Informed or Transformed? Living What You Hear

In this episode of The Morning Charge, Joshua talks about the difference between simply hearing the Word and actually living it out.

This message focuses on prayer, daily relationship with Jesus, and the danger of becoming informed without being transformed. It also walks through what prayer really is, why many people only pray in emergencies, and how believers can move from a performance mindset into a real, ongoing relationship with God.

This episode is a reminder that faith is meant to be lived daily. God is not looking for people who only gather information about Him. He is calling people to walk with Him, trust Him, and let His Word shape everyday life. 

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Real Talk. Real Jesus. Real Life.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Morning Charge. This is your moment to slow down, breathe, and get your spirit aligned before stepping into the day ahead. Life moves fast, responsibilities pile up, voices compete for your attention. But before the noise of the world takes over, this is where we come back to what actually matters. This is a place for honest conversations about faith, life, purpose, and everyday battles we all face. No pretending, no religious performance, just the truth. Because following Jesus was never meant to be complicated. It was meant to be real. So whether you're driving to work, you're getting the kids ready, or simply taking a quiet moment for yourself, you're in the right place. This is real talk, real Jesus, real life. This is the morning charge. We're on a journey and we're marching back to the garden. In other words, we're marching back to our original design biblically, what he said about us and how he wants us to live and how he wants us to do things. Amen. And so this morning, I want to just continue on what we've been talking about. Living by faith. We should have goals for our lives and kingdom goals. Those are goals that are inspired by the Lord, goals that are spoken to you by the Lord. All right. We don't just want to come sit around and think about a whole bunch of good things we can be doing. We want quality over quantity in our lives. It's quality over quantity. If the Lord spoke it, that is what you need to run with, and that is what you need to ask for strategies on. All right, if he spoke it to you, that is what you want to concentrate on. It's not all of this and all of that and all this over here. We used to think we had to be super busy in order to be productive, and we base that upon, well, how much God loves us. Well, if I'm not doing a whole lot, he must not love me. So the more I do, the more he's gonna love me, and the easier I'm just gonna be able to get into heaven because I did a whole bunch of good things. The Bible tells me that there are going to be some that say, Oh, I spoke healings in your name and I cast out demons and I did this and that. And Jesus is gonna sit there and he's gonna look and he's gonna go, I never knew you. I don't know you. It boils down to the personal relationship that you have with Jesus. I don't want to be one just doing a whole bunch of good things. And and you know what? Don't get me wrong. I want to be able to pray for people and see them set free, healed, and delivered. I want to be able to speak life into other people's lives just like I do here each and every morning. I want to see people changed. But guess what? For me personally, I have to have a personal relationship with Jesus because that is what he is looking for. If I never said another word, if I never jumped on these live streams, if I never posted another bit of content, if I never sang another song in a public setting. What matters most to me is knowing that Jesus loves me and I love on him. He abides in me, I abide in him. I was co-crucified with him, and I was co-resurrected with him. I too sit in heavenly places with him. We each individually, each one of us, have to get this, we have to get this revelation. Amen. We we shouldn't be just learning the word. We need to be living the word. Living the word. I and you and you and me. Together forever, we always will be. And the Lord began to give me another section. Because we've been talking about what goals, we've been talking about direction, obedience, faith, writing things down, really taking an honest look at our lives, which with this over this weekend. I'm like, take an honest look of where you are and assess what is going on. All right, we've talked about slowing down and we've talked about hearing the Lord. We have talked about making practical adjustments. We need adjustments, almost like we're going through the chiropractor. You're going to the spiritual chiropractor. You need to get in the secret place or allow him to adjust what needs to be adjusted. And I'm hoping over the weekend you did take time to get along with the Lord and really write down some things and get some blueprints. Because the truth of everything is this we can hear a whole lot. You can sit here and listen to me day after day after day after day after day, and you can feel good right now in the moment. Yes, Josh, what you're saying is resonating with me. Yes, boy, that sounds great. And then we can end this live stream and you live life the same you've always lived it until we meet again tomorrow morning. Or you go to church on Sunday mornings, or whenever you go. You go to Bible study on Wednesday night and you feel so good in the moment, but after that moment, you don't allow Jesus to carry over into the next moment and you leave him in those places. This is the reason why we have so many people wanting more church meetings and more. We want more, more, more because that's the place we find Jesus. I'm sorry, but that's just that is just a tool that we should be using to sharpen the body in one another so that when we leave the four walls or we leave the conferences or the summits or the Bible studies or the retreats or the whatever we've done, when we leave those moments, we should stay in an elevated place and live from that elevated place. But what happens when you leave the Bible studies in the retreats, you have a decline back down to where you were. That's because we're putting a whole lot of stake into those things. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with retreats and summits. I mean, my goodness, we've got the uh of the Warriors Rising Summit coming up in October in Oxford, Alabama. We've got the place narrowed down, we've got everything going, more details. I'll post about that. And if you want to know where Brandy and I are going to be, if you want to know more about Fire and Water Ministries, all those things are in a link in my BIO. Y'all go check that out. Okay. I got lots of things for you there. And I am working on the next phase of things, which I'll share in days to come. But Brandy and I are we're we're solidifying some things. Brandy and I are about to launch a podcast together, okay? And we'll we'll speak more about that, aside from the morning charge. We're following the Lord and what he's asking us to do. Anyway, I didn't mean to go there, but here we are. All right. Go to the link in the BIO. Or go visit the website. If you want to become a monthly partner with Fire and Water Ministries, you can find out how to do that there. Okay, you can see how to do that. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization. So there you go. If you needed to know that. But we're sitting through these Bible studies and we're we're listening to the preachings and we are uh we're we're highlighting verses in our Bibles and we're we're we're clapping and we're saying amen and we're standing up and we're cheering. We're posting scripture, which is good because we should be light in dark places, especially when it comes to Sunday mornings. I mean, or when it comes to social media, sorry. Light in dark places, social media. I was gonna say, you might be teaching Sunday morning school, Sunday school. Amen. You teach your first Sunday school class this coming Sunday. Come on, Josh, get out there. Amen, brother. That's what I'm talking about. We need more on fire people that are gonna step into that place. If you're a Sunday school teacher, if you're a pastor, if you hold a home meeting, whatever you do, the number one goal, well, the number one focus is Jesus. The number one goal for people is to point them in the direction of Jesus. So when they leave the home meetings and they leave Sunday school and they leave the church meeting, they leave the conference, whatever it is, they leave changed. Every time is another elevation. Every time is another elevation. Really, honestly, it's up to the people. Hello, leaders, stop beating yourself up. Maybe I'm not being effective enough. Maybe I'm not saying things right. Maybe I'm not. If you're pointing people to Jesus, you're taking them down to the stream. It is your responsibility to lead them in the way. It is up to us as leaders to take them to the stream. It is up to us as leaders to be the first ones to drink, to show them how to drink, but it is completely all on them to drink for themselves. That's not your responsibility. So if they ain't drinking and they ain't eating, you can give them tactics, you can give them strategies, you can point them in the right way. But if they aren't drinking, it's up to them. That's an individual decision. Amen? But we can do all of these things. But if the word never moves into our daily lives, if Jesus never moves into our daily lives, we're only becoming informed, not transformed. We're becoming informed, not transformed. Just asking anybody, is salvation only for those with grace in 2 Timothy 1 and 9. Is salvation only for those with grace? 2 Timothy 1 and 9. Timothy and the Holy Spirit, is that right? 2 Timothy 1 and 9. 2 Timothy 1 and 9 tells me he gave us resurrection life and drew us to himself by his holy calling on our lives. And it wasn't because of any good that we've done, but by his divine pleasure and marvelous grace that confirmed our na our union with the anointed Jesus even before time began. Now your question was, you done went away. I think you're asking the question incorrectly. I'm not, and I'm not poking at you. I'm just telling you. Timothy, I mean, Timothy is telling us that Jesus, he gave us resurrection life, and he has drawn us to himself by his holy calling on our lives. It wasn't because of any good. Now see, here's the thing: it has nothing to do with any good works that you can do. We are sinners saved by grace. We're not sinners saved by works. Okay. So I think, I think the the question is, how, how, how do I get to know Jesus? How do I ask him in our heart? How? This is how. It's not by working hard enough. It said he gave us resurrection life and drew us unto himself by his holy calling on our lives. And it wasn't by anything that you did. It wasn't by anything that I did, but by his divine pleasure and marvelous grace that confirmed our union with the anointed Jesus even before time began. And then Timothy goes on to say, this truth is now being unveiled by the revelation of this anointed Jesus, our life giver. He is the life giver. He is the only way to eternity, he's the only way to the Father. Jesus has dismantled on alivingness, hello, obliterating all its effects on our lives, and has manifested his immortal life in us by way of the gospel. Hello? I believe in him, and I have the good book that is my it's it's my uh instruction manual for life. So I believe this is how it works, my brother. Not debating. Hello. This is just, you know, Timothy is telling us, I mean, he begins this section in verse six. I'm writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid hands upon you. So it's almost like, it's almost like what I mean, we can tie this into what I'm talking about this morning. He's writing them to encourage them. Fan the flame on your life. See, a lot of you, maybe possibly, you were saved one day. You felt that nudging of the Holy Spirit, you gave your life completely over to Christ. You believe that He on a live TikTok language on that cross for your sins. And I want to live with you in eternity. I'm gonna follow you in faith. And somewhere along the way, like I said, you left the meeting. There was not enough discipleship in your life. There wasn't enough people that took you under their wings, and something happened to the flame. That was like a big bonfire of a flame, and then life comes and beats you down, and you're not quite sure how to handle things yet. And then you get sick and you wonder where Jesus is, and the flame gets smaller and smaller, and you're just like, oh, I wish. Timothy is saying, No, no, no, I'm encouraging you to fan that flame and rekindle that fire of the spiritual gift God has imparted to you. Let's fan the flames on some, let's fan those flames today. For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control. That's what he gives you. He gives you power, love, and self-control. It is up to you to walk in that power, love, and self-control. So never be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be embarrassed over my imprisonment, Timothy says. But overcome every evil by the revelation of the power of God. Overcome every evil by the revelation of the power of God. How do I get the revelation of the power of God? You better pick up your word and start reading it daily. Don't let this be the only place you get the word. Don't let your church be the only place you get the word. Okay. You need to crack open the word for yourself, read it for yourself, apply it for yourself. This is a personal walk journey. Catherine, thanks, friend. This is a personal walk journey. And thanks for the coffee too. So I'm hoping that has I'm hoping that sort of pointed you in the right direction. Hello? It's not by any any works that we can do ourselves, but it's just by what Jesus did. You just receive it in that moment. And go the rest of your life knowing you ain't gotta work. You don't have to work yourself for that. Don't do that. The word has to move into our daily lives. Tim, thanks. We are only, see, the problem is we are only becoming informed, not transformed. That's the problem. We've got to become transformed, not just informed. We hear these messages, we read these things, we've highlighted all the things, but we're not being transformed. So so I really feel like this morning, that's kind of the direction that seems like the direction we're going in. Doesn't it? And thank you guys too, by the way. Catherine, thanks, friend. You see, sometimes in the body of Christ, we have learned so much that we almost feel just full of knowledge. Well, remember, the people that lived in Corinth and Ephesus and all of those places, boy, they were full of head knowledge too. They thought they had life all figured out. Okay, they hadn't. But that that is how they had learned. They learned that it was all about head knowledge. But see, our lives are still not lining up with what we know. And that's a problem. If we're hearers only and not doers of the words, that seems to be the thing that the Lord has me talking about a lot lately. Amen. You're trying to Tony has some goals there, so y'all make sure to love on our friend this morning. If you're new this morning or jumping in with us today, say hello. We'd love to say hello back to you. We got some great moderators in this room. Amen. We'd love to love on you today. See, a lot of people here, let's let's talk about, and I've talked about prayer specifically. All right, there's a lot of people that know you know you should pray. All right. I've read it, I see it, I've heard others. We see where David is praying all throughout the Psalms and just how in his model of prayer we saw where Jesus taught and said, This is the way you should pray, and he taught the disciples how to pray. So a lot of people, you know you should pray. All right. You you you believe in prayer. You you say that, you know, prayer matters. We say prayer matters, prayer matters. The way you speak matters, prayer matters, okay? But for a whole lot, prayer is still not your lifestyle. See, the Bible says pray without ceasing. That means I'm having conversations with the Lord all day long. And a lot of people don't pray because they feel like it has to be some magic formula. You feel like if it doesn't come out this way or that way, then I shouldn't even open my mouth, and he doesn't even hear me unless it's like, oh, Father God, we come before you humbly today with no no no, we don't we don't live in the what the 18th century anymore. Whatever. It is just like us having a conversation. Amen. It's us having a conversation with each other. Yes, I know. I'm sorry. Yes, I had to do the accent. And for a lot of us, prayer hasn't become a lifestyle. Really, it's become a reaction to problems and and situations. It's almost become like a help, you know, the help button, or the well, that's the easy button was the thing. But imagine one that's just said emergency or help on it. And the only time you pray is when you, oh, I need you right now, Lord. Please come, we need you. We're in such trouble, but you haven't talked to him. Now, I'm not saying he doesn't hear your prayer in that moment because he is close to you. All right, but what I'm saying is that's the only time we seem to hit the prayer button or the emergency. In an emergency, oh, I need you to come right now, Lord. When everything is falling apart, that is when you that's when you really you dig in in those in those moments and those times. But see, Jesus wants to hear from you all day. From the time you get up all the way through the day to the time you lay your head down, and then you get up again the next morning. He wants a relationship with you. We need an intercessory prayer. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us, Brandy. Yes. When you don't know what to say, will you pray through me? Will you pray through me? That's just allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through you. God is not looking for people who only call on him when they're in trouble. He is calling a people who are going to walk with him daily, who are going to talk with him daily, who are going to trust him daily, and who want to build their lives with him daily. This is a daily walk. A daily walk. And you know the thing we say the most on here deny myself, pick up my cross and follow him today. Tomorrow, gotta deny myself, pick up my cross and follow him. He's taken me on this journey for the past little bit. What does it mean to deny myself? Pick up my cross, follow me. That means in the moments when I don't feel like praying are the times I really need to be praying the most. Amen. Amen. That's what we've got to do. Amen, Catherine. You gotta do what you gotta do, friend. Prayer is not just what you do when everything is falling apart. Prayer is how you live with God at all times, in every situation, in all things, on top of the mountain or in the valley. All right. It is possible to know truth and still not apply it. See, these are the things I give you because we go through the in-depth studies in the Word. We talk about the places and the culture and the things being said and how we can apply it here. But then I like to spend a little time in between diving deep into these books that we have of the Bible. And us talking about how, what do we do now? See, that's the problem. On Sunday mornings, we hear the messages and we, but there's not enough. What do I do? What do I do now? How do I walk this out? If somebody would just help me and lay something out for me, at least a framework of something, and that's what I try to give you is the framework of something. Okay. October 9th and 10th. Did I get that right, Amanda? I'm going based off of this. James 1, 23 through 25. It says, For if anyone is a hearer, amen. Thanks, Brandy. If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. So you're like a man. So when you just hear the word and you don't do it, it's like you're standing there staring at yourself in the mirror. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, this one will be blessed in what he does. That is it. You can't just stand there and stare at yourself and just, I mean, I'm just looking at myself. No, no, no. You've got to be one that looks into the law of the perfect law of liberty and you get in it. You you get in that way of walking out the law of liberty. That's the one that's going to be blessed in what he does. That is what the scripture tells us. James makes this very plain for us. The problem is not our lack of hearing. Our problem is the lack of doing. And we're scared about what people are going to think about us. And we're scared that if we truly stand up from the pulpit and speak in truth and love, that people aren't going to be giving as much as they need to give, which is going to Going to shut down the operations. And uh, I mean, I'm just giving you some pride, I'm giving you some reasons why people don't do things. A lot of it is fear. What did I just mention earlier from from from from from 2 Timothy? He does not give us a spirit of fear. Stop with the fear. Stop having that fear. It's not yours. Spirit of fear has got to go in the mighty name of Jesus, and you got to say that. But I have power, love, and a sound mind. In other words, I know I got a sound mind, and I'm going to speak forth the truths that I know from God's word. There's going to be power in it, and I'm going to do it in love. That's why it's power, love, and a sound mind. All three of those things have to collectively come together when you begin doing the word, when you begin speaking the word. But you can just hear the word and never change. You do have choices here. I mean, you can just continue to live the way you've always lived and do what you've always done, even though you've heard the word. You can keep going and sitting and warming the seat and listening, maybe cracking your Bible open while they're speaking, maybe not, maybe taking notes, maybe not, maybe just hanging out, maybe checking the Sunday box. You can keep doing those things. All right. You can know better and still live not better. You can study the Bible and you can still stay stuck in your old patterns and, you know, those sins that so easily ensnare you that you continue to fall face first into all the time and, you know, never actually apply what God is saying to you. And or you can be one that that just tries harder. I'm just going to get out here and I'm going to try a little harder. It's not about trying harder, it's about getting the revelation of Jesus implanted into your heart from the pages and then walking out his ways and keeping your eyes set upon him and knowing that you're seated in heavenly places. There's something when you get that revelation and you begin to understand, I am seated in heavenly places. That means I look different, I act different, I have the power of the Lord on the inside of me. Prayer is one of the main ways that we stop living disconnected from God and we start walking with Him. If you feel disconnected from the Lord, well, why don't you pick up the spiritual phone and make a phone call? It's time to connect to the Lord again. If you feel not connected to the Lord, it doesn't have anything to do with him because he doesn't change, he doesn't move, he doesn't just walk away. God is omnipresent. He's always there, he's always around you. If you feel distant from the Lord, it's because you are distant. And you have to bring yourself back to look in the mirror and don't just look in the mirror, but actually assess what is in the mirror and then begin to take action on what you see in the mirror and connect with God again. That's what you get. It's a two-way call, Mama Omissions. 100%. 100%. Amen. There you go, Jesse Lynn. Yesterday y'all talked about tuning in. He's always speaking. So see, Jesse Lynn, they had a message at church yesterday all about tuning in. God is always speaking. If Jesse never takes that and takes her notes and says, Lord, how can I tune in better? Lord, how can I hear your voice better? If she never does that and then begins to walk with the Lord and actually tuning in, then what she did, she just went and she listened to another great sermon and whoop-ty-doo. Yay. If you want change in your life, you have to be willing to change. You got to be willing to bend. You got to be because with him, you'll bend, but you won't break. All right. You feel like you're going to break and you're going to lose yourself. Not well, to be quite honest, I want to lose myself. All right. I want to gain everything that he has for me. My identity is deep rooted and seated in him as a son of the king. So yeah, I kind of want to lose myself. Because myself ain't handling life very well. Myself ain't never been able to handle life. But he that lives within me, he that lives within me is greater than he that lives in the world. Hello? He lives within us. He is the one that leads us and guides us. I don't know what's going on there, but something. When you pray, when you pray, it keeps the word active in your lives because you should be praying and then praying the word and then having conversations with the Lord. All right. Prayer keeps your heart posture in the right place. When you pray, it keeps you rooted and grounded where you're talking to the Lord and you're allowing him to talk to you. Prayer keeps your focus in line with where you should be going and what you should be doing. Prayer pulls you out of self-reliance. Oh, it all, I'm going to try harder, I'm going to do better, I. And it puts you back being dependent upon the Lord. All right. I know in life we talk about we shouldn't be, we shouldn't be dependent where we're so dependent on people. We shouldn't be independent where we're not really dependent on people. But in life as people, we are called to be interdependent. What is interdependent? Interdependent means we all come together and we help one another. We know our places, but we come together and we know how we can help one another. We work together. We flow together. It's not dependent. It I mean, it's not dependent. It's not independent. It's interdependent. But when it comes to God, I want to pray and I want to seek his face because I depend upon him. I depend upon him for strength. I depend upon him to love people the way he wants me to love people. I am dependent upon him to accomplish all the things that I have before me. And I have to get myself out of the way. And I have to trust him every step of the way. When you begin to pray, you're not drifting and you shouldn't be, you shouldn't be blowing from one side to the another like a leaf in the wind. When you pray, you're grounded and you're not one that straddles the fence because he helps you to find things through his word and through that prayer time. When you do not pray, you begin to react to the flesh. When you don't pray, that is when you drift. When you don't pray, you start carrying things around that you were meant to surrender. I'll do better. I'll take this. I'll take that. I'll do this. There's some things you need to give to the Lord. There's some people in this live stream today where you need to give some stuff over to God because you've been working yourself and working yourself and working yourself, and it and you were so tired and you're so wore out and the situation hasn't changed. And really, to be quite frank, it's gotten worse. It's time to back up and punt, which means it's time to go hide yourself in your prayer closet or in that secret place wherever it is. I mean, it could be a literal closet. It could be going in your bedroom and shutting and locking yourself in there for a while. It could be whatever you gotta do. It could be finding a babysitter for the kids for the day or for at least a few hours to where you can have some alone time with the Lord, go to the park, take a walk, take a breather, whatever it is. If life is really cloudy and everything is weighing down on you, it is time to take some extreme measures to get yourself back rooted with God again. And you need to get to a place where you can hear his voice. You got to give that burden over to him. Paul. I remember his name is Paul, by the way. Prayer should not just be for these emergencies. When, when, when, when are most times you can think back? A lot of us have graduated into a different way of looking at prayer, but some of us are still in that fight or flight mode. The car breaks down. Oh Lord, what am I gonna do now? That's usually the prayer. What am I gonna stuff is just built up and it's built up and finally you're calling out to the Lord. It's not even really prayer. It's just like, God, I can't handle anymore. Okay, well, that's the first time you've spoken his name. The prayer should be the first thing that you go through. When that diagnosis comes in and you hear that for the first time, you begin to cry out to the Lord. When your marriage is in trouble, that's the first time a lot of people begin to cry out to the Lord. When when money gets tight and the finances are not what they were, or they or they or it's or it's always been this way and it gets really bad. That's the first time when people begin to pray. When there's a lot of pressure on the job and there's a lot of pressure at home, and you feel like you don't have anywhere that you can go and life is just falling apart. That's the first time a lot of people begin to pray. That should not be the first time that you pray. Yes, God is going to be there in times of trouble. Yes, he's gonna be in there in your times of need. And absolutely, we should be praying in those moments. Absolutely we should. But if that is the only time that you are talking to the Lord, something is wrong. Something is wrong if that is the only time that you are talking to the Lord. That is not a relationship with God. It's kind of like that one friend. You only time you hear from them is when they need money or when they need uh uh they need something. Hey, how you guys doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, by the way, do you happen to have a what? So this is the time that you want to like like you will call, say, hey, how's it going? Like I try to call you, don't answer the phone, like, and then you call when you need something. Don't be like that with the Lord. Say, God, I thank you for today. I thank you for the fresh air. I thank you for the sunshine. If it's raining, Lord, I thank you for the rain that you've come and that you have that you're that you're watering the plants today. I mean, seriously, I know that sounds silly to some people, but I mean, I will have conversations for the Lord, man. I thank you for life. I thank you, no aches or pains. I thank you, God, that you are moving in a mighty way in my family. I mean, praise him when things are good. Why would we not? We have so much to be thankful for. I really am just grateful for you. I'm grateful for you, I'm thankful for you. He wants a relationship with you. First Thessalonians 5. Starting in 16, it says, Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Pray without ceasing. Rejoice always. In everything, give thanks. If your finances aren't the way that they're supposed to be today, and you feel like you have quite the mess on your hands, God, I thank you. I thank you, Lord, just for my life today. I stop for a minute, let all that heaviness just go. I lift all that heaviness and burdens off of me today, and I just want to thank you for life, God. I want to thank you, Lord, that you have a plan in the middle of all the uh in the middle of all the messes of life. I thank you, Father, that that that you're bringing me today. Give me this day my daily bread. Pray without ceasing. On the flip side, that doesn't mean that you've locked yourself. It doesn't mean that I've locked myself in my prayer closet all day, 24 hours a day. Okay. I mean there's there is other things that are happening out here. All right, and I'm not gonna lock myself in and not ever talk to anybody, or once again, it's independent, interdependent, you know. Prayer is ongoing. You should have your times where you're listening in the secret place, you're divine, you're listening intently to what he has to say to you. Take notes of what he is saying to you, what he is dropping in your spirit. And then you still talk to him all day. You talk to him when you're with your family, you talk to him while you're out at work, you talk to him while you're on your lunch break, you talk to him while you're at school, you talk to him wherever you're at, whatever you're doing. Prayer is an ongoing thing. Your heart is always turned towards God in all things. Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. Your heart posture, you're always, always lifting up to the Lord. You gotta pay bills today. Lift all of that up to the Lord. Talk to Him before you start paying those bills. Lord, this money you've given me, let it be a current, let it flow to all the places it needs to flow today in the name of Jesus, because I know tomorrow you will give me what I need tomorrow. What do you need to do with what you have today? God is not far off. He's not just hiding in the background somewhere, he's omnipresent. He's always there. And when you pray, you're just letting him know, I know and I am aware that you are with me right now. Holy Spirit, thank you. Oh, how we love you. Even when I'm just giving you all the examples, I just start speaking that out of my mouth, and I just feel the peace of the Lord just begin to wash over me. So why are we walking around with all this heaviness? Why are we walking around with all of these pains of life emotionally, physically, whatever it is, mentally. Talk to him in the morning when you get up. Talk to him in the car, talk to him wherever you go. Work, store, school, whatever. Talk to him before those hard conversations and you're feeling a little nervous about having them. Talk to him when things are going well. Talk to him when things aren't going so well. Ask for wisdom when you don't know what to do in the moment. Stay connected to the source. He is the vine. We are the branches. Stay connected to the source. This is a lifestyle. This is a lifestyle of being with the Lord and living out the life that He has given. He is the one that created me. He is the one that created you. He's the one that knew you before you were even in your mother's womb. He is the one that is so concerned with your life. He knows every hair that's on your head. He knows everything that is about you. Why would I, once I know that and I get that and it's seated on the inside of me, why would I not include him in my everyday life? Because he's there, whether I include him or not. He's there. He's there. And a lot of people don't pray because they're like, is there a right way to pray? Right way to pray? Is there a wrong way to pray? Is it, I mean, if I if I screw this up, is he not going to listen? Like, am I just throwing a whole bunch of empty words out there? All right, number one, don't just throw a whole bunch of empty words out there. But this is where a lot of people, this is where you trip over the wire, so to speak. This is where you get a little bit tripped up. All right. You there's a lot of people that I've encountered, and they they don't know how to pray because, well, I'm not really an eloquent speaker. I hear that so much. Well, I'm not really an eloquent talker, and I don't really, you know, have the best words to say, and I, you know, there's people that feel like they, well, I don't really, I'm not really loud, and I don't really just throw a whole lot of things out there. I'm kind of quiet, you know. I don't know a whole bunch of like words they say in church, you know. Like I read the word and I'd sort of get it, but you know, you know, I can't, I can't, I I don't, I don't know if I could just pray in my prayer language for 30 minutes, you know. I don't, I don't know. See, a lot of people get tripped over all of that. Do you hear all of that? That's just a whole bunch of somebody has made you maybe believe something that prayer isn't really. You gotta look at people like Moses. Moses had her stuttering problem. He didn't have eloquent words to say. God understands your groanings and the utterances, even if you're just, even if you're even if you're just crying in that moment, he understands you. What did I say just a moment before we jumped into this? He knows everything about you. He knows every hair on your head, and he knows every request before you bring it to him. He knows, and he understands. But there's people who are getting intimidated by these other people that pray better than them. They're freezing up because they don't have a clue what to say. They feel like they're doing it wrong, so I just assume not do it. If I'm gonna get it wrong, but prayer is this is, see, that's a performance mentality. You feel like you've got to perform before the king. Like I said earlier, oh Heavenly Father, we thank you for your gracious goodness today. And uh I put thine in thine's hands of no, no, what are you doing? It's not a performance. Prayer is once again a relationship of being connected to the vine. You are the branch, he is the vine. Now, there is a wrong heart posture in prayer that goes beyond your speech. All right, and Jesus warned about praying just to be seen, because there are some that want to be loud and they just want to say a whole bunch of things and they want attention for themselves. Jesus warned us against empty repetitions, empty words. He warned about uh about about this outward show with no heart behind it. What you're praying. What are you praying? How are you praying? See, that's that's the thing. He's looking at the heart of the matter. Why are you saying what you're saying? What are you doing right now? What are your motives? See, Matthew 6, 5 through 8. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. Jesus said that heathen are the ones that do the those vain repetitions. For your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. He already knows, and he's looking at your heart before you even open your mouth. He is looking at this, and what comes out had better match that. So, what what was Jesus? What is he correcting exactly here? He is correcting a bunch of fake prayers. People that just want to be seen, people that are just are just trying to get attention. I always try not to have a heart of judgment and things, but there's been times when people are praying, and I'm like, all right, well what would vain repetition if a vain repetition would be would be would be really would be really really showy. Vain repetitions would be, especially if you're praying about, you know, well, let's take this for example. There's a difference in Lord, you see my needs today. I ask, Lord, and I come before you humbly, Lord, that you would just come and that you would, Father, you would supply every need today. I believe you're gonna supply every need I have today, that you're gonna give me my daily bread today. Holy Spirit, I thank you. Holy Spirit, I thank you. Okay, now that is heartfelt. That's coming from your heart. You are asking the Lord to come and meet your needs and meet you right where you are. A performance prayer, a prayer that's more like appearance than connection with God would be like man, I'm trying to think of I'm trying to think of a good example without being without being over the top harsh. Lord, Lord, I need more money. Give me more money. You know, I I I need more money for to be comfortable, you know. I mean, he might be mean. You're not Lord, I need more. Now he wants to give you the abundance, but but if you if you're not careful, you begin to be real showy with your prayers and real, Lord, you know, just uh just continue to give me to give me lots of money and to continue to uh and you might be praying a whole bunch of stuff over people that makes you look good. You know what I'm saying? You know, and these people that are connected to me, you know, the reason they're flourishing is because of me. And Lord, you keep blessing us because it see if you're not careful, you make a whole lot of things about me, me, me and I, I, I, when it's not pointing people back to Jesus, okay? We got to point everybody back to Jesus. I thank you for being our source. I thank you for being our, you know, it's because of me that I brought you this way, you know. You know what I'm saying? It's because of me that if you're making things showy and all about you, which I have heard before, okay, God is looking at your heart once again. And also, too, if you are praying into situations, if you have an ulterior motive about something, let's say you have a ministry and you You you really let's just say you let's just say you had a ministry and there's a position that you needed. It could be a worship leader, it could be a deacon, it could be whatever. And and you begin to pray over people, you know, and then you begin to, once again, if you're praying and releasing words over people, the Lord's moving you into a new position. And he is, he is. I I see you, I see you singing, and I see you, uh, I see you this, that, and the other. You know some information about those people. Well, see, in your heart, you really need somebody to fill a spot. So now you're praying for that person that they are going to be this and they are going to be that, and they're gonna be, and now you begin to pray for them and release words to them, not because you see the call on their life, that might be a tiny part of it, but because you need something filled in your thing. You see that? Once again, this goes back to a heart motive thing. I know I've given you some really terrible examples, but but be careful when you're praying in your heart. Because let's just say you did have a ministry and you were in need of a worship leader. Lord, I want the right person in that spot and you speak to that person, God. You know who that person is. And if you believe that you know who that person is, well, you just, Lord, you reveal that to them and you show that to them, and you have made it, you've made it known that, hey, we're we're praying in a worship leader, and that whoever that person is, you know, is gonna fill that role, fill that spot. God's gonna bring somebody. See, there's a right way and a wrong way to lift that need up. You know what I'm saying? You know, speak to so-and-so's heart. They got tons of money. I need 500 bucks. Like, you know, they need to give me some money. I mean, you know what I'm saying? You should just be careful what you say because God is already looking at your situation. Yeah, your will be done. That's it. On earth, just as it is, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth just as it is in heaven, Lord. Lord, let your will be done. I know people that have seriously needed food. I mean, there's been situations about this, and they have prayed and they have prayed. Lord, I pray right now you touch somebody's heart, and somebody would knock on the door and they would say, Here, I felt led to give you food. I felt led to give you some cash to be able to go get some groceries. I felt led to, I mean, when your prayers go up, God knows your heart. When we were behind on our rent last February, we begin to pray and begin to press in and we begin to declare over our finances. We begin to have the power, love, and the sound mind behind our prayers when we were praying, and we were really just giving it to the Lord. And I just begin to thank you. Lord, I thank you for bringing it in in. I didn't have it in my hands, but I thought, I thanked him for bringing it in. And you know what? I got a phone call and he brought it in. Now he was trying to break down a lot of things on the inside of me at that moment because he was showing me that it wasn't all about me and what I can do and how I could pull things together because I'm, I mean, especially men, men can really understand. We're like this, we're fixers. We want to try to pull this together. And when there's a need, we're gonna try to pull together every resource we have, and we will overdo it to try to get it done. God had to break that mentality off of me and say, I am your source of strength, I am your provider, I am Jehovah Jireh. And you continue to say that, Josh, but do you really believe me in that? Because it looks like what you believe is that you're the one that has to pull all of this stuff together to get things done. He said, I'm trying to show you that you've got to trust me more and have faith that I am going to bring in what is needed. So I just began to thank him, and I just began to say, Lord, I trust you, Lord, I trust you, Lord, I trust you. And the more I said, Lord, I trust you, the more that weightiness began to lift off of me. And then one day I got that phone call and said, Hey, yours and Brandy's faces came before us today. You're behind on something. What is it? And I began to tell them what it was I was behind on. They said, I tell you what, give me just a little bit. God used them to come through with that need. And like, I mean, we own a cleaning business, and you know, I did some freelance media work, and you know, we're trying to, once again, it's that it's that we're trying to pull things together. We even trust him even in our business. People are like, what kind of like advertising do you do? And I'm like, oh, word of mouth. And I post some things on social media from time to time. But every time we've always needed something, God's always brought a phone call. He's always brought somebody. Hey, I need a quote for this. Hey, I need this done. I need that done. He's always been step for step. He knows the seasons of when we need things. And that's the thing. God wants us to get into that heavenly rhythm in our personal lives, in our families, in our businesses, in our ministries, in all of those things. If you want to see, you hear people talk about these miraculous things that happen. You're like, why doesn't that happen for me? Well, the reason that doesn't happen for you is because you haven't got in that heavenly rhythm yet. You need to jump in and get in that heavenly rhythm. And just like we talked about, you need power, love, and a sound mind. Sound mind for the spirit of fear. Sound mine, sound mine. Love that song, by the way. And a sound mind is being rooted and grounded in prayer with him, rooted and grounded in his holy word. That's how you get a sound mind. That's how you know how to pray, that's how you know how to have faith. And when you begin to move in the rhythms of heaven and you begin to get that revelation that it doesn't all depend on me. See, especially as men, sorry, I know I'm a man, that's why I talk like that. But we, we, we, we, all of our families and the weight of our finances and our relationship with our spouse and raising children and all of those things. And ah, if I don't do this right, then that's gonna cause this. And see, that's when we, any of us, allow compromise to start coming in our lives because we feel like we've got to we've got to do this because that's where finances come from. And if, you know, I'm not doing this and I don't look this way, and we don't talk this way, I'm not in with this crowd, that's gonna hurt our finances, which hurts my family, which does that. We're not relying on the Lord, we're relying on ourselves. We've got to be true to ourselves. And if you are true to yourself, you're gonna begin to see something shift in your life, and you're gonna get in the rhythms of heaven. You don't have to have perfect words to pray. You don't have to uh say these polished prayers. In those moments in our lives when we have truly needed something, God has always brought it. He's always brought it. He's always brought it in. It it wasn't in my timing of when I thought it should have come in. But it's always come in. He wants a relationship with you where you're talking with him and you he is talking to you. Where you just come honestly before him, you open up your heart, you're seeking him, you're seeking his truth, you're trusting him, you're listening to his voice. That is what God is looking for. There's your actionable steps. She never reached out to anybody, she never said anything. She just lifted it up to God. That right there is getting in the rhythms of heaven. Getting in the rhythms of heaven. He knows what you need and he knows when you need it. Lord, you see this. If you got to print all your bills out and lay it all out on the table and say, God, I want to start living according to kingdom ways. I want to start having a more kingdom perspective. And since things have not been going so well with me doing it, well, Lord, I'm gonna lay all this out and I'm giving this all to you now. And I say, Lord, will you bring in the work? Lord, will you bring in the hours, Lord? Will you bring in what is needed? Lord, even supernaturally, if you got to touch somebody's heart, Lord, as we all partner together, Father, I just pray right now over every single one of these. If you've got to list them out in the totals, Brandy of I have done things like that. We've listed them out and the totals. Get your debt, print it all out and like like let's list it all out, print it all down on a piece of paper, and say, I speak to this credit card in the name of Jesus, Lord, that we are going to develop better patterns and be better stewards, Lord, by your leading and your guiding in my life. I know I talk about finances a lot, y'all. I could just, I can only take you where I've been. That's why I'm that's why I'm big on this. I mean, and Lord, and I pray over this debt. Lord, it may be uh 7,000, it may be 70,000, whatever it is. You name the number out, you know. Here's the deal. When you know what it is and you see where it's going and when it goes, something shifts on the inside of you, and God helps you form a plan. If you have no idea when your bills are due and you're just kind of looking day to day and I don't know, I mean, God wants to help you develop a plan. And it may not work out perfectly. I mean, I did a budget, I shared that with y'all Friday. For for years, I did a budget and it was about a thousand short every month. But I still laid it all out and I still looked at it and I still prayed over it, and God moved. If I didn't know what it was and I wasn't looking at it, and I didn't know how to pray, see if you want to be specific in your prayers, as you should. It's one thing to say, Lord, I have a bunch of debt and help me. No, but when you start getting specific and you say, that card right there, I speak to that 5,000 and I say, right now, in the name of Jesus, you help me develop a plan to be able to eradicate that right now. And Holy Spirit, I lift this up to you. I can't do this on my own. So you show me creative ways, God, Lord, to be able to handle my finances. You show me, Lord, Father, how I can be better stewards over the currency that you want to flow through my hands in the name of Jesus. Yeah. That's it. You tell them exactly how much it is or how much it was. Amen. That's it. And well, if somebody, yeah, if somebody called you, yeah, okay. I'd sorry, Brandy, I missed a message. If somebody called you right now and said, I want to pay off all of your debt, how much is it? Would you know the total to give them? Well, that's 74,926. And and 13 cents. Do you know how much debt you're in? Do you know how much your monthly, if someone called and be like, you know what, I want to sponsor you this month. How much are your monthly bills? Oh. You need to know. You don't know what God can do, but God can't move. If you if you're not organized and then stepping out with him, he can't, he can't. I know it's a cliche saying, but he can't bless a mess. Okay? Stop being messy. You want people to understand what it is the Lord has entrusted you with. Well, there you go. If I didn't have a website for fire and water ministries, if I wasn't telling you guys what was going on, you'd probably never know. But we have we have different events coming up, we have things coming up, so I lay all of that out. Yes, I lay all of that out so you know where it is and you know what the mission is and you know what all that is, but also lay it out because it's the plan that the Lord is giving us. And then I give it right back to Him. God, I pray right now, Lord, that you would show me, Lord, about this event or that event. Write it on tablets so whoever reads it can run with the vision. Habakkuk 2 and 2. That's what it tells us. Amen. Write the vision and make it plain. Make it so plain that I could hand it to one of my kids and say, here, let's read this together and let's run with it. I can hand it to Jared and he could read it and he could probably run with it. Make it so simple. And see what happens is when you write things down and you make it plain and you partner with the Lord in what you're writing down, you have made it simple for you so that when you look at what God has given you, you now can begin to run with it. If you don't know what race you're in, you don't know. I mean, if I'm running on the if I'm running on a pavement track, I'm gonna put on different shoes than if I'm running on a wooded uh dirt track. If I'm doing cross country through the woods and up around hills and on rocks and stuff, I'm gonna wear a little bit different, I'm gonna wear some more rugged shoes for that type of run than I am out here on the track doing the 500-yard dash or whatever. If you don't know what race you're in, you don't even know what shoes to put on. If you don't know what the mission is that God has for your life, you don't know how to dress, you don't know how to, and I'm I'm spiritually speaking here, you you don't know how what what what what do I need to have on? See? But whatever God speaks to you, write it down. It may sound silly, it may sound goofy, you're gonna be sitting in your prayer closet spending time with him thinking, what does this even mean? What are you talking to me about an oak tree? And then you want me to look up the process of growing an oak tree in a greenhouse? Who grows an oak tree in a greenhouse? Lord, don't those the seeds just fall out of the like the tree and they just they just grow wherever it is you want them to grow. I've never seen anyone plant, strategically plant an oak tree. I'd never seen that before. So I wrote all that down anyway. Ah, but then this last week, a man says, You're explaining the oak tree to me. Here's an oak tree seed that a man gave me where a revival had broke out, and and you know, uh lots of people were gathering, and they gathered for over a year under this oak tree, and they met and they experienced just the presence of the Lord in that place. And the man gave me that. The Lord would not let me plant it. I've had this seed for over a year, he said. And you're the one that's supposed to have the seed. God can do anything. For those that didn't see the seed, I have it here. It the oak tree seed, can y'all see the seed? I know it's kind of it's in a bag. That oak tree seed right there came off a tree that housed a revival under it for well over a year. Somewhere in Alabama. I I've got to research this. If anyone's ever heard of an oak tree revival, let me know. But God. See, what he speaks to you is not silly. It's not crazy. It is to the world, and it is to your own mind. But you need to write it down and you need to trust him with whatever he said. Because as you go and as you walk with him, it will begin to make sense. But you're never going to know if you don't spend time with him, if you're not praying. Hebrews 4 and 16 says, Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Come boldly. He wants you to come boldly. Oh, yeah, exactly. This right here, this little tiny this isn't it amazing that something so small, something so tiny as a little oak tree seed. When Jesus when Jesus gave us the pattern for prayer in Matthew 6, he said, in this in this manner, therefore, pray. Pray like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. See, Jesus is giving us a model for prayer. He's giving us a pattern for prayer. We start with worship. Our Father in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. In other words, holy is your name, is what that translates out to be. You begin to honor him, acknowledge who he is, you thank him, you worship him, you remember, oh, remember the things that you have done. Holy, holy, holy are you, Lord. And then we begin to submit to his will. Your kingdom come and your will be done. On earth just as it is in heaven. Prayer is not just about asking God to bless the plans that you have and the good things that you have come up with. Prayer is to surrender to him and his ways, aligning to his ways. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in my life just as it is in the heavenly places. Lord, let my life come up under your will. Your will be done here in my life. And then you begin to bring your needs. Oh, give us this day our daily bread. It's okay to ask God for what you need. Give me my daily bread. Thank you for bringing me my daily bread, my daily provision, my daily strength, my daily wisdom, my daily help. Literally your daily food. Give us this day our daily bread. I thank you for giving us everything I need today. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our own debtors. Forgive us our trespasses, and we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Okay, this includes repentance. Forgive me my debts. Forgive me my trespasses in life. Lord, I turn our turn from those now. Lord, come and search my heart and know me. See if there be anything in there. And Lord, let me also forgive others that need to be forgiven right now. I forgive all of those right now. Maybe yesterday, maybe this morning, as soon as you woke up, whatever it is, you should be starting every day forgiving. I forgive this, I forgive that. And Lord, forgive me for ask for acting this way or for reacting this way, Lord. Help me to do better. I want to stay clean before the Lord. And it's a daily thing. It's a daily thing with God. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Prayer, this right here is where you ask God to strengthen you. I need your strength. Lead me not into temptation. Lord, help me discern everything that I'm going to encounter today, God. Lord, help me to stand in those moments when things get really difficult. Lord, help me overcome. Lord, help me cast down the thoughts I need to cast down today. Deliver me from the evil one today. May I keep my sights set upon Jesus. And yours be the glory forever and ever and ever. Amen. That's today's morning charge. Before you move on with your day, take a moment and let what you've heard settle into your heart. Faith isn't just something we talk about, it's something we live out in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Wherever today takes you, remember this. You don't walk into it alone. God is already ahead of you, working in ways you may not even see yet. Stand firm, walk in wisdom, lead with love, and don't forget who you belong to. Until next time, keep your heart anchored, keep your faith strong, and keep living out real talk, real Jesus, real life. We'll see you on the next morning charge.