Love Letters with Jason & Ros

Can Faith Make or Break Your Relationships?

• Jason and Ros Hamilton • Season 1 • Episode 8

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FAITH is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen! But what happens when the dynamic of a love relationship is added? Episode 8 explores “F”— Faith and what it looks like when your relationship of two becomes three, with Jesus at the center! 

Join Jason & Ros as we discuss the firm foundation of faith in your love relationships. BOTTOM LINE: Faith is what love stands on when life gets hard, truth is tested, and unity is challenged.

Watch & Explore with us in conversation about:

  • What faith really means in relationships
  • Why it’s essential to lasting love
  • How faith is tested — individually and collectively
  • What happens when couples agree (or disagree) on truth
  • How to establish, navigate, and maintain faith through every season


Faith has the power to strengthen relationships — or strain them — depending on what it’s built on. In this episode, we encourage you to examine your foundation, grow spiritually together, and allow faith to deepen your love for God and for one another.

CHAPTERS:

  • 0:00       Welcome to Love Letters with Jason & Ros
  • 1:55       What Is FAITH in Your Relationship?
  • 3:55       The 5 Cs of Faith
  • 8:51       “The Love Triangle” –  Our Faith Journey Story
  • 17:23      When Faith is Put to the Test
  • 19:14      Facing Faith Challenges Head-On
  • 27:18      Biblical Truths— Jude 1, verses 20 and 21a
  • 28:25      How to Overcome Through Faith- Your Power Takeaways
  • 41:13      Your E8 Love Letter Challenge & Closing Prayer


RESOURCES:

  • Donnie McClurkin (1996). Stand [Song]. On Donnie McClurkin; McClurkin D. (Producer), Warner Alliance  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_McClurkin 
  • Bible Study Fellowship International—  https://www.bsfinternational.org/ 


THE FIVE (5) C'S OF FAITH:
As you’ve committed to loving each other, it's vital to establish if faith will be a part of your relationship. If so, what will it look like for you as a couple? The 5 C’s of Faith provide a guideline to establishing faith.

  1. CONNECT: Work to ensure that your faith foundation aligns with each other (Crucial)
  2. COMMUNICATE: Share your history with faith in God and Jesus, “religious” experiences. What is your basis of “truth?”
  3. CREATE: Work together to build your faith foundation as a couple. Below are a few examples.
    1. Study together
    2. Pray together
    3. Worship together
    4. Serve in ministry together
  4. CONTINUE: Maintain your faith foundation, nurture it as you continue to grow together.
    1. Individual Faith, considering and supporting each other.
  5. CORRECT: Learn to make adjustments as you both grow in faith and/or when challenges come.

WAYS TO OVERCOME RELATIONSHIP CHALLENGES THROUGH FAITH

  1. SALVATION - Receive it (single or couple)
  2. FIRM FOUNDATION - Let God’s Word (the Bible) be the basis of:
    1. Truth
    2. Your guiding light for life
    3. The final authority in your life and every love relationship
  3. PRAYER – Pray together without ceasing
    1. Not out of religious ritual, but naturally through your LOVE relationship with God and each other.
    2. Pray in faith through every trial and triumph 
  4. WORSHIP & SERVICE - Will help continue to build and strengthen your faith in God
  5. STAND - When the tests and rough challenges come to try you, stand firm together and face it head-on.
    1. God is with you in it, through it, and out of it!
    2. Standing in faith will not always be about the challenge, sometimes it’s for prayer petitions, guidance, and new open doors.
    3. CONVICTION (awareness of wrong behavior) vs. CONDEMNATION (self-judgement)
      1. Conviction of the Holy Spirit
      2. Acknowledging sin
      3. Heartfelt repentance
      4. Moving forward in grace

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

  • Jude 1, Verses 20-21 "But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love."

Everything in one place: https://linktr.ee/loveletterswithjasonandros

Live out your Love Letter. 💌

Welcome to Love Letters with Jason & Ros

SPEAKER_03

So going back to the to the Hurricane Rita thing, we didn't agree on it. So I went to God and He's like, it's just fear. You're just afraid. What do you have to be afraid of? I'm with you. Trust me. Not Jason. Trust me. And so again, God reminded me through that time when we when we didn't agree on it. I was like, okay, I need to bend the knee right here and submit to what God is saying through you. He's the head of the house, he's the leader. So we're gonna do what we have to do. So I submitted and I was good with that. And actually, we were better for that in the end when it was all said and done.

SPEAKER_00

You know, Ross said that we'll spend time individually praying and seeking God in his word. The reason why that is so important is because God knows our heart. And sometimes our heart may not really be right. It's like, I really want to get my way on this one. So I'm gonna say it this way so that I can get my way. Maybe that'll be more influencing. But when we're when we're one-on-one with God and our hearts are truly open to him, he will reveal to us what's in our heart and what our true intent is behind what we're saying and what we're doing. And so in those places, there have been times that God has convicted me. And I've come back to my wife. I'm man, I'm okay. I'm man, I am so good with saying, Hey, I'm sorry. Yeah, I messed up.

SPEAKER_03

Today we're discussing the love letter F for faith. Well, happy new year and welcome to another episode of Love Letters with Jason and Roz. So the first question obviously is what is faith? Okay. Faith is a belief in something that comes from hearing a truth like the Word of God. Faith is a deep trust and a confidence, a certainty in a person or a concept. It often involves loyalty and a set of belief systems. Our faith determines what we will and will not do, as well as every decision that we make. In the end, our actions and our decisions reflect what our faith truly

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SPEAKER_03

is, what our belief systems are. I always like to think of faith as the wind. So, you know, we all know that the wind is a very powerful source. Even though we can't see it with the naked eye, we can certainly see its effects when it's blowing heavy on something. We can hear it when it's blowing, it sounds like a roar or thunder. And we can certainly feel it when when we go outside and it's a windy day. We feel it. So just because we can't see wind doesn't mean that wind is not there. Same thing with faith. Yeah. Even though we can't see it, it doesn't mean that it's not there. And whether your faith is in God or not, everyone has a faith in something. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. So those are some truths about faith. Go ahead, go ahead. No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

Finish saying that.

SPEAKER_03

Those are some truths about faith, but what do you have?

SPEAKER_00

No, I was just gonna say faith. I mean, we had faith when we sat down in these seats that they were going to hold us up.

SPEAKER_03

True that.

SPEAKER_00

You know, we have faith when we turned the car key that the car was going to start up. So faith can be something simple, and then of course, there's another depth of faith, which is what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01

Another level of faith.

SPEAKER_00

Another level. So speaking about another level, so uh we always look at faith as the five C's of faith. So the first C is connect. And what you want to do is you want to make sure your faith foundation aligns with each other. So you know, love letters with Jason and Roz, we're all about love relationships. That's right. So whether it's between husband and wife, you're dating, uh, parent and child, we're all about love relationships. Yes. So when we talk about this first C of connect and making sure your faith foundation aligns with one another, you got to make sure you're on the same page. So Roz and our foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ. That's right. So we connect on that faith, that truth that we believe in. Now the second C is communicate. Now, communication is so powerful. So, what we're saying here is sharing your history of faith with the love relationship that you're in. With us, we talk about our experiences in church, our experiences with our family growing up. We talk about our experience, our personal experiences with Jesus Christ when we received him as our Savior. Yes. That is the area of communicating. We want to make sure that we're equally yoked. Then the next thing is create. We want to make sure we work together to build our faith foundation as a couple. So we're doing this together. And what does that look like? That looks like us studying the Bible together. It looks like us praying together. It looks like us going to church together, but it also looks like us worshiping

Modeling Faith in the Family

SPEAKER_00

together. So whether that's in a church congregation in praise and worship, or if it's at home with us cracking up praise and worship and just giving God thanks and praise, there's a worship together. And then the last thing is serving together in ministry is a very important part of your faith because what that does is it creates community between you and your love interests. That's right. So the fourth C is continue. And basically, there you want to maintain your faith foundation and nurture it as you continue to grow together. So, what I mean by that is simply this your love interests or your spouse, they may be at a different level than where you are in your faith journey. You may be a little further down the road where you may be believing God for bigger things. And bigger things isn't always a bigger house or a bigger car. It may be believing God for supernatural healing, for generational curses to be broken. But your spouse or love interest may not be there just yet. So, what we want to do is we want to continue to nurture and develop our faith so that we can all grow in our faith together.

SPEAKER_01

Support one another.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. And then the fifth seat is correct. Now, God is going to, like I was saying a moment ago about us growing in our faith and sometimes being at different levels. Well, as we continue to seek God and seek deeper relationship with Him, sometimes we learn new truths. God reveals new things to us. And those new things that He reveals to us, sometimes it challenges what our current thought process is or something. Exactly. Things that we've been taught or things that we've been believing all our lives. And so, with correcting, what you have to do is patiently, gently, and lovingly share truth with your spouse. Share truth with your love interest. They may not receive it at first, and that is okay. That's why we have to be prayerful. Yes. We pray for one another, which is another strong component of faith. Praying and believing God that your love interests or spouse would be able to fully embrace that truth and grow in their faith.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. Sometimes we we do have to, when the Lord is taking us to another level of faith, we have to make adjustments. Sometimes there are hearts, pills that we have to swallow. And it's not always comfortable like you've been taught something all your life and you realize, uh, that's not quite right. And you've built your faith around that thing and you've practiced behaviors for that particular thing, but then you realize it's not quite right, it's not quite what God meant. So then you have to make an adjustment. And so sometimes that can be a challenge. However, with God, all things are possible.

SPEAKER_00

All right. So what I want to share with you is a little bit about our faith journey story. And what we call it is the love triangle. Okay, so for me, I was 23 years old when I received salvation. I was in this small Baptist church. Um, shout

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SPEAKER_00

out Pastor Jones. I know you've gone on to be with the Lord, but thank you. But I was at this small Baptist church and I received Jesus that day. I was sitting there in the audience, and the youth pastor was ministering. And I mean, it felt like I was the only person in the room. And a transformation took place in my life. And so afterwards, my pastor was teaching on fasting and praying, and I really felt drawn to do that because I wanted to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. So, you know, he shared some scriptures with me and encouraged me. So I said, okay, I'm gonna do this seven-day fast. I was just drinking juice and I'm gonna get close to God, and this is gonna be the greatest relationship ever. So I start the fast, and the fast starts off amazing. But you know, as I was going through it, I started hearing this voice.

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SPEAKER_00

I didn't think it was God because of what the voice was saying. It was saying, I want you to marry Ross. And I'm like, What? Now, at this point in our relationship, now you I think you would have had to listen to the date of the marriage episode. But at this point in our relationship, we have been broken up for six months, and we thought it was over.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So when I started hearing that voice, I said, That's the devil. Ain't nothing but the devil trying to distract me from getting closer to God. As I continued on the fast, as I continued to read God's word, the voice just got louder and louder and stronger and stronger. And I knew, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, I had to go back and I had to talk with Roz. And so when I went back to her, the whole goal, I mean, when I went back to her at first, I was kind of goofy and young and immature. I'm like, hey, we're supposed to get married. And she's like, What? You need to go on with your life. I went on with mine. It's been over six months. But I had to change my approach because at the end of the

Jason's Childhood & Upbringing

SPEAKER_00

day, what I wanted more than anything is I wanted her to experience what I was experiencing and the transformation that took place in my life. So, with that being said, what was your what was your journey?

SPEAKER_03

So, overall, ultimately, I realized that we were missing the single most crucial persons in our relationship: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We were missing God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. And so for me, since he got saved first and he came to me, we decided to give this thing a try. We were going through our period of courting for real. And in that process, he started sharing with me the word. So we were we were studying the Bible together, we were praying together for the first time. And for the first time in my life, I actually went on a fast. I didn't do the full seven days because he was already into the seven days. But I will say this in whatever, however many days it was, when I went on that fast, I remember I went to church with Lashawn in Milwaukee. Lashawn, I love you, girl. So I went to church with Lashawn. We went to Christian Faith Fellowship. And I'll never forget during the service, worship became really high. So everybody was praising and worshiping God. And I remember this gentleman in the back of the church, he came up to the front. He was praising God and worshiping as well. But at some point, he began to talk to the congregation. He was he was speaking in tongues. Now I had experienced speaking in tongues before, but not like this. He was speaking, and so then the pastor he went and everybody quieted down, and he just began to minister as he was speaking in tongues. Had this beautiful smile. It was amazing. Because at the time we were, they were in this auditorium. It was like a middle school auditorium. So it was a pretty large area for service. So once he finished speaking in tongues, he went back to the to the back of the church and he was clapping and praising God. And then the pastor said, Did anybody catch that? And then this other lady from the other side of the auditorium came up to the front. She took the mic and she began to interpret everything that that gentleman said. And apparently it aligned with the vision and whatever was going on, and that what they were praying for. Some of it hadn't even been revealed yet. But the bottom line was she interpreted. That very day, I knew that God was real. It was a confirmation in my heart that your fasting, you're praying, and you're studying to know more about me and my plans for you are real. They are effective. It says in the Bible that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So I was new in my faith, and thanks to him, sharing with me just the simple gospel of Jesus Christ, allowed me to experience God for the first time in my life in a real way that impacted and transformed me. I got to the point where I was like, okay, he is real. I still hadn't really fully given my life to the Lord because that was a different experience for me. But it happened in a matter of weeks after that. That was the day I knew that God was real, and my faith began to kind of conjure up in my heart. And I knew that God was real.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, one of one of the things that I share with Roz when I came back to her, you know, we had a lot of challenges during our dating seasons. But when God really

Ros' Childhood & Upbringing

SPEAKER_00

did the work on my heart, I said, you know, Roz, I don't want you to trust me. I want you to trust God to keep me.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And that has always been our prayer that God would keep us in our relationship because we want Him to be glorified in that relationship.

SPEAKER_03

That's right. Yeah. We're not putting our trust in man, we're putting our trust in God. We're putting our hope, our hope in each other, and our good thoughts in each other, you know, giving each other the benefit of the doubt, but understanding that the only thing I can control is how I love and treat him. Exactly. And the only thing he can control is how he loves and treats me. The faith part is where God steps in. That's that third person, that's that love triangle. God is first and foremost, and he is the only one who can actually keep us together. As we stay connected to him, we then stay connected to each other through our faith. That's why faith is so very important. Faith has not only continued to strengthen us individually, but it has also strengthened us as a couple. Exactly. Our faith has seen us through every challenge and every triumph that we've ever faced in our relationship. And we're confident that our faith is going to continue to see us through.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

So what happens when our faith is tested? First and foremost, I like to think of faith challenges as little tests of our faith in God and our faith in each other. I believe that challenges come to provide opportunities to show us three things. First of all, what we're made of and where our faith truly lies. When a challenge comes, do we pray first? Do we talk about it to each other, or do we we get on the phone or get on the internet and look up the problem and see how we can fix it or who's already been through it? And we go to the persons or the people that we think is gonna help us, or do we seek first help from the Lord?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I mean, it could be AI. Chat GBT, how do I get out of this situation? You do this first.

SPEAKER_03

Though those things can be helpful, obviously seeking God first is most important. Absolutely. Number two, it shows us if our relationship is built on a firm foundation. Christ Jesus and the and the word of God, the Bible. Those are our firm foundations. You know, well, that is our firm foundation. It's the the both of them, Christ Jesus and the Word. Um, and then thirdly, is our faith drawing both of us closer to God and to each other? When the challenge comes, you're gonna learn very quickly where your faith lies and what is your reaction when trouble comes. We want to make sure we have a steadfast heart.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, probably one of the biggest challenges with your faith and and things that you believe is when they don't line up. Yeah. It's it's a challenge when your faith may be, your faith may be in Jesus and your faith may be in something else. That can be a source of a lot of difficulty and a lot of stress within within your love relationship. Because there's always, I don't want to say a compromise, but there are gonna be two completely different viewpoints. And if you're firm on your faith, that can become a very contentious, stressful situation. Okay. Now, here's something else making each other your God. I'm worshiping you, or you're worshiping me, versus worshiping the God of heaven, and sometimes even our kids we make our kids our God. Exactly. Kids come before every single thing, that's a problem. It's always God first, you and your spouse second, and then the kids and everything else falls up under that. I think I may have mentioned this before. One has faith to believe, and the other one doesn't. I remember, I don't I don't know if you remember this. This has been so long ago. I think it was, was it Hurricane Rita? Yes. Hurricane, okay, this is a funny story. Oh my goodness. Unscripted. Hurricane Rita was coming to Houston, and I mean barreling towards Houston. But I had this incredible sense of peace that we were not going to get hit hard by this hurricane.

SPEAKER_03

We weren't gonna need to evacuate.

SPEAKER_00

And they were saying evacuate. But I was telling Ross, I was like, honey, we don't need to evacuate. I just have so much peace that it's gonna be better for us to stay here than to evacuate. And mom, how was you feeling about that?

SPEAKER_03

I was like, we need to go. Everybody else leaving, we need to leave. That was my thought, seriously.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, my faith was at a different level.

SPEAKER_03

And you know, there's that issue where the news can be your God. So at that time, the news was my God. I was listening to the news, I had it on. Yeah, that and you know, we had kids, we had all four of the kids at the time, and it was just I was concerned. I was very concerned. I didn't want to be like without electricity. What ended up happening was Rita didn't even really come our way. We just got the outer bands. So we got some heavy

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SPEAKER_03

rain, and that was pretty much it.

SPEAKER_00

But here's the deal had we left, had we evacuated the People that evacuated, they ended up getting stranded. They were running out of gas. I mean, it was a horrible, horrible situation for them. But God blessed us. And He honored that peace. He honored our obedience to stay, even though it didn't look like it was going to be a good situation. And I'm thankful for my wife because she really, you know, she, okay, Jason. I was getting an attitude.

SPEAKER_03

I was. I had a serious tobe.

SPEAKER_00

She was like, okay, Jason, this one's gonna be on. This one's shown up gonna be on. Absolutely. Absolutely. But I thank God. She was a champ. I thank God for honoring what I was sensing in my heart, in my spirit. It just that story just hit me a second ago. So

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SPEAKER_00

sometimes there are gonna be those those times we're not in sync with each other. You know, there's another thing, something that you may have heard, breaking generational curses. There may be within families, you know, no one has ever gone to college. Those things need to be broken. And sometimes those things aren't broken outside of faith, outside of prayer, outside of believing God for more. So there are those things generationally, for example, alcoholism. You know, my my great-granddaddy was an alcoholic, my grandfather, my father, now I'm an alcoholic. Well, at some point, that spirit of alcoholism has to break. And so that's where faith comes in. And then finally, faith is challenged. Oh my goodness, this is a good one. Faith is challenged when condemnation, guilt, or shame comes in from sin. And so what I mean by that is simply this you do something wrong, and you feel so horrible, you feel so bad, and you judge yourself, yeah, versus allowing faith to say you're forgiven by the grace of Jesus Christ. So, yeah, we just have to be careful about when we do sin, when we do make mistakes, when we when we deliberately do wrong, not allowing that to become a place of judgment for us and allowing us to sink deeper into it. Now, there is something that we need to do about that, which we'll address a little bit later, but don't allow it to cause you to be depressed, judgmental, feeling bad and worthless about yourself. It's not designed for that.

SPEAKER_03

Condemnation is like a closed door. And once that door is closed, it's like you can't, you're in the dark and you cannot get out of it. God does not want us to be condemned by our sin. Uh, it's something that that the that the enemy allows to come into our minds, like, oh, you're a terrible person and you're not worthy to be forgiven by God. That's what condemnation does. It doesn't offer any source of hope. It doesn't offer any light into your situation. When we sin, yes, naturally we feel bad, especially when we know we've done something that is disobedient or something that we've done by accident. We feel bad about that. And rightfully so. However, it should not end there. Condemnation will make you feel like that's where it ends. Once you feel like, okay, I'm condemned, I'm I'm never gonna be a good person again, so I might as well just keep on doing what I want to doing this thing or doing what I want to do because I can't change. I can't, I'm I'm just here. Right, you know, and I'm a I'm a bad person, so stay away from me.

SPEAKER_00

No, actually, no, that's real good. And to your point, you know, just continuing in sin. That's you know, that's another challenge. It's like, yeah, I've I've made a mistake, but I just continue to do it, continue to do it, continue to do it. And and there becomes this insensitivity to even God's presence or an awareness of God's presence in your life. And, you know, some people take it to the extreme, like, I can do whatever I want to do. You know, God's gonna give me grace, he's mer His mercies are new every single morning. No, God is not, He doesn't play that game.

SPEAKER_03

Grace ain't supposed to work like that.

SPEAKER_00

And I think the last thing is we really do have an adversary.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We've got there's an enemy called Satan who really does, he does not want us to succeed in our faith journey. He wants us to turn our backs on God. So just know that we've got an adversary that's setting traps, that has schemes that he's putting in place to try to keep us from being victorious in our faith.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_03

Makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_00

So let's let's take a look at how we can strengthen and and cultivate our faith journey and our relationships with faith. So here's a biblical truth for you. Jude chapter 1, verse 20 to 21. But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ who will bring you eternal life.

SPEAKER_03

I love that.

SPEAKER_00

Isn't that awesome? Build each other up. Exactly. So it's not, you're not just denial, and even if you're single, fellowship and community is so important, is a key element to your faith journey.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, being around other believers, whether you're single or a couple, is so very important.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03

That's how we build each other up.

SPEAKER_00

It's called discipleship. You know, some may call it mentoring, but from a Christian standpoint, it's called discipleship.

SPEAKER_03

So let's get into the power takeaways on faith. First and foremost, there is salvation.

SPEAKER_00

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

Gotta have salvation.

SPEAKER_00

It's the foundation.

SPEAKER_03

Receive it. Whether you're single or a couple, it's important to get saved. And we have a little, we have a salvation video as well. It's called What Every Love Relationship Needs.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03

It's really who every love relationship needs, and that's Jesus, his salvation. That can it's only found in Christ Jesus because he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. So we need Jesus. We need to be saved. Secondly, have a firm foundation. Let God's word or the Bible be the basis of three things: be your basis of truth, your foundation, your guiding light in your life, as well as the final authority in your decisions.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

That's something that Jason has for us when we first, around, you know, when we started really developing more and more in our faith, he said, Hey, I think we we were we were in a conference or something. We were, we were, we were in something when we were talking about marriage. It was, I think it was a marriage conference. It was a long time ago, though, where they talked about letting God's word be the final authority. So there are times where you're going to disagree.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_03

There are times where you're not going to see eye to eye. And so during those times, it is important to, hey, let's just take a break for a minute. We're right now we're agreeing to disagree, but we're going to take a break and we're going to we're going to seek God individually. And we're going to let God's word be the final authority. So as the Holy Spirit, He rick, He recognizes when we're not seeing eye to eye and when we're not on one accord. If we pray, we have faith in God, we have faith in His Word, He will bring us together on a Word.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. And if I if I could say this on that point, you know, Ross said that we'll spend time individually praying and seeking God in His Word. The reason why that is so important is because God knows our heart. And sometimes our heart may not really be right. It's like, I really want to get my way on this one. So I'm going to say it this way so that I can get my way. Maybe that'll be more influencing. But when we're when we're one-on-one with God and our hearts are truly open to him, he will reveal to us what's in our heart and what our true intent is behind what we're saying and what we're doing. And so in those places, there have been times that God has convicted me. And I've come back to my wife. I'm, man, I'm okay. I'm man, I am so good with saying, Hey, I'm sorry. Yeah. I messed up. That turns me on.

SPEAKER_03

And likewise, I'm the same. It's like I whenever I'm I'm wrong, I'm just wrong. So going back to the to the Hurricane Rita thing, we didn't agree on it. So I went to God and He's like, it's just fear. You're just afraid. What do you have to be afraid of? I'm with you. Trust me. Not Jason. Trust me. And so again, God reminded me through that time when we when we didn't agree on it. I was like, okay, I need to bend the knee right here and submit to what God is saying through you. He's the head of the house, he's the leader. So we're gonna do what we have to do. So I submitted and I was good with that. And actually, we were better for that in the end when it was all said and done.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it allowed us to see another level and experience another level of God's faith. And the scripture even talks about our faith grows. We go from faith to faith. Our faith grows. And so even in as you develop in your faith, you will see opportunities. God's gonna bring you to places where He starts stretching your faith. It may be baby step faith at the beginning, but I guarantee you there are gonna be some leaps, and there's gonna be some bungee cord, some bungee cord moments.

SPEAKER_03

Leaps of faith.

SPEAKER_00

Without no bungee cord. Oof. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Walking on water faith.

SPEAKER_00

Seriously, stepping up out of that boat. Sharks all over the place.

SPEAKER_03

A third thing is prayer. Praying together is so, so important. We've had our periods of time where we would pray together. Then life happens and things start, you know, especially when the babies started coming. Oh, yeah. It's like we're just so busy doing that, parenting and working and doing all these things. It's like we forgot that we need to still come together and pray. So prayer is very important. So it's just amazing when you start praying together, even if you're single, if you're dating someone who is like faith, and start praying together. Even if it's just you're praying for each of yourselves individually, maybe you're not officially a couple, just pray for each other. That's important because everybody's faith walk is everybody's faith walk. And if God decides to bring you together, then you're all the better for it. If not, fine. You still iron sharpens iron. You're friends and you've been praying for one another. And also, if you're single, you should have other friends, other Christian friends, other believers who you can pray together with and agree on things, you know, and then praying individually, praying as a couple, whatever it takes, there's just something that happens when people come together and touch and agree. He says, where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst. So he hears, he sees what's going on. And I think the prayer just we'll start to see things change. Yeah, it may not be immediately, but things will change. And if all else, there's a peace.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

There's a peace that surpasses all our understanding. Yeah, it guards our heart and mind, and we're able

Parenting Challenges are Inevitable!

SPEAKER_03

to just hang on, even though we don't see what's happening, our faith stays and remains steady through prayer.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Also, worship and serving together. That's another key element that in itself helps us build our faith in God and in each other. Sometimes worship and service does not always mean at your local church. It could be some kind of community ministry or community organization that you're volunteering together. Just giving of yourself, your time, your talent, your treasures, doing, you know, habitat for humanities, whatever it may be, food drives. These are all different ways that you can serve and worship God. And one other thing I want to say about worship worship doesn't always look like this. Obedience is worship. When God, when his word hits you, if you obey and submit to that word, that too is worship.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. That's good. That's my job. I can't say anything behind that.

SPEAKER_03

So what what else do we want to share about overcoming?

SPEAKER_00

One of my favorite songs of all time, Donnie McClurkin. Stand. Ooh. So number five is Stan.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks, Pastor Donnie.

SPEAKER_00

Seriously, the challenges of life are going to come.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

But let me tell you, in the face of those challenges, stand.

SPEAKER_03

Stand.

SPEAKER_00

You stand firm in your faith. You find in the word what God says about that circumstance or that situation that you may be facing. And you stand on that word. You confess that word. You declare what that word is saying until you see something change. Until you see that mountain move. Now, sometimes, this is interesting. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Sometimes you're the mountain. Sometimes you're the mountain that needs to be moved. Sometimes God needs you to get out of the way so that He can fulfill the promise and the destiny that He has for your life. I know that that's been the issue with me at different points of time. But there are things that you're going to face, whether it's sickness, uh, it could be illness, it could be financial, I mean, it could be so many different things. But in those moments, it becomes critical for you to stand on God's word. And then lastly, it's conviction. You know, I know we talked about condemnation earlier. The flip side. The flip side is a conviction. It is knowing that I have let God down. It's like your father, it's like going to your father, and okay, I gotta here, here's here's a here's a great analogy. I remember our oldest, she was a little bitty. Me and a friend of mine, we went to go to Walmart. And I guess she saw this little toy that she wanted so bad, but did not tell me to buy it or ask to buy it. So she got the five-finger discount. We went back to the car and I noticed this little toy. So instead of spanking her or whooping her, what I did is I marched her right back into the store and I told her, you gotta tell the clerk that you had stolen this. That just brought such a level of conviction on her heart because she knew that what she had done was wrong. And she never wanted to do that again. That's conviction. It brings you to a place where, okay, God, I want to make sure that I'm right with you. And what that does is it brings about repentance, and that's that godly sorrow. God, I'm sorry that I did that. Give me the strength, equip me to avoid doing that in the future. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

So that that condemnation is just, I'm terrible.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

You know, you're not, you don't own the problem. You just judge yourself and say you're a terrible person. Conviction, you own it. You recognize and acknowledge, I miss the mark. And when you do that, God's mercy and grace just floods in. And so that conviction that you feel, that is an opportunity for you to extend faith and own it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Own your wrong, own it, and say, Lord, forgive me and whoever you wronged, forgive me. I did this, I know it was wrong. And then receive the mercy and the grace that comes in from God because He just wants to steer you in the right direction. Faith will allow him to do that.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. And I'll I'll say this the beautiful thing about the challenges that we go through is so that we can help someone else. If I've fallen and I've, you know, God has helped me to get up now. If I see someone who's struggling, or if I see someone who's fallen, now I can lend a hand, help encourage them and direct them in the right way that they should be going.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

All right.

SPEAKER_03

I like it.

SPEAKER_00

I know you do. All right, Roz, what's the live on love letter challenge this week?

SPEAKER_03

The first step is this start studying God's word together. If you're a couple, start doing that together. Whether you're married or dating or engaged, whatever, start studying the word of God together. If you are a little more mature, start praying together. That's this the second level praying together. Every morning at 7 o'clock. Prayer time. Pray with Jason. That's on my my phone.

SPEAKER_00

Mine too. Both our alarms go off at the same time, 7 o'clock.

SPEAKER_03

And even if you're single, find some, find a prayer partner.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Get you a prayer partner that you guys can touch and agree together or even study the word together. And I want to put in a little a little plug for Bible study fellowship. BSF BSF International. We're going to put that into the description. Oh my gosh. If you've never done a Bible study, and even if you have done a Bible study, Bible study fellowship is probably the most wonderful Bible study you could ever do in your life. You go through the word like a with a fine-tooth comb.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, literally. Every year they they have different topics. So this year we're studying return, um, exile and return. And it's about Israel going into exile and then returning to their land. So so much of what you learn in the Bible is so it just hits you right where you are.

SPEAKER_00

It's applicable to your life right now.

SPEAKER_03

And it really truly builds your faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, by the Bible. So Bible study fellowship is just one of those things. And even if you might come in and you might do John one year, and maybe seven or eight years later, you may do John again. But guess what? It's gonna hit you differently. You're gonna get even more out of it. God's word is inexhaustible. I mean, you could read the same thing and a couple years later read it again, and it means something completely different to you. So that is a great way for you to build your faith. Bible Study Fellowship or BSF International.org. So that's our challenge, and make sure. To like, share, subscribe, and leave those comments. Help us to continue giving you great content.

SPEAKER_00

All right, before we close out in prayer, I do want to give a plug for Preserved International.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

This is a nonprofit organization that is focusing in on strengthening our leaders. Yes. Our pastors, our missionaries, and spiritual leaders. Go to preserved international.org and find out more about them today. If you're a pastor or ministry leader or missionary, you want to learn about this organization. They are supporting people just like you. Yes. All right. So every week we close in prayer. So, Father, we just pray for this amazing community that you've given us. Yes. And we pray for their faith, Lord God.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know what they may be experiencing or facing right now, but Father, I pray for the grace to stand, that they would see your salvation in the midst of their circumstance and situation. And they say, This must be the hand of God. Let them experience you like never before. If they're praying for family members to be saved, Father, save them right now. We love you and we thank you for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, we'll see you next time on Love Letters with Jason and Rise and Happy New Year. Happy New Year's.