1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,680 I want to welcome you to the Quality Christian Living Podcast. 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:09,800 I am your host, David Friend. 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,200 Today's topic is Win the Spiritual Battle for Success. 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,520 We're in the middle of a series dealing with success and prospering and abundant living 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:18,520 for Christians. 6 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,680 And this particular podcast may be the most important one that I've prepared for those 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:23,880 who are seeking God. 8 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,800 I see people who seek success and that's wrong. 9 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,840 But today we're going to talk about how to seek God and when we seek Him first we'll 10 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,800 see success and prosperity and abundant living come into our life. 11 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:39,480 I want to prove to Christians how to defeat the attacks that Satan brings on. 12 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:43,400 We'll look at the things that will be some of our greatest challenges in life. 13 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,400 And we're also going to look at why it is so important to know our true enemy. 14 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:53,000 We're going to see why we must never seek success first and always seek God first. 15 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:54,440 But before we do that, let's pray. 16 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:55,520 Have any father? 17 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,200 Once again I ask for your guidance, direction, your leading. 18 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,160 I pray the Holy Spirit would bless everything that comes forward today. 19 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,360 I pray that you would take over now. 20 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:05,480 Take complete charge of what's taking place here. 21 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,240 And for those who are listening in, I pray blessing upon them that they would receive 22 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,640 your touch, Father, and your favor and your blessings. 23 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:17,840 I thank you Lord for this wonderful opportunity that's been provided for us to be able to 24 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,360 reach out to people, quite frankly, around the world. 25 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:24,160 And I ask for your blessing and anointing in all that we do and always careful to give 26 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:25,640 you all the praise for it. 27 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:26,840 In Jesus' name I pray. 28 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:27,840 Amen. 29 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:32,760 When you talk about the subjects of success and prospering and abundant living for Christians, 30 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,320 there's some people that just get turned off. 31 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:37,480 They think that, well, that's just not of God and it's not something we should desire. 32 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:40,240 Well, I agree it's not something we should desire first. 33 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:46,560 But if we seek God first, as Matthew 6.33 tells us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his 34 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:51,160 righteousness and then all these things will be added unto you, evidently the word of God 35 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,920 is telling us that something is going to be added to us. 36 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:58,000 And I believe that's God's blessing, that's his goodness, his kindness, and that he can 37 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,600 place success in our life. 38 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,800 He can bring prosperity into our life. 39 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,240 He can bring abundant living into our life. 40 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:09,280 But we first have to abide by his guidance, his direction, and how he tells us to operate 41 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:10,280 according to his word. 42 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:16,360 You see, the Bible tells us why we face challenges and why so many people struggle just trying 43 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,400 to keep their head above water, trying to keep themselves from filing bankruptcy or 44 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:25,200 being in serious trouble spiritually or with their family or with their relationships. 45 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:27,800 God has a plan that he can help us in all those areas. 46 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,720 God's word not only gives us the keys and guidance and direction to receive success 47 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:36,720 in our life and to live the abundant life, but his word also gives us the answers and 48 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:42,880 the instructions to identify the source of all failure, anxiety, fear, negative thoughts, 49 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:47,240 and anything that keeps us from success, prospering, and having abundance. 50 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,960 The answer is found in the words of the apostle Paul as he was anointed by the Holy Spirit. 51 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,560 So I want to read to you a scripture that is so wonderful. 52 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,240 And remember, we're dealing with understanding where did the attacks come from? 53 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,320 Why is it that sometimes we don't seem to get through and get the answers to prayer that 54 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,160 we want or that we're desiring or that why do we struggle trying to have a little success 55 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,680 here or maybe being some little, maybe more abundant life, a little more enjoyment, a 56 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,000 little more fun in living the Christian life. 57 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,160 And he gives us the answer to that and how we can come against these things. 58 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:21,480 So I'm going to read in Ephesians chapter six and verse 12 in the new international 59 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:26,600 version, just this one verse, and this kind of gets us started on discovering how we 60 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,480 win the spiritual battle for success. 61 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,400 Here's the words of Paul, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. 62 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:33,720 Now I'm going to stop right there. 63 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,680 What Paul is saying is that the battles that we face and the trials that we have in life 64 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,280 is not against people. 65 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,680 It's against spiritual powers and in terrible places. 66 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,360 And we're going to get more into that, but I'm just stopping for a second because if 67 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:50,080 you're having a battle right now with an individual, we're not wrestling against that individual. 68 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,400 We're wrestling against the spirit that is controlling that individual or directing that 69 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,920 individual to take the actions that they're taking. 70 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:02,880 You see, there's a lot of good people who are influenced by the negative influence of 71 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:04,400 the devil himself. 72 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,080 The devil wants to go around and what? 73 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:07,920 Kill and still and destroy. 74 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:11,320 So therefore that's what he's trying to do and he's trying to destroy our relationships 75 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:12,320 with each other. 76 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:16,640 I'm going to remember if we're in the midst of a conflict with someone, it's not the person. 77 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:18,920 It's that spirit that's operating in them. 78 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:23,200 The source of what's causing them to be like they are is a spiritual battle. 79 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,680 Paul said, I'm not making this up for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. 80 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:33,200 He said, but against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world and 81 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,760 against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 82 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,920 Now Paul is telling us there's a huge battle going on. 83 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,840 And so if we want to have success in our life and we'd like to have abundant living and 84 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:48,600 enjoy life a little bit more and have some of those things that God wants to bless us 85 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:52,480 with, we've got to understand that our battle is not against the people we know, the people 86 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,000 that are our friends, the people we associate with. 87 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:00,760 The battle comes from the spiritual influence that Satan has over people, including us. 88 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:02,800 You see what this scripture is telling me. 89 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,880 It tells us who is for us and that's God. 90 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,720 And it too, it tells us who's against us and that's the devil himself and the people 91 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:11,600 that we're having battles with. 92 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,360 Many times there's something inside of them that's different. 93 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:18,480 They're having a terrible time with a challenge with and that's something that we need to 94 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,840 find help for them and lead them to the word of God to see where they can receive the help 95 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:23,840 that they need. 96 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:28,600 So we're going to talk about this today and very directly in dealing how we can win the 97 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,440 spiritual battle that we face to have some success in our life. 98 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:38,400 Now the scripture that I just read, it makes it easy for us to recognize the source against 99 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:39,600 our success. 100 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:45,600 But we cannot just move on in this podcast without completing the words that the apostle 101 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,360 Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 6. 102 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,520 So let me read a little bit more and make some comments on that as we continue to read 103 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:57,640 in Ephesians chapter 6 in the new international version starting at, let's go back and start 104 00:05:57,640 --> 00:05:58,640 at verse number 10. 105 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,480 Paul says these words, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 106 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:07,480 Put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes 107 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:11,400 for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the 108 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,320 authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of 109 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:17,080 evil in the heavenly places. 110 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:21,120 Verse 13, therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes 111 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:25,360 you may be able to stand your guard and after you have done everything to stand. 112 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,880 Verse 14, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist with the breastplate 113 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:34,160 of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from 114 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:35,360 the gospel of peace. 115 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:39,960 In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all 116 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,040 the flaming arrows of the evil one. 117 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,960 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and 118 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:50,440 pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. 119 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:55,200 With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. 120 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,280 That means for everyone that we know, for all the people that we know are believers in Jesus 121 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:01,680 Christ we need to pray for them and pray for those who are not Christians because they 122 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,560 are also going through the same battles. 123 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:07,560 Verse 19 says, Paul says, listen to this, in all this advice he's given in direction, 124 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:12,280 Paul's a smart man and he says in verse 19, pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth 125 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:17,520 words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. 126 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:22,680 In verse 20, for which I am an ambassador in chains, pray that I may declare it fearlessly 127 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:23,680 as I should. 128 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:25,280 That's just so much to talk about there. 129 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,720 I almost sometimes wonder if I should have read all that or not but the bottom line of 130 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,080 it is people have heard this but they don't understand or a lot of us don't understand. 131 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,800 This needs to be part of our everyday living and our everyday actions in order to be able 132 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,680 to defeat the attack that the devil has on us. 133 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,440 You see when we get a terrible thought like maybe we're driving down the road and somebody 134 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,840 cuts in front of us and we have a terrible thought to maybe scream out the window at 135 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,440 them or make some kind of a terrible gesture or something, that's not us. 136 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:52,200 That's not the spirit of God in us. 137 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,000 That's the influence of Satan himself. 138 00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:00,520 Wants us to do something that makes us look foist, that makes us look angry and say something 139 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:02,720 or do something that's really not us. 140 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:04,880 And so that's the influence that's there. 141 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:10,240 In order to be successful, in order to have some prosperity in our life, in order to have 142 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:15,800 abundant living, we've got to move that stuff away and win this battle, this spiritual battle 143 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,840 that's against us each and every day because Paul says we're not fighting against people 144 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:21,560 but we're fighting against a spiritual battle. 145 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:26,640 So our biggest challenge, our largest challenge to have success in our life is a spiritual 146 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:28,920 one and that's the focus of this podcast. 147 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:34,320 Now I'm not asking you to remember every word of Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 20, 148 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:38,200 but although I do know there are a lot of people that I've met recently who have that 149 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:41,360 memorized and they go around quoting that and they claim it. 150 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:45,600 They don't speak it out loud to people, people wouldn't understand that, but they drive their 151 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,000 car and they claim those promises, they get out of bed and they say, I'm going to put 152 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,720 all in the form of God today, I'm going to win the battle that is trying to mess me up 153 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,000 and keep me from being blessed to the Lord. 154 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,760 But I do want all of us to read these words before trials hit us. 155 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,680 A lot of times we run to that scripture after they've hit us and sometimes that's a little 156 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:08,880 late, but the bottom line of it is if we have to understand this, the spiritual battle going 157 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:10,960 on, we can avoid the battle. 158 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:15,080 If the spirit of God is so strong in us that when someone cuts us off in traffic, we can 159 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,040 ignore it and just move on, then we won that battle. 160 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:23,600 See when we're facing trials and when those trials come to defeat us and come up against 161 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:27,800 us, we already need to be filled with the spirit of God, we need to have the shield 162 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,440 of faith and we need to have those things operating in our lives to win those battles 163 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,440 so they don't become a challenge to us and rob us of God's blessings. 164 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:40,600 Then after all this takes place, we must thank the Lord for what he has done and for who 165 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:41,680 he is. 166 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:46,280 When we're in a battle and we pray and we see that this is calming down and we're walking 167 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:50,920 in the spirit and not in our flesh, then we need to stop in the middle of that and thank 168 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,720 God for what he's done, not what we've done. 169 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,880 When we're walking in the spirit, we're not doing it our own, we're doing it because 170 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,000 God has held the Holy Spirit. 171 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,920 Help us to come into our life and comfort us and guide us and direct us and correct our 172 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,360 thoughts and our actions and what we say and what we do. 173 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:11,000 Often in our prayers, we thank God for a good result and we thank God when something wonderful 174 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:15,040 happens like we're healed and we should or when we get a promotion or something or one 175 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:19,200 of our kids do something good in church and they just turn out to be great kids and we 176 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:23,040 just thank God for that, but we got to remember as we're going through the trials of life 177 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:27,160 that we should always thank God regardless of what we're going through. 178 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:32,280 Thank God for who he is, not always for what he does for us, but many times we should just 179 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,760 stop and say, Father, I just thank you and praise you for who you are. 180 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:42,560 Now, allow me to give you a word of caution on the spiritual battle that we face for success. 181 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:46,320 We've talked about identifying the source of these battles and trials that come into our 182 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,540 life and we know that the spiritual battle is always going to be there because devil 183 00:10:50,540 --> 00:10:52,760 just wants to come in and just wipe us out. 184 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,280 He wants to cause all kinds of grief in our life. 185 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,240 So we know that's the source of one of the battles we face, but we need to identify the 186 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:01,120 source of our trial. 187 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,680 You see, sometimes we must be held accountable that maybe it's because of something that 188 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:06,680 we did. 189 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:10,840 We either lacked wisdom or we didn't have the training or we didn't have the understanding 190 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:16,280 or we didn't do what I call the due diligence, check things out before we take actions. 191 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,320 Sometimes we go borrow money for a car and then we regret what we did a month later, 192 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,040 got giant car payments and we make mistakes. 193 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:24,280 We all make mistakes. 194 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:27,040 I've made my share of mistakes and there's no question about it. 195 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:31,360 So let me give you a couple of scriptures that helped me when facing trials and some 196 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:35,720 of these trials are things that I made mistakes on and it wasn't just the devil himself. 197 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:39,360 In Proverbs 13.10 it says wise people take advice. 198 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:44,440 Well if we want to make good decisions, we should try and get advice from wise people, 199 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:46,760 Christian peoples, believers in the Word of God. 200 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:48,440 Let's not just do everything on our own. 201 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:53,080 Let's bounce things off of other people and get their opinion or their thoughts on a situation 202 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,680 before we take action and do something. 203 00:11:55,680 --> 00:12:00,320 Here's another guidance that the Lord gives us to understand how to deal with these trials. 204 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:02,520 It's found in Proverbs chapter 2 and verse 6. 205 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:04,640 The Lord gives wisdom. 206 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,160 Once again, advice on getting wisdom. 207 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:11,000 God brings wisdom into our life and we get that wisdom through the Holy Spirit, through 208 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,640 the people that we know and through the Word of God. 209 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:18,040 These are all sources of gaining wisdom and understanding for the decisions that we need 210 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:22,600 to make in our life and we just can't go around blaming everybody else for the trials and 211 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,840 challenges that we face because we've brought some of them on ourself. 212 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,880 The devil tries to bring them on so we just need to understand how to deal with them and 213 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:35,480 we need guidance and wisdom by the Holy Spirit to help us and also fill ourself with God's 214 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,760 Word and good counsel from some good Christian godly people. 215 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:45,040 Psalm 119, 66 says this, teach me wisdom and knowledge because I trust your commands. 216 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:50,160 Once again, the Psalmist here is saying, I need help and I know that my best source of 217 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:51,600 help comes from you. 218 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:57,040 The Bible says that there's wisdom in the counsel that we receive from many people and 219 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,040 I'm just a big believer in bouncing things off of people. 220 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:02,040 What do you think about this or what do you think about that? 221 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,560 I don't like to ask people what you think after I've already made a mistake, after I've 222 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:06,560 already done something wrong. 223 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:09,960 That's like when a person comes up to me and they say, oh, look at the new car I've got 224 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:14,040 and they're driving this extremely expensive car and it's really beautiful and it's wonderful 225 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:18,840 and I'll say, well, have you already bought it or is that something that you're thinking 226 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:19,840 of buying? 227 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,400 If they say it's something that they think they're going to buy, they're not sure what 228 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,160 they should do, then I give them my thoughts. 229 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:30,000 But if they say I've already bought it, they've already done that decision so there isn't 230 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,840 a whole lot that you can do for a person like that. 231 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:37,000 But if someone comes to you and you have some wisdom in this particular area for a question 232 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:42,080 they have for you, then give them good, godly, spiritual, scriptural advice and that'll be 233 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:47,040 a help to them because the Word of God tells us there is wisdom in seeking help and guidance 234 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,280 from other people and that'll help us from falling into some of the trials and challenges 235 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:52,440 that we'll face in our life. 236 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:54,640 I hope that helps you because it's always helped me. 237 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:58,400 I've been thinking a lot about this and how to kind of finish up the second half of this 238 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,480 podcast today and so I made up a list of three, what I call the greatest challenges that 239 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:06,440 we'll face when we're trying to be successful at something in our life. 240 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:09,360 Here's the first one, never seek success. 241 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,880 When I wrote that down it made me think of the advice I used to give my granddaughters. 242 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:16,920 I would tell them never seek a husband. 243 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:19,120 Wait for the Lord to bring him to you. 244 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:26,020 You see, the man you marry must seek you and want you, wants to be with you not because 245 00:14:26,020 --> 00:14:29,840 you're pushing yourself on him or whether you're jumping in front of him all the time. 246 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:31,080 But I used to tell him that. 247 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:35,240 I know sometimes I'd get some terrible responses but you know later on as they were dating and 248 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,440 they met guys and they date a few people and then they would break up and whatever and 249 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,240 as time went on they understood that it was best to wait upon the Lord. 250 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,000 Bible says they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, right? 251 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:50,960 So their strength was renewed in being patient and waiting for the right person to come on 252 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,720 and I would then smile when all of a sudden they would meet someone at church. 253 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,880 They'd meet a nice Christian young man and they would realize that you know Lord, you 254 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:03,160 brought him into my life and they kind of grin at me because I know that we had that 255 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:04,160 conversation. 256 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,480 Don't seek what you want. 257 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:11,520 Allow the Lord to bring it to us and that applies to how we deal with situations in our own 258 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:17,360 life and that's point number one and my suggestions to how to deal with greatest challenges is 259 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:19,720 that never seek success. 260 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:20,720 Seek God first. 261 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:26,000 In 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 11 in the new international version it says, look to 262 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,720 the Lord and his strength, seek his face always. 263 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:33,960 In Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13 it says in the new international version, you will seek 264 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,160 me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 265 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:42,000 The word of God says over and over and over again that we need to seek him, right? 266 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,440 So point number one, never seek success, always seek God first. 267 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:52,200 Point number two, to have successful experiences in our life, always put our God first and 268 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:53,440 our trust in him. 269 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:58,600 Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6, one of my absolute all time favorite scriptures in the new living 270 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:04,080 translation says this, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean or depend on 271 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:05,560 your own understanding. 272 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:09,880 Seek his will in all you do and he will show you which path to take. 273 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:14,640 So step number two is always put our trust in God, not our trust in our own wisdom or 274 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:16,320 own knowledge or own understanding. 275 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,280 You know I've mentioned before that I was a home builder, my wife and I had a wonderful 276 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:23,720 real estate development company and we would pray and ask God's guidance and direction 277 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:28,280 and through that we had learned to develop a list of things that were the right steps 278 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:33,000 to take to have success in buying property, building homes and selling them and making 279 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,120 a profit because that was our intention was to make a profit or to be successful. 280 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:41,800 However when we got away from those steps that were led to the Lord and we did things 281 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,280 on our own understanding, we would have a problem with a house situation. 282 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:48,480 We have a very difficult time being with a house that I didn't follow the guidance and 283 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,840 the steps that the Lord gave us on the right steps to take. 284 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:55,200 So it's one thing to say I'm going to trust in the Lord with all my heart, but it's another 285 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,640 thing then to depend on our own background, our own understanding which is a violation 286 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:04,240 of this word because it says do not depend on your own understanding. 287 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:08,440 And this scripture says seek his will, not our will, well not what we think is best because 288 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:10,080 God knows what's best. 289 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:14,880 See God doesn't think or wonder what's best, God knows what's best for us. 290 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:20,080 That's why we should ask him, seek him and we will then take the right step to have success 291 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:22,880 in the things that we're trying to accomplish in our life. 292 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:26,440 Alright, and step number three of the list of the three things I think that will help 293 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:32,160 us see successes in our life is remember God is our source for blessing. 294 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:33,960 That's the more important thing. 295 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:39,400 Earlier in this, I mentioned in this podcast, I mentioned that we know the source of evil 296 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,920 and the attacks in our life and we know where that all comes from. 297 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,040 We should also then always remember that God is our source for every good thing that happens 298 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:48,040 in our life. 299 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:53,240 Proverbs 10 verse 22 in the New King James Version says this, the blessings of the Lord 300 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:57,840 makes one rich and he adds no sorrow with it. 301 00:17:57,840 --> 00:17:59,520 See God is our source. 302 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:03,360 God provides every good and perfect gift and it comes from heaven. 303 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:05,120 Everything good in our life comes from God. 304 00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:11,800 So God is our source for all success, for all abundant living and all prospering. 305 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,000 I feel like I may have gone through that just a little bit too quick. 306 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,080 So let me do a very, very quick review of the three greatest challenges I think we have 307 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:20,160 to success. 308 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:26,640 Number one is to seek God first, not seeking our thoughts and our ideas first. 309 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:31,360 And number two was to trust God and not to trust in only our understanding. 310 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:35,560 Oh, it's fine to listen to our understanding on things that we really do and have a good 311 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:37,120 solid foundation on. 312 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:42,160 But remember God's ways are greater than our ways, as in Isaiah chapter 55, I think it's 313 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,080 verse seven or eight, it says that God's ways are greater than ours. 314 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,600 His thoughts are higher than ours and His ways are always better than ours is what it's 315 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:49,600 saying. 316 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,040 So therefore, even though we have understanding, we might want to take a moment and just a 317 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,560 little extra time say, Lord, pray and just pray and say, is this good? 318 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:57,560 Do you want me to do this? 319 00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:58,680 Is this something I should do? 320 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:03,920 Don't just automatically do things over and over again and expect to see great results 321 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:04,920 from it. 322 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:10,720 And people have that challenge in their life to not want to seek advice or not seek direction 323 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:14,440 from someone else, but they just want to lean on their own understanding. 324 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,240 And that's good to a certain point, but there certainly comes a time in every one of us when 325 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,640 we need to seek God's understanding and not lean on only our understanding. 326 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:23,640 All right. 327 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,680 And the third one was that God is our source and recognize that and show him the respect 328 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:29,680 for it. 329 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,080 You know, anytime something good comes into our life, I don't care if it's getting a 330 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,560 parking space at a parking lot. 331 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:39,200 You're going into a shopping center and cars are everywhere and all of a sudden you get 332 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:41,080 a really good parking spot up close. 333 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,360 I think we need to say God, thank you for that. 334 00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:45,760 Matter of fact, I go a little farther than that. 335 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,960 Sometimes when I see a parking space pop up, I'll say, Lord, thank you for that. 336 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:50,680 I know that you provided that for me. 337 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:54,080 And you even spoke to the person who was in there to get out of that space so that I could 338 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:55,080 have it. 339 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:56,440 Now, I take a little bit farther than that. 340 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:01,320 If I see a good space where I see someone pulling from a good space in front of me, sometimes 341 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:05,520 as I drive by them, as they're today, they've taken a space that I was hoping to get. 342 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:09,640 I'll say, Lord, I pray that you'll forgive them from taking my blessing from me. 343 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:13,960 Now, I know that's kind of corny and kind of funny, but in reality, what it shows is 344 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:18,400 that we just relate to God, that he's our source of every good, blessing anything good 345 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:19,480 comes in our life. 346 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:20,720 It's because of him. 347 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:22,000 Anything bad comes in our life. 348 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:26,600 It's because of bad decisions and things that the devil gets ahold of and tries to put 349 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:28,320 some terrible things into our life. 350 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:32,240 So with that, I hope that we'll seek God first, that we'll trust God always, and we'll 351 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:36,400 understand that he is the source of every good and perfect blessing and gift that we 352 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:37,400 have. 353 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:41,720 Now, as a banker for 15 years and a pastor for 20 years, I set with hundreds, literally 354 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:47,880 hundreds, most likely thousands of individuals, couples, business owners, young and old entrepreneurs, 355 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:52,720 the wannabe entrepreneurs, and many of them have made mistakes. 356 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:53,720 Lots of mistakes. 357 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:54,720 I have. 358 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:55,720 I have my share of them. 359 00:20:55,720 --> 00:21:00,800 Usually, the mistakes that they have made were made because they had not followed these 360 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,400 three scriptural principles. 361 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:07,400 Seek God first, trust God, and know that God's our source. 362 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,120 And when we follow that direction, we know that God will direct us. 363 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:15,440 Matter of fact, you could sum them all up just in one of my favorite scriptures, Matthew 364 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:16,440 633. 365 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,800 Seek, he first, the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and then all these things shall 366 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:21,800 be added unto you. 367 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,920 It's all about seeking God to see success come into our life. 368 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:31,440 Now, may I suggest that you share this podcast with others who are struggling to obtain success. 369 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:35,280 They might be seeking success, pushing for success, desiring for success, doing all that 370 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:36,280 they can. 371 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:37,280 I'm going to be successful. 372 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:38,280 I'm going to do it. 373 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:39,280 I'm going to do it. 374 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,720 They need to stop for a moment and realize when they do that, they're on their own. 375 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:46,000 God can't help someone who claims that they're all going to do it on their own. 376 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:50,960 They're basically turning their back on God and not letting God be God and do what he 377 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:56,160 wants to know and wants to do because it's always going to be what's best for that individual. 378 00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:00,960 These people, these principles, I should say, these principles of seeking God first and 379 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:05,720 trusting God and knowing that God is our source, these principles apply to business. 380 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:06,960 They apply to marriage. 381 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:08,300 They apply to parenting. 382 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:13,400 They apply to our careers, even to our health and most definitely to our peace of mind. 383 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,680 There's a lot of folks come to me for prayer. 384 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,040 Many times they'll start the prayer off by saying, before I pray with them, they'll say, 385 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:20,880 Pastor, would you just help me? 386 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:22,880 I'm struggling with having peace in my life. 387 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:24,800 I just don't have peace. 388 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:26,360 You can just see it's written all over them. 389 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:30,160 It's because many of them are struggling on things that maybe mistakes they've made or 390 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,160 other people have done things to them. 391 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,560 Remember, it's not the people that did things to them. 392 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:38,920 It's principalities and the spiritual things that got into that person that caused that 393 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,760 person to do those things to these people. 394 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,120 Bottom line, the people would come to me and say, I just can't get peace. 395 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:46,640 I'm just going through so much stuff. 396 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:50,920 Well, it's so important that we follow the words of the teaching of the apostle Paul, 397 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:52,840 where he says, to be anxious for nothing. 398 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,840 But everything through prayer, petitions with thanksgiving, make our requests made known 399 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:01,720 to God and the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard our hearts and guard 400 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:03,160 our minds in Christ Jesus. 401 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:04,640 So let me pray for you. 402 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,400 If you're struggling a little bit with some of these issues, let me pray that God will 403 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:14,720 bless you on your traveling to seek God first and then anticipating and expecting God to 404 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:15,920 bless us. 405 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:17,520 Bless you in a very special way. 406 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,360 Heavenly Father, thank you for those who've listened in today. 407 00:23:20,360 --> 00:23:21,720 I pray that you would bless them. 408 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,440 As a matter of fact, I pray our blessing for them, Father, that they wouldn't be able to 409 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:30,200 even hold on to it, that you would bless them abundantly above and beyond anything they 410 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,560 can imagine or even think, Father. 411 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:34,080 So I just believe that for them. 412 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:38,440 I pray, Lord, as they're seeking you, Lord, that success will come into their life, that 413 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:43,440 abundant living will enter into their life, and they'll have prosperity first in their 414 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:45,800 spirit, that their spirit would prosper. 415 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:51,640 And that then their body would prosper, their physical body, their mental body would prosper, 416 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:56,360 and that then they would see a blessing, Lord, that would meet whatever need that they might 417 00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:57,360 have. 418 00:23:57,360 --> 00:23:59,800 I just thank you, Lord, that they're listening in and they're not listening in to get some 419 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:04,840 quick fix, to get some little sprint race solution to what they're going through. 420 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:08,840 But the people that are listening to these podcasts are in it as running in a marathon 421 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:09,840 race. 422 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,960 This is a race that takes time to go through the process. 423 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:18,160 The Bible tells us that hasty speculation brings poverty, but steady plotting brings prosperity. 424 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,360 It's one of your proverbs, Lord. 425 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:25,120 And Father, I pray that for those who are listening in, that steady plotting are consistent 426 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:29,040 following you and having a pattern of good works and doing those things, Father, that 427 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,240 are pleasing to you, Lord, and then you will bless them, that, Lord, they'll never seek 428 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:38,000 success but always seek you, Father, first, and that they'll always trust you, Lord, with 429 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:39,880 all of their hearts, soul, and mind. 430 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,680 And I pray, Father, that they will remember that you are their source for every good and 431 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:44,680 perfect gift. 432 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,560 Now, bless them, Father, and keep them may your face shine upon them, Father. 433 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:50,920 Be gracious to them, Father, and give them peace, Lord. 434 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,400 I believe for that, and I'll thank you for it in advance. 435 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:54,880 In Jesus' name I pray, amen. 436 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,320 Well, I hope this has been a blessing to you. 437 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:01,560 And if you would like to know more about quality Christian living, you can go to my webpage 438 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,560 at davidcfriendauthor.com. 439 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:09,080 And when you get there, the front page will show you a link to my podcast. 440 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,680 And if you would like, you can go ahead and press that, and that would take you into the 441 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:18,640 251 now podcasts that are in there that I've done over about maybe two and a half years 442 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:19,640 now. 443 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,160 And those podcasts discuss so many different topics. 444 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,520 We're talking now about success and prospering and abundant living, but there was a wonderful 445 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,920 series for people in business, or want to get into business, so 20 podcasts, I believe, 446 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:31,920 on that. 447 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,560 There's a wonderful series there where the Lord showed me how to talk about the gifts 448 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:38,480 of the Spirit and the manifestations of the Spirit, how to operate in the gifts of the 449 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,440 Spirit and to have the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. 450 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:46,760 It also, there's a list of podcasts there dealing with faith and having faith for miracles 451 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,360 and having faith to trust God for everything. 452 00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:53,960 And just the podcast, Lord, that you put on my heart, I kind of approached this podcast 453 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:55,640 as I would pastoring my church. 454 00:25:55,640 --> 00:26:00,360 For 20 years, the Lord had my wife and I pastor a church in North Scottsdale that we founded, 455 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:04,800 that our dear pastor Barnett introduced us to and gave us the opportunity to take that 456 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,400 project on and to work it and build it and pastor it. 457 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:13,520 And when I think about that, every week I approached the sermons in prayer and asking 458 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,800 for guidance and direction on where do we go next? 459 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:17,800 What do the people need? 460 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:19,600 What do I need to share with them? 461 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:21,600 What do they start dealing with? 462 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:23,160 What are the challenges they're facing with? 463 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:28,640 And that's the way this podcast is done, is that we go through an extensive list of topics 464 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:29,880 and subject matters. 465 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:36,280 We probably had, I would say, at least 25 different topics that we've done series on 466 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,200 through this two and a half years we've been doing this. 467 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,600 So if you're interested in knowing more about quality Christian living, what we're doing, 468 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:46,040 what we're speaking about, then you can go to my webpage and you'll get that information. 469 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:49,240 When you pull the webpage up, you might want to scroll down just a page and you'll see 470 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:51,120 a reference to a number of books that I've written. 471 00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:52,840 I've written several books. 472 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:57,960 I'm working on my seventh right now and it's a book on faith that really was inspired by 473 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,040 a series that I talked about on faith here on these podcasts. 474 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,080 But I have several books there, one on how to get out of debt, another one to how to 475 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,880 help veterans with the challenges they're facing, another one on faith, another one on 476 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:12,720 generosity, and another one on just being able to believe for things that are not happening 477 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,320 in your life that they will happen. 478 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,600 And that book is entitled, Receive Everything from What We Call Nothing. 479 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,920 So I don't want to spend a lot of time on that, but those books are available and I hope 480 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,000 that you would find them interesting to you. 481 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:29,280 If you would like to subscribe to my podcast, you can do that by going to cpnshows.com, 482 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:30,920 wherever you listen to my podcast. 483 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:35,080 In addition to that, the next podcast series we're going to do, it's only going to be 484 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,120 two podcasts, Dealing with Veterans. 485 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:41,760 I'm going to be talking about the challenges that veterans face and how to receive help. 486 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:46,720 And every year, about this time, the first week or so in November, I do a couple of podcasts 487 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:47,720 for veterans. 488 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:48,720 I was a veteran. 489 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,960 I served in the United States Army and the Republic of Vietnam and was so blessed to 490 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,440 be able to come home from that and God spared my life there. 491 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:00,760 And so I want to be able to help veterans and give them some hope and encouragement in the 492 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,520 life they're facing because a lot of veterans, a lot of people don't know this, but in America 493 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:10,280 today, there are 21 to 22 veterans every single day in America who are committing suicide and 494 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,200 they're taking their lives because they're hurting. 495 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:15,640 And so the Lord put up on my heart to address the issues for veterans. 496 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,200 That's why I've written two books on veterans to help veterans. 497 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:23,560 Also I've spoken to literally thousands of individuals who are veterans over the years 498 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,160 and God has given me a platform to help them. 499 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:27,360 So that's going to be exciting. 500 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:28,920 Well, I hope that you'll tune in for that. 501 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:35,440 In addition to that, I just want to thank you for listening into my 251st podcast of 502 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:36,960 Quality Christian Living. 503 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:41,720 This podcast was entitled, Win the Spiritual Battle for Success. 504 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,240 So let me close with these words. 505 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,200 May the Lord bless you and keep you. 506 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:46,760 May his face shine upon you. 507 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:48,960 May he be gracious to you and give you peace. 508 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,480 May you prosper in being good health, even as your soul prospers. 509 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,520 So until next time, I pray that God will richly bless you. 510 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:01,160 May he give you the desires of your heart and may your desires line up according to 511 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:03,840 God's will and God's purpose for your life. 512 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,840 Once again, thank you for listening to Quality Christian Living. 513 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:16,840 I am your host, David Friend.