Walk the Talk June 15 Episode

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to our care less pray ministries. I am so grateful and thankful that you all join me again today. Whether you're listening from home in your car on your job or walking up and down the sidewalk, I just want you to take a moment to be in the now. Take a moment to invite God in. Take a moment to settle down, to be in the Word of God. Amen. I want to encourage you to be refreshed and remind you that God is continually working on your behalf. And God is so good to each and every one of us. And today we're going to talk about walk the talk. Amen. Walk the talk. And we will be coming from James 1 and 22. And it states, Be ye doers of the word and not just hearers, only deceiving your own selves. Amen. May the Lord have a blessing to the hearing and the reading and the doing of his word. I want you to know that is such a powerful and touching verse, right? It's one thing to hear God's word, it's another thing to live it. Amen. You know, we like being honest on this podcast, but if we're being honest, most of us find that living, it is living, it is where the real challenge begins. And living the word out, right? It's easy to agree with God's word when we're sitting in church and the preacher's preaching and we're listening and we're nodding our head and going, Amen, and say it, Pastor. And you know, it's easy to read these devotionals and feel inspired. But what about when we're faced with difficult people, difficult challenges, and life in general? Amen. What about when we're tired, frustrated, disappointed, or hurt? What about when obedience costs us something? Sacrificing costs us something, right? That's where our true faith shows up. That's where faith moves from being something we heard, heard to something we must live out, right? You see, God never intended for his word to simply fill our minds, he intended for it to transform our hearts and shape our lives. Amen. The world doesn't just listen to what we say, it watches how we live. People will notice how we respond when things ain't going our way. They notice how we treat others, they notice how we respond in good times and in bad times, right? They notice whether our actions line up to what we speak, line up to our belief, line up to the word of God, right? People, we know we are not perfect. We know we ain't perfect, ain't nobody perfect but God Himself. But I want you to know people aren't looking for perfection, they ain't looking for authentication, right? They're not looking for authenticity. They are wanting to see faith in action, real faith in action, right? They are looking for us to be an example along this journey. They want to know if the peace we talk about actually carries us through difficult seasons. You know, and I think I said this before, like when my grandmother passed, God rest her soul, she was 87 years old. But I had such a peace because she said, I live my life. My grandma said for a thousand times, a thousand years and a thousand times. When the Lord's ready for me, I'm ready to go. I done lived my life. I'm like, girl, you ain't going nowhere. And I never thought she would go anywhere. I never prepared myself for her to go anywhere, right? But when she did transition on over to glory, I had peace. So the same thing I talk about, about God's peace and God's grace and put it in God's hands, she passed, and I was being that example of walking in peace. You know what I'm saying? Walking in understanding, walking in this is the Lord's will, walking in that we're just all visitors here, right? So that's what I'm telling you. People look at us and they want us to be real and be the real us, right? We ain't got the sugarcoat, nothing. Be real, but we want to be real for Jesus Christ, right? And I want you to know we have to learn how to choose to forgive, to be honest, to be kind, to be patient, to be able to show humility, right? We need to choose faith more than anything when circumstances tempt us to give up. I want you to know that all these choices and choosing seems very simple and very small, but I want you to know they speak volumes. It speaks on our faith, it speaks on the level of where we trust God, it speaks on who we are as individuals, amen. And I want you to know that we have to constantly speak with integrity, constantly speak the word of God, and constantly speak with the characteristics of Jesus Christ. Amen. I want you to know that we all have moments where we fall short. We all have areas in our life that we're still growing. But I want you to know God's saying, fight, keep pressing ahead, pick up your cross and follow him and trust and believe in him. Because the battle is not ours, it belongs to the Lord, amen. I want you to know that when things go on in our life, it grows us, it grooms us, and it transforms us into better Christians, amen. I want you to know that one prayer is all it takes, one act of obedience is all it takes for us to be an example for Jesus Christ. And I want you to know that if you've been discouraged, I want you to know that you can be uplifted because God cares, God understands, and God wants you to go from being discouraged to being encouraged. Amen. I want you to know that God is patient with us, God is faithful to us, and God is still working on our behalf. The goal isn't perfection, the goal is progression, right? Progress. The goal is continuing to follow Jesus Christ even when the journey feels difficult, even when it seems like we need to quit and just go on back to doing what we used to do before we got saved, hitting the club every Saturday night. Some of y'all was in the club every Friday, Saturday, and even on Sundays. But we truly gotta learn how to let our lifestyle match our belief. Amen. Where do I need to grow? We need to start asking ourselves questions of being consistent within our own lives. Like, God, is there room that I need to grow in? Mean when I say rooms, I'm talking about room in our bodies. Do I need to grow in the way that I think? Do I need to grow in the way that I respond? Do I need to grow in the way that I love people? Do I need to grow in the way that I listen? We need to bring these kinds of things to God so God can show us where we need help. Because we don't know where we need help all the time. But God knows exactly where we need to grow. Amen. So we got to take moments to sit down, breathe, exhale, and just sit in his presence to listen to what God is trying to tell us, right? And you know, I want us to take a moment where we can just reflect and be honest with ourselves, right? When we sit down before the Lord, we can sit in silence, not feeling guilty, not feeling ashamed, but sitting in silence and in peace and saying, God, hear my heart, grow my heart, and help me to understand my life that's in your hands, amen. And I want to pray with you all real quick before we transition out of here because I want you to know that every step matters, every act of obedience matters, and every choice to honor God matters, amen. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. We come before you with thankful hearts. God, we thank you for your word that guides us, teaches us, and corrects us and draws us closer to you each and every day, oh God. God, we thank you for loving us enough to continue working in our lives day after day after day. Heavenly Father, today we choose to ask you to help us become doers of your word and not just hearers of your word. Help us to live, live out what we believe, oh God. I pray. Strengthen our integrity so that our actions align with our faith and your word, Heavenly Father. Let there be consistency between what we say and how we live. Help us to live the right way. When obedience is difficult, give us courage. When temptation comes, give us strength. When we grow weary, renew our strength, renew our spirit and renew our heart, Heavenly Father. Teach us how to walk close with you each and every day. Honey Father, search our hearts and reveal areas where we need to grow. Honey Father, help us to receive your correction with humility and with your grace and with your guidance, Henry Father. Honey Father, I pray that you would develop within us characteristics that reflect you, oh God. God, fill us up with your presence, fill us up with your word, fill us up with your prophecies, fill us up with your healing, fill us up, oh God, so we may be examples of your faithfulness. It's in the mighty name of Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen, amen, amen. And before I go and close out, I want to simply encourage you. People may forget many of the words we say, but I'm telling you, they will always remember how we live. So today I want you to choose integrity, choose obedience, choose faithfulness, and choose consistency. Amen. Thank you for spending your time with me today. This is I Care Let's Pray Ministries. Until next time. Stay blessed and be blessed.