Is Your Busyness Quietly Disconnecting You From God?

Walking in the Spirit daily is essential for believers who want faith that works in real life. In this episode of Faithfully Invested with Allen & Stacy Jo, we explore how to stay connected to the Holy Spirit amid the busyness, pressure, and distractions of everyday life.

Many Christians try to produce spiritual fruit through effort and discipline alone, but Scripture teaches that lasting transformation flows from abiding in Christ. This episode unpacks what it looks like to live Spirit-led, not just in theory, but in practice.

You’ll hear about:

• The daily tension between the flesh and the Spirit
• Why abiding in Christ matters more than striving
• How spiritual fruit grows through connection, not perfection
• The role of silence, prayer, and community in spiritual growth
• Living faith that works through everyday obedience

📖 Scriptures Referenced:
Galatians 5:16–17 | Romans 8:6 | John 15:1–5 | Matthew 11:28–30

If this episode encouraged you, please share it and leave a review. Your support helps others find biblical encouragement and truth.

Stay Faithfully Invested — because when you invest in His Kingdom, He brings the increase.

The Kingdom LeadHERship Conference 2026 is happening January 31st in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. This one-day, Spirit-led experience is for Christian women in business and leadership who are ready to step boldly into their God-given calling.

🎟️ Tickets are limited. Sponsorships are available.

👉 Get your ticket now:   www.acbw.org

Reviving Recovery: Unbound starts online Monday, February 2nd at 7:00 PM We worship, we learn, we break out into gender specific groups and we journal with. Each other and with the Holy Spirit. If your heart is stirring listening to this, pay attention Healing begins here. Click the link below to join us at Reviving Recovery Unbound starting February 2nd.

www.revivingrecovery.com

See you in the room!

Transcript

0:01

Are you ready to build a life, business and legacy that truly lasts? Welcome to Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne, where Faith meets real talk. Biblical wisdom meets everyday life and leadership meets laughter. Together we will uncover God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission, helping faith-driven leaders invest in what matters most. Each episode, we explore biblical wisdom, have real conversations, and of course, have some fun along the way because let's be real. Walking in faith is an adventure. It sure is. So pull up a seat, grab your coffee or your sweet tea, and join us as we steward our callings with intention, because when we invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase. Friends, welcome back to Faithfully Invested. I'm Allen and this lovely lady. To my right is I'm Stacy Jo, and we're so glad that you decided to join us here on Faithfully Invested Today. And so babe, tell us what we're digging into today. Well, today. We're diving into something that every believer wrestles with. All of us deal with this. Mm-hmm. And that's how we walk with the spirit daily. Not just on Sundays, not just when the war's good, when that feeling hits us. Right? Uh, not when life is all chilled out, rainbows and puppy dogs, but in the middle of our busy schedule and our responsibilities and the pressures of life, emotions. Yeah, we're talking about walking with the spirit in everyday life. Real life. Real life as it happens. Real time coming at you. Yeah. Uh, how do we, not the fantasy, not the fantasy world, not where everything's perfect. Right? Right. In a perfect world, no, that's not what we're talking about because there's no such thing. Utopia is a force. Anyway, uh, how do we stay connected? How do we as followers of Christ stay connected when we're getting pulled in so many different directions, just trying to keep up right? You know, if you've ever wondered why do I start my day off full of peace and then end up reacting out of flesh by the time lunchtime hits? Sound familiar? Well, you're not alone. Not alone. We've been there. We walk through it and you know, walking in the spirit is something we talk about often, but living it out consistently, that's the real journey. So, you know, we all have moments where our patients runs thin. Our peace may evaporate. Sometimes our reactions don't Exactly, you know, I'll speak from experience here. Don't exactly look Holy Spirit filled. Right. Um, but the beautiful thing is that Jesus invites us into a lifestyle of abiding. Where we don't just tap into the Holy Spirit occasionally, but we actually learn how to stay connected to him in a way that transforms how we live. And it's when we can learn to do that. And we're still works in progress. We're still learning how to do this as well. Yeah. But when we can learn to do that, there's something incredible that that happens. We. Can walk a better walk and we can talk a better talk. Yeah, absolutely. It's a better way. Yeah. So the but the challenge of a, as we're getting there, as we're learning how to do that, and it, you know, I always go back to, um, Jesus' words in, in Matthew 11, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. So as we're learning from him, you know. The challenge that most often keeps us wondering is how do we cultivate a life in the spirit when seemingly everything that surround us is, is full of stress? Hurry, frustration and self-reliance. Hmm. Not self-reliance. Oh, self-reliance. Yeah. That's, yeah. Anyway, it's never gotten me anywhere. How do we do that? You know, self, self-reliance there there's, uh, frustration, exhaustion. Yeah. You know, of, of my, it all goes together. It does. It does. And it is. Or we can take his yoke upon us and learn from him and learn how to walk in the spirit daily. And it's, and it's a. There's no perfection there. It's, it's progressive. Mm-hmm. And we, we learn how to do that. Um, the more, and just like anything else, the more we, the more we focus on that, the more we're able to learn and the more we're able to do. Yeah. Uh, so to get started, uh, we go to, uh, Paul's letter to the Galatians in chapter five verses, uh, 16 and 17. Uh, when he says, walk by the spirit, when we walk by the spirit, we won't gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. These things are opposed to each other to keep you from doing what you want to do. And we at a, uh, Stacy and I, uh, operate a, a. Recovery ministry, reviving recovery unbound. And our core verse, uh, is an abbreviated version of that, something a little, little shorter where Paul states to the Romans, uh, and in Romans eight, six, that to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life in peace. Right? But the flesh just doesn't disappear. No, it rears its ugly head off. Jesus isn't a magic. Jesus is not a magician. He's a savior. And, and so the flesh doesn't, he, he is not like azam. Boom. Your flesh is gone. Now walk, walking my spirit. I give you the spirit of truth. Walking the spirit of truth. Right? It's not that easy. We have decisions to make. Mm-hmm. Uh, so the flesh doesn't just disappear. Uh, because we love and accept Jesus Christ, the flesh shows up in traffic. I may or may not know. Tell us about that traffic. Something about that. Uh, it also shows up in conflict in traffic, and it shows up in temptation and impatience and pride and anxiety and insecurity. All of these rooted in a lie that the enemy beats us up with. The battles between the flesh and the spirit. It's a daily tension. It is, it is a daily tension. And just as we have had to all along, we have free will to choose or, or decide, you know, are we gonna decide for the flesh or are we gonna decide for God's better way? In the spirit, he didn't send us the, the Holy Spirit as, as. Y'all know that as we accept Christ as our savior, we, we become the temple of the Holy Spirit. He indwells us. God doesn't send us the Holy Spirit just so he can hang out and be ignored. He brings a, he is, he offers us a better way so that we can align and abide with God's truth. Yeah. Who is Jesus Christ? Right. You know, that challenge becomes clearer when we look at John 15, one, where Jesus refers to himself as the true vine and his father as the vine dresser. Right. He, Jesus declares that we have witnessed in our lives through our journey with him. He states, I am the vine and you are the branches. Right? Whoever abides in me and I abide in him, he bears much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. And our challenge is for zero. Zero nothing. Right? And our challenge. Most believers try to produce fruit without abiding. I've tried to produce fruit without abiding. Right. Doing it in my own strength. You know, we try to be patient without the presence of God, and that's difficult. My flesh doesn't wanna be patient. Right. And there's, there's some, I, I had a. I think what Jesus was talking about here is a, a, apart from me, you can do nothing for the kingdom. Mm-hmm. Because there's, I had a guy question me one time. Mm-hmm. Well, I do. You know, I'm a CEO of a multimillion dollar, this, that, and the other. I'm like, that's great. What are you doing for the kingdom? Mm-hmm. And, um, he was very successful and he, he was, he, he wasn't stuck doing nothing. Right. But he was, uh, he was, he was successful in business and that, but he wasn't doing much for the kingdom. Mm-hmm. And that's when I, I started thinking that maybe Jesus was talking about, I mean, they're successful people all around us, that, that don't believe in Christ and have these outlandish beliefs. And who would say that we have outlandish beliefs, right. Uh, and a guy that died for our sins over 2000 years ago. Yeah. But you know, truth is truth. Um. And he's, and, but you know, it's, what are you doing for the kingdom as apart from me? You can do nothing to advance my father's kingdom. He didn't say that, but that, that's somewhat of a, an insinuation or, mm. Uh, that's my thoughts on that, so, yeah. Right. Well. And I think you're probably right. I mean, I see people all the time in the business world who, like you said, are very successful, but how much more successful would they be? Right. If they were doing it for the Kingdom and their success is, is here on earth. Right? Right. You know, how successful are you going to be? When all this crumbles, right. You know, there's, there's your, that's the definition of success. Who, who are Yeah. Are we, are we, um, successful for eternity? Yeah. Because all this, it goes away. Right? Right. It does. And, and you know, when we try to produce fruit without abiding, you know, when we try to be loving without resting in his love. Or try to have self-control without surrender, because I don't know about you, but that's nearly impossible for me to have self-control without surrender. Yeah. Uh, but fruit cannot grow disconnected from the vine. If you think about an apple tree, you cut off the branch of an apple, or you cut off the branch of a tree, an apple tree, you're not gonna produce anything. So, right. Same, you know, any, any produce. I mean, it's, it's the same thing. You cut it off from the vine and it's dead. Yeah. It dries up and will be burnt, is what the word says. Right. So, you know, in Matthew 11. You mentioned, you talked about this a few minutes ago. You know, he tells us to take his yoke upon us and learn from him. And our challenge is learning from him how to stay connected yeah. When, when life gets loud. Yeah. Because Jesus is all about connection. Right. You know, disconnection is the, is the fastest route back to the works of the flesh. Absolutely. So let's talk about what the struggle looks in real life. You know, we wake up, we're full of good intentions, and we're determined to walk peacefully, surrendered. Today, one day at a time, and then your day starts and then life starts coming at you in real time. Traffic is especially brutal. Well, tell us about that, Allen. And throws me off my schedule. My schedule, right? Yeah. We're blasted with stressful emails and, and people are still people, and. You know, God loves all people, but all people don't love God. Right. You know, all people were created in, in, in the image of God, but some people don't believe that. But regardless of whether you believe it or you don't believe it, you were created in the image of God. Right. You know, and but people are still people. People are gonna be people. I don't know who said it, but hater's gonna hate. Yeah. You know, and there, and unfortunately, uh, outside of that door on the highway, there's a lot of hate going on. And, and then there's that someone that certain doesn't have to be a certain someone, it could just be someone who says something that triggers that thing in you or me, that thing and that thing. And before you know it, your reaction starts slipping into irritation, frustration, anger, anxiety, uh, and your. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about, right? You friends are not alone. Uh, but, but people, were not reacting like this because we don't love the Lord. We didn't lose our salvation between the house and the office. Right. Friends', life's demands want nothing but to disconnect us from the one who empowers us forward for God's kingdom. Yeah. Believe this friends, all that we see, everything that we hear and see is a battle between the forces of light and darkness, between Heaven and hell, between God and Satan. And the battle is real. But did you know that the battle has already been won? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It absolutely has, but still, as we grow and mature along our faith journey, sometimes the challenges seem more real than his victory because as so, we view the victory sometimes over two millennia ago, we forget that it's for the here and now also. And sometimes we just get too laser focused on the, the challenge. Which can fully distract us. And like you mentioned, anxiety can then creep in. Yeah. You know, or despair or whatever. And, and old thought patterns try to take over. Um, I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel rushed and pressured, emotionally drained at, at times. And in that tired and weakened place, the my flesh tries to take the wheel, whether it's with an. Impatience. I'm pr I'm a pretty patient person. But you're pretty. Yeah. Yeah. I'll attest to that. Yeah. But sometimes impatience, you know, will take over or comparison is probably a big one for me. Um, self-reliance, discouragement. I face discouragement. Do you ever face discouragement, Allen? Occasionally, occasionally. But the fruit of the spirit that we want is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and, and self-control. And that doesn't flow in the frazzled, hurried, and disconnected state of mind. When that happens, we're temporarily disconnected from the vine. And remember, we are the branches. And branches don't grow like I just talked about. The apple tree branches don't grow if they're disconnected or distracted from the vine. Yeah, I was just, or the trunk of the tree or the trunk of the tree, everything goes down to the roots, man. Right. It does. So fruit, you were just, you were just going through the fruit and I was just, we have dear friend Dick and Brenda Smith, and, and when, when Brenda speaks of the fruit, she's, she's, she's like against this, she's like, hello, against these things. There is no law. No law. Right. That's just, sorry. Yeah. But, but that's what the word says against these things. There is no law. Yeah. But we live in a culture that is. It's owned. I mean, it's owned by the one who wants us disconnected from God. It is, yeah. And from Jesus and from the Holy Spirit. And we live, tend to live in a hurried state. You know, I don't know about all of you, but there are days. Eight out of seven. Whoa. That I move from task to task and responsibility to responsibility and, and there are days that I for get to pause long enough to breathe and get into God's presence. I try to do it as soon as I wake up, like as soon as I opened my eyes. I try to get into the word, but there are days where something comes up and I have to jump out of bed or, and, and I don't, and then it takes me a moment to get back to that place. But we need moments of silence and solitude with him outside of the noise. If we don't have that, then we're just in constant noise. And I don't know about you, but. I don't like to be in constant noise. It kind of agitates me. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I know it agitates you. Yeah. Um, um, yes. Con the con I like quiet. Mm-hmm. I like quiet. I, I'm in con, I'm a, I'm a safety manager in corporate construction, so I don't often get quiet. Mm-hmm. Uh, but when I have an opportunity to drive and I get that a lot, uh, I oftentimes drive in, in silence, you know, and just, and talk with the Lord or just drive. And silence because we gotta get quiet. Yeah. And we gotta get quiet with him daily, uh, so that we grow in his moves forward instead of our own. Mm-hmm. We don't want to get caught up in our own junk. We want when, but when we take that time daily, uh, to practice silence and solitude, these are spiritual disciplines. Uh. We're able to, to move with him. We're able to grow with him. Uh, and uh, and as we grow with him, we, we, we grow closer and more. In unison with the spirit. And, and, and the more in the spirit we are, the less in the flesh we are, uh, silence and solitude keeps us connected to the vine. Mm-hmm. And in the NA and the, uh, new American standard version, that's, that's a capital V. Mm.'cause the vine is Jesus Christ. We, we gotta stay connected to the vine. And when we take daily time with them, uh, we we're staying connected. We're building that relationship and increasing that relationship. You know, uh, or, or we can live in the busyness and wallow in the spiritual discouragement, wondering why we're not any further along than we were a year ago. Yeah. You think, why am I still reacting this way? Why am I still struggling with the same patterns? Mm-hmm. Friends, the enemy, lo, the enemy loves, he loses power when we stay connected, but he loves to accuse us in these moments when, when we're too busy. You know, I've heard it said, if the, if the enemy can't make you bad, it'll make you busy. Mm-hmm. And he loves to accuse us when we're frustrated and frazzled. Not because we're failing, but because he wants us to give up. Yeah. And we, we mentioned this last episode, if you're being attacked, if you're being distracted, if you're, if you're too busy to get the word, then that's spiritual warfare. And, and we must, and and I'm preaching to the choir. I know, I'm preach, I'm, I'm preaching to myself rather. And, and I'm probably preaching to the choir.'cause y'all know what I'm talking about. What we're talking about. Uh, he wants you to believe that alignment with. Your creator is impossible. So you stop trying. Right. That's his way to get ya. Yeah, but waking up and walking with the spirit, it's not about perfection. We're we're. We're not gonna get it perfect and we don't have to because he's the only perfect one. Jesus is the only perfect one. He is not looking for perfection. He's looking for commitment. He is looking for progress. Yeah. So it's not our, our walk with the spirit isn't about perfection. It's about gaining and maintaining our connection with the vine, Jesus Christ, and maintain, maintaining that we gotta gain it and maintain it daily. Right. And then we can stand firm. Yeah. And, and, uh Yeah. Stand for him. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be that hard. I mean, the solution scriptures give the, the scriptures give us is beautifully simple. Just stay connected. You know, walking in the spirit isn't about. Gritting your teeth and forcing spiritual behavior. You know, we talk in, in the recovery world about, you know, gripping white, knuckling it, white, knuckling it. Yeah. You know, and that's, that's don't be that guy, guy. When I think about that, you know about gritting your teeth and forcing spiritual behavior. It's like white knuckling your behavior. Yeah. And, but it's about abiding, which is to remain or fixed in position with Jesus. Another definition is to wait for something patiently, but expectantly without shrinking back. Yeah. So we must abide with Jesus. And when we stay connected to the vine, the father prunes, the branches, he does, and the spirit's fruit grows supernaturally. You know, the love, the joy, the peace, the patience, the kindness, the goodness. The faithfulness and the self-control. Our fruit, the spiritual fruit is the evidence of connection. Yeah. It's not evidence of our willpower. Yeah. It's not white knuckling it and the solution isn't to try harder, it's just to stay closer. Stay closer to him. Yeah. Absolutely. That is so good, babe. Uh, and. I got, I got a, a real time example of this, of you use the, the branches, the fruit, the vine. Mm-hmm. We gotta stay connected. Mm-hmm. Right? And, and the father prunes the branches. And, and then when you're, when you're prune something, uh, it comes back even more vibrantly. Yeah. And, and, and it produces more fruit. And we were, we were on a job site, this was several years ago, and we, we live in the beautiful south Florida. Uh, and there was this massive mango tree on this, on our, our client's property. And we had permission to, I mean, there's a lot of mangoes on the street. It was a massive tree. It'd been there for many, many years. Yeah. They're like this, it's in season. Take as many, take as many as you wanted. Well, we had boom lifts on site and scissor lifts on site. So we'd get up in that tree. Mm. And we're the, the, our, our crew loved it, man, because we had mangoes for weeks. And, uh, and aft he's, they, uh, the guy, uh. The client, he is like, well, after the season's done, they're gonna prune this tree back. Mm-hmm. Well, we went back the, the following year and it had even more fruit on it because it, it had all grown back. It grow. The, the branches grew back vibrant than they were mm-hmm. Initially. And they do that every year. That's why that tree's so big and so fruitful because they, they, they, uh, they great fruit, excellent mangoes, and they must have good root. And let's have good roots. Exactly. And what they, they, uh, but what the word says is that we stay connected to the vine. Yeah. Uh, and the v vine is Jesus. And, and the father prunes the branches. And, and as we're, as we're, we're, we're the branches and the father prunes the branches. And as the branches are prune, we produce more fruit. Yes. And that fruit is what you were talking about in Galatians 9 with the love, joy, peace, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. So it's good stuff. It just, it just popped in my head. I thought I'd share that. Yeah. That, no, that's such a good, um, representation of that. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. This, um, so what you were talking about that looks like welcoming the spirit into. Into our, uh, our daily details. Mm-hmm. Uh, I hear this, I, I listen to a lot of other podcasts and. You know, one of my favorite, uh, authors, speakers, podcasters is, is, uh, John Eldridge. And one of the simple things he says is, we gotta welcome it, welcome him into our dailies. Yeah. We gotta welcome him into our dailies. And I, I really, uh, release everyone and everything to you and welcome him to this day. So instead of starting your morning, leaving God behind you, follow him into every moment of your day. Yeah. Right. So you pray throughout the day. Small prayers, honest prayers, doesn't have to be, you know, forever. And in fact, Jesus says to, uh, not blather on or, or Babylon like the, like the pagans do. Mm-hmm. You know, so. Just short prayer. Just, just as, as we've opened our day to him, leave the day wide open and the prayer might sound like, holy Spirit, would you guide me through this response? Yeah. How, how do I respond in this challenging situation, you know, or Jesus, would you center my heart? Just take a step back, breathe and, and recognize that he is the Lord of our life, and say, Lord, would you center me here? And, or maybe it's, Lord, guide my eyes, uh, and let me see this situation through your perspective. Yeah. Uh, these simple pauses become spiritual anchors that keep our heart aligned, uh, when life wants to pull us way off track. Right? And another part of the solution is, is cultivating rhythms that feed your spirit and starve your flesh. You know? Yeah. We know rhythms like starting your morning in scripture before scrolling through social media. Yeah. You know, I, I try to do that, but there are days where I don't, or maybe taking a worship break instead of a worry break. I like that. Yeah, that's good. Pausing before reacting. I was just talking about this with someone today actually. We were talking about responding instead of reacting and how we just need to take a moment sometimes when somebody is, when our flesh is starting to tingle. Right. Taking a moment and thinking about it before we pop off with something and you know, listening before speaking. Yeah. Creating space for silence. Um, so the noise of the world doesn't drown out. The voice of God really is what it comes down to. And these rhythms aren't legalism, but they're lifelines. They're lifelines. They are the lifeline to the way, the truth and the life, and they create margin for the spirit to lead and for the spiritual fruit to grow. Absolutely. That, that sounds a lot like Jesus. Well, we try to, we should try to model ourselves after him. Correct. That's absolutely correct. Yeah. So, and we can't forget about the role of community. Mm. You know, we were, we'll find, we will find unity in community. Right. We say that often. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I love and I, and we do say it often. Mm-hmm. And not just on here, but the last five. Letters of community is unity. Right. So common unity. Mm-hmm. We wanna find common unity with the, with the people around us. Yeah. And, uh, walking into spirit becomes harder when you're isolated. Anything's harder when you, when you're isolated. If you're, uh, when you're making progress for the kingdom, the enemy wants to isolate us. And, uh, that's, that's never a good place to be. Mm-hmm. So what, but when we're. When we're, uh, surrounded by like-minded believers, uh, they, they can encourage us, right? Uh, they can correct us in love. Uh, they can speak truth into our life. And, uh, and when they do, when we receive that truth, when we receive that correction, when we receive that encouragement, the spirit's fruit flourishes in our life, right? And, and, and in our community. And that, and that's advancing the kingdom when we're aligned with our spouse spiritually. You know, man, that's, that's, well, and we've both been in marriages where we weren't aligned with our spouses spiritually, I mean, yeah. In full transparency. Yeah. Yeah. I was, uh, my first, uh, unfortunately, uh. My first marriage was, um, we, we were, neither one of us were aligned with the Lord. Right? So it was a train wreck. Yeah. Uh, no comment. No further comment, sir. Right. Um, but moving on, the, uh, it's important to be aligned with our spouse spiritually. Yeah. And, um, when we are, peace becomes the atmosphere of our home. And when, uh, when we're connected to life-giving relationship, the spirit has space to work through, uh, unity and through accountability. There's a nice word, right? I love accountability, man. Unless I'm wrong. And then, uh, and then does anybody like accountability when you're wrong? Necessary. I don't know that anybody really likes it. Necessary when they're wrong, it's necessary, but you know. You know, when, when we're honest with each other, when we're walking with the spirit, we'll, we'll take that accountability'cause, and we grow through that as, as we allow ourselves to be held accountable. We, in fact, we must allow ourselves to be held accountable, right? And, uh, and, uh, that, that's pro, that's most likely an episode for another time. You know, we weren't, we weren't, uh, designed to walk. Uh, through life alone. Right? And we gotta remember that God created us for relationship, all of us. And, and he uses people to keep us grounded. So we're better. Sure. Does. Together. Yeah. Yes. So here is your invitation for the week. You know, we like to always give you a call to action, so. Choose one daily rhythm that helps you stay connected to Jesus. Maybe it's five minutes of scripture before your day starts, before you even get outta bed, before you even, uh, plant your feet on the ground. You know your Bible next to your bed. Um. Your phone. You know, I do use my phone and it's sometimes it's hard to keep myself from looking at the social media before I look at the scripture, but I've gotten a whole lot better at that. Right. But maybe it's pausing a few times during the day and taking a deep breath and just saying, holy Spirit, I invite you in. I invite you into this, this situation, into this thought, into this meeting. Yeah. You know, before you go into a meeting, invite him into that meeting. Maybe it's worship in the car instead of noisy nonsense. I can't stand noisy nonsense in the car. She does not like noisy nonsense in the car at all. I like, I like my worship music and, and that's, that's pretty much it. That, or silence and time with the Lord. But yeah. Um, maybe it's praying with your spouse, even like you said, even briefly, you know, just a, a couple minute prayer. It doesn't have to be long and drawn out, but whatever it is. Commit it to a rhythm that roots you in the spirit instead of letting your day run you because you wanna own the day, not your day. Own you. We wanna, we wanna follow the Lord through the day. Well, yes, but that's, but if we let the day own us. Yeah. It's never gone to the stresses of the day. You're talking about the stressor of the day, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It doesn't end end nicely. You wanna run your day instead of letting your day run you. That's a, that's a, that's a, yep. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And it's important to remember that walking into spirit isn't about getting. Getting it perfect. We're not gonna get it perfect. Please, ever, please, ever understand that perfection is not a part of this. Uh, it's, but what it's really about is returning to Jesus repeatedly through the day. Mm-hmm. Uh, on a, on a daily basis. The spirit's fruit grows as we remain with him. His peace deepens as we abide in him. His strength rises. When we stay connected to the vine, transformation doesn't come from striving friends. It comes from staying close to the one who transforms us from the inside out. Amen. Amen. And that's what it's all about. None of this is ever about, and we talk about this extensively in our ministry, uh, reviving Recovery Unbound. Yeah. Uh, our, our our Life Recovery, which everybody. Needs recovery. We, we've all been challenged somewhere, but never is our recovery from whatever it, it may be, whatever we're recovering from. Never is it about behavior modification. Mm-hmm. But always spiritual transformation and the difference is recovering from the outside in, which is futile effort. Mm-hmm. Uh, or. Recovering from the inside out, and that's transformation and that's what God's interested in. That's what, uh, I, I was telling a guy the other day that, uh, and he's, he's challenged and he's, he looks really great on the outside, but is, you know, in, in our group, he's, he's pretty transparent and, but he's a nice guy. And I was like, bro. I was like, Jesus didn't come, so you'd be a nice guy. He came so that you would be healed. Yes. And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, dude. And, uh, he is like that. That's the way y'all talk to each other, huh? God. Well that's the way he talks. And dude and yeah, fella. Yeah. No, none of us call each other fella really. Any our fella. Well, anyhow. We are wrapping up this episode and we just wanna thank you for joining us. Know that we are praying that you'll experience a fresh sensitivity to the Holy Spirit this week. Yes. That you will feel his presence guiding you, grounding you. And forming the fruit of Christ in your life. So we'd love to hear about your experience. Yeah, share it if you like. You can drop it in the comments or you can drop us a message at faithfullyinvested.com on our website. Either way, we would love to hear from you. We would love to know how we can specifically pray for you as well, because we believe in the power of prayer. Absolutely. Absolutely. And as always. We encourage you all to stay faithfully invested because when you do, God brings the increase. He sure does. God bless you. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Thanks for joining us on Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo, if today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you see your calling more clearly, don't keep it to yourself. That's right. Share it with a friend. Leave a five star review and keep leaning into God's blueprint for your life, your leadership, and your legacy. So until next time, remember, when you invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase.