Latest / One Voice Many Conversations / Truth Be Told Ep #011 The POWER OF PRAYER. Hosted by Mickey With Co-host Guest Bethany

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Truth Be Told Ep #011 The POWER OF PRAYER. Hosted by Mickey With Co-host Guest Bethany · One Voice Many Conversations

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: Hi everyone.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to another episode of Truth Be Told.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Mickey, and today I have my co-host joining me, which is Bethany.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so we are so excited and thankful to be here today.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: We love to tell the truth.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: We love to share the Word of God and we love to dive into the scripture.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: Because guess what?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's where the truth is found.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: If you're ever lost and wandering out in the wilderness and you're wondering where the truth is, get your hands on a Bible and dive in because you will find out what the truth is.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what this podcast is about.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: So us diving in and bringing to the table and having discussions about what God says the truth is.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: And it's been a great journey.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: This is a great topic today.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: Last week we hit a milestone.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: We have 10 episodes, which doesn't seem like a lot, but it is because you know we never know where which direction God's going to take us in.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm super excited, super excited to see where this goes.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: But today we have a continuation from where we left off from the last couple of weeks.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: We've been focusing on prayer.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: And prayer is so important, and it's mentioned thousands of times in the Bible.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: And it's super important that we understand all of its meaning.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, not just, you know, oh, this is something that we have to do.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: This is something we need to do.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's not something we just go through the emotions with, it's something that we need to take seriously.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: And today is a serious but in-depth topic, and we are going to be talking about the power of prayer.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna say hello to Bethany and let her pray us in, and we'll get started.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, Bethany.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, happy to be here.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a great day.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, all right.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray, dear Lord.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you so very much once again for those who are listening, those who are watching, Lord, that you would speak to them through this episode, and Lord, please use this episode for your honor and glory.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And speak through me, speak through Nick, Mickey, and um just speak to those who listen.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Speak to them what you have for them to receive from this time, and we give it to you, Lord, and we thank you for all you will do through it in Jesus' name.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for that.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: So the first scripture that I want to dive into today is um 1 Thessalonians 5, and it's a really simple scripture, easy to memorize.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't I don't know about you, Bethany, but I have this one down.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: I really do.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's actually super easy.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: It literally just says pray without ceasing.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: And well, what does that mean?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: It just means don't hold back, do not hold back anything.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: At any given point in time throughout your day, you can pray.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I know we've talked about really important times of the day to pray, like in the morning or in the evening, um, or um during a serious trial, or if you know, if something comes up, you you sometimes you just automatically stop and pray.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: God wants us to pray without ceasing.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: So kind of like saying, pray all the time, you know, just pray, pray all the time.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: There's no right or wrong time of day to pray.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's important to do it all throughout the day.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: And um, when we talk about praying without ceasing, like God doesn't want you to hold back, he wants you to give it all.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever you, whatever your desires are, whatever's on your heart, whatever you want or need to take to prayer, you should.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I was before we started recording, I was talking to Bethany about how we we sometimes don't ask because we're afraid God's gonna say no.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: And that's because when we go to prayer, we have an automatic expectation.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: So if we're praying without ceasing, it's okay to pray for anything and everything.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: Now, some of our prayers, God knows, are are, and I don't I don't mean this um disrespectfully or really, but I know that God knows that some of our prayers are are kind of just nonsense.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like they're not necessary.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: He knows what we really truly need, and sometimes he knows what we want, and he's not always going to answer our prayers, but that doesn't mean we we can't ask for them.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's okay to ask for anything.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like I was saying before the recording started, is that like if I were to say, Lord, um when I get done with this podcast, I want a Lamborghini sitting out in my driveway, he's probably just gonna shake his head at me and be like, You are nuts.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so but it's okay to ask for those things.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: You could you could wish, you know, and all you want, and you could pray all you want.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: But when you're praying to God, it should be on an intimate personal level.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: It should be very um intentional.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: If you're praying unintentionally just to pray, or like Bethany and I have talked many times about um uh well Bethany brought it up um a few podcasts ago about just checking off a box.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: If you're doing it just to go through emotion, God would rather you not do it.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: He'd rather you just not do it if that's what you're doing it for.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: It needs to be intentional, it needs to be um something that has purpose and meaning because God is very purposeful, he did not create us or design us to not function or have a purpose on our life.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: Because if you think about it, what would be the point of creation if there was no purpose to any of it from start to finish?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: We have a huge purpose on our life, and the Lord wants us to be seeking that out, and sometimes the way that we get answers to that, especially the calling on our life, the gifts in our life that God gives us, the way we get answers to that is by going and sitting with God in prayer.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: Go talk to God about it.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's it's good to grab your Bible, it's good to read the word, it's good to get into the truth, but it's also good to take it to the Lord and be like, okay, Lord, I'm not sure what this is talking about, I'm not sure what you have for my life, I'm not sure where I'm going right now.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um that's why it says in first um Thessalonians, just pray, pray without ceasing.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_03: Don't be afraid to pray.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: We withhold.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: I I know for myself, I don't know about you, Bethany, but I've withhold prayers because again, I had an expectation and I didn't want to be told no.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: Or I thought, well, why would I pray it?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: He's probably not gonna do it anyway.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's the enemy putting that thought in our head.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: We have to get out of that mindset.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's a terrible mindset to be like, well, I'm not gonna pray it because he's probably not gonna answer it anyway, you know.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: And uh again, like we talked about before the recording, with my daughter, she'll she'll she won't ask for stuff as she does without stuff because she won't ask.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, Well, if you want something, ask for it, you know.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not that I want her to do without, but I always think, well, she, you know, my grandkids ask me for everything.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: They are not afraid to ask for anything.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: But my 16-year-old doesn't want to ask.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, like I asked her, I said, What is one of the reasons you don't want to ask me?
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and she said, Because I don't want you to tell me no.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, Well, I go, how many times do I tell my grandkids no?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_03: She's like, not very often.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: I said, There you go.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I go, not that I'm gonna say yes to everything, and neither is God.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: God's not gonna say yes to everything.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but in the Bible, it actually says his answers are yes and amen.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: We got to remember just how simple there's so much simplicity to the word of God.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: We like to make it so much more than it needs to be, you know.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: And he's such a simple father.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: When you go to your dad and you say, Hey dad, um, can I have 20 bucks?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: I want to go to the football game after school.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: Is that okay?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: And he's gonna say yes or no.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: Now, if he knows that you're going and you're gonna get yourself in trouble and it's probably a bad idea because of, you know, parents pay attention to what we do.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: He might tell you no, or he might only give you 10 bucks because he only wants you to get into the game, he doesn't want you going anywhere else.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: You know, he he may change it up, but we will never know unless we ask.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_03: So I wanted to really dive in and talk about that today.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: The other prayer or the other um scripture I wanted to share with you is in John 14.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's John 14, 14.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and this is Jesus speaking, and he and it says, If ye shall if ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: But here's the thing behind that that I want to really emphasize.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: You have to believe in it.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: So, like I just flipped the switch where I said a lot of times we don't ask because we already think the answer is no.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's because we don't have uh faith and believing that God is actually going to give us what we're asking for.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: And again, I think if we're really sincere and we're really intentional and it's really important, I think Jesus will do it.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think he's going to do it.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it may not be immediate, it may not be instantaneously, it may not be when you want it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: But I think I I I these are written in red.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: These letters are Jesus speaking.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_03: Says, if ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: Now that doesn't mean really, let me just go get that Lamborghini, because you know, we need to be mindful, we need to be respectful.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean it, you know, we need to have a level of um clear understanding as to what it is that we're asking for.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's why we miss how powerful prayer is, because we don't believe in it enough.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: Now, Bethany, I don't know about you, I don't know what you you know, if you've ever witnessed actual powerful prayer where somebody has prayed and something miraculous has happened.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: And for myself, I I have personally.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'll share a quick story and then I'll let Bethany take off because she's got some great scripture for us today.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I was a foster parent for seven years, um, had a had one of my kids that was having issues with suicidal tendencies, decided to try to take her life.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: She took, I think, 147 different or 147 pills of different types.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: And um because they they had allowed her to give herself her own medication, which I absolutely was fighting them on.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: I said, I don't think this is a good idea.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: And they're like, Well, she's trying to get emancipated.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: We need to see if she's able to give herself her medication.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_03: The very first day they allowed her to have her medicine box, she took 147 pills and almost died.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: So we get her to the hospital within like 20 minutes.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: We're at the hospital, they're in inducing vomiting, they're doing the charcoal, they're doing all of this stuff.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: They actually put her into a coma because she was combative and fighting.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: And um they were going to um medvac her to the children's hospital, it, you know, away from us.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: And her her mom showed up, her stepmom showed up, the caseworker showed up, my pastors showed up, I had two pastors show up.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: I was scared to death for this girl's life.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: I thought we were gonna lose her because that was a lot of medication.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: I did not know it was her 13th attempt at suicide, which I was a little bit mad that they did not share that information with me because I had no idea just how suicidal she was, because I really would have fought for her not to have medication.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, long story short, the doctor comes in, the helicopter has landed, they're gonna take her out and put her on the helicopter, and in the hallway, that the doctor says, Are there any last words you you would like to say to her?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: Like he had no hope for her coming out of this.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: Zero.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: And something in my spirit um triggered, and I became irate.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, How dare you speak death over this child?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: What is wrong with you?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know, I don't normally talk like this with people, but it just it struck me wrong.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: And he literally was basically saying, We're never gonna see her again.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: She's going to die.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: There's no coming out of this.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I didn't believe that.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: I believed in the power of prayer.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so we were in the hallway in the hospital, right at the nurse's station, waiting to get her on the helicopter, people walking all around, lots of people.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I stopped him and um I rebuked him, which I rebuked him, and then I laid hands on her and out loud, loudly prayed over her.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, I rebuke any death on this child.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: I and I rebuke any um any side effects.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: I rebuke all of this.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: I said, In the name of Jesus, she's not gonna have one side effect, she's gonna come out of this, she's gonna be perfectly fine.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I was just like, blah blah blah blah blah, just praying.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: And everybody else gathered around and started putting it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: I looked up, and all these people, even the doctor, had hands on her at this point.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone started coming up and laying hands on her.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: I had my eyes closed, so I didn't know.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: I was just kind of mad.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, I believe in God, I believe in the power of her, and I know that God can save this child if he really wants to.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: Do not, we're not speaking life in her.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: We she is going to live and she's gonna live a long life.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: And so anyway, so then they take her and I'm like crying, I'm upset, and and I go to go home.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they say it's gonna take about 15 minutes for her to get to the hospital.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: I could go home and wait, and they'll call me because they're gonna need information.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I I had to go back to the house and get some some information for them.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: I said, okay, go to my house, my phone rings, and I kid you not, um, my phone rings, and it's the children's hospital.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, and I mean, this is like 15 minutes later.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: This is how fast this worked.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_03: So on the helicopter, it was only like a nine-minute flight there.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm on my way home, it's only like a nine-minute flight or drive for me to get to my house, if that, from the hospital.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: And then I get home and I'm just like beside myself, I'm crying, I'm upset.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: And the phone rings and the doctor says, Hi, I'm from the children's hospital.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, hi, and I I knew they needed information.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: I thought that's why they were calling.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, I go, you know, um, what can I do for you?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, There's somebody here that needs to talk to you.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought, oh my gosh, it's gonna be the nurse, you know, or the doctor.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: It was her, it was the child.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: She woke up in the helicopter, she was on incubated life support, everything.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: She's trying to get herself off from life support.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: She's pulling her off life support.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: As soon as she landed, she said, I need a phone.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: I need a phone right now.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: I need a phone right now.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta call, I gotta call Mickey, I gotta call Mickey.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: And she called me, and I I this will just just give you chills.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: She called me and she said, I I want you to know I heard every single word you prayed over me in that hospital.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: I heard everything that you said to me.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: And she's like, and God saved me.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: And she's and she was like, you know, repentive, apologetic, and and I was bawling.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, Why are you doing on the phone?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: You were dead, almost dead when you left.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: And and the doctor's like, we don't know what happened, but she's completely out of it.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: She's fine.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and and she stayed, they made her stay for like a week for mental evaluation because it was a suetic side attempt, but she left with no residual side effects.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: She was a spitfire for the Lord, she was ready to live life now.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, she said, No one has ever spoken like that for me.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: She said, You literally spoke for me.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I said, Well, that's the power of prayer.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I believe that God literally laid that on my heart at that moment so that she could be freed from the death that was just spoken over her.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: So we can we can reverse things through the power of prayer if we believe in it.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_03: If someone speaks death over you, you reverse it.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: You say, No, you don't speak like that over me.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: In the name of Jesus, you I don't believe that.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so power of prayer is so vital that we understand that God in us, Jesus within us, the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave us when he went to the cross, and and I mean, he came, died, went, went to heaven, he left his Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: That power is also within us.
• 16:52
  unknown: Amen.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: And that's where that powerful prayer comes from if we believe in it.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I just wanted to share that story with you because it is every time I think about it, I get chills every single time because there's so much power in what God can do.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it was instantly, I mean, within 15 minutes, she was completely off life support.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: They had no idea what was going on.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: They were like, What is this child doing?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_03: She pulled herself off life support.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: And they were like, She's they thought she was just kind of going nuts, but she's like, No, I gotta get to a phone.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta get to a phone, I gotta call Mickey.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, I was floored.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: I had to literally sit down.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: I was like so floored, I couldn't believe it.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: Called my pastor.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone was, you know, we were all praising Jesus at that point because um I believed in something more powerful than myself, and I believed in something more powerful than what the doctor had said.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: Now I could have believed him.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_03: I could have been like, oh, she's not gonna make it, and I could have just weeped and been like, oh, she's gonna die, and then let it really affect me and everyone in the room, you know?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, not today, Satan, you know.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, not that the doctor was Satan, but I think that because he's a physician, he sees the the reality of the circumstance, where I seen the spirituality of our circumstance, and that's Jesus.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: And we need to focus on that when we focus on prayer, and it's so meaningful and so powerful.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: So, having that said, Bethany, I know you have some scripture that you want us to dive into today.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you want to take the lead on that and and um lead us where you want us to start reading.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: That is encouraging and um powerful in and of itself, and I really trust that our listeners will really take time to understand and to learn for themselves what power of prayer can do for them as well.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so as we continue on, let's notice John fifteen and verse seven.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: John fifteen verse seven.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, John fifteen as a whole is a great chapter to study, really go deep in it to discover what God has for us.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, Jesus' ministry here on earth was not just for his disciples and those who were living them.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: It was for us now too, and there's so much to learn from that alone for another time.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: But so John 15 and verse 7.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: It says Jesus once again teaching his disciples, and sometimes we focus on the last part of the verse.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I think we need to take the whole verse seven in context because it says if ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: If that's not power from Jesus himself.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: I could spend a lot of time on that, and perhaps in another episode I will spend more time.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: That verse right there gives me so much confidence in the power of prayer.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, there are two conditions starting off the verse.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: It says, If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, then you shall ask.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think even just that is important to remember that you know yes, we can pray for things, and yes, we can expect to receive things, but we have to be abiding in Christ.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: We can't be separated from him.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: We and maybe you say, well, how can Christians be separated?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let me ask, have there been a time when you've neglected time with the Lord, time in prayer, or you there have there been days where you're like, man, I'm I'm just too busy to acknowledge God and to read and study the Bible.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just way too busy, I don't have time.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's one key, I believe, to not abiding in Christ.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: When you put busyness over essential time with grace, then you're choosing not to abide in him.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: And if you say, Well, that's kind of harsh.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe so, but to me, my opinion it's your choice.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Are you going to choose to give in to Satan's lie that you don't have time?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: You can not do that today, or you can just live your life and after all you're too busy, and or are you going to choose and say, okay, I know I need this.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: I know my spiritual well-being, my physical well-being needs to be anchored in God.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so, in order for my prayers to be answered, I need to abide in Christ, and his words abide in me.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot neglect that.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so it is a choice.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I was reading some of Charles Spurgeon's sermons that he preached when he had his ministry over in um England.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: And all his sermons are available to read.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing he mentioned in that sermon was that the colder earth becomes spiritually colder, spiritually more distant from God, the warmer heaven becomes.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: That heaven does become warmer.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: And another thing that Spurgeon mentioned in that sermon, the darker earth becomes, spiritually darker the earth becomes, the brighter heaven becomes.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: That there is so much power in prayer, and as we continue to look at these verses, I trust to see that power evidenced.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it's not just for those who were living back in Bible days, that's for us now.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a Christian, that's for you now.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I know we have time constraints on these episodes, but Mickey, you are right when we both talk about how we could go on for hours about prayer and about the various aspects of that.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so allow John 15 7 to be one of your anchors to know that yes, there is power in prayer.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, there are conditions to that, but don't let that discourage you.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let that encourage you.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Choose to do what it takes for your prayers to be answered, because that's what God wants.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: He does want to answer prayer.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so often I feel like the reason prayers aren't answered is as Mickey even has mentioned here that we don't believe.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: And another topic for another episode, which we touched on um in a previous episode as well, but James 1 5 through 7, I think will be another episode that we really dive into because it taughts about having that faith.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: It taughts about not wavering, not doubting, and how important that is.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so now let's continue on.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Mickey, do you have any thoughts on that?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: Well, with James, I mean James, John 15, 7, I like that it's talking about you know, inviting in in Jesus and then in um and and his words.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_03: And the words not our only Holy Spirit, but the words are the Bible, the scripture that had been given to us.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_03: And that's why you and I like to grip, you know, get a hold of the scripture and share the scripture, because um that's what this podcast is all about, is sharing that truth that's in the Bible.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: But one thing I think that um, which I kind of touched space on a little bit um earlier, when I was talking about being intentional, we have to be, we have to have an an alignment with God.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: Now, if you think about prayer, I don't know about you, Bethany, but I don't pray to anybody else.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: I don't pray to my mom or my cat or my my friends or my my school teacher.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_03: And and it's funny how, and as you were talking, and you're talking about this, and how you know we need to be abiding in him, um, we don't go to other people for prayer.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we we might ask our friends to help us, or hey, can you do me a favor, or hey, you know, I need some help here.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_03: And and and and a lot of times, sometimes we do and we don't have expectations of that because of how human we are.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: We know that we know that the answer more more than likely could be yes or no, whatever.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_03: But um, you know, so but we don't go to them and we get we ask them to pray for us, but we don't go and pray to them, you know.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: God is the only one that we're praying to, you know, the the Trinity, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: Those are that's who we're praying to.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: And it's interesting how sometimes people will have um an expectation of God, um, but they're not in line with God.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I love what this says because you need to be abiding in him, because if you're abiding in him, then he's going to show you, he'll also show you what to pray for.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_03: The word in the Bible tells you how to pray, when to pray, why to pray, you know, what's the what's the purpose of prayer.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_03: There's so much on this that we've already discussed in some areas already.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: And it's because those are the words in the Bible that we're supposed to be abiding to.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: And if we're too busy, and I know there's times that we get too busy, but it's interesting how we get so busy that we set prayer aside and tell tell us an urgency, then we're like, I'm gonna jump back into prayer because I need it right now.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we have that like, oh gosh, you know, I gotta do this right now.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_03: And God does, we have to repent and God does forgive us for that.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: But God's not something you set on the shelf or put on the back burner.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_03: You know, He needs to be a constant in your life, yeah.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_03: A continual, you know, every single day routinely part of your life.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_03: Just like when you get up and and whoever you like, if you lived with your family, you you say, Hi, good morning.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know, same thing with God.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: You have that connection every single day.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: And it's so important that we understand that that's what it means by abiding in Him.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, is to connecting with Him, aligning up with Him, being intentional, um, being willing to accept what comes with that prayer, whether it's answered or not answered.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um expectation, you're gonna get a lot further.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: I honestly believe that if we put the expectation down before we put the prayer down, then we've missed the boat.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: We've missed the boat completely.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: And it's okay to have some expectation.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying not to be hopeful for that and in your faith and aligning up with God because He says, if you ask, I'll give it to you.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: Ask me and I'll give it to you.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: But it has to be in His words, it has to abide in Him, it has to be aligned with Him.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: It's not just gonna be like the Lamborghini, it's not gonna be there.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be, you know, that's a misfortune.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna have it.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: I don't like Lamborghinis, actually, but I don't know why that came up, but um that's what it means by to abide in him, in him, you know, and and in his word.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it's important that our listeners understand that what a great I love what you said, that it getting anchored in this verse will really help you understand and it'll also connect you and help you get in alignment with God if you're not already there, if you're missing that part in your life, if you're the one who's not praying because you're forgetting all the time, this is where this scripture will really definitely anchor you in.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I loved that you said that.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I just wanted to touch base on that, so I'll let you continue on because I know you have some more scriptures for us today.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, and now let's look at uh another verse that gives us an assurance that God is not just for other people, for other Christians and even non-Christians who have yet to be in a relationship with Jesus.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: But He God is for us.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: So let's notice Micah chapter seven and verse seven, Micah seven, verse seven.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Again, this verse could be expounded upon a long time.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: But notice at the end of it, my God will hear me.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: Christians, that means God will hear you because of the Holy Spirit within each Christian.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I'm reminded of a lot, especially when people say, Well, you know, where's God when situations happen or something like that, and they're they're wondering, where is God?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Christians, the Holy Spirit lives within each one of us, so God is there within his Holy Spirit, he is indwelling each one of us, so he's not off far away, yes, he's in heaven, and we will see him in eternity because we're Christians, but the Holy Spirit is within each one of us, and so like Micah, we are able to say, My God will hear me, and let that be a another anchor for you to claim to be reminded of that.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, there are thousands of Christians around the world, but I assure you, you can claim what Micah said as your own.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: My God will hear me and I almost feel like saying, let's wrap this up right here um to help us to just dwell on that.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: But please take time to consider that too.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: Please don't don't rush past that.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit indwells in you right now, not just in the future, but right now.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: And again, like Micah said, you can say the same thing as a Christian.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: And again, this verse is another one that I could probably spend hours on.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: But because of time constraint here, I'll save that for another episode or episodes.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so Mickey, do you have any thoughts on that?
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, I do because I like, you know, it's talking where it says, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_03: Now, now it's funny because when I talk about God, I talk about God being my God because he is my God, because I serve him, I love him, he died for me.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I know I'm he he's not only my God, he's your God as well.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know?
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: And one thing that came to mind when you're talking about Holy Spirit is we as people are the weaker vessel.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: God is not.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: The Holy Spirit is not.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: Now, when we talk about Holy Spirit, sometimes we may think that the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, um, he may not be answering or he may not be um, we think he may not hear us because we think the Holy Spirit within us is weak.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_03: The Holy Spirit within you is never weak.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_03: There's no weakness in the Holy Spirit.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's us that are weak, and we're the ones who doubt it.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_03: We're the ones who have the doubt, and the enemy puts that on us to doubt that, by the way.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_03: If we ever think that the Holy Spirit has weakness, we are being mistaken always.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I love when it's when Micah says, My God will hear me.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: My God will hear me, no matter what.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: And it's because I'm gonna wait for the God of my salvation.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: This is your salvation.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: We are walking out our salvation.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_03: I can't walk out yours, you can't walk out mine.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: And therefore, when Holy Spirit resides in me after we've accepted Jesus Christ, you know, as our person our personal Lord and Savior, um, holy, you know, and then we we welcome you know Holy Spirit to live within us.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um God is not going to be the weaker vessel we are.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_03: Never.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so we need to make sure that we understand when we're talking, when I talk about my God, I let people know that my God's pretty my my God's powerful and amazing.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_03: I may not be, you know, because I'm you know born in sin and I'm human and you know, still working out my righteousness and my own salvation.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: But the God within me, He's always gonna hear me.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_03: He's for me, He's not against me.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there's so like you said, we could go on this scripture quite a ways because there's so many other scriptures we could add to this that will bring even more life to this scripture.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_03: So again, another another great anchor to um to to to meditate on because I do believe that sometimes we often think God is not listening.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_03: Have you ever felt like that?
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like God's just not listening to what I'm saying.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_03: And he's omnipotent, he's everywhere.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, he knows everything before we say it.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's how crazy it is.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: And yet we we you know, can you imagine how ridiculous God thinks when he we're like on praying, he doesn't even hear him and he's like, I knew you were gonna say it before it came out your mouth, kid.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you know, can you if you think about the realism of who God is, it's almost ridiculous to say he doesn't hear you.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_03: You know, there's there, you know, that would be ridiculous to put that on yourself.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you're actually hurting yourself.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: You're not hurting God.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: You're I mean, it hurts God that when you hurt yourself, but he wants you to have that faith and that trust in him that he is always there, he's listening.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_03: He knew you he knew what you were gonna say before you knew what you were gonna say.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_03: So he's evidently listening.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_03: So um I think sometimes when God doesn't answer right away is when we think God doesn't hear, or when we think, why does God allow certain circumstances, like you said, certain things to happen?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, my daughter and I, when we talked About the Bible, she gets really um she gets to the part about Egypt and um um where Moses is being put in the Nile because the children are getting murdered.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: My daughter was like, That's not a that's not a God I want to get to know.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's what she told me.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_03: I do not want to get to know that God.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: I said, You have to read the rest of the story.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I go, these are just parables, these are just stories talking about things that happen on earth because of of the the the sin that the world is in.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_03: This has nothing that part has nothing to do with God.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_03: That has to do with the free will that God gave us.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_03: I go, you have to separate the two.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_03: So we it's interesting when we think about it because we think we haven't again the expectation or or we we see God not working in someone's life, and we're like, well, why isn't God doing this for that person?
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I know a few people right now that are battling cancer, and um, they're going through it, you know, and it's like, oh, and and of course I'm praying for them, but in the end, you know, God is already, God already knows the end of the story, you know, and He does want us praying.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_03: And that doesn't mean stop praying because God already knows the end of the story.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: Part of that story is us praying for that person to come to healing.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_03: That could be part of the story.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_03: Some of the outcome could be because we actually went to God in prayer and said, Hey, God, please help this person.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: Please help this person.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_03: So we need to think about that as well, that our prayers are effective.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the Bible says our prayers have a lot of effect.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_03: And so we need to keep that in mind.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, not only worrying about whether God's listening or not, you know, we need to keep in mind as to what these prayers are actually doing and what we're doing it for, if that kind of makes sense.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_03: So I'll let you I'll let you continue on where you were at.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so let's now notice um Jeremiah 33 and verse 3.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a verse that many Christians are able to quote, and yet it's also one of those verses that is actually lived out as much as it's quoted.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so Jeremiah 33 and verse 3.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: What's the first word?
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: Call.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: What are the next two words unto me?
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, God was saying that to Jeremiah during Jeremiah's day, but God is also saying that to each one of us today.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: Notice he God is not saying, call unto another human or someone you can visibly see.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, it says, Call onto me.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then he goes on and says, and I will answer thee.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then he even goes on further and says, and show thee great and mighty things would know it's not again.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think this could be one of those times where we could just stop this episode right now.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that we could actually go on which worse.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be for another episode as well.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_01: I trust that was horrible.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: You are truly sensitive.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: What God is able to do.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: To not pray, to not read your Bible, study your Bible.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_01: You can read judge those influences.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to give anything.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_01: You can say no.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm choosing to pray.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm choosing to call to God.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: Again, not to call to another person.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: There is power in praying for one one another.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: There is power in asking people to pray.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: Who you know will honestly and sincerely pray for you for your needs.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about going to other people and praying to them.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's about going to God.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: His power.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: His authority.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so Mickey What are your takeaways or thoughts?
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_03: Basically, um I love that God, God's gonna teach us regardless.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_03: Even if we don't pray, God's gonna teach us.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_03: Because if we are reading his word, um, he's gonna, he's gonna, he's gonna teach us through his word.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's why they give Bibles in prison.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: I wish they would they would put them in schools and then we wouldn't need them so much in prison.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_03: I've heard that said, and I was like, man, there's so much truth to that, you know?
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_03: But here's the thing.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um again, back to the intentional um alignment with abiding in these scriptures, they're all connected, you know, they're all connected, we're connecting dots with these scriptures because, you know, not only are we um understanding the power behind those scripture, but we're also gaining, now we're gaining the knowledge and the wisdom from God that God has for us.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: Because we when we actually go to God and we have that intimate personal relationship with us, He's not just gonna, it's it's not like a little kid that every day comes up and asks for a sucker, you know, praying for a sucker.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_03: Every day, as the child grows, we you know, as we grow in our spiritual walk with the Lord, we're we're gonna start um maturing spiritually.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_03: And God is gonna start giving us more knowledge spiritually.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_03: Because He's He's not gonna give us, you know, um, He's not gonna give us a whole mansion when we're still at the sucker stage.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_03: He's gonna give us more and more.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: That knowledge is going to come to us as we grow spiritually.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I really believe when they're talking about that knowledge, uh, some of that's what what he's talking about is he's going to give us knowledge that we don't we don't even know that we need.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: And we can ask him for the knowledge.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_03: We can say, Hey God, help me, you know, help me learn this, help me understand, help me figure it out, help me, like some people say, I I have so much trouble reading the Bible.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_03: The Bible's so confusing.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I used to think the same thing.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: And and then, you know, I was like, it's just conversations, it's conversations and stories and and testimonies between people, and it's not it's not hard to understand.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's actually really, really easy.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_03: There is, you know, there there is a lot to it, and um you can try, you know, when you're connecting it all chronologically and you know, um, through all of the different types of um people that are in the Bible and everything that comes with it, you know, it can seem overwhelming.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_03: But when you take one scripture like that and you just read it, it it's very simple and clear.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we didn't sometimes people want to take the whole Bible and go, oh, this is too much.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_03: But you take that one verse and it's so simple to understand.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_03: It's super, super easy.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_03: There's nothing hard about that scripture at all.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yet the enemy tries to make us feel like it's impossible, you know, and he will do that all day long.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_03: And people that are not Christians also will do that.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_03: They'll they'll tell you, oh, you don't know what you're talking about.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the Bible's too hard to comprehend or whatever.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_03: Literally, it says, call unto me.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_03: How hard is that?
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_03: Pick up the phone and call.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like if I were to say, Hey, Bethany, if you want to get together, call me, right?
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_03: What are you gonna do if you want to get together?
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_03: You call me, right?
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_03: You're not gonna call your neighbor or somebody else if you want to get together with me, right?
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and and then I'll answer you.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, I'm gonna answer because you know, I already said, Hey Bethany, if you want to get together, call me.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_03: God already said he wants us to talk to him, so he's going to answer us.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_03: We miss that part of the boat as well, because when he's telling us to call him, yeah, you know, so obviously he's going to answer.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_03: If you're asking someone to call you, now I know there are people in the world, worldly people, that say, Hey, give hey, give me a call, and they really don't want to talk to you.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_03: They're just saying that to get you, you know, to leave the conversation.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's not God.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_03: When God says call me, it's because he wants you to call him.
• 54:33
  unknown: Yes.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and he will answer you.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_03: And he's gonna show you, not just show you, he's gonna show you great and mighty things.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_03: Great and mighty things.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_03: And he's gonna show you things that you had no idea, no idea, no knowledge of.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_03: Because he wants to give you more and more and more.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_03: He wants to give us so much, but he's only gonna give us what he knows also what we can handle.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_03: He's not gonna give us more than that.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so a lot of people say, well, if he's gonna give me all that, I don't know if I can handle it.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_03: He's not gonna give you anything more than you can handle.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_03: And if something comes your way and you think it's more than you can handle, it's because God knows that you're gonna take him with you and he's gonna be the one to help you through it.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_03: It's not gonna be you alone.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_03: We're not alone in this.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_03: We call each other.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_03: We're supposed to call on each other in fellowship, you know, when it comes to people, but we're supposed to call on the Lord constantly, praying without ceasing.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_03: That's it, that's that word ceasing means continually, over and over, always, always, always.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what I like about these scriptures, how they they kind of connect all together.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because that's who God is.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_03: God is the connection for the whole entire, you know, heaven and earth, you know, the whole realm.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I like what what you said earlier when you're talking about um Charles Spurgeon, when he talks about the heaven becoming warmer and the earth becoming colder.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_03: And if you think about it, as Christians are waiting, we're waiting for God right now.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_03: We're waiting for Jesus to come, like anytime now, Lord, anytime, anytime, Lord.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_03: We're ready.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, for those of us that are ready and excited and waiting, we're not worried about all of the you know, the worry in the world.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_03: We're waiting on Jesus.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_03: We're excited.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um the the thing I love about that is all of the Christians here, with all of that love and that warmth, you know, when God takes us up there, you know how warm heaven's gonna be?
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's gonna be so amazing.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_03: And that reunion and that celebration that we're gonna have.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_03: We don't have to be down here with the wickedness anymore.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_03: It is very cold here on earth sometimes.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I I love that you brought that to the table too.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I didn't I should have said that earlier, but it just came to me as we were talking about these scriptures, and I just find that they they do connect all together, which is that's how God does.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_03: He likes to connect us, but um, he also likes to connect with us, and that's why he says to call on me.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_03: Just call on him.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_03: If you you know, pretend you're picking up a phone and you're calling God, that's literally how easy it is to do it.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I think people think there's a ritualistic routine to prayer.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I have to be dressed a certain way, I have to look a certain way, I have to go to a certain place, I have to kneel a certain way, I have to fold my hands a certain way, I have to do things a certain way.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_03: You do not.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_03: He wants you as you are.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he like you said, we could meditate on this for, and and you know, this is probably a probably a good place to close because we need to meditate on what God is saying right here.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_03: He is saying, call me, give me a hey, yo, bro, give me a call, you know, whatever, yo, sis, whatever, you know, get you know, call me, call me, you know.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_03: And you know what's really sad about that, Bethany, is I guarantee you God's out there going, call me, call me, call me, more than we're paying attention to.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, we're not even answering or or reciprocating, or even going, hey, you know what?
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_03: God's calling me.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_03: The call to our assignment, how many people are missing it?
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: Our God-given purpose, we're not answering God's call.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_03: He's saying, Call unto me, call me, call me.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'm waiting, I'm here to help you.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna I'm gonna give you great and mighty things.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_03: I just need you to pick up the phone and give me a call, you know, and yet we don't do it.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_03: We really don't do it, and we miss out on so much because we allow the enemy and we allow people to influence us instead of just picking it up and calling on God, picking up his word, reading it, abiding in the words, like we said, abiding in him, um, calling out to him, and allowing him to answer us in the great and mighty ways that he wants to.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_03: He wants so much more for us than what we want for ourselves.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's crazy when we think, if I think about that, I'm like, wow, that's a lot, because I want a lot for myself.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_03: And he wants more than that for me.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, he wants more than that for you and our listeners.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_03: He wants to give you so much.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_03: But if we're not calling on him, we're not trusting him, we're not believing in him, that that can come come to the table, you know?
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's not gonna happen.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_03: He wants to fulfill that.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_03: And um, he's so mighty, he he's gracious, he's kind, he's loving.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and yeah, he can be strict and he can have rules, but what father doesn't?
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_03: What father doesn't, you know?
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I also want to tell our listeners this too.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_03: If you have parents that you're estranged from, your mother, your father, call on them too.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_03: God gave them to you as a blessing.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I know not not every situation is is is is a is a pleasant one.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um call your call your family, call on them.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever, whatever um circumstance, um, whatever wedge is in there, just pick up the phone and call.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_03: You'll be surprised.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_03: When the prodigal son came home, he he didn't come home for so long because he thought his dad was gonna just still be disappointed, and yet the dad had a celebration for him.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so call, and that's how God is.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_03: That is God all day long.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_03: Even when we mess up, we go back to him.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_03: He's waiting there to have a party with us.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_03: He wants to give us the ring and the robe and the crown and the celebration, and yet we're like, oh, I'm afraid to go to God because I messed up.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_03: Don't do that.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_03: Go to the Father, start running.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_03: I really do think that we could meditate on this today for this week.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's a great verse.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_03: The other verses that we talked about, John 14, John 15, um, um, 1 Thessalonians 5, they all are so foundational to connecting and having a personal and powerful relationship with God, and powerful relationship over each other because I pray for you and I know you pray for me.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_03: I pray for people and I know other people pray for me.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_03: And the other day, um, I was on the phone, I'll I'll I'll wrap this up real quick.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_03: I was on the phone with my friend and I was talking to her and um about some of the situation with my grandma.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know what's going on a little bit.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_03: But I was talking to her and I was feeling really heavy, really, really, really heavy.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_03: And she just started quoting scripture over me.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_03: She's like, My you know, my burden is light, you know, my burden is not heavy.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_03: And and she just I there's all these scriptures and all these scriptures and all these scriptures, she just just she would just go on, do, do, do.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_03: And she's like, I know what you're going through.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_03: I understand how that heaviness is pulling you down, but God doesn't want you to be heavy, He doesn't want you to be underneath it, He wants you to step out of that.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_03: And she's like, and I'm calling you to step out of that right now, and she just pulling me.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, Wow, I needed to hear her speak like that over me.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I literally was able to go to bed that evening and get some rest.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't have that heaviness that was gonna keep me up all night.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_03: And the very next day I messaged her and I called her back and I said, I felt I could actually feel her prayers working for me.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_03: I felt that peace.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_03: God gave me a peace with all of the scripture that she spoke over me that night.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I go, I had a peace for my grandma, I had a peace for my family.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I go, I just, you know, and I thanked her.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I thanked her for her willingness to abide in the words of the Bible.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_03: She abided.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_03: And so she said, you know, God told me to do it, and so I did it, you know, and I was like, there you go.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_03: So we could meditate and talk about this all day.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I mean, well, I meant I meant we could talk about this all day, but I think we should should we should, you know, cut off and uh meditate on it all day.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_03: Just just sit in it and sit at the feet of Jesus.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_03: Mary sat at Jesus' feet.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_03: Martha, not so much, she didn't quite like it.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_03: She was kind of upset.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_03: But Mary sat at Jesus' feet, and that's exactly what Jesus wanted her to do.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_03: He wants us all to do that.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_03: Everything that goes on in life, it can wait.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_03: It can wait a little while.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_03: And um he wants to replenish us, he wants to restore us, he wants to answer us, and he wants to give us great mighty things.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_03: He wants to give us his knowledge, he wants to instill in us.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_03: If we don't recognize it, we're going to miss the call.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_03: We need to get in line with God so we understand the calling for our life.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's why we need a call on God.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_03: Someone calls me and says, Hey, what do you think I should do about this, this, this, this, this, I'm gonna say, go pray about it.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_03: I I I tell people go pray about it because what I think about it and what you want to do with it may not be what God has in store for you.
• 1:04:00
  unknown: Right.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't want to be what messes that up because you came to me.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_03: I will encourage you, I will pray with you, I'll pray for you, but I'm gonna encourage you to go to God in prayer.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_03: Because I believe that that's where your answer is gonna be.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_03: And um, as much as you know, I love to give advice and people give me advice, and I I listen to that, I I still know that I still have to go and talk to God about it.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, there's sometimes people give me advice, and I'll take their advice, and God will be like, Don't do that.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_03: Don't do that.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you can love them, but don't do it, don't do that, you know.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because not everybody's for you, by the way.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_03: So you gotta be careful there too.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_03: But um, as Christians, we're supposed to be lifting each other up and we're supposed to be answering the call.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_03: We're supposed to be calling God, and God's ready to answer your call if you call on him.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_03: I love I love this scripture.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's just so deep, so deep.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_03: We can go so far with it.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_03: But um, as far as that goes for today, do you have anything else you would like to say today, Bethany?
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um well, we will continue on with this discussion next time.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so but yes, as Mickey and I have both said, you know, take time to meditate on what has been shared just now, and really allow the Holy Spirit to speak.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_01: Don't rush him, don't say, Oh, you only have this amount of time.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_01: No, give him the freedom to speak, he will speak.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_01: He just needs the freedom to, and so um this has been a wonderful episode today, and again, we will continue on for the next episode talking about the power because there is so much power in it.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so, Mickey, do you want to close us out?
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I uh yes, actually.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so if if you're listening today, just want to share with you.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Bethany has a website, she has a lot to offer on there, and she does one-on-one coaching.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, she she does take clients for um her program that she offers.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_03: So go check out her website.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_03: All of our information is in our notes um to this podcast, so you'll be able to find all of that information on there.
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_03: If you have questions or need prayer for anything, you could reach out to Bethany or myself.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be glad to pray with you.
• 1:06:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we'll be glad to talk more if you're confused about anything we talked about today.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_03: Or if you have any any comments or anything that you want to add, please feel free to engage.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_03: We would love to have you.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_03: And as far as um truth be told goes, you can reach myself at crushingstrongholds.com.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_03: I too do um one-on-one coaching as well as offer um prayer and a power hour just just as an encouragement for somebody that's just trying to um get through the week and you just need um someone to talk to for an hour to get you um over a hurdle or a road bump.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um I may not be able to take you all the way through like my program does, but that's what I like about Power Hour, and I have Power Hour Plus where I offer an hour or an hour and a half to um to work with you on um helping you overcome some of those obstacles.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe your obstacle is that you're just not calling on God.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I encourage everyone listening today that you just call just sit and call and have a conversation with God today.
• 1:07:47
  SPEAKER_03: And um watch what he does.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_03: Watch what he does.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_03: He's gonna do amazing things, he's got amazing things.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_03: He's been working through Bethany.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_03: Bethany is just on fire, and um, God's doing so many things.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited to see where this is taking us, um, even for myself with uh Crushing Strongholds podcast as well.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_03: But um pray for us because guess what?
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_03: We need prayer too.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_03: And we will pray for you.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_03: And we just want to say thank you for being here.
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for listening.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_03: We love you.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_03: We want you to have a great week and um take care and God bless you all.
• 1:08:21
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.