Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sam, Welcome to the Discover Life podcast, season two.
I am super excited to join you for another year, another season of discovering life together. Jesus is that life. He is the light of the world. And we're excited to share that. Not just that Jesus is the light, but I hope that you see the light in our relationships, in what we share. And we're excited because we have a brand new team member to our podcast. As you know, Pastor Axel, he's back for. We renewed his contract. He's back.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Hey, guys, we're back.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: We renewed Deacon Elliot. He's back.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: Hey.
[00:01:14] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: And our new starting center, she's the shortest one.
Pastor Valerie is joining us today. She's going to bring all of her insight and she's going to share with you, not as we do so much from the pulpit, but like a table conversation. Valerie, say hi to everybody.
[00:01:34] Speaker D: Hello, everybody. Everybody, I'm so excited.
Been watching the show for a little bit and always thought, well, one of these days, and here I am. I've made it, people.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: She's made it, guys. I've been begging her to join us for all year. We finally got it.
[00:01:52] Speaker C: She's made it.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Listen, today's episode, the title is why We Still Believe.
And I'm going to try real hard to. To be conversational, not to be preachy, just to speak as if I was talking to you at a table. Okay, good luck, because I don't know what I'm gonna do. My first question for the room, why do you think it's so hard to keep believing when life does not make sense?
[00:02:21] Speaker C: In the hardest times of my life, Jesus is always there.
So I. And I had a core center of watching how my parents lived their life.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: And through struggles, through hard times, they believed. And the thing is that God answers, even when sometimes you doubt God is still there. He doesn't go anywhere. We just got to trust Him.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: So they were the example for you?
[00:02:48] Speaker C: They were the example that I saw on how they believed. I even asked my dad, I said, dad, why do you believe that we're going to heaven? He goes, because I believe.
[00:03:01] Speaker D: That's what he said.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Because I said so.
[00:03:03] Speaker C: That's why, you know, so it's. It's knowing that it's real.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:09] Speaker D: Yeah. And I think that, you know, the biggest. The key words. The key words in this question is when life doesn't make sense. Right. Because for us, we can rationalize a good God.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:23] Speaker D: We can rationalize his character, all the wonderful things that he is. And we know we're talking here. To believers. Right. People who have faith and.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: And seekers. People.
[00:03:33] Speaker D: Seekers. And. But. But the question, I think, is why is it so hard to keep believing? So I'm. When I say believers, it's not that the conversation is exempting everybody else, it's just that this question is especially geared towards believers. So it's someone who has come to the realization that this is a good path to walk.
So when you know the goodness of God, when you know he's attracted you with his love and his kindness, and then you see things that, you know, don't feel as good.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:04] Speaker D: Or don't. Don't seem as loving. I mean, the scriptures talk about how, you know, a good father, a loving father, corrects his children. Correction. Doesn't make sense to us because we don't like it. So I think. I think that. That when it doesn't make sense, we have to look and see what process are we in? What is God trying to do? And because he's brought us out before in other areas that didn't make sense, the more that you trust him and you go through the process, then it becomes a lot more easier because you're asking why you think it's so hard. That's why it's so hard. But how does it become easier? Is every time you trust him and he gets you out on the other side, then you know, next time you're in a rut that, you know what, this is not the end of my story.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: The Apostle Paul was an expert to get into the bottom of things. And when he talks to the.
The Galatians, he goes to them and he tells them, what made you guys, you know, turn away from your faith? What made you guys start believing that things don't make sense and really goes in that direction?
Why doesn't it make sense now? Why did it make sense before?
So, you know, when you get to the bottom of that, I think you can figure out things and we're able to. To help that person, that it's probably in a season where they don't see things the way they used to see it before. So those moments are the moments where you just have to trust God, that when it doesn't make sense, he will make it. He'll make it. He'll make it sense at some point.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: But.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: But you just got to stay in the game.
[00:05:45] Speaker D: And you know what's really important? That as we're having this conversation, this is a gift, these type of podcasts and these conversations that people get to hear are a gift because you know that you're not the only one that is struggling with not making. With things that don't make sense. I think it's important that everybody understands that we're not coming from a place where we are never going to go through this again. I've gone and sees. There's been seasons in my life where I love Jesus so deeply, but I still feel overwhelmed, I still feel tired and I still feel stretched thin that that's not something that it's, it's you at home going through that. We all go through these things. So I think it's.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: I think that some folks, when they, when they look at us and they see us on the pulpit and they get a call from us and all the things that we do, it kind of looks effic, effortless. And they go, they must not have the problems I have.
I think that the wrong perception is to think that our life is always, our faith is always at 100 and that no matter what, we're gonna go. And in my case, that's just not the full story.
[00:07:02] Speaker D: Actually, you know, you can see me at 10am at Be the church every Sunday morning. You can see me at 12:30.
Watch me at 3:30, 4:00 clock on a Sunday.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: It looks like the Lord came and she stayed.
[00:07:18] Speaker D: It really drains like all the energy out of you. But I think it's so important for us to have these conversations. Why? Because the more that you hear of other people going through, the more faith that you can gain for yourself. So the question is, you know, I just shared. There's been seasons in my life. Has there been any seasons in your life that has been especially hard for you and what made it hard and what kept you holding on? Because we know we can talk about the harshness of it, but why, you know, sometimes it seems like it's so much easier to just let go.
But what keeps us holding on? Can we talk about that a little bit?
[00:07:59] Speaker C: There's things that you go through that you say, I ain't getting out of this.
And then God comes in and he gives you strength like you've never had before. And it gives and says, wait a minute, I shouldn't be here. I should be. There's many times I should have been dead, but God came and covered me. And those are the times where I say, man, I gotta hold on. Because if I didn't die in that moment, then that means that God has something better for me. I think that we give up so easily. I think sometimes we just give up so Easily. And if you just hold on and trust God, and remember he's the one that says that he's going to. He'll make a way out of no way. You can be in the worst time in your life, and all you have to do is surrender to him, fall before him, and watch how God turns things around for you. And then you can have a better perspective of like, wow, I got through that because he did it for me.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: When my brother Benjamin passed, it was especially hard for me to keep believing.
I had a hard time. I had what I considered a crisis of faith because it just didn't make sense. He was the youngest of us all. He ate healthier than the rest of us. He actually ran and went to the gym. You know, it didn't make sense for him to be the one. Meanwhile, we're eating grease and we're all overweight, and we don't run and we don't do, and the healthy young guy dies.
And I just looked at God and said, what? You can't be.
This can't be your plan.
And if it's your plan, I don't feel your loving it, and I don't feel protected. And I really did have a crisis of faith that lasted all of two days.
[00:09:38] Speaker C: It's crazy that you think that in the moments like that, because I understand it, too. I lost my brother.
And the thing is that people think that we're humans, that we can't be angry at God because we don't understand the plan.
He's the only one that understands the plan, you know? But even through that, we just got to trust God, that the plan that he had, it's the right plan.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:10:02] Speaker D: That's right. I remember many years ago, I don't. I don't even think we were married yet.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: And there was life before me.
[00:10:09] Speaker D: There was life before you. A little bit of life, not much life. It's much fuller now, but we. I was at church and I was going through one of these seasons where I believed God in God. I've always loved God. I think even when I've gone astray, there's always been just a deep love in my heart for the things of the Lord. And I remember being at the church and I was just so overwhelmed with so much. I felt even.
I felt even more embraced and accepted from the world than I did even from within the church.
And I was really struggling with why I was a believer. Why do I keep coming back every Sunday? And I felt when you get to that point, you'll show up even to church and feel sometimes like you leave exactly how you came in. So my question that day for God was one that was even made it, you know, in many songs is what have you done for me lately?
You know, And I was just like, I was just like, it, it, like, it, it got to a place where it was like, you know, it felt like that's it. God has given me as much as he's going to give me. I, you know, and I felt like it wasn't satisfying enough for me. And in a moment, it was like a movie replayed.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:31] Speaker D: And there were so many circumstances that I was able to see in my life where it was almost like I finally could see behind the curtain all the details of his protection that was happening in moments that I thought were just regular moments. I saw him there and, and it, it's those kind of intimate moments with the Lord that later on in life you can put.
That's why testimonies is so important. And the Bible says that this gospel shall be preached through the testimony because testimonies are not just to tell other people testimony. Sometimes you got to testify to yourself.
You got to remember.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:12:12] Speaker D: You got to remember what the Lord has done for you and the good that he has. And sometimes you can't see it. So sometimes a prayer needs to be, lord, open my eyes so that I may be able to see what it is that you're doing in the hidden places that I don't see yet. And that's why I'm so confused. That's why I'm so tired and weary. Because if he showed us all the end results, we will all put in the work. We wouldn't mind it.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: All right. There's a two minute limit.
[00:12:38] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:12:39] Speaker C: I'm sorry.
[00:12:40] Speaker D: It's my first time.
I'm so excited.
[00:12:44] Speaker C: Okay, I'll just, I'll step in and we'll keep going.
[00:12:47] Speaker D: See, that's what you for getting a woman on the show.
[00:12:50] Speaker C: So, you know, I've seen a lot of people drift, not because they stop loving God, but because life's gotten heavy. So I want to ask two questions. The first question is, why do you think so many people quietly drift instead of openly walking away?
[00:13:07] Speaker D: I have an answer, but I'm going to let somebody else say, believe me.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: We knew you had an answer. We knew.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: I don't know about this, Bishop.
That was just one question.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: I think it's easier to drift because people don't want to let other people down.
And it's. And it's almost easier to slowly walk away from your faith than just kind of quickly walk away. Listen, people don't want to walk away from God. They don't. Life comes in and it just confuses them. It disorients them, and they end up somehow thinking that they'll be better off not serving the Lord. So drifting is almost easier than just saying, I'm done. If you never say I'm done, drifting brings you beyond your I'm done. The drifting brings you so far away that it's all becomes really, really hard to come back.
[00:14:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: One of the things I love about the Bible is that the Bible doesn't hide its problems.
It actually exposes them. It actually tells us, you know, the people that were struggling, the people that were crying, the people that went through stuff similar to some of the things we go through. You know, we lose people. We see people in the Bible losing people. So. So God does that with a purpose, telling us that if they did it and they overcame, you can do the same. The Bible is so inspirational in that area. And I just want to share a couple verses with you guys just so you can see what the Bible Sundays. In Psalms 34, it says, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
Look at that. God is not.
When it doesn't make sense to us, we feel like God is far. But the Bible says the opposite. He says he's close because when you see God as.
When you stop seeing God as a religious figure or as a religious person and you start seeing that he's truly a father, and the role of a father is to be there at all times. Right? Isaiah 40 says, hold on, before you.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Move on, this verse is the key verse for our Good Morning grief support group. And yesterday I'm on the phone and there are people that are mourning severe loss and their lives have been derailed, and it's so hard for them to get out of bed. I mean, there are people that just are struggling and the struggle is real. It's not fake. It's not. And for a while, for six months, I've been gently saying, tell me how you feel. How's everybody going? Stuff that this one loves. Just tell me how you're feeling, what's going on.
But the last two sessions, I've been starting to minister healing.
And we use this verse again. We use it every week. But this time I said, look, the Lord is with you in your pain, and he's kind enough and he's gentle enough to be there with your pain. But when he gets up and takes you by the hand.
Don't resist him because he'll be in there with you, but he's in there not just to comfort you, but to bring you out.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: That's good.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: That's what he wants to do.
[00:16:43] Speaker C: That's good.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: Okay, tell us the truth now.
[00:16:48] Speaker D: No, no, no.
I wanted to say that I don't think anybody wakes up and say.
Says, I'm going to drift.
Nobody wants to drift.
I think what happens is when you go through pain, or if you have a situation where now you find yourself really angry, you climb onto the pain, you climb onto the anger, and the anger is what drifts you away or sin or actually anything. So that's what separates us. It's not that we did. It's just that we hold on to the wrong thing. And if you're holding on to the wrong thing is going to take you away from the proper current.
Right? So it's not. I don't. Because I can't.
There's not many. By the time that you say, I want to walk away or I want to drift, you've already drifted.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: You're already drifted. You know, it's the fact that you want to leave. You've already drifted. You've already left.
[00:17:41] Speaker D: You've already drifted. So. So it's one. That's why. That's a great scripture, actually. When. When the Lord talks about in the scripture about never forsaking your first love, so it's always trying to stay close. The Bible is always like, draw near to God.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: Thank you for affirming.
[00:18:00] Speaker D: That's what I'm here for. Judah, Iboni, I'm right by your side.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Let's.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: Let's go back to the spiritual section.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Do you want Wilder to come with us next time?
[00:18:10] Speaker D: Oh, that'll be so much fun.
Oh, you're out.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: I'm obedient.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Let me just share with our audience another chapter in the bible. Isaiah, chapter 40.
I'm not reading the whole verses, but just to give you an idea that when you go to it, these are key words that you will find. Isaiah, chapter four promises strength to the worry.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: There's strength if you're worried.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: If you're in that favorite verse over.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: There, if you're in that place where you just don't feel like you're going to make it. The Bible promises us, all of us, that there's strength when we are weak. Second Corinthians, chapter four reminds us that we are pressed but not crushed.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: Yes, that's right.
[00:18:57] Speaker D: And last one, cast down but not destroyed.
[00:19:01] Speaker C: Come on now.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: All right. Oh, my goodness. Romans chapter 8 declares that nothing can.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: Separate us from the love of God.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Nothing.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: And guess why?
Because he made you in love. There's no way God's going to stop loving you. You stop loving God, but God doesn't stop loving you. He doesn't leave you. He doesn't forsake you. You run from God. God doesn't run from you. And his arms are still wide open, just like when he was on the cross. His arms are still waiting for you to get back to him. Come back if you're drifting. Come on back because he's waiting for you.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:19:41] Speaker C: Yes, amen.
[00:19:42] Speaker D: And I love that it doesn't just say.
It promises strength to the weary. It tells the person who is weary says, let the weak say I am strong. So it gives you the language. It doesn't just give you the hope of it. It gives you the language for you to be able to find that strength.
[00:20:00] Speaker C: Doesn't that sound like a way out of your problems?
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Let me ask another question. How do these scriptures change the way we see our struggles? I know we share some of.
Some of that, but what do you tell yourself when faith feels weak, but God is still faithful?
[00:20:21] Speaker A: Those are loaded questions.
[00:20:22] Speaker D: I remember when I first heard this. I remember when I first heard this scripture where Paul said that the loss to him is gain. Like, to die is gain. And I was like, yo, this dude is worth. Like, because the worst thing that can happen to someone is death right here on earth. And he's saying that the worst thing that we see is actually gain. And I. When you ask that question, that's the first thing you know that comes to me when you learn to not run from the pain or from the hardship. Because I think that's one of the biggest issues we have in this nation as a whole. We like everything so extra easy, microwavable. Like just 1, 2, 3.
Give me the five easiest steps to do anything and it'll make it a top seller book. Because everybody wants it easy. But there is something that is gained in hardship. And if you learn that, you'll embrace it. Go ahead, honey.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: So thank you, honey.
Scriptures changes the way I see then me.
[00:21:26] Speaker D: Okay, than you and then you.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: She's the director.
[00:21:33] Speaker C: Guess what? I'm just waiting for my turn. Okay, I'm not gonna skip nobody.
[00:21:38] Speaker D: I knew he was gonna regret this. You kept asking. You wanted it. Well, here it is.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: The scriptures change the way you see your struggle. Because while you're struggling, you're looking at this problem.
And as soon as you start to read scripture, you start to see the solution.
[00:21:54] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: And that changes how you see the struggle.
As long as you're focused on the problem, the problem is gonna be enormous. The moment you look behind the problem, beyond the problem, you see the God that can solve the problem, and all of a sudden, the problem don't look so big at all.
[00:22:10] Speaker C: That's. That's. Do not lean on your own understanding.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:22:14] Speaker C: Just trust the one who created you. Trust God. He knows everything.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: That's why confession is so powerful. And the Bible tells us to confess our sins to one another. Not to, you know, shame on each other or make you feel guilty, but you get another perspective. If someone comes to me and shares something that they're going through, I will bring another perspective to that situation, and that person is going to leave. Oh, okay. Because when we just see one scene, we just stay stuck there. And that's why we drift. And that's why it's so important that you listen to us.
Okay. Because we're gonna share a perspective that you might not have, and it will change your situation.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: And as I hear everybody sharing, I want to talk about faith not as perfection. And I think that that's what some of us think faith is. Oh, I gotta be perfect and God calls me to be perfect. And really, when you see the word perfection in scripture, it really talks about maturity. But really what I want you to understand today is I want you to see faith as persistence, not perfection.
[00:23:32] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Don't give up.
Don't. Don't stop.
Don't stop praying. Don't stop seeking. Don't stop. Stop congregating. Don't stop doing the things that. That make you strong spiritually. The moment you slack, the moment you. You become inconsistent, you will start to drift. You will find yourself far from the Lord. And I'm telling you, the mistake we make is to stop doing what we know works just because it looks like it's not working.
[00:24:04] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:24:05] Speaker D: At Vida Church, we've been talking a lot about alignment.
And when you talk about faith, faith comes from hearing of the Word of God.
And faith allows you to see things that are not as if they were. And the reason why you can see things that are not as if they were is because in the beginning, there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. So when you are hearing the Word, but not just hearing words like, you know, you, me, whatever, it's not just words. It's actually the Word. And when you have the Word with you, which is Jesus Christ, he begins to reveal to you the things that are completely unseen. And faith then no longer becomes something you believe, because faith is not just believing. You can believe in something until they do whatever. But faith will challenge whatever presents itself as opposition to the thing that God has already said. And say, no, I'm gonna hold on and I'm gonna wait on the Lord, for I know he's not a man to lie. And it's gonna come to pass, man.
[00:25:09] Speaker C: Paul gives you a good picture, a good picture that he's been shipwrecked. He's almost been dead. He got bitten by. And he says, and I still feel strong. And he says, press forward towards the goal. And the goal is that God is on your side, and he wants you to continue to spread the gospel and trust him and be faithful.
It's the faith that pushed him forward. He trusted God, and that's what we really need to do. Some of us say we trust God, but we don't. We really have to trust God. And you'll see.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: And when we say. When you say, I don't trust God, what does that mean? It means that you're not being persistent. You're not. You're not. You're not continuing to do what you know. That's what we. That's what we mean when you give up.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Right? You've stopped your.
[00:25:57] Speaker D: You want the litmus test real for trust?
[00:25:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:59] Speaker D: Is obedience there?
[00:26:01] Speaker A: It is.
[00:26:01] Speaker D: If you don't obey, you don't trust.
[00:26:03] Speaker A: That's right. Proverbs 24:16 says the righteous fall seven times, and then they get back up.
Okay? So faith is not about never falling.
It's always about getting back up. Luke, chapter 2232. Jesus tells Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Come on, now. Peter still failed.
Understand?
Peter, Jesus didn't say that you will not fail.
He said that your faith would not fail you, so that when you fall, your faith doesn't fall with you. Come on.
Right. Oh, I got the cameraman to say amen. All right. Amen.
Galatians, chapter 6, 9. Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.
That's faith in motion.
Amen. So question for you guys. What would you say to someone that's listening to us right now who feels far from God but still wants to believe?
They want to believe, but they feel far from God. What's your. Everybody but Val.
[00:27:07] Speaker D: I'm Not. I was going to wait my turn.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: I would just share that. You, Jesus, compare faith with the seed.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: Yes. Come on. Mustard seed.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: And he used the smallest seed there is, I think. And just to tell us that faith grows, and you might be in a place where it's hard for you to believe on a situation for it to pass away, but if you allow God to continue to pour into you and the community you're in, if you don't have a community, we're here for you, and we just want to sow seeds of faith in you so you can see that as your faith grows, you will see yourself out of that place.
[00:27:55] Speaker C: Your problem is not greater than God's love.
And let us help you.
Sometimes you need help. We're here to help. Let us help you walk through it, take a step by step. You don't have to rush into this, but in order for you to get there, you got to take the steps again. Pastor Val said, be obedient.
We're all going to mess up. Jesus said it. He said it, but we're covered by his love. We're covered by Him. He covers us with his grace.
So you're not far away. All you got to do is take the steps.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:28:29] Speaker D: Amen. So I just want to talk to the people who are tired in spirit. We've all been there, and I think it's so important. One of the most important things to remember in the moment of exhaustion is that God's heart towards you has not changed.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:28:48] Speaker D: God is not judging you for being exhausted. He is not disappointed in your humanity, for he understands that what is being a human, because he became a human being. He was tired. He even said, if you can pass this cup for me, please do so.
Said. But in the end, it was the faith. It was. It was the strength of knowing the word, knowing God, that. That in his purpose that he was able to complete his assignment. So don't get frustrated, because you need time. You know what? Sometimes you got. You got to take that time. I was speaking to someone this morning that was, you know, ended up having that flu that everybody's getting.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: Oh, that's been two days, Strand.
[00:29:34] Speaker D: Yeah, but two days. And sometimes I was like, girl, you needed this.
I don't wish the flu upon anybody. But if she kept going on all those cylinders, she was going to wear out. She was feeling tired in spirit. But in that time, those two days of rest, the Lord just really ministered and a new person resurfaced. So sometimes I'm not Asking God to give you the flu. I don't want you to get the flu. But I'm saying take the time on your own time. But sometimes God is going to force you to take that time because you need healing, because you need space to breathe. And when you feel distance from God, it's easy to believe that he has pulled away from you. Especially because whenever you're tired, people around you are not the only ones that are noticing. The enemy notices that. So he starts whispering in your ear that God doesn't love you anymore, that God has pulled away from you. But the Lord, the scriptures, tells us that God is gentle, he is patient, he is slow to anger, he is rich in mercy.
He doesn't just tolerate you. We tolerate people. Sometimes we see people say it again.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: Oh, man, that's good.
[00:30:42] Speaker D: Yeah. You know, because in our humanity, that's how we react to people. If somebody is constantly tired or whatever, when Eliud goes, oh, my. I'm just like, okay, whatever.
[00:30:54] Speaker C: It's all good.
[00:30:56] Speaker D: He walks around squeaking and squeaking.
[00:31:00] Speaker C: She's like a wheel over here. Like, I'm the wheel that's squeaking. There's no oil there.
[00:31:04] Speaker D: I love. I love Elite. I love Elite. But, you know, but that's how we deal with one another. We sometimes we just tolerate each other. God is not tolerating you. God loves you.
[00:31:14] Speaker A: Deke, what was the book that you read that. That Finding God through Pain or.
[00:31:19] Speaker C: Yeah, and my worst pain of my life, I think, was the book My need, and it was called Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering by Tim Keller. Listen, I'll tell everybody you want to know how to walk with God through pain and suffering. That's the book to pick up. It's a long book, but it breaks it down perfectly. And it gives perspective on everything. On how people try to get to heaven, or if you have to do work to get to heaven. But it really says no one noticed. Not one person, good or bad, is exempt from suffering.
Listen, it's there actually. The Bible says, count it all, joy in your suffering.
God ain't giving you what you can't handle. God is trying to take you from one place to the next place where you grow, where your challenges help you to get to knowing God better and grow in your life and your walk with God.
[00:32:15] Speaker D: God.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: So that perspective helps you to. To understand even when you're going through that pain that you're talking about. You know, there. There is a consistency.
Our bodies breaking down, and that's consistent with human nature.
Right. Doesn't mean we. We turn from. From our faith. Right?
[00:32:33] Speaker D: D. We never stop being his children.
[00:32:35] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:32:35] Speaker D: Yeah. We're still in his hands. And we learned to say, one of my favorite songs, my. One of my favorite hymns. It is well with my soul. If you don't know, look it up. It's just. It's just so good.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:32:49] Speaker C: Man.
So reconnecting with God does not have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be complicated. Listen, actually God makes it simple.
We're the ones that complicate things. Think about it. Because we get so much in our heads, we got so many things on our mind that we don't have a chance to just. Just meditate on God. She just talked about something about space, time, rest. We don't take rest serious like the Sabbath. It's serious.
God wants that time for you and him, not for you to be continually working and having all these things on your mind. God wants that time so that he can give you rest. You know what I learned? I really learned this.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: This is true.
[00:33:32] Speaker C: You know, if you said you. If you say you have.
What is it called that you can't sleep?
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Anxiety.
[00:33:40] Speaker C: Insomnia.
I test on this, pick up the Bible, start reading it. Because you know, everybody says, don't start reading the Bible, it's tired. It's because he knows you're tired. And when you're obedient and start reading, he's the one that puts you to rest.
Think about that.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: That sounds like that's not a good.
[00:33:58] Speaker D: Promotion for the Bible.
[00:33:59] Speaker A: No, no. The Bible puts you to rest.
[00:34:03] Speaker D: Well.
[00:34:03] Speaker C: At that moment, because you're not.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: It gives you rest.
[00:34:06] Speaker C: The rest when you're in his purpose and his will. When you're reading His Word, you'll get to read. You'll get to read and you get to see something. And then he knows you're tired and.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: He puts you to sleep and he works you out.
[00:34:19] Speaker C: But guess what? You are aligning yourself when you're starting.
[00:34:22] Speaker A: To read the Word.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: And then he says, my son needs rest.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: Or when you're meditating. He says he's meditating because he wants to hear what I have to say. And sometimes we're so busy and we get so caught up that we get lost in our own thinking.
[00:34:38] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:34:39] Speaker C: And that's what God is saying. Sometimes it's just a five minute prayer. Look at that. Opening up the Bible or showing up to church. Even when you feel awkward, God moves in small, honest steps again. Baby, Steps, man. It's simple. A step at a time. He's not telling you to run. When you run, you can't understand the purpose of taking a step at a time. It is helping you to grow, is helping you to mature. Like he said, we're perfected as we go and mature as we get closer to God. That's how we get perfected. It's not when you make mistakes.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:35:18] Speaker C: And if you are ready to start again, just start where you are.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: That's it.
[00:35:23] Speaker C: That's it.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: If your faith is shaky today.
Peter's faith was shaky at a point in his life. Peter, in the Bible, Okay? His faith was changed.
[00:35:34] Speaker D: Not you, Peter.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: But Jesus came to get him.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: And let me just remind you what we said earlier, what the Word says, that there's nothing that can separate you from the love of God.
That he is close to the brokenhearted. That even when we are weak, he remains faithful.
Look, listen to this line. You do not have to feel strong to be held by God.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:36:01] Speaker A: That's awesome. Excellent.
[00:36:02] Speaker C: That's.
[00:36:03] Speaker B: That's powerful. Because many times we. We think we got to be perfect, we got to be strong, and that's when God is with me. But it's the opposite. His promises are holding you even when your faith feels small.
[00:36:17] Speaker C: My goodness.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:19] Speaker D: I would dare to say that it's much easier for God to hold us if we're not so strong.
Because sometimes in our own strength.
[00:36:28] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:36:29] Speaker D: You know, we're just not pliable enough for the tenderness of his hand.
[00:36:34] Speaker C: It's that picture of the footsteps right where you only see where there was two, and then now there's one. You got tired. He picked you up.
[00:36:41] Speaker A: So if you're listening tonight or today or whenever you're watching and you still feel far from God, I want to take this moment to spend with you.
You don't have to have all the right words right now, and you don't have to have it all together.
You just have to be willing to turn your heart back toward Jesus. And that's where it happens.
Right where you are. Take a deep breath and let God meet you. Right where you are.
Let him meet you.
If you're holding your phone, set it down, put your hand over your heart and just say, lord, I need you right now.
Let me pray for you, Lord. I pray for every person listening who feels tired, distant, and unsure. Lord, restore their faith, restore their hope, and restore what's been shaken.
Let them know why they are not. Not forgotten and that they are not alone.
We pray this in Jesus mighty name.
Amen. Amen in the comments. Put an amen in the comments. God bless you.
[00:37:55] Speaker D: Amen.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: Amen. Valerie, you did your first podcast with us.
[00:37:59] Speaker D: I made it.
[00:38:00] Speaker A: You did it pretty good.
[00:38:00] Speaker C: She did good.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: What you think?
We let her back for the next winner?
[00:38:04] Speaker B: Why is he thinking it's a different season?
[00:38:12] Speaker A: In other words, y' all better be.
Y' all better be ready to chime in when you can.
[00:38:19] Speaker C: Well, thank you for sharing. I mean, thank you for being with us. Please share, like and subscribe, and we'll see you on the next one.
[00:38:27] Speaker B: Bye, everybody.
[00:38:36] Speaker D: Sam.
