Latest / Arise Women of God / Jesus Christ: Our Advocate and Mediator Explained
Transcript
- 0:00Have you ever been accused of doing something and then wished somebody could say, hey, hey, I can vouch for Tamara and say, I know them, they're a good person.
- 0:11Don't, don't be too critical of them.
- 0:13If you've ever had somebody stand up for you like that, you know what it is to have somebody who advocates for you.
- 0:20And today we're going to talk a little bit more about what Jesus Christ is as our advocate and what that means to us now and in the future.
- 0:30So stay tuned.
- 0:33Welcome to Bible Women in Bathrobes, the podcast where faith meets comfort.
- 0:40Join us Tuesday morning as the gals from Women warriors of Light and their guests don bathrobes and dive into the inspiring stories of women in the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
- 0:52From Esther's bravery to the Sermon on the Mount, we explore it all with warmth, laughter, sisterhood, and maybe even a few sleepy eyed moments.
- 1:03Tune in live or at your leisure as we learn lessons from scripture which empower women today.
- 1:15Hello and welcome to another episode of Bible Women in Bathrobes.
- 1:18I'm your host, Tamara K.
- 1:20Anderson.
- 1:20And joining me are two amazing women, women, Kari Angewerden.
- 1:26Kari, thank you so much for being here today.
- 1:29Oh, thanks for inviting me.
- 1:30I love to come speak about the scriptures.
- 1:33I know, it's so great.
- 1:34And another favorite of mine, our co host, Bonnie Randall.
- 1:38Bonnie, thanks for being here today.
- 1:40Thanks for letting me join.
- 1:41It's nice to be back.
- 1:43I know you've been busy.
- 1:44She moved, so it's kind of good to have her back.
- 1:49All right, guys, well, today we're going to be talking a little bit about Jesus Christ as our advocate or our mediator.
- 1:57And those are terms that we find in the scriptures and a word like intercession that we just don't use very often in our vernacular, unless you're like an attorney or something like that.
- 2:08Because they have mediators and advocates and stuff like that in the law.
- 2:13And perhaps that's why this is so meaningful.
- 2:16Is, is.
- 2:18And we're going to talk about Jesus and, and the law and how all that works.
- 2:21So let's kick it off with Kari.
- 2:24Would you mind telling us what the definition of an advocate is?
- 2:32So an advocate is a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person or cause.
- 2:40A person who pleads for or in behalf of another.
- 2:44So who speaks up and, and helps defend someone.
- 2:51Yeah, I love that.
- 2:52And if you've ever been accused, even if, even when you were little, you know, and got in trouble with mom or dad, an Advocate would be someone that comes and says, oh, no, no, no, no, no.
- 3:02Let me explain to you what happened, or let me speak in defense of my friend here.
- 3:09There's a really great verse in First John, chapter two, verse one, where it talks about Jesus Christ being our advocate.
- 3:17And after I read this verse, let's.
- 3:19Let's talk a little bit about what that means from the spiritual perspective.
- 3:25It says, my little children, these things I write unto you that ye sin not.
- 3:32And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
- 3:40And I'm going to read just a little bit of verse two.
- 3:43And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
- 3:52And so I'd love to just dive into this verse and talk about what do you think it means for Jesus Christ to be an advocate for us, especially when we have committed sins?
- 4:07You know what I mean?
- 4:08What does that mean?
- 4:09What does that look like?
- 4:10Kari, let's start with you, and then we'll do.
- 4:12Bonnie.
- 4:13I love my Savior.
- 4:15I love that he knows me individually, personally.
- 4:21He knows where I am at in my life.
- 4:25He knows where I am at spiritually, and he is able to meet me wherever I am at in those moments.
- 4:35And, and especially because my Heavenly Father often feels untouchable, unapproachable.
- 4:45Maybe sometimes I'm.
- 4:47I'm getting to a better place with him too.
- 4:50But I love that the Savior can bring me directly to him.
- 4:54When I am in those spaces where it's hard for me to connect with a heavenly Father, my Savior is there to help bridge that gap and to bring me to Him.
- 5:05And I love that.
- 5:08I.
- 5:08I love that, too.
- 5:10And, and you're.
- 5:11You're also tying in how Jesus is a mediator with us, you know, with the Father.
- 5:18Bonnie, would you mind sharing with us what a mediator is?
- 5:22And then we'll.
- 5:23We'll talk about how all this ties together.
- 5:26So by definition, right, a mediator is someone who intervenes, right, between two parties who are at odds with each other, with, like, the goal of reconciliation.
- 5:36Right.
- 5:37If you think about a mediation company, when it comes to the law, right, what is their job?
- 5:45They act sort of like a judge, but not really.
- 5:48They're not there to rule.
- 5:49They're there just to help each parties communicate and come to a common solution.
- 5:57A win win is usually the desired outcome.
- 6:01Right.
- 6:01The very first thing that always comes to mind when we think of that is a divorce attorney and like a divorce mediator and what they're supposed to be doing right is bringing the two sides to come up with
- 6:11a solution that will solve both people's problems.
- 6:15So in terms of the Savior, I love what you wrote in, in the definition that you gave us was a true mediator is trusted by both sides and can effectively communicate each party's needs and perspectives.
- 6:29So they're neutral party.
- 6:32And then the scripture that goes along with that is First Timothy, chapter two, verses five through six.
- 6:39And part of that is for there is one God and one mediator between God and men.
- 6:46The man, Jesus Christ.
- 6:48Jesus, excuse me, who gave himself a ransom for all to be, to be testified in due time.
- 6:57So he is our great mediator, the one who knows us all and loves us all, and is that neutral party that can mediate any dispute?
- 7:09Yeah, so, so beautiful.
- 7:12I love that image of Jesus being in between, you know, our in between with the Father.
- 7:19So many times it's hard to read verses in the scriptures that talk about how knowing unclean can enter the kingdom of heaven, you know, that just kind of stabs you and you go, well, I'm screwed.
- 7:31You know, and, and it's times like these when you realize, oh, but how neat it is that we have Jesus.
- 7:46And how we.
- 7:46How we desperately need Jesus so that we can make it back home, so that we can have him kind of that person, that in between person that makes it possible for that price to be paid.
- 8:03Because, you know, we have broken a law every time we sin, we've broken some kind of heavenly law and that separates us from God.
- 8:11We can't go where he is.
- 8:14And that makes my heart sad.
- 8:17Even though I can't remember my heavenly home.
- 8:20I think there's a part of my soul that just longs to be there.
- 8:25And I.
- 8:25I want to go back there.
- 8:27I want to return to God.
- 8:30And I know that I'm making mistakes all the time.
- 8:32And so I'm so thankful that from the beginning God knew that we would all need help to make it back home, that we were in a growing place here on earth where we could learn and be tested, and
- 8:47that we were going to make lots of mistakes.
- 8:49And so in order to pay for those mistakes, that's why Jesus came and that's why he is our go between with the Father.
- 8:57Any thoughts on these verses?
- 8:59Bonnie?
- 8:59You look like you want to say something.
- 9:01I always want to say something.
- 9:04Let's be honest, miss opinionated over here.
- 9:09These two names, though, are two of my favorite.
- 9:13And I recently, I mean, just last week I chuckled when I got Your email, right?
- 9:18Because I'm laughing, going, oh my gosh.
- 9:21The word advocate came up two or three different times with different clients this last week.
- 9:27And Mediator came up with a different client and in kind of the same way that we're talking about it, but also in slightly different context.
- 9:36So advocate, you.
- 9:38There's.
- 9:39If he's defending us, right, he's defending us from something or someone, right?
- 9:46And there's two someones that come to my mind when I think about, well, what is the opposite of an advocate, an accuser.
- 9:54And if you go back to the Bible and Revelations, I want to say it's 1210 is where the Satan is described as the great accuser.
- 10:07In fact, I pulled it up and it's right here.
- 10:08It says, a call tells him, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night.
- 10:18And that's Satan, right?
- 10:19Satan wants to so badly bring up every single past sin, every single weakness, everything we've ever done wrong and everything that is wrong about us and about the world and about other people.
- 10:35He's constantly accusing us.
- 10:37And that makes a lot of shame and guilt and it brings us down because I don't need to be reminded of how terrible, what terrible things I've done or my weaknesses.
- 10:50I know them plenty, thank you Satan very much.
- 10:54But he constantly reminds me of them and he makes me feel unworthy to sit at the Savior's feet or to approach the bench of God, who at the end of the day is going to judge me.
- 11:07And knowing that I have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who's my elder brother, who is willing to defend me and help me overcome those sins and overcome those weaknesses and help me see the truth, right?
- 11:24I don't think that he excuses us in our sins, right?
- 11:28He didn't with like the woman taken in adultery, for example, right?
- 11:32He told her not to sin no more, but he stepped in between her and those men who wanted to stone her in such a powerful way.
- 11:41That story is me.
- 11:44He stepped in between me and my sins and the things I did wrong and said, bunny, you gotta stop, but let me show you why and how you can stop.
- 11:57Where is this stuff coming from?
- 11:59What past traumas are creating this toxic or unhelpful behavior patterns, Right?
- 12:07Let's understand why you're having a hard time with this.
- 12:11And now let me show you the truth of who you are and how I know that you can overcome that weakness or overcome that sin.
- 12:22He doesn't shame me into improving.
- 12:27Instead he loves me into Improving and shows me my potential.
- 12:32And by showing me my potential, I want to live up to that.
- 12:38That makes sense.
- 12:40Yeah.
- 12:41Yeah.
- 12:41That is so, so beautiful.
- 12:43I.
- 12:44I love exactly how you've described it and it.
- 12:48And I love that you said that he loves you into your potential.
- 12:52You know, he sees our worth.
- 12:55He sees our value as sons and daughters of God.
- 12:59And Satan's goal is just to chain us up and drag us down.
- 13:03You know, I mean, that's always been his goal from the beginning.
- 13:07And how neat it is that when we come unto the Savior, he can remove those chains.
- 13:15And I'm so thankful for that, that we don't have to spend eternity chained up in hell, you know, that we can be freed.
- 13:27And not only is Jesus the one who helps free us, but he is also the one pleading for us.
- 13:35Right?
- 13:36He is the one asking for mercy, you know?
- 13:40Yes, they broke it, but I have paid the price.
- 13:44I have paid the price and I have redeemed them.
- 13:48I have brought them back.
- 13:49We talked about redeemer a couple weeks ago.
- 13:51So beautiful.
- 13:52Kari, any thoughts on this?
- 13:55That's so, so beautiful.
- 13:58Both of those.
- 14:01Been thinking about the word love.
- 14:05And to me, both of those words are kind of umbrellaed in that word of love.
- 14:13Because even.
- 14:17Even in our day, for someone to be an advocate or a mediator for someone else, you truly have to have a deep love for that person or for trying to get to the.
- 14:32To the root cause, as Bunny was talking about.
- 14:35And it makes me appreciate and be so grateful for the love that a Savior has for me, for the mercy that he shows me when he doesn't need to.
- 14:47But every day I'm.
- 14:50I'm finding those experiences where he is showing me that love and that.
- 14:58That advocacy, whether it's for me, whether it's for my children or other family members, for whoever it is.
- 15:06And I.
- 15:08I guess I would just add that piece that I love that he is love, and that I feel completely surrounded in his love when I'm in those situations where he's advocating for me.
- 15:23Oh, this is so good.
- 15:24I've been thinking that there's one other word that we need to talk about before we kind of can.
- 15:30Can fully see who Jesus is to all of us.
- 15:33And it's the word intercession.
- 15:35And again, this is not a word we use very often, but it means a pleading on behalf of another person, a prayer to God on behalf of another.
- 15:44And when I read that verse right.
- 15:47Or when I read that definition right there, I just had a verse from the Scriptures pop into my mind, and it's.
- 15:54It's found in Luke, chapter 22.
- 15:59And this is Jesus prophesying and telling Peter right before his crucifixion, right before his betrayal, that before the crows he is going to deny him three times.
- 16:15And.
- 16:17And then he.
- 16:21I love this.
- 16:22He Sundays.
- 16:23In verse 31, he says, and the Lord said, simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have that he may sift you as wheat.
- 16:31But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.
- 16:35And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
- 16:41And I love this image of Jesus praying for us.
- 16:45He's making an intercessory prayer almost for Simon here.
- 16:49Simon, you're going to have a hard time here.
- 16:53You're going to go through something really, really difficult.
- 16:55But I.
- 16:58I have prayed for you.
- 17:00And I can see him looking at each of us at times when we feel like we're.
- 17:05We've stumbled and fallen and our knees are all bloodied up and our elbows and hands and.
- 17:10And we're probably looking up at him going, oh, I crashed and burned again, Lord.
- 17:17And I can say, hey, Tamara, Bonnie, Kari, it's okay.
- 17:23I have prayed for you that your faith fail you not.
- 17:29And that touching image is so tender to me.
- 17:36The thought of Jesus praying for me that I'll stay strong, that when I crash and burn, it's okay.
- 17:46I'm praying for you, you know?
- 17:49And how sweet that image is.
- 17:51Oh, my heart just almost breaks at the thought of it.
- 17:55Bonnie, what are your thoughts with any of these verses or of any other stories or other thoughts that have come to mind?
- 18:04Going to Mediator and thinking about along the lines of intercessory and how he intercedes on our behalf and thinking about what a mediator is.
- 18:14Right?
- 18:14It's bringing two people together to come up with, like, he's interceding for both sides, both of us.
- 18:22I have a very personal story to share.
- 18:26I think there'll be a lot of people who can relate to this, but when my husband and I were really struggling a few years ago, we were really considering getting a divorce.
- 18:36And surprise those people who know us, they're going to be shocked to hear that.
- 18:42But we were.
- 18:43We were really, really struggling.
- 18:44And I went to this therapist who said something to me that I will never forget.
- 18:52He said, your husband isn't the enemy, Bonnie.
- 18:57There's only one enemy.
- 18:59I'm like, who?
- 19:02He looks at me this funny look, like, are you serious?
- 19:06And I'm like, oh, Satan.
- 19:08Satan's the enemy.
- 19:09And he goes, yeah, your husband's not the enemy, like, but he's done some pretty mean things.
- 19:16He's like, yeah, and you've no doubt probably done some pretty mean things too.
- 19:21I'm like, yeah, I guess you're probably right.
- 19:23And he said, so let's focus on finding a win win here and thinking about stopping to make your husband the enemy and focusing on you guys becoming a team again and fighting the real enemy.
- 19:41And he said, and I'm like, okay, that sounds great in theory, but how do I do that?
- 19:46And he taught me this idea of bringing the Savior into our relationship as the mediator.
- 19:53You've probably heard and seen, like when you got married, the pastor probably said, like, think of marriage like a three legged stool.
- 20:00And you have you and your husband and the Lord.
- 20:03If you have.
- 20:04If you're missing one of them, the stool falls.
- 20:06You've probably heard that analogy.
- 20:08And I thought, oh, that's great.
- 20:09That just means we need to read our scriptures and say our prayers and go to church and everything will be hunky dory.
- 20:14No, no, no, no, no, no.
- 20:15That is not at all what it actually means.
- 20:18It means that the Savior is there to bridge the gaps that are between you and your spouse when you argue and you're trying to find a common solution and you're trying to solve whatever problem it is that you're
- 20:33having.
- 20:34If you bring the Savior as the mediator.
- 20:39So you start that argument or that discussion really with a prayer and you invite the Savior to be there with you, it changes everything.
- 20:51You're no longer yelling at each other.
- 20:53You're seeing the other person through his eyes.
- 20:56Those eyes of love and compassion that Kari wa talking about.
- 21:00Those eyes of intercession.
- 21:03Because the Savior loves each of you equally.
- 21:07And while one might have been more toxic or whatever, right?
- 21:13We can play the blame game all we want, but that person's still worthy of love.
- 21:17And you're still worthy of love.
- 21:18And you both are worthy of receiving love and receiving all those blessings.
- 21:24So when the Savior is invited into those discussions, he helps you find the solution.
- 21:31He helps you see the other person through his lens, through his eyes.
- 21:37And we stop being the accuser of the other person.
- 21:44We can choir our inner critic that is accusing us.
- 21:48We can quiet Satan and cast him out of the conversation.
- 21:53And we can let love abound like what Kari was talking about, right?
- 21:59When we love each other through that Christlike love, there is no problem we can't solve.
- 22:07And I'm humbled and so eternally grateful to say that once we started Doing that and bringing the Savior into our therapy and into our discussions and into all of our conversations, we started to solve the problems that we
- 22:26were having, and we started to find love and compassion and heal all those broken things that were so toxic and so dysfunctional in our marriage.
- 22:39Those things were resolved.
- 22:42We still have issues to re.
- 22:44To go through.
- 22:44Right?
- 22:45Like, life is still a journey.
- 22:46Life's still progress.
- 22:47We're still very imperfect humans, but we now can come at it from a place of love and problem solving and remembering what the real problem is.
- 23:00Wow, that is powerful.
- 23:01Thank you so much for being vulnerable and sharing that, because you explained both advocate and mediator and how Jesus bridges the gap between the two parties.
- 23:14And I love how you pointed out that the true adversary is Satan.
- 23:19You know, that's who the.
- 23:20Our adversary is in life.
- 23:23And that's beautiful.
- 23:25Kari, are there any thoughts you had that you wanted to add to that?
- 23:29I'm not sure how to add to that.
- 23:31That was beautiful, Bonnie.
- 23:33Thank you.
- 23:34I think that kind of hits exactly what the Savior does for us.
- 23:42And I just.
- 23:44I guess for me, just want to be grateful every day for that blessing in my life that he has given of being that advocate and that mediator, because I don't think we always look at it in that way.
- 24:03And so thank you, Bonnie, for.
- 24:05For helping us see that in a way that.
- 24:07That we can approach him and be so grateful and every day for that.
- 24:14That was so, so beautiful.
- 24:16I'm thankful to know that even though I fall short daily, that Jesus is there praying for me.
- 24:24He's there rooting for me.
- 24:25Hey, Tamara.
- 24:26It's okay.
- 24:27Remember the real enemy, Satan.
- 24:29We're.
- 24:29We're working together, you and me.
- 24:31You know, we're going to get you to those better promises.
- 24:36But it's a road we can't take by ourselves and arrive there.
- 24:41You know, we can't make it to heaven on our own.
- 24:44I think there's.
- 24:45There's several places in the scripture that says there's no other name by which salvation comes.
- 24:50I think we talked about that back when we talked about the name of Jesus.
- 24:54But he is the only one who can help us bridge that gap, because the gap between us and heaven is very, very broad and long.
- 25:04But he stands between there and He.
- 25:06It's like he offers a bridge.
- 25:08He says, look, I paid the price, and you can now walk across this bridge.
- 25:15Bonnie, so many times in the Christian faith, right?
- 25:20Like, we.
- 25:23We put so much expectations on ourselves, thinking like, we know that in order to get to heaven, you have to be perfect.
- 25:30So we think I have to do everything perfectly right.
- 25:33I have got to do all these things, right?
- 25:35And there's this big debate about faith versus works and all that stuff.
- 25:38And, and we get caught up in that works mentality of thinking, like, I have to do and be and follow all of these commandments and I've got to say my prayers.
- 25:49There's just so much stuff to do.
- 25:51And the message of grace and the message of the Savior is, look, you're not going to get to heaven on your merits alone.
- 26:02Your actions are not what's going to get you to heaven.
- 26:07I'm speaking from the Savior, right?
- 26:10The Savior is who's going to get us to heaven.
- 26:13And so what do we have to do?
- 26:16Like, what is the worst part of it?
- 26:19It's accepting him and believing him and taking on that grace and allowing him to cover us with that grace and to allow him to change us as we accept him and we believe Him.
- 26:37The irony of it is that we do change and we do become perfected and we do end up becoming this person that is fit for heaven.
- 26:49That's the irony, right, Is that it turns out that it is in a weird, roundabout way, my works that get me there.
- 26:57But it's only my works when they're coupled with the Savior.
- 27:02And I'm allowing him to work in me and work through me and change me and sanctify me and cleanse me and all those things.
- 27:11It is him that bridges that gap.
- 27:15Still, does that make sense?
- 27:17Like, it's so paradoxical, right?
- 27:19Like, that's just the irony of that whole statement.
- 27:22And I feel like it's hard to wrap our heads around sometimes.
- 27:26And it causes like, as a, as a life coach that works with women all the time dealing with this, right?
- 27:31It causes, it can cause depression and self esteem issues and perfectionism and just this like, rat race.
- 27:39But we have to remember it's not on our merits alone.
- 27:42It's combining our efforts with him.
- 27:46And when we do that, it magnifies us and that's what qualifies us.
- 27:50What do you think about that?
- 27:52Like, am I crazy here?
- 27:54No, no, no.
- 27:55I think that's beautiful how you explained it.
- 27:57And it just makes my mind go back to what has he asked us to do?
- 28:01He's asked us to have faith in him, which is that first principle of the gospel.
- 28:06And the second thing he asked us to do, repent.
- 28:08I mean, how many times in the Scriptures does He say, repent, it's time, let go of those sins Let him go.
- 28:16Have faith in me, and.
- 28:18And then we can work together, and we work side by side, and we get you where you need to go, right?
- 28:26And I love that.
- 28:28I remember I was talking to my daughter once a couple years ago, and she had just come from, like, I can't remember, some kind of church class.
- 28:36And she said, I've got it.
- 28:38She goes, I finally figured it out.
- 28:39I'm like, what?
- 28:40What did you figure out?
- 28:41She says, so many times people say that there's such a big list to get to heaven that they're never gonna make it.
- 28:49And she goes, really?
- 28:50All God is asking us to do is have faith and repent over and over and over and over.
- 28:57So don't worry about everything else.
- 29:00Just focus on Jesus and keep repenting and you'll be okay.
- 29:04And that's all.
- 29:05That's all.
- 29:06That's all he's asking us to do.
- 29:07And I'm like, you know what?
- 29:11That.
- 29:11That summarizes a good deal.
- 29:13I mean, if everybody just understood that those principles.
- 29:16That's.
- 29:17That's really what Jesus is asking.
- 29:19Come to me, have faith, and I bridge that gap.
- 29:22You know, you repent.
- 29:24You let go of those things.
- 29:25Make baptismal promises, get the Holy Ghost.
- 29:28And like Bonnie said, I change your heart, I change your.
- 29:31And.
- 29:31And in the meantime, he's advocating for us.
- 29:34He's advocating.
- 29:34Come on, you can do it.
- 29:35He's our cheerleader.
- 29:37He's the one that bridges that gap, that allows that saving and the redemption to come into play.
- 29:42He's amazing.
- 29:44Oh, my gosh.
- 29:45We're almost out of time.
- 29:45Okay, let's wrap it up.
- 29:48Okay.
- 29:49Kari, final thoughts or takeaways you'd like to share?
- 29:52Yeah.
- 29:53As we've been talking, I've been thinking about the poem the Footprints in the Sand.
- 29:58And, you know, in the poem, it talks about in those moments that are our toughest, Christ is carrying us.
- 30:06But.
- 30:07But really, he's always carrying us.
- 30:11He always has us.
- 30:13And.
- 30:13And we talked about being able to walk across that bridge, but he's carrying us across that bridge.
- 30:22He has us.
- 30:23And how do you become like someone that you don't know?
- 30:27And so that relationship with him truly helps you to see who he is and.
- 30:34And how he sees you, and it allows him to carry you.
- 30:40That is where some of that faith comes, I think, to be able to allow him to carry you in those moments when we want to do it ourselves.
- 30:49Right?
- 30:50Like the little kid.
- 30:51I do it myself, but sometimes, you know, we can't.
- 30:57And.
- 30:58And he's not expecting us to.
- 31:00He, he wants to carry us through it.
- 31:04He does.
- 31:05He does want us to be with him though, and to help.
- 31:10I mean, yes, there's still a works part of that, right?
- 31:14But, but really he's doing the carrying.
- 31:17I mean, let's get real.
- 31:19He.
- 31:19He lets us do a few works to make us feel like we're doing something.
- 31:23He's really the one doing all the caring.
- 31:26So I think that come to know him.
- 31:30Like you said, Tamara, the cut, the coming to him, the repenting.
- 31:34And I love that I can do that anytime, anywhere.
- 31:39I can do that daily.
- 31:40I can do that minute by minute.
- 31:42I can do that whenever I need to, to say, you know, I'm sorry, I messed up again.
- 31:50But he's always there to pick me up when, you know, Bonnie was talking about when we skin our knee or whatever, he's always there to pick us up and to wrap his arms around us and to carry us
- 32:01wherever we need to go.
- 32:03And so I, I want to think of him in that way.
- 32:06When I think of advocate and mediator, I want to think of that person that Bonnie was talking about that's cheering on both sides, that I'm not alone.
- 32:17But I also know that he's got somebody else's back too.
- 32:21So I can look for somebody else's back.
- 32:23I can also be that person for somebody else because I know him, because I love him, because he loves me.
- 32:32I can be like him when I allow him to carry me through those things.
- 32:38Beautiful, beautiful, Bonnie.
- 32:41Final takeaway.
- 32:42The main thing that I take from both of these descriptions of Christ is that I am already worthy of his love and already worthy to get into heaven because of his grace and atonement.
- 32:59That by me, meaning not worthy as in like sinless, but worthy as in my worth is infinite.
- 33:06And that because I have great worth and because I am his daughter and his child, I'm a child of God, just by that fact alone, I have a mansion waiting for me in heaven.
- 33:20And that the only thing I have to do is believe him and repent.
- 33:26I loved this last weekend.
- 33:28A woman from our church talked about this idea of worthiness and worth and how it's already there and, and it's not based on my to do's and my actions and things like that.
- 33:39And she said something really important about repentance.
- 33:44She said that when the Savior is inviting us to repent, he's actually saying, I love you.
- 33:51He wants us to be with him in heaven and he wants it so badly that he died.
- 34:00He suffered the most agonizing suffering that we can't even fathom.
- 34:06We can't even wrap our heads around the pain that he went through in that garden of Gethsemane, the humiliation of hanging there on a cross, the pain of having your legs broken and spear going through you and just
- 34:20hanging there by your wrists and your hands.
- 34:22I mean, the amount of agony that he went through to get us there represents the amount of love and the potential that he sees in each and every one of us.
- 34:35My worth is great, and I know it because of the prints and the marks and the works that he did for me.
- 34:43And so when I go to him to repent, what I am saying is I love you, too.
- 34:50I believe you and I want you to make me whole and I want you to change me.
- 34:56Because that's what true repentance is.
- 34:58Repentance is just change.
- 35:01It's just another word for change and coming unto the Savior.
- 35:05And so when we do that on a daily basis, we allow him to make us into his image and make us into heaven.
- 35:19That's what we're doing when we repent.
- 35:22Oh, so beautiful.
- 35:23Thank you so much.
- 35:26My biggest takeaway from this episode is just that image of Jesus praying for us.
- 35:35And so if you're struggling to believe that he can and loves you enough to pray for you, he does.
- 35:42And I want you, I invite you this week to picture that.
- 35:47To picture Jesus loving you so much that he pleads for you.
- 35:52He prays like he prayed for Simon Peter, that your faith fail you not, and that you have the courage to turn to him and to change.
- 36:03And with his grace, you are strong enough and you can make it.
- 36:08And I'm thankful for that.
- 36:10I'm thankful to know that Jesus is our advocate and our mediator.
- 36:15And I invite you to keep remembering that when you're discouraged, he loves you.
- 36:21Thanks for tuning in to Bible Women and Bathrobes, hosted by Women warriors of Light.
- 36:27We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women or the teachings of the Savior today with you.
- 36:34If today's episode brought someone special to mind, be sure to spread the word and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a moment of inspiration and sisterhood.
- 36:46Just a friendly reminder.
- 36:47All opinions we share are entirely personal as we are trying to decipher and apply Bible teachings, just like you are.
- 36:56Until next time, stay faithful and may your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.