Learning Through Surrender

Dr. Laurette Willis interview on personal responsibility and determination.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back, Dr. Roret.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Thank you, Brother Emmanuel. It's great to be back here again with you.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Thank you. With reference to Genesis chapter 3, verse 17 to 19, human beings are good at finding excuses, thinking this will make them innocent. Adam told God it was his wife that made him sin. Eve said it was the snake. How can we use this human history of lack of responsibility to reform in how we make personal decisions?

SPEAKER_01 0:34

That is an excellent question. You know, when I look at the word excuse, what is an excuse? An excuse is a reason wrapped around a lie. What is the lie? Now there's such a thing as a reason, as a real reason, but an excuse is not really a reason. It's a reason wrapped around a lie, a reason why you don't want to do something, or you're not confessing up to something, or you're not taking responsibility for something. A lot of it can come back to fear. Are we afraid of what might be expected of us? Are we afraid of what people might think of us? Do you know that the fear of man is a snare? What is a snare? A snare is a trap that they use for birds to keep them from flying, to catch them. A snare. So fear of man is like a trap for a bird to keep it from flying. Fear of man is like a trap to keep you from flying, to keep you from being all God's called you to be. So instead of looking at the reason why I can't do something, or the reason why I did do something that I know was wrong, instead of saying pointing those fingers, what do they say? When I point my fingers at them, how many fingers are pointing back at me? There are some fingers that are pointing back at me. Isn't that right? We're saying, oh it's you, but it's like, oh, there's some fingers pointing back at me. So taking that personal responsibility. And when you know the Lord, you're not alone in this. He will never call you to do something that he cannot do through you. Scripture says in 1 John 4 that God is love. How would you like to have love work through you? That's what it is. All you need to be is that vessel of honor that he can flow through. A great woman of God once said, God's not looking for vessels of gold or silver, but yielded vessels, yielding to him. God's not interested in your ability, but in your availability. I promise you that if you surrender your life to the Lord and say, Lord, if you can use anything, you can use me. I say to him so many times, Brother Emmanuel, Lord, if you can use a donkey, you can use me. You know? We can absolutely be used of the Lord. And when that love flows through you as a blessing to others, watch what God will do. Now that's taking personal responsibility, surrendering to the Lord. What if Adam had instead of making an excuse, instead of pointing fingers, what would have happened if he would have taken personal responsibility? I don't know, but we're continuing to learn even from 6,000 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

What would you say to a person who ignores self-care, thinking that God would understand it?

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Well, I think that if we see it not so much as self-care, focusing on myself, but the bigger picture. And I would say it's kind of difficult to focus on God and love God when we're when we're ill, when we're not feeling well, we're not taking care of ourselves, we just want to pull the sheet over our head and you know just stay in bed and I don't feel like uh but when we're full of health, when we're full of strength, when we're full of joy, even if we're doing this by faith, because I know there's someone who's listening here who's in a hospital bed right now, or maybe you're at home right now and you feel very alone. Well, I want you to know you're not alone. The Lord is with you. I invite you to get healing scriptures and start proclaiming them, start saying them. First Peter 224 says, Himself Jesus bore my sins in his own body on the tree, that I being dead to sin might live unto righteousness, by whose stripes I was healed. If I was healed, I am healed. I am the healed of the Lord. Well, but but but Dr. Lorette, I I don't feel healed. I don't feel we're not gonna go by our feelings. We're going to talk to our body and say, by the stripes of Jesus, by you were healed. Start getting that word of God on the inside of you. When you are speaking the word of God, every cell stands up at attention. And it's been proven in neuroscience. See, I'm also a cognitive behavioral therapist. I work as a coach one-on-one and also in groups, helping people to retrain their brains, renew the mind on the word of God, and retrain your brain using neuroscience principles and techniques based on scripture. It will absolutely change you. It's been proven in neuroscience that every cell responds to your voice when you are speaking. And when you are speaking in line with what God says in his word, such power comes. It really does. And then the next step I would say, and this is in self-care that goes beyond self-care, that this is for the Lord, it's for others, it's for you, it's for your family. Look at Jesus' first miracle. The wedding feast of Cana. His mother Mary was there, and she said to the servants who were going to get all that water that Jesus turned into wine, right? She didn't know how he was going to do it, but she just felt that unction, the Holy Spirit, to go ahead. What did she say to the servants? She said, Whatever he tells you to do, do it. So speak the word of God, receive your healing, have hands laid on you, you know, believing from believing people that you are healed. And then whatever God says to you, do it. Maybe it's start drinking more water, start eating better, get rid of some of that processed food, start moving your body more, do some praise moves. Go to praisemoves.com and look at some of those free workouts there and move to the Word of God and watch what the Lord will do with you.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

In your first episode, you rephrased Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and uh and 2. Uh, how can we use our reserve for self care to cultivate a life of godliness and steadfast faith?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

I would say through surrender, through surrender, surrender to the Lord. That is so very important because there's a part of us that does not want to admit defeat. And I think the sooner that we humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God, the sooner we will be exalted or lifted up. In fact, I have a wonderful exercise for our viewers today and our listeners as well. And I invite you to do this with me. Now, if you're driving a car, please wait until later and you can come back to this episode. But this is the casting your care exercise. And this is something that I do with my clients and also with our weight loss program, weight loss without willpower. There's something about getting rid of the weights on the inside that helps us also get rid of the weights on the outside as well. But even if you don't have to lose weight, it is scriptural to cast your cares, your burdens, your worries over on the Lord. This is from 1 Peter 5, verses 5 through 8. God resists the proud. You are his favorite daughter. Humble yourself beneath the mighty hand of God. Let him love you, that he may exalt you, lift you up to your proper place in due time. How do you do that? The next verse says, casting the whole of your care on him because he cares for you. It's his job to care for you, not your job to care for yourself. You're too little. I'm too little. We are too little to care for ourselves. And so I invite you right now to use your sanctified imagination. And I want you to see a basket in front of you. And you can do this with your eyes open or closed. Remember, if you're driving, wait until later. But I want you to put all of your cares into that basket. Put your family members, put your past, your present, your future, your education, your work, your health, finances, anything that concerns you, your ministry.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Praise the Lord. Thank you so much. This marks the end of this segment. And please come back to this website, come back to this episode, to this podcast. Dr. Roret will be speaking to us in the next session. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Questions you have, you're