Latest / Choosing Jesus / Setting Our Minds On Things Above

Transcript

Setting Our Minds On Things Above · Choosing Jesus

• 0:10
  Christina: Keep choosing Jesus. Hi, friends, and welcome back to the Choosing Jesus podcast. My name is Christina Wampler, and I'm so delighted to be here. We are gonna talk today about setting our minds on things that are above on kingdom things in our everyday life, as well as what partnership with the Lord Emmanuel, the God who is with us looks like in our day to day life, and how we just focus on what really, really matters. So as we enter in, I want us to ponder the question, how do we set our minds on things that are above?
• 0:50
  We dive into scripture as to what that looks like and we just get to chat about it. So let's enter in. I love getting to just dive right in to to what's up. You might think like, crick, like, what's in the cup? What's in the cup?
• 1:05
  It's honestly not that exciting because today it's green tea, which I don't even really like. But I am a coffee person, but I'd already had an iced coffee. So I was like, I don't think I need another coffee because I'm going to a plan later where I'll probably get a beverage. And I was like, I don't need that many beverages. But I wanted something to hold, something warm.
• 1:22
  But I also know in other episodes, even when I've had a hot beverage, I chat so much that sometimes I don't even get to drink it. So then I was like, I don't need to make a coffee to not drink it. And that's a little bit about me that you did not ask. But in the cup right now is green tea, which I do like. It's just not my favorite beverage.
• 1:38
  But I probably drink it a few times a week. You didn't ask. I don't know why I'm talking about this, but it's literally my podcast. And we could chat about what... Whatever I feel like chatting about, I guess.
• 1:47
  But no. We're here to talk about the Lord. And I will take a sip of my green tea now just to get this party started. I'm, like, actually don't want it to be ASMR though. Hold on.
• 1:59
  I just like ate this part of the tea bag. That was disgusting. That was disgusting. The tea wasn't bad. That...
• 2:06
  Just that moment in time was kinda gross. Anyway, that was pretty crazy. Welcome. Welcome. Hello.
• 2:12
  Shalom, which means peace. Peace be with you. I sign off my emails shalom sometimes and that makes me feel like a like a Christian baddie. Like, I'm so sorry. Those two words should never be put together.
• 2:26
  But I'm like, shalom, Christina Wampler. And I'm like, that was so monk of me. Thank you. And I... Alas, I do it.
• 2:36
  I do it sometimes because I feel like that's just what I would say. Like, if we were in person, I'd like, like, I don't know. And so that's a fun fact about me. With all this silliness aside, I'm so excited for this episode. And today we're gonna be talking about Emmanuel God being with us.
• 2:52
  Let's see where that takes us. But I actually have... This was... I have like a season, which is a Christianese word. Christianese is basically like words that Christians use that they think everyone understands, but they don't.
• 3:04
  Or like, they're like, okay. And being like, this was the season of this. Like, different seasons is definitely one of them. The word discernment, I know we use a lot. Guilty.
• 3:14
  Okay. Sue me. But I was in a season where I just felt like Emmanuel kept coming up. I think a friend and I were in it, like, at the same time where we were like, God's Emmanuel. Like, this is so cool.
• 3:23
  We're just like, have you, like, thought about the fact that, like, god is with us? Like, Emmanuel, like, he is god with us and we just loved it. And so I remember one Sabbath, was painting and I I love to paint words. I'm not a very good painter, but I like to paint words just because I like cursive. I love cursive.
• 3:40
  It was actually, fun fact, a new year's resolution of mine, which I don't really do, but like four or five years ago, I was like, I don't wanna lose my cursive. I don't really like my print writing anyway. So I was like, I don't wanna lose my cursive. I'm gonna write in cursive this year as like a resolution. I'm gonna write more in cursive.
• 3:54
  When I tell you, I hardly can find myself writing in print anymore, like years later. My cursive has improved a little bit, but it's like, it's just one of those things you just have to like do to keep. But then I don't paint in cursive as... Like, it's not as clean because like, I don't know. Or maybe it is.
• 4:08
  I don't know. But I love painting cursive words. It brings me so much joy. So on my Sabbath, I'll paint like a beautiful background. By beautiful, I mean, mix a couple colors and just paint, but like it's beautiful to do.
• 4:18
  Like it's a beautiful experience in my heart, you know? And then I'll paint a word and I was painting Emmanuel, which I have hanging in my house. And I was like, I'm gonna make one for my friend. Like she also is in a season of like this being a thing. So anyway, all that to say, God is with us.
• 4:34
  And I want to jump straight into scripture today and go to Matthew 28, which is the great commission, that Jesus, after He has died on the cross, rose again. He comes to His disciples and meets them and gives them this commission. And it's still the commission we can live by today. So I wanna read it, kinda talk about that and see where else the Lord takes us. But we're going to Matthew 28 verse...
• 4:58
  Starting in verse 16. It says, now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you.
• 5:25
  And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. I don't know which bible study resource I'm pulling from at this time, but when it says I'm with you always, that's the Emmanuel part. Like, he's like, I am with you always. I'm God with you, which is where is Emmanuel in? Was it in Isaiah that I was in?
• 5:51
  One moment, please. I mean, there's a lot of prophecy in Isaiah, but I just had... Hold on. The problem is Isaiah is a pretty hefty book. So to just be like, I think it's in Isaiah is a pretty large claim.
• 6:09
  There's so much goodness here. Oh, Lord. It's also at the beginning of Luke, isn't it? Hold on. Or is it Luke quoting Isaiah?
• 6:24
  Oh, now we're talking. Now I'm in Mark. She is jumping all over the place. She is trying to find her way. Okay.
• 6:39
  Let's go to Luke. It's giving prophetic. Zachary's prophecy. These are the types of things that someone with a little more organizational of a calling would have sorted out before they start recording. But I'm not gonna lie.
• 7:07
  This is what I feel peace about. So we're gonna roll with it. It's like just when you think you've... You're figuring out your way around scripture, you're like, l o l, just kidding. However, I will say there was...
• 7:20
  I think it was a podcast I was listening to. No. Or maybe I just thought it. I cannot recall. But just a reminder, because I've had the thought so much where I'm like, I thought I knew, like, this scripture well or, like, I'm upset because scriptures aren't coming to my mind, like, the way I want them to.
• 7:32
  And it's, like, honestly, by the Lord's grace. Like, if I had every scripture I've ever read written on my heart after the first time reading it, I wouldn't need to return to the word. I would probably just ignore the word because I'd be like, oh, I already know it. It's like, no. It's alive and active.
• 7:47
  So by the Lord's grace, I'd be forgetting things so that I have to go back, have to recheck. Oh, did I almost just see what I needed? It's honestly by his grace that we don't remember it all because then we would... Actually, it makes me think about being like God. It's like, we're not God.
• 8:03
  We are called to be like Christ, but we're not called to try to be God. So it's like, we don't know all things, obviously. God is incomprehensible. Is that the word I'm looking for? I think.
• 8:14
  He definitely is. But what is going on right now? This is crazy. Matthew one verse 22 and then on. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.
• 8:30
  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. The Lord is with us. The Lord is with you today. He's with us right now. He's in our midst.
• 8:47
  I don't get over. I cannot get over that when Jesus died. So in the Old Testament, they had to enter the temple. The priest had to enter the temple on behalf of the people, had to be specific regulations around that, etcetera. And then when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn, completely torn.
• 9:13
  I believe this is from bottom to top, but was torn. And we then could have the Holy Spirit within us. We never needed to go to the temple again because our bodies became the temple. Like, we are now the temple because Holy Spirit dwells within us, which is so cool. And I'm still understanding theologically this part, but I...
• 9:35
  In John one, it says that the word came and He tabernacled among them. He dwells among us. He He is our dwelling place. And so when Jesus came, He was dwelling with us and now He dwells within us as Holy Spirit. And so we have Him.
• 9:52
  He is with us. And that is just such good news. So yesterday, I was at work and I was walking the halls and I was just like, Lord, please be near. And I literally just felt like he was like, I'm with you. And I was like, thanks.
• 10:09
  It actually changed my like mindset because I knew that. But I actually just felt him, like, kind of press those words on my heart. Like, I'm with you. And I was like, oh, yeah. Like, that's a promise that you keep.
• 10:18
  Like, you said you would be with me and then you just reminded me of your word that says, I'm with you until the end of the age. Hallelujah. Like, you are a God who is with us and for us. But how do I keep that at the top of my mind? And I think that's when one of those things where it's like being transformed by the renewal of our minds, Paul tells us to do.
• 10:38
  And in Romans, I believe. And if we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind, we have to be really cautious and aware of what we meditate on and ponder on. And the truth, John tells us that the truth sets us free, which it does. I'm gonna go off on that some other episode, I think. But the truth sets us free.
• 10:56
  But if we meditate on truth, that is how we renew our mind. And so that's why I think it's by His grace that we forget the word sometimes. I am constantly... I don't even wanna say humbled because it's like I shouldn't be prideful about it anyway, like, hopefully. But it's like, I will be like...
• 11:12
  For an assignment, I'll have to, like, dwell on a certain scripture. It's just happened. And then I'm, like, supposed to reference it, like, a week later and I'm like, I had it memorized last week because I was required to for something and I cannot remember it right now. Like, I can't even remember the... What it's kind of about.
• 11:25
  Like, what? And so we need to combat that by being very aware and very very steadfast, honestly. And it's... Well, this is all tying together crazily, but in Mark four and other places, talks about the sower and the seeds that are spread. And so not to like throw a billion scriptures at us right now, but also hallelujah, that the seeds are sown.
• 11:53
  And I want to like head there, like, I I just want to, but they are scattered and there are certain ones that are immediately picked up and plucked away. Like the word didn't even kind of settle in. There are ones that receive the word with joy and, there are people... There are plants that receive the word with joy. I mean, it's like all parable, but they receive the word with joy, but then it gets then it gets yanked from them or it settles in for a little while, but then the...
• 12:21
  Why am I like paraphrasing when I could just read it? But then the things of this world come and squelch it. And the things of this world take away what the Lord has tried to plant and we let it. And then that's another way we fall away. And then there's the few that really let...
• 12:38
  The difference is they let deeply seep into them and that is what kept them on the correct path. That is what kept, them able to produce beautiful fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold of what was there before. So I'm gonna read that for Mark four. Again, it's in a couple of gospels, but because we're here. I'm so sorry that I even tried to paraphrase before just going to the scriptures, but you know, she she's just a girl out here trying things.
• 13:04
  It says, and he, this is verse one. And he began to teach beside the sea and a very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables. And in his teaching, he said to them, listen, behold, a sower went out to sow and as he sowed some seed fell along the path and the birds came and devoured it. They didn't even stand a chance.
• 13:30
  Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil and immediately it sprang up since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched. And since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain growing up and increasing and yielding 30 fold, 60 foot, and a 100...
• 13:54
  30 fold, 60 fold, and a 100 fold. And he said, he who has ears, let them hear. And then he explains it. Do you understand, starting in verse 13. And he said to them, do you not understand this parable?
• 14:06
  How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. Oh. And these are the ones along the path where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.
• 14:19
  We talk about stealing, killing, and destroying. That's Satan stealing the word from our hearts and minds. We gotta be on it. And then there are the, these are the ones sown on rocky ground. The ones who, when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy, hallelujah, and they have no roots in themselves, but endure for a while.
• 14:38
  Then when tribulations or persecutions arise on account of the word immediately, they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. Okay.
• 15:07
  That is so huge. And I would say there's a healthy fear. I remember reading this years ago now and I was like, oh, no. Like, I love the Lord so much. I'm finally understanding His word at all.
• 15:18
  Like, I did not grasp it before. I'm so scared. I I know I'm receiving it with joy, but now I'm just scared. Now I'm just scared that the word is gonna be taken from me or that it's not gonna last. It's not gonna endure.
• 15:31
  And I think that's what made me cuckoo for the kingdom, if you will. Because I was like, no. I need to dive in. I need to be steadfast. But honestly, praise the Lord because it made me continue to dive in and I was like, the enemy will not be able to steal this because I will be...
• 15:45
  I will... It's really is by God's grace, but I was like, I will be in the word every single day. I will be doing these things that make it steadfast. And there are wise practices. It's like anything that you wanna be good at or have disciplines.
• 15:58
  If you want to be a soccer player, but then you literally never touch a soccer ball, you can't be like, well, I don't know why I'm not very good at soccer. Hello? And this is coming from a ballerina. Like if you don't regularly train, I don't really train as much. I do not train as a ballerina now.
• 16:12
  Something is happening with microphone moment, but that's okay. I don't train very much. And it's like, if I just try to go... Dance is interesting because you know, if you've trained for years and years and years, there's still some that remains. But if you are just taking on something new and then you just don't practice at all or you're taking on something even kind of old, like you're not going to keep improving if you don't keep returning, right?
• 16:34
  So I remember I was like, I'm gonna do everything in my power just as I would if I was taking up a new hobby or sport or anything you wanna be actually good at or have really impact you. I am going to... It's like if you're taking a class, but then you never ever study or look at the material. Then it's like, don't know why the tests aren't going very well. Hello?
• 16:49
  Open the book. I don't know. So all that to say, life is a test. And if we don't open the book, how do we know what to do? Oh my gosh.
• 16:57
  Okay. She's off. She's off. She's going crazy. She's going cuckoo.
• 17:00
  But that was a hilarious, like, side note. Don't why my mind went there. But I remember I had that fear. And dare I say it's a healthy fear because it made me kind of fear the Lord. Like, I was like, I want to choose the Lord.
• 17:15
  Like, I don't wanna not choose the Lord. I don't wanna not choose his ways. I don't wanna not know what to say or do in any given circumstance. Spoiler alert, no matter how much you read the word, you still will have... You're still human.
• 17:24
  We're still gonna not make the right choices or say the right things at certain times. However, I was a little bit like, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm receiving it with such joy. Does this mean I will fall away? And then I don't know if you can place yourself in... I mean, you shouldn't...
• 17:40
  We shouldn't only look for ourselves in scripture, but sometimes there are times where it like comes really... It comes in and you're like, okay, can see myself in this scripture, especially parables. I think a lot of Jesus' teachings, it's like, it is a heart check and that's what it was intended to be for the people that He was saying these two things to originally. So when I do that, I'm like, okay, then they're the ones that hear the word and maybe it seeks in even for a while, but then other things enter in and choke it like, oh my gosh, Lord, no. Like I don't want things to be able to choke it.
• 18:11
  I don't want, Oh, yeah. Then there's ones that grow on the good soil. Where's what I'm looking for? Oh yeah. Okay.
• 18:20
  Because the cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things enter in. Oh my, I'm so humbled. I'm here doing a podcast about the Lord. It would be so easy. I'm so grateful.
• 18:41
  I have people that I know and love that have done podcasts before me that I'm like, okay, I can see it done beautifully where it's like the Lord is still the center. They don't care about outcomes. It's literally just to be like, I think this is what the Lord's asking me to do. I'm excited about it. I feel close to the Lord when I do it.
• 18:53
  It whatever. It is so easy for even good things to turn into idols or things that we just care too much about. And so I might've said it before, but I'll say it again. Like something I think about, I'm like, I love the Lord so much and I just pray that I would never stop like being ready to throw elbows for the kingdom of God. Like, get out the way, Satan.
• 19:13
  Like, I am here for Jesus. And there is sometimes warfare that comes with that. But like in Jesus' name, the victory is won. So we're not gonna worry about that too much. But we have to be really cautious and really aware.
• 19:26
  It's like I've been talking about myself a lot in this, I hope you're finding yourself somewhere in this. I mean, the Lord is meeting you, but we have to be aware of our tendencies as humans and very, very natural tendencies to seek other, like just to be... Purity of heart is to seek one thing. I believe that's Kierkegaard. Purity of heart is to seek after one thing.
• 19:49
  It's like, if that one thing isn't Jesus, we have missed the mark. If that one thing isn't the Lord and His kingdom, seek first the kingdom, all these things will be added to us, will will be added to you. So we can trust that as we seek Him, He will solve everything else. Solve is a funny word to use. Okay.
• 20:06
  He will give us what we need and He is what we need. And we're gonna talk about blessings in a different episode and what blessing actually is. What does it mean to be blessed by the Lord? I think that can get really twisted in our day and age of what does blessing look like? Blessing is the Lord and more of Him.
• 20:20
  That is what it means to be blessed at the core. So as we seek Him, we must trust that He will give us what we need to be sustained in Him, which is really important. So also in Matthew, was just reading and it was talking about, I forget exactly who Jesus is talking to, but He says to seek the kingdom, not the world, which hello, he says that a lot or alludes to that a lot. And then he's like, the kingdom is at hand. But in this specific verse, he says, where is it?
• 20:56
  Oh, he's not gonna... He's rebuking Peter. He's rebuking Peter because Peter's like, you're not gonna die. Far be it from you Lord. This shall never happen.
• 21:03
  I'm sorry. I'm jumping around so much. So if you're not as familiar with the scriptures, please do not feel confused. Like there... There's a lot going on.
• 21:10
  I'm just really excited. But Jesus has told his disciples, I'm gonna have to suffer many things. They're going to kill me. This is what's gonna happen. And Peter, one of his disciples says, he takes took him aside and began to rebuke him saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you.
• 21:27
  But he turned to Peter and said, get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. There's a much different lesson going on there about what is going on in the context of that story. But this concept of seeking the things of the Lord and not seeking the things of man is so huge. Not fearing the world, but fearing the Lord is so huge.
• 21:52
  And in Colossians three, it talks about it too, where it's like, set your mind on things that are above, on heavenly things. Do not set your mind on earthly things. That is, I think, the biggest battle I would say I face. And I think like in this world, like we are bombarded with things of this world constantly. And so if we are not constantly renewing our minds in scripture, looking at things that are heavenly, and honestly, I follow people, even like on Instagram.
• 22:19
  Like, I know I can be like, oh, like sometimes I have Instagram, sometimes I don't. I follow people that I'm like, oh, that made me think of the Lord. Or like, there's goodness here. There's purity here. There's there's, just kingdom likeness here.
• 22:31
  Or they make me think of the Lord or they brought up, you know, mean, you don't have to follow only Christian influencers, but I think when we're easily taken in by things of the world, it's so important to just be aware of what we're intaking, which is I think why I read so much. And I just love to read about the kingdom, but it's so huge. And the Lord warns us about it. That the Colossians is Paul warning us about it. My foot is cramping.
• 22:51
  Oh my goodness. But we are to seek the things that are above, not things that are earthly because it all fades. Are you kidding me? This is a tangent, but I think about that because I think about my items. Years ago, I read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer.
• 23:12
  I would... It was one of the more like, the word of the Lord, the Bible is the life changing book. But that book really, like, met... Like, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry was a very interesting challenge and a very interesting time for me. And it kinda began this exodus...
• 23:25
  Max exodus in my life of, like, things and just clutter and just even... Just how I spend my time and my energy. So that was... I read it a while ago, but the Lord really met me in that book and I started to get rid of items that I had because I just had a lot of stuff, if I'm honest. And I mean, it wasn't anything excessive.
• 23:44
  I just like... I... Oh my gosh. That's so funny. I had, at one point in my life, a 100 hoodies or crew necks, like a 100 or more or more than a 100.
• 23:55
  And it was like my, like, fun fact for a while. And like, I like think about that now. Like, no shade if you're like a hoodie person, that is totally okay. But when I personally think about my heart at that time, I'm like, oh my goodness. Like, that makes me sad.
• 24:07
  Like, what was I trying to fulfill with hoodies? Like, that makes me so sad. Like, I... Why did I need that much excess? Like, why did I need that much?
• 24:19
  And there was a advertisement I saw not that long ago that was basically people walking around with whatever they had, they had as many of that thing as they had in that moment. Let me explain. So let's pretend I'm holding a coffee mug. I'll just hold my coffee mug for a reference. But then in this particular ad of like realizing we have such excess, they had as many coffee mugs as that person hypothetically had as that person hypothetically had, they had in that person's hand.
• 24:49
  And it was like very it was very, oh my gosh, what's the word I'm looking for? Absurd. It was a very absurd ad. It was just to draw attention to the fact that we have excess. But it was like a 100 coffee mugs, like dangling as the person's walking along because they have that many coffee mugs.
• 25:03
  I love a good coffee mug. Okay. This is not a shade for that. But it's like, oh my gosh, we have so much stuff sometimes and it clocks things. Anyway, when I think about the things I remember a few years ago starting to just kind of get rid of things slowly and I'm really grateful and I still have too much of certain things for sure and I don't do it perfectly, but I think forward and I'm like, Lord willing, I get married, I have kids one day, I leave this earth, hallelujah, go to get to be with Jesus.
• 25:32
  And then my kids have all this stuff that's mine. And maybe there's a couple items that they're like, oh, mom, like, loved that. Or mom, this makes me think of mom, I wanna keep that. But in reality, it's just stuff that I didn't enter the world with. I can't take with me.
• 25:44
  There's scripture about this too. Like, Didn't enter the world with it. Can't take it when I go. Why? Of course you need a coffee mug to carry your coffee.
• 25:51
  Probably not gonna do the best in your hands. I mean, people probably have to do that. But it's okay to have things, but really when I do think back to the hoodie, which someone reminded me of that within the past little while, they were like, do still have a 100 hoodies? I was like, no. I live a little simpler now thanks to Jesus.
• 26:09
  And... But I was like, dang, like person remembered that and it's been years and I'm like, woah, I forgot. Like I forgot, but it stuck with that person. And it's just things that we one day have to get rid of. Like we're not gonna keep it forever and we're just like compiling things.
• 26:24
  So all that to say, when I'm compiling things unhealthily and I just think back to my heart at that time, like I genuinely was trying to fill a void of some sort, then we're not thinking of the kingdom as much. Like, it's just we're thinking of earthly things. And so that's such a silly silly example, but whatever. It's what came to mind. But how do we actually seek the things that are above?
• 26:45
  And that looks different for everyone. Convictions look different for everyone. I kinda have a conviction around wearing makeup. That's just like how I feel. Like, I don't really wear it anymore.
• 26:53
  And I just... People wear the most beautiful makeup ever. And I'm like, oh my gosh, you're doing a great job. That's so pretty. I love it.
• 27:00
  Like, I don't think twice about other people doing things. I think that's what's so beautiful about personal conviction is like, I genuinely... When the Lord gives you the heart for people that you're like, oh my gosh, I don't even normally think twice about other people doing something that I don't do or doing like, you know, depending. But like, especially something like that. It's like very personal, like totally fine to wear makeup.
• 27:19
  But I'm like, I don't feel peace when I wear makeup. I don't feel like myself. Like, I don't feel obedient. Like, I just don't feel like that's okay for me normally. And like, if I go to a wedding or something, sure, I'll wear some makeup.
• 27:29
  But my day to day life, like, that's a random conviction I have. And it's it's very freeing to know that, but it's also this thing where you're just like, this is my conviction. This is where I have to stand on this. And like, if I wanna live at peace, like, with full peace and just feel really authentic to who I feel like the Lord has asked me to be, this is something that I do. I do think there's probably something too because I'm a teacher.
• 27:47
  And I remember when I was working at a high school and I was like, I don't... I feel like I can't wear makeup. Like, I don't think the Lord's letting me. And I was like, you know what? Maybe I roll up with a pimple on my chin and that maybe high schoolers just need to see an adult with a pimple on her chin that isn't like super...
• 28:01
  It's not super shame filled covering it up, which if you have a pimple and you wanna cover it up, more power to you. But I was like, honestly, whatever. Like, I want them to just know this doesn't matter. That this is ultimately, like, doesn't matter. And I think that that is so hard.
• 28:15
  I remember when I was in high school, like hearing people say like, this won't matter later. Guys, I cannot tell you how... I don't think I have the best memory anyway, but I can't tell you how little I remember from things. Hold on. I wanna speak life over my memory.
• 28:35
  Lord, please help me always remember what you need me to remember. Okay? Something is happening today and I can't decide. Is this just slowly slipping down every time I reset it? We're gonna go like that.
• 28:46
  Me testing. Okay. I trust that the Lord will help me remember what I always need to But I don't have a great memory. And so there are so many things. I get this because also I have so many cute little students that say cute little things.
• 28:59
  And I'm like, oh, I'll remember that. And maybe you feel the same way if you have kids. I don't know. But it's like, oh, I'll remember that they did this cute thing. And it's like, no, you won't.
• 29:06
  Like, you might not. I write a lot down and certain things stick with me, but it's like, you don't remember things aren't that important. And so when it comes to like even memories or things that are embarrassing or whatever, like people don't remember. If they do, it's kind of on them. Like, I don't know if it's like something that's not good.
• 29:19
  Like, that's just weird. If they're like bringing it up years later, that's kind of on them. No shade, but like, why would you do that? And so it's like, that's just not a concern. Like, no, let's focus on what actually matters in the kingdom eternally.
• 29:31
  And the answer to what matters eternally is actually quite small. Like if we think about it, like the, what the Lord calls us to focus on is like quite small. Even the verse from Mike is coming to mind where it's like, walk kindly, no, walk humbly, speak kind- I don't have it off the top of the dome. It's Micah six, eight, I think. But speak kindly, walk humbly with your God.
• 30:11
  There's like three things. Why can't I remember them humbled? But it's it's not much. And it's like, actually, that's kind of all. Or it's like like memorizing or like knowing, even just like the greatest commandments.
• 30:29
  Like, it's like these things are like the greatest commandment of like, love your neighbor as yourself. But love the Lord your God and then love your neighbor as yourself. But it's like these, it actually kind of like waters down to kind of little if you think about it. It's just these big things that then get really, really fleshed out in scripture and like are complex because we're in the world, which is complex. But it's like, how do we seek those things more regularly?
• 30:53
  I've talked about compassion before, but like how do we seek compassion regularly? How do we seek joy despite circumstance regularly? How do we seek peace and pursue that regularly? Like how do we make these the things that we seek and prioritize? The things that Jesus has told us to or scripture has told us to or both because He is the word, but like how do we prioritize those things and not the things that are right in front of us screaming out our name.
• 31:22
  And I love a good retreat. I love a good retreat. I was just thinking the other day, this was pretty funny to me. I went through something in the past year that was pretty big in my life and very, very difficult. And I...
• 31:37
  For like a month later, maybe less, I don't know. And I was like, bye, everybody. I'm going on a silent retreat into a monastery with monks. Like, bye. And I actually...
• 31:49
  I'm a 25 year old woman of God, and I can do what I wanna do. I'm like, who let me... Now that I'm reflecting, I'm like, who let me go into the wilderness with the monks to be silent after this huge terrible life thing that happened. But also everyone who knows me would know there is no stopping me if I say I'm gonna do something. So it was a totally...
• 32:12
  I was safe. It was fine. I... It was marvelous. I think back to that experience often, just getting to go and be silent.
• 32:18
  It wasn't a fully silent retreat, but were silent for a lot of it. I was like, I'm going to be very quiet, really reflect inward, and just seek the Lord on this, like, on my life because holy moly, guacamole, it was crazy. Crazy times. But I... Retreating is a beautiful thing.
• 32:37
  So then I love to go on daily retreats. Not daily. Sorry. Sorry. A day retreat.
• 32:42
  That's crazy. Daily retreats. A day retreat. Okay. So then I go away for one day and I just get quiet with the Lord.
• 32:48
  Or you might be a mom or whatever, you have a busy schedule. You're like, what the heck is she talking about? Girl doesn't understand. Even Jesus retreated into the wilderness and then returned. He gathered...
• 32:58
  Well, he gathered and then he scattered, and then he came back, blessed, went back, went to be with the father, communed with the father. So I think it's very scriptural and very important. But the beauty of when we go to the mountain, we... Or if you've ever been on like a retreat, like a youth retreat or whatever kind of retreat. Okay.
• 33:16
  You can be with people. That's okay too. It doesn't feel like a solo silent, whatever. But any of these retreats, like we always, I think it's so easy. And I remember with this with the high schoolers I had, like, it's easy to think like, oh, I've come back to react.
• 33:28
  I have to go back to reality after retreating and being with the father and in wonderful community and eating good food and communing and worshiping, like so beautiful. And now I have to go back to reality. And I remember someone said this to me once it really flipped my brain because it's a flip. And it's like, no, actually, the retreat was much closer to actual reality than our day to day life. Like that retreat was much more true to what's really going on than our day to day life.
• 33:54
  Our day to life brings in just a bunch of falsehoods and like fluff and distractions as Mark four was telling us about, like these distract... Distractions of the world and other things that we start to prioritize. But in reality, like what's more real is what happened on the mountain. And it's easy to be like, well, that was like mountaintop experience, dah dah dah dah dah. But in reality, like it's much closer to what's true and real and deep and like lasting.
• 34:17
  And so it's really important too that we can retreat so that we can have those moments that we can re transform the renewal of our mind with the truth of what happens in those experiences. And so if that's your quiet time in the morning, which hopefully it is like, yes, like yes to those moments. And when you go into that quiet time and then you exit that quiet time, like that quiet time was real. Whatever the Lord spoke to you, especially if you had the fruit of the spirit welling up inside of you, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Might've been out of order, might not have said them all, but that is the truest.
• 34:48
  Like when we have the peace of Christ, I have just been in this time in life. And I just feel like the Lord reminds me, so kindly so many days, like when I feel His peace in the morning, just feel Him say, I have this peace for you every day. I have this peace for you every day. And honestly, sometimes I'm like, no, you don't because literally yesterday you did not... I did not feel it.
• 35:08
  And it's like, hey, that's on you, human being. The Lord has this peace for me every day. I must enter in and I must fight to enter in. This is why I'm saying throwing some elbows. Okay?
• 35:18
  Because the enemy is trying to steal, kill, and destroy our time with the Lord. The enemy is trying to steal, kill, and destroy how we view the Lord. No. He is our good father. He is Abba father.
• 35:27
  He gives good gifts. He loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves. And he says, if you humanly earthly fathers can give good gifts to your kids, how much more will your father, heavenly father, give good gifts and the holy spirit to those that he loves? So this is not about tangible gifts. I'm not asking the Lord for even earthly blessings.
• 35:49
  I'm asking the Lord for more of Him. I'm asking the Lord for Him to give me a mind like Christ that we are called to in Philippians. It says, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Then it lists all these beautiful things that we're supposed to focus on and literally be living into every single day. Can we enter in?
• 36:05
  Might we enter in? And so the communion with Christ, union with Christ, mind of Christ, these are the gifts that are... Exceed any earthly gift you can have. And if you have had it even for a moment in worship where you're like, I was just worshiping and then I was like in heaven for a second, but then I came back and I was like, what was that? Was that even real?
• 36:22
  And then I moved on. It's never happened again. Christ has that for you more often than you even realize in him, it can be found. We have to fight for it though. You have to fight for it.
• 36:31
  It's not, I mean, maybe you don't have to fight for it. If if that's the case, please DM me. Give me your secret. Just kidding. But like, that's not how it is.
• 36:38
  It's it's it's a fight. It's a battle, but it's a beautiful worthwhile thing. And as we seek Christ, we learn so much along the way. And just fighting to enter in, we learn so much along the way to getting there. So I do not enter into his peace that he...
• 36:52
  Like, the the most peace every day that he has for me every day because I'm human and I miss the mark or I forget to ask him or whatever, which there are a lot of days I don't ask. He gives me the peace. I say, hallelujah. I forgot to ask. You're so kind.
• 37:04
  And then there are days where I do let like dumb distractions get in the way and that's on me. So by his grace, he's not withholding, but... And by his grace he gives, but also sometimes we need to be re centered. Our thoughts can be so scattered. It's like, how do we re center them on Christ?
• 37:22
  Our scattered senses centered on him. There is, I think it's, I'm gonna botch how you say it. Augustine. I think Saint Augustine. I think it's of hippo.
• 37:30
  I don't know. Says... I have kind of a photographic memory, which is why I always close my eyes when I try to picture things. I just love to give information. So if it's like...
• 37:38
  I don't know why. I'm like, I think it's of hippo. I just like to know things. I just think it's fun to have like share. So if I'm wrong, I'm sorry.
• 37:45
  But he says our souls are restless till they find rest in you Lord. So our scattered senses become one on Him. And that is, I was just praying the other day and I'm like, Lord, all I ask and this I seek, is my will to be in line with your will. Like, I cannot, Lord. I cannot do this anymore.
• 38:13
  Like, I need my will, Christina Walmer's will, to be in line with the Lord's will. For me, like, my heart is breaking. Like, my mind is racing. Like, I just want what you want from me. Like, I can't do this.
• 38:24
  And the gift of coming to the end of ourselves is a gift in itself. And I do, I would say that happened again the other day, but that's happened to me in the past where I was... That was actually one of the most life altering moments I've had. So I should probably share that sometime. But it's okay to come to the end of ourselves.
• 38:38
  It's okay to say, God, I don't know how to even find you right now, but more than anything in the entire world, I want you. I want you right now to heal my mind and bring me freedom and bring me this peace I hear about and help me through this present moment or that moment that I'm dreading coming up. Holy one of Israel, please, please help me. And He is so kind and he's so gracious and he desires that partnership with us. I...
• 39:09
  To what extent will you go for partnership with Christ? Like, I just long for it so much. And I just urge you, whatever this entire chat has stirred up within you to just take it to the Lord. Just take that longing to the Lord and, let Him meet you. Like there is no prescription for the Lord.
• 39:32
  I can't tell you what to say or do and how he'll show up. And that's kind of amazing because he's such a personal God. Like there is no prescription, which is why scripture is so important to teach us what happened in the past. But even if I were to live out a same scenario as someone in scripture and try to do the exact same response, like, the Lord would probably show up differently because that's not how the Lord works. He's so...
• 39:54
  These circumstances merits its own encounter and experience and specific response, which is why we also shouldn't compare to how the Lord showed up for other people or how He meets other people or what He gave or didn't give or whatever it is because He's not, that's not how it is. And it's not a formula. And as someone who loves discipline and routine and knows, loves to know what to expect and how to get it, like I struggle with that because I'm like, what do you mean it's not a formula? Like I prayed this way yesterday and he showed up in all these ways. I had such a light day.
• 40:22
  It was beautiful. It was marvelous. I blessed my students and I just felt, which I'm always blessing my students, but like I I felt so joyful to be with them. I was... There was no battle going on in my mind.
• 40:32
  It was hallelujah all the way. And then the next day I do the same prayer routine and I'm like, God, I am crumbling internally. I am a little bit frustrated. I need you dearly. Please cling to me, please help.
• 40:45
  Or I live through many classes. And then at the end I go, God, I forgot to ask, invite you in. I'm so sorry. Like I literally just forgot. Like, of course you're here and you're not gonna withhold that.
• 40:55
  Again, there are times where I forget to invite him in and he shows up radically. There are times where I do remember to invite him in and it's the toughest, tough I've ever toughed. And it's like, that's okay. It's up to him how he shows up, but it's to us to invite Him in and posture our hearts that way as much as we can remember. And so how do we remember?
• 41:11
  We're in the word, we're transforming our minds through the renewal of the good news of scripture. It is good news. Let me tell you. And, we set our minds on things that are above. We look up.
• 41:24
  Look up child because He is bringing His love, His joy, His peace into our hearts as we seek Him. He's just filling up with that... Us up with that every day as we seek Him. And so we just get to enter in. And I've started my episodes like that more recently.
• 41:45
  I don't know if I'll be doing it for this episode, I'm like, we're gonna enter in. But I'm like, we get to enter in and usher in the presence of the Lord every single day because Christ died so he could dwell among us and send his holy spirit. Well, he died, but then he left and ascended forty days later so that he could send the holy spirit, which he says is better than Jesus walking on earth, which is a whole other conversation because you're telling me that Jesus, hey, thought... Like, I could have Jesus sitting here right now in the flesh, but he was like, no. No.
• 42:13
  No. Don't worry. I'll send you something better. An advocate, a counselor to live within your heart that is with you always to give you wisdom and discernment and guide you. What?
• 42:25
  It's so cool. Thank you, holy spirit. Holy spirit is my bestie. I love that guy. I mean, they're all the same, but I love it.
• 42:30
  I love it so much. I love him. They're all people, but they're all... We don't need to get into Trinity theology at the moment, but... Trinitarian theology?
• 42:41
  But I love the Lord. I love the Lord. And He loves to partner with us. He is also... I just wanna speak to the person who maybe this is like been a lot because honestly, I've thrown a ton at us.
• 42:59
  And you're like, what? I've never prayed one of these prayers. I didn't know this was possible. The Lord is so proud of you. The Lord is so proud of you.
• 43:07
  He's proud of he's proud of you. He's proud. And I hope that He has maybe highlighted one of these things. You're like, I might try that or I might whatever. Or you're just like, He always met with me.
• 43:20
  I didn't even think about these other things. Like, I don't know. Amen to that. But He's proud of us whether we invite Him in or not, or we remember to invite Him in or not. He's proud of us when we fail, and return to Him.
• 43:32
  He's proud. Like He is proud of us. So this is not to earn anything, but it is to seek to honor Him. And I just think it's such... What I'm highlighting right now is I cannot believe the gift that it is that we have a God who says, hey, invite me in.
• 43:47
  I care. Hey, invite me in. I can help with that. Hey, invite me in. I created you and them and I can help this be what it's supposed to be.
• 43:56
  And that is such a beautiful gift that deserves much attention and delight and celebration. I'm celebrating. So I love the Lord so much. Sorry. That was a crazy laugh.
• 44:12
  I am so excited. I'll probably have to edit that laugh out because it was crazy. It was wild. God is so good. God is so good.
• 44:20
  Have I mentioned that I love the Lord? This is not about me. It's about the Lord. But thank you, Jesus, for what you've done in my life. And I just hope that with sharing the silliness wildness that goes on in my life, the Lord meets you in your current circumstances where you are at and helps you see what he's highlighting and wants to invite you into because it is an invitation.
• 44:39
  It's so exciting and it's personal. Okay. Until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. I keep choosing Jesus.