483. Celebrating God's Grace, How to Plant a Mustard Seed

In today's podcast, Tawana Lowery provides transformational insights on the importance of Unstoppable Desire and the critical role it plays in planting a mustard seed of hope. Listen as she encourages you to never throw away your desire; it is the key to receiving what you are hoping and believing for. Desire is where Faith begins.  We don't need a large shovel to plant a mustard seed. We can plant a Mustard Seed of Hope with just a Teaspoon of Desire!      Taken from "Miss Overcomer Empower Moments." All content is Copyrighted by Tawana Lowery and Women World Leaders and cannot be used without express written consent.   A few weeks ago, I was praying about some close relationships that never panned out the way I had hoped. Although God has completely healed my heart from the pain that was created, I was still curious about the choices others had made concerning me. And so, I asked God, "Lord, what was their reason for NOT including me and NOT accepting me??? I wasn't lamenting or demanding and answer. I was simply trying to connect the dots on the rationale behind it. He said… "They didn't Want to. They just didn't want to." Truthfully, I was a bit surprised at the simplicity of God's response….   I guess I was expecting to hear some deep spiritual answer. But he just said… "They simply didn't want to." And then he said, "What I told you is profound when you think about it. In fact, it's very insightful… spiritually speaking".  Want = Desire  And Desire is where Faith begins!  Conversely, the lack of desire is where Hardness of Heart begins… because it means we've given up hope! Immediately my mind went to the story of the Lame man at the Pool of Bethesda (as recorded in John chapter 5). And I realized why Jesus chose the words he did when engaging the lame man.   By the time Jesus came on the scene, the Bible says this man had been in the same condition for 38 years. That's a lifetime when you think about it. But Jesus question was intended to expose the man's heart and where he was in his ability to believe for a miracle.   Jesus said, "Do you WANT to be healed." He was basically asking the man… "After all this time… after all the disappointment… after all the waiting… after watching others receive their miracle…  Do you STILL WANT IT, or have you Given up?  In other words, "Do you still have a Desire? Do you still have a little bit of want to?"  "Because if you have just a teaspoon of desire… I can work with that!"   I also believe Jesus was showing us the Heavenly equation on Faith. He is saying that our Desire, even if it's small, is where faith begins." I believe this perfectly aligns with what Rabbi Paul (or the apostle Paul) admonishes in Hebrews 11:1.   "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."   In other words:  Desire produces Hope and Hope produces Faith!  And although our Desires are not immediately visible, they can be made visible if we don't give up!   So, you could say… "Now Faith is the Substance of things Hoped for… the evidence of our Desires!"   I think we can also see this in the story about the Women with a Bleeding Disorder (Luke 8:43-48). After years of suffering and tons of disappointing results, her self-talk is quite remarkable. And gives us insight into the results she experienced from Jesus. She said, "If I can only…." WOW. Those are the words of "Desire." She was saying… In spite of it all, I still Want It! And her my desire fed her hope that provided the strength to DRAG herself away from a place of hopelessness and onto the highway of life. Jesus said to her, "Your FAITH has made you whole." But it started with her teaspoon of Desire! Her teaspoon of DESIRE kept hope alive… And it positioned her to COME ALIVE with healing!!!   Let's look at one more example found in Luke 5:17-26. When we think about unstoppable Desire, this story should get the POSTER award! You know it well. Four Men are trying to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus in the HOPES that he will be healed.   And there are a lot of obstacles in the way… Lots of reasons to give up and go home! But, because of their strong desire, it fueled their hope. The scriptures tell us that when Jesus saw THEIR Faith. When he saw their unstoppable desire, their friend was made whole.   You know… sometimes I think we make our faith walk harder than it needs to be. Sometimes we think it takes a whole lot of faith just to have faith! Sometimes we think it takes a giant shovel to plant a Mustard Seed. But that's not true!   I believe these passages tell us that we can plant a Mustard Seed with a Teaspoon! I believe it is telling us that our DESIRE (even if it's small) is the key to receiving.   But, let's go back and visit the first example about the man at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5. Because his story is slightly different from the others. This man didn't pursue Jesus. Jesus came to him. But WHY? I'm sure there were other infirmed people by the pool that day. So, why this man?   Well, I think we can learn something from the question Jesus asked him. Jesus already knew what his answer would be. I think Jesus came to this man because Jesus knew there was still a teaspoon of Desire in his heart. The problem was, he had been placing his HOPE in others.   His initial response was, "Lord, when the waters stir I have no one to help me!" This poor man had spent all those years hoping in others. WOW! How many of us can relate to that?   And this is how the enemy tries to kill our Desire. He tries to kill it through Misplaced Hope. Because if we take our desire FOR something, but put our hope IN something or someone other than God, we will experience disappointment, heartache, etc.   And, if we do that long enough, we'll be tempted to GIVE UP. We'll be tempted to throw away our Desire and our Want To! Possibly the other people around the pool had already given up and had given themselves over to hardness or heart. I also believe Jesus is showing us that Hardness of Heart is the real danger. And it happens when we stop Desiring, when we throw away our Want To!   But what this also demonstrates is that we need to be Vigilant to Guard our Hearts from growing cold and indifferent. We can bypass the hard heartedness if we commit our Desires to Jesus. If we place all our Hope in him only.    HE and HE alone is the Author and the Finisher of our Faith. The scriptures say… the Lord will give you (Freely give you) the desires of your heart.  He is the one who initiates the Desire and He is the one who brings it to completion.   Galatians 6:9 encourages us to, "Not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we don't give up." In other words, when we seek God to keep our heart's desires, and if we ask him for continued strength to forgive and to think on things above, we will reap a harvest from the mustard seed we have planted (with our Teaspoon of Desire). Proverbs 4:23 says, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." Sisters, we must resist the temptation to give up on our Desires, because it will determine our line of thinking and believing and receiving!   So, you might be thinking, "What about people who gave up their desire and didn't realize the cost involved? What if someone put their hope in others because the enemy seduced them into believing a lie? What does the Bible have to say to those people?" We're basically asking, "Will God redeem the unbelief?" In a word, YES! And the scriptures confirm it! Isaiah 1:18, the Lord invites us to talk with him about anything that separated us from him on any level so we can be made new again! "Come now, let's reason together (lets talk about this thing that tripped you up!) Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. (Even though the unbelief and dooms day thinking left a stain on you heart and mind… give it to me and I will replace it with a resurrected heart and mind!)"   1 John 3:20 reads, "If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." In other words, he is compassionate and understands our weakness and is always there to bring us out! Maybe you're feeling weary right now? Maybe you're feeling tempted to throw away your Desire?  It could be because of your vocation…  Or you might feel weary concerning a special relationship.  Maybe you're disheartened because of a life interruption that you weren't prepared for.   Or maybe you still have a little desire, but you're growing weary because of Misplaced Hope.  Possibly you put hope in the performance or acceptance of a spouse, a child, a friend, or even a religious leader. It is a common snare. We've all made that mistake before!   Lastly, you might be the person thinking you need HUGE Faith just to have small faith.  In other words, maybe you devalued your simple Desires… not realizing how much God can use it.  Maybe you feel overwhelmed at the thought of Mustering up hope because you think it requires a giant shovel to plant a mustard seed?  That's okay… because our sense of lack is the perfect place to start. Just think about the miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.  Whether we use a shovel or a teaspoon, we must place it in God's hands if we're going to reap a harvest. If any of those scenarios apply to you, then with your permission, I'd like to lead you in prayer. Heavenly Father, I bring this weariness to the cross in the name of Jesus. You've told me to cast ALL my care upon you… because you care for me. And Lord, this weariness is more than I can bear. Forgive me for trying to carry it on my own. And Lord, where I'm tempted to give up on the desires of my heart, forgive me… I know you don't condemn me… In fact you are always ready to rescue me from any temptation that might separate me from your perfect love. And that includes feeling alone and isolated and hopeless. Father, reveal to my heart any area where I have been tempted to put my hope in someone or something other than you… Forgive me for putting my hope in another person, or in myself or a certain outcome.   I bring the misplaced hope… this temptation to despair, the unbelief and giving up to the cross of Jesus. I asked that this part of my heart that's been wounded would be made dead on the cross, crucified and buried… and the wine skin that's contained it all these years. And any area of my heart that has exchanged the truth for a lie… I asked that it would be made dead this very moment… on the cross of Jesus. Father of glory… I ask to be Resurrect in Jesus with a NEW heart and a NEW mind and a NEW wineskin. Lord… fill me with new wine that I can live a brand-new life!! In Jesus mighty and glorious name…. Amen.   Copyrighted by Tawana Lowery and Miss Overcomer Global and cannot be used without express written consent.   July 2023