94: How Fasting and Prayer Produced Gratitude on Day 32

Beginning 2024 with fasting and prayer can cause you to examine yourself bringing you closer to God. This is, Lyvita Brooks' journey, and she hopes it inspires you to seek God's face.

Resources Mentioned on the Episode and suggested reading & social media handles:

• Lyvitabrooks.com/contact

Calls to Action:

·        Sign up for The Me Project Academy Newsletter for resources on decluttering your mind in order to grow in Christ, academy news and new releases of the podcast. 

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·        @themeprojectacademy (Pinterest)

·        support@themeprojectacademy.com (for comments)

Thanks for listening. I pray this episode was a blessing to you. Leave a comment or rate this episode . Then pass it on. Share this link: https://lyvitabrooks.com/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to Hanging Out With Jesus podcast, where we build up the broken heart, the captives of anxieties, prisoners of fear and the faint of heart to help you declutter your mind by bringing you inspiration, interviews and information on how to break free. Hi, I'm LaVita Brooks, author, bible teacher, founder of the Me Project Academy and your host. Thanks for supporting this ministry and rating and commenting on the blog or whatever podcast platform you are listening, because it makes this feel more like a conversation. If this is your first time listening, in welcome. This is episode 94. Six more episode, saints, till we make 100. Woo, oh, that's a big sign I have a lot to share. So let's get started talking about fasting and prayer and choices.

Speaker 1: 1:13

Remember to put these dates on your calendar Now. February 7th was World Read Allow Day. That's where you read aloud a short story or your favorite children's story to someone special. Well, if you didn't do it, that's okay, but if you can do it sometime during February, that will be a memorable experience for you. And don't forget February 12th. Uploaded pic to hashtag library shelf day. That's library shelf S-H-E-L-F-A-D A picture of you know, like your favorite books, or a book of the lie, or a bunch of books in the library, but just a unique picture of books on the shelf. You know, as believers in Christ, let's show off our books. You know what I'm saying. Let's show off our Christian books. That's February 12th.

Speaker 1: 2:17

Now don't forget to register on my website or through the newsletter for Facing the Unknown Bible Class, which begins March 1st from 6.30 to 8. And it will be every Friday until the end of March. We're going to go from March 1st to I think it's March 29th it will be the last Friday. So sign up for that on my website or the newsletter. So if you don't get the newsletter, this will be a perfect time for you to do so. Now. Come walk with me where we intentionally and daily hang out with Jesus. Let's pray Amen, lord, father and I. God, help us to commit not only our work but our words and our time to you with the right voters. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen, amen, saints, I feel so rushed, like I have to get this episode done, and and it's all because I didn't do what I was supposed to do. I was so wrapped up in my fasting and prayer and trying to get gas on the podcast until I missed that my first February podcast is me talking with you. This is insane.

Speaker 1: 4:02

The thing I want to share is about fasting and prayer, and it's not so much to force you, to get you to do it, but it's to let you know what I've experienced and in hopes that my experience can inspire you to have your experience with God. You see, god has made each and every one of us unique. We have a unique conversation with the Lord. We have a unique relationship with the Lord. Mine isn't the same as yours, yours isn't the same as mine or his or hers, but our God is the same. He wants to talk with us. We want to talk to Him, but he wants to talk with us, and he's always talking, but we're not always listening. I'm hoping that what I'm sharing today will inspire you to begin to listen, take some time to fast and pray. So, saints, fasting and prayer is not just for when you're having bad times or you're not in control of what's going on in your life. It's also for the good times. Yeah, we serve a good God we too, no matter what problems or situations we're in. Guess who's hanging in there with us? Guess who's giving us ways of escape.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Let me just share what I did for 2024. First of all, I started fasting on January 7th to January 27th because I always do it with Pastor Jensen Franklin in his church. So I started with that and in the process of doing that, I learned about Aphor Street Baptist Church in Virginia. Pastor John no, I'm sorry, his name is Pastor Howard John Wesley he was doing one also, but it was for the 22nd to the 11th, so I'm still, you know, still doing it. Anyway, I was fasting from sugar and not complaining, two things that have seemed to be detrimental to me for the last 10, 10, 10 months. I needed to stop complaining and y'all, I'm a sugar hauler and my purpose is I'm looking for restoration in my body, I'm looking for a deeper relationship with God and I want to be more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. So that's why my purpose, why I'm fasting and also what I'm fasting from.

Speaker 1: 7:29

There's some things that I've learned and there's some things that I'm working on doing. That is fasting and praying time. One of the things that well, there's three things that I've learned. That is really more than three, but there's three that I'm going to talk about that I've learned, and one is the importance of my tongue and the words that I say. And the second thing is I need to focus on the here and now. You see, it's not about the future right now. The future's gonna come, it's gonna come, it's gonna have its own time and it'll be here when it's supposed to be. But right now I'm podcasting and I'm enjoying this moment. But if I sit here and think about what I have to do afterwards or how soon I can get it to my own place and have my podcast room just the way I want it, y'all I miss the enjoyment that I'm having right now. Sit here talking with you, this is fun, this is enjoyment. This is you and I, in Christ, talking and just enjoying the moment. This is the here and now.

Speaker 1: 9:11

And I've also learned during this time the power of gratitude through healing. Yup, like I said, I kept complaining. So if all you do is complain, that brings you down. Gratitude builds you up. I mean, there were moments when I couldn't figure out what I was thankful for. I couldn't even figure out, well, what did God do for me today? Because I've been complaining so much. It wasn't until I sat there and I said you're not getting up until God done, blessed you do something. He done, blessed, got something. And that's when I started saying well, I'm breathing, I can walk from the front of the room to the back, go to the room with without a cane or a stick. I can laugh if I wanted.

Speaker 1: 10:20

I mean, I just started just coming up with stuff and then it dawned on me and this is funny, I know it's funny, but it dawned on me that the Lord had blessed me with finances to pay for the repairs on my car. Y'all, my car is a 2005. I call her Grayson and we're still here. I pray for her restoration too, you hear me. But the Lord blessed that I had the money to get the repairs. I didn't tell y'all how I was on 95. Car was just, there was number of smoke in the back window and on the side window. I pulled that car, oh what? And car was with me, and that's a big thing, yeah. But the little thing was somebody had sent me money and it was enough to take care of the car, and I've forgotten about that. I've forgotten about it, I've forgotten about it. I put the money on something else, which meant I had enough money left over to pay for the car. Yeah, you said. You said, ah, do you? But I was complaining that I had any money until the money was there.

Speaker 1: 12:00

Y'all the power of gratitude while you're healing or while you're going through. I'm learning to be thankful for just everything the food that I eat. My aunt can cook, y'all, she can cook. I'm just being thankful for it all and it is lifting me up. It's lifting me up Now. What I'm working on is rebuilding this temple, this body. I'm learning to surrender to God.

Speaker 1: 12:42

I'm learning to do things scare when God's confirmed things to me. I'm learning to listen and not complain. You see, I want to be able to hear the Holy Spirit and move, but sometimes what I hear is scary. Well, sometimes what my heart is saying go, go, go, and my gut is saying do, do, do. It's scary, it is scary, I don't want to do it. So I do the avoidance thing. You know, I put something else in this place. I pretend like I didn't hear it. I'll push it aside. I'm tired of doing that. I just want to do what the Lord has called me to do. Do you feel me? Are you at that point in your life? What you just want to do what God called you to do, and you just want to be who God has called you to be. Are you there? That's a place of rest, that's a place of comfort.

Speaker 1: 14:11

I find you that the more grateful I am, the easier it is for me to let things go, because I realize that on the other side of that complaining, on the other side of that ungratefulness, god's got this awesome blessing, just sitting there waiting for him, and I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it for me, don't you? I mean, think about it. We're each been sent to this earth for a mission. When I hear for all the enjoyment, complete a task, and I'm telling you, when you complete the task, the enjoyment is in there, it is in there. You just gotta ask the Lord what it is you want me to tell. And I keep telling myself this, and it seems like it's foreign. But, saints, it's true, I've seen it, I have.

Speaker 1: 15:43

I have left church, thinking I'm going to back to the house and at the light I hear turn left. So I just turned left, we're just going back to house. But you know, turn left. And before you know it, I got to start a just go to Denny's. So I went to Denny's and guess what? I got to meet an old friend. I'm telling you it's like and and and. That old friend, I focused on the here and now. I needed to hear what she had to share and she needed to share. What I needed to hear. It was like go Jesus, go Jesus, go Jesus. You know, god was again letting me know he's got my back. God does the same thing for you.

Speaker 1: 16:52

You, just like me, have to surrender to and to do things scared. Saints, I hope my experiences are helping you to to grow, to grow in Christ, and to help you let go of things that we have told ourselves for so long we needed or we got a hold on to or we have to control. When your heart is broken, when you feel like you're imprisoned by fear, you don't think that there is a way out. All you do is feel the hurt and the pain. All you do is see what. You see. God has got a plan for you. Take some time to fast and pray, take some time to truly be in His presence, hear what he has to say and then do it. Do it scared. Do it with all the you that is left in you.

Speaker 1: 18:30

Sometimes, when you have an anxiety and you just feel like everything is blocked, there's nothing. There's always this little light in you. Always it's flickering because you had Holy Spirit Flickering. You got to take that little light and move forward, because the moment you take it, say that light gets bigger, it gets bigger and then next you know, it gets bigger and bigger. As you start moving, god is with us every step of the way. We got to remember that we don't journey alone. That's why you and I are here right now. That's why I say comment on my website, comment on the platforms that you listen to, come on so that we can have a conversation. You already know how to get me at support at themeprojectacademycom.

Speaker 1: 19:42

Thank you, lord. Thank you for this moment in time, thank you for the joy of hanging out with the saints and for being in your presence. Help us to let go of those things that hinder us from spending time with you and help us to let go of the control that we seek and we really need to just rest in you. Teach us, father, teach us, father, god, to not just be who you call us to be and do what you call us to do, but also to enjoy hanging out with you. This is our prayer. Jesus name you Amen, amen, well, thanks, I pray that you are encouraged and can make one of the Christ Jesus smile on your face Papping your step. So thanks for listening.

Speaker 1: 21:09

If you enjoyed this episode, then please consider subscribing to the podcast rating and reviewing it. This helps in moving it forward to being heard by more than you. Also, if you haven't done so, get your free twice a month newsletter to keep up with new Lisa's podcast. I'm going to start a book section in there for the book lovers and it will continue to have monthly activities on how to live intentionally and being a Christ and more. All those and more can be found, including my contact info on hanging out with Jesus podcastcom or the show notes. So I will see you next time.