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Holy Discontent: Hearing God’s Call When Life Feels Unsettled · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Relish pleasing or zestful flavor a quantity
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  just sufficient to flavor to be pleased or
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  gratified by enjoy we are hoping that what we bring to your table today might
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  add some spice to your life welcome back to another episode of relish i'm rowan
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  miller this is don patterson don how are you doing doing well doing well yeah
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  i won't take a pulse or anything time.
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  We're just doing well. Yeah.
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  Well, we got the good old question and answer format here where I bring my questions,
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  your questions, and then Don with 40 plus years of experience gets to answer them.
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  And I believe he has one coming for me. For you. Yes.
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  I like that spicy little piece. Yeah.
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  What is your favorite book in the Bible and why?
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  I think I would have to say either Genesis or one of the Gospels,
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  but I would say Genesis probably.
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  I'm in our AP English class, right? Maybe it just has to do with our English
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  class right now. That's good.
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  But we're reading the Bible as literature, which is kind of hard considering.
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  Exactly. From so many different layers of literature there. Yes.
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  But just the, like, it's literally, like, not literally, but literary, like, beautiful.
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  And, like, the way it goes together, like, the words that just keep repeating,
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  the way it plays out, like, you start with all this. So you're reading it in Hebrew? No, not quite.
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  If you think it's beautiful in English, you ought to read it in Hebrew. Yeah.
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  I've got a book I've got a book for you.
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  But all the and we're talking about the archetypes with the community and the
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  garden and the river and like life and abundance you got right away and then,
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  Bam, just like that, thrown out of the garden, just on the downfall.
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  But you still continue to see parts of that and what you saw in the earlier Genesis later on.
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  And yeah, it's just something I'd never thought of before.
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  But it is cool. Yeah. It is really cool. And to think that Noah would have been
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  there maybe even to make sure Abraham got the words. Yeah. Yeah.
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  I'll have an essay coming up on it, so I might have to share that one with Don.
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  Well, I'll answer any questions. How would that be?
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  And you don't have to worry about plagiarism. Nobody's heard that from an angle before. Okay.
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  All right, well, we'll get back to Don's questions here.
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  But first one, how do we know when God is calling us out of an area or into
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  a new area or a new job or living area, just new career or something?
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  Well, a lot of times, okay, so his calling out, when God calls us out, it's deliberate.
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  Okay. And so if we've been doing something on our own with our own skills and
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  abilities, that's not bad.
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  That's not bad. We need to operate out of our skill set and do it the best.
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  But when God starts to call us out of something, it's going to be a lot like
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  Abraham being called out of Ur.
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  It's going to, all of a sudden, you're going to want to move on.
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  There's going to be dissatisfaction where you're at.
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  There's going to be maybe an optimism of something you don't know yet,
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  that there's got to be something out there better than this.
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  And so, in fact, that was what drove a lot of pioneers west.
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  Is the optimism, is there's something more out there. The gold.
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  And so when God starts calling us, we'll probably start to be uncomfortable
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  where we're currently at.
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  And then we'll start to see maybe a vision of something which could be into the future.
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  The second piece of that, as a Christian, we'll be praying into thy will be
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  done, part of the prayer that God has given us.
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  And it's just interesting how he'll start dropping things like dreams and visions
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  that will start to inform what we might look forward to.
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  Yeah, there's so many personal examples, I'm not sure which one to go with.
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  And so when we start seeing that progression of things, then we realize, okay, it's time.
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  Then we then we should be
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  asking god what is the next next step i find i are i'm sort of impatient i think
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  we had a thing on long suffering not long ago right but patience is not one
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  of my big suits and and i have a deep personality who likes to get things done and get to the next stop,
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  I have prayed that God give me the next step.
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  I don't need the whole plan. I don't need every detail.
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  Just tell me where to put my foot next on this walk that you're calling.
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  You ought to feel productive.
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  Yeah. And I know that that's, I think people had a lot of questions about my
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  last transition out of a church and they wondered how that happened.
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  And really, it was that. But it was that, it doesn't quite feel right anymore.
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  It's just, what can be, I mean, I was 64 years old, let's get real.
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  And so it wasn't a great time to do any transition.
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  And so I just took the step by step by step and God was with us every step of
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  the way. And look what happened.
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  I don't know how I can illustrate it anymore other than the fact that you need
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  to be in tune with the spirit.
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  And making sure you have given it all to God.
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  And I think the last episode was on the talents or something like that.
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  Invest it. I mean, He's invested in us.
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  We equally invest in what He has for the kingdom. And it's all His.
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  All to His honor, all to His glory, all to magnify His holy name.
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  And give it back. Give it back. So I think that's how we know.
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  It's that whole, somebody called it holy discontent.
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  And when we get those moments of holy discontent, then we, oh, okay.
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  This must be something I should be paying attention to. Yeah.
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  So I would say that would be the case.
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  Good question. That was a good question. I bet there's some people that probably
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  will have a follow-up to that question.
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  Yeah. Yeah, let us know. Yeah.
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  John 14, 13 to 14 says that we can ask God for anything.
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  Should we ask him for anything? I really think we should.
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  That was last night of Jesus' life, and he could ask that, in fact, he did.
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  If you look at Gethsemane, what did he ask for? yeah for
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  like any any lord if it is i will if let
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  this cap pass cup pass from me yet not
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  my will but thine be done and that
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  comes not too many chapters after this we can
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  ask and god can answer no yes or not yet yeah and to jesus he answered no yeah
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  it's his plan The cup needed to be drunk,
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  and he drank it on the cross and freed us from our sin.
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  He couldn't get past that. And to the point that the writer of Hebrews would
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  say, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross.
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  Which is amazing how the writer of Hebrews turns around what we see at Gethsemane. Yeah. And he did it.
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  So, and the question is again, should we ask for any, should we ask for anything? Yes.
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  The second example, I don't expect a yes. Right. Don't always expect a yes.
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  The second illustration I give would be David.
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  If you read through the Psalms, how graphically and passionately David talks
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  about what he's going through.
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  Yeah. Pray it. Pray it. Give it to God.
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  Do it passionately. Share with God what's on your heart.
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  I've been amazed at the times when things were just really going awful,
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  that in my prayer, I could be as explicit with God as I cared to be.
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  And the Holy Spirit would just roll back with such compassion.
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  I would feel His presence. I would feel His concern for me.
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  And I remember very distinctly one time He said, I've got this.
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  Don't worry, I've got this. He didn't say the don't worry.
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  Yeah. The words just kept coming. I've got this.
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  Wow. And it was a beautiful answer to prayer that I could carry to bed with
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  me at night and say, okay, I can sleep now. You've got this.
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  And I faithfully believe that. Yeah.
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  And he did. He still got this. He still got this.
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  Yeah. Now, in Exodus, why does it say, I think it's 21, 23, 25,
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  why does Exodus say a life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth?
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  Well, if you remember what was happening at that time, so God was bringing the
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  Israelites out of Egypt.
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  But he gave them his law in order to form a group of individuals who would understand
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  who he is, what his values are, and how to carry them out.
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  And each of these, basically, if you compare them to other cultures at that time, these are not bad.
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  Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. But they definitely,
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  what happens here in Exodus is they, God definitely gives parameters to the
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  way the social order ought to be laws, if you will.
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  And so, well, you know, if you did this, sorry, we execute you.
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  That sort of puts a kibosh to it, you know? Even if you don't understand God,
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  you understand the fact you could get executed for doing it.
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  I think it's clear he doesn't want you to do it. It's clear. Yeah.
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  And so I think what's gained by Exodus, those passages, is clarity.
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  God's clarity on the parameter of good and evil. If you're going to be my folks,
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  you're not going to be doing that stuff.
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  Which, when you look at our current society, we've lost the clarity.
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  Yeah. I mean, really, we've lost the clarity of what God's law,
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  what a healthy culture would be.
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  Because, you know, well, five years for this, two and a half for this,
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  and sometimes you get a pardon for this. Yeah.
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  That's not the way it was in Exodus.
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  No three times. Three alternative. Yeah. Yeah. There was nothing like that.
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  Yeah. It was very decisive.
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  And I think that's what it needed to be at that point, as God was creating that culture.
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  And it's interesting then that when Jesus comes on the scene,
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  in Matthew chapter 5 especially,
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  although there's evidences in 6 and 7 as well, he takes those commandments and
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  lifts them into a higher level.
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  Right. So there's not only murder, but it's hate.
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  And it's not only lust, adultery, it's also lust.
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  And it's not only tell the truth, but where does falsehood get you?
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  Let your yes be us, let your no be no.
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  It's not only don't steal, it's actually give. Yeah.
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  So, all those are ratcheted up by Jesus. They're elevated.
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  So, it made a good starting spot, and then Jesus took it to the next level. Yeah.
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  It worked for what it was needed for. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
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  When we enter into prayer, are we talking to the Father, the Son,
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  the Holy Spirit, or all of them? All of the above.
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  Yeah. Yeah, I think probably it's easiest to talk to Jesus because we gain a
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  little bit of knowledge of his personality by the scripture.
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  I often engage the Father because I love the Father.
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  I have a good example on earth, so I think maybe that's why I nudge in that
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  direction. I find myself praying to the Father.
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  Interesting, a lot of spiritual warfare is done through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
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  Okay. And so, yeah, when we're doing that kind of stuff, then Jesus,
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  in the name of Jesus, the authority of Jesus becomes a part of our prayer.
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  Yeah. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, but under the authority of Jesus.
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  Yeah. So I know we talked before that if you like pray to Jesus,
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  then Satan can kind of, like he can, how do you say it?
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  Like act as if he was Jesus in your prayer. Yeah.
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  In healing prayer, once in a while, you'll get a voice coming that is not Jesus. Yeah.
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  So he can, to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Imitate.
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  But he doesn't imitate. Well, he tries, but God's a no-go. Okay.
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  And you can tell that in the healing prayer because what you're receiving as
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  a facilitator and what they're receiving are two different wavelengths.
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  It's two different two different words and that then you start hmm am i off
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  or are they off and then you got to make sure you test that part because it
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  could be the facilitators off too,
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  and yeah that takes preparation before you do that so if anybody's looking at
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  doing some healing prayer or learning more about it i'd steer you towards deeper
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  walk and the work of marcus warner and Jim Wilder, as well as several others.
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  And they help outline what that kind of thing is. And it's not people rolling
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  in the aisles, and it's not people flying in the air.
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  It's very, very straightforward, Spirit-led engagement, and very effective. Nice. Very effective.
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  Yeah. I've even encountered times when an evil spirit will just,
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  just goes through Scripture, just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
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  And then okay that's all nice and holy but what did that have to do with the price of tea in China.
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  And what we're going after here and then I you know so you make sure because
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  Satan can recite scripture just like anybody else can,
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  so we do that very carefully,
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  very carefully yeah I think we'll wrap up with one more here Is there ever a
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  time where Retaliation is justified Oh I hope so Oh man,
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  As I look at Scripture, and I especially look at the Sermon on the Mount,
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  in the economy of our Christian lives, retaliation is not called for by Jesus.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Matthew 5, 43-48. I better get my new Bible down here so the pages are crisper.
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  You heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy,
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  but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
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  That takes a lot of retrograde. Retribution out of it, retaliation out of it. Yeah.
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  And pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in
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  heaven, as if he's saying, okay, that's pretty important.
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  Yeah. Now, I personally like the way Paul puts it in Romans chapter 12,
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  because I sort of like his imagery.
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  Don't repay anyone evil for evil would that
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  be a retribution that's sort of yeah i serve retaliation yeah be careful to
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  do what is right and everybody's eyes if it's as possible as far as it depends
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  on you live at peace with everyone don't do not take revenge my friends but
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  leave room for god's wrath for it's written,
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  it is mine to avenge. I will repay.
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  In other words, that's taking it out of our hands and putting it in God's hands,
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  and letting him take care of it.
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  And then it says, on the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. Oh, yeah.
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  If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this,
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  you will keep burning coals on his head.
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  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
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  That sounds good. I like that. Yeah.
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  That's the best answer I can give to your question. Yeah. From the human side, yeah. No.
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  But from the biblical side, from what I see in the New Testament,
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  what I see in the example of Jesus, it's not that we need to take revenge or have retaliation.
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  We give it to God. Let him take care of it. And I found in my life,
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  he does a much better job.
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  It's much more interesting than what I could do. Yeah.
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  And I say, it's all yours, Lord. It's all yours. Yeah. And what's interesting
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  is, I think we need to do that more.
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  So that when somebody does something against you, you say, I give it to God. And it's yours, God.
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  You have balanced a tally book. I confess it to you. You take it.
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  And it's yours. And if anything needs to be done, it's yours to do.
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  Otherwise, you know, we could carry resentment. we could carry a grudge and
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  that's going to affect who we how we interact with people,
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  if we give it to god we don't carry that anymore and not carrying that is a
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  whole lot lighter weight,
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  So give it to God. Let him take care of it. I guarantee you,
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  he does a much better job than we would.
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  Perfect example of if your enemy is hungry, feed him. I had a teacher that was
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  like, for some reason, some of the students thought it would be funny if they went.
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  I think it was like past student, maybe. I'm not sure if they were actually one of his students.
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  But they went and ran a teepee his house.
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  And he like he was coming home and like he
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  was walking home from somewhere like on an evening walk and
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  kind of walked into the yard i want to
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  say as it was being tp yeah and he like asked him if they wanted to come in
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  for some like cake or tea or something i don't know refreshments yeah i think
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  i don't remember what actually happened but i'm pretty sure they just got spooked and ran away but
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  well I think some of them went in oh really I think some of them went in I think
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  I know who you're talking about I think some of them went in and it just changed
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  their relationship okay maybe yeah,
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  I couldn't remember how it ended but it was good it was good there it is,
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  yeah some of those stories I know yeah I've been around long enough.
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  All right thank you guys for joining us hope you enjoyed it and like we did
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  yeah learn something and tell others about it. Yeah, subscribe. Yeah.
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  And maybe we get started paying the light bill or something like that.
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  Something, yeah. That'd be good.
• 21:08
  Thank you guys for joining us. We'll see you next time. Thank you for joining
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• 21:15
  Our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our understanding of who God is
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  and is calling to us in our daily lives.
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  Thank you again for joining us and may God bless your day.