Getting Into Deeper Prayer w/ Pastor Mike Braswell | The Spirit Unleashed Podcast Ep. 5

Join us this week as we talk with Pastor Mike Braswell about his journey to becoming a pastor and how to get into deeper prayer!


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Music: Skyline Sparks 
Musician: VN VideoEditor 
Music: Whispers of the River 
Musician: VN VideoEditor

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:14

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to episode five of the Spirit Unleash Podcast. I am Josh Cox to my right, and Kyle Cox over here. We cannot be more excited to bring you another episode of this podcast that we love doing so much. We're excited to talk about the Lord with you today. And more importantly, we're excited about what the Lord is going to preach into your heart through this word that we are about to speak. I stress this every episode. We've talked about it numerous times. You know, we don't plan these episodes that we do. We don't. We just come up here and we get in the Spirit and we let the Spirit flow because that's the most important thing you can do in this life, living life with God is just living by the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. Yep. And that's all we want to do for you guys today is just kind of let the Holy Spirit use us as vessels to speak into your heart. And if you're listening to this right now and you believe that a word from the Lord can help somebody, why don't you share this podcast, leave a comment down below with an encouraging word or question, and subscribe to the channel with the notifications on so that we can push the gospel to as many people as possible. Well, we've got a good one today. Uh I'll tell you what.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Um It's always good. Every every one of them we do is good.

SPEAKER_05 1:25

Absolutely, yes, absolutely. And we got a good guest here today, um, mighty man of God and a person we've known for a long time. Yep. Um, and the story with all three of us truly is we don't have time to go through all that today. We don't, but the connection is truly unbelievable. How God has uh placed this uh man and this family into our life um and everything that we've gone through and everything that we've been through together, right? That family is just truly unbelievable. Uh so our guest today is um a mighty man of God, a true pastor of one of the most, probably the best church in the country, I would say, in the world. Um he is pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Crestview, Florida. Um he's a father of two boys, um, husband to a beautiful wife, and leader of a beautiful family, leader of a beautiful church. Um the guest that we have today, I truly believe is just full of wisdom, full of just anointed words of God each and every time he steps behind the pulpit, and he's done so much for our my life, he's done so much for your life. I know. Guest today is Pastor Michael Braswell. Pastor, why don't you come on up? Join us up here. Yeah. Grab that microphone and get right into it. Make sure that thing's on.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Amen. Make sure it's on.

SPEAKER_05 2:42

Yeah, turn that thing on. There we go. Oh, yeah, it's on now. Now we're hot. We're ready to go. Well, we appreciate you coming on here. Um, you know, it's uh truly a blessing uh to have uh pastors such as yourself come on here and because we can talk about the word all we can, but I believe you have a true deep knowledge and understanding of the word of God, and especially for what he's done with your life and your family and everything. Um so we kind of just want to give you a few minutes, just kind of tell us a little bit about your testimony, your story, how you maybe even how you became a pastor, if that was a calling you've always felt on your life and everything like that.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yes, absolutely. Well, Brother Josh, I appreciate you having me on today, and I have absolutely enjoyed um your podcast, the things that are happening through that. Appreciate it. I'm glad to be sitting here with the both of you and Kyle as well, of course. And we know that um God puts us together, puts people together for such a time as this. Yeah, and uh I think this is something that I believe is important. I know that um we don't have enough time, as you've already said, for me to go through um the amount of ministry that I've had poured into my life, but I've had uh been able to had a privilege of growing up around ministry um all of my life. Um that's not to say that you know you've got this uh pass, you know, that you just get to pass trials and you get to pass up the test and you get to pass up um what it means to um know what a journey is, living for God, being on a path. And um I'm thankful for the path. Uh can't tell you that it's always been easy, but it's but it's the path that God put us on so that we could be where we are now and the growth that we've had uh spiritually. Um you know, as far as in growing up, being a kid, uh preacher's kid, uh you grow up and you find yourself on a pew and uh sitting in a church service and figuring out who you trying to figure out who you are, trying to figure out where do you belong. Um, you know, you're you're the evangelist kid. Sure. You know, my dad was an evangelist, traveled all over the country, and um, you know, and I I I I found myself uh saying, okay, well now who are you going to be uh for the kingdom of God? And then had to uh go through some pretty uh hard trials and tests in my own life so that I could learn how eventually to minister to other people. Um and so that calling came and um after, of course, I married my wife, and then uh we both felt that there was a higher calling on our life, and we accepted that calling, and uh always felt more of a pool of feeling that I would pastor one day. Um I assisted a couple of fine gentlemen, um, I call it going to Bible school in a different kind of way, um, was able to sit under some wonderful men of God that poured stuff into my life. And so um, you know, it's really kind of how the kingdom of God works. We learn from other people. And so, therefore, when we hear a word preached into our heart and given unto our life, then what happens is in turn we get this opportunity now to share that with other people. And those people, particular ones that poured into my life, may not have been able to reach the people that I've been able to reach, but I believe that's how God spreads the gospel. That's right, yeah, you know, so that we all can uh work together. Yeah, and I believe his kingdom works together. I don't believe it is divided, I believe it stands together. And uh, but as far as in uh life and and what life is, you know, raising a family, and uh far as in two wonderful uh boys and my wife uh uh and I together has just had this great opportunity to walk through this journey together. But you know, you still you'll have uh even though you pastor a church, even though that you're in ministry, if even more so, feels like that you're attacked, as we talk about on this podcast, you talk about on this podcast of what it means to fight spiritual battles. Right. And that's what we fight. We fight spiritual battles. And um, but I'm thankful that I've had this wonderful opportunity to pastor the church for over a little over 17 years, I believe, if I've got the dates right, uh, which is absolutely wonderful. Great church, great, great people, and um have the privilege of being able to do that. Um I just want to say though that you know, if we were to pull all of this down and kind of, as we would say, filter it and find out what was the highs and the lows and all of that stuff, I don't know that we can pinpoint one particular incident or event that set us on a path.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

The only thing that I do know is that, as Paul would say, I know nothing else save Jesus Christ and crucified. And as long as I know that he died for me, and as long as I believe in the cross and the blood and the word and the name of Jesus Christ, then I understand that there is an abundant life to be had. And as well as you for telling your testimony and Josh and what we've come through and all of those type of things, the key to it all, I believe, is that it comes back to the foot of the cross. That's right. Amen. And we're able to know that all of us, even though ministry levels of ministry and all of that, at the end of the day, what we all want is we want to be able to meet him face to face with Christ. Yes. And whomever we can help while we're here, that's really the reason why we're here. That's that's the true meaning.

SPEAKER_05 8:27

Yeah, absolutely. And that that's a beautiful, you know, I think the most beautiful thing I pulled from that is because I've talked to to Chase, your son, about this all the time, um, about being a pastor's kid and uh being in a family with uh minister at the head of the family. There's a certain um I guess you could say, uh I know with him like going to school and everything, a certain stereotype or expectation that you know that this guy, his dad's a pastor, his dad's a preacher, he's you know, he's a man of God, he's a perfect guy. But we gotta understand that pastors, uh pastors' families, they're just people too. That's right. You know, still go through trials and and storms and everything. And I know you've testified about that many times. Oh, yes. And it's uh and I've talked to Chase about it too, how there was a pressure that he felt even as he got older, possibly maybe he felt that he was being pushed into ministry, but he realized that you know he has a different calling on his life or he believes he does. Sure. And you know, there that just the pressure of that I couldn't imagine growing up being is is immense, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Yeah, I you know, and that's the thing is too, is that it's very important that um I guess as far as in me being able to talk about that, because of course I am a minister, and then you're talking about Chase, I was I was probably really trying my best to let him know that he had to find out what he was called to do. I I felt that too at times that I was being pulled. But um I believe it was Kyle, I believe it was, mentioned something about what it means. Actually it was you, I apologize. That mentioned about and it stuck with me about what it means to have, you know, this particular deciding factor of of a voice that you would listen to, but yet you would listen to the calling of God on your life. Listen, it does you don't have to have a pulpit ministry to have a beautiful calling.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

You don't have to be in the pulpit on Sunday and preaching in order to be able to impact many lives. To be honest with you, there is these lives that are impacted every the every day by our testimony of what you're doing right now, what we're doing right now. You know, watching my wife come through cancer over, you know, and watching that happen in her life, and here I am a minister. I've prayed for many people, traveled and evangelized before I settled down to pastor and all of that, and prayed for people and seen them immediately healed. All of those things are legit. It's still true. But then to lay hands on my own wife and her, you actually have to go through the process of all of this cancer and everything, you know, those are times in a minister's life that if you're not careful, you'll start questioning questioning your ministry, questioning your faith, questioning your walk with God. Right. And the devil wants to come in and try to convince you, the convincing voice that you talked about, you know, to try to but yet you understand you have a calling. That's right. You have a calling, no matter, no matter, you know, and that's what my wife even said, that it it didn't it didn't matter if if he was if it's his will for her to go on from this life or his her his will for her to be healed or her his will for her to go walk through this process. Do you know how you don't know how many people that my wife's been able to talk to now because she actually went through the process and to help. That's right. So I I feel like in you know how you say we we don't set all this up beforehand or anything like that. So I feel like that we're actually talking about something that the Lord wants us to talk about, and it's very important that we don't become frustrated and we don't become to where we are questioning our own walk with God or are questioning our faith just because we don't see things unfolding like they should. We're walking through processes that are that are going to give us the opportunity to talk to someone else's life and to speak into someone else's life to help them get through that.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

Yeah, and I told I think I told somebody this the other day is that you know the the stuff that we go through, uh the struggles that we go through, it's not a punishment.

SPEAKER_06 12:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Right, you know, it's preparation. Yeah. Right? Uh it's preparation, it's preparing us for the bigger battle, you know, or the bigger victory. Which the victory's already been won. You know, it's just preparing us for the next steps. Right.

SPEAKER_05 12:36

Yeah. And it's like you're saying, you know, uh with uh your Tara and everything, um, it's just another layer of the testimony. You know, maybe God's giving us um weaponry to be able to use because he knows that somebody's gonna be coming along in our life that we may need to go through that to be able to help them with that similar situation. Just like I know with you, you know, um with us going to encounters and everything. I know you've seriously felt um a servant call up there with you know people that are um have addictions and need to be delivered from things like that.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

You know, well it's different, you know, when people go through things, you know, addiction, you know, alcoholism, you know, through cancer, being healed from cancer, you know, they can relate to each other, yeah, right, as it is from somebody that has never gone through something. That's right. You know, they hear something. It's kind of like, you know, when you're coaching baseball. All right, I could tell you a million different ways to do something, and it would be the right way. But if he, if Mike came over there and told you how to do it, you'd immediately catch on. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Because it's somebody different coming to you, right?

SPEAKER_03 13:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

And they always, it's like they it's your kids just that they soak that up and they they hear that, but they don't hear it from them, from from the parent, right? It's no different with, you know, going through struggles through addiction, through cancer, through other things.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Right. You know, they relate. Yeah. They do. You know, it so a scripture just came to mind is that you know what the devil meant for harm, God meant it for good. And he was he so he's he actually turned that all around. What seemed like was the wrong thing to happen, the worst thing that could happen in our life. Then God says, Well, let me show you how I can take care of this and I can I actually can I can heal this a different way. Right. So that way, you know, you're able to announce to someone, look, I know where you're at. I'm able to help you with that. Yeah. And and I feel that way, you know, I there's people that I can't help because I haven't been through that certain way. Right. But at least I know people that have been, so I can connect them.

SPEAKER_05 14:29

Yeah. You know, that's the beauty, the beauty of the diversity of the kingdom of God. Right. You know, just having all the connections and having that sense of unity with such a diverse group of people, which is why I love our church so much.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Right.

SPEAKER_05 14:42

We have so many people that have been through so many different things that if somebody was to walk in here, like you said, with the situation that none of us had gone through, I guarantee you we could find somebody that had been through that.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

And I love that about this church and uh our church because it it just there's no way that you could walk through the door of this church and not be able to connect with someone that has come through some of the same trials that you've been through. What's really amazing is that they actually came through those trials. Absolutely. Now you get to see the other side of that. You know, and what what there there is a life beyond those addictions. There is a life beyond not being healed but having to go through the process of whatever the disease is. I mean, it it's just I I want to thank God for that. Yeah. Because he's the one that designs this. That's right. Now, he didn't want us to have sickness, he didn't want us to have pain, he didn't want us to go through addictions and all of those type of things. He didn't want that. Right. But because of the fall and what happened, now we had it. But he came and died for all of that.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

And his blood was shed for that. And he rose to live again so we could have that comforting spirit to be able to help us and lead and guide us.

SPEAKER_05 15:52

Yes. The evidence. The evidence. Yeah. I spoke to um the kids in Sunday school about that yesterday, about uh they were we were doing a lesson on blind faith on what it is to uh believe in something that you cannot see, or in this case, believe in someone that you cannot see. And I told them, you know, the the easiest way to see God working through you, because I asked all of them in class, I said, Well, you know, let's have an example of it. Has have you ever prayed a prayer and has it been answered? And they were like, Well, I'm trying to think. And I'm like, Well, you know, I I even asked Ryder, I said, Well, you prayed for your mom, right? He was like, Yeah, absolutely. And I said, Well, she's the evidence of the prayer, and she's the evidence of the blind faith that you have. So you see the works that he does in your life, and you see all this evidence and everything like that, but the the dangerous thing about it is the enemy will still try to speak to you with that convincing voice and say, This is all God's doing, he's bringing all this harm into your life, you need to just give up on him and everything like that. And I know that it's happened in my life. I know it's happened, I'm sure, in both of y'all's lives as well. You know, he will he will attack in any way that he can.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

It's a hard thing. He any way he can find an avenue, yeah. He will he'll use energy.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Well, he'll it he'll definitely if he can't if he cannot get to you, he goes through loved ones. Sure. That that that's that's that's for me. Right is that when he knows that he can't get to me, he can get through he can get to me through my wife.

SPEAKER_05 17:21

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Yeah. Through a loved one. Yeah. When he gets the and then it's just like, okay.

SPEAKER_05 17:25

Well, because he knows the love and care that you have for him. Oh, 100%. And when when you see them upset, it's so easy to just cave in and just be like, all right, you know, we'll do it like that. Or you know, just go go the yes route because you don't want to see them upset. Yes. When even you though you know in your mind that there's a different way, a more godly, you know, something like that, it's just so easy. And he he has all those little tricks up his sleeve. He really does.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Stumbling blocks. Sure. My first message, uh, you say, you know, trying to maybe key people in on who I am, but my first message that I ever preached, I'll never forget it. It was called casting the stumbling blocks aside. That was the first message I ever preached. And I preached about what it was to be up on a path and what those stumbling blocks look like. And the the devil wants to try to throw those stumbling blocks in our path to make us trip over those and and to stop our journey. Right. And uh there's been many a times I would not sit here and pretend, but there's been many a times that I've had the towel in my hand, or you know, to throw in the towel and say, that's enough, I'm done, you know, I'm it's over with. You know, I don't believe I shouldn't say that because I can only speak for myself. But ministry, ministry, when you're in the ministry, there are often times that you decide that in your own mind, not in your heart, but in your mind you decide that I'm just gonna be done. I'm done with it, you know, and I I'm I'm tired of the fight, tired of the battle. But then all of a sudden you do feel within your heart a stirring, and God comes along and gives you that strength. And uh you talk about that often as well, about the strength of God. God strengthens me, God helps me. And uh I love those times, Brother Kyle. But there are times that comes along as well for where David said that he wanted to go ahead and be something. So what he had to do is that he had to give praises unto God. He delighted himself in the Lord, or he encouraged himself in the Lord. So he had to first of all start out with that praise and that worship to encourage himself so that he could receive that strength from God. I think that it's very important that we refresh ourselves daily so that we can continue this journey.

SPEAKER_05 19:35

Right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 19:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:36

And you've talked about it uh before, and you know, we don't talk about it enough is that there is in the ministry um there's a burden that you feel for whether it be, you know, the Bible study you're teaching or whether it be the congregation that you have. That's right. Um you you feel the burden of what they're going through because you're in constant prayer for them. You're in constant, you know, seeking after God, asking him asking him to step in at the perfect time in their life. And you know, just to just to be real, because this this is what we do up here, we're just honest. It's it can be frustrating when you're in a spiritual leadership position and you're doing all the work, you're doing all the right things, you know you're meeting God every day for these people, and you're just not seeing the the prayer being answered yet. Right. It's easy to let the enemy convince you to have doubt in your life. Absolutely. And you know, it's just that's something not just spiritual leaders struggle with, but that's something all believers struggle with, I believe, is you know, when that doubt creeps in when you're not seeing the work being done immediately. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Yeah, I know as a you know what as a as a worship leader, you know, and you know, and I play the music and you know, and I pray about the music and I pick the music and I get to church and I'm playing, I'm playing the music into my truck while I'm listening to it, and God has shown me, man, this service is gonna be awesome, and it's gonna blow the roof off and then get to church and you you got it, and you're playing them as you like. Oh man, what just happened here? You know, and it's front, it's very frustrating. Oh, yeah. It's tough.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Oh, I've had a burning message before. I thought it was one of them, you know. And come in and preach that, and it seemed like it fell right in front of the pulpit, and it just didn't go as far as I thought. But it has nothing to do with that. What we're doing is, and as a worship leader, as a as ministry and as preachers, and as you teaching and preaching, I what we're doing is that we're sharing the word of God. That's right. And he said, when you put that out there, it will not return void. That's right. So at some point it's going to happen. Someone received it. Someone received it. You know, I love that too, is that the word of God at some point, because the Bible even said some fell on some stony ground, some fell on this kind of ground, right? And go through the process, and if some fell on good ground. Yeah. Yeah. And that's where it began to be it's it it's it's seeded in that ground and it grew up from there. And I that's what I love. I love that you can spread the word of God, and whether you know there's a hundred sitting out there and only you know one got it. Well, Jesus left all 99 and went and got it. Got one and planted a seed in that that particular lamb when he carried it back. So I think that there is ministry of destruggle of struggles and and disappointments, but I've had to teach myself as well as learn from others that you have to eventually just stop and go, it's in God's hands. It's in God's hands. You know, uh Kyle had a board at work at one at some point and he wrote on the board, and uh, I believe one of them was God's got it. Or he's got it. Let go and let God let go and let God. That's what it was. You let go and you let God. And I think that if we could ever learn to just let go and let God, yeah, wow. Yeah, what there's miracles to be had, there's healing to be had. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:44

Yeah. We gotta understand that we can't uh we cannot reshape a heart. We can't do it. No, we we don't have the power to do that. We might have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us, but in all, you know, overall, He is, I like to call him the master builder. Oh yeah. He he is the master carpenter. He we can do all the planning that we can and we can break down all the walls that we can through prayer, praying for softened hearts, praying for hearts to be opened. Yeah, but truly he's the one that gets in there and oh yeah builds that masterpiece. Yeah. So we cannot interfere. And um, you know, sometimes you can find some people trying to stand in the way of that building, and we just have to pray that ourselves be removed from the situation and that he just uses us as the vessel to speak to that person or bring the word or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

That's a beautiful thought as well, because even his walk upon this earth, you know, there were those that was in his life for a moment, there were those that were not in his life. Yeah. You think about those that would come and that were with him at certain points, and then there were some that were removed, you know, and though they even said, We want to be with you, but yet they got removed. Right. It was so he could make a way to the cross. Yeah. Because how many would have stayed with him and kept him from going? Right. They could have said, You're not going, you're not going to the cross. Or so they had to be certain ones had to be removed later on, brought back.

SPEAKER_05 24:06

Yeah. But well, you gotta think about what he said to the disciples when they were getting off the boat when he told them uh that he was going to die. Yeah. And I believe it was Peter that you know was constantly telling him, No, Lord, no, Lord, you can't do this. And he said, Get thee behind me, Satan. I know. Because he had to that is the that was the overall plan. He knew what had to be done. Oh, yeah, and he knew that the enemy was trying to use his closest people to get to him. And that's just a beautiful thing when we finally get the mindset of just get out of the way. Yep, flesh get out of the way.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

And Peter still said, I'll draw the sword and cut somebody up before they take you. And he did he did. He tried it. Like, let me show you this. And he put the ear back on. And uh then Peter, before long, he's like, Well, I don't know what to do with this guy. I mean, I'm trying my best to save his life, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Uh it it is it is amazing if you really stop and think about how great the word of God is, yeah, and how great that, you know, how what kind of teachable moments are there are within the word of God for all of our lives. You know, we try to hold on to everything and everybody, and there's sometimes God's just come in and goes, You don't need this, you don't need that, need this, keep this, puts a circle around your hedge, and okay, now let's go this way. Yeah, you know, uh, and uh I I feel confident that we are a people that are being led by the Spirit of God. Yes. Where we gotta live.

SPEAKER_05 25:34

Yeah, absolutely. And um, leading into the question that we have, the best way I believe we can live through the Spirit of God is by getting that connection. One of the biggest ways is through prayer. Um, the question that we had today is about something that we've talked about on this podcast uh a few times. Probably it's probably been mentioned in all the episodes that we filmed so far about praying from within, praying from the heart, from the spirit rather than praying from your mind. Right. And praying from your own thoughts and things like that. And you know, I spoke on it yesterday that we actually pray from connection rather than praying for connection because we already have the Spirit of God on the inside of us. So the question we had was kind of simple. It was really just, you know, how do I truly pray from within, from the heart, from the spirit, rather than pray for my mind? What does that process kind of look like?

SPEAKER_02 26:28

For me, it's just a um it's a conversation.

SPEAKER_06 26:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

You know, I mean just riding down the road, and for me, it's riding down the road as usual, because I got a lot of you know, time between you know work and home at work and home, is it's just like I'm having a conversation with somebody sitting next to me. You know, I'm not thinking about what I'm wanting to say or how I'm gonna say it. I'm just saying it and I'm having that conversation. That's all I'm doing. And before and and before it's all said and done, I find myself saying, Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, Jesus, and thank you, Jesus. And then when when that starts to happen, then it starts to then the words start coming out. Then I start then I start praying and giving him thanks and saying and praying from the heart and not here. I just sit there and wait. Because if you go ahead and you start with it, it's just gonna come from here and it's you gotta just give it a minute.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

I think the analogy that's what I do is use analogies, but so I don't know how many times throughout the day if I'm speaking with Tara before we get off the phone. Okay, love you back. I mean, I mean it. Right. Um But it's those Love you back. Okay, well, love you back. But then there are those moments when I actually are at the house or walk in, you know, give her a hug and look at her and go, I love you. It's different than the I love you by. It's I put meaning with it. I put it, I stop, like you said, for a minute, and I say, I love you. So that's the analogy of the relationship. The relationship that you have with God, we have a lot of those moments of thank you, Jesus, love you, Lord. That's the prayer, right? We we we're good at praying those, you know. Um Lord, we want to thank you for this food. Bless it in Jesus' name, amen. It's those type of prayers to me that is head knowledge prayer.

SPEAKER_06 28:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

We we know them, it's not repetition. We mean it. We want him to bless the food, we're thankful for the food, but we haven't stopped for a moment just to in that restaurant and go, let's join hands, it's gonna get serious. We're about to pray, you know. We don't do that. So the analogy simplifies it to the point to where I'm not just telling him, I find moments that I stop. And then I get into the prayer of where I stop and I look and I say, I want to tell you I love you. And I thank you. I really, really thank you. As Brother Kyle just said, it then all of a sudden something transpires and you won't ask the question anymore. You won't once you feel that come from the You feel the connection. Once you feel the connection, once you feel that come from your belly, as I like to say, because out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. That's right, yeah. Not out of your head, but out of your belly, which is the soul of man. And once that connection, like you say, or that feeling comes, now you're praying from within. Yeah, there is a difference, it is different. Yeah, it is different. But you will most of the time start with a praise or worship, and then it takes you to that depth that you're looking for.

SPEAKER_05 30:00

Yeah. It's almost like uh for me, starting off with praise and worship, because most of the time, you know, in my daily prayers, oftentimes, probably the times I pray the most is probably driving, because I drive a lot for work, and it starts off with the worship music, it starts off with giving him praise. And what's that what that is doing is that's just clearing my head thoughts of distractions. Right. That's clearing here so that he can get me from here to here.

SPEAKER_04 30:28

Right.

SPEAKER_05 30:28

Um, and the thing is too, you're talking about that connection. It's one thing to know that you have that connection with God and to know that you have the Holy Spirit. It's another thing to feel that connection. And I believe that once we finally get that mindset of, okay, I'm clearing my head out, I'm gonna get those distractions out, I'm gonna let God just kind of speak to me, I'm gonna give him praise, I'm gonna worship him. Then all of a sudden you'll be praying and you don't even know what's going on. You know, I've had those prayers where I'll get to the end of the drive and I'm like, Lord, what just happened? You know what I mean? Um, and then you get you can get so deep into prayer sometimes, the spirit will even start to cry out, and then you don't even know what you're praying for. And and it that's a beautiful thing too, is how how the spirit can actually cry out and take over when our mind, our knowledge, we don't know what to pray for because it has not yet been revealed to our understanding.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Yeah, the Bible talks about groanings uh in the spirit, so things that cannot be uttered. Yeah. Uh you know, you can't sp you can't really just speak the language like we're talking right now. There's a different language, it's a different thought thing, the process that happens in that within that time of a yearning for a deeper walk with God and deeper depth. And then you begin, like you said, to pray. Pray things that you didn't even know what you were praying for, but you knew you were crying out for somebody or even your own life. Yeah. It's very important that that happens though, because it is refreshing to know that you have that kind of walk with God. You know, and you don't have to be a seasoned Christian or anything. You know, we kind of get wrapped up in that, don't we? We don't have to be a seasoned Christian and you know, been, well, let's see, I'm in it for five years, so this already happened now. Right. Right. No, you you can get in a depth of prayer because God listens to your prayers. And so he'll take you to that depth if you desire that. He said he'd give us the desires of our heart. Yeah. That's what he said. So if you have a desire, whomever that was that asked that question, you have a desire for that, God will lead you into that, and there will be a desire that he will fulfill that desire.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Yeah. If you seek.

SPEAKER_06 32:31

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 32:33

And I think the beautiful thing is too, you know, you talked about him hearing those prayers, and he'll take you to that depth because he hears what you're seeking. He doesn't just hear the prayers, he also hears the mess that's going on around those prayers, too. He knows what's going on in your life. I feel like people get so wrapped up and well, you know, he just I I've only prayed to him a couple times this week. He's got no clue what's going on. Yes, he does. He has his eye on you 24-7. Absolutely. He hears the mess, not just the prayer that you're speaking. So he knows what you're going through and he knows where that prayer, what emotion, he knows where it's coming from too. So you got to be careful. Can't go into prayer angry, because that's when you get into those head thought prayers. When you go into prayer with the wrong emotions other than praise and thanks. Right. If you go into prayer with emotions other than that, then you're gonna get into those head knowledge prayers, and then you're not gonna be able to get to that deep place because you're so wrapped up with what's going on in your life, and you're just thinking about it in the back of your head. So you've got to make sure you enter into prayer with the right mindset, with the right emotions and everything like that. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

I believe that. Yeah. Yeah, your motives. Oh, yeah. Watch your motives, you know. Never intended for him to be any type of a vending machine or anything like that. It was that first and foremost, seek you first the kingdom of God, and all these other things will be added unto you. So that's that's the basis of your prayer life. I'm seeking first the kingdom of God. I'm not seeking first healing, I'm not seeking first deliverance, I'm not seeking first uh etc. I'm seeking first the kingdom of God. Then everything else that I'm needing, it will it will follow that as long as I keep the agenda like it's supposed to be. And that is I'm not coming to him with a motive in mind, other than I'm seeking first the kingdom of God, because he's gonna bless my life according to his word, not according to my plan.

SPEAKER_05 34:28

That's the hardest thing for people to get get past nowadays, is is his plan and his timing. Because I mean, everything and in this world that we live in today, everything is so instant. You know, if I want an answer to a question, I don't have to collaborate with people. I can whip out the phone and I've got an answer in two seconds. I've got an instant satisfaction to the question that I have. And sometimes God's not going to give you that instant satisfaction because it's not in his timing, it's not in his will yet. That's right. So you have to wait. And the best thing that I've found to pray for recently is Lord, align me with your will today. Whatever I am doing in your will today, that's what I want to be doing. Yeah. That's where I want to be. Align me where I'm supposed to be so I can do the work for your kingdom. Yeah. And if we can get to that mindset where everything we do in this life should be for the glory of God, should be to accomplish his will and his purpose, then you'll just see those blessings follow.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

100%. 100%.

SPEAKER_05 35:28

Amen. Yeah. I love the blessings of God. Yes. Yes. Yes. We certainly have many of them, no doubt. So many, so many. So many people don't understand how blessed they are. Even when you're not living for him, he can still bless you. Oh, yeah. We we've seen the evidence of that. I mean, it's truly amazing. The evidence is clear. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How he can just step in in the most perfectly timed moments is truly unbelievable. Well, I don't have any other questions up here for today, and I believe I believe the Lord has done a mighty work for somebody that is listening to this. I believe it. I believe it. You know, what a beautiful uh testimony and story uh from you, Pastor. And um, we can't wait to have you back on. Maybe we'll dive a little bit more because I know you've got a lot more than what you're being very reserved. So um I'm trying. Okay, well, if you guys do want to hear more, there's a church on 3136 Pinewoods Drive in Crestview, Florida. Amen. You can pull up to anytime every Sunday, 10 and 11 o'clock. We'll have service. And most of the time you'll hear uh Pastor Braswell speaking. But if not, you can hear Brother Josh. Sure. We've got a few different ministers that come through, and it it's a beautiful, a truly diverse church, and that's what I love about it so much. Yeah, is it really it really is uh the evidence of a beautiful bride of Christ. Yes, just a unified church.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Transformed lives. Yes, transformed lives from all walks of life. Yeah, and that's the kind of church I've always wanted a pastor. Yeah. Is I didn't ever wanted a cookie-cutter church. I'm I love people to walk in the door with problems, situations in their lives, addictions, whatever it is, you're coming to the right place.

SPEAKER_06 37:06

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Because you're coming to Jesus. That's right. Not just to us, you're coming to Jesus, but we do have people here that have been through those things. And so I call it a great healing station. Yeah. It's a place to where you can come get healed.

SPEAKER_05 37:19

Yeah. You know, the church is the purpose is to save souls. Yep. And there's so many places in this world today that people go to church for um place in society or to raise their name up a little bit, maybe get a little more credit, but that's not what church is for. And that's when people can walk in and feel that spirit of judgment. You walk into a place like this where you know people are all here for the same reason to just have an encounter with God and to experience him and to break some chains off because we go through so much throughout the week. It's beautiful to come in every Sunday and Wednesday night and just take a moment to refresh in the presence of God and really let him let him break you, let him flood into your life, and that's what this church is all about. So it's a beautiful thing. Yes. Well, I've really enjoyed this episode. And um, the last thing I want to do here is we're just gonna go to the Lord a moment in prayer. We're gonna speak a blessing over each and every one of you that is watching and listening today, because I believe the Lord has done a mighty work and he'll continue to do so in Jesus' name. Lord, I want to thank you for this opportunity, God. I thank you, Lord, for letting us come before you on this podcast today and just talk a little bit about what you've done for our lives and the character that you've shown and the deliverance that you've brought in, Lord Jesus. God, I want to thank you for a connection that we have with you, God. I want to thank you for sending your spirit as a helper, as a comforter to provide for our needs, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I want to thank you for a prayer experience that we can have, Lord God, and we can strive deeper and deeper as long as we seek the glory of your kingdom, Lord Jesus. God, I want to speak to the person that is struggling with their prayer life right now. I want to speak to them, Lord, and I want to lift them into your arms right now. Show them that you are always listening, Lord God, that you hear not only their prayers, Lord, but you see what's going on in their life, you see their situation, Lord God, and I want to speak deliverance and healing into that life right now in the name of Jesus. Lord God, I thank you for your mercy and grace today. For without your mercy and grace, we can simply not be saved, Lord God. I thank you for your love today, for the love that you've shown all of us up here speaking, and the love that you've shown all the viewers and listeners today. Lord God, I thank you for this opportunity, and I pray that the words we've spoken today have been nothing but your will, and that they shall accomplish their purpose as they go out into the ears and the eyes of the listeners today. I thank you, God, for letting us be a vessel for your kingdom once again. Praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you. Amen. Well, I want to thank you, Pastor, for coming on. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. We'll certainly be having you back after you get back from your little island vacation. I know you're looking forward to that. I know you're looking forward to that. It's good to get a break every now and then. Oh, praise the Lord. Take a little vacation. I'm sure you'll feel his presence down there just as much as you know it's um if you guys enjoyed this episode today, um, please leave a like on it, leave a comment down below with a question or an encouraging word. And if you believe that what has been spoken up here can truly help somebody in their life, why don't you share this podcast with them, let them take a listen, and let the Lord marinate in their spirit and their heart. Please subscribe to the channel, turn the notifications on, help us push this to as many people as we can, because like I say, every episode, everything we do up here is not for our credit. It's not for the credit of how many subs we have, anything like that, but it's all for the kingdom of God. And we truly want this podcast to be a healing ministry, a deliverance ministry for people. So share it with somebody, subscribe to the channel. We'll see you next Wednesday for episode six of the podcast. We love you guys. God bless.