WOFOYO SHORT:Rest And Discernment

You can be exhausted and still be obedient, and you can be active and still be out of season. On a rainy Friday, I slow down long enough to talk through a lesson I keep learning the hard way: God gives different assignments for different seasons, and the real challenge is discerning whether you are in a time to push forward or a time to rest and recharge. That discernment matters because doing a good thing at the wrong time can quietly pull you off track.

I also open up about my own church path, from Roman Catholic roots to time in Baptist spaces, then deeper exposure to Full Gospel and Charismatic environments. Some of the most important moments of growth did not happen inside a church building, but they were shaped by what I learned from churches that took Scripture seriously and treated spiritual life with weight. Bones and I both lived through the confusing stretch of being called out, trying to find the “next place,” and realizing God was showing us patterns we needed to see, not just a new room to stand in.

We get specific about what can go wrong, too: church building debt that turns into pressure, repeated offerings, and spiritual language used to push people instead of shepherd them. Then we talk about the other side of the ditch, where emotion can get paraded as the Holy Spirit, gifting can get mimicked for attention, and “the Lord told me” gets thrown around without discernment. The anchor is simple and biblical: the still small voice, plus consistency in the Word of God, helps you stay steady and effective.

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Transcript

Rest Without Losing Your Edge

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hey everybody, welcome to another Woe Folio Yo Short. This is C Dub. You know, it is a Friday afternoon. I usually record these things a day or two before I put them up due to some scheduling things. That didn't happen. So it is a rainy day. Um slept in. Every now and then you just need to recharge your batteries. Uh, I'm a big proponent of being a doer of the word. So a lot of times I can go, go, go, go, go. You know, you look at the Genesis account, or six days for labor, there's a seventh day for rest. And so just wanted to encourage you all, you're going to have times of rest, you're going to have times of refreshment, and you're going to have times where the Lord says go. And you got to be able to discern which one you're in, or you can end up doing the exact same thing that's the will of God. And if you're not careful, you

A Winding Church And Faith Path

SPEAKER_00 1:16

can end up doing that exact same thing and being out of the will of God. Ask me, I know. Uh, I also want to encourage you in this, um, and it might sound a little bit hypocritical given what I just said. Um one of the things that I came to appreciate uh as God was calling me in into the wilderness, you know, I was raised Roman Catholic, um, attended the Baptist church, loved uh the Baptist church where I got baptized. Um I was just a little bit more hungry um than your average bear. And that led me down the spiritual journey. You know, I actually went back to being Catholic for um a couple years after that, uh, but the salvation experience was real, but it didn't happen in the church. Uh the baptism happened in the church. Um after some of those stories that I told in a couple uh recent shorts, you know, uh attended a couple churches and just really uh was not finding what I felt like the Lord was doing and where he wanted me to be. Um over in Colorado Springs, and then man, Victory World Outreach, can't can't give that church enough props. Uh good people, legitimate deliverances, um, and a lot of the experiences I had, although they were not in the church, the the physical thing, given some of the influence um when I started to hear the voice of the Lord, uh, when certain spiritual gifting started to manifest. I was over in the desert of Egypt. You know, I really had a big appreciation uh for the full gospel, charismatic uh churches. And uh even when I came back home after being in the army, the one I one I attended, the Lord told me you're home. And and that was home until the Lord called me out. And you know, met some great people there. I learned a lot of how things work. Um I learned a lot of what to do, I learned uh even probably more uh what not to do. That being said, one one of the things I really appreciated as I got called out, uh, and this happened with

When God Says Go Anyway

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Bones and I right around the exact same time. And you're talking about teaching Sunday school, helping out wherever we can, doing what the Lord wants us to do, you know, so so we thought until the Lord says go, and then we're both arguing, and it was time to go. But, you know, we're trying to find the next church. We were misguided that that isn't what the Lord was calling us to do. But he was showing us certain things that were consistent. Some of the issues that we were seeing were were not just present in the church that he called us out of, uh, and they were different churches for Bones and I. Uh, but we found out that these same issues were everywhere, and the Lord would not allow us to go back into that particular environment. Um, tell you one of them was um the the indebtedness uh of certain churches where the Lord told us to build a building, and now you're a million dollars in debt, and now you're taking up two and three offerings to and you're putting pressure on the congregation. So we got to see a lot of those things. Just want to encourage you all not only to get your rest, you know, when it's time to work, go go full bore. When when it's time to rest, rest. Always pray, always listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit. Uh

Debt Driven Ministry Pressure

SPEAKER_00 4:55

be willing to be obedient, uh, especially when it's inconvenient. Not only when it's inconvenient, but especially when it's inconvenient. And just know that that's going to yield fruit. Also, uh I just want to encourage y'all to be consistent. But one of the things I did appreciate about a lot of the Baptist churches, um as well as you know, a lot of the Catholics that that I met, is there there was this element of consistency. They weren't always receptive to certain spiritual gifts, and I think that's an error. However, I did appreciate a lot of their consistency because hearing from the Holy Spirit and even being used of God with certain spiritual giftings, that can keep you out of a lot of hot water. Uh that can save your life. It can also, if you misuse them, get you in a lot of hot water. So one of the things I always appreciated about the Baptist churches in particular was you know, getting in the word, getting in the word, getting in the word. So uh even the word of faith people. I know they're a big pushback against the word of faith movement. Let me tell you, I learned

Gifts Need Scripture And Discernment

SPEAKER_00 6:15

more word uh being around a lot of the word of faith people, because if it's word of faith, how are you gonna have faith if you don't know the word? That being said, were certain things misapplied? Yep. Yep, sure were. Uh, and guess what? Ain't none of us perfect. So it again, it's like a lot of things. You learn what to do, you learn what not to do for you, and then you just try and be obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit. So I wanted to encourage you all that when you have these times of rest, these times to recharge, make sure you're getting in the word. That will keep you consistent, and it will also keep you from some of the things that Bones and I experienced in some of the more full gospel, uh, charismatic things. There was a lot of flakiness, there was a lot of um emotion uh being paraded as the Holy Spirit. Uh, there was a lot of people that wanted uh the gifting so bad that they began to mimic it. Um a lot of people were really good at mirroring and mimicking things. And you know, they they got attention. There was also some people that had some issues uh personally, uh, and they found out that by doing certain things they could get attention. I don't think that was a majority uh of what I experienced in a lot of the spirit-led churches, but not everything that they were saying was spirit-led uh a lot of times, and and this is this is no slight against any one church, but there there was just an element that you had to use some discernment because people were saying, Oh, this is the Lord, this is the Lord, this is the Lord, and and it's like Elijah. The Lord wasn't in that, he wasn't in wasn't in the fire, he caused it, wasn't in the fire, wasn't in the earthquake, wasn't in the whirlwind, the mighty rushing wind. He was in the still small voice. So be consistent, um be open to spiritual giftings, uh, be open to hearing from the Lord, definitely be open to be obedient, but also make sure you're grounded in the word of God so that you remain consistent, and therefore, when you combine the two, you'll be effective. Woe fo yo.

Final Charge And Where To Listen

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at woefo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. For Bones of Myself, this is C Dub, reminding you that if you're going to grow, you got a Woefo Yo. Get in the word for yourself.