Latest / Armed Anchored Adorned / Armed for Abundance - Melody Masters
Transcript
- Armed Anchored & Adorned: was this for you today? You're not alone. God whispered these things to my soul first. And then he whispered, there's more. When you hear that, who do you think of? Who stirs in your heart when you hear there's more? Pray about sharing this with them. Yep, them. Yep, you. Remember, we don't go to church. We are the church. Every one of us has a start and a finish line. Every day we get to choose how we will run that race. Will we choose ordinary or counterfeit or will we choose that abundant life that Jesus died to give us? Welcome to the Armed, Anchored and Adorned podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Melody Masters: actually, I hadn't really thought about it, but, ⁓ Okay, so I made this awesome sauce. Okay, this reminds me of you. So I was like, I'm gonna do this podcast with Tara. I was like, ⁓ yeah, I'll make her special dish. So every birthday party, you would set up a bounce house, bring all the families and the kids and you would make a certain dish. And your kids began to request it. Like I remember like five and six. You could not throw a Zachary birthday party without making this dish. What is it? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Well hello! Melody Masters: I'm glad I'm not sour. Armed Anchored & Adorned: have my Mel here. My sweet Mel. My my sweet and spricy Mel. He's a little spicy too. So funny. Well, first I was thinking chili, but now I'm thinking it's Big Z. But in the best ways. ⁓ no. ⁓ no. Melody Masters: Mm-hmm. ⁓ It's baked ziti! Yeah, and so I, okay, so I'm from the East Coast. I love Italian food. My family's not super into, they'd like rather have Mexican, but tonight we're having Italian. So it's Caesar salad, baked ziti, and garlic bread. That's my love language. Armed Anchored & Adorned: My beloved Melody and I became friends over 21 years ago. We were big giant mamas, too soon to be mamas. We became moms together in Colorado. And her son was born, her son Kenan was born four weeks before we became parents. And so we became moms together and we got to stumble through some crazy times together. That sounds so good. Yeah, that sounds delicious. Melody Masters: Does it sound good? Alright. And I felt, and I didn't, I was, I was a spaghetti girl and it was easy. And then I started hanging out with you and the big ziti. And I was like, this looks so complicated. Like, no, it's way easier. You can just throw it all in the dish, put in the oven. So that's we're at. Yeah. Super easy. And cheesy. Yep. I know girl. Armed Anchored & Adorned: So easy. So easy. And cheesy. I locked myself out of my house one snowy day when I had a like five day hold and I called you. Easy and cheesy. ⁓ yeah. Well, will you share your recipe? Melody Masters: Yes, remember that I was like, Oh, I was like, can you climb through the window? Just asking you like a million questions? What would I do? What did we do? How did you get in? What did we do? Armed Anchored & Adorned: ⁓ Melody Masters: You probably have the better recipe. think actually it's from you. But yeah, I mean, I will. I'll share the recipe. Okay. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Okay. Okay. ⁓ thanks. Thanks for the inspo. We all need it. So sick of that question. And yet I love coming together for a meal. Like, I mean, I love dinner. I just don't want to have to come up with what I gotta make. But. It was the very first time I had ever tried this and I was also really excited that it worked and I was a little bit mortified that it worked. I used a credit card and broke into my house. I mean, I was so grateful. I got right in and it so funny because we barely knew each other, but like we were both super vulnerable and like, Melody Masters: Yep. Yep. Yeah. ⁓ I thought that's right, right. And you got in. I I totally read it. I don't like technology, but kept telling my kids if they would invent that little pill that the Jetsons put the drop of water on, it's like, boof! It's like turkey and mashed potatoes. Like, yeah, I'm all about that technology, as long as it's organic and it's not, I don't know, plastic or something. yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: And I do. Melody Masters: And then you were like, let me make you dinner. Let me feed you. And I was like, we're friends. We are friends. I can do the watch your baby while you break into your house thing, but like the cooking thing is always a little harder. So I loved that you would cook for me. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Dinner. ⁓ you cook some good food too. ⁓ We've had some really good meals together. Well, I love you. I am so grateful. I can't wait for more conversations, but this was really great. So thank you. Thank you, Jesus. we love you. Enjoy your break, ZD. We'll talk to you soon. See you on pole. Bye. Melody Masters: It took a while. you Yeah, we have. We have. And there's going to be many more. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Love you too. I will. Love you. Bye. Bye, everybody. See you. Armed Anchored & Adorned: on. Amen. Amen. I am all for that. So this is my beautiful friend Melody and I'm really excited to share her with you because ⁓ you've heard me mention Marco Polo. Well, we do life together through Marco Polo. Like we'll text each other every once in a while, but we talk and if there are like a week or several days or we don't talk on Marco Polo, I think we both get a little twitchy. Melody Masters: Yes. Yes. Did I her mad? Did I make her mad? What did I say? Did I say something? Armed Anchored & Adorned: ⁓ I do. Like not even that. I mean, I think we both are at that point where it's like, whatever it is, we're going to work through it. but I just, I just miss you. I miss talking with you. I miss hearing from you, knowing what's going on. And, and we have this truly, it has grown in to iron that sharpens iron here. Melody Masters: Yeah, let's go. For sure, for sure. Armed Anchored & Adorned: And boy, am I grateful for that. I love that you and I can say really hard things to each other. And we know there is a serious foundation of I love you and you love me and that's it. And so anything else that comes, we're gonna work through it. Melody Masters: Yeah. Yes, yes. Armed Anchored & Adorned: ⁓ So you know what, let me turn. Melody Masters: My husband doesn't get it though. Marco Polo. It's like for him he thinks like, are you just doing TikToks all day? Like, what are you doing? And I'm like, dude, I keep telling him. I'm like, this is mystery. This is like, this helps me to be a better wife, a better mom, a better friend, all those. He's just like, no, bro, you're just doing TikToks all day. Guys don't get talking. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank you. They talk. you Melody Masters: Because in case people don't know what Marco Polo is, you actually record a video of yourself and it's like a voicemail. Like you send it and that person listens to it when they can or when they have time to. But so as I'm recording my Polo, I'm seeing myself and either I'm talking to myself or like I'm just in the camera so that when Tara watches it, she's seeing me. But to guys, they're like. You're just talking to yourself. you're just, what are you doing? So it's, know really it's my sister and I use it. My sister-in-law and I use it. My niece and I use it. You and I use it. This Marco Polo really has, I think, helped you and I to stay in touch with each other and connected when life has just been crazy and busy. And like I would. Armed Anchored & Adorned: it. Thank Melody Masters: We would be living forever voicemails for each other. I mean, with the two hour difference. Armed Anchored & Adorned: I think we probably I probably think we wouldn't talk as much like I wouldn't know as much about your life Melody Masters: We wouldn't, and which means we wouldn't be near as close, and there wouldn't be much iron sharpening iron. It would be like gaps of time where we have to reconnect. I mean, we've done, you've always done that with friends, right? Like we pick up where we left off, but we don't really have to leave off. That's the cool thing. So I'm not. Armed Anchored & Adorned: you Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm really grateful for it. Melody Masters: I am too, I am too. Like I'm not a huge technology fan except for Marco Polo. So, and maybe this little thing that you got going on here. ⁓ Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah, there's some cool stuff we have access to, but neither one of us get paid by Marco Polo. We just, the connection is so rich. mean, we do church here. We really do. We wrestle with a lot of different things here. I've walked through life with you in a lot of different ways. Melody Masters: No. Armed Anchored & Adorned: I'm really, I'm so glad that we get to, I mean, she helped me just re reposition some things in my home because she could see it. It's just so cool. When I get to see her, her babies grow and do different things. I just love it. So yeah, we technically met at a restaurant. She, you were the, you were the waitress. Melody Masters: you You Armed Anchored & Adorned: and I was the lowly hostess and I knew you were in charge and I was not good at my job. Melody Masters: Hahaha No, I was not. ⁓ It's actually unbelievable. I still tell my kids that's like one of the hardest jobs I've ever done in my life. I've worked for Department of Human Services. I've like done marketing. I started major companies and I'm like, that was one of the hardest jobs. Waiting tables for hungry, grumpy people who have a lot of money who think that they deserve some sort of... Armed Anchored & Adorned: I was not good at my job. Melody Masters: certain kind of treatment was really, really hard. Enjoyable for about 80 % of it, but the other 20 was just, still gives me nightmares today. Just wanted to say that. Armed Anchored & Adorned: I'll see people serving and I'm like, ooh, they're in the weeds. Like, ooh, I don't miss that. That's hard. That's tough. Melody Masters: Yeah, yeah. Totally, totally. ⁓ I tip really well because of it still to this day. Even if I'm not getting great service, I see their pain. I'm like, bro, I know where you are. I know what's going on. You're in the weeds. And I'm just gonna sit back and be like, you got this, you got this. Like, I got this, you got this, we got this. And I will still give you a great tip. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yes ⁓ ways God grows us. And then we reconnected in Lamar's class and that's where we that's where we became really good friends. And then I moved here, she's still there. What's that? Melody Masters: you And our too, they were just like deer in the headlights kind of, what? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah, we all needed each other. Our two babies just sat there while we were like, are you dealing with this? Yeah, man, that was awful. How'd you do with this? ⁓ man, I don't know. It was good. We needed each other. Melody Masters: Yeah. Yeah. you Yeah. Extremely humbling process for sure. Becoming a parent, wow. Terrifying, humbling, ⁓ mean, expanded my heart in all directions in every way, and form. I'm like, becoming a parent was the greatest gift and the greatest challenge of my life for sure. So I'm glad I had Tara to go through it. Armed Anchored & Adorned: ⁓ Amen series. All of that. Melody Masters: because you were very honest and real and you weren't like, ⁓ I got this all figured out. know, like seriously. Like I met people where I was like, what? You have this figured out? What? I totally don't. And you were like, ⁓ I ain't gonna lie girl, I ain't got it figured out. So we did it together. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Ha No, I still don't, 21 years later. We're still fumbling forward. But we have the Holy Spirit and we're good. He's got us. ⁓ Well, speaking of, let's, what's that? Melody Masters: I said, as long as we stay connected to him, absolutely. Armed Anchored & Adorned: That's right. Speaking of that, me cover this in prayer. Father, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for technology. Thank you for connections. Thank you for such strong connections that are through you, for you. Help us to remain, abide in you and remain in you in this conversation. Melody Masters: Sure. Yes, ⁓ Armed Anchored & Adorned: and let nothing pass our lips that does not bring you honor and glory. We ask that you would take this connection, this conversation and grow anything that you want to grow here. Draw in your people, grow us, equip us for what you know is coming. I thank you Lord, I thank you what you have brought us to, what you have brought us through. You are. Melody Masters: Yes. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Amazing. You're such a good, good father. And I am in awe of how you knit us together and how you draw us to the right place at the right time and put the things in our hands and in our hearts that you know we need. Help us to be humble servants of you right here and now in this conversation and going forward. That's all we want Father. In Jesus' name, Amen. Melody Masters: Amen. Thank Armed Anchored & Adorned: So when I first started this, Melody has been one of the people that has cheered me on, has covered me in prayer, has yanked me out of my stupid thoughts. ⁓ Pretty much, it's been years, it's been years, and you've been faithfully encouraging me, and I just thank you so much for that. And when... Melody Masters: Okay. Armed Anchored & Adorned: ⁓ I confirmed to the Lord the name armed anchored and adorned and what the Lord really wanted it to be like here. It's to equip us. It's to equip our people. Anything that I'm saying here, it's not just for people listening. Melody Masters: Yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Even though I've heard it before, I still need to say it again pretty much any time I say something. The Lord's like, hey, remember when you just said that? That was for you too. I was like, oh yeah. So when I realized what this was going to be like, first and foremost, you're going to be on this several times. Like this is not a one and done. You'll see this face a lot. Oh, small girl. But. Melody Masters: Yeah. Okay. Armed Anchored & Adorned: when I hear the word armed. in terms of what God says about it. This is my girl. This is the girl. This is who pops into my mind and it's just the armor of God is something that you are so passionate about. And I was like, well, let's do this. Let's get our drinks and sit and talk about how cool that is and what God has shown you and Melody Masters: Yeah. Yes. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Let's share all things. So what does armed mean to you, Melody? Melody Masters: Armed. ⁓ Well, several images do come to mind, but like when I really break it down and I like what what did I learn was the armor of God. You know, I wasn't raised as a Christian, so I think a lot of kids that are raised as Christians have the picture of the Roman soldier with the armor on. and they kind of can name the pieces and all of that kind of stuff. And probably what it means and why it's relevant and that it's real, right? Like armor of God is real. But for me, I learned it like 42 years old and I now completely understand what that armor of God is in like the deepest way. Can I just read it, Ephesians? 6 10 through 18, quick, okay. So Ephesians 6 10 through 18, I think it's familiar to most people, but I really want you to like, as I'm reading it, I might put emphasis on certain words, because to me, they have like, they have an emphasis in my life. So, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Please. Melody Masters: that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present dark, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Armed Anchored & Adorned: enough that you can use this. Melody Masters: Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the blessed breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Armed Anchored & Adorned: dances. ⁓ Melody Masters: praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplications for all the saints. There's a lot of words there. ⁓ Armed Anchored & Adorned: Amen. Good stuff. Melody Masters: Yes, it is. And I love to read it with my kids. I'm like, we put on the helmet of salvation, put on the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, because it helps you to remember what they are and what they actually do, right? So for me, I think I had to, even if I had ever heard this before, before seven years ago, when I had a unique encounter in my life, I probably didn't really understand the why. Because I'm like, cool, you got armor on. So why? Are we in a battle? Uh-huh. Or continually. ⁓ really? With who? With the government? With my family? With my neighbors? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Mm. You Yeah. Melody Masters: Who am I in a war with? We don't really read it and like let it land. No. It's the enemy. It's the kingdom of darkness. Rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, present darkness, schemes of the devil, blah blah blah, spiritual forces and heavenly places. We are in a cosmic battle. We are in a supernatural battle. Did that make any sense to? Nope, not at all, not at all. Still blows my mind, right? But when we read scripture, I'm like, what are we doing? We are like not realizing that there is a true war going on continually since the beginning in. Armed Anchored & Adorned: But. No. Thank you. Melody Masters: When you read the beginning of the Bible all the way through, we're told that it's a continual war. And when I break it down, I'm like, I have to tell my kids, why do we have armor on? Armed Anchored & Adorned: . Melody Masters: They say because we're in a battle, we're in a war. Really? Against who? Who's for us? Who's against us? And my kids start to tell me, will they enemy? That jerk is after us. Why? Well, he hates us. Why does he hate us? Because he hated God first and God loves us. And God cast Satan out of heaven. Literally Satan was like, oh, I'm going after your kids. Armed Anchored & Adorned: 30. Melody Masters: because that is truly what it is. So when I think about the war, I'm like, there's a war for our souls, but we have our Father in heaven. Satan, he ain't his equal. They're not like this in the battle. Satan is down here, but he is constantly trying to wreak in our lives and our kids' lives, your life, your marriage, your business, this podcast, our friendship. He wants to do anything because he is the one who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And if we don't take that seriously, this whole being armed thing, Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Yeah. Melody Masters: isn't doesn't seem important. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Well, yeah, then you just become, you're just a sitting duck. Melody Masters: right? Which is exactly how I've got when, you know, I know, I know this isn't going to be the podcast where we talk about what really happened in my life about eight years ago to really get my to make my faith come alive, to make Jesus real in my life. It was about eight years ago. But what happened, I felt like I was so ignorant to it. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Please. Melody Masters: because it isn't something that's talked about in the church or even in most Christian circles, you know, I mean, it might be alluded to, but because I wasn't being quote unquote equipped, when spiritual warfare came to my life, my home and my family in a very unique way, I felt like I was a sitting duck. I was like, dude, I was on the battlefield. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah. Right. Melody Masters: Not even knowing I was on the battlefield. I was naked. I was without armor. And... No. No, girl. You don't have to be naked. No nakedness on battlefield. No. Armed Anchored & Adorned: That's not how you want to be on a battlefield. Melody Masters: So. Armed Anchored & Adorned: There's very few places you want to be that, but definitely not on the battlefield. Melody Masters: Definitely not. We'll take a bunch of unnecessary wounds. Armed Anchored & Adorned: I We are going to have your story fully shared here. And I do look forward to that, but I felt we're going to step in right here. Melody Masters: you a teaser. I'll give you a teaser. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Give a small teaser of your experience that awakened you to what being armed looked like and why it's necessary. Melody Masters: Okay, ⁓ so about eight years ago, ⁓ I had a two-year-old son at the time, Reese, he's now 10. So I guess the math is seven and a half years ago. He began seeing, he could see spiritual things that I've never really seen. ⁓ And we lived in a house ⁓ for all kind of intents and purposes would have been deemed by the world as haunted. ⁓ did we know that at the time it was 120 year old house in old Colorado city, which is like the West side, Colorado. There's a lot of old, just old things, old activity. It used to be the red light district. If you know what a red light district is, it's like where the brothels were. So, ⁓ our house was a brothel, ⁓ way long before. Armed Anchored & Adorned: is that I'm not sure. Melody Masters: Did we know all of this? Mm-hmm. We still bought the house. Beautiful Victorian, on the street that everybody wanted to live on with the big elm trees that kind of canopy the street and just kind of fit our style. A lot of craftsmen, cool things inside the house. So when we purchased the house, we were actually told that the house was deemed haunted. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Let's be. Melody Masters: didn't change our mind or anything, but you know, we lived in the house for 13 years before anything began really, that's not true. A lot of things happened prior, but we didn't realize the significance of it until 13 years of living in a house and our son was two and a half and he could see. Now at two and a half years old, he had barely enough language to even tell me what he wanted to eat. But he was saying the weirdest things, like the weirdest things. And eventually it began to lead into where he was being attacked. Terrified, he would point, he would show me things. He had marks on him, things like that. I understand this is like kind of an unusual story. Not a lot of people have experienced this and I totally understand that. ⁓ but we have met several families through our journey that are like, mm-hmm, yep, the same things happened to us. But as it was happening in beginning, I was thinking I had never really heard anything like this before, like happening to a Christian family, that I was like terrified to share the information with anybody. Tara, you might've been one of the first people I shared the info with. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Melody Masters: risk of you, one, not believing, at the risk of you thinking, ⁓ something's wrong with Mel. We need to get her help, you know, that kind of thing. And, ⁓ that wasn't your response at all. What was your response? Armed Anchored & Adorned: I think we've talked about this. Well, I think we've talked about this. had just just finished Priscilla Shire's armor of God for the very first time, which is where I was introduced to spiritual warfare. That was an un I did not understand that concept before we did this and everything just made so much more sense after I did that study and it was on the full armor of God. And so when you said that I was like, whoa, I'd never Melody Masters: Yeah. Okay. Armed Anchored & Adorned: spoken to somebody that had experiences like that, but we had also talked about when we were moms, my oldest son could see things too, but we talked about it like, he's got such a crazy imagination. And now I know what he was seeing things. And we so often just explain away things. Melody Masters: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Armed Anchored & Adorned: when we should be praying away things. But no, I had no doubt. I had no doubt of what you were experiencing. I did not really know how to help, especially when we were here. I mean, I certainly prayed, but yeah, I had no answers. Melody Masters: Yes. Exactly. Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah. think for me, was like really, I was so surprised. I'm trying to remember like going back in that time. We were in a really, I was solid with like a bunch of girlfriends at that time in like a meal group, like a community group, Bible study kind of thing. ⁓ We were tight and the leaders of that group, was really tight with, we were really tight with our pastors and things. And I'm trying to remember like, if I shared with you first or if I shared with them first, like don't remember the timeline, but I prepared myself for that. just kind of the writing off of like, oh, that's interesting. Okay, moving on. You know, I kind of was preparing for that from you. And we weren't near as close back then because we had taken kind of a gap year, a gap seven years in our friendship because you knew life happened and all sorts of things. And we didn't have Marco Polo, but I felt like when you were like, uh-huh, uh-huh. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thanks. Melody Masters: Yep, and you were like confirming and you were like, okay, and then you'd be quiet and then you'd ask a question and then you would let me answer and then you were like, you were taking it in and then you would ask another question and it was like, you were more like wanting more information and kind of digging into it rather than throwing up the hand and resisting it and going, okay, I don't like this conversation. It's making me uncomfortable and I wanna walk away. I would say you were like one out of like every 20th, Armed Anchored & Adorned: Great. Melody Masters: and I talked to was like, okay, tell me more. The majority of people were like, Some people would be like, ⁓ crap. Well, that sucks for you. I've heard about that happening in like other countries and stuff. So wow, wow. You guys really, basically they would kind of look at us like, wow, you guys are really messed up, huh? Like, what did you in? Armed Anchored & Adorned: air. Melody Masters: into your house. What have you been doing? Armed Anchored & Adorned: What's going on? Melody Masters: To be fair and honest, we were being very stupid, but we were not doing what had been done in my house previously. What I learned about the house was as it was a brothel, you can only imagine the crimes that took place in the house of a family with children. I can't even imagine not going to go there, but the Lord began to Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Melody Masters: show people who worked with us that there was a lot of innocent lives that were taken in that home as birth control. So I'm not gonna throw the words out here, but it was a way of taking care of a unwanted pregnancy of these young girls who were being prostituted. And I think it went on for years and years and years. So what does that do to a home? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank Melody Masters: It charges it. opens where sin is done. And Tara, I didn't know this at the time where sin is done. The invitation, darkness and spiritual things get to stay until it's driven. And I don't think that there was really any other maybe Christian families that had lived in the home. And we were ignorant ones until we weren't. Until we came, we literally were shaken awake. And what do you do when you're shaken, awake, and think you're not okay in your home? You put on the armor of God. You take your authority, take that shield and the Lord, and you take up the authority that you've been given because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. And you go with God's word, with his authority, the badge he's given you, and you come against these things and say, no longer, no longer are you okay here. We come against this in the name of Jesus. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank Melody Masters: By the blood of Jesus, we taking all things new. We're washing it clean again. And it was battle. Good enough summary? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah, I mean, the. I do look forward to the day where we will sit down and dig into this a little deeper, but I want to. I want to emphasize the incredible power of prayer. ⁓ The armor of God is all listed and then prayer is at the end. Don't separate that because your story confirmed that. In the Bible study that I did, I loved it and I got it. That's when I really started realizing, ⁓ I need to be... Melody Masters: Thank Armed Anchored & Adorned: really understanding prayer is it. Prayer is it. But when you would share, I'll share a little snippet of what I remember, that when you would be woken up with Reese and he would be in distress and he would yell as a little two-year-old would yell, mommy pray, mommy pray. And you would Melody Masters: Yep. for her. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Armed Anchored & Adorned: you know, and your poor mama just shuffled this leg woken up from terror in her sweet baby. And you would just, and you learned how to battle. You learned how to in the moment, pick up your sword, throw on that, get that shield up and just trust and you would pray and you would watch him respond and see. Melody Masters: Yeah, let's ⁓ Armed Anchored & Adorned: and you would watch him follow something out of your home, out of the room, whatever, and he went, okay, it's gone. That, I didn't even experience it. I didn't even experience it, and that's like locked in to my heart and my soul. That is... Melody Masters: Yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: That's the reminder of prayer is it. You're calling on heaven. Melody Masters: Totally. So I'm not getting teary-eyed. ⁓ Because you get this, like I get it. Like my battle and my journey has been a lonely one, but thank God, God walked us. as our family through it. Like my husband was a part of it, but not at first. was like, he was like, ⁓ my gosh, what's going on? But within a week he was getting attacked too. So, ⁓ to like, understand, I, I want to emphasize that the whole time hearing you talk about my story and what happened, I have chills. And the Holy Spirit, that's what happens when the Holy Spirit is like, listen, listen. ⁓ And ⁓ I'm hearing you speak my story. I'm like, yeah, that's why we're sisters. Because you got it and you got it and you got it quick ⁓ and didn't doubt and you prayed and you supported. And in some ways, my story ⁓ has built faith in you in some part, you because you saw it again and again. didn't. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank Thank you. Melody Masters: This wasn't like something we talked about once or for a month and then never again something we continue to talk about almost eight years later. and my story changed and the power of Jesus and what we went through and what we saw is, as real today. And what I use the example a lot when people don't quite understand Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. is this. ⁓ Melody Masters: the power in Jesus, the power in the name of Jesus. I'm like, let me tell you something. So my son would be sleeping next to me, wake up, something's messing with him, and he would start screaming and pointing, and he would tell me what it was. I started to learn the names of things and what it was, but it didn't matter really what it was. They all have to go when I call upon Jesus. So here I... Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah. Melody Masters: was eight years ago in a faith that I didn't really understand. Like we talk about like that's a great song. There is power in the name of Jesus, right? I love that tune and I will sing that song. know the power in the name of Jesus. I didn't really know Jesus to be quite frank, but I had learned Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Mm-hmm. I'm Melody Masters: And this was really what changed kind of everything is when he would start to kind of panic and cry. I mean, I would immediately start crying. And when I started to pray the truth, the scriptures, and usually it was the Psalms and things that I had been learning, and I would say them out of my mouth. Sometimes I'm like grabbing my Bible and I would just start reading it. He would do this. He would like, he would like turn his head and he would like, And then he would stop me and go, gone. Am I gone? He's like, yeah. I'm like, like, how? Where did they go? And he like point to the door and he would say out the window, out the door. And I just started like after some time, I started thinking, huh, they have rules. There are rules in this battle. They have to go out the way they can. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Great. Melody Masters: Just like anybody comes into my house especially when we had the break into your windows and stuff like the windows is an entry the door is an entry this is how they have to go but there was one time he was in his room and he ran over to the outlet and he pointed to the outlet and he said they go there and I was like no no no no no no because we had already Armed Anchored & Adorned: to my channel. Thank What? Melody Masters: had to replace a furnace, had to replace a stove, had to replace a dishwasher, had to replace a fridge, had problems with our vehicles. I was like, ⁓ no, they're going to the electronics. ⁓ no, no, no, no. That is not, we are told Prince of the power of the air. Airwaves, what's up here right now? We got electrical currents, we got microwave, we got all sorts of frequency stuff. And I was like, ⁓ no, no, no, no. They are not leaving by the plugs. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Mm-hmm. Melody Masters: So I started annoying the plugs and praying over that and feeling really weird about it. But I was like, and then he would tell me, I said, did they go on the plugs? Nope. Where did they go? Out the window. Well, where are they now? On the fence. Wait, you can see them on the fence? Yeah. Well, that's still my property. They got to get off my fence and go. And then I would say, out of the neighborhood. This neighborhood is covered. Holy war. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Frank. Thank ⁓ Okay. Melody Masters: I'm a stand guard with neighborhood. These things have got to get out in him and guess what? They have to go. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank you, Lord. Thank you that you send us help, that you do not leave us, Lord, to fight these battles. Open our eyes. Melody Masters: Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Armed Anchored & Adorned: on how you came to set us free from these things, Lord. We come against any fear right now in the Holy name of Jesus. Melody Masters: Yeah. Yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: We put that in your hands, Lord, because I know, I know. We know, we get it. Any fear that you're experiencing right now, we get it. It's weird, it's crazy. Talk to Jesus about it, talk to him about it. Go sit in his word, go sit with him about this. Because like you, I had my own experience, but then your story solidified and made so many other stories make sense to me. Melody Masters: We get it. Get it. Okay. It's Yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: It was a big corner piece of the puzzle in my life. Melody Masters: Yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: And now I truly understand what being armed looks like and the authority of Jesus really is. Melody Masters: So knowing the parts of the armor is like, okay, so I'm picturing putting on this breastplate and this helmet and everything. It's all spiritual armor. And we place it in its salvation. It covers our mind, helping us to take every thought captive, right? It's the breastplate of righteousness, which helps, it covers our heart. And that's where everything comes out of, is our heart. What is it? We have to guard our heart. also like whatever comes out of us comes from the heart. And so we're protecting, we're guarding it. Even the shield is, we have to pick it up. Now, so remember, the armor is available. So it says take up the whole armor. We're not fabricating it. We're not out there like tink, tink, tink, tink, tink. You know, I would love to do one of those classes, but like. Armed Anchored & Adorned: I'm not sure. Thank Melody Masters: not making the armor, it's already available to us. But we have to walk over and pick it up and put it on. Not backwards, don't try to put the helmet down here, don't try to put the belt up here. It's putting it in the right places, picking it up, doing it well in the whole armor. Don't forget a piece. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank you, Lord. right. Every day. Melody Masters: ⁓ And so like it's a really good visual because I'm like, what does righteousness look like? What does faith look like? You know, what is the sort of the spirit and to really know those things and to put it all on and don't leave out any pieces because think about it. Like if you're not fully closed, the enemy is going to come in at the side or something, you and here's something really cool. I want Armed Anchored & Adorned: Okay. Thank you. Melody Masters: This is a part that's not talked about in the scripture. It's just what I've learned from teaching the armor of God through school and stuff like that to my kids. And I used to teach it to third, fourth, and fifth graders. So the Roman centurions, the soldiers, like, like one of the most prolific military forces ever, right? Like that's why Paul chose that Roman soldier, because he was like... Armed Anchored & Adorned: Good. Melody Masters: And the way that they would fight in formation with each one of them, what they would do is they would all kind of like lock arms. So you have no armor on your back. Who's got your back? everybody else that you're linking arms with. And then those shields were not little baby round shields that we, you know, about. They were the size of a door. Huge and mighty and heavy. Like, they would hold those like door-sized shields facing the front of them. So think about it like a circle. You have all of these like shields and then there were some in the middle that would hold the door above. So it was like a turtle shell. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank you. Melody Masters: How do you do that alone? You don't do it alone. It's like the second word in what you're talking about is aren't anchored, right? We're anchored to Jesus, but you better be anchored to the body and to other believers because you do this alone. The enemy wants you alone. It's where he's gonna, he's just gonna snatch you out. You gotta be in the middle of the flock, right? So a lot of the time, what I'm talking about, the armor is not just. where the pieces go, that it has to be complete and all of that kind of stuff. But this is really important. I'm like, I'm feeling all tough. You Melody's got the armor on. I'm like, yeah, yeah. No. ⁓ He doesn't care if it's Dwayne the Rock, whatever his name is. Like, he don't care. But when you've got that armor on that's the armor of God, Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. You don't go into battle by yourself. Thank Melody Masters: When Satan walks in the room or sins a minion in the room, I'm talking about demons or anything of darkness comes in the room, they see Jesus. They don't see melody with armor on, they see Jesus and they go, ⁓ bro, I gotta go. Like, I'm not supposed to be here, I'm kinda scared of this dude. Because Jesus has all authority over them. We're told in scripture, everything is put under his feet, you know? So. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah. Jesus. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Lauren. Melody Masters: But what happens if I don't do that? What happens if I daily, daily? ⁓ girl, I have, I get rants. I do. And I mean, and so look, let me just say this because I think a lot of the times when I teach this, especially if I teach this to adult women, our kids are like sweet, wanna put armor on every. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Just skip a day. ⁓ of course. Thank you. Melody Masters: I work with women in healing scenario, like walking them through what I call soul care, right? And a lot of the times they know that there's warfare and they're trying to figure out what does it look like to be armed? do I, what do I have to like pray this prayer every day? What does it look like? And a lot of the times I'm like, God knows your heart, right? So if you're serious about being clothed in these things, plus we have the under armor, which is what I call Colossians 3 12. It's put on love, meekness, kindness, humility, forgiveness, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's your under armor. That's your underwear. Once that's on, then you can put on the big armor, the heavy stuff. But I'm always saying, God knows your heart. When you're claiming that over yourself and over your life, over yourself, I don't have to pray this prayer every day. I just say, reapply it. Just again. Armed Anchored & Adorned: ⁓ Yeah. Melody Masters: Armour and armor now. You know my heart. You know I wanna be walking in your, one, I wanna be submitted to God, right? Cause it says in James 4, 7, submit to God, resist the devil, then he will flee. Sometimes we forget, we just wanna resist the devil and make sure he flees. He doesn't have to go anywhere until we've submitted to God. But when I tell God, I'm putting on your righteousness, Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yes. Melody Masters: I'm picking up faith. I've got the word of God. My gospel shoes of peace, my prepared readiness to share the gospel, to be the light. I leave little footprints of light where I go. He knows that. And I'm like, just reapply it, Lord. So it's not like legalistic or anything, you know? I think some people feel like they have to do it ritualistically. And then I'm like, that's where it becomes funky. Armed Anchored & Adorned: it. Yeah. Melody Masters: Right? That's when you lose it. Because it's out of works instead of out of... Yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Absolutely. It's not relationship. your love of him compelling you to put, to engage in the equipment that he's given you. He has a good father and has given you what you need. Use it. It's like we give our kids something that they need for like, you live in Colorado, bring your coat, take your coat, take your coat. But then they go and they don't use the coat and they're like, Melody Masters: Hmm. Armed Anchored & Adorned: I don't know what to tell you, bro. I gave you the thing. I knew it was coming. Melody Masters: Any questions? the mom, what am I doing? Get your coat, get your coat. What are my kids not doing? They're not getting their coat. So what does mom do? Puts it in the car. When they need it, they get it. So God is like, I got your armor. He's following us. I got your armor. You need it? You it? You're like, yeah, I'll take that now. So, you know, it's really, it's Well, truly. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Ear. Mm-hmm. After we're missing an arm. I'm so grateful for the way he equips us and ⁓ Lord us for. forsaking that sometimes. Please wake us up. Wake us up in those moments and ⁓ Melody Dawn, I am so grateful. I'm so grateful for the work he's done in and through you and the ways that he did. shook your family awake. And it's... Melody Masters: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. you We did. Armed Anchored & Adorned: It was a wild ride. And it's not over. Melody Masters: No. I want to a couple of things before you wrap up. 1 John 4, 4 is, he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. And I was listening to a podcast earlier, a pastor that I follow out of Durango was reminding like, Armed Anchored & Adorned: Bye. Melody Masters: He is the light and the dark space. There is no darkness when Jesus enters. Like all the darkness flees. It can't stay. When you read scripture and really take in heed warning, because all through scripture, now that I read it, see it, but like all through scripture, God is like, beware, beware. You know, your enemy is roaring like a lion. Seeking whom he wants to devour, sin is crouching for, like all of these things were like over my head, like over my head. I was like, I'm good, I'm good, I'm in the hands of Jesus and I am. But like you prayed in your prayer when we started, there's this thing called abiding, right? It's abiding in him, with him, seeking him, not doing all things perfect. That's not what I'm saying. We're gonna sin. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Allen. Melody Masters: But don't get comfortable with it. Don't like, don't be so mean. And you know what? When you see it, call it out. Call darkness, darkness. Call evil, evil. And good, good, you know? But like, he that is greater than he that is in the world, really, you shared it with me, Tara, first. I was like, ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Well. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Oof. Great word. you Do you remember like I I was kind of panicking for you a little bit. I when you sent me and I reached out to one of the pastors that we shared there in Colorado, I was like, yo, what's going on? This is what they're experiencing. And I'm freaking out for them. And that was the only thing he sent back. He text me back that verse and that verse alone. And I was like waiting. Melody Masters: Yeah! How is this possible? Yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: waiting to see the little dot dot dot that there's more. There was nothing else. I'm like, that's it. That's all you got for me. That's all I heard. And I was. Melody Masters: Which is really interesting because you know. For Pastor Brian, that was enough. You know, like he had done his own warring and been in his own battlefields and that kind of thing. And the ultimate thing that he learned that was enough was he that is in you, Holy Spirit in me and you in him, greater than anything in this world. The God of this, the little G God, he's a punk, he goes by many names and Jesus is so much bigger and like we should rest assured in that, you know, but it takes testing time, I think, to learn that. And for me, I was like, okay, dot, dot, dot, no. Okay, fine, great, but how is this happening? And to not leave your viewers just all like, yeah, what was happening? Let me kind of add a couple of things to the dot, dot, dots is that we were at peace with our Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Melody Masters: my husband and I were at peace with our sin. ⁓ We were not putting Jesus first. ⁓ We called ourselves Christians. I don't think we looked very much like what I would consider a Christian. I think we did the things, ⁓ went to church, did the things, whatever. Did Jesus really come to die a humiliation, painful, excruciating death? on the cross so that I could go to church on Sundays and serve and tithe and be a part of a community group and make meals and just do the country club Christian thing? No. He was like, but it all started with a prayer. We, my husband and I, not knowing the other prayer, we both prayed this prayer of like, this really what it's about? Is this really, this is kind of a pathetic thing. Armed Anchored & Adorned: No. See Melody Masters: Christianity. We weren't getting it right. That's I'm so pathetic. I was like, I don't know if I believe. I don't know if I'm gonna do this Christian thing anymore because I feel a little bit, um, I guess like a hypocrite. I was like, I say this, but do I really believe it? I feel like I'm not sold out for Jesus. I could sell anything if I believed in it. That wasn't Armed Anchored & Adorned: and pushing it. Melody Masters: selling Jesus, you know what I mean? Like I couldn't speak powerfully and really feeling it like Jesus, yes. Because I didn't really know or believe and that actually matters. And then take habitual sin, put it in a haunted house, haunted house, with a child who can see all the stuff that had happened in the past and future and current Armed Anchored & Adorned: us. Melody Masters: date that we were in was calling it out and it was like a perfect storm. was like, it was just like an explosion. But we asked, we prayed, bless God. And he showed us through the eyes of a two and a half year old, my husband and I simultaneous story. But that dot dot dot is he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Mm. Thank you. Melody Masters: Make sure that he's in you. And Tara, I'm not totally sure that he was. Armed Anchored & Adorned: That's right. What you said multiple times, you had one foot in the world and one foot in the word. And you can't do that. If I am, it's... Melody Masters: Yeah. It's like having one foot in a submarine and one foot out. Like, pretty sure that don't work. ⁓ And it says in scripture, if the love of the world is in you, the love of the Father is not. You know, when we read these things, we need to know what that means. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right, you can't do that, it doesn't work. That's why he tells us to meditate on his word. Like don't just skim it, sit in it, swim in it until he pierces our hearts and says, I want you to understand my heart right here. I said this to you for right here and right now. Let's talk about it. Let me explain my heart because it's good and it's for your good. Melody Masters: Okay. Yeah. Yes. Yes. He's. Armed Anchored & Adorned: And so often they're just words on a page. And I mean, I've been there too. Melody Masters: He's a good father. He can be trusted. He's trustworthy. He's faithful. He's honest. He's fair. He's true. All of it is all of it. Like all of it. Everything he says can be trusted. There is not he cannot lie. There's nothing that he has said that is not true. You can lean on it. You can test it. ⁓ Ask him. Ask him to show you. And for anybody like Tara that I don't know how many people you encounter that have similar things that they're going through, or like, I mean, how many people do you encounter that have like a similar story or the start of it, or like they're like, whoa, bro, my kids are seeing these things, or do you encounter many people like that? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Not many, and maybe they're either not talking about it or they're explaining it away like I did for my older son. But ⁓ yeah, it's not something that is... People are aware of if it is happening. I believe it's happening. I just think it's being explained away. That's my opinion. Melody Masters: And maybe. ⁓ well, we live in we live in a country that celebrates rationale, we live Lady Liberty is like the Lady of Reason. We have reason to weigh a lot of things and we do need to have reason. We need to have sound minds. We have been created with sound minds, not spirits of fear. And it's true. But I just want I just want to encourage you that If anybody is listening that's like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, like, I think this might be. Just want to say, you're crazy. Not alone. And I feel like sometimes people don't talk because they get that response. Like what I got, which was rejection and a lot of is this your first bipolar episode? I'm like, okay, so. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thanks. ⁓ Nope. Great. Simultaneous schizophrenia. Melody Masters: There's five of us in our home and all five of us are experiencing the exact same things, the encounters, the demonic, the terror, the nightmares. Are we all having, are we all having our first psychotic episode? No, no, it was not a mass hallucination. So you're not alone. I felt very alone. I, Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Melody Masters: It's what God has launched me into now is to work with people who are experiencing levels of warfare, whether it's personal or through a family or a home ⁓ or anything like that or just straight up demonic. I mean, we've worked with people who are very much oppressed to where they don't even, they're not even control of their own thoughts, sometimes actions and things like that. So God has launched us and I just want people to know that like, it's okay to talk. And you might get many people going, whoa, whoa, but the one person and God will bring you somebody who understands and can pray you through and link those arms together. Remember holding the fields and doing the turtle show. God's gonna bring those people so that you can not be alone on the battlefield. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank Melody Masters: Even though God is with us and he is that armor that's over us, he didn't create us to be alone. So there is much more in the whole being armed concept. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Amen. That's really good. Melody Masters: Amen. Armed Anchored & Adorned: I still wanted to ask you, you what does being armed look like you in a tangible way today? Like, would you, how would you walk into getting that armor on today? Melody Masters: Yeah. So putting the armor on is like... It's walking in my faith every day. It's getting before the Lord, seeking his face, being in right relationship with him, which is, I talk to him all time. It's getting into the word so that he can speak to me and show me and tell me all the things that he wants to show me. Armed Anchored & Adorned: because the Word is our only offensive weapon. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. It's our only offensive weapon, so you gotta get in the Word. Melody Masters: You have to understand it too. and in scenarios, like there's, I think there's like, there's like the first layer of understanding a scripture, then there's the second layer and there's like, it's like, goes deeper and deeper and deeper. The more you really encounter it, the greater your need is, especially as you grow in your faith. I feel like our needs more armed, more anchored, Armed Anchored & Adorned: you Much for now. or something. Melody Masters: Rose because the enemy take that one out. ⁓ You know, she's doing too much good for the kingdom of God and he hates it. He really does. ⁓ Big targets, right? so for me, it's just making sure that I am. There's a lot to it and I feel like I need to be. I need to be good in my marriage. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yes. And when you say being good, yeah. Melody Masters: I need to be good with my kids. Can't have them forgive. Yeah, like being good with my husband is like we are, we're yoked, we're equally yoked. He's got God first and foremost. I'm focused on God first, then him, then my kids, then other things, right? It's an order. So my kids connect, we're friends. When we're dumb, we ask for forgiveness, We admit that we're dumb. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Your house is in order. Thank you. Melody Masters: ⁓ with my kids, I apologize, ask for forgiveness. I forgive them. They come to me. Will you forgive me? I did this. And it's so easy. It really is because like our hearts are all aligned with each other. We're, we're, we're a tight family. We're good. ⁓ to do that with other people in the world is a little harder, but really it means to be, to be in his will, to be in the Lord's will. And what is his will is to love God first, to love everybody else. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yep. It's. ⁓ Melody Masters: like you love yourself, which means you have to love yourself, have to love neighbors and all that kind of stuff. It's all about like walking in his, with righteousness and his, in his will. Then it's being equipped by knowing the Lord's word, knowing, knowing the full story. Like what actually happened in the garden? I, what happened there? Well, there was a curse that was put on. It was Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Melody Masters: Satan's seed against the son of the devil, which is all of history. Like it's everything. It's the story of reality. It's why we're here. Jesus came because he was like, y'all are going to keep messing up and I need to rescue you and reconcile you to the father or you have no Armed Anchored & Adorned: questioning what I said. Great. Melody Masters: knowing what hope is, knowing how to have joy and suffering, learning these things, serving, ministering to him. I mean, it's like, it's a bunch of stuff and it's not works. It's a heart position. It's being kind to the father and being able to speak that truth out to others, like at the drop of a hat, like any second somebody's like, what are you passionate about? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah. Melody Masters: or who's Jesus to you, or why do you have faith? What is faith? That kind of thing. Like I have an answer. Like I have an answer because it's been tested, it's been firmed, it's been a journey. ⁓ And the eight years, the last eight years looks very different than the last, the 20 years beforehand when I called myself a Christian. But like I said, I didn't, I don't think people would meet me and go, she loves Jesus. People meet me now. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Mm. They do not. Melody Masters: And they're like, she's exhausting. All she ever talks about is Jesus. like, they're like. No. I mean, I can, to some people who aren't ready to hear it, you know? It's a, that other part is like having your heart ready. Like, and then, and then to be honest guys, like your home, what's in your house that doesn't belong? We burned a lot of stuff ⁓ because Armed Anchored & Adorned: That's fair. That's fair. Thank you. Melody Masters: It was not honoring. was probably very, some of it was probably occultically charged and we didn't know it because it represented other deities and it was just art, art. But it was blasphemous and it was dishonoring to our God. I kept, you know, a lot of the times I had to look at things that I had in my life. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Right. Okay. Melody Masters: clothing, artwork, music, movies, ⁓ anything. And I had to say, does this glorify God? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Hold it before him. What do you say about this, Lauren? Melody Masters: Does it glorify you? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah. Melody Masters: And then I was like, well, maybe it doesn't glorify him, but does it offend him? And it's kind of like God's given me something about black and white. you're either for me or you're against me. There's not a lot of gray. We think there's gray and we would love to have gray, but it ain't so. Armed Anchored & Adorned: it. Mm. Right. And. And are you willing to let it go? If it's not for you, are you willing to let it go? Or are you holding it so tight like, no, no, no, this is mine? That's a hard one, I think. I think there's a lot of things that we're like, but I don't wanna let that go. Melody Masters: I mean, to be honest, Tara, it's. We know people who have stood before God and he has said, you willing to let that go? And it was a dream, a marriage, a child, a thing that really was a good thing, not a bad thing. But God was like, can't have it above me, you know? Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank Yeah. Ready. Great. Melody Masters: Are you willing to give it to me? And what I've learned in those situations is if it's if it's not a dumb deity, idol, stupid thing that I had because I had plenty of those things. But even my daughter, she fought for her life. And and I realized that God was like, is she above me? Is she an idol? Are you willing to let her go if I'm take if I'm taking her? And I said, yeah, yeah. It wouldn't be easy. I pro that's a whole other Armed Anchored & Adorned: Easy. Right. Yeah, it is. Melody Masters: It would be easy God and you would have to change every single bit of my heart because my heart would be like, he's not a good guy. You got it wrong. I mean, we've heard your testimony too. You've been there. You've been there. ⁓ You've had to take that and hand it over and say, it's not about you God. Armed Anchored & Adorned: You got this wrong. Right. Not my baby, but. It's. Melody Masters: It's not above you. It might be a good thing, but it can't be a priority. It can't be first things. We have a first love. needs be our first love. Jesus is our first love. Yeah, that's it. Armed Anchored & Adorned: There it is. That's it. That's it. Oh, yeah. Wow. So I know that ⁓ for you, you were given a whole lot of help and resources eventually, not right out the gate. You had to be patient and bust through some things to get some help. we've talked about so many different things that you could be like, hey, start here. Hey, here are some prayers that we prayed here. Start with Psalm 91. even just like books and or links or resources. Melody Masters: you Yeah. ⁓ ⁓ Armed Anchored & Adorned: Ministries that helped direct you into becoming more armed. Yes, the Word of God is the full armor. It's our sword of the spirit. And people help equip one another. And there are some good resources. Do you have any you would share? Melody Masters: Yeah, and I think that like it kind of depends so like we we went to a church that was that I would love to send to everybody too, but of course They can't do it all and they're here in Colorado Springs But you know the our church And and they did what they could do and then they start Here this is bigger than us we think you need to which is a whole nother story, but We need to go here We able to help you a little bit better. And so I just started doing due diligence, but you know at that time I Was praying I was praying hard for sometimes six seven eight hours at night because we didn't really sleep so ⁓ Armed Anchored & Adorned: It's good to see picture. Melody Masters: And God sustained us, but he in this reading scriptures and praying, I would begin to hear, talk to this person, go here, see this person, have them. And because of that, God started bringing in the right people at the right time. I don't know where I would be today if I, I literally don't know. It's, it's kind of amazing. So I say start where you can. Armed Anchored & Adorned: you Mm. Melody Masters: with your own church and see where they are. And then there are, we went to scripture, we were in the Psalms about a month, we went through this alone for a month. That felt like forever. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Yeah, I bet. Melody Masters: We began reading just scripture, I would say read Psalms. And if your kids right now have nightmares and you think there might be something a little bit funky or off in your home, walk through your home, out of your mouth, you speak Psalm 91, Psalm 27, Psalm 23, Psalm 104, 103, 104, do them both, whatever. But just speak God's truth. And that is really what he began to show me is like the walls of my house, this whole space needs to be covered by the And then plead the blood. Know what it means to plead of and plead the blood of over your spaces, over your relationships, over your finances, over your animals, over everything, over the property. So that's where we started. And then after that, I have so many resources, Tara, I would say reach out to me. I'll tell you, I'll listen to your story and tell you which resources. It's very different. If you're experiencing something like in your home, it's very different than if your kids are having nightmares or if you feel like there's warfare in your marriage and your husband's addicted to something. That's very different too. Armed Anchored & Adorned: I see. Melody Masters: And there's like different people for different things, but we ultimately had to get a place where we even understood what it meant to like put God first, put our faith first above all of these dumb things that we thought mattered and they didn't matter. And they were a detriment to walking in right standing with the Lord. They were detrimental. And the music, know, music of the past Armed Anchored & Adorned: plan. down. Melody Masters: because you rocked out to it and it's probably not good for your soul anymore. You might want to double check, especially listen to all the lyrics and ⁓ listen to the words and the movies and like think about what you're putting your eyes on. Think like we don't watch movies. ⁓ Not because we don't, because there aren't any that are good, but it's like, we just have other things that we're focused on now. Be praying, constantly seeking the Lord, telling him, Armed Anchored & Adorned: Listen to the words. What's it saying? Melody Masters: You want to know him. You want to know him. And there's plenty of books and things out there, Tara. You have some. I can link a couple. There's one book I want to mention, not because I think it's for everybody, but it's the one book that walked us through was John Ramirez Armed and Dangerous. And the reason why that one really spoke to us is because I have never heard anybody be so like, Armed Anchored & Adorned: ⁓ yeah. Melody Masters: He has that personality that's just like, all right here, it's all right here. And he doesn't like inch into it like, but he's an ex-Satanist. And he had an encounter with Jesus. His entire life was changed and he gets it like on the deepest level. So because of that, I'm just like, that was the book drawn to. Armed Anchored & Adorned: now. Yeah. just like. Melody Masters: prayers that were there spoke to me because I felt like what we were dealing with in our home was even level of spiritual warfare. It's like the deepest kind. ⁓ We were dealing with past occultic right ⁓ and also sin against children in innocent lives in that home that had its own curses and it was very different than my kids just nightmares. Armed Anchored & Adorned: time. Yeah. Well, I love that you pointed out starting with getting in scripture and praying scripture over your home. When you think about she, I love that you pointed out Psalms and I love that you gave some specific ones. I'm going to link those just as a reminder. ⁓ But if you think about what the Psalms are, so much of it is David. Melody Masters: Yeah. Armed Anchored & Adorned: his his the cries of his heart and if he was the man after God's own heart and you're listening to the cries and battle cries of him like those are good places to start praying and to cry out to the Lord because David knew I mean yeah he was he was a bonehead and lots of other spaces of life but the Lord called him a man after my own heart so to to listen to his cries and to Melody Masters: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Armed Anchored & Adorned: It is a fantastic place to start. So even if you lose your notes or whatever and you grab nothing else, open to the Psalms and just be praying that out loud into your home and Lord, come, you are welcome here. I'm calling on heaven to come and fill this place and show me where we need to pivot, to get out of the ways of the world. Melody Masters: Yep. Thank you. Armed Anchored & Adorned: So that was a really, that's really important. I wanted to double highlight that. ⁓ yeah, Arm Deneadress definitely ⁓ opened my eyes to quite a few things too. But ⁓ I know you have a ton of resources. We will put your email out there for, is that the best way to connect with you? If I throw your email out there. Melody Masters: probably I maybe maybe through like messenger or Instagram just the messages the DMs I get those for Armed Anchored & Adorned: Okay, I'll put your ⁓ Instagram link out there for people. If you want to reach out and ask questions, she'll pray. She will pray. I will too, of course. ⁓ Melody Masters: Yeah. Yep. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank you so much. I would love if we could just take a moment and pray over anybody. Melody Masters: . Armed Anchored & Adorned: that is maybe experiencing something and they're second guessing themselves, the enemy's lying to them, like, that's not you, that's not you. Or they feel crazy, they feel alone, they're dismissing it, they're over ⁓ explaining things. Or just people that need to be awakened. Would you pray for that? Melody Masters: Yeah. Definitely. Of course, of course. Father God, thank you. Armed Anchored & Adorned: and anybody else God puts on your heart. Melody Masters: Thank that you are a good God. Thank you that you are here with us right now, Lord, that you have directed our conversation and our words, Lord. And I know that you're bringing people to hear this podcast today, this conversation between sisters, a real conversation about real things that we wrestle with in this world, Lord. Real questions, real cries of our heart, real prayers that have been prayed. You're real God and we just want to thank you for being here and covering this space right now. I pray that everything that was spoken about would not create fear. Lord, I pray against fear right now in the mighty name of Jesus. I just pray that your truth would penetrate and land in the spaces that it needs to be, Lord, and that people would begin to cry out to you if they have ⁓ battles of their own or they have questions. Lord, I also pray that they would go to Scripture. that they would start to learn your truths, your promises, your admonishments to us, your encouragements to us, and sometimes even your warnings to us, Lord, that we take these things seriously, that we'd see your heart in all of it, and we would just ask you to navigate it. Would you direct our paths and keep us straight, keep us on the straight and narrow? And if we start to go left or right, Lord, that you would kind of poke us back into line with you, Lord, you would teach us what it is like to be submitted wholly to you, to be abiding with you. But like in a way we're like, we are excited to meet with you. Like every minute and day that we seek your face. We're not seeking your hand to do the things for us. We just wanna be before you and spend time with you because you are, you're just. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Mm-hmm. Melody Masters: and beautiful and we love spending time with you and getting to know you. And in getting to know you, we learn a lot more about this world and our and our and even ourselves, our own identities are in you. And Lord, I pray that as we spend time with you, our others around us would see our peace and our joy because peace is what comes out of Armed Anchored & Adorned: Thank Melody Masters: having that full armor of God upon us. We stand firm. We're not shaken. We're not pushed around. We're not bullied. Sometimes, yes, we're taking stabs at the lies that the enemy is placing in front of us, and that is taking every thought captive. But sometimes we're just standing firm. We're not getting knocked down. You just ask us to withstand and to stand firm in you. You're gonna fight the battle completely for us. We just need to stand with you and not cower. and fear not cowardly lies under the bullying and under the pressure. Lord, I pray that this podcast, that ears and hearts and minds were prepared to hear it. And Lord, that you would penetrate and go deep, that you would draw your chosen ones to you and that you would prepare us for anything that we were about to encounter. Lord, we know there is sifting, we know there is testing, we know that the enemy is real. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Trust you. Thank you. Thank you. ⁓ Melody Masters: is not to be feared as long as we are submitted and surrendered to you. And I love you. And I thank you, Tara. I thank you for this time and this conversation. Thank you that she sees the significance of being armed, of being an adorer. You're a good father. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Armed Anchored & Adorned: Amen. So, so thank you. Melody, I love you. I love my Mel. Isn't she so great? Isn't she cute? Melody Masters: Amen. Armed Anchored & Adorned: ⁓ So thanks for taking time and thank you for all the other times that you're gonna come on here that you're not even aware of. ⁓ But you know the question's coming because it does every single day. What's for dinner? Melody Masters: for dinner. Yes, Armed Anchored & Adorned: Hold