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Covenant Diaries |Season 1 Episode 9A
22 Plays10 months ago
Grace and Faith for Perseverance
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Covenant Diaries and Its Purpose
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CODES
hello beautiful people evening welcome to a podcast with covenant diaries with rachel and rebecca
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CODES
Rachel and Rebecca in the building. ah right, let stop. But anyways, we're excited to we're excited to be doing this again, guys. And if you're very new to this channel, or for some reason it popped off on your feed and you just clicked on it, please do not click away. Just stay tuned.
00:00:37
CODES
Anyways, we're Covenant Diaries, and what we're all about is providing encouragement, and we use this platform to encourage people in ministry and pastors' kids in ministry as well.
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And um Lord has laid in our heart to start this podcast to be... a beacon of encouragement pastor's kids. We know pastor's kids go through lot.
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CODES
Listen, the life of a pastor's kid ain't no joke. We literally, it feels like we're literally living glass house. Nothing is hidden. Our life is just really out there.
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We're born it without, without any choice, you know, but it can be really hard navigating through ah ah life that you didn't plan for or imagine, but you just kind of like just go with it.
Surrendering Life to God and Its Impact
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CODES
But what makes it beautiful is that when you do surrender surrender your life to God and have that personal relationship with God, that relationship with God makes everything better. Trust me. It makes everything so beautiful and so better because then you're living that life with purpose.
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You're not just answering the title of a pastor's kid, but you're imbibed with a legacy and that you're also anointed to to fulfill by the grace of God.
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CODES
But anyways, enough of the rambling today. we just feel that we should, you know, come on here to Encourage a lot of you guys. um the way, my apologies if you guys do hear some weird background noises.
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are
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CODES
Our, how do I say it? Our recording station today is not really and the best as it could be, but we're working with what we got, right? When you're walking in obedience, you you just do what you got to do You just do it regardless of if the situation is convenient or not.
Challenges and Hopes for the Podcast's Growth
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CODES
So yeah, in this few or temporal time of us starting this podcast, we're just going to go with the flow and like whatever avenue that we see, whatever space that we find to record this, we're just going to take it as it is, as what we can afford and what we can be able to do at the moment.
00:02:55
CODES
So guys, bear with us. Eventually, as we do grow, we're going have our own podcast studio or whatever, yeah. um Until then, we're going to work with as much as we can and get as much noise cancellation devices as we're able to.
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CODES
But anyways, um digress. We had to come on here to just and encourage you guys. I know.
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CODES
from the last podcast episode we had recorded I believe it was episode eight by the way if you have if you're not all caught up with that with our podcast episode so far please do so I'm sure that by the grace of God, you would you would be encouraged by ah ah one or two words of encouragement from the pastors kids who have been on here to share some insights.
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CODES
Or Becky and me who have recorded some episodes by ourselves. And we're praying that whatever we do share today is a blessing and encouragement to you. i know people got their own things going on. Like...
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CODES
It's literally the grace of God that a lot of people putting it down these days, not just here in America, but I know all ah ah around the world is crazy things going on, you know, in different parts of the
Transparency in Faith and Reliance on Scripture
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CODES
world. But we're going to use this opportunity, you know, to just be that source of encouragement. We're going through it, too. We're not here to, like, say that we know it all or we know how to, like, navigate through a lot of situations now.
00:04:30
CODES
Like you guys know, we literally keep this podcast um transparent and real. We keep it real here. And we we let you guys know that, oh yeah, like even though that we provide encouragement and like we share the scripture, we ain't perfect either, okay? Like we have days that we're completely beaten up and like completely cast down, but we're not completely destroyed because we have Jesus.
00:04:55
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Some days we have to remind ourselves intentionally of the promises of God, you know, just just as a weapon to conquer all the forces that we fight each day, you know.
00:05:07
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People who are there to share the gospel, don't have it all easy. You think that the enemy will be happy seeing you share the word of God that is liberating minds and liberating relationship, that he's going to fold his hands and just watch you do damages to his kingdom? No.
00:05:25
CODES
Yeah. And as much as we are there to encourage, we also have our own stuff going on. So also do keep us in prayers as we also remember you guys in prayers. But in all, we all have victory because we have Jesus.
00:05:38
CODES
We cannot be moved and we cannot be shaken. And that's exactly what we're going to reaffirm today. Right. And I don't know if there's any other questions. um housekeeping stuff we got to do before we just go straight into it but yeah um do subscribe on our YouTube page and also on our Instagram page um that's where you can get our ah recent uploads and any information that you need to know it's going to be on there so do well to subscribe and when you do listen
00:06:09
CODES
When we do release this out there, please make sure to like, share, comment, and subscribe. Because we're all going to be a team on this. So all of you who are subscribing to us, I know we're all doing this ministry together.
00:06:24
CODES
You're subscribing to us is also you partnering with us in this ministry. And when you do interact with the video, it's you're indirectly also sharing the message that we're sharing to other people.
00:06:36
CODES
Because when you do interact, with you like, share, and subscribe. it helps the message spread across to other people. You know, there are people who would love to listen to this, but they don't probably don't have any way of accessing it. But the more you interact with it, the more it pushes the algorithm in in YouTube or Spotify, whatever platform that you're listening and from would push it out to other audiences, knowing that it's probably interesting to you guys.
00:07:31
CODES
anyways um
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Going straight into it.
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I believe. Grace and faith. Are very. Crucial in in our walk with God.
Understanding Grace and Joy in Faith
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and literally. It's.
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I don't know how we can really navigate through things in our relationship with God without His grace and without His faith. I see grace not only just as God's unmerited favor, but I see grace as that spiritual, moral energy that enables us to make decisions and have that willpower to do what we normally wouldn't be able to do because of flesh or because of the sin nature.
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CODES
You know, i see grace in that light, not only that we are favored in the midst of all odds, but more of also I'm seeing grace in this dimension as that spiritual strength, that moral strength, that moral energy that is empowered by the power of the Holy Spirit that strengthens our our willpower to make decisions that glorifies God.
00:08:49
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Because um scripture says that in weakness, the power of the Lord is made strong, right? So we wouldn't know the extent of God's power if we don't tap into that in a time of weakness.
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But yeah, that's what we're going to talk about today and and faith in a sense of trusting and relying on God's promises against all odds. You know, there's something something ah we're talking and we're talking about something well in in our church, by the way, the church that we attend, i don't know.
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CODES
Well, I'm going to say it anyways, but we attend a non-denominational church, Better Covenant Bible Church of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. So if you guys are out there in the city at some point, just shoot us a DM on Instagram or reach out to us on our email and we'll send you the address to worship with us or get to meet us at some point.
00:09:48
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But anyways, I digress again. But yeah, we're talking about something at church. I think it was ah ah on and on our precept class in and on Sunday where we're discussing, past the pastor was talking on joy.
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comparing joy and happiness, where joy is something internal that's not contingent on what happens outside, right? It's not contingent on the good things that happen on the outside, whereas happiness is very contingent on good things that happen to you externally.
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Like you get a promotion, you get something good happen to you, you're happy at that moment, right? but joy is present regardless of the good, regardless of the bad. It's just that bubbling, that bubbling contentment and in gratitude and like
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satisfaction in your heart that God is there and and you have God and you're not worried and you're not disturbed by anything going on around you, right?
Waiting on God's Promises with Patience and Faith
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And in that sense, we're saying that ah ah When you go through a lot of trials and tribulations and it seems that nothing is forthcoming, you've been praying and you've been waiting for God, just like Abraham waited like 25 years or so on God's promises to be fulfilled year after year.
00:11:13
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Probably would like pray this year. Oh, this year I'm going to get a child. And this year went past him. No show. The next year. Oh, it's going to be this year.
00:11:24
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It's going to be this year. We're going to have that child this year. And it goes by him. No show. Repeatedly over and over and over again. and you know, at that point, we're just having that ah open discussion. Like, it it was so interesting, like, hearing in a lot of people's opinions and thought. And it it it got me doing a lot of self-evaluation. Like,
00:11:50
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when we're really faced in in in situations or in that waiting season where we're waiting on God and something particular, if you're you're waiting on God for the fruit of of the womb and and you know that oh you have been serving God faithfully,
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And you've been present for those who needed that support. You've rejoiced with those who also had the miracle that you are also waiting on God for, right?
00:12:21
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You rejoice with others. Or you're like in the situation of Hannah where you're constantly praying to God, but then you have that person, or then she had a co-wife, Penina, who constantly mocked her or like low-key shaded her for not having a child.
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CODES
And you have someone else like getting the miracle you've been praying for repeatedly over and over again. Like, Penina is out here like popping babies like every other every other year like or every single year. Like, what's going on with me? And I've been waiting on God for a child.
00:12:57
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Every year and every year and every year nothing happened. But Penina, on the other hand, is like, giving birth like every every time that she wants to you know at that moment it's it's hard you know like a lot of people would just like be like okay maybe God probably didn't promise me that maybe it was just me thinking in that or maybe did he really say that he was gonna do this for me but was i just too excited in my
00:13:31
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in my desire for what I wanted, thinking that God told me when He probably didn't told tell me, you know, we usually would have those thoughts, you know, as human beings, it's, it happens. Like we're in that season where you don't know what to do anymore. Right.
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CODES
us.
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CODES
That's okay. um um I think I was going to share a scripture that we talked about on Sunday. of think Psalm 46, verse 10, where it says, Be still and know that I am God.
00:14:28
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I will be exalted among the nations. i will be exhausted I will be exalted in the earth. I think one of the things that stood out to me is...
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The concept of being still. Yeah.
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In a moment of adversity, in a moment of challenges, in a moment of frustration, you know, expecting something to happen and it is not happening according to plan.
00:15:03
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right Even some people probably said you know they've probably been praying for a promotion at work or praying for brand new job, either because their current job is very toxic or either because they just got out from school and they've just been waiting or expecting something from God.
00:15:21
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They're anxious and they're asking themselves, you know when is this actually going to happen?
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It's not easy.
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Right. To wait on something to be still.
00:15:37
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Right. I think that word being still is a lot more deeper than that.
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Right. How can I be still in the midst of adversity? Because a lot of times when people people usually say being still, it's like how people define peace.
00:15:56
CODES
Yeah. Right. Some people think that peace means the, what's it called? The absence of chaos. The absence of, yes. People often think that peace is the absence of chaos, not knowing that peace is, even in the midst of chaos, there is peace.
00:16:14
CODES
Yeah. Choosing to be still and in the presence of chaos. Yep. Well, that's very challenging, right? How can I remain at peace within myself when all this stuff is going on around me?
00:16:31
CODES
Right? I mean, picture somebody being depressed, anxious at the same time, right? Constantly being bombarded with different news.
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It's like, what is what is actually going on? Because when you're anxious, you're not at peace. You're restless. And what i anxiety does is just to take away your peace of mind, your comfort.
Overcoming Fear and Trusting God's Plan
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CODES
Yeah.
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But that word is saying that be still and know that He is God.
00:17:07
CODES
That's true. You know what came to my mind when you were saying that? It led me to
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CODES
the other aspect of it too is when we are, a lot of us that are in the waiting season, the thing that might be impeding on us tapping into that into the throne of grace or tapping into that realm of waiting in in in God's grace and and in faith in God is fear.
00:17:41
CODES
Fear is very brutal and it's very dangerous in our waiting season, right? There's a scripture I really want to read from real quick. And by the way, I'm going to be reading from the New Living Translation. translation It's my current favorite lately.
00:17:58
CODES
i explains something in in ah ah a simple and in common terms that's it's so easy to understand.
00:18:11
CODES
It's funny because when I give my life to Christ, I was so obsessed with the King James Version. But lately, i don't know. I'm gravitating towards the New Living Translation. But anyways, Psalms 56 verses 3, it says, But when i am afraid, i will put my trust in you.
00:18:34
CODES
And I would skip to verses eight that also says, you keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
00:18:45
CODES
You have recorded each one in your book. A few notes that I had made from these two verses,
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CODES
I learned that some Bible scholars would say that Psalms 56, right, could have probably been written, you know, on similar occasions as Psalm 34, where um David had fled from Saul and had pretended to be mad in front and in front of, what's this guy's name, Achish
00:19:18
CODES
I don't know how to say it, but Achish That's probably how it's pronounced. But anyways, yeah, he had um fa feigned madness as a scripture would would say, or he had pretended to be insane just to confuse them and to make them think that and he's really not in his right frame of mind.
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And
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it got me thinking what could have made him act in that manner. I've heard a preacher say that oppression make it the man mad.
00:19:53
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It was so little in the case of David because he had always constantly been running away from King Saul to the point that he had to pretend to be mad or like insane or psychotic just to escape him, right?
00:20:13
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A lot of us
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similarly are in the same so similar situations a lot of us these days we can really relate to the book of psalms because yeah it's so relatable in this time where there's a lot of trials into relations going on but anyways he could have been going through a lot in that waiting season what kind of waiting season could david have probably been right now in right now Well, at that point, he could have probably been waiting on the fulfillment of God's promises. Remember, David was anointed as king secretly while King Saul was still reigning, right?
00:21:00
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He was anointed by the same prophet as King Saul was, but without Saul's knowledge. Because when Saul had disobeyed God, God had
00:21:13
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moved away from him and chosen David as the future king of Israel.
00:21:20
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So David at this point was running for his dear life because Saul sought to kill him
00:21:31
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to terminate that destiny, obviously. The enemy was using Saul to get rid of David. But on so many occasions where Saul had tried to kill David, God always rescued David because of that anointing and that calling on David's life, which gives me the assurance that when God has called you,
00:21:52
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When God has placed His hands upon your head, no matter the attacks that you go through, no matter the persecutions that you go through, no matter the oppositions that you go through, He will always deliver you.
00:22:07
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As long as you're in line with the will of God, He will always come through for you.
00:22:13
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It might seem like you're literally inch close to death. God would always come through for you. just as He did for David. And He will always give you a victory as long as you're in line with His will.
00:22:30
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Now, on the flip side of it
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There were so many occasions that Saul had to kill David and he never succeeded. There were times where he would call David to come play the instrument for him to calm him down.
00:22:46
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Maybe he was, I don't know, whatever demons was wrestling in his mind. And he would just like sling arrow at, shoot an arrow at David and David, it would miss David.
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And David escaped at that moment. So many times he's tried to kill David, but God protected him.
00:23:07
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And back to what I was saying on the flip side, David was presented with also so many opportunities to finally kill the enemy that has been after his life.
00:23:19
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But you know what David did differently that still amazes me?
00:23:24
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He didn't kill Saul. Saul. He came so close to killing Saul to the point that he had used his sword and cut the hem of Saul's garment and went far away from him and called to him and say, like, bro, this is how close I was to killing you.
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But I didn't lay my hands on you. It's like the the level of maturity was different.
Moral Integrity and Patience in God's Timing
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David's heart was just different. It still amazes me. Because. To be honest. If I was in David's shoes. I don't know what I would have done. Because this is someone who has been trying to kill you. would have killed him.
00:24:10
CODES
Yeah. To be honest. Most likely I probably would. yeah stab into that Because this is the person who has been trying to kill you. Exactly. And it wasn't for God, he could have literally killed David if it was if God's hand was not on David.
00:24:25
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He could have killed David and successfully like and annihilated him. But God preserved David's life. But David was presented with the same opportunity. He was so close, very literally right next Saul.
00:24:42
CODES
But he he said, God forbid that I lay my hands on the Lord's anointed. till date it still shakes me i mean ah ah david had such a deep understanding of the sovereignty of God you know reminds me where the scripture says that touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm david had understood that yes saul might be rebelling against God right now but he was still anointed by God
00:25:11
CODES
But to be honest, a lot of us presented with that same situation. don't know if but if a lot of us would have the same heart as David had to not retaliate against an enemy of your soul who has been constantly persecuting you, like enduring the weight.
00:25:29
CODES
Because I mean, if you think about it and David's like, in in In David's own side, it's like a fast way of becoming a king, right? You're literally right next to your enemy.
00:25:43
CODES
And if this enemy dies, if King Saul had, if he had killed King Saul, he would have appointed the king because he was already anointed by the prophet, right? You know, because sometimes as humans, we like to want to help God fulfill the prophecy or His promises, right?
00:26:01
CODES
Some of us like to do that. We're in our waiting season and we're trying to help God fasten the the process because in our mind, we think that God is kind of acting really slow on His promises. So the tendency of human impulsive nature is, ah Lord, let me just help you out because it's taking forever.
00:26:19
CODES
well I mean, realistically speaking, that's just it that's just the human nature. Yeah. Like at that point, it would be human nature that David would be like, you know what?
00:26:31
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I'm already anointed as king. Although nobody really knows, like Prophet Nathan has already anointed me and this is what God has already promised. So since the only thing between this promise and its fulfillment is the death of Saul, I'm right here. i might as well just do it.
00:26:49
CODES
You might not, obviously, you might not be presented with that same situation because you ain't going to be going out there like trying to kill someone to like take over the position or anything. But let's bring it realistically to.
00:27:02
CODES
It's a real life, right? You have this job position that God has promised you. But you feel that God has promised you this job position.
00:27:14
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it pays really well. It will take care of a lot of your bills. But someone else is already occupying that position. And you want to know something more painful? That person who is occupying that position right now is like a pain in your neck.
00:27:31
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That person is constantly tormenting you and constantly a thorn in your flesh. And that person did something. They slipped in such a way that could implicate them and make them lose their job.
00:27:47
CODES
You know what they did, that they messed up, they screwed up big time. And you know that if you report it, it could get the person fired.
00:28:01
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And then to you, that will be a fulfillment of God's promises, right?
00:28:05
CODES
Yeah, right?
00:28:08
CODES
This is where we make things really real. Like, we don't, like, say things theoretical. Like, we bring it to real life, right?
00:28:18
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You know in your heart that God has promised you that job position. But you've been waiting for that job position for a long time. And now you have the opportunity to finally get it in your own way and in your own strength.
00:28:34
CODES
Would you do it? Or would you wait for God to do it His own way? And that's where the test of faith comes from, you know. Do you really trust God's sovereignty? Do you really know God's sovereignty to act in His own way without you getting involved in the process?
00:28:54
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Because, you know, God knows how to, like, get get rid of people without your help, you know.
00:29:01
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But the test of trust is knowing where you step aside and let God be God and let God be sovereign.
00:29:12
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Let me take it to another angle, right?
00:29:16
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Let's say i heard i i stumbled across a video of someone saying that sometimes in our waiting season that you know that someone is not the will of God for you.
00:29:27
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Right. You know that person is not the will of God for you. And you're in a relationship with them. Or you're in a situationship with them. God has promised you something better.
00:29:41
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And you know that there's something better out there. And you probably prayed. According to what this person was saying. You probably prayed that. For God Take away the person.
00:29:55
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If it's not. His will for you. Right? but that And you said that if God doesn't take away the person, that means it's God's will. But you know very well in your heart that that person is obviously not God's will for you.
00:30:11
CODES
Because you know that you're compmpressed compromising a lot in your faith and you'll walk with God. The person is making you compromise a lot. But you're still in that relationship or you're still in that situation. Or you're still fighting...
00:30:23
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those feelings in your heart, those lustful feelings, or those infatuations that you're constantly bringing towards God, telling God to take it away, but it's not going away. And you're like, okay, maybe it could be the one, right? Because these feelings are not going away. This infatuation is not going away.
00:30:41
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This lust is not going away.
00:30:43
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At that moment, the question that strikes me with what the person said was, Are you willing to let go and trust God for something that you have not seen?
00:30:57
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you may It's something for us to really think about because he mean how would you think that you trust God? Maybe it could be more easier if the person was far away from you, right? It's easier to let go with something that's harder or less likely attainable right it's easy to let that go because it's very unrealistic but when something is very much possible there's such a close proximity you see this person every day you work with this person every day they probably work with you they're your colleagues
00:31:35
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Or you're at the same mission trips with this person, or you go to the same church with this person and you see the person every day, or you go to the same, you work at the same company with this person, or wherever you wherever you hang around with this person. And it's not going away, the person is not moving away, the feelings are not going away.
00:31:59
CODES
Now maybe it makes it really hard to trust God, right? Because in our own human mind, it's easy to go with what we're able to attain, what we are able to see.
Trusting God's Promises Without Visible Evidence
00:32:10
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And it's so harder to trust God for what we haven't seen.
00:32:17
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Yes, God has promised it. But in your mind, you're like, okay, there's no show of what God has promised. I don't see any other sign than what I'm already presented with. And what you're presented with is obviously not the will of God. Because you can see the external signs. You know that this person makes you compromise. This person brings you emotions that dampen your sense spiritual sensitivity to God.
00:32:44
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This person brings you
00:32:47
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Lustful thinking that makes it difficult for you to focus on God, you know, and you've presented it to God repeatedly on over and over and over again.
00:32:58
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And in your mind, you're like, okay, it seems like God is not really listening to me or maybe He's okay with me doing this. He's okay with me. No, that's the deception of the enemy.
00:33:09
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Sometimes He might probably, God might be testing you to to test your obedience or faith in him. If it seems like the prayers are not being answered, are you still going to wait on God? are you going to give in to the temptation?
00:33:23
CODES
Yeah. And that's where it gets really real. You know? And sometimes like this, it pushes people in frustration and they're waiting because you're frustrated that The weaknesses you have you have are increasingly getting worse and worse and worse seeing this particular person.
00:33:43
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And you've been praying about it over and over and over and over again. And you're also believing in God for His promises. None of that is happening. Either of them, is nothing is happening.
00:33:58
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Some of us right now are probably getting frustrated and we're angry at God. And we we're like, what's the point of serving God? Why am I serving God while I'm still battling this whole thoughts in my mind?
00:34:13
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What's the point?
00:34:14
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You want to hear something really beautiful? You're not the only one going through it. A lot of people are going through the same issues and God is very much aware. And sometimes you feel like you want to really speak about it because it's making you lose your sanity.
00:34:29
CODES
But you're like, oh, no one doesn't really understand you. But God really understands you. When you tell these things to God, He understands you on a deeper level than you ever, ever could ever imagine. Like I had read in that Psalms 56. It says that you keep track of all my sorrows.
00:34:49
CODES
Verses eight, you have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. He understands every sorrow, every tears and every cries that you've shed.
00:35:02
CODES
Even when seems those weaknesses that you have been vulnerable to God with, He hears you and He sees you. He sees those pain that you're going through in your waiting season.
00:35:16
CODES
And you're not going to waste. He's collected them. He has His own record of all the tears that you've shed, all the pains that you've gone through in your waiting season.
00:35:28
CODES
And He would restore all those pains, all those tears. He would restore you and he he would restore the years that have been wasted, the tears.
00:35:40
CODES
He would make everything beautiful in his time. It might seem that nothing is happening to you and it might seem like you're getting really frustrated because It seems that you're repeatedly falling into the same temptation temptations over and over and over again.
00:36:01
CODES
And you've been praying about it and you've been crying about it.
00:36:05
CODES
God sees those tears and He will deliver you. But then again, we also have to be intentional in setting boundaries with the temptations that we're going through, with everything that we're facing.
00:36:20
CODES
You know, it makes me remember... how Adam was instructed not to eat of the fruit of good and evil. You know, a lot of, it's the same thing that we're presented with right now in a different way.
00:36:37
CODES
A lot of us who ask, why would God place that fruit in the garden when He knows that Adam and Eve should not eat from it? Or when he knows that they're going to eat from it, why would he place it in the garden?
00:36:53
CODES
God was testing their obedience. And to some of us, we're always blaming Eve for eating of the fruit. Poor Eve. We blame her so much for every single thing that we're going through.
00:37:08
CODES
But a lot of us are presented with the same situation in a different way that Eve was presented with. And we're failing it We're ridiculously failing the same thing that we're judging Eve for, the same thing that we're criticizing Eve for.
00:37:22
CODES
like We're failing at it over and over and over again. Because it's the same thing that they were presented with, the test of obedience. Right? Right?
00:37:34
CODES
We're presented with the same thing, test of obedience. We're in a waiting season where we're believing God for something. However, the enemy brings us counterfeit.
00:37:47
CODES
Are we very quick to accept that counterfeit because we're tired of waiting on God? We don't want to obey God because God takes a long time to fulfill His promises. That's what our flesh delsel tells us.
00:38:00
CODES
That's what the enemy feeds us with.
00:38:03
CODES
God responds just right on time.
00:38:08
CODES
Sometimes it might appear fast in our own record. Sometimes it might appear slow in our record, but God is always on time. And it it it reminds me a lot of things that I've prayed and hope God for the past few decades ago. And now I'm thinking about it and I'm like, Lord, thank you that you didn't give me the thing that I asked for decades ago because that would have made such a complete mess of it.
00:38:33
CODES
Because at that point I was asking that I was not really matured. To us, you might think you're capable of handling those blessings.
Patience as Reflection of God's Character
00:38:41
CODES
You probably really are not. Or maybe you are, and there are principalities and powers that are fighting against it.
00:38:47
CODES
That's a whole different case, because even though that they're fighting fighting against the fulfillment of God promises in your life, their fighting is never permanent. It's just temporal. Just a little breath from the Lord.
00:39:02
CODES
They're all gone like smoke. They all vanish like smoke. So no matter how much it is. It might appear that the enemy is trying to obstruct your blessings.
00:39:13
CODES
Or the fu fulfillment of God's promises. God will always pull through and the power of the enemy would always be mocked and be put to shame. I've seen that rep repeatedly one over and over again.
00:39:24
CODES
There are things that I prayed for in my life that came faster than I could expect it. And that was because it was God's timing for it. And there are things that might seem to me that it's taking longer and God's own timing.
00:39:39
CODES
It's not taking longer because he's work God is not allowed
00:39:45
CODES
allowed person when it comes to actions most times God works very silently and it seems like He's not doing anything but He's working He's planting seeds in the heart of people ah aligning your path because sometimes let's be honest we also give God a hard time Sometimes God takes makes leads us to simple, small decisions that would align us to the fulfillment of his promises.
00:40:12
CODES
But a lot of times to us, sometimes we disobey those little simple steps. So sometimes we're all still contributing to the delivery of our blessings by not obeying the simple things that God tells us to do that will put us in line to the fulfillment of that promises.
00:40:29
CODES
God is building relationships. He is sowing seeds here and there for the fulfillment of His promises. We just need to wait and be patient. It's really hard, especially in this generation where it's like everything is so fast-paced and it's it's like this generation, is it's it's like a microwave generation. We just put in food and it it's it's ready. No one is willing to wait.
00:40:53
CODES
But with God, ah ah you have to wait. And that's a character that is very that has to be cultivated by the power of the Holy Spirit because that's the nature of God. God is patient.
00:41:05
CODES
And if we are in Christ and we claim that we are sons and daughters of God, we have to mirror that image and that character of God, which is patience.
00:41:15
CODES
So talking about faith, right? To digress a little bit. ah think in Proverbs chapter three, verse five, that says that you trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
00:41:32
CODES
Right. And when I think about faith, right? i think faith comes from a place of conviction that's true yeah that you get to a point that okay i've come to realize that i can no longer control things by myself yeah i've come to a point that
00:41:58
CODES
I cannot rely so much on my own understanding and my own will and my own power. Because let's say I've done this over and over again and it never goes well. Yeah.
00:42:09
CODES
So now I need to let go of what I know, what I think I know, and then embrace and trust that God is going to take care of it.
00:42:22
CODES
Because a lot of times it's almost like we give the keys to God. Right. And then next minute we'll take it back.
00:42:34
CODES
Yeah. Give the keys to God. God is not doing anything. i'm waiting for Him to open the door. He can't open the door. I'm just going to take it back and open the door. Yeah.
00:42:45
CODES
Instead of giving that keys to God and understanding
00:42:50
CODES
that He will open the door when the right time is. And most times in our waiting season, when we start having that or developing that mindset of God, why?
00:43:06
CODES
Why is this happening to me? Why is this going on? That's when doubt comes in. You open that door for discouragement. It's true.
00:43:17
CODES
And depression sets in. Because the moment you start asking why, it's almost like I'm challenging. I'm challenging God. Like, why would you even let this happen to me?
00:43:32
CODES
Yeah. Like, I'm having doubts that He can't do it. So let me just go ahead and do it.
00:43:40
CODES
And in a lot of times people don't understand that the waiting season It's a season of pruning. It's a season of stretching.
00:43:52
CODES
Right. And God, maybe when it takes so long, is because God is just waiting on us to come to Him He's been calling us and we've been refusing to answer.
00:44:06
CODES
So now He has something to capture our hearts.
00:44:11
CODES
Hmm.
00:44:12
CODES
He's now saying, okay, I'm giving you every other thing and this is what you want the most. But I'm going to want you to wait because I want to mold you as I am the potter, you are the clay.
00:44:29
CODES
That's so true because how many times do we really wait in God for something that we're able to do on our own self, on our own strength?
00:44:40
CODES
The things that we think that we're able to do on our own strength is not by own strength because God give you gifted you with that ability to do things.
00:44:48
CODES
So the fact that you're doing things so proficiently, you're gifted in one area or the other and you get you get you get success in that area or you get promotions in that area because you're well gifted it.
Reliance on God and Grace in Waiting
00:45:01
CODES
at it to you, you didn't have to do too much to get that because you were just blessed with that talent. Or to some of us, we just have that connections that, oh, instead of praying about things before doing them, we just like go straight ahead to,
00:45:19
CODES
connect with that person that we think would be able to get us that gig or that person that will be able to get us that offer. We don't even present it to God first because we think that, oh, I already know this person. So what's the point?
00:45:31
CODES
I mean, it must be the will of God because I mean, already have this person. Do you ever even pray about it? But God is so patient and God is so loving that He just waits.
00:45:45
CODES
No matter how much that you try to think that you can be in control of your life and destiny, there will be a point. in life where you would really need God.
00:45:57
CODES
And I pray that in that situation, God doesn't bring you on your knees because it never looks pretty. Because there are times where, oh, you can be doing things on your own strength, but there will be a thing and that you desperately need so much that your strength, you've tried every effort and you could not attain it.
00:46:15
CODES
Guess what you're going to do? You're going to run back to God. and that's what she's saying that sometimes God just let things happen that will bring you back to Him because you've been away from Him you've been doing things on your own strength you've been doing things the way you want to do it because you it's you feel like it's in your power to do that and waiting on God or asking God is going to delay you from getting that but now You're being made to wait because your strength has failed you.
00:46:43
CODES
Your efforts have failed you. Your connections have failed you. And now you're waiting on God. So this is where God is going to cultivate that character of patience in your heart.
00:46:54
CODES
That reliance and dependence on Him alone and not in human connections. And not on how many followers you have or how many networking you have. Or how beautiful you look or how much money is in your bank account.
00:47:11
CODES
It's not that. And the basis of God giving you the gifts that He has promised you or the blessings He's given to you is not on the basis of how much that you've done for others. It's not on the basis of your own self-righteousness or how much how much you've worked for Him
00:47:27
CODES
It's not on the basis of, I've showed up for other people, so now it's my own time to get blessed. it's no It's not a reward. The blessings that God is blessing you with is an assignment and is a calling.
00:47:43
CODES
to be a blessing to other people right so it's not an entitlement that God doesn't really owe us anything He's doing that out of the goodness of His heart because really truly being honest we don't really deserve any good thing
00:48:02
CODES
with the human nature and the sinful disposition disposition we have, we don't really deserve any good thing, but God does good to us. He is good to us because that's His nature.
00:48:12
CODES
He doesn't really owe us anything. So His blessings that he's blessing us with is not contingent on how, how many years that you've worked for him. Cause there are some people who just give their life to Christ and they pray to God.
00:48:25
CODES
for a spouse and a life partner and they just get it ASAP, they just meet someone in their path immediately and you've been waiting for God since you've been with Him for years, decades and it seems like it's taking long, it's not contingent of how much time you've served Him or how much time, how long you've lived for Him but it's on his mercy If you get the blessing today, it's the mercy of God.
00:48:52
CODES
If you get it tomorrow, it's the mercy of God. If you get it in the next five years, it's still the mercy of God.
00:48:59
CODES
And let's not miss no also forget the path.
00:49:09
CODES
of grace right how we talked about that grace think grace is the extension of God's kindness and love it's true you know towards us as humans who don't even deserve it you know it's let's not also forget that grace is what empowers us to sustain that faith yeah Yes, we have faith, but we also need the grace of God to wait.
00:49:41
CODES
that's true if there is no grace right you'll be frustrated you will be frustrated yeah you will be angry and then you'll begin to question the existence of God if God is truly there with you if god truly exists and now you begin to compete with the other person saying God look what you did to this person and mind you i've been in a situation before I have said it over and over again, right?
00:50:14
CODES
Look at person A just got married. Person A just got a car. And here I am praying, praying and asking God to grant me the same thing.
00:50:28
CODES
And why is God taking so long? And I have to come to a place of repentance and understanding that Maybe they have a different work with God. I don't know. Yeah.
00:50:40
CODES
Different. And maybe that is just their own timing. Maybe God just decides to show them mercy.
00:50:48
CODES
And yes, they might not be living their are life according to God's plan. But the mercy of God extends to them as well. who So then I have to go back to repenting and asking God for mercy and telling God to give me grace to wait.
00:51:10
CODES
yeah Because... when we wait, like, like I earlier indicated, the waiting again is also a place of, it's almost like a place of,
00:51:28
CODES
character molding
Transformation and Spiritual Growth in Waiting
00:51:30
CODES
right it's a place where we shed mean picture for example i know this is a very gross example a snake right there's a particular season the snake gets to and then starts to shed old skin and then the new skin starts coming back yeah So the waiting season is a place where we shared all those character defects and where God begins to pick all those character defects yeah that has been in there for so long.
00:52:06
CODES
Right? It's it's it's ah ah it's painful. Right? Because as human beings, because of that innate nature, because of that sin nature, we get very impulsive.
00:52:22
CODES
We get very impulsive. We want things here and now. We want it to happen. Right? We always feel like we're very stubborn, filled with ego and pride. We want things like I said, we deserve them.
00:52:36
CODES
We don't deserve anything. I know people are probably going to like saying, oh my gosh. Yes. Believe it or not, you and I, we don't deserve anything.
00:52:47
CODES
Yeah. It is the mercy. It's an extension of the mercy and kindness of God. Of God's love towards us. Yeah. We really don't.
00:52:57
CODES
I like that snake analogy that you made. It's just similar to, the life of a caterpillar growing into a butterfly, right? Um, Um, I read that, I read up online that the caterpillar itself has, goes through this interesting,
00:53:16
CODES
stage of metamorphosis. It's like a very fascinating process where it transforms into a butterfly or a moth. So like involves four different four distinct stages but however it it comes to a stage where it undergoes a dramatic internal transformation developing into an adult form.
00:53:42
CODES
It also has a ah ah stage where It sheds its skin as it gets bigger before it eventually you know starts undergoing dramatic internal transformation.
00:53:54
CODES
That shedding of skin is really necessary. That shedding of spiritual skin is very necessary. There is a lot of weight that we have on that we cannot carry into the blessing that God is given us.
00:54:13
CODES
There's there' is a point that we have to come in to become lighter so that when we carry that blessing, it wouldn't be it wouldn't be a burden to us, but it will become ah ah an easy yoke to us because we've shed enough weight that will be able to give us the capacity to contain the blessing that God is bringing to us.
00:54:32
CODES
That shedding of bitterness.
00:54:36
CODES
You're seeing other people get what you're praying for. Mm-hmm.
00:54:43
CODES
You need to shut up that bitterness, be happy for them, be joyful with those that are joyful and weep with those who are weeping. The fact that they're blessed with what you have is not an opportunity for you to be envious, although that's a natural tendency that we're inclined to because of the depravity in us because of human nature.
00:55:07
CODES
But we bring it to God and ask God that God should purify us and cleanse us and sanctify us. That period of waiting is also a period of sanctification where you're constantly bringing all those things that are coming up, boiling up in your heart, the anger, the jealousy.
00:55:24
CODES
You're bringing it to God again for second work of grace, a third work grace, constantly bringing them for purification, for cleansing, so that when you do have that blessing,
00:55:37
CODES
Those weaknesses that you've defeated in your waiting season, you would be able to overcome them again when you do have the blessings. And other external factors are trying to compete with the blessing that God has blessed you with.
00:55:50
CODES
And sis, here's again something that I want to highlight. Right? The faith, the waiting seasons.
00:56:00
CODES
It's applicable for people who have surrendered their life to Christ. That's true. scene Obviously, you will find that you cannot see a character to defect.
00:56:14
CODES
You're spiritually blind. You won't recognize character defect that you have. The waiting season is applicable to people who have repented of their sins and they've gained that spiritual clarity, right?
00:56:35
CODES
they've gained that spiritual understanding and then God begins to show them the sins of the spirit that they struggle with. If you're living in sin, you will not have that capacity to have faith. You will not have that capacity to be in the waiting room.
00:56:55
CODES
yeah You first need to repent of your sins. right And God can usher you into that waiting room. Because again, even before you get to that waiting room, you have to first go through the process to a complete surrender.
00:57:17
CODES
Because when you surrender and you start walking through the process and God's start walking with you through the journey and you'll come to a place of complete conviction,
00:57:30
CODES
that i cannot be shaken and i trust that God would do what He says He will do right i mean the pastor always emphasized the waiting season for abraham he waited 25 years to have a child now God forbid if abraham was living in sin you think he would have come to a point of waiting no way He would have given up a long time ago.
00:57:57
CODES
But because he had an existing relationship with God. Through that process, he became the best friend of God. 25 years is not a joke.
00:58:07
CODES
It's the grace of God. That's where grace comes in again. The moral strength, the moral power. That's why I said it's not just about faith. You need grace to wait.
00:58:20
CODES
And I can guarantee you, of course, Abraham went through a lot of spiritual battles, a lot of spiritual attacks, right? That could have just made him say, you know what? I'm i'm tired. yeah You know, God, you've promised me this.
00:58:33
CODES
You've promised me that. And I haven't seen anything because we're often running towards seeing instead of believing. That's true. We emphasize so much of what we can see with our eyes, not so much of what we can believe that God can do.
00:58:49
CODES
which is why we give up so easily we get frustrated because human nature is i have to see first before i believe that's true because some people God is so merciful that God actually reveals to them what He has promised them right just like He did show well in moses case is different he saw the land of canaan but he wasn't able to enter it because of you know his anger out at at the when when he came down from mount sinai And some people get the privilege to see the promised land, their promised land or their promised destination.
00:59:30
CODES
And that is a faith strengthener by itself. But how about those who have not even seen anything, but God just tells them, this is what I would give you. This is what I will bless you with. And you just have to go with that.
00:59:45
CODES
God works with people differently, you know. But whichever case it is, regardless, regardless of the journey, we're also, the waiting is given. Either you're waiting in and and already revealed, promised,
01:00:06
CODES
Or you're waiting on just the fulfillment of the word of God that you've heard from God. He's spoken to you in something. Or He's shown you in the scriptures what He's promised you.
01:00:17
CODES
You've not seen it yet. You don't know what it looks like. Or you're waiting blindly. That really to me is faith Because you're hoping for things that you have not seen yet.
01:00:31
CODES
That's, that's like God raising us to have God kind of faith because God wants us to come to the point that regardless of whether we see something or not, He wants us to just go with the fact that He has said something.
01:00:51
CODES
It goes back to what the pastor had shared again on Sunday that just like parents, you know, like, a child would ask the dad for a toy and the dad would be like, oh, don't worry, I'm going to get you that toy tomorrow.
01:01:05
CODES
That child has grown to trust the dad and they just believe that their dad would get the toy because their dad is able to do it, right? It's just that childlike faith that, oh, he's promised you something, oh, my dad is still going to get it.
01:01:22
CODES
God wants us to have that childlike faith. Just go with the word that He said. He honors his word even more than his name. He said it. He just wants us to come to that level of trust in Him that we just believe what he has said, even without him having to show us anything.
01:01:42
CODES
Just going by. it makes Him just so happy. That when He tells us something. We'll believe it and bank on it. As a little child.
01:01:53
CODES
Oh how that makes the Lord so happy. It makes Him so so happy. Like. That's the way that He sees that you love him. And you value Him or you respect him.
01:02:05
CODES
When you trust His word. And obey His word. And believe His word. Even without seeing anything.
01:02:13
CODES
Here's another a vivid example. Right? I know and here in America, there's something called um a trust fall where you have people, maybe five, six, seven people behind you and they tie up your eyes.
01:02:28
CODES
Right?
Surrendering to God's Guidance and Sovereignty
01:02:28
CODES
and it it's going viral for a while And they say, hey, fall. right And you fall because in your mind, you trust that these people going to catch you.
01:02:39
CODES
who So in that process, why don't you learn to let go and fall into the hands of God?
01:02:51
CODES
Let Him guide you.
01:02:53
CODES
Allow Him to walk with you. trust that He will catch you that's only if you trust Him you trust Him He will definitely catch you i mean if this person can fall with her eyes blindfolded In the hands of strangers, they probably don't even know.
01:03:17
CODES
Right? Either because they're trying to form a trust friendship or trust relationship in the midst of complete people that they don't even know. They've never met before.
01:03:30
CODES
yeah blindfolded don't even know if these people are gonna drop them they're gonna fall and hurt themselves or get bruises right if we can trust other human beings to catch us why can't we just let go and let God catch us why do we have to hold on
01:03:56
CODES
to our own belief why do we have to hold on to the case why do we have to lean on our own understanding when we know for a fact that we're just humans with limitation why don't you trust and fall into the hands of God that is unlimited
01:04:19
CODES
and that goes to the aspect of having that deep understanding of God's sovereignty because to us sometimes in our minds we think that ah ah when when we go through stuff we're acting on the impulses of fear right we get so afraid that something bad is going to happen when we wait yeah or we wait for God's help or we do
01:04:46
CODES
The natural tendency is just to do things by our own self because we're able to to do it in our mind. But trust in God's sovereignty is knowing that no matter how bad it gets, let the worst happen.
01:05:04
CODES
It got nothing on you because the Lord is with you.
01:05:10
CODES
You know, it it comes to that level of the trust or relationship that you have with God. how how do you really treat your relationship with God because how however you value your relationship with God it will tell in in your trust in your waiting season it's really going to show how your relationship with God is is it shallow is it deeply rooted and intimate this is superficial
01:05:41
CODES
is it really superficial because God gives you whatever you want? And now that you're having to wait, it means that He's no longer faithful because He's always, you're always used to Him giving you what you desire. And you feel like, because you've lost that momentum of always getting those blessings, those connections, those contracts.
01:06:02
CODES
And the one time that you're waiting for one thing that he hasn't come through, it means that the other times that the other times doesn't really count. That's what our mind tells us, right? And it it kind of happens when you, when we as, as human beings, sorry guys, if you hear any background noise, by the way, but it comes to, it comes to show that when we do have that deep connection and, and
01:06:35
CODES
Sorry guys for that short break. We had to handle the distraction environment. Literally I'm praying and working for that studio environment where where we're able to just focus and concentrate and limit all the distractions in the environment. But we're working, we're just working right now in obedience regardless of the discomfort or whatever, whatever, however it is right now.
01:06:57
CODES
But anyways, ah ah before I got distracted or digressed, I was saying that The way your relationship with God is is going to show in your waiting season. if you're being so If your relationship with God has been so contingent and the blessings has been given to you.
01:07:14
CODES
When you're now made to wait for what you're asking God for. That you're not able to get in your own strength.
01:07:24
CODES
It seems like that flow, that momentum that was built over over the years or over over a period of time completely diminished. And then your motivation or desire for God starts to decrease because it looks like you have been serving him contingent on the blessing He's been giving to you.
01:07:43
CODES
Contingent on the good things and how convenient or how comfortable things we are. And that's one thing I love about the third world countries. Like they have it... worse sometimes some of them have to really walk on foot to go to church some of them have to really walk on foot to get to the nearest water water place to like get drinkable water that is safe enough to drink but we have a lot of things that are fingertips here we have cars we have
01:08:16
CODES
train stations we have buses we have transportation systems that we can be able to take to go to church but how many people do you see very devoted to go to church some people just show up to church only when there is like religious holidays like christmas or easter so that makes it like two times a year on average which is really sad You know, that's why when God gives them blessing, it only gives them a haphazard blessing.
Valuing Relationship with God Over Blessings
01:08:47
CODES
Yeah, because they're not doing it's almost like a transactional relationship with God. Yeah. i only show when I need something from you. And you know what? I'm literally going off tangent here, but it also goes into when God blesses us too.
01:09:04
CODES
With the thing that we ask for. And now we, we now make it an idol because to us, it feels like this blessing is becoming a God to us more than the God, the blesser of the blessing.
01:09:18
CODES
And now God has blessed you with a lot of money, but then giving back to God's work becomes a problem because you feel like the blessing is going to vanish when you give back to God. Right.
01:09:30
CODES
And then to some of us, we like get the dollar that is very frustrated. The dollar that has been through a lot of crisis. That dollar note that has been through World War I, World War II, World War III, and is barely surviving. It's ripped in half and stitched together with a tape or stapled together. And that's the one that you put in the offering box, because that's what God deserves, right? With the blessings that He's blessed you with.
01:09:56
CODES
Sorry, not trying to throw shades or anything, but just had to let it out there. say the truth In that waiting season, God is testing your heart. How do you value God? How do you value your relationship with with him?
01:10:10
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When He blesses you with something, what is the first thing that you do with that blessing? Do you give one tenth of that blessing back to him? Or do you hoard it because you fear that you're going to lose it again?
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Because is the blesser... of that thing, not able to give you, give it back to you again.
01:10:31
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God bless Abraham and also tested him with that blessing that he gave to him. If Abraham, if that attitude or right heart was not cultivated in a Abraham during that waiting season, if God had blessed him when he wasn't ready for that blessing, that blessing probably would have been idolized in my opinion.
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When God had tested him with giving back Isaac to him, hear what his thought process was. I mean, if God can bless me with Isaac and I give Isaac back to him, surely He's able to give me another a child.
01:11:08
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That's his mindset. He didn't know that God was already going to provide a lamb for sacrifice, but he was willing to give that back to God because he has built and cultivated that faith in God, that God who...
01:11:20
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takes this would give me back again because I mean He's the one who brought it to me He's gonna give me even much more there's more from where that came from but if we don't cultivate that sincerity and genuineness in our relationship with God now if He blesses us with a blessing where we have not learned to make Him a priority in our lives in this waiting season that blessing is really gonna wreck us big time And if for anything, God loves us so much that He does not want us to be separated from him.
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He doesn't want us to give us things prematurely in a way that would completely take us away or make us separated from Him because we idolize the things that He's given to us.
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and neglect him, you know, because our relationship with God is what is more important than the blessing He gives to us. Your relationship with God is what would stand the test of eternity, not the blessing.
01:12:25
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The blessing would fade away. The blessing will go away eventually, but your relationship with God is what stands. When you die is your relationship with God that guarantees you heaven.
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It's that relationship that you have with God and his grace and his mercy that brings you in unity with Him in eternity. Not the blessing that he's given to you. Not the gifts that he's given to you.
01:12:51
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Not the talents that he's given to you. It's your heart towards Him
01:12:58
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Yeah, so while you're praying for that blessing, while you're waiting, remember how are you valuing your relationship with God? Are you very transparent with Him you know, in this season, how you feel, what you're going through in your heart?
01:13:18
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How do you really bother God? Do you really, if he doesn't do things your own way, or if it doesn't grant you a hot desire, would you still continue to serve him?
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Would you not show up in church when that particular period that you've been waiting on God for, that job offer just skipped to you and he never came to you? Or that child you've been praying to God for so many years, you're not seeing anything forthcoming.
01:13:46
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You've been having your period every month, no show, nothing. You haven't skipped a period. Like for some reason, your period has become best friends with you. you're still getting your period and you don't know when the child is going come, would you still be serving God?
01:14:04
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Would you still be ushering in church? Would you still be sharing food in God's house? Would you still volunteer in that food department, food ministry?
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Would you still volunteer in that evangelism ministry? Would you still offer your time in that worship ministry? Would you still be devoted? would you rather to feel like you just want to stay at home depressed and wallow in your sorrow?
01:14:35
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Or go party somewhere because, I mean, church is not, God is not giving you what you ask for him. So what's the point? You feel that there's no point serving him. You skip some days of weekly services because you just don't feel like going because you're just depressed and sad that what you ask for is not coming through.
01:14:57
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I've learned that the hard way in my waiting season. I wouldn't say it's been, it's not been perfect. There are times where questioned. I'm being honest with you guys. We're going through it.
01:15:09
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There are times that I question, did I really hear right? Is this really for me?
01:15:15
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every time that I feel like giving up, His grace always reminds me of his promises. I feel that strong love in my heart that He has for me again.
01:15:28
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he encourages His spirit encourages me that it's not the end. Whether you have this now or not doesn't define my love for you. You're still useful to me, whether you have this or not.
Affirmation of God's Love and Promises
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I still love you, whether you have this blessing now or not.
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I still care about you, whether you have this blessing or not. I'm still going to show you mercy, even when the times that you fall and run back to me. Your failure or your success doesn't change who I am.
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I still love you. The moment that you run to me and ask me forgive for forgiveness, I have already forgiven you
01:16:17
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remember remembering His words and His soothing comfort, His sweet love for me in the midst of the trials and temptations. Listen, at some point you feel down, but at some point when you remember the love of God and you remember His mercies,
01:16:35
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It just takes you straight up to cloud nine, to be honest. Like there are days that I just like feel like the love of God is just sufficient enough. And there some times that you do feel that loneliness.
01:16:46
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It's given you're human. Sometimes I feel that loneliness. Sometimes I feel that need for that companionship, but I bring it to God and tell him to replace that with desire for Him
01:17:00
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It's all what you do with what you're feeling at every moment. What do you do with every situation, every temptation that you're faced with?
01:17:10
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You don't sin by the temptations, the tempting thoughts that come to your mind, but what you do with them, it's what matters. Do you indulge in it? And if you do indulge in it,
01:17:21
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Do you repent and run away from it and ask God for forgiveness? Or you just continue to do it rebelliously because in your mind, you're like, what's the point?
01:17:35
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If He's not going to give me what I desire, I can get it however I want, even though it's against His will. Is that really your mindset?
01:17:45
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All right, let me, I promise this is the last one. I think while you were talking, a few words just dropped into my head and I went to find the scripture.
01:17:58
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So Romans chapter four, verse 21, that says, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
01:18:13
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fully persuaded fully convinced that what God promised He will perform it He will bring it to pass amen and again highlighting back to what i said the only time you come to fully to be fully persuaded or fully convicted It's when you surrender your life completely to God.
01:18:45
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It's when you repent of your sin and embrace Him as your personal Lord and Savior. That is when the beginning of your journey, your conviction of faith starts.
01:19:00
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in um um Romans 4.21. I am fully persuaded that what God has promised is He will perform it.
01:19:14
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Doesn't matter what happens. Doesn't matter the storm. Doesn't matter the challenges. i am fully convinced. Very, very fully persuaded.
01:19:28
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Nothing can shake that. Because I've come to that point to know that everything that God promised, He will perform them.
01:19:41
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and that's true amen to that and if if you've fallen short in this waiting season there's still a room for mercy just run back to God and wherever you are right now and just asking for forgiveness if you've fallen short in your waiting season because you got tired of waiting and you just took matters into your hands and it's gotten you in some sort of trouble or the other Just go to God and ask him right now to forgive you. Acknowledge that you were wrong and you did that against His will.
01:20:18
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and Just tell him, I'm sorry, daddy. Forgive me. Give me the grace not to go back to this repetitive pattern of sinfulness. Help me to trust in your power and grace to redeem me even in my weakest moment, even in my vulnerable moment.
01:20:38
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And if you've fallen into any sin of lust, you can just still ask Him for forgiveness and ask him for the grace to overcome temptations and ask him for the grace to set boundaries so that way you're not able to fall back into the same sin again when you do set those boundaries.
01:20:59
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And know your ah ah triggers and know your weaknesses. Know where the enemy sets a trap for you Study those patterns and ask Him help you, give you the wisdom to set those boundaries.
01:21:12
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And remember, God is so merciful. When you come with a right heart and ask him for forgiveness, He will forgive you.
01:21:21
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And He receives you back and you continue with Him
01:21:26
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And never listen to the lie of the enemy that you're condemned. No, as long as you've you're alive and you've asked for forgiveness and believe that he's shown you mercy.
01:21:39
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Pray against that and silence those voices of condemnation. Because what the enemy does is, for some reason, he would make you think that because you sinned and you fall short of God's glory or you you did something wrong he's very strategic in knowing when to send errors.
01:22:01
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That even though that you've asked God for forgiveness, he would still be sending afflictions to you and make you think that God is punishing you because of the sin that you committed. No. Remember the enemy has been
01:22:16
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alive for a long time to study human behavior and study human pattern of thinking. So he knows sometimes the way that you think that, oh, if he brings this particular affliction strategically in a timely manner, exactly when you fall short of God's glory, exactly at the time that you sin,
01:22:36
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and act And even though you did ask for forgiveness, he's very timely and he knows and studies the patterns and knows the timing of when to strike to make you think that God is punishing you for your sins and make you think that, oh, see, even though you're asking for forgiveness, he's still punishing you because you sinned against him.
01:22:57
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The devil is like that. He will mess you up big time. But you need to know God for yourself and know the word of God that even the lawfully captive shall be delivered. Even though that you were lawfully captive to that mess, but you've asked God for forgiveness and you've asked Him for power to overcome those temptations and you've reconciled with God.
01:23:17
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God does not remember that sin against you anymore.
01:23:21
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Even though God does not remember those sins anymore against you, guess who still remembers it? the devil, because that's his job to always accuse and he will always bring that against you.
01:23:32
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But always know the word of God that God loves you so much. And when He's forgiven you and He's shown you mercy, He will not remember that against you anymore. Always know that truth and believe that He's forgiven you and shown you mercy and would not remember that against you.
01:23:52
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So when you do hear those voices of condemnation, Bring the word of God back. Say the word of God back to the devil because that's the way that the Lord defeated Satan when he tempted Him
01:24:07
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When the devil tells you that you're condemned, that God has not forgiven you, tell him that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who work not after the f flesh, but after the spirit, by the spirit.
01:24:18
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And let him know that it is written
01:24:23
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that even the lawful captive shall be delivered. Yes, you may have been lawfully captive to your mess or whatever it is that you went through, but it is also written that He will show mercy unto whom He will show mercy, that when we confess our sins, He is willing and just to forgive us of all unrighteousness.
01:24:41
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Remind the devil that in case in case that his wicked mind had lost that, Speak the word of God back to him and silence those voices and stand on that authority of the word of God.
01:24:54
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And those voices would vanish. It would go away. It's literally the word of God. That's the weapon that the enemy does not want us to use. And that's why he would always keep you away from the word of God and not knowing your rights.
01:25:07
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The word of God is the legal document that you have.
01:25:12
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in your identity and authority that you have in Christ Jesus. That's the legal document. All the promises, all the will, all your inheritance that God has given to you, all of them is imbibed in this word, this Bible, this beautiful love note that we have from the Lord.
01:25:30
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All the blessings that he's willed to us, our inheritance is in this love note called the Bible that is given to us. And that's the very one thing that the devil does not want us to know. So know the word of God for yourself and use it as a weapon against him.
01:25:43
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Read your inheritance, your rights to him and he will back off. He will flee.
01:25:51
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All right, guys, we've come to the end of this podcast and we hope that you are blessed and you're encouraged by this word that even though you're going through the darkest of all time, joy comes in the morning.
01:26:04
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There's a song in my heart that's been ringing in my spirit. Sorry, guys. so I'm trying to get over fight a cold right now, and so might really sound different, but I'm just going to sing this song anyways.
01:26:18
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I think Becky would note this song, You Don't Have to Worry. You don't have to worry.
01:26:24
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you didn't have to worry And don't you be afraid. Joy comes in the morning.
01:26:38
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Trouble may not last all day. For there is a friend in Jesus. Who would wipe your tears away And if your heart is broken, just lift your hands and say, that I can make it.
01:27:08
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know that I can stand. No matter what may come my way. My life is your hands.
01:27:23
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With Jesus I can take it. With Him I know I can stand. No matter what may come my way.
01:27:40
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life is in your hands. I know that I can make it. I know that I can stand.
01:27:57
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No matter what
01:28:00
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All you need to do is just to trust Him He will do it in Him own time. He has promised. Wouldn't He do it? He will.
01:28:12
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In His own time and not your time. and Let go and let God do His thing. Don't get in the way. You're just only going to frustrate the process.
01:28:24
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He's working. He may not really be loud in it. He works quietly, but he's doing it. And he will make all things beautiful in his time.
01:28:37
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Just wait and see. And those who were mocking you in your waiting season. they would see the goodness of the Lord. And with their mouth, they would testify that God is with you and God is good to you before their own eyes.
01:28:55
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But before we end this, my sister is going share a quick prayer with you guys. And I pray that you stay encouraged. Stay strong.
01:29:05
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Wonderful God, why thank you for such a beautiful moment to spend with you and with our listeners as well.
01:29:21
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And that all who will be viewing, all who be listening, Holy Spirit, I ask that you touch them,
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that you lay your hands upon them,
01:29:35
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in a And I stand on your word and your promises. When the word of God says that you spoke and it was done, you commanded it stood fast.
01:29:50
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And in Psalm 29, it says that the voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord divides the flame of fire. Hmm.
01:30:02
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I'm asking that your voice right now will eradicate every fear, every doubt, every discouragement, every frustration from the life of the viewers and those who are struggling with anxiety.
01:30:24
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Who are just hanging by a thread about to give up. Holy Spirit, let your voice speak to them. Encourage them.
01:30:37
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Heal them. Mend their hearts. Amen. Show them who you truly are. Yes, Lord. Convict them. Amen.
01:30:50
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Transform them. Mm-hmm. Those who are heavy with burden, heavy with pain, heavy with tears asking, where are you?
01:31:03
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Do you truly exist? Are you real? Are you hearing me? Look at all this that I'm going through. Let your voice speak to them. Amen.
01:31:14
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Let your power move in their lives. Amen. Touch them. Renew their mind. All those who their mind have been trapped with doubt, persistent doubt, and break down.
01:31:30
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The power of doubt. And I disarm. Every works of the enemy. their lives. o Holy Spirit touch them. ah ah Again renew their mind. Renew their spirit. Minister that to them.
01:31:45
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Let your voice break. Every shackles of the enemy in their lives. Break every doubt. Break every pain.
01:31:55
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Holy Spirit. You said that you abide in us. And you are the vine and we are the branches. And we can only produce fruits when you abide in us. Abide in these people.
01:32:09
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Take over their lives. Let their life not remain the same. Speak to them. amen Even those who be viewing. Capture their hearts.
01:32:21
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Capture their minds. Let them be so focused on you. Let them be ravished by your power. Captivate them. Draw them closer to you. Amen.
01:32:33
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Heal every heart. Heal every soul. Amen. Heal every spirit. Amen. Touch lives. Renew minds. Renew spirit. Renew body. Amen.
01:32:45
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Thank you for such a beautiful platform that we can be able to share and encourage one another. Thank you, Father. Thank you, sweet God. let the word not fall to the ground without doing what is meant to do amen holy spirit take over not my will but yours be done eradicate the flesh and let your word go through piercing their heart and healing them to the glory of your name not to my own glory god forbid father but to the glory of your name.
01:33:17
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Amen. Let your name be glorified. Thank you because I know that you've done it. Thank you, Lord. Thank you because I know that you've answered. In Jesus' mighty name I pray.
01:33:29
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Amen.
01:33:32
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Know that I can make it.
01:33:38
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Know that I can stand. No matter what may come my way, my life is in your hands.
01:33:54
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With Jesus i can take it, with Him know I can stand. No matter what may come my way, my life is your hands.
01:34:15
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With Jesus I can take it, with Him I know I can stand. No matter what may come my way,
01:34:33
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My life.
01:34:36
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It's in your hands, Lord.
01:34:40
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Thank you all for listening. We hope that you join us next time on our podcast. Until then, God bless you all. remain blessed Signing out.