How to Feel Safe with God

Breaking down the false idea that God is a "mean, scary judge", and diving into what the Bible says about His true character, and how you can grow a loving relationship with Him.

An episode for when you're ready to be seen, held, and intimate with God.

A song that goes beautifully with this episode (one of my personal favs): https://open.spotify.com/track/2P7JwpF4NdKjoNYSrVLrjU?si=da7633a81ff849bb

Podcast Mentioned: "Is Jesus a Feminist?" (10 min. of discussing how Jesus views women ❤️): https://open.spotify.com/episode/5aTl4MSbkMmBTFiJvMuQYb?si=90e6c5419172420b

My Worship Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ymqW6Yjv7Iw5ZbTan2uuU?si=wpbhno9cR2uJg5dXATIOKA

Have a beautiful and blessed week!

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, hello! Welcome into the Fruitful Feminine. We are talking about how to feel safe with God today. My hope is that by the end of this episode, you will walk away with so much evidence of how God sees you, so much evidence of what his character is actually like. And if you're feeling I want to know God even more intimately, I feel that I see him as my father, but I want to go to that next level. Or maybe you have no relationship with God. Maybe you're just curious about it. This episode is meant to bring you so much closer to him. So I'm really excited to get into it. And hello. Let me make sure I introduce myself. I'm Alexis. I am a feminine energy coach and I love Jesus. And this podcast, we talk about both. So it is very important for your feminine energy to feel safe with God because God is the ultimate masculine energy father. And when you have this father who is pouring you so much love, pouring into you so much self-worth, how you carry yourself as a woman, it changes. And it is the best change that you can make. So let's get into this episode. Also, I hope everyone had a beautiful Easter weekend. I totally forgot to say this last week. I hope everyone had a great holy week and just beautiful time celebrating. Last night I had a dream, and I promise this is related to the episode. This is where I got the episode idea. Last night I was in bed, and something that I've been asking God for a lot lately is God, can you please hold me when I sleep tonight? Can you please just be with me as I sleep tonight? It's been harder to sleep lately, and ever since praying this, I feel a lot of peace has come. And so last night something had happened for the first time where I don't know if it was a dream. It felt like a dream, but I also know I was half asleep, half awake. And I was walking with Jesus in this garden, and we were just talking and hanging out, and it was the coolest experience. I've never had a dream like that before. And it felt so peaceful. And if you know me, you know I'm one of those people who I'm very much into sleep. I check my aura ring score all the time. I really, really prioritize sleep health. And so when I'm not sleeping fully and I'm in that half-awake, half-dreamlike state, usually I wake up and I'm like, no, I didn't get deep sleep. But I woke up so happy, I was like, I just walked with Jesus. That was the best night of my life. So, anyways, um, let's talk about how to how to invite Jesus in like that because the older version of me never would have thought that I could even ask him something, never would have thought to crave that and desire it. And when you learn to feel safe with God, he will give you, let's call them Easter eggs like this, and you will just feel so held and safe with him. So we're gonna start off in Luke here, and I'm gonna read a bunch of different parts of the Bible today. They're gonna be all over, literally Old and New Testament, because I want to give you evidence, like hardcore evidence of God's character, so that you can see how safe it is to have a relationship with him. I think a lot of us, if you've ever been hurt from religion, especially in the past, or if it's newer, it can feel very scary. It can feel like there's this huge guy up in the sky with this gavel that's a judge, and he's always watching me, always listening to me, and it can feel scary, but that's not what God is like. So, anyways, um, in Luke, this is Luke 23. And this is last year when I had first started actually studying the Bible. Like I ordered a physical one, I sat down, I would highlight it. I will never forget this moment. I was reading this part at my grandpa's house actually, and it was talking about the death and the resurrection of Jesus and how perfect Easter was just a couple days ago, right? So I'm gonna read Luke 23 here, and it's titled The Death of Jesus. By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. The light from the sun was gone, and suddenly the curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn down the middle. Okay, side note, that's gonna be the important part to remember here. Then Jesus shouted, Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands, and with those words he breathed his last. When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshipped God and said, Surely this man was innocent. And when all the crowd that had came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in a deep sorrow. But Jesus' friends, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching. Back to verse 45. When Jesus, when his body breaks and he breathes his last breath, a physical curtain in the temple, and this is the temple, the synagogue at the time for the Jews, the actual physical curtain in the temple is torn in half. What is the significance of this? So when I was reading it, I kind of read over that because I I had never studied the Old Testament, so I didn't know what the curtain even was in the temple. And I felt God nudging me last year, saying, Alexis, go back. There is something I'm trying to tell you here. Then, as I'm studying it, I'm realizing, oh my gosh, when Jesus' body broke, that curtain that was used to separate us from God's presence also broke, meaning we get to go directly to God, meaning that there is no more barrier separating us from God. In the Old Testament, so in Exodus, which I'm reading the Old Testament now, Exodus 26, 33, if you want to see the history of why the curtain was there. When God is, so this is after the Israelites have been rescued out of Egypt, and God has them out in the wilderness, and they are building a place for God's presence to dwell. They build the tabernacle. So the tabernacle, the tabernacle, it has what is called the Ark of the Covenant. It is where God's uh presence actually sat with his people. The instructions for how the tabernacle was set up, it was so specific. Um, even the Ark of the Covenant, it could not touch the ground because God's presence physically dwelled with the Israelites when they were in the wilderness. It's so, so, so cool. So we have the Holy Spirit now, so we have the spiritual uh presence of God. But the Israelites, God was physically there. However, God's presence was so powerful, his holiness was so powerful that a curtain needed to be set up separating the Israelites from God's presence because just a look at God's presence would have killed the Israelites. It was too powerful. You could not look at God's face and still live. And so, fast forward all these years later, um, this curtain that is set up in the temple is torn. And Jesus's death represented, I am giving you access to the Father. No more are you so um so separated from God because of your unholiness. Because the Israelites sinned and they were human, of course, unholiness could not be near absolute holiness. That's why the curtain was needed. Jesus said, No more. My body, my representation as the Lamb covers your sins for eternity. You are covered with my death, and now you are free to go to God directly. So, oh, insane, insane details. That is why it takes me so long to read the Bible because every single sentence, there's so, so many gems like this. If we did an episode just on hidden gems in the Bible, that would be so fun. That would be a 20-hour episode. Um, so, anyways, we serve a God who sent his baby as our sacrifice. That is how much he loves us. We serve a God who took the role of a humble servant on this planet. Jesus was a carpenter. He could have come in any form that he wanted. He could have been a king, he could have been wearing royal robes, he could have been served, feasting. He chose to live in tents out in the wilderness. He chose to wash his disciples' feet. He chose to speak to people who the Jewish Pharisees said, No, no way we're going near them. They're so sinful, they're so shameful. We don't touch them. Jesus said, I touch them. It is not this, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. That is who we serve, as someone who wants to be close to us in our sickness, in our sin, in our shame, in our humanness. He wants every single part of us. And uh side note, actually, no, no, I'm gonna save that for her later. Um, side note, we serve a God also who walked with his people. It is so unique that God came to this earth and he actually walked with his people. His last nights on earth, Jesus, he had so much anxiety, he knew that he was going to be hung on the cross, he knew it was going to be the most brutal death. How did he spend his last night? Celebrating with his disciples, having the last supper, and spending quality time with the people that he loved most. He could have been grieving and stressing, but he said, No, I want to spend this night with the people that I love. So that's a little preview into God's character and what it's like. And now we're going to actually talk about specific qualities of God's character. There's going to be about five, and then I'll give you more practical tips of how to build that relationship with God and do things that allow you to feel more comfortable and more safe. So God's character. Number one quality is He is a father. He is the most loving, loving father. I heard this pastor talking in a sermon this weekend, and it was the most perfect example of what Easter weekend, what Resurrection Sunday represent. And he was saying, there was, this is a parable, there was a king who was very mighty, very strong, and very wealthy. And one day it was discovered that someone was stealing uh bricks of gold out of the palace from the king. The king got so angry and he said, Whoever is stealing these gold bricks, I am going to issue a decree, they get the death penalty. And so everyone searched and searched who is stealing these gold bricks. Is it a thief? Is it a noble? Is it someone in the palace? Out of the palace, they could not figure out who it was. Finally, it was revealed that it was the king's daughter that was stealing the game. And the thing about decrees back in the day is that when a king issued a decree, it could not be undone. And this king, he was both just and loving. That is what his character was known as. So he could not undo this decree. But how was he going to be both just and fair to his word, but also loving to his daughter? And so what happened is the daughter was arrested and she was brought for a trial. She was prepared for the punishment, and she was laid over about to get the death penalty, which was 40 lashes. Ten lashes was the punishment just to hurt someone, but 40 lashes was if you got 40 lashes from a lead-tipped lash, um, you would die back in this day. The king is sitting on the throne, he's silent, and he's just watching his daughter, and the man who is in charge of the lashes, he picks up the tool and he holds it up in the air, and just as he's about to swing it down, the king jumps up and cries, stop. The king comes over, he puts his body on top of his daughter's, wraps his arms around her, completely covers her, and goes, proceed. And the king is lashed to death, and his daughter is saved. I get so emotional even thinking about this. This is what Jesus did for us. This is what God did for us. He is the most loving Father, protecting us in this way, dying for us in this way. And he's also just. Because sin has entered the world, the penalty for sin is death. And God never goes back on his word. The price for death needed to be paid if we are going to have eternal life. And so Jesus took that penalty for us, even though he was not at fault. When we talk about feeling safe with God, that is God's character. He is this loving father. On a uh brighter note, actually, no, that's bright, but it's kind of sad too, right? Uh, God is a very generous gift giver. Very, very generous. I'm gonna read another part here in Luke. This is Luke 11. And I love this so much. It's Luke 11, verse 11. And it says, You fathers, if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask you for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not. So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? The Holy Spirit, how the Holy Spirit is described, is our advocate. The moment that you accept Jesus, which we'll talk about how to do at the end if you have not, the moment you accept Jesus into your life, the Holy Spirit also gets accepted by you. And when the Holy Spirit is guiding your life, he is your advocate. He is the one that is giving you those nudges from God. He is always inside you, always, always, always speaking to you. And so that gift to have the Holy Spirit, Jesus, he said uh when he was here on earth and teaching, he said, I will destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. The Jewish Pharisees at this time got so mad. What do you mean he's going to destroy the temple? And this is the thing about religion, is it values things and religion over the relationship with God. They could not understand what he was referencing. They said, This is our temple. They worship the temple more than they worshiped the one who dwelled in it. That was a problem with the Pharisees. When Jesus said, I'm going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, what he was referencing was his body. The temple was destroyed through death on the cross, and in three days he rose, and the temple was rebuilt. When Jesus leaves us with a gift, he gives us the Holy Spirit, he gives us his presence, and that gets to be our advocate in our life. It gets to be our comfort, it gets to be our guide. So when God is talking about earthly fathers giving good gifts, he's probably laughing and going, if you think giving your child an egg is a good gift, what do you think I could give you? And some of Jesus' last words, he said something along the lines of, I'm leaving you with a gift, a gift of peace of mind and heart. And this gift that I give is a gift the world cannot give. Peace of mind and heart, it is the most, what's the word I'm looking for? Valuable asset that you can have in this world where we are constantly in fear, anxiety, stress, survival mode. I have been in a survival mode the last month here in the Middle East. Despite the survival mode, there is a peace that my spirit has that I cannot explain other than Jesus gave it to me. That is what God gives his children. Peace of mind and heart. It is priceless, and it is nothing that you can get from anything in the world. As good fathers do, God disciplines us. This is also part of his character. Actually, let me go back to the gift giving real quick. Um, I'm reading about the Israelites in their Exodus right now, and in Deuteronomy, there's a part where God is talking about when you get to the promised land, you are going to have more food than you can eat, you are going to have more resources and wealth of copper and iron than you even know what to do with. You're going to have so much land. And God also mentions here, he goes, but I had to take you through the wilderness first, because if I just gave you all of this wealth, you would think that it is from your own goodness, and it is not. It is from me. This is God talking. And so when we are in seasons where we're struggling and we're thinking, but God is supposed to take care of me like a father, He is. It's often not in the way that we expect. There's another part, I believe, in Leviticus or Deuteronomy, when God says, the reason that I'm not going to hand over all of your enemies to you at once is because as you start taking over the promised land, if you wiped out all of your enemies at once, there would be too many wild animals for you to deal with, and the wild animals would become a threat to you. And I'm thinking, God, you're so good. Because I'm probably thinking, God, get rid of all my problems right now. Please, that's my prayer. But if he did this for the Israelites, if he killed all of the wicked people and the enemies that were in the promised land that he said belonged to the Israelites, if he killed all the people at once, then the land would be too open, the wild animals would grow too powerful. He had to clear the enemies land by land, city by city, so that the wild animals even could be taken care of with that. So God, it I think about how there's times where my parents said things to me as a kid, and I'm like, oh, I'm so mad. But now I'm like, oh my gosh, thank God that I listened to them because they knew better than me. There was even something I was thinking of today. Um, and I was thinking, thank God that my mom put her foot down because my frontal lobe was not even halfway developed. I don't know what I was thinking, thinking I knew better. So God knows better because he's our father. Back to discipline. Um, God disciplines us, he does not condemn us. There's a huge difference. Condemning is okay, here's a perfect example. In the New Testament, when the Pharisees catch a woman in adultery, catch a man and a woman, but they only bring the woman out. They bring the woman to Jesus, and they're trying to catch Jesus in a trap. They're trying to get him to deny the word of God. And so they bring the woman, the adulterous woman to Jesus, and they say, Jesus, the law says that anyone who commits adultery should be stoned to death. We just caught this woman committing adultery. So shouldn't she be stoned to death? They know if Jesus says, No, I want to give her mercy, that would technically be breaking the law, and they could arrest Jesus. You know what, Jesus, our brilliant, wise, wonderful father responds? When they go, shouldn't she be stoned to death? Jesus goes, Yes. And the first one of you who has never sinned, cast the first stone. They all leave one by one. I love him. He's so good. And by the way, he's still doing this to you. Jesus turns to the woman and he goes, didn't one of them accuse you and condemn you? And the woman goes, No, none of them condemned me. And Jesus goes, Neither do I. Go and sin no more. That is the difference between discipline and condemning. The Pharisees condemned her. You're so shameful, you need to be punished. Jesus goes, do not commit adultery anymore, but you are free to go. I'm paying the cost for your sin. Go and live in peace and don't even carry the shame that your sin may cause you to feel. I think about even with Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve sinned, that very first sin in the existence of humans, God comes walking in the garden with them. First of all, God is walking in the garden. How cool is that? And does he condemn his children? Why did you guys eat the fruit? I told you not to eat it. Why did you listen to that snake? No. God, the very first words out of his mouth after his first children sin are Where are you? We have a Father who wants to know us, who is seeking us, who is looking for us. Voices of condemnation filling you with shame, filling you with regret, filling you with self-condemnation. If you have self-negative thoughts, you're beating yourself up. I can't believe that I sinned again. Um I'm so stupid. Um I'm worthless. No one will ever love me. I'll never be able to get it right. No way can I go to the Father after I did this. Those are voices of the enemy. Any sign of condemnation is this is not from God. You have to know God's character so that you can separate the voices because the enemy is very good at coming close to God's voice. You know how good he is? Is that he will actually use scripture and twist it. God not God, the enemy used scripture when he was speaking to Jesus to try to get him to tempt him. But Jesus, because he knows the scripture so well, says, actually, this is what the full truth of scripture says. So you must know God's character so that you can know when there's a voice in your head that's not his. In Deuteronomy 8.5, God says, or actually, this is Moses speaking for God through the Israelites. He says, Just as a parent disciplines a child, your God disciplines you for your own good. For your own good. There's a part in Proverbs where it talks about disciplining kids is good, but if you discipline a kid, you might even save them from death. So that's that could be studied in a whole other other context, but discipline is so important and it is good, it is healthy. Parents who discipline their kids truly love them. All right. Another part here, this is Jeremiah 3.19. This is one of my favorite things that we're gonna read all day. I love, love, love this scripture. And by the way, if there's any scriptures that I'm saying to you that you love, memorize it. Write it out on a flashcard, memorize it. Every month I memorize five new scriptures, and it has changed my life this past year and a half because now I have these scriptures planted in my subconscious. It has taught me about God's character, it's given me new light when I'm repeating the scriptures every morning and every night before I go to bed. I'm I'm drilling into my mind who God says and who he says I am. So, anyways, Jeremiah 3.19. This is one of the ones that I had memorized. God is telling his children, I thought to myself, I would love to treat you as my own children. I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land, the finest possession in the world. I looked forward to your calling me father, and I wanted you never to turn from me. This is Jeremiah 3.19, when the Israelites were being very, very bad, the Israelites, but we can't even judge them because they actually represent us again and again and again. God literally makes food rain from the sky, and they're like, God, we don't trust that you'll provide for us. God, we're tired of this bread. We want meat. The amount of times that the Israelites complained, and God continues to try to show them, I will take care of you, it's too many to count. But this is us in reality. So this scripture, I love it because it shows God as a care as a caregiver. He wants us to run to him as our father. There's things that he wants to bless us with. I love it. And one of the names that God gives us, this was in the Old Testament, is his special treasure. How precious is that! Can you imagine if we had phones and we could talk to God while he's in heaven? When we call him, he would have a phone that lights up and the name would say special treasure. Like he's such a good father. There's another part in scripture where God calls his children his special treasure. And I love that. I love the names that he gives to us. And also later we'll talk about the names that he has that we get to call him. But one of the names God has for you is my special treasure. How beautiful is that. Not to say he will never be disciplined. But um, remember when I was gonna go off on a side note, so I was watching The Chosen, and there was this scene, every episode I think I've cried, there was this scene where Mary Magdalene, she she's been walking with Jesus for a while and just so obedient, so faithful to him. She gets triggered by something and something from her past, and she runs away and she begins gambling again, she starts getting into trouble again. And I love this scene because it shows that you can be walking with God and something might happen, and you fall back into old habits. It is so normal. So, anyway, she's going off on a tangent, and um, Jesus sends two of the disciples, Simon or Peter and Matthew, to go and get her. So they go and get Mary, they bring her back. Mary is so ashamed going to Jesus, and Jesus is standing in the tent. This scene, it is so so beautiful. I think it's season two, episode seven. I replayed this and I just soaked it all in because of this part here. So Mary is standing before Jesus and um Jesus' mom, Mary, and they're in this private tent. Jesus doesn't say anything at first, and Mary is just she's crying, she's feeling so ashamed. And Jesus turns around to her and she goes, Father, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I sinned, I can't believe this. Um I I threw away all my righteousness. And Jesus, he just smiles and he goes, That's gotta be some pretty good or some pretty bad righteousness if it can be lost in a day, huh? And he's just kind of joking with her. And uh he she says something like, Ah, I'm totally blanking right now. But she says a few things and Jesus goes, I just want your heart. I just want your heart. And she goes, but I can't believe that I stumbled. I've been walking with you for a while, I should know better. And Jesus goes, You will. But today, just give me your heart. Just take it one day at a time. And I think that's so representative of how Jesus is with each of us. A lot of the times when we become Christian, we think, okay, we have to be perfect from this day forward. But that's like a baby learning to walk and looking at its parent and saying, I promise I will never fall again from this day forward. I just stood for the first time, I'm never gonna fall again. As a parent, looking at your baby, you're not expecting your baby to even say that or to never stumble again. You're gonna help the baby, you're gonna hold its hands, and you're gonna know one day they they might be playing pro football, they might be on a track team, they might just be taking hot girl walks. But there was a time where they were stumbling and getting back up, and I got to be there holding their hand in that moment, and now I get to see them running and walking with their friends and using their legs so great. And once in a while they might fall again. And if they allow me, I will be there to go and pick them up. That is what God wants to do with us. You do not have to be perfect, and I think on another side of that, it's easy to go, okay, well, then I can just sin and do whatever I want. When the Holy Spirit is living in you and you are the temple now for the Lord, it will grieve your spirit because it grieves his spirit when you do sin. Sin hurts you. It's not that it's of course it is hurting God, but sin it's hurting us. That is why God says don't. That is why he disciplines us when we do. That is why he wants us to turn from it. But even when we do sin, he is there to go, I just want your heart. Welcome back. I'm glad that you're here. Okay. So that was God's character as a father. Quality number two, he desires to intimately know us. I love this part here too. This is Psalm 139. And anywhere in my Bible, I was hanging out with one of my friends this weekend and we are discussing some scripture, and she asked, What do all the highlights in my Bible mean? Because I have five different colors. And I said, Well, this one is for uh basic facts, this is for things that I want to come and talk about on the podcast, or highlights that stood out to me. But yellow specifically in my Bible is for God's character, and so pretty much half of Psalm 139 is highlighted. Psalm 139.1, it says, and this is David speaking. Oh Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. And then we skip to verse 13. I wrote at the top of this, this is a love letter of how precious God sees and knows me. Psalm 139.13. You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous, how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered. I can't even count them. They outnumber the grains of sand. When we talk about God intimately knowing us, this is what it means. Every thought of ours He knows. He was there excited as we're being formed in our mother's womb. Every day of our life is recorded in his book. Like this is something I've really been working on, is every single day is so special. If this was my last day and it read as a page of a book, what would I do with today? How would I celebrate it? How how blessed I am to even wake up and have another day today. So God knit us together in our mother's womb. He took his time with us, and he made all of the delicate inner parts of our body. Psalm 139, when you forget who you are, when your self-worth starts to drop, come and read Psalm 139. So he desires to intimately know us. I think about Jonah in the Bible too, and how much God pursued Jonah. Jonah, when God said, go and speak to the people in Nineveh, Jonah goes, Nope, and he runs away. He was scared. The people were very evil, but God had called Jonah to say, you need to go and teach my word and save these people's lives. He was scared because he actually felt unworthy, is what I believe. He ran, he kept running and running. He gets on a ship. He thinks, All right, if I'm out in the ocean, I'm hidden from God. Until the waves start crashing against the boat. There's this huge storm. All of the people on the boat are like, what is going on? And Jonah goes, throw me overboard. This is God. He's angry with me. The people throw Jonah overboard, and Jonah gets swallowed by a whale. This story, it is absolutely crazy. And as soon as Jonah is thrown over, by the way, the storm calms. So don't say God will not go after you. He will. He will do whatever it takes to slow you down to get him, to get you to hear him. And as Jonah is in the belly of the whale for three days, this story, it's debated a lot in Christianity. Is this a metaphor or is this actual reality that it happened? That'll be a great answer that we can talk about in heaven. So when Jonah is in the belly of the whale, God is speaking life into Jonah, reminding Jonah who he is, having a conversation with him. Um, I think about another example of this too: of God pursuing. Oh, by the way, um, no, actually, if you want to finish the rest of the story, it's great. I won't uh spoil it. So, another example of this, we've talked about this story so much on the podcast, is the parable of the lost sheep and the lost son. I think this is in Matthew or Luke. It's for sure in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, to narrow it down. Um, Jesus, right before talking about the parable of the lost son, he speaks about the parable of the lost sheep and how if a shepherd has a hundred sheep and even one goes astray, he will go and follow the one. He will go and rescue the one. Even though he has 99 good ones and it puts his life, the shepherd's life, at risk to go and rescue that one sheep, he will do it. That's his baby. No matter if it's one, two, ninety-nine, he will go after. Jesus is telling us this parable to say, God will rescue you. If you go astray, we're coming after you. If you are in danger, I will leave my 99 to come and save you. And also in that parable, it says along the lines of how much more the angels in heaven rejoice when one lost sheep is found than the 99 other sheep being righteous. So you might think, I've messed up so much, but my past, it's so bad, or if only God knew who I was, he does. And he says, It there's more celebration in heaven for you being saved than 99 who are already walking a righteous life. Then Jesus goes on to the parable of the lost son. Long story short, a son goes to his father and asks, Father, give me my inheritance now. That was like a slap in the face to the father saying, You're pretty much dead to me. I want your money, and I'm gonna go live my life. You no longer matter to me. And the father gives the son the inheritance. He has two sons, and one of the sons does this. So the son takes the money, he runs, gets himself into so much trouble. He spends it all, he wastes it, gambling, drinking, women, and he ends up so broke and struggling that he is living with the pigs one day, looking at the food of the pigs, thinking they're so lucky, that looks so good. Okay, talk about a rock bottom. I don't want to hear anyone say they're at rock bottom unless that's happening. Okay, so this the son, he's thinking, how much worse can my life get? He decides, you know what, I'm going to pick up my pride. I'm going to go back to my father, and I will see if maybe my father will just take me back as a servant. He makes his way back to his father's home. And as he is walking towards his old house, his father sees him in the distance and goes running towards his son, shouting to the servants behind him, prepare the fattest calf, get a meal together, my son has returned home. The father has to pick up, and the reason why the details of the Bible matter so much is because it says the father ran. But back in that time, if you know the history, what the men wore were robes that reached the bottom of their feet. In order for a man to run, he would have had to pick up his robe, which would have meant that his ankles were exposed, which was a huge sign of shame. The father said, I don't care. People can see my shame. I'm running to my son. He embraces his son. He's crying. I'm so happy you're home. The son is going, Father, please forgive me. Just take me on as a servant. I can't believe what I did to you. And the father goes, You are my son. Come and sit back in your old position as my son. You will not be a servant in this house. Everyone prepare a meal for him. And there's so much to that story. I want to do a whole episode on it one day. But why I say that is that is how deeply God pursues us. That is how intimately he wants to know us. And he took on our shame. He who knew no sin became sin so that our sins might be forgiven. God took our shame, nailed it to the cross. And actually, something that has helped me release shame is I think about the nails in Jesus' hands that nailed him to the cross. I think about the nails on the side of his body. And if I picture that and I'm still carrying my shame, can you imagine how Jesus would be feeling? My daughter, look at these nails in my body. These have pierced your shame already. Why in the world are you carrying it? All of our sin was literally physically nailed to the cross. It is no longer ours to carry. So the father revealing his shame with his ankles was God saying, This is what I'm doing for you. Okay, number three. I thought this was gonna be a short episode today. We've still got two more. Three more, actually. So number three is he's forgiving. I think about when God was trying to tell Pharaoh through Moses, let my people go. Pharaoh had enslaved the Hebrews in Egypt, and God was very upset about this because he had made a covenant promise with Abraham, and he said, You will have so many more descendants than even the stars that you can count. I will bless your children, I will bless your lineage so much. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac was the father of Jacob. Uh Jacob also had the son Joseph, who we've talked about. And Joseph, he is the one who ends up in Egypt, goes through imprisonment, uh, slavery, ends up at, or servanthood, sorry, not slavery, ends up as Pharaoh's right-hand man because of God's favor. And because Joseph ended up in Egypt from his brothers selling him into slavery, what had happened was there was a famine. Joseph allowed his brothers and a distant land to come live with him in Egypt and said, Even though you sold me into slavery, I forgive you. Come, he moved his family to Egypt. That is why Abraham, Isaac, Jacob's family relocated to Egypt. And so now you go forward a few generations, the Hebrews are living in Egypt. But there's a new pharaoh now after Joseph had passed, and this new pharaoh decided that the Hebrews were so powerful, he knew that the God they served was more powerful than him, and he was threatened. So he enslaved the Hebrews. And so that's a bit of a backstory. So, fast forward, God is angry. His children were never meant to be in slavery. And so he goes, Okay, Moses, I know you stutter. I know that you feel like you're not worthy, but I choose you to set my people free and to lead them into the promised land, to lead them out of slavery, into freedom. And so Moses goes to Pharaoh again, again, again, and says, Let my people go, speaking on God's behalf. As soon as God turns the water back into water, Pharaoh's heart becomes hard and he goes, Uh, everything's good. I'm gonna keep enslaving these people because it serves me. Moses goes, Okay, here comes plague number two and three, all the way to, I believe it's 10. How many times did God forgive Pharaoh and give him another chance to say, Okay, let my people go this time? The amount of times that God tells us, commands us actually to forgive, and talks about forgiving us, it's too many to count. So he's forgiving. There's another part that's really heartbreaking in Deuteronomy, and actually I think it's in Exodus 2. After God has delivered his people out of Egypt, the Israelites are now in the wilderness, and God is saying, I'm going to bring you into the promised land. At this point, God is with Moses. He's on Mount Sinai, and God is speaking to Moses, and God is writing the words of the covenant on these stone tablets. And what God is saying is that these are the commands that I give you, such as, love me with all of your heart, your mind, your strength, um, do not murder, do not commit adultery, all these things. So God is putting the commandments on the stone tablets, and he's also writing that I have promised your ancestor Abraham that I will give him so many descendants, and that I will bless them beyond what they can measure. I will bring them into this promised land. So as God is writing this commandment. Covenant, sealing his promise on these stone tablets with Moses. All the Israelites down below at the bottom of the mountain, they're growing restless. It's been 40 days Moses is up there. They're like, What's taking Moses and God so long? I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm bored. You know what these people do? They take some gold, they melt it into the shape of a calf, a baby cow, and they start worshiping it. They create an idol and say, This is going to be our God. Hopefully, this will give us what we want because God's been pretty silent. The irony of God being up on the mountain with Moses, setting out a promise, setting out an inheritance for his people of so much blessings and abundance. Yet at the bottom of the mountain, the people are being unfaithful to God in worshiping a golden calf. After God has parted the Red Sea, by the way, made bread fall from heaven and rescued them out of slavery. They're down there worshiping a calf. God still forgives his children even after that. There's a verse that I love, Isaiah 43, 25, and it says, I, yes, I alone will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. God blots out our sins. Think about whiteout. He just puts that right over our messy sin. Okay, so he's forgiving. Number four is he's jealous. I love talking about this one. God's jealous. Deuteronomy 5.9, it says, I the Lord your God am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for other gods. I love this so much. I will not tolerate your affection for other gods. And I think this is also why cheating hurts so badly. In a marriage, a marriage is a covenant. It is becoming one, and it's a promise, it's a union between two. And when we become one and that covenant is broken, it is absolutely devastating. Well, we are also in a covenant with the Lord. God has promised us eternal life. And one of the commandments, actually the very first commandment, love the Lord your God. Also in the commandments, have no other gods before me, have no idols, worship no other false gods. And so when we cheat on God by putting anything above him, anything we put above God and prioritize more than him is an idol. It grieves God's heart. And there's something very interesting. As I was preparing my notes, I was reminded about a very specific part in Genesis, speaking about weddings and covenants. So we talked about Abraham, right? How he's the father of the Israelite nation. And God promised him, he said, I'm going to bless your descendants, I'm going to bring them into this promised land. I'm going to give them so much abundance. Well, in order to make this covenant, Abraham is speaking with God, and this is back in Genesis. And I'm just going to read Genesis 15, starting at verse 9, and I'll highlight to you where the important part is. So this is God speaking to Abraham, and they're preparing for the sacrifice for the covenant. The Lord told him, Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side. He did not, however, cut the birds in half. Some okay, we'll skip that part. As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. Here's the important part. Then the Lord said to Abram, You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for four hundred years. Speaking about Egypt, which happened later on. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction. Here's the extremely important part. After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. We'll come right back to that. So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, I have given this land to your descendants all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River. So that part where Abram, he was later named Abraham, when he sees a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses, the flaming torch was God. God was often described as a flame of fire. He was a pillar of fire for the Israelites when they're in the wilderness. He was a fire in the burning bush to Moses. So uh cutting the animals in half, which is in Genesis 15, 10, the significance was that a traditional covenant ritual in which the party violating the covenant would suffer the same fate as the animal. So why they had to sacrifice the animals is to say, okay, God and Abram, if either one of if either one of this uh of these parties breaks a covenant, they will end up just like the animal, meaning they will die. Abram's side of the covenant was him and his descendants were to honor and be faithful to God and to obey his commandments, which you already know was later broken because we are human and the Israelites, they were so unfaithful to God. The golden calf is an example. So, anyways, God walking through the aisle, which the aisle, we're gonna come back to this the significance of marriage. God walking through the aisle, it showed, it showed that the promise would be upheld and that Abram would not have to reciprocate the obligation. Only God was responsible for fulfilling the covenant. Since uh what did I write here? Since the Jews on Abram's side later broke the covenant promise by being unfaithful to God through idolatry, disobedience, breaking the covenant, it meant that God was to receive the curse of those animals that were split in half, which Jesus' death redeemed because he took the punishment upon himself. So Jesus equals, what did I write here? So Jesus equals, I'm sorry guys, I'm trying to read my Bible notes. Um, so Jesus was the bride. Notice how the bride walks down the aisle. It's very symbolic how weddings are even set up. When the bride is walking down the aisle, that is um, it's pretty much saying back in this time, if the bride breaks the covenant, she will end up like the like the animals. Anyone who walks down the aisle, this is how they made sealed and promised um agreements back then. Anyone who is walking down the aisle, if they were saying, if the covenant is broken, I take the punishment. So when Abram sleeps and God walks down the aisle, he is saying, No matter if even you and your descendants break the covenant, I will take the punishment and end up like those animals, which Jesus did when his body was broken on the cross. So all of this just comes so, so, so full full circle. So all of this to say God's jealous. He's jealous because what he paid for us, what he paid for us to have a relationship with him, when we worship other gods, it's like saying, God, I don't care that you gave your one and only son. This is what I trust in more than you. It's the biggest slap in the face. So he's jealous. The Lord your God is a devouring fire. He is a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4 24. I love how he's described as a devouring fire. That is why also I think he's such a girl dad. When people hurt his children, especially his daughters, God gets angry. He is a devouring fire. He is not very happy about that. That could be a whole other episode. Okay, last quality, and then we'll move to the practical tips. He's protective. Proverbs 18:10, it says, The name of the Lord is a strong fortress. The godly run to him and are safe. That's one of the verses that I have memorized this month. I love it. The name of the Lord is a strong fortress. We run to him and we are safe. Deuteronomy 31.6, it says, So be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. This is mo this is uh Moses speaking to the Israelites who are preparing to take over the enemy land and get their promised land. So he's saying, Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God, he will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. And I love that. Our battles, God personally goes ahead of. He's already there. Something I was reading this morning is when the Israelites are scared to face the giants, God is going. You don't have to be scared. I've already gone ahead and I've already, ah, what is the word that God used? Um let me see if I can find it real quick. It was so good. Uh let's see. I've already subdued them. I love that. God goes ahead and he subdues our enemies, he throws them into confusion, he throws their plan off. And he says, by the time you get there, they will be so confused, they will be so easy to overtake that even though they look like giants to you, and for the Israelites, they were actual giants. Like it talks about in Leviticus, how it's either Leviticus or Deuteronomy, how the giants uh they had beds made of iron. They were 13 feet long and six feet wide. That is how big these huge men were. So the Israelites, of course, they're scared. It's not short man complex, it's real. They're scared. God's like, yeah, that land is yours, go and fight them. And they're like, um, how? And God goes, I will go ahead of you. He subdues them. The Israelites have no problem wiping out their enemies, facing the giants. And they win the battle, they get the land, and their enemies are defeated. And the giants, all of the enemies, they were extremely, extremely wicked, worshiping false gods, just in so, so so much sin. Um, so yeah, God's protective. One of my other favorite verses, it says, The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior. My God is my rock in whom I seek refuge. He is my shield and the power that saves me. He is my safety. That's Psalm 18, too. And the best, best, best reminder of God's protectiveness is Psalm 91. Every night before bed, I've been reading it. I sleep with Psalm 91 open in my room because it's been a little scary going to bed. If you are living in a place that where there are wars happening, if maybe even in your own home, if there's a if it feels like there's a mental battle with your family or something that you cannot escape, sleep with Psalm 91 open in your Bible and speak those words over you before you go to sleep. So God's character. He's a father, he desires to intimately know us and he pursues us, he's forgiving, he's jealous, and he's protective. All right, and by the way, if a man comes to you and says, I can be jealous, God was jealous, make sure that man is submitted to God. Because if he's jealous according to the world's Merriam-Webster definition of jealous, that's not the type of jealous that you want to be with, okay? So let's make that clear too. Alright, a few practical things here, then we'll wrap it up. These are gonna be very short. Seeing God as a safe, loving, kind father. One way that I love to do this is calling God by his names, meaning his multiple names. He has so many names throughout the Bible. Jehovah Rapha means God my healer. Jehovah Nisi means God my banner. Like if you are going into a war, if you're going into a battle, God, you're my banner, you're my protector. Uh, there's Jehovah Jirah, there's El Shaddai, Adonai, Yahweh, Abba. Abba is one of my favorites. Abba is just a, it's like a very loving way of saying father, very intimate way of saying father. God says we get to call him father or Abba. Both. My personal favorite name for God is Elroy. I love, love, love this name. And it's the name that we've talked about this story a few times here that Hagar gives to God, which I love that a woman gave this name to God. Hagar was the servant of um, I think it's Isa Am I blanking right now? Isaac. No, no, no. Abraham and Sarah. Sorry guys, my mind is all over. We've been through the whole Bible today. Abraham and Sarah. So Abraham, who just made that covenant with God that I was just talking about. Um, Abraham's wife, Sarah. Hagar is Sarah's servant. I'm not going to get into the full story because we need to wrap it up. But Hagar, um, she is, she carries Ishmael, who is also the son of Abraham. Because Sarah did not believe God's promise that she would have a child, she forces her husband to sleep with her servant Hagar. Hagar becomes pregnant with Ishmael, even though Sarah later ends up giving birth to Isaac, just as God said. Now Isaac and Ishmael are half-brothers, and this is a whole, whole, whole other story. But Hagar, she begins being mistreated by Sarah. I think Sarah is very jealous that Hagar was with her husband. So Hagar runs into the wilderness and she's crying out to God, God, I need help. I'm being abused and mistreated by Sarah, and I just don't know what to do. I'm not safe in my home. God goes to her and just speaks life into her and just says, My daughter, I'm here. I see you. I see you. And so when God says this to Hagar, she names him Elroy, which means the God who sees me. If you struggle with being seen or you're scared to be seen, start calling God Elroy, and you'll see how that changes. So speak his names. Next, let God be your girl dad. So, what do I mean by this is any blessing or treat that God gives you, my dog's ears just perked up at that name. Any blessing or treat that God gives you, take it as a divine treat just for you. So, for example, I was doing uh a time of fasting and prayer a couple weeks ago, and I was just sitting outside and I was looking at the sunset, and I felt God say, This one's for you. And I just felt, oh God, I love you so much. It was gorgeous, gorgeous. It was also raining a lot, so there were a lot of clouds, and I was just thinking, oh my gosh, how beautiful of an artist you are. And I just felt him say, This is for you. So take those little nuggets. Like, even if you're driving in traffic and this goes into the next part, invite God into every part of your day. If you're like I've had close calls where I've been about to be in an accident, and I just say, Whoo, God, thank you for saving me. Or God, did you see that? We were so close. Invite him into every part of your day. And every funny moment that happens. God, did you see that? Laugh with him, like share your life with him. He wants to see your life. Your business plans, share those with God, your major life decisions, include God in those. So invite him into every part of your day. And back on the letting him be your girl dad, I think God wants the soft girl life so much for us. Matthew 11, 28 through 30, it says, Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. This is Jesus speaking. We are supposed to have a light burden. We are not supposed to be weighed down with stress and burdens and life. God wants to give us a soft life. He's our girl dad. And back to that point about inviting him into every part of your day. If you think about a partner that you had, if you never spent time with your partner, if you never shared intimate moments with them, if you never um never gave them your vulnerabilities, if you never let them see the sides of you that you're scared to face, do you think you're going to be very close with your partner? Probably not. That is how our relationship is with God. We have to invest time into our relationship with God. And the sad thing is, I used to only invest like five minutes a day. I would pray for a couple minutes at night and say grace before each meal, and that was it. But that's the most important relationship in my life. It must be prioritized if we're going to feel safe with God. If you don't spend time with a partner, you're probably not going to feel safe with them. And another thing too is bring God your vulnerabilities. He wants to see. This has been a huge, huge, huge part of my faith journey is journaling out the things that I'm scared to journal and talk about, scared to be seen. But my El Roy, I say, okay, God, I'm scared to see this. I'm scared to allow you to see this. But when I journal and share the things that maybe I feel ashamed about or that I deeply, deeply desire, but I'm scared if I say this and it doesn't happen, I'm scared to even write that desire out. Well, that vulnerability, we bring that to God. And that is how we feel safe with him. It is so beautiful, the intimacy that we get to have. And it starts with us investing time into him, knowing who he is, seeing his character. The best way to know who God is and to hear him is to read the word of God. My pastor, she says this so beautifully. If you can't hear God, read him. And I love it. And if it's been on your heart for a while to accept Jesus into your life and to let him be your Lord and Savior, here's a prayer for you. And it's very simple. A lot of us, especially if you're a perfectionist like me, you think, Did I really say that prayer? Did it really work? The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. Romans 10, 9. It is the best decision that you will ever make. I think the two most important days of our life is one when we give our life to Jesus, and two, when we decide to get married, if that is what you want. The partner that you say yes to and saying yes to Jesus are two of the biggest, biggest decisions you'll ever make. And I would say saying yes to Jesus is even more important. So here's the prayer. You can say it with me. You can write it down, you can come back to it later. If you've already said this, you're welcome to just say it with me again. It can be like a refresh. And please excuse the wind outside. I think God is adding some background music to our prayer. Jesus, thank you for saving me. Thank you for giving me your life for my sake. Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. I believe you died for my sins and rose again. I ask you to forgive me. Come into my life, be my Lord and Savior. I surrender and give you my life. Help me to walk with you from this day forward. Amen. If you just said that prayer for the first time, I'm so happy for you. Everyone in heaven is rejoicing. God is so excited. And from this day forward, you just get to live a life even more deep and intimately with God. And so I'm so happy to have you here, ladies. I love ladies and gentlemen. I'm sorry guys, I'm always leaving you out. I love, like I look forward to Tuesdays to come and speak with you so much. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing the episode. Thank you for your feedback and your messages of how much it is helping you and changing your life. And always let me know what you want to see, what you want to hear. One more quick side note before we conclude. One of my podcasts that I listen to every day, it's called the 10 Minute Bible Talks. And they did an episode. This morning called Is Jesus a Feminist? And I thought it was so good. Especially if you have questions like, Does the Bible make women uh less than men? Um, what does Jesus say about the position of women surrendering, submitting, all of this? This episode is so good because you can see how much Jesus honors and empowers women. So I'm gonna link it also in the description for you. I hope that this episode helps you. Remember that God is up there thinking, I am here, you get to feel safe with me. You are his special treasure. I love you so much. Have a beautiful and blessed week, and I cannot wait to see you next week.