How Trusting God Shapes Our Lives And Nation

When the ground seems to shift under our feet, what holds? We open with Psalm 46 and the charge to “be still and know,” then follow that thread through the grit of daily life, the discipline of Titus 2, and the disruptive authority of Mark 11. Our goal is simple and demanding: anchor trust in God, live with visible integrity, and let forgiveness clear the runway for bold prayer.

We talk candidly about representation and witness: how a single life can shape someone’s view of an entire faith, much like one Marine can frame a town’s view of the Corps. That idea expands into practical discipleship—older believers mentoring the young, homes that train courage, and speech that stands up to scrutiny. From the triumphal entry to overturned tables, Jesus dismantles fruitless religion and calls us back to a house of prayer for all nations. The fig tree warns against show without substance; the command to forgive reminds us that prayer loses power when we clutch old debts.

History adds weight to the reflection. We remember the USS Cole, honor sacrifice through the story of a Medal of Honor recipient, and confront violence with moral clarity rather than rage. Then we look to leadership through President Taft’s oath on 1 Kings 3, returning to Solomon’s wiser request: an understanding heart to discern justice. That prayer still lights the path for families, churches, and public servants who want to do good in a fractured world. We close with the Lord’s Prayer as our pattern—God’s name first, God’s kingdom near, daily bread received with open hands.

If this conversation strengthens your faith or sharpens your resolve, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What verse are you leaning on today?

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Transcript

Opening Psalm And Theme Of Trust

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Psalm forty six verses ten and eleven. Be still and know that I am God. I will be honored by every nation, I will be honored throughout the world. The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us. The God of Israel is our fortress. February twenty twenty four, Kenner, Louisiana. Fourteen year old girl was raped at knife point in a park by Angel Mattis Castellanos Orolana, an illegal immigrant from Honduras. Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well wherever y'all are, whatever part of the day you're in. Sure do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. Hopefully, y'all are getting to listen to it with someone else. I will try and use your time wisely. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others and tell others about it, thank you for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast. Thank you very much. Very grateful for your prayers. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, Father, and your Son Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and your mercy, your grace and your forgiveness. Thank you that we can trust you even when the world seems out of control when we in our own lives seem out of control when we can't figure out or see clearly the path in front of us. To know that you have everything well in hand. But help us to remember, Father, to come to you first. Not as a last resort. To trust that you know the plans that you have for us. That they're for good and not evil. And to trust that you know better than we do. Help us to trust you with the future of our lives as individuals, our marriages, our children, our parents, our families. Our churches, our communities, our nation. Help us to trust you with the things that we think are too big. The problems that we can't see the answers to. That we don't see any way out of. And remind us also, Father, that we're just passing through here. That we're just visitors. That this is not our home. Guide our steps, guide our leaders. Bless those who are listening to the podcast wherever they are, Father. Guide my words here in your son's name we pray. Amen. Marriage verses for today, Titus 2. But you should talk in a way that is consistent with sound teaching. Tell the older men to be sober, dignified, sensible, and healthy in respect to their faith, love, and patience. Likewise tell the older women to be reverent in their behavior, teaching what is good, rather than being gossips or addicted to heavy drinking. That way they can mentor young women to love their husbands and children, and to be sensible, morally pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, so that God's word won't be ridiculed. Likewise, encourage the younger men to be sensible in every way. Offer yourself as a role model of good actions. Show integrity, seriousness, and a sound message that is above criticism when you teach, so that any opponent will be ashamed because they won't find anything bad to say about us. Remember, folks, that we represent Christ once people know that we claim to be Christian. When the Marines of my battery, when I was a commanding officer in the Marine Corps, when the Marines checked out, I would talk to each one of them. And I told them, you know, you don't have to keep a high and tight a Marine Corps haircut. You don't have to even dress the part, but but remember that you may be the only Marine that the people in your community, wherever you live, ever run into. And whatever that, right or wrong, fair or not, whatever opinion they have of you is going to transfer to the Marine Corps. That's what their opinion of the Marine Corps is going to be. We need to remember that as Christians. Some people won't ever read a Bible. Some people won't ever run into a Christian other than us and whatever opinion they're left with. I'm not talking about a false opinion, folks. I'm not talking about a person that already has it in their mind to judge you and they don't care about your actions and they already. I'm talking about somebody that truly is looking and paying attention. Whatever their opinion of you is, if you're the only example of God and Jesus Christ they see, that's going to be their opinion of Christianity. Mark 11, 1 through 26. As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. Go into that village over there, he told them. As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, What are you doing? just say the Lord needs it and will return it soon. The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door. As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, What are you doing, untying that colt? They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it. Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and all the people around him were shouting, Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David. Praise God in highest heaven. So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples. The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, May no one ever eat your fruit again. And the disciples heard him say it. When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. And he stopped everyone from using the temple as a marketplace. He said to them, The scriptures declare my temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have turned it into a den of thieves. When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching. That evening Jesus and his disciples left the city. The next morning, as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered up from the roots. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, Looked, Rabbi, the fig tree you cursed has withered and died. Then Jesus said to the disciples, Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, may you be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too. Do we do that, folks? Do we forgive? Do we make sure that God knows that we've forgiven anybody that we have something against? You remember Stephen being stoned to death, or Christ Himself asking, telling God, don't hold the sin against them. Are we willing to say that about people in our lives who sin against us? Psalm 46, one through eleven. God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam, let the mountains tremble as the waters surge. A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the most high. God dwells in that city, it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day God will protect it. The nations are in chaos, isn't that true today? And their kingdoms crumble. God's voice thunders and the earth melts. The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us. The God of Israel is our fortress. Come, see the glorious works of the Lord. See how he brings destruction upon the world. He causes wars to end throughout the earth, he breaks the bow and snaps the spear, he burns the shields with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be honored by every nation, I will be honored throughout the world. The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us, the God of Israel is our fortress. Proverbs ten twenty-three. Father, watch over our military and our law enforcement, our firefighters, our MS, please. Keep them safe. Countryside, if you're looking for a middle grade theory, fantasy, these are the first two books in the series you can see. And if you enjoy it, if you'd leave a review online somewhere, it's kind of along the lines of Narnia, Harry Potter, Hobbit, Percy Jackson, that kind of stuff. And if you feel like you're getting something out of the podcast, if you have five or ten dollars a month you can spare, or if you can leave a review or both, I would appreciate any or all of those things. So thank you. October 12th, 2000. Aden, Yemen. Two suicide bombers, Muslims, steered an explosive-laden boat into the side of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Coal while it was refueling in the harbor. The blast ripped a hole in the ship's hull, killing 17 American sailors, injuring 39 others, flooding compartments, and nearly sinking the vessel. We've been doing this for a long time, folks. 2000, that was before 9-11. What's the same? Time and time again. Islam. And don't buy it, folks, when people tell you it's fringe, it's extreme, it's not. That's mainstream. If it wasn't mainstream, just like with leftism, communism, socialism, right? Then when you saw the violence, the anarchy, the chaos, the rape, the pillage, the plunder, the murder, you would have this huge outpouring, outcrying of Muslims saying, that's not okay, that's not justified, that's not good. Same thing with leftist, socialist, communist. But you don't, you you you never see that. Or so rare that it's the exception that proves the rule. It's very much mainstream. Medal of Honor for today, John Bronson. Or no Brosnan. Brosnan? Sergeant, U.S. Civil War, Echo Company, 164th New York Infantry, U.S. Army, June 17th, 1864, Petersburg, Virginia, rescued a wounded comrade who lay exposed to the enemy's fire, receiving a severe wound in the effort. Accredited to New York, not awarded posthumously, presented january eighteenth, eighteen ninety-four, born july first, eighteen forty-six, Ireland, died August seventh, nineteen twenty one, Brooklyn, New York. Buried Holy Cross Cemetery. Teresa Teresa nine eighteen two NG, Brooklyn, New York. Notice again the difference in quality of immigrant. 2020, something that I've seen the last few days is, I think that's kind of gone underreported for several years, if not a couple decades, is the destruction, burning, arson, attacks against churches across Europe. And so we may start to read a little bit here and there about those. 2020, Nice, Basilica, Notre Dame, France. 21-year-old Tanzanian Muslim Brahmin. I can't even begin to pronounce the last name. Entered Notre Dame armed with a knife, stabbed and killed three people, 60-year-old woman who was nearly decapitated at the throat, 55-year-old man, 44-year-old Brazilian-born woman who managed to flee to a nearby cafe but later died of her injuries. The attacker also seriously injured another person before being shot and subdued by police. William Howard Taft gave his inaugural address Tuesday, March 4th, 1909. Excuse me. I think I've got some allergies today. At the very end of his inaugural address, he made the comment: having thus reviewed the questions likely to rear reoccur during my administration, and having expressed in a summary way the position which I expect to take in recommendations to Congress and in my conduct as an executive, I invoke the considerate sympathy and support of my fellow citizens and the aid of the Almighty God in the discharge of my responsible duties. And when he took the oath of office, uh he put his hand on 1 Kings 3. That's one of the great things about this Patriots Bible. Again, if you have a chance, I highly recommend getting a copy. This should be a basic textbook in all of our classrooms and public schools across the country, but they list where the different presidents put their hands on the Bible, which just that simple fact, folks, gives the lie to separation of God and state, which is really what we have today. They twisted separation of church and state back in 1947 to mean what it never did in Jefferson's letter. And it really what they meant was separation of God and state in that decision, Everson versus Board of Education. And that was nothing like our founders ever intended. They didn't intend to separate God and Jesus Christ from the state. Right? Every single problem we have in the country today goes back to that separation of God and Jesus Christ from our private and public lives. So President Taft put his hand one Kings three, nine through eleven, and that is, Therefore, give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours? The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Then God said to him, Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice. So this was Solomon, right? And the Lord said, What do you want? And Solomon said, Wisdom. And that was where President Taft put his hand when he took the oath of office as president. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom of the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages if you're married. God bless your nation wherever you are around the world listening. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to that.