Order My Steps, Lord

Photo by Ali Kazal on Unsplash

Written by Vianne Satterfield

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and do not depend on your own understanding.”

Proverbs 20:24 “The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?”

For several months I have been seeking the Lord to ask for His guidance and direction on my next assignment. I want to be a good steward of all God has given to me — whether it is time, energy, finances, skills, abilities or spiritual gifts. I acknowledge these things are given to me from God and I want to steward it by doing something meaningful and fulfills God’s purpose for my life. I know what that purpose is and I am taking intentional steps to fulfill that destiny. This process has been challenging as I have resisted God’s calling for a number of reasons — it is scary, to be honest. There have been many obstacles to overcome — mentally and learning new skills to assist me. I am sharing my thoughts and feelings as I think other people may have experienced similiar things when seeking the Lord for direction. These are some of my thoughts: “Everything is new and different! I can’t do ___.” “Why am I doing this again?” “I like being comfortable.” “I feel inadequate to do _____.”

I have needed to see myself through the lens of God’s love and grace so that I can accept my calling and fulfill His purpose for my life. I have also needed to focus on the truth of God’s Word and remind myself often of the strength He gives me (Philippians 4:13), and that He has equipped me with everything good for doing His will (Hebrews 13:21). Where God guides, He provides (Isaiah 58:11). As I had courage to talk about fulfilling my purpose, many people confirmed what God showed me. Isn’t that cool?

Has the Lord been nudging you to do or create something, to change direction, or to step outside of your comfort zone? I encourage you to seek wise counsel, fast and pray for wisdom, guidance and discernment. Be willing to step outside of your comfort zone into an unknown territory, trusting God to lead, equip and provide. Know that God’s ways are higher and better than your ways. (Isaiah 55:9) If it feels “too big” for you to do or that you don’t know how to do it — great! It’s good ground to put your complete trust in Him to guide you as you step into new territory to fulfill His plans and purpose for you. Remember to keep your eyes upon Him and His Word as He will illuminate your path and give you discernment for the next step. (Psalm 119:105) Take up courage as you listen and step forward into the next assignment by activating faith and confident trust in God who delights in fullfilling your purpose and destiny. (Joshua 1:9)

Be careful what you pray for, as God will expect you to take up courage and walk out the things He shows you! But, thankfully God gives us courage to step out in faith! When God gives you direction, trust Him and go for it!

I would love to hear how you have trusted God as you walk into new territory. Please share in the comments.

More than “Thoughts and Prayers”

Written by Vianne Satterfield

I John 5:14-15 “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.”

I began Biblical meditation and praying His Word, intentionally, after experiencing a kind and loving reply to an email I had sent about needing prayer for myself and my 19 year old sick cat. I did not know the lady very well, at the time. We sat at the same table in Bible study, and I admired how she prayed, because she quoted God’s Word throughout her prayers. In her reply to my email about my sick cat, Lucy typed a beautiful prayer filled with compassion, love and specific Scriptures that pertained to my need. This interaction may have been simple, however, it is what motivated me to know God and His Word so intimately that when given the opportunity to share with someone in need, I too could pray with the authority of God’s Word on my lips and in my heart. I received much refreshment as my faith was strengthened from that simple yet profound prayer, which occured in late 2009.

A dear friendship developed as a result which led to many opportunities to gather together with other like-minded people that meditated and prayed God’s Word into the nations, communities and church. This prayer group was unlike any other I had been associated with, as this group’s main focus was meditating on Scripture, asking the Lord for insights and praying the Word into the situation. Many wonderful friendships have resulted from praying with ASKers from all over the globe. I received mentoring from precious people who love God with all of their heart, soul, strength and mind. The mentoring came from observing their lifestyle of believing God’s Word to be true and the answer to whatever ails us! One such mentor, Martie, will stop conversations in mid sentence — to pray aloud for a situation or person, as she makes declarations of God’s promises and her confident trust in God’s ability to handle it. We might be talking about a problem or issue in our own lives, and suddenly we are taking the issue to God in prayer. It is as if this holy and sacred moment needs immediate expression and it cannot wait until later. There is no “I will pray for you” later, as she demonstrates confident trust in the One who hears our requests and launches into a conversational prayer with me. She modeled praying with people rather than praying for people. It’s a subtle difference yet is needed in our world of quick text messages of “Praying!” or sharing the praying hands emoji, which can be seen as spiritual, yet doesn’t really offer the faith strengthening quality of an actual prayer to God, the One to whom we are admonished to present our requests.

Every Christ-follower is called to pray, as this is our primary way of connecting with God, through the power of the Holy Spirit. What if Christ-followers demonstrated our belief in God’s Word by saying His Word in prayer? Wouldn’t our faith be strengthened if we gave more than “thoughts and prayers” to this world? What if we prayed boldly — prayers that depend upon the firm foundation of faith found within a real relationship with God. Praying the words of a Psalm is a powerful tool. For example, Psalm 18:2, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,” can be offered as a prayer. “Lord, I thank you for being my rock, my security, my deliverer, the One whom I trust. In times of uncertainty, I know I can trust you to handle ______, because your Word tells me it is so. I take refuge in your strength, power and security. Thank you for saving and delivering me from bondage. You are my source of all I need. May you show yourself strong and mighy for _____ who needs your help, hope and healing. I pray in the strong name of Jesus, Amen.”

I challenge you to pray in agreement with God’s Word as you pray with others, making your requests known to God, who has the authority to answer prayer.

Could it be that God is pleased to hear His children declaring their faith in His ability to meet their need? Perhaps God is pleased when we remind him of His Word — which is truth. By doing this, we’re also reminding ourselves of His truth, which reinforces Scripture memorization and builds faith as we proclaim the character of God such as His faithfulness, grace, loving-kindness, compassion and care.

I challenge myself and those who read this blog to make a point to pray with people by speaking or typing your prayer, whether it is sent by email, text messages or posted as a comment on social media platforms. This kind of interaction is far more meaningful than the quick “thoughts and prayers,” and it may even lead to further opportunity to pray with people and to mentor others in connecting to God through praying His Word.

The mentoring I received is being passed on to people in my sphere of influence so that others can encounter a real connection with God, the One who listens to our requests, answers our needs and provides relationship through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

I challenge you to practice your belief in God and His Word by praying it into situations in your life and the lives of those in your sphere of influence.

I would love to hear how praying God’s Word has affected your life. Please share in the comments below!

Silence Fear by Speaking Truth

Written by Vianne Satterfield

Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.”

My husband and I, as well as several of my family members tested positive for the coronavirus in the past couple of weeks. The physical symptoms varied and the intensity of the disease was different for each one of us. Although my symptoms were relatively mild, I also experienced fear and anxiety. There was the pre-test anxiety as I played detective to determine the cause of the symptoms. Then there was the post-test anxiety as I waited for the results. The worst part of the emotional rollercoaster for me was knowing my brother had been affected more severely and was hospitalized. I physically felt the anxiety and fear — I felt queasy and shaky on the inside. The more I thought about the “what if’s” and the unknown, the more fearful I became.

Thankfully, we have recovered, and hopefully, we will not endure any long-term effects.

During this experience I found relief by resting — both physically, by much sleep, and emotionally, by laying down my fear and anxiety, and picking up God’s Word to read it and find a word that I could hang onto. This kept me sane as I tend to ruminate. I replaced the “what if” worries with the words of Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.” I repeated aloud Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.”

I held onto this Scripture and claimed it as my own. I spoke it aloud over myself, my family members and anyone who I knew that was experiencing need.

Then I shared my need with my prayer buddies who texted their prayers for me and my family members.

These two actions — speaking aloud God’s truth and sharing my need with someone helped to change my outlook and it stopped the inner quaking, which was based on fear and the unknown. This enabled me to pray with bold confidence (in between naps!) that indeed my hope and salvation is in Jesus, to keep me calm and steady, to heal and set me free from ill effects and to empower me to share His Word with someone.

Do you have a community to share your need? Do you believe in the power of prayer? Come in agreement with God’s Word — speak it aloud over your situation. Declare it as if it is true — because it is! Say it! Think it! Believe it! Live it!

God is my strength. He is my defense and my salvation. Say it over your family! God is the strength, defense and salvation of my family! I will trust and not be afraid.

Share in the comments when a particular Scripture was your lifeline.