Being Filled With The Spirit Is A Daily Command

If you’ve ever thought, “Why do I keep reacting like this,” the real issue might not be your personality or your past. It might be what’s filling you and therefore controlling you. John Peake’s message is direct: everything is relationship, and the strongest relationships are built from the inside out when we learn what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

We unpack Ephesians 5:18 as a continuous command, not a mystical moment, and we work through four practical “valves” that determine whether real power flows in your life: surrendering, listening, obeying, and trusting. That framework turns spiritual growth into something you can actually practice on a Tuesday afternoon, especially when trust has been broken, ego is flaring, or you feel stuck in inconsistency.

Then we bring it down to street level and daily life. We connect Galatians 5 to “walking in step” with Scripture and real-time promptings, and we apply that to self-defense training, functional fitness, emotional control, and wise decision-making. We also talk about physical discipline, financial stewardship that lowers marital stress, and why strong boundaries are not unloving, they are protective. The conversation lands on the fruit of the Spirit as the traits that make strength safe: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

If you want calmer leadership, a steadier marriage, clearer mentoring, and more courage for hard conversations, press play and take one honest inventory: which valve have you been keeping shut? Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find Living Inside Out Radio.

Transcript

Welcome And What “Be Filled” Means

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Welcome to the Living Inside Out Radio Show with John Peake.

Four Valves That Shape Your Life

Be Filled With The Spirit Daily

Who Controls Your Reactions

Rules That Protect You From Harm

Walking In The Spirit Consistently

The Word Exposes Motives And Intent

Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome back to Living Inside Out Radio. I'm your host, John Peake. Thank you for joining us today. The episode today is titled Be Filled. And the subtitles The Power Behind Every Relationship. Now, everything in life is about relationship. Spirit, mind, and body. We have relationships in all these categories. So I think of it more like what is it to be filled? What does that even mean to be filled? Be filled with what? Well, you know, most of us struggle with the things that are in our head, our experiences, what it's done to us. It's either built us up or it tore us down. Some things are, yeah, just generally neutral. You know, it's a neutral experience, but most of the time we could say it's either a good experience or not so good experience. So very few things are actually neutral. Sometimes we waste time doing things that we might consider neutral, you know, whether it's watching a show or doing going to an event, but it still has an impact. Everything you do, think, feel safe, it's going to have an impact on you in some way. So there's really four valves of this being filled, if you will. It's surrendering, and maybe we're surrendering to good things, maybe we're surrendering to bad things. We've got to really pay attention to that. Listening. Are we listening for real? Or are we just listening to the own thoughts in our head and waiting for somebody to finish talking so we can tell them what our thoughts are? So are we obeying? Are we obeying the will of those around us? Or do we have some self-guidance here that we have our own selfish demands? Or we do, you know, do we have a higher calling? And then trusting. I think all of us can have issues with trust, especially after you've been that trust has been broken. And you might even be, you know, quite jaded and have a hard time trusting anymore. I know some people that they have very few close friends because they've been hurt by a close friend, and so they've decided not to ever have any close friends again. And what a shame that is. And I'd be willing to bet, you know, if they took a look a good hard look in the mirror, most of us can say that, hey, I haven't always been the best friend either. So we can all fall short. So let's um let's talk about the foundation. What does be filled mean from a spiritual context? Be filled with the spirit. And so most Christians, for and I say that generically, most believers in Jesus Christ and followers, disciples of the Word of God. Now that's much different than just saying Christian. When you think you start start saying the word Jesus, it completely changes everything because you have to be careful what you believe. So most Christians think being filled with the Spirit is an emotional experience. But Ephesians 5 18 says be filled with the Spirit. The phrase is not emotional, it's not occasional, and it's not mystical, but it's a continuous command. In the original Greek, it actually means, literally means be by being filled. Be being filled, like constantly. It's not a one-time event, it's a moment-by-moment dependence. And so I think a lot of us understand that, you know, from a physical perspective, uh, from a mental emotional perspective, you know, you have to keep learning, you should keep growing. You know, you have to keep breathing, you have to keep eating, you have to keep, you know, bathing and taking care of yourself. There's a lot of things that have to that are in that being category. So most of us think that I've in terms of the spirit world, you know, I've got the Holy Spirit when I was saved. I'm good. You know, if I feel spiritual, I must be spirit filled. If I'm not emotional, hey, something's wrong. But being filled with the spirit is not about emotion. Not that there won't be emotion. Absolutely there can be emotion. And, you know, we're emotional beings, so that is part of our DNA. But we have to think about this, like it's about control. You know, in Ephesians 5.18, the Apostle Paul contrasts being drunk with wine or controlled by alcohol or anything else, and then being filled with the spirit or controlled by God. So I think in our culture, man, it's very easy for us to let that control go to certain things, whether it's, you know, lust, money, chasing after money, uh at the at the cost of all else, uh, or certainly abusing alcohol or drugs, or you know, there's so many things that can be negative for us, uh, even eating too much, you know. So being controlled by the spirit really means there's going to be a w wisdom and discernment and a certain balance there. So the issue is influence. Who is influencing your thoughts, your reactions, your words, and your decisions? So you can't obey a single command without the spirit. And that's kind of something to wrap your head around. Like when we're talking about the God gives us these rules, he gives us this instruction book called The Word of God, and he gives us these rules that help us to have freedom. Well, that's very contradictory, isn't it? I have rules to provide freedom. Yeah, we all know about it as a kid, especially if you're a father, but even thinking back as a child, you know, there's certain rules definitely that keep us safe. So I had I was at a friend's house and we were sitting around the table, and there were they had a small child in the house. He was about five, I think it was, and he had kind of wandered around the living room in the table and then the kitchen. And so we were sitting at a table, and it was kind of that open concept, and the kitchen's right there. And um, my friend had a tennis ball in his hand. It was just kind of something that was there. The dog had been playing with it, but his the child was in the kitchen and he started reaching up on the stove, literally about to pull this hot pot boiling water, like he was just reaching towards it. And uh, of course, he uh he didn't really have much time to uh run over there and keep the kid away, so he he hummed and threw that cennus ball at the kid and hit him like in the shoulder, but pretty hard, you know, for a five-year-old. But I tell you what, he stopped reaching for that pot of boiling water. So, you know, had to get his attention. And I was just waiting for the mom to react, you know, uh negatively, like, how dare you do that, you know. But he she didn't, you know, it was like a necessary uh boundary, if you will, a necessary rule that you had to enforce. And so God gives us those rules, man, to protect us. So we need to understand that our own will is our worst enemy. And so many times I would just wish I didn't have the free will that I do have because it gets me in trouble more than anything else, is my own decisions. But there's a reason that uh God gives us free will. He could have made us robots, right? He could have made us robots. Here's the thing how do we know if we actually love our Creator, God, we call him? Well, it's very simple. If you love God, the word of God says you'll obey his commandments. That's how he knows you love him. And so now that free will makes a lot more sense. If you look at Galatians 5, 16, it talks about walking in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Without the Spirit, you cannot forgive consistently. You can't love sacrificially, you can't stay patient under pressure, and you can't resist temptation long term. And most of these things uh uh are under the contents of consistently. And so when you see the inconsistencies, it's always linked to my walk with the Lord, with my walk with surrendering to the Holy Spirit, being filled moment by moment with the Holy Spirit. We'll talk more about that because there's a real sense of um powerlessness around controlling our actions and our thoughts and our tongue. So let's talk about the ministry category. As we walk through the seven M's, ministry is the most important and foundational of all the seven M's. You can't serve your fellow man from ego and expect spiritual truth. Marriage. You cannot love your spouse with Christ-like love in your own strength, mentoring. You can't lead others with wisdom unless the Spirit governs your reactions. The Spirit strengthens relationships because he, the Holy Spirit, corrects the heart first. Internal transformation leads to external rational, relational, sorry, strength. It's important to have the relational strength, and it's important to have that relationship with the creator that drives all that. So there's four what I call valves of being spirit-filled, having a spirit-filled life. Think of your spirit life as like a hydraulic system. And if the valves are closed, power can't flow. So surrendering is just simply saying this Lord, the leader of my life, my best friend the Holy Spirit, Lord, I yield control to you. That's the first valve. Listening, am I paying attention to conviction, correction, and prompting by the Holy Spirit? Obeying. It's the third valve. Delayed obedience is disobedience. And number four, trusting. Even when obedience costs something, you have to trust. So the vow these four valves determine the strength of your marriage, the peace in your home, the power in your ministry, the clarity in your mentoring, the spirit strengthens relationships because he purifies motives. In fact, there's a scripture that I I quote often and I've quoted it many times on the show, on Living Inside Out, and that's because it's such a powerful mentoring tool. And it's uh Hebrews 4.12. Hebrews 4.12 it says the word of God is alive and powerful. And it continues on and it says, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And I liked how it goes on in verse 13, man. It's it's pretty heavy, and it says this, and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with a capital H, him to whom we must give account. That's some serious business right there, man. So he knows our thoughts. He's omniscious, he knows our character, he knows every flaw, he knows our strength and weaknesses, he knows what we're gonna do before we do it. That doesn't mean we don't ask forgiveness or s or change directions just because if he knows, then he'll love me anyway. No, man. You stay accountable to his word and continue growing, and you work towards you know, leveling up in the spirit, mind, and body, and it starts with the spirit. This whole segment is about this spiritual increase of our obedience ultimately. And it's our obedience starts with surrendering. We win the battle by giving up our own will and replacing it with the Holy Spirit's will. And you have to read the word for this to even make sense. You have to read the word of God, you have to to possess the Holy Spirit in faith, by grace, not something that you earned, but it's a free gift of God, and he has this mercy and grace that you know God doesn't give us what he do we do deserve. No, he gives us mercy. And so he gives us what we don't deserve, and that's grace. It's important for us to wrap our head around this combination. And the only way to wrap your head around that is over time, God will show you things as you spend time with him. Spend time in the word, spend time in prayer, spend time in worship, spend time speaking to him and listening to that small, still small voice. Yeah, you may not audibly hear the word of God. I know some people have, I know some people say they have, and I believe that some people have. The word says that there are some that have talked to God. Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and he was killing Christians, and he got confronted and he became one of the most prolific writers of the whole New Testament, uh most of the New Testament. And uh highly intelligent man and now that these apostles that died for their faith, I don't think they would have died, gone to the grave trying to live a lie. It's very rare for people to to live a lie and not even give it away at some point. So, how much more so when they're traveling around speaking and getting stoned to death and ultimately all of them were killed. So I want to just kind of stress, you know, this this idea of winning by being obedient, by winning by being by surrendering, surrendering your will and replacing that with the will of God. Your physical workouts will be better, your choices on how you maintain a diet and your sleep will improve, every relationship will improve, and those are the hard things, the dynamic of relationship with our identity and the identity of others. So I want you to continue to think about how I can replace my own will with the with the will of God. So the first thing would have to be know to know what the will of God is. Who is God, what makes him God, and can I even accept that there's a God, creator of the universe? So stay tuned, we'll be right back. We're gonna be talking about walking in step, strength in action, and uh, we're gonna cover martial arts, muscle, and money in this next transition. Stay with us, we'll be right back with the Living Inside Out Radio.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

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SPEAKER_05 14:40

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SPEAKER_00 15:46

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A Spirit-Governed Warrior Mindset

Discipline That Strengthens Body And Mind

Money Decisions That Reduce Conflict

Tune Your Inner Life Like A Guitar

Trust And Boundaries On The Mat

Confidence For Travel And Daily Life

Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Welcome back to Living Inside Out Radio. I'm your host, John Peek, and we are talking about strength in action. So let me just say again the root foundation of all that we do is spiritual. So my opening transition here is Galatians 5 25, which says, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. The word walk means to march in alignment. This is discipline. So there's a difference between black and white of the scriptures and promptings of the Holy Spirit, but they always are in alignment. So black and white, don't lie, don't steal. Forgive love. Clear, written, and objective. The promptings can be more like this internally in your mind. Call that person and say, oh, don't talk, stay silent. Don't respond to that insult. Don't make that deal. Leave that environment you're in. Now, scripture is foundational, but promptings are real-time guidance. The Holy Spirit never contradicts scripture, but he applies it specifically. This affects everything we do. Now let's kind of correlate it with the, you know, what we do at Defend Fit is we control our mind. We install software, a way of thinking, a process of solving, you know, the physical problems of empty hand, gun, and knife threats. And so you can't train reaction speed without awareness. And it's two different things, reaction and speed of reaction, but you have to have them join together. Spirit-filled awareness increases our emotional control, our decision making, our de-escalation shields uh skills, the proper force discernment. You know, a spirit-governed warrior is controlled, not reckless. Now, if you see us uh a warrior going in full-on battle, it might look like the overwhelming aggression, in fact, might look like reckless recklessness. And for some people, it's totally, you know, out of their their possibility. In their own little mind, they may think there's no way. I mean, take a look at the Patriot with Mel Gibson. And when he goes into that tomahawk scene, his kids were like almost ashamed of him from not engaging in the battle against the Brit British. But when it came down to it, after they had killed his son, oh yeah, he's gonna fight and it's gonna and it's looked like reckless abandonment, but it wasn't. It was very specific skill development over a great deal of experience in battle. And the tomahawk scene in the Patriot is a classic. From a martial arts standpoint, everybody should watch that. But even from an entertainment standpoint, you know, look at the struggle he was having. Very well written. Uh when we look at the muscle and the physical training, you know, the flesh, the prompting internally can say, Yeah, it's a skip day, or eat that junk, or even, you know, quit early. We're good. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't listen to your body. Sometimes there are days where you shouldn't train because you're just physically not ready or tired, or maybe you have an injury that's in agony. So there are these things, these promptings, you know, that can be uh wise, but let it be driven by the spirit. That way you know it's gonna be a much wiser decision than just my own shortcomings. So the flesh said, skip today, eat junk, quit early. The spirit says discipline produces strength. Totally different ballgame now, isn't it? And it also says the spirit says, steward your body, finish what you start. A spirit-led fitness builds stability, hormonal imbalance, I mean emotional regulation, uh leadership presence. Your body affects your relationships. Building yourself up in the physical realm, I think as Apostle Paul said, you know, physical training is good, but spiritual training is the secret, you know, is your secret power, really. But the physical training is good. We need the longevity, we need our ability to stay healthy, we need good organ function, we need to be free of medications if at all possible. And use wisdom and maybe you can use good nutrition, good rest, good exercise, uh, to conquer, you know, taking medication. Sometimes you just have to say, you know what? Like I have to take this medication, and you know, I had my uh, you know, I was born with some deficiency or I had some problem that requires me to take medication. Hey, you know, do what you have to do. But I would like for us most of us to think that from a preventative standpoint, great nutrition consistently done over time, with good rest cycles, managing stress, and a responsible exercise program that I believe living inside out, martial arts should be part of that as well as resistance training. So with your resistance training, you can also blend a lot of in martial arts, you can blend a lot of Mobility, range of motion, stretching, agility, speed, coordination, endurance, all that plays its part in how you feel about yourself and how that affects your other relationships in your life. Now the money aspect, a spirit-filled financial life is full of great decisions. In other words, you avoid like ego purchases, keeping up with the Joneses. You resist greed. You honor commitments. You invest wisely. Now those are spirit-filled financial decisions. More of a black and white. And then the but the promptings might say that internal voice the Holy Spirit speaks to you in the midst of these things and of life happening is oh, don't sign that contract. Or maybe give generously. Maybe help something that you wouldn't normally necessarily help. Or wait. Just wait. Don't spend the money. Wait until you have a better decision to make, a better way of thinking it through, a better time. Build slowly. You don't get rich overnight very often. It's a process of slowly and consistently building. Now, why are we even talking about money? Well, that's because many relational conflicts are money conflicts. A spirit f uh filled financial life, man, reduces marital stress, business betrayal, partnership tensions. And so sometimes you have to just say, you know, that's a decision I can't make financially by being in alignment with this other person. You have to think about your financial decisions. One terrible financial decision could set you back years. So as a musician, as a guitar player, I have this thing I learned from another pastor that started playing guitar. It talks about the strings on the guitar as we tune up every day. We have these, you know, strings that are a very specific quality of tone. The E string, the A, the D, the G, the B, the E. And so you have these six strings and and they're turned a fourth apart. They're tuned a fourth apart, except for this pesky B string, and it's uh it's a different animal there. But anyway, there's a purpose for these things. But I like to correlate these um those letters to the strings on the guitar, uh on the guitar, because it makes me think, you know, about I'm gonna play guitar, what kind of music am I gonna play? What am I doing with my time? And so the E string is everything. No, surrender everything. It's really about surrender, but surrender what? Everything. E for everything. And then the A string, anything. Is there anything going on in my life that shouldn't be going on? Maybe I just simply it prompts me to uh to ask forgiveness. The D string, direction. What direction am I headed in the way that I'm thinking and doing and being? Even listening. What am I listening to? The G string, go, go do it, get busy, man. And not so busy that I'm turning things down because you know there's a great acronym for busy, buried under Satan's joke. I'm so busy I can't even do the good things I should be doing. But I sure do seem to fill up my time. So sometimes you have to learn how to say no, create those good boundaries. So go do it, do the right things. And the B string, believe. In fact, the word of God says, believe and thou shalt be saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved. Nothing you did on your own. You just decided to believe, and it's a free gift God gives you. And then the bottom E string, experience and express. Man, let God shine through your light. Everything you do, let it be a light on a hill that can't be hid. You don't put a light under, you know, uh a blanket unless you need to see under the blanket, but you need you put a light for all of it that everybody around to see, right? So you can express that in various ways. So a lot of it may be even what you don't say. So fill up equals you know, the word of God in prayer. Tune up equals adjusting to conviction throughout the day. You know, when your inner life is tuned up like a guitar is tuned up, your tone changes, your reactions soften, your authority strengthens, and your relationships tend to harmonize. So be in tune, understand how that affects everything you do. So at DefendFit, we talk about this dynamics on the mat, finding this balance that you're talking to that I'm talking about on this tuned up. On the mat, learning how to be a good bad guy. So, you know, as a good bad guy, I need to attack my partner after the instructions given with safety and control. If I do it too hard, I might hurt them. If I do it soft enough and let them get the muscle memory, now they know what they're doing. And then while they're getting into action and defending themselves, I have to be a good bad guy by protecting myself so that they can grab me, pretend to strike me, maybe they go too far, so I'm actually covering up or blocking or checking things. So I'm putting myself in a position helping them to protect me, helping them protect me, not just confidence in their skills and trusting them blindly. No, no, no. I create good boundaries, so being a good, bad guy is making sure I'm looking through this lens of wisdom to discern. And when they do make a mistake, I don't take it personally necessarily. You know, you have to like read and build this relationship of trust on the mat that's very special. And the culture inside the training environment is very much about safety, building each other up, building the trust so you can ramp it up and get stronger and quicker, move with more speed, more accuracy, more power, and still take care of each other. And when it's rocking, man, it's a powerful thing to watch, a powerful thing to experience. And when you're both working like in dynamic harmony like that, it's it's a profound increase in your confidence to handle these dynamics of uh assault, uh empty hand, a headlock, a choke, a you know, bear hug, a tackle, uh punches, a kicks, knees, you know, knife, gun. So uh the idea behind building your confidence comes in a combination of areas, and martial arts and muscle are two of the seven M's for a very specific reason. You can't get the confidence that a warrior has without being a warrior. It's just that simple. You want to have the confidence of somebody that has skills, you have to have the skills. And so they have to be gained, they have to be uh nurtured, they have to be tested, they have to be stress inoculated, and so it doesn't have to happen overnight, and it's no, it's not easy. It takes effort. Everything in that's worthwhile in life takes effort. And so I want you to think about going forward, what that might look for it like for you if you uh have minimal skills, minimal understanding in the hand-to-hand combat and firearm area, and even physically, you know, how to take care of your body, build muscle, build flexibility, build range of motion, build longevity. If you were to level up and say increase your understanding by 20%, would that be helpful? What if you doubled, you know, and increased your understanding by a hundred percent and doubled that understanding and and skill development? What would that be like to your feeling of of walking around everyday life, going to the grocery store, going to to the movie theater, uh, maybe going on vacation? I've just been training some customers, uh, I have some customers going to Europe, I have some customers going uh to Italy and Greece, and these couples are gonna travel, you know, one set of couples have taken two kids, another set of couples are they're older and retired. And both of them have had these great transformations, man, in their ability and skills to go to these places with confidence. They have certain specific tools that uh are improvised weapons because they can't walk around with a gun. Some of these places that we go in the world, you can't even have pepper spray. So you have to find a way to um neutralize threats. And the number one threats is to be aware of the possibilities, always looking, always watching, and then remove yourself from the threat if you can, um, and then walk up that list of possibilities. And it's an amazing confidence builder, and then the relationship you build, especially if you're training with your significant others, but certainly just the people you meet along the way in the classes, pretty phenomenal. Uh one of my students yesterday said she came from another school, and she said, I asked her how class went today, and she goes, Man, I'm loving it. I said, Well, how does it compare to the environment you were in before you came here? She goes, Well, a lot different. I said, Well, without saying anything, you know, negative about, you know, well, I mean, how can you put it where you can tell me the increase in your experience without being too negative? She goes, Well, the vibe, the culture of the school, the vibe of the school man is very friendly and open. And, you know, there's smiles on people's faces. I said, okay, very good. And what about the instruction? I'd say the quality of the instruction is better too. You know, the instructors that we have here are just world-class. So um come see us at DefendFit. We'll help you transform your life in a number of different ways. Now we'll be right back with sell us uh segment three of our show, and we're gonna talk about strengthening all relationships. We're gonna be really covering media, marriage, mentoring, and the community aspect of it. So don't go away, we'll be right back with more from Living Inside Out Radio.

SPEAKER_04 31:36

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SPEAKER_05 32:34

Hello, my name is Greg Brainerd, owner of BrainTech, and now another BrainTech Tech tip. You get an urgent email from Microsoft saying your account will be suspended, or a message from the bank asking you to verify a transaction. Or maybe it's your CEO asking you to buy gift cards immediately. Stop. Don't click that link. Phishing emails are designed to trick you into acting fast without thinking. They look legit. They often contain real logos and professional language and urgent deadlines, but one wrong click, you can hand over your password, install malware, or give criminals access to your entire network. Here's how to protect yourself. Just hover up your mouse over the link. Look at that web address. Does it actually match the real company? If not, it's probably not legit. Second, watch for pressure tactics. Legitimate companies don't often threaten to close your account within 24 hours. And third, when in doubt, ask your IT professional. Remember, criminals only need you to slip up once, and it takes five seconds to verify before you click that link. If you'd like Braintech to help you spot phishing attacks, give us a call at 281-367-8253. Visit our website, braintech.com. BrainTech making IT easy for your business.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

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Strengthening Relationships With The Spirit

Fruit Of The Spirit And True Strength

A Personal Story About My Dad

Boundaries, Courage, And Emotional Stability

Daily Surrender And Closing Prayer

Next Week And Final Words

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Welcome back to Living In Shout Out Radio. I'm your host, John Peake. This next segment of the show is talking about the spirit and the strengthening of all relationships in the categories of media, marriage, mentoring, and community in general. So the opening truth of this segment is the Holy Spirit is not given to make you strange. It's given to make you strong and relationally healthy. And I think all of us have met some pretty strange people, but the Christian community can have some very strange people. I mean, it just depends on, you know, what denomination you know you're in. They all all the different denominations have their idiosyncrasies, if you will, you know, and when they're getting together to break bread or have food, you know, there's even certain containers that the Catholic will bring to uh, you know, a group dinner when they're bringing food from home, while, you know, some of the various Protestant churches, you know, have a very different way of doing things. You know, it's it's more like, you know, just pick up the dish and bring it. Um, some things are very uh tradition, right? Handed down from their parents on the the way we present things, the way we say things, the way we do things. And a lot of that, a lot of the way our country is developed were from those religious traditions and the sanctity of the word of God. And so it's important to kind of look at this dynamic with an open mind because the world's not not getting easier to deal with, it's getting more difficult, and people are getting more difficult, more polarized. So it takes a lot of wisdom and discernment, you know, and um a way to build yourself up to protect your mind, not to mention, you know, your body, but certainly protect your spirit is where it fundamentally shifts. The big paradigm shift happens when the spirit intelligence is raised. And so there's a scripture that uh when I first started teaching martial arts inside the church, um I was just kind of disgusted with all the different schools. The experiences I was having was just simply that the schools were being corrupted. And that happens in every environment. I've been in companies that have been corrupted from the maybe it's just one area of the company, you know, it's just the the maintenance division or it's a the laboratory or it's a production area, you know, operations. And so sometimes in man, you just have to leave. You have to leave that company, you have to leave that environment. And so that's one of the things I did. Not that um I I've been, you know, perfect, but I certainly was striving to create a new culture and a new environment when I started teaching martial arts. And I had these t-shirts that would put I put scripture on them, and one of the scriptures I had were the fruit of the spirits, and it listed the nine attributes that you're given just as a gift that God gives you to help strengthen you and live powerfully. And it's in the book of Galatians, and it's chapter five, verse twenty-two and twenty-three, and it says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, and patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And it you can probably see how that would fit in a martial arts school. You'd like to have these attributes, you know, demonstrated when you're teaching people things that are dangerous. You know, I like how Jordan Peterson says it's important for us, especially men, to be dangerous. In other words, we know how to protect ourselves and those around us if we need to, but we choose peace, we choose de escalation, we choose control. But there's po real power, and there's actually a virtue in being a dangerous person, but choosing peace. With the fruit of the Spirit, now you're gonna be able to use that power responsibly. You'll be able to love the way you should be able to love. And oftentimes when we feel disrespected or unloved, we lash out in various ways. And a lot of times what somebody's saying wasn't meant to be personal. We just took it personal. Or they maybe they meant it to be personal, but it was really about them. And it's not b about you at all. So it's important to have that wisdom discernment, to be patient, to choose peace when we can and have control because once your emotions get out of out of bounds, it's almost for some men, it's I think for um almost everybody, once you lose total control, you're basically temporarily insane. And people have done all kinds of terrible things just because they're out of emotional control. So there's a reason God gives us these attributes, these nine special gifts, so that we can feel love, feel his love, and pass that into our own understanding of who our identity is and learn to to transform our identity and we'll learn to love ourselves properly. And then transfer that love to others and love them hell in a healthy way. To have joy, you know, joy doesn't mean we won't have trials. It means we can have joy and peace both in the midst of our trials, the peace that passes on all understanding. And then kindness. It's uh it's pretty easy to be kind when things are going well. But can you still maintain kindness when things aren't going well? Classic examples is when we're not maintaining our proper eating timing, the timing on our eating. We let ourselves get hungly, hungry and you start getting cranky. Well, you can make things worse for you by getting cranky and getting impatient. So, you know, having the idea of you know these nine attributes are supercharging. It's almost like cheating. God gives you these nine attributes. But it you know, listen, if you're not taking hold of that knowledge, if you're not putting it into your life in a very functional way, reminding yourself who you are and the attributes you've been given, and strengthening those attributes daily, daily. Then you know, you may not be demonstrating the attributes consistently. And I tell you, my dad was real hard on the religious community and the political community. There's two things he says that you don't really want to have conversations with other people about, and that's religion and politics. And ironically, those are the two areas of conversation my dad would often choose to have with me. And it was always it was always um a combination of fun and frustrating to have conversations with him about religion and politics. He had such a strong view, and he was so honry about his opinion. Just everything was matter of fact with him, and this is the way it is. And if you don't agree with him, you just don't uh think straight. You don't have the right mind. If you don't see it his way, you're wrong. In other words, you know. And so it's interesting to go back and forth. You know, I I came to learn that, you know, a lot of times he's just pulling, you know, just pulling uh me into a conversation to stimulate his mind. And it would bring up all kinds of conversations off that, you know, but I think he was just it's just out of his idea of having some fun with me was to get me stirred up uh, you know, about religion and politics. And I learned a lot. And you know, later on in his life, he actually started agreeing with me and made a very specific point to change his view, which is shocking for my dad to change his opinion and admit it, you know, openly. It's quite shocking. But it's uh it's fun to look at that, you know. I tell you, when you get further along in your life, my dad, when he was right at that last month of his life, he made a point to tell me some things he had never told me. I'm and told said just that. I'm gonna tell you some things I ever told you. And and it was rich, man, it was good. Uh, but you know, he was sharing from a different perspective because I was reading the word of God to him every day, you know, when he was in uh hospice care. And so he was feeling these nine attributes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Uh it's a powerful thing to share with the people you love. And the sooner you can share these things, the better life you're gonna have, the better relationships you're gonna have, the better dynamic, uh, the better inspiration, the better uh sleep you'll have, you're gonna eat better because your relationships are better. Nurture those things, empower those things, supercharge them uh with the word of God. And your faith is driving everything. Now imagine you know, a husband or wife with spirit led self control, a business leader, you know, with spirit led gentleness, a mentor with spirit led patience, and even A warrior with spirit-led restraint, man, that changes everything. I mean, it literally changes the whole dynamic of the environment when it's spirit-led. And you don't necessarily have to tell somebody, you know, and make everything all spiritual every time you you speak on a subject, but they should definitely be able to see the wisdom and discernment behind that. And if you are authentic, it's always going to come out sooner or later about your faith. If you're living a true faith, how could it not come out? And it's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, you should be grateful that God's given you the boldness to live out your faith in various ways. But you don't have to wear it on your sleeve like look at me, you know, carry a Bible with you everywhere. But hey, man, if God inspires you to carry a Bible and have it right there in your hand, hey, more power to you, man. I think there is a time to have where you flip that switch and you are that bold. You're on a mission. You do carry the sword of the spirit, which is the Bible, the Word of God. And you make it a mission to talk about that. And um you know, have these areas of your life where you are very intentional. This is just being authentic, you know, with the Holy Spirit. He says, go to the ends of the earth and make disciples. You know, so how does an authentic relationship with the Holy Spirit strengthen uh all human relationships? Well, for one thing, he reduces your ego because ego destroys relationships. I mean, I think we all know that, but to say it out loud, to speak it as a truth, I think is important. The Holy Spirit increases discernment. So if you're in a relationship, you can see manipulation earlier. And wouldn't you like to see your manipulation earlier? Even if it's your yourself being manipulative, you want to know that. You want to live in the truth of that. And so you can if you can uh understand it, then you can start to make changes. And so the Holy Spirit also strengthens boundaries. You know, love without wisdom is destruction. There's a verse in the Bible that says, Don't throw your pearls before swine. Don't give somebody the best of you that doesn't appreciate you. This is about boundaries, man. So having strong boundaries is good. Sometimes you you just have to let it go. Doesn't mean you have to be mean-spirited about it, it doesn't have to mean you don't take that call when they do reach out to you. But I think the hardest part is when you're creating boundaries and then they get all upset with you and maybe cut you off, is to continue to have forgiveness for them. And don't go down those harsh thoughts. Understand something that's behind it. And if you've done anything to drive this division, then certainly, you know, continue to reach out or continue to forgive. If you can, you know, text them, leave a message, get a word to them that you are you are apologizing, would love to apologize in person, then absolutely do that. But love without wisdom is destruction. He also produces courage. So having hard conversations become possible. He'll give you the words, he'll give you the fortitude, the willingness, the desire to push through and have a hard conversation because you know the Holy Spirit gives you courage. And strengthening yourself in your spirit, mind, and body all connects to give you more courage at the right time in the right way. And that's super important, whether it's hand-to-hand combat or deciding to slow down off somebody's bumper or not honk or not give a harsh word in return, uh, or just listen to somebody. Let them speak speak out when let them finish what they're gonna say, you know, and don't interrupt them. It also can mean, you know, the courage to walk away from a relationship, you know. Um he also creates emotional stability. Unstable leaders destroy trust. But when you're filled with the spirit, your marriage becomes calmer, your mentoring becomes clearer, your leadership becomes steadier, and your business becomes more principled. So let's have a call to action here. Being filled with the spirit is not mystical. You do this by daily surrender, moment by moment, listening to immediate obedience, not delayed, but radical trust. The strongest men in ministry and marriage and mentoring and martial arts and muscle and money and media are those, are not those with the loudest personality. They are those most yielded to the Spirit. So, Lord, fill me with the Spirit. Govern my mind, govern my body, govern my action, lead me, correct me, strengthen every relationship in my life through your spirit. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Join us again next week for Living Inside Out Radio as we just share God's word and share how it connects to every relationship and every pillar of M in my seven M's. Thank you for being here today. Have a great week. God bless.

SPEAKER_04 48:51

Tune in next week for another edition of the Living Inside Out Radio Show.

SPEAKER_03 48:59

Living inside out isn't a slogan. It's a mentoring movement. It's about training leaders on the inside out. Uh generation doesn't need another trend. It needs a nation.