Personal Devotion: Debunking the Myth of Selfishness in Self-Prayers | Featuring Mikaela Brown #203

What biblical evidence supports a call to pray for ourselves?
How do we experience an unveiling of our own hearts?

In today's episode, we revisit a powerful reminder of how God calls us to come to him - with purity of mind and heart, with a desire to know him more.

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Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Philippians 4:6

Transcript

203 \\ Personal Devotion: Debunking the Myth of Selfishness in Self-Prayers | Featuring Mikaela Brown

🥳FLASH SALE!!🎉
Save big right now. Use code MUFFIN to save big. Right now, the first 10 women who use that MUFFIN code will save $1, 000 off the sales price.
(If you are using the split pay option, use code MUFFIN2.)

Jen: You know when you hear something powerful and it compels you to first stop, drop, and not roll? You find yourself meditating on the message and then you rewind the tape to listen again. 

[00:00:13] Are you ready to rewind the tape a bit with me, beautiful friend? Earlier this week, Mikaela and I hopped on a call to share where God is at work in our lives, to ponder new beginnings for 2024, and talk about a powerful message Makayla is revisiting again.

[00:00:29] She is delighting in the goodness of the Lord. No matter the hardship, hurt, or humbling circumstances she walks through, this woman, she inspires me to no end. She's an encouragement to me as I long to be an encouragement to you.

[00:00:44] As Mikaela and I chatted and talked about all things possibility, I had this strong reminder that all the things God has been teaching us are rooted in a foundation of faithfulness. God's faithfulness, God's strength. Our heavenly Abba reminds us to be strong and courageous. In fact, he commands it. God calls us to be holy and strong in the Lord.

[00:01:10] He calls us to practice righteousness and seek him so he will reveal the desires of our hearts. As Mikaela plans out her potential podcast, I shared how impactful day 11 of the prayer challenge was for many women, and that God does have a call on her life to share his Word. Mikaela took over the 30 day prayer challenge when it first aired in June of 2023.

[00:01:34] Now, you know the story, if you give a moose a muffin? I love that story! And it starts out, if you give a moose a muffin. He will want some blackberry jam to go with it. I savor that story each time I think about it, giggling as I recall reading it with my grandkiddos. The muffin of our conversation was recalling episode number 158, where Mikaela kicked off day 11 of the prayer challenge.

[00:01:58] It was the beginning of 10 episodes, praying for ourselves as women. Mikaela answers the question, “What biblical evidence supports a call to pray for ourselves?” Back to that moose. Do you know what I'm going to call the blackberry jam for that yummy muffin? I had to go re listen to remind myself of the truths of God's call to pray.

[00:02:20] As I did, this moose wanted a glass of milk to go with it, so I pray this rebroadcast blesses you and reminds you of the importance of continually meditating on God's word and being surrounded by women who will lift you up and help you move forward as they challenge you to go deeper as a woman after God's own heart, and to pursue those dreams God has entrusted to you.

[00:02:44] What do you desire, Stepmama? What are you longing for? In today's message, you'll be reminded of the importance of being firm in your mind, to purify your hearts, and to love deeply through the power of a praying woman. The mission of the Empowered Stepmom podcast is to empower you to reclaim God's truth for your life.

[00:03:05] You are an overcomer. How do I know? God's word says so. See Romans 8:37. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Hey there, I'm your host, Jen Rogers, Certified Professional Life Coach, Kingdom Entrepreneur, Keynote Speaker, and Gigi to Grands who love to snuggle and read stories together. When I first started this stepmom journey, I had all the ingredients for success, but I had absolutely no idea what the recipe was.

[00:03:34] Now, I'm head chef for women who have an entrepreneurial spirit, a mindset for growth, women who want to skip years of mistakes in the classroom of, "I don't know what to do as a stepmom!", and instead begin to experience the joy of blending the beautiful skills and talents God has entrusted to you as the woman of influence in your own home.

[00:03:56] It is time to take dominion and not just in the kitchen making [00:04:00] muffins, but in every area of your home and your life, sweet woman. My mission is to help you do just that. I'll show you how to take back your power and reclaim your joy. When you apply key strategies I share in this podcast to your home life, you will experience real life change.

[00:04:17] That's the not so easy part, and this is where statistically, most women will not go. But you, you're different. You're listening to this podcast because you know deep in your soul that it's time to go after what you really want, God's way. You know you must choose to apply key strategies I teach.

[00:04:37] Right now, all you need to do is take the first step. It's as easy as the moose asking for a muffin. Simply head on over to stepfamilypodcast.com/academy to begin the enrollment process for the Empowered Stepmom Academy. Your 2024 can be different, but only if you choose to do something different.

[00:04:57] One muffin bite at a time. I promise I've got the jam, sister friend, to help you grow spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. And starting now, you'll be able to take advantage of a limited time flash sale inside the Academy. Save big right now. Use code MUFFIN, M U F F I N, to save big. Right now, the first 10 women who use that muffin code will save $1, 000 off the sales price. (If you are using the split pay option, use code MUFFIN2.)

[00:05:23] That's 50%. If you get here after those first 10 muffins are gone, no worries. I've got some blackberry jam to go with this sale. The following five women to enroll in the academy save $800. That's 40 percent off the sale price. Don't. Wait, this flash sale goes away before Christmas. Take the first bite of action and use the code MUFFIN now to save big.

[00:05:49] P. S. Friendly reminder, this episode was recorded for the June 2023 prayer challenge. And while many women joined together and did the 30 day prayer challenge when it first aired.

[00:06:01] You can start any time. Head on over to stepfamilypodcast.com/prayerchallenge and sign up for the prayer challenge. You'll get an email in your box each day of the prayer challenge, encouraging you and supporting you and leading you on a meditating journey to draw closer to God.

[00:06:19] You can start this anytime and we highly, highly, highly recommend  you to do this with a friend. Things go so much sweeter when you do them with friends. So grab a sister and sign up together for the free 30 day prayer challenge.

[00:06:32] if you've been around these parts for a while, you know, all those links are inside the show notes. If you are new here, I want to thank you for joining us in the empowered community. I am so honored to be in your earbuds today. All right, let's get started with episode number 203 of the Empowered Stepmom Podcast.

Mikaela: How can a sinful mortal draw close to a holy God? It sounds impossible, yet we are told that is exactly what God desires. The gospel, the good news is that God has made it possible, once and for all, for humans to enter into an eternal, loving relationship with himself. Jesus taking our place on the cross was the final redemption that brought about the Father's forgiveness for our dissension and rebellion.

Now, we are sons and heirs, but the buck doesn't stop there. Hi, I'm Mikaela Brown, the Stepmom Success Coordinator inside The Empowered Stepmom Community and it's Day 11 of the 30 Day Stepmama Prayer Challenge. The last 10 days, we have prayed over the significant men in our lives - husbands, fiancés, and boyfriends.

Congratulations on making it this far, and I can't wait to keep praying with you for the next 20 days. God has made us women uniquely to be strong supports for the men who lead our families. What better way to do that than lifting them up and washing them in our fervent heartfelt prayers? The modern world preaches loudly that such honor for our men is dishonoring to us.

But in fact, God reveals to us that he made the world with structure and purpose, honoring someone else, never dishonor you. Honoring the authority God has given to men does not dishonor us as women in the kingdom we live in. The servant is the greatest, and whose praise are we seeking? The world's or God's.

If it's God's, you are honored and upheld by Him. You have a divine anointing and appointing to support your man just as he has a divine anointing and appointing to love and cherish you and lead your family onwards towards Christ. He is a servant of Christ as well, and you are a woman of influence. How is that dishonoring?

So for the next 10 days, starting today, we begin praying over ourselves. We start praying for our hearts to be transformed and for God to reveal our appointing. Before we begin, let's address the elephant in the room. Is it selfish to pray for yourself? Not in the least. Prayer is a communion between you and your maker.

Intimate conversation and pouring out of the heart. This kind of interaction is essential to any relationship. Before God had created a single human, The Father, Son, and Spirit were in communion with one another. Then He made you in His image, meaning that you were made for intimate connection too. You were also made to be dependent on Him, so making requests for needs and wants is also a vital part of this unique and special relationship between you and your Heavenly Dad.

Let's begin learning how we can draw close to God. By listening to Lori as she reads beautiful words straight from God's heart to ours. Hi, everyone. My name is Lori. I'm coming to you from Colorado. It's day 11 of the prayer challenge. I have three verses for you today. Jeremiah 29, 13, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

James 4, 8, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double minded.
 
 In Proverbs 8:17, I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently, find me. Blessings to all. Jeremiah and Proverbs contain beautiful promises of the rewards of seeking God with our whole hearts.

Today, I'm going to be dwelling on the directives James gives us for drawing near to God. He says, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Double mindedness is being two faced. You say you believe one thing, then you do another. We believe, on one hand, that God loves us first and loves us best, yet we seek human love to fill the God sized hole in our hearts.

This is being double minded. The action we take based on these false beliefs is the sin that James speaks of. When we recognize this, we can then repent and cleanse our hands. We act on what we believe, and as spiritual beings in fleshly bodies, we have capacity for being double minded. We can believe fleshly things while learning to set our hearts on the things of God.

If we are focused on one thing, everything that we do flows from that thing. If Christ is your one thing, your hands will perform the work of the Father, like Christ did. Broken Down Simply Double mindedness is a condition of the heart, therefore the directive to purify our hearts. Sinning is accomplished in the flesh, therefore the directive to cleanse our hands.

When speaking of the human body in relation to spiritual formation and growth, Dallas Willard said, Spiritual formation is the process through which those who love and trust Jesus Christ effectively take on his character. When this process is what it should be, they increasingly live their lives as he would if he were in their place.

Their outward conformity to his example and his instructions rises towards fullness as their inward source of action take on the same character as his. They come more and more to share his vision, love, feelings, and habits. In the language of his great commission to his disciples, they are “Taught to obey everything I have commanded you”, Matthew 28:20.

So we see that every human on earth wrestles with double mindedness. What is one thing you are double minded about? What are you believing, and therefore acting upon, that is against Christ's teachings? How is God calling you into his truth and out of that lie? After you ponder and answer these questions, your courageous challenge today is to phone a godly woman in your life and tell her about this double minded belief.

Tell her where you've been, where you're at today, and what you intend to do to draw close to God in this area. God did not call us to walk this life alone. If you do not have a godly woman in your life to share this courageous challenge with, Email me and Jen at friends@stepfamilypodcast.com  and we would be delighted to share this step with you.

In your prayer journal, describe what you are repenting from today. How are you yielding to the Father and yoking together with Jesus in light of today's scriptures? In the prayer section of your journal, I would encourage you to tell God how this false belief has impacted your daily life. Describe it to him.

Then, invite him to enter your rubble. Just as Nehemiah did, join him in rebuilding your wall, your defense, which is your faith in him. He will do it. He says he will in Psalms 37, and his speaking is his doing. Today, I am repenting for being double minded in my love life. I have looked for my love to be fulfilled by my man.

When Christ says to me, I loved you first, I have sought that love to be filled by my stepchildren. And this has bred so much resentment and bitterness over time. And I've come to realize that I'm being double minded in my belief. I profess to believe that Christ is the ultimate source of love, but I have sought.

that love tank to be filled by my husband and by my kids, which isn't fair to them, putting them on the throne of my heart. So I'm putting God back in his rightful place and letting his love fill me. And what spills over, spills onto my husband and spills onto my kids. And I can love fully and purely.

Today may be a heavy day as you pray and recognize lies you have been believing and how you have been being double minded. But remember this, ladies. God loved you before you knew that that was a lie you were believing. And God called you out of the dark into his marvelous light before you knew that. He knew the whole time and still loved you.

And remember that today as you pray, do not picture him sitting there with disappointment and frown. Picture him sitting there with compassion and love, ready to listen and step into life with you as you let him help you rebuild your wall. You can't do it alone. You can't do it in your own strength.

That's why you're dependent and that's why he created you dependent on him, so that you would turn to him for help and y'all could have this beautiful relationship together. I'm praying for you today, ladies, and I know that God loves you. If you're joining us on day 11, you're welcome to start here with us through day 30.

And when you reach day 30, start back at day one and fill in through day 10. Or you can start at day one and listen to each podcast episode chronologically and follow along with your prayer guide. The prayer guide is not necessary to join us in the 30 day prayer challenge. It has many helpful tools for structured prayer and prompting questions.

If you aren't registered for the 30 Day Prayer Challenge and would like to join us, head over to stepfamily podcast.com/praying. Stepmom to register, if you would like to add the prayer guide to your daily prayer time, you can also purchase at stepfamilypodcast.com/prayingstepmom for under $10.

It's a small investment with big impact as it directly supports the bold stepmom ministry and our goal of reaching 12,000 women in 2023. You can find Jen on Instagram @coach.jenrogers And if you're a stepmom, you can join us in the private Facebook community 

All of these links will be in the show notes and we'll see you tomorrow. 

Jen: Mikaela, thank you so much for sharing your insights in the prayer challenge in this rebroadcast of the Empowered Stepmom podcast. 

Quick, quick reminder, everyone head on over to stepfamilypodcast.com/academy and take advantage of the 💥 flash sale 💥! 50 percent off for the first 10 who enroll in the Academy save big!

And after that. 80 percent off for the next five who enroll. Let's get ready to kick off 2024 in a beautiful new way together inside a community of action taking women. 

All right. Hey, I will catch you next week. God bless you.