Microwave Prayers and TV Dinner Faith: A Guide to a Properly Focused Life of Prayer and Faith.

God spoke by means of dreams and visions all through the Bible. Men such as Samuel, the Pharaoh, Daniel, Abraham, Joseph, Paul and John all had God speak to them as such. Some were greater, you could say, of a dream or vision than others but nonetheless, they were all from the Lord.

In Acts 2:17 it is written "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, you old men will dream dreams."

The Lord will sometimes give me messages through dreams and visions. A couple months ago as I was laying in bed, God gave me a message for my life I will never forget. It was about 5am when I woke up and I was laying in bed trying to decide if I wanted to get up before my son did and clean (pssshhhh...ya right) or lay in bed and hopefully fall back asleep. So naturally, I chose to stay in bed. I ended up falling back asleep because God needed to show me something. And here it is:

I was standing in my kitchen. It was dark outside, either very late or very early. Either one, it meant that whatever I was doing I was at it for a long time. My outfit was a long sleeve night gown almost touching the ground. My countenance was tired, filled with anxiety and disappointment with dark circles under my eyes. To my right was a card table filled with microwave meals, or TV dinners. When I say filled I mean FILLED. Probably a couple hundred covered the table. On the floor was about 100 partially opened TV dinners. My posture was limp and hunched; it was obvious I was growing weary from standing there. I would grab a meal off of the table and throw in the microwave for 10-15 seconds and take it out, open it partially, just enough to stick my fork in it to taste the contents, and throw it on the floor because it was either not cooked or it was not what my pallet was desiring.

That was it. When I woke up I was confused. I did not think it was from God, just that I had a strange dream. As I was getting ready it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was from God and it is exactly how I was living my life. At the time there was a huge wave of the Holy Spirit happening with my church group, the high emotion, Holy Spirit manifestations, and miracles wave. I had such a huge amount of faith in God. In his healing, his love, his promises. You name it and I had the faith in it. I felt like I had the faith to move mountains. But what did my personal relationship with God look like?  A prayer here and there, reading a few verses or if I felt really spiritual at the time maybe even a whole chapter, and singing some worship songs during the day? Yup. I was your typical 'Christian.' I thought I was doing my Christian duties but I was not living a life fully dedicated to the Lord. At the time I was expecting huge things from God and for my prayers to be answered, for all of the emotional things that come with a huge wave of the Spirit.

Now let me connect my life to the dream. Much like those meals, I was spending little time prepping my spiritual life, not sacrificing anything. Was I doing any prepping for the spectacular meal I was hoping to get with each TV dinner? No! I was throwing it in the microwave for 10 seconds letting the microwave do all of the work for me. Meal after meal, prayer after prayer, expectation after expectation, it was not what I wanted it to be. I had done that so many times. God was showing me if I want miraculous things to happen I need to sacrifice my life and pick up my cross daily and follow Him. He was calling more from me. He knew I had more to give and He wanted it.

If you are wanting more from God or you have been asking for something for a long time, take a look at your life. Focus on what you can give to God instead of what you want or need from Him. Flip it around and see if He does not answer your prayers and more then.

Since then let me tell you...I have changed the way I live my life and God has acknowledged it! God is so great! Yes, God has the power to answer prayers even without you sacrificing much but sometimes he wants more from you. Romans 12:1 says, "So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship."

Do you have a time where you sacrificed your self and the Lord acknowledged it? Please share the love of God and let me know!

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..."

Romans 12:1-2