I was confessing to God in prayer that I didn\u2019t want to rely on him for my food and clothing as the scriptures tell us to.\u00a0 I said to him, \u201cI don\u2019t want to rely on you for my food and for my needs!\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be in need, I don\u2019t want to feel like I\u2019m dependent.\u00a0 I want to be able to provide for myself.\u00a0 I want to feel certain that I will have what I need, and being dependent means being uncertain and needy.\u201d<\/p>\n
I could hear the voice of the Lord in my spirit speak to me.\u00a0 He asked me a simple question.\u00a0 \u201cWhy would you rather rely on the thing created rather than the one who created it?\u00a0 Why are you more comfortable possessing a cow than possessing the one who created and owns all the cows?”<\/p>\n
He said to me:\u00a0 \u201cYou feel this way because you do not understand the degree that you are depending on me at all times.\u00a0 You are always dependent on me.\u00a0 \u2018What do you have that you did not receive?\u00a0 Why then do you boast as if you did not receive.\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Unless Jehovah Himself builds the house, it is in vain that the workers have worked all day.\u2019\u00a0 Without my aid, you would have nothing.”<\/p>\n
I felt that I understood what God was saying; a spirit of joy and gratefulness filled me.\u00a0 I said, \u201cFather, I understand what you are telling me.\u00a0 Can you give me an illustration or a story to tell what I have just learned.<\/p>\n
He said:\u00a0 \u201cIt is like a family who is taken care of by a wise fisherman.\u00a0 Every year the fisherman would visit the family and bring a year\u2019s worth of fish in a very sophisticated ice box.\u00a0 Each day the box would thaw a day\u2019s worth of fish for the family.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, before the year was over the fisherman would come\u00a0and bring the family another year\u2019s supply of fish so that the family was always well taken care of.<\/p>\n
At the end of one year the fisherman told the family, \u201cFrom this point forward I will bring you fish every six months.\u201d\u00a0 This made the family a bit more uncomfortable, because they were more dependent upon the fisherman.\u00a0 However, just as the fisherman was faithful to come every year, he came every six months faithfully.\u00a0 However, after some time the fisherman said to the family, \u201cI will now come once a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
This made the family very worried.\u00a0 After all they had nothing worthwhile to give to the fisherman.\u00a0 Perhaps it would be too much of a hassle for him to come monthly.\u00a0 Perhaps he would forget about them.<\/p>\n
After a few years of coming once a month the fisherman informed them he would only come once a week.\u00a0 The family became very nervous.\u00a0 They begin to wonder if it would be better for them to have backup plan just in case the fisherman didn\u2019t come.\u00a0 However before they could put any plans into action the fisherman told them he would now bring them food only once a day.<\/p>\n
Finally this was too much for the family, and they told the fisherman about their worries.\u00a0 They told him they appreciated all he had done for them for so many years, but they were afraid to rely on him for food.\u00a0 What if he forgot about them, or became angry with them, or if he ran out of fish at some point.\u00a0 They were afraid to rely on him on a day to day basis.<\/p>\n
At this point in the story God spoke to me saying, \u201cThe concerns of the family may seem to make sense until they learned the truth about the fisherman.\u00a0 First they needed to know that the fisherman bringing them food is immortal, he will never die.\u00a0 He was the one who seeded those waters with fish before the family was ever there.\u00a0 He put the fish there for the purpose of feeding the family.\u00a0 He had many lifetimes of fish stored up for the family and on any day that he went fishing he could catch more fish than they could eat in a month.\u00a0 Most importantly they should understand that the first box that contained a year\u2019s supply of fish required him to check it remotely every hour in order to work properly.\u00a0 They should know that all the years they felt comfortable relying on the box of fish, they were really relying on the fisherman.\u00a0 They were always dependent on him, only now they were more aware of the truth.”<\/p>\n
After receiving the illustration I marveled.\u00a0 God finished with this:<\/p>\n
I love my children more than anything! I showed this with the ransom of my Son.\u00a0 The ransom proves my love for you.\u00a0 When you put faith in my love for you, you will not be afraid to rely on my love for you.\u00a0 Put absolute faith in my ransom, thus put absolute faith in my love for you, then you will have faith to rely on me for everything you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was confessing to God in prayer that I didn\u2019t want to rely on him for my food and clothing as the scriptures tell us to.\u00a0 I said to him, \u201cI don\u2019t want to rely on you for my food and for my needs!\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be in need, I don\u2019t want to … <\/p>\n