Kingdom Over Culture Podcast

Choosing Kingdom In A Culture Of Noise

• Ashley Potter • Season 2 • Episode 1

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What happens when you stop asking God to co-sign your plans and start letting Him lead? We’re back with a fresh chapter of Kingdom Over Culture, welcoming Marissa as our new co-host and naming the tension so many of us feel: living for Jesus while culture rewards shortcuts, performance, and noise. Together we map a better way—rooted, honest, and fruitful.

We start with Jacob’s story, a mirror for modern detours. He knew God’s promise and still grabbed it the wrong way, spending years untangling the fallout. That same pattern shows up when we move “near” obedience, carry secret idols, and confuse hustle for faith. Then we turn to Colossians, where Paul cuts through spiritual fog and syncretism with simple clarity: be filled with the knowledge of His will, walk worthy, and let your life bear recognizable fruit—endurance, patience, joy, and gratitude. We talk discernment in an age of viral “words,” why some revelations are for formation not the timeline, and how to anchor identity in Christ when algorithms reward spectacle.

This conversation gets real about weakness too—career shifts, divorce, ministry pressure, and the myth of unbreakable strength, especially for Black women. We share how dependence on God isn’t defeat; it’s the doorway to true power. Think of holding a rope loosely: when God pulls, open hands prevent burn and make room to receive the next assignment. Along the way, we name spiritual warfare that tried to shut our mouths, the community that held up our arms, and the steady patience of a God who qualifies us and transfers us from striving to surrender.

If you’ve been craving a faith that’s quieter than the feed but stronger than the storm, you’ll feel at home here. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review telling us: where are you choosing kingdom over culture this week?

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Welcome Back And New Co-Host

SPEAKER_01

What's up guys? Welcome to Kingdom Over Culture Podcast. And I'm so excited to have you guys back and to be back. Um, we have taken a little bit of a break, and I just really believe that the Lord wanted to restructure some things and just reframe some things, and so I'm super, super excited to introduce you guys to our new Kingdom Over Culture co-host, my best friend Marissa Arnold. Hey guys, hello.

SPEAKER_00

I'm excited to be here and I love you.

Meet Marissa: Calling And Community

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes, yes, yes. You know, when I started this podcast, I really wanted um to have a co-host and have someone to be there with me. Um, and just after prayer and just revelation from the Lord, it's just like God put us together for friendship, yeah, but also for just so much more. And so um, I'm so glad that you said yes, and I'm excited to see what the Lord's gonna do. Same. Yes. So I want you guys to know a little bit about her, so just share with everyone a little about yourself and yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00

Um, again, hi. I don't know why I just got like super, super nervous, but okay. Um, I am Marissa Arnold. Um, I am also Ashley's best friend. Uh, and I love God. I do. Um, I'm a native of Savannah, born and raised here, um, and which is really funny because she is too, but we didn't become friends until our adulthood. Um, so it truly is, I feel like a God-assigned um kingdom friendship. But I'm a mother, um, I am a community uh advocate. There we go. I'm a faith leader. Um, I love to worship and to sing. Um on the I'm on the worship team. I am an author. I just wrote a uh preteen novel series uh that is faith-focused. And yeah, I truly genuinely love God and love people. And so that's that's me. And you'll get to know more. You'll get to know more.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And honestly, I mean, that is so true. Love God, love people, and you're like the perfect example for what that looks like, even for me. Um we often say that um I'm the black cat and you're the golden.

SPEAKER_02

That's true.

SPEAKER_01

It's true. So, I mean, I've got the love God pretty much down. Um, it's the love people part that you help me with. Because even when I think I'm loving well, you'll do something, and I'm like, dang, that's the love of God. That's what it looks like. Okay, let me tighten up.

SPEAKER_00

But in turn, like since our friendship, I've definitely been able to see you as a model example of somebody who like chases after God with her whole heart, and that's helped my own personal faith walk. It's helped my own faith walk um as well. So I I I really thank God for you. And I thank you so much. And fun fact, both of our middle names are Gwen.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, it's a bestie pair, yeah.

Kingdom Over Culture For Millennials

SPEAKER_01

No, you know, Gwenin. Yeah, Gwenning. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Okay, we're gonna keep it together and try to um not overly besty you guys. Um, but I want to kind of move on. We kind of get to know you a little bit, and I want to get into what is this podcast gonna be about? What does this look like? I know for me, I'm definitely heavy on the ministry side, and a lot of the things that I see or that we see, honestly, um, in our friends, in the church, we really want to be a representation of our generation or for our generation. What does it look like to walk in the kingdom in our culture as a millennial? And it's hard. Um, and we both have such similar but also different experiences and stances for what that looks like. Yeah. I mean, you're kind of dominating in the corporate girly world and you know, showing up for Christ in that area, in that arena, um, recently divorced, so coming through that transition and just being able to speak to women um and men that are in those different spaces. Yeah. Um, I am not in the corporate world anymore. I live my life freely in a yes and in an amen for the Lord, which is not for the weak guys, um, and it does not pay well. But ma'am, please.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, just kidding. But we're not in the corporate world, but you still use those skills. Like she's downplaying everything that she does. She started an annual worship festival, okay, that is known. Pick it up, that is known not only locally, but like not even just statewide. It's it's it's amazing. It's worship in the park. So you use the gifts that God has given you in any and every like, I guess, area. Um, so don't, don't, don't forget. No, no, no.

Accepting The Mantle Of Leadership

SPEAKER_01

And I mean, I'm not downplaying it. I'm just saying the different areas that we both kind of like can speak to. Whereas I'm I more show up in the like church aspect behind the scenes of leading in a church and all those things, which you're kind of getting a taste of. And this is the same thing. When I first got positioned as the worship pastor, um, I did not even put it on my email. Like, you know how on your signature, you know, it has like your job, your name, your phone number, all that jazz. I put, what did I think? I put worship, I think it was just leader. And I had it for I had it there for months. And I remember I was at an art conference um at the Highlands, and Charlotte Gamble, shout out to Charlotte Gamble. Um, she was preaching, and her sermon was really, really honestly, like it still impacts me. And I've kind of based our entire worship mindset from that sermon. But at the end, she called leaders to repentance um for basically not upholding the mantle that the Lord gave them, um, for not even taking care of it diligently. And I myself had rejected the mantle. I was okay with doing the work, but I wasn't okay with the title. I wasn't okay with honestly, not just the title, but the responsibility attached to the title, the life responsibility attached to the title. Um, that was terrifying for me. And I remember Charlotte was like, if you need to repent, come to the altar. I was on the first row, and when I took a first step, the altar was already filled. I couldn't even like move. I was already in the front, but this is a room full of pastors. They ran to the altar, and I was just like, Well, Lord, I can't go to the altar. But I was like, you know what? I'm already up here. And I remember I knelt down at my chair. I turned around and I knelt at my chair, and the Lord said, I'm making a pastor out of you. You do not have to run away from this anymore. And I realized a lot of my fear was because I just I was more afraid of the responsibility and I didn't know how to be that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but trusting in the Lord to like fulfill that duty where he has me. And it's not been easy, and it's not easy at all. Like caring for, I mean, my my team is 40 people, so it's not that many people, but it's a lot of people still to be spiritually responsible for and to lead. It's a it's a large undertaking, but God doesn't make any mistakes. Yeah, and um yeah, so I just kind of speak that over you. He's gonna form you into that. You may not feel natural or even welcome immediately, yeah, but to trust that the Lord will not call me to something that he hasn't already, first of all, equipped me for, but that he won't continue to equip me for it. Yeah, like he's going, he's strategically placing you in spaces um to give you what you need so that you can give this large group of people who our church needed this, we needed this. Yeah. So knowing that he's put the right people in the right place at the right time to produce what he wants to produce in this season.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I receive, also feel some conviction because you're right, and I know this, and you know, you know, you know a lot. I get into that later.

SPEAKER_02

But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, so thank you. How's this gonna work moving forward? Um, we got a little introductions out of this out of the way. So I am like fire, and Marissa is the ice. Um, and so I really wanted her to bring a cooling, calming, corny aspect to it's fine. So she has a joke for you guys. I do have a joke. She's gonna have a joke at the beginning of every podcast. Morse is gonna have a joke for us, and um, I'm gonna judge the joke.

SPEAKER_00

You didn't say you're gonna judge it. I feel like this should be a judgment free zone. Um I own my corniness. Let's just go ahead and put that there. Um I know I know who I am, and I God made me this way. I God made me this way. So, what you got for us today? What's the joke? I'm not a historian or anything, um, but I am and uh it may be true, it may not be true. I guess I have to look it up, but was there coffee back in that time when Jesus was here? I don't maybe like just the beans. I don't know. It had to be because I mean Hebrews, yeah, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's fine. We live in Savannah and so I like to go, you know. I I actually like to go out on the water. We need to go on a boat trip. But um, if if somebody needs a boat, I know a guy.

SPEAKER_02

I know a I know a guy. Come on.

SPEAKER_01

I was very lost, but now I'm found. I know a guy. I know a guy. Please. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Shout out to my son, because he helped me with that one.

SPEAKER_01

Of course, you got that from your seven-year-old. Actually, CJ. Oh, that's embarrassing. Actually, CJ. I'm not okay with that, CJ. Tighten up.

SPEAKER_00

We're we're mothers, um, and we have children that are close. Uh well, two of our children, um, our oldest, they're the same age.

SPEAKER_01

No.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, they are. Mariah's 12.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, our oldest. I'm sorry. You said two of our children. And then I said the oldest. I thought you were talking about like your first two, your oldest two. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, okay. But no, I mean, even our oldest children are the same age. Are the same age, but then your Amari is 10th.

SPEAKER_01

Amari's 10th.

Fire And Ice: Format And Jokes

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And my my middle, he's eight. So I still feel like that's kind of close. Our children are close. How about yeah, they are close.

SPEAKER_02

Our children are close. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00

I forgot where I was going with that, but we're talking about CJ helping me with the joke. I can't, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

CJ is um not, I would not expect him to have done that joke. That was a Zoom. Um, well, I hope you guys got a giggle out of the joke. Um, yeah, because we know a guy. We know a guy. His name is Jesus. All right, all right. So tell me, actually.

SPEAKER_00

No, I'm gonna ask you, Bestie.

SPEAKER_01

You're gonna ask me. Yeah. Okay. What are you studying? What am I studying? So uh I've been studying about I was supposed to be studying about Joseph, but I felt like I couldn't get the fullness of Joseph without starting with the daddy. So I went back and I started studying about Jacob, and now I'm kind of like stuck there. Um, because Jacob is just such a rich story. Um, I believe it's between like Genesis 25 and like 37. That sounds almost right. That's crazy. I literally just opened up to that.

SPEAKER_02

Um, what the chapter 37?

Study Deep Dive: Jacob’s Detours

SPEAKER_01

34. Genesis 25 to 34. And one of the things that I really am enjoying about the story of Jacob is that like you see this struggle between having the knowledge of God and the struggle with sin. It's the the struggle of the believer. Um, even though you know Jacob was his mama was true, to be honest. Yeah, but Jacob had a knowledge of God. I mean, this his daddy is Isaac, yeah, son of Abraham. So he has a knowledge of God, he knows how to worship God, he knows how to serve God, like he has a knowledge of God, but he also had the knowledge of sin. And like watching Jacob struggle with that, I think one of the biggest things, the biggest takeaways that I have from Jacob is that like God called him. Like before Jacob was ever even born, God had already called him to be Israel. His mom knew too, like he had a calling over his life, but she manipulated the calling. She manipulated the way that he received it. If God called him to it, he would surely provide it in a way that was honorable to him. But the way that the way that she taught him how to steal the promises of God, yeah, and you see how that works out in Jacob's life. Like to to for him to receive that promise, even though it was taken in a terrible way, he had to pay with his life. Yeah. For how many years? 12 years, 14 years, something crazy.

SPEAKER_00

He ran himself off of that one.

SPEAKER_01

He he lost so much time. And isn't that just like us when we know that, like, okay, God, you told me that I was gonna be this, and we go and we take it for ourselves and we realize, man, I am trying to put myself in the position of God to make something that God said come to pass. Right. And I have to deal with the fallout from it. Yeah. Because I try to put myself in the place of God and how it steals so much of our time. And it's like if we didn't, if we would have just trusted God with what he said that he would do from the beginning, what he has to mature in us over that 12-year, 20-year span, he could have done it in that time where we were committed to doing things his way. Yeah. Like all the things that God had to work out of Jacob during that time at his uncle house, yeah, he literally, like, you got your promise out of deception. Now you're gonna have to get your wife through deception.

SPEAKER_02

Talk about a full circle. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Like, yeah, that was not necessary, but it was necessary because you had to learn something. God had to sit him down and be like, all right, this is what you need to know about me. And even after, like, God, even after Jacob wrestled with God and all those things, like, he still was disobedient. This was the part that really blew my mind. God didn't wait for Jacob to get it right before he called him Israel.

SPEAKER_02

Jacob still didn't get it right, but God doesn't necessarily have just us on his mind. Say more about that.

SPEAKER_01

Um we a lot of times as believers, we can battle with like, oh, I need to get myself right before I can say yes to God in this, or I need to get myself to this place before I can be obedient in this space. But God is not necessarily waiting on that. He is God and He will work those things out because He does not have an individualistic mindset. He sees past us into generations, He sees past us into our children, into our children's children, into our community. And so, what God will do is He'll be patient with us in certain things. Like Jacob had gotten to another level of wanting to say yes to God and he and he wrestled with God so much so he said, I will not let you go until you bless me. And the blessing was he wanted to know that he can go back to his brother without being killed. God renamed him Israel. He blessed him. He went and he saw his brother. His brother greeted him with love and all of these things. And God to God gave him specific instructions. He said, I bless you, da-da-da-da. But return back to the home of your father. So Jacob trusted God enough to like do that. He goes, he's greeted by his brother with love, which is such a great depiction of the father. Like we'll be so afraid to return back to him because the enemy has told us that God doesn't love us, God doesn't care about us, oh, we've been gone for too long, a lie. Um, I think the depiction of Jacob and Esau is such a great depiction of when we return back to the Lord, he greets us with open arms. But Jacob still had fear, and so he left from his father's land where God told him to go and be, and he went to this other land, and his daughter gets raped. God told him, for one, he said, get rid of all your eye, all your idols and go live in the land of your father. Rachel, the wife that he done waited for for all them years, child, baby, you got the idols that you done took from your daddy's house. You're toting them, your husband done said get rid of them, and you still holding on to them. She disobedient, Jacob disobedient, his churn disobedient. So what does that get?

SPEAKER_00

Girl. What does that beget?

SPEAKER_01

Disobedience, disobedience, disobedience, begets more disobedience. And because Jacob did not raise his children in his family in the admonition of the Lord, now that he wanted to get right with the Lord, he's trying to teach them and show them, and they like this is new to us. Like they're grown. So they get to this place, child, and the daughter gets raped. Boy, them brothers. Now, mind you, these is Joseph brothers, the same brothers that put him in the pit. Those brothers kill like the whole town. Yeah. I can't remember if it was like every man or something like that, but they end up slaughtering this entire town. Now this blood is on Jacob's head. Now the other towns that are around them, first of all, you're somewhere where you weren't even supposed to be at. You've reached trouble once again, trying to manipulate the truth of God and the um orders of God. Because God told him to go back to his to the land of his father, but he went in the outskirts. That's like God be like, you know, move back to Savannah, but you you go and you live in poop.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's not Savannah. That's not Savannah. And so Jacob went, and he in once again, he meets issues, he meets um things that he would not have had to deal with if he was just obedient the first time. Yeah. And then he finally is obedient. And guess what happens when he gets there? His daddy dies. And his wife. I said, this is a story. You literally went through about yeah, that is the rundown of what I've been studying about Jacob.

SPEAKER_00

Six, seven chapters. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

25 through 34. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I think that's something to be said when we talk about, you know, kingdom over culture in everything that you just said, what is it that culture will say? Well, that's fine. Right. We we you gotta test the waters or you gotta go out and see for yourself. You know, but there's always a reckoning that comes into place when it's like, actually, if I would have heeded my my parents' word or like, you know, their warnings or their teachings, I wouldn't have had to go through the things that I had to go through. Because of like God's sovereignty, it all is necessary. Um, but we prolong the process.

SPEAKER_01

God will work it out for our good. Yes. But some things won't have to be worked out if you were good to begin with. Correct.

SPEAKER_02

Correct. Correct.

Culture Vs. Obedience And Delay

Rooted In Christ: Colossians 2

SPEAKER_00

So, what have you been studying? Um, you were in Genesis. I have been in Colossians. Um, it has been speaking to me. Um, I know we talked about uh the new young adult ministry, our anchor scripture is Colossians 2, um, six through seven. And actually, I do want to read it. Um, because it was important when thinking about uh just us as millennials, uh the different life stages that uh the ages 18 to 35, I'm like this this is young adulthood. And some of you may, you know, be like, oh, that age range is is quite a range there, but we can talk about that later. Um, but for me, it was just super important when I was thinking about uh this anchor scripture. What is something that can attest to the different stages of life that people go through throughout that range? Uh it's about identity, it's about um walking in the way, you know, on a day-to-day basis, not performing, but like being grounded and rooted in Christ and being able to model that in your everyday life. Um, and so with that, Colossians two, six, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. So that alluded with me like walking in the way, right? Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with Thanksgiving. Um, so studying this entire book, but that's what really like stuck out to me. And then I thought, well, I needed context because I don't want to just go to a scripture and then focus on it and choose it as the anchor because it had this thing, well, it had a word in it that we were gonna name this young adult ministry. So it's important, guys, like when you are in your word where the Holy Spirit leads, um, to ask for discernment, ask God to like illuminate things to you um as you're reading so that you can interpret and understand the word. Um, so with that, it was like, okay, well, it's good to know the context behind Colossians, and it's Paul, the apostle, right? And at this point, he was in Rome, do you know? Paul? Yeah. I don't know where he was at. I think he was in jail. He was in jail, and I think it was in Rome. I think so, but I know he was pretty much in prison um with that. And so you had the people of Colosse who were Gentiles, and um the faith was shared with them. They accepted uh, they accepted Jesus. He had never met them, but he was writing letters to them and basically saying, like, hey, before we put on the how am I trying to phrase this? Before we put on all things like I'm I'm walking in the way and I am a follower, and I am a believer, you have to know who you are. You have to be rooted and firm, you have to understand the identity of being a follower of Jesus Christ, right? Um, because a lot of times, especially for new believers, it's like, okay, I'm in it, I'm here, but then anything can come at you and then you can believe it to be true if you if you don't have like a good foundation, or and or if you don't have a good foundation, um, or if you're just willingly accepting what people who also say that they believe the faith or that they are leaders, you know, um of the faith and they're implanting all of these things in you, you have to be able to discern for yourself. Um, so that that's the main point that I want to say with that. That's Paul reminding them hey, you have to be able to stand firm in who you know Christ Jesus to be, your understanding of that. And these are the ways, and this is how you walk in that on a day-to-day uh basis. So that is what I'm into right now with Colossians, and I think it's applicable in day-to-day life, not only back then, but right now. Like, how do you walk in the way of the Lord? How am I arming myself in my mind and my actions, um, in my heart posture, all of those things. Um, and it's with like humility and it's with love and and all of these things, and it's not about uh spirituality and oh, I'm putting on the title of Christian, and now I can do all of these things. Like, no, it's it's I feel like it's simpler than that, and it goes back to like the heart posture of the matter.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I think so. I was up this morning um in my prayer time, and we kind of had some ideas of like what to talk about today, and uh I just felt like the Lord led me to Colossians. Now, mind you, I actually didn't remember that you were studying Colossians, which as you were talking, it did bring back some memory. Okay, okay, you know, there were, you know, maybe a couple conversations, maybe lesson six. Um but honestly, I don't know when the last time I opened up Colossians, and I just felt like the Lord wanted me to read Colossians this morning. And before I read, honestly, anything, I asked myself the Ws. What, when, where, who, and why. And um, so I I'm looking at this, I'm like, okay, who what's up with the church at Colossea? Um, where's Paul? Which he actually was in Rome. Okay. Um and in jail. Um, I just knew he was in jail, child. Um, he was he's writing to this church that he didn't um, he didn't plant this church. Right. It was planted through someone that he discipled. Um, but he heard about some issues that they're having at this church and some issues they're having in this city. And so I was just kind of reading it like, Lord, what do you, what do you know, what are you showing me? And I did like my little Bible study this morning, and I call you, and you're like, excuse me. That was my I'm sorry. Do I sound like that? Yeah, am I supposed to be like that? We'll talk later. That's what you got out of that whole thing.

SPEAKER_02

Go ahead, continue.

SPEAKER_01

But how I'm supposed to sound in a in a in a that's accurate, but not that your voice is more high pitched than mine. That's just all I was portraying. It wasn't me. It was you, whatever.

SPEAKER_02

Excuse me. You know how they study clashes.

Discernment Over Viral “Revelations”

SPEAKER_01

Did I? Um, and so we start talking about it, and I thought that it would be a great kind of talking point for us. One of the things, I mean, we know right now, it is very interesting being a believer in this strange times that we're in. It's like on one side you are like, yes, Jesus, and then you go online and you see these people saying the same things, but theirs is laced with hate and prejudice and hurt. And it's like, ugh, do I even like, and I feel like it that can make Christianity come off as confusing. Like, what is this really about? What how are, you know, how do I know who's his and who is not? And I think that Paul was really addressing some of these things with the church in Colossea. Um, in I want to start off in chapter one, okay, where he's greeting them. And one of the things as I was researching was that this particular church in their region, they were surrounded by a lot of mystical beliefs. Um mystical as in I don't want to say witchcraft, but from what I what I what I researched, it said that there were Jewish practices, but they were backed by like mystical things. So let's say a higher spirituality, but you know, like that thought process of uh what's that thing that people be doing? Like higher vibrations and all that kind of stuff. Um, oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00

Uh like with the crystals and different dimensions and the astros, yes, astrology and all of those things.

SPEAKER_01

So this is kind of like where there we go. Yeah, all of that.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

Walking Worthy: Fruit And Practice

SPEAKER_01

So they're always looking for like this higher sense of like, oh, I've got this grand revelation of the Lord, and they're they're chasing these like really mystical moments. But the church is tying these things in with Christianity, and what they'll do is they'll like, oh, I believe a little bit of this, I believe a little bit of that, and they'll they start to like put it together, and you have like this gumbo of spirituality, but there is no like real truth and rooted in the scriptures. So, like Paul is writing to this church, and um I like how I like how he starts with Thanksgiving. He says, We always thank God our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you all have for the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. This is of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed as the whole world, it is bearing fruit and increasing, as it does among you also, um, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth. So he's just saying, you know, like I'm so grateful that you guys believing and hearing the word of the word of the Lord. And I want to encourage you that this is growing not just here, but everywhere. I believe the city of Colossea was in um the area of like Asia at the time. So this is like 30 years after Jesus, Jesus has ascended to heaven and um everything happened at the cross, and now it's doing what Jesus said, like go out to all the nations. And so the word is really, really reaching all these different spaces and places, and now it's reached this city. And Paul is like, I'm so grateful that you guys, you know, know the Lord and that you're hearing um about the scriptures. Um, and I'm glad that this dear brother of mine is there discipling you guys. And in verse 9, he says, So from the day that we heard, we've not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And so I want to stop there. Um, because these were of people that were chasing knowledge, chasing wisdom, sort of like um what we may be doing right now, um chasing wisdom, deeper revelation. Everybody has a oh, the Lord says um this, and the Lord is doing this. The Lord is the, you know, oh, I have this belief that this person is a witch and this person is that. Yeah. And I feel like a lot of the things that we're facing right now, a lot of the things that are coming up, whether they may be political or cultural, they are really nothing but distractions that are trying to keep us from hearing and knowing and being filled with the knowledge of his will. We want the knowledge, but we don't want to know his will.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Like, what is God's will for my life? What is God's will for um my church, for my my city, for whatever it is that I may be doing for my business, for my job, like not necessarily my will. These are people that were getting Jesus and tagging him along to what they already have. Yeah. And he's saying, no, Jesus is not an addition, he is the whole thing. Yes, it's all about him. And so what you really should be focusing on, what you really should be praying for, is not that God removes you from the space, not that God removes you from the hard situation or from um even hearing or having to deal with these battling beliefs around you that people are living, you know, saying they live for God, but doing other things. Don't be distracted by these things, but pray that you be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

SPEAKER_00

Pleasing, pleasing to him. I'm hearing this and I'm thinking like social media. I'm I'm gonna use social media as an example. Um, in today's time, culture will have it where if you did receive a word, then then I feel like I gotta put it out there on a platform for all to hear. It couldn't have been just for you. God told me to tell the masses. Yeah, God told me to tell you that you need to leave that situation ship alone or it's a slow burn. Like literally, I'm scrolling um looking for hairstyles um this morning, and TikTok is just doing all of these things. And I know it knows I'm a Christian because that's what I be clicking and liking and sharing and everything else, if there's something good or if there's a worship, but then somewhere along the line, the algorithm just kept feeding different things where it was that God said this, I received the word after um I did the Esther fast and blah blah blah blah blah. And it just made me think like, well, who told you to share? Did he really tell you to share this? Right. Because I'm looking at all of the likes and you have 16,000 likes, and everybody thinks that you're specifically talking to them about a hopeful slow burn coming, like in terms of relationship. Uh I'm a little skeptical. I'm not sure if that was specifically like or what what is the reason by the way? Did the Lord say slow burn? Did the Lord, did the Lord say that? Not my Lord. You know, or it's like in that job, like you, you, that that promotion is coming. And so I'm just so curious, like what when you have things that you feel, and I'm not the one to say that if God told you, what Pastor Corey, I would say, if you practice with God told you, then then who am I to say he didn't tell you? But I do want to push a little bit further, and it goes back to his will part. Yeah, you know, God can tell you things, but then what is the will? Is that for you to keep to yourself? Is that for you to share with others? Is that to be uh between you and one specific person? Right. But because you have received some type of revelation or a message or some type of insight, we get so excited, and it's like, oh, oh, oh, oh, I received this. So now I'm gonna push it out there for everybody. Yeah. And I feel like that is an example of uh of what we were talking about, where you have uh those, well, how did he title it? The the people who are like making things mystical.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it's it's it's so much more simple than that. That's what I'm saying. That that is that is that is the the 100% truth. It's so much more simple, simple than that. And I think that's what Paul is trying to say. Like, stop reaching for what sounds good and what feels good, and get in your word, get into understanding what the Lord is saying, get spiritual wisdom, which if you want to hear from the Lord, you gotta get in here. Yes, because any opposing voice you won't be able to recognize because you don't have a preface to say what the Lord even sounds like. Like, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, I just had a thought. I had a thought. If I'm MIR and then I get revelation, um I've been studying this this this book. The all all four chapters, I think it's four. Um, because it's a real short book, but either way, and things that are good to me, that's that fills me. Right. I don't feel like it's it's only halfway satisfying, and then it's only full if I go forth and like in and tell the masses now because me, you have our relationship. Sometimes I'm like, oh my god, like ah, I want to share. There's that voice. I just heard it. I just heard it. Okay.

Strength Through Weakness And Trust

SPEAKER_01

I'm not crazy.

SPEAKER_00

I just heard it. I got excited. I got excited, but when I get excited and I want to share it, it's not that I'm not filled with the thank you, Lord, for it because I shared it with you. I'm already filled because I got that insight for myself.

SPEAKER_01

Here's what I'm hearing: work out your own salvation. And a lot of times we want our workout to match someone else's workout, and we want to make that God, we want to make that full truth, but a lot of times the Lord will speak to you because that's what He has for you. It is not for everyone. That's like I know somebody right now who the Lord told them that they can't eat chips. No, like you can't eat no more chips. They had a love for Lay's chips. Does that mean chips are evil? And they just supposed to go around and be like, oh, you eating them Satan chips that the Lord delivered me from. Right. No, it was because you lacked self-control in this area, and God had to challenge your flesh so that He can be God and not potatoes that are fried. Yeah. Work out your own salvation and not don't cling to somebody else's salvation or someone else's spiritual experience to tell you what yours should look like. Yeah, you can find it in the word. And the thing that I love about this first part of this scripture is that, like Paul doesn't make you have to wonder what that looks like. It says, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God, and may you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints and the light. So, what does it look like to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord? It looks like you're being fully pleasing to him. It looks like you're bearing fruit, being fruitful, being fruitful, bearing fruit in every good work. And it looks like you're increasing in the knowledge of God. How do we increase in the knowledge of God? We are going after what he is saying. Not necessarily what we're looking to hear, but what he has already said. How are you doing that in your daily life right now? Girl, it looks like having prayer time, making sure that I'm carving out time for prayer. I had on my um, I changed it for Valentine's Day to the one with the heart on it. But I had as my um screen on my phone, this lady posted this and I and I saved it as my screensaver. It says, if you skip the secret place, you'll crave validation instead of revelation. And I let this be a grounding for me because I know that I'm the type of person that I look for validation. I look for that like good job, but God has placed me in spaces where I will not get that because I am the person that has to encourage myself. There's no boss well in a lot of spaces or a leader above me. And I have to actually get that from the Lord and I get it in the secret place. Um, so not skipping those moments with the Lord is so important. And when we don't have that, when we skip those moments, instead of strengthening our spirit, we're weakening our spirit and strengthening our flesh. Yeah. And it's harder and harder and harder to like get back to that place. Yeah, it is a discipline that you grow because you want uh to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, because you want to be fully pleasing to Him. How can I please someone that I don't know? Yeah, so it's spending time in prayer, it's um reading my Bible and not just to read it, but to do it. Yeah, to walk it out. How does this, how does this Lord, how do you want this to influence the framework of my vision and my life? Um But one of the things that it says is may you be strengthened with all. Power according to his glorious might. And I asked, like, Lord, how are we, how can we be strengthened like with your power?

SPEAKER_02

And that is being okay with weakness.

SPEAKER_01

You can't be God in every space. We often run away from areas that we are not good at, we are not strong in because we depend on our own strength. But the scripture says, not by power, not by might, but by my spirit. It is when we allow what does um Paul say? I boast in my weakness. We want to experience the strength of the Lord. We have to be able to be okay with being weak. We've put a negative connotation on that in the eyes of the Lord. That is just openness and willingness to receive his strength and to not try to be our own God or be our own master, be our own way maker, um and being okay with that.

SPEAKER_00

So that's that's that's the kingdom way, being okay with weakness.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because the power is through Christ. Yes. Culture has it where weakness is the ultimate no no is the ultimate no-no, can't, can't do it. Yeah, can't do it, right? How can we help somebody who's like listening be freed from leaning into, not leaning into, but just just be free from that? Like how how how can we lean into weakness?

Holding Loosely: Surrender And Control

SPEAKER_01

So I can remember um when I first started my business, and the Lord told me that he was about to teach me how to trust him. And in the in the moment, I thought, you know, oh, I'm gonna have to trust him for clients, I'm gonna have to trust him, you know, for to show me how to maneuver my business and things like that. But I quickly realized that no, he meant I would have to trust him for everything. To put gas in my car, to feed my kids, to do these things that I did not depend on him for. I could I could handle them. Yeah. And I remember one day I woke up and I was just praying, and I was just, I was heavy about it because I was not comfortable with depending on God at this level. Um, I want to depend on you for the for the big view stuff. I want to be able to handle, you know, my everyday life things. I want to be able to just come to you as a um, what are you? Dang, that word just left my brain. A consultant. Oh, okay. I want to I want you to consult me, but I don't want you to be Lord. Come on. Um and the Lord began to really, really deal with me. And I remember one morning I was just crying out to the Lord and I was like, God, I'm about to get a job. I need a paycheck. And he said to me, You trust a man to deposit a check in your bank account every two weeks more than you trust me to take care of you. And I was like, dang God, like you ain't have to tear me up like that. Um okay, you know, I see what you're saying.

SPEAKER_02

But then he said to me, helplessness does not equal hopelessness.

SPEAKER_01

Just because you don't see where the help is coming from does not mean that you're hopeless. And God does his best work, yeah, his best work when we take our hands off of things, yeah. Yeah, when we are not in the seat of control, is when God can do his best work, yeah. He's not fighting against our flesh, he's not fighting against other outside things, he's able to be God, and so honestly, he began to help me restructure my framework of how I viewed my situation, and even I can speak that over from like that was six years ago, but I can find myself there right now with that same business that he told me to open and trust him through. Last August, he told me to close and trust him through. And I remember I was talking to my um my mentor, and he was like, you know, well, why does it bother you so much that you closed your business? And I said, I didn't realize how much I depended on that income. And when I said it out of my mouth, I was disgusted because that word depended. I need that's why the Lord said, No, I need you to, I need you to depend on me. And I don't know what exactly God is trying to form in me with this level of dependence, but he wants me to trust him fully, he wants me to trust him more than I trust myself. And I put myself, I have a tendency to put myself in a position of the trustworthy one and not him. Yeah, like I can go out here and say and get me clients. I didn't have to worry, I didn't have to trust God to do that anymore. I didn't have to lean on him to do that anymore. I could just lean on my reputation, I could lean on my work, I could lean on my personality, I could lean on my connections with my clients. Those I could lean on that, but I didn't have to trust him anymore.

SPEAKER_02

And he removed me from that place. Yeah. Dang.

SPEAKER_01

But it's because I trade, it's in those moments that I trade my strength that I become even more strengthened.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And a lot of times we want to fight against that because, baby, let me tell you, I've been fighting against it. I've been fighting against it. God, I don't want to be weak in this area. But I opened the door for this to be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience. That's why he wants to produce that strength in us, his strength for endurance and patience with joy.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, there's this concept that I learned uh about six, seven years ago, and it's holding it loosely, and it's the idea of like control, right? And think of a rope and it's in your hands. And if you're grabbing on so tightly to it, like you're there's a level of control that you have, but at some point, if there is a stronger pull on it that is that's greater than your own, I guess like grip, at some point, it's gonna the stronger pull is gonna take that rope from you. And if you're holding on to it so tightly, if you do not loosen that hold, if you don't allow yourself to let go of that control. Okay, because there's a stronger force that's tugging in, that's pulling, it it it's it's gonna go. So you're causing yourself more hurt. Yeah, because it's about to tear the skin off your hair. You're causing yourself more friction than friction with the tension, and it's going and it's going. And if I don't let go, or if I don't loosen it, if I don't hold it loosely to where it can just easily go. If I'm holding it so tight, it's gonna tear me up. It's gonna tear up the palms of my hands, it's gonna burn me, it's gonna hurt me. It's gonna do so much more damage if I just if I just hold it loose this way, yeah. And then when you do that, oh like you said, there we go. See, this is why this is why we that's it. Because if I'm gripping it, my arms, my hands aren't open. And I feel like that should be our heart posture with God. Our palms are open to receive. Yeah, if the rope is gone, now they're open to receive whatever is coming.

SPEAKER_01

If it's supposed to go, then let it go. They can be used to hold up, but they can also be used to receive. Yeah, when what you're holding is going, yeah, and trusting that the Lord who placed it in your hands before, he is faithful. He's faithful to do it again in whatever areas, in whatever way. Yeah, yeah. And that's honestly, that has just been over the last six months since I said yes to the Lord and starting this podcast.

SPEAKER_02

The spiritual warfare. The spiritual warfare.

SPEAKER_01

It tried to take me out. It tried to take me out. Um, we had an amazing um weekend. We had a marriage conference at the church, and Nona Jones and her husband um were leading, and they the final sermon they did, or it wasn't really a sermon, but what they taught about was spiritual warfare. And the revelation that the Lord gave me through that, like the enemy literally tried to shut my mouth for good. He tried to shut my mouth for good, girl. Oh my god. The things that I encountered because I said yes, and the Lord even gave me a warning on August 1st. He woke me up in the middle of the night and he said, There is attack that is coming your way.

SPEAKER_02

Don't give up and don't give in. Stand firm, stand firm. And I struggled with standing.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not gonna hold you sometimes. I sat down. I can't, I can't, but it's in the it's in the getting back up and knowing that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Yeah, but you can pull them suckers down, you can cast them out. You don't have to stand with them, you don't have to deal with them, and that's kind of like the mindset that I've had to be in in the last few months. It's like I just fighting my way, fighting my way out of those lies, fighting my way out of those thoughts that I allowed to take residency in my mind, saying that, oh, you don't know enough about the Lord to speak about him. You I said lies. I'm sorry, but sheesh, I mean, I'm I'm not a theologian or any of those things. I'm just a girl who loves the Lord. I'm just a girl trying to be obedient to the Lord. Um, even the lie that God only wants my yes, but he doesn't care about me.

SPEAKER_02

And that's real.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like honestly, a lot of times, and especially when you work in ministry, that is one of the most common lies. Um because you do deal with a lot. One of the reasons I didn't want to work in ministry is because I know that it's gonna change the way you see things, change the way that you experience people. I love, I and I knew that because my grandparents are pastors. And so seeing how you have to show up in spaces and care for people who don't necessarily always care for you well. Um it has been a hard, hard, hard, hard season. And I've had to learn the art of endurance, and it's really allowing like my weakness to not be despised, like not despising these moments of weakness, but taking that heart posture of God, I'm trusting you. And though I am weak in this space, I can trust you to be strong. And that's honestly like that's been where I've been working out. I'm on it's been so many pushbacks on this podcast, it's been so many uh reschedulings and all of these things. It was like the enemy was trying to do everything that he could to delay, to stop, to not do this. But God wants to produce something in our yes, something in our yes that is not necessarily I won't say it's it's not the fruit is not ours to eat, but it is ours to bear.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So let me ask you this as you're walking, uh trying to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, which you definitely are. Um I can definitely say that even in this season of like struggling uh with my faith, struggling with standing and enduring. Um your endurance has been a testimony to me. The word says that we overcome by the power of the blood of the Lamb in the word of our testimony. And I not only got to hear the word of your testimony, I got to see it.

SPEAKER_02

I got to see you embraced weak moments. Yeah.

Community That Holds Up Your Arms

SPEAKER_01

Moments of transition, um, moments where you could have allowed the heaviness or the hurt or the pain or the disappointment or the possibility of embarrassment to hold you back, but instead you trusted the Lord enough to keep going. When honestly, guys, I think I would have stopped. I think it was so many moments I'm just watching, I'm like, dang, she's just gonna keep going, huh? I mean, she's keep she's gonna continue going. And it was in your going that it was just like I watched God loom you into something that is just so beautiful. I got to see you bear fruit, and that you you say, like in one season I inspire you, and then in my season of weakness, you're inspiring me. And I think that that is that constant cycle in the Christian life that God wants us to see in this community, which is why it's so important to have Christian community, guys. Because when you go through, the enemy wants to isolate you, he wants you to feel like, oh, you're all alone, and you know, you don't have anyone that you can talk to or nobody will understand you, but when you really find Christian community, um, God not only gives you accountability, gives you friendship, gives you love and joy and all those different things, he gives you someone to hold up your arms like Moses. Yeah, when you're holding it out and you're trying to endure and your arms are getting weak, you have that person to come and hold up your hand and say, Hey, we're not gonna give up. Yeah, we're not gonna give in. Do you know who you are?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, who is that? Do you know who the Lord is? Yeah, and what he said and who he's been, um reminding us of who Jesus is and just what he can do.

SPEAKER_01

I'm so far away, I feel like, from where we were.

SPEAKER_00

I think there was supposed to be a question in it.

SPEAKER_01

It was supposed to be a question, which is totally fine.

SPEAKER_00

We're talking about weakness. Um yeah, yeah. How? How?

SPEAKER_01

Like, literally, over the last six months, your life has transitioned. You've come into a new job and you've ended a relationship, you've um that was another form of commitment to the Lord. Yeah, you've um stepped into this new position with leadership at the church, and God is requiring you to shed and build at the same time. Yeah. And how are you doing that so gracefully?

Syncretism, Identity, And Qualification

SPEAKER_00

It's funny. Um, how you see me and then how I see myself because gracefully is not a word that I would use. Um, I feel like on the inside, you know, the uh the meme of the dog and everything's on fire. And he's like, it's fine. It's fine. So sometimes that's how I feel. Um, but truly, I had to learn through a breaking. Um, I had to learn through pain and hurt and embarrassment. I had to learn through weakness how to fully like rely on God and how to give up that control. Um, when we talk about weakness, uh, obviously I'm a black woman in America, right? And black women are supposed to be, or not even supposed to be. That is just always the thing. We're strong, independent, you know, um, things, uh, things. We're strong, independent women. And uh we're educated and we're supposed to look a certain way because we have to combat like all of these different statistics and what society says about us and all of those things. Um, so I grew up very much poised to be the epitome of what a black successful woman looks like, and my friend has a master's degree. I have a master's degree. Um I feel like I did, and that's also like millennial coded too, right? We would go you had to do certain things in a certain way, and then you will achieve this big picture of like success. And for the most part, I really tried to stick to that. Um, I went to a PWI uh for my undergraduate um years in college, and uh I I did that. I did that. Um, and I'm very like proud of my accomplishments, but that built up this idea and this concept of again putting on face and presenting, I had to be a certain way. And so that carried just throughout. And then as life was happening, I had children, I was married, um, I had these credentials, I got my master's degree, I found myself into a career field that I loved and I was doing all of the things. So when I felt like that was ripped from me, um, I could not make rhyme or reason of it because I did what I was supposed to do to the best of my ability. And it felt like due to all of these outside circumstances, I did not understand why God was gonna have me on this path. Because doesn't He want me to be this image? Right. Isn't that what you want, God? Like I'm I'm I'm living how you say I'm supposed to live. Um, but I remember telling you, I was like, in my job, I'm good. In family, I'm I'm good. In church, I'm good. Why? I'm gonna use the marriage as an example. Like, why in my relationship or in my my marriage is this is this thing going on? And you said, well, God gotta be God some somewhere, someplace. And that is where I was the weakest, but I wanted to reject weakness so bad, so bad, because that's not what culture says you're acceptable. It's acceptable. I can't be weak, I got three kids. I can't be weak. I got a career. I can't be weak. I have in my job or in my career, I have people depending on me. Yeah, you know, I cannot be weak. And so that is literally how I just live. Um, like you can't be weak, you gotta keep on, you gotta keep on, you gotta keep on. So, because of that pattern of keep on, keeping on, and until therapy, it was just like, you know, it's a trauma response. You just gotta keep going. Like at some point, you do have to rest. And it was through the different things that God was um working out in me because of my divorce. Uh Because of having to leave the job that I love due to outside circumstances, because of family things going on, the death of my grandmother, like I could not be strong anymore. I had a gobbladder, uh emergency gobbladder removal. And they were like, it's stress related, like all of these things. Like, so when you keep on keeping on out of what culture is telling you you're supposed to uphold, it's gonna tear you up. Yeah. It's gonna tear you up. Um, so there was a long period where because I did not like fully, I didn't fully rely on God, or I took for granted that all the things that I was good at was because of God. Yeah. It was really me leaning to my own understanding and it was like, oh, this is this this is off the strength of me, you know? And it wasn't until I had to go through my divorce, and then I just felt like everything um was like just falling down or just being taken away at that point where it was just like, oh, well, who am I without the title of wife? Who am I now having to be a single mom? Who am I um having to shift gears career-wise? Um, I couldn't rely on the things that had gotten me by um in the past. So I had to deal with long suffering. I had to deal with the idea of being weak, but that's when I found that, oh, I get it. I had to go in my word. I had to start from the beginning. Um I had to start from the beginning. Yeah. I really had to start from the beginning. Um, and then realize none of this is is off the strength of me. God can give gifts all day, but that just means that you have an assignment. It doesn't necessarily uh position me any higher than than anybody else. So truly getting in my word, understanding his promises, and then really asking, well, what is your will for me? Because how I was maneuvering through life, it was off of my own understanding of this is what I think he wants from me. But it was kind of like that consultant thing. Like, this is the idea that I have. I just kind of want your advisement here and there as I keep on throughout the way. But really, I've just lived now over the past like six months, year, I guess. Um, and it's just like, all right, God, it's it's it's what where you're gonna have me go. And that has been so much more fruitful. He has done more with my weakness than I can ever do when I was quote unquote strong in my own light.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, as you were talking, it made me think about this um Colossians 12. Give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the of the saints and light. And a lot of times, like we want to qualify ourselves, we want to um qualify and make sure that we have all of these things like in line so that we can say we are this. But the scripture says that it's God who qualifies us, it's God who qualifies us for whatever it is, whether that's being the YA pastor or being mom to three children or walking through this hard season where I feel like I'm going to lose control, but God has qualified me for to succeed. He's qualified me. Um, and it's not through bringing him along side and becoming a consultant. Yeah. One of the things that like these particular people were, they were like bringing God along with these other, um, what is it? It's called synchronism. Um, bringing God along with these other mindsets of, oh, well, this is where I'm going to use Jesus, but I'm going to use crystals here. Or this is where I'm going to use Jesus and I'm going to use my own wisdom here. Let's make it, you know, because a lot of people may say, oh, I don't do that. You know, I don't, I don't have a problem with other religions, but do you have a problem with making yourself God? Um, we want to bring God along for the ride and say, God, this is the plan. This is what I work towards. This is my plan for my life. Now bless it. We want to be Uber.

SPEAKER_00

And we want God to be the passenger that we pick up.

SPEAKER_01

Literally.

SPEAKER_00

That's like, all right, God, let's go.

SPEAKER_01

We're about to do something. But it says, no, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you. Um, but skip down to verse 13. It says, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us. Transferred us. He took us from one place, the place that we were. He picked us up and he transferred us to another place. But we cannot be transferred if we're in the driver's seat. Yeah. We cannot be transferred if we want to be our own gods. We cannot be transferred if we want God to fit in our mindsets or our culture or our way of thinking. Um, we cannot be transferred if our only focus is getting to the bag and not spiritual maturity or eternity. Yeah. We cannot be transferred, we cannot be moved from where we are to where the Lord wants us to be if we are holding on to the rope.

Set Your Mind Above: Colossians 3

SPEAKER_02

And I feel like what the Lord really wants us or wanted from us today is to remind us that he's qualified us. He's trustworthy.

SPEAKER_01

He's we can trust him for the transfer. Yeah. Like we can trust him to do what he said he's going to do. Yes. We don't have to hold on to where we are so tightly to our culture and our mindset and our thoughts of how things should be done, or the way that they've always been done, or our own comfortability. We can trust God that where he's going to take us and where he's going to place us, it is good and it is for our good and for the good of the kingdom of God. And I think that honestly, we have to start magnifying our the way we benefit the kingdom more than the way we benefit ourselves. Because that is what's going to remain when we're done. Yeah. Building up treasure, not on earth, not for us to hoard within ourselves or even within our own families, but for eternity.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And that is done through our yes and how we're going to impact others. We ourselves are focused on elevating ourselves. But God really, He tears down those thought processes. He breaks down, when we say yes to Him, He breaks down our high places.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Where we positioned ourselves. Yeah. Not the position that He has for us. Yeah. Yeah. And when we're eternity minded and kingdom-minded as opposed to cultural minded, where He has or where He wants us to be positioned is forever greater than what we thought we wanted for ourselves. Or where we were able through our own pathways, our own journey, checking off or qualifying ourselves and whatnot. There's only so far that we can go alone. But what he has for us is far greater.

SPEAKER_01

I want to read this. Um we can kind of close out from here, maybe. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Um Colossians 3.

SPEAKER_01

I um taught about this to the worship team a couple months back. And I think this is a pretty uh good, really good description of what it means to walk in and put on the new self while when God transfers you. What does that look like? What does it look like in us? What does it look like in our lives? It says, if if then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. I kind of just want to stop there. Like, there's so much more. I mean, honestly, guys, go read Colossians, read all of Colossians.

SPEAKER_02

Read it, read it.

SPEAKER_01

Study Colossians. Um it's literally four books, four. Yeah, four chapters. It's not, it's not bad. But you've been raised with Christ. Seek the things that are above, set your mind on things that are above, not the Epstein files, not you know, the most recent crazy thing that this happening in politics or the arguments with our families and friends and people in our communities, the things that are dividing us, but set your mind, set your mind because that's where the battlefield is. Yeah, like that's where the enemy can influence. It's it's in our mind, and the scriptures telling us set our minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth for you have died. Yeah, and many of us we haven't died, or we we fight the death. Listen here. I die daily.

SPEAKER_02

Daily, daily, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We have a new self since we've accepted Christ as savior and as Lord. Um, but the flesh is fighting you every second, every minute, every hour, every hour. What are you gonna satisfy? Are you gonna satisfy the spirit? Are you gonna satisfy the flesh? What are you gonna satisfy? What are you feeding yourself? What are you absorbing? And that's not to discredit the atrocious things that are happening in the world today, but what where is our focus? Yes, you know what I mean? Where's the focus is it's gonna turn to? Who are we seeking refuge in? Yeah, not doing a deep dive into the rabbit hole. Those things are important, it's atrocious, it's horrible, but I can't be consumed with that.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Because I can't I can't walk in a manner worthy of the Lord if I am only focused on this, or if I'm carrying the weight of this.

SPEAKER_00

That part, that part, being only focused on that or carrying the weight of it, depression, anxiety, anger, rage. You don't want to adore no patience. You don't want to endure, no patience. All of that is counteractive to the fruits of the spirit. Yeah. All of it. All of it. So how where where is our focus? How are we gonna position ourselves? Who are we gonna take it to? Yeah. As for me, I'm gonna take it to the Lord in prayer. Um, I'm gonna ask him to help me deal with how I feel about all of these things, but also I'm gonna ask him to set my heart in in and and realign my positioning, check my heart posture, and I'm gonna focus on things above. And how am I gonna be fruitful in that?

SPEAKER_01

All right, Church of Colossey. Y'all know, listen, I don't even know if we're saying that. Is it callis, call us? Like, look, it's a colossal. We'll come back, we'll figure it out. Colossally, colossally.

SPEAKER_00

Where we're we're learning in this. We don't have to be perfect.

Encouragement, Focus, And Prayer

SPEAKER_01

You're right, you're right. I lay down that perfection. Um, but yeah, I hope that this conversation was fruitful, and um this is kind of just like the the beginning of the talks. We're in Black History Month right now, and so I really want to encourage um believers who are struggling right now, um, black believers who are struggling with your faith and um defending your faith right now. I want to encourage you that the one who has qualified you, he will sustain you. Yeah, he will keep you and to set your mind, set your eyes, set your mind on the things that are above, not the things that you see around you. Don't allow those things to blur the your sight for what the Lord is doing, what his will is right now. Uh don't forsake your positioning in the kingdom uh to gaze at the issues of the world. That's good. Uh because God is still working things out, but he needs us uh to be all in. He needs us to even want to be fully pleasing to him uh um for him to do what he needs to do in the earth. Yeah, it's through his kingdom, it's through his people. Um, and we just we gotta make sure that we're showing up and not allowing the enemy to succeed in his distracting.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Stay focused, friends. Yes. Can we can you pray for everyone? Yes. And yeah. Okay. Um, Father God, we thank you, we honor you, and we just bless your name. We thank you for this time together. Um, we thank you for the heart posture to know where it is that we're supposed to be positioned. And that is where you position us, Lord, not where we position ourselves, oh God. You have an ultimate plan. We thank you for knowing our identity in Christ. And we thank you for those who help us walk in a way, for those who remind us where we are to be rooted in our faith, oh God. We thank you for the people in our lives. I thank you for Ashley. Um, I thank you for this friendship so that we can have these conversations and that it be fruitful and that it be impactful, oh Lord. Um, I ask that you bless the listeners, oh God, everybody attached to kingdom over um culture, oh Lord. And that we have eternity in mind. That we not focus on the things around us, but that we always look up towards you, oh Lord, and that we get in our word. We get in our word so that we're able to discern and to hear your voice. We thank you, we bless you, we honor you in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_03

Amen.

SPEAKER_02

We did it, we did it, we did it.

Contributor

Ashley Potter

Host