Latest / One Voice Many Conversations / Crushing Strongholds #072 Special Guest Jason Tatlock- Pastor-Professor-Writer

Transcript

Crushing Strongholds #072 Special Guest Jason Tatlock- Pastor-Professor-Writer · One Voice Many Conversations

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to another great episode of Crushing Strongholds.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: I am Nikki, I'm your host, and today I'm excited because we have a great guest coming on board to have a wonderful conversation.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: We get to talk about God and um some crazy, amazing things going on in the world today.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: But first of all, what is crushing strongholds all about?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: This is a place where we turn power or pain into power and trauma into triumph.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: And how do we do that?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: We do that by exposing the lives of the enemy.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And one way that we expose the lives of the enemy by sharing testimonies of people's faith and how they have overcome obstacles and have crushed strongholds in their lives where God has helped them to persevere.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so today I'm super excited to have an amazing gentleman that I've been talking with.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of got the the conversation started off the recording here, but we're going to jump right in.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: And this gentleman is a career professional in history, in which he specializes in ancient Mediterranean world, including ancient Israel and the study of human sacrifice.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: He once served as the historical consultant and a guest of a Discovery Channel series on the ladder.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited to bring on Jason Tatlock, and I love that.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, Jason, why don't you come in and say hello and just tell our listeners about yourself and kind of like what you do?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hello, listeners, and thank you, Mickey, for having me here on Crushing Strongholds.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a privilege and an honor to be able to participate in this journey with you, especially now that you're getting close to 100 episodes.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that is uh to gl to the glory of God and uh a beautiful accomplishment.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, um, I I get the the amazing opportunity to be a professor full-time and to study the ancient world.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and especially though, I happen to get the blessing of being a biblical scholar.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so it it gives you the opportunity, both from you know, generally just from an academic sense, to go deep into the biblical text.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: But what I have found that over the years, my heart's cry was to be a pastor.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so in the journey that God has now brought both of those things together, that He had given me the opportunity to start stepping out into the role of the pastoral.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was interesting in the last, say, year or so, he gave me the idea to, on social media at least, to consider myself a pastor professor.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so what that what I like about that is that it points to both spheres, that you know, I get the blessing to to both be in that shepherding role, but also in that academic sense of digging into things from a professoral standpoint.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: I do want to ask you a question about that.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: About um when you're when you are, let's say you have a flock of pastors that you're you're teaching to, what is one, what is something in the church that um I don't know about you, but sometimes people say, Oh, there's something missing in the church.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Do you when you talk to pastors, uh, do you sit and go, okay, let's let's kind of dissect and see where you're at and and kind of shed light onto that?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Or what what do you think is missing the most in in churches today?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow, that's a that's a really good question.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think it, you know, I've certainly is going to vary on the particular denomination or the context and the even the global sphere.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: What I have found, one thing that I've noticed is has been missing, at least what they've told me, is that um both um a brother in Christ in Uganda, and then I've heard this as well in, I believe, India, is that there are some pastors who will um have the call of God and they'll jump into ministry, and yet they haven't had the training to help keep them uh on, let's say, uh the right depth doctrinally or even on the right path doctrinally.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not to say that one has to go on to higher education in order to minister for the Lord, but there is some, there is a value in hearing what other people have said and learning how to study the scripture from you know, a way that maybe you're digging into the languages so that you represent it accurately, right?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so you don't necessarily go off and and present something that's you know totally in error, which you're not meaning to, it's just out of not knowing better.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that was one of the things I I've discovered that part of what uh people have asked us or desired from us in terms of with King on a Hill Ministries, the Lord's given us the calling to be shepherds to the shepherds.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And in that, he's given this these opportunities to help build discipleship networks.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the parts of the discipleship network is to help be a place so that those who are in the church who need some further theological training can receive it.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And also, it's not just that, but it's also an opportunity to be a network uh to bolster each other, to grow stronger together as fellow believers.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: I love that because I love that you're bringing the unity to it and that togetherness, that that fellowship that I think that the word really emphasizes that we need with one another.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to be fellowshipping with one another.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how we grow, I think, you know.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um when when you want to mentor or um teach someone, it helps them to not only um not not not necessarily to do you know get out of where they're stuck at, but to help them them to press on and go further, if that makes any sense in their walk with the Lord.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: I know for myself that I get sometimes I get stuck and I just I'm thinking, why why am I at a standstill?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I agree 100% with you.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes we have to go back to the textbooks.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: We have to go back to the Bible, we have to get it even just getting into the Word, using the Word as your textbook, is so vital in learning what God has for our purpose on our life.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And God will take you further, I believe, you know, when you get that that preaching, that ministry.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: So so um with that being said, I know that you have traveled all over and and have spoken all over.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: What was your very favorite place to go to?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're putting me on the spot, and you know, what if some some of my friends loved ones or other people?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I know you love all of them.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm just saying, did you have a a just an amazing encounter where it just was just, you know, just breathtaking and just, you know, amazing?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yes.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow, yes.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've had different ones.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things I as I was sharing a little bit now, but before we started the recording, was that uh I just feel like uh God's given me the opportunity to be in like a ministerial sweet spot where, you know, and I want to encourage people who are listening, you know, God uses our various circumstances that we face.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they're they're ugly circumstances, and then sometimes though, they're just experiences and maybe areas of training or jobs we've had that he, you know, as we know in Romans, it talks about God turns everything to good for those of us who love him, are called according to his purpose.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I found now that I'm you know in a little bit more mature of an age, that the Lord is, you know, bringing together these life circumstances, not only in terms of things like uh, you know, the uh Second Corinthians says this idea that we the comfort we receive, we can comfort other people, you know, and that's definitely you know relevant very much for a podcast such as this, as you have guests on who are sharing what they've gone through to be an encouragement.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then also, though, um just for me, you know, life experiences coming together through education and uh ministerial things coming together.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, so probably one of the greatest moments where I felt like I clicked into the sweet spot was about three years ago.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: We had an opportunity, uh, our church sponsored a mission trip to work with Palestinians and to take young Palestinians around the Holy Land.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And for many of them, they maybe lived, some of them maybe lived a drive like two and a half hours from like the Sea of Galilee, but they've never made it there.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a complex, you know, socio-political circumstance, and so they maybe didn't get freedom to travel up into that area.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: So what we got to do is go around and tell people about history and the biblical text, but also something for me, which was new in a stronger way than I ever had before.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was used to say visiting sites from an academic sense more so.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then now having the pastoral element and bringing it all together, I just felt like, wow, this is it.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is like everything's coming together in one moment.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we had an amazing time just seeing the land, spending time together.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: We got to baptize um a young man who probably had been baptized uh probably in like the Greek Orthodox Church or Catholic Church as an infant.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then he got baptized in the Jordan River, and uh we were able to you know pray over him that that God would also baptize him with the Holy Spirit.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was just like, you know, just this it's hard to even put into words.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that was one of the more meaningful experiences, I would say.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then certainly recently, um, we could do a whole podcast.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I wow, the the Lord broke things out in Pakistan for the first time in in my life, in like in front of my eyes, except for one other, a couple other moments, but really started to break out uh miracles.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so being there, sing and break those out, and he's still he's still doing it, Mickey.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like just this week, seriously, just this week.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we were talking earlier about the idea of preaching over Zoom, and uh this uh friend of mine, he's a pastor, Naveed in Pakistan.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: He calls me up and he'll want me to pray over people or preach in uh with the brickworkers in Pakistan.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, we'll go there.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And this man came forward, and we'd prayed for him before.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, he received a healing from the Lord without us praying for him.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: He came forward, asked for prayer for his son to receive healing in his eyes, and his the Lord blessed his son with healing in his eyes, and then the man came back and he goes, I'm coming forward this time with faith that I'm gonna be fully healed.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And Naveed told me just I just received the word that that his pain left, and the Lord gave him gave him this release as full healing.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so the Lord's just doing these amazing things.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I would have to say being in Pakistan and India, seeing things like the miracles that God's doing is is wow, it's hard to compete with.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's just so so meaningful.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, now what was his name?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: What did you say his name was?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so my my the minister the minister uh his name is Naveed Amjad.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: He lives in the whole area.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I thought you said I was thinking you said Havid.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I was just curious.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: I was wondering if it was the pastor that I know from Pakistan as well.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's they their names are very similar, so yeah, because I I think I mentioned to you that I had an opportunity or I I have an opportunity right now to go and um through Zoom do um um an episode with um all of the kids and the women and the children um through um Pakistan.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been really a little bit nervous about doing that, but um I will just keep praying about it and see where God leads me because I think the opportunity would be amazing.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I just wanted it to be the, you know, I want to bring I want to bring the right light to the to the picture.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want it to be something that, you know, um, where like I said, I feel like we are very blessed um where we are at compared to where they're at, and we're bringing hope.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it's you know, I want to make sure that I'm not like, oh, you know, everything's fine and dandy here, but it may not be fine and dandy there.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: How do you bring hope to that?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: So as we talked about earlier.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So well, I know with um go ahead, I'm sorry, go ahead.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, I was just gonna say, you know, like with a podcast such as this, you know, it's those those testimonies, those opportunities, you know, that people even uh other countries of the world can realize even somebody who might look like they've got it all and got it all together.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we all have certain struggles and difficulties that we're going through, and we all need hope.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: We all need God to infuse our lives with new hope.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Daily.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Daily.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's a renewing, I believe, and a refreshing.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I believe joy does come in the morning if we let it you know they say they're like, What are you talking about?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: What do you what is all this joy you're talking about?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, um some people can, you know, just just be in the worst situation and still find joy in the midst of it.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: And those are the people that really um um really touch my heart when I see people that just go through some tragic things and yet they still carry around the joy of the Lord because they know the outcome at the end of the day.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it it just is mesmerizing to me um as you or as I get to you know encounter these types of people.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I've heard testimonies from people all over the world, and it's been it's it's really been phenomenal.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I know you yourself, you have a testimony that you want to share.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: You want to share your testimony about um um how God's grace, you know, how you had to face that um that fear that you're talking about.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: You want to share a little bit about that testimony?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, oh, for sure, yes.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's uh I partly sadly, but also, you know, the Lord's using it for his glory and to to to work in my own life to help me grow and mature, he's used anxiety.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I didn't I never had anxiety problems until I was in graduate school.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of an exam, and I'm not gonna go into all the details, but in the midst of an exam, I I had a panic attack for the first time.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And something shifted.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And what happened in that moment, in part, was that in that season, you know, even in that moment, I I didn't have, I didn't captivate my thoughts fast enough, right?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good crushing strongholds topic.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: But also I I wasn't trusting fully in the Lord or as fully as I should have been in the moment, because what happened was I was in an exam and the professor said, you know, you only have this much amount of time, and I realized I'm never gonna get this done.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so I panicked because I thought my academic career is over.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's that like those are the irrational thoughts that hit me.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like my academic career flashed before my eyes.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm not gonna be able to go on, you know, and do the things I wanted to do.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then it just crippled me in that moment, you know, and I started to shake and I barely made it through the exam.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know how I, by God's grace, I could write, you know, because it was so bad.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: But but that was like a moment and it it hit me.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, oddly enough, it's not even the worst of it.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: The the last episode I had that was really severe was two years ago.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: And in it, the Lord revealed to me that he was stumping me.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a beautiful message when I'm looking back on it, and it's something that I even thinking about it, I'm like, you know, I still have room to be cut back because what what the Lord was doing was, um, and I didn't know about the passage about this, but he he was doing something to me like he did to King Nebuchadnezzar.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now bear in mind, I'm not saying I'm King Nebuchadnezzar, I'm not some king, you know, ruling and everything.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: But in Daniel chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and Daniel interpreted it, and the dream was that this big tree was getting stumped, cut down, and that in time it, you know, this kingdom would be restored to Nebuchadnezzar.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for me, you know, Jesus talks about the Father pruning us.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And this this was like to me more than a pruning, it was like a a hacking down.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but but what he he revealed to me too, though, that in in scripture it talks about like in Isaiah that that Jesus as the the Messiah, right?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: The root is going to like a tender shoot grows up, you know.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: So so what the Lord was doing for me is He was He was bringing me down lower so that more of Christ could be formed in me.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so then now here's the danger though, I've I've been experiencing, Mickey, now that the Lord has given me so much victory and so many blessings, because after that episode, he it was like he was laying the foundation for this ministry to expand, and the Lord's given us all these awesome experiences and connections around the world.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I was reading the scripture from 2 Chronicles 26 this week, and it said, King Uzziah, when he got strong, that he therefore saw himself in a lofty manner, and he got prideful to his own destruction.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where he then stepped into a ministry moment where he wasn't supposed to burn incense on the altar, and he did, and he be re came a leper.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the the moral of the story then is that God was stumping me and bringing me low, but now that I feel strengthened, because like Uziah said, when he became strong, I feel strengthened.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I am like, okay, Lord, help me.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: I need you to help me be humble because I don't, well, I don't want to go through the stumping again, but also I don't want to I don't want to dishonor the Lord, you know, like I don't want to walk in that.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So there's like a, you know, you don't want to wallow in the negativity, or you don't want to just have nonstop negative, difficult circumstances to press through because you don't want to live that way.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a humbling that happens in the process.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: So what I'm learning, here's the answer the Lord's given me to how to stay humble is to can to be thankful.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so in the process, I have to, you know, take captive those thoughts and to remember to be thankful for the Lord because I remember that it's it's Him.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because literally, I would two years ago, I wouldn't be able to do this podcast.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: I would be too anxious.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't drive, I couldn't go to the store, I could barely even do email.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like my wife would sit next to me and help me do my emails.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's how bad it was.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was so debilitated.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: So even to talk like this is God's glory.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, he he's doing this and and he's blessing me.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to acknowledge it's all him, and I'm thankful for it.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh I definitely don't want to go through the stumping process.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So again, so if you're out there and you're going through a difficulty, um, I would say you can rejoice in your difficulties.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then as God strengthens us, we have to remember to be thankful.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I agree totally.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, you're doing a fantastic job.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I would have never I would have never sensed any anxiety at all.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that you're doing fantastic.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: But when you have anxiety, I know, because I I I've I've I've battled with anxiety myself.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: And um I didn't even realize what it was, honestly.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's there's terminologies for everything that we go through.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um, because I get anxious and I'm a little bit OCD and I have certain, you know, we all I think we all have a little we have our own quarks about ourselves, you know.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, my daughter would point out, you know, mom, you're kind of OCD.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, am I?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Am I though?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: I just thought I was particular.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, No, you're OCD, knock it off, you know, and and and you know, you know, so I started like paying attention to things, you know.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I love the scripture because as I you started connecting more with God, like I mentioned before we started recording, I sat at Jesus' feet for a year and just every day stayed in ministry, every day, and just and and the topic um that I studied every single day for a year was faith, was my faith, having that faith.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because when we lack that faith, um then comes fear because you can't have fear and faith at the same time.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: You can't have it.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Just like when Peter, when he stepped out on the water and he was out there and he was so brave to I mean, who just steps out of the boat into the water and know that you can walk on it?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a lot of faith he had to trust that he could just walk out to Jesus, right?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I'm thinking to myself, I'm trying to picture this guy just steps in the water like he knows he's gonna walk right up to Jesus and not sink.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's a lot of faith right there.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: But then he starts to sink, and that's because that fear took over.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: The fear came in.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you can't have both.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: You can't have faith and fear at the same time.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: They don't operate together.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: They can't.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's impossible.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I love that.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I always think when I start to, when I start to feel anxious or whatever, I have to go back to my faith because that's what that's what Peter did.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: That faith brought him back up.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: He arose, you know.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, you know, why so little faith?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: He said to to to Peter, you know, why so little?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And he was probably thinking, well, because I'm standing in the middle of this big sea and I'm I'm standing on water.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's impossible.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're doing something supernatural here because Jesus was standing there with them.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I I love that you brought anxiety um um to the conversation because when we get anxious, we it it's so overpowering.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I know exactly what you're talking about.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's it's consuming.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: It consumes you for a moment.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and to go, you know, God help me right now in this moment because I don't know what's happening, but I'm feeling really uneasy and and my mind is not clear.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so again, you take those words captive to the knowledge of God, like it says in 2 Corinthians in um uh 10, 4, I believe it is, or five, maybe 10-5, 2 Corinthians 10-5, take every thought captive to the knowledge of God.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: And when we do that, God reassures us through his words that we're safe.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's a safe haven, it's a place to be.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: But when we're operating in fear, we don't feel that safety protection.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: We feel we feel um terrified and abandoned and alone in all of it, you know.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I love about this podcast because I've talked to so many people um about their testimonies.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: And one testimony that that stuck with me so Profoundly was one gentleman told me, he said, Um, until I learned to surrender all, I I I I was never at peace.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: There was no peace.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: He said, he goes, I've surrendered things in my life, but until I surrendered all of it, I just said, you know what, God, no matter what happens from this moment on, you can just have all of it.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna question any of it anymore.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna follow your lead.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't have this gentleman did not have any peace.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it was that surrendering.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when we have anxiety, we have to surrender that anxiety over to God in order for Him to bring the peace.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so hard sometimes to do that because it consumes you.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: I know exactly what you're talking about.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, ah, what's going on?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, and and you're in ministry, so you're trying to teach and you're trying to preach and teach, and then you have this um overwhelming anxiety come on you.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you distinguish between the two?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: How are you operating in that?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and you know, um it it the the idea of uh the surrender and also the issue of faith, I mean, that is that's so important because I think what happens we try to control, and we are, and that's a fear mechanism as well, right?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: To to try to make sure we have all the pieces together or we're controlling the outcome and things like that.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: So what what I've what I found is that when it comes to even ministry and feeling anxious, because sometimes, you know, and listeners out there, and you've maybe experienced too, sometimes your body just reacts with anxiety, even if you're not even thinking about it, because your body can learn like these responses.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes you're like, whoa, where'd that come from?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like you feel it, you know, and and so it's almost like this process that the body has to also get recalibrated at times.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so you could be feeling anxious even physically when you go out to minister.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and a and a healthy, there's a healthy dose of anxiety, or or at least uh something that's not problematic, you know, because if you feel a little nervous about you know your first time preaching or you know, first time meeting somebody on Zoom or something like that, yeah, that's kind of that's kind of natural.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um but when it's when it's when it's debilitating, that can be a problem.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: So there's still times even in the midst of ministry where sometimes I will feel anxious, but I believe one of the key things is like with Peter, um, we have to keep going through, like push through it.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: So like you wonder if, and I'm not judging Peter, but if he had been, you know, on the water and he started to have those doubts, but then he kept, he he kind of shifted his focus and was able to persevere, then he maybe wouldn't have sunk back down, right?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I that's an encouragement for us to just if we know God's called us to something, he's gonna give us the grace for it, and so we can just continue to step into it and then leave the results to him, and he always comes through for us.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: That is so true.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's a really good way to look at it.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like if if we know that God's going, if God has a calling on our life, he's going to equip us for that calling.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he gives us all of the tools.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we think, well, how how you know, you hear people say, Well, I don't know how to do this, but God already does.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: He has all the equipment ready for you.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's gonna be the one that provides it.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have to see the whole picture, you know.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes we have to have everything right in front of us, you know, all of our ducks in a row, as you could as you call it, you know, in order to take that step in faith, you know, and I've done that so many times going, well, I know God's calling me like this podcast.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: It took me a year to actually start it because I was like, I know God's telling me to do this, but I'm like, I'm thinking God might have made a mistake here and you picked the wrong person.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think he's talking about me.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's talking about someone else.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, and like I said, even my daughter laughed out loud, like really let me know that she thought I was, you know, that was a crazy idea, you know.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: And um, God gave me the peace to do it and he gave me the ability.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I, you know, I was, I was, I was so scared, I was so nervous.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Even my coach was like, You're you're gonna be just fine, you know, you're gonna be fine.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: If God called you to it, you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna get right through it.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, okay.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I just had to just let it, I had to surrender it.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: I had to surrender that anxiety to God and be like, all right, God, I'm I'm gonna trust in you and I'm gonna be obedient to your word.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so far it's it's been wonderful.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: I've got to meet wonderful people all over the world.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I bet.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exciting.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I I just feel really on my heart, something I'd like to share with the the listeners, you know, that you know, uh, Meggie, we're all called to minister for the Lord in whatever capacity that may be.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing that I'd like to encourage people, and there can be a fear or you know, some sort of anxiety or stress about this, uh, and it can be debilitating, it can hold us back, is if we get stuck in comparison, because you are unique as a as the podcaster God has called you to be, and you're not to be, you know, podcaster X, Y, or Z, because that's what God's maybe called them to do.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it took it took a while to kind of understand that.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like you so for me, for example, my my father was uh um sadly he's passed away, but about um back in 1997, and so but he was like such a dynamic preacher.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I started to try to preach, I've I pushed it and I've tried to like fit into his mold, but it it didn't feel right.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so in time, um the Lord's given me the grace just to better appreciate all right, uh, this is who he's called me to be, this is my style.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not the same kind of passionate preacher like he is, and and that's that's good because I need to be the person God's called me to be.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you out there as you're listening to this, don't let comparison, the fear of not measuring up to other people, uh, to hold you back.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because God's giving you given you a mission, he's given you a purpose, he's given you the ability in whatever form to communicate, be it be it writing or speaking or sign language or whatever that might be, to get the message out.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I can I can't agree.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, totally agree with that 100% because we I have a actually have a sign right here that says be yourself because everyone else is already taken right here in my living room.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: I picked it up at the yard song.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you know what, I because I I tell that to people when, you know, because I'm also a podcast, I'm a podcaster, but I'm also a coach and I coach people that are stuck in strongholds.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think that we're trying to appease people, we're trying to please people, and we're also trying to fit into to like you said, the mold that we don't fit into.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like trying to squeeze yourself into somebody else's mold is never going to happen ever.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I couldn't wear a pair of shoes that you wore for six months, they would never fit my feet right ever.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you've already you they've already molded to who what your feet are, right?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Saying, you know, and so I I love that you you bring that in because a lot of times we we want to be like everyone else when God just wants us to be ourselves.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: He loves us for who we are, he created us with each each and every one of us.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: God, one of God's characteristics is that we are uniquely designed and not imperfectly, but perfectly uniquely designed to his perfection.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: But we are the ones who put the standards on our perfection.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we see all the clauses.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so I when I I explain that to people, that when you're looking in the mirror at yourself and you're like you're putting yourself down and you're like, oh, I'm just a failure, I'm no good, I don't measure up, whatever.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's that's us taking what God perfected and squashing it.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: We we cannot be a mockery of Christ.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: We have got to stop doing that to ourselves and stand up and be who God called us to be, and then unite with that with one another.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because can you imagine the power behind that?
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: The enemy would not be able to get very far with that.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: But it gets really far because we operate in a world, especially right now, that identity is so miscued.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know left from right, we don't up from down, we don't know from him, from her, and an animal or human.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's really gotten out of hand.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: This identity, it's an identity crisis.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really sad saddens my heart because when I talk to people and they say, I don't know who I am.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well, who does the Bible say you are?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Who does God say you are?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: He said, He made you wonderfully.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're perfectly and wonderfully created and made.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you're made whole.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't make you, he didn't make you missing anything.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: You are made whole.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: That means all together.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing, nothing wrong with you.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and and so it's hard to get that um for people to process that.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we we want to just listen to what the world says.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I think you're ugly, I think you're fat, I think you're short, I think you're tall.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: What oh, you know, all those, you know, every all those little things.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we just take them so personally.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: But what we forget to do is we don't take God's word personally.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: When we should be taking God's word personally and not what everyone else is saying about what God's word says, we need to listen to what he says because he perfected us, he created us, and he loves us so much that he looks at you and he looks at me like we are 100% perfect.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right, even though we're not perfect, we're not perfect in nature, and we're not perfect in the in our maybe our mannerisms and our behavior and all that, but we are created perfectly in his image.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and so we have that gift.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: We don't operate in it though, and I think we lack a lot of that.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of set that on the back burner and be like, oh, I'm not, I'm not, you know, like you said, uh, you know, you're trying to be like your father and and me, like I, you know, I compare myself to other podcasters and stuff, and I'm like, oh man, you know, they got they got 300.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: My my coach has like 350 episodes, and I'm like, I don't think I can ever catch up, you know?
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm right behind you, no, you're not, and I'm trying, you know, and he's like, just just do you, you know, and he's like, You're doing great just where you're at, you know, and God sees us where we're at.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: And those that are struggling, I always I always encourage people that are struggling.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: We think, well, until we get to a certain point, God won't see us.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's the opposite.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: God sees you right now, even in the mess that you're in, no matter what you're in, whether it's a good mess, a bad mess, whatever, he sees you right where you're at always.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: We're the ones who put God on the shelf and say, When I get better, then I'll come, then I'll then I'll try to be more obedient, or I'll try this, or I'll try that.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because we think we have to measure up to something when we don't have to measure up to anything.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's great.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: God's grace is I just I love God's grace.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's so merciful.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's amazing.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I I long for an even greater revelation of God's grace, you know, to really like jump in the deep end of it, to really appreciate it, because it's like you're saying, you know, we we in you know, the Lord created us.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, He did it, He did an excellent job in creation, right?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's perfect.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: But um on the other hand, there's also the perfection we have through the identity of Christ that that we don't have to measure up of our on our own accord.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's just through faith, like you were bringing up, right?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: That that faith, then based upon faith, it enter we enter into that grace, as Paul talks about through faith.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's that grace that gives us that salvation and the right standing that we're already identified as we are with Christ.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's um I think the identity crisis is connected to our really our perception that if we could just see ourselves and others through Christ's eyes, uh it would make it would make the universe of difference for us all.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: I I think we would be uh uh we'd be so much happier.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and we there wouldn't be, you know, there'd be a lot less hate and a lot less a lot less of a lot of things, actually, if we could just see ourselves in God's eyes.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that that we can't even we can't even fathom it, honestly.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: It it's so it's he loves us so much that we can't even fathom how much that is.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when we think about what we love, something that we love more than anything, he loves us way more even than that.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's then the magnitude of his of his love is just it's it's incomprehensible.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: We can't we can't we can't grasp it as much as we want to.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: So but so with that with that being said, I wanted to ask you if um oh I want I have one more question to ask you before we go into our closing, but when you were in in Israel and um you got to walk where Jesus walked and and you got to see, and I know you you you're really big into the history and uh in stuff, um what was your very favorite place?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: What where where did you go in Israel that you just felt just the presence of Jesus?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like what was there a specific spot that you got to visit that really just brought some light to you?
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I would say one of the linking back, you know, one of my favorite places uh is the the cliffs that are above the Sea of Galilee.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just this picturesque place where you can see, you know, the Sea of Galilee below you, you can look across and you can point out things like there's Capernaum, you know, and you could tell stories about what Jesus did there.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's those just you know, the scenery from there is just an amazing view.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things I would say that is the most um profound impact on my wife of all the locations that we were at, was there's there are these steps that you go up to get into the temple, and they've been excavated after Israel took control of that area in 1967.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can be, you know, guaranteed that of anywhere you know you're at, in terms of at least structures, because you know, Christ was walking in the land, you know, you could be stumbling upon an ancient path that he was on, but like in terms of structures, this these steps were literally there the time period of Christ, and so he would have walked through somewhere in that general vicinity to go up to the temple.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so my wife just to sit there on that spot is was particularly profound for her.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the good thing about that too is there's a lot of places actually, Mickey, that are just traditionally affiliated, that if you dig in historically, and that's where sometimes you get a problem as an historian, you know, there might be like all this emotion attached to places, and then you're like, well, you know, by the way, that's not really the actual place, you know.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, um, that's kind of like, you know, so like when we go to the garden tomb, for example, that tomb, the garden tomb that people really like to go to, excuse me, you know, spoiler alert out there, listeners, or if you've been there, excuse me, but that tomb, the style goes back to the first temple period, not the second temple period, which is what Christ's time period would have been like.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, and we know that Christ had a new tomb built.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was, you know, it was Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, so it was new.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus wouldn't have been buried, most likely, or 100% common, you could say, in the garden tomb.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great place to remember.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, so sometimes as an academic, you're kind of like, yeah, you know, this is a good place to remember.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not here, but you know, we could still remember Christ at this spot.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: But but the steps are one place, or the cliff area.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're looking out there you're in the scenery.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: So those are kind of more like the purer spots to to remember Christ.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that you shed light on that because I love that the tomb that Jesus went in was borrowed, and he he only borrowed it because he knew he wouldn't be there long.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I I love to tell people that they're like, why do we see the borrowed tomb?
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, Jesus knew he wasn't gonna be around, it wasn't gonna be in there very long.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean it was it it probably was three days probably seemed like a long time to Jesus for the time, you know, but it was it was you know short-lived or short, you know, his death was short there.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, I I love that.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: So can you um share with our listeners as we go into closing?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just give um some encouraging words as to how to overcome some strongholds or something that um a person may be going through or struggling with.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, you know, definitely, you know, when we think about Romans 12, one through two, it's about presenting ourselves, our physical bodies to Christ, um to God as living sacrifices, and that in the process, though, we have to have the shift from the conformity to the way the world thinks to the way that God thinks.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then we know God's perfect will.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the way to get there, um, the key way is in association with the Holy Spirit, he brings the scriptures to mind that we need.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we're going to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and by the way, I wish I knew this principle years ago, I maybe would never have had anxiety problems because I didn't even, it was like I didn't even know this verse, even though I'd read it at some point.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know from 2 Corinthians 10 about taking every thought captive until it was too late and I'd already had anxiety problems.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if we can stop them in their tracks, you know, before they get embedded and we can counter them with scripture, just like Christ countered the temptations of Satan with scripture, then we're we're already ahead of the game.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you only need one and you know, one key scripture for really anything you're facing, because God said, uh Paul said through, or God said through Paul that God always makes a way of escape when we face temptation.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: So these negative thoughts are a form of temptation.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so the way out, I would say, is through just grabbing a hold of one key scripture and then reciting it and then moving forward and in time it creates a pattern, a new way of thinking.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's really good.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I I agree with you.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I would have known more um about the the scripture as well, especially as you know in 2 Corinthians.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: But um an illustration I want to share with you real quick that a lady left with me uh during a podcast, she had me do it, and she said sometimes, especially with people with anxiety, she's also a coach as well.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: She said, Sometimes we we need to uh um bring our our flesh into our thought process.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, so when you're having a thought, so imagine a thought that um like um you're terrified, something's terrifying you, you're you're afraid.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're let's say you're gonna stand up and preach in front of thousands of people and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm not I'm gonna mess up, you know, I'm gonna step on my own tongue, whatever, right?
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: She said, Imagine those thoughts.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: And she goes, but just imagine before the thought actually comes out that you grab the thought that's negative and you take it and you throw it down and you step on it.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: And she had me do that.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, it was invigorating because I was like, man, if we if we of course, I think our thought process doesn't allow us the time to do that with every single thought that we actually have because we would be, we'd be at idle quite often in our day.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: They'd be like, what are you doing?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm working on my thought process.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hold on, you know, can you just imagine for those those terrifying moments?
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: So when they come come to you and they arise, just you can think, you know, I don't have to listen to this thought.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I can take it and I can cast it down and I can stomp on it like we do with the enemy.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I loved that illustration because it brings a peace and it's also it helps you in your physical, your physical being because your your flesh sometimes, like you said, your flesh sometimes will take you into anxiety, but your flesh can also bring you out of anxiety the same way it brought you in.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I thought that was a really good illustration that she shared with me, and I like to share it with other people, especially when we talk about anxiety, because I do believe that we can get trapped in that, and it can be really terrifying at times.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna check it out.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try it myself.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, just that yeah, if you ever have a thought, just be like, you know what, I I have a thought and I'm gonna take that thought, and I'm this is what I'm gonna do with that thought.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, that's what taking captivity captivity means.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I did a I did a um episode on taking thoughts captive.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Think about it like this.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: God gave me this revelation once.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: He said, if you were out there on your on the ship and your thoughts are driving your ship, who's the captain?
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: Your thoughts or God?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we think about captive, I think of captain.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: So who's driving my ship?
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: My captain is God.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so now when I think about think about my thoughts, I make sure that I take them to the subjection of God instead of letting my thoughts be be my captain, God is.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so now he's the captive of my ship.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: So he gets all my thoughts into captivity, and he probably has a lot of them that he doesn't want, but he has them anyway.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I just kind of like to share that with people, but it's kind of something silly that God just gave me that revelation one day.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's like, Who's driving your ship?
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, obviously, my thoughts are because I'm overwhelmed at the moment, you know.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, But that's the wrong captain, you know.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: So with that being said, I would love to have an episode.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, you should tell your wife that I'd love to have an episode with both of you guys.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: That would be great if you if you could tell.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, let her know.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that'd be exciting.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you have to give back to me and let me know.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, is there anything you want to um leave with our listeners today?
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: Would you like to uh say a prayer and praise out?
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, I would, uh definitely.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I just want to invite everybody who is facing anxiety or something else that they feel is debilitating, um, or even if there's an area where you just need the touch of God in your life.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I I know from firsthand experience that even over the internet, uh, just and through simple prayers, God can move and change lives.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it doesn't have to be long and it also doesn't have to be in person, uh, because of course God is spirit, so he can move through that.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to invite you to come come to the Lord in faith.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I am just simply going to pray for you and ask for just a release to come upon you in Jesus' name.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: So Heavenly Father, I thank you for everybody who's even listening to this right now, this podcast.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: God, I'm not sure what other strongholds, what other demonic attacks that they are facing in this moment, uh, where their concerns, where their anxieties, where their stresses are, or their needs.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: God, we know that you will meet their whole need according to your wealth and glory in Christ Jesus.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, Father God, I just set your name, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort upon them, that you would come now, Father, and apply your comfort and apply your grace in that exact place where it's needed.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: I speak over them a healing.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: I speak over them a breakthrough from bondage.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: I speak over them, God, that you are the Lord of the breakthrough.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: And Father God, I I speak right now that I recognize that your peace shall reign over hearts as they come into surrender to you, and that Christ will guard their hearts and minds with that peace in Jesus' name.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for that.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: That was a wonderful prayer.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um, to all of our listeners, I just want also and Jason to let you know, I put all of your information in the show notes so they know how to get a hold of you and they can um look you up and check you out and um read re get a hold of your books and re read your books and you know learn more about what you do and and your ministry as well.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we I like to share that.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um do you want to just share with our listeners real quick?
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is that the only website, The King of the Hill?
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Is that is that the one where you prefer people to go to?
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the main website you can check it out.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's called uh makespaceforgod.org.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: And in that you can get access on the homepage to our social media accounts, or several of them, but also on there you can click over.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's a there's a section for the books for interested.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you're interested, for example, in getting into the devotionals, there's a couple of devotionals you'll see those links there.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's a contact us page if you want to, you know, if you want to speak to us or or have us, you know, my wife or I join you in uh prayer or a small group or preaching or something, you know, you can look through that.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can also take a look at the ministry God's blessed us with in terms of um uh called katharas, which is to work with widows and orphans and the enslaved and others who are in need.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: So there's some really cool testimonies of what the Lord's been doing out there.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I just invite you, however, you'd like to the Lord lead you, you're welcome to uh join us.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: So God bless you all.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, awesome.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I very much enjoyed our conversation today.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I would probably keep you all day long.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: We could probably talk for hours, but I know we both have things to do, but I just want to tell our listeners um you know how to get a hold of me at CrushdyStrongholds.com.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you need prayer for anything, I have a place on my webpage where you can request for prayer.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'll pray for you for anything that you need prayer for.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you have any questions, um, you can reach out to me there as well.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I will leave um Jason's information in the show notes so you can reach out to Jason and get to know him and follow his ministry.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: And if you feel, you know, if you feel led, be a support.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we love to support one another.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I love to support all the guests that I have on my show, just like they like to support me.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's a win-win for everyone.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: So um again, Jason, thank you so much for for coming out today and and and hanging out with me and having a conversation.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was wonderful.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: I love to talk about the Lord.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's so fun.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so to our listeners, thank you guys for joining in, chiming in.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: Please like, share, and follow.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: And um send this out to somebody that needs some encouragement today.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: What a great message! What a great conversation that we were able to have today.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I we hope that you enjoyed it.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: We love you, and um, we just want to send blessings your way.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: So God bless and take care.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: God bless, thank you.