WVW #002: You have to have faith

In this time of a global health pandemic, I can't help, but believe we're all questioning our lives on so many levels. It seems in an instant, the world was hit with this unforeseen enemy. What if this is the end of humanity? What if seems to be two little words before every thought I have these days today, Theresa, and I challenge you to question what, if God is real? What if the Bible was written by God himself? How do you know the Bible is the word of God, did a bunch of men write it is God aware of what's happening right now and how in the world can I trust? He said, control.

Welcome to the second episode of the well-versed woman podcast. I'm Renee teller here with my cohost Teresa Morgan, who are just two perfectly imperfect women who have a heart to share our life's experiences with other women. Like you, I always ask you to be patient cause this podcast thing is new to us and it may be imperfect, but we promise you the love we'll be sharing is totally perfect. You see, I believe everyone comes to a hopeless point. At least once in their life. For me, it was quite a few times just really questioning if there really is a God or what was the point of all that religiosity and religion that I grew up with, I said in the first episode that this is a podcast, not about religion, it's a podcast about relationship. And today we're going to take that relationship. One step further by simplifying this thing called faith, simplifying your understanding of faith and how does faith work? Like what's the process to gain faith. But before we get started, we had one great revelation. Last week. If you remember, we talked about the need to plug into the power source to plug in with that God that created you.

So I'm going to take 20 seconds right now and ask us all to be still. While we open our hearts and our minds to what God might teach us today. Now, if you're driving, I don't want you to close your eyes, but if you're not go ahead and close your eyes, take a couple of deep breaths

and we'll be ready to get started. Here we go.

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that's it. That was 20 seconds. How easy was that? And how amazing would it be? Do you think if every morning before your feet hit the ground, you took 20 to 30 little seconds to ask God to open your mind and your heart to what he would have for you today. That's just so exciting. And the beginning process of this idea of trying to understand who God is and how we can have a relationship with him. I know Theresa, we talked a lot about that in the first podcast about what religion was for you and how you transitioned from that religion to relationship.

It was Renee. And you know, when we talk about these things, it brings me back in time to when I first was introduced to the Lord, Jesus, you know, I had religion for most of my young life. Uh, but it wasn't until he drew me into a relationship with himself, Renee, it opened my eyes to the scriptures that I really understood what having a relationship was all about. Um, it's so interesting because there's a verse in the Bible and it's in the book of John, the 44th verse and I'm paraphrasing a bit, but it says no man comes to Jesus unless the father draws him. So I had this epiphany, if you will, in my heart, this longing, uh, just out of the blue, it seemed to me to know why God had to, uh, but you're his son. Now. Those were the words I would use. Oh dear Lord. Why, why all of the blood, why did you have to kill your son? What was this all about? You know, when I would say to people, couldn't he just wave his magic wand and say sins forgiving. So that started a hunger in my heart. Um, not only to obtain the answer to my question, why did you have to kill your son? But it also began a hunger in my heart to know God and to come into relationship with God.

Yeah. That's just like I was saying teres. I think the question or that curiosity and that draw is different for everyone. Some people even take it a step further. Like, is there a God, but for you, it was this. I don't understand the very religion that I grew up in. Right? The very religion that told me that God came down to earth, became a human being and then was killed brutally. And it didn't make sense. And it, it doesn't make sense. And that's some of how I believe God draws every one of us

in our own very special, unique way draws us into himself. That curiosity is the very beginning of that process. And I always like to start with that idea where we began, which is, can you at a minimum open your ears, your heart, your mind, can you give God a chance? And if the answer to that is yes, then you need to stay tuned and listen to how Theresa and I both grew our faith from that very beginning process from those very simple questions, all our questions aren't the same. But I assure you that everyone who develops a relationship with God started with that innocent, simple curiosity, right? Tree, absolutely. Renee, you know, I'm thinking is individual. The markings on each of our thumb prints are that is how a unique individual each of us are. We come to earth and God knows us, right? The Bible talks about how he puts the spirit within a woman.

When the birth is beginning in the wound, he has the plan and purpose for our lives. He really is the creator of all, including each of us. So in my particular situation, he knew how to draw me. He knew the way my brain thinks, and he knew the question to pose to me so that I would have a hunger in a search. And we do have to acknowledge that there is a super natural part that takes place in the drawing process. God, in the book of revelation says he knocks on the door of each of our hearts because he wants to come in. He wants to have that relationship that, that we talk about all the time. I love that. I love that. That's how much he loves us. And, uh, I just, I can't help thinking about the analogy of us with our children and as women listening, whether you have children, whether you have pets that you adore, whether you were a daughter or son of a mom, which we all were, you know, that relationship, you know, that deep, deep love, you would knock on the door of your child to get back into their life at any moment.

And that's just really, really great. But how Trey saw, if, if we feel curious, if we feel like we want to understand things better, you know, where do we start? How, how is it that we can come to this thing called faith, right? We've all heard that word. We know faith. So tree, the definition of faith, what is that tree soft? Uh, the definition of faith is found in, in the book of Hebrews that it's the substance of things for

the evidence of things not seen. Yeah. So we can't see God, right? We can't see God and we have these hopes. And so it takes this thing called faith. And how do you go about getting faith?

True. Faith comes from his word who faith comes from the Bible to have a heart full of faith is to know God's word. You know, the apostle heater is very clear in the second book of Peter, the first chapter he talks about knowing the word of God specifically, he says, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord. So I love that because it is implying there as you know, the scriptures, grace and peace will be multiplied to you. And I can testify that that is exactly what has happened in my life. The more scripture I know, the more faith arises in my heart, the more peace that true peace that I have in my life. So, you know, the, the same chapter goes on to say that his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him. The chapter goes on to say through the precious promises that are his word. So in the pages of our Bible, there are so many beautiful, precious promises that, that are the word of God. You know, God says in his word, uh, not one, a word that has gone out of his lips, shall he break? It's a covenant that he has made with me on that. Every word in every sentence in this Bible is from his heart and it will come to pass, uh, as we believe him for it.

Hmm. So that's interesting Theresa. So if we use the word, even if we don't understand it completely or understand that it was written by God himself, but if we begin to understand it and meditate on it, our faith will grow. And if our faith didn't grow, then maybe it wouldn't be the truth, right? But it's happened over and over and over again with every human being who comes to know God, the father, God, the son and God, the Holy spirit. It happens to every single person who meditates on that word, that the promises are proven over and over again. Does that make sense?

It does Renee. You know, that is exactly how God works with his people throughout the old Testament and the new Testament, God gives a word and it comes to pass. Even in the book of Genesis Renee, I love this. It says that the Holy spirit was hovering over the depths of the ocean. And he was waiting for the word to be spoken, waiting for the word to come forth. And when God said, let there be light. The Holy spirit moved upon the earth in the earth was refashioned and recreated. So really that is that process that took place, uh, in the reef formation of earth is the same process that takes place. When a person is born again, when an individual hears the gospel in that hears Jesus walked the earth and that he shed his blood to pay the price for sin. And that if we believe we shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

So the Holy spirit is right there. He's hovering so that when the gospel is heard, when an invitation to Jesus Christ into our hearts to be Lord and savior occurs, a person's spirit is renewed just like the earth was renewed. Um, back in the days when God refashioned the earth. So, uh, the faith that we are talking about really, um, has a two step process. It's reading the word of God. And then it's also the Holy spirit. God takes hold of that and begins to apply it to our life. And it's through the process of meditating and muttering to yourself. The Greek word for meditation is actually mater that we hear the word in his Romans. 10 says faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. So a very simple example is when we hear that God heals someone or three, he heals all of our diseases. We say to ourselves, okay, I'm going to believe this. And we may come into a situation and we know what God's word says, we need healing. We apply that scripture to our life. We stand on that scripture and over time, it's normally over time. We see that healing come to pass in our life, Renee.

Oh my gosh. My, my mind is reeling. So the first point that I love was back in Genesis, how the word was God. And the word is God. And it reminds me of gravity, Theresa. So many of us don't totally understand gravity, but we're not going to take a step off the bridge and think we're not going to fall down. We accept it. We understand that it's a real thing. There's so many natural laws in place. And it's like, can we accept that? The word is God. And the word was God. And the word always was from the beginning. So that's an awesome reminder. The other thing, Oh, you brought to mind was my own cancer journey five years ago. And you know, it was the same for you and, Oh, I'm, I'm just pausing with gratefulness right now to God, both for him and his healing powers like you were saying, but for you as well, Theresa. And I just have to acknowledge that again, because here's what happened when I was diagnosed with the cancer that took my mom's life at a young age, and I spent five years watching my mom suffer incredibly with a kidney tumor. And then that's the diagnosis. I got almost at the same age. And so immediately

I felt like the writing was on the wall as, as believe it or not. The Bible says, I remember tree Suh calling you and asking you to pray. And you said, I'll do better than that. I will meditate on the word with you morning and night. And we got together. We S I actually, I remember being a Martha's vineyard, Theresa, so we might not have been physically together, but we went through all the healing scriptures, just like you're saying. And I got those little posted notes and I tabbed my entire Bible with all of the word that speaks to healing. And we meditated. We muttered that every single morning when we woke up and prayed together. And that's what you're talking about. Right.

You know, Renee, that's exactly, that's exactly it. And the Bible is full of patterns and principles, patterns, and principles. How does God move? What is God? Like? What's the principle on which, on which he acts. And an example of this is found in Mark chapter five, with the woman, with the issue of the LOD. I love this. As I read it, I would like our listeners to think of three things. She heard she meditated, and then she acted. So she heard. So listen to this Renee, because the same pattern that gives us an example of how faith is built and how God responds to faith was the exact same pattern that happened. Renee, when you and I were believing for your healing. So there was a certain woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years and had suffered many things. For many physicians.

She had spent all she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. Boy, you know, we thank God for physicians, but how many ailments are in the world today? Where man just does not have the answer, but we know God always has the answer, but let's read on when this woman heard about Jesus, she came behind him in the crowd and touched his garment for, she said, only I may touch his clothes I shall be made well. So what did she do? She heard about Jesus. She heard the gospel. She heard he was a healer. Then she said to herself in the Greek, it's a continual tense in the Greek. She continually said to herself, she thought about this over and over. And she muttered. If only I may touch his clothes, if only I may touch his clothes, he's healer. He is healer.

So she was doing what Romans 10, 17 instructs us to do that. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. So she heard the gospel message of Jesus. She heard he was a healer. She thought about it, faith, a Rose in her heart in one faith arises in a person's heart. It causes them to act. And that's what she did for, she was a woman that was bleeding back in the Jewish times. Um, that was taboo if you, well, number one, she was a woman. Number two, she was bleeding. But her faith was so strong that she pressed through the crowd's a woman bleeding. She pressed through the crowds because her faith was driving her. And she touched the hem of Jesus's garment in Jesus said, who touched my garment? The faith that was in this woman, Renee was the faith that caused healing to emanate from the Lord Jesus himself.

So the faith came and I think I could be wrong, but I think Jesus has had been caught up with healing. Healing came from me. I felt the healing power of God come out of me. Boy, someone in the crowd has faith. Yeah. We can liken it Renee, to your situation that I knew the principle of God and the pattern of seeing in the word, his promise for healing, confessing, and meditating and talking about, Oh Renee, how many times did we go over numerous, numerous scriptures and talk about Jesus being our healer. And I, I have to believe, and you could talk about how the faith grew in your heart till that time when the operation occurred and, uh, you, you were healed. So yes, it's so important. Um, to research the scriptures, know what God's word is? That is his well, and then to pray, to believe God for what his word says, and then we watch it come yeah.

To pay us. So such a great reminder. I, I carry the bracelet that I wore the morning. I was admitted to Brigham and women's hospital in Boston, Teresa. I carry it in my wallet. As a reminder of Jesus has healing power because I had been to every doctor in the Northeast, you know, Sloan Kettering cancer center. One of the greatest renal cell physicians in our country been to five different doctors. NYU. I was at that medical center. I had my surgery at Brigham and women's in Boston and no one told me it was anything but the cancer that my mom had. And when I finished my operation, the doctor said, I'm not sure what it is. And a week later I was diagnosed with the 1% kind of tumor called an oncocytoma, which is not a cancerous tumor. And as I said, I carry that bracelet with me. I tell the story to be reminded of the power that we have in the scripture, in the word. And surely, you know, five years later now my faith is so much stronger than it was then, but I trusted right. Theresa. I trusted the word that if I do this,

God says this will happen. Meditate on the word. So I encourage everyone listening today that you start small, but open your mind and your heart to listening to the word, to listening to this podcast and what the word of God can do in your life for, for anything, right. Theresa,

just physical healing, absolutely Renee. And I carry that experience in my heart as well, because as your faith grew during that time, Renee, my faith did too. And even though I was sort of your coach, uh, you know, your Christian coach with the word everyone's faith, the one that's speaking it, the one that's hearing it. Faith grows. Faith arises in one's heart. When we know and meditate on his word, ah, that's so beautiful.

I encourage everyone to leave us comments, leave us comments below on your questions. You know, Theresa for one loves questions. She just, the word of God, just spews out of her. When she hears a question and we want to serve you in this way and help you understand I'm a, an analyst at heart, you know, we're both CPAs. That was our background. You can hear more about that in episode one, if you want to know more about who we are, but we were both CPAs and are analytical in nature. And so we love to analyze the Bible and explain it and simplify it because it can be overwhelming. It can be intimidating, especially in the beginning, but it's very simple. And, uh, you know, they, I had to learn somewhat the hard way, which will be the next lesson. You know, what, if it's not your job to figure it out. I remember when God told me that, what if it's not your job, Renee, to figure it out? What if it's your job to be still and listen? Amen. Amen. I love so we thank you all for listening until next time meditate on just this one little scripture of the Bible. That's right. Renee, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, Romans 10, verse 17, say it over and over. And faith will come. It's that simple

and always remember, God is love and love never fails. Amen. Don't forget to subscribe to the well versed woman and you can also leave comments and questions. And as an additional bonus, we will include in the show notes, all the scriptures that relate to the episode topic. So feel free to download those and meditate on the scripture that meets your needs today. We'll see you next week.