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Better Together

God Chose YOU! - Episode 1107

October 21, 2025 | S7 E1107 | 52:34

God Chose YOU! - Episode 1107
God wanted and chose YOU first—long before anything you could do for Him. King David's story reminds us that God does not judge based on our performance; He sees our hearts. When we feel empty and uncertain, He empowers us by His grace. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000
#Chosenpeople #Hope #Healing #Faith #Transformation #Encouragement #Purpose #Emptiness #Sickness #Loss #Grief #Surrender #Brokenness #Insecurity #Rest #Obedience #Humility #Courage #Baptism #Sacrifice #PersonalStory #Overwhelming #LoveofGod

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Better Together | God Chose YOU! - Episode 1107 | October 21, 2025
  • - people judge us by our appearance and our abilities,
  • 00:00:00.590 --> 00:00:03.827
  • But god judges the heart.
  • 00:00:03.927 --> 00:00:06.396
  • When we feel like we're the least likely,
  • 00:00:06.396 --> 00:00:08.631
  • God invites us to be a part of his story.
  • 00:00:08.731 --> 00:00:11.267
  • Come on, let's talk about it.
  • 00:00:11.267 --> 00:00:12.502
  • [music]
  • 00:00:12.502 --> 00:00:39.963
  • - i prepared something for today,
  • 00:00:40.763 --> 00:00:42.465
  • And then i'm driving here, and i feel the lord say, "no.
  • 00:00:42.465 --> 00:00:49.539
  • Put down your notes, put down your thoughts,
  • 00:00:50.540 --> 00:00:54.477
  • And let's just be together and share with people what's
  • 00:00:54.577 --> 00:01:00.116
  • Actually true.”
  • 00:01:00.216 --> 00:01:01.718
  • Because i love that when jesus talks to that woman by the well,
  • 00:01:01.818 --> 00:01:06.122
  • When he defines worship in spirit and in truth, that word,
  • 00:01:06.122 --> 00:01:10.059
  • That greek word, aletheia, with nothing hidden,
  • 00:01:10.059 --> 00:01:13.930
  • That that's what true worship looks like.
  • 00:01:14.030 --> 00:01:16.666
  • And so, i have to be honest.
  • 00:01:16.666 --> 00:01:18.368
  • The last maybe year, it's been really hard for me.
  • 00:01:18.468 --> 00:01:22.906
  • And i've struggled to understand why.
  • 00:01:23.773 --> 00:01:26.009
  • I mean, i'll open my bible, but everything feels dry.
  • 00:01:26.009 --> 00:01:29.779
  • You know, i walk every morning with the lord.
  • 00:01:29.779 --> 00:01:34.317
  • I always have this thing of--
  • 00:01:34.417 --> 00:01:35.852
  • Because i think of how adam and eve used to walk,
  • 00:01:35.952 --> 00:01:38.254
  • That god would come and walk with them in the garden in the
  • 00:01:38.354 --> 00:01:40.290
  • Cool of the day.
  • 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:41.491
  • And so, every morning when i go out, i'm like, "lord,
  • 00:01:41.491 --> 00:01:44.093
  • Here's our walk.”
  • 00:01:44.093 --> 00:01:45.895
  • But he just seemed quiet, silent.
  • 00:01:45.995 --> 00:01:48.998
  • So, then, you go through this whole thing of, you know, like,
  • 00:01:48.998 --> 00:01:51.801
  • Is there something in my life that's not pleasing to you?
  • 00:01:51.801 --> 00:01:54.103
  • Do i have an attitude, or is there anything?
  • 00:01:54.103 --> 00:01:57.807
  • Just show me, lord, and i'll bring it to you.
  • 00:01:57.907 --> 00:02:02.345
  • But then, last night, i was sitting with--
  • 00:02:02.345 --> 00:02:06.549
  • My son just gave me a new bible, which i love.
  • 00:02:06.649 --> 00:02:09.719
  • I mean, what a gift from a son.
  • 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:12.021
  • I just love that.
  • 00:02:12.021 --> 00:02:13.156
  • But i was--
  • 00:02:13.156 --> 00:02:14.490
  • So, i was looking for a couple of verses that i always love and
  • 00:02:14.490 --> 00:02:17.093
  • To make sure i had them.
  • 00:02:17.093 --> 00:02:18.595
  • You know, underlined in this one.
  • 00:02:18.595 --> 00:02:20.930
  • But i came across this, and i had forgotten the
  • 00:02:21.030 --> 00:02:24.400
  • Occasion of this.
  • 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:25.702
  • And it's in john 15:16.
  • 00:02:25.802 --> 00:02:29.038
  • And this is what it says.
  • 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:30.907
  • "you did not choose me, but i chose you and appointed you that
  • 00:02:31.007 --> 00:02:36.779
  • You should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should
  • 00:02:36.779 --> 00:02:40.316
  • Remain, that whatever you ask the father in my name
  • 00:02:40.316 --> 00:02:43.186
  • He may give you.”
  • 00:02:43.186 --> 00:02:44.320
  • Felt the lord say, "do you remember that verse?”
  • 00:02:44.320 --> 00:02:47.023
  • And it took me back to i'm 16 years old,
  • 00:02:47.023 --> 00:02:49.826
  • And i gave my life to christ when i was 11,
  • 00:02:49.926 --> 00:02:52.962
  • But i really feel it's time to be baptized.
  • 00:02:53.062 --> 00:02:54.998
  • I feel i have this understanding of the importance
  • 00:02:54.998 --> 00:02:58.901
  • Of being buried with christ in baptism and raised,
  • 00:02:59.002 --> 00:03:01.604
  • Newness of life.
  • 00:03:01.604 --> 00:03:03.740
  • And so, in our little scottish baptist church,
  • 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:06.442
  • We would always meet the pastor in his study.
  • 00:03:06.442 --> 00:03:08.711
  • There was going to be five of us being baptized,
  • 00:03:08.711 --> 00:03:10.880
  • And we have on our white robes.
  • 00:03:10.980 --> 00:03:12.615
  • And our family's been in that church for generations.
  • 00:03:12.715 --> 00:03:15.451
  • My great-great-great-grandfather
  • 00:03:15.551 --> 00:03:17.487
  • Carved the communion table.
  • 00:03:17.487 --> 00:03:19.455
  • And i walk into the church that night,
  • 00:03:19.455 --> 00:03:21.024
  • And we all just sit in the front row, and i start to sob.
  • 00:03:21.024 --> 00:03:25.094
  • I mean, not nice, you know, meaningful weeping.
  • 00:03:25.194 --> 00:03:27.997
  • I mean, like ugly crying, like sobbing so much so that people
  • 00:03:28.097 --> 00:03:32.468
  • Around me are a little concerned.
  • 00:03:32.468 --> 00:03:34.203
  • And i'm like, "no, i'm okay, i'm okay.”
  • 00:03:34.304 --> 00:03:36.272
  • But i just weep.
  • 00:03:36.372 --> 00:03:37.573
  • So much of the stuff in life that makes no sense comes
  • 00:03:37.573 --> 00:03:41.678
  • To me that night.
  • 00:03:41.678 --> 00:03:43.046
  • You know, i'm thinking of the fact that my mom's the only one
  • 00:03:43.046 --> 00:03:45.081
  • There because my dad died by suicide.
  • 00:03:45.081 --> 00:03:47.817
  • And i'm thinking of all this stuff,
  • 00:03:47.817 --> 00:03:50.353
  • And i'm looking at the people in this church.
  • 00:03:50.453 --> 00:03:52.622
  • You know, my grandmother's there,
  • 00:03:52.722 --> 00:03:54.223
  • And just all the people i've known since i was a little girl.
  • 00:03:54.223 --> 00:03:58.027
  • And it's my turn to walk up the steps and get into
  • 00:03:58.127 --> 00:04:01.030
  • The baptismal pool.
  • 00:04:01.030 --> 00:04:02.598
  • And our pastor, his name was edwin gunn,
  • 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:05.335
  • Was just the most wonderful, darling man.
  • 00:04:05.435 --> 00:04:08.671
  • He had a real heart for the teenagers in the church.
  • 00:04:08.671 --> 00:04:12.241
  • And as i go into the water, he looks in my eyes and he says,
  • 00:04:12.342 --> 00:04:15.611
  • "sheila, i asked the lord for a word for you.
  • 00:04:15.712 --> 00:04:18.181
  • And this is what he gave me.
  • 00:04:18.181 --> 00:04:20.283
  • 'you did not choose me, but i chose you and appointed you that
  • 00:04:21.551 --> 00:04:26.723
  • You should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit
  • 00:04:26.723 --> 00:04:29.826
  • Should remain.'“
  • 00:04:29.826 --> 00:04:31.794
  • And as i went down into the water that night and i came back
  • 00:04:31.894 --> 00:04:36.699
  • Up, my mom said i actually yelled out loud.
  • 00:04:36.699 --> 00:04:40.470
  • But it was this sense of, "you can go into the water thinking
  • 00:04:41.738 --> 00:04:46.676
  • You've things to do.
  • 00:04:46.676 --> 00:04:47.910
  • You know, you bring me this, get that right,
  • 00:04:48.010 --> 00:04:49.912
  • Get that right, that.
  • 00:04:49.912 --> 00:04:51.781
  • But when you come out of the water, i want you to remember,
  • 00:04:51.781 --> 00:04:54.684
  • No, this was not your idea.
  • 00:04:54.684 --> 00:04:57.286
  • You know, it wasn't like you stumbled across me
  • 00:04:57.286 --> 00:04:59.288
  • And thought, oh, yeah.
  • 00:04:59.288 --> 00:05:01.824
  • I saw all those moments in your childhood where you walked in
  • 00:05:01.924 --> 00:05:06.829
  • Your sleep, where, you know, all sorts of dark thoughts came,
  • 00:05:06.829 --> 00:05:11.134
  • All those things.
  • 00:05:11.134 --> 00:05:12.535
  • I chose you.
  • 00:05:12.635 --> 00:05:13.770
  • I saw you.
  • 00:05:13.770 --> 00:05:14.937
  • You are literally the least likely, but i saw you,
  • 00:05:14.937 --> 00:05:18.975
  • And i saw your heart.”
  • 00:05:18.975 --> 00:05:20.243
  • And i remember sharing that with my mom when i got
  • 00:05:20.343 --> 00:05:22.612
  • Home that night.
  • 00:05:22.612 --> 00:05:23.746
  • And she said, "you know, it's interesting.
  • 00:05:23.746 --> 00:05:24.847
  • When you were little--”
  • 00:05:24.847 --> 00:05:26.482
  • My sister didn't appear to be impacted by my father's suicide.
  • 00:05:26.482 --> 00:05:30.753
  • She just buried it all.
  • 00:05:30.753 --> 00:05:32.155
  • And my brother was too little.
  • 00:05:32.255 --> 00:05:34.257
  • She said, "you were the one who walked in your
  • 00:05:34.357 --> 00:05:36.492
  • Sleep every night.
  • 00:05:36.492 --> 00:05:37.660
  • I had to build a gate at the top of the stairs so you
  • 00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:39.495
  • Wouldn't fall down the stairs.”
  • 00:05:39.495 --> 00:05:41.297
  • And she said, "when you would be asleep, i would come in.”
  • 00:05:41.397 --> 00:05:44.100
  • And she said, "i would lay my hands on you,
  • 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:46.669
  • And i would say these words, 'lord,
  • 00:05:46.669 --> 00:05:49.672
  • For this one least likely to succeed, i lift her up to you.'"
  • 00:05:49.772 --> 00:05:55.578
  • - i remember in my journal at school,
  • 00:05:56.446 --> 00:05:59.882
  • The kind of yearbook thing, one of my friends wrote,
  • 00:05:59.982 --> 00:06:03.719
  • "least likely to ever travel or do anything.”
  • 00:06:03.820 --> 00:06:06.923
  • And she kind of meant it as a little bit of a joke,
  • 00:06:07.023 --> 00:06:09.192
  • But there was a lot of truth in it because i was just--
  • 00:06:09.192 --> 00:06:12.361
  • I was very shy.
  • 00:06:12.829 --> 00:06:13.930
  • I had a hard time with transportation.
  • 00:06:13.930 --> 00:06:18.000
  • I couldn't go for more than two miles in a car
  • 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:20.136
  • Without throwing up.
  • 00:06:20.136 --> 00:06:21.270
  • Just all the trauma from my childhood,
  • 00:06:21.370 --> 00:06:23.473
  • From my dad's suicide.
  • 00:06:23.473 --> 00:06:25.741
  • And so, there really was a sense of you're kind of the last
  • 00:06:25.842 --> 00:06:29.412
  • Person god would ever choose.
  • 00:06:29.412 --> 00:06:30.913
  • And now, i look at my phone.
  • 00:06:31.013 --> 00:06:33.483
  • It says i've got over 4 million miles on american airlines,
  • 00:06:33.483 --> 00:06:37.019
  • Simply because god loves to choose the least likely.
  • 00:06:37.119 --> 00:06:40.423
  • He chooses the one that nobody else chooses so that it's really
  • 00:06:40.523 --> 00:06:43.593
  • Clear to everybody this is god that's doing this.
  • 00:06:43.593 --> 00:06:46.562
  • I never for a moment think to myself, "well,
  • 00:06:46.662 --> 00:06:50.566
  • The reason god chose me is because i'm just so
  • 00:06:50.566 --> 00:06:52.869
  • Jolly gifted.”
  • 00:06:52.869 --> 00:06:54.203
  • No, i get it really clearly, that god chose me because he is
  • 00:06:54.203 --> 00:06:57.607
  • Way bigger in me than i am in myself.
  • 00:06:57.607 --> 00:07:01.043
  • - last night and this morning, going out on my walk with the
  • 00:07:01.143 --> 00:07:04.080
  • Lord, it was like, "you know what?
  • 00:07:04.080 --> 00:07:05.948
  • Sheila, this wasn't ever your idea.
  • 00:07:06.048 --> 00:07:08.351
  • I've always been with you.
  • 00:07:08.451 --> 00:07:10.152
  • And there will be times when you're so aware of my presence,
  • 00:07:10.253 --> 00:07:13.389
  • There'll be times when every word jumps off the page,
  • 00:07:13.389 --> 00:07:16.526
  • And there'll be times when you just take the next step.”
  • 00:07:16.626 --> 00:07:19.462
  • But there's something so profound to me about knowing
  • 00:07:19.562 --> 00:07:23.132
  • That this was all god's idea, that in all your dark moments,
  • 00:07:23.132 --> 00:07:28.471
  • And you're lying in your hospital bed,
  • 00:07:28.571 --> 00:07:31.374
  • In those desperate prayers, in the word of what's happening,
  • 00:07:31.474 --> 00:07:37.580
  • He's there.
  • 00:07:37.980 --> 00:07:39.482
  • For everybody right now who's watching,
  • 00:07:39.582 --> 00:07:41.651
  • I just want you to know he's here.
  • 00:07:41.651 --> 00:07:44.153
  • He is here.
  • 00:07:44.554 --> 00:07:45.855
  • So, i sit here this morning just grateful and feeling like
  • 00:07:45.855 --> 00:07:51.961
  • I'm a child again.
  • 00:07:51.961 --> 00:07:54.530
  • - wow.
  • 00:07:54.830 --> 00:07:55.965
  • Thank you, jesus.
  • 00:07:55.965 --> 00:07:57.266
  • - yeah, he's amazing.
  • 00:07:57.266 --> 00:07:58.834
  • - beautiful.
  • 00:07:59.235 --> 00:08:00.336
  • - it's easy to forget, isn't it,
  • 00:08:00.336 --> 00:08:01.671
  • That the thing that gets us in is the thing that sustains us?
  • 00:08:01.671 --> 00:08:05.608
  • Because sometimes it's like we have the--
  • 00:08:05.708 --> 00:08:07.476
  • Thank you for sharing.
  • 00:08:07.577 --> 00:08:08.744
  • I'm so touched.
  • 00:08:08.744 --> 00:08:09.879
  • You can feel him choosing you all over again,
  • 00:08:09.979 --> 00:08:12.048
  • Even as we're talking.
  • 00:08:12.048 --> 00:08:13.215
  • - yes, i definitely feel that.
  • 00:08:13.215 --> 00:08:16.719
  • - it's like when we're fresh, we know we can't do it on our
  • 00:08:16.719 --> 00:08:19.422
  • Own, but sometimes the more that life happens, the more we think,
  • 00:08:19.422 --> 00:08:22.625
  • "oh, i've been walking with him.
  • 00:08:22.625 --> 00:08:24.126
  • I should be more--
  • 00:08:24.126 --> 00:08:25.261
  • I should be more x-ys.
  • 00:08:25.261 --> 00:08:26.495
  • I should be more--
  • 00:08:26.495 --> 00:08:27.597
  • I should know better by now.”
  • 00:08:27.597 --> 00:08:28.731
  • And it's almost like this--
  • 00:08:28.731 --> 00:08:30.232
  • You know, the letter to the galatians where it's like,
  • 00:08:31.400 --> 00:08:33.436
  • "have you forgotten?
  • 00:08:33.436 --> 00:08:34.604
  • You're going back into the yoke of slavery,
  • 00:08:34.604 --> 00:08:37.340
  • But it's for freedom that you've been set free.
  • 00:08:37.340 --> 00:08:39.575
  • What's the freedom?”
  • 00:08:39.575 --> 00:08:40.710
  • I didn't choose myself.
  • 00:08:40.710 --> 00:08:42.078
  • I don't save myself.
  • 00:08:42.078 --> 00:08:43.813
  • This isn't my idea.
  • 00:08:43.813 --> 00:08:45.214
  • I'm his idea.
  • 00:08:45.214 --> 00:08:46.916
  • It's on him.
  • 00:08:46.916 --> 00:08:48.317
  • So, we stay close, and he continues that work in us,
  • 00:08:48.417 --> 00:08:53.456
  • But we're not trying to leave dependence.
  • 00:08:53.456 --> 00:08:55.458
  • You know, and i just think what a beautiful invitation
  • 00:08:56.626 --> 00:08:59.228
  • For all of us.
  • 00:08:59.228 --> 00:09:00.896
  • I look at you and i see such strength,
  • 00:09:00.997 --> 00:09:03.633
  • Such unbelievable wisdom, revelation,
  • 00:09:03.633 --> 00:09:06.602
  • Like just such a hero.
  • 00:09:06.602 --> 00:09:07.937
  • And what it does to me to hear you say,
  • 00:09:07.937 --> 00:09:10.439
  • "i'm still connected to the vine,
  • 00:09:10.439 --> 00:09:12.608
  • And that's the point of my strength.”
  • 00:09:12.608 --> 00:09:14.710
  • That's the story, regardless.
  • 00:09:14.810 --> 00:09:16.379
  • It makes me think about the song of solomon 8,
  • 00:09:16.379 --> 00:09:18.948
  • Where there's this longing, there's this whole story,
  • 00:09:19.048 --> 00:09:22.018
  • And at the very end it says, "who is this coming up from the
  • 00:09:22.018 --> 00:09:25.454
  • Wilderness leaning on her beloved?”
  • 00:09:25.454 --> 00:09:28.324
  • That's not the first chapter.
  • 00:09:28.424 --> 00:09:29.992
  • This is the last one.
  • 00:09:29.992 --> 00:09:32.395
  • This is at the very end.
  • 00:09:32.495 --> 00:09:34.397
  • Leaning like that was the goal the whole time was to come up
  • 00:09:34.497 --> 00:09:38.300
  • From the wilderness not self-sufficient,
  • 00:09:38.300 --> 00:09:40.803
  • Not like i've got it all together, not i'm always--
  • 00:09:40.803 --> 00:09:43.639
  • I've got this, and i'm always on, and i'm on and i'm on,
  • 00:09:43.739 --> 00:09:46.976
  • You can count on me, but the goal here of love.
  • 00:09:46.976 --> 00:09:50.379
  • Who that is coming up leaning on her beloved?
  • 00:09:50.479 --> 00:09:55.117
  • I just want to say, sheila, thank you for showing us what it
  • 00:09:55.117 --> 00:09:58.020
  • Looks like to lean.
  • 00:09:58.020 --> 00:09:59.155
  • Thanks for coming today.
  • 00:09:59.155 --> 00:10:00.423
  • You could come with all of your amazing inspiring notes,
  • 00:10:00.423 --> 00:10:03.859
  • And they always are so stunning.
  • 00:10:03.859 --> 00:10:05.628
  • You came up leaning.
  • 00:10:05.628 --> 00:10:07.930
  • We need to remember we're not trying to escape from the lean.
  • 00:10:08.030 --> 00:10:12.702
  • We're not trying to grow out of our dependence.
  • 00:10:12.702 --> 00:10:16.105
  • He chose us, and he still is choosing us.
  • 00:10:16.205 --> 00:10:19.475
  • He's still choosing.
  • 00:10:19.475 --> 00:10:20.910
  • - when the lord has asked me to step out in faith,
  • 00:10:21.944 --> 00:10:24.814
  • I would say the insecurities that have popped up in the midst
  • 00:10:24.914 --> 00:10:28.117
  • Of that are just mainly, but what about me?
  • 00:10:28.117 --> 00:10:31.954
  • What about all the things about me that would disqualify me?
  • 00:10:31.954 --> 00:10:34.323
  • What about how i get afraid?
  • 00:10:34.323 --> 00:10:37.493
  • What about how i say the wrong things?
  • 00:10:37.493 --> 00:10:39.495
  • What about, what about, what about?
  • 00:10:39.495 --> 00:10:41.363
  • And it's eyes kind of looking down at myself.
  • 00:10:41.464 --> 00:10:45.434
  • But the reality is he is our great qualifier.
  • 00:10:45.534 --> 00:10:49.405
  • I don't have what it takes.
  • 00:10:49.405 --> 00:10:51.240
  • He's not surprised by that.
  • 00:10:51.340 --> 00:10:53.008
  • But in these points of weakness,
  • 00:10:53.109 --> 00:10:55.444
  • The lord has this opportunity to shine, to rise up,
  • 00:10:55.544 --> 00:10:59.181
  • To work through.
  • 00:10:59.181 --> 00:11:00.316
  • And so, oftentimes when i feel disqualified,
  • 00:11:00.316 --> 00:11:04.086
  • I know this is probably him, and he probably would like to show
  • 00:11:04.086 --> 00:11:07.990
  • Off through the areas where i just don't have it on my own.
  • 00:11:07.990 --> 00:11:10.960
  • - reminds me of moses, how, you know, he, in exodus,
  • 00:11:12.061 --> 00:11:16.599
  • He's known to be the man that was face-to-face
  • 00:11:16.599 --> 00:11:20.369
  • With god, right?
  • 00:11:20.369 --> 00:11:21.470
  • And you see that in exodus 33.
  • 00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:23.439
  • But then, in numbers, when god talks about moses, you know,
  • 00:11:23.539 --> 00:11:26.675
  • This is a bit later, he says--
  • 00:11:26.675 --> 00:11:29.612
  • The literal translation in the hebrew is mouth-to-mouth.
  • 00:11:29.612 --> 00:11:34.216
  • I speak directly to him, and that directly is translated as
  • 00:11:34.316 --> 00:11:40.122
  • Mouth to mouth.
  • 00:11:40.122 --> 00:11:41.290
  • And so, you see this man that, you know,
  • 00:11:41.390 --> 00:11:44.093
  • He starts face to face.
  • 00:11:44.193 --> 00:11:45.895
  • I mean, he actually even starts, you know,
  • 00:11:45.995 --> 00:11:48.364
  • Trembling before a burning bush, you know?
  • 00:11:48.364 --> 00:11:51.100
  • And then, as he just goes on this wilderness journey,
  • 00:11:51.100 --> 00:11:56.305
  • He's referred to as somebody that's mouth to mouth, with god,
  • 00:11:56.405 --> 00:12:00.409
  • You know, and how that dependence just grew.
  • 00:12:00.409 --> 00:12:03.813
  • It wasn't competence that grew.
  • 00:12:03.813 --> 00:12:06.382
  • I think we would all love to have competence, you know,
  • 00:12:06.382 --> 00:12:11.520
  • But it was the intimacy and the dependence.
  • 00:12:11.520 --> 00:12:14.890
  • And i think what you're reminding us of right now is
  • 00:12:14.890 --> 00:12:18.327
  • Something that we'll probably be reminded of for the rest of our
  • 00:12:18.327 --> 00:12:21.730
  • Lives, which is that we will never outgrow dependence.
  • 00:12:21.730 --> 00:12:26.101
  • If anything, the more aware of ourselves we are,
  • 00:12:26.202 --> 00:12:30.072
  • The more aware of god we must be in order to survive.
  • 00:12:30.072 --> 00:12:35.878
  • - he chooses those who are dependent on him.
  • 00:12:35.978 --> 00:12:38.447
  • I think that's probably the pedigree he's looking for is
  • 00:12:38.547 --> 00:12:43.786
  • Don't put your faith in this thing or that thing.
  • 00:12:43.886 --> 00:12:46.789
  • People may be watching today, they're thinking,
  • 00:12:46.889 --> 00:12:48.991
  • I've never been chosen for anything.
  • 00:12:48.991 --> 00:12:51.360
  • And well, i think that puts you in the running because god looks
  • 00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:56.432
  • At the inside, not the outside.
  • 00:12:56.432 --> 00:12:58.534
  • You don't have to have the right family connections.
  • 00:12:58.534 --> 00:13:00.803
  • You don't have to have been born in the right country.
  • 00:13:00.903 --> 00:13:03.172
  • You don't have to speak the right language.
  • 00:13:03.172 --> 00:13:06.075
  • You don't have to have graduated from the best school.
  • 00:13:06.075 --> 00:13:10.079
  • God looks at what's inside.
  • 00:13:10.179 --> 00:13:11.881
  • Are you leaning on me?
  • 00:13:11.881 --> 00:13:13.349
  • The more willing you are to be dependent on god and to just
  • 00:13:13.449 --> 00:13:18.520
  • Echo what he says, the more excited, i believe,
  • 00:13:18.621 --> 00:13:23.125
  • The spirit of god is to overshadow that and to plant
  • 00:13:23.125 --> 00:13:27.096
  • Himself inside of us.
  • 00:13:27.096 --> 00:13:28.831
  • He loves to conceive impossible things.
  • 00:13:28.931 --> 00:13:31.700
  • And when you already have your womb full of someone else's
  • 00:13:31.800 --> 00:13:35.404
  • Seed, some other idea, he's not going to compete with that.
  • 00:13:35.404 --> 00:13:38.874
  • It's like, "i need an empty womb.
  • 00:13:39.675 --> 00:13:41.710
  • I need you to bring me vessels that are empty so
  • 00:13:41.810 --> 00:13:44.446
  • That i can fill.”
  • 00:13:44.446 --> 00:13:45.581
  • Every miracle always started with the emptiness.
  • 00:13:45.581 --> 00:13:49.018
  • - that's your greatest asset.
  • 00:13:49.018 --> 00:13:53.055
  • - well, in the psalms, david talks about the sacrifice that
  • 00:13:53.055 --> 00:13:56.592
  • God loves is a broken and contrite spirit.
  • 00:13:56.592 --> 00:14:00.696
  • And god isn't looking at what man looks at.
  • 00:14:00.796 --> 00:14:03.899
  • He doesn't look at your pedigree, or your education,
  • 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:07.603
  • Or your parentage, or even where you grew up,
  • 00:14:07.603 --> 00:14:11.507
  • Or where you were born.
  • 00:14:11.507 --> 00:14:13.275
  • He doesn't look at what you look like.
  • 00:14:13.275 --> 00:14:16.145
  • What god is looking for is a willing vessel,
  • 00:14:16.245 --> 00:14:19.949
  • Someone who says, "lord i want to give you my life.
  • 00:14:20.049 --> 00:14:23.218
  • With all of my education, with all my talents,
  • 00:14:23.319 --> 00:14:25.854
  • With all of my weaknesses, whatever it is,
  • 00:14:25.854 --> 00:14:28.390
  • I want to be all yours.”
  • 00:14:28.390 --> 00:14:30.659
  • God is looking for someone that he can use, that he can direct,
  • 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:34.797
  • That he can steer, someone he can correct, and inspire,
  • 00:14:34.797 --> 00:14:38.167
  • And elevate.
  • 00:14:38.167 --> 00:14:39.468
  • Ultimately, god's looking for someone that he can empower,
  • 00:14:39.468 --> 00:14:42.338
  • Someone totally dependent on him.
  • 00:14:42.338 --> 00:14:44.406
  • I think the more accolades we get in life, it's easier to be,
  • 00:14:44.406 --> 00:14:48.477
  • You know, less dependent on the spirit of god,
  • 00:14:48.477 --> 00:14:52.548
  • But that's why we have to continually seek to say, "god,
  • 00:14:52.648 --> 00:14:56.986
  • What's your list?
  • 00:14:56.986 --> 00:14:58.287
  • What are you looking for from me?
  • 00:14:58.387 --> 00:15:00.089
  • Because you're the one i want to please above all.
  • 00:15:00.089 --> 00:15:02.658
  • - god wants us to do life together because we are
  • 00:15:03.726 --> 00:15:06.095
  • Better together.
  • 00:15:06.095 --> 00:15:07.429
  • - connect with us on social media and join a community that
  • 00:15:07.429 --> 00:15:10.332
  • Encourages praise for one another.
  • 00:15:10.332 --> 00:15:12.534
  • - we can't wait for you to join us.
  • 00:15:12.534 --> 00:15:14.803
  • - let's keep the conversation going.
  • 00:15:15.637 --> 00:15:17.740
  • You can find the better together podcast on your
  • 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:20.209
  • Favorite listening platform.
  • 00:15:20.209 --> 00:15:21.877
  • Subscribe today.
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  • Subscribe today.
  • 00:15:26.007 --> 00:15:26.149
  • [music]
  • 00:15:26.483 --> 00:15:29.719
  • - i think of the rich, young ruler who came to jesus.
  • 00:15:29.719 --> 00:15:33.089
  • That scripture has been so out of kilter.
  • 00:15:33.089 --> 00:15:36.326
  • He says, "well, then go and sell all that you have.”
  • 00:15:36.426 --> 00:15:38.995
  • And he went away going, "well, how do i do that?
  • 00:15:38.995 --> 00:15:41.998
  • Why would i do that?”
  • 00:15:41.998 --> 00:15:44.067
  • And so, then it was wrong to be rich, because--
  • 00:15:44.167 --> 00:15:47.837
  • - that wasn't even the point.
  • 00:15:47.837 --> 00:15:50.407
  • - it was that he was--
  • 00:15:50.407 --> 00:15:51.541
  • - driven by that.
  • 00:15:51.541 --> 00:15:52.776
  • - driven by that and dependent on the riches that he--
  • 00:15:52.776 --> 00:15:57.547
  • - there's no room for jesus.
  • 00:15:57.547 --> 00:15:59.749
  • - you know, and so that emptiness, man, i just, i love--
  • 00:15:59.849 --> 00:16:04.921
  • You know, the little widow that was her greatest asset was all
  • 00:16:04.921 --> 00:16:10.727
  • The empty jar.
  • 00:16:10.727 --> 00:16:12.695
  • Go find them all.
  • 00:16:12.695 --> 00:16:15.131
  • Collect them all.
  • 00:16:15.131 --> 00:16:16.399
  • Because from the beginning, what does it say?
  • 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:19.402
  • In the beginning, the world without form, and it was void.
  • 00:16:19.402 --> 00:16:24.040
  • And god filled it up.
  • 00:16:24.140 --> 00:16:26.342
  • He always works from nothing.
  • 00:16:26.342 --> 00:16:29.212
  • That's why no matter what situation you're in,
  • 00:16:29.212 --> 00:16:33.450
  • God will take you to the emptiness.
  • 00:16:33.450 --> 00:16:37.053
  • Gideon, look at gideon.
  • 00:16:37.153 --> 00:16:38.421
  • He had 300,000 men.
  • 00:16:38.421 --> 00:16:40.390
  • You know, god took away.
  • 00:16:40.390 --> 00:16:43.326
  • I will diminish your resources to where i get the
  • 00:16:43.326 --> 00:16:47.263
  • Glory for this.
  • 00:16:47.263 --> 00:16:48.431
  • It's an inheritance from your father.
  • 00:16:48.531 --> 00:16:51.801
  • That is so valuable.
  • 00:16:51.801 --> 00:16:53.303
  • So, i'll make you empty if i have to so that i can fill it.
  • 00:16:53.303 --> 00:16:58.241
  • You know, we talk about god filling in all
  • 00:16:58.341 --> 00:17:00.743
  • The void, all the--
  • 00:17:00.743 --> 00:17:01.878
  • That's why brokenness is so beautiful for him.
  • 00:17:01.878 --> 00:17:04.614
  • "i want to fill in all the gaps, all the lonely parts,
  • 00:17:04.614 --> 00:17:08.384
  • All the broken parts of your life.
  • 00:17:08.485 --> 00:17:10.820
  • I am the mender of the broken hearted.
  • 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:13.890
  • I want to fill those spaces on the inside of you.”
  • 00:17:13.990 --> 00:17:17.894
  • You know, so i always say the fire is our friend, you know,
  • 00:17:17.994 --> 00:17:25.101
  • Because it's the greatest thing that can happen to us.
  • 00:17:25.201 --> 00:17:28.404
  • That is the life of faith, is to be on fire without being
  • 00:17:28.505 --> 00:17:31.808
  • Burned, but being consumed.
  • 00:17:31.808 --> 00:17:34.611
  • - well, that means you have to keep surrendering a fuel.
  • 00:17:34.611 --> 00:17:36.880
  • - surrendering.
  • 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:38.114
  • - and i think that's what people need to be able to make
  • 00:17:38.114 --> 00:17:39.816
  • The connection.
  • 00:17:39.816 --> 00:17:40.950
  • And it can get confusing, is, okay,
  • 00:17:41.050 --> 00:17:43.786
  • I need to bring a sacrifice of praise,
  • 00:17:43.786 --> 00:17:45.255
  • But then i'm supposed to be empty.
  • 00:17:45.255 --> 00:17:46.623
  • But that's what we got to see, is the emptiness.
  • 00:17:46.723 --> 00:17:49.626
  • Offering that is a sacrifice because it takes great humility.
  • 00:17:49.726 --> 00:17:55.565
  • It's a sacrifice of your pride.
  • 00:17:55.665 --> 00:17:57.634
  • It's a sacrifice of your aptitude,
  • 00:17:57.734 --> 00:18:01.838
  • Of all your opportunities.
  • 00:18:01.938 --> 00:18:03.273
  • You just say, "you know what?
  • 00:18:03.273 --> 00:18:04.507
  • Really, i just want to offer god this empty vessel.”
  • 00:18:04.507 --> 00:18:07.977
  • Like you came here today, saying, "okay,
  • 00:18:07.977 --> 00:18:10.780
  • I don't want to fill in all the blanks.”
  • 00:18:10.780 --> 00:18:12.549
  • Let's just open this up and say, "god,
  • 00:18:12.649 --> 00:18:15.084
  • What does this sacrifice look like?”
  • 00:18:15.084 --> 00:18:16.986
  • It costs me everything i have because i'm putting aside my
  • 00:18:16.986 --> 00:18:20.723
  • Reputation, my education, all of those things.
  • 00:18:20.723 --> 00:18:24.060
  • They don't mean anything to god.
  • 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:26.129
  • So, my sacrifice is this empty vessel,
  • 00:18:26.229 --> 00:18:29.065
  • And everybody can offer that.
  • 00:18:29.766 --> 00:18:32.735
  • - your emptiness could be an extremely powerful place for
  • 00:18:32.835 --> 00:18:36.439
  • Growth because i think sometimes we feel that we cannot move
  • 00:18:36.439 --> 00:18:39.842
  • Forward in the lord unless we have something to offer,
  • 00:18:39.943 --> 00:18:44.380
  • Unless we have an emotional experience,
  • 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.183
  • Unless we have this grand revelation.
  • 00:18:47.283 --> 00:18:49.786
  • And often when we have absolutely nothing, no emotion,
  • 00:18:49.886 --> 00:18:54.657
  • No new revelation, no nothing, no sensory experience,
  • 00:18:54.757 --> 00:18:59.162
  • We feel as though then we have nothing to offer.
  • 00:18:59.262 --> 00:19:02.031
  • But it's then when you truly know god's grace
  • 00:19:02.131 --> 00:19:07.036
  • And god's power.
  • 00:19:07.470 --> 00:19:08.938
  • So, what you can do is, in your emptiness,
  • 00:19:09.038 --> 00:19:11.941
  • Invite the holy spirit.
  • 00:19:12.041 --> 00:19:13.943
  • Don't push him away.
  • 00:19:14.043 --> 00:19:15.645
  • - i think just--
  • 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.814
  • I mean, in vulnerability as well,
  • 00:19:17.814 --> 00:19:20.416
  • I think since we've lost our little one, such a journey.
  • 00:19:20.416 --> 00:19:24.721
  • I mean, that's empty and that's like everything, you know?
  • 00:19:24.821 --> 00:19:28.191
  • And i think i've kind of just wrestle of like what is there
  • 00:19:28.191 --> 00:19:35.298
  • After that?
  • 00:19:35.298 --> 00:19:36.432
  • Or god, like my degree is in this.
  • 00:19:36.432 --> 00:19:37.967
  • All my work is everything.
  • 00:19:38.601 --> 00:19:40.003
  • I'm like a pastor's kid through and through.
  • 00:19:40.003 --> 00:19:41.571
  • I do ministry.
  • 00:19:41.571 --> 00:19:42.872
  • And kind of this like is it to be picked up again because i
  • 00:19:42.972 --> 00:19:46.442
  • Look so different than i did then.
  • 00:19:46.442 --> 00:19:48.645
  • And i think there's even been times where i've wanted to--
  • 00:19:48.745 --> 00:19:51.614
  • I felt like healing would look like go back to--
  • 00:19:51.614 --> 00:19:54.984
  • Because it was it felt like i was right on the brink of so
  • 00:19:54.984 --> 00:19:58.154
  • Much right before she died, right on the brink of like
  • 00:19:58.154 --> 00:20:01.157
  • Things opening up and opportunities,
  • 00:20:01.157 --> 00:20:03.359
  • And it felt like this, right, like all the fulfillment coming
  • 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.263
  • Of these words, and then it was just this drastic empty,
  • 00:20:07.263 --> 00:20:10.466
  • Drastic broken.
  • 00:20:10.566 --> 00:20:12.502
  • And for a long time, i think i didn't even know it,
  • 00:20:12.602 --> 00:20:14.937
  • But i thought healing would look like getting back to that
  • 00:20:14.937 --> 00:20:17.473
  • Pinnacle, healing would look like starting from
  • 00:20:17.473 --> 00:20:19.676
  • Where i left off.
  • 00:20:19.676 --> 00:20:20.943
  • And it's just been the lord saying like, "hey,
  • 00:20:21.044 --> 00:20:23.946
  • Your resume doesn't save you.
  • 00:20:23.946 --> 00:20:25.415
  • Your opportunity, the recognition,
  • 00:20:25.415 --> 00:20:28.818
  • The things that were growing.
  • 00:20:28.818 --> 00:20:30.086
  • My goal for you was always--
  • 00:20:30.086 --> 00:20:33.690
  • You are mine, and that has never changed.
  • 00:20:33.690 --> 00:20:36.859
  • And in fact, i am diminishing you down to who
  • 00:20:36.859 --> 00:20:40.063
  • You always were.”
  • 00:20:40.063 --> 00:20:41.864
  • And i just feel him saying, "if i choose to use you in any which
  • 00:20:41.864 --> 00:20:45.902
  • Way, you're going to know it's not because of what you've done,
  • 00:20:45.902 --> 00:20:49.472
  • But because of my mercy, my great love for you.”
  • 00:20:49.472 --> 00:20:52.608
  • And that emptying can either look like i've lost it all,
  • 00:20:52.608 --> 00:20:56.312
  • I'm broke, and i'm disqualified, or it looks like, oh,
  • 00:20:56.312 --> 00:21:00.083
  • You're bringing me back to the thing that i've needed to know
  • 00:21:00.083 --> 00:21:03.186
  • This whole time, which is you love me here.
  • 00:21:03.186 --> 00:21:05.788
  • You love me, and you're the only one who makes any fruit
  • 00:21:05.888 --> 00:21:08.825
  • From my life.
  • 00:21:08.825 --> 00:21:09.959
  • And if you want to, you know how to.
  • 00:21:09.959 --> 00:21:11.794
  • I think about we're in great company when we talk about
  • 00:21:11.794 --> 00:21:14.630
  • Saul, you know?
  • 00:21:14.630 --> 00:21:15.898
  • And in philippians 3, he's like talking about like, "hey,
  • 00:21:15.898 --> 00:21:18.935
  • You think your resume is good?
  • 00:21:18.935 --> 00:21:20.970
  • Here's mine.”
  • 00:21:20.970 --> 00:21:22.105
  • And he gives us this list of by the law, right,
  • 00:21:22.105 --> 00:21:25.408
  • By all of the things, the laundry,
  • 00:21:25.508 --> 00:21:28.444
  • List of what you need to be competent and good in,
  • 00:21:28.444 --> 00:21:30.346
  • He's checked, checked, checked, checked all of them.
  • 00:21:30.346 --> 00:21:33.783
  • And he says, "but whatever gain i had, i consider it loss.
  • 00:21:33.783 --> 00:21:38.488
  • I count it all loss for the sake of christ,
  • 00:21:38.488 --> 00:21:42.091
  • For the surpassing worth of knowing him there,
  • 00:21:42.191 --> 00:21:46.162
  • Of the leaning, of the finding him, right?
  • 00:21:46.262 --> 00:21:48.898
  • And all of its rubbish that i may gain him,”
  • 00:21:48.998 --> 00:21:51.634
  • And says, "that i may know him in the power of his
  • 00:21:51.634 --> 00:21:54.370
  • Resurrection, share in his sufferings,
  • 00:21:54.370 --> 00:21:56.539
  • Becoming like him in his death, and by any means possible,
  • 00:21:56.539 --> 00:22:00.209
  • I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
  • 00:22:00.209 --> 00:22:02.311
  • You have the same paul saying, "i resolve to know nothing among
  • 00:22:02.311 --> 00:22:05.948
  • You except for jesus christ so that the demonstration of power,
  • 00:22:05.948 --> 00:22:10.420
  • Not my accolades, not what i'm good at, not my performance,
  • 00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:14.424
  • Not the things i've built, but all glory to jesus,
  • 00:22:14.424 --> 00:22:19.128
  • To the praise of his glory.”
  • 00:22:19.128 --> 00:22:21.764
  • And i think he brings us back down so that it's all unto him,
  • 00:22:21.764 --> 00:22:27.236
  • All for his name, because that's what our hearts burn for
  • 00:22:27.236 --> 00:22:30.840
  • Anyway, isn't it?
  • 00:22:30.840 --> 00:22:32.074
  • That he would get the praise, he would get the honor,
  • 00:22:32.074 --> 00:22:35.278
  • And the prize for us is knowing him in it all.
  • 00:22:35.378 --> 00:22:39.682
  • - i had one of our pastors look at me one day when i was going
  • 00:22:39.782 --> 00:22:42.919
  • Through a hard time, and he said "it's amazing what the lord will
  • 00:22:42.919 --> 00:22:46.989
  • Allow to get us over ourselves.”
  • 00:22:46.989 --> 00:22:51.694
  • That was bull, but it's true.
  • 00:22:52.395 --> 00:22:55.164
  • God will allow circumstances in our lives so that he gets the
  • 00:22:55.164 --> 00:23:00.136
  • Glory for everything.
  • 00:23:00.136 --> 00:23:01.437
  • It's not about how great we are or what we can do for him,
  • 00:23:01.437 --> 00:23:05.241
  • It's all what he does on the inside of us that counts.
  • 00:23:05.241 --> 00:23:08.010
  • - kalley, thank you so much for sharing that.
  • 00:23:09.011 --> 00:23:10.913
  • That really marks me, and it's a good reminder for me,
  • 00:23:10.913 --> 00:23:13.483
  • Too, you know?
  • 00:23:13.916 --> 00:23:15.017
  • We're all believers here.
  • 00:23:15.017 --> 00:23:16.419
  • We're all sisters in christ.
  • 00:23:16.419 --> 00:23:17.920
  • But at the same time, like, you know,
  • 00:23:18.020 --> 00:23:20.890
  • This is also part of our vocation.
  • 00:23:20.890 --> 00:23:22.959
  • And it's so easy to go about our vocation as if our faith is
  • 00:23:22.959 --> 00:23:28.965
  • Our vocation, where we have to be of value, you know,
  • 00:23:28.965 --> 00:23:32.401
  • Where we have to earn our keep with god.
  • 00:23:32.401 --> 00:23:34.904
  • But just even a reminder that the emptiness is enough.
  • 00:23:36.038 --> 00:23:40.877
  • To have nothing is enough.
  • 00:23:41.511 --> 00:23:44.847
  • I think that's such a good reminder, even for me because,
  • 00:23:44.947 --> 00:23:48.417
  • You know, i mean, i'm the presence of god girl.
  • 00:23:48.417 --> 00:23:50.987
  • You know, i wrote a book about it, i talk about it,
  • 00:23:50.987 --> 00:23:53.055
  • Preach about it, you know?
  • 00:23:53.155 --> 00:23:54.991
  • But i'll be honest.
  • 00:23:54.991 --> 00:23:56.125
  • You know, kind of like similar with you, sheila,
  • 00:23:56.125 --> 00:23:59.328
  • It's like the past six months, i felt like a little bit like it's
  • 00:23:59.428 --> 00:24:03.533
  • Been crickets.
  • 00:24:03.533 --> 00:24:05.601
  • And is that enough?
  • 00:24:06.135 --> 00:24:07.837
  • You know, it's interesting because never in the bible did
  • 00:24:07.937 --> 00:24:11.140
  • It says, "and these three things remain, dopamine rushes,
  • 00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:14.610
  • Adrenaline rushes, and exciting times,”
  • 00:24:14.610 --> 00:24:18.214
  • You know?
  • 00:24:18.214 --> 00:24:19.549
  • But i think sometimes we feel like we need those moments to
  • 00:24:19.549 --> 00:24:24.620
  • Assure us that we're good with god.
  • 00:24:24.620 --> 00:24:28.524
  • You know, those sensory assurances.
  • 00:24:28.524 --> 00:24:31.661
  • When actually sometimes, although that happens and that's
  • 00:24:31.761 --> 00:24:34.497
  • A good thing, but sometimes we lean on those moments to bypass
  • 00:24:34.497 --> 00:24:41.170
  • The discomfort of faith itself.
  • 00:24:41.170 --> 00:24:43.706
  • You know, and faith is having its moment in the sun when we
  • 00:24:43.806 --> 00:24:51.247
  • Feel absolutely nothing and when we are actually empty,
  • 00:24:51.247 --> 00:24:56.452
  • Completely empty.
  • 00:24:56.452 --> 00:24:58.721
  • So, my father got me a brand new car when i was 16 years old.
  • 00:24:59.956 --> 00:25:04.460
  • And as an immigrant father, you know,
  • 00:25:04.560 --> 00:25:07.563
  • That was a really big deal, you know?
  • 00:25:07.563 --> 00:25:09.699
  • - big deal for any father.
  • 00:25:09.699 --> 00:25:11.567
  • - and i accidentally filled it with diesel.
  • 00:25:11.567 --> 00:25:15.237
  • [laughter]
  • 00:25:15.237 --> 00:25:16.372
  • I knew nothing about cars.
  • 00:25:16.372 --> 00:25:22.111
  • This was my first time putting fuel in a car.
  • 00:25:22.111 --> 00:25:26.482
  • I don't know if i'm going to regret sharing that story.
  • 00:25:26.482 --> 00:25:29.685
  • You know, just being completely vulnerable here, you know,
  • 00:25:29.685 --> 00:25:33.389
  • And i basically just put in the wrong fuel.
  • 00:25:33.389 --> 00:25:36.258
  • And it's a fuel that's supposed to go into like boats and
  • 00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:39.462
  • Trucks, right?
  • 00:25:39.462 --> 00:25:40.663
  • And my car went literally two seconds on the road.
  • 00:25:41.697 --> 00:25:46.369
  • Yeah, until i heard clicking sounds.
  • 00:25:46.369 --> 00:25:48.170
  • And i remember just pushing the pedal,
  • 00:25:48.270 --> 00:25:51.073
  • Just trying to force it to work.
  • 00:25:51.173 --> 00:25:52.708
  • Like, why isn't it working?
  • 00:25:52.708 --> 00:25:54.276
  • You know, and eventually we checked all the boxes and
  • 00:25:54.276 --> 00:25:58.214
  • Realized, oh, this girl just put in the wrong fuel.
  • 00:25:58.214 --> 00:26:02.118
  • And i mean, thanks be to god, it didn't ruin the car
  • 00:26:02.118 --> 00:26:04.954
  • Completely, just a little bit of tweaks here and there,
  • 00:26:04.954 --> 00:26:07.423
  • But it just kind of reminded me later of how we as believers
  • 00:26:07.423 --> 00:26:12.662
  • Tend to try to fuel ourselves with accomplishments, with wins,
  • 00:26:12.662 --> 00:26:17.767
  • With even just being able to get fresh revelation, right?
  • 00:26:17.767 --> 00:26:21.470
  • We're like, i mean, fresh revelation is good, you know,
  • 00:26:21.470 --> 00:26:24.206
  • But i think when we feel like, oh, we're learning,
  • 00:26:24.206 --> 00:26:26.842
  • Oh, that's good.
  • 00:26:26.942 --> 00:26:28.077
  • Then, you know, god loves me.
  • 00:26:28.077 --> 00:26:29.378
  • That means i'm being favored by god.
  • 00:26:29.378 --> 00:26:31.380
  • Oh, i could hear god.
  • 00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:32.848
  • You know, so that means i'm favored by god.
  • 00:26:32.948 --> 00:26:35.284
  • You know, and like all these sensory affirmations.
  • 00:26:35.284 --> 00:26:39.555
  • You know, i think sometimes when people are patting us on
  • 00:26:39.655 --> 00:26:42.658
  • The back saying, "hey, that was a good word,”
  • 00:26:42.658 --> 00:26:45.661
  • Or, "hey, you're doing great volunteering in the church,”
  • 00:26:45.761 --> 00:26:48.798
  • I think sometimes we could be fueled by those things when
  • 00:26:48.898 --> 00:26:51.400
  • Actually, none of those things were meant to be our fuel.
  • 00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:54.804
  • If you look in the garden, when god has placed the mandate on
  • 00:26:54.904 --> 00:26:59.375
  • Adam and eve to expand the garden, to rule and reign,
  • 00:26:59.475 --> 00:27:03.479
  • The one thing that they really had was this perfect
  • 00:27:03.579 --> 00:27:07.183
  • Communion with him.
  • 00:27:07.183 --> 00:27:09.185
  • And the garden was meant to grow from that intimate
  • 00:27:09.185 --> 00:27:12.655
  • Friendship with god.
  • 00:27:12.655 --> 00:27:14.724
  • But today, we're still trying to grow our gardens,
  • 00:27:14.824 --> 00:27:17.460
  • Not as friends, but as strangers of god.
  • 00:27:17.560 --> 00:27:20.129
  • You know, we could be busy christians without really
  • 00:27:20.229 --> 00:27:22.965
  • Walking in that intimate friendship, you know?
  • 00:27:22.965 --> 00:27:25.701
  • And so, yeah, that emptying has taught me a lot as well.
  • 00:27:25.701 --> 00:27:30.106
  • - some indicators that we may have the wrong things feeling us
  • 00:27:30.206 --> 00:27:34.877
  • Are burnout, overwhelm, too much busyness,
  • 00:27:34.977 --> 00:27:39.448
  • Saying yes to everything, and then having no margin or space
  • 00:27:39.448 --> 00:27:43.819
  • To even allow the voice of god to speak to us or to be directed
  • 00:27:43.819 --> 00:27:47.923
  • In a different way.
  • 00:27:47.923 --> 00:27:49.225
  • You know, that's the reason that he commanded us to keep the
  • 00:27:49.225 --> 00:27:52.361
  • Sabbath was to have margin where there is no other yes that's
  • 00:27:52.361 --> 00:27:56.866
  • Greater than hearing from him from surrendering to him.
  • 00:27:56.866 --> 00:28:00.503
  • And i think in the seasons that i've really experienced burnout.
  • 00:28:00.503 --> 00:28:04.373
  • And overwhelm, and emptiness, and fatigue have come from
  • 00:28:04.373 --> 00:28:08.944
  • Living off the fuel of cortisol, of other people's approval,
  • 00:28:08.944 --> 00:28:13.816
  • Of adrenaline, and seeking the affirmation that can come from
  • 00:28:13.916 --> 00:28:19.555
  • Achievement and from striving.
  • 00:28:19.555 --> 00:28:21.924
  • And if you're feeling overwhelmed,
  • 00:28:21.924 --> 00:28:24.393
  • If you're feeling completely burnt out right now,
  • 00:28:24.393 --> 00:28:27.196
  • I know how you feel.
  • 00:28:27.296 --> 00:28:28.631
  • And my greatest tool or tip that i could give you is to set
  • 00:28:28.631 --> 00:28:34.270
  • A lot of that aside and give just a surrendered amount of
  • 00:28:34.270 --> 00:28:39.108
  • Time, it might just start with 10 minutes a day, and say,
  • 00:28:39.108 --> 00:28:42.178
  • "god i want to start my day with you directing my steps.
  • 00:28:42.178 --> 00:28:45.181
  • I'm gonna leave margin.
  • 00:28:45.181 --> 00:28:46.482
  • I'm gonna say no to some things.”
  • 00:28:46.482 --> 00:28:48.784
  • You know, my recent self-talk has been, amie,
  • 00:28:48.884 --> 00:28:52.788
  • Don't squeeze it in because i always saw my superpower as
  • 00:28:52.788 --> 00:28:56.826
  • Squeezing in all of these things,
  • 00:28:56.826 --> 00:28:58.694
  • And i could make a million things happen in one day that
  • 00:28:58.694 --> 00:29:01.664
  • Most people would take forever.
  • 00:29:01.664 --> 00:29:03.232
  • I thought of that as my superpower,
  • 00:29:03.332 --> 00:29:05.234
  • And i realized how burnout i was because i said i can
  • 00:29:05.234 --> 00:29:08.337
  • Do all of this.
  • 00:29:08.337 --> 00:29:09.471
  • I can bite off a lot and i can get it all chewed up
  • 00:29:09.471 --> 00:29:12.708
  • And spit out.
  • 00:29:12.708 --> 00:29:13.843
  • But i recognized the price i was paying physically.
  • 00:29:13.843 --> 00:29:17.213
  • So, if you feel burnout, if you're feeling overwhelmed,
  • 00:29:17.313 --> 00:29:20.950
  • I think that's a clue that maybe the wrong thing is fueling you.
  • 00:29:20.950 --> 00:29:24.286
  • Maybe the peace of god needs to take a front seat instead of a
  • 00:29:24.386 --> 00:29:27.723
  • Back seat in your life.
  • 00:29:27.723 --> 00:29:35.698
  • - i often wonder about--
  • 00:29:35.798 --> 00:29:36.899
  • We're told to lay out treasure in heaven.
  • 00:29:36.899 --> 00:29:38.234
  • I just think of so many people right now that are going to be
  • 00:29:38.234 --> 00:29:39.568
  • So amazed in the presence of jesus because of all the things
  • 00:29:39.568 --> 00:29:43.439
  • That didn't go the way they prayed,
  • 00:29:43.539 --> 00:29:46.642
  • Didn't go the way they wanted, didn't go where they absolutely
  • 00:29:46.742 --> 00:29:49.912
  • Knew god can move here and still keep walking with the lord with
  • 00:29:49.912 --> 00:29:58.187
  • Broken pieces inside.
  • 00:29:58.754 --> 00:30:01.257
  • I'm wondering what that treasure's gonna look
  • 00:30:01.357 --> 00:30:03.492
  • Like in heaven.
  • 00:30:03.492 --> 00:30:04.894
  • Overwhelming, overwhelming.
  • 00:30:04.994 --> 00:30:07.329
  • Because i think if what god longs for is for us to just come
  • 00:30:08.564 --> 00:30:13.302
  • As we are, just like, "ta-da!
  • 00:30:13.302 --> 00:30:16.438
  • Here i am, lord.”
  • 00:30:16.438 --> 00:30:17.740
  • And then, when the things don't work, and you've believed,
  • 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:22.811
  • And you've stood, and you've done everything,
  • 00:30:22.811 --> 00:30:24.914
  • And it doesn't happen and you still say,
  • 00:30:24.914 --> 00:30:28.450
  • "but i still love you.
  • 00:30:29.018 --> 00:30:30.185
  • I still love you.
  • 00:30:30.185 --> 00:30:32.087
  • I'm still taking.
  • 00:30:32.087 --> 00:30:33.222
  • I'm still walking on."
  • 00:30:33.222 --> 00:30:34.356
  • - i grew up in the word of faith.
  • 00:30:34.356 --> 00:30:36.725
  • And so, early on, i found that things that i might have
  • 00:30:36.825 --> 00:30:43.232
  • Perceived wasn't working, and there were times that as i got
  • 00:30:43.232 --> 00:30:49.571
  • Older, i got married, and we started doing steps of faith,
  • 00:30:49.571 --> 00:30:53.375
  • That you take a ginormous step of faith,
  • 00:30:53.475 --> 00:30:56.412
  • And then there's your answer.
  • 00:30:56.412 --> 00:30:57.513
  • Yay!
  • 00:30:57.513 --> 00:30:58.647
  • You know, you did it.
  • 00:30:58.647 --> 00:30:59.815
  • Good job.
  • 00:30:59.815 --> 00:31:01.183
  • And in those moments of god, that wasn't faith,
  • 00:31:01.283 --> 00:31:04.486
  • That did not work out the way i thought it was gonna do,
  • 00:31:04.586 --> 00:31:07.423
  • I don't even know what faith is.
  • 00:31:07.423 --> 00:31:09.558
  • Now, the faith is the substance of things,
  • 00:31:09.558 --> 00:31:12.194
  • Hope for the evidence of things not seen.
  • 00:31:12.294 --> 00:31:14.897
  • So, i can't see it yet, but the life of faith,
  • 00:31:14.997 --> 00:31:17.900
  • I can only please god by faith, and it's a walk of faith.
  • 00:31:17.900 --> 00:31:23.105
  • It's a daily walk of faith.
  • 00:31:23.205 --> 00:31:25.641
  • And so, as i have gotten older, still walk in that same walk of
  • 00:31:25.741 --> 00:31:30.913
  • Faith where you take those big ginormous steps of faith on
  • 00:31:30.913 --> 00:31:35.384
  • Knowing the voice of the lord or feeling like you know the voice,
  • 00:31:35.484 --> 00:31:40.723
  • You know, because sometimes you look and go, "okay,
  • 00:31:40.723 --> 00:31:43.192
  • Did i really hear the voice of the lord on that?
  • 00:31:43.192 --> 00:31:47.062
  • Because it does not look like today of what i thought it was
  • 00:31:48.330 --> 00:31:51.567
  • Gonna look like.”
  • 00:31:51.567 --> 00:31:52.868
  • But absolutely, absolutely, i heard the voice of the lord.
  • 00:31:52.868 --> 00:31:58.073
  • Absolutely, i know in my heart, god calling us higher,
  • 00:31:58.073 --> 00:32:03.045
  • God calling.
  • 00:32:03.045 --> 00:32:04.813
  • You take big steps to do great things.
  • 00:32:04.913 --> 00:32:07.416
  • You lay it all--
  • 00:32:07.516 --> 00:32:09.418
  • It all belongs to the lord anyway, right?
  • 00:32:09.418 --> 00:32:11.887
  • So, what do i have?
  • 00:32:11.987 --> 00:32:13.155
  • I have nothing because it all belongs to god anyway.
  • 00:32:13.155 --> 00:32:16.525
  • And so, he will cover what's his.
  • 00:32:17.326 --> 00:32:21.997
  • He will have his say in what's his.
  • 00:32:22.097 --> 00:32:24.133
  • All i do is be obedient to the word of the lord.
  • 00:32:24.233 --> 00:32:28.504
  • He is faithful and he's just.
  • 00:32:28.504 --> 00:32:31.173
  • So, things don't have to turn out because his plans are
  • 00:32:31.273 --> 00:32:34.843
  • Exceeding abundantly above all.
  • 00:32:34.943 --> 00:32:38.680
  • So, how many of us go through our trials?
  • 00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:42.017
  • But you always say, in that was the greatest season of my life.
  • 00:32:42.117 --> 00:32:47.856
  • In that, look what god did.
  • 00:32:47.956 --> 00:32:49.992
  • In that, in my daily walk with faith, look what god did.
  • 00:32:49.992 --> 00:32:58.400
  • Look what god is doing in the midst of this.
  • 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:01.603
  • Look how his hand--
  • 00:33:01.603 --> 00:33:03.038
  • His ways are beyond my ways.
  • 00:33:03.138 --> 00:33:05.474
  • His thoughts are beyond my thoughts.
  • 00:33:05.474 --> 00:33:07.509
  • And so, as we walk this mysterious faith walk and god
  • 00:33:07.609 --> 00:33:12.948
  • Just being trusting and being obedient,
  • 00:33:12.948 --> 00:33:16.151
  • Look at what god has done all through the--
  • 00:33:16.251 --> 00:33:19.188
  • Look where we are now.
  • 00:33:19.288 --> 00:33:21.557
  • - in these dry seasons or these painful seasons where it feels
  • 00:33:21.657 --> 00:33:25.060
  • Like we're crying out to the lord and maybe we're not getting
  • 00:33:25.060 --> 00:33:27.329
  • The reply that we expected or the feelings that we're hoping
  • 00:33:27.329 --> 00:33:32.501
  • For, it's in those times that we get to remind ourselves,
  • 00:33:32.501 --> 00:33:35.537
  • It is not in his nature to leave.
  • 00:33:35.637 --> 00:33:38.674
  • He's promised, i will never leave and i will
  • 00:33:38.774 --> 00:33:41.443
  • Never forsake you.
  • 00:33:41.443 --> 00:33:42.744
  • When we stand our ground in i'm not questioning that one.
  • 00:33:42.744 --> 00:33:46.982
  • I know he's here.
  • 00:33:47.082 --> 00:33:48.183
  • If he's quiet, maybe he's inviting me to talk.
  • 00:33:48.183 --> 00:33:51.787
  • If it doesn't feel like he's charging in with all these other
  • 00:33:51.787 --> 00:33:55.524
  • Things, maybe what i need more than anything is stillness.
  • 00:33:55.524 --> 00:33:59.394
  • Maybe what i need is just space.
  • 00:33:59.495 --> 00:34:02.464
  • And so, i'm going to look to him, i'm going to wait,
  • 00:34:02.564 --> 00:34:05.033
  • And i'm going to know regardless of my feelings,
  • 00:34:05.033 --> 00:34:08.170
  • Regardless of what my mind might be telling me the truth is
  • 00:34:08.170 --> 00:34:12.107
  • He is here.
  • 00:34:12.107 --> 00:34:13.242
  • He will never leave.
  • 00:34:13.242 --> 00:34:15.344
  • He's not going anywhere.
  • 00:34:15.344 --> 00:34:16.812
  • And there will be a time when these things may begin to change
  • 00:34:16.812 --> 00:34:21.650
  • Or shift, but my mind will be steadfast.
  • 00:34:21.650 --> 00:34:25.287
  • God is with me, and he is good.
  • 00:34:25.387 --> 00:34:27.589
  • - so it's all so beautiful because--
  • 00:34:28.423 --> 00:34:33.061
  • This morning, it's like i have been running on empty as well.
  • 00:34:33.162 --> 00:34:39.434
  • So, i think we all are just a little bit in a season of
  • 00:34:39.434 --> 00:34:46.008
  • Trusting and believing god, and it's the best place.
  • 00:34:46.108 --> 00:34:49.912
  • And it's like how can i give when i feel empty?
  • 00:34:50.012 --> 00:34:53.549
  • But i have faith in god.
  • 00:34:53.549 --> 00:34:56.718
  • I have trust in the lord, and that's all we need.
  • 00:34:56.718 --> 00:35:02.691
  • - and that's beautiful.
  • 00:35:02.691 --> 00:35:03.859
  • Can you imagine a father--
  • 00:35:04.493 --> 00:35:06.094
  • What that means to the father?
  • 00:35:06.094 --> 00:35:08.363
  • When things don't make sense and we still say we
  • 00:35:08.463 --> 00:35:11.300
  • Still love you.
  • 00:35:11.300 --> 00:35:12.401
  • - it's baiting our passion.
  • 00:35:12.401 --> 00:35:13.869
  • It's who do you say that i am today?
  • 00:35:14.703 --> 00:35:18.507
  • Who do you say i am today?
  • 00:35:18.607 --> 00:35:22.077
  • So, yesterday, you were just fine.
  • 00:35:22.177 --> 00:35:24.913
  • Today, you've got some challenges.
  • 00:35:25.013 --> 00:35:27.015
  • I want you to say to me one more time, tell me who i am.
  • 00:35:27.115 --> 00:35:30.285
  • Who do you say that i am today?
  • 00:35:30.285 --> 00:35:32.821
  • Okay, god, let me start.
  • 00:35:32.821 --> 00:35:35.691
  • You are my joy.
  • 00:35:35.691 --> 00:35:36.792
  • You are my comfort.
  • 00:35:36.792 --> 00:35:38.794
  • You are my healer.
  • 00:35:38.894 --> 00:35:39.995
  • You're my provider.
  • 00:35:39.995 --> 00:35:41.230
  • You're my strong foundation.
  • 00:35:41.230 --> 00:35:42.831
  • You're the rock that i run to.
  • 00:35:42.831 --> 00:35:45.167
  • You are my shelter.
  • 00:35:45.167 --> 00:35:46.602
  • I dwell in the secret place of the most high.
  • 00:35:46.602 --> 00:35:49.771
  • You're everything.
  • 00:35:49.771 --> 00:35:51.106
  • We have everything in god because we have our faith.
  • 00:35:51.106 --> 00:35:54.309
  • - one of the things i've learned in my years of walking
  • 00:35:55.444 --> 00:35:58.780
  • With the lord is that if i try to do it in my own strength,
  • 00:35:58.780 --> 00:36:02.050
  • I don't do well at all.
  • 00:36:02.150 --> 00:36:03.552
  • I've learned that his strength is perfect every time.
  • 00:36:03.552 --> 00:36:07.789
  • Literally every time before i come into better together,
  • 00:36:07.789 --> 00:36:10.425
  • Or before i speak somewhere, before anything,
  • 00:36:10.425 --> 00:36:13.895
  • I always have this moment with the lord where i say,
  • 00:36:13.996 --> 00:36:16.531
  • Did it in the car this morning, "lord, i need your strength.”
  • 00:36:16.632 --> 00:36:19.735
  • And that's the amazing thing.
  • 00:36:20.435 --> 00:36:21.803
  • No matter where you're watching from,
  • 00:36:21.803 --> 00:36:23.405
  • God's strength is available to you.
  • 00:36:23.505 --> 00:36:26.041
  • Whatever he's called you to do, he'll give you the strength.
  • 00:36:26.141 --> 00:36:29.177
  • - join the conversation on our better together youtube channel.
  • 00:36:30.445 --> 00:36:34.016
  • Subscribe today and never miss a new upload.
  • 00:36:34.116 --> 00:36:36.985
  • - he says, "be still and know that i am god.
  • 00:36:36.985 --> 00:36:38.007
  • - he says, "be still and know that i am god.
  • 00:36:38.007 --> 00:36:42.592
  • I'll be exalted among the nations and i'll be
  • 00:36:42.692 --> 00:36:45.595
  • Exalted in the earth.”
  • 00:36:45.595 --> 00:36:47.263
  • What does it mean to be still?
  • 00:36:47.263 --> 00:36:49.132
  • I think we could take it both literally and figuratively.
  • 00:36:49.232 --> 00:36:52.535
  • And god does speak contextually into our lives, you know,
  • 00:36:52.635 --> 00:36:56.773
  • So sometimes it could literally mean be still.
  • 00:36:56.773 --> 00:36:59.542
  • Don't make other plans.
  • 00:36:59.542 --> 00:37:01.210
  • Don't go ahead of the holy, spirit,
  • 00:37:01.311 --> 00:37:04.080
  • And be still and worship him, acknowledge him.
  • 00:37:04.180 --> 00:37:07.216
  • And sometimes it's just the posture of the heart.
  • 00:37:07.317 --> 00:37:09.919
  • Sometimes it's the posture of acknowledging him above your
  • 00:37:10.019 --> 00:37:14.490
  • Circumstances and knowing who he is more than we are in intimate
  • 00:37:14.490 --> 00:37:19.629
  • Knowledge of what we are going through.
  • 00:37:19.629 --> 00:37:21.597
  • And so, but really when it comes down to it,
  • 00:37:21.597 --> 00:37:24.367
  • God is calling us to be still and know him intimately,
  • 00:37:24.467 --> 00:37:28.137
  • Authentically, and passionately.
  • 00:37:28.137 --> 00:37:30.306
  • [music]
  • 00:37:30.640 --> 00:37:34.344
  • - isn't it wild how we tend to just complicate things?
  • 00:37:34.344 --> 00:37:38.247
  • You know, because we say all this, like, "oh,
  • 00:37:38.348 --> 00:37:40.116
  • He just wants our obedience.
  • 00:37:40.116 --> 00:37:41.818
  • It's ok to be empty.”
  • 00:37:41.918 --> 00:37:43.886
  • But it's just so easy to want to bring something to our king
  • 00:37:43.986 --> 00:37:47.857
  • That's of value aside from ourselves, you know?
  • 00:37:47.857 --> 00:37:51.627
  • I'm reminded of, i mean, we talk about king david a lot,
  • 00:37:51.627 --> 00:37:55.798
  • Right, because he wrote a big chunk of the psalms, right?
  • 00:37:55.898 --> 00:37:59.936
  • I'm reminded of that story when he was trying to bring the ark
  • 00:38:01.237 --> 00:38:04.707
  • Of the covenant to jerusalem and how, i mean,
  • 00:38:04.707 --> 00:38:08.010
  • His intention at that time was a good intention.
  • 00:38:08.010 --> 00:38:11.881
  • Like, he wanted to bring the presence of god to the capital
  • 00:38:11.881 --> 00:38:15.718
  • Of the nation, to lead the nation in a way that's
  • 00:38:15.718 --> 00:38:20.423
  • Presence-centered.
  • 00:38:20.423 --> 00:38:22.125
  • And yet, i mean, he got a new cart.
  • 00:38:22.125 --> 00:38:25.261
  • He got, you know, like 30,000 young men hauling that cart.
  • 00:38:25.361 --> 00:38:31.234
  • You know, he got the people that were holding the arc to
  • 00:38:31.234 --> 00:38:35.238
  • Kind of lead the way as well, thinking, "oh, well,
  • 00:38:35.238 --> 00:38:37.774
  • You've been around the arc, so you've been familiar, you know?
  • 00:38:37.874 --> 00:38:41.144
  • Like technically it was his best.
  • 00:38:41.144 --> 00:38:44.414
  • So, for death to follow and for there to be this huge
  • 00:38:44.514 --> 00:38:49.852
  • Interruption, i'm sure david must have felt like--
  • 00:38:49.852 --> 00:38:53.022
  • -he killed my friend.
  • 00:38:53.122 --> 00:38:54.457
  • - why?
  • 00:38:54.757 --> 00:38:55.858
  • What do you want from me, god?
  • 00:38:55.858 --> 00:38:57.393
  • But my favorite part about that story is after that big
  • 00:38:57.393 --> 00:39:02.899
  • Catastrophe, they just got this arc and hauled it to
  • 00:39:02.899 --> 00:39:07.203
  • Obed-edom's house.
  • 00:39:07.203 --> 00:39:08.337
  • And i can only imagine how obed-edom must have felt,
  • 00:39:08.337 --> 00:39:12.108
  • Like opening his door to like 30,000 young men.
  • 00:39:12.108 --> 00:39:17.079
  • And they said, "can we leave god here?”
  • 00:39:17.180 --> 00:39:19.215
  • And his name is only shown up in like little blips throughout
  • 00:39:19.215 --> 00:39:26.055
  • The old testament because he was just a servant of god,
  • 00:39:26.055 --> 00:39:31.093
  • That's it.
  • 00:39:31.093 --> 00:39:32.228
  • He was just a servant of god.
  • 00:39:32.228 --> 00:39:33.563
  • And it's interesting because, you know,
  • 00:39:33.563 --> 00:39:37.233
  • He held this arc for about three months to the point where king
  • 00:39:37.233 --> 00:39:41.737
  • David heard that god blessed obed-edom.
  • 00:39:41.737 --> 00:39:44.874
  • And i wondered, "lord, do you not need our new carts?
  • 00:39:44.974 --> 00:39:48.277
  • Do you not need our 30,000 young men?
  • 00:39:48.277 --> 00:39:51.280
  • I guess all you wanted was just us to intentionally host you,
  • 00:39:51.280 --> 00:39:58.120
  • And to bring you into our home and, to welcome you,
  • 00:39:58.120 --> 00:40:02.859
  • And to fear your name.
  • 00:40:02.859 --> 00:40:05.094
  • Not try to maneuver you with our best efforts,
  • 00:40:05.094 --> 00:40:10.266
  • With our shiniest toys.
  • 00:40:10.366 --> 00:40:12.535
  • Not trying to get you to assimilate to our agenda by
  • 00:40:12.635 --> 00:40:17.139
  • Being the best version of ourselves.”
  • 00:40:17.139 --> 00:40:20.376
  • It's interesting because that interruption forced david to
  • 00:40:20.476 --> 00:40:24.547
  • Really go back into scripture and to realize, oh, wait,
  • 00:40:24.547 --> 00:40:27.850
  • We did this wrong.
  • 00:40:27.850 --> 00:40:28.985
  • - he learned the whole protocol.
  • 00:40:28.985 --> 00:40:30.219
  • - right.
  • 00:40:30.219 --> 00:40:31.454
  • Like, he realized, wait, i thought you needed my best,
  • 00:40:31.454 --> 00:40:34.323
  • When actually, what you needed was my obedience, you know?
  • 00:40:34.323 --> 00:40:37.960
  • And they had to go back, and they got a smaller group of the
  • 00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:42.465
  • Consecrated, the levites, to hold the ark by the pole.
  • 00:40:42.465 --> 00:40:45.668
  • And, you know, and it just makes you wonder, like,
  • 00:40:45.668 --> 00:40:48.538
  • Have i overcomplicated it by trying to be great and to do
  • 00:40:48.638 --> 00:40:54.677
  • Great things, to maneuver your favor my way,
  • 00:40:54.677 --> 00:40:59.515
  • When all i needed to be was just obed-edom and just welcome you
  • 00:40:59.615 --> 00:41:03.553
  • Into my household, and to host you, and to walk in fear of you.
  • 00:41:03.553 --> 00:41:07.990
  • It says in the psalms that he shares his secret counsel to
  • 00:41:07.990 --> 00:41:12.328
  • Those that fear him, you know?
  • 00:41:12.328 --> 00:41:14.964
  • Not to the famous ones, or the rich ones,
  • 00:41:14.964 --> 00:41:19.001
  • Or the accomplished ones, but those who fear
  • 00:41:19.001 --> 00:41:21.938
  • The lord, you know?
  • 00:41:22.038 --> 00:41:23.806
  • And yeah, i don't know.
  • 00:41:23.806 --> 00:41:25.308
  • I think this conversation is really ministering to me because
  • 00:41:25.308 --> 00:41:28.210
  • I think we tend to be so ashamed by what we cannot produce
  • 00:41:28.210 --> 00:41:32.315
  • By ourselves.
  • 00:41:32.315 --> 00:41:34.350
  • Maybe we just need to be reminded to be like obed-edom.
  • 00:41:34.450 --> 00:41:38.020
  • Yeah.
  • 00:41:38.321 --> 00:41:39.455
  • - just open the door.
  • 00:41:39.455 --> 00:41:41.724
  • - humility and surrender are keys to victorious living
  • 00:41:40.556 --> 00:41:45.394
  • Despite our present day circumstances because at the end
  • 00:41:45.394 --> 00:41:49.532
  • Of the day, what brings victory from heaven to earth is not
  • 00:41:49.532 --> 00:41:53.736
  • Gonna be our strength.
  • 00:41:53.736 --> 00:41:55.137
  • It's not gonna be our plans.
  • 00:41:55.237 --> 00:41:56.772
  • It's not gonna be our knowledge.
  • 00:41:56.772 --> 00:41:58.608
  • It's gonna all come from god.
  • 00:41:58.708 --> 00:42:00.509
  • And so, instead of powering up, what we gotta do is lay our
  • 00:42:00.610 --> 00:42:04.280
  • Power down before him with a yieldedness, with worship,
  • 00:42:04.280 --> 00:42:08.784
  • With obedience, with a knowledge of his presence and the
  • 00:42:08.884 --> 00:42:12.321
  • Willingness to follow his lead.
  • 00:42:12.321 --> 00:42:14.690
  • - it's the same.
  • 00:42:15.124 --> 00:42:16.225
  • You know, we read this yesterday,
  • 00:42:16.225 --> 00:42:17.593
  • But it's david saying, like, "if you wanted sacrifices and burnt
  • 00:42:17.593 --> 00:42:21.297
  • Offerings, i would have given them to you.”
  • 00:42:21.297 --> 00:42:23.633
  • But this is the realization, isn't it?
  • 00:42:23.733 --> 00:42:25.368
  • It's like you want a broken in a contract,
  • 00:42:25.368 --> 00:42:27.837
  • And you can move into my home and the inner spaces of my life
  • 00:42:27.837 --> 00:42:31.407
  • Into my heart.
  • 00:42:31.407 --> 00:42:32.541
  • You can take residence here.
  • 00:42:32.541 --> 00:42:33.709
  • You can come and rest and be yourself with me.
  • 00:42:33.709 --> 00:42:36.946
  • That's what he's wanting, not this, like, man,
  • 00:42:37.046 --> 00:42:40.182
  • I'm killing myself over and over and over to take ground.
  • 00:42:40.182 --> 00:42:43.719
  • Like, if he sends us out, then we go with him.
  • 00:42:43.719 --> 00:42:45.921
  • But it's moses saying, "i'm not going where you're not going.”
  • 00:42:45.921 --> 00:42:49.058
  • And if he's looking for a resting place, god,
  • 00:42:49.058 --> 00:42:51.460
  • Would you just find it in us?
  • 00:42:51.460 --> 00:42:53.596
  • And that can be such a humbled, quiet resting place.
  • 00:42:53.696 --> 00:42:57.833
  • It's not the fireworks.
  • 00:42:57.833 --> 00:42:59.735
  • It's actually not the big crowds.
  • 00:42:59.735 --> 00:43:01.971
  • When you think of resting places, it's different.
  • 00:43:01.971 --> 00:43:06.075
  • - well, and it's, i think, a perspective shift because
  • 00:43:06.175 --> 00:43:08.678
  • There's a lot of meat on that bone with that story.
  • 00:43:08.678 --> 00:43:11.647
  • There's so much there.
  • 00:43:11.747 --> 00:43:13.282
  • But i think what stands out to me so much from that is that,
  • 00:43:13.282 --> 00:43:19.055
  • You know, david had this perspective that he was hosting
  • 00:43:19.155 --> 00:43:22.591
  • God, and that it should be flipped.
  • 00:43:22.591 --> 00:43:27.229
  • God was like, "wait a minute.
  • 00:43:27.229 --> 00:43:28.864
  • I'm hosting you.
  • 00:43:28.964 --> 00:43:30.299
  • I've appointed you, and there is a protocol for my presence,
  • 00:43:30.299 --> 00:43:35.705
  • And it requires honor.”
  • 00:43:35.705 --> 00:43:37.273
  • And i wanna go back because i'm a challenger,
  • 00:43:37.273 --> 00:43:41.343
  • So i really like practical things.
  • 00:43:41.343 --> 00:43:44.547
  • And i think with our conversation is,
  • 00:43:44.547 --> 00:43:46.849
  • I wanna be sure we don't leave any listeners going,
  • 00:43:46.949 --> 00:43:49.685
  • "i'm trying to figure out, what do i do next?”
  • 00:43:49.685 --> 00:43:54.356
  • And i loved when you shared the part about, you know,
  • 00:43:54.356 --> 00:43:58.794
  • The theology degree and the early part of your life,
  • 00:43:58.794 --> 00:44:02.498
  • And then the break, and the rebuilding, and looking at god,
  • 00:44:02.498 --> 00:44:07.470
  • What does restoration look like?
  • 00:44:07.470 --> 00:44:09.338
  • And you having an idea of what restoration looks like.
  • 00:44:09.438 --> 00:44:12.975
  • The sacrifice is not that god--
  • 00:44:12.975 --> 00:44:15.811
  • Even with paul, god used his knowledge of the sanhedrin,
  • 00:44:15.811 --> 00:44:20.616
  • Of the word, of the torah.
  • 00:44:20.616 --> 00:44:22.251
  • He used that to minister truth and to say--
  • 00:44:22.351 --> 00:44:26.255
  • It took someone educated to say, "it isn't this though,
  • 00:44:26.255 --> 00:44:29.291
  • It's grace, right?”
  • 00:44:29.291 --> 00:44:30.693
  • So, the education did play into it.
  • 00:44:30.793 --> 00:44:32.895
  • And that's why i don't want people to listen and think,
  • 00:44:32.895 --> 00:44:34.930
  • Okay, i don't need to go to school.
  • 00:44:35.030 --> 00:44:36.398
  • I don't need to do this.
  • 00:44:36.499 --> 00:44:37.733
  • I don't need to read my word.
  • 00:44:37.733 --> 00:44:39.301
  • You reading the word today has really blessed us.
  • 00:44:39.401 --> 00:44:42.471
  • So, that drive, that hunger that you've had for the lord and
  • 00:44:42.471 --> 00:44:46.075
  • The education you have, god's gonna use.
  • 00:44:46.175 --> 00:44:48.410
  • But i think what the sacrifice is,
  • 00:44:48.511 --> 00:44:50.579
  • And this is why we always have to ask god,
  • 00:44:50.579 --> 00:44:52.481
  • What do you need from me right now,
  • 00:44:52.481 --> 00:44:55.451
  • Is the picture of what restoration looks like.
  • 00:44:55.551 --> 00:44:59.321
  • It's not your vision.
  • 00:44:59.321 --> 00:45:01.290
  • It's god's, and it's better than anything that we could
  • 00:45:01.390 --> 00:45:05.194
  • Imagine in our own.
  • 00:45:05.194 --> 00:45:06.428
  • Whether it's a wilderness season that we're looking at,
  • 00:45:06.428 --> 00:45:09.298
  • Or an empty place.
  • 00:45:09.398 --> 00:45:11.066
  • This is my journal, and i have my notes from my trip that i
  • 00:45:11.167 --> 00:45:15.404
  • Just came off.
  • 00:45:15.404 --> 00:45:16.572
  • And my first two pages are, "i sit in this crampy,
  • 00:45:16.572 --> 00:45:20.276
  • Exhausted place, and i am empty.
  • 00:45:20.376 --> 00:45:23.245
  • I've been through trauma.
  • 00:45:23.245 --> 00:45:25.414
  • I'm hurting.
  • 00:45:25.514 --> 00:45:26.649
  • My body is not what it should be.
  • 00:45:26.649 --> 00:45:27.983
  • I'm empty, god.
  • 00:45:27.983 --> 00:45:29.318
  • And i'm going on this trip, and i just need to be filled.”
  • 00:45:29.318 --> 00:45:33.055
  • And you know, for me, it wasn't reading, you know,
  • 00:45:33.155 --> 00:45:36.759
  • A book of the bible a day.
  • 00:45:36.759 --> 00:45:37.960
  • I do that for my job.
  • 00:45:37.960 --> 00:45:40.229
  • It was presence.
  • 00:45:40.229 --> 00:45:42.865
  • So, my commitment was on this trip.
  • 00:45:42.865 --> 00:45:45.201
  • And my husband did not read my journal.
  • 00:45:45.201 --> 00:45:46.969
  • He did not know what my commitment was.
  • 00:45:46.969 --> 00:45:48.838
  • You know toward the very end of the trip,
  • 00:45:48.938 --> 00:45:51.373
  • About three days from the end, i started to wake up.
  • 00:45:51.373 --> 00:45:55.845
  • My spirit started to wake up.
  • 00:45:55.845 --> 00:45:57.479
  • And my husband said, "i just want to commend you, amie,
  • 00:45:57.580 --> 00:45:59.915
  • For being present.”
  • 00:45:59.915 --> 00:46:00.983
  • Because he knows me.
  • 00:46:01.517 --> 00:46:02.651
  • It was our 30th anniversary.
  • 00:46:02.651 --> 00:46:03.752
  • He knows me better than anyone.
  • 00:46:03.752 --> 00:46:05.154
  • And i'm always dreaming.
  • 00:46:05.254 --> 00:46:06.655
  • I'm always problem-solving.
  • 00:46:06.655 --> 00:46:08.090
  • I'm always living in the future.
  • 00:46:08.090 --> 00:46:09.425
  • I'm always ideating, like, what's next?
  • 00:46:09.425 --> 00:46:13.963
  • And i committed to the discipline of
  • 00:46:14.063 --> 00:46:16.999
  • Just being present.
  • 00:46:16.999 --> 00:46:18.400
  • And i think in the seasons where, you know,
  • 00:46:18.500 --> 00:46:21.904
  • The words aren't jumping off the page and the wilderness season
  • 00:46:21.904 --> 00:46:25.908
  • Where it's crickets, that is the season of discipleship when he's
  • 00:46:25.908 --> 00:46:31.547
  • Going, "i don't want you to just depend on my voice.
  • 00:46:31.547 --> 00:46:35.284
  • I need to trust that you can do what i've already told you to
  • 00:46:35.284 --> 00:46:38.554
  • Do, to be faithful in the silence,
  • 00:46:38.554 --> 00:46:41.257
  • To keep putting one foot in front of this,
  • 00:46:41.257 --> 00:46:43.492
  • And just be present and allow me to be present with you,”
  • 00:46:43.592 --> 00:46:47.529
  • Because in close intimate relationships,
  • 00:46:47.529 --> 00:46:50.633
  • You're okay with not a bunch of talking.
  • 00:46:50.733 --> 00:46:54.403
  • And we got to get to that place of walking with the lord where i
  • 00:46:54.503 --> 00:46:58.741
  • Believe we can go, "okay, god, i'm not going to just depend on
  • 00:46:58.741 --> 00:47:02.645
  • You as my source because this is my job and i need a word for
  • 00:47:02.645 --> 00:47:05.381
  • Everybody, but i'm going to put into practice.”
  • 00:47:05.381 --> 00:47:08.350
  • And i love that you started us out today with the demonstration
  • 00:47:08.350 --> 00:47:12.755
  • Of what this message is about.
  • 00:47:12.755 --> 00:47:15.791
  • It's not coming full.
  • 00:47:15.791 --> 00:47:17.493
  • It's coming to god, softened every day, "going, what is it?
  • 00:47:18.727 --> 00:47:22.831
  • I might have my notes, i might have all these other ideas,
  • 00:47:22.831 --> 00:47:25.768
  • But i'm going to push all that to the side.
  • 00:47:25.868 --> 00:47:27.403
  • What do you want to say to me?
  • 00:47:27.403 --> 00:47:29.271
  • What do you want to do in my story right now?
  • 00:47:29.271 --> 00:47:31.840
  • And you don't even have to tell me,
  • 00:47:31.941 --> 00:47:33.475
  • But i'm going to walk hand in hand with you."
  • 00:47:33.575 --> 00:47:35.477
  • - i love that, amie.
  • 00:47:35.577 --> 00:47:36.679
  • That's really powerful.
  • 00:47:36.679 --> 00:47:38.447
  • - i think one of the hardest things to wrap our hearts around
  • 00:47:38.547 --> 00:47:41.250
  • Is the love of god.
  • 00:47:41.250 --> 00:47:43.419
  • You know, there's times when maybe you go to a conference,
  • 00:47:43.519 --> 00:47:45.754
  • Or you're in a bible study or something,
  • 00:47:45.754 --> 00:47:47.389
  • And you really feel god's presence.
  • 00:47:47.489 --> 00:47:49.224
  • But what about just the everyday today?
  • 00:47:49.224 --> 00:47:51.560
  • You know, when you're just going about your business,
  • 00:47:51.660 --> 00:47:53.429
  • You're doing the same laundry over and over again.
  • 00:47:53.429 --> 00:47:56.098
  • You know, you're getting your kids' meals ready for school,
  • 00:47:56.098 --> 00:47:59.201
  • Or maybe you're retired and you're just thinking, "well,
  • 00:47:59.301 --> 00:48:02.137
  • Was that kind of it?”
  • 00:48:02.237 --> 00:48:03.906
  • One of the greatest things, i think,
  • 00:48:03.906 --> 00:48:05.507
  • Is to ask the holy spirit daily to give you little glimpses of
  • 00:48:05.607 --> 00:48:11.046
  • The love of god, little surprises.
  • 00:48:11.146 --> 00:48:13.582
  • Some people call them godwinks.
  • 00:48:13.682 --> 00:48:15.484
  • But just look for moments in every day where god is speaking
  • 00:48:15.484 --> 00:48:18.988
  • To you and reminding you, "i see you and i love you."
  • 00:48:18.988 --> 00:48:22.891
  • - i want to invite all our viewers to bring their empty.
  • 00:48:24.093 --> 00:48:28.063
  • I just think it would be really beautiful to just take a moment,
  • 00:48:29.365 --> 00:48:32.267
  • No matter what's going on in your life,
  • 00:48:32.368 --> 00:48:34.269
  • Who's in the room with you, whatever's happening,
  • 00:48:34.370 --> 00:48:37.072
  • To just consciously bring your empty to the lord.
  • 00:48:37.172 --> 00:48:40.776
  • Father, you are such a faithful god.
  • 00:48:40.876 --> 00:48:43.479
  • You are full of love, full of mercy, overflowing in grace,
  • 00:48:44.713 --> 00:48:52.221
  • So we just come to you honestly, with our empty,
  • 00:48:52.321 --> 00:48:57.426
  • With the questions we have, with the silence we feel.
  • 00:48:58.560 --> 00:49:02.865
  • We just want to bring it all into your presence
  • 00:49:02.965 --> 00:49:05.934
  • Because we trust you.
  • 00:49:06.502 --> 00:49:08.203
  • You have a track record with us, lord,
  • 00:49:09.071 --> 00:49:11.440
  • That whether we can see the steps in front or not,
  • 00:49:12.541 --> 00:49:16.111
  • We know the steps behind.
  • 00:49:16.712 --> 00:49:18.113
  • We know the places where you have been with us and met us.
  • 00:49:18.113 --> 00:49:22.618
  • So, i ask right now for each one, lord,
  • 00:49:23.552 --> 00:49:27.556
  • Would you fill our empty with you?
  • 00:49:27.556 --> 00:49:29.224
  • Not with a new idea, or a new study plan, or a new anything.
  • 00:49:29.224 --> 00:49:35.264
  • Would you fill our empty with you?
  • 00:49:36.098 --> 00:49:38.333
  • We love you so much.
  • 00:49:38.867 --> 00:49:40.102
  • Teach us to love you more.
  • 00:49:40.102 --> 00:49:45.574
  • Amen.
  • 00:49:45.874 --> 00:49:47.109
  • - connect with us on social media and let us know how our
  • 00:49:48.343 --> 00:49:51.080
  • Team can pray for you.
  • 00:49:51.080 --> 00:49:53.148
  • - you know, when i was diagnosed with cancer for the
  • 00:49:54.283 --> 00:49:56.685
  • Second time, i recognized i needed courage and i didn't have
  • 00:49:56.685 --> 00:50:02.724
  • A bank of courage to pull from.
  • 00:50:02.724 --> 00:50:05.527
  • I was all out.
  • 00:50:05.527 --> 00:50:06.995
  • I needed supernatural courage and courage that came from a
  • 00:50:07.096 --> 00:50:11.233
  • Higher dimension.
  • 00:50:11.233 --> 00:50:12.401
  • And god met me in that place and encouraged my heart,
  • 00:50:12.401 --> 00:50:16.805
  • Encouraged my spirit, filled me with courage.
  • 00:50:16.805 --> 00:50:19.975
  • That was supernatural.
  • 00:50:20.075 --> 00:50:21.410
  • God will do the same for you.
  • 00:50:21.510 --> 00:50:23.112
  • Whatever battle you're facing, god will intervene and he will
  • 00:50:23.112 --> 00:50:28.083
  • Give you a deposit, a provision of courage that comes straight
  • 00:50:28.083 --> 00:50:32.955
  • From the throne room, courage to face whatever it is that you are
  • 00:50:33.055 --> 00:50:36.758
  • Battling right now in this moment.
  • 00:50:36.758 --> 00:50:38.927
  • - join our conversations anytime, anywhere.
  • 00:50:39.862 --> 00:50:42.531
  • Download tbn+ to stream your favorite episodes.
  • 00:50:42.631 --> 00:50:46.435
  • [music]
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