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
Adjustments PT 3 - Embracing Change as Part of God's Plan
Have you ever wondered how to navigate life's tumultuous changes while keeping your faith intact? Angela and I invite you to explore this journey with us on Daily Bread as we delve into the theme of "Adjustments." Through our 29-year marriage and personal stories, we share how divine timing and revelations have shaped our lives. Join us as we celebrate the beauty of God's timing, and discover how to stay anchored in spiritual foundations even when life feels like a tossed salad of uncertainties.
Embrace change as a stepping stone to growth and success. We uncover the necessity of emotional intelligence during life's transitions and how to balance comfort with the readiness for change. Drawing inspiration from the story of Joseph, we illustrate how challenges can elevate your spirit and purpose. By highlighting both personal and biblical insights, we encourage you to view life's negative transitions as hidden blessings, fostering a mindset shift toward adaptability and faith in the divine nature of life's cycles.
Through engaging discussions and scriptural reflections, we underscore the importance of trusting in God's plan, even amid trials. Discover how to turn pain into praise, understanding God's purpose in our lives. Anchored in scriptures like Jeremiah 29:11, we reassure you that God's plans are for our welfare and prosperity. Let this episode be your guide to embracing life's adjustments, fostering flexibility and growth in your spiritual journey, and offering hope and anticipation for what lies beyond current challenges.
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 everyone. Welcome back to Daily Bread with Dr Jarrell and Angela Stokely. It is good to be back in the studio with you all today. I've got we've got an amazing series that we are in and in 2025, we need this series, this topic so much. So, critically, our topic is adjustments.
Speaker 1:How many of you out there are facing adjustments, changes, modifications, edits, reroutes, u-turns? So many things are tossed up in the air like a tossed salad, like our relationships, our job status, the stability of our culture, politics, stability of our culture, politics, community everything is up in the air family life. But how do we stay grounded? How do we stay bonded to the kingdom of God where, you know, the scripture says everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and so the Lord is shaking the earth. Everyone can see that we're moving toward the end times and it is critical and important that we have the principles, the foundation, getting back to the strong roots of the word of God, that we remain stable and blessed and prosperous in the kingdom, affecting the culture, not the culture infecting the kingdom. So we are here today just excited to bring you part three of our series Adjustments. Come on in, angela, and welcome our audience.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, again, so glad to be here, excited once again to be sitting in this seat, to be able to share nuggets, encouragement, inspiration, the word of God and be led by the spirit of God to share what is necessary to help build up the body of Christ in every area. Amen, and so we are excited to be here. Thank you so much for tuning in. We give God glory for you. We give God glory. I just felt this in the spirit. I give God glory, we give God glory for your testimony, because you have a testimony Hallelujah. And even after this, I'm just convinced that your testimony is going to be even greater, even stronger and more powerful. So tell your testimony Amen and glory to God. So welcome, welcome, welcome. Glad to be here, excited to get into this topic today, because I believe it's going to bless your life.
Speaker 1:It definitely is immensely, and I'm blessed sitting across from you as usual. And I get to look in that cute little face with the fun eyes. It's so cute. I praise God for this. Thank you, we're coming up on 29 years of marriage. Everyone, good God, have mercy. 29 years of marriage, blessed to have been in a relationship with each other for 34 years. Been knowing each other since the eighth grade, seventh, seventh grade.
Speaker 2:Come on in with that brain.
Speaker 1:I like that brain power she got the brain power she has the brain power. Since we were 12 years old, we knew each other. That's so wild. We celebrate 29 years, february 17th, of 2025.
Speaker 2:Now let me meddle a little bit, because what hit me and I don't want it to just pass us by is that sometimes the thing that God has for you could be right in front of you and you don't even know it. I know Right and so that reality of really trusting God when we think we can't trace God could really end up whereby God has placed the thing in front of you.
Speaker 2:You just not you have just not received revelation, revelation, you don't have revelation and what it is that is so powerful. That is so powerful, oh my god, because at 12 we we hadn't had the revelation. Yeah, even at what were we 16 in the 10th grade? Um, we had that, that moment. Clearly it was spiritual, where we just stopped and stared at each other, didn't?
Speaker 2:know why never said anything to each other and just walked off and again not realizing what's in front of you, not understanding it. But God has to reveal it to you in time. And so, even now, as I'm saying this, I'm thinking about how many things have have God, how many things have God brought to our mind, has got to shown us, have? Has God? Um, given us these moments and we didn't quite understand them then and we still don't understand them to this day. But yet there is a set time of revelation. That's a word. There's a set time for revelation of what God has in store for you. It's been in front of you the whole time, you just couldn't see it, you hadn't yet had the revelation of it. That's so powerful, I know right.
Speaker 2:Oh my God.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 1:That was good for me, that just blessed me, and that's how big of a role God plays in our everyday life, that he is our navigator. He is our unseen navigator. He is charting the path and speaking to our hearts and giving revelation to guide us into who we're supposed to be, the people we're supposed to meet, where we're supposed to work. You can't say God doesn't love us because he brought you and I into the revelation that we belong to each other. Yeah, he brought me into the revelation that you were my wife. Yeah, you know, even though I missed it in the 12th grade, 12 years old missed it in the 10th grade.
Speaker 2:We don't miss it, but there's the set time, just wasn't. Then. I feel like he gives us those breadcrumbs to reflect back on. You know what I'm saying, because one of the first things we talked about was you remember, when we were in the hallway? We had that moment. We didn't know what that meant. You know what I'm saying, but it was once it was revealed that's my wife, that's my husband, right? Then it's like everything made sense that he had showed all along, right, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean? Yeah, like wow, yeah, because how could we have understood that then Right At 12. Right, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, All right. Well, let's get into this. Let's get into this. Thank you all for listening to our little back down memory lane type situation. Thank you all for listening in on that. But, and also if you're looking to grow in your purpose and destiny, I want to advise you to go to JarrellStokelycom and get my latest book Grow Into your Greatness.
Speaker 1:I do have another book coming out here in the next few months or so. This book is based on a true story of a guy by the name of Overcomer, a young man by the name of Overcomer who, because of God's grace in his life, he overcome all of these obstacles to walk into his greatness, but he never knew God's grace in his life. He overcome all of these obstacles to walk into his greatness, but he never knew God was there all alone. So he was always asking the question where is God? Why is this happening to me? If you love me, why is this? But in the end, overcomer sees that God was with him all the time, through every tragedy, and so I want you to get your copy of that book. It's entitled Born to Overcome. When it comes out, it will also be at JarrellStokelycom, amazon, barnes, noble, and TBN, trinity Broadcast Network, is publishing the book and you'll be able to get that as well.
Speaker 1:Glory Gear provides faith-based hoodies, sweaters, jackets, shirts with this amazing messaging and quality material and products. So go to officialglorygearcom Official. There's a lot of Glory Gears out there that's why we have officialglorygearcom and browse through all their amazing products. They have matching hats to go with all the sweatshirts and hoodies just some amazing stuff. As a matter of fact, I'm wearing the God is able hat and sweatshirt and Angela is wearing the power in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1:All right, we got all the logistical stuff out of the way. Father, we thank you so much for what you're about to do in this part three of the series adjustments because, god, we are facing adjustments every day and we want to know how to be able to navigate this terrain by the power of your Holy Spirit. We know that over the last couple of weeks, we've dealt with God's sovereignty and control in our lives, and now today, father, we want you to take us deeper. So anoint our ears to hear our hearts, to sense and guide our thoughts, lord, that we may present just a really solid teaching and a relevant, exciting word for your people to continue to grow In Jesus' name amen. Adjustments Angela, are you facing adjustments?
Speaker 2:right now, oh, absolutely, I feel like in every area of my life, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Wow. I remember thinking back on the definition of adjustments. I think we said it was modifications to endure or go through the process of modification, changes, redevelopments, reinvention, restructuring, just anywhere where there's a shift and a modification. We then, in order to thrive, have to have some things in our toolbox, some strategies in our toolkit that we are able to pull from, that we have applied enough enough that we are skilled at using them to navigate those changes and rearranging and altercations that we're going through in our lives not altercation, but alternatives that we're facing in our lives. So, last or part one, part two rather, we dealt with God's sovereignty and control, and Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 was our foundational scripture for that teaching.
Speaker 1:But we also looked at the life of Abraham and how Abraham had to leave the familiar for the unknown. So if you didn't get a chance to listen to adjustments part two and you're dealing with leaving the familiar for the unknown, maybe you feel like you've changed jobs, you're in a new relationship, you have changed states, you've been living in a different city. Your life, the comfort of your life and the structure of life has changed drastically. You're now dealing with children, your circle, and you're moving into the unknown, and you want to know how do I navigate this adjustment. Well, please go listen to part two of adjustments, because we talked about God's sovereignty and control. When you leave the familiar for the unknown, because sometimes God will call you to do just that. Yep, leave your familiar. Lots of time, lots of times.
Speaker 2:Excellent.
Speaker 1:So today we are talking about embracing change as part of God's plan. Now y'all know one thing we hate and we're not all that good at.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Is change Right? Come on, somebody be real about that.
Speaker 2:Especially change that we're not, we're not initiating Right, yeah, yeah, change that we're not.
Speaker 1:We're not initiating, right, yeah, yeah, change that we're not initiating. So you have self-initiated change. I talked about this in my book. Uh, in this book, going to your greatness, you have self-initiated change. You have other initiated change externally and then you have sovereign god initiated change. So we're always going through a change. It's just who is at the helm of that change and how do we navigate that change successfully, when we come out victorious, when we come out on top, when we come out a winner, rather than struggling through the process? And one of the first things you've got to do is be aware that you're going through a change process, absolutely. And how am I emotionally, as I'm going through this? So we're talking about practicing a good balance of emotional intelligence. The first stage of change is awareness, but how are you emotionally, as you are transitioning to what you have now become aware of that is happening?
Speaker 2:in your life. You know, I think it's important for us to tear down some of the the walls I'll call them walls that we've created ourselves more often than not not even intentionally ourselves, more often than not, not even intentionally. And what I mean by that is, I think one of the reasons why we're so resistant to change, especially change we don't initiate, is because we are in love and infatuated with regimens, because regimens create comfortability and we are sometimes creatures.
Speaker 2:Because we are creatures, of habit hands down and that's our happy place, more often than not, is when I'm I'm doing, I'm operating in this, in this cycle. I call it a cycle whereby I feel like I'm being my best self because I've done this long enough. I feel like I'm being my best self because I've done this long enough. I could do it in my sleep and I got the pattern down. Pack creates that comfortability and, I think, a sense of confidence in myself and I think that we create those as if they are going to be these consistent stables in our life. Yes, not realizing that this, this regimen, this cycle, this, whatever, you know, whatever we want to call it that we've created for ourselves is a eventually going to change. And I think that in order for us to really get to the place where we can start embracing change better than maybe we have, is be willing to tear down some of those built-in processes, those built-in things that really cause us to keep gravitating to comfort and resisting discomfort. You know what I mean. So when you were talking about that, it just kind of hit me like we sometimes we have to restart with reprogramming ourselves. You know what I mean. Like I want to get to the place where God, I don't always want to be comfortable. I want to learn how to be content. And then I still want to be able to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil, knowing that you are with me, you're right in your step. They compliment.
Speaker 2:I still want to be able to do. I want to do both. You know what I'm saying. Can for ourselves. Just say, quit leaning so so much into this comfort place. Yeah, that has been created as a result of these regimens and this. I got everything planned out all the time. It's always the same on thursdays I eat the same thing, on wednesdays I do the same, you know, and because I feel like that then creates more, when we, when we don't work on breaking that cycle, I think we set ourselves up more for failure with trying to accept and adjust to change. Does that make sense? Oh, absolutely, you know, I think. I think it just kind kind of we have to work on that internal thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when you think about it, as we prepare to jump into these scriptures we're not going to leave you without scriptures and stuff we just lay a foundation. But when you really think about it, patterns and rhythms are biblical. They are also spiritual and divine, because God put everything in heaven and earth into a pattern, absolutely. He put it into a rhythm Absolutely. That's why he says I think it's in Ecclesiastes he says as long as the earth remain, there will be seed time and harvest, summer and winter. So things are. God put the earth in a rotation, he put it in a pattern and he put it into a system. Yeah, and he put, he put man's authority, dominance and blessings and stuff into authority, into a rhythm and into a system. He created all these things and he said now you have authority and these things are going to obey you and you're going to have authority over it, to obey you and you're going to have authority over it.
Speaker 1:But the growth spot is when we put ourselves in the place where we don't say this pattern has to stay the same. In other words, when we make ourselves open for pattern changes. See, just because something is good doesn't mean it can't be great, and sometimes God want to come into your life and create better. Yeah, even when God, even God himself, when he created the heavens and earth, each day that he created, he sat back and said this is good, but he never said good couldn't be greater. Right. And so in our lives, we set up patterns.
Speaker 1:Patterns are good. We develop good habits, we develop good patterns, and then we develop bad habits and bad patterns, but it's nothing that says that your pattern that you have, is not good. The idea is how can this pattern be greater? How can I modify, how can I adjust and embrace what's happening in my life to create a better system at this present time? And that's the whole concept of embracing, being willing to make those adjustments, being able to be pulled out of the box. And that first stage of being in the pattern is called homeostasis. It means we're in such a pattern we can do things without even thinking about it, and so that's the first place God wants to break up. He wants us to think about what we're doing and how we need to grow. He wants to be focused on the changes that he is developing and growing in us. He wants us to see him moving in our lives, and in order to do that, we have to have a space in our system for God alone.
Speaker 2:We have to submit that system and say God, I'm in a pattern of mission, I got this going on, but I'm open for anything you decide to do Absolutely, because the end goal I was sitting here as I was listening to you, I remember because the end goal of the adjustment oftentimes is the better version of ourselves. Right, you know, god knows who he intended, who he created, who he ordained us to be. We're trying to catch up, right, and the reality is is that after every change, after every adjustment, the goal is a better version of ourselves that we have not yet met, that looks like Christ. Oh my God, hallelujah, yep. I'm going to stop right there because I could go on, but come on, I'm ready, because I felt a priest trying to come on, because there's a version, and I say this all the time there's a version of ourselves that we have not yet met. Oh my God, there's a version of ourselves that we have not yet met. Oh my God, there's a version of ourselves that we have not yet met.
Speaker 2:And if I go into every season of my life realizing that at the end of this season that there will be a version of me that I didn't even know existed in me, I will better embrace the adjustments that I probably do not like, these adjustments that don't even feel good, be it a wilderness, be it at a Red Sea, with Pharaoh behind me. Whatever it is, At the end of this good God, have mercy there will be a version of Angela that Angela has never seen but that aligns with the perfect will of God for who he saw me to be, who he said I was, and this adjustment is only a process to bring that person out of me. Right, god, a mercy. And so you know, every time we talk about judgment, I can't help but say this because it always takes me back to the chiropractor adjustments.
Speaker 2:Talk about adjustment? I can't help but say this because it always takes me back to the chiropractor Adjustments. Every time I hear that word, I go chiropractor and the reality is is when you go into the chiropractor for those of us for the first time, you're scared because you don't know what to expect and you probably heard it's a lot of pain when we go through things. When people hear things like what we're talking about today, you could get a little nervous. You could get a little scared if you ain't never been through anything.
Speaker 1:I don't want any adjustments.
Speaker 2:Exactly. But when you talk to somebody who's been through it already and they say, yes, a little uncomfortable, but you're going to be better after, oh my God. Oh my God, that was my experience with a chiropractor. Okay, yeah, it's going to hurt at first, but you're going to be better. You may go in with pain, but you're going to come out with relief. You may go in with maybe some neck issues or some shoulder issues that's out of alignment Exactly.
Speaker 2:That is impacting how you live your everyday, but once you start getting these adjustments, they will help you to show up better in your everyday life. Right, my God, right. So at the end of all of this, the goal is the better version of myself and just thinking about your example.
Speaker 1:sometimes, when you go into a chiropractor for the first time because you've heard about the body being out of alignment, and not even knowing it.
Speaker 1:When you go in for the first time, you know, and you go through that process of. So I heard intentionality, I heard fear, but also heard courage, because you were intentional to go there. So that means courage and fear can exist in this, in this symbiotic kind of space. They can exist in this same space, you see, and still achieve the goal. And then I heard reward. So you had intentionality, fear, courage and reward and pain and reward, all in this same kind of process.
Speaker 1:But when you go in for that first time you don't even know stuff is out of alignment, until after you've gotten an alignment and you feel better and you say I don't even know stuff is out of alignment, until after you've gotten an alignment and you feel better and you say I didn't even know that was out of alignment.
Speaker 1:That's how God works with us. He's the chiropractor that shows us things that are out of alignment, that we didn't even know was out of alignment. It's not until he comes in and takes us through an adjustment, a career adjustment, a relational adjustment, a personal development adjustment, a spiritual gift adjustment, where he calls a new gift out of us and we start operating in you know the laying on of hands, or we start operating in the gift of leadership, or we start operating in servitude and we're trying to figure it out. And then we step back after operating in it for a while and say I didn't even know that I was that willing to do something like that, or I didn't even know that was in me. Well, god took you through an adjustment to show you something that was disaligned about how you saw yourself, and you didn't even know it. You thought everything was just fine. That is so cool, yeah.
Speaker 2:That is so cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is so good. So let's look at. How in the world do I deal with embracing change as part of God's plan? What happens when God starts taking me through things to adjust me into more of the person he's called me to be? Let's look at it. The first scripture I want to look at is Ecclesiastes, chapter three and verse one, and it says this there is a time for everything. So if you haven't lived out everything you intend to live out in your life, if you haven't seen every blessing, every high place, if you haven't walked through every open door that you've been believing to walk through, if you haven't gone through those things yet, your time is coming, because there's a time for everything, there's a time of lack, but there's also a time for profit.
Speaker 1:There's a time to go through sickness, but there's also a time for healing. He said there's a time for everything and a season, and this is what you was talking about. In our relationship, we hadn't come into the set time and a season for every activity under the heavens, and that tells me that we can be in one season and gossip. It's time to change and go to another, and in order for that to happen, I've got to bring an adjustment into your life and you've got to be able to embrace it when God is doing it. A lot of times, when God is trying to do something new or different that we have not seen or experienced, we fight back, we kick, we scream, we rebel, and in 2025, you can't do that. If you're going to come into what God has for you and whenever you hear this message, you can't this teaching, you cannot fight this time. If you're going to get to the things that God has for you quicker, become the person that God has for you in a more healthy way, we have got to be willing to say yes, lord, the first time. Oh, my God. So here we see that change is then inevitable, but each season has a divine purpose. So, whatever season you come into in your life, god is your creator. He's your father. He either permitted it or he did it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if you're going through a hard time right now, there is a divine purpose for your struggle. If you're going through a successful time right now, there's a divine purpose for that success. Not to just make you happy, right. It's not to just give you one more material possession, absolutely. It's not to just give you another great measure of power, but what is the purpose of that. It's not to just give you another great measure of power, but what is the purpose of that? So, in order to embrace where we are and the changes we go through, we have to understand. There's a divine purpose for it, absolutely. What about?
Speaker 2:that, angela, even when it looks ugly, absolutely you know, I feel like a lot of what we said really points to that.
Speaker 2:You know, because immediately I thought about this phrase that I think could be helpful for us all to hold on to, and that is after this, after this, my God, that's so powerful for me. If we could just hold on to that. After this, after this, what, after this, I'm going to? I'm going to be a version of me that I've never seen. After this, I'm going to experience God in a way that I've never experienced God. After this, I'm going to see more clearly things that I was completely blinded to. After this, I'm going to be more flexible in my spirituality and in my growth than I've ever been over the last 20 years. My spirituality and in my growth than I've ever been over the last 20 years. After this, oh, my God. And I believe that in this season, or in any season, whereby we're facing adjustments, facing the move of God that's shifting us and changing us and causing us to do things that we didn't even see coming, we have got to.
Speaker 2:I believe this phrase could be your blessing after this, because what does that signify? That signifies that this is not going to be always. That signifies that there is a set time for me to come about of this thing. It's not for the rest of my life, but it is, in fact, on God's time clock, although I don't know what it is. There is going to be an end. But after, this is where I can really rejoice. I'm going to rejoice in it. But I'm really going to rejoice when I come out of it again, because I'm going to see God in a way that I've never seen God before. And all I can think about right now is the children of Israel, when they got on the other side of the Red Sea.
Speaker 2:Can you imagine how that Miriam sang a song, didn't she? She sang a song because had they ever seen God in that way? No, they had not. But the moment that they walked through the thing that was challenging them because they were at the Red, they were at the Red Sea, didn't know how they were going to get across they were. Pharaoh was on the on the chase behind them, hot on their heels, and it's like okay, this looks over. See, that was a season. Ah, that was just a season.
Speaker 2:God had a set time. He knew he was gonna split the waters. He knew that he was gonna tell moses boy, put the thing that's in your hand over over them waters so I can split them up for you. And then you walk across. Can you imagine seeing a sea split and the ground you walk across is dry and you get on the other side and see God drown your enemies? You ain't seen God. You ain't never seen God like that. It shifts you Right.
Speaker 2:So, even when we have to experience those tough times, if we can get an after this in our spirit, right, oh, my God, yeah, after this, oh boy, i'm'm gonna be some kind of challenge to the enemy because I'm gonna grow in faith, I'm gonna grow in power, I'm gonna grow in belief, I'm gonna my prayer life going to the next level. You understand what I'm saying my prayer life going to the next level. And I'm gonna. I'm gonna. What word I want to use? Slew. How you, you slew. Slew is past tense, right, slay? That's the present tense. I'm going to slay some demons that I ain't never slayed before.
Speaker 1:Y'all done, brought out the Georgia peach in her. This girl. I don't know that I ain't slayed before Y'all brought all this word, brought all the Georgia peach out of my sweetheart. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:It's like I can see it. If we can focus on that, the God who allowed it, the guy who sent it is the guy who controls it. Come on, it's the guy, oh, that's working my good in it, right, even when I don't understand it. He's the same guy that saved me in my mess. So sure that he didn't send this Come on to end me. Come on.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying come on this, this is just seasonal, so you apply that to you. Have a child that is in the world, that's out there in them streets and that is living a culture that's so opposite of the way you raised her and you see the world beating her, pulverizing her. It's got her world beating her, pulverizing her. It's got her out of character. She's getting in trouble. Her life is on the line regularly as she is out there living. However she's living, son or daughter, that's a Red Sea moment, god. It doesn't look like this child is going to make it. You must know and believe by faith that there is going to be an after this.
Speaker 1:You're going to have an after this moment and you've got to see that child and believe and pray for that child to be on the other side of that Red Sea, that y'all together will be looking back at the trouble, the drugs, the street life he or she lived and watch God drown it in the new person he makes him or her to be. Come on somebody. You've got to know that that's a big change to go through. When you have children who disrupt the comfortability, the rhythm, the flow of your life and livelihood, your finances, because of what is going on in their lives. How do we? The way to embrace that kind of change is to love your child, care for your child, stick with them through the hardest part of it.
Speaker 1:Don't let the devil have your baby. Don't just put your child out there because they was unruly. Get them counseling, sit and talk with them. Go get them out of that crack house. Go and get them from where he or she may be. Go spend some time with them, meet them on their level. If they out there clubbing, go down to the club right before it gets started and say can you come just have a burger with me? Can we come just talk for a minute?
Speaker 1:You got to do what you got to do. You might have to get a lawyer. You might have to bail him out nine times out of jail. Jail ain't going to make him no better, not in this society, not in American prisons. Ain't going to make your baby no better. Listen, you might have to do what you have to do and that's a big adjustment, but we have to embrace that. God allowed it and, by faith, with determination and resilience, and bounce back and grit and get some courage and get some divine anger about you and say the devil ain't going to have my baby. I'm in the fight, I'm embracing this change. I'm not going to give up because that's a hard battle to be in.
Speaker 2:That's a hard battle to be in. As I was listening to you, I thought realistically a part of what I heard you say is that we are to be to them, what he is to us.
Speaker 1:Come on grace he is to us.
Speaker 2:We are to be to them what he has been to us. Yeah, he found us. He found us just in the dirt. He found us in the dirtiest of sins. He found us, See, and sometimes I think one of the dilemmas is that we tend to forget where we came from.
Speaker 2:We forget where God found us, we forget the things that we did and we want to kind of, you know, snub our noses at our children or these young people, and the reality is same, God, my God. Snub our noses at our children or these young people, and the reality is same. God, my God, same God. The same God that brought us out the club, the same God that brought us up out of the sand and the dirt and all the stuff. Same God has the same power to do the same thing for these babies in this day and time. In this day and time. And our responsibility you said it beautifully, realistically our responsibility is to be the God that they see in the earth until oh, I feel the Holy Ghost until they can grab a hold of the God that's in the heavens.
Speaker 2:We are to represent him. We say we're Christians, we're supposed to be ambassadors, we're supposed to live sacrificial, we're supposed to go the extra miles because did not Jesus do the same thing for us? Right, you know? So yeah, it is uncomfortable, it is challenging, it is hard, but if we start trying to take on the mind of Christ, if we start trying to take on the characteristics of Christ, then we will allow the power of the Holy Spirit to stretch us and the pain and the pressure of the situations to grow us Right, because we have to remember that we are our children's guardian.
Speaker 1:That's right. I like that you think about being a guardian. We're their guardian, so we need to get on guard.
Speaker 2:And we need to stay on guard and we need to be guards, everything that's coming at them.
Speaker 1:We ought to be that guard, that defense, to help fight it off. We teach, we don't just fight for them, we teach them how to fight by them watching our fight. Our fight is the good fight of faith. We fight with spirit, we fight with resources, we fight with time and energy, but we are their guardian. So when that change is coming into our life, we have to embrace. Hey, I'm in this thing. This thing is thick, this thing is ugly. This thing is pulling at my comfort. It's disrupting my family. I got to get off work to go to court. That's OK. It's OK. God, love me in my mess. I'm going to love you in yours. Where to fight at, where I need to be. That's it when I need to be, because the devil you a lie, You're not going to get my baby.
Speaker 1:You're not. Look, I didn't want it to my Ebonics, my Cbonics and my Dbonics.
Speaker 2:See, I turned into a dowry. Look, I didn't turn into a thug, I'm a straight hood. Because what we have to remember when you, when you were talking a little bit ago, is we have to remember what did God say. What did God say about that, baby? Yeah, what did God say about this or that? What did God say? And we have to learn how to stand up and profess, hold on to God's word concerning our situations of challenge and change.
Speaker 1:Embrace change as part of God's plan. Here we go. Let's look at another passage of scripture Jeremiah 29 and 11, one of our favorites. Now, this really has to help us embrace change.
Speaker 1:When you know this Jeremiah 29 and 11, when you make this a part of the scriptures, that you live by and not just quote it, see, you could tell the ones who just quote it and those who live by it. Because the ones who just quote it don't have no testimony. They ain't came out on the other side of a straw because they gave up in it, walked away from God in it or didn't obey because they knew it was going to be hard. But the ones with the testimonies, they have a 29 and 11 prophetic word over them and they walk in that word because, guess what? I lived it out. I know he got a plan for me. Jeremiah 29, 11 says, for I know. You see what I'm saying. This is knowledge, this is experiential. Now you see what I'm saying. This is knowledge, this is experiential. Now I know the plans God said that I have for you.
Speaker 2:God said I know I am the experience.
Speaker 1:I am your experience. I know the plan I have for you because I've already finished the work. So you're going through this change, but I know it's seasonal. I know what I'm going to do in this for you, for I know the plan I have for you. Declares the law. So this is a declaration. Like when a king makes a declaration, it cannot be changed, it cannot be stopped. You have to, you have to. You can't be changed. You have to write a new declaration to overdo the first one. So you can't just change that declaration. So can anybody change? When God said I know the plan I have for you. Declares the Lord plans for this.
Speaker 1:Scripture says welfare, oh my God, that you may farewell. That's provision. Yeah, you know the plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Another version says I know the plan that I have for you, a plan to prosper you a future and a hope. Another version says I know the plan that I have for you, a plan to prosper you. Come on somebody, and to give you good and not evil, and to render unto you an expected end that God says, the end that I had in mind.
Speaker 1:So, no matter how we see it as a problem, a curse, or I'm closed in, it's over for me. We see periods where God has put commas. We see things being over and done, where God said no, this is seasonal, I'm bringing you through to another place. So when you know God has a plan for you, you don't accept loadable. You don't accept lack. You don't accept poverty. You don't just accept the brokenness. You don't just accept being a victim. You don't just accept being poor. You don't just accept being at the bottom, because you know that's not the kind of God we serve. So it's important, when you're going through adjustments, tap into God's plan. You need to spend some time with him you do, praying and listening to God's instruction in that situation that you're in.
Speaker 2:Amen. You know, as you said, that I thought about oftentimes, you know, when we're going through seasons of adjustments and a lot of times it really translates to brokenness. We feel broken, we feel crushed, we feel a lot of different things when we're going through things like that, and one of the questions that we tend to ask is God, if you love me, why would you do this? If you love me, why would you allow this to happen in my life? I've asked that question Lord, if you love me, or God I thought I was your girl or you know those types of things why would you allow certain things to happen, allow certain things to happen? And the reality is, is as I think about, you know, when God said this in Jeremiah I know the plans that I have for you. They're good, they're not evil, you know. And when I think about that, the reality is and I say this often, but it hit me a little bit more right now, and that is the thing is is that he knows the plans, he knows the methods, he knows the methods that are necessary for the plans that he has for us. We don't, and because we don't know, we find out a lot of times when it's happening. That's when we find out, but it doesn't really feel like a method. It feels more like okay, I'm about to die, you know, or this is, this is it.
Speaker 2:But the reality is is because he knows the plans, then he knows the path right and he knows what the journey is going to look like.
Speaker 2:He knows where the bumpy spots are we don't. He knows where the potholes are we, we don't. And the reality is is that we have to constantly work on Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, and that is trusting in the Lord, and so that our confession becomes if this is allowed, then God knew it was going to come way before I ever knew Right, and because he knew that he also, he, I know that he has plans for me. He is the one that knows those plans. I just have to be a participant in the process so that everything that he intends for me to get out of this, I, in fact, will get out of it. You know what I'm saying, and sometimes I think that because of the pain, sometimes the pain of it speaks so much louder than us taking time to learn what this process came to do, and I think there is a shift that has to happen there and I think the quicker we shift there, the quicker we embrace Yep.
Speaker 1:Yep, you're right, that whole pain, the pendulum, yeah, really, you know, to me the pendulum swings between pain and praise, yes, and the velocity in the middle is praise, yeah, you know that energy in the middle of pain and pray, pain, and, really, the process, the praise is in the middle. Because if I see that going through through pain, if you stop praising god, yeah, you won't swing on into the process. Yeah, but when you do praise god, you that pain, you'll go from pain to process and process the pain and pain to process the process until you come out of that thing, absolutely.
Speaker 2:and you know, if we don't, if we don't, if we don't praise God, we really praise pain. That's right. Yeah, we really end up praising pain.
Speaker 2:You know, we really end up praising pain because we start talking about how bad we feel and that begins to be on this loop. We put it on a loop and we're constantly talking about the pain of it. We're constantly talking about how bad it hurt us. We're constantly talking about the situation, all of it being focused on the pain of it and no, no time, no focus on the praise. You know what I mean. So if we don't praise God in those situations, we will automatically default to praise and pain.
Speaker 2:And the other piece of what I was saying I'm glad the Holy Spirit brought it back is that the scripture tells us that his ways are not our ways, right, and his thoughts are higher. Yeah, so when we know that he has the plan or he knows the plan, the reality, we don't know the method he does Right. And sometimes when we, when we go through, we feel like this method was really not necessary, guy, this method feels very harsh, come on. But he, because, because our thinking is not the same, on the same level, right, so we're gonna think, well, you could have done it this way. He's like no, I know exactly what I'm doing, my thoughts are higher than yours, so I know what you needed, right for the time and the season of what it is that I'm doing in your life right now and what I know is required to get you to the other side Wow.
Speaker 1:Let's look at someone then in the scripture who had to embrace that God, and I'll make sure I want to say this correctly he had to embrace change as a part of God's plan. This person and he had to do it over and over and over and over, which shows me we never can get stagnant or get to a finished part in our development where we say, okay, that's it, I don't have to change anymore, I don't have to embrace this anymore. God, why are you doing this? Aren't I not who you want me to be? God said I still have some more to do. So let's look at Joseph, because to me, when we look at Joseph's life, okay, joseph went from privileged to pit because he was the privileged son, he was the chosen one. He was the chosen one, he was the chosen one. We're going to be about another. Let's do just give me about 10 more minutes, y'all. Okay, he went from privilege to pit, right, because he was the privileged son. He was the son of favor, he had the coat of many colors. His father, jacob, loved him and he showed it by giving him the coat of many colors and the favor that he had. And he was Jacob's son of his old age and he was the chosen of his brothers. And then God came and gives him these dreams that he's going to be elevated. This is all favor. So he goes from privilege to pit because his brothers at one point throw him in the pit because they hate him, because of the favor, because he's a dreamer. And then once he gets in this pit he goes from pit to kind of like prominence, because he is then sold into slavery. But he ends up being, you know, in control at Potiphar's house, right. So he's at Potiphar's house and he's in control. He's gone from this pit now to this prominence. And then he goes from prominence to prison because Potiphar's wife tries to sleep with him. And now the prominence that he once had this success, he's now in jail. So he goes from prominence to prison and then he gets in prison and, oh my God, he goes from prison to power, because he comes out of that prison and now he is not he's, he's far beyond, you know, the potter's house. He's second in command in egypt, right under pharaoh, right. So he goes through this vacillation from mountain to valley, mountain to valley, and it's all god's doing, and this is how we know it's all God's doing In Genesis, chapter 50 and verse 20,.
Speaker 1:Joseph says this to his brothers after he is reunited with them, after they did what they did to him, and they come to try to get grain. And they have to come to Egypt to get grain or else they're going to die and starve. They come to him and he finally says to them you intended to harm me Genesis 50 and verse 20. But God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives. So Joseph literally says here what you thought you were in control of by putting me in the pit. God intended for me to go through that adjustment. I had it going on at the crib with my dad, but God's intention was to take me out of that comfort zone, out of that place of provision, out of that place of protection. I was the man. God had a plan to pull me out of that and put me in what I thought was the worst that my brothers beat me up and throw me in this muddy hole.
Speaker 1:But that pain of that pit, yeah, and that assault by his brothers, yeah, had a greater purpose. Unimaginable, my God. The pain that he endured was to save every life in Egypt and every known country in the world at that time, because only Egypt had the grain. The pain of your life is bigger than you think. That boy said God did that. Here's his words. He says you intended to harm me, but God intended. He said God has an intent in the negative transitions and adjustments that we have to embrace. That negative in our eyes. You said it. He doesn't see things the way we see them. To our eyes that was negative. To God, that was so good. Him being in that pit was so good. Being in that prison was so good, because in the prison was the only way that he met the baker and the butler who had gotten thrown in prison with him. The blessing is no matter where Joseph went. He had favor. The blessing for you is no matter whether you up or down, the favor is still on you.
Speaker 1:And when Joseph was in that prison he ran that prison. So when the butler and the baker came in there they had to meet Joseph to get their provisions. Come on somebody To get their work assignment. And so then they, as they engaged in conversation, they had dreams. Joseph interpreted those dreams and told them when you get out, don't forget me. One of them got out of the prison. I think it was the butler that got out of the prison, but the baker ended up being beheaded. I think the butler got out and got back in the king's good favor. And when the king had a dream, come on, the butler said I know a God that's running the jail. He's a Hebrew Name, joseph. Let's go get him out of prison so he can interpret your dream. Yeah, oh, my God, yeah. So he had to get in that prison to get to Pharaoh, absolutely. Without getting in that prison, he wouldn't have never met the butler to get him to the president so that he could become the vice president.
Speaker 2:Come on, let me just. Let me just break it down, man. So you know what I heard in that that's blessing me over here and I, you know, kind of got me caught up a little bit is um, every adjustment is for your elevation.
Speaker 1:That is so true. It's for your purpose elevation. It's for your spiritual elevation. It's for your wisdom elevation. It's for your maturity elevation. Go ahead, go ahead. It's for your elevation.
Speaker 2:That's it, that's it Period, that's it. That's all I had. If that thing hit me like period, you understand? That is the message, that's all I had. Everything hit me like period, period. You understand? That is the message. Wow, that is the message. Every adjustment is for your elevation. Does it feel like it when you're going through it though? Oh, no, absolutely not, it doesn't. That's why it's necessary for us to know that it is God, because when I, as I'm listening and I'm thinking about Joseph's life, and as I was listening to you, god's intent for him was elevation. If we can hold on to that, okay. When we are in these seasons of adjustments, this is necessary for elevation. Okay. No matter what the elevation looks like, it is necessary for elevation. No matter what the elevation looks like, it is God's intent for us to be elevated.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give a spiritual definition of elevation that nobody's ever heard before. You ain't never heard elevation defined like this. Elevation is being molded on the potter's wheel into the vessel you were born to be. That's it. Joseph was on the potter's wheel into the vessel you were born to be.
Speaker 2:That's it, that's it.
Speaker 1:Joseph was on the potter's wheel, absolutely Going through all that crafting and shaping, and the potter's hand is on the clay and the clay is on the potter's hand. The mud is all on his hands and the hands is all in the clay. But it's elevation. Every form and shape of the vessel, the top of the neck, the skinny, the bottom of the face, this round, all of it, putting it in the fire, all of it is elevation to become the vessel of honor, power, glory of word, the lawyer, the doctor, the advocate the engineer the business owner, the fashionista, the social media influencer, the politician, you're nothing, but your whole life is an elevation into the vessel that he called you to be, which that goes back to how we even started, when we started talking, and elevation is painful.
Speaker 2:It's that continual evolution of, of, of, of coming into who you didn't even know you were.
Speaker 1:Joseph had a dream about greatness but had no idea that he was. They call him the Prince of Egypt. They call him the governor, you know, of Egypt. He call him the governor of Egypt. He was second in command, you could say in Western terms he was the vice president of the country, but he was the resource of life to the world, absolutely, because there was a famine in the world and he was the only one Absolutely Governing the grain, yep.
Speaker 1:Pharaoh said go ahead, I'm done, you do whatever you want. I know who you are, yep, and that's what you got to understand. The final destination and realm that God has for you is waiting on you and knows who you are. Yeah, the power, influence, the power. You know people, the power movements, the power stages, the power platforms. They all the power. You know people, the power movements, the power stages, the power platforms. They all know who you are. But you've got to embrace those changes in order to get there. It's been amazing having this time with y'all talking about Joseph and talking about embracing change as part of God's plan. I'm going to say this.
Speaker 2:Because this is good you said they know who you are. Because this is good, you said they know who you are. The thing is, sometimes we're delayed in knowing who we are.
Speaker 1:Oh, I stayed in that place. Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. That pain will make you question who you are. Oh my God.
Speaker 1:That suffering will make you question who you are.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, just hold on I was getting ready to say, but after this, after this Just hang in there.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so good. Whoever's listening. This is for you, my God. We teach to a certain people who God has sent us to. Whoever you are, embrace that change, hold on, hang on, stay with God, stay in those disciplines that you know is going to get you through. Grow into the process, embrace that change, get in there and give it your absolute best and know that God is sovereign and in control. And you have to know that sometimes God is making adjustments in your life for a season to bring you into your after this.
Speaker 1:That's the best way to close this he's bringing you into your after this, as Angela has spoken.
Speaker 1:He's bringing you in, that's the best way to close this. He's bringing you into your after this, as Angela has spoken, he's bringing you, and that was prophetic. So this prophetic word is going out to somebody right now. God is bringing you into your after this. So embrace your season, because your next looks amazing, your next looks awesome, your next is wonderful, your next is exceedingly, abundantly above anything that you would ask or think.
Speaker 1:Thank you for spending this time with us. We got to go, but listen, before I go one more time, let me thank you for listening and being a part of our following audience. We love you. We thank you. God bless you so much. Please continue to support us by sowing your time, by listening to us and, of course, your monetary seat, so we could stay on the air and keep doing this. In order to stay here, we have to have supporters. There's no way we can keep doing it without supporters. You can also don't forget. Right now, I have on my God is able hat in blue and white navy, blue, light blue and white. I have on my God is able sweatshirt navy blue, light blue and white.
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Speaker 1:This is part three of the teaching adjustments. Oh, my God, don't miss out on part four, because in part four we're going to be talking about Ruth and all of the adjustments that she went through, to the glory of God. God bless you. Let me give you a quick prayer. Father, bless our listening audience. I pray this word has touched them and the teaching touched them in a special way. I pray that they would embrace the changes that they're facing and they'll walk through it with power, authority and praise to your holy name. We thank you for this hour and this time, in Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 1:We'll see you next time on Daily Bread.
