How To Prepare for 2026 Like the Best of the Best

Success by the Book podcast is the place where Christians who want to experience the extravagant goodness of God in all areas of their lives come for mentorship. 

Remember to follow and share this Podcast with others

https://open.spotify.com/show/4RCbTmAbbdKWkeXd3yqBiZ?si=cd8bbfc407104250

 Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here👇

 https://www.youtube.com/@successbythebook

 Let's connect: 

▶︎ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/6amprayercall

I mentor people on the Arise and Shine prayer call every morning at 6 am EST 👇 

▶︎ https://www.dcgeorgia.org/prayer

Join me every Sunday at Dominion City Church at 10 am EST. 👇

 https://dcgeorgia.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Success by the Book Podcast, the place where Christians who want to experience the extravagant goodness of God in all areas of their lives come from mentorship. I am your host, Dr. Inna, and I'll be unpacking the secrets I have learned from the Word of God over the last two decades. Let's dive in. So today we're going to talk about something fascinating because a lot of times we have this thought that God is mysterious. How can I hear from God? Hearing from God is for, you know, people who've been Christians forever, or people who are bishops. It's not for regular folk like me. And today we're going to look at something that will put hearing from God on a daily basis within the realm of possibility for you. And you are going to not only learn this, but you're going to become better and better and better at doing this. You're going to gain mastery of hearing from God. Okay? Now, this is not going to be what you think is going to be. I'm almost certain of it. So we're going to start off by reading a story. We're going to start off by reading about the life of Jesus Himself. So the idea is this the name of this channel is Success by the Book. If you hear what we talk about, and it's in the book, it's in the Bible. I'm going to invite you to accept it as God's Word. But if it's not from the Bible, you can throw it away. As long as it's in the Word, you're going to accept it. You may have had ways you've thought about it before, but you're willing to change. You may have, you know, misconceptions you've had about it, you're willing to change. As long as you see it in the Word, we're going to do what the Word of God says. Okay. So let's read this here. Um, I'm going to read Matthew chapter four. I'm reading from the New King James Version. And here it was when Jesus was tempted. So I want you to think about, you know, Jesus had just been baptized. Okay. He came out of the water and the father spoke audibly. People heard it. And God said, This is my beloved son, you know, with whom in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him, hear him. Right? And so he's had this amazing thing happen. And then the the spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness to go and fast and to do all of these things. And then here comes the tempter. Okay. So Jesus is going through temptation. The Holy Spirit is there to help him. Of course, he needs direction from God. So let's look at how this played out. Okay. So um Matthew chapter four, you see me looking down because I'm reading. Okay. So Matthew chapter four, I'm going to start from verse one. It says, then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward, he was hungry. Okay. Now when the tempter came to him, he said, If you're the Son of God, command these stones to become bread. Okay? Command these stones to become bread. Now, the Bible doesn't say, but this is what I suspect. Um, I suspect a lot of these things, a number of these things probably came as thoughts, right? And he's like, Okay, so you know, I'm hungry. Is it God's will that I turn this into bread? Or, you know, what am I supposed to do here? But this is what Jesus said. He's but he answered and said, It is written. What was the direction he got to handle this temptation? It is written, what was already in the Bible. Okay, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So all Jesus said is what the word of God said. The direction Jesus followed was the direction based on the word of God. All right. Verse 5: then the then the devil took him up into the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you're the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone. Then Jesus responded to him, and again he says, It is written, it is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Okay. Verse 8 Again the devil took him up on an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. And Jesus is here in the midst, and now the Bible calls this a temptation, which means if it was not appealing to Jesus, then it was not really a temptation. So it was an option for him, right? Like, so for instance, there are things that are temptations for other people that are not temptations for you, not because you're more special or more holy, is just because of the way you're wired and the experiences you've had and the you know the exposures you've had in the past and things like that. You know, I was at a conference with um with my husband in Las Vegas, and the event where this um conference was taking place, the hotel, the entire ground floor was a casino. Okay. So I would walk through the casino, you know, to go to, you know, to the hall to go attend the meeting, and then walk through the casino to go back to my room. But I will tell you something, it was not a gambling was not a temptation for me, whether it's based on the way I'm wired, my exposures, and all of those things. It never crossed my mind once that I should stop at a slot machine and play, right? It did not cross my mind once. It's not a temptation for me. But there's somebody else who that would be a big issue for, like they probably would need to stay in a different hotel, right? Okay. So we have different things that, you know, are temptations for us and some things that are not. Okay. All right. So this was a temptation for Jesus. And Jesus would have the option, should I do this or should I not? And then he says, Jesus responds and he says, Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. So here's Jesus in the midst of this trying temptation, and every single time his answer was, It is written. It is written. It is written. I bring this up because a lot of times we want to hear from God, but we expect it will be this mystical um thing and this experience that will give us goosebumps and all of these things. And sometimes we want to hear from him more so than we want to look at the word. But let me tell you something. The pathway to being a person who hears from God a lot is becoming a person who can say it is written. The more you know of what is written, the more you'll be able to get direction, the more you will know what God wants you to do, the clearer your path would be, the less confusion you will have. And when God is speaking, you can properly judge it. And you can say, nah, based on the word of God, like if you're sensing it some other way, because the word is not the only way that God talks to us, okay? He talks to us with the inward witness. He will he can also use our conscience, he can use vision and all of those things, but everything at the end of the day is subject to the word. If it doesn't line up with the word, we do need to throw it away. You go somewhere and something other than the word is being preached, you do need to throw it away. You come on Horizon Shine, or you come on Success by the Book, and I'm reading stuff, I'm saying stuff, and you're like, uh, there's not there's nothing to confirm that in the Word of God, you can throw it away. And so it is actually dangerous to want to hear from God, but not want to look at the word, not want to know it is written, right? So this is your your safeguard. This is how you know what you're hearing is actually from God. Like the the Bible actually talks about Satan camouflaging like an angel of light. So even if you have a manifestation and a being comes into your room and is telling you all these things, if it is not in line with the word of God, throw it away. Throw it away. So we we want to become these it is written people. It is written, it is written, it is written. We gotta know it, otherwise, it is dangerous. So Jesus had a season of temptation. And in that season of temptation, the Holy Spirit was the Holy Spirit led him to the wilderness. And the direction he what he pulled on was all. It is written, it is written, it is written. In the same way we have seasons where we're waiting on God for direction. There are things we need to do. We gotta know that it is written. We have to know what this is. Now you can understand why there is so much temptation for you not to study the word of God. Because Satan knows if I can get these people out of the word of God and I can keep them looking at all the distractions I put in front of them, they will not be able to function as people led by God. They will not have access to superior intelligence, they will make a ton of mistakes. If I come and I pretend like I'm God talking to them, they won't know the difference. So you your heart's desire, my heart's desire needs to be that I am going to grow in my understanding of the word of God. Listen, let me say, Oh, I want to hear from you. I think I've told you guys this before, right? Someday we're in church, we're worshiping, and they're talking about the song had to do with the glory of God, you know, the the splendor of God, the holiness of God. And I was like, man, I just want to, like, Lord, I know I don't know you like I could. I want to know you more. And he's like, I wrote 66 books. If you want to know, read my books. Okay. That's what the Bible is. It's a compilation of 66 books. He's like, read it, study it, go into the word, like, Lord, I want to know you more. Right? So I want you to think about this. Is it smart for us to have 66 books in our hands? And many of us have many translations. Okay, so in my house, I have this is the new King James, I have the King James, I have the New Living, um, New Living Translation, I have the Passion Translation, I have EW, ERW, I have all ERV, I have all these translations, and then I'm like, oh Lord, speak to me. Like, I just want to hear your voice. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying God doesn't talk to us, but um, how about starting from the unknown to the unknown? How about starting from what is right in front of us? We are like, oh, I want to know you, Lord. Yes, and all through the scriptures, all through the scriptures, it talks about Him everywhere. Okay, I'm gonna show you how this plays out. You're gonna get it. Like read the book, and you might say, Oh, Dr. Una, but now I read the book, I read four chapters a day. Read it with more focus, more intensity, more hunger to know God, right? Uh this is trying to shut me down, right? Read it with more focus. Read it, go like Lord. I'm about to study with the word. I just don't want to check off check marks. I want to know you, I want to know your will, I want to know your ways, I want to know the way you think. I want to know the principles you you run the world by. I want to know. I want to know the Bible's talks about it. Like the person who is hungry will be satisfied. You want to get more out of the word, get more hunger. You're like, how do I get more hunger? It starts with what you say. I really want to know God. I want to know Him more. I love my Bible. This is why we have you type, this is why we have you say things. Okay, okay. So let's talk about this. Okay. I want to give you practical examples so you can see this and then you can't unsee it. Okay. Okay. Now we need to go deeper, deeper, deeper in the word. And we want to see, we want to see, okay, how do I take advantage of all the opportunities I have to hear the word? Because let me tell you something. We have so many opportunities. We go to church, we hear the word at church, we read our Bibles, we meditate, we discuss the word, we we there's songs based off of the word. And every time we do this, we can grow in our database, in our data bank. So when it's time to guide us, the Holy Spirit has things to pull to say, okay, He can remind us of scriptures that are the direction that we need in real time. The reason this is important is because God speaks a language called Word. God doesn't speak English or Greek or Aramaic or whatever. We do. He speaks a language called Word. And the more of his word we know, the more we can hear him. Right? The more of his word we know, the more we can hear him, the more when he's speaking, we can understand. Oh, that's God talking to me. Right? Okay, so look at the number of people who are saying me. Why? Because this is a way God speaks to us. This is a way God speaks. This is the primary way God speaks to us. He pulls these things out to remind us. To remind so the more we put in, the more he can pull out. Okay. And from today, we will no longer discredit this as oh, you know, I really want to hear the voice of God. All I got was a reminder of the word. No, no, the word is the direction. The word is the direction, right? So he pulls it out, and you're like, ah, now I know what to do. And now we pay more attention to it and we act on it because now we know. Okay, so let's do some stuff here. All right, let me give you a few examples here. Renee said the Holy Spirit told me, Don't create an Ishmael. And once he tells you, you know exactly what that means. You know what that means, right? Okay, and you will find, right? If you took the Arise and Shine 365 challenge last year, and maybe it was the first time you read through your Bible, you will find that after after you start doing that for a few weeks, you're like, God talks a lot, right? Because now you've given him so much raw material. So he's just shining his lights on different things, and you can hear different things, right? Okay. All right, so let me give you an example here. So I talked about five things. And the reason I'm giving you these five things is from today, you're not gonna treat any of these casually. So reading your Bible, you're no longer gonna treat casually. Um, meditating, you're no longer gonna treat it casually. Discussing the word amongst each other, you're no longer gonna treat it casually. Um, attending services or meetings based on the word, no longer gonna treat you this casual, do this casually. And then songs based on the word of God, not gonna do it casually anymore. Why? You understand every time I do these things, I'm enlarging my database. I'm enlarging my database. And sometimes enlarging your database is not just new scriptures, but it's a deeper understanding of the old scriptures, right? Okay, so we're gonna so after today, you're gonna become a pro, and then you become this person who hears from God every day, all day, every day, and twice on Sunday. That's the whole purpose of this video. This is what is about to happen to you. Okay, so let me read a scripture. I'll give you an example of the Bible reading. Okay, so I've given you five things. So Bible reading. Um, we did this scripture on a rise and shine. Um, I want to say a week or two weeks ago, probably two weeks ago. Okay, now hear me, hear me, okay? A rise and shine is a prayer meeting we do every morning at 6 a.m. Eastern. If you're not apart, you need to come join us. Uh, the link is dcgeorgia.org forward slash prayer. And every day we get together and we pray. Okay, every day has a different focus. Monday is our board meeting with God. We do our goal setting in God's presence. And he, and so when we do that, we we we partner with him to create our best weekend, right? And we have different things we do on different days. On Thursday is our Bible study. So we're praying in the spirit, we're studying the Bible and all of that stuff. So we did Psalm 46, and I'm gonna read the first two verses for you because I want to show you something. All right, so Psalm 46, verse 1, it says, God is our refuge. Okay, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, we will not fear. Okay, so God is our refuge, God is our strength, God is a very present help in times of trouble, okay? Or in trouble. I I think I memorized in the King James, so I keep adding that there. Okay, very present time, present help in trouble. Okay. So we read this, and I remember thinking about I was like, huh, God is my refuge, God is my strength, God is my help. So in a time of a crisis, I have somewhere to run to. When I run out of strength, I have strength to tap into. And when I need help, God is my very present help. Okay. What is this? Reading the Bible, putting the the word of God in this data bank. Okay? Okay. So yesterday, yesterday, um, phenomenal day. Okay, it was Sunday. It was time to get ready for service, but I was a little tired. I had just done a two-day event for my clients in the entree MD Business School. It was so good. We had doctors fly in from all over the US. We had two doctors who flew in from Canada, and we had this two-day event. And I I had one, I said, Lord, what I really want is for my people to make seven or eight-figure leaps. Like they get the, they are able to conceptualize that they can take their businesses there and that they're able to see a clear pathway to getting there. I was like, this is what I want, which is so ridiculous because in the physician community, at the same time, there's so many people who are saying, Oh, you can't you can't build a seven-figure business, you know, private practice is dead, all this kind of stuff. So it was really a sign and a wonder if you think about it, what I was asking God for. And I was like, this is what I want. And we, you know, we delivered for the two days with God's help and all of that. And the number of people who walked up to me, now they didn't know this is what I wanted, but I well, I told them this is this is what I what I want. I did tell them. The number of people who walked up to me and said, Dr. Una, I'm gonna do seven figures, and I have the pathway. And the number of people who walked up to me is like 10 million is my next number, and I have the pathway. So fun. Okay. But then again, I was on, like completely on for two days. And so I was a little tired. Okay. So on Sunday, so I didn't pick out what to wear on Sunday. I was like, oh, I'm like, what am I gonna wear on Sunday? And I slept in, I think I may have woken up like super late, like 9 a.m. or you know, 8 55 a.m. Like, okay. Um, and I started looking, I'm like, what am I gonna wear? And I couldn't figure it out, right? And then what happened was this scripture then floated back up. I am your helper. I was like, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I don't have to figure this out along. Will God help you get dressed? Yes, ma'am, yes, sir. He will. So I said, Lord, I can't figure out what to wear. And then the moment I said it, I had this flash of an outfit. Now, this outfit is an interesting outfit because you know, I I I got it. I think my husband got it for me, or he got it for my daughter, and I said, I will wear it once, then you can have it. Some arrangement, some mother-daughter arrangement like that. And so I just had a flash of that outfit. And that was an outfit from a while ago, and my daughter had already gone to church, and she's in the choir, so she could have been rehearsing, you know, she could have been doing anything. And I was like, uh, I said, Well, I can't disregard what God just said, right? So I pick up my phone, I call her, I said, Um, hey, do you remember this outfit? I was even wondering, like, how would she remember the outfit? This was from so long ago. I said, Do you remember this outfit? She's like, Oh yeah, it's on my bed. I'm like, what? She said, Yeah, you know, my friends and I, we decided we're gonna dress like princesses today. So we're looking for a number of different outfits to wear. And, you know, that was one of the outfits, so it's actually on my bed. So I called my younger daughter. I said, Okay, you know, go get the outfit from her bed. So I I hope up with her, I get the outfit, I put it on. Beautiful, beautiful outfit. Okay. But it is supposed to have a belt, right? Because, like, you know, it's like a flare A-line type of thing. So, you know, belt for some definition. And I was like, Oh, this is from so long ago. Like, she's not even gonna know where the belt is. And the Holy Spirit is like, I showed you where the belt was this morning. I highlighted it. And I was like, that's because I remember walking past and I saw a belt. And I'm like, that's the I was like, it's not possible, no way. Right? So I pick, I go back to my closet, pick it out. It's the belt for that outfit. Why do Didn't she wear the dress? Because she couldn't find the belt for the outfit. And so when I told her this, like it was like goosebumps everywhere because it's like you need a direction, here's the direction. I arranged everything. Like, literally, my stylist for yesterday was God. Right? But what triggered all of that? A reminder. Remember, Psalm 46, verse 1, I am your helper. And so if you ever find yourself in a place where you need help, I'm your helper. I'm your helper. So did I hear from God? Yes. How did I hear from God? From the word. Then he expanded it and did all the other things. Do you guys see what I'm saying? You can hear from him. Now, what if I didn't put that word in my heart? What if I didn't read that scripture? What if in the moment I didn't know that God is my helper and he will help me with everything? Then I would have done without. Maybe I would have stressed out, I would have gone late to church and all this kind of stuff. But no. Like from when he said, call her, like, look at this outfit, to when I was fully dressed was probably less than 15 minutes. And boom, I was out of the door. The word of God gives you the raw material to put in your heart so that the Holy Spirit can talk to you all day, every day, and twice on Sunday, twice as much on Sunday. So if you help me with my outfit, he'll help you with your marriage, he'll help you with your kids, he'll help you with your academics, he'll help you get that promotion, he'll help you in your business, he'll help you everywhere. Why did I pick what will be considered such a mundane example? Because God will help us, but we gotta know. Do you guys see that? Okay, so your Bible reading, your Bible reading is not a joke. Even if you feel like I read the word and I don't know if I got anything out of it, are you kidding? Okay, so I'm gonna use an example that is that is not a fun example, but I want to show you how much faith we have on the other side that we now need to have in God. If a little child, a little child was watching inappropriate things on TV, even if that child didn't understand it, will it affect the child? Yes or no? So we know that even if a child, a child could walk away, walk, watch all kinds of trash and walk away, we know that child walked away different. But for some reason, we think we can read the word and walk away the same. Even if you feel like you don't understand it, the word of God is changing you. You are storing that thing in your heart, you are giving the Holy Spirit ammunition to work with. Like it is working when you read the word, it is working, especially if you're the person who prays for understanding, who prays to know God as they study and all of that. It is impacting you, it is not leaving you the same. Do you know? That is why you can read the word, you can read the word, you can change every day. I change every day. What that means is I read the word, I trust God for understanding, I meditate in the word, I memorize the scripture, I do all of this stuff. It doesn't leave you the same. It may not feel like you changed, like the three-year-old may walk away and not feel like they changed, but they changed. Oh, their deposits made in them that it's gonna take them a lot of work to get those deposits out. I change every day. How can I pray to God Almighty and stay the same? How can I read? How can I interact with the wisdom that created the universe and remain the same? It's not possible. It's not possible. It's not possible. So you can read the word and you can say, I change every day. It's a decision. You can change every day, which means after a year, you would have changed 365 times, which is crazy. Okay, all right. So reading your Bible, reading your Bible, reading your Bible. Let me show you another thing. Meditation. Okay, another thing we do with the so we read our Bible, doesn't leave us the same. Puts us in a position to hear more from God. It it that's what it does. And so now, from now on, when we read our Bible, we redo it with more intentionality, knowing the power of what we're doing. Okay? All right. The second thing we do is we meditate. You may meditate and feel like, I don't know if this is making a difference. Child, stop. Okay, now let's let's see what the word of God says about meditation, because after this moment, you're going to decide that every time I meditate, I change. I get better, I get more ammunition, I become sharper at hearing from God. That's what's happening to me. Okay, Psalm 1. I'll read from verse 1. It says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, which for us that will be our Bibles, and in his law he meditates day and night. So this person meditates day and night. What is the consequence? When you meditate day and night, does the Bible say, and then you feel a certain way? It doesn't say that. Then it's like, oh, you feel the heavens open over you. It doesn't say that. What it does say is that he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth in its fruit in a season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. So when you meditate, you change. You do. You you you change. When you meditate, you change. Okay, so meditation is one of the ways we take the word and we take the word that we have heard, and we are stewing on it, we're brooding on it, we're dwelling on it. And what happens when we do that? It expands, it expands and expands and expands. Okay, so for those of you who come on a rise and shine, and if you don't, let tomorrow be your first day. Okay, arise and shine at 12, 6 a.m., where you definitely want to be. Okay, on Horizon Shine, we meditate on a scripture every day. In fact, why don't we trace it? Now, there's a scripture, Proverbs chapter 4, verse 18, that says the path of the just shines brighter and brighter, right? Until the bright, the the full strength of day. Okay. Now, based on that scripture, we start making a declaration every day that today's my best day yet. Today's my best day yet. Today's my best day yet. And then God led me to say, Um, I understand you make the declaration every day, but I want you and my people looking at the word every day. Don't just make the declaration. Look at what I said. The declaration is based on what I said, yes, but look at what I said. So then we start putting up the scripture, right? On the on the slide, like, okay, everyone, we're gonna look at this, then we're gonna make our declaration, which is today's my best day. Yeah. So the path of the just shines brighter and brighter, but the path of the just shines brighter and brighter. We keep looking at it and looking at it and looking at it. Okay. When you meditate and meditate and meditate, you've started and you've started deep. And so when something contrary comes up, God then reminds you, it's like, uh, remember, your path shines brighter and brighter. Oh, I don't know what kind of day this is. Uh-uh. Remember, your path shines brighter and brighter. Your life may even be going in what looks like the opposite direction. It's like, don't be fooled. Sometimes clouds can show up, but it doesn't mean the sun is not shining. You are going to overcome this and you're gonna come out stronger. Okay, now I will tell you that one of those days we were having, um, we were looking at this scripture, Proverbs 4.18. Okay, and we were meditating on it, meditating on it. And it's like, okay, the path of the just shines brighter and brighter. And in that moment, God asked me a question. He said, if somebody is sitting watching the sun rise, do they have an expectation? Do they know what it will be like when the sun is fully risen? This was happening in real time on a rise and shine. I was like, huh. I was like, wait a minute. The person who is sitting watching the sunrise knows what it will look like when the sun is fully risen. And then so God then said to me, He said, Okay, if that's the case, they have the picture of the sun in its full strength in their mind, and they're just watching things rise to it. He said, But for you, you just know things will get better and better, but you're not holding the picture of your preferred future as the dominant thoughts that you have. Like all these things that are happening are all leading us to this place. I was like, hang on. He says that like that's like getting into a car and you decide you're gonna move forward, but you didn't put in the address. So you're just kind of moving forward. I was like, wait a minute. I was like, okay, Lord, I guess that means we need to define where we're going and create a vision board based on where we're going, and then we need to hold that picture so every day we're getting better and better. Our light is shining brighter and brighter as we go to this preferred future. Now, if I wasn't meditating on the word, all these other things, all these other things he told me, there's no basis for them. No basis for them at all. And so when we meditate in the word, then God can then expand the word, give us more teaching based on the word, and we're like, whoa. Now, what he teaches us will be consistent with that, and we'll be consistent with the things of the Bible because God doesn't change, his character is the same. So am I a person who trivializes reading my word? No, I read the word. What if I don't feel a certain way? It doesn't matter. I read my word because I know the more I can put in, the more God can guide me, the more like my life can be changed, right? Okay, I'm meditating in the word. What if I don't feel a certain way? Right? What if I still have some confusion about certain things? I don't stop. Why? The more I meditate in the word, the deeper I go in the word, the more God can expand it, the more He can teach me, the more He can open my eyes to see. Okay? Okay. So Cheryl says, when I was looking for a place, I thought maybe I wouldn't get it because of my credit score. And I thought about how my day was getting brighter and brighter. Look at that. NECA says, on the days I lose strength to keep moving forward in my goals, it keeps me encouraged, right? Lola says, in a dull or bad moment, this too shall pass. Right? Julie Joseph said just this morning, I was feeling like I don't know everything I need to know to advance in this area, and he reminded me that the path is brighter and brighter. It's over. Right? Right? It's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of time. So we're not people who play with the word, we're not people who despise it, and we're not people who trivialize being guided by God using his word. Okay, okay. So we talked about Bible reading, we talked about meditation, and then there's also discussion based on the word of God. Oh my goodness. Okay, so reading the Bible is wonderful, meditating on the Bible is wonderful. Discussing the Bible is wonderful. Why? Because discussing the Bible amongst people who want to grow in their knowledge of God is like reading it, meditating it, expanding it, all of those things happening at the same time. And because we are different, we understand the word differently. Like the the theme is the same, but based on our expertise and based on our exposures, we have different understandings based on our callings. Okay, so let me give you it, let me give you an example. For me, one of my um the way I'm wired, a huge part of it is like my default thinking is okay, we've heard the word. Now, how do we make it our reality? We heard the principles, how do we make it like how do we apply this? So, because of that, when I read the word, I am going to get a lot of things from that lens. Now, I have a friend who her wiring is all about who I am with God. It's not about performance, it's about who He has made me. And so when she's reading the word, it's gonna come from that perspective, right? Okay, I have a mentee who's been doing a lot of work on her identity in God because there's a lot of negative chatter and all of that. Now, as she reads the word, a lot of what she gets is gonna come from that perspective. There's somebody else who, when they look, all they see is people who are not saved and how they're just going to hell and all of that. So when they read, they come from that perspective. Do you guys see that? So this is why we are not individual bodies of Christ. We we together are the body of Christ. So nobody has all knowledge, all wisdom. No, we have parts of it, and so when you start studying with other people, and they start explaining what they're getting from the scriptures, you get what you get, they get what they get, and you put it all together, and it's like this beautiful symphony. Beautiful. So you have family members, like you're a parent, and this is not for grown-ups. You're a parent, you can say, okay, let us study this scripture. And you have them everybody read the scripture, you have everybody pray that they get understanding of the scripture and all of those things, and then you allow people to discuss your children will blow your own mind. This happens to me. Oh, I love that. Teresa says we're a compilation. Yes, we are. Right now, I this happens to me every Tuesday. Okay. So, and I'm telling you this, you can do it for your own family as well. Actually, do it for your own family. Let me know how it goes for you. But so I have four children, and from my mom's side, they have eight cousins. And I have who I would consider a uh second in command in all areas of my life, who is a who's Makita, and she has a son. Okay. So if you look at it, my four children plus their eight cousins plus plus her son, that's 13 kids. Okay. So we have this thing we call the commonwealth, okay? The commonwealth. And so in that meeting, it is me, my siblings, and then all the kids. Okay. All the kids are on this call, but it's primarily for the kids. And we and the the moral of this, you know, God started talking to me about depositing real wealth into my children. Now, real wealth is not money, is not cars, it's not houses, because those things can, you know, like if those things all get lost, there's an internal wealth that can reproduce them. The thing that made the things, so pay attention, the thing that made the things is the real wealth. Okay. So I can give my kids money, cars, houses, all of those things, lands. But if I did not give them what created it, they'll just lose it. And they can't multiply it, they can't grow it because they don't know what happened. But if I give them the real wealth, the portable wealth, the thing that created the things, then right, they can reproduce it, they can multiply it, they can make their own, they can do whatever they want to do. So we started this thing called the Commonwealth. And we the foundation of it is prosperity in all nine areas of our lives based off of the word of God. Okay. And the starting point was think teaching them how to think. Proverbs 4, 23. Guard your hearts with all diligence, for it determines the course of your life. And I said, if I can teach these 13 kids how to think, how to guard their minds based on the word of God, that will determine the course of their lives, is the foundation, right? Other than their relationship with God and stuff. Okay. Let me tell you something. One of these days, I should probably pull up an actual report from it. We would give them a scripture. We're like, for instance, Proverbs 4.23, okay? We'll give them a scripture and we're like, study this scripture. Okay. I'm gonna give you seven minutes. I want you to read the scripture, I want you to meditate on it, I want you to ask yourself questions about it, and I want you to ask God to talk to you about it, and you know, then we'll come back and we'll share. These kids are from three all the way to 17. These are the ages. And you will have a five-year-old say something, you're like, golly, like eight, nine, ten, thirteen. You're like, what in the world? So we the parents are just like astounded, just sitting and looking at them. What is happening? Discussion based off of the word of God, and we're learning. In fact, one of our meetings a few weeks ago, one of the moms said, Man, I came on here and I was struggling with something. And when this kid shared what they got from that scripture, I got the answer. This is kids, guys. Kids. So, what am I telling you here? I'm saying, discuss the word. And even if it's with kids, it will blow your mind what you can get from it. And then now you're teaching your kids to discuss the word, to learn from the word, to pull revelation from the word, and you're getting them to put in the word. So, guess what? The the Lord is talking to them nonstop because the word is on the inside of them. Discuss the word, discuss the word, discuss it with your friends, discuss it with your mentees, discuss it with your employees if it's if it's appropriate, uh, discuss it with everybody, discuss it with everybody. If you if you have opportunity to teach the word, teach the word, right? And then facilitate discussions. My goodness, what you will learn from that. So, for those of you who come on Arise and Shine, this is why on Thursday, after we're done with our Bible study, I'm like, okay, what did you get from it? It is intentional because there are things you never saw from the word that somebody else saw, and you're like, my goodness, like mind blown. You don't know everything, you don't have all knowledge, you don't have all wisdom. You discuss and it amplifies what you got for you get from the word. Okay, all right. So we talked about Bible reading, meditation, discussion. Let's talk about songs. Can you get revelation while you are worshiping? Yes, ma'am, yes, sir. And things that God will now start using to talk to you about. Okay, okay. So one day, this was a few years ago. Well, actually, probably like five or six years ago, now that we think about it. Um, I was in worship, and the worship team they were doing the most, absolute mostest. Okay, so they're singing all these songs of Lord, we glorify your name, we we honor your name, we do all of these things. Okay, so I have my hands up, I'm worshiping and all of this, and here comes God. He says, You're singing about let your name be hallowed, let your name be glorified. He said, How is my name glorified? And I was like, Lord, I'm just trying to worship here, I'm just trying to worship. This is this is too many questions from one mind, right? And so I stop and I think about it, and then I was like, Oh, that Jesus said, I glorify now. This is the word, do you see? I glorified you on the earth. How by completing to the last detail what you assigned me to do, and God was like, Okay, He said, Because you have reduced glorifying me to singing, glorifying me is not singing, glorifying me is going and doing something that brings me glory. Glorifying me is going out there and doing my will, is about taking territory, it is about aggressively advancing the kingdom of God. Then when you're done doing all of that, you come sing, valid, confirming what you did. But he said, In your generation, you have reduced glorifying me to singing and crying and having mascara go everywhere. He said, That's not glorifying me. I was so so hands came down because I was like, Well, I don't know, I don't know what I did to glorify. I guess I'm just singing. I guess I'm just singing. He's like, It's not just singing. No, what triggered this words, songs based on his word, and then more of do you see? Even the answer to the question he asked me was the word, and it's like now. All week long, you go about glorifying my name with your character, with your results, with all of that. Then come and sing about glorifying my name. I was like, okay, Lord, did I get direction? Yes. How did I get direction? His word. Right? His word. His word. And that's just one example. But there's so many. So when I go and I'm helping people pray, what am I doing? Glorifying his name. What am I doing when I'm here teaching on success by the book? Glorifying his name. What am I doing when I'm challenging people to read their Bibles and do the 365 challenge? Glorifying his name. What am I doing when I'm giving for the advancement of his kingdom? Glorifying his name. Then I can add singing to that. But it can't just be singing. You see? Right? Um, there was another day we're singing. Um, in royal robes, I don't deserve. Right? And I'm singing this, and and God's like, slow down. What did you just say? I was like, Well, I'm honoring your majesty, and I'm dressed in royal robes I don't deserve. And so he's like, So your royalty. So here's the thing. He's like, Your royalty. I'm like, Yes, sir. He's like, I want you to show up like royalty, I want you to speak like royalty, I want you to expect like royalty, I want you to conduct your life like royalty, I want you to use your tongue like royalty. I was like, Phew. This isn't worship, just worship songs based on his word. Based on his word. Now, a lot of us, this happens to us, but because we don't know what is happening, we can ignore it. We could not pay attention to it. Do you guys see? Okay. All right, let me give you one more, one last one. And this is services or or meetings. You go to church, you do all of these things, right? When you go to church, oh, please hear me. The whole thing is designed to get God's word into you, to get you to have encounters with his spirit so you can hear him better. Because of that, from today, you're not a person who skips church, you're not a person who goes late, you're not a person who goes with an entitlement mentality, like, well, I hope the pastor prayed up and and the quote and the worship people prayed up to bless me. Uh-uh. You're there to get what you get, you're you're there to get. And you can get, like, okay, let's look. I'll use the format-ish of that our church service services go by, right? Like, so you know, we'll start with an opening prayer. Man, I mean, do you know the amount of revelation you can get in an opening prayer? Start with the opening prayer, then there's worship, praise and worship, then depending on the day, there may be a testimonial or something, and then there's the word, and then there's opportunities to give and opportunities for people to get saved, and all of this stuff, right? When you are listening to the word in church, if you go with a hungry heart, you will hear what the pastor said, you will hear what the spin-offs God is giving you of what the pastor said. The you go hungry enough, the pastor, you can hijack the service. You can, and I'm not saying you're going there to hijack the service, but God may say, I know he's talking about finances, but you got this stuff going on in your home that's really like off base. The pastor may be talking about finances, he does a detour, he comes, addresses what is going on in your family, and goes back to his finances. Why? You were hungry. You were hungry, and you got what you needed. So, as the word is going, you're the person who goes with the notebook, you go with the pen, you shut down Facebook and all this stuff, and you're paying attention. Why? It is your opportunity to put the word of God in you. Let me tell you something. Never forget this. If a couple they find out that they're pregnant and that the baby is due in June, do they get the nursery ready before or after June? A couple finds out they're pregnant, the baby is due in June. Do they get the nursery for said baby ready before or after June? So the baby's not even there, but the human being with their limiting unlimited understanding, they know that they can't wait till June to get the nursery ready for the baby. Okay. The direction that God knows that you need in June, God will make sure he makes it available to you before June. When you go to church and you're listening to the word of God and you're storing the word of God up, God knows what direction you're going to need in June. God knows what you're going to need to hear from him in July. God knows what you're going to need in September. And he makes sure that he directs your pastor to preach the word before June. So that when you get to that point, he just goes into your heart, he pulls it up, he says, This is what you need to do. We cannot have more faith in humans than we have in God. So if a human being knows to get the nursery ready before, your God knows to get your word ready before. He will have your pastor preach it, he will have us talk about it on rise and shine. He'll have us talk about it on success by the book. When you're reading your four chapters of the Bible, he's gonna make sure that you get it. So that when it's time and you're like, Lord, what do I do about this? The Holy Spirit just goes whim, pulls it out, and you're like, Yes. So when it is time for class, aka church services, don't skip class, stop skipping class. So when you go to church, it's not some casual thing. God is not a casual God, God means business, and God means for your life to be a sign and a wonder, and God means for you to be a world changer, and God has decided that you are light and you're salt and you're a masterpiece, and you're the head and not the tail, you're above only and not beneath. He has decided that you're a king and a priest and you'll reign in the earth. He's not joking. Church service is not a joke. When the word is going forth, it's not a joke. It is your education so that when the trials show up, you're ready. When you need the direction, you're ready. When you need that to that direction of that big project, you're ready. You you've grown in the capacity to handle it. You've you have the word that you need that he will use to direct you at the time. He gets you ready before. Oh, he gets you ready before, he gets us ready before. Father, thank you that you get us ready before. You don't let us face trial. Let me tell you something. Any trial that you're going to face, and you're gonna need direction, all that stuff, he's already got you ready for. So we don't skip class, and when we go to class, we pay attention. We pay attention, we pay attention. So let me tell you this. This is the deal. The same way I have never prayed. Um, my dad lived till 84. He died at 84 a few years ago. I never prayed for once. Oh, Father, help me to hear my father's voice. I never prayed for it because I'm his child. Of course, I'm gonna hear his voice. Jesus, talking about it in John 10, 27, he said, My sheep hear my voice. We are his sheep, we hear his voice. Don't believe the lie that you don't, of course you do. I hear the voice of God, I hear the voice of God. But we've just been deceived into thinking that we'll be in our room and we'll hear, oh, behold, daughter of mine, it is I, thine Father in heaven, which speakest to thee. No, that's not what he does. But does he speak to us all the time? All the time. And so, what is our job? Now that I understand, God speaks to me all the time. And the the word is not the only way, but the word is a way, right? We did a whole video on praying in tongues and hearing from God. So, team, you can link that in the chat, right? The number one prayer tongue talker should pray. So you can go watch that. We talk more about this concept, but my goodness, the word, the word, the word, the word, the word. So, knowing that what is my job, I need to become diligent in putting the word into me. So I'm diligent with my Bible reading, I'm diligent with my meditation, and diligent with discussions. So you guys will know on our Substack channel that I put my Bible studies there as well. So you can read them. So you can read them as well, right? So, team, you can put the link if you haven't subscribed to us on Substack, so you do that as well. We we're, you know, we're doing that. Um, the songs, like so. When he's talking to us as we're listening to these songs, like, oh, we're like paying attention because we get it now. Our services and our meetings and all of that. We're putting in as much word as we can get. Okay, so my job is the aggressive, persistent, and voluminous intake of the word of God. Okay. Now, let me introduce you to something that you read faithfully before. Now, we were very faithful at reading what I call the book is B O C the Book of Comments. The book of comments. And I want to give you an example because after this, we are we're gonna aggressively go after the word of God. Now, when I started studying this whole idea of completing the Bible in a year, I found out that if you read for they say 12 minutes a day, you will finish the book in the Bible in a year. 12 minutes a day for the average reader. Now, let's say it's not 12 minutes, let's say it's 15 minutes, okay? Which means if you read for 30 minutes a day, you will finish the Bible twice in a year. Okay, if you spend 30 minutes reading comments on Facebook, you would have read Facebook comments the size of this Bible twice in a year. Hear me. If you spend 30 minutes every day reading comments on Facebook or TikTok or Instagram or wherever, right? It is the equivalent of reading Facebook comments this size, like a book this size full of Facebook comments, twice in a year. I want you to imagine this is full of Facebook comments. And in 2026, 2027, 2028, whatever, you read through the comments twice. You read two books this size, full of trash. Facebook comments that are trash that are filled with doubt and unbelief that make it harder for you to believe God, harder to live right. So if we can do that, we can read this twice. Okay, don't read it twice, read it once. Well, what I'm trying to say is never believe you don't have the time. Oh, we have the time. But is either you read the book of comments or you read the word of God? Either way, you are reading. Either way, you are like you might say, Oh, this is big to read it in a year. No, you're reading this in a year. The question is, is it the Bible or is it the comments? Which one is it? Then if you spend an hour, you're reading this four times in a year, book of comments, four books, volume one, two, three, four. So, no, so no more reading the book of comments. Now we read the word of God and we put this word here. So the Holy Spirit has like when a Goliath shows up, God reminds you of the story of David and Goliath. When you find yourself in a trying thing, he reminds you, oh, I'm your helper. When you find yourself in a crisis, like remember that I'm your refuge. When you're like, But can God do this? And he has you imagine a beach and he says, I divided a whole Red Sea. Like you have stuff. So, guys, let's fill ourselves with the word of God, let's stop filling ourselves with the book of comments, and then let's become people who can hear from God, because they that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. They're the ones who will manifest as the sons of God. The Lord is my shepherd, he leads me, I shall not want. This is the key to a life of abundance in every area, every area of life. Hearing from God. And what is the first thing we do as people want to hear from God? We dive into this, whether we're reading, whether we're meditating, whether we're discussing, whether we're singing songs based on it, whether attending church service, whatever doing, whether we're reading on Substack, all of this stuff. But we're doing this, and what is happening to us as we do it? We're becoming people who can hear from him, and we hear from him, we obey, which means we are led by him, and then we can say, The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. The Lord is my shepherd, I have all I need. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Okay? So never believe the lie, you can't hear from him. Of course, you can hear from him. He's your dad. We're gonna we're gonna become very fluent in the language he speaks, which is the language called Word. We're gonna unsubscribe for the Book of Comments. Some of us are already in volume four for this year alone. Okay, we observe, we don't judge, but since we know we can read that, then we can read this. Okay? If this has helped you in any way, I would love for you to join the movement and share this episode with your friends, family, and the Christians in your world. By doing this simple thing, you could be changing the trajectory of someone's lives, their family, and their community. That makes you a world changer and they will love you forever.