Tiniest of Seeds
"He told me all that I ever did." - the Samaritan woman in John 4:39
Yes, life is messy and integration of Jesus and faith with life often doesn’t look like what we thought it was “supposed” to or think it "should" look like. Are we shocked? We are literally told by Jesus that this life is full of trials. Yet we as we show up we can heal and grow in ALL God promises. He has after all, overcome. We can too.
He saved me. I can’t say it more clearly than that. Yes, Jesus has proven to me to be the ultimate answer. Has it been easy? No. It’s been 25 years of a winding road that he has made straight. As I continue to walk it out, I can’t help but testify - and to talk with others in their own unique places on the discipleship road. How amazing.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
Tiniest of Seeds
Wellness: The World's Solutions Only Take Us So Far
The "road" to wellness has never been more discussed. With so much knowledge and information, how is it that we are more sick than ever? Janet Massey joins us today, and we chat about our own personal journeys through much wilderness and suffering in regard to wellness. Janet's authentic, inspirational journey of transformation and wellness through faith in Jesus Christ is remarkable. Janet has a doctorate in physical therapy and a lot of "knowledge" - yet she has come to the simple and profound truth of the power that is hers in Christ. She is a living example of his deliverance and her perspective is inspiring and faith building.
We hope you will take encouragement from our discussion about our growth in understanding our relationship with God - the Father, Son and Spirit. We have both experienced and believe in the lasting and transformative wellness that comes through Christ. We know first hand over many years that his hope does not disappoint, and that no matter where you might be on the journey, you're not alone, you are loved, and that his promises are true for you.
Today we are talking about wellness and I realized I kind of jumped into this interview with Janet Massey without telling you why she is not only a resource because of her experience with the Lord Jesus Christ, but also she does have a doctorate in physical therapy, a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science, a plethora of additional hours of continuing education. She ran her own successful physical therapy practice. She suffered for a very long time from debilitating illness and has had a long journey in mind renewal, transformation and receiving the wellness of Christ. Fast forward to where we begin our conversation. Thanks so much for joining us today. Welcome.
Laurine Decker:Today I have the privilege of interviewing Janet Massey. Janet and I reconnected maybe six months ago because I ran across her on Instagram and I was like whoa, something happened to Janet. Janet and I served in youth ministry together. If you recall, last week I interviewed Bill Bedell and he and I also served in youth ministry together. Janet and I were both, I would say, in darker nights of the soul at that time and the Lord has brought me into a new place of being able to receive my wellness, and he has also done that for Janet, and I say over and over again you know we're new creatures in Christ. The moment that Christ redeems us, we are delivered. But walking that out can take a lot of journey. We live in the valley, we got to walk it out, and so I'm so delighted to have Janet here to talk about wellness with me. I haven't heard actually a lot of her testimony, so this is going to be new for me. So welcome, janet, thank you so much.
Janet Massey:I'm so glad to be here and it's awesome that you do this so yeah.
Laurine Decker:So I wonder if you would be willing to start after I say a few scriptures. I want to first say today is the day of salvation. Every day the Lord says today is the day of salvation, so don't harden your hearts. And so right now, I just want to invite you listeners to enter in, as Janet and I have already prayed to receive the more today for ourselves. I invite you to enter in and receive with fuller measure of the wellness and the deliverance that the Lord Jesus Christ has for you today. And so that is an invitation, and we have asked the spirit to be here.
Laurine Decker:Lord, jesus Christ, minister to us through the power of your spirit, minister to the listeners, lord, we want more freedom that you have won for us in Christ to be realized in our lives, and Janet and I receive that today, and I pray that you listeners will receive that today too. So, that being said, janet, I would love for you to define wellness, if you're willing and I always say my poor guests, I just throw questions at them. They have no idea what I'm going to ask. I actually don't even have any idea either.
Janet Massey:that is a good question and I feel like it has changed a lot. But I, in a way, I don't even go back. I feel like now the image I just got in a person that we did earlier was just that you know, from Roman's 12 that don't be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And I got you know, the conformed by the world is being shaped from the outside in and transformed, is being completely made new, like metamorphosis, turned into a goo and, you know, remade from the inside out. And I got the image of that inside out, the transformation, just busting through the mold on the outside that we had, that we were conformed to, and I guess, as you said, wellness. I got that image again.
Janet Massey:I was just thinking it's the fruit that comes from really communion and fellowship, being with God, and that probably doesn't define it. So I'll keep talking, but just, but it's not something that I create and strive in my own effort, really. And yet I have, you know, we do have a self-discipline to choose God or to choose the world, to keep my eyes on him or to keep my eyes on the world and what the world says about me. So it is a daily dying to self, but the fruit or wellness that comes is from the transformation from God. So yeah, I guess that's how I define wellness.
Laurine Decker:And, like I said, Janet and I haven't talked a lot, so this is going to be fun because we're going to get to trade back some things that have really impacted us. I don't know if I told you when we went on that walk that about a year and a half ago, I started bowing and quoting Romans 12, 1 and 2, which is I'm not conformed to this world, I am transformed, I'm a living sacrifice. And that was super transformational, which takes me back to thinking of Psalm 95, which correlates to the verse I already said from Paul, where he said today is the day of salvation. And in Psalm 95, I believe it's Psalm 95. It said Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our God, our maker, and then it says don't harden our hearts. And that I had never put that together in correlating the movement and the bowing, the praise, the adoration.
Laurine Decker:And I do know that Janet is passionate about movement and healing and movement in regard to wellness, and that just occurred to me, that correlation, because I know I just was like, well, daniel was bound three times a day if he needed to, I probably do too, anyway, so but receiving that wellness, to go back to what you said the wellness that's grounded in how God defines wellness for us. It comes back to him.
Janet Massey:Yeah.
Laurine Decker:And that makes me think too, about how we define it compared to how the world defines it. So I don't know if you're willing to talk about that for a second, like how do you define? I know you already did it, but touch on that, because I would say that when I knew you, when we were more intimate 10 years ago during the junior high youth group or 12 years ago however long ago that was that I would say your definition of wellness was more chasing after a physical manifestation of wellness, and I was too. I've shared a lot with my listeners my journey through addiction, my battle through OCD, anxiety, food and alcohol dependency, stuff like that and my definition of wellness has changed, and so has my physical manifestation. So I'm achieving what I was chasing, but it's because I surrendered chasing that wellness that I was trying to define by the world standard.
Janet Massey:Yeah, it's just even in. I mean I feel like we're tempted by the enemy to not stand and not. I mean we have constant temptations to not stand with Christ, to not follow the word, to not believe. It's true that he says we are, we were healed, it's done and like, but the same thing with sin we're tempted to sin. And I'm just thinking of yesterday. I had a conversation with somebody that she was, you know, talking about. I think it's first John three eight that it says that the devil keeps sinning, and then, but Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.
Janet Massey:So we were talking about it's done, it's finished, we're overcomers. He is defeated. And the next verse says like whoever keeps on sinning is of the devil. And she's like but I keep on sinning, yes, and it was like you don't want to, though you're as you shine the light, as she's changing and looking to God, like somebody was saying a light shines and all the bugs are seen, yeah, and so it's becoming more obvious and you develop this distaste for it and everything. And to me it was obvious.
Janet Massey:And we're talking about wellness and I'm talking about sin yeah the root of sickness is sin, so original sin and other sin and whatever. So it's the same to me, because I feel like she was getting a distraction and it was just such a good example for anybody not to pick on her because she's awesome. But it was like the enemy wants to distract her, to make her feel horrible or to make her think I did so good, I didn't sin, I'm right. You know, either way, it's me. I did good or I did bad. Yes, and it's like that, that temptation, and so we get to just look to God and I feel like the sickness is the same way.
Janet Massey:I know I believe, differently than some people, that it is finished, it's done. Scripture is very clear on that. It's done. In our spirit we have the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. So, but still, it can be that like well, so I have to receive what he's given me. So can I just start grabbing at it and yanking at it? And I had no idea that God healed for most of my Christian journey. I didn't know that he had already done that. I didn't know that he even maybe would do a magic wand and do it, which I know was wrong. But that's what I then thought later.
Laurine Decker:Right.
Janet Massey:And but. So I was just striving, very totally conformed by the world standards, and you know the physical therapist in me, the medical background, like um, and yet then people started talking about the will of God, and it's like if it actually wasn't God's will, I shouldn't have even been trying in my own strength to get better. So I feel like it it became where are my eyes? Wellness is, am I looking to God and seeing myself as he sees me? Whatever the facts are, the truth is that he is the, he's the healer, he's the, the one that I should keep my eyes on, and so I just, I guess it's like where's my mind? That's wellness.
Laurine Decker:Yes, yes and it's. And that's where I think that for Janet and me both like having been believers for a long time, having been on the sanctification road there's this zeal and joy at recognizing the power and the deliverance and the freedom that come with the perseverance says that hope doesn't disappoint when we persevere. Hope doesn't disappoint because our hope is in Jesus , and so if you, as a listener, are on a place in the road right now where you are feeling the slog, you are feeling the quagmire, you are feeling stuck, you are in a place where it feels impossible, that's the hope, janet, and I have been there too, and there are days when our minds are not actively engaged with the mind of Christ. There are days when we have to I've talked about before on podcasts I'll have to call out an SOS. I'm recognizing how quickly the enemy wants to pick us off. He works through isolation and so, yes, janet, it makes perfect sense. And also, there's no condemnation in the repetitive sin sometimes, because that's what Jesus went to the cross for, and I know for me one of the most pivotal things in my journey is recognizing he did it anyway. My behavior, it's not irrelevant, because we don't want to continue in sin so that grace can abound, like Romans 6 says, we don't want to sin. However, we are perfect. Even as he is perfect, we are blameless, independent, and Bill Badele touched on that last week too.
Laurine Decker:We got to talk about darkness and Christ has won the battle. Am I going to choose to receive what he has won? Am I going to choose to walk in more power? Am I going to choose to walk in more healing and deliverance? And that's where people can get uncomfortable, I think, because it sounds a bit like prosperity or health and wellness. But that's where we have to stop and say, hey, christ won it. We are perfect, he has achieved it. The external manifestation here sometimes doesn't look like we put want it to, but we're not going to get solution oriented. We're going to be Christ oriented so we can receive the fullness of healing how he has it. The wellness says he has it when he has it. Not give any room to the enemy who seeks to kill and steal and destroy.
Laurine Decker:And going back to when I saw Janet on her Instagram, I knew I could see that the Lord had done a remarkable work. I didn't know. I still don't know, actually, because we haven't chatted about how that's manifested in the physical realm. As far as your physical body, because I know that you had a lot of obstacles when I knew you 10 years ago but what I do know is you are walking in the wellness and the deliverance of the Lord, because I can see it all over your face the joy and her, her businesses shifted to it. So fun I actually had the pleasure of attending on Monday one of her praise and worship sessions.
Laurine Decker:I was so blessed and because she is a living, walking testimony to the glory and deliverance of the Lord and that encourages me and increases my faith, I'm like, yes, I can be more well again, like I'm perfect right now, but I, there is more, yeah, there's more. So that's kind of a long answer to I said yes, yes, yes, and then I can get on a roll. You can tell Bo-Chan and I have a lot of passion about this why because we are walking in more joy, love, peace, those fruit of the spirit that are ours in Christ and yeah, that actually was the first thing that I felt like I could get a hold of a little bit a few years ago.
Janet Massey:I really didn't know much and I mean I shared my testimony I don't know a couple months ago, but it where did you share that um? Would you tell the listeners, oh yeah, I shared it live in a small group, but I have it on my YouTube channel as well.
Laurine Decker:I have a testimony video that doesn't include symptoms or diagnoses, and then what I call a pre testimony video for the people that were okay hearing that right, which is separate so to put a little astra on that, check out Janet's YouTube if you want to hear more of the personal details and go a little bit more in depth, and they can find that. Would you tell them the YouTube channel?
Janet Massey:it is Janet Massey spirit, soul and body support and I've actually told.
Laurine Decker:I told Janet last week that I was going to tell everyone to go to one of her praise and worship classes because I was so blessed. The hour flew by and it was so full of the word and life, not a lot of extras, it was just very life-giving and very glorified to the Lord and I really appreciated it. So there's my little, my little, my little joyful encouragement, but anyway so. But you were saying a couple years ago you first. So go ahead and finish that thought, if you can catch it again.
Janet Massey:Yes, um, oh yeah the first thing that I felt like I could kind of get a hold of is the fruit of the spirit, and I'm realizing now in another interview I did.
Janet Massey:I missed one of them, which was funny, but um, you know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control on this gentleness, but anyway, uh, I just started speaking those over myself as, um, well, I was, I was walking in the water with my dog anyway, but I, I just started speaking those over myself, as these are in me. This is in me like I know. I know as a Christian. They say the Holy Spirit's in you. If somebody had asked me over the last 10, 15 years, I would have said, yeah, I know that I think, but I did not know that.
Janet Massey:I didn't actually understand that or comprehend that the the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in me and gives life to my mortal flesh, and that the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the spirit are in me. I get fruits are what are produced, right, but an apple tree doesn't grunt to produce apples, like it. Just I love that saying, but I just it does, just grow. And yes, it starts as a little tree and then it grows well, actually the flowers and then the leaves, and then the apples, like I get that. It can take time and we just nourish the soil and nourish, you know, our heart, nourish our heart, but but the fruit grows.
Janet Massey:So so, yes, I may not be acting out of those fruits of the spirit yet when I was learning that, but I started realizing, wait, but that's in there, that's in there. And so I just started speaking that over myself and going I can, I can act toward myself and towards others from those fruits. It's available. And then the mind of Christ. And then you know, I have the mind of Christ right now. The wisdom and knowledge of the ages is in my spirit. I can access my physical mind and ignore it, or I can go with the mind of Christ and I choose that way and then just that, you know I'm his sheep and I hear his voice and I I started speaking that and it because I had just different beliefs about that, that people had maybe part of the spirit kind of you know, well, you have this, I have this, we all have the whole, we have the whole Holy Spirit there's no baby Holy.
Janet Massey:Spirit. There's not like a brand new Christian gets a baby one and an older person gets a bigger one, like it's the Holy Spirit and it's the same, and we may not be walking in the fullness of it and producing the fruits of the fullness of it, but we do all have the same thing, and so the the being able to hear his voice. I was looking at the scripture and that certain line popped out that I was saying earlier, that's hearing him like oh, that's what you wanted me to get, oh, it connects with this other thing. All of those things started growing but yeah, it did come from just sort of gently recognizing that I have the spirit in me. I can live from that place.
Laurine Decker:So good, and I also want to clarify and I know that you would agree with this not all meant to look the exact same where the body Christ, and we need all the different parts. We all need to be acting out in different areas of gifting. However, if we need something, then the Holy Spirit will empower us to have it, and so I did want to put a little bit of an asterisk on that, because I know many people in my sphere, and myself included, have been very damaged by pushing inappropriately what this Holy Spirit's manifestation is going to look like, and so for any of you listeners that are troubled and confused about the spirit, I welcome you to just push the pause button and even just say Dear Lord, I receive afresh that gift of the Spirit within me. Please instruct me. It says the Holy Spirit is our counselor. He's there to teach us, he's there to point us to Christ, to give glory to the Father and to show us how to walk. I agree with Janet. I have had an increase in my ability to receive and walk in that as I become more and more open and continue to be asking. The Bible says if we ask, our Father will grant it to us. We're not meant to quench the spirit, we're meant to keep asking, and it's an active thing. So, and the delightful thing about theology is that God is big enough to handle it all. And we were just talking. We actually turned off the recording for a moment because we trust that the spirit is going to minister to you guys, as the Spirit is minister to us.
Laurine Decker:The thing is to say no spirit of fear, no spirit of cynicism. God is the God of the universe. Who are we to define what he has for us in regards to well-underdlier deliverance? Because the reality is Jesus Christ did accomplish it on the cross, and so, even though it's a little uncomfortable we were just kind of laughing too, because it can sound a bit like prosperity, health and welfare. Already said that earlier. But you know what we do know where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. There is no spirit of fear in Christ, and so if there is a spirit of fear or cynicism, doubt about what God, the God of the universe, can do, we can be assured that that spirit is not from the Lord.
Laurine Decker:How God wants to bring it about is his business, because we know Jesus was crucified, he descended into hell, the disciples were murdered, did they still manifest the joy of the spirit? Yes, they did. They had the love, joy and peace. They were not rich and wealthy. They were crucified, they were stoned, they were killed. And so it's not a health and wealth in this external realm that Janet and I are preaching and excited about. It is the wellness that is indescribable, that is ours through Christ. Over sickness, like Psalm 103 says, he has redeemed our lives from the pit. He has healed all of our diseases. That's the truth. Why are we stuck on trying to explain it in this physical realm? We can't do it, but I'd love to hear what you have to say about that.
Janet Massey:Well, what keeps coming to mind is you've been given a spirit of love, power and a sound mind, and that is and I love what you said that when there's fear, it's not from God.
Janet Massey:When there's confusion, it's not from God. And yet there can be. Just, I want more understanding. What comes to mind right now? The blue is just Mary, Jesus and Mother Mary saying to the angel that came okay, you're going to be pregnant. And it's not like, no, it was how. How does that happen? We can ask how. I would like to understand more. But when it's just confusion or fear, it's not from God.
Janet Massey:And I'm so grateful for people in the body of Christ that when I love, I love studying the word. But I will have people say, Janet, now we're getting into like trying to figure it out in our own strength, Like you've kind of crossed into that. I have a few friends that are very good at noticing that like we can dig and just connect all the scriptures and keep asking God. And then there'll be a point where it's like now we need to pause because we're trying to figure this out in like scientific mind, like figure it out on our own. So we're going to pause and say, God, we thank you that you're going to bring us the answer and we'll step back.
Janet Massey:And so often within that week, sometimes later that day, you know, I'll be just focused on him again, not trying to figure it out on my own, and he points out some scripture or somebody speaks something over me that is in alignment with everything we're saying, and he's just amazing how he can answer it. And so, yeah, I think that's good to keep in mind, that the Holy Spirit teaches us all things and is always true and never lies. What was that verse first, John 2, 27? You know it's the same spirit in Jesus and I'm forgetting that. I used to be able to quote that one anyway, but it talks about that.
Janet Massey:The spirit teaches us all things and it's always truth and not lie and as it teaches a bite in him, and so it's like just going with that and if you have questions, ask him. But I used to ask and then like, well, I have to know right now, and if I don't, then I have to figure it out on my own and I can like pause now and trust that God is good Because, yes, the enemy came to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus came to give us life and life abundant, and those kind of delineate that so I can step away and go. Okay, I'm not understanding this. It's not aligning with God's nature and character. But I'm going to ask him and he gives generously to all who ask right for more clarity, and so I feel like that has really helped me and people in the body of Christ who can notice when I get really overthinking right and being wise in my own eyes totally, instead of hearing the Lord and turning away from evil.
Laurine Decker:It makes me think of a few verses. One is that verse that says always seeking knowledge and never arriving at the truth. I can't remember what book that's in. It's in Timothy, but it talks about Jonnas and Jambres I think, or something like that. I can't remember Anyway, we'll have to look it up later.
Laurine Decker:But I don't want to be a person always seeking knowledge and not arriving at the truth. And that goes back to what you were just referencing about the Holy Spirit. We can trust the Spirit to lead us and guide us, just as the Spirit led Jesus and Jesus. When we look back to his life, he entered into life fully and I always say he was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard because he was living life presently. He knew when to pray, he knew when to preach, he knew when to study and he also knew when to live life presently with those around him.
Laurine Decker:He didn't get stuck in knowledge or power. He entered in and we can so easily get distracted, and that's one of the ways that the enemy works is he twists something good like a desire for the Word to then just we get a degree off, and you were talking earlier about learning to look at Jesus we just get a degree off and then, all of a sudden, we're ruminating, overanalyzing, we're not feeling joy, we're feeling anxiety, we don't have love or joy or peace for the people around us. And that's when to push the pause again and get back to present, loving God and loving others and receiving the wellness in the moment that he has for us.
Janet Massey:And it's funny because it can be when you're trying to study the Word, that can become almost an idol in a way, if we don't do it with the heart of God. You're teaching me about you through this Word and like, why am I doing it? Or even just, am I reading a certain number of minutes or hours or whatever a day to earn God's favor or love? That would be a dead work, even though reading the Word is fantastic and good. And so it does kind of always go back to like where is my heart in this and why am I doing it? And that is really helpful, and that's why the body of Christ is helpful too, because they can redirect you on that Right, yeah, and that's what else is coming to mind in Leman 6.
Janet Massey:Your faith becomes effective as you acknowledge every good thing in you in Christ Jesus. So, as we think, as we acknowledge that I've got the fruits of the spirit in me, I'm a new creation in Christ, I'm an ambassador of Christ, I am beloved. God's already blessed me with every blessing in the heavenly places, like what you know, just whatever you can acknowledge, like your faith grows and your connection with God. And then just earlier today I was telling Lorraine that this verse came up that says it's about Abraham and it says but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. It's from Romans 4, the second part of verse 20, and it's that deciding to glorify God and again not self, like not seeking Wellness, even though I mean God's. God's paid for it all, so it's not like it's a wrong thing to want. He does, does ask us to desire everything that he gives us. But Is that like the end all be all, or is it relationship with Christ and the fruits that come with that?
Laurine Decker:So if you're not feeling the desire for God himself, if you don't love God with all your heart, soul and strength, I will just be the first to raise my hand and say that caused me a lot of guilt and condemnation and shame, and I strived my little heart out trying to Love God with all my heart, soul and mind. So if you are not in a place in your relationship where you feel a love and a desire and a passion and closeness, ask the Lord for it, tell him. I want to love you with all my heart, soul in mind. I want you to be my focus. So just stop and ask for that. Stop to invite the spirit into that.
Laurine Decker:And that's where Janet and I, I know, are excited for any of you who are on this journey with us, because there is none of us that is better or more holy. We are all learning things and Increasing in our ability to receive, and so there's an excitement, even if you're listening to this podcast, because we know that God is going to take you deeper, into more. We know he's gonna take us deeper and into more. I know that God's wellness and healing and deliverance will not disappoint, even if in this physical realm it looks awfully disappointing sometime and.
Laurine Decker:Bill and I talked about that last week. We were talking about darkness. We don't know how God heals and delivers and what his wellness, how he defines it, but we know that it is ours in Christ, in light of eternity. It is ours in Christ, and so how can we keep showing up to receive that more?
Janet Massey:Yeah, well, I don't want to go back to the loving. God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Because I was so glad you brought that up, because, yeah, I had the same, like just condemnation, like how Do I really? I mean, I had a lot of lies about God. I thought, you know, I was told that he Created me quote-unquote special with broken DNA and all that stuff and that is from the enemy. Sorry, but if you don't believe that, I can't not say it because I can't not speak that over myself.
Laurine Decker:I.
Janet Massey:I am there. There is an enemy. He creates the causes, the sickness. God didn't, but I get to. So I got to like, get the truth and and just heal some of those lies that made me feel totally untrusting to God and Felt attacked by God, I mean just all these different things. But even as so mostly for me, I was just learning the truth, that that I started realizing like, wow, god does love me and as I receive his love, I can love him back because it's I Love, because he first loved me. I'm not creating this love, and that's that was the verse that really stuck out to me, like, oh, so I receive his love and then I can even love him. Like, even the love that I give to him, let alone to myself or to others, comes from him, right, so I have to receive it first, and so that was really big for me and and but it just Like the, the loving, loving him with all my heart.
Janet Massey:I had started being told by people that I would get goose bumps, or they'd call them God bumps, or I'd feel and I'm like I don't know, even if they're like you'll know, god loves you because you'll have these God bumps, and I'm like I don't know what they're talking about. God must not love me. No, love is not a feeling. And there's a song by Don Francisco called love is not a feeling and I love it. The first part of it's kind of just about marriage, but the rest of it is good. And love is not a feeling, it's an act of your will and there's so many things that list out what God did for us, what Jesus did for us, because he loved us. Like it's an action and we get to just acknowledge it and have our faith strengthen.
Janet Massey:But it was Recognizing that there can be feelings like there's nothing. God created feelings, they're not bad or anything like that. But I don't have to feel the warm fuzzies or the God bumps to know that God loves me and I don't have to feel warm fuzzies or God bumps to know that I love God. So I started just realizing that and as I understood more the truth of who he was and what he said about me, that I'm his beloved, and the things he's spoken over us that were his child, and Now I've realized that, like we are adopted into the family line, we become born ones of God and that's how we become a brand-new creation, and so it is. Everybody has the potential. He wants all to come to him, but it's when we do choose to have him as the Lord and Savior of our lives would become his children, like he's adopted me.
Janet Massey:I you know he loves me, he delights in me, he sings songs over me, all of those things. And I, just as I Just sat with all of those things more and spoke them over me, I started realizing that I loved God because he loved me. And the fruit of that, as I received his love, I started noticing like, oh, he's acting and I'm acting in love. I mean just even speaking about him or receiving what he has for me, or, you know, believing a truth instead of a lie, like all of those things. And then it just started growing from there as actions of that kind of demonstration of love to God. I didn't have to Feel some kind of warm fuzzy that I was very confused by and didn't understand in the natural, and so I got to know it's not what the world calls love, anyway. It's completely different. So that all has helped me. And, yeah, if you question it, if you don't think it means you don't love God. Just receive his love and his demonstration of it.
Laurine Decker:And then what I hear you saying is receive it and even if you don't feel like it, you can still receive it. Yeah, and I think that for me and for Janet was probably that pivotal turning point was like we're gonna receive it. And I love thinking about how the Bible I think it's like the original cognitive behavioral therapy manual, because you know, all over right now people are talking about gratitude and mantras and Wellness and walking in your and the thing is those things, if we have received Christ and his salvation, they are ours in Christ and we can receive it. And we'd all know that part of the whole scientific Stuff that they're figuring out that the Bible already told us about way back when is when you start to Operate in something. Kate Henderson and I talked about that months ago when she and Jeff Peabody were on the podcast with me talking about Looking to Christ, about how your feelings follow your behavior. If you choose to speak truth that goddess said is truth your feelings will eventually follow. And I would attest to Janet and me both having I really do love God now I've, and am I 100% all on board.
Laurine Decker:Do I still revert back to all old behavior Sometimes? Yes, of course my mind will. I will derail at times. I'm human and I always I always quote Paul that people probably get sick of it where he says I'm so wretched, why do I do what I don't want to do? You know, wretched man that I am, but there's no condemnation in Christ Jesus. So we're still human. Yeah, but more and more I am wanting, I really do want to. I love God, I'm receiving his love, I'm feeling, I'm feeling those things. But for those of you who aren't, don't be discouraged. Just like what Janet said, love is not a feeling, it's a choice. Yeah, and we can choose to receive what God has.
Janet Massey:Yeah even if it doesn't seem like it's lined it up by our behaviors or our feelings or yeah, yeah, and the feelings do fall like our bodies is the slave to our soul, our spirit, and it's making me think. I know you have some 103 over there and it's a David song, right, so I'm. It's David at the beginning saying bless my Look Few times. He says it in the next one too.
Janet Massey:Yes, a few other places, and it says also like let everything have breath, praise the Lord I want to say that someone 50, verse 6 or something, but that, and you know, think on things that are good, pure, noble, praise rate, like there's so many things in scripture, like he said, it's all scripture, all foundational, the things that people are saying to do. But that is saying like David was saying okay, soul bless the Lord. And I think of People in the neuroscience world saying Say you know what you can say, that's true, but don't have cognitive dissonance, meaning don't say something that you truly don't believe and Then think it'll become true. And I think that's actually just not true for believers.
Janet Massey:I mean right well, I guess it could be true, but if you're speaking the word of God, even if your flesh doesn't believe it, your spirit does. Yes, so it's not cognitive dissonance and we don't have to even be concerned about that. I can say I have breath. So I'm gonna praise the Lord. Lord, I praise you and I can just start speaking out truths because they are true and my spirit confirms that they are true. And so I felt some freedom in that, because I had some people a few years ago saying that sounds like cognitive dissonance. You don't believe that you're loved and you keep saying it. And it was like I don't. Well, what am I gonna say? I believe I'm trash, like that's not gonna help. So, you know, I just decided to set that aside and, as I just want, because I'm like I think this is right, and as I went along it was like oh yeah, we don't. We don't have cognitive dissonance in the same way, because our spirit truly does confirm these things and I can speak this out. I can focus on whatever is true, good, noble and praiseworthy. I can praise the Lord, I can acknowledge everything that is good in me and Christ Jesus. I can say I can just praise him and if my flesh doesn't believe it yet, that's okay, because my spirit does and my flesh will follow and it, well, it makes me think of.
Janet Massey:I mean I lead laughter sessions online. I call them laugh with me sessions and it is choosing to laugh. It is not okay. So we've been doing it in a group for a while. So I mean they, they just crack me up and make me laugh so easily all the time now, but still, if certain people are not, you know, if I'm the only one on camera or off mute, so I'm just laughing to a group of black boxes with little mute buttons on them, I am very much choosing to laugh, although I don't know.
Janet Massey:It's really easy to crack myself up now too. But so, but in the beginning, like it was okay, I'm going to choose to laugh because I have the joy of the Lord in me and it's possible. So I'm just going to do it and then, as you do it, the the neurochemistry happens in your body and you get all the effects. And, like they say, you know, put on a smile before you have a phone call and your tone of voice will change. Like we make these choices and they do have carryover, but they do actually align with scripture, like we always have reason to praise the Lord. Yeah.
Laurine Decker:Yes, we always do. And when it comes down to it, that's where we have a choice. Again, god says to do this. It must quote work. But if we're looking to be solution oriented, we're missing the mark.
Laurine Decker:However, his word doesn't return void. We don't have to believe something in our flesh. It's still true regardless. Jesus is the name above all names. He has conquered sin and death. He's overcome the grave. He seated at the right hand of God, the Father. We are joint heirs with Christ. We are clothed in robes of righteousness. Those things are true. Are we going to choose to put on those garments of praise?
Laurine Decker:And you know, I really have had a lot of resistance to legalism, religion because of my religious upbringing, and I had tremendous difficulty with that cognitive dissonance like you talked about. But I tell you what I have learned, like Janet says that's. I know I've already talked about starting to bow. I've have learned that doing what the Lord has told me to do, like when that says in Psalm 95, bow before the Lord, your God, your maker, the reason that the Lord tells us to do certain things is because it does, I'd hesitate to say, work.
Laurine Decker:You're smart, but the Lord, god most high, knows. He created us for his glory. He created us with the tender, loving care and he wants the best for his children. He wants us to choose life and as we enter in and do what he says, wow, it actually results in life. Like again, do, why do we doubt the God of the universe? Yeah, he created us for it and so we have a choice to enter in. And I know we have to wrap up because we've been talking for a long time and usually, but we could talk more and I told Janet I want to have her back on and we can dive into a different area and a little bit of a different way. But before we go, janet, do you have any last little bit you're dying to say?
Janet Massey:I just this is just exciting, and what I keep thinking is of that, with praise we were just talking about. You know laughter, and I know I learned this a few years ago that, as you like, sing together, your heart beats align and we want them to align with.
Janet Massey:Christ and so praise God. And I told there's, there's a verse somewhere that says a sacrifice of praise, and it very much is sometimes a sacrifice or feels that way, a very big sacrifice to praise God. And but inch there, like I remember talking to somebody a while ago that was like okay, so I need to be doing this many hours a day or something. It was like just just do what you can and, little by little, praise him and choose to praise him and choose to cut out other voices and images and whatever else, because, yeah, he's smart, I know that sounds silly.
Janet Massey:He's cool, but he does know what he's talking about, and it's not to earn, though. It's not like okay, so if he, if I praise him, then I'm gonna XYZ is gonna happen. It's like, well, it's actually true because he's good, but if you start doing it to earn, it can become an idol. Anything can just like we were saying about the word.
Janet Massey:So just yeah, have have that decision that you're just gonna try and see, and I just think it's amazing and he's good and he knows what he's talking about and it's been good to recognize that the more I I just sit with him, so thank you so much.
Laurine Decker:It's so encouraging and so fun to talk to you you too and so, as we go, for any of you who are listening, wherever you're at right now with the Lord Jesus Christ, I invite you to pause and invite a fresh filling, a fresh receiving. Look back to him. He says that if you say I want to trust and obey you, I want to acknowledge you that he'll help you do it, and he's given you his spirit within. If you have received Jesus as your savior to enable you to do that, you don't have to fix everything all at once. He will show you. Ask him to help you, not quench the spirit and then be delighted as he shows you in little steps how you can enter into life more presently and fully, with more wellness, and so I pray that you will receive that. I pray that you will go with the love and joy and peace and blessing that he has for you today. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.
Janet Massey:Amen Amen.