without clothes our food causes our own souls to be cold and spiritually-starved. I had faith in my office, but I was a prisoner to lack of action. Action, however, set the wheels in motion for this newly discovered formula: An Expressed Need = (at the least) Two Needs Met.
The Warrior Mom Ministry was founded by Kristina Seymour, author of The Warrior Mom Handbook – Equipping Women through the Word, a Bible study for moms who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. Kristina has learned that moms can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about The Warrior Mom Handbook, the Warrior Mom Ministry, and to sign up for daily encouragement, visit Kristina's blog.
