Hello and welcome to another episode of the podcast upfront and undivided with Luke and
Dean'na.
That was yeah.
And you're not even going to edit that are you?
Not at all.
Because you're awesome.
Yes.
We're real.
Real conversations with real people.
You forgot who we were for a second didn't you?
No I think for some reason just between episode and podcast.
I adore you.
That was awesome.
It's just like watching your face go.
That's what we're here for.
You are my favorite human being babe.
How was your week?
It was good.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Yours?
It was good.
I'm trying to I'm like where are we?
What day is it?
What's going on?
This has been an odd several days.
Yeah.
Because we had two snow days last week with the kiddos right?
Was that last week?
That was last week yeah.
There was a lot of snow here in Missouri.
Yeah.
More than what we're kind of used to and our school system took advantage of it.
Yep.
I'm not mad.
So we had two days off.
Wednesday Thursday even church had it off because the roads were gross.
Yeah.
And then Friday I got to hang out with a bunch of was it third grade?
Yeah.
Was it third grade is what it was?
Yep.
That was fun.
I enjoyed that.
Yeah.
Just being able to love on these kiddos and stuff like that.
And then today both of our children were home.
It's Monday.
Yeah.
And one of them wasn't feeling too hot but also had a project and was exhausted.
And then our little guy decided he wanted to be home because Sissy's home and he needed
to make sure that he was wanting to take care of her.
That's right.
And the reality of it is he just wanted to stay home and play games.
It's true.
Yeah.
I mean he's seven.
You can't quite fault him for that.
And there's not much a seven year old can help a 17 year old with homework.
Not really.
Except go and then she's like get out.
Right.
So yeah.
It's all good.
So that's I so I fell off.
I even told you that a little earlier.
I was like I just fell off today but it's okay.
We're here.
And we're like oh yeah we have to do this podcast.
We get to do this.
It is true.
You are right.
I look forward to this time.
I do too.
I genuinely do.
So what are we talking about today?
So today episode 14.
We're cruising along.
We're cruising.
So I know episode two was so you want to be a superhero.
Right.
So we're going to do a twist on that and I'm calling it what do you do with your kryptonite?
That's legit.
You're not just handsome baby.
You're smart too.
Thanks.
I like that.
We wanted to talk about weaknesses and bounce off that the opposite of that superhero.
Yeah.
And so I was like you know kryptonite.
You know I mean because that's one of the more famed weaknesses of a superhero.
Right.
I almost you know we talked about this.
I almost went with you know so you want to be the anti-hero.
Yeah.
But then I did.
I looked it up and I'm like I don't want to spread that.
Yeah no we don't.
I mean not that that's a bad thing per se but it was talking about how it's the hero
of the story but they do morally questionable things.
Right.
And sometimes their motives are selfish and you know so I'm like hmm yeah maybe not.
Yeah.
No I like this.
Yeah.
Tell me tell it again.
What is it?
Okay.
What do you do with your kryptonite?
Yeah.
I love that.
So I got notes again.
You got notes.
I feel professional with the notes.
You are professional.
You're sweet but I also feel very odd because I'm like I look down and then I try to look
at the mic and then I look down and then I look at you and I and but like I did last
week I'm just going to apologize for the rustling and the moving and the noise.
It's what we do.
Yeah.
And it's okay.
It is.
I've been reading this book and this is kind of where this thought came it got birthed
out of and I pulled a lot of notes and a lot of thoughts out of that book and the book
that I'm reading is what is the book?
All of a sudden I went blank.
Wow we're doing really well today aren't we?
It's okay.
The necessity.
Oh the necessity of an enemy.
The necessity of an enemy.
And it's written by a pastor and he basically he talks about how there's a lot of times
where we go why is all this bad stuff happening?
What happens you know why do things seem to be pushing up against me right?
And it's like you kind of go into that mindset of God are you really there?
God did I do something wrong?
Or whatever whatever whatever and sometimes we just forget that we have an enemy.
We genuinely have an enemy.
We do.
And here's the deal just like God has gifted us with all of these amazing dominant like
super powers like we had with our superhero things there's all of us have these dominant
qualities that we're like wow you're legit that's cool.
You know we also have dominant weaknesses and I know you and I have said it over the
years we say this to Gabriel a lot one of the greatest strengths you can ever have in
your life is to know your greatest weakness right?
Because then you don't get hit by the enemy quite as much and so it's like so let me read
really quick some of the notes that I've written down because I these are really good and I
don't want to miss anything so it says when when you are weak everybody has a dominant
gift but did you know that each person has a weakness and the enemy has a bullseye painted
right on it knowing this you've got to understand your weakness so you can guard against the
attack so that's everything that I just said basically.
An enemy is anyone or anything that feeds your dominant weakness.
Okay.
Okay so King David you and I talked about this earlier King David so babe what was King
David's kryptonite?
It was women.
Right even though the beautiful thing is here's God saying he is a man after my own heart.
I think the thing that was different with David is with his kryptonite was women right
Bathsheba killing his best friend all of these things right it's like he constantly went
right back to God.
Yeah.
God I'm sorry man God I'm sorry genuinely with a broken spirit a contrite heart humbly
you know repentively before God but there this weakness just did not shake so much that
in this it talks about the weakness was passed down into his bloodline so we talk about some
of the weaknesses in our lives like some people have you know like you have alcoholism there's
drug drug addiction.
Mental health issues.
Mental health issues pornography even divorce you know it's just adultery different things
of that nature you you go wow man why does there seem to be this constant you know in
and it's that generational thing that generational curse that gets passed down along the way and
so Solomon who had several hundreds of wives and three hundred what seven seven hundred
wives three hundred concubines so that's first king 11 3 if you guys want to look it up and
that was his downfall so Peter he was subject to other people's opinions.
Yeah.
So Luke 22 33 so it talks about in the story where you know here's Peter he's like I will
die for you.
I mean we think of inside out sorry I will die for sorry sorry side note squirrel I'm
good I'm back so he's talking about like he got swayed.
Yeah.
Anytime that he was in front of whoever he was in front of in that moment that's who
he's going to be.
Yeah.
And so people who go from group to group relationship to relationship seeking the approval affection
and admiration of that group have no foundational one and this was Peter's dominant weakness
so it's like if we don't know who we are in God if we do not know our foundational basis
if we don't know that literally we we can become completely made new again then we're
going to be tugged by basically the nose and taken back and forth by those weaknesses that
are that are inside of us.
Yeah I just I just want to rewind for a second.
Please do.
I mean how do you keep track of a thousand women.
Baby you know honestly just Gabriel and I know.
And that's just mom and daughter.
Right.
I just I'm like can we can we I don't know if there's part of me is like can we say this
I mean in my mind I'm like that you have to be driven by something because you have all
of those women did they have Viagra back there babe.
No are we allowed to say that.
Sure we can.
Yeah.
Can we.
It's not commercial.
It is commercial.
But you know I'm like wow.
Yeah.
I mean to take it to such an extreme but we see it even in nowadays I mean maybe not to
hundreds of women but it's like you have you have men and women men and women they
lover to lover one night stand to one night stand you know you prostitution you have I
mean it can it can it can bubble itself up into all of these different you just the perversion
in itself it just multiplies.
And it's like something again not knowing the true intimacy the true goodness of God
creates these these things that are not good that will take you down.
Yeah.
That's a good question.
I don't know.
It's like I would be calling everybody the same name just so I'd be like I how do you
do that.
Have more where like runners runners bibs.
Number 342.
All right so listen we're going to get back on track.
That's horrible.
No it's not.
It's not.
So what's your it is.
So what's your weakness.
Maybe you're undisciplined become a better steward of your of your money.
Maybe the enemy will bring you know the bring people into your life who are foolish spenders
which will encourage your weakness.
So it's like because we see it all the time.
What do they say.
Birds of a feather birds of a feather flock together.
Right.
Yeah.
And then the familiar spirits you're going to find what it is that and that can and that
can go both ways.
Absolutely.
Because again it's you know if you're not careful.
Yes you're going to kind of flock to what you're used to or what you're maybe comfortable with.
You know but if you want to gain a trait or if you want to be something they say go find
that kind of a person.
Absolutely.
Because it's like if you hang out with five rich people you'll be the sixth.
I love that.
If you hang out with five smart people you'll be the sixth.
You know so it's like you will eventually become what you hang out with.
That's right.
You know for good or for bad.
That's right.
And I love that again because I've seen it you know like I've seen some people you know
question and hypothesize you know because there's there's talk every now and then about
you know wealth and who who's too rich and who's not rich enough and all that.
And it was like you know if you take away everybody's money give everybody like twenty
five thousand dollars.
Right.
In five years the people that are rich now will be rich again.
That's right.
And a lot of the people that are poor now are going to be poor again.
You're right.
You know it's because it is it's a lot of it is a mindset.
Right.
A lot of it is you know a weakness or a strength.
Right.
Depending on how you play it.
And if and if you don't work that weakness into that you're just going to be continue
to repeat.
Yeah.
It's like coming from a divorced family right.
So I'm the one that's come from the divorced family between the two of us.
Thankfully your parents have been married forty how many years back.
Your sister's forty six.
Forty nine.
Okay.
So almost forty nine.
So almost forty.
That's that's phenomenal.
That is cool.
I cannot say that.
Yeah.
I cannot say that.
And so it's like what whatever is being exemplified in front of you is what you are going to
grab.
Yeah.
And good bad and different all of it.
It's like it becomes stuck in there and we have to be incredibly intentional with these
things.
I had the most amazing couple yesterday.
This literally like falls right into what it was what we're talking about.
So after church I saw this couple and I looked at her before church both of them and I said
I just wanted to tell you guys that you all are absolutely adorable and I've never had
a conversation with them.
I just see them at church.
I actually follow them on Facebook you know and they're just they're adorable.
And after church go in bathroom washing my hands she happens to be there and we just
smile at each other and just you know cordial.
And then I finally I moved my hands from the dryer and I said can I tell you exactly why
I said what I said to you.
And I said I want to be intentional.
I want you to understand that I don't think you all are just cute.
I see how you cheer each other on.
That's cool.
You know I see how you hype each other up on social media.
I see how you build and show what a solid marriage and a foundation is in front of the
world.
Yeah.
And she looks me in the eye and she says we both come from a long long line of divorce.
Oh wow.
And we decided we were going to break that generational curse in our family.
And I was like kudos.
And I said I don't know if you know mine and Luke's story but we basically did something
incredibly similar because we knew who we were before what we wanted to establish now
and what we wanted to break so that our children won't ever have to deal with that again.
Yeah I like that.
And so back to my notes.
Okay so we've we've basically talked about surrounding ourselves with people right.
So when you include someone in your life who is trying to strengthen that thing God is
trying to remove you've got to view that person as an enemy of your future and your purpose.
So that was something that he had said.
I was like I kind of agree with you.
Yeah.
But it was like I think it was again he's basically saying in these be intentional with
who you surround yourself with.
Don't completely cut yourself off with because you might be the lifeline to somebody changing
and running.
But if you if you see I keep hanging with this person we keep going to these places
and we keep falling down these holes.
You might want to reconsider that relationship.
Right.
Or change the dynamic.
Or change the dynamic somewhere.
You know man with a weakness in sexual in sexual irresponsibility you'll attract or
seek out women who will feed it.
Emotions abuse you'll gravitate to certain people to call when you're depressed celebrating
or experiencing any emotional high or low.
Right.
Simply put your dominant weakness doesn't want to kill it but to pursue the people in
situations that feed it and simultaneously it will pull you away from the people who
won't justify validate or tolerate it.
So it's like if you have people that are trying to keep you accountable people that are saying
man you're better than this.
Yeah.
Let's not do that.
Or you know hey I'm saving money for a car.
Oh well let's just go we're gonna go party we're gonna go spend and blah blah blah and
you got the one friend going no man.
Yeah.
No we're gonna go eat McDonald's.
Gonna go take a run.
Eat McDonald's and take a run that's disgusting.
Yeah.
See that was gross I don't even know why you said McDonald's.
Because it's cheap.
I'm surprised you didn't say ramen and pinto and ground beef.
Baby yes.
See.
There we go.
See there we go.
But somebody that has your better interest somebody that knows your goals somebody that
knows where your weaknesses are too and this is a friend that comes alongside you and says
you know what I've got some weight I could lose I'm gonna go to the gym with you.
Hey I want to build up some muscle and I want to become stronger.
Hey I'm gonna start you know throwing some weight around with you or you know what I
mean so on and so forth whatever it is I I'm not reading the word of God okay I'm gonna
text you every day and we're gonna talk about what it is that we're reading in that moment
you know and it's like be intentional with your time be intentional with what you're
putting inside of you.
I actually just saw the meme where it said a diet isn't just your food it's a lifestyle
of what you consume mentally physically emotionally and spiritually.
I agree I'd agree with that yeah totally.
So it says the last thing is you've probably had or currently have a person in your life
who wants to help destroy your weakness and that's the person you'll find yourself shying
away from.
I say don't shy away from that person.
Yeah that's true.
Let that person love you enough through that hard moment you know.
It helps as as long as you have a relationship with that person I mean not necessarily romantic
but friendship yeah you know because you're you're more likely to accept even harsh love
or tough love yeah I didn't I almost said harsh criticism but from somebody that you
have a connection with somebody that you trust yeah you know if if somebody on the street
came up to me and tried to talk to me about getting better and improving my health I'd
yes whatever you know I wouldn't even give them two seconds of my time right but you
know you some of my friends they said hey Luke I've noticed these patterns in your life
and I think you really need to fix it yeah or something bad is gonna happen.
I am more likely to listen and take action based off of their observations.
Right absolutely right so last thing while you avoid that person your weaknesses your
weakness fed desire will draw you to the person who will help to create the ideal conditions
and an environment for it to grow and manifest itself.
Don't fool yourself into thinking you don't have a dominant weakness because you've got
something if left alone it will sabotage your future.
That's true.
So it's like because I was like you know I do it do we have weaknesses and I'm like oh
heck I could sit here and give you a list yeah stuff that I'm weak in right but there's
gonna be some of our listeners or some people that say you know I don't know man I think
I'm doing pretty good and it's like okay I I'm grateful that you're doing good but there
is something that probably pulls you potentially into a different place it doesn't even have
to be a physical kind of situation just your mental thoughts you know man why do I always
seem to get depressed around a certain time of the year when why do I always seem to be
xyz you know what I mean it's like just take take some take some notes take some mental
thoughts and and just really just kind of self-examine and say where can I get better
today how can how can I strengthen my walk with God how can I strengthen my walk with
the people around me my family my friends what what steps do I need to do today to help
make me be more successful in who it is that I was created to be.
And I know in the discussion of weaknesses yeah I know there are a couple different schools
of thought yeah that a lot of people have taken that approach of you know because there's
some people that say yes think about your weakness so that way you can work on it and
you can improve it and you know and that is a good thing you know but I think it also
goes on depending on what it is yeah because the other side of that point is the people
that say why spend your time working on your weakness yeah when if that's what not what's
going to help you right you know I do I think you need to look in you know what is your
weakness what are the areas of your life that need work yeah and is it is it actually a
weakness or is it a spot that needs work right you know is it you know is it something that
if you don't work on this you're you're gonna fall behind or it's gonna hurt you in the
long run yeah or is this something that that's that's not a big deal yeah you know one of
my weaknesses is I can't read sheet music I'm not gonna work on that right I mean I
know that kind of thing I know that I know a shallow example but but it is yeah you know
yeah and because I think that's because it is such a broad topic yeah of weaknesses and
there are those levels of weaknesses just like there's levels of strength you know and
you know it's it's what do you prioritize and it is that you know it is where do we
put work yeah and where do we put that that effort because we always want to improve ourselves
right you know we've we've talked many times about wanting to change and and you know we
had that episode talking about you know being uncomfortable so that we can grow and change
right and and I think this is part of that you know the weaknesses and the strengths
and the being uncomfortable the growth it we need to we always need to be in that self-examination
right mode of you know where am I now where do I want to be yeah you know yes every now
and then you want to look back and say where have I come from yes but that's not always
the most important view right you know so that's that's why we genuinely we need God
in the mix yeah it's just that simple it's he will give us the wisdom we'll get that
check inside of us you know it's you know if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit
by all means please please you know just it's simple just simply say Holy Spirit I ask that
you come fill me up fill me to overflowing and and you know help me help me strengthen
in these places because ultimately that's that's what he that's what he's here for
to help us walk as successfully as we can through this world because we're not going
to do it right every day right every moment of every day so it's it I love I love that
perspective yeah you know I love that you brought up the the Holy Spirit because it
is so important but I think there are some people that use they almost use their weaknesses
yeah and cover it with God okay not not saying God I need you to make me stronger in this
part of my life yeah but more of a surface I'm gonna try to make myself look better I
say cover it with God almost like it's like they know they're weak in this area yeah but
they'll say I feel I've been called to this area because it sounds cool right or it looks
cool right or it's more visible right you know and and they'll say you know they'll
they'll cover it with but God said right but I feel led to right you know but that's one
of their weaknesses yeah you know if somebody is really bad at public speaking and that
is not a strength of theirs at all right but they keep trying to say that but God has called
me to preach yeah it's like but that's yes God can give you supernatural abilities absolutely
but if you if this is an area in your life that you're lacking or or an area of your
life that you have no strength yeah then you know a just are you truly listening to the
Holy Spirit yeah the voice of God and B if you have been called to do that what are you
doing to fix it right you know what are you doing to practice to improve right you know
because we talked about that on one of the podcasts as far as like you know if you're
called to do something then you need to do it today we need to start being you need to
start building that foundation of today right and get yourself prepared and ready for that
and so but again you know this one with the weakness if you see that there's a weakness
and I love what you said you know sometimes the weakness needs to just be thrown to the
side and it's not your focus anymore sometimes the weaknesses I need to fix my marriage because
it's about to go down in flames you know it's it's whatever it is that's going on in that
moment and saying okay I need to find the roots of these things so that way I can start
building and growing into it to something better and then helping everybody else around
me yeah I think that's it I like it yeah that's good so I'm gonna give a quick shout out okay
because I mean I know last episode we mentioned that we've got listeners around the world
yeah I mean yeah across the US we found out that there's somebody in in Tokyo yeah listening
to us found out there's somebody in Peru yeah that listened to one of our episodes thank
you guys so thank you yeah yeah so y'all are huge y'all are huge we yes we would be speaking
but y'all really helped make this happen I mean sincerely yeah it's the motivation of
seeing seeing those names you know of those places coming up and you're just so we feel
more connected to y'all so it's it's a blessing so God bless you guys genuinely everybody
through from the US and everybody that's listening it's you y'all are treasures and we pray that
the goodness of God continues just to pour out onto y'all wherever you are in this world
and knowing that we're all family and we're all trying to do this together we're all in
the kingdom of God and you know we're praying that just global yeah just the global goodness
of God comes forth to all of the nations so yeah all right we done babe we are all right
guys have the best week enjoy the journey