Overcoming Self

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Happy Saturday and welcome back to Praying for Them, Your God Friend Spouse. Before you do anything else, I want you to take a deep breath. Not shallow, not rushed, but just deep. This is not just a podcast. This is a place of becoming, amen. A place where God doesn't just prepare what we're praying for, but He prepares us for what we've been praying for. And that's not just with relationships that goes for anything we've been praying for. That's going to have to require transformation. Amen. And I thought I'd do it something differently on this Saturday versus just reading the chapter. I want to talk about what the chapter is talking about, right? We are going to go into chapter two, overcoming self. But I want you to know that I want to invite God into this space right now. I want to invite God into our thoughts, into our healing, and into our becoming. Amen. Before God sends the one, he must build the one within us. And I am ready to be built for the one God has for me. Amen. Today we're talking about something real: the battle for our identity. Surrender is not weakness, it is alignment. And right now, we need to surrender our expectations unto the Lord, surrendering our timeline, our thoughts, our desires that's out of outside of our control. We need to surrender to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because sometimes what we think we want is not what we need. Amen. Sometimes we have to just ask God to shape us before he sends love our way. Because we truly want to be healed from the inside out. We truly want to be able to feel God's love when he brings that person across our path, right? We need to be healed before we can hold on to true love. We don't want God to send us our blessings we've been praying for and we weren't equipped or prepared for them, right? We truly want to be aligned to God's will and to his way. Because I don't want to miss any blessings, block any blessings God has for me because I was not ready, right? So we need to ask God to help us to be ready, equipped, and prepared for the things we are praying for. Amen. We need to ask God to correct us before we correct anyone else because we ain't nobody's judge, we ain't nobody's juror. We need to focus on ourselves. And us as humans, we love picking out things people doing wrong and the sin they're living in and all these other things. But we're not turned around looking at ourselves and our journey that we've been on, right? We truly have to ask God to teach us how to have humility that lasts beyond our emotions, right? God really changes us quickly, He changes us deeply, He changes us from the inside out. And deep transformation often feels uncomfortable. And sometimes we just have to ask God to remove what does not look like Him in us around us, right? We even have to ask Him to help us to not grow attached to things that He does not want us to be attached to. And you know, we have to remove that mentality of us where we justify everything that we do. We have to ask God to remove that spirit, right, of justification. I justify everything I'm doing, I justify every time we have an argument, and I'm always right, right? We have to be able to ask God to remove the things in us that's not like Him. And we have to be able to not just pray for the one that we want God to send our way, but we need to truly become the person that we're praying for, right? And we need to ask God to make us new, to overcome ourself, our selfishness, our wants, to truly be aligned to His will over our life, right? Because I don't want you to have temporary blessings, I want you to have permanent blessings. So this is what this chapter is talking about is overcoming self because God truly wants to make us whole in him. And before I meet the one, I must become one with God, right? We all have to. We have to make sure that God is the head of our life, the head of our home, the head of our relationship, right? We don't want to meet the person that God has for us, but we're constantly putting that person before God. God says, absolutely not, because he said in his word, have no other gods before me. And that's including your spouse. So we have to ask God to help us to walk in his light, to walk in his love at all times, and including when we are married. We want to make sure that our characters speak louder than our prayers, right? We want to be able to say, I'm praying for these things, but I want my character to speak louder than my prayers. We want our obedience to match our desires, right? So I always want to make sure that God is always the head of the relationship, the head of the choice making, the head of our decision making, right? And we need to pray and ask God to build us up, to give us patience. And I know people hate that word, and my big cousin always says that's one thing she prayed for, and she wish she hadn't prayed for because she went through some things when she prayed for patience, right? And we all go through a lot of different things when we praying for certain things. We have to go through the battle sometime in order to receive that patience, that humility, that self-control, that love that does not fade, right? So we have to ask God to build in us character, to build in us faith, to build in us his wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Let us not just desire a godly spouse, but let us become one who honors God, right? We want to become one. Leave your mother and your father and become one. We want to be one up under the heavens, up one with our father, right? So before God sends the one, he wants to build us up to be the right one. You know what I'm saying? And I say yes to God's building. I want to be built in God's character. I want to be built in his love. I want to be built in his humility. I want to be built in his favor, right? I want to be able to be a helpmate and not a hindrance. I want to be able to help my spouse along this journey. And I don't want to be selfish along the journey. I don't want to pick fights along the journey. I don't want to stand on pride along the journey. I truly want to be humbled before my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and also humbled before my spouse. You know what I'm saying? Because we're supposed to be a breath of fresh air for our significant other, right? We supposed to be that safe haven here on earth that they love running home to just be in our arms, right? So we have to learn how to overcome ourselves, to walk in a peaceful manner, and to be who God has called us to be. Because I remember my roley husband always told me I was spoiled. And of course, I said I was not spoiled, but I'm definitely spoiled. However, I did learn the truth and other things about myself years after we divorced. Yes, I was slightly spoiled, but I was really spoiled. And that is because God spoils me on a regular basis. God supplies my every needs, He listens to my voice, He hears my cries. He comes and puts me on the right road when I fall off, when I fail, when I am disobedient, he forgives me and He allows me another chance along this journey, right? And God always has wiped my tears no matter when I cry and He forgives me of my sins, seen and unseen. And I thank God for that. God is always right beside me, and He defends me against the devil and my enemies. And he shows me how to keep my sinity when I think I am losing my mind. With all that He has all that He has done for me, why in the world would I want to live a life that is not covered by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? So this is why we must truly pray for our significant other, right? And truly pray over ourselves. And I'm going to end today. That's kind of quick. I know it's Saturday, but it's kind of quick. That's all I have for today. But I just wanted to reach out and just start the second chapter, and we will continue on tomorrow and it'll be a little bit more deeper. But I want us to go to the Lord in prayer for God to help us to overcome ourselves, to overcome our wants, so we can be aligned to his will and his way, right? And I know sometimes when people begin their spiritual journey, they often think resistance means they're doing something wrong. What do you think? Do you think that I used to think that way myself, but I've learned something. It's not always resistance because you're wrong, that we're wrong. Sometimes it's resistance because we're growing, right? And anything God is building, the enemy will try to destroy, the enemy tries to fight so we don't receive transformation, but we have to learn how to pick up our cross and follow Christ each and every day, right? So what so what did that look like in your life when you're on your spiritual journey of transformation and transforming for your significant other that you currently have or the one that you're seeking right now? You know, it looks like confusion sometimes in our mind when we don't know exactly if this is from God or if it's from God, or is it just because we've been lonely for so long? So we have to learn how to hear God's voice and know his voice, right? Because if it's not from God, it's not going to work. And so we have to focus on his voice and not let fear walk in, not let loneliness and fear walk in, or truly stand on the word of God, right? And sometimes our emotions pressure us to thinking, oh, this is it, when really it's not. So we truly have to focus on God and shift our eyes to the heels which come with our help, right? And God will not lead us astray, God would not go a different direction. God is always going to tell us the right thing to do, and he's always going to tell us the right relationships to be in, right? So we need to focus on God's voice, focus on his way, right? And when I realized I wasn't just dealing with my emotions with my worldly husband, I was dealing with a spiritual warfare because I had to overcome myself and I had to start praying differently than what I was praying before. And not just praying differently, I had to start listening in order for me to change, for me to get better, right? We have to learn how to accept God's answers when we pray and not keep handing him for a different answer when he done said no, yes, maybe, or wait, right? So we need to ask God to open our eyes so we may see if we're fighting the right way or fighting the wrong way. Are we fighting to keep something that he told us to let go of? We have to learn how to let go and let God have his way in our life and our situations, right? The battle is not ours. It's the Lord, right? And God knows our identity better than anybody else. So we have to learn how to walk in being a child of God, to walk in his favor, to walk in his love, to walk in his grace. We have to learn how to strengthen our minds, strengthen our spirit to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. God is not here to harm us, God is here to love us, God is not here to destroy us, God is here to build us up to be better each and every day. So I want us to go to the Lord in prayer as we close out this episode of Praying for Them, our God Friends Fast, chapter two, overcoming ourselves. Amen. Honey Father, I want you to open our eyes to see you and all that we do. Honey Father, we thank you for this moment. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your grace that you give us each and every day. Honey Father, we done been in some relationships that we know you have not called us into. But that is our past, that is not our future. Let anything that's lingering from them past relationships, Honey Father, be removed from my spirit, be removed from my soul, Henny Father, so we can truly equipped and prepare ourselves for the one that you have for us, Henry Father. The battle does not identify us, Henry Father, and we thank you for that. God, we pray right now for your alignment, Honey Father. We want to be aligned to your will and your way over our relationships, we want to be aligned to what you are saying to our spirits, Henry Father. God, we truly want to become selfless people, Heavenly Father. We don't want to be selfish, we want to be selfless, selfless, Heavenly Father. So, God, I'm asking you to humble us before your throne. Help us to be more like you each and every day, Heavenly Father. God, help us to seek a God-fearing spouse, help us to seek a God-fearing marriage, help us to seek a relationship that's gonna always keep you at the head and not the tail. Lord, we thank you for this moment. We thank you for your grace, your mercy, your favor, and your love. And the people of God said, Amen. Amen. Thank you all for tuning in. I hope to hear from you all again tomorrow. You know, I can't hear y'all, y'all hear me. But I am going to start having guests once I get this built up and I get my niche together. But I just thank you all for tuning in. And I want to remind you of this. God is preparing us for the one he has for us. And we have to understand before he sends the one, we must be the one. Amen. Until tomorrow, you have a blessed Saturday. Enjoy your day and smile and rejoice, for God is with you right now.