Latest / One Voice Many Conversations / Truth Be Told Ep #020 The Fruits of the Spirit {Love n Joy} Hosted by Mickey With Co-host Guest Bethany

Transcript

Truth Be Told Ep #020 The Fruits of the Spirit {Love n Joy} Hosted by Mickey With Co-host Guest Bethany · One Voice Many Conversations

0:02
SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another great episode of Truth Be Told.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: I am Mickey, I'm your host, and joining me today is Bethany, my co-host.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to be diving in to a completely new topic.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: We've been discussing a lot of topics over the past few months about prayer and testing the spirits.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: And today we decided to shift gears and um take off on another adventure through the Word of God, and we want to talk about the fruits of the Spirit.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're we're going to be discussing today.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: But before we do that, I just want to talk a little bit about what Bethany and I do as far as besides this podcast.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Bethany and I are both life coaches, and we both have our own program that we offer.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: And for Crushing Strongholds, um, that is the name of my coaching program.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: I also have a podcast called Crushing Strongholds that is also part of this podcast because this is a branch off from that podcast.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: So, anyhow, um with that in mind, um Crushing Strongholds coaching program is designed individually for those that feel like they're stuck in either um um abandonment issues, rejection issues, self-identity issues, um abuse, self-hatred, and just feel like you're not able to understand or fulfill your God-given purpose.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: And so crushing strongholds basically walks you through um who you are and who God made you to be, so that way you can understand exactly the calling that God has on your life because God equipped all of us with special gifts.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times we don't operate in those gifts because we don't understand who we are, and some of the things that we allow to um stay attached to us that keep us held in bondage so that we can't even fathom to operate in the giftings that God has given us.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: So with the coaching program that I offer, I do one-on-one coaching.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: Um I also do a um power hour coaching and a power hour plus coaching where if you just need a little bit of motivation and um you just need a reboot, I offer that.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: And then the 90-day coaching program, though, it's really intensive or extensive, I mean not intensive, and it's definitely something that as you're going through it, um, you're gonna have to put in the effort.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have to put in the work because honestly, if you don't want to change, or if you don't do the work for yourself, um, the outcome isn't gonna be what we would like to like it to be for you.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: And um, I know for myself and Bethany can probably attest to this.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: As we are helping you through the program that we have designed, we want nothing more than for the outcome to be for you to overcome and to be accomplished in whatever it is that um we're trying to help you with.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of people out there that I know that are struggling.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: They're struggling with worthiness, they're struggling with um brokenness, um, trauma, past experiences, and things that are just keeping them away from the peace and the joy and the love that that God wants us to be walking in.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: So, with that being in mind, I'm gonna have Bethany jump in here and say her hellos and tell about her um what she does with her coaching um um, my brain is like off the wall.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: Her coaching program is what I meant to say.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: And then we're gonna dive into talking about the spirits.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: And I hope that this episode today will enlighten you and also encourage you to want to um reach out.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: And um, if if if you are the one that we are talking to today that needs um to overcome something, and you've just been hanging on for a long time and and you just feel it tugging at you, and you know that something needs to change, something needs to budge, reach out to Bethany or myself because we really want to help you get through it.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: We want to to help you to be able to walk in that joy and that peace that God wants you to walk in.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: So, with that being in mind, thank you all for being here.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: And Bethany, thank you for being patient with me as I do this long introduction to truth be told, and thank you for being here.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: So, I'm gonna let you jump in and um tell everybody um what you do and say hello to everyone.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: All right, thank you.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Great to be here and great to be doing this podcast with you.
4:44
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I am an emotional trauma coach.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: I hope Christians break free from the grip of emotional trauma because even though um emotional trauma is part of life, um, no one has to stay in the grip, no one has to go night after night after night with being awake overnight and wanting to get to sleep, but not being able to because they're caught in that grip.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: Well, I help Christians break free of that and understand what freedom looks like because we are in this sinkerist world, and yet we can have the peace and the joy and the love that God desires for us, and he desires for everyone to have, and so my program is a 12-week program, and it starts out week one by giving an understanding of who our ultimate enemy is, because even though we may not be able to relate to everyone's specific circumstance, we can understand that we all have the same enemy, same ultimate enemy, and that is Satan.
6:51
SPEAKER_02: And so week one, I go through the that foundation, and then we two through twelve, I go through one attribute of God each week, and then understanding that there are more than eleven attributes of God, one of the bonuses to my program is a PDF of the other attributes of God, and so that you can get a understanding, a true, correct biblical understanding of who God is, and start believing that he is who he says he is, and start rejecting the lies that Satan tries to convince us of, but also understanding that Satan can't make us do anything, it's always our individual choice to do to give in to his attacks.
8:16
SPEAKER_02: And so by the end of my program, if implementation is given, if understanding on the part of the client is made, then I believe you will be set free.
8:39
SPEAKER_02: You will have an understanding that you can be anchored in hope, even though there's so much going on in the world.
8:50
SPEAKER_02: I mean, and yes, there is so much going on today in the world, and I have this mental visual that God is observing us.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, I've I've given you my word.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: I want you to live in freedom.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: I don't want you to live bound.
9:37
SPEAKER_02: I want you to have restful night sleeps every single night.
9:44
SPEAKER_02: And yet why why isn't that happening?
9:54
SPEAKER_02: And so that's one of those mental visuals that God has given me to help me recognize the importance that God does want us to live in freedom, not just for our sins, but for everyone.
10:19
SPEAKER_02: Because God's not willing that any should perish.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: But that all should come to repentance.
10:30
SPEAKER_02: That includes no one is excluded from that.
10:37
SPEAKER_02: No one.
10:48
SPEAKER_02: Is in that grip where you're up at, you're awake at two, three, four in the morning, and you're just like, why can't I get to sleep?
11:04
SPEAKER_02: Why can't I stay asleep?
11:08
SPEAKER_02: And you know that your days are reactionary instead of peaceful and restful.
11:22
SPEAKER_02: I invite you to reach out because freedom is possible, it truly is.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: No, that does not mean that you will never be attacked spiritually.
11:41
SPEAKER_02: Attacks happen all the time because the God of this world, Satan, he's not defeated yet.
11:55
SPEAKER_02: One day for all eternity, he will be defeated, but not yet.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: And so while attacks happen all the time, we need to be obedient to James 47.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: Submit yourselves, therefore, to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: So that is a description of my program.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: Um like I say, if you were someone you know, I would love to walk with you to it and help you get that freedom.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Amen to that.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: Living, start living now.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: So I agree.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: I think that um I think we owe it to ourselves, honestly.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: And I think that um sometimes we think, well, you know, I I'm you know, yeah, I need this, but I'm not gonna do it because sometimes we think um, you know, we're not worth the money that it costs to actually go through some of these programs.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: And I used to think that.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna jump in here and talk about this, and I don't know why, but it's just on my heart.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: But I used to feel the same way until I actually started getting coaching for myself.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: I myself have have had a few coaches and they've been wonderful.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: And um, there were people that didn't that necessarily did not know me, but but were able to give me honest and direct um um influence to help me with what I was struggling with.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we we go to people like our family or someone, a loved one or a really good friend for advice, and there's nothing wrong with that.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I will I will say this in all honesty: they know you, and so they're probably not going to give you the insight and the knowledge and the truth that you really need to hear.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: Only because they love you and they don't want to hurt you, and sometimes they know people know how much the truth can hurt.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, Bethany and I both walk in truth.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: That's why this podcast is called Truth Be Told.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: We walk um in the fact that um we're not gonna offer you anything that doesn't line up with the Word of God.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, we're not gonna sugarcoat anything, um, and um we're not gonna just offer lollipops because you know that's just not the way our coaching programs are are meant to be.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: We really want you to be able to overcome.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: We really want you to uh find freedom and break those bondages that keep us um in imprisoned.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: And that's what a stronghold is.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: A stronghold can be a prison cell that you're living in, or it could be a fortress.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you today to think about it and ask God, pray about it.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, if this is something that God lays on your heart, reach out because you're worth it.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: You're worth it.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Um getting coaching is not a it doesn't, it's not a bad thing to have a coach, it's a good thing.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: That's why there's so many coaches out there because they help one another.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: Coaches are wonderful.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I've had many coaches for different reasons.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: And um I think they're great.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: I I, you know, I I pay for coaches and I think that they're worth every penny that I spent on them.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm worth every penny that I spent on them, just like you're worth every penny because you are worthy of having that freedom.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: And God wants you to know that.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: And I had a gal ask me one time, um, she was asking me, like, how well how much is your program?
15:36
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, how much is it worth to have your freedom?
15:39
SPEAKER_00: How much is it worth to you to be free?
15:42
SPEAKER_00: And um, the price that she actually said was way way more than what I actually you know charge for my program.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: So that was a that was a big bonus for me.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: But on the flip side of that, you need to ask yourself, how much are you worth?
15:52
SPEAKER_00: How much is it worth to you to get the freedom that that you're needing to be able to walk in that fullness and that newness of life that God wants us to be to be walking in.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: And so don't be afraid to ask yourself about it.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: Um pray about it and think on it.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: So as we dive into today's um episode, we're going to talk about the fruits of the spirit.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: And I actually really love talking about this.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: There's there's so many good things that come out of it.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: And um just really good reminders as to some of the things that we're supposed to be doing as we're walking with the Lord, some of the things that God expects out of us.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: And again, I do want to emphasize that if we are if you are stuck and you're not sleeping at night, like Bethany says, and you are sitting in that pit and you are not able to even produce fruit, you might want to seek out some counseling and some coaching because that's what that's exactly what you know we're supposed to be doing.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: We are supposed to be um operating in the fruits of the spirit.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not able to do that, it's because there's something in your way and it needs to be removed.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: So, again, we're gonna dive into this.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, Bethany has a great lesson planned for us.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: She's done a lot of studious homework for this episode, so I'm gonna let her take off and um get us get us started on today's um topic.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: All right, yes.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: So now before we get into um the verses on that, let's pray.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: So very much, Julie, for this opportunity and this time we have to focus on the fruits of the spirit and to start to gain an understanding of what they are and how we can um be showing them how we can be walking in them, Lord, and we thank you for what you will do.
18:05
SPEAKER_02: We thank you for each one who is listening.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, whenever they are listening, Lord, we pray that you would just bless this time and use it.
18:16
SPEAKER_02: And for your honor and glory, Lord, please restrain Satan from this time and allow the recording to happen without interruption or anything.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: And so we give this time to you, Lord, and thank you for it.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for speaking through Mickey and I in Jesus' name.
18:41
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: So now as we really talk about the fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5, verses 16 to 26 are really the main context of what we are looking at today, and I am sure that in future episodes um we will dive into these verses more individually, and yet um I just want to mention that Galatians 5, 16 through 26 is again the main context of what we'll be discussing today.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: And so as we look at verses 22 and 23, the nine fruits of the spirit, let's notice verse 22.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: So Galatians 5, verse 22, and as my usual and as Mickey's usual, all the verses we use are from the King James Version.
20:18
SPEAKER_02: That's the version that we strongly believe to use and so.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: Verse 22, Galatians 5.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
20:49
SPEAKER_02: Verse 23, meekness, temperance against such there is no law.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm going to take time to go through each of those, and there are many scriptures that I could um include for each fruit, but I've chosen um two for each just because of timing here, and we'll also um include um if Mickey has remarks to say on each fruit, but we see that the first fruit mentioned is love.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: And did you You know that love is the greatest love possible.
22:13
SPEAKER_02: That word love there comes from the word agape, which is the great, as I say, is the greatest form possible of love.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: It's a love that God has for each of us.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: Now, maybe you say, Well, how can I do that since God is perfect and I'm a sinner?
22:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's a fruit of the spirit.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: We I believe that we are commanded to be as closely connected, related to God as possible.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: We are supposed to be as closely resembling God as we possibly can.
23:26
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we do live in a sinful world.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we are all sinners.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: Being a Christian, we still have the sin nature as part of our existence.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: And yet, because we are Christians, if you are a Christian, because we are Christians, we are to be displaying these fruits, and the first is love, agape type love.
24:05
SPEAKER_02: And so there's two verses I want us to look at now.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: And um while I am turning to one of the verses, um, Mickey, do you have anything to say right now?
24:23
SPEAKER_00: Um not really, just I mean, you're you're right on it with the fact that love is the very first mention of the fruits.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: And I don't I'm not saying that the fruits are listed in a specific order, but I do believe that love being the first of the fruits mentioned, it's the most important.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: Um that doesn't mean following with the others that they're any less important than love, but I believe that love is the ultimate spirit that God really wants us to be in tune with.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: And um He wants us to be spirit-led in love and in and in the truth.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: So I when you said that I I I want to emphasize that I to I completely agree with that.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: Yes, and that is good to mention about that there's no right or wrong way to interpret the listing.
25:27
SPEAKER_02: There's no hierarchy within the fruits, they are just listed as they're listed, and um so but yes, so love that agape type love that and I don't know about you, but sometimes I tend to read the Bible and not take the time.
26:09
SPEAKER_02: I need to really comprehend and and yet I want us to be able, even within this episode right now, to really focus on starting to understand what these fruits really mean, and then again to understand that if you're a Christian you have these within you let that sink in let that watch over you to understand who you are as a Christian.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: What fruit are you producing?
27:29
SPEAKER_02: What would the Holy Spirit's help, of course, because in and ourselves we aren't what we should be, and so it is the Holy Spirit who helps us.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: But in John chapter 13 and verse 35, this is an experience that Jesus had with one of his disciples, Peter, and I'm sure that the other disciples were around um in that area.
28:20
SPEAKER_02: But so verse thirty-five, John thirteen.
28:36
SPEAKER_02: If ye have love one for another.
28:58
SPEAKER_02: And as I've been studying for this episode, it's been interesting how the Lord has just impressed upon me.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: Am I do I show that type of love to other people?
29:27
SPEAKER_02: Or do I just look at outward appearances or outward outward circumstances and maybe judge people just because of how they're acting or how they look or am I truly loving them and again I want us to take time with this and ask ourselves that are we loving people?
30:21
SPEAKER_02: Yes, this was back when Jesus was here on earth, but the principle the application applies today.
30:32
SPEAKER_02: I strongly believe that.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: And so are we doing that?
30:48
SPEAKER_02: When we truly understand that God creates everyone as he sees fit for their lives here on earth.
31:07
SPEAKER_02: Yes, it's because of their individual choices that things happen and circumstances but God create I I strongly believe that God creates everyone as he sees fit for their lives.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: It's their individual choices that cause things to happen.
32:06
SPEAKER_03: Something to chew on.
32:14
SPEAKER_02: Um something to dwell on to strongly consider.
32:27
SPEAKER_02: I know we have time limit here, um, and so I'm not gonna linger too long, but I strongly encourage you to just let that say think on that.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: Ask yourself for yourself am I loving people as God wants me to?
33:04
SPEAKER_02: So another verse when talking about love, just a couple chapters over in John fifteen, verses nine and ten.
33:31
SPEAKER_02: Again, this is Jesus talking to his disciples, and if you have a red letter edition Bible, the Bible that has what Jesus said in red, you'll see that there's so much red on these pages, and that I do believe that's for our benefit too.
34:08
SPEAKER_02: That even though we weren't there when this took place, there is so much for us, and so John 15 is an excellent chapter to just really study for yourself, to gain understanding for yourself, no, never never just take my word for it, never just tape Mickey's word for it, but study it for yourself so that the Holy Spirit can really do a work in your life as well, as he's done for both Mickey and I, and he continues to do.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: And so verses nine and ten, verse nine, John 15, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.
35:22
SPEAKER_02: Continue ye in my love.
35:26
SPEAKER_02: Verse 10.
35:28
SPEAKER_02: If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know.
35:49
SPEAKER_02: Um there's a lot of meat in that the end of verse nine continue ye in my love.
36:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, um imagine if Jesus were here on earth today and he said that to each one of us.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: All twelve of his disciples back in John fifteen, living at that time, are able to say that.
37:00
SPEAKER_02: They're able to say that yes, we actually heard Jesus say that.
37:12
SPEAKER_02: And so those are just two more verses about God's love, about agape type love, and so make ye, do you have thoughts on that?
37:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the that part of the scripture, what you just said, continue ye in my love.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is talking about his love, not anybody else's.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: And so we might think, well, what is that?
37:46
SPEAKER_00: What is his love?
37:49
SPEAKER_00: Um because Jesus hasn't gone to the cross yet.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we but where we are now, we know that Jesus went to the cross, and that's the love, that's the sacrifice, that's what he did.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: That's the love he bestowed on everyone, and that's the same love he wants us to bestow on one another.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: And um, and before they did it, they had the commandments with Moses.
38:13
SPEAKER_00: They brought in the commandments, you know, we have to love one another, and um that's why I think he brings in um and he said he talks about that even Jesus had to keep he has to keep the commandments, you know, Jesus kept the commandments as well.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: So when we abide in love, we don't just abide in what we think love is, we abide in the love that Jesus showed us what it was.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus demonstrated love.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: He was the best person that could have ever demonstrated love, and God demonstrated love.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: Like John 3 6 16 says, He gave his only begotten son, that no one should perish.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: And when we think about that, it's it's there's a lot, there is actually a lot to just this word, this one word of the fruits of the spirit.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, and maybe we should spend the rest, you know, a lot of this episode talking about this word because um we can always do in you know more episodes, but um it's so important that you understand what agape love is, because agape love is the ultimate love, it's it's the the strongest love you'll have.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: It's it's literally the ultimate, it's the supernatural love that we can't even fathom how much God loves us.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: And He wants us to love one another like that.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of times, you know, I and it's funny because you know how when you're you're around people and you're like, oh, I love you, nonchalant, I love you, love it too, you know.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we do love one another, but do we have that agape love for one another?
39:50
SPEAKER_00: Is it is it is it really a spiritual-led love through the Holy Spirit?
39:58
SPEAKER_00: If we operated in that love, man, could you imagine?
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Could you just imagine how much less hate would be in the world if we actually operated in the love that was spirit-led?
40:11
SPEAKER_00: I don't believe, honestly, that we operate in spirit-led love as much as we really should be.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: I feel like we miss this boat 100%.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I I'm gonna speak for myself because I I wasn't raised by many people that ever told me they loved me.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't understand that.
40:30
SPEAKER_00: My mom never told me she loved me.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: I told my mom I love her more than she's ever told me.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: Don't didn't know my dad, wasn't raised around family.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, and even being in and out of foster homes, they don't just tell you they love you.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: They just, it's just kind of weird.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: They just don't, you know.
40:47
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, it was a lot for me when I went to a church and one of the pastors he would just say, Hey, he'd call me woman of God, and he'd say, 'Woman of God, I love you.' And it used to really bother me until I finally said, Stop saying that.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: Stop saying that to me.
41:03
SPEAKER_00: And he said, No, I won't.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, he's like, You have not been loved enough in your lifetime.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: And he was, he would, he, he could see it on me.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: He could see that I was pushing that love away.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: He would offer it, and I'd be like, No, no, no.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: Because I didn't understand what love really needed to be.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: I didn't understand where it comes from.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: And when we think about love, we think about two people getting married, or when you love your kids, or or when you're helping your grandmother, or you know, just certain certain situations bring up the word love.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: We are to love complete strangers.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: When you see somebody on the street that you don't know, you're to love them.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: And I I remember when my pastor was telling me this, and he he really helped me to understand what really love is.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: And so I feel like I need to share this because I really thought he was insane.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: I thought he was a weirdo, wacko.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know, you're married.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't think your wife would like it too much if you're sitting here telling me you love me.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, This is not that kind of love.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Well, you better explain yourself then because I'm getting a little confused, you know.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: And for six months, every time he saw me, he would say, Woman of God, I love you.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: Woman of God, I love you.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: And then and then and I would just shake my, I would, I would just shake my head and walk away.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: I was just like, whatever, you are weird, right?
42:30
SPEAKER_00: And because I never had someone tell me they love me like that before, ever.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: And then I didn't know how to even um accept the love that he was trying to offer me because I was so closed off to it.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: Next thing I know, other people in the church, when I'd walk by, would say, Hi, woman of God, I love you.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, this is just getting too weird.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: This is just getting so weird, you know.
42:55
SPEAKER_00: And um I one guy turned around, I turned around and told this one guy, he's a big biker dude.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: And I turned around and looked at him and I go, You don't even know me.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: You you can't love me, you don't know me.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: And Pastor was standing next to him.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: I think Pastor might have been the one that said, Hey, tell her you love her.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but um Pastor said when we were at his house having a um a prayer night, we were talking about love, and he said, We are to even love our enemies.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: Our enemies, think about that.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: We are to love one another.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: It is a commandment that we love one another.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: He said, the reason why people think it's weird is because we don't, and it really struck me, and I was like, but it's because I don't know how.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: It's not that I didn't, it's not that we don't have love within us.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: If we have Jesus in us, we have his ultimate love, by the way.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: So as Christians, you have the love of Christ in you, you just don't have The know-how to reciprocate it and to offer it and to use it.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something about loving someone.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: When you love someone to the fullest, you're going to see their lives change.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: You're going to see your lives change.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: You're going to see people around you, their lives change.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: And you want to know why?
44:21
SPEAKER_00: Because love is actually contagious.
44:23
SPEAKER_00: It's very contagious.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: And it's very heartening.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: And when you start operating in love, Holy Spirit will start operating through you.
44:35
SPEAKER_00: I've seen it and I've witnessed it.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: And I've, you know, the Lord has used me when I started operating in love.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: And still to this day, I when I'm on the phone with my friends, whatever, you know, I tell people I love them all the time.
44:50
SPEAKER_00: And um, they go, Oh yeah, I love you too.
44:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I love me too.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: And that's okay if they didn't think of it first.
44:55
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
44:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, it's nice to hear it back, but we don't say I love you to someone to hear it back, by the way.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: And you can understand that as well.
45:04
SPEAKER_00: It's not something you give to expect, have an expectation of someone giving something back.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: It is a free gift.
45:12
SPEAKER_00: God, Jesus died on the cross as a free gift for us.
45:16
SPEAKER_00: He didn't ask for anything back.
45:19
SPEAKER_00: That is the ultimate love.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: It is a free gift.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: And if we are operating in that love and we are moving and working in it, I promise you, like if you do it for the next week, just walk up to random people and tell them you love them.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: They might, they might punch you in the nose, they might, you know, snicker, they might, whatever, you'll be surprised.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: Some people may even break down and cry because you know why?
45:46
SPEAKER_00: They haven't been told they they were loved by perfect strangers or by people that would even care.
45:52
SPEAKER_00: And I've seen people just melt when you say the words, I love you, to them, because no one tells them.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: No one's telling them that they're loved.
46:03
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you could do it in a way to where you just tell them if you're uncomfortable, because sometimes we get uncomfortable, if we just tell them, hey, you know what, Jesus loves you, therefore I love you.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: They may think you're a little out the window, but it it really has a huge impact on people's lives when you love with an agape love.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, I have seen chains break literally off of people just by saying, I love you.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: They broke off from me, they broke off from random strangers that I didn't know.
46:39
SPEAKER_00: And um I'm only testifying to this because I saw it firsthand.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: And Holy Spirit will use you mightily when you start loving people mightily.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be a, you know, a representative of Christ, love someone.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: It's really one of the most ultimate sacrifices that you can make here on earth that abides in Christ, it follows his commandment, he requires it, and he will bless you for it too.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: It's it's something you will get blessed for.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: Not maybe not necessarily here on earth, but definitely in heaven, you will have your rewards.
47:20
SPEAKER_00: And so I encourage people that are listening today that if it's you and and you were anything like I was, like I said, I didn't hear the words I love you very much.
47:31
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, I thought I used to think the word I love you was something perverted and perverse.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: I didn't think it was something healthy because of how I was raised.
47:40
SPEAKER_00: I was raised, you know, in um sexual abuse and a lot of physical abuse.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: And again, my my mom didn't say it.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have family that said it.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: My grandmother said it a lot.
47:52
SPEAKER_00: And I used to think something was strange about her because she was so different.
47:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, she just would always just love, she just always loved on me.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, but she made it comfortable.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: She didn't make it um when you've been abused sexually or physically.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: Um if you have someone that's hitting on you and then telling you they love you, that's really not love.
48:14
SPEAKER_00: So you so I get why the world is the way it is because there's so much darkness out there, and that love can be um reciprocated the wrong way.
48:24
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's important that we address it and we talk about it because the love that God is talking about in this scripture, the spirit-led love, is a love that, like I said, it'll break curses, it'll break generational curses off your life, off people, it'll um break chains of bondage, it'll bring freedom, um, it'll bring a peace that you you've never felt before.
48:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, it brings so much.
48:53
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, when you start operating, I know there's nine fruits of the spirit, and it and if you think about it, like how do I operate in all of those?
49:02
SPEAKER_00: If you're struggling with operating, operating in those, pick one, pick one of them and work on that.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: It'll lead to all the others.
49:13
SPEAKER_00: And if you start with love, I guarantee you it will lead you to every single one of the other fruits of the spirit.
49:19
SPEAKER_00: Whoops, if that makes any sense.
49:22
SPEAKER_00: It really will.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: Bethany, do you agree with what I'm saying?
49:25
SPEAKER_00: Does it make sense?
49:28
SPEAKER_00: Because we're talking about the love that Jesus gave, and that love was his life.
49:33
SPEAKER_00: That love was the son.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: His the father gave up his son.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of love we're talking about.
49:40
SPEAKER_00: That means you lay down your life for somebody else.
49:43
SPEAKER_00: You sacrifice yourself.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: Love doesn't have to, isn't supposed to be selfish.
49:48
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we are very selfish when it comes to love.
49:50
SPEAKER_00: When we think of Valentine's Day, and this is gonna probably maybe, you know, pinch a few of you, because Valentine's Day is kind of fun.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's special.
50:01
SPEAKER_00: We get chocolates and roses and diamonds sometimes, you know, maybe new cars.
50:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what people get on Valentine's Day.
50:07
SPEAKER_00: We end up having an expectation of what am I gonna get instead of what I'm what am I gonna give on Valentine's Day.
50:15
SPEAKER_00: And then we get disappointed if we don't get what we wanted.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
50:20
SPEAKER_00: That is not love.
50:22
SPEAKER_00: Valentine's Day is one of the misskewed holidays that I've ever seen.
50:27
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's just another pagan holiday that has been dressed up to allow disappointment, frustration.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: People have broken up, relationships have ended because of Valentine's Day, because it's not designed the way God designed love.
50:48
SPEAKER_00: It's really not.
50:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, people do not know how to operate in spirit-led actual agape love.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: And I honestly believe that it's not taught enough.
51:01
SPEAKER_00: People don't say it enough, we don't do it enough.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's so undone that when it is done, we think it's wrong.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: We think there's something wrong with it.
51:12
SPEAKER_00: When my pastor was telling me he loved me, I thought something was wrong with him.
51:15
SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't what was wrong with him, it was what was wrong with me.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm the one who carried that hurt and that that rejection of my life of not ever having it, that I thought he was the weird one.
51:30
SPEAKER_00: He was actually doing what the Bible told him to do, to love one another.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, and he would have to sit me down.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm to love you, regardless of what anybody, regardless of what I think about you, I'm still to love you.
51:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to like how you look, how you smell.
51:45
SPEAKER_00: I don't care, I don't have to like, you know, who you are.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says I have to love you, regardless.
51:54
SPEAKER_00: And if we started loving people like that, can you just imagine how much more, I mean, how much more their lives would be changed and affected, and your own.
52:12
SPEAKER_00: Because love is not a selfish act, it really isn't.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: It's it's actually one of the spirits that is probably the least selfish of anything that you could possibly do is by loving someone else.
52:26
SPEAKER_00: Because you you're not, you're taking your eyes off of you and you're giving it to someone else.
52:31
SPEAKER_00: You're loving someone else for who they are.
52:35
SPEAKER_00: And people aren't perfect, people make mistakes, and and yet sometimes we go, well, if you're gonna act like that, well, then I don't love you.
52:42
SPEAKER_00: Shame on us.
52:44
SPEAKER_00: We do we do this, we do this, I've done this, I have done this, I'm guilty, I have done this because of how I was raised, because of the hurt I went through.
52:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I know that I've hurt my my children, I've hurt my friends, I've hurt my own family because of the love I never received, because I didn't know how.
53:04
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how.
53:06
SPEAKER_00: And I think love needs to be really taught to people, but not just taught, it needs to be demonstrated, it needs to be shown.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: We don't see it all the time.
53:18
SPEAKER_00: I go to some churches and they're real loving, and I go to other churches, and you're lucky if they shake your hand or get near you.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: They act like, you know, there's a distance thing.
53:27
SPEAKER_00: God isn't distant.
53:29
SPEAKER_00: God walks, God will wash your dirty feet.
53:33
SPEAKER_00: That's that's an ultimate love.
53:35
SPEAKER_00: God will go sit with the prostitute.
53:37
SPEAKER_00: God went to the well to meet the lady that everyone else stayed away from because she was dirty.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
53:45
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus went there to meet with her.
53:47
SPEAKER_00: And you know why he went and met with her?
53:50
SPEAKER_00: Because when she became free, he knew that she wasn't going to be afraid to tell the testimony of what Jesus Christ had done in her life.
53:57
SPEAKER_00: The cleansing, the ultimate cleansing that she had received.
54:01
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of love that God wants us to have in the scripture, in this word.
54:05
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I think it's so important that we we, I know that you know, there's nine spirits that we want to talk about, fruits of the spirit that we want to talk about.
54:14
SPEAKER_00: But if we don't, if we just tell you about it and then leave you hanging, you're not gonna get anything from it.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: How are you gonna operate in it if you don't know anything about it?
54:25
SPEAKER_00: You know, I can give you the keys to a car, but if I don't give you the driving manual, you're gonna be sitting there in your car.
54:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm gonna tell you how to, you know, put the key in and start it up and turn on the engine and you know move forward and move back.
54:39
SPEAKER_00: We don't do this with the spirit of love.
54:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't talk about it.
54:45
SPEAKER_00: And again, once you start operating in it, the other spirits are gonna fall.
54:51
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna follow suit.
54:52
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're not gonna fall, they're gonna follow.
54:54
SPEAKER_00: And you'll be able to having patience.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: When you start, if you can if you can love someone that you don't like, I guarantee patience will be really easy.
55:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, having kindness for someone after bestowing love on them is so much easier when you've learned to love them first.
55:15
SPEAKER_00: Being faithful to your partner when you get married and you don't step out, you know why?
55:20
SPEAKER_00: Because you actually decided you were gonna actually love them.
55:24
SPEAKER_00: You won't step out on them.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: That faithfulness will stay firm.
55:28
SPEAKER_00: Being gentle to someone, if you've learned to love them, you'll you'll be gentle, you know.
55:36
SPEAKER_00: And these are all gonna fall into place.
55:39
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna tell you, there's so much peace and happiness and joy when you operate in the spirit of love.
55:48
SPEAKER_00: That's why they talk about the agape love.
55:51
SPEAKER_00: And there are four different types of love, which we'll get into that.
55:54
SPEAKER_00: That is a completely other episode, but um the agape love is the ultimate love.
56:01
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of us do not walk in it because we don't really truly understand it.
56:06
SPEAKER_00: And so I can see people going, well, if you know, if the fruit of the spirit is love, how do I, you know, because I want to, I want to have that fruit.
56:16
SPEAKER_00: I want people to see that fruit on me.
56:19
SPEAKER_00: And we're supposed to be demonstrating that we are operating in the spirits of in the fruits of these spirit-led fruits.
56:27
SPEAKER_00: But if we're not doing it, how are we, how can we show it?
56:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, we can tell, I mean, I could tell you all day long what the scripture says, but sometimes reading the scripture isn't enough.
56:42
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes reading the scripture is just the manual that tells you what to do with it.
56:47
SPEAKER_00: You have to do it, you have to receive it, you have to accept it, you have to work through it, and you have to utilize it, you know, for what it really is.
56:55
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times I think people read the scripture and they just go, oh, the fruits of the spirit is love, ah, you know, and it's all a mushy-mushy, levy, levy, feely thing, but um, it's more than that.
57:08
SPEAKER_00: It's so much more.
57:10
SPEAKER_00: Jesus died on a cross, that's how much more.
57:13
SPEAKER_00: He shed all of his blood for for for us.
57:18
SPEAKER_00: So I just really wanted to really emphasize when we when we talk about these spirits, that we don't want it to be, like Bethany said, we don't want it to be just talked and then just let go of.
57:35
SPEAKER_00: We want it, we want you to sit and think about it a little bit.
57:39
SPEAKER_00: And we want you to ask yourself, what are you doing?
57:42
SPEAKER_00: How are you operating in these spirits, in the in the fruits of the spirit that that God has commanded us to do, commanded us to have?
57:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
57:53
SPEAKER_00: So um, I don't want to keep rambling on, but does that make sense, Bethany, what I'm saying?
57:59
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
58:00
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
58:05
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
58:06
SPEAKER_02: And as we've mentioned, you know, we will take more time on each of these fruits to really help us to understand them and to truly start living in them like we have them, and it will transform our lives and others' lives and so as we continue on here, the next fruit we have is joy.
59:00
SPEAKER_02: Now I've often heard people um maybe confuse joy and happiness.
59:16
SPEAKER_02: Um trying to figure out well which one is which and um happiness as I understand, happiness is circumstantial.
59:37
SPEAKER_02: It's based on circumstances, whereas joy is not joy, is something that you can have regardless, and do we understand that?
1:00:00
SPEAKER_02: Do we live like we understand that?
1:00:08
SPEAKER_02: As a Christian, you can have the joy of the Lord, be your strength, you can have that assurance that joy today, even when with everything going on in the world, and there are things that are not joyful at all that are going on in the world, and yet as a Christian, if you are you can have joy again, the joy of the Lord is your strength.
1:01:07
SPEAKER_02: It's not based necessarily on anything that we can muster up or do or anything like that, it's based on God.
1:01:21
SPEAKER_02: So just as love, just as we can show that fruit of the highest love that there is, we can also have joy.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_02: Circumstances.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_02: Quite hard, and yet I have joy because I understand that it's not necessarily dependent on me.
1:02:22
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes I wonder if Christians are so focused on their performance in their Christian life that everything depends on them when in reality it doesn't.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_02: And so now joy.
1:02:56
SPEAKER_02: The verses I want to look at John fifteen verse eleven.
1:03:16
SPEAKER_02: Verse eleven says these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_02: Um I would strongly encourage you to either underline or highlight.
1:04:04
SPEAKER_02: That phrase and then that's that's the phrase because so often I've heard people say, Well, I you know, I just can't have joy right now.
1:04:30
SPEAKER_02: I just you know, I'm going through so much and I you know, I I just can't have joy.
1:04:41
SPEAKER_02: Well, my unspoken question is where does your joy come from?
1:04:59
SPEAKER_02: Is your joy focused on you or is your joy placed correctly in God?
1:05:12
SPEAKER_02: Because verse eleven tells us exactly how a joy remains full and it's not of us.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_02: And I I don't mean to sound harsh if I am.
1:05:41
SPEAKER_02: I apologize if I sound harsh, but we can have joy because it's not based on us.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_02: Not based on our circumstances.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_02: It's based on God and so we have love.
1:06:16
SPEAKER_02: We have joy.
1:06:19
SPEAKER_02: And Mickey, do you have anything to say about this verse here?
1:06:26
SPEAKER_00: I want to point out one word.
1:06:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:06:29
SPEAKER_00: And I know that you can relate with this word.
1:06:31
SPEAKER_00: The word is might.
1:06:33
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
1:06:34
SPEAKER_00: Spoke unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.
1:06:42
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean?
1:06:43
SPEAKER_00: It means if we have joy that Jesus gives us, we can remain in that joy or not.
1:06:53
SPEAKER_00: Now, joy can be one of two things.
1:06:56
SPEAKER_00: It could be a revolving door where it comes and goes, or it can remain.
1:07:01
SPEAKER_00: That's where the word might is coming from.
1:07:03
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to let it remain?
1:07:05
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to let it come and go?
1:07:08
SPEAKER_00: So I really want to emphasize that word because people are like, well, it says that we might read that it might remain in us.
1:07:17
SPEAKER_00: It's only going to remain in you if you let it remain in you.
1:07:22
SPEAKER_00: God's already given it to you.
1:07:24
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has given you the joy.
1:07:26
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing with it?
1:07:28
SPEAKER_00: If you're throwing it out the door and then wanting it back and throwing it out the door and wanting it back, it's not going to remain in you.
1:07:36
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_00: You're the one giving it away.
1:07:39
SPEAKER_00: God, Jesus isn't taking it from you.
1:07:41
SPEAKER_00: I need you to understand this.
1:07:43
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't not filling you up with the joy.
1:07:46
SPEAKER_00: It's whether you're you're allowing to be filled up with the joy that He's given you, and if you're holding on to the joy.
1:07:53
SPEAKER_00: Now, when when you're faced with a circumstance or a situation, and it could be anything, like I just like the passing of my grandmother.
1:08:02
SPEAKER_00: She just passed away on March 19th.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_00: Um to me, I could I could easily say that wasn't a joyous time of my life.
1:08:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:08:12
SPEAKER_00: It was rather hard to handle that situation.
1:08:16
SPEAKER_00: Now, I did find joy in the fact that she is no longer in pain, she is no longer suffering, and she no longer has to fight the disease of dementia.
1:08:28
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean I still didn't have pain, but I could still find joy within the circumstance, no matter what.
1:08:37
SPEAKER_00: You can find joy in every single circumstance if you choose to.
1:08:43
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:08:43
SPEAKER_00: That's how it remains in you.
1:08:45
unknown: Yeah.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_00: In the choosing that no matter what happens today, right now, even if my roof fell in on top of me, I'm going to find something to be joyful about.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_00: Am I getting do I like it?
1:09:00
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily, but if you're gonna complain and murmur and bicker and and just the the poor me, the victimization, the woes me, and all of that, that's where the joy goes out the door.
1:09:12
unknown: Yeah.
1:09:13
SPEAKER_00: Because you're back on yourself again.
1:09:15
SPEAKER_00: You're not remaining in Jesus.
1:09:19
SPEAKER_00: It says, My joy, which is Jesus' joy that he gave you.
1:09:23
SPEAKER_00: He gave it to you.
1:09:24
SPEAKER_00: When you became a Christian, Jesus gave you all of his joy, just like he gave you all of his love.
1:09:32
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just go, well, here's a fraction today, and let's see what you do with it.
1:09:36
SPEAKER_00: Here's a fraction tomorrow.
1:09:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, you didn't do very good with yesterday's fraction, so I'll hold off until next week until you can get your attitude checked out.
1:09:45
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't operate like that.
1:09:47
SPEAKER_00: We operate like that.
1:09:49
SPEAKER_00: We're the ones with the revolving door.
1:09:52
SPEAKER_00: We'll take it and then we'll leave it.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_00: We'll take it and then we'll leave it.
1:09:57
SPEAKER_00: Because we don't believe honestly that we can walk in the fullness of joy, even in bad circumstances.
1:10:05
SPEAKER_00: We really can, though.
1:10:06
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I mean, it says right here that, you know, things I have spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you.
1:10:15
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why he says might is because God knows that we are fleshly beings.
1:10:20
SPEAKER_00: And we're the ones that take it and leave it.
1:10:23
SPEAKER_00: Take it and leave it.
1:10:25
SPEAKER_00: But he's hopeful, the word might is still a hopeful word because he's hoping that we will allow it to just remain in us, and that we will allow it to just stay full.
1:10:38
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want us to just kind of be full or that we kind of will let it remain.
1:10:43
SPEAKER_00: He wants it to remain always.
1:10:45
SPEAKER_00: But the might comes from the fact that we are fleshly beings.
1:10:50
SPEAKER_00: And God knows that we don't walk around with that much joy when we're good when we're in our circumstances.
1:10:56
SPEAKER_00: He already knows this.
1:10:58
SPEAKER_00: But he still says, Well, I would hope that you would anyway.
1:11:03
SPEAKER_00: I want you to anyway.
1:11:05
SPEAKER_00: And he will bless you for that.
1:11:07
SPEAKER_00: He'll bless you when you walk around in that joy.
1:11:10
SPEAKER_00: Because you're taking your eyes off your circumstances and you're keeping your eyes on Jesus.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_00: And that's where he gets you through it.
1:11:16
SPEAKER_00: He can get you through it with that joy.
1:11:18
SPEAKER_00: You can see it through, even though it's painful, you can still see it.
1:11:23
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I think he, I really believe that when he says the word might, that's what he's referring to.
1:11:29
SPEAKER_00: Do you agree, Bethany?
1:11:30
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
1:11:32
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
1:11:36
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:11:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I we've only gotten through love and part of joy.
1:11:56
SPEAKER_02: Um and we are going to continue on here, but as you can see, there's so much that should be studied on our own to help us all understand for ourselves just the abundant gold of mine that the Bible is.
1:12:40
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you talk about being wealthy.
1:12:51
SPEAKER_02: How about let's try to be wealthy in the fruit of the spirit?
1:12:58
SPEAKER_02: And I do believe that will help us, all of us, to truly understand God's desire for each one of us here on earth, not just in eternity, but God's desire for every Christian here on earth is abundant life to live out these fruits of the spirit.
1:13:33
SPEAKER_02: Again, not in our own strength, but understanding where that strength comes from.
1:13:41
SPEAKER_02: And so there are a couple more verses that I want to share about joy to help us understand just how much this fruit of joy means.
1:14:06
SPEAKER_02: And so let's look at Luke Verse seven, which says, and again, this is Jesus talking to his disciples, and it says, I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance.
1:14:57
SPEAKER_02: And then verse ten is similar to verse seven, but verse ten, likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
1:15:22
SPEAKER_02: And the more I think about even these verses, it's I believe warranted for us to really take time to understand what these verses are saying.
1:15:50
SPEAKER_02: I do also believe that even these two verses would help us understand why it's so important for us to have that agape love for people for all people, because these two verses in John fifteen, I'm sorry, and Luke fifteen when they talk about that there's joy in heaven over one sinner who repents that sink in and then at the end of verse seven that talks about more than ninety-nine just persons who need not repentance.
1:17:07
SPEAKER_02: Um remember every person who has ever lived on earth is living on earth or will live on earth is in need of repentance.
1:17:29
SPEAKER_02: Everyone.
1:17:35
SPEAKER_02: Repentance.
1:17:37
SPEAKER_02: And so to me, that's why I have such a passion, such a love for people, what the Lord has given me a sir.
1:18:01
SPEAKER_02: Like he has for people, and so we can have that choice, we can have that love.
1:18:18
SPEAKER_02: Yes, it's a choice.
1:18:27
SPEAKER_02: Remember who also is trying to influence us so and Christians, we we don't want to give in to Satan.
1:18:56
SPEAKER_02: We do we really want to leave God standing alone while we follow Satan because we chose to give in to a negative thought or a negative circumstance or anything like that.
1:19:30
SPEAKER_02: But it's something to think about, I believe.
1:19:36
SPEAKER_02: And so now as we continue on, and um Mickey, I don't know if we want to um try to get all nine in in one episode, or if we should break it into two.
1:20:00
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I think I think we should we should pause on joy and love because I feel like um we should really meditate on those two.
1:20:11
SPEAKER_00: Um I do believe the other ones will fall, like I said, right behind um joy and love, but they'll be easier to explain and um be adapted, adaptable to.
1:20:26
SPEAKER_00: But joy, when you think about the the sheep, the 99 sheep, you know, Jesus left.
1:20:34
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you know, the the shepherd leaves the sheep to go find the one.
1:20:37
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus says with us.
1:20:40
SPEAKER_00: Um and they're joyful and rejoicing in that, and the other sheep are just kind of meandering around the wilderness, you know, you know, waiting in the field why why the shepherd's out looking for the one sheep, you know.
1:20:56
SPEAKER_00: And um when he finds the sheep, he just rejoices.
1:21:01
SPEAKER_00: And we are we are that one sheep.
1:21:03
SPEAKER_00: We are the one sheep.
1:21:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and what what it's talking about when it's talking about the repentance, when it's talking about those that didn't repent, it's not saying that they don't need repentance, it's that they've already have, but every time we repent, that's what happens in heaven, the rejoicing.
1:21:21
SPEAKER_00: There's joy.
1:21:24
SPEAKER_00: And one thing that we should be repenting of is how unjoyful we have not been.
1:21:31
SPEAKER_00: Because I think that a lot of times instead of looking at our circumstances and trying to find the joy in it, we look at our circumstances and we complain and grovel.
1:21:45
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and the more we do that, the more the enemy, one, the enemy loves it and it will encourage us to do it more and more and more so that we have less and less joy in every circumstance.
1:22:01
SPEAKER_00: And the circumstances aren't gonna stop just so that you can have joy.
1:22:05
SPEAKER_00: So just let me inform you like that's not how it works.
1:22:09
SPEAKER_00: Because we are all gonna live our lives, we're all gonna do what we do every day, and things are gonna happen every day.
1:22:16
SPEAKER_00: Um not every day is butterflies and rainbows and you know dandelions and whatever.
1:22:25
SPEAKER_00: Um we do get to choose how we operate in our daily life, in our situations, whether good or bad.
1:22:35
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you might ask yourself, well, how do I operate on a day that's really bad?
1:22:40
SPEAKER_00: That's a really good question.
1:22:42
SPEAKER_00: Everyone's circumstances are different, and so I can't really 100% say, but Jesus has already given you joy.
1:22:55
SPEAKER_00: If you just rejoice in that alone, even in your circumstance, he's gonna bless you.
1:23:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he'll bless you, and he'll help you also get through it.
1:23:09
SPEAKER_00: He's watching to see, I really believe us being on earth is a test.
1:23:14
SPEAKER_00: He's watching to see how we handle things, how we react.
1:23:20
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you know this, but when when when everyone is taken up from first the the grave and then those that that get raptured up, everyone that goes up to be part of God's army is gonna be put into a position.
1:23:35
SPEAKER_00: And the way that you have lived your life on earth is gonna determine where you're placed in that position when you get to heaven and you're in God's army.
1:23:43
SPEAKER_00: So think about that.
1:23:45
SPEAKER_00: Where do you want to be placed?
1:23:47
SPEAKER_00: Are you valiant?
1:23:48
SPEAKER_00: Are you strong?
1:23:49
SPEAKER_00: Are you standing up for Jesus?
1:23:53
SPEAKER_00: Are you, you know, I hear people say, oh, that's my ride, my, my, my, uh, my, what does it say?
1:23:59
SPEAKER_00: My die or ride, what how they say it?
1:24:01
SPEAKER_00: My ride and that ride or die or whatever, partner, whatever they say.
1:24:04
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, but if it's Jesus, do you have the same thinking?
1:24:12
SPEAKER_00: Do we have the same mentality?
1:24:16
SPEAKER_00: When we're on earth, it's just a test to see how we're gonna react to everything that comes our way.
1:24:23
SPEAKER_00: How are you reacting?
1:24:25
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when we react, I'm gonna be straight up and honest with you all.
1:24:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be completely transparent in this episode, which I have already with talking about love.
1:24:34
SPEAKER_00: My reactions to things in life have not always been very pretty.
1:24:39
SPEAKER_00: I have caused a ruckus, I've been a tyrant, I've been, I've been the bully, I've been bullied, you know.
1:24:46
SPEAKER_00: I've been, you know, um, my response was not the way, as a Christian, the way that I should have responded to certain circumstances.
1:24:58
SPEAKER_00: And that's where the joy comes in.
1:25:00
SPEAKER_00: Test your joy to see how how if you can be joyful during the roughest situation that you're facing.
1:25:06
SPEAKER_00: Find the joy in it, you know.
1:25:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I you get bad news upon bad news upon bad news.
1:25:15
SPEAKER_00: And like after my grandma died, um, I already had bad news, and then I got more bad news, you know, and then I got more bad news, like back to back to back, like within two weeks' time, I just got bad news upon bad news upon bad bad news.
1:25:30
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't necessarily my bad news, but the bad news affects me.
1:25:34
SPEAKER_00: It has an effect on me.
1:25:36
SPEAKER_00: Somebody I care about, my situation, my livelihood, whatever.
1:25:41
SPEAKER_00: However, it affects me.
1:25:43
SPEAKER_00: I have to choose how I'm gonna handle it.
1:25:46
SPEAKER_00: Am I gonna go off the deep end and scream and throw a fit and have a hissy fit?
1:25:51
SPEAKER_00: Or am I gonna go, you know what, God?
1:25:54
SPEAKER_00: I already know that you already know the outcome to this situation, so I'm just gonna trust you.
1:25:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna trust you and I'm gonna have a good day today.
1:26:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna let that situation ruin my day because there's nothing I can do about it anyway.
1:26:07
SPEAKER_00: I can't change it, only you can.
1:26:12
SPEAKER_00: And and whether you decide to go this way or that way, whatever you decide, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna choose to walk in it and I'm gonna be okay with it because that's the choice that we make when we give it to God.
1:26:23
SPEAKER_00: The circumstance to God.
1:26:25
SPEAKER_00: Or we could take the circumstance and let it flip our world completely upside down and tear us completely apart.
1:26:31
SPEAKER_00: And I've done that too.
1:26:33
SPEAKER_00: I have done that more than I can say.
1:26:35
SPEAKER_00: Am I proud of that?
1:26:36
SPEAKER_00: No.
1:26:37
SPEAKER_00: I've had some embarrassing moments, okay?
1:26:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm not afraid to say that because if it's going to keep you from having an embarrassing moment, then I'm okay with telling you.
1:26:45
SPEAKER_00: Because I think that we all have done stupid things, you know, in our upbringing and the way that we're raised, and the pain that we feel, and the hurt that we have and the frustration and anger that we have within us.
1:26:57
SPEAKER_00: We all act a certain way and do certain things.
1:27:00
SPEAKER_00: Am I proud of my behavior?
1:27:02
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
1:27:04
SPEAKER_00: When I look back on it and I think, man, if I had a redo, what would I do differently?
1:27:07
SPEAKER_00: Those are the the those are the situations I would actually want to go change, is where I acted ridiculous in my response to something bad that was happening in my life.
1:27:16
SPEAKER_00: If I could have a redo.
1:27:19
SPEAKER_00: If that makes any sense.
1:27:21
SPEAKER_00: We have to find joy even in the toughest situations.
1:27:27
SPEAKER_00: We have to find joy in the rain, we have to find joy in the pain and in the trauma.
1:27:34
SPEAKER_00: And you think, well, you know, what about what about those people that are getting murdered because they they believe in Jesus and they're in like you know, like the the ones in Pakistan.
1:27:50
SPEAKER_00: Umly 2% of people in that country are Christians.
1:27:57
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
1:27:58
SPEAKER_00: Because it's friendly.
1:28:00
SPEAKER_00: Upon.
1:28:02
SPEAKER_00: That's only what they think.
1:28:04
SPEAKER_00: I believe there's way more than 2%.
1:28:07
SPEAKER_00: They just haven't told anybody yet.
1:28:10
SPEAKER_00: I honestly believe there's way more people.
1:28:13
SPEAKER_00: But they have such a fear over being told that they cannot do it, that they'd be killed or raped or whatever.
1:28:21
SPEAKER_00: So they choose to not believe in it anymore.
1:28:24
SPEAKER_00: What are we going to choose?
1:28:26
SPEAKER_00: We have the freedom.
1:28:29
SPEAKER_00: And yet we still complain and murmur.
1:28:33
SPEAKER_00: And I think about that, and I'm just, I get so disgusted with myself, not in a bad way, but in a way where God just wants me to change my heart and my thinking.
1:28:43
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I don't, you know, I'm not like gonna beat myself up or anything like that.
1:28:48
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, it's it's an eye-opener for sure.
1:28:51
SPEAKER_00: And I I I haven't even shared this with you, Bethany.
1:28:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, I got invited to speak in Pakistan this last week to thousands of children and young people that are living a really horrible life, but yet will get up at three o'clock in the morning in 30-degree weather and wrap up, just so that they can go to a church service because it's it's a secret of service.
1:29:19
SPEAKER_00: And they don't want their country to know they're doing it, or they will be killed doing it.
1:29:24
SPEAKER_00: And they got a hold of me and asked me if I would speak to the children and offer a hope.
1:29:33
SPEAKER_00: And I thought to myself, I'm over here in America and like I can go to church or I don't have to go to church or whatever.
1:29:41
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm like, I have all of these freedoms compared to what they have.
1:29:45
SPEAKER_00: What kind of hope could I give them?
1:29:49
SPEAKER_00: And I thought the only thing I can offer them is the joy and the strength of the Lord, because that's where our hope comes from.
1:29:57
SPEAKER_00: And that Jesus loves all the children of the world, not just of one part of the country.
1:30:05
SPEAKER_00: And I've been praying about it because they've been asking me for the last two weeks, and I said, I'm praying still, and I am praying because I'm I'm like, I don't know how to offer hope to such a dark situation when my situation is not that dark.
1:30:21
SPEAKER_00: How can I bring a little bit of hope to them?
1:30:25
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I talked to another pastor that also talks to them.
1:30:30
SPEAKER_00: He I asked him to reach out to me.
1:30:31
SPEAKER_00: I said, I'm gonna need some help here.
1:30:33
SPEAKER_00: And um, he said he would help me because they need it, they need to know that people care.
1:30:40
SPEAKER_00: Um and what an honor it was for them to ask me to be a speaker.
1:30:44
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't believe it in Pakistan.
1:30:47
SPEAKER_00: To thousands of young children and women and you know, um, that are sneaking around to enjoy worship and in a church service, or they'll get killed.
1:30:58
SPEAKER_00: I thought what an honor that was for them to ask me to speak.
1:31:02
SPEAKER_00: And I remember asking him, why did you choose me?
1:31:07
SPEAKER_00: And you know what they said?
1:31:08
SPEAKER_00: One thing they said is they said, because you bring a lot of joy.
1:31:14
SPEAKER_00: One of the things they said, we like how happy you are.
1:31:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you don't see me when I get out of bed, though.
1:31:22
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
1:31:23
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, that's where it is.
1:31:26
SPEAKER_00: That's where it is, and that's why we need to have it.
1:31:30
SPEAKER_00: I don't want them to see me when I go to talk to them.
1:31:32
SPEAKER_00: I want them to see Jesus.
1:31:36
SPEAKER_00: Because that's where my joy comes from.
1:31:39
SPEAKER_00: I guarantee you, if I had to walk this road alone, I would not be, it would not be pretty.
1:31:44
SPEAKER_00: It'd be terrible, actually.
1:31:46
SPEAKER_00: People wouldn't want to be around me.
1:31:48
SPEAKER_00: Have nothing to do with me, you know, because I can I know how rotten I can be.
1:31:52
SPEAKER_00: But I know when I have the spirit of the joy, the joy of our Lord on me, I just feel at peace and I feel happy in it.
1:31:59
SPEAKER_00: And it's reflective and it shows and it shines.
1:32:02
SPEAKER_00: We are to be the light and the salt in the world.
1:32:06
SPEAKER_00: And that's, you know, demonstrating that joy, if that makes any sense.
1:32:12
SPEAKER_00: We need to be operating in that.
1:32:14
SPEAKER_00: If that, so I don't, we can just kind of close with that.
1:32:18
SPEAKER_00: But on that note, with the other fruits of the spirit, I think that I don't think that we should just rush through them because I feel like they're so important, and God really wants us, if He wants us to abide in it, then we need to talk about it.
1:32:38
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're just gonna say, hey, go do this, and we don't share what it really means to go do this, no one's gonna do it.
1:32:48
SPEAKER_00: I honestly believe that we do not operate in agape love because it's not taught, it's not spoken about, and people are not doing it.
1:32:56
SPEAKER_00: They are not operating it, it has become weird.
1:33:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a weird thing to do, to go up and hug somebody and say, I love you, or you know.
1:33:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh one thing one of my students told me the other day in my paint class, and I'm not trying to say this to both by any means, but it made me, you know, just made me happy.
1:33:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, she came up and gave me a hug.
1:33:23
SPEAKER_00: And uh I I don't know what we were talking about.
1:33:27
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Um, I can see you doing that.
1:33:31
SPEAKER_00: And I was doing something for somebody else.
1:33:34
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, I can see you doing that.
1:33:36
SPEAKER_00: She goes, because you're always doing something for somebody, always.
1:33:40
SPEAKER_00: And it and I was like, I am, you know, and because I didn't even I don't even realize I do it.
1:33:44
SPEAKER_00: But it's in my nature, because I have Jesus, to be serving.
1:33:50
SPEAKER_00: We are to be servants and serve one another, and we are supposed to do it with a happy heart.
1:33:57
SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants to go to a homeless shelter and dish out food to people that we have to watch that are suffering and pain.
1:34:03
SPEAKER_00: They come in, they need to be bathed, they might be loaded on who knows what kind of addictive drug they're on.
1:34:11
SPEAKER_00: Um so we have to deal with the behaviors of that and and and serve it and have a smile doing it.
1:34:17
SPEAKER_00: Think about that situation.
1:34:19
SPEAKER_00: So, what situation are you in?
1:34:22
SPEAKER_00: What's your situation?
1:34:23
SPEAKER_00: What's the story behind whether or not you're walking and operating in in agape love or joy through your circumstance?
1:34:32
SPEAKER_00: I know we all have a story, but I can guarantee you some of us are not doing it very well.
1:34:42
SPEAKER_00: And I'll be the first to admit, I I've walked through many circumstances where I did not carry the joy of the Lord on my on my shoulders.
1:34:50
SPEAKER_00: I carried exactly what the enemy wanted me to carry, and that was the frustration and the anger and the hurt and the pain and everything else that came with it that I should have just gave to Jesus and walked in the joy that he wanted me to have.
1:35:04
SPEAKER_00: And we actually can do that.
1:35:07
SPEAKER_00: It is possible.
1:35:08
SPEAKER_00: I know it sounds like that's impossible.
1:35:10
SPEAKER_00: It is so possible to do.
1:35:13
SPEAKER_00: It really is.
1:35:15
SPEAKER_00: And I know that we've gone a little long today, but I'm gonna share a real quick story with you.
1:35:20
SPEAKER_00: And I want this really to sink in because this lady that I met at church, she has four beautiful daughters, and her youngest daughter was was raped and murdered.
1:35:31
SPEAKER_00: I think by time, I think she was 11 or 12 years old.
1:35:35
SPEAKER_00: And the pastor had asked if he could share her testimony.
1:35:42
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I'm sitting in the church, and um, this is you know, my family church and stuff, and and I hadn't met this lady yet.
1:35:50
SPEAKER_00: And uh she's she's telling the story, or pastor's telling the story, and she he tells us that the youngest daughter gets raped and killed, and the guy is in prison, and the mom did not know how to handle it.
1:36:09
SPEAKER_00: Of course, right?
1:36:10
SPEAKER_00: Who would, right?
1:36:10
SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, honestly, I'll tell you what I would have done at the end.
1:36:15
SPEAKER_00: But she went to the prison with a Bible in her hand and sat down with him and said, I forgive you.
1:36:26
SPEAKER_00: And he could not believe that she was there and she gave him a Bible.
1:36:30
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Why would you come here and do that?
1:36:32
SPEAKER_00: She said, Because if I can't forgive you, how could God forgive me for the things that I've done in my life?
1:36:38
SPEAKER_00: Wow, right?
1:36:40
SPEAKER_00: Like that's Jesus right there.
1:36:44
SPEAKER_00: That is really Jesus.
1:36:46
SPEAKER_00: Her child was raped and murdered.
1:36:49
SPEAKER_00: And I remember them telling the story.
1:36:50
SPEAKER_00: I remember I was weeping.
1:36:51
SPEAKER_00: They're telling the story, I'm crying.
1:36:53
SPEAKER_00: Everyone's crying.
1:36:55
SPEAKER_00: She's actually up there with Pastor.
1:36:57
SPEAKER_00: Now she's crying.
1:36:58
SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I would be in jail.
1:37:02
SPEAKER_00: I would have gone to jail.
1:37:03
SPEAKER_00: I would have been, I'd have been in jail.
1:37:05
SPEAKER_00: They would have had to arrest me.
1:37:08
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
1:37:09
SPEAKER_00: I I just know in my heart that I don't know that I could have done what she did.
1:37:14
SPEAKER_00: But she demonstrated what Jesus really looked like and how Jesus really would have behaved.
1:37:22
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, man, if we had more people demonstrating that kind of love, even though it is not deserved, that man did not deserve her love or her forgiveness.
1:37:33
SPEAKER_00: But God cannot forgive us if we cannot forgive others, no matter what they do.
1:37:39
SPEAKER_00: And you have to find the joy in that.
1:37:42
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you guys again, where are you at?
1:37:45
SPEAKER_00: What is your circumstance?
1:37:47
SPEAKER_00: What is it that you think is so horrible that there's no joy?
1:37:53
SPEAKER_00: Because I guarantee you there is joy.
1:37:58
SPEAKER_00: God just wants you to operate in it.
1:38:00
SPEAKER_00: What about you, Bethany?
1:38:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, can you relate?
1:38:06
SPEAKER_00: Can you understand that?
1:38:07
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
1:38:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:38:12
SPEAKER_00: So I think with that being said, um, Bethany, I'm gonna let you close this out, but I think um, because there is a lot to the spirit, fruits of the spirit, and I really honestly think that we need to focus on them and be really direct and um have a really good understanding.
1:38:32
SPEAKER_00: This is something that we are commanded to do.
1:38:36
SPEAKER_00: We are commanded to love, we are commanded, commanded to have joy.
1:38:42
SPEAKER_00: And we often dismiss it or excuse it because of circumstance.
1:38:48
SPEAKER_00: That's not acceptable to Jesus, it's not an acceptable answer.
1:38:54
SPEAKER_00: But God, this, but God, that, but God, and I've dismissed my own behaviors because of circumstances, and I've had to repent, and that's why there is so much rejoicing in heaven because I repented for some of that foolishness I did.
1:39:10
SPEAKER_00: And you and you can, and once you do, and you start recognizing that you don't have to operate in that, you can operate in the joy and the love that Jesus has for us.
1:39:21
SPEAKER_00: Once that light bulb moment goes off and you understand it, it's so freeing, and that chains just fall off, and it's so um amazing, the transformation that happens in people's lives when we operate exactly how the word says to operate, when we do it, how God says to do it, then we will see the benefit from it.
1:39:47
SPEAKER_00: But until then, we will not, if that makes any sense.
1:39:51
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's important that we're talking about the scripture and we're showing you the truth.
1:39:56
SPEAKER_00: And we want you to understand what it's saying, because if you don't understand it, how do you operate in it?
1:40:04
SPEAKER_00: Right?
1:40:05
SPEAKER_00: So, Bethany, um, I'm gonna let you finish and close us out today, and um, in our next episode, we'll continue on with the fruits of the spirit, if you don't mind doing that.
1:40:17
SPEAKER_02: Yes, that's wonderful.
1:40:22
SPEAKER_02: Um just leave it here, and what I mean by that is just to have us really focus on a government love and joy, and personally, I would encourage each of you to start and end your day before you get up in the morning and before you go to sleep at night verbally.
1:41:09
SPEAKER_02: Thank God for his protection and thank him for restraining Satan.
1:41:20
SPEAKER_02: Since I've been in that routine now, this year especially, and um some of the end of last year.
1:41:33
SPEAKER_02: Um it's been incredible to see the difference, the refreshment.
1:41:47
SPEAKER_02: I used to have horrible overnights.
1:41:52
SPEAKER_02: I I literally dreaded overnights because they were just difficult.
1:42:04
SPEAKER_02: And yet once I started the routine of before getting up and before going to sleep verbally thanking God for his protection and for restraining Satan.
1:42:23
SPEAKER_02: Wow, um it didn't even take a week for it to for me to notice improvement.
1:42:39
SPEAKER_02: My my days weren't full of reactions.
1:42:46
SPEAKER_02: They were full of peace.
1:42:56
SPEAKER_02: My overnight I slept much better and honestly, I have not had many dreams overnight since doing that, which tells me that some of the dreams I was having before I started that routine were not of God.
1:43:44
SPEAKER_02: And let me encourage you just as God does not take time off, neither does Satan, and that includes overnights, and so if your overnights have been hurtful, if you've dreaded trying to get to sleep, or you know, I need this amount of time of sleep, and you're trying to figure all that out, and yet you're not getting that, and you're wondering why.
1:44:33
SPEAKER_02: I would encourage you start tonight before you go to sleep, thank God for his protection, thank him for restraining Satan overnight, and then in the morning, do the same thing before during the day, and not just over yourself, but over those who live with you if you have family or whatever living with you, but also over your house because there is so much going on that spiritual warfare that we may not think about, and it's helping us get our minds focused correctly because how much how many times do we just rush into the day?
1:45:41
SPEAKER_02: And then we wonder why why am I going through this or why am I going through that or where did you place your mind?
1:45:57
SPEAKER_02: Where did you um focus your mind before you got up in the morning?
1:46:09
SPEAKER_02: So um that's just my encouragement to you, and I am so looking forward to our next episode as we continue on talking about the fruits of the spirit and helping you, you know, gain an understanding for yourself to truly be able to live out just how abundantly God desires every Christian to live here and now.
1:46:50
SPEAKER_02: We don't have to wait for eternity.
1:46:53
SPEAKER_02: Yes, our life in eternity will be different, will be better because we're not bound by the things we're bound by now.
1:47:06
SPEAKER_02: We won't be bound by time, we won't be in mortal bodies.
1:47:18
SPEAKER_02: But just remember God does want us to live abundantly here and now let's not wait, let's not consume ourselves with so much that we forget.
1:47:38
SPEAKER_02: So um, Mickey, do you want me to pray us out or would you like to?
1:47:47
SPEAKER_00: Um I can pray us out real quick.
1:47:50
SPEAKER_00: All right, Heavenly Father, God, Lord, we thank you for we thank you for your Agape love, Lord, and we thank you for the joy that you do give us, God, and help us to um recognize uh joy in our lives uh more frequently, Lord, and to to operate and walk in the joy that you give us, God, and the love that you bestow upon us.
1:48:11
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and to die so that we can have eternal life in heaven and be with you, Lord.
1:48:20
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the heavenly realm.
1:48:21
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the spirit-led spirits, Lord.
1:48:24
SPEAKER_00: We just ask you to just help us to walk in those spirits.
1:48:26
SPEAKER_00: We ask that you guide us and teach us and show us your way.
1:48:30
SPEAKER_00: Help us to understand and and and and acknowledge and learn what the fruit of the spirits really are, Lord, so that we can operate that.
1:48:39
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us to um fulfill the spirits so that you can see spiritual growth within each one of us, Lord.
1:48:46
SPEAKER_00: We just ask you to just watch over this podcast.
1:48:48
SPEAKER_00: We ask that you watch over everyone listening today.
1:48:50
SPEAKER_00: We ask you just bless every single person that listens to this podcast, Lord.
1:48:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, Lord, we just ask you to encourage and uplift everyone.
1:49:00
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for um the time that you've given us today to uh share your word and your truth.
1:49:06
SPEAKER_00: And we just ask you just um keep your hands upon us, Lord, and watch over us.
1:49:12
SPEAKER_00: And we ask this in your precious name.
1:49:14
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
1:49:16
SPEAKER_00: With that being said, um all of our information, Bethany and I's information, um, again are in the show notes always, so you can reach out to either one of us at either one of our websites.
1:49:27
SPEAKER_00: And also um we will do another part to the fruits of the spirit.
1:49:32
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it'll be as long as this one, but um this one went a little bit long, so I apologize for that.
1:49:37
SPEAKER_00: But I think I feel like sometimes when God is leading you, um, you need to listen to Holy Spirit and you need to go where God directs you to go.
1:49:45
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we often we get um um distracted so that we end up not doing what Holy Spirit wants us to do.
1:49:54
SPEAKER_00: So I just feel like sometimes we need to, you know, really, you know, do what God asks of us.
1:49:59
SPEAKER_00: But we want to say thank you for listening today.
1:50:02
SPEAKER_00: And um again, it's always a pleasure to be here.
1:50:04
SPEAKER_00: And Bethany, thank you for all your your you know, studying and bringing the scripture to the table.
1:50:10
SPEAKER_00: And um for everyone listening, we hope that you have a great day.
1:50:14
SPEAKER_00: Y'all take care of and you need to reach out to us for prayer, anything, please don't hesitate.
1:50:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, we love you and we just um want you to have a great day.
1:50:22
SPEAKER_00: So God bless everyone.