Daily Bread
Daily Bread with Dr. Jerrell & Angela Stokley offers inspiring biblical content designed to educate, empower, and engage everyone to seek God's Word as daily bread for the soul and live a life of purpose in Jesus Christ.
Daily Bread
Unlocking the Secrets to a Winning Mindset Through Biblical Wisdom - PT 2
Angela and I found ourselves amidst the tempest of life's challenges, where our bond of marriage and the whispers of prayer were our only sails. Every storm we weathered together reinforced our faith and solidified our commitment to each other—and now, we're opening the pages of our story for you. Join us as we embark on an odyssey of spiritual discovery, unraveling the threads of faith, love, and human resilience that bind us all. We'll share how the power of prayer and a mindset anchored in Christ can be the compass that guides us through the darkest nights.
Our journey through the scriptures leads us to the transformative teachings of Romans 12:1-2, which have become the bedrock of our lives. Together, we dissect what it means to live as living sacrifices, daring not to conform to the patterns of this world, but instead being metamorphosed by the renewal of our minds. We delve into the essence of a Winning Mindset, one that shuns the deceiving whispers of negativity and self-doubt, replacing them with the life-affirming truths of the kingdom. This episode is a testament to the profound change that occurs when we align our thoughts with divine values, a change that we have experienced firsthand and are eager to share.
Our conversation ultimately converges on the daily battlefield of choice—whether to succumb to worldly temptations or to steadfastly pursue God's will. Through stories of our own ministry's outreach—feeding the homeless, ministering to prisoners, supporting orphanages—we illustrate the gravity and joy of walking a path ordained by God. We're humbled to invite you, our dear listeners, to join us in this mission, to intertwine your unique threads into the growing tapestry of our ministry, and to witness how a kingdom mindset can reshape not only your life but the lives of those around you.
Please sponsor the Daily Bread Podcast by clicking the link above. You can also connect with Dr. Jerrell & Angela Stokely at www.JerrellStokley.com or www.CovenantGraceChurch.org. Visit our online apparel store at www.OfficialGloryGear.com for all of your faith-based outdoor, casual, and athletic gear with a message of faith and belief in Jesus Christ.
Welcome, welcome, welcome. Today we are back in the studio for our podcast Daily Bread, and I am in this studio and I'll tell you what I thought about this on the way in. I was going to talk about how beautiful you are. I was going to talk about the eloquent formation of your lips and the duality of color between a burgundy and a pink at the same time. But I said, you know what? You can't get on there and do all that. But I am here today and we want to welcome you all right on in to our pocket daily, want to welcome you all right on in to our pocket daily.
Speaker 1:I'm here with my guest and co-host and my best friend and my wife been my, my comrade, my ride, I died for 32 years, 32, 32, 32. And we've been through some ups and downs, some terrible, terrible challenges and some great, great success. We've been through some hard, hard, hard. You've been down and I've been there for you and I've been down and you've been there for me. And if this ain't what makes a man the stuff that marriage is made of, I don't know what it is, but I am glad to have you here and it is meaningful and it is powerful.
Speaker 1:And listen. I want you to come on in, to come on in and listen in and tune in, listen. I want you guys to pray for us because there is an anointing on our lives to break bondage, to set free, to help those folks who are on the brinks, the edge of suicide, contemplating giving up, wanting to walk away, struggling in hardships. That's our tribe, those are our people, people who are trying to get up. That's what we're called to. And having that ministry and the anointing for that always comes under assault.
Speaker 1:And we are asking, as you listen to our show, that you pray with us and pray for us, for our covenants, for strength, for health, for protection, for a tribe to come around what we do, to support it and launch it out in the name of Jesus, because so many people need this and I'm not ashamed or prideful or too high to stop for a moment and say pray for us. We need your prayers, we need your support, we need your giving, we need your positive thoughts and positive words. And so please, please, please, keep us in your prayers and your support as we're here today. Ok, my co-hosts Pastor Angela Stokely, the woman of God, evangelist, mother, nurturer, phd candidate, man, just genius, so smart, here with me today. Come on and come on in, uh sweetheart.
Speaker 2:You know I was thinking about. Well, first of all, thank you for your beautiful words.
Speaker 2:Thank, you, you tickle me all the time, um, but I am grateful and I appreciate them, but it sounds so funny for me, um, but I was thinking about what you said, um said a little bit ago, just concerning prayer, and you know, and I wanted to just share with the audience one of the things that I try to encourage people to do If anyone has blessed you through what God has given them, god has given them, and so in this case, we're specifically talking about the ministry that God has given to us and our ability to minister to those, that tribal people that he's called us to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to just say, if we have ever said anything or done anything that has added any kind of value to your life, pray for us, you know, and I think that if we could get in the mindset of doing that across the board, I think that it would help reinforce what God is doing in the earth. You know what I'm saying. So whenever someone blesses, you, be mindful to just send up a prayer for them, because the reality is is that, although we don't see what that person had to sacrifice to get that blessing to us, out of gratitude that the blessing made it to us, we should just want to have a seat of prayer in return for that person that they can continue to do what God has called them to do.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Excuse me, and so I just wanted to to say that, to look at it from that perspective, because sometimes it's it's people forget. You know, people forget to pray for other people and even as we are soliciting that even now, someone may very well forget, may very well forget. And one of the things I try to do is if someone asks me to pray, I try to do it right then, because I know, even you know, without even trying to forget, I may forget if I'm not intentional about it or just being grateful that what someone has done for me was a blessing and I want to just sow back into their life and I do that. One of the ways I do that is through prayer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's powerful. This discussion on prayer is reminding me of the story in the book of Acts, where Peter was in prison and while Peter was in prison, the apostles had gathered together at Rhoda's house and they were all praying for Peter's release. And you talk about the power of prayer prayer being active in the moment and powerful in the moment to bring about a change and an act of God. While they were praying at Rhoda's house for Peter, the Bible says that an angel came in and escorted Peter out of the prison, past the guards, up the road. And then Peter made his way to Rhoda's house and while they were in there praying, Peter knocked on the door. Rhoda got up and came to the door and Peter was at the door. Why did that breakthrough happen? How did that happen? How did Peter get out of that prison? Because they were at Rhoda's house praying. How did that happen? How did Peter get out of that prison? Because they were at Rhoda's house praying.
Speaker 2:So your prayers are powerful and they will move God to act, even in miraculous ways, for those that you're praying for. And all I can, all I can see, and hear in.
Speaker 1:That is community, and the power of community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were of one mind, same goal, and God showed up. And I won't even talk about how that was blessed in me as you were talking about it that God is still the same God, who not only hears our prayers, but he's the God that answers, and oftentimes he's working it out while we're talking about it, my goodness, and so we ought to be just. That's a whole different subject. But giving God praise.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah, and it's real.
Speaker 2:For the breakthrough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hallelujah, give God praise for the breakthrough While we're praying for it. And so don't you ever discount your prayers or discredit your prayers in that thinking God is not listening, because, listen, rhoda had no idea that God heard her already. And maybe you're praying about something. You need a release. I feel the anointing of God, I feel the Holy Ghost right now. You need a release in your life. You're praying for someone who needs deliverance, and it may not be a prison, but they need deliverance from a mindset, deliverance from being victimized by someone, deliverance in a career search, no matter what it is. I want you to know don't discredit your prayers. Just because you don't see the manifestation doesn't mean that it's not happening or it's not on the way. You never know. It may be at your door in just a moment.
Speaker 2:Amen. I love that you said don't discredit your prayers. That's really good. All right, it's really good. We're going to get started.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about this. You know we like to follow the Holy Spirit. All right, if you're listening and tuning in and you're ready for part two of the series, possessing a Winning Mindset, that's where we're going to pick up the day. And I want to say this as a caveat to this teaching, so we can understand the trajectory. We're not coming to give you 10 steps to win on the job, 10 steps to win in your marriage, eight steps to this or to that, as if this is some form of motivation or inspiration for you to achieve another thing.
Speaker 1:What we are teaching in Possessing a Winning Mindset is from the platform that a winning mindset is a kingdom mindset and it is about a whole new mind, not adding in these other concepts and strategies to expand your capacity to do a thing, but that there be a complete shift in your thinking and your thought life and your thought victories, so that you possess the mind of Christ, and having that mind is the winning mind. And so we want to talk about that, because our minds is such a battlefield, such a place of strategy, such a place of defeat. Sometimes that's how we get to suicide, disappointment, anxiety, depression and poor self-image, poor self-belief. We get to all of that because of a mindset, and anytime we don't have a conquering, victorious, winning mindset that feeds us with the word of God, the plan of God, the vision of God, we don't necessarily have the winning mindset of the kingdom of God. So I want to make sure we preface that so you can understand what this is about when we talk about possessing a winning mindset.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:All right. So, pastor, can you open us up in a quick word of prayer. We will dive right into Romans, chapter 12, verse one and two.
Speaker 2:Amen. Pray with me, father.
Speaker 2:God we bless and thank you and give you all glory, all honor and praise. We just adore you for who you are. We thank you for the many things that you've already done, god. We lift you up in the earth realm by lifting up our voices to you, god, by acknowledging who you are, god, and we just thank you for being so sovereign and so awesome and so mighty, god. We thank you for being powerful, god, and then sharing that power with us. We thank you for being powerful, god, and then sharing that power with us. We thank you, god, for this opportunity to share with your people your word, god, that will help them possess the mindset to win in every area of their life.
Speaker 2:Now, god, I pray that you will give us all an ear to hear what the Spirit of the Lord has to say and, god, I pray that you give us both Jarell and I got a mindset, got to align with the flow of the Holy spirit in Jesus name. Ultimately, god, we want to be be sure that you get the glory for what is done in this moment, in this session, in this podcast, god. We pray, god, that there will be edification for your people, that, god, they will rise up, hallelujah and be everything you called them to be in the mighty name of Jesus. Now, god, I ask that you have your way in this session, that you speak through us and you speak to us, oh God, that your perfect will will be done today. In the mighty name of Jesus, we give you glory, we give you honor and God, we give you praise. And God I just felt this we pray an anointing Hallelujah and capacity God to do that which you have called us to do in this session. In Jesus name, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Amen, in Jesus name. Thank you so much, pastor. We appreciate you for that, and nothing like having an intercessor on your side, all right, so we're talking about possessing this winning mindset, pastor, and we're in Romans, chapter 12. And we want to start off talking about what does the Bible say about a winning mindset? What does the Bible say about the mindset of a Christian? All right, that's what we want to pick up.
Speaker 1:And so I'm in Romans, chapter 12, verse one and two, and it says I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, the mercies of God that you present your bodies, hallelujah, I like that. A living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And to not be conformed to this world, which means to take on the patterns of the ways of the doings of that were conformed to this world, which means to take on the patterns of the ways of the doings of that were conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing or making new of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So here we see, in this passage of scripture, that we are giving wise instruction on how to have that winning mindset, which is how to have how a Christian should transform their thinking to the ways of God.
Speaker 1:Absolutely transform their thinking to the ways of God Absolutely, and so we have an obligation. As we live in relationship with God, as we are sons and daughters of God, we have this obligation to then understand life through the lens of Christ. Does that make any sense? And in order to do that, we have to have a mindset that is pleasing to God, that thinks the way God thinks, go ahead, pastor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is you know, when you think about that, you take a moment to think about that. That is so powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know that God would even give us the opportunity to have a mind that can be transformed to that of Christ. You know that in and of itself, for me, is amazing, because that removes me trying to have a certain responsibility, to think through and see how this is going to happen and see how that is going to happen, when really my responsibility is to allow the word of God to transform the way my mind has been taught to think, to now think like the creator of the one who created me. You know what I'm saying. So the responsibility is no more trying to go into this hustle and bustle in my mind, but instead to dive deeply into the word of God. That I might see things how he see them then gives me a greater understanding and a deeper depth about my life and who he is and life altogether, which, in my opinion, is such an easier way, you know, for us to live and to function and to be in this earth.
Speaker 1:You think about what this passage of scripture is saying. It's saying that we may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That's what Christ's agenda was. He came to show us the perfect and good and pure will of God, and that mandate is on us as children of the most high God, as believers, to show the world through, through my oh my God. Our minds is how we make our decisions. Yes, our minds determine how we live, absolutely. Our minds determine what we pursue.
Speaker 2:What we believe.
Speaker 1:Christ came ushering in this perfect and this good and this peaceable and this powerful will of God. And so we then have to just think about how victorious Christ's mind was. I think about three things that had to be relative in Christ's mind in order for him to come and do what he did it's humility, obedience and victory. He had to have that humble mind to not focus on what he thinks and what some cute philosophy or the teachings of his day, the teachings of the Pharisees, the law. The law was powerful in his day and time. But he had to humble himself as a Jew walking in this earth, being a hundred percent God, a hundred percent man. He had to humble himself from all the teachings of the world to keep reiterating and repeating what he was hearing the Holy Spirit say Number one, my Lord. Then he had to be obedient when what God was telling him was being so contradicted by the people around him, by the world around him. But he had to stick to what he knew from his relationship with God, what he knew about the plan of God from his relationship with God.
Speaker 1:He came here in relationship with God, knowing the plan of God being the word himself, and he articulated that in an uphill battle against, against blowing winds of change and life, and the way things were he was. He was confronting confrontation but he had to stay obedient, even though his message wasn't popular. And then Christ had a mind of victory. He believed he was going to that cross. He believed he could save humanity from their sin. He believed in the will of the Father. He had victory in the process. He had a victorious mindset. Even when he was being denied, even when he was being betrayed, when he was being left alone, when he was hurting in pain in the Garden of Gethsemane, he still had a mind of victory. So I see that humility, obedience and victory has to be in your mind at all time to have the mind of Christ.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, as you were talking about the last one. What I heard is we have to make sure that we're convinced, and I think that that is so powerful when we become convinced, I think that is. That is proof positive of a transformed mind when we are convinced, because when I am convinced, nothing can move me, and that's excuse me, and that's what Jesus was.
Speaker 1:He was absolutely convinced.
Speaker 2:He was convinced about who God said he was. He was convinced about what he was sent to the earth to do. He was absolutely convinced, and so the contrary winds of the world didn't move him. That same posture, if we had that same characteristic, whereby we were convinced that God's word is true. We are convinced when we hear from the word of the Lord. We're convinced about the Holy Spirit's leading, and no matter how much the world and the culture is doing all of these other things and the majority says this, and the majority says that when we're convinced, we will hold fast to what the word of God has said and what the unction of the Holy Spirit has given us, and we will not move. Even when the waters get turbulent, even when the winds are about to knock us down, we will stand our ground.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's powerful. So listen, ladies and gentlemen, you have to be convinced yes, oh, my God that God is right. You have to be convinced about his promises. You have to be convinced in your mind, come on, that God is good, regardless of what you're going through. And so listen in order to do that.
Speaker 1:Listen, this text says be not conformed to the world right, but be transformed. So there's a contradiction between the world Come on, and and and the kingdom of God, the way God does things. You have to understand that that chasm exists and that contradiction exists. And in knowing that, you have to be convinced that God's way is the right way. You got to be convinced through humility, through obedience, through conviction, and being convinced you're on the right side, oh, my God, even though you. There's so much contradiction coming against you, there's so much opposition coming against the way you're thinking.
Speaker 1:But listen, you cannot be transformed, which means to become totally new in your thinking. You cannot be transformed until you begin to change the way you think. You can't have new life, go in new directions, pursue new things, become a new you with the same old mindset, and that's thinking in your worldly habits. The way the flesh want things, the way I want things. What I believe, what he said, what she said, no, it's what the word said. And if he said and she said what the word says and what is pleasing to God, then I can go with that. If not, I want to know what God said and that's what I want to pursue Absolutely.
Speaker 2:That is my, is that is my go to phrase Oftentimes when someone asks me certain questions my first. My first question to them is what did God say?
Speaker 1:Where do you get that from?
Speaker 2:I'm like you know, because if you don't have God's word on that decision, you have to ask yourself why then am I making it? Why then am I considering this as an option in my decision pool? Why then am I looking at this particular strategy Like where did that come from?
Speaker 2:And I think, when we're honest and I like that you talked about Jesus's humility If we're honest, because sometimes we can only be honest if we're humble- we can be the only way sometimes we can be honest about what we've done Right and how it went and why we did what we did Right, yeah, it's when we're willing to be humble and say, yeah, I messed that up.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I set out to be manipulative. Yeah, messed that up. Yeah, I set out to be manipulative. Yeah, I set out and I built that thing on lies. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. When we can get to the place where we're humble enough, then we can be honest and then we can start looking at how we're making decisions now. Are we still allowing some of that old worldly way to infiltrate underneath our option pool to say, well, maybe I should do it like this? And I feel like that's why that question is so powerful. What did God say? Do you have a scripture on it? Did the Holy Spirit lead you in a direction or are you pulling from your old pool? Because oftentimes that's what it is. We're trying to mix a little bit of the old way in with the new, and we can't do that. We can't do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. I like that. That reminds me we have to be careful of that. Yeah, that reminds me of the no, that's good, no, go ahead. That reminds me of the parable of the wineskin. I was thinking the same thing.
Speaker 2:Well then, go ahead, and go ahead and release that If you were thinking the same thing, you were thinking the same thing.
Speaker 1:Well, let's do this together. So what did you get from the parable of the wineskin? And let me just give an honest parable of the wineskin.
Speaker 1:Jesus was teaching about the old and the new, giving comparisons, and he used wineskins, because wineskins is a little leather like pouch that they poured wine in and that day and time, and they kept it strapped around the loin belt and it would keep it with them, or it may be somewhere else, but they would put it in wine skins to preserve it, keep it fresh. And so Jesus was saying that, when he was talking about the old man and the new man and the kingdom way and the world way, he was saying you can't pour new wine into old wine skins, and that is because new wine is potent and it's powerful, but old wine skins when a wine skin gets old, it cracks, it gets dry and it gets brittle. Well then that leather loses its elasticity and it cannot stretch with the potency of the new wine. So therefore it leaks and the new wine burst out and you lose what you gained by trying to put something new in something old. So what did you get from that new, asking I was just thinking about.
Speaker 2:You know. The reality is that. You know that parable talks about it bursting. It won't be able to hold it and that's why we can't we can't mix the two, because it's not going to hold. If we try to make a decision based on that combination, that decision is not going to hold you. Whatever that decision is, it's going to fail you. It's going to fall apart, guaranteed. It will absolutely fall apart.
Speaker 1:You know, oh, my God, I'm hearing James coming into this at the same time that we're talking about this.
Speaker 1:Out of the gospels I think maybe in Matthew the wineskins are, and I'm thinking about the book of James says every good and perfect gift comes from God.
Speaker 1:And here God is trying to give you good things and new things and we are leaking them out, trying to put them in old ways of thought, old ways of being, old ways of doing. And it's leaking out and we don't even know it. And then when we go for what we think we have on reserve, we realize that it's empty because it didn't stay, because it leaked out. So God's given us power, we get the power, but we're trying to live the same old life and then something happens and we go try to pull on that power and pull on that strength and it's not there and we never noticed that it leaked out because we were trying to stay the same, with new power and new anointing and new grace on us and new revelation, trying to stay in the same situation. God said no, you got to expand, you got to be new, you got to expand your thinking, the kingdom thinking, and I need to stop, because I'm preaching, I'm having fun, hallelujah and the glory of God, you got to expand your thinking to kingdom thinking.
Speaker 1:To move from worldly thinking to word thinking is an expansion of my thought.
Speaker 2:It is it absolutely. It reminds me of what Jesus said to the disciples. He said if any man desires to come after me, he must first deny himself. And I think in that transition, Shabbat.
Speaker 1:Oh, I feel something deny himself and I think in that transition.
Speaker 2:in that transition from thinking worldly to thinking with a transformed mind, we must first realize there is a denying of self that must take place. We can no longer think because I'm telling you, for me it was just this very practical thing If you didn't get it right after X number of years, why now do you feel like you can get it right?
Speaker 2:You understand what I'm saying. So in that, just a practical mindset, for me it was okay. I said that to myself and then I said, oh, because you're not as smart as you think you are.
Speaker 1:Right, but God is, but God is and.
Speaker 2:I had to deny myself.
Speaker 1:Come on.
Speaker 2:And in doing that, I opened myself up to receive the transformation that God desired for me through the word of God. Now the beautiful thing is is that is the continual process.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:It is a continual, it's not a one and done Right, but it is the continual process. It is. It is a continual, it's not a one and done right, but it is the continual process. But the but the basis, the basic process was beginning to say you know what? I didn't get it right, so then why do I think I'm going to get it right now?
Speaker 2:Come on, and that, again, it is being honest through humility. Through humility, we have to be humble enough to be honest and say nope, I messed that all up. And then being willing to deny myself. If I'm going to follow after him, I have to first deny myself, then take up my cross, then follow up to him. But if I can't get past denying, how am I going to just jump to follow? Yeah, you know what I mean. Wow, that's denying. How am I going to just jump to follow? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:So it just made me think about that process, remembering we have to get out of the way, and that includes the way that we think, the way that we thought most of our lives sometimes and we were wrong. And here's the beauty of God is that he don't just expose us to how wrong we were, like all at one time. It is gradual. It is gradual. So in the next 10 years he'll show you wrong. When you did that, you're wrong. And so that is why the process of transforming our mind is one that is continual, because there's greater revelation. We'll get out of the word. After years of being in the word, we'll get a deeper revelation like oh, my thinking was wrong in that area.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, my way of doing that was wrong in that area. You know what I mean, and so we have to remember this is a journey. It's a journey, it's not. It's not a sprint, it's a journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we have to be willing to allow God to keep showing us and keep changing us Right so that we become, we can be better and be used more in the earth for his for his purposes.
Speaker 1:Wow, you know, I think about some of the cliches and the, the, the adages of old, and even the, the, the wise concept that if you're not growing then you're dead. Anything that's not growing is dead. And you know we live in a society that you know there's this. There is this typical and common strand of narcissism in many of our personality types, in every generation Gen X, gen Y, gen Z there's this overarching concept of a little bit of narcissism that people can't handle, telling themselves they're wrong. So then, to the alpha males and alpha females out there, and to those strong and powerful personalities, maybe you need to just say to yourself okay, this is a growth area for me, come on somebody. This is a growth area for me because you got to grow too. Come on, alpha, alpha male, come on. Great, powerful woman, a man of God, up high way up there, doing great things.
Speaker 1:You still got to be able to say I have to grow. And you got to understand growth, in your mindset, is profit. You're talking about want to build wealth. You're talking about want to have prosperity. You talk about want to have influence and power.
Speaker 1:If you can grow in your mindset, oh my God, you are rooting richly around some values that are going to propel to a great harvest. Because you are more endowed with capacity to sit in various rooms and various negotiations and various strategies and plans and do even greater things and greater exploits. Because you expanded your mind around a new idea and wrapped it around a new concept. Come on, somebody you know and I'm trying to be helpful now, I'm trying not to preach, but I feel like somebody right now need to you know, even though you may not embrace a fully and all that kind of stuff, but you need to catch up with the times because in five to 10 years, technology is going to totally change your life and if you're not ready, because you decided you didn't want to wrap your mind around a new concept, we all you got to. You got to grow, you got to grow, you got to grow.
Speaker 1:You got to grow. Ok, I got to pull off that. But here's what I derived from the word Pastor. I looked at how thinking worldly will choke your word life. The scripture says be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And if you, if you, if you approach things and handle things and even confront things in a worldly way, through a worldly thought pattern, come on somebody, are always stuck on reasoning, fact and the report that's in front of you, it will choke out your word life. And it's right there in Matthew, chapter 13. If you got it before I do verse 22,.
Speaker 1:I want to look at that, matthew 13 and verse 22. And it's talking about the parable of the sower. Verse 22 says this Now, he who receives seed among the thorns, watch this. Is he, watch this, who hears the word of God. Right, the word of God is infallible, it is unrefutable, it is the truth, it shall not lie, it's so powerful it separates soul from spirit, marrow from bone. The word of God, david said, is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. The word of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous running and are saved. And it says here you hear the word of God, that means you heard it. That means it touched you. It was able to convince you of something. It was able to lead you deeper down a path of revelation. You heard it and the cares of this world watch this and the deceitfulness of riches choked the word and he becomes unfruitful. That's such a tragedy to have potential but can't get it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure, it said he became unfruitful. So the moment you receive the word, you're fruitful, you've got the potential to bear that fruit. But then, if you allow worldly thinking about bills, about more, about this, that and the other worrying about your sickness rather than praying and believing God, the cares of the world, how people see me, what people are going to think about me If I do this, if I do that. What people think about what they know I'm suffering through, which caused me to live a life of shame and don't come out of my shell. I won't go to church, I won't testify of God, I won't let my light shine because people know I'm going through something. If you let the cares of the world watch this now and the deceitfulness of riches, you're going to become unfruitful. Come on somebody. God's every intent is to make you a fruitful bowl.
Speaker 1:I'm talking to somebody right now. You're wondering why you're going through what you're going through. You're getting the word of God, but you're not seeing the manifestation that you want. It does not mean that God is not making you fruitful. That word is seeding down inside of you and one day that tree of life from that word inside of you is going to sprout up at the right time and the right moment and the right season and you're going to be fruitful because you let that word root in you rather than letting something choke it out. So the more you're meditating on problems, issues, what you don't have, what's going wrong, you are letting it choke out the word given to empower you to go to distance, because I was thinking right before you went there.
Speaker 2:I was thinking about how, worldly thinking limits us, yeah, but a transformed mind, ie a kingdom mind, expands us.
Speaker 1:Ooh limit expand Exactly. Go ahead and talk about that, and so we have to make a decision.
Speaker 2:Do I want to live a limited life or do I want to live an expansive life? So is what?
Speaker 1:you're saying, pastor, that some of the limitations on us are self-inflicted, absolutely Because of our thinking?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Probably, the majority of our limitedness comes from a limited thinking or a limited mindset, which I believe is a result of not fully or not having or possessing a transformed mind. Yeah, I believe that.
Speaker 1:So if I'm, if I'm, if I'm self limiting myself, that's a double negative right. That's a double negative right. I'm self-limiting myself If I'm self-limiting because I'm allowing these thoughts to choke out the word yeah, how do I then get to this expansion?
Speaker 2:How do I get there? It's what we've been talking about. It's it's, first of all, recognizing that those thoughts are not profitable. I feel the Holy Ghost recognizing that those thoughts are not profitable. It is not profitable for me to tell myself that I am worthless. It is not profitable for me to rehearse in my mind or in my thinking, or even out loud, that I will never be anything, rehearsing those things that maybe were seated in me as a young child. You're never going to make it. You're going to die before you're 18. Glory be to God, hallelujah, god, I bless your holy name. You got to have the power and the strength and the ability to say the devil is a lie. There were things that were said to me. There were things like that thing I just said you're going to die before you're 18. And I remember saying to that person no, I am not, you are a liar. And I was not in the word at that time. I was not living that kind of life, but I knew the power of what they said did not resonate with who. I believe that I was. Amen and hallelujah.
Speaker 2:So we have got to be able to take the time and debunk all of the negative words that we have bought into, because none of them are profitable. It is not profitable to continue to say you ain't gonna never get that right, you're never gonna be this and you're never gonna be. Who said that? Who said that? Those things aren't profitable. So what we have to do is we have to do a word swap, apostle, we have to do a word swap. So for that negative word, you've got to get in the word to find a new word glory, be to God. Because you've got to, you've got to pull that root. You got to pull that negative word out in prayer by the root and then seed a new word, hallelujah, that comes out of the word of God that is going to create fruitfulness, hallelujah. So, so we've got to find a word and see this. Sometimes I say this probably a little bit too often, but we're lazy Christians.
Speaker 2:And we don't we don't want to dig through the word to find our word. We don't want to dig through the word to find the word that we need to put on top of every lie, every fear, every, every concern, every whatever, to debunk everything that we've been believing that has caused us to live a limited life. But I want to tell somebody if you want the life that God wants for you, you've got to get in his word and you've got to take the word and you've got to make it practical in your life.
Speaker 2:You've got to start putting his word over even your own word, the stuff you say about yourself that it's not good, it's not healthy and it is not profitable.
Speaker 2:You need a word from the Lord, not one that's just preached from the pulpit, not one that comes through the podcast. You need to go in the word hallelujah and get your word and profess it over your life so that the power and the grip that the negative word has had on your life can be released. Hallelujah, in the name of Jesus. So you need a word. You need a word because you need to start transforming your mind in those particular areas. It is never profitable never profitable to put yourself down. It's not cute, it's not funny, it's not comical. If you use it as a mechanism to entertain other people. I want to encourage you to stop doing that because it's not entertaining. The enemy is the only one that's being entertained by you putting your own self down. He's excited, but it's uncomfortable for people. They just won't tell you. It's uncomfortable to the people you're doing it around. They just won't tell you. But stop using that as a cover up for the pain that you're feeling because of the things that maybe somebody said about you, the things you've gone through. I don't know what they are, but instead use that time to find a word to put on top of I don't even want to say put on top of to replace the word that you've been believing and that was spoken to you that's not been profitable in your life.
Speaker 2:I am the head and not the tail. I don't care if I ain't got but 25 cent in my bank account. I am the head because God's word said that I'm the head. I am more than a conqueror, not because I feel strong, but because God's word says I am Hallelujah, I don't I in and of ourselves. We don't make the cut Right. I can run right there, but it is through Christ Jesus that we then make the cut. I am the righteousness of God, not because I've been right about what I've done, not because I've been good, not because I've done everything so perfect, but because the word of God says I am, and I trust him at his word. I trust him that he's made me the righteousness of God because I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Speaker 2:So if you keep trying to look at the word and try to measure up to it, you never will. You've got to do it by faith and believe that God is not a man that he should lie and he ain't got to repent, because his word is his word and he said what he said. And you've got to decide. Am I going? He said what he said and you got to decide am I going to believe what he said or am I not? And let me help somebody because I feel this in the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 2:You might not believe it when you first say it, but keep saying it, because my Bible tells me that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. See, you're waiting on a preacher to say the word to you so that your faith can grow. Did you not know that you can use your own mouth and read the word of God and faith will come to you. Come on, hallelujah, glory to God. So then go ahead. Trust God at his word and if you don't believe it at first, just keep on saying it, and the more you hear it, the more your faith will grow and the more you'll begin to believe what he said in his word.
Speaker 1:Amen, that is so powerful, oh my.
Speaker 2:God, oh, my God.
Speaker 1:You bless somebody.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah you bless somebody, I will tell you, and you bless me. As you were talking, you made me think about how, in order to get to this new way of speaking, it requires a change of heart posture, because the more people say these things about themselves, they say it more and more about themselves, rather because they have let those thoughts root in them. And when thoughts get in your consciousness, when thoughts get in your consciousness, that's deeply bedded in the roots of your thinking, they make their way into your heart. So people are continuing to have this negative self-talk because it's in their heart. That's how they, that's not only how they think about themselves. That is now becomes how they feel about themselves. That is now becomes how they feel about themselves. And so that in order for that transformative, deep, surgical work to happen, there has to be a change of heart posture about you and about God's love for you. In the back it up, the scripture says out of the heart does the mouth speak. Yes, the Bible says that, as a man in his heart.
Speaker 1:So it tells me thoughts embed into the heart when they get into the consciousness. So the more you're saying negative things and the more you're saying these things about yourself and speaking depth instead of life, it is rooting and it is going deep on the rock of your conscience and now you're starting to feel this way about yourself. So the patterns and the habits become more degradated, they become worse and more damaging to you, because you done went from thinking it to feeling it and you can't shut up staying it to yourself because you believe it about yourself.
Speaker 1:Because it's in your heart about yourself. So you've got to go to God and say God, I need you to get this stuff out of my heart. It's the made this way into my heart and listen to add to that prayer. Here's what you got to do. You have got to speak those things that be, not as though they already were. So if you're trying to change and this word is for you, this teaching is for you you've got to start. But I don't feel like I'm that. I don't feel like I'm that yet. Say it anyway. I don't feel like I have that skill. Say that you do anyway. I don't feel like I have that anointing. Say that you do anyway. I don't feel like I have that ability. Say it anyway so that a new thought, a positive thought, a kingdom thought, can wrap around the rock of your conscious and choke out that negative thought in your heart. And now, from your heart, you can feel like you are those things, even though you are not practicing them quite yet.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Come on somebody.
Speaker 2:Now watch this. How does this feel I am? I am marvelous, can't even get my words right. Come on in here I am made in the image of God. Come on, I just got to touch you. Come on, hallelujah. I am, yes Jesus, loved by God, and I know that because the Bible says that he sent his only begotten son. He sent him for the world. I'm a part of that.
Speaker 1:I'm a part of that.
Speaker 2:I'm a part of that, so so he loves me. I've been made in his image.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That means he's he, he's had me on his mind. And then what if I start thinking about and this scripture just popped in my head about to think on things that are above?
Speaker 1:We come into that, things that are beautiful, that are sure that are of a good report, what?
Speaker 2:if we start thinking on that every time, that negative thing try to tell us we're not good enough, we're not this, we're not that? What if we start just lifting our heads up and start thinking about those things which are beautiful, what's beautiful? The way God created the sky, the way he separated the firmament from the firmament.
Speaker 1:You, know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:The way that he fashioned me. I have my own unique fingerprint. There is not another me. Oh boy, this is good to me anywhere else in the world. I am one. What if I started saying that to myself? I am one of a kind. There is none like me. You might favor me, you might try to do some things like me, but there's only one me. I am the only me that have the DNA makeup that I have. My genetic combination is only made for me and I am uniquely made in his image.
Speaker 2:And, like he told Jeremiah, I know the plans that I have for you. What if I started telling myself that he's got plans, because you know, when he gave that word to Jeremiah, that the children of Israel, they were in bondage. So when I'm in a bad situation, you still got a plan. And then he said my plan for you, it's good and not evil. What if we started having those conversations with ourselves instead of reflecting on all of the painful, negative, hurtful, degrading and non-profiting things that have either been done or said? I am of the mindset that we will not only hear better, but we will feel better.
Speaker 2:And when we feel better, we do better. Oh my God, when we feel better, not only do we do better, but we do more, and the more that we do becomes profitable.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's a process.
Speaker 1:Come on.
Speaker 2:It's a process and we get to choose. That's the beauty.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We get to choose. Nobody can make us think anything.
Speaker 1:Come on.
Speaker 2:We get to choose.
Speaker 1:Amen, what we think, hallelujah. You get to choose what you think, hallelujah. So if you think kingdom ways, you will feel kingdom owned and kingdom blessed, yes, and kingdom partnered, and you will speak positive. You will speak kingdom values and promises over your life. That's amazing. Listen. We got one more final point and then I'm going to ask Pastor A to give us some closing remarks, because, because in order for you and we've been talking about what the Bible says about the mindset of a Christian and one key we talked about being that conformist word be transformed to the renewing of your mind You've got to have your mind new and the more you think worldly, the more you choke out your word life that's in your mind.
Speaker 2:And finally, I want to get to this point.
Speaker 1:That's right, You're limited. You could be expanding. I want to get to this point. That's right, you're limited you could be expanding, but you are limiting. I just want to run, come on, I just want to run.
Speaker 2:That feels prophetic. Come on, it feels very prophetic. That thing about the worldly ways is limited. The transforming kingdom ways are expansive. You know what I mean? And I think that I don't know.
Speaker 1:Go ahead, that's just powerful, yeah, but when you think about it, the kingdom ways thinking, kingdom thoughts are preparing you for the person you're going to be.
Speaker 1:That's it, I like to say the person you haven't met yet, you haven't met yet, because beginning to get on a kingdom trajectory in your thought life is preparing you for the capacity of who you're going to become. There's a person inside of you you haven't been introduced to yet. That's it. And that person inside of you who is the future person, in order to get to that future person, that's a kingdom person. Yeah, that's somebody who is who, so that you can transform and evolve like the butterfly, like the caterpillar, into that butterfly. That's a metamorphosis. That word transform transform in the Greek comes from the word metamorphose. Metamorphose means, you know, to completely change. So you know it's a metamorphosis that we're talking about.
Speaker 1:This final point here is to serve God with your mind about. This final point here is to serve God with your mind. So the Bible says that a Christian mindset is to serve God with their mind. And I'm looking at this passage of scripture because there's always contention between serving God with our mind and serving the world with our mind. And I'm in Matthew 6 and 24. I thought that would be a good passage of scripture to look at. You know that you can't serve two masters, and it says here no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one. And let me pause right there. This is why people are mad at God Because you're still struggling with thinking about it your way, or thinking about it the world's way, or thinking about it this person's way. It should have been like this I should have got this, I should have got that and we become mad at God, but that's because we haven't started serving him completely without thought life.
Speaker 1:A mind that is serving God is a mind that yields to the word of God about your life and about what God is doing with you and your life and about who God is. It says you will hate. Do you? Are you in a place right now that you're so mad at God that it's almost becoming hate? You will hate the one and love the other. I hate what God is doing. I hate this plan that God has man. That stuff is real. That stuff is real. That stuff is real. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.
Speaker 2:I have said that before. I was going to say I have been guilty of that I hate this plan, I don't like it. What is going on, god?
Speaker 1:But you know why? That's because my mind is still under a care of the world Of the deceitfulness of riches, and it was choking out my word.
Speaker 2:I think mine was centered in selfishness. Tomato to mama you understand, because I wanted it my way, I wanted it, I wanted to do it. I wanted what I wanted. Come on, and what? God? God's plan looked nothing like like. Where did this even come from? Like who? How did you cook this up? What was going?
Speaker 1:on.
Speaker 2:This wasn't even on the trajectory of things that I had planned for my life. Where did that come from? So absolutely. And so I think for me, you know, I related to selfishness because I know that was a thing for me, that was a thing, a hurdle that I had to get over, you know, is being selfish Everything had to be about me. If it wasn't about me, I didn't really want to be a part of it, you know. And so, as that was happening with God, I was like what? That doesn't make sense, like why?
Speaker 1:are we doing that? I would never do that. He was like well, you will. Now. And some of us said well, I ain't never said I hate what God is doing, I hate this plan of God in my life. Okay, let's say okay. The part B says or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. Come on somebody. And if you're sitting around saying I ain't never despised God's plan for my life, then the reality is you are not serving God with your whole heart, because when you serve God with your whole heart, he calls you into some uncomfortable situations, like Daniel went down there in the line then saying, oh, this is so amazing, I love this. Yeah. The three Hebrew boys one in the fiery fan said fiery furnace said oh, this, this, this fire is cool. Yeah, you understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:They went through it excited down in the pit.
Speaker 1:If he would have been excited down in the pit, he wouldn't have cried like that over in Pharaoh's. Come on somebody. Over in Pharaoh's kingdom when his brothers came and he revealed who he was. They say he weeps so loud the scriptures say he weeps so loudly that they heard him all throughout the kingdom. Come on somebody. All throughout the building, all throughout the house. Come on somebody All throughout the building, all throughout the house. For the first time people heard Joseph. Do you know the impact of that? That's how deeply hurt he was. So there is some element of God. I don't like this. Let's see that we have to. Serving God with your mind is a process. It's a journey. It's a hit and miss. It's a get back up. It's a fall down and get back up. It's a okay, god, I slipped, but I'm back. I got you. I got my word. Okay, I got me a fresh word.
Speaker 2:And it's not a straight line. Oftentimes it's jagged, it's there's routes and you know you get off and you have to get on because there's detours, and right when you think that it's this, then God shows you that and then it's that way.
Speaker 2:You know, and I'm thinking about that preceding word, you know, living by the preceding word that comes from his mouth, and so the first word could be this, and then the next word is that, and so that second word takes you in a route like oh, I thought it was just going to be all the way this.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, and so we have to be okay with that. And so that was a struggle for me because I was being very detailed or in a very analytical thinker. It was like I just need A to go to B and then B to go to C and C to go to D, and I will never forget when God gave me that word that says you can get, you can get ready to get rid of that, because that's not how I'm going to do things, and and he has held very true to that things I didn't see common in in part. But then there are some things that he would say 10 to 15 years in advance. I didn't understand why I either saw it or heard it, and then later, when it happens, it's like oh, this is what he's talking about, you know. So we just have to be, we have to learn to be flexible.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We have to learn to be flexible with God and understand that it's not going to be a straight line.
Speaker 1:It's just not it's not going to be a straight line. So it's not going to be a straight line. So watch this. This is our closing point and I want you to go speak to our audience as we close, since it's not going to be a straight line. What the scripture says? You cannot serve God and man. It's not a straight line. That means you have to choose. Are you going to be conformed to this world, jesus, or are you going to be transformed, jesus, by making your thoughts new by the word of God? Amen, talk to me. You got to choose.
Speaker 2:You know and I'm so glad you said that because that's so powerful and not only because when you said it what hit me was and you're going to have to keep choosing.
Speaker 2:You will have plenty of opportunities to choose something else. You will have plenty of opportunities to walk away from God, because things won't line up and be as beautiful and as hopeful and as whatever as maybe you thought, and you will have plenty of opportunities. So I want to just see this word into your mind, see this word into your thought process you will have to keep choosing God, because so many opportunities will show up for you to choose something absolutely opposite of what God has said, what God is doing, what God wants to do, and you have to keep choosing. Just like we talked about that transformational process of the mind, it is continual so is choosing God. It is continual, and so I want to encourage you that when you get to that place and you feel like you're at a crossroad am I going to go this way with God? Am I going to do you're not by yourself. Just keep choosing him, keep choosing.
Speaker 1:God, that's powerful. Thank you so much, Pastor, for ministering that way to our audience and our listeners and the saints of God. You are our brothers and sisters. We're so happy that you have chose to listen to our podcast and be with us today. We're a husband and wife couple trying to minister the word of God together and share our gifts with the world and help out anywhere we can. We've been in ministry for almost 30 years Almost 30 years feeding the homeless, visiting those in prison. I taught Bible study in jail for five years.
Speaker 2:Orphanages foster care, senior citizen facilities.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, feeding the community thousands and thousands of tons of food, planting churches preaching the gospel oh my God Laying on hands, mentoring people, bringing the homeless into our home. We have been laboring for the kingdom of God. So we thank you for being here on today and we ask that you. First of all, this has been the Daily Bread podcast. We are your hosts, dr Sturrill and Angela Stokely. We're so glad that you've been on this episode of Possessing a Winning Mindset. We're asking you to be our partner, not just our listening partner, not just our praying partner. We need them both. But we're also asking for you to be our giving partner. But you would go to CovenantGraceChurchorg. You can go online CovenantGraceChurchorg. You can find us on Instagram Covenant Grace TV, covenant Grace TV on Instagram. On TikTok, covenant Grace TV. You can go on YouTube Official CG TV Official CG TV.
Speaker 1:And from any one of those links you can get to our website and sow a gift into Daily Bread. You can specifically allocate that gift at the Daily Bread podcast, because it costs to be on the air, it costs for cameras and lights and this and that, and it costs, and we are doing this ourselves. We're an online ministry. We don't have brick and mortar. We're just out here out of our own pockets, out of our own love for God serving and giving. So we could use your support. So please go to covenantgracechurchorg or to any of our social media platforms. You can get to our giving through that way.
Speaker 1:I can't think of all the different ways, because we have Venmo, we have PayPal, we have direct giving. We even have text to give. I just don't have the information with me right now how you could do that. But please also sow a seed of faith and grace into the Daily Bread Podcast. God loves you, we love you. We're signing off. Don't miss the next episode that's coming up. We got another part to this possessing a winning mindset man. We got so much word to give to you and bless your life. I hope you've been blessed and remember to pray for us and partner with us. God bless you. We'll see you next time right here on Daily Bread.
