If you had all of the money in the world, what would you do? Really—what would you do?
Would you travel? Perhaps you would go back to school or buy a new house? Maybe you would finally buy your dream car or maybe you are one of those people who would simply give it all away.
If you had all of the time in the world, what would you do?
Would you spend long months visiting friends and family? Would you spend a year writing that book that has always been in your heart? Or maybe you would invest oodles of time in a new hobby such as skiing or archery or photography.
Now let me ask you one more rhetorical question that might be the most important question of all: If you had all of the faith in the world, what would you pray for?
Would you pray for the world to be at peace and for hospitals to close due to lack of patients? Would you pray for people everywhere to just be kind to one another and for nations to come to Christ? Would you pray for the weather to only be pleasant and for politicians to stop fighting?
I often ask myself these three questions just to take the pulse of my heart. My intention in asking these questions to myself is to know who I am at my core and to identify what I hope to accomplish with my life. I also need to identify the things that most concern me during my time on planet Earth.
What I am learning in asking myself these fierce yet truly unanswerable questions is that rather than focusing on only what I can do with large amounts of money, gigantic amounts of time and a huge measure of faith is that I need to accomplish what I can accomplish in an ordinary day with my limited resources.
I am unable to feed the entire nation of India, but I can give money to the City Mission in my town.
It’s ridiculous to suppose that I could quit working for a decade in order to travel the world, but I can take a day off to make memories with my family.
I may not see the world healed by my prayers, but I can see one person healed and one person saved. And then—I can pray for one more and for one more and for one more until my prayers circle the globe.
This self-examination of my motivations is clearly teaching me that my money and my time truly are limited by my humanity but that it is impossible to put a cap on my faith.
In the miracle venue of prayer, I can pray for the big and the little, for the possible and the impossible, for the dire and the distant. I have decided that rather than staying focused on what I don’t have in terms of time and money, perhaps I should concentrate on what I do possess in my walk of faith.
I have been given an eternal relationship with the Creator of the universe; I have been forgiven and am loved by His Son, Jesus. I have been given the power of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of that same Spirit. I can move mountains with my faith, I am able to close the mouths of lions with my prayers and I, even I, am able to command the seas to part by the power of my words.
I have discovered that time and money are not the vital necessities in life but when a person has faith—he or she has everything!
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). {eoa}
Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women’s conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. She has written eight books, including The Rooms of a Woman’s Heart, Defiant Joy!, Holy Estrogen!, No More Ordinary, Refined, Joy For All Seasons, Let There Be Joy! and Pass the Joy, Please! which releases on February 1, 2018.Her teaching DVD, The Rooms of a Woman’s Heart, won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming. You can also listen to Carol’s “Jolt of Joy” program daily on the Charisma Podcast Network. Connect with Carol or inquire about her speaking to your group at justjoyministries.com.
