Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast
Join us for an exciting Season 2 of our podcast, which garnered over 7000 downloads last year! Your hosts, Rachel and Israel Campbell, are back to take you on an incredible journey. In this podcast, we invite you into the ongoing dialogues about life, love, parenting, relationships, spirituality, and whatever else sparks our interest!
Our motivation for creating this podcast remains unchanged: we believe that discipleship should encompass more than just a classroom experience; it should be a way of life. Drawing inspiration from Jesus' interactions with his disciples, we see that it was far from a traditional classroom setup. Instead, it was a continuous exchange of teachings and discussions encompassing all facets of life.
Imagine savoring a delicious bowl of soup – that's what our podcast is like. We're here to engage in honest and unfiltered conversations, covering a wide spectrum of topics. And now, we invite you to share this podcast with your friends, family members, or coworkers, just as you'd share a great meal. Just like Jesus and his disciples, we're here to explore the richness of life together!
So, come join us for another season of candid conversations as we dive into a little bit of everything – from the profound to the lighthearted!
Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast
Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast Season 2 Episode 12 "CREATING SAFE SPACES"
What if you could reclaim your joy and peace this holiday season, not just for yourself, but for those around you as well? As we unwrap the concept of creating safe spaces, we invite you to join us on a journey that seeks to challenge and change your perspective on fear and anxiety. We share a powerful personal narrative about battling anxiety attacks through God's word, reinforcing the power of faith and trust in His love. This touching story reminds us all that fear is a spiritual fight, one we can conquer by relying on God's love, power, and sound mind.
Imagine overcoming paralyzing fear and anxiety to create a haven for yourself and others. We explore this possibility, drawing from biblical examples like Mary and Timothy to illustrate God's immense power to overcome fear and instill peace through the Holy Spirit. Let's redefine our understanding of fear as a spiritual struggle, and find strength in trusting God's power to defeat it. This journey of overcoming is not one of shame but of courage and reliance on the divine.
Finally, we ignite a conversation about overcoming fear from another perspective, one that emphasizes empowering the spirit. We delve into the role of the Holy Spirit in combating fear and talk about the importance of surrendering to His power. Staying mindful of what we consume - be it from media or entertainment, becomes essential as we guard our hearts and minds from fear. By sharing personal experiences and practical tips, we hope to guide you on a path towards defeating fear and living in the power of the Holy Spirit. This Christmas, let's not allow fear to control us. Instead, let's break free and cultivate safe spaces filled with faith, love, peace, and joy. Merry Christmas to all!
Welcome back everybody to Campbell Soup podcast. Israel and I are so excited because it's the Christmas season.
Speaker 2:And this is your favorite season Do you see the light in my eyes. Yes, it is.
Speaker 1:It is my favorite season for so many reasons, but we're so excited for the next four weeks. We're going to be talking about hot Christmas topics and I think it's going to get good.
Speaker 1:I think it's going to be incredible, and we have had our coffees, we have had our kind of production notes talking about what we're going to talk about, and so now it comes from our walks to your home or car or whatever you're doing, and I just want to say Israel, while we're starting off with our Christmas episodes, that you have a lot of authority to talk about this subject, because when I first met you, you were anti Christmas and you love Jesus in a manger, of course, but you didn't love Christmas and you used to get so annoyed at my Christmasiness and I. Either have broken you down or you got filled with the Holy Spirit or something happened.
Speaker 2:I stopped working retail? Maybe that was the answer. When you met me, I was working retail. In fact, one of my first jobs was at a home improvement store and I was the manager Can you believe that A manager of this seasonal department, which meant every day after Labor Day we would start setting up the Christmas stuff Like and so I think I got sick of it by the time it was Christmas time. But you have healed me. Yes.
Speaker 1:Love it. You are as Christmasy as a Hallmark movie guy. I'm more clark.
Speaker 2:I'm more clark, griswold, christmasy, but this is good, so let's talk about this. Jumping right into it, creating safe spaces was kind of a bait clip on you. What is it? What is it called bait, clip, bait, bait, click bait. Yes, click bait, because we probably would have. I would have titled it different, but we all know how good a title is. I love that story where they did home economics for men and nobody signed up one year and then they changed it to bachelor living 101 and they, like, oversold the class. Yes, so our title is creating safe spaces. But if there was a subtitle, what would you call it? That fear is a spirit, maybe? Or what would you title it? That would be mine. Yeah, fear, not, I don't know. Fear is a thief. That is so good.
Speaker 1:And how to kind of tackle that in the right way.
Speaker 2:Good, Good, well, and it's really. You may say, well, that's not a Christmas title or that's not a Christmas theme, but really I was looking at it once we started talking about it, but all throughout the book of Luke, it is, like, mentioned four times specifically from angels that specifically said fear not. And so there were these moments. Whether it was Elizabeth, whether it was Mary, whether it was John DeBaptist's father, whether it was the shepherds, one of the first things they said when it comes to Christmas is actually to fear not. And it's amazing, how, why would that be so important? Like, why, what would what you know? The first thing to say, why would the first thing to always say would be to fear not? I think so. I think that that is just as applicable today, in 2023, to kind of create those safe spaces and to not allow the spirit of fear.
Speaker 1:So let's jump on that and I read a quote that said by CS Lewis and it just said if you're looking for a religion that will be safe, definitely do not choose Christianity.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I thought that was so good because what he was saying was you know, following Jesus is going to be the most rewarding, fulfilling. Well, maybe he didn't say this, I'm saying this that made me think this way after his quote but that following Jesus is going to be a thrill. It's going to have twists and turns, there's going to be things that God asks of you, requires of you, gives you to do in this life, but it's not necessarily going to be the safest. And I think right now everyone's wanting safety. How can I keep my family safe? How can I be safe? How can I have safety in relationship? How can I have safety in my bank account? How can I create these hedges of safety? And that's what we want to tackle today. And I just want to say you know, I'll just read this and then you can take over Izzy.
Speaker 1:But first, timothy one seven says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. And I think what stemmed for us talking about this in our podcast was that I was telling the girls that when I was a little girl, I used to have anxiety attacks and I remember going to school and there were legitimate reasons why I had anxiety attacks happening. It was because of my environment, but I was just talking to them at the dinner table about how you know there's so many people that have anxiety right now. But I remember having anxiety and I remember Israel asked me when I was telling them how did you stop having anxiety? Texts, and the truth of the matter is for me that my mom recognized it was a spiritual thing and she began to equip me with the word of God and with prayer and with worship and we would break a spirit of fear. And second Timothy says fear is spirit and I think that Spiritual things.
Speaker 2:Either we take authority over them or we begin to take part in them and those are our two choices well, and I think it's so good to hear sometimes, because the world will marginalize and the world will say here's coping. So and coping oftentimes means Cooperation, it's the same word. It comes with a co-op like okay, so this is how you work with fear. But when you read the scripture in it says it's a spirit, then we don't work with a spirit, we don't go oh, okay, this is just what I'm supposed to have. And now here's the coping mechism. I'll say it right to how to deal with that. No, it's actually. No, this is a spirit. And because it's a spirit, then it also it allows us, god allows us to say Then it doesn't have to be in our life anymore.
Speaker 2:And what I love about this scripture is Paul is writing to a pastor. He's writing to Timothy. He's not writing to an unbeliever, he's not writing to an a new Christian. He's actually writing to a veteran. He is writing to someone who has seen signs and wonders and miracles. He's writing to someone who most theologians believe is pastoring the largest church on the planet at the time and it Continues to increase and grow. And Paul has to tell him God hasn't given you a spirit of fear. And so here is Timothy, and you know this. This Greek culture, this Roman culture, this, this you know all these things that are anti Christian. There is not. Christianity is not the most populous Religion on the planet. It's counterintuitive to everything. There's talks of eliminating Jews and Christians. There's, you know, all this stuff is bad news and Timothy is a pastor and has to be reminded. That's not the right spirit, that is not of God, that is not something you should Co-op with or Maintain in your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know it's the same today is that society and culture has adopted that fear is just part of what we have to live with. Right and I love what you said, israel, about that. We don't cope with it. And I was just talking to Lucy Goodlough, who is a school nurse in our church, and she was talking about how she had to go away in the fifth grade I think fifth or sixth grade she'd they went away to the, to Catalina Island, and she went as the nurse to make sure that all the kids got the medication. She said over 60% of the kids were medicated for massive things. The all these little kids, but their whole life in front of them, were on medication for anti anxiety and anti-depression and all of these things that alter their brains. And that is a Sign that our culture is coping. We're coping. Our kids have anxiety attacks.
Speaker 1:I'm so thankful that my mom had the wherewithal and the spiritual Guiding of the Holy Spirit to go. Okay, rachel is not going to have to go on medication, even though I used to be. I used to. It was so serious that I was rushed to the emergency room because they thought I was having heart issues and they realized your heart's fine, everything's pumping right. This is anxiety and it's it's looks like a Physical ailment, like a heart attack, and my mom just taught me how to take authority. I in the spirit, as a little girl, it was something she equipped me with and then I met Jesus in that, in doing that, where I don't have to have a spirit of fear and I can actually rebuke a spirit of fear. And what does the Holy, what does the Bible say? It says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. And it's so funny. Why would God put love as one of the antidotes to fear?
Speaker 1:It's because when we recognize the love of God toward us on a personal level, we know that the safest place to be isn't in the safest environment and in the safest space. It's in the presence and the will of God. That is the safest place to be, and I think that even as an adult it's helped me make big decisions to know the safest place to be is in the will of God. So I can absolutely move my family from a safe town like Wilson, North Carolina, to a one of the largest crime-ridden cities in America, Los Angeles, because that's the will of God for our family. And so I think that instead of we said we're talking about creating safe spaces, but maybe we want to just talk a little bit about what a safe space actually is. It doesn't mean everything's perfect around us. It means that God within us is greater.
Speaker 2:I love that and I love that. I mean, the key word in there too is God is not giving us a spirit of fear but, and that but is a big but. I like big butts and I cannot lie. Can I say that on the podcast I had to. It's not even a Christmas carol, no, it's not but, but, and I love that.
Speaker 2:God doesn't say hasn't given you a spirit of fear, but. And then there's one word it's like no, no, no, no, no. There is power, there is love and there is a sound mind. You know it's who God is, exceedingly, abundantly, above anything. The enemy can do anything in there, and I think that those are creating a safe space is actually a bounding in God's power, god's love and really declaring hey, no, I have a sound mind and that's our promise, and I love that Paul is really using you know, almost this versus them. It's this is what's against you, but this is what you have for you. And if we're talking about creating safe spaces, then we should really focus more on what do we get versus all the things of the fear, and then you can almost worship fear and miss out on all the things that God has. And so there's power, which is that word doonimus, love, which you know is so powerful, like you are articulating and unpacking, and then a sound mind, and so it's a, it's a one versus three, but it's multiplied. And I think just going back into that and maybe we can talk some practical things but just, I think number one is knowing that it's a spirit, so that you don't partner with it, so that you don't co-op with it, but you're like that's a spirit.
Speaker 2:This is not, and you know, I know you mentioned, you know, medication and things like that. We're not anti-medication, we're not anti-doctors at all, but it is good for us to sometimes take a as Christ followers. Well, what is this? Is this spiritual? Because if this is a spirit, then we're going to have to attack it better and in a different way. You don't win in the spirit with medication, you don't win in the spirit and those things. So then if you recognize, hey, this is a spiritual thing, now let's attack that. And again, we're not saying anti-medication, we're not anti that, but we do know that's not how you win in the spirit, those aren't the ways you win. And so maybe we can talk about maybe some of the ways we win in the spirit, if it is a spiritual thing.
Speaker 1:And the medical world wants to kind of couple anxiety as a mental illness and we just want to maybe say that we don't believe that. We don't believe that the word of God says that fear is something broken inside of our bodies. And I just want to encourage us with this because I really feel like the enemy. He's a bully and he bullies us through fear. He gets us to miss out on life, your fear, he gets us to stop making big decisions because of fear and he wants to paralyze us. He wants to. What does?
Speaker 1:The Bible says the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but that God comes to give life and life more abundantly. And I believe that as believers, we don't choose life when we're afraid, and so the enemy knows that that kind of paralyzes us. But also there's a lot of shame attached if you have anxiety. And we just want to maybe say this there's no shame in struggling with anxiety and we want to offer you God's way of dealing with it in a very non-shame way of oh, you don't have enough faith if you have anxiety. That's not the truth, because in Luke the Christmas story, luke 1.29, it says that Mary was greatly troubled and afraid at his words. And the angel said to her in verse 30, do not be afraid. And so the angel dealt with the fear inside of Mary. But that fear inside of Mary didn't make God not choose her.
Speaker 1:Yeah and so I think that we need to know, that is, that God wants to use us in the midst of even our fears. But the angel said to her don't be afraid, mary, because you have found favor with God. And then in verse 35, just jumping down from their Luke 1 35. I love. What the answer to the fear was is that the angel answered Mary and said the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you.
Speaker 1:And to me, that's the whole Way that I deal with fear is that I rely on Power of God coming upon me to strengthen me when I don't feel strong, to give me boldness when I do feel afraid. Because even Mary, who was Jesus's mom, she was used and chosen by God and she was afraid. And so it's not like we're not going to deal with fear. There are fearful things when you're a mom, fearful things when you're living on planet earth. That's crazy. But the power of God is available to come upon us and give us that supernatural Strength and peace. And it says the power of the most high will overshadow you. That is massive, is really coming into agreement with Allowing the Holy Spirit to overshadow the smallness of who we are and our frailty and our ability to not be safe and Knowing. Safest place to be is when I allow God to hold me in the palm of his hand.
Speaker 2:I, yeah, and I again. You said it and I'll just articulate it again, but it. Mary faces it, elizabeth, john the Baptist parents face it. The first shepherds face it. So fear is to you. To have an attack of fear or to fear fear is no big deal. Paul writes to Timothy, knows that this letter is going to be written to the church and has no problem Letting everyone know that Timothy has had an attack of fear. And so now we are reading it 2000 years later, not just going oh, timothy had a problem. He's knowing no, no, no, no. This is the Holy Spirit inspired. We all have a problem with fear, and then this is how you deal with it, and I love that that.
Speaker 2:You said power, and that's what Jesus said when he's leaving. A wait for the Holy Spirit, and you shall receive power when he comes upon you. And so one of the greatest ways you and I in the spiritual realm can begin to defeat a spirit of fear is really just Surrendering and welcoming the Holy Spirit in our life, knowing where we get our power from. We don't get our power from. We don't get our power from the gym. We don't get our power from Starbucks caffeine. We don't get our power from us Forcing ourselves to know just get over it. No, no, no. We receive power from the Holy Spirit and it's pretty easy to receive that by just asking for it.
Speaker 2:James says if you ask for it, we've got a father that will give it to us. And so if we need the Holy Spirit's power to Fight against the thoughts, to fight against those things, so don't, like you said, don't shame yourself when fear comes. But when it does come, how do you react? Do you shut down? Do you close off? Do you seek I'm medication? Do you self-medicate? I mean, medication is bad, but there's some people that self-medicate, which is even worse. I think in some cases so, but really, what we do, god's not giving us a spirit of fear, but of power. How do we receive that power, holy Spirit? Right now I can't do this. I'm unable to overcome this.
Speaker 1:I recognize that it's a spirit, so I need your Holy Spirit in me like never before and Fear enters through Entertainment and what we're seeing and hearing, and so if you're struggling with fear, I think it's really important to guard the entryways to your heart and your mind. Wow, and I remember when my mom was sick and she had cancer, and we were all watching some movie and it was a story of Someone who had a cancer and I think it was even a Christmas movie. She was like I don't really want to watch this because I'm guarding my heart right now and I'm making sure that I'm not empowering fear. Yeah, and I think that's a really great thing too to kind of address too is, when you are struggling with fear, maybe you're carrying anxiety. Guard the entryways to your heart and your mind by what you're watching, what you're listening to, even the news. There's like a spirit of fear that is being released, and so we can either be empowering it all of the time.
Speaker 1:I think that we're either empowering fear or we're empowering power of God, and both of those two things are in the spiritual realm at work at all times, and so we choose what train track we're going on, and we can easily listen to stories that make us more fearful. Oh, that happened to you. Oh, I have a bump on my head or you know all these things that begin to empower fear. And if you're prone to anxiety right now in this season, then recognize it and be and be wise and go. I'm going to disempower fear. I'm going to close those pathways of entrance, I'm not going to entertain fearful conversations and fearful things, and then I'm also going to begin to recite the goodness of God. I'm going to listen to stories of faith. I'm going to, I'm going to surround myself with things that feed that inside of me instead of the fear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's maybe part of that practical on the other side of power, love and then a sound mind. You know the Bible talks about whatsoever. You know the things that you think upon those are going to be. So what choosing what you're thinking about to declare a sound mind is so important and that is how you win in the spirit is, you know, so that you can have a sound mind by declaring God's word. You can have a sound mind by just worshiping and declaring that, and so if you're not doing those things and you're only doing what the world prescribes, then I believe that spirit then can win.
Speaker 2:And how you do that is so good. And I love that, rachel, because you are not an anxious person now. You have, by God's word, done that. But I can say, if it's okay to say, there have been some seasons where I've seen your level rise up and I can almost correlate it Babe, you are on the news way too much, or maybe it's social media for somebody else, just way too much, and you just start seeing those things or what the app that's neighborhood app and it shows all the things that are happening, you know, in the community will freak you out, and we don't want to be unaware, but we definitely know.
Speaker 2:If it's a spirit, you're either feeding it or starving it. What are you doing? And that helps with the sound mind is am I feeding the spirit or am I starving the spirit? And then, of course, you know I think we did a series not too long ago, but it's just been a light bulb in my head is yeah, starving is starving. Something is good and that's a good.
Speaker 2:Diet is when you eliminate things. But a healthy diet is not just the elimination of the bad things, but it's always the addition of the good things. And so the sound mind means it's not just okay, I'm not going to watch the news. You can still be freaking out. Are you adding? You know some of those basics of man. I'm really going to add in my commute some worship music declaring who God is on the way, and I'm really going to do well on my. You know just my planning of my devotions, because I recognize every morning I wake up and it's the first thing I do is I grab my phone and I check the news. No, no, I'm gonna make that the fifth thing I do instead of the first thing, and then that's the part of a sound mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really good, and giving voice to the word of God is so important. I think that's something that really helped me overcome fear, because I would say that in the natural, as a young girl, I struggled with fear, and so not just singing worship songs, but actually declaring not positive affirmations like I am strong enough, I am smart enough and gosh darn it.
Speaker 1:People like me not that kind of thing but actually giving voice to the word of God in regards to what he says about who we are and how he protects us. And so, psalms 91, psalms 91, declaring that out loud and memorizing part of it. And you know, I will surely rest in the shadow of your wings, though the arrows fly by day and the fire arrows by night. I will. They will fall at my side.
Speaker 1:You know, these kinds of things are so important because if you have a propensity to be fearful, then you have to be armed with what the word of God says, that's that the word of God is what makes the enemy back off. Your words of I'm stronger than this, I can get over this, you know that aren't from the word of God. They actually don't have any power, and so we've got to declare the right things and speaking the word of God. And if you really struggle with anxiety, saying the name of Jesus, justin, jesus, speaking the name of Jesus, maybe you say it with your voice quivering the first time because you are afraid, but you keep speaking. Jesus, it says that every demonic enemy has to flee. They flee at his name, and so there's power in that, and it's not self-help, it's the power of God, so I think that's just so important to know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we've said it before, but Jesus always responded to the devil with it is written, and it is so. If Jesus did that, how much more should we? You know, and so I love that, rachel. I think every one of us should have in our repertoire a couple verses. You know even this verse of Timothy no, god has not given me a spirit of fear. This is not of God, but he has given me power, loveliness, I might. Just knowing that that's what Jesus did. So when the enemy came in the devil and tried to entice temptation Jesus, he answered with it is written. And so it really is. It's better than you know.
Speaker 2:Some people would say that self-help or whatever, but self-help doesn't help.
Speaker 2:That it is written is the word of God and that's a very practical way.
Speaker 2:And you know, with today, with the internet, the resources that we have, compared to an early Christian that didn't have a thesaurus, didn't have a strong concordance, didn't have, you know all the sources, probably a bad example, but you know all the pulpit commentaries, all the different things that we can go to, from, you know, jonathan Edwards to Spurgeon, and the devotions and stuff, and then the internet where we can go to thebiblecom and find you know, all of these things, the power that we can do to go okay. What are the scriptures about fear, what are they? And then, what are my three going to be? What am I going to attack the enemy with?
Speaker 2:It's so practical and you know, I remember my mom old school was she'd have little three by five index cards and she would just have them everywhere. And she still has them and like she'll pull them out, remember, and I used to pray this over you and it was just as simple as God's word. And I mean we got stickies. Now, come on, we can put those sticky notes up anywhere in those moments and have them around.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know we're talking about this at the dinner table because we want our kids to know that fear will always come knocking at our door and we don't have to answer. We can answer with the word of God and with power and we can be different. And I just, you know, think about.
Speaker 1:if you can't do it for yourself, if you don't think somehow that you're worth breaking fear, break it for your children, break it for generations, break it for people that are watching your life and learning how to live as an example, and that's what really propels me is, like you know, I think I could put up with a lot more bullying from the enemy if it was just to me, but when I see it on my children it makes me fierce, it makes me want to combat it, it makes me want to rise up and really kill that thing so that generation after generation doesn't have to live fighting that. And I want us to be those kind of people where we realize that we don't have to live with, cope with evil spirits. And fear is a bullying spirit that really wants to make us small, Makes us want. You know Mary here. She's called by God to do great things on earth and to change the course of history for mankind through the Savior.
Speaker 1:And what does the enemy try to stop her with Fear. And the angel has to say don't be afraid. And so I think that's a really good. You're called the purpose, but the enemy will always try to get you to stop early through fear. And I love Joyce Meyer. She talks about it. She says she was afraid to begin to speak and she was in a church where women weren't allowed to speak and God spoke to her and said I'm asking you to do it afraid, and sometimes God asks us to kill fear by doing things anyways, and so don't be intimidated by what maybe God's calling you to do. Don't ever allow fear to review off from actually what your purpose is.
Speaker 2:I love that. So how do you create a safe space this Christmas or any time during the year? Come on, understand that it is a spirit, and then God has so much more for you, and you're not the only one. They were dealing with this way back then and they'll continue to deal with it in the future, but we, as Rachel said, we're breaking that cycle and we can actually show our kids by breaking it. Hey, this doesn't have to be who you are, and so we can create that safe space this Christmas with our clickbait. We got you, but we declare that over you right now Power, love and a sound mind. So we love you guys. Merry Christmas, merry beginning of Christmas.
