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 - PT 4
Embark with Angela and me on an exploration of the Winning Mindset grounded in Biblical Wisdom that promises to fortify your mental and spiritual resilience. Through our revealing conversations, you’ll uncover how to navigate life's challenges with an intelligence that transcends the cognitive, touching the very core of emotional and spiritual depths. Our latest episode is a beacon of hope for those seeking to foster personal growth and leadership through the wisdom of the scriptures, especially poignant during Mental Health Month.
Witness the profound impact of spiritual nourishment as we delve into the realm of spiritual warfare, where your perspective isn't just a viewpoint—it's your weapon. Together, we address the perils of entitlement and negative thinking, encouraging you to engage actively in the battle for a positive mindset. As we dissect the intricacies of renewing our minds with the Word of God, we illuminate the importance of prophecies, faith, and maintaining a good conscience, guiding you to a place of peace and purpose found in the truths of the divine script.
In our transformative journey, Angela and I aid you in challenging false wisdom and beliefs, replacing them with the solid rock of divine insight. Discover the underestimated wisdom that defies worldly expectations and how humility can reveal the path to divine outcomes. As we share practical strategies for defeating negativity with God’s Word, you’ll learn to align your actions with the character of Christ, replacing anxiety with affirmations that uplift and sustain. Don’t miss this opportunity to be encouraged and empowered in your walk with us, here at Daily Bread.
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.
All right, welcome, welcome, welcome everyone once again. Thank you for tuning in to Daily Bread. We are your hosts, dr Jarrell and Angela Stokely, and it is so good to be back with you all today. This is the program for you and this is the place for your Daily Bread. This is the spot that you're going to be able to get bread for your life, and daily is, whenever you hear it on that day, daily bread. You know so. Today, if you're hearing this, we pray that this is bread for your life in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1:And we thank you for tuning in once again and coming back and spending some time with us us. Without you, this couldn't be possible, because we are on the airwaves to touch those who are on the Lord's side and those who want to be on the Lord's side and those who are seeking Jesus and those who are seeking to walk up right before God and be light. So we welcome you here today. I'm going to let my co-host here greet you for just a little bit and we'll come back for a little housekeeping.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody. It's so good to be here once again to share a nugget of daily bread. We are so excited to be chosen to do this. We are always prayerful that this podcast will be a true blessing into your life that really gives you the hope that you need to keep pushing, to keep going, to keep forward in all that God has in store for you. So we are definitely excited to be here. We give God all glory, all honor and all praise, and we want to thank you for for joining us and for chiming in, coming in to listen to what we have to say.
Speaker 1:That's great. Thank you so much. Here's what we're going to do. Let's will you go ahead and pray over this, this session, and then our audience, and then I'll do the housekeeping stuff right after that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Great, thank you. So if you guys would join me in prayer. Father, we bless and thank you and give you all glory honor and praise for the many things you've already done. We thank you, Lord, God, for blessing us to see yet another day, giving us opportunity, Father God, in this new day, and I pray God, that those who are listening, wherever they are, God that they can touch and agree that they are grateful for yet another opportunity.
Speaker 2:Thank you, lord, god, for health and strength and peace and joy. Thank you, god, for mercy and grace and provision. God, thank you, god, for protection of all of us. God, we just bless your holy and righteous name. Now, as always, god, we ask that you would intervene. I want to ask that you come in the room, god hallelujah, that you will just allow your spirit to flow, that your glory will consume the atmosphere, that, god, you will anoint our hearts, our minds, our voices, god, to be used for your glory. That, at the end of this, god, that your people will be edified and that the enemy will indeed be horrified because your people are going to stand up and move forward in the things that you've called and anointed and chosen for us to do in the earth realm. We give you the glory, we give you the honor, we give you the praise. Have your way in this episode and every episode. God, in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray, amen and amen.
Speaker 1:Amen. Thank you so much for that amazing prayer.
Speaker 1:And again we thank you for being here with us. We do want to ask that you would download the episodes of Daily Bread and to make sure you subscribe or to follow whatever that command is, so that you can get notifications of our up and coming uploads Every time we do a session. You'll get that information. Please let them know, show them, walk them through how to get the downloads, how to get the notifications, so that way they're enriched and informed as well.
Speaker 1:We thank you also for praying for us. Please, please, please, pray for Angela and I as we continue to take the gospel into the airwaves through multiple media streams. And as you pray for us, pray about partnership and sponsorship, because it costs to go through the media streams. And as you pray for us, pray about partnership and sponsorship because it costs to go through the media streams. We don't, like have a congregation, so we are just on the air, you know, trying to bless whomever we can with the word of God and the anointing that's on our lives, to break yokes, to rise up, to do great things, to walk in purpose. So you can get Daily Brit anywhere where you get your podcast, spotify and all the other places. So we just want to make sure we're on Spotify while we're on this channel, but let's go ahead and get started and jump in on today. So today we have a powerhouse session in store for you today.
Speaker 1:Now, this series that we have been in, unlocking the Secrets to a Winning Mindset, and we tagged on through biblical principles, biblical wisdom has been amazing. Unlocking the Secrets to a Winning Mindset through biblical wisdom, it's been amazing so far. We can't get out of this series. So today is part four, so stick with us all the way through till we're done. I don't know how many parts it's going to have, but today is part four because our mind is everything.
Speaker 2:I was sitting here thinking that very thing.
Speaker 1:Go ahead.
Speaker 2:The power of having our minds regulated is life transforming. If we get our minds right, everything else will fall into place. You know what I mean and so you know it's no wonder that we're we have so many parts to this particular series, because it's so vital and it's so important. And you know we're in the month of May and I believe May is mental health month.
Speaker 1:So when you?
Speaker 2:think about the mindset. Sometimes it is in that place that we're attacked so greatly, because the enemy knows that if he can get your mind, he can get everything else, if he can keep us distracted, keep us stressed, keep us filled with anxiety, keep us fearful all of those different things then we will be prohibited in movement. We won't flow and do the things that we normally do. We won't engage people, we won't engage relationships.
Speaker 2:We won't even build relationships because we will completely be bogged down, so it's no wonder that this particular series, that God has us really delving deep into this because it's so vital, it's so important and I think if we get our minds wrapped around the reality that our mindset determines so much in our life, I think we will take charge. I want to say take charge and take authority over the way we think and the type of mindset that we have.
Speaker 1:Which is critically important. I just want to add this caveat to our discussion on today. In some of my research with Dr Carolyn Leaf, and even following some of my research with Dr Carolyn Leaf, and even following some of the research of Dr Anita Phillips in the arena of neuroscience, what research suggests is that negative thoughts form like tree branches in our minds in our brain, not our mind.
Speaker 1:Our brain and what people don't understand is negative thoughts form these protein-like stems, like branches in our mind. So the more we think negative, the more those negative thoughts actually root in our mind and begin to form these stems of negativity like tree branches in our brain. So they are stuck there. So we always find ourselves going back to a base nature of negative thinking because these tree like stems come on, have rooted in our minds literally as protein, literally as protein. And what happens is we have to put in more and more positive thoughts which push the negatives up to the top, and it's like they pop and burst, you know. So the negative is replaced with a positive. But you have to put positive thoughts in to get negative thoughts out. And so we have to understand, from a science perspective, from a spiritual perspective, from a practical perspective and from a life skills perspective, that you're thinking, your thought. Life is everything. It is how you decide, how you the Bible even says as a man think it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it didn't say it, didn't even Well, as a man think it in his heart. So is he? Yeah. So the outcomes in our life't even Well as a man thinking in his heart, so is he? Yeah. So the outcomes in our life oftentimes is based on what we're thinking. What we're thinking and what we're allowed to read.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And I thought Absolutely so.
Speaker 1:This series is everything, especially in this world in which we live in right now. So our subtopic today is how to identify and conquer negative thinking patterns Absolutely, how to identify them and grab those suckers and conquer them.
Speaker 2:You know, I wanted to share this and just because I'm hopeful that it helps someone. I think one of the most powerful things that I've done in my life is made a conscious decision that I didn't want to continue to be a negative thinker. That's good. That was one of the most powerful things.
Speaker 1:And then the key word you said was conscious. Oh my.
Speaker 2:God.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's made a conscious decision that I didn't want to continue, because I used to be a negative thinker and I felt, like you know, there is this I've heard I heard this said recently how sometimes we get energy from negativity and I can remember being that person where if it was negative, I gained energy from that.
Speaker 2:And it's wild now because when I think about it now, it's like whoa, because I'm such a different type of thinker now. And I think that if anyone listening, if you struggle with a negative thinking pattern, I want to encourage you to start with making the decision that you don't want to continue in that type of pattern anymore and I believe that once you make that conscious decision, you will be more willing to do the work that's required to come out of that and into a more healthy, a healthier thinking pattern, a more positive thinking pattern. But I think it really does start with I no longer want to do this or be this person, and I know that was one of the things that I did. I heard myself and when I heard myself saying something, it reminded me of someone else and I said in that moment I don't want to be that person. That's not who I want to be, and so I began to gain some commitment towards being a better version of myself.
Speaker 1:That is so good. As you were talking, I began to envision what an atmosphere looks like for a person who is a negative thinker. And I saw this disheveled room, like, like like a house and the bedroom and the kitchen and the living room and everything was so disheveled. Room like a house, and the bedroom and the kitchen and the living room and everything was so disheveled. And it was what I saw at the time was like children everywhere running and loud and the TV on. And I came up with these.
Speaker 1:I thought of three just labels that I see when a person has developed a life around negative thinking patterns. And those three words are this casualties, chaos and conflict. Conflict meaning that always in contention with with rules, with people you know, with processes, you know so. So that's that conflict thing. And then the chaos is that disheveled things are always disheveled around you Arguments this that no organization can get life structured, bills are out of whack. And then, finally, casualties can't hold on to good friendships. You know friendships always die. Casualties can't hold on to good friendships. You know friendships always die, die, die. You know what I mean. Those three things to me you should look out for because if that's happening, especially as a trifecta in your life. You've got to know that you have some negative thinking patterns that you really need to address.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and what I felt the Lord impress upon my heart to also add to what you're saying, is that you know that this is where you are when the opposite of that is happening and you're uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So when there's no chaos, you set out to create chaos.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When there's not. What was another one of your words?
Speaker 1:Casualties when there's not conflict.
Speaker 2:That's the one that really hit me. Where there's not conflict. You feel uneasy and you feel like something's wrong. And so you do things to create conflict, and so what I thought the Holy Spirit say is that is a clear indication that you are a negative thinker, because when there's calm and when there's peace, you're uncomfortable. Wow, wow.
Speaker 1:That's in my book. That is very good. In my book, 21 Principles of Change, I did this deep analysis and research on how the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, because it aligns with the psychology of how human beings change a bad habit to a good habit. And the first point is awareness. And what you just outlined and communicated so eloquently and so clearly is that you have to practice awareness. That point you brought up was an awareness point.
Speaker 2:Amen, oh, that's so good yeah, go ahead Go ahead. No, you go.
Speaker 1:No, I mean, it's like you said. If you, you have to be aware, if you see that calm bothers you, peace bothers you, goodwill toward men bother you. I mean, if everything comes, you just got to bust up and go. Ham, yeah, come on now.
Speaker 2:That's, that's a problem. That's awareness. You feel energy and alive when there is chaos when there is conflict when there are casualties. Those are indications that you're a negative thinker and it's time for change.
Speaker 1:I like that. I like that. That was good. You know that's almost like a cognitive intelligence. You know we've got emotional intelligence, coaching intelligence, relational intelligence. You know that that could be cognitive intelligence. You know how cognitive are you of your thinking? Absolutely, and it goes into emotional intelligence, because emotional intelligence is self-awareness, self-management and social responsibility. How do you handle relationships? So those are the three major components of emotional intelligence. So once you start practicing that awareness, you are coming into a space where you know you Absolutely and when you know you, you got to deal with you. You do.
Speaker 2:You do, or at least you should. You should you know, because how do, how do we start a treatment plan for something we don't even know? Is there?
Speaker 1:Right, you know Right.
Speaker 2:So once we become aware of it, then we can start looking at what the treatment plan options are and then go down that path.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like you should and you must. Yeah, because should and must kind of remind me of some coaching principles that I use with coaching leaders, from this intelligent leadership model, which talks about my job is to help show you who you must become in order to perform what you must perform. See, it's one thing to help you become who you think you need to become. It's another for me, as an expert, to analyze where you are and where you want to be and take you through some of these strategic, proven principles. Then I have to paint a picture back to you of who you must become. I get what you're saying who you want to become but let me add to that from expertise to show you who you must become, because who you must become may require some disciplines and skills that make you uncomfortable.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right. So we are here in second Corinthians. We are in chapter 10. If you've got a Bible or something, I want you to go there. If not, we're going to give you about 10 seconds here to grab a Bible and a bunch of maybe driving, maybe whatever. So here we are. We are in second Corinthians, chapter 10. I love this passage of scripture and we're going to start with verse three. Pastor, if you want to read that, my dear, you can. Three through five is where I want to start. Three through five, because I don't want to take up all the voice time on this show you heard me, you heard me.
Speaker 1:You heard me.
Speaker 2:So 2 Corinthians right. 2 Corinthians 10, beginning with verse 3, says For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. That's the. I think this is the NIV.
Speaker 1:To demolish for the heaven. Okay, can you do five?
Speaker 2:remember yes we demolish arguments and every pretension that set sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ Boy. That's so good, go ahead, that's so good. Hallelujah my God, hallelujah Jesus, hallelujah, that's good, okay, go ahead, no, no.
Speaker 1:As I listen to that, I think about the reality that I have power over what is trying to suppress me. Yeah, what is trying to crush me. I think about when Paul said we are hard pressed on every side yeah.
Speaker 1:And this is a good word for this time and season of life that we live in. We're hard pressed on every side, but here's the deal we are not crushed. And the reason we are not crushed is because of Christ's power that dwells in us. Now think about that. Without Christ's power dwelling in me, I can become crushed.
Speaker 1:By watch this, not the circumstantial things that's going on around me, see, those are just things happening. It's how I'm processing them, absolutely so even when Paul says we are hard pressed on every side and not crushed, there is an implication. Coded away in that statement is the reality of mental warfare, because I could be hard pressed with things going on around me. But if could be hard pressed, you know, with things going on around me but if it's not bothering me at all, then that, then that's the proof that I'm not crushed. But so so so if circumstances didn't have the capacity to get into my head, I wouldn't be defeated by them anyway.
Speaker 1:So so that's this reality that there are a lot of forces and powers and issues, problems, traumas and responsibilities and information and assaults and attacks that are going on around me, swirling in the atmosphere every day, just like little microscopic pieces of stuff that's in the air, that we cannot see. Those are principalities and powers that are swirling in every city, every region, on every street, in every community, because it's invisible. It's spirits in the atmosphere fighting and warring against us. But what I must accept and realize and walk in and believe and this is really good for, because sometimes you could be strong at this and sometimes you could be weak at this. I go through being strong at it and being weak at it, but what I know is I have a power on the inside of me. Yes, sir, you got to help me because I'm preaching a little bit. I got a power.
Speaker 2:Preach worthy, really. That's why I got that On the inside of me that makes me like Neo in the Matrix.
Speaker 1:When the Matrix, when he finally saw who he was and bullets was coming at him and agents were coming at him and he was bending over backwards and dodging everything and blowing everything out of the water until he came into his superpower. And when he came into his superpower he started flying. He was flying above the agents, flying above the bullets, flying above the warfare. And that's how it is. When we tap into the superpower of Jesus Christ on the inside of us, we begin to soar like the eagle above the problems, above those thoughts that's trying to chain us and be like legion on the inside of us and cause us to hide and run into the dark places in tombs and cut ourselves with rocks and have this pain psychology going on in our life where we hurt ourselves to feel good. Come on, pastor, pull me out pull me out.
Speaker 2:I mean, I love everything you said and it's so real because, as you were talking about, you know Neo in the movie. It made me think about the flexibility, how we have to learn how to be flexible, we have to learn how to move, how we need to move and do what it is that we need to do, Because sometimes in our journey as Christians we get stuck. We want to pray the same prayers and we want to do things the same way all the time and think that's how God is going to keep showing up.
Speaker 2:But there are some fights and there are some battles and there are some things that we go through that's going to require us to go deeper in our prayer. It's going to cause us to start fasting and praying. It's going to shift us. It has to shift us, but we've got to be willing to be flexible.
Speaker 2:And then I love how you talked about he went from that to flying and it definitely made me think about the Eagle and how the reality is is that when storms come, we know Eaglesagles fly high. Yes, they do, and it made me think about when things happen to us. The enemy's intent is for us to go low.
Speaker 2:Yes, the enemy's desire is that we wrap ourself up in a ball, go over in the corner and sit down and cry somewhere and don't do anything, don't even activate the power that we have or get mad at God Wow, one of the other. The goal of the assault is to take us down, take us back, but ultimately to take us out. And so, as you were saying that, it made me, it's like I could see it. The reality is is that the storm comes so we can rise up? Yeah, good God of mercy, it comes so that we can rise.
Speaker 2:Glory be to God, but see because we've not been taught, that we've not been trained, that we've been stuck in a little bit of some other stuff where we don't really see storms and we don't see the battles. We don't see the fights as God sees them. So when I was, when I read the scripture, one of the things I thought about, the first thing that I thought about is perspective, and when our perspective is not right, then we won't confront the fight right, because we're looking at it as a why. Me and God is looking at it like I'm raising you up, oh, my God. As a matter of fact, what I hear the spirit of the Lord saying is that a lot of times. Thank you, jesus. Is that the fight?
Speaker 1:glory to God I can't help it.
Speaker 2:I forgot. I forgot y'all were here. Look here.
Speaker 2:Oftentimes, the fight comes as a result of a prayer that you prayed and you don't even know it. Lord, use me. What, oh my God? And then a fight showed up, lord, lord, expand my territory. Lord, make me great. Lord, help me to walk this thing out that you placed on the inside of me. See, we think it's going to come a certain way. But when you learn a little bit more about God, you understand that he used the unusual things to answer the prayers that we pray. So what the Holy Ghost of God just hit me with is that a lot of the fights are a result of the prayers that you prayed and he's answered. Wow, because how do I know? It's just like what you talked about, neo. How did he know he had ability until the threat showed up? It's not until the threat showed up, you know. Let me just say what the good bishop said. He said that Goliath took David to the next level. Jesus, it was the confronting of a thing bigger than you Come on, that showed you how much greater than it you are.
Speaker 2:That's so good Jesus Jesus.
Speaker 1:That is so good, my God.
Speaker 2:And so we have to be mindful Not to get.
Speaker 1:We have to be mindful not to get this is good.
Speaker 2:We have to be mindful not to get angry at God when the fights show up.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Because he's working something.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Even in that. So we have to have the right perspective. That's powerful Because this verse five it says we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So if I don't have the right perspective, I'm not thinking about this thing the right way.
Speaker 1:Right, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I need to shut that down. Take it into captivity that's good and align it with that of Christ Lord. What you saying about this?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:What are you doing? Help me to see what you're doing in this, so that I don't get thrown completely off, emotionalize myself to death and be totally angry.
Speaker 1:Because of this situation that is so good. I have to say that that is so good. My God, I'm going to try to know well, I mean, I think, I think, so, I think, I think what you said brings us right into one of our first points here yeah, is is the realness of spiritual warfare yeah you know that.
Speaker 1:That's really what you just laid out is that you know we're praying about things and god is answering, and sometimes you answer through a test. You know a storm shows up or a test shows up, then of course you have the enemy that's trying to put out our light and silence our voice. Come on that we don't show the world the love of Christ and his grace and his power too. So many of us are familiar with this love, but we think it stops there. We don't know, we don't understand the power that dwells in us, the Holy Spirit, the power of God dwelling in us, and you're bringing us right into that. And so that means that we have to deal with this, we have to debunk and destroy and deconstruct this spirit of entitlement, that we don't have to engage in the battle of positive and negative thinking my Lord.
Speaker 1:Like we could just cruise through life and I don't have to address it. I could think how I want to think. It's my mind. I ain't saying that I can just keep this in my head. No, it's coming out. But the key is to transform by the renewing of your mind. It is putting healthy food, healthy thoughts, is healthy food. Right, it's like putting healthy food in your body. You're putting healthy thoughts in your mind as a meal for the day, as your food for the day, so that your brain is getting a quote, unquote iron and calcium and vitamin C and D and vitamin E and and all your, your you know your fish oils and your brain gets that through what you put in your mind and the beginning of that is putting the word in your mind.
Speaker 1:Cause the word is like leaven or yeast in dough. You put a biscuit that's got yeast in it in the oven. It's going to rise, and you talked about that ego rising. How we rise against negative thoughts is transformed by the renewing of our mind, by this word, and when those negative thoughts come, we rise above them with a word from God. And so in 1 Timothy 1, verse 18 and 19, there's a passage of scripture that kind of brings out what I'm talking about, about engaging in this spiritual warfare and this good and bad thoughts, and it says here first Timothy, chapter one, verse 18, paul talking to Timothy.
Speaker 1:He said this charge I commit to to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, boy, I'm trying not to preach, but there's a prophecy over your life concerning you, and it's good. It's not a prophecy of doom and gloom, but there's a word hanging over your life that your great, great grandmama prayed in, your mama prayed in, your auntie prayed in. Somebody has spoken as a prophecy over you from God himself. That's good. That's you, the head and not the tail. That's okay. I need to stop. That's good. He says that you by them. You may know. Let me make sure I'm saying this right.
Speaker 1:I charge you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them, those prophecies, you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected and this is what I talk about, that spirit of entitlement Some have rejected concerning the faith having suffered shipwreck.
Speaker 1:So he's saying you know, there's a prophecy over your life, but you got to get into. That's good that God has in store for you, that's a perfect plan that God had in store for you, for destiny and purpose that he has laid out from the foundation of the world. But what you have to do is engage in this conscious battle, this good fight of faith in your head that some have abandoned doing. They done rejected the whole good fight of faith. Because we don't wrestle, not against flesh and blood, like we read in our first passage of scripture, when we read about that in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10. We're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but we must deal with our own thoughts and bring them into captivity and be conscious of the way we're thinking, so that we can get to faith and not all these other things that are trying to convolute our thinking process, absolutely, you know.
Speaker 2:That takes me to something that I felt like the Lord shared with me yesterday. I was talking to him about the plans that he has for us that are good and not evil, and you know I'm a proponent of saying back to God his word.
Speaker 1:I do that, right right, right, you know what I'm saying. Lord in your word.
Speaker 2:You said in your words you know not that he needs to be reminded, but I enjoy having that dialogue with the Lord and as I was thinking on his plan being good and not evil, I could feel an idea of people challenging that you know, well, I'm going through this or this happened to me, and so forth and so on, and immediately what I believe God showed me was my plans for you are good, but people are imperfect.
Speaker 1:That's it. That's real good. I hope y'all caught that. I hope y'all saw that she went in. I hope y'all caught that.
Speaker 2:I hope y'all saw that she went in. Do you know how delivering that is? I just made that word up. Do you know how free that is? Because when things our lives are bumpy and that's everybody we all have bumpy lives.
Speaker 1:We might as well quit lying, quit trying to make your life perfect and you give it up. Just give it up.
Speaker 2:And I just believe that there is conversation that happened where people are saying God, why did you do this to me?
Speaker 1:Come on.
Speaker 2:And I believe that the revelation is that God is saying no, remember, my plans are good, Even when I go back to the garden right my plans they're good, but people are imperfect and so a lot of the things.
Speaker 2:when you think about the things we've gone through, it is the result, oftentimes, of a decision that somebody else made, you know who maybe didn't know the Lord, who maybe, whatever, I don't know, you know what I'm saying and, as a result, we got caught in the crossfire. I feel the Holy Ghost of God and the reality is is that that doesn't intimidate God? It's never intimidated. It didn't intimidate him when Eve offered Adam the fruit. It didn't intimidate him because he had a plan. So there's nothing that'll happen. At the end of the day, my plans are good for you and I'm still going to give you a way out, even when man contaminates my plan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is so good.
Speaker 2:Jesus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you took me back to the origin of firsts, that is a principle.
Speaker 1:That's a life principle. The origin of firsts yes, it's almost like Maya Angelou said when people show you who they are the first time, believe them. And so the origin of firsts you were talking about God in the garden. So if we look at the origin of firsts, who you saw God show up as the very first time is who he is through and through. He showed up good in the beginning, he showed up good in the middle with sending Jesus, and he shows up good at the end when he comes back.
Speaker 2:Oh, he's good, I mean you see good, come on, I'm preaching these good things. Oh my God, I mean like you see provision, you see positioning, you see promise, you see power Jesus hallelujah. You see prophecy glory be the God All in the garden. And then he sent Jesus so we can get back to that position. Come on, come on now to that position.
Speaker 1:Come on, come on now.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, he good coming through.
Speaker 1:Okay, he just good, go ahead and say we both had a little chime in us, we had a little hallelujah. So here I see a couple of things that you brought out. You brought out that the spiritual mind is a weapon. Yes, on instrument for warfare. Would you agree for that? Absolutely, it's a weapon of warfare, it warfare. The weapons of our warfare are not cornal, they are mighty, through God, pulling down of strongholds bringing every thought into prison.
Speaker 1:I'll snatch a thought and throw it in jail. Quick, get out of my head, in the name of God. I need something positive in my head and I'll let you go ahead. And you've also brought out how negative or worldly thinking is what creates mental.
Speaker 1:Yes absolutely, your thinking is going down a certain trajectory because negative thinking has you going down that path, has your life going down that path. So worldly thinking and negative thinking creates mental strongholds. Worldly thinking and negative thinking creates mental strongholds. And when I think about worldly thinking, I think about the parable of the sower who sowed a seed and it got choked out by the weeds. And Jesus explained that the weeds was the cares of the world that choked out the word. And so we have to be careful how worldly we allow our mind to get.
Speaker 1:Not that God don't want you to have nice things. You live in America. You live in America. If you listen to this, in America, I mean, come on now. We are a successful, powerful, wealthy country. I mean, so it's all around you. So it's all around, so you can have some to what I'm supposed to do, act poor amongst all this wealth. No, god uses wealth in the earth because it says I'm thinking fast and I can tell money answered, all good things. I'm trying to lay a point out here. But you can get so worldly thinking and so, in a rhythm of car house this bigger, bigger brand name that it could put you in a prison, it could take you down negative thinking because you're anxious that you can't have those things fast enough. So moderate that. Let all things be done in moderation, for the Lord is at hand, so we want to be mindful about that. Let all things be done in moderation, for the Lord is at hand, so we want to be mindful about that.
Speaker 2:I was going to say and the reality is is that we have to remember that things don't make us who we are.
Speaker 1:Come on now. God has already done that, OK.
Speaker 2:God has already done that. And the moment that you get I'm telling you, the moment you get that revelation, the moment that you step over into the revelation of who God says you are, I don't care what you have or do not have, it is not going to redefine what God has defined. So the stuff, when you, I'm telling you, when you get that revelation, you will be able to shut down any of the desires of worldly identification, because you will understand that I can have. I can have a 5,000 foot crib I said crib, I went back. I can have a helicopter and a yacht. I can have a 15 carat ring on my finger with 12 cars in my garage. And it does not redefine who God says I am.
Speaker 2:Because there is nothing in this world that can create a value greater than the value that God has already given me. There is nothing greater than the love of God. What? There is nothing greater than the blood of Jesus. What are you saying? No house, no car, no stuff, no name brand, no, none of it, none of it, none of it. You have to see. See, my mentality is is that I define the thing.
Speaker 2:The thing that define me. Thank you, because the house is just a house until the anointing on your life. Make it a home.
Speaker 1:Come on you understand what I'm saying, Girl. You said it. You understand what I'm saying? The?
Speaker 2:clothes don't even look named brand until the anointing of you get in the clothes.
Speaker 1:Come on, it's just a shirt until I put it on Child look here. My God Okay, Girl who name on it.
Speaker 2:My God Include my own.
Speaker 1:It don't look as good as it does when it's on me. That's it, I like that. I like that, and that's not arrogance.
Speaker 2:It's not.
Speaker 1:That's confidence in Jesus, and sometimes it's an escape, because I remember when our children were growing up, we were raising four kids at the same time and we were like a middle income family and we were mad. It was hard trying to buy them all the brand name stuff that they wanted, and we used to take them to Ross and TJ Maxx, walmart. They'd be complaining and one day I finally decided to say look, let me tell you something. I said do you? I don't. I said I don't buy expensive suits. I said because the suit don't make me, I make the suit. So I needed a way out from them Brand name clothes and stuff to help them start seeing.
Speaker 1:You make it. Don't desire for it to make you or depend on it to make you. You make it. That's right. Come on, somebody. That's real. You might have a little polo man on your shirt and I got a little kangaroo or something on mine, a turtle, a turtle on mine. But let me tell you something when I match it up with these pink socks and these beige pants, come on this pink and beige belt, come on. You know what I'm saying. I'm going to make it. You know it's not going to make me, anyway. So we want to go then to another portion of this passage of scripture, when it talked about that we take these thoughts captive.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we are pulling down the stronghold. A stronghold is a fortified place. It is a thought that is so fortified in your mind that it almost take therapy to get it out, because a fortified place in a city was in the furthest recesses of the city, where the king and queen and the royalty, the politicians, hid out during war, because it was the most protected place and it was the last place of defense before the enemy get in and take the city. And so it's a stronghold is also is a reflection of a historical place, because when you build a city, you build a stronghold almost first to protect the king. So it's almost like the oldest building is historical, all the history is in it, all the lineage of kings is in it, and so that's what the enemy tries to do Use history and things in our past that's passed down, has been built up, as a negative thought and use the very stronghold that we have that we think is securing us to kill us. Take it away, shabbat.
Speaker 2:I was thinking about the stronghold and how it creates, how we get tricked Into having confidence In that wrong thought, that we are so convinced that we begin to have confidence that I'm never going to be anything. I'm never going to be anything, I'm never going to amount to anything.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be like this person. I got to have this attitude, like my mom and my grandma.
Speaker 2:It is, it is, it is. We are confident, confident in that wrong thought. Oh my God that it is. It is almost impossible to believe that we can live without it.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, all right, so you're talking about. So here you know what that's called. This is how I'm labeling it. I'm labeling that as false reasoning.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:False reasoning is a stronghold. It is. The reason is false because it's not based on the word of God. That's right, which makes it reasoning and not truth. Yep, it is. The reason is false because it's not based on the word of God. That's right, which makes it reasoning and not truth. Yep, come on, it is. So we develop these reasonings that are false, and they become sometimes the driving force behind our personality.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, we have to ask this question, apostle. We have to ask this question. Who told you that? Oh my God, that's my go question. Who told you that? Oh my God, that's my go to? Who told you that? If, if that thought keeps reoccurring in your mind, you have to, you have to ask yourself who told me that? And if it's not Jesus, if it's not found in the word of God, then it's a lie, wow, and you have to get rid of it.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're right in the word, as usual, you're always in the word, without even quoting the scripture. And so I want to take them to, uh, first Corinthians, uh, chapter one, and I want to look at verse 18 through 21,. Uh, verse 18 through 21. And then, uh, uh, if you want, we could jump into Isaiah 29 and 14.
Speaker 1:But here, ladies and gentlemen, in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 18, it says for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Are you here? We're back to that power again. It says for it is written I will destroy. Listen to what God says, listen to this.
Speaker 1:This is a powerful, kingly, military statement. He says I will destroy the wisdom of the wise what? Watch this and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent and this, this logic that is based on man or what some person in your life has passed down to you, or some philosophy that we're holding on to and gripping on to, and it's developing the bad thought patterns and negative thought patterns and constructing entitlement and ego and idolatry in our minds. God said I'm going to tear all of that down. So he really talks in a military powerful way. He said where'm going to tear all of that down? So he really talks in a military powerful way. He said where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. Look, the world was so wise, we saw wise that they killed Jesus, didn't even know he was the son of God. The world through wisdom did not know God. Look, the world was so wise, we saw wise that they killed Jesus, didn't even know he was the son of God, and he kept telling them that he was and he kept doing miracles.
Speaker 1:So let's look at how wise we so-called human beings are. I'm performing miracles. I'm delivering people. We're turning water into wine, blind people getting their sight back. I'm laying hand on the I done, raised two dead people and you sit up here still don't believe I'm a son of God. You're going to kill me and say I'm a false prophet. Come on in here Somebody. Look at how wisdom, how wise we're not. It says wisdom of God. The world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. Oh, soullessness of the message preached to save those who believe. Oh my God, that's so powerful when you talk about false reasoning and we're not as wise as we think. Summary we need the word Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Pastor, I was just getting ready to say can we be humble enough to say I'm just not that smart. I'm just not that smart, I'm not as smart as I maybe give myself credit. I'm not as smart as I think.
Speaker 1:Come on, I can't outwit.
Speaker 2:I can't outsmart.
Speaker 1:God Come on.
Speaker 2:I'm not so such a much. You know what I'm saying. I'm really not all that and a bag of chips. The only that I am is in Christ Jesus, and that makes me the bombcom. You know what I'm saying. So I think if we can be humble enough just to say you know what? I really ain't that smart.
Speaker 1:You know. So let's talk about this. Let's talk about wisdom that we believe is passed down and you know the way we do things. That's passed down and we think it's so smart. Here recently, two black teenage girls just solved a 200 year old Pythagorean theorem mathematical problem that they have not been able to solve. Mathematicians in 200 years have not been able to solve. It have not been able to solve it. Two young girls got into a competition to win $500 in a Catholic church. They were in a Catholic school and solved a 200-year-old Pythagorean theorem mathematical problem, I think, either using trigonometry or statistics, and they've gone viral all over the world. All over the world. But for 200 years, all these smart people who tried and said it wasn't possible yeah, that shows. Yeah, we're not as wise as we think. We're not as smart as we think. We're not as wise as we think. Yep, come on somebody. Yep, that's just a sample.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we, we, we, yeah, we're not as wise as we think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think about Jeff Bezos and I think about how his boss told him you're going to walk away from this job and go start some kind of online bookstore. Have you lost your mind? Look, look at how much wisdom he thought he was passing down to Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos would have listened. He would have never made it to one of the richest men in the world and provide so many services all around the world through Amazon.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Going back to that question. Who said that you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:Who said I couldn't do that and let me show you because some people might be like well, jeff Bezos, how do you tie that into spirituality and biblicalness? Look at how God got the glory of Jeff Bezos life. Because Jeff Bezos turned around and gave a hundred million dollars to Van Jones, who fights for reform in politics, reform for the poor, the disadvantaged and minorities, gave his nonprofit a hundred million dollars to use it, however you need to. He deals with social justice, prison reform. So God and Van Jones love God and Van Jones talk about. He said God, you know he gives God credit for who he is. Okay, but I'm just trying to make a point here that we really understand. I went over, but I understand. Do you have Isaiah? Do you have Isaiah? This will be our last passage of scripture. I'll let you teach this and close us out.
Speaker 2:Therefore, once more, I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish, oh my.
Speaker 1:God, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish. That's powerful. There's still a lot of smart, intelligent people in this world.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Because that's a gift from God.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and the gifts are without repentance. But listen, look at how dumb, dumbed down our society has gotten when it comes to morality.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, Right and wrong yeah.
Speaker 1:Justice. What is truth? Yeah, the lines are so blurred. The lines are so blurred, oh gosh. Seem like they so dumb they don't need somebody can do something to hide their hand, act like they didn't even see them do it. This is still a good man. This is still a good woman. We just saw what they did. What are you talking about? You're trying to fool me, to put a blinders right over my eyes while my eyes are open. Yeah, yeah, that's what God said he was going to do Confound the wise. So we need to have become transformed by the renewing of our mind with the word of God and take those thoughts captive. And so we have been talking about how to identify we did that, yeah and how to conquer negative thinking patterns. We're out of time not out of where we could go so much deeper in this but I think we've. We've laid a strong foundation for you in this time we have on this podcast.
Speaker 2:Can we talk just briefly? Yes, yes, other ones defeat high minded thinking which is which is really ridding of arrogance. You know, and again, I think the way to work through that is to work on being humble. You know to work on being humble. When you find yourself as a person who is humble, you don't have to worry about arrogance because you understand that everything I am is because of what God has done in my life.
Speaker 1:Come on.
Speaker 2:Everything. I can't take credit because in and of myself I'm a hot mess and a wreck, but but when I identify any good thing, it came from God. The scripture says that every good and perfect gift comes from God. So everything that I've been allowed to do, everything that the opportunity to, to love somebody, to give to, to be a good person, a decent person, whatever God by the spirit is helping me to do that, and it never says we can't. So when you really think about and break that thing down, how can I be arrogant? Because I'm not responsible for any good thing that comes out of me, and so we have to be sure to defeat high-minded thinking. I like the scripture that talks about not thinking more highly of yourself than you should See you can do that so easy when you're an humble person.
Speaker 2:When you're humble, you fall right in line with that, Like I ain't nothing more than who God said I am and I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody. I just want to be who God says that I am.
Speaker 2:Amen and then the other one is take control of our thoughts, and that goes back. I think you said something about it a little bit ago. We have to participate in this fight back. I think you said something about it a little bit ago. We have to participate in this fight. We can't just sit back and glaze through life with allowing all of these thoughts, of all thoughts of present, with all that's going on in the world, to consume our mind and just take it. We've got to fight back and we do that by rehearsing the word of God. Place negative worldly thinking under lock and key, by obedience to practicing the mind of Christ. I think we were on this some years ago and it was like what would Jesus do?
Speaker 2:See people just took it as just like a quick little something to say. But what about when we sit with that for a little while? What about when we really do ponder, in this moment, when I want to cuss somebody out, when I want to fight somebody, I want to run in the back of somebody's car because they did something crazy? What about if we really take a moment and say, but what would Jesus do? What do I know about his character through what I've read in the scriptures and my own experience with him? What would he do? He would not want me to cuss them out. He would not be the one to cuss them out. He would not run into the back of the car. He wouldn't do those things. So what about if we start sitting with that, you know, to help rid of and get rid of those negative thoughts Like I got to get them back? Well if, if Jesus thought like that, he would have never made it to the cross, yeah Right, when they were beating on him, he would have dealt with them immediately. You know what I'm saying. So we've got to remember that it's not just the same, but it should be something that would contemplate, something that we really think about what would Jesus do. And then the last one practical example replace anxious thoughts with God's promises and affirmations.
Speaker 2:Moment of transparency. One of the things that the enemy has been fighting me with lately is being anxious, and one of the things that I've been fighting the enemy with is God's word, and the reality is is that God's word works If you work it. It's not enough for us to quote the scripture. We have to apply the scripture. It's not enough for us to sit and listen to the word of God, to even read the word of God At some point.
Speaker 2:We have got to learn application. And we've got to apply this thing in order to be built up in our most holy faith and in order to be able to come against the strongholds in our mind. Nobody else can do that for us. God has given us power, he's given us ability. We've got to take the reins on this thing so that we come out the winners that he already said we are, because scripture says we are conquerors, and more than conquerors, in Christ Jesus. I can't do this thing without him. I can't do it outside of him. I got to get over in him Right, and then I'll be able to accomplish it Right.
Speaker 1:That is so good, that is so good, wow, that is so good. And what I, what I would just tag on to that is that, yes, we teach this, we teach with anointing, which makes it appear that teaching for us is simple, but we know that application of the word of God can be challenging. Absolutely and it's not challenging because just in the practice of it itself, applying the word itself is not challenging. It's trying to apply it in the midst of storms and fights and battles.
Speaker 1:So it is what's coming at us that makes you know, applying the word of God difficult at times and challenging at times, and so nobody gets it right every time. Nobody is perfect. It's a process. Growth is a process One day up, one day down, one week up, one week down, one month up, one month down Sometimes and we understand that. So don't beat yourself over the head. Listen to this episode over and over a few times. Make sure you get clarity on what we were saying. And we love you, god loves you, and there are other people around you that love you, and we want to see you become your best version of who God has called you to be. So don't take this teaching with pressure, but do take it with some sense of truth, the reality that in order to grow and get better, we have to participate and we have to take control of our thought life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have to have rehearsal time.
Speaker 1:We have to have rehearsal time.
Speaker 2:How many things have you walked into? And you weren't 100%. You had either an interest or a mild desire and you had a little bit of skill.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you went anyway, yeah, and you tried out and you did your best, and then, the more you did it, the better at it you became.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:To me, that's Christianity.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The more you pray, the better at it you'll get. Yeah, the more you fast, the better at it. You became To me that's Christianity. The more you pray, the better at it you'll get. The more you fast, the better at it. The more you focus on shifting your thoughts, the better at it you'll get. We get better along the way. We get better along the way, but we have to start. We have to start because, of the urgency. Because, of the urgency. Yeah, because of the urgency.
Speaker 1:That is so good. We want to thank you for tuning in and listening to our podcast and being in this space with us. It's important, it's special. We are praying for our listeners and we pray God's richest blessings on you, his guidance over your life. Richard's blessings on you, his guidance over your life. If this teaching has been a blessing to you, we need you to partner with us to sponsor. You could sponsor an episode. Just reach out to us. You can call us, you can write us, you can contact covenantgracechurchorg. You can reach us there. We're on all the social media platforms for our daily bread podcast and you can support this podcast. You can support this podcast for your giving. You could be a sponsor. We'll highlight you here on our broadcast, but please continue to help us keep the word of God on the air and our anointing to do so that we can bless those who need that. Amen, did I miss anything?
Speaker 1:I don't think so there's so many ways to give, from Venmo to PayPal to. On our website, you can text to give. I think you could text the word covenant C-O-V-E-N-A-N-T to 801-801 and we will receive your donation through text message. So we thank you for that. All right, god, and we are 501c3, tax exempt. So if you're sowing a seed, then that is a tax exempt seed that you can count on. So all right, father, we thank you for this blessed opportunity. We want to pray for our listeners and our viewers all over the world.
Speaker 1:God, touch, heal, deliver, minister, set free, oh God, in the name of Jesus, those specific requests that they have been lifting up to you. Someone has been crying out to you, god, for change. Oh my God, and I hear the spirit of the Lord saying that God is saying he's trying to get you to change by renewing your mind. If your thinking can, can change, everything about your life will change. If you change your thinking, you will change your life. This is the word of the Lord for you and this is your daily bread. God bless you. We'll see you next time right here, on daily bread.
Speaker 2:Amen Amen.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute. You got something you want to say.
Speaker 2:I I felt the Spirit of the Lord, say as you change your mind, he'll draw those things to you that your heart is going to learn.
Speaker 1:Amen. Yep, that's good Amen. All right, I received that for myself too. Amen God bless you y'all. We'll see you next time. Bye, Right here on Daily Bread.
