Latest / High Level Wife Podcast with Chelsey Holm / Simple Obedience Changes Everything

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Simple Obedience Changes Everything · High Level Wife Podcast with Chelsey Holm

• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the High Level Wife Podcast.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Chelsea Holm, your hostess, and we do Marriage God's Way here.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we're wrapping up our series here.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to be focusing on simple obedience and how it changes everything.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: We can tend to be focused on decorating while God is still building the foundation if we think about a house and how it's built.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think one of the greatest lies we believe as Christians is that following Jesus is complicated.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: We think we need another book or a podcast or a Bible study or framework or an answer.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: But what if we've made complicated what God made beautifully simple?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Following Jesus is not easy, but it is simple.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel itself is simple.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Love God, love people, abide, repent quickly, forgive freely, walk humbly, seek first, obey what he's already said.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the Christian life.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: We love to overcomplicate what God simplifies, and we do that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I truly believe it's because if something is complicated, then we can easily say, Well, I don't get it.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore I can't do it.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Life is simple.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's not easy, but it's simple.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we overcomplicate what God simplifies.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: We ask the questions of like which school or which sport or should we move or what's God's will?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, God is asking us, Am I first?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have your heart?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Will you trust me?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Will you obey what I've already made clear?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So again, it's like decorating a house while the foundation is still being poured.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: You're picking paint collars over here while God is checking whether the foundation can hold the weight of what's coming, right?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: The preparation in the wilderness to face and slay the giants to take the territory of the promised land, right?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: We want the details, but God wants depth.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: We want the direction, but God wants formation.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 8, God humbled them, tested them and let them hunger.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: To reveal what was in their hearts, to teach dependence, to teach obedience, not because he was withholding, because he was preparing.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we think about the promised land.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: We know everyone wants the promised land, but few appreciate the wilderness.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: But we know, God knew, we didn't know.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: There were giants waiting, there were cities to take, battles to fight, and God knew what they would face.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So he built them before he blessed them.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so maybe God hasn't answered because he's still building.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that delay isn't rejection, maybe it's actually preparation.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe he loves you too much to hand you what your character isn't ready to carry.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: In Matthew 6, we keep going back to this, but it's seek first.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not because it's a formula, it's because first things first.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: When your foundation is right, the details stop consuming you.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: You still make decisions, right?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: You don't just sit around and just twiddle your thumbs, but you don't make them from fear anymore or hurry or striving.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: You make them from surrender.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we've already talked about asking the right question or seeking first in attention, worship, and effort, but they all point to one thing, and that's a heart that is fully surrendered to God.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: The Christian life isn't complicated.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's our flesh that makes it complicated.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's religion that makes it complicated, social media comparison.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus makes it remarkably clear.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: He gave two words, follow me.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Before asking God another circumstantial question this week, ask him instead, what are you building in me?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Where am I resisting you?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: What have you already asked me to obey?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And is there something you've clearly said that I'm delaying because I'm waiting for another answer?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then do that.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So the goal of the series was never to help you make better decisions.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was to help you become the kind of woman who seeks God first.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because when he has your first attention, everything else finds its proper place.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And when your heart is consecrated, everything becomes worship.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And when your identity is secure, effort becomes stewardship instead of striving.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And when your foundation is Christ, you stop obsessing over decorating the house while he's still pouring the concrete.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: You trust the builder because he sees what you can't and he knows what's ahead.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he loves you enough to prepare you before he promotes you.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew 7, 24 through 25 says that everyone then who hears these words of mine and does not and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't end with everyone who understands.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: He ends with everyone who hears and does.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's the invitation.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's not more information or another framework or podcast, it's simple surrendered obedience.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and actually, right now, we Zach got an opportunity to do a different position, um, even though we were slotted to move this this upcoming year.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we had some decisions that we needed to make.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we talked through things.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so funny, in the past, when these things had happened, I would already be on Zilla looking at all the locations and looking at houses and figuring it all out and making our plan.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, at this time, no.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: We just we sat with it, we we looked at the information, but the decision didn't come from a place of hurry or earning or striving, it came from a place of peace, and that's the whole point of all of this.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's that the Christian life isn't about becoming an expert at hearing God's voice, it's about becoming a woman who is quick to obey the voice he's already made clear.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, with that, I know this has been.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I actually I got um one of my friends who listens, she sent me a text and she's probably listening now.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, hello, friend.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she said, This is exactly what I needed.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is this series has been fire.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, it's because it it gets us into action, right?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like it starts from that right place.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: That it's not a formula for getting what you want, it's an invitation to right order from God Himself, right?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: It it it's it's this this practical walking out of when first things are first, other things stop ruling your heart.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: It it brings James 122 to life.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Be doers of the word and not only hearers, right?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: We love getting all the information.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Just tell me what I need to do.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: But in all of that, there's a danger in this endless learning, and that danger is actually procrastination.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that learning is bad or seeking information is bad, it's because delayed obedience often disguises itself as preparation.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Who's ever gotten stuck at the drawing board and never actually taken action, right?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like I remember when I would start a new workout plan back when I was in like the end of high school and and early into college, right?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would get a new notebook, first step, right?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Then I would research what fitness routine I was going to do that was gonna give me the results, right?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I would plan that out.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would get new workout clothes.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I look cute, right?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would literally do it for a day, maybe a week, and then I would stop.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because it it I was looking for more information when really what I needed was discipline and obedience.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now I always went too too hard too fast, so that was part of it too.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: But but we need to understand that delayed obedience often disguises itself as preparation.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: We need to understand again that I want to remind you the Christian life isn't complicated, but it is costly.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: It costs your pride, your control, your timeline, your comfort, your self-protection.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: But it isn't confusing.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus's commands are so simple, usually two words, maybe three, mostly one.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Follow me, abide in me, repent, forgive, love, trust, obey.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's simple.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not easy, it's simple.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So this week, stop asking God for five more answers and ask him for one thing.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, what have you already asked me to obey that I've been delaying?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then do that.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because obedience today prepares you for tomorrow.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: The wilderness prepares you for the giants.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the foundation God is building today is what will hold the weight of the blessing you're praying for tomorrow.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Luke 11, 28 says, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not those who know the most.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the Jews, they knew the most, the religious leaders, they knew the most.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And yet it was because of their massive amounts of knowledge that kept them from actually obeying and understanding and receiving the free gift of salvation.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So again, it's not those who know the most or those who even ask the best questions, it's those who hear and obey.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, what has God actually called us to obey as wives?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we've learned to seek God first and give him our attention to consecrate our lives and obey what he already said, that's the question that comes next.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: What has God actually called us to obey as wives?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna keep moving on.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna jump into a new series and we're gonna be focusing on what it actually looks like.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna open scripture and walk through God's beautiful design for surrender, submission, biblical roles, and function, not as burdens, but as the pathway to freedom flourishing and oneness.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you next time.