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Refreshed · Fostering Faith

• 0:00
  Welcome back to Fostering Faith. And so we are here and we are going to be talking about refreshments.
• 0:08
  And so I want to walk in and dive into a concept of spiritual refreshment, providing practical steps to review your faith, reset your mindset, and experience God's presence in a new, powerful way.
• 0:24
  And so today's topic is refreshing your faith. And so I want to take a moment to reflect on this because it is the beginning of the year and depending on when this airs, we have just kind of walked in through our 21 days of prayer at church.
• 0:49
  And it is the year for us and our family of hope. And our verse of the year is Isaiah 40, 31.
• 1:02
  For those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on the wings like eagles, and they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. And so for Christmas, we were over at my parents' house and my dad gave me this like sticky note.
• 1:22
  And it was just about just be still and sit and refresh in the Lord. And I'm like, what does this even mean, dad?
• 1:36
  And so I kept the sticky note because I keep all my dad's sticky notes. And I was in prayer over our word and our verse of the year and the Lord just walked me through the word hope.
• 1:54
  And as I walked into all the verses of hope, I had given the girls for basketball this year, Isaiah 43 because your girl likes to run and I wanted them to be encouraged that they are going to run a ton, but they will not get tired and they're going to be able to walk and not die.
• 2:17
  And so that was my kind of mindset of Isaiah 40, 31. And the Lord has just opened it up so much for me.
• 2:28
  And so as I was in prayer on January 1st about hope and decided about Isaiah 43 as my verse of the year, and as I left on New Year's Day, we live in the country, but I was driving into town and what was on the side of the road?
• 2:49
  Just sitting there, a bald eagle, just hanging out on the side of the road with some vultures, eating on a dead deer or something.
• 3:01
  And I was just like, are you kidding me right now? Like I just did the verse and just soaring on the wing of eagles and the first animal that I see of the New Year is a bald eagle.
• 3:19
  And that is what God does. That is what happens whenever you seek his face and just fervently you're just asking, you're in prayer. And I am just like also to in Isaiah I was in this morning and about making, I want signs and wonders.
• 3:36
  I want to know if I am hearing from you. I want to know if I'm making this up myself. I want to know. And it is just his way of showing me.
• 3:47
  And so we are looking for signs that you need spiritual refreshment. Do you feel like you need refreshment spiritually?
• 3:58
  Feeling distant from God, lack of enthusiasm in prayer and worship and Bible study. Like you're just doing it. Just check mark a box.
• 4:05
  Are you feeling overwhelmed in your life challenges? Are you do you feel like just the burden and the weight of everything? Do you feel what should seem easy is just feeling so heavy for you.
• 4:22
  And so, you know, here's some ways that you can refresh your faith time in God's presence prioritizing daily practices and prayers and quiet time. And I feel like I could just be a broken record right now.
• 4:37
  But I put him first in my day. That way nothing interrupts it. Nothing gets in my way. And that way I can make sure that I have listened to him. I have given him my worries.
• 4:52
  And that way I walk into my house free, clear minded and already renewed in him because I've spent my morning with him. And that's my quiet time. I love early mornings.
• 5:11
  And that way I am able to have the most important my day taken care of before I even leave my house. And journaling your prayers. Having a journal.
• 5:27
  And so I'm a nurse and it is was so funny because I really felt like the Lord was just like, you know, write it down, write it down, write it down. And I was just like, no, no, no, because like somebody could read it and then like who's going to come over to my house and like burn all the things that I talk about to God and all the things.
• 5:44
  And so like he had taken me several years ago to Habakkuk 2.2, you know, write it down, make it plain as day. And I then started to journal. And it started off being like little one line journals and like, oh, you know, like, how are you? This is what I want.
• 6:03
  But now, I mean, we're in pages and pages of just writing and journaling and how I talked to him about what the scripture said to me that morning and how we can go into just questions and answers and how I'm just writing and then the words just kind of just pour out of me.
• 6:24
  And so, you know, you can go back and you can like look at your journaling in the very beginning and how you can look at your journaling now. And it doesn't have to be, you know, fancy.
• 6:33
  And I have, you know, arrows and I have, you know, short term, you know, things that I write, write down because if I wrote long handed everything and I'm a nurse, like I said, and so we short hand a lot of things.
• 6:45
  And so I talked to him and I journal just like I would write and, you know, documentation. And so I it is just such a great way to start my day and having a devotional, you know, having that study tool that is just so helpful, you know, having, you know, commentaries, having something to just start to understand a deeper dive.
• 7:10
  And the Bible is a great option for people and just to sit and engage in scripture and that way you can have that study tool there if you don't understand it.
• 7:21
  And if you're doing like line by line verse by verse, that's fine. And so you can literally study a verse in different, you know, reading context.
• 7:31
  And so you don't have to be overwhelmed with the whole chapter. Just start with one verse and sit and reflect. I mean, just the importance of just rest sitting back and letting you hear God's voice and reflecting on what's draining your energy spiritually.
• 7:47
  Just sit back and reflect. It doesn't have to be about being busy all the time.
• 7:52
  I mean, just sit back and reflect and like just listen for him. And that's like going back to my dad's sticky note. It was just about just sit and be still.
• 8:02
  You know, when was the last time that you just sat and were still with God and it's so important that we, you know, we're giving him thanks and we're giving him praise and, you know, we're asking about this.
• 8:12
  But then we often close our journals and we get up and we forget just to sit and listen.
• 8:18
  And it's about just sitting back and just resting in his arms and knowing that he has our best interest because he loves us so much.
• 8:27
  And then what about your praise and worship? How just sitting back and just listening to praise and worship songs, whether you're cleaning the basement.
• 8:36
  I had, I was serving at a food distribution this morning and I had praise and worship music going in my pocket. And one of the volunteers was just like, where is that music coming from?
• 8:48
  And I was like, my pocket, because I always, if I have something going, it's a podcast or it's praise and worship music because it just, it makes, you know, like the whole atmosphere just change.
• 9:01
  I was cleaning the house today and I had praise and worship music going just because it lightens my mood.
• 9:07
  It is just brings a smile to my face. It just makes me just be more grateful of the stuff that I'm actually cleaning instead of being like frustrated and just, you know, irritated of the mess that I have.
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  I am more, you know, in a gratitude attitude because I have stuff to clean. I have a house to clean because I have a mess because I have the stuff to make the mess.
• 9:29
  And I get to praise and, you know, praise and worship the God that has been so generous to us to be able to have the things that we have.
• 9:38
  And we want to be good stewards with what we have and take care of what he's given us.
• 9:43
  And so, you know, just listening to our favorite worship songs and during the Christmas holiday season, you know, Oh, holy night is just, I listen to it year round.
• 9:55
  My family gets really annoyed because we listen to Christmas songs in August, but I don't care.
• 10:00
  And then it's about having community and connection.
• 10:04
  You know, the role of fellowship and accountability partners are so important and that way you are in check.
• 10:10
  You know, you have accountability partners and allowing someone in your life to know what is going on.
• 10:17
  And so, you know, this is probably going to hit the airways mid January, February.
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  And it's about small group season and a youth is out there and mentorship and discipleship.
• 10:30
  And so, your local churches are going to start small groups here.
• 10:34
  And I cannot pour into you enough about how to stay connected into your small groups.
• 10:40
  And so, just practical ways to refresh your faith is, you know, time with God, engage in scripture, rest and reflect in what he's done, what he will do.
• 10:49
  You know, go back and look at the promises that he has had about you and then just spend time and praise and worship.
• 10:57
  And then talk to, you know, your community about, you know, your church, your small groups, you know, getting connected with that.
• 11:04
  And how do you stay refreshed on the daily?
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  And so, just like with life itself, with a relationship, with a marriage, with fitness, with health, with wellness, with anything,
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  the number one thing is consistency and about building your daily habits and staying connected with God.
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  And it's about making that time, but being consistent.
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  If you're going to do anything and build at it, you can't just do a marriage one day a week and expect to have an amazing marriage.
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  You can't go to the gym one day a week and expect to have abs.
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  You can't, you know, eat well one day and expect to be healthy.
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  It's not, you know, you have to have consistency.
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  So consistently looking and reading scripture, consistent being in God's presence, consistently going to the gym, consistently eating that good diet,
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  you know, consistently talking with your friends, building friendships, consistently going to church,
• 12:03
  consistently doing the things that God has called you to do because what you spend your time in is what you're going to be good at.
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  And so, you know, just having that consistency and not just be, you can't get filled up with just going to church once a week.
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  You have to eat daily, you know, and you have to drink daily.
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  So it's those things that you have to do consistently to make sure that you're growing and being refreshed daily.
• 12:31
  And that's why it's just so important to start our day off.
• 12:35
  And, you know, the gratitude practice, starting and ending your day and thanking God.
• 12:39
  And so, you know, just simply, but even just before you get out of bed, a gratitude is thank you for this day.
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  Thank you that I had an opportunity to wake up because there's people that didn't get that opportunity.
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  And then as I, and so before I, my feet hit the floor in the morning, I tell him thank you for waking me up.
• 12:57
  And I put my armor on and I go through, you know, the helmet, the breastplate, my shoes, my belt.
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  I go through all of that and then I step my feet on the floor and then I do my morning things.
• 13:11
  And then whenever I go to bed at night, I just tell him thank you for the day.
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  And then I just reflect on all the good things that he did for me.
• 13:18
  I lay questions down and I just ask him for a great night of restful sleep.
• 13:24
  And it is just a great way just to start my day and end my day with thanks to him and serving others.
• 13:33
  And so a refreshment on a daily basis often comes from pouring out to others because I have spent my morning being refreshed by him.
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  He fills my bucket.
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  And so therefore I'm able to pour out to other people during my morning.
• 13:50
  And then on my lunch, on my lunch, I go to the gym and listen to a sermon, listen to praise and worship music, and I get a good workout in.
• 14:00
  And so I'm filled back up and then I get to go pour out to my afternoon patients.
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  And so it's just about that constant because we're in prayer all day long and we're just in that constant talking to him and thankfulness and having that gratitude attitude is that he is constantly and renewing me and refreshing me and filling me up.
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  And so therefore I get to pour out to others and it's just to be able to be refreshing to somebody else is no no better way.
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  And so what else do you have to do to be able to be filled up is that you have to surrender and trust.
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  And it's about letting go of those burdens because he says my yoke is light.
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  Give me your burdens.
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  And a lot of times we are such jerks.
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  We give him our burden and then we're like here take it.
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  You know, like I'm done with it.
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  And then you're like you watered up and you throw it at him and you're like fine.
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  You just take it and then you wait like, you know, 10 minutes and then you take it back because you're like you're just not doing it fast enough and you're not doing it my way.
• 15:04
  And I think that this way is going to be better.
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  But it's about that fully surrender and trust, trust in him and know that he is good.
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  Know that his timing is wonderful.
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  Knowing that his timing is right.
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  Knowing that his timing is exactly where it needs to be and we have to trust and we have to know that his ways are greater and just trust that he loves you more than you love yourself that he loves your son and daughter that he loves your marriage that he loves.
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  You know what your best interest is.
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  And so we really have to fully surrender and trust and know that if we give him our burdens because we were never meant to carry the things that we're carrying, but we do it.
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  And if we give it to him, your life is so much better and it just refreshes your heart because that weight has been lifted.
• 15:59
  And so just some like scriptural insights and just some refreshing scriptures.
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  I'm in Psalms right now.
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  And so Psalms 23 3 says he restores my soul.
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  He guides me along the right path for his namesake and you have Matthew 11 28.
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  Come with me all you are weary and burdened and I will give you rest and 2 Corinthians 4 16.
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  Therefore, we do not lose heart though outwardly.
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  We are not wasting away yet inwardly.
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  We are being renewed day by day.
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  And so it is just those simple scripture insights that though that book the Bible you have the Old Testament and you have the New Testament and it is a just about those words can leap off those pages and just be exactly what you needed to hear.
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  If you are expecting God to meet you in the morning, he will meet you right there. He will refresh you.
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  He will renew your mind.
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  He will have metanoia and the you on Galeon, which is the good news is right there in on your phone in your in your brick and mortar Bible.
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  If you have one and it is just about not being overwhelmed, but it is just about being so excited to read the word that your God has given you that your Heavenly Father has left you and it's a love story.
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  It's not like this old cruddy book that it's like old history book that you have in school.
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  No, it is alive and it is full of knowledge and wisdom.
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  And it is about just there's so many stories and it is such a good book.
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  I mean you have Kings and Queens and you have a you know, there's adultery in there.
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  There's murder.
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  There's I mean every situation that you're watching on your favorite like show on TV or Netflix or soap operas if that's even a thing anymore.
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  Those stories are in the Bible.
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  Those stories are in there and you're just like, oh my goodness.
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  And then there's so many different versions to read and you know, there's a King James version.
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  There's new King James version.
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  There's NLT.
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  There's ESV.
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  There's Christian Standard.
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  There's so many different.
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  There's the message version.
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  And so there's there is a version out there for you that you can just dive in and just glean from what God has written down for you.
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  And so we want listeners to hear some questions and so we have had some opportunities to have some questions from some listeners.
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  And so we want time to answer of how this refreshing might apply to your situation.
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  And so here is a challenge.
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  So spend 15 minutes each day in a quiet place with God and journal what he is teaching you.
• 18:59
  And so as we want this to be a community where we are building and walking with you in your faith journey, we know that tens and thousands of listening are on YouTube and we hope to grow to a hundred thousand and a million.
• 19:14
  And we will bloom where we are planted.
• 19:17
  And so we are just hoping and praying that these messages reach the one person that they need to and that you guys like and share and subscribe in that way.
• 19:30
  These podcasts can grow and help walk people with their faith journey.
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  And we are hoping that this episode refreshes your kind of dried up bones that we are refreshing our soul through the presence of God and engaging in scripture and time and reflection and worship and praise and just getting connected with that community.
• 19:53
  But on a daily basis, we're practicing consistency and our gratitude attitude serving others, but most importantly, just surrendering and trusting in God.
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  You know, and having those moments in time where we can go back and read the Psalms and Matthew and 2 Corinthians.
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  And so we want to have this these moments to help with people.
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  And so as as you are refreshed with this episode, we hope that you pursue it and stay refreshed.
• 20:21
  We want to thank you for listening and tuning in.
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  And we want to pray for you this week.
• 20:27
  And so dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for today.
• 20:30
  Thank you so much for yesterday.
• 20:31
  Thank you for the opportunity to shed your light and the word to others.
• 20:35
  Thank you for this gracious opportunity to have this podcast for millions of people to listen to it.
• 20:41
  Thank you for refreshing my soul.
• 20:42
  Thank you that you renew my mind every day.
• 20:44
  Thank you that you were renewing the minds and the eyes and the ears of the listeners of this podcast.
• 20:50
  Thank you for the blessings and the honor that you have bestowed upon us.
• 20:53
  Thank you that our words are encouraging and will lift and build each other up.
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  Thank you for all that you do.
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  In Jesus name, I pray.
• 21:01
  Amen.
• 21:02
  And so we hope that this encourages you and lifts you up.
• 21:05
  Stay tuned for next week as we dive into a another topic.
• 21:10
  Stay tuned.
• 21:11
  See you later. Bye.