Hey guys and welcome back to the salt not sweetener
podcast I'm your host Danielle Townsend and today
we are recording episode 18 and I am so excited
to say that we have gotten this far and glory
be to God we have gotten this far glory be to
God he continues to Give me topics and give me
things to talk about I've said this on here before
that I never want to make an episode I never
want to talk about anything that I feel is not
led by the Lord Because I really feel like this
podcast is the Lord's it's not mine Which means
that I really want to be thoughtful with not
furthering Myself and just like talking about
what I want to talk about I want to talk about
what the Lord is calling me to talk about and
y 'all what I feel the lord is calling me to
talk about and I felt him really pressing it
on me the past couple days but I was unsure of
the direction to go in I actually tried to record
this episode a couple times yesterday and it
just didn't feel right and I was praying for
the lord to guide me in this and I feel like
I now have enough understanding of the direction
he wants me to go in And our topic today is really
going to focus on works and I know especially
when I was new in Giving my life to christ. I
had a lot of questions about works because I
knew the saying faith without works is dead,
but I also had the understanding of Works don't
buy your way in heaven. Um, so it was really
hard for me to navigate like Does God care about
our works? How important are our works? Do our
works by our way into heaven? Do our works matter?
And you know, we're gonna cover a lot of those
questions today. But I have an interesting experience
to share with you guys first that really emphasized
this topic to me. Now this past weekend I went
to my city every year has this street festival
where they have different vendors food vendors
and people selling handmade things and there
are old like Victorian houses that you can have
the opportunity to tour through to walk through
and this year on that tour as well there was
this building Now, this building, I've known
it since I was a child because I had ballet classes
there as a child. I had my proms there. This
building hosts all kinds of events, weddings,
prom, dance classes, like just about everything
you can think of. They have a big auditorium.
This building was built in the 1920s. It's been
here for basically 100 years. I believe their
construction... finished in 1926 so we're just
about at the hundred year point 99 years as I'm
recording this episode and yeah there were tours
allowed of this building so me and the person
I went with we obviously purchased the tours
and we got to go in this place and I learned
something very interesting that I did not know
and I did not know that this building was at
one point a Masonic temple. Now I will tell you
guys I do not know a lot about Freemasonry. I
am not an expert. I am not even someone who can
tell you a lot of facts about it. When I found
out that the place we were going into was a Masonic
temple at one point because the more I was reading
And I actually have the pamphlet here. It says,
the building is noteworthy as a significant historic
landmark in the city due to its size and prominence.
The interiors include murals by Gustav Brand,
depicting biblical scenes connected to Masonic
rituals. And this kind of artwork is rare among
other Masonic temples of its time. And I'm gonna
tell y 'all honestly, when I first started reading
that, my walls went up very quickly. And I kind
of looked at the person I was sitting next to
and I was like, what are we getting into? Because
y 'all know I have a history in New Age spirituality.
And I know that Freemasonry, from what I've looked
at in New Age, are not similar. But when I hear
rituals from my past experience, my brain...
my walls start going up instantly because my
mind starts going to what kind of demonic thing
am I stepping into? What kind of demonic thing
am I walking into? Are there going to be like
demonic portals that need closing? What's going
on here? But, you know, I chilled out. I relaxed.
I recognized, hey, this is no longer an active...
ritualistic place to my knowledge the Freemasons
I believe on the tour they told me left in 2013
so but I decided to do a little bit of research
because I had no clue what Freemasons were at
this point so I also part of my fear of my anxiety
was due to a lack of knowledge and hearing the
word rituals I'll be real with y 'all and hearing
the temple rituals yeah it didn't sit right So
I do a quick Google search of like just what
are some of the basic differences between Christianity
and Freemasonry and There was a list but one
thing that heavily stood out That I'm just saying
this is what Google had told me was that they
have more of a works based salvation meaning
your works are what gets you into eternal life
or your works is what gets you rewarded and you
know I didn't go so far into Looking into all
of the rooted beliefs of what happens after death.
I do under I do recognize My understanding is
that like all the Freemasons believe in a higher
power or a God not all of them believe in Jesus
Christ as a Savior There are different branches
of people who do believe in Jesus Christ and
it kind of branches off in that way but that
was one of the big things that stood out to me
is that works is a very prevalent and That there
are many that believe in workspace salvation
was what I had read and when I went on this tour
um we went into there was a male temple a temple
that was for males and where they would do their
rituals and the artwork was absolutely beautiful
and there was one for women and there were in
each room like 10 different biblical scenes depicted
and just about every single one of them was old
testament i believe i saw one new testament one
that was from the book of mark And it seemed
like they really focused in on Moses. It showed
Moses in the reeds, showcasing the works of the
woman that saved him, was that Pharaoh's daughter
at the time, or Pharaoh's wife at the time, that
had saved Moses from the reeds. It showed Moses
striking the rock. It showed Noah's ark. It was
all of these different Old Testament depictions.
And I did very quickly realize that there was
no Jesus up there. And when I asked the man who
was guiding us on the tour, he had actually I
just asked him, you know, do they do they tend
to focus more on Old Testament or New Testament?
I'm noticing a lot of Old Testament things here.
And he told me that he was actually he wasn't
a Freemason. exactly. It was a branch, a denomination
that kind of branches off of Freemason, which
he explained to me was kind of close ideals.
And he had explained that the reason why all
these artworks were depicted, he had confirmed,
was based on the works, as he said that they
were each up there to represent doing good works
or doing good deeds. And he had explained to
us that good deeds were very important, you know,
donating to things, volunteering for things,
all of that good stuff. And the more I was in
there, the more I recognized that there wasn't
a lot of Jesus and a lot of forgiveness for your
sins and faith, but there was a lot of works.
And after I left there, I started to think a
lot more about works. And I really feel like
that is the topic that the Lord has placed on
my heart today. And I want to be very clear with
my view and my stance right off the bat. I do
not believe in workspace salvation. I personally
do not believe in workspace salvation. And I
want to give you some different scripture real
quick. Now I want to start in John 3 16. So we're
going to open up our Bibles. We are going to
flip to John 3 16. It says here, for God so loved
the world that he gave his only son. that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life. Eternal life being eternal life with the
heavenly father. You get to spend after you die
here on earth your eternal life with the heavenly
father in heaven. And that is if you put your
faith in Jesus Christ. And I would like to flip
to Matthew chapter 21. Sorry, I'd like to reword
that. Matthew chapter 7 verse 21. And it says
here, And this right here, is showing me what
I take from this is that, you know, you can do
many good things, you can do many, many good
works, and that still isn't going to be what
buys your way into heaven. See, the Lord, the
Heavenly Father, Jesus, they pay attention to
the reason why you are doing these good things,
these good works. Notice how Jesus differentiates
good works from the will of the Father. Not everything
that we consider as good works is something that
God wills for us to do. And we'll go more in
depth in this. I'd also like to go to Ephesians
two chapter eight or chapter Ephesians two verses
eight and nine for by grace you have been saved
through faith and this is not your own doing
it is a gift of God not a result of works so
that no one may boast and That one to me is the
most clear spelled out thought our salvation
our forgiveness for our sins is graced It is
a gift from the Heavenly Father. It's not something
that we can earn. Jesus Christ didn't go to the
cross and spill his blood because we earned it,
but there is no worldly works. There's no earthly
works that we can do here that when we die, we
can go to the Heavenly Father and say, I did
A, B, C, D, E, F, G. I donated this much money.
I did this much stuff. I did these kind of works.
I deserve to enter heaven. It is by putting our
faith in Jesus Christ. It is by knowing that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God And came here
and died for our sins and rose again and we put
our faith in him And that is how we are forgiven
for our sins. The way that it has always been
explained to me, because that is what stops us
from going into heaven, right? Is that sin? Is
that debt that we are racking up in this lifetime?
That's the way I, when I was really trying to
break this down and really trying to understand
this, because some of these ideals were very
hard for me to grasp. When I was really getting
in Scripture and giving my life to Christ, You
know, it's funny growing up in the church I never
really questioned these things because I never
really put my faith in it and once I started
really putting my faith in it and Really reading
scripture and really trying to build my relationship
with christ is when I actually started questioning
these things more Because I really wanted to
understand them and I really wanted to believe
them and what really helped me it Grasp it at
first is looking at our sin as basically like
a debt almost right like It's something that
it's a debt that we cannot pay for. We do not
have the coverage to pay for this. So we're here
as we're sending, we're racking up this debt.
And then one day it's gonna come time that we
have to pay that debt. And that is something
that none of us can pay. Our works cannot pay
it. Our words, the way that we swindle, the way
that we talk, we can't manipulate our way in.
We can't bang on the door and con God. We can't
emotionally manipulate God to let us in. So he
sent Jesus Christ, who was perfect. Who endured
all of these temptations that we endure but stayed
strong And when he an innocent man was taken
to the cross when he he took our place What he
did was he took our place. He was sinless and
he took our place. He was beaten He was flogged
his insides were hanging out. He was completely
like Deformed after everything that he had been
through And he was made to carry that heavy,
splintery cross with crowns of thorns in his
head and hung on that cross with nails in his
hands and in his feet to die. When he never did
anything deserving of that death. So what he
did that day was he took the place where everyone
who was, everyone who was living and everyone
who would come to be, which is you and me. And
when he resurrected from the dead, he conquered
death, he conquered the enemy, he secured a victory
for us. And when we Put our faith in him when
we believe that that really happened when we
believe that he really went to the cross When
we believe that he really resurrected when we
believe that he is really the son of God When
we believe that he really did do these things
and he really is conquering over death. We are
putting our faith in him Right like what when
we it starts with that belief And when we do
that we are accepting His sacrifice and when
we accept his sacrifice it pays our debt You
see that's not something that we are able to
pay and Jesus Christ came here and paid it So
it's like we have a debt in our hands and what
Jesus Christ did is the payment and when you
give that debt to him His blood we it pays for
it. Does that make sense guys? I hope I'm wording
this Clearly, so that's why putting your faith
in him is required is because our Sinfulness
is what stops us from going into heaven So our
works are not going to pay off that debt how
much? Just you know, we donate and all of that
like that's awesome to donate to things. That's
awesome to be a help But that alone is not what
cleanses. Because you see, when we give, when
you hear people say that you are a new creation
in Christ, and when you repent for your sins,
and when you lay things at the Lord's feet, you
are forgiven, that is part of that transaction.
and we can get into one day of how the enemy
spiritual warfare wise likes to remind you of
your past and likes to convince you of those
things because that's him trying to strip away
what Jesus Christ did that's him trying to strip
away the forgiveness that's him trying to strip
away the new creation but if you were having
trouble understanding what Jesus Christ going
to the cross did for you that is what it did
for you I talked about recently in my spiritual
warfare episode how also the blood of Jesus is
a protection for us in spiritual warfare But
that is why putting your faith in Jesus Christ
is what gets you access to heaven. Okay, and
now let's talk about works Because when that
was another big question I had when I was giving
my life to Christ I started understanding. Okay,
so it's my faith in Jesus alone that gets me
into heaven like that's what forgives me of my
sins that's what cleanses me so what's the point
of good works like that that's where my mind
went a little bit where it's like so if works
don't buy my salvation if works don't get me
into heaven what's the point of doing good works
what's the point of trying not to sin What's
the point of loving one another? What's the point
of forgiving? What's the point of all these things?
I'm gonna tell y 'all right now that God calls
us to do everything for a reason Forgiveness
loving one another that was covered in the spiritual
warfare episode when you have unforgiveness You
are giving room for the devil to come in your
life. So I'll tell you right now that works Some
of the works you do of forgiving and loving and
things like that that I don't even know if they
should be fully considered works, okay? These
are fruits, you know, fruits of spirit, joy,
love, patience, self -control. But things like
forgiveness and loving thy neighbor, loving thy
neighbor as thyself. those things when you keep
those in practice that is actually protection
from the devil because once you have unforgiveness
and once you have things like that in you that
gives the devil a stronghold in your life that
gives the enemy a place to operate out of you
know when you are holding people in unforgiveness
when you're refusing to let things go you are
giving the devil some legal access to your life
that's an open door Okay, so one of the reasons
why the Lord calls us not to sin is that way
We don't give the devil so much access to us
and so much legal access to us It's harder for
him to operate in areas of our life when we are
trying our best to be Sin free and trying our
best to be Christ like in those aspects in those
areas And I'll tell you too that and this is
more from my personal experience. God doesn't
like to bless disobedience Have you ever noticed
that sometimes he's calling you to just, there's
a promise you're waiting on him, maybe you're
waiting on him to reveal something to you. You
know, you believe that there's a move that he
wants to make in your life, but he's saying,
hey, I need you to forgive this person first.
I need you to volunteer for this thing first.
I need you to do this thing. I'm telling y 'all
right now that sometimes that work, how we have
that scripture that says, Faith without works
is dead when you put your faith in the lord There
are certain things that he's going to call you
to do that allow him to move in your life. Thank
you. Holy spirit That's my way to word that um
So meaning when you place your faith in the lord
when you believe that he has the ability to move
in your life When you believe that he has the
ability To heal the sick when you believe that
he has the ability to answer your prayers when
you believe That he was the son of god. You believe
that he is still capable of doing these things
So once you have your faith in him, you start
to move differently Okay, and there are works
that the lord will call you to do he'll call
you to start volunteering to start donating your
time He will call you to start showing love to
one another. He will call you to start spreading
the gospel He will call you to start doing these
things that yes are works But these works allow
him to move number one. He'll be able to move
in your life I cannot tell you all how many times
I was waiting on God to answer a prayer when
I was praying to him for a job When I was praying
to him for financial provision when I was praying
to him for reconciliation When I was praying
to him for opportunities to spread the gospel
when I was praying to him these different things
and he would answer with an instruction where
it would be sign up for this thing Attend this
go to this Donate to this go speak to this person
Which is a work and once I would do that Somehow
a door would be open next thing, you know, there's
a blessing in that situation Your disobedience
and your refusal to do works can actually be
blocking blessings. The Lord really revealed
that to me at multiple different times in my
life. Okay, sometimes the answer prayer is on
the other side of an act of obedience. But this
was an interesting thing that the Lord really
showed me is that naturally your work start to
look different as you grow in closeness with
Christ. because that question that I told you
all about earlier when I was asking myself well
what's the point of doing good works it's strange
how once I started building my relationship with
Christ and the fruits of the spirit started developing
in me I naturally started to desire to want to
be more Christ -like when in the past my first
reaction would be to crash out in situations
all of a sudden my brain started going to like
what would Jesus do How would Jesus handle this?
How would Jesus react? Would Jesus crash out
or would he be loving? And I started naturally
wanting to do more because I started feeling
more of a conviction as well And that's the thing
is I started listening to the conviction I feel
when you get a conviction from the Lord and my
experience and how I've heard a lot of other
people describe it is some it really starts as
like a loud voice of like Hey, don't be handling
it this way react this way, you know turn away
from this like a loud voice and you had the opportunity
to either listen to that or to ignore it and
put it on the back burner and I can tell you
all from experience too when you ignore it and
put it on the back burner that voice starts to
get a little bit quieter and quieter and quieter
and you don't want the voice of the Lord to get
quieter so that's another thing too is I started
to feel more conviction now I want to say there's
a difference between conviction and condemnation
the conviction was hey you know better make a
better choice Condemnation is not from God. Condemnation
is from the devil. Condemnation is there's no
coming back from this. You screwed it up. It's
done forever. It's dead. There's no redemption.
That's not from the Lord. The Lord is all about
redemption. The Lord is all about redeeming.
Okay, that's literally what he did on the cross.
It's redemption for us. Alright, so I just want
to make that very clear. That conviction, yes,
but when you start feeling that condemnation,
understand that that condemnation isn't from...
God there's sometimes where I felt conviction
and listen to that and then afterwards the enemy
the devil tries to whisper in my ear With condemnation
of saying well, there's no coming back. There's
none of this I'm telling you all right now if
you're experiencing that take those intrusive
thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ
Plead the blood of Jesus over your mind bind
whatever that is and rebuke it in Jesus name.
Okay But yeah, so it's really important to understand
that God will call us to do good works And doing
good works is part of our faith. But it really
is a product of our faith. And if you've ever
heard anyone say, you shall know them by their
fruits, you know that that's in scripture. where
the Lord says, you shall know people by their
fruits. You shall know believers by their fruits.
Anybody y 'all can claim that they know the Lord
Jesus Christ. Anybody can read all scripture
and quote it off. We saw the devil do it to Jesus
in the desert. He quotes scripture, but he was
twisting it and manipulating it. All right, anybody
can quote scripture. Anybody can go to church.
Anybody can talk about the Lord. Anybody can
talk about God. Fruits of the spirit are different.
And that's why the Lord said, you shall know
them by their fruits. Because it's really hard
to decipher just by what someone's saying. And
what are the fruits of spirit? I'll list off
a couple for you. Love, joy, patience, peace,
self -control, long -suffering. A lot of people
forget about that one or want to ignore that
one, but long -suffering. And these things aren't
just developed overnight and anybody can develop
these things. No, you're not just to crash out
stop saying that you can develop self -control
And the Lord does it through giving you opportunities
to be more self -controlled I remember when I
was praying for self -control and I was praying
for joy and I was praying for love God would
give me opportunities to be joyous despite my
situations Because joy is being able to be joyful
Despite what you do have or what you don't have
and there were times when I had a lot that I
was praising the Lord and there are other times
where I had to find just a few things I could
find to be joyful about and be joyful about.
With self -control, there were opportunities
for me to go backwards. There were opportunities
presented to me to lose myself. and to do whatever
I wanted to do and to cast all care to the wind.
And I had to decide in that moment to hold myself
accountable and to be self -controlled. These
fruits of the spirit are developed by having
opportunities to do one or the other. When you
pray to the Lord for things, he's gonna give
you opportunities to do that. If you're praying
for boldness, he's gonna give you opportunities
to be bold. If you're praying for patience, he's
gonna give you opportunities to be patient. And
you have to choose to be patient and then get
your patience from him pray to him get your strength
from him He's not meaning for you to do it alone
and you like develop just like your own personal
muscle You are still supposed to go to God and
all of these times You're supposed to be getting
your strength from the Lord but that's the thing
too is your fruits of the spirit are going to
start to develop as you continue your relationship
with Christ, and oftentimes they are going to
be developed through types of work that the Lord
calls you to do. Let me think of an example.
Patience. Patience. The patience was actually
developed for me a lot through a type of work
I did, through a job title I had. I was working
with children every single day, and I don't know
if y 'all know this or not, but working with
young children you have to be very patient like
at all times and when i tell y 'all that the
lord i was showing up to my job every single
day and there was something new that was unexpected
that i just had to be patient about and that
I had to show love and I had to still be joyous
and still be smiling to keep the kids smiling.
Like the Lord literally strengthened these things
through my work, through me showing up to work
every day. It's not I pray for these things and
I wake up and I'm all these things. So our works
are important because our works do in a way kind
of reveal our fruits right like Let me think
of an example here with love Okay, love loving
someone despite whether or not they have the
same opinions or the same beliefs as you now
I'm not saying that this is like Affirming sin.
I'm not saying that this is love isn't Affirming
sin. Okay, but love is I love you despite whatever
sin you have going on I'm going to continue to
pray for you. I'm gonna continue to Show you
kindness. I'm going to continue to You know not
go out of my way to do anything to just like
hurt you like loving one another as yourself.
And one way that we show love is, this was a
very simple one. It was actually in a book that
I've been reading, which is called Servant Warfare,
where the way that they handle spiritual warfare
is through being a servant and through being
kind. And the man who wrote the book talked about
how every week his church would do something
where they would show up to random businesses
and offer to clean their toilets. They would
go and feed parking leaders every week of random
people. They would go out and just start cleaning
off people's windshields of their cars and then
give them cards saying that they're doing this
to show the love of Jesus Christ in a practical
way. And sometimes they would show up and there
would be people being very rude to them. There
was in the book talked about there was a lady
that they showed up who they showed up to give
food to her And to her family when she was a
fortune -teller and a tarot card reader medium
and showed up to her place of business where
she had clients sitting there in the door and
I'm speaking to you all someone who that was
a former path that I was on I can tell you that
divination is sinful it is a sinful activity
tarot card reading mediumship that is not of
the Lord okay so this was a woman who is actively
in her sin who is doing it and literally called
the church people to her place of business to
ask for food and they showed up kindness, giving
her the food and offering to pray for her end
up praying for her and praying for all the people
like almost all the people who were there waiting
for their turns asked to be prayed for and I
believe it was eight or nine of them gave their
lives to Christ after hearing the gospel and
some of them started attending the church and
everything like that that right there is an example
still of doing that works and that showed their
love right their works was donating that food
and giving that food and donating your time and
stopping and praying for these people and doing
these things and that showed their love for this
woman that even though she is doing what she
was doing in her life they understood that they
are no better than her still and they understood
that loving one another is still praying for
one another and giving food to one another helping
to care for one another and that right there
Yes, that was a works that they were doing but
it showed their love it showed the fruit of the
spirit I hope this is making sense the way i'm
explaining it to y 'all and honestly The longer
you're in your walk with christ the more you
are reading scripture the more you're praying
to him and the more you're just living out your
life as A christian and you're just going day
by day trying to be more christ -like and pursue
a relationship with him These things are going
to start falling into place And I wish it I wish
I could say it better but You as you start to
see it played out in your daily life and you
start to practice it day by day These things
are going to start to make more sense as you
grow in your relationship with Christ and you
get to know his Character and you get to know
who he is and you get to know What he does? You're
going to be able more to kind of separate the
works From the salvation and I know it's kind
of hard to at first you're gonna be able to start
understanding how your works just become a part
of your daily routine like I Honestly, maybe
I should make it a little bit more of a point
to but no honesty. It's like I At first, I used
to wake up in the mornings and be like, okay,
what do I need to work on today? Do I need to
work on discernment? Do I need to work on these
things? And I'd be sitting there like, Lord,
please give me opportunities to strengthen this
and strengthen that and like, we'll move in this.
And throughout the day, I'd be looking like,
okay, how can I be more Christlike in this? How
can I be more Christlike in this? How can I do
this? How can I grow this? And now... Yes, I
pray that the Lord strengthens things and I pray
that the Lord reveals things and now it's just
more the things I used to have to remind myself
to do I find myself just gravitating towards
doing now It started to become a little bit more
of a second nature and I start looking back up
Oh, that was a Christ like move to make like
oh I read about that in Scripture. I'm glad I
can see that that took root in me You know, there
are times when I look back and I'm like, okay,
I could have handled that better Let's reflect
on that. Let's figure out the next direction
we can go in You know, I think this is gonna
be a little bit of a shorter podcast episode.
I don't think we're gonna go too much Deeper
into this but I do want to go back to that scripture
that I know scares people sometimes and it's
a scripture that says Or jesus is saying that
they're gonna be be people one day who prepare
to enter the kingdom of heaven because when we
die and like when it's time for us to enter the
kingdom of heaven jesus christ is like standing
in between us and the heavenly father because
jesus christ is like interceding for us that's
what his blood does and that there are going
to be people who go before him and say like Have
I not done good works? Did I not go and cast
out demons in your name? Did I not go and prophesy
in your name that there are going to be people
who go before him and say that I claim to be
a follower of Christ? I claim I did these wondrous
works and I did them in your name. Let me in.
and he's gonna say, like, depart from me for
I never knew you, meaning he's gonna say, depart
from me because we never had a legitimate relationship.
And notice how before that, in that scripture,
and I had said this in the beginning of our episode,
that Jesus really separated the will of the Father
from the good works. Because there are a lot
of things that we want to do where we're like,
oh, well, I just want to donate all I want to
spend all my time investing in this. And I'll
just give all my money to these programs. And
like, I'll just start up a deliverance ministry
and I'll start up doing all this. And if we would
have prayed to God, God would have said, actually,
I want you over here. Yes, like that's a good
thing. But there is someone else I have for that
position. Want you over here? I want you in this
type of ministry. I want you in this type of
job I want you investing your time over here.
I want you to do your tithes over here You know
they were doing these things because it was what
they Personally wanted they weren't consulting
with the Lord where he wanted them What he desired
for them to do they weren't getting their guidance
or instruction from them This is so important
that someone needs to hear today Ask yourself
and really take a while because I needed to check
this in sometimes I need to check in with myself
on this Are you using God as your spirit as your
are you going him as your steering wheel or as
your spare tire? Are you praying to him saying
God where should I go? What should I do? How
should I do this? How do I do this? How do you
want me like you show me? wait on his answer
and you submit to his answer or Are you making
the plans for yourself? and praying that God
blesses those plans. Are you saying, well, this
is what I want. This is how I wanna do it. This
is where I'm gonna go. Lord, I pray that you
bless it. Let it all work out. Which one are
you doing? Because the first one is a steering
wheel. The second one is more the spare tire.
It's deciding not to pray to him until maybe
it goes sideways or it goes a little awry too.
And then you pray to him to fix it. That's really
using him as a spare tire and I know I've needed
that check and before God wants to guide us every
step of the way and having a relationship with
him You know, that's part of the relationship
is going to him saying what should I do? Please
guide me. Please direct me. We should be pleasing
him as well But I know that there's so many people
that are fearful when they read that scripture
and honestly I used to be very fearful reading
that scripture and the Lord has really given
me Peace with that because the thing that he's
really showed me is where Jesus says the part
for me for I never knew you Recognizing that
these people didn't have personal relationships
with the Lord They used his name, but they weren't
in a personal relationship with him They weren't
getting their guidance from him. They weren't
trying to do his will They were trying to execute
their own will and I hope that this gives someone
peace and someone Understanding who is listening
to this today that is very fearful when they
hear that scripture But I also hope that this
provokes you to think are some of the works that
you're doing right now that you think are wonderful
You think are amazing. Are they works that you
desire? Are they works that you've created and
you've planned for yourself or are they works
that the Lord has guided you to? Are you checking
in with him? Are there some walls you're hitting
right now and you're like, why am I hitting these
walls? I prayed that God would bless the situation.
I prayed that he would change whatever doesn't
need to work. But did you pray to him before
you made the game plan? Did you listen to his
yes or no? Can I tell y 'all that there was actually
such a relief Hey, I wanted to share this when
I was really giving my life to Christ I was in
the lowest place I've ever been in my life financially
and when I started recognizing everything Jesus
Christ's offering did what Jesus Christ did on
the cross that wasn't just paying our sins like
that that was an offering because at that time
people were having to travel to temples and spend
their money to buy animals to then sacrifice
to like pay off their sin and i remember having
such a gratitude where i was like lord thank
you so much for jesus christ doing this on the
cross because i don't have the money for a goat
i don't have the money for a dove like i remember
sitting there at that time saying i didn't have
the resources to buy any of that i didn't have
the resources to travel to a temple and like
my mind was like i can't imagine like having
to do these things and all of the extras that's
another thing that jesus christ go into the cross
did is we don't have to do those burnt offerings
anymore we don't have to do those blood sacrifices
jesus christ was the blood sacrifice We don't
have to travel to all these temples. We can pray
to Jesus in our car. We can pray to the Heavenly
Father in our car. We can pray in our shower.
We can pray in our bedroom. We can pray in our
office building. We can pray wherever. We have
a direct line to the Heavenly Father. I mean,
what Jesus Christ on the cross gives us the opportunity
to go to heaven anyway, because before Jesus,
it was just the Jewish community. It was just
Israel. It was God's chosen people. Israel not
meaning the nation at the time meaning the people
that was God's people were Israel Everyone else
Gentiles They weren't in the game like this you
know, that's what when when The Jews rejected
Jesus Christ that actually opened up the door
for the rest of us to accept Jesus Christ There's
so many times that I forget that it's like it's
a blessing that I even had the opportunity to
go in To heaven to have a relationship with the
Heavenly Father to be chosen by him Many are
called fewer chosen To have a relationship with
the Lord and to be used by the Lord But yeah,
I remember y 'all that I was just in there and
I remember saying in my car Just crying saying
like thank you so much Lord for it not being
a workspace salvation Because like think about
how many people in the world don't have the money
to donate to big firms They don't have hundreds
of thousands of dollars to invest in companies
and corporations They don't have that even thousands
at a time to feed the hungry and to do all of
these things Do we have our time to donate? Yes
We we we can volunteer to things we can offer
but it's like Thank you Lord for it not being
You rack up so much money, you donate so much
money, you buy so many animals, you donate so
many animals, you lead so many people to Christ,
and you get into heaven. Like, it's not even
that. It's not even the number of people that
you share the gospel with. Because there are
some people who have way more resources than
other people. There's some people who... Because
honestly, y 'all, and this was another thing
that my mind went to is... works based is just
encouragement to do sketchy things to get it
done and to get ahead. That's another thing I
love with the Lord is it's not about how fast
you get it done. It's about doing it the way
that he guides you to do it, right? And when
we think of just outcome based of like, okay,
I go to heaven if I bring this many people to
the Lord, or I go to heaven if I donate this
much money, then that's when a lot of people
get in the headspace of let me do sketchy stuff
for money. Let me send for money because honestly,
this was something I really learned in the world
is you get things done a lot quicker seemingly
when you said That's what really got me into
New Age spirituality and manifesting and all
that is it appeared to be a lot quicker than
God's way But I'll also let you in on a little
secret It doesn't last as long and it's not a
sturdy because it's not built on a firm foundation
It's not built to last if it's not God's will
for you If it's not what he wants you to keep
in your life, especially once you give your life
to him. You're gonna let it go So I realized
that the things that God built were on a firm
foundation and lasted and the devil couldn't
just take them away But the things that if you're
if you are sinning to get things you're not getting
them from God You're getting them from the devil
and the devil always gets you to give more than
what you're willing to bargain for He's very
conditional So yeah, there's you know, I had
such it was like this weird but wonderful relief
I had when I realized that it was about my faiths.
It wasn't about my works. And yes, my works are
a byproduct of my faith, but the works I do doesn't
determine if I get into heaven. Which means also,
as I started saying a few minutes ago, I'm not
encouraged to do things just to get the money,
just to get this, just to talk to people. Imagine
how many sketchy things people would do for platforms.
That way they could say, well, once I had the
platform, I told everybody about Christ. Which
you know goes back to what are the intentions
behind what you're doing. That's the thing too
y 'all may Say this prayer to the Lord because
I used to have a lot of concerns of is my heart
in the right place Am I doing this for the right
reasons and I finally started praying to the
Lord where I was like Lord My will before your
will before my will and Lord Jesus if my will
is not matching with what you will for my life
I pray that my will starts to change. I pray
that my desires start to change I start praying
to Lord change the desires of my heart or it
was like Lord These are certain things that I'm
desiring for myself and I don't know if these
fit into what you will for my life And if they
don't, I pray that you naturally change and shift
these desires. And there are things that like
years, a year ago even, I really desired, I really
wanted for myself. Heck, there were some things
I looked for in a partner that I felt like I
could never not have this. And now, some of those
things are not even concerns of mine anymore.
Like where I don't want that thing at all I don't
desire that thing at all and I'm looking back
and I'm like, oh, yeah that thing would not have
been healthy for me or the path that the Lord
is guiding me and that thing would have really
kind of like Gone head -to -head would have been
opposition. I'm glad the Lord didn't give me
that thing at that time And he's also stirred
up new desires in me y 'all one of the crazy
desires. I never want to be a mom like ever i
was one of those people who i i would always
say i never ever want to be a mom i was one of
those people too like i didn't want to get married
and i was praying to the lord change the desires
of my heart and he's actually stirred up those
desires when i've never had those desires before
in my life there are some viewpoints that i used
to have That are completely flipped now I'm telling
y 'all that God really moves in that prayer and
when you surrender to that prayer There are things
that he will stir up in you that you never thought
were gonna be stirred And there are things that
he'll help you release that you never thought
you'd be able to release So y 'all I'm gonna
pray us out I want to pray for you Those of you
listening to this podcast So Lord Jesus, I want
to pray for every single person listening to
this podcast. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that they
have a clear understanding of your will, that
they have a clear understanding of who you are
and what you expect from them, Lord Jesus. I
pray that they develop a personal relationship
with you. That they listen to the convictions.
I pray that they start to feel the convictions
and that they listen to the convictions I pray
that they are fruits of the spirit that start
to develop in their lives. I pray Lord Jesus
There are some people listening to this today
that need to develop Better coping mechanisms
and I pray Heavenly Father that these people
develop better coping mechanisms I pray Heavenly
Father that they go to you That you are their
source of peace that you are their source of
comfort that you are their source of guidance
I pray Heavenly Father over all the people listening
to us that they have a peace that surpasses all
understanding when it comes to their Relationship
with you and I pray Heavenly Father that you
strengthen their discernment I pray Heavenly
Father that they learn how to plead the blood
of Jesus over their lives and I pray Heavenly
Father that they truly put their faith in you
and what you are able to do in their lives. I
pray, Lord Jesus, that they remember that it
is not about the works that they do, but that
they understand that their works are a byproduct
of their faith. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that
they lean into the works that you are calling
them to do, and that they lean into the steps
that you are calling them to take. I pray that
any opposition is broken off of them. Lord Jesus,
remove people from their lives that are acting
as opposition or acting as stumbling blocks.
Lord Jesus, bring people into their lives that
are going to bring them closer to you and encourage
them to pursue their relationship with you. Lord
Jesus, I pray that they truly have an understanding
of who you are and that they truly develop a
love for you and they see you not only as their
savior but as the Lord over their life. In Jesus'
name, I pray, amen. Thank you all so much for
listening to this episode and I really hope that
you share this with other people and That you
subscribe so that way you don't miss the next
upload This was the salt not sweetener podcast
and I am your host Danielle Townsend. Have a
wonderful day. God bless