Ask what YOU would do, not Jesus

BY MARY-ELIZABETH HARMON
Founding Mother, Chard & Stripes

Jesus healed a kid when his disciples couldn’t, and they wanted to know why.

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. (Matthew 17:20)

At the time my “newly spiritual” ass heard that lesson online, my job was a mountainous stressor for me, so much so that I got sick and sought God on the internet in the first place. But commanding my job to go yonder felt weird and didn’t work: I called it to mind, said, “MOVE!” (hey, at least I tried), but it didn’t budge to reveal a path toward work bliss.

I needed another strategy and looked somewhere I hadn’t been in decades: in a church

For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.

JAMES 2:26

At church, I learned that “We do not know how to pray as we ought.” (Romans 8:26.)

Prayer isn’t about begging an external God to act on our behalf. The Jesus brand of prayer is acting on our own accord and seeing it when we believe it: “So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24.)

In this essay, I said that mindset matters most because it drives our outcomes:

Mindset >> beliefs >> behaviors >> outcomes

So years ago, I had the mindset that I was stuck in my job. I thought it so much that I believed it. I believed it so deeply that I didn’t take steps to leave. And so, I stayed stuck on my job.

While that’s all true, so is this:

To put that into words, …

You can change your behaviors to help change your beliefs. All you need is faith as a grain of mustard seed that doing something different will make a difference.

Here’s the beauty of mustard seeds:

They’re tiny and sprout quickly when planted, like overnight. Two days max.

Even if your faith is teeny tiny, sow it by doing something new and expect quick results. Ignore the advice to hope for the best and prepare for the worst—that feeds our unbelief and nullifies our prayers.

Though in general I’m all for asking WWJT—What Would Jesus Do?—it’s time to get tactical and…

Ask yourself, “What would I be doing if I believed that my prayer would come true next week?” Then put your faith—big or small—into action now.

But understand this first:

I’m not suggesting you go shopping on credit ‘cause you believe you’ll hit the lotto.

I’m suggesting you buy a ticket and daydream about using your cash.

For ages, my prayer was breaking free of my job. That wasn’t the most potent prayer, but it was what it was. Anyway, I thought about what I’d do if I knew for sure my days as a fed were about to end. My answer: Burn my files onto discs (it was 2009) and clear out my office.

By “actionizing” your faith, it grows bigger, bolder and can make miracles.

My boss was in the dark as I busied myself burning my files. But the more I worked, the more emboldened I became…and emptied out my office for all to see.

When my boss saw my handiwork, he made a joke it was nice to see I still worked there.

Eight months later, I took a month off.

Two weeks after coming back, I left for good with the intention of starting a business.

This may not seem miraculous to you, but it was to me:

I’d been praying for years to employ myself, and by growing my faith to where I believed I could, everything clicked into place, and I said bye to my boss with my promises met and more.

He was happy. I was happy.

So, self-employment didn’t work out but it was a blessing in disguise.

More on that later. Now it’s time for your homework assignment:

Starting today, do at least one thing a week that says I BELIEVE!!! to life. 🙂