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Are You Trusting & Resting in God's Love? · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey y'all, it's friendly. Welcome back to In the
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  Stillness. Thanks for joining me on another
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  podcast episode. I want to preface that I have
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  been fighting off some sickness this past week, so if my voice
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  sounds a little shot, my apologies.
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  Hopefully it is not too unbearable to listen to.
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  I know it's a little scratchy, but I'm thankful I have my voice
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  back this morning. And after my prayer walk, I came
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  back and saw this e-mail in my inbox and it's from the Passion
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  devotional. And I just wanted to start with
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  that before I dive right into the scripture because I think it
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  ties so well into what we're going to be talking about today.
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  In First John, it said, first drink from my living waters and
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  you will find that you have more than enough to offer others.
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  There is no need to strive to love.
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  Just be true in love by allowing me to refill you constantly.
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  And as I read that, I just sat there thinking, how often do we
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  slip into striving, trying on our own to be more loving,
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  trying to be more patient, to show up better for people, but
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  ultimately feeling dry underneath it all or like it's
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  not enough. Scripture does not call us to
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  manufacture love. It calls us to abide in Christ's
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  love. And if we miss this, I think it
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  is really dangerous because we can spend our lives trying to
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  produce something that God is actually just asking us to
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  receive. So with all of that, let's go
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  ahead and read the two verses. We're going to be in first.
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  John 414 to 16. Moreover, we have seen with our
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  own eyes and can testify to the truth that God has sent his Son
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  to be the Savior of the world. Those who give thanks that Jesus
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  is the Son of God live in God and God lives in them.
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  We have come into an intimate experience with God's love, and
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  we trust in the love He has for us.
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  God is love. Those who are living in love are
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  living in God and God lives through them.
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  Now I think reading these verses, there's a lot of
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  language that is repetitive, so I don't want to miss what it is
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  really talking about. First of all, it says we have
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  seen and we testify. We have seen with our own eyes
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  and can testify to the truth. So this is meaning it is an
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  encounter. And reading this immediately
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  made me think back to a verse in Acts.
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  It's Acts 4 verse 20 that says we cannot help but speak about
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  what we have seen and heard. And that is what happens when
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  you've truly experienced Jesus. You don't have to force yourself
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  to talk about Him because it becomes the overflow of your
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  life. So if sharing your faith feels
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  unnatural, maybe the answer is not more pressure, but a deeper
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  encounter. Deeper encounter produces
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  testimony. And then it says those who
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  confess that Jesus is the Son of God live in God.
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  And that word confess. It means that you are
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  continually agreeing with you are aligning your life with what
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  you say that you believe. So this is not a one time
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  moment. It's not just when you become
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  saved and a believer. This is daily surrender and
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  daily agreement. Romans 10/9.
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  It talks about confessing and believing, but Matthew 10, verse
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  32 reminds us that we acknowledge Him before others.
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  So this is a life that says I am with Jesus not just once, but
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  every single day of my life and that ties directly into
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  identity. And just before verse 14 that I
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  started in today, we see that we are sealed with this spirit.
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  When we are a believer. We are marked and set apart.
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  So you do not belong to the world anymore.
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  So why do we sometimes live like we do?
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  Think about it like you have direct access to the throne, to
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  a royal Kingdom. But if you live in the world, if
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  you associate with the world's things, you are choosing to live
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  outside of those royal gates. You're choosing the streets and
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  scripture says in first Peter 29 that we are called to a royal
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  priesthood. Ephesians 2 verse 6 says that we
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  are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm.
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  Philippians 3 verse 20 says that our citizenship is in heaven.
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  Y'all, that is our reality. So when your identity truly
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  changes, your life follows that it comes into agreement with it.
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  You don't think the same. You do not desire the same.
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  You don't stay in the same environments.
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  And that's not to say that you're not still going to face
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  your flesh's desires, but you ultimately don't want to give in
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  to them anymore because you have seen and tasted something
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  better. And I felt this so clearly in my
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  quiet time. I feel like the Lord whispered
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  this to me. What you feed is what grows.
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  Galatians chapter 6 says that if you sow to the flesh, you're
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  going to reap corruption. But if you sow to the Spirit,
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  you will reap eternal life, you will reap righteousness.
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  So I just want to ask you guys, what are you feeding yourself?
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  Because if you are feeding your flesh, if you're feeding the
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  world's version of love, what feels good momentarily, that is
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  what you will crave. But if you are feeding your
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  spirit through the Word of God, through personal time with the
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  Lord and godly community around you, you're going to begin to
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  live from a completely different place.
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  And then this line, this is everything it says.
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  We have come into an intimate experience with God's love, and
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  we trust in the love He has for us.
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  Now you can know about God's love but still struggle to trust
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  it. And if we're truly being honest,
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  I think that's where a lot of people can find themselves
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  because trust is hard, especially if you have
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  experienced hurt. If you have experienced
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  inconsistency, rejection, or worldly relationships that did
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  not reflect love, well, it can shape how you receive it.
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  But we have to separate this. God is not like the people who
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  hurt you. Romans 58 says that while we
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  were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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  His love did not wait for you to get it all together.
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  His love does not shift, it does not change.
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  So the problem is not that God's love isn't trustworthy, it's
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  that we have been trained by broken, selfish and worldly love
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  to expect it to not be. His love is steady, it's safe.
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  It doesn't wound you, it heals you.
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  So if you find yourself holding back from fully trusting Him,
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  don't just remain there. Bring that to Him honestly,
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  because until you trust His love, you're not going to fully
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  rest in it. You're not going to be able to
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  maximize and reap the full benefits.
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  You're going to be constantly striving to recreate it if
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  you're not resting in it, but you do not have to recreate.
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  You don't have to fear His love. You don't have to run from it.
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  You get to run to it. God's love, it will never wound
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  you. It will only make you whole.
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  And when you begin to actually receive His love, everything
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  shifts because you stop striving and forcing and pretending and
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  you start overflowing. Then this is the concept of
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  abiding in His love. That's when this comes into
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  play. You get to live in His love.
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  And in this quiet time, I spent some extended time just asking
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  the Lord, what is your Love Actually like?
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  And I jotted down what came to mind.
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  A few things. This is not an exhaustive list,
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  but I just want to read a few ones.
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  It is consistent, it is reliable.
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  God's love met me at my lowest and never has left.
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  It is gentle, but it's direct, it's peaceful, and it's loyal.
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  And y'all, that is the love that we are freely invited into.
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  The last line that I read earlier says that those who are
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  living in love are living in God and God lives through them.
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  So that's the result. Not just the receiving of His
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  love, but becoming a vessel of it.
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  And that comes through intimacy because intimacy with God, it
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  leads to a deeper intimate knowledge of His love.
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  So I want to leave you guys with this.
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  How would you describe your personal encounter and
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  experience with the Lord's love? Are you trusting his love or are
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  you possibly trying to recreate your own version of it?
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  What the world says is love. And what are you feeding daily?
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  Is it your flesh or is it your spirit?
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  So let's go ahead and pray. Dear Father God, we just come
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  before you openly and we thank you that you are love.
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  God, you are perfect love. And it's not something that we
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  have to earn or strive for. It's something that we're
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  invited to receive and to truly abide in, to sit in.
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  I pray that we would live in your love, that we would trust
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  it 100%, that we would run to you.
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  Jesus, your arms are wide open and You're just waiting for us
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  to come to you. You say to come to you, all who
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  are weary and heavy burdened, and You will give us rest.
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  So may we live in your love and just bask in your rest today.
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  Lord, I pray that your love would overflow in every aspect
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  of our lives. May it be noticeably different
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  than that of the world. We love you Jesus, and we just
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  thank you today. Thank you for your sacrifice so
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  that we can be one as you and the Father are one.
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  We pray this in your precious name, Jesus.
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  Amen. OK you guys.
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  Well, that's today's podcast episode.
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  I hope that it blesses you and that y'all can just enjoy more
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  of the Father's love. Let it abound and increase in
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  your life and love others. Well, I will see y'all on the
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  next podcast episode.