This is Jimmy Nanette. We are coming to you from
the heart, the very middle. The bullseye of the
dartboard of the Texas Hill Country. Okay, that's
crazy. I know. I threw myself completely off,
so I just started rambling. I don't know. I'm
riffing. It's called riffing. Okay. Riffing is
when you kind of just go with the flow. Gotcha.
It's like improv, playing solo guitar like I
do. I'm just improvising. Oh, okay. But we are
coming from the middle of the Hill Country. Right,
we are. Right in the smack and dab in the middle.
Smack dab. Always wonder what that meant. Yeah,
what does that mean? Smack dab. Smack dab. That's
a weird thing to say. Well, hello, beautiful.
Hello. You're gorgeous. When you walked up at
this, so we were at the coffee house. This is
a great coffee house here in Fredericksburg.
And you're meeting with what, about 10 ladies
doing a Bible study. Room full of ladies. 10
to 12, yes. And then the whole coffee house is
filled with people from our church, the Bridge
Church, which is just. So cool. I'm meeting with
Pastor Brian there. We're hanging out and we're
talking to everybody. I mean, just it was nonstop
today. I love it. I love that our community is
a community out in the community. Isn't it beautiful?
It is. So, but when you walked up and you're
wearing white, that white, what do you call it?
So I need to wear white all the time. No, what
do you call it? It's a white vest. A vest, a
vest. You walk up and I was like, wow. I so outpunted
my coverage. Wow. I cannot believe I'm married
to her. You're so funny. And no, I don't want
anything. So I was just like, wow. How did you
know I was thinking that? No, I'm just kidding.
Because most people live in negotiation mode.
We don't. No, we don't. We don't. Every day is
Christmas for us. That's the way we act, right?
Yes. How are you doing this morning? I see you're
doing some work over there. I am. I'll be okay.
I'll be patient with that. I know you're multitasking
here. Some of us have work to do. Wow. Well,
I worked at home for a couple of days, but I
also had a lot going on. And so I'm just, that's
all. I'm just, until we get going on the podcast,
I thought, well, I'll just kind of go through
my emails and get it done real quick. Yes. I
want to thank the folks for listening in today.
And we're doing audio version. I made an executive
decision. Again. How many times have you gone
back and forth? A lot. Because, you know, my
heart is to get a good, positive, life -giving
message out to people the best way we can. So
we thought we would try doing the video. But
the problem is with that, if you have an actual
just video studio and a separate audio. studio,
office, you can do that. We have to go back and
forth, or we either have to keep this a full
-on video, and then we can't work in here. Or
we tear it down every time. It was too much work.
It was labor -intensive, and then it took other
staff out of their jobs to try to produce this.
So we, I, made a decision that I'm not going
to pursue the video side of things, that we're
going to stick with audio. We're going to stick
with our format. You will do a video when you
do your interviews, though. On interviews. And
I was actually thinking about sticking with audio
on interviews as well. Really? You can do that.
We'll see. It's your call. You can make the decision
whenever you want. Yeah. I mean, it's fun playing
with cameras and all that stuff. But you know
what? I feel like it's the message that matters.
It's not what people see. It's what people are
hearing. And we feel like we have a message that's
worthy to be heard because it's the word of God.
I prefer not to be on camera anyway. So that's
perfect. We all knew that already. I already
knew that. So I thought you might be happy with
that decision. Well, literally, I was happy walking
in, what, two days ago. Into the office and it
was clear and I could breathe. It looked like
an office again. I brought my couch back in here.
I have a great, wonderful couch. I was in shock
that you did this. But if the people that know
us know that we like, we're very, we're minimalist
and we like. We're neat nicks. And we're neat
nicks. We're neat. And because I'm having to
work in your office while they're building my
office right now, I didn't even want to be here
because. I was more comfortable at home because
walking in here, it was frenetic. And I can't
work in a frenetic environment. You had no joy.
No, no joy at all. So I'm thrilled. Now we can
actually counsel people in here, have meetings.
Which is what we do. This is what we do. But
we had to look for a place. I know. And every
place is taken here. It didn't work. It did not
work. And for so many reasons. And when we took
all the equipment down and we moved it back into
Faith's office. And we cleared this and we brought
my couch back in and we set this up. I felt relief.
I felt like peace. So, yeah, I was tired. You
know, the whole YouTube thing, and I'm not going
to knock people who do YouTube and all that.
It's just it's such a little phrase I use. It's
a competition, a competition for your attention.
Right. That's it. And it's such a. You're trying
to beat algorithms. You're competing with other
people. We just want to get the gospel out. We
just want to get the word out. I don't watch
a lot of videos. I listen to stuff when I'm driving
down the road, especially on Hello Fred. I watch
videos at home. Yeah, we'll watch some at home.
Not a lot, just here and there. Mostly when I'm
driving or doing things because I can throw my
AirPods on and go. And so anyway, we're going
to stick with this format because that's what
seems to work for us. And I want to get back
into our rhythm because I feel like we get, we've
been so busy. We've been crazy busy running and
gunning. And I feel like we're, I'm finding some
peace in not traveling. I've mentioned to you,
we were able to be home almost every week this
night. Every night this week. Wow. Maybe I'm
tired too. But we leave in a week and a half.
We've got another trip coming up, and that's
going to be exciting. But we've had some downtime
this week to have our evenings back, and I've
got to tell you, it's been so good for me, just
in my peace of mind and my heart. Because sometimes
we love what we do, so we do a lot of it, and
we end up getting committed to a lot of different
things. Then we look up and we're like, wow,
we've had no time for ourselves. And you've got
to maintain that balance because it does get
pretty crazy, doesn't it? Yep, it does. So anyway,
yeah. So there you have it. This is episode number
101. Yeah, we finally broke the 100 barrier.
And I'm excited. I feel such peace about doing
it this way and being back and having you in
my office with me. Well, I do have a couple of
things I want to talk about. First of all, I
want to invite people to go to our website, livingupinadownworld
.com. We need a favor from you folks. We love
all of you. Thank you for listening. Thank you
for supporting us. We've got James Barron, very
generous, continues to give. Thank you, James.
You are a blessing to us on so many levels. Also,
Adam Curry with Strapper Donation always comes
through with that and so appreciate it. And then
we have regular givers that are on an ongoing
basis. But thank you for that. But another way
that you can support us and encourage us through
just a value for value kind of thinking is to
go leave a review for us on our website. Love
to hear from you. Love to hear what you're doing.
You subscribe by going there. Again, livingupinadownworld
.com. You can also pick up any of the archived
podcasts that we've done. And we'd love to have
you. Come check us out. And I do a daily devotional.
It's under the title blog on there, but it's
called The Daily Grind. If you ever listen to
Hello Fred, you can go and listen to Hello Fred.
That's our 24 -7 streaming music station. I mean,
it's Christian music, contemporary Christian
music. It's worship. We've got some songs with
some edge on it, which I like. But then we do,
I've got The Daily Grind on there, the little
clips and the messages, real short, just like
little reels. And that runs 24 -7. And so our
heart is to encourage you and have the signal
going out there 24 -7 through the Godcaster so
that we can encourage people. And so we'd ask
you to check that out. But anyway, go to our
website, LivingUpToTheDownWorld. And then to
access, by the way, Adam Curry and his team at
the Godcaster have been working on an app. Are
you with me? I am. I'm listening. I'm just letting
you go through your spiel. Well, I'm just...
Looking for engagement. Oh. I'm engaging you.
I'm waiting for you to talk about the app because
this is, to me, a game changer for Godcaster
because it's been very difficult to describe
it to people without. having their phone or their
computer handy. But this is just an app that
eventually they're going to be able to just download
out of the app store and work. I'm super excited.
I downloaded it yesterday, got the beta version
of it, and it works perfectly. And so I don't
know how long it'll take for it to become public,
but I would assume it's not going to be that
long. So anyway, that's coming. We'll keep you
posted on that. But also go to hellofred .fm.
Or you can go to bridgefbg .com, either one of
those. And go to the top. Yeah. And it'll say
Godcaster. You'll say Godcaster on the top, click
on it, and it'll take you right there. And you
can listen 24 -7. You can listen on your phone,
computer, whatever you got. And man, it will
encourage you and bless you. Well, something
I want to talk about that I think will be very
helpful to our listeners. I know this has been.
For me through the years, this has been a massive
game changer. What I said to you before we started
recording was the one thing that's probably been
the biggest game changer in my life as a follower
of Jesus is learning how to declare and praise
the scriptures, learning how to speak the word
of God. We know that the word works, but you
have to learn how to work the word. Now, has
this been a big thing for you too? Yeah, definitely.
Do you remember when we kind of fell upon this?
Well, it was right after we were married. There
was a book called Faith to Faith that you stumbled
upon at my office when I was a realtor at Coldwell
Banker. And that was like early 90s. It was early
90s. We got married in 92, the end of 92. So
I would say probably 93. Probably 93. Yeah, 93.
And it was praying prayers of faith, speaking
and declaring the word and declaring faith over
circumstances of your life. And that was probably
the beginning for you, I think. And then we began
to. subsequently by other books that have to
do with prayer. Yeah, the other one with Jermaine
Copeland, Prayers That Avail Much. We've talked
about that on here before, but I think we need
to talk about it again. This is so important.
This is one of those things that you need to
come back to often because there are certain
things in the Christian life that you need to
always revisit. And this is one of them to go
back sometimes. We call it redigging the old
wells. that used to produce life. And then, you
know, we get, we move on, we forget them. They
kind of get covered over with debris and life
and stuff. Then you got to go back and re -dig
those wells and they produce life again. So this
is one of those things and it's learning how
to declare and speak the word of God over your
life. Can I share something? Sure. All right.
So I wrote today, like I said, I do these daily
grinds. And so what I do is I take a scripture
that's a theme scripture. Last night we were
laying in bed and I said, Hey, what's off the
top of your head? Give me a word. And you said,
I got nothing. And let me tell you why, because
I, you're going through the book of Acts. So
I'm reading through the scriptures of where you're
going to be going. And there's not a scripture
that just stands out. Now, the one that's. going
to stand out for me right now is where the man
falls out of the window because you're going
to talk about that on Sunday. But that's not
something that I can say, oh, you should do your
devotion on that because that's kind of funny.
Yeah, the youth fell asleep while Paul was preaching
long. The Bible even says he was preaching on
and on. Most of your church does that. You're
so funny. I knew you were going to take that
shot. I know, I had to joke about that. It's
not true, but some do. Well, you know, because
you can see them. But no, so I didn't have, and
you caught me off guard. I mean, I was literally
about to go to sleep. And so I was like, what,
what? Okay. So I just did the same thing. I thought,
okay, what, when, when I have go -to scriptures,
you know, like when, when, when life gets hard
or something's happening, I just need an injection
of faith. And who doesn't need an injection of
faith on an ongoing basis? We all do. Right.
Just to navigate this crazy world. And Isaiah
54, 17. Came right to my mind. First thing that
popped into my head. So I want to read it and
I want to read the daily grinds so people get
a feel for what that is. So it says this is Isaiah
54, 17 out of the New King James. It says, no
weapon formed against you shall prosper. And
every tongue which rises against you in judgment,
you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the
servants of the Lord and their righteousness
is from me, says the Lord. And so the daily grind
today's title is Kingdom Dynamics. declaring
the word. Through necessity, I learned the power
of confessing and declaring God's word, not to
attain or acquire something, but for protection
and spiritual battle. There's something powerful
that happens when you stand in your conferred
authority and you speak the word of God into
a situation and against your enemy, the devil.
The declared word sets things in the spiritual
realm into motion. You're operating in kingdom
dynamics. Something has to give. Here's an example
of how to use Scripture as a weapon to rout the
enemy. And I follow that with this example. And
this is what I want to talk about today is how
can we help people get the Word and then begin
to pray the Word and pray the Scriptures so that
they can fight the good fight of faith and they
can get that infusion of faith when you're having
one of those days. And it could be as... As simple
as just woke up on the wrong side of the bed
and feeling funky. Or it could be as simple as
you last night. You didn't get a good night's
sleep. You woke up. You couldn't get back to
sleep. And then about the time you're about to
get to sleep, I start snoring and roaring. So
loud that I could not sleep. Which I don't hardly
do anymore. But for whatever reason. No, you
were really tired apparently. I was ripping.
Apparently. You were. I didn't know. But anyway,
you didn't get good sleep. So you woke up kind
of groggy. A little bit on edge. Not in a bad
way. You weren't in a bad mood. Well, because
we were going to go walk this morning, but I
literally, I just, I couldn't, I felt like it
was not good for me to do that with just like
four or five hours sleep. So you missed, we missed
our morning walk. Missed our morning walk. You're
feeling groggy and tired. You're still feeling
a little groggy and tired. I am, I am. No amount
of coffee may fix that. So, so people have the,
we all have these kinds of days. But this is
typically when we let our guard down too. Explain
that or share what you mean by that. Because
when we get tired and we don't and we're weary,
we've got a lot of things on our mind, you know,
things happening in the world, things happening
in your life. It's swirling around. It could
be in your family. It could cause you to kind
of. your faith to diminish, to where you're not
standing on the faith that God has given us,
that we begin to have little setbacks. And then
that's where the enemy comes in. And then he
wants to take things and start twisting everything
in your mind and distort everything to where
it looks a certain way to you or feels a certain
way to you, but it's not reality. And that's...
what I feel like happens with most of us when
we, you know, have lack of sleep or have the
stress in our lives that is going on. And so
I feel like that's what we need to be aware of
is we kind of let our guard down and the enemy,
that's where, when he strikes, it's, it's like
the, the, what's the scripture where the sheep
one gets out and, You know what I'm talking about?
No, you don't know what I'm talking about. It's
the enemy. They're all in a herd. The enemy will
strike at that one that's out. He'll get the
straggler. Yes, he'll get the straggler because
he's outside of the flock. And that's what happens
with us. Not that we're in some grave sin or
anything like that. We just aren't all there.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I do. Yeah.
So, you know, I've used the. I totally agree
with all that. I mean, you nailed it, but it
also reminded me of the three -legged stool that
I've talked about a lot. You use that all our
marriage. I've heard that. Three -legged stool
is different than a four -legged stool. You can
get away with a leg that's a little off on a
four -legged stool, but we're made up of three
parts, mind, body, and spirit. And when any one
of those gets off because something's going on,
Whether it's your mind that gets you get spun
out mentally, like right now, your mind and your
body are a little bit off just because you're
tired. When you're tired, your sleep deprives
everything. So think about that three legged
stool. You take any one of those three legs and
cut off an inch or two. It's it's no longer functional.
Right. It's it's not functioning properly. Right.
And so you got two of them working here. So you
got body and mind that's that's not hitting on
all eight cylinders. So you feel. You feel vulnerable,
like the enemy, like he's trying to take you
out, right? You feel that way. So what do we
need? We need help with that. We need an infusion
of faith because faith, man, when faith comes,
you feel like you can move a mountain, right?
You feel like, you know, that peace and that
joy and that life comes when you're full of faith.
And so I want to encourage you. So I'm going
to read this. And then I'll share a little bit
and we can both share from this. But yeah, years
ago, so I was never a big follower or fan of
Kenneth Copeland because I didn't understand
him. I'd heard him on the radio when I was a
brand new Christian back in the early 80s. And
I just remember he was more excited than most
of the preachers I heard. And I thought, man,
I don't know who this guy is, but he's excited
about it. You know, I didn't understand the difference
in theology or anything. But when we were in
the 90s. We were in a season where we needed
an infusion of faith. We were going. More than
normal. I mean, everybody needs it on a daily
basis, but more than usual. We were newly married.
We were having conflict with the spouse situation,
not my ex. And children that are coming into
your life. They're going, who's this guy? Do
I call him dad? Do I call him, hey, dude? You
know what I mean? We were making all those huge
adjustments, bringing our family together. and
starting over. And boy, did we ever need faith.
And two, we were trying to figure out what direction
we're supposed to go. Remember, I had gotten
some offers from churches. We were trying to
figure out what's next. And so we were, man,
everything was crazy. So we needed faith. I'm
walking through, you were working for a realtor.
Rick Canup. Yeah, Rick Canup. Coldwell Banker.
Coldwell Banker in Lubbock. Walking through the
office after hours, nobody's there. Nobody's
there. And I noticed this green book laying on
a desk. And you took it off that person's desk.
Well, I just picked it up because you were doing
something I had some time to kill. I'm sure I
was probably doing a contract or something. Probably.
So I picked that book up and it said, From Faith
to Faith by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. And
I remember thinking, my first thought was, well,
they're not really my cup of tea. I opened the
book just randomly and it turned out it was a
daily devotional book. And it was all scripture.
All about faith. Everything was scripture. All
about faith. And I just read the first one and
it just spoke to me right where I was. Turned
the page, read another one because they're short.
Spoke to me right where I was. I thought, there's
no way this whole book is like this. I flipped
over like three chapters, you know, just not
chapters, but several weeks just randomly. Everything
I looked at was like. This is what I need. I
need an infusion of faith. And this guy's known
as a faith teacher. So I need to hear more about
this. So that I went and bought that book and
I wore that book out because it really did help
me. Now, I'm not a big I don't I don't push Kenneth
Copeland, but I'm not going to talk against him.
But I know there's been a lot of bad things said
about him in later years, especially. And I'm
just I don't do that. I don't talk bad about
other ministers and whatnot. But I will say in
the early 90s when I came upon this, and they
wrote that book back in the 80s, I believe. I'll
look it up. I'll say this. Do you know where
that book is? No, I think I tossed it. But you
can get it online. I mean, I feel like it served
its life for me. But anyway, all I'm saying is
that that was exactly what I needed. I needed
something that would connect me with the Word
of God and teach me how to work the Word of God.
Like I said, the Word of God works, but you've
got to learn how to work the Word. I find it
interesting that they wrote this book, and it's
basically a book of prayers. And then Gloria
Copeland, not Gloria, Jermaine Copeland, who
is in no relation at all, wrote a book of prayers
years later that we came upon. Again, another
game changer for us. And it seems like we pick
those books up at a time when we're desperate.
Well, could that be the Holy Spirit? Our helper,
counselor, comforter, advocate, friend is leading
us to what we need. He's ordering our steps and
delighting in the details of our life. So he
knows what we need in that season. Yes. And he
leads us to that. Yes. So it's interesting that
last night I'm thinking and I'm like. I'm like,
what's a go -to? And immediately that pops into
my mind. Why that book? Why did that come into
your mind? Well, I think because that scripture
came into my mind and this scripture is so about
standing. It's so about, and here's how, let
me just read you the statement, the declaration.
Okay. This is how you do it. You take the scripture.
Let me read the scripture. Then I'm going to
read the declaration. So it's Isaiah 54, 17.
This is how you learn to work the word. No weapon
formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue
which rises against you in judgment you shall
condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness is from
me, says the Lord. Now, here's how you would
pray that or make it a declaration. No weapon
formed against me. So you personalize it. No
weapon or us, you and me, no weapon formed against
us shall prosper. And every tongue that rises
against us in judgment, we will condemn. This
is our heritage as servants of the Lord and our
righteousness is from him. God is our protector.
This is an add on. God is our protector and vindicator.
No enemy or accusation can ultimately prevail
against us because the Lord himself has spoken
and secured our victory. Now, I don't know about
you, just reading that lifted me right now. Because
it's the word of God and you're getting it into
the soul of your heart. It literally works. And
it talks about praying in the spirit, building
yourselves up in your most holy faith. Some people
think that's all about praying in tongues. I
think that's... Praying in the spirit, whether
English or not. Exactly. To me, when I pray the
word of God, that for me is praying in the spirit.
Right. I mean, it doesn't get any more praying
in the spirit than praying the word of God. Right.
But then you personalize it and you turn it towards
yourself and then it becomes personal. It becomes,
it's for you. Right. In that moment. And so even
as I read that, it lifted me just now. I mean,
I felt, I'm sitting taller in my chair actually,
because man, it just makes you go. Okay. I mean,
how could it not? It's the Word of God and it
works. What I love about Jermaine Copeland's
books that we have read, and I've bought books
for friends, people that I know need the Word
of God in their lives, and she has topical subjects.
Every prayer is... set in a topical subject.
So like, for instance, when we were wanting to
adopt a baby and we were asking God to bring
the right solution for us, there was actually
a topic on praying for an adoption process to
go through. When we were looking to sell a house,
praying for your house to sell to the right buyer
when you're wanting to buy a house. Praying for
God to show you the right house. When you're
having children with mental challenges, praying
for those things. Financial issues, praying for
those things. Or just wanting to draw closer
to God. Yes. How do you use the Word of God to
do that? But to me, what I love about the topical
is it's practical for that moment. Right. Situation.
Yes, because it's situational. And so I love
her books. And I love Kenneth Copeland's books,
too, because it taught us how to rely on our
faith to believe God for whatever situation we
were in. But hers is more topical. And I like
that because I know a lot of people will have
something go on in their life and they go, God,
I don't know what to do. And you don't know where
to start in the Bible. So you're thinking, OK,
I can, you know, a lot of people, I don't even
know where to start. So you read Adam and Eve,
you know, and you're like, OK, what does this
have to do with me? You know, and the situation
and I'm or even Matthew and you're reading about
what Jesus did. But but people are like, but
I have this problem. How can I get through this
problem? And to me, when you have authors who
have authored a book. that has topical solutions
that are all biblical. They're not inserting
their own preferences or their own ideas. It's
literally the Word of God. And to me, that's
powerful. That's when the Word works. Yeah. You
know what I'm saying? Absolutely. Because you're...
The person has literally, I mean, found scriptures
that pertain to what your prayer need is for,
you know, your prayer need is. And so to me,
I love that. That's, you know, what's her name?
Stormy O'Marty, and she wrote prayers for mothers,
prayers for fathers. Prayers for a praying wife,
a praying husband, and hers is topical for those
particular items too. And I love that because
that's been a very good source for so many people.
So to me, I think those books, they're almost
better to me than just reading a book of people's
ideas of what they believe. you know, that God
has shown them because you're literally just
reading scripture. And then what happens is it
makes those books timeless because they're not
written about a relevant circumstance. That's
happening right. Yeah. Which, and we need those
too. I mean, that's not disparaging. It's just
these books, because they're based out of scripture.
And it's praying the scripture and then they
carry through more time, especially prayers that
avail much for sure. And especially new believers
who don't know where to start. When you're a
seasoned believer and you're more mature, you're
in a whole different genre of people. But when
you're a baby, which most of us are babies, honestly,
you know what I mean? Yeah, for sure. based totally
on scripture, God can take that scripture and
just totally give you revelation of who he is
in that scripture. And I love that. So we have
a tool that would be helpful to people. And this
is so interesting because it's, I'm not going
to say it was an afterthought on our website,
on bridgefpg .com. We have a whole page called
Daily Scripture Confessions, Building Your Life
on God's Word. I put that on there, gosh, four
years ago, maybe, give or take. And it was because
I had been going through a lot of scripture confessions
myself and just daily get in the Word. And I
thought, gosh, maybe this will help somebody.
So I had Faith set up a page on it. What we didn't
realize is that would be the most viewed page
on our website. By far. By far. Because this
is what people requested, too. People need this.
This is real. This is why you did it. People
were like, I don't know where to start. So what
I'm going to do, it's a little tricky to find
on our website. I noticed just now as I just
tried to find it, I thought, whoa, this is too
hard. So we need to have her fix that. I want
to fix that so that it's more clear because it
doesn't have its own title. So, for example,
when you go to the drop -down menu, I had to
find it under Ministries. At the very bottom.
Which is interesting. Well, okay, now I'm even
having a hard time getting to it from here. So
we need to have an icon that just says prayers
of confession. Yes. What I'm going to do, though,
this will help everybody. Well, we're working
on a new website right now. Yeah, we're doing
it right now. And so I'm going to. Oh, wait,
here it is. Daily Confessions right there. it's
at the top it's at the top all of our stuff is
at the top okay i'm looking at the new website
I'm looking at the new version. It's not on there.
So we need to talk to faith about this. Hey,
thanks everybody for helping us work this out.
This is how we do work. Because it was right
there. Yeah. So I'm going to go to the older
one and it says daily confessions right there.
It's very easy to find. The new one's being built
out right now. So you go to daily scripture confessions,
building your life on God's word. And here's
what we did. I took scriptures and put the word
into it. I call it identity in Christ scripture
confessions. And the question is, have you discovered
how amazing your life in Christ is meant to be?
This list reveals the truth about who God created
you to be and how he wants you to live. And then
you can go. Start down this, and I am complete
in Him who is the head over all rule and authority
of every angelic and earthly power. It's Colossians
2 .10. I'm alive with Christ, Ephesians 2 .5.
These are short and to the point. I am free from
the law of sin and death, Romans 8 .2. I am far
from oppression and will not live in fear. That's
Isaiah 54 .14. So these are just short to the
point. Quick blast. So go to bridgefbg .com.
At the very top of the page, it'll say daily
confessions. And I just listed a bunch of them.
I mean, you could spend quite a bit. I mean,
and they're all short, and all they are are scriptures
with a reference to them, but they're converted
into a confession or a declaration. This is so
powerful. Now, over the years, I developed my
own kind of confession. based out of God's word,
where you'll hear me say, and I'll do this in
church sometimes. I'll just, I'll say, I'm not
the head. I'm the head and not the tail. I'm
above only and not beneath. That's out of Deuteronomy
27. I'm blessed coming in. I'm blessed going
out. I'm blessed in the city. I'm blessed in
the field. The enemy comes at me one way, he
has to flee seven ways. All that is a scripture.
And the way I say it is that's not bragging.
It's Bible. This isn't bragging. It's Bible.
It's confessing what the word of God says about
us. Been raised up together, seated in Christ
in heavenly places. And everything is under my
feet because Jesus is seated at the right hand
of the Father and all things are under his feet.
I'm seated in him. Therefore, they're under mine.
I mean, it's just a confession. I've done that
through the years. I do it very naturally and
easily simply because I've done it over and over.
Well, one of the ways you were doing it, you.
And I remember this from Abilene, you would go
in and meet with the mayor. And it was the very
first time you went, especially, it was daunting
for you because you didn't know how he was going
to receive you. You had never met him. They even
wanted to know, you know, why do you want to
meet with the mayor? Because most people who
do come in with complaints, but you were coming
in because you wanted to let him know that you
wanted to bathe him in prayer and you wanted
to know what the prayer needs were of the city.
And so what you did, and I remember you telling
the church this when you were on a Sunday morning
or whatever before you were going to go meet
with him. Grady Barr was his name, Mayor Barr.
And you said, I'm going to pray this prayer before
I go. And you literally prayed and said, God,
your word says I am the head, not the tail. I'm
above only and beneath. And so you set yourself
up. For success to walk into that meeting because
you prayed the word of God over your life, knowing
you were going into a place where there was immediate
discretion on Grady Barr's part because he did
not know why you were coming. And so that was
a great way of walking in with your head up because
the Lord says he's the lifter of our head and
he lifted. You're head up to where when you walked
in, you had the confidence, but it was God confidence,
not Jimmy confidence. That's a great example.
Thanks for reminding me of that. I'll never forget
that. Think about it. I was a young pastor going
to see the mayor of a city. Yes. So I was, and
I was not in my, I was not in the church office.
This was in his office. And he wasn't necessarily,
you didn't know anything about his faith. You
didn't know anything. But God. I don't even know
why you went other than God put it on your heart.
Yeah, I totally felt like, here's what I thought.
I thought, if God's called us to reach a city,
I'm going to start with the mayor. If he's the
top dog, that's who I'm going to go to first.
And that's what you did. And we ended up becoming
great friends. But all that to say, thank you
for bringing that up, is it caused me to walk
into that office different. Now, I didn't walk
in with my chest stuck out and proud. No, it
was a God confidence. A God confidence. It was
a God. And you even said that. You said, we need
to quit having self -confidence and we need to
have God confidence. You preached that. I mean,
of all the things, I mean, in Abilene that you
preached, I remember those messages of faith.
That's walking out your faith. You were actually
using the faith. and belief that God gave you
to go into places that could be difficult. Could
be awkward. You could get intimidated like you're
going into a hard meeting. Speak the word of
God over your life. And he wasn't a new mayor.
He was seasoned. So for you to make that decision
to go in there, you weren't just, you know, coming
in to say, attaboy, you know, I'm glad you became
mayor and I'm here. No. I was young. You were
just a kid. I was like a kid to him. You were
a kid to him. So I had to build myself up through
the word of God so that when I walked in, I walked
in in God's confidence and in God's authority,
not in mine. Because in mine, I was intimidated.
I was shaking in my boots. But yet I was able
to go in. But think about people that are listening
and how many situations they walk into that are
awkward with family, with friends, with enemies,
with work, workplaces that are volatile and how
it can change if they could get a hold of what
God says, who they are, and they could make those
confessions. You don't make them because. that's
what's going to bring it into existence. You
make it because your spirit is going to receive
that and you're going to get to a place. You
might not even believe you're the head and not
the tail at the beginning. But your spirit, the
more you say it, the more your spirit receives
it, and then you can walk in with your head up.
I see your spirit coming up just talking about
this. I know. I know you're tired physically.
But the fog is blowing away. It's like you're
alive. Because of the word. I'm watching it right
in front of me. I know you are. The word works.
I saw you light up, and I'm like, I'm lighting
up. And the fog is lifting because I'm speaking
the word of God. I am the head and not the tail,
above only and not beneath. The funny thing is
right before we started, you said, okay, you're
going to carry the whole thing. Okay, we don't
have to go through all that right now. No, I
love that because I knew what was going to happen.
I know. Because any time we talk about the word
and how God sees us. You light up. We light up.
Why? Well, and there you go. It's because the
Word works. Because it's the Word and it works.
The Word of God works. Thank you for the Bible.
Lord God, thank you for giving us this book.
It's going to make me cry because why do we forget?
Why do we allow ourselves? The tiredness was
wearing on me this morning because I was so...
I know. Here's the weird double jeopardy thing.
We know the more tired and brain foggy we get,
the more we need the word of God. But we feel
like we don't have the motivation or energy.
It's like a double thing that happens where you're
like, when you need it the most is when you have
the least appetite for it and the least motivation
to get into it. I got up and did my Bible time,
got up at 5 .30 this morning because I thought
we were walking at 6 .45. So I'm up, I'm in the
word, I'm lit up. Like, I can't do it. I'm too
exhausted. And then later when you got up, you
just blew by my office. Usually you come in and
we talk and say good morning. And you just were
off to, I was like, are you okay? And you're
like, I didn't sleep good last night. And I remember
Tina going through these weeks and weeks of not.
Oh, not sleeping well? That's brutal. I haven't
been at that place in years. So it was just really
unusual for that to happen to me last night.
And, but it does, it affects every. It impacts
you. I was reading something on health yesterday
and talking about sleep is so important. And
when you have sleep deprivation, it affects everything.
Well, it does. It does. I couldn't even get up
and go walk this morning, which I really needed
to. But anyway, but you know what is even better
than the walking is getting in the word and letting
the word speak to you and you speak the word
yourself. So let me ask you. I don't want to
put you on the spot, but, you know, my go -to
is Isaiah 54 and Deuteronomy 27. What comes to
your mind? Well, Deuteronomy 27 always comes
to mind. Is it 27 or 28? No, it's 27. Yeah, you
can look it up. Deuteronomy 27, the first 12
verses. That one always comes to mind. Faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God,
which is hearing the message of Christ. And any
time I, you know, I get... Like a lot of people
who work and I work. You're very task mode. I'm
very task mode. So I have to kind of make myself
start with a devotion or get in the word. And
sometimes I don't. I'm like, oh my gosh, I've
got to get this done and then I'll do it later.
And I hate that because it really sets the tone
for your day. And so it's funny because I was
thinking last night about. a book called The
Blood of Jesus. It's a devotion that Dawn from
church gave me. And I remember waking up this
morning and I was looking to see if I could find
it and it wasn't in the drawers. I'm like, where
is it? It's got to be in my office somewhere
at home. And this morning in Bible study, that
book was brought up because apparently she gave
it to a lot of people that are actually in my
Bible study and they were bringing it up. And
I was like, I was talking to Tina and I was like,
that is so interesting because I literally had
that book on my mind last night that I want to
go through that devotion because it's all about
the blood of Jesus. Without the blood of Jesus,
we would not be here today. I mean, we would
not be in Christ. So I've watched you just come
alive this morning and hopefully our listeners
notice the difference. And I don't think it's
the caffeine because I haven't had that much.
It's not the caffeine. It's the word of God.
This is what it does. It's how it works. I'm
watching it in real time. time, even as I read
it, it did something in me. I was like, yes,
there's something inside of you just says, amen.
Well, but I also love reminiscing where God worked
in, especially in your life, when you're shaking
in your boots, going to the, to the mayor. I
mean, there's other times you've had to use that,
you know, talk scripture and put yourself in
that place. But that was because. You were going
into an unknown territory. And it just, it literally
made me think about how many unknown territories
we go into, but we're not armored up. I think
if you're going to go to Walmart, you ought to
pray the word before you go in. Come on now.
I'm above only not, but I'm blessed coming in.
I'm blessed going out. Those aren't just cheeky,
cheesy cliches. It's the word of God, which is
alive and living. But Jimmy, Sunday when you
preached and you got to that point in your message
where you started speaking that. You could feel
the room change. The room shifts. It does. I
mean, obviously you're preaching out of the book
of Acts, Acts 19, and so that's the word. But
when you start changing it, you switch it to
where I am this, I am that. And it's not about
you. It's about who God is. There it is. The
whole room just changes. You feel the atmosphere
change. Yes. Literally. And we can change atmospheres.
And we can do that at home. We can do it at our
dinner table. We can do it. We can do it at Walmart
or HEB. And we can do it in the morning when
we feel tired and we just have to. But you know
what? It helps too. It's hard when you're alone.
And I think about the people like Martha who's
by themselves and they don't have anyone to help
lift them up. We have got to become. the hands
and feet of Jesus for those people and help them
understand that. I don't know the best way to
do it, but is I know she listens to this podcast,
so she's going to hear this, but we need to be
able to help people understand that they have
those tools. And that, so we need to help those
people that are alone because for us, we were
able to do it right here together. But for those
that are by themselves, they don't, and they
don't have that. We need to pray that the Lord
will infuse the word of God in them and it'll
help them be able to, to, to take that word of
God and say it out loud. Because you know what?
I can think it all I want and I can say, God,
I know what your word says, but. because that's
usually what happens. But when you get it out
there and you're saying it out there and you're
saying it in your home out loud, or you're with
people and you're telling them, I'm having a
hard time, and you say, no, let me tell you what
the Word says. And friends need to come around
those people and be able to hold their arms up
and speak that Word. It's important. You're spot
on. Totally agree, 1 ,000%. The thing that always
struck me about God's Word is you look at the
book of Genesis in the first chapter. And God
said, let there be light. And God said, let there
be night and day. And God said, let there be.
I mean, he said he declared with his words. He
changed the atmosphere, obviously, on a massive
scale. Right. He spoke it into existence. He
spoke the world, the universes. Then you see
Jesus come along. Right. You see you see his
son come along. And what does he do? He speaks
to the storm. He doesn't think peace be still.
He says it. And even the way it's constructed
in the Greek language, it's with an exclamation
point. In other words, he yelled it. He declared
it. Well, and when he was in the wilderness and
the devil was coming at him, what did he do?
He spoke the word. He says, and it is written.
And then he declared it. It was always verbal.
There's a verbal thing. God gave us a mouth,
right? He gave us two ears, right? So we should
listen more than we speak. It's a ratio there.
But we need to declare the word of God back out
into the atmosphere. But you know what? We didn't
learn this. I don't think you didn't learn this
in seminary. I can tell you that. I did not learn
it in my Baptist church. I'll say that. We didn't
learn this in the Baptist church, me growing
up in a Baptist church from the age of 10 on.
I actually learned this in a spirit -filled,
non -denominational church who taught me how
the Word of God applies. It's applicable to me
today for this moment. Why? Why? Why did we not
learn this in our denominational church? I mean,
I'm hoping they do now, but back then we didn't.
And not a knock on denominational churches or
mainline churches, but let me just say it this
way. I'm just talking about the ones that we
were in. Right. And what I want to say about
that is that they're very cerebral, very in the
head. It's more about content and information.
What we've learned and understood in the Spirit
is getting revelation as well as information.
You've got to have both. And there's power in
repetition. Repetition opens the doors for revelation.
Revelation, that word literally means to be revealed
or the layers peeled back. So when you say, I
got a revelation from God, that means I understand
something that I didn't see before. Something
gets revealed. Something not seen now is seen.
And that's what happened as we ventured outside
of our mainline denominational church world.
And we met Christians who were living what I
would say is a victorious life. Not perfect,
but they were living with their heads up because
they understood how to work the Word of God.
And we learned that. And what's interesting is
we learned it quickly. We felt like it resonated
with us. It was total revelation just quickly.
One thing I love about being in the Baptist world
and getting an under, you know, I got my undergrad
in theology. I got my master's in ministry and
theology. And so all of that. taught me to love
the Bible, to love the word of God. But the thing
I didn't get from that is how to work the word.
So I knew the word was living. I knew it was
alive, but I didn't know how to work it. And
I don't like the word work. I like apply better.
Well, you know what I mean. I know, I do. It's
a simple ism. It is. But yeah, we weren't really
taught. You're funny. However, I didn't know
how to apply it to me when the Bible said this.
I do, I love my heritage, like you said. But
I've gained so much more knowledge when we ventured
out. When I was in my Bible study today, that's
one of the girls I was sitting next to, Janie,
who listens to this podcast, said that same thing.
She said, I grew up staunch Catholic. Went to
Catholic schools, the whole thing. And I've learned
more at the bridge in the last three years than
I ever learned. And I hear this every week. There's
not a week that goes by that I don't hear that
from somebody because people do like to share
that. And I love that they're sharing that because.
I feel like it's because God has given us such
revelation and I want him to continue to do that
because it's infinite. And so we're never going
to have enough. We're always going to be learning.
And if we ever get to a point where we know it
all, then that's not a good place because nobody
knows it all. But I understand what she's saying
because of where we were and how we gained so
much revelation. of applying the word. And so
I think that's, it's really important. I'm so
thankful for those tools. And that's really what
these are. They're tools. It's something you
add to your tool belt. It's not the only thing,
it's a thing. Well, and it's Neil Anderson did
the same thing. Oh gosh. That's where I think
we got our first little tool of. a bookmark or
something because identity in Christ, who we
are, how he sees us. And basically it's praying
the same thing. It's the same thing. I mean,
literally when I pulled this up and I'm going
to put this link in the newsletter. So I want
everyone that hears this to go to our newsletter,
livingupinadownworld .com and you can click on
to subscribe to it. And I'm going to add to it
the newsletter. Some of you will already get
this, but those of you not just sign up for it.
I'm going to add this link. And the link is to
the Daily Scripture Confessions, Building Your
Life on God's Word. Yes. And it'll just take
you right there. You want to go try to find it.
You can go to Bridge Church or bridgefbg .com.
If you want to get there right now and not wait
for the newsletter, bridgefbg .com, and then
click on Daily Confessions at the top of the
page. That's it. It's that simple. Daily Confessions,
it'll take you right there. And this will be
a tool, but you want to build, you want to sharpen
your tool. You don't want a dull ax. You don't
just go get an ax and then never sharpen it.
You want to sharpen it. And how do you sharpen
it? Through repetition. I've always said this.
Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes
permanent. And so you want to practice it. And
as you practice it, it becomes more permanent
and more accessible without having to find a
scripture sheet or go find it. That's a great
help. But you'll actually begin to memorize.
It'll become automatic pilot. And when you get
in a situation, you'll know what to do. You'll
know where to go. Always say, if you know who
you are, you'll know what to do. And so this
would be a great help. Thank you so much, Annette.
Wow. I watched you come alive. I came alive.
You're on fire. It's like I got an adrenaline
rush. I need to turn the air conditioner on in
here because it got hot in here when you got
all fired up. No, it was good. Anytime you say
you want to talk on faith, it lights me up. You're
all in, yeah. I know. And so you probably knew
that on purpose, knowing I was well. No, I didn't.
It's interesting. I woke up thinking about this
before you woke up. Wow. Because remember, I
went to bed with that scripture on my mind. Yeah,
that's true. You did say that. And that's another
thing, just as an encouragement to you. Listen,
I know we all scroll our phones at night. We're
laying in bed. But guys, I want to encourage
you to do something. Even if you are scrolling
your phone, at least the last thing you want
to do is get the Word. Look at the Bible. Always
look at scripture before I turn the light off
because I'm like, okay, I need to wash my soul
of all the stuff, the dues and the misinformation
I just took in. So we want to encourage you in
this. I think we need to stay on this topic.
I think this is something that is so important
that when we come back next week, we need to
stay on this. This is important and help our
people really be able to get to and make the
word apply and work for them. Hey, thank you
guys for listening today. We love you. Go to
livingupinadownworld .com. Subscribe there. Go
to bridgefbg .com and you can get the daily confessions.
It'll be up in the corner. If you do get the
newsletter, I'm going to add that link to the
newsletter so you can just click on it and take
you right there. We want to help you. We want
to equip you. The scripture says that we're here
to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
That's exactly what we're called to do. That's
Ephesians chapter four. And that's why we're
here. We love you. Anything, anything on the
way out? Cause that was so good. Wow. Wow. I'm
invigorated. I feel like I just had 10 cups of
caffeine. It's better than caffeine. The word
works way better than caffeine. But listen, we
love you guys for doing this because it, it helped.
If it. If you can see in 40 minutes what it did
to me, look at what it can do for you. I know.
Check it out. All right, guys. We love you. Thanks
for listening. Episode number 101. We love you
more than you know. Have a great week on purpose.