Press On

Faith rarely grows on a stage. It grows in the quiet, in the long in-between, when the quick fix fails and the wilderness starts telling the truth about what we really believe. We’re talking perseverance—how to keep pressing toward the prize from Philippians 3 when emotions spike, attention fragments, and the next “new thing” tries to cut the line on depth.

We open up about the difference between the comfort of church structure and the discomfort of private revelation. Why does Ephesians often read like a blur until one day a single line—“everything that becomes visible is light”—reshapes how you see God, yourself, and the world? We explore how program churn can flatten hunger, why mature discipleship moves us from milk to meat, and how mentors, accountability, and season-appropriate correction help us grow up in Christ without losing heart.

This conversation also gets practical about the battlefield of the mind. When anxiety hits mid-shift and you can’t call a timeout, perseverance looks like steady witness on the outside and raw prayer on the inside. We talk about triggers, trauma, and spiritual warfare without hype, focusing on discernment, Scripture, and the Spirit’s timely reminders. Grace isn’t an excuse to stall—it’s power to pivot, adjust, and keep moving. Over time, that consistent yes forms quiet strength people mistake for overnight anointing.

We end with freedom: being fully known and judged by God is liberating, not crushing. When fear of exposure fades, courage rises. Life becomes a win-win—life is Christ, death is gain—and the daily practice simplifies: get in the Word for yourself, listen for the Spirit, and keep walking when rewards are delayed. If you’re tired of spiritual whiplash and hungry for durable faith that endures headlines, feelings, and wilderness seasons, this is your map check and marching order.

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Transcript

Theme: Patience And Perseverance

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Hey everybody, welcome to the Woe Fo Yo podcast with C Dub and Bones. You know, every now and then there's times we we talked about this in the book, how the words that you read in this glorious Bible that we have, they're the highlights. And I'm sure anybody that's ever got into chronicles and the genealogies and all that's the highlights. Well, yeah, uh there's some highlights in there. What what you don't see is, you know, they're recording the existence of people that lived anywhere from 30 to 120 years in most cases. You know, when you get to Genesis, it's a lot longer. But there's a lot of things that go on between the letters, between the lines, the white of the pages, or eggshell, if you got one of them fancy, fancy Bibles. There's so much that goes on that isn't recorded. Even John said in his gospel at the very end. You know, if we wrote down all the things Jesus did, all the books in the world couldn't contain it. But that's the way our lives are. And really, what the Lord's been putting on my heart, and it's not been like this direct word other than the theme just keeps coming up. It keeps coming up, it keeps coming up, keeps coming up. But but that's uh this idea of patience and perseverance, um, being consistent. And bones you and I'll probably have the same testimony here that there's some things that we're consistent in, and then there's some things that we're not as good at being consistent in. You know, I know that with me for sure. But there's some things it ain't hard to be consistent in that at all. And then every now and then you come across something you're just like, hmm, there's room for improvement. But Paul, in his letter to Philippians, over in chapter three, as we get in the word for ourselves, but whatever things were gained to me, these things I've counted as lost, because he was just got through listing all his accolades to say that weren't anything. That I have counted as lost because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. If somehow I may attain to the resurrection of the dead, not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, all who are mature, let's have this attitude. And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well. Boy, does he. However, let's keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. He's saying a mouthful there, but he's basically saying, you know, ain't got there yet. But as a friend of my dad used to say, gonna keep on keeping on. Yeah. Uh staying consistent. You know, we're recording this when we hit the record button, state of the union address was just starting, and pulled a little Gerald Malone on everybody. You know, what's the state of your union with Jesus?

unknown 4:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Hey, brother, how's the Lord treating you?

SPEAKER_00 4:58

How you treating him?

Church Consistency Vs Wilderness Refining

SPEAKER_02 5:03

There's a whole bunch of things we could say about that. But really, what's been put on my heart lately, and probably just to admonish me if we're being truthful, is stay consistent, be faithful. There are all those times, especially if you're getting ready to go into a wilderness season, you're gonna learn to get out of an instant gratification mindset. It's gonna try your patience.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

It's it's kind of easy. I'd say easier to uh stay faithful and consistent or consistent in your faith when you're in church. When you're surrounded by other believers, um you've got that structure and discipline that comes with church and Sunday school and and all those things. Uh and that and rightfully so. That's kind of what uh part of what the whole program is about, is uh is is building each other up, uh uh and and and edifying the house of God and uh you know the the body of Christ and everything. So that that's that's easily understood. Uh uh that uh being uh consistent in in the faith, I won't say it's easy, but it's easier when you're uh in fellowship and connected to other believers. Going into the wilderness, um, I find just the opposite uh to be true, in that it's easier to be consistent in your unbelief when you're in the wilderness. Um that's what I find. It's easier to be consistent in those things that you don't really want to be consistent in. Um and and which rightfully so. That's kind of what the wilderness is for, is to reveal those things in you that need work uh and to bring that that that slag and draw to the top so that it can be uh sloughed off. So if you find yourself in that situation, you know, don't feel bad because that's exactly what that wilderness journey is is designed to do, is to show you those inconsistencies, those impurities and things like that sort. Because in your inconsistency, uh God's grace is very much so consistent. Uh so yeah, we find us in in church, it's a little bit easier to be consistent and uh and persevere in our faith out in the wilderness. Yeah, we find ourselves a little more consistent in perseverance in our unbelief, I think sometimes.

Private Revelation And Digging Deep

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Well, I thought I think it starts out that way. But if you yield to the process, I think it ends up producing the exact opposite. Right, right. By by the time you're ready to come out. And again, I I will tell everybody took you five less years than it did me, just because I think I was just a little bit more hard-headed and uh to learn that lesson, I began to really enjoy the wilderness. Um, you know, I I was I was thinking though, and you know, we talk about you know, you were saying it's kind of easier to stay consistent in church. Well, well, I would say in some things, yes. But I would also say that if you're going to get into a deep relationship with Jesus Christ, if you're really going to get in the word, if you're really going to foster that intimacy with the Holy Spirit, I think sometimes church can be a hindrance. And even if you have, as they say, a good Bible-believing church. You know, Babylon B had a little meme out today, he said, Episcopalian woman gives up Bible reading for Lent. Uh, you know, they're not all good Bible-believing churches. Uh, but when we talk about a good Bible-believing church, well, you know, this is something that as we've done the podcast here, I have a little bit more of appreciation for, you know, the the pastor in your church, either he's going to have a guest speaker or he's going to have something. But, you know, if he preached the same thing every week, there's a lot of people be bored, right? So to speak, because there can be this entertainment factor that creeps in. If you're going to dig into the deep things of God, when you have a new message every Sunday, and oh, now we're focusing on this, or now we're focusing on that. Now it might be that they're getting into a series, and so you're able to actually dig in there, but still, there's a this kind of personal revelation a lot of times that will happen, and these are the ones that stay with you that the Holy Spirit will reveal to you. I just have to say personally, all too often that doesn't come when I'm in the walls of the sanctuary. I'm not saying it never happens, but way more often than not, I'm talking well over 90% of the time, it happens in private time. Right. It happens uh dick and I'm gonna give you a little example here. You know, I've I've quoted Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, and Ephesians 6 in my prayer life on a daily basis. And then I read Ephesians recently, and I said, well, well, let's let's just focus on uh 2, 4, and 5. Well, what what am I not? And the thing is, you know, Paul goes and talks to the Galatians about, you know, who's bewitched you from the simplicity that's in Christ, but then he does some stuff in Ephesians that's on a level of depth, you're like, how in the world? It's it's it's deep. Yeah. So here's just one of those things. And they're not going to talk about this in your pulpit, most likely. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 13. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light. You know, we had just mentioned this in our last full episode. For everything that becomes visible is light.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Now, this right here, that's physics, dude. Right.

Ephesians, Light, And True Depth

SPEAKER_02 11:58

It wasn't until less than a hundred years ago that modern man figured out that everything was made of light particles. Right. Even the thing that causes the shadow is made from the light. And again, you can get into some really esoteric and even off-track teachings like the Gnostics did, but you can kind of see there's some depth there. So it was just one of those things that God goes, you think you're smart, huh? Uh you know, but but you're not going to get into any kind of level of that. Paul received that by revelation of Jesus Christ one-on-one time. The ever-changing theme in the local congregation, uh, and in some cases, in the denomination that they're putting out for all their uh minions, I'll call it the way it is, uh, some of some of the um uh some of the theological pinnacles, like some of your seminaries and different things like that, uh, some of the heads of the denominations, they will put out what they want you to preach, more or less. And you better you better step in line, or else don't you know what they can do to you? Peter said, I don't care. Do what you want, obey God. But but yeah, they're they're they're gonna keep this everything changing. And if you try and focus on it, you'll you'll never dig deep. And that that what that's what needs to happen. Yet at the same time, you need to be able to walk it out so you can explain it to people and not lose them, too. There's where we get into balance.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

Um what I found was that uh as long as I went along with the program and uh you know, showed up to church like I was supposed to, and and uh I read my Sunday school lesson and followed along with uh the Sunday school book and and and and all those things, and did all those the things that that particular quote unquote program, that denomination did, um, it was pretty easy to stay um consistent. And I think I think the reason was, or I think what was happening really is that you can only grow so much that way. Yeah, you can only you can only be taken so far. Um, but at some point in time, the Holy Spirit's gonna knock on your door and say, Hey, let me show you something. And one of those somethings is that sentence right there, you know, that that you just talked about, for everything that is visible is light. You know, that is a sentence that you can read a thousand times in this uh in this uh book of Ephesians. You can read it a thousand times, and then one day the Holy Spirit's gonna knock on your door, and the Holy Spirit's gonna say, Hey, guess what? Guess what that means? And you're like, Oh crap, yeah. I heard that's that's physics, just like you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

And I've literally read that over a thousand times.

Programs, Denominations, And Balance

SPEAKER_03 15:19

But yeah, yesterday it just goes all of a sudden you go, Whoa, Paul is talking about he's not just he's not just rambling like some, like sometimes it feels Paul is doing is rambling. Um then you realize that his ramp his ramblings aren't really ramblings. Um that's the Holy Spirit giving him revelation, and we don't know how to process that that exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:43

Well, and and you won't get that. You won't get that in your uh cookie cutter, um going with the program kind of flow uh at church. Now, does that mean you shouldn't, you know, you should buck the system and all that? No, that's not necessarily no, not really. Um, but you should be prepared when the Holy Spirit knocks on your door and says, Hey, I want to show you something.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Let's go on an adventure.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Let's go on an adventure because it's gonna be it's gonna be deep. Um, and for me, the Holy Spirit did that um not too long after I started feeling out of balance in the church. Yes, yes. I started feeling like things were leaning way too heavy one way, and Holy Spirit said, Hey, guess what? That's me. Um let's go over here and talk.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

And not to get too uh bogged down into what you were going through at the time, but I remember, you know, I was it was manifesting a little bit different, you know, this feeling that that that you were kind of not you, but that that I was kind of off as well. But man, it was there was a lot of little things that that if I recall correctly, that it seemed like everybody was trying to make this mountain out of a molehill and to get you to go along in the and these things that when you step back, it's like we were too far, we were drawn too far in. And there was these things that people were trying to make these things bigger than they were, but when you step back, then all of a sudden you had that balance, you had that perspective, and it's now like the Holy Spirit's like, are you gonna be obedient or are you gonna let them dictate you know your relationship with me, or are you gonna let me dictate that?

Growing Past Milk To Meat

SPEAKER_03 17:45

Yeah, you can get drawn in so far that um when you hear the Holy Spirit start drawing you into the wilderness, you'll feel like you're being disobedient. Yeah. Because, well, you're you're supposed to be a good little Christian, you're supposed to be in church uh on uh, you know, you know, twice on Sunday and and once or twice during the week, and you're supposed to be volunteering for everything. You're supposed to be and that may not be the case for you anyway. Um there may be others that are called to that, but maybe that's not you, not right now. Um for me, it got to the point where almost everything, almost everything made me angry. Uh that that was that was happening. Um because like you said, there everything was uh a mountain made or a molehill made into a mountain. It was just bigger than what it really was. And and um the Holy Spirit was trying to say, hey, that's that's me, that's me agitating, not necessarily them.

Attention Economy And Spiritual Focus

SPEAKER_02 18:45

And furthermore, some of the things that it felt like we were being drawn into were things we couldn't really do anything about. Right. And so we're getting upset about these things that um really wasn't any of our business. That uh and they were well-meaning people, good people. Right, right. Don't get me wrong, but that was something they had to work out on their own. But then they want to confide in you and they want to, hey, brother, you know, I need your opinion. And all of a sudden it's like, man, you love these people, you you you love everybody involved. And I just remember I'm like, I'm gonna spend some time with my family. First ministries of home. And and you know, you you were talking about the Sunday school and the different things like that, and you and you get to a point. Well, I will tell you something that's that's pretty gross. And I'm not trying to be gross for gross sake, but if any of you are parents, you will either have this experience or you've already had it. And you'll start flashing back like, dang, C dub, why did you have to mention that? My nephew, God bless him. You know, we did some stuff this fall, and and he's a he's a bigger kid. I mean, physically just bigger, taller, big. Hey, Uncle Chris, hey Uncle Chris, and he comes over, comes over for Thanksgiving. Hey, Uncle Chris. Oh voice is dropping, you know? Okay, well, guess what? Not gonna be dirty here, but once your kids, boys or girls, hit that age, I've helped raise four, you know, succeeded pretty decent. The boys were so much easier, you're gonna have to start doing more laundry. You're gonna have to start talking about hygiene, you're gonna have to start talking about deodorant, you're gonna have to start talking about uh different situations that you might find yourself in. That you know, if you're if you're a boy, some of these girls might start looking at you, and the the friendships change. You know, if you're a girl, some of these boys, the relationships change, you know, what what they're saying versus what their instincts are starting to turn into, that those are something that need to be addressed, and how do you how do you um navigate those waters, so to speak? You know, you're like I said, I remember kids coming up, give me a hug. Oh, here we go. You know, because cause when your kid starts to hit that stage, uh, you know, they're gonna stink. Our pits are gonna stink. Uh there's there's you know You're gonna have to do the sheets, make sure they're washing their mattress, and probably be some experiences. No, I'm not doing that. You get your stuff out. Let's go to the laundry. Let me teach you how to, you know, and you know, it really wasn't that big of a thing for my kids to do laundry. I mean, my mom had me washing dishes at you know, six, seven years old. Right. Grandma was teaching me, and dad was teaching me, and mom's teaching me how to cook at eight. You know, so these weren't that big of a thing. Uh, I think a lot of kids today hit that a lot later because everything's so instant. But you you take that whole thing of anybody that's ever raised kids that have gone through puberty and the challenges that it takes from getting there, and then all of a sudden your daughters become emotion on steroids, uh, hyperfeeling, you know, and sometimes logic can go out the window. Um, boys, a little bit easier to reason, you just realize what the source of that, even whether they mean it or not, you you realize what that drive is that's causing them to make those silly decisions, and you remember what you had been through, you know, and and you know, it might be the same for moms and daughters. But uh all I'm saying is this there comes a point when something changes. And one of the sickest, nastiest, saddest things uh that that I've seen over my years, and I've seen this have some real detrimental effects uh in in a multitude of ways, especially with single moms, and this is nothing against single moms per se, but if you have a mom that doesn't recognize what her kid is going through, especially if it's a son, there's all sorts of just grossness that happens when you see a kid where mom has never adjusted. Uh, I've seen it happen uh in my job where moms will make excuses for their kids. That mom's 60 years old, that kid is 20 or is 40, and she's making an excuse for a son that's committed murder. My baby wouldn't do that. Well, evidently it did because he's in here. Still my baby. Still my baby, uh, never grown up. Where dads would step in or come here, boy, you you need to learn how to wash. You know, you need to learn how to pee standing up. You know, you need these are guy things. But you see kids that stink, you see young men that never become young men, they're still like balls of dough. Sourdough with that, you know, that like I said, the hygiene's back, they throw fits, they throw tantrums, they won't take responsibility for themselves. And it's just because they've never recognized that they've hit this point of maturity, and now they're now the approach needs to change. Well, we do that in church. Oh yeah. And it's just as gross spiritually.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

It is. If you want to know what that looks like, it's that one that it's that one that makes uh all kinds of excuses for the church, but then judges you uh on your individual behavior. Um that's that's one of the big things. Well, you know, there's no such thing as a perfect church. Well, the church is made of imperfect people. Well, okay, I get all that. But then we'll turn to the left or to the right or even look you right in the face and and judge you for uh any little perceived uh transgression. Um that's that's immaturity. Uh that's someone who hasn't uh who hasn't reached a level of maturity to uh and attained the wisdom to say, hey, you know what? Um we're all falling short. So really I shouldn't be you know making excuses for anybody. Uh we should be uh requiring justice is what we should be requiring. Um but yeah, it there is that point where if we don't uh if we don't learn how to transition, if we can't transition, we will stay stuck in that uh in that uh prepubescent stink and funk.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

And and like Paul says, you're still you're still stuck on milk. I want to give you meat, but I can't because you're still stuck on milk.

The Inner Battle And Mental Fortitude

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Yeah, I mean, if you if you saw a 13-year-old boy, should be young man, if you saw a 13-year-old boy breastfeeding, that's the epitome of grossness right there. But but we're we're trying to make that same thing happen spiritually. Where you you don't know, I'll I'll I'll feed you, I'll feed you. Don't go out and get that on your own. You know, and so we don't exercise, you know. A lot of these kids are overweight. This is also, you know, what we were talking about, you know, just where people don't recognize that they become young men. They need a male mentor, uh, a man mentor, not just a male mentor. Uh, somebody that is exemplary, preferably the father, that's not always available, but somebody that can demonstrate manhood, which a lot of times just boils down to taking responsibility for your actions. But the this failure to do so in this uh constant coddling, you you never develop any perseverance with that. You never develop any mission.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Um, you expect things to be handed to you.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Um the then you factor in a a short attention span, as everything technologically has produced this, as well as our wanting to keep people entertained in the body rather than dig deep and mentor. Uh man, it it it it has created a lack of perseverance. I'll tell you a good manifestation of it, but it's reflective, it's not the cause, but it's the reflectiveness of it. Well, what was the hot story three weeks ago? Well, it's definitely not the hot story now in the media. What's the hot thing politically? Well, it's definitely not the hot thing that was political, their political hot thing three weeks ago, a month ago. Yeah. You know, because they're trying to constantly divert your attention, divert your attention, divert your attention. Thank God for people that will keep reminding others. But let me tell you, the church got that way first.

Triggers, Trauma, And Spiritual Warfare

SPEAKER_03 29:03

And and that's definitely a place where we can't afford that. Yeah. Um in society, in the in the world, um the channels keep changing. They keep changing the channels on us, uh, keeping our attention divided. Uh, hey, look you over there. This is the new thing. In the church, we have to stay focused. We have to stay focused on Jesus. Uh, we have to stay focused on the cross. We have to stay focused on the power of his resurrection. Uh, to me, that's probably one of the things we've lost focus on more than anything, is um the the resurrection, the the empty grave. Um we've lost we've lost sight of that. Uh I think we're we've got the we've got the sin part down in in some areas, uh, but uh we've got to stay focused because the the enemy would have us divided and conquered, and not just divided from each other, but divided in our own mind as well. Yes, yes. And that's where that that's where the real battle uh starts first, is is in your mind. Um perseverance is a battle inside your own mind. Um so when the enemy throws all that they have against you, and your world is blowing up on the inside, and you feel like one big anxiety attack, you have to fall back on Jesus Christ. You have to fall back on the Holy Spirit, you have to fall back on scripture, on all those things. When the enemy and the world is telling you that everything's going to hell in the handbasket, you have to have uh something to fall back on, not your emotions, um, not what you see around you, you have to have uh some foundation to fall back on. If you don't, you will be a slave to your emotion. You'll be a soulless Christian, is what you'll be.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

And you don't have the opportunity all the time, or I would better way to say it is you don't always have the convenience of escaping to the latest hillsong or marinath of soft praise worship to get your mind right in your safe space. Sometimes you you're gonna have to deal with it.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

Yeah, you're gonna have to deal with it. You're either gonna have to the the world calls them triggers, you're either gonna have to see the battle coming or you're gonna have to learn to fight it on the run. But um, you don't you don't always have the opportunity to call time out and step back and and and get your prayer and praise on and and and make everything happen. No. Uh a lot of times you're gonna have to deal with whatever's in front of you, um, maintain your composure, uh, especially if you're at work, maintain your professionalism, uh, maintain your witness, all that stuff that the Bible talks about, while on the inside, it's just a raging battle. Uh, and that's a very difficult thing to do if if you're not if you're not prayed up going out in the first place.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Uh, I remember when Christopher Bruce came down and he was doing um the the those revival services that we both attended. One of the things that really struck out, and I don't remember a lot of sermons, because a lot of it was just a circular discussion. Right. And you come back to something without ever getting to the point. But everybody's ooed and awed. You know, uh no no fruit. But he he talked about one time, he talked about spiritual schizophrenia. Oh, yeah. Where it's a fracture of the mind. And when somebody's schizophrenic, it's not just hearing voices, but it's like your mind is fractured. Um, some there's been some trauma, usually, is the cause, uh, a high percentage of the times, trauma induced. But said you could have 90% of your brain is is working right, and you can have that same thing. 90% of your spiritual life is working right. But something happened to you back when you were four years old, and all it takes is that right trigger. And all of a sudden, everything you know as an adult, you go back to being a five-year-old or a four-year-old, or what wherever the point of that trauma is, which is also um, you have some people that will write on uh casting out devils, doing exorcisms, different things like that, and they will tell you oftentimes that is the point where if it leads up to some kind of uh demonic um influence, whether it's possession or oppression, however you want to argue it, it's usually that point of trauma. If they can go back to that point of trauma, now they can address that spiritual influence that got in with that. And some people, well, that's just psychology, and it's not always psychology. Uh, although it works both ways, uh, whether psychology or if it is uh spiritual. Uh psychology don't cause people to uh have their skin crossed, psychology don't have people turn have their eyes, uh pupils dilate to where their eyes turn black in half a second, which I have seen. Uh psychology don't cause uh hairs on your arm and neck to stand up instantly because you're in the presence of something foul. That ain't psychology. I deal with abnormal psychology on the regular.

Walking Through The Valley With Grit

SPEAKER_03 34:49

This is different. But I will uh I've noticed that a lot of times I'll smell cigarettes. Um I have I'll I'll detect the odor of cigarettes when I know that there's no one around me smoking. Um I've I've smelled it even here in my house. Uh I just sit there and all of a sudden I'll I'll smell foul odor of cigarettes. So it took me some time to come to this because I didn't pick up on it immediately. Um but as as I started talking to the Lord about it, yeah, you're being being pinged, so to speak, you know, the the enemy's the the enemy's walking around you too. He's taking notice of you trying to see what he can what he can pick up on. Um but that is uh you know things like that sometimes can be uh a warning of uh a spiritual presence around you. Now, does that mean if you smell cigarettes, you got the devil around you? No, not saying that. Um, but in in my circumstance it was. Um, but uh you have to be able to learn that and and have that conversation with the Lord and figure it out. Things that just are out of place. Ask the Lord, what's going on here? What's going on? And you might be surprised.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

The 23rd Psalm says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it doesn't say to stay there. If we're not careful, we will. Right. And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, being consistent, being persistent, uh steadfast, trusting God, especially even when you feel like I don't know what the heck's going on. You feel like you've lost your direction. Uh that trust in God, and we've talked about doing the map check, you know, getting in the world where you don't know what to do. And even then, even then, that can still be a struggle at times. You know, that's not the is it's not the be all to end all to where you don't have any more problems if you just pause and do a map check. It helps. It helps a bunch, but that doesn't mean you still don't have to keep going and sometimes second you're guessing yourself about how far down that path you've been and how much further you have to go. Um but it creates, I want to just say it like this it creates strength in you. It's one of those things the Lord uses to create strength and endurance in you is steadily walking out your faith when there doesn't seem to be any reward. And then you get to where you're doing it if you keep trusting him. Right. Now you're doing it and you don't even know, don't even realize it. And that's when it gets gets interesting because people come up and oh, brother, you are so anointed. Uh had a guy, Dave Ramsey, not the financial guy, um, went on to be with the Lord several years ago. But I just remember him saying, man, uh it came the roundabout way. So man, he don't know how powerful he is. But we we we've sat and talked. Talking to Dave Ramsey in a lot of ways, um, was like the Lord holding up a mirror. We just finished uh Christian self-defense manual, and he had done this, he had done that, and I'm just like, this is everywhere where I'm heading, you know, where where the Lord's kind of steering, and I'm just like, oh. So it and and that right there, him holding up that mirror what was encouraging. But the fact is, I'd finally got to the point to where I didn't know that I was doing it anymore. It it's it's like being in the army and doing push-ups. Man, after a while, I ain't nothing but a thing. You just keep you just keep doing it, you you don't count your push-ups. You know, you just keep doing them until it's time to stop.

Endurance, Grace, And Quiet Strength

SPEAKER_03 38:57

It's like uh it's like a duck on a pond. Uh the duck moves around effort effortlessly, it just kind of glides across the water. Underneath the water, man, them them feet are paddling a hundred miles an hour to get them going. Um there's there's power in that. Uh there's there's power in that uh to be able to uh move through your spiritual life um with uh seemingly little or no effort. Um but it takes it it it takes growth to do that. It takes a lot of growth to do that. Um I think that's like I said, that's just one of the things that that perseverance uh you know builds up, is is that is what comes with it. Um but uh it it doesn't come without its heartaches. Um you're gonna have panic attacks, you're gonna have anxiety, you're gonna have those times where you think you failed. Uh it's it's gonna feel like you've lost your marbles, all those things. But then the Lord's gonna show up and say, Yeah, maybe you did, but you you didn't blow up on that person. You brought all that mess to me. And that's okay, and that's okay. See, that's that's a whole lot different than than getting upset and blowing up on somebody. Uh, because we don't want to do that. No, uh, that's that's not what we want to be. We want to be the one that can cage all that, man maintain our composure, and then take it to the Lord. And because He's got uh He's got bigger shoulders, he can handle all that. Um sometimes I I know I've been there, it it feels like failure, but then the Lord says, no, you gotta bring it to me. Gotta bring it to me.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Old. Old couple things. You you're talking about the heartache. You know, right after I found out that uh the the David shared that with my buddy, and and we had known each other probably about four years, and then uh right before he passed, about a year before, well, probably about four months before he passed. I seen him, I go, oh, not looking as good as he was, you know. So so here's it this just great, great Christian, great human being of a man, um great teacher and mentor of people. He comes up and then he's got that little bit of a little bit of grayish look, a little bit of bags under his eyes, you know. But this dude is a glowing. I mean, you see the Holy Spirit on that dude, and he comes up to me, he says, You're ready.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

He doesn't say hi. I'm like, hey David, he says, You're ready.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

He said, You're ready for what's coming. He says, Son, I can see his mark on you. You're you're ready. Now, just so you know, every now and then, you know, I've got this crusader cap on, I might wear my Glock cap or something else like that. A lot of times you'll see me on some of these things with a maker's mark uh hat. And that's that's directly because of Dave Ramsey out of Perryville.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Son, you're ready.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

I see his mark on you. And I'm like, yes, sir. Uh but at the same time, you you're you're gonna have some of the same ones that that the Lord uses to bring you through that that process and teach you some of that same perseverance, and you'll see them go their way. Uh you're you're gonna see you're gonna see things take their course. But I tell you what, it it's got me to the point that, you know, and it's easy to talk tough like this, but you know, you you mentioned that oh uh Kenny Chesney song, Everybody Want to Go to Heaven, but nobody wants to go right now. Um it got it is to the point where if I live it's Christ, if I die, it's game.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Right. And eventually, if you persevere, it becomes the biggest win-win situation you'll ever have.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

Because you know, hey, um if I wake up tomorrow and there's Jesus, I'm like, okay, it's all right. Um and just got given a clean bill of health, so I ain't trying to predict nothing. Um doctor said everything's good. So amen. Praise God. Uh it it gets to the point, though, where you know, when when you're not afraid of death, that's a game changer.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

Yeah.

Pivot, Adjust, And Keep Moving

SPEAKER_02 43:56

When it when it gets to the point where they ain't got nothing on you. It's free, dude. It's free. Always go back to and the same thing with with your sin, too. I had just turned uh my girlfriend on to the book uh The Final Quest. She had never read that. And one of the greatest revelations I've ever come across was in that book. And you and I mentioned before that you know my dad had a uh business partner, was later a friend of mine for a while, and stuff, but he had a brother who was worth a lot, and his brother had this other business partner. Well, guess what? Uh that business partner, the brother, who was probably worth a billion dollars or more, uh, had this property out in North Carolina outside of Charlotte. And that is where on a retreat, um, Rick Joyner wrote the final quest, where he had those visions. He was in a cabin that was owned by that guy on that property. Just come on over.

SPEAKER_03 45:07

Um hang out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Uh, and he came over, and and uh, I think that land is now uh part of Morningstar Ministries, Rick Joyner's calling Moravian Falls. Yep, it is a really, really small world, but that revelation in that book is that when he goes to the judgment seat of Christ, he said, then all of a sudden it's horrifying and as dark and as foreboding as this seemed. Once I let it take its effect, it was the most liberating thing.

SPEAKER_00 45:43

Be being judged by God is liberating. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_03 45:50

Um like King David said, Um I'd rather take my chances in the hand of the living God. You know, if if I had to choose between being judged between my enemies and and and the Lord, I I'll choose God every time. Um because He's He's just and He's righteous and He'll never be unfair. Um we always get uh we always get a fair shake when it comes to comes to the Lord. So and I think what we're saying is if you just relax and let it happen, it'll be okay.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

Yep, and just be consistent in doing so and realize it it's it's it's a big old hike. It's the Appalachian Trail. You know, it it's it's it ain't a hundred-yard sprint.

SPEAKER_03 46:46

No, when when you wake up tomorrow, um God already knows what you're doing that day. Uh He already knows how you're gonna handle it, He already knows the mistakes you're gonna make, He already knows the success you're gonna have, too. Yes, uh He already knows all those things. Um what I find comforting in that is you know, when you start to get a little agitated, start to get a little anxious and excited, um, you and you remember that, then you can realize uh maybe there's no reason to get excited now. There's no reason to let my emotions get the better of me. Um, because God really is in control, and and I have to believe that. Not it's not something we just say, we have to start believing it. And what does it mean to believe it? Well, it means to walk it out. Yeah, step out on faith and and and act like you believe it.

Perseverance As A Lifelong Lesson

SPEAKER_02 47:39

That's one of the things I tell people at work, and the same principle applies in your walk. Especially with new people when I when I'm training on how to do this and that. Well, oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry, look. It's now sorry, so uh, you know, I always go back. Sorry is when you cried. Sorry, sorry is what you tell the prom queen. Yeah. So here's the thing. I make more mistakes than anybody, just as much. But uh what trusting God in all aspects uh that that I have. Uh and when I find that I don't do this, it's a reminder that hey, there there's some area here that you haven't given over to me. Uh, and we need to work on that. And but I'm telling you, I make the mistake, but the mistake isn't the end. And you'll see this in David all day long. Oh, yeah. Um just just pivot and adjust. If you gotta, if you gotta address it and say, you know, and and repent, you know, if he gets to that, then do that. But a lot of times the Lord has enough grace where you'll recognize the mistake, and if you get to where it's not the end of the world, you can pivot, and it's just a minor hiccup rather than rather than a major thing. And you're gonna find that out spiritually, you're gonna find that out um, you know, even in your work and in your relationships, different things like that. Just be consistent and trusting. And once you realize it's not the end of the world, man, now it's just Lord, how do we fix it? How do we make it better?

SPEAKER_03 49:26

Yeah, you can make your adjustment and keep rolling. Um there's no need to stop movement just to say you're sorry. Um you got plenty of time after the mission at the end of the mission to do all that.

SPEAKER_02 49:41

Yeah, do that during the AAR.

SPEAKER_03 49:42

Yeah, do all that later. Um, just go ahead, recognize your mistake, pivot off of it, and keep moving. Um, because you're you're in the middle of the fight right there. Why why you want to why you want to stop momentum? You know, just keep on moving. Uh, that's what grace is for. That's that's why God gives us grace so we can keep on moving and keep on keeping on when we need to. So just don't forget to readdress it later. Uh and and the good thing is the Lord will will remind you. That's what the Holy Spirit does, is remind you. Say, hey, we need to talk about this. Remember what happened yesterday? We need to talk about this now. So but perseverance, probably one of the hardest lessons to learn uh because it takes the longest, I think, sometimes. Um, and it's uh it's an ongoing lesson. It's always it's it's not one of those uh you learn it and you can put it off to the side and and and you're done with it. It's it's an everyday lesson when it when it comes to to walking with the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 50:39

Once you finally learn it, they're carrying your body somewhere.

SPEAKER_03 50:42

Oh yeah, yeah. It's it's not over until until you'll be carried, until you've been carried out by 12 or six or however many carried out. How big how big you got, I guess, at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

It took 12, but yeah, but well, yeah, the saying was uh better be uh better be judged by twelve than carried out by six.

SPEAKER_03 51:03

That's it. Yeah, so just uh you you can't persevere though if you're not spending time in the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 51:16

Wofoyo. Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at woefoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or audible, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you're gonna grow, you gotta woe fo yo. Get in the word for yourself.