Hey guys and welcome back to the salt not sweetener
podcast I am your host Danielle Townsend and
honestly all this episode Recording was very
unexpected It's actually evening time right now,
and I usually do not sit down and record episodes
this late in the evening It's more of a morning
afternoon thing for me But as I was reading This
new book that I've started. I felt the Lord guide
me to what I am supposed to share with y 'all
tonight. Just to give a little book recommendation
y 'all, I have started reading this book called
Share Jesus Without Fear by William Fay and So
far it has been wonderful. It's going to be one
of my book recommendations. I'm compiling a list
of books that have helped me in my walk with
Christ and this is definitely going to be one
of them. But I, in reading this, have felt a
conviction to share this topic with you today
and it's something that has been coming up in
conversations for me the past couple weeks and
that is you need to love God more. You need to
love God more than anything in this world. You
need to love Jesus more than anything in this
world. You need to love Jesus more than your
parents. You need to love Jesus more than your
spouse. You need to love Jesus more than your
friends. You need to love Jesus more than your
coworkers. You need to love Jesus more than your
job. You need to love Jesus more than your calling.
You need to love Jesus more than your gifts.
You need to love Jesus more than money. You need
to love Jesus more than attention. What determines
our a successful walk as a Christian is just
obeying God. You know that that's something that
my eyes have really been opened up to recently
is when we go before God one day the only thing
that allows us to go into heaven is being covered
in the blood of Jesus of Putting our faith in
Jesus. It's not how many people we get to give
their lives to Jesus It's not how many people
we impact with our gift It's not how much money
we raise or how much money we donate. It's not
all of these good works. We can't stand before
God one day and say, I won this many souls for
Christ. I got this many people baptized. You
know, this many people listen to the podcast.
I got this many people to read the Bible. Although
those are wonderful things. Those are wonderful
works. Those don't buy our salvation, right?
So we can't use those things to determine how
successful we are in our walk with Christ. I
have started to see success in my walk with Christ
as obedience to Christ, saying yes to Him. And
sometimes the outcome of yes doesn't always look
like what we want it to look like, right? Sometimes
Christ puts it on our heart to spread the gospel,
to say something, to share something. Just for
the sake of planting seed. We don't always get
to see the transformation We don't always get
to see the big payoff. We don't always get to
see that person give their life to Jesus We don't
always get to see that person have that transformation
sometimes that person rejects us to our face
and Just because we're rejected doesn't mean
we failed the success is in obeying the Lord
But in order to get to that point Obeying the
Lord you have to overcome fear, right? You have
to overcome the fear of rejection you have to
overcome the fear loss of people laughing at
you of things being taken from you and the only
way that you're gonna be able to like Overcome
that is if your love for God is greater Speaking
from experience as someone who I used to have
such a consciousness of people pleasing, of not
wanting other people to feel uncomfortable. Like
I wanted everybody, I wanted to just be able
to tell people when I was a new age, before I
gave my life to Jesus, I wanted to be able to
tell people, your truth is your truth, you do
what feels right to you, you do what you wanna
do. I wanted everyone to be happy and feel good,
and I thought that that was love. And when I
realized that Jesus Christ was the way, the truth,
the life, and I felt a conviction for that people
-pleasing behavior and realized that that people
-pleasing behavior was just loving people to
hell because I wasn't telling them about their
Savior. I felt a conviction of I can't live that
way anymore. I can't live in that people -pleasing.
I can't do that anymore. But there's a fear that
comes with that, right? Because then you start
to fear, well, when I start telling people that
that way is wrong and that Jesus Christ is the
way, how many people am I going to lose? How
many people are going to get angry at me? How
many people are going to reject me? How many
people are going to turn on me? How many people
are going to want to hurt me? We know. Jesus
has warned us that if they persecuted him, they
will persecute us. Being persecuted as a Christian
isn't a if, it's a when. It's not a possibility.
It's something that is expected to happen. We're
actually told in the Beatitudes, like blessed
are you when you're persecuted on Jesus's behalf.
Blessed are you when you're mocked and you're
ridiculed. Like great is your reward in heaven.
Notice how it's great is your reward in heaven
Part of our walk as Christians is the persecution
is the ridicule that comes from the world And
we have to overcome that fear and I feel like
I might be speaking to people today who are working
through that fear or who are dealing with that
fear, or who have allowed that fear to just convince
them that evangelizing isn't for them, that creating
disciples isn't for them. Someone needs to hear
this today, but that was a command for all of
us. The Great Commission, all of us are supposed
to share testimony, are supposed to share our
faith, are supposed to be prepared to defend
our confidence in God. God doesn't give us these
testimonies and these miracles and these these
glorious things to keep all to ourselves. He
wants us to share them with other people. It
is our responsibility as Christians to share,
to spread the gospel with other people. It is
our role. It is our responsibility. It makes
God happy. It makes God happy for us to do it
and we have to stop using the excuse of well,
I'm not a pastor I'm not good with my word. So
I'm not smart enough. I'm not bold enough That's
what the Holy Spirit is for the Holy Spirit gives
us the boldness The Holy Spirit gives us the
strength. The Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom
God Jesus gave us the helper the Holy Spirit
for a reason So we have to stop giving into the
excuse of I don't know enough. I don't have the
words I'm not confident enough God doesn't expect
us to be perfect But he does want us and desires
us to obey His call And if you are fighting with
the fear. I want to tell you right now that that
fear isn't from God. That fear is from the enemy.
Fear is spiritual warfare. And this fear is a
spiritual warfare. God has given you a call.
God has given you a command which is to spread
the gospel. To go and make disciples. And the
enemy's way to combat that is to stop you before
you can even start. is to get you too worried
about what's gonna happen when you open your
mouth, is to get you too fearful about what you're
gonna lose, what feathers are you gonna ruffle,
getting you fearful that you're not good enough,
that you're gonna mess up, that's not gonna go
right, so you don't even try. Look, the enemy
is gonna try to snuff it out before the ball
even gets rolling, and that's what that fear
does. And I wanna share with y 'all from personal
experience, I believe this is gonna be a shorter
episode, but just sharing with y 'all from personal
experience of how I was able to overcome that.
As someone who I dealt with panic disorder, I
dealt with raging anxiety and overthinking. Like
y 'all, the littlest stuff I would take, I would
overthink it. I went into a period where it was,
you know, there's fight, fly, or freeze. Yeah,
I was freeze. I was freeze. And I started to
feel convicted and recognize that when I'm frozen
or when I'm still sure I might not be saying
anything wrong, but I'm also not saying or doing
anything that God can use. I'm not being useful.
I became one of those people who was mentioned
in the Gospels that was burying the talons. You
know where the master gave this person like five
talons, another this many, another this many,
and the person with the smallest amount went
and buried it? when the master came back he's
like yeah I'm afraid of you and I knew like you
know you would take from this so I just buried
it so here's your talent back and the master
was upset he was like you could have at least
put it in the bank so it could a cruel interest
you could have done something with it but out
of fear you froze and you did nothing with the
gift I have given you so he took that talent
from him and gave it to the people who did something
with it Right God gives us these testimonies.
He gives us these experiences Jesus gives us
these moments with him because he loves us But
also so that way we can share them with other
people I'll tell you all personally my my best
experiences in evangelizing is honestly when
I'm able to share my lived testimonies with other
people Like yes, there are people will I've been
able to sit there and just tell them God says
this and this is God's Word And it resonates
with them. But man, I have seen God move in ways
that are unexplainable when I'm just sitting
there sharing my testimony. When I'm just sitting
there talking about how heavy and guilty I felt
and when I repented the release I felt. When
I'm sharing my testimonies of experiencing the
love of Jesus in the lowest moments of my life.
When I share about miracles and breakthroughs
that God delivered in my life. When I share things
that one time my life I would have been fearful
to share out of fear that they would be offensive
to people or that people or that I things that
I thought I should be embarrassed by all of these
things I Have seen God move in ways that like
are still mind -blowing to me Off of me just
sharing what he did Like these these testimonies
he's given me are a gift to share to use to evangelize
And you whoever you are listening to this today
there is an experience with Jesus Christ pray
to him pray to God That he opens up your eyes.
There are so many people out there who don't
believe that they have a testimony I cannot tell
y 'all how many people I have talked to that
are wonderful followers of Christ like people
who love Jesus and they hear about my radical
transformation you know the radical eye -opening
and repenting and God did some crazy radical
things in my life and when they hear that and
they and they look at me and they say I don't
really have a testimony like that like I grew
up in the church and I gave my life to Jesus
and I've just followed him And they're like,
I don't really have a crazy testimony like that.
And it kind of breaks my heart a little bit when
I hear them say that. And I never really knew
what to say. Because I knew in the back of my
mind, I couldn't put it into words where it's
like, I know you have a testimony somewhere.
I know that there is a way that you have experienced
Jesus or felt Jesus. That would be impactful
and point someone to the cross You know in all
honesty mine is a little bit easier to spot You
know my testimony is I was in my car in the desert
in California deep in New Age and started reading
my Bible again and started feeling radical Conviction
and as I started listening to that conviction
and started repenting. I saw Jesus change my
heart and like He worked miracles and all these
crazy, you know, there was a lot of transformational
where I guess some of the things are kind of
in your face, right? They're hard to miss. And
to some people who have just grown up loving
God, grown up knowing Jesus, grown up obeying
the Lord, maybe not going as out of pocket sideways
as I have. when they look at it and they think
there's nothing that I can really say that'll
radically shift someone or radically transform
someone maybe there is and you just don't see
it and here's another thing like we said in the
beginning of the podcast Jesus isn't calling
us to radically transform people he isn't calling
us to radically shift people he's calling us
to obey him and trust that he's gonna do the
rest And I have seen it firsthand for some people
be the most impactful thing wasn't when I was
saying that, oh yeah, like I felt perfectly comfortable
in the sin for 20 years. And then all of a sudden
I felt this conviction. And when I share the
radical moments, there's some people that they
love to hear it, but that's not what impacted
them. But instead what impacted them was when
I tell them about a moment when I was just really
sad. really depressed and felt really weighted.
And in that moment, instead of like sitting in
my feelings and turning in my feelings, I chose
to pick up my Bible and start reading it and
start praying to Jesus. And in that moment, I
felt a peace that surpassed all understanding.
And that's something that could bring some people
to tears. And my brothers and sisters in Christ
are raised in the church. When I hear them share
about some experiences and I hear them share
things like that I'm like dude, that's your testimony
right there. That's a testimony of the love of
Jesus That's a testimony of a peace that surpasses
all understanding. That is a testimony There
are so many people out there right now with hidden
testimonies Like with moments that they have
experienced Jesus That in just sharing that is
gonna help other people people don't realize
how much their testimonies our ways to glorify
God and evangelize. And the devil makes us embarrassed
of our testimonies. There are a lot of people
with great testimonies that are too embarrassed
to share them. One of mine that I was embarrassed
to share for the longest time when I moved out
to California and went to start a new life and
at first it was going great. At one point it
went sideways and I ended up sleeping in my car.
And Jesus delivered me from that. That was what
I was doing when I gave my life to Jesus. For
a long time that was a part of my testimony I'd
leave out because I was embarrassed to tell people
that my life hit that low of a point I was embarrassed
to tell people my life hit that low of a point
and then Jesus I felt him knocking on my heart
of like you're leaving out something that's gonna
impact so many people I didn't deliver you from
that so you could hide it Like when I tell y
'all Jesus in my obedience deliver miracles that
delivered me from that situation. And that's
a very hard situation to get out of on your own.
In this economy, in this climate we live in right
now, it's hard to even get yourself out of that
situation. And Jesus Christ did it for me, in
my obedience to Him. Felt so convicted that I
was allowing the enemy to meet me feel embarrassed
of something that Jesus cleaned up And someone
else needs to hear this today that thing that
you know Jesus found you and he cleaned you up
He didn't clean you up so you could pretend like
you were never dirty You're cleaned up now and
you can share that testimony with other people
who feel like it's impossible for them to be
clean You feel like it's impossible For them
to be washed of their sins and you're able to
say Jesus did it for me and he can do it for
you I want to get back to the root of this message
y 'all that you have to love Jesus more Because
the next fear that comes up a lot especially
for people who if your friends or your family
aren't Christian is What if I lose my friends?
What if I lose my family? By giving my life to
Jesus What if they don't want anything to do
with me? What if they mock me? What if they reject
me? Guess what y 'all? That happened to me. That
happened to me. There were some people that I
loved dearly that me obeying God has put a real
wedge between me and them. But they live a life
that is at the moment Serving the flesh that
they don't understand obedience to God And that
my obedience to God is frustrating for them and
it doesn't make sense to them and It angers them
and it annoys them and it convicts them. It makes
them every feel every type of way Where it's
hard to have long conversations with them Where
I can't be close with them anymore because every
time I'm close There is death and there's anger
and I have felt God I have prayed so heavily
to God Months months of prayers of God changed
the situation changed their heart changed and
As much as I wanted God to change their heart
the answer God gave me was you have to pray For
them and love them with boundaries Bad companies
corrupts good morals bad company corrupts good
morals And you have to have boundaries with these
people still pray for them still love them, but
Jesus came To create division houses of five
were going to be divided two against three and
three against two and this was my house divided
And that was the hardest thing for me to experience
the rejection Felt at times when I was trying
to spread the gospel and I was outright rejected
I was outright laughed at I was outright locked
God was mocked You know because in that moment
they weren't rejecting me they were rejecting
God And then there were other people that, when
I gave my life to Jesus, I was ready to reconnect
with people. There were some people that I had
been friends with when I was really worldly and
when I went through my little isolation period,
I hadn't really been talking to anybody. When
I gave my life to Jesus, I wanted to reconnect
every bridge. I wanted to open every door that
had been closed, feeling like I wanted to make
everything right with everybody and I wanted
to spread sunshine and rainbows. And one thing
that was really hard for me is... When some of
the doors, when I tried opening, I felt so convicted.
And I felt God speak to me like, these are doors
that aren't meant to be opened up again. And
there were a couple times when honestly I didn't
really listen. And when I opened up those doors,
I got rejected real quick. The second Jesus was
involved. They didn't want anything to do with
me. I wasn't the same Danielle. I wasn't the
fun one to them anymore. I was mocked. When I
gave my life to Jesus, I was mocked by the New
Age community, y 'all. I don't know if you know
this, but in New Age, there's a running thing
where they claim people who give their life to
Jesus are just weak. They claim that, you know,
in New Age you have to be strong and be able
to take all the spiritual warfare and the people
who turn to Jesus or people who couldn't do it
on their own. Well, I know from reading the gospel
that I was never meant to do it alone. That giving
everything to Jesus is actually what I'm supposed
to do. But in the New Age community, people who
leave and go to Jesus are mocked. They're seen
as weak. They're seen as the spiritual psychosis.
Giving my life to Jesus. came with mocking from
literally every single side. There were people
who were looking at me like, weren't you just
like a couple months ago a new -ager saying the
opposite thing and now you're talking about Jesus?
I had false accusations flying. I had some people
who were calling me a liar and a hypocrite. I
have people too this day who don't want to believe
I gave my life to Jesus. Who believe I'm like
some witch, honestly. This is what I've been
called. And I have to take that to Jesus. And
part of me is like, you know what, Jesus, you
warned me about this. And there was a period
when I gave my life to Jesus where it was about
three or four months that I was completely silent
on social media. If you weren't like in my very,
very close family, you didn't know I gave my
life to Jesus. You didn't know I left New Age.
You didn't know any of that. You had no clue
what happened to me. And I honestly didn't want
to start a podcast. I didn't want to get back
on social media I was enjoying having no eyes
on me and no one knowing what was going on in
my life. I was just trying to rebuild But it
was because I loved God so much and I had such
a desire to obey him that when he started convicting
me and I started feeling it so heavy of like
It's time to share the testimony It's time to
start speaking the name of Jesus. It's time to
loudly start pointing people to the cross. Jesus
didn't do this for me to just, he didn't clean
me up and restore my life for me to just sit
here and enjoy it. He did it for me to create
disciples. He did it for me to lead other people
to the cross, to point other people to the cross.
I want to say it better that way, point people.
He's not expecting me to lead people because
it's not my responsibility to like do all the
work. I plant seeds and I trust in God to do
the work. But I'm telling y 'all today that you
have to love Jesus more and There's someone today
asking. Well, where's the scripture for that?
This is the scripture That I remember reading
that helped me make a little bit of peace with
this which was Matthew 10 Starting in verse We'll
go ahead and start in verse 32. Therefore everyone
who will acknowledge me before others I will
also acknowledge him before my father in heaven
But whoever denies me before others, I will also
deny him before my father in heaven. Don't assume
that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did
not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came
to turn a man against his father, a daughter
against her mother, a daughter -in -law against
her mother -in -law, and a man's enemies will
be the members of his household. The one who
loves a father or a mother more than me is not
worthy of me. The one who loves a son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever
doesn't take up his cross and follow me is not
worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will
lose it, and anyone who loses his life because
of me will find it. I remember when I was giving
my life to Jesus, I had to leave just about everything
behind. Because just about everything in my life,
I was embracing at that point the sinful. Was
a tarot card reader in New Age that was my financial
income and I knew I had to leave that behind
So I was like, okay. So my source of money is
about to be gone God Like this is my financial.
This is how I eat. This is how I pay my bills
So if I deny myself, this is gone. I don't have
an answer for this My only way of dealing with
my anxiety and my stress and my depression was
smoking and I felt the word convicting of you
can't use that's an idol you can't use that anymore
I'm calling you to a sober lifestyle like when
I tell y 'all that like in following Christ like
some things that were very big pillars of my
life I was like I'm gonna have to have I'm gonna
have to let these go giving my life to Christ
literally felt like dying to my life in that
moment And I had to trust that all these things
that he was calling me to let go, he was going
to provide for in a way. I used smoking to bring
me peace. Jesus Christ gave me a peace that surpassed
all understanding. Glory be to God. I gave up
that job and I trusted in God's timing. He would
guide me and he would financially provide. He
did that. He delivered me. He turned these things
into testimonies. I can't tell y 'all the the
nights of just crying and weeping I had because
when I left all those things behind I didn't
know what I was walking towards. I remember Describing
it as if like I'm going down a long dark hallway
like God is calling me to leave these rooms I'm
in and close the door and I do that and now I'm
walking down this hallway following his voice
And I'm just trusting that there's another door
that's gonna open up from him. And it feels like
a dark hallway because I can't see more than
a couple feet in front of me. Like I'm literally
being led by his voice, by his guidance. I don't
know what exactly it is waiting on me, but I
have to trust that it's better than what I'm
leaving behind. And when you're going down that
hallway, it's important that you keep walking
forward. There's a temptation, because you don't
see anything yet or because the hallway feels
long because you're not at that door yet, to
turn around and run back and open up that door.
And I had so many of those temptations to turn
around and open up that door and go back. but
I just knew and I had the strength from God.
It wasn't my own strength. This was a supernatural
strength given to me from God to keep trusting
in Him and to keep going forward. And that's
a testimony that I use to share with other people,
with people who are living that lukewarm lifestyle
and that God is calling them to give that thing
up. I've shared this in previous episodes and
I won't be thoughtful the way I word this but
there is a real conviction God gave me at one
point where he was like how can you expect me
to bless the disobedience? Like you're mad at
me that I'm not delivering on all of these promises
or all these things because when I was in new
age y 'all it was weird like there were certain
things I believed were gonna happen in my life
There were things I believed to be promises from
God that I was believing for before I stepped
into New Age. I actually believed that New Age
was going to help me with. And I remember when
I was coming out on the other side of that, getting
ready to leave New Age, just kind of stepped
out of it and was walking into like giving my
life to Christ. It was like right when I was
in that in -between. And I remember writing down
in my journal where I felt the Lord speak to
me so heavily, your testimony is not that I bless
disobedience because that's not going to be what
you share with other people that points them
to me. Like your testimony isn't going to be,
yeah, I was in new age and I was like a drunkard
or a stoner. I was doing all these things and
God said, you know what? Good enough. Here's
all the promises. Run wild. God showed me he's
like no your testimony is actually gonna be I
felt convicted when I realized that these things
go against God's Word I Left them. It wasn't
that I was leaving them and going to something
else. I had to leave them and trust that God
was gonna bring me something else I Endured testing
I endured temptation to go back and when I didn't
give in to that and God's timing he delivered
That was my testimony He revealed to me, he's
like, I know it was painful and hurtful that
you were spending so long waiting on the promise.
But like if I would have blessed you while you
were in that disobedience, you wouldn't have
left that disobedience. You would have assumed
I'm okay with it. Like I remember writing that
down in my journal because that was who I was.
If God would have given me everything that I
thought he was promising while I was in those
things, I would have been like, well, clearly
he's okay with me doing this. God knew me and
he knew that I needed to leave those things for
him to create the testimony. Now the interesting
thing like how I say we don't clean ourselves
up and Jesus doesn't expect us to be cleaned
up before I came. before you come to him. I wasn't
cleaned up. I hadn't left New Age before I started
reading my Bible. I was in New Age when I was
reading my Bible. I was in New Age when I started
praying. Jesus wasn't like, I'm not going to
talk to you until you leave everything behind.
The Lord started convicting me and working on
my heart, which led me to leave these things
behind. And I wasn't clean. I wasn't cleaned
of the guilt and the weight I was carrying Until
Jesus stepped in because once I felt convicted
and realized that what I was doing a new age
was wrong I felt so guilty and so shameful and
it was a heavy weight where I didn't know how
I was gonna live with myself and it was when
I repented and Asked the Lord for forgiveness.
I felt that weight lifted off of me and when
I knew That he was cleaning me up And the only
reason why I am confident enough to share these
things on the podcast today is because I love
Jesus more than I love people Which sounds weird,
right? which sounds weird right because I used
to have such a I love people and I want people
to feel good that I would withhold things like
this in case it would make someone feel convicted
or make someone angry or upset or hurt or make
someone feel some type of way and the Lord revealed
to me that that's not the Christ -like love because
Christ -like love is truth and honesty and it
points people closer to the cross what I was
doing was I was keeping people comfortable And
I love God so much that my love for God surpasses
my desire for people to be comfortable. And actually
I love God so much that now I love people enough
too to share this with them. It's weird how that
works. I remember saying to someone not too long
ago on the phone, there's a family member. That
I felt God like having me plant seeds within
this person isn't very happy in all honesty.
They feel conviction. They don't enjoy it and
I remember talking to this This person, you know,
there's someone who's been walking with Christ
for a long time. It was giving me some good advice
and I remember saying to them it's like I Hate
that this person is angry at me. I hate that
this person feels resentment. I hate You know
that this person is feeling all these types of
ways and I love them, but I love God more. And
I know God has called me to say this and speak
this and do this. Like if I didn't love God,
I wouldn't be saying and speaking and doing these
things because I know this person doesn't enjoy
it. They don't enjoy the conviction that comes
with me speaking God's word. For the longest
time, y 'all, I would get that script. One, it's
crazy, the things that get ingrained in you when
you're little in Sunday school. And I remember
the commandment that got so ingrained in me is
honor your mother and father. And that was always
a really, really hard one for me because I never
felt like I was, you know, I was never actually
taught the depth of that scripture. It actually
goes on to say, like, you know, don't provoke
your children to anger and things like that.
But when you're a child, at least in my instance,
I was only taught to honor your mother and father,
which was submit and obey to anything. Don't
disrespect, don't talk back, don't any of that.
And for me personally, being raised in a household
that didn't follow the scriptures exactly, that
was hard for me, right? Because I'm like, how
am I going to keep God's word when no one else
around me is keeping God's word? It's kind of
hard to honor things that are un -Christ -like.
Like it was a really hard thing in my brain.
You know, so when, of course, I got older and
actually gave my life to Jesus, that one was
really hard for me. Because I was like, God,
I want to honor these people, but these people
aren't honoring me. And someone needs to hear
this today. But like when you are an adult, when
you are an adult, when you are now making your
own decisions for your life. Okay, because I
know it's one thing when you when you are minor
and like you are legally under your parents guidance
but when you were an adult making your own decisions
I'm telling you right now and this should be
this should be the way you live your life even
when you're before you're an adult is that you
should always love God first but once you're
an adult like what God what God says goes I can't
tell y 'all how many times that God has told
me to do something that my family didn't exactly
agree with. But I had to trust God. And someone
needs to hear this today. That as an adult, it's
God first. It should always be God first. I know
it's harder with that when you're a child because
you should submit to your parents authority.
You should. But when you're an adult, you are
submitted to God's authority. God is your Heavenly
Father. God is your Father. And you have to submit
to that. It is biblical that you love Jesus first,
that you love God first. And if you're looking
for a way If fear has been at your doorstep and
you're looking for a way to like, how do I overcome
this fear of people pleasing? How do I overcome
this fear of rejection? How do I overcome this
fear of ridicule and persecution? We know to
put on the armor of God. We know that, right?
To be prayed up, to be prayed up, to have up
that shield of faith. Because I want to be so
blunt that this fear is a form of spiritual warfare.
To stop you from stepping into it But to be rooted
in your faith and rooted in your love for God
and for me that love for Jesus came through knowing
him and Experiencing him and having a relationship
with him which came through reading the scriptures
and praying to him daily for relying on him for
in the trials and tribulations leaning on him
and turning to him and seeing what he can do
and Being mind blown by what he does It's crazy
How much the love of God will overpower the fear
and how the love of God Loving God more than
yourself loving God more than your fleshly Desires
loving God more than all of these things It's
crazy how that love of God will keep you in step
with him. You know, I said earlier on the podcast,
we have to love God more than we love our parents.
We have to love God more than we love our family.
We have to love God more than we love our spouses.
And I know as someone who I'm not married, you
know, I try not to speak too much on marriages
because I only have, I don't have as much insight
as someone who is married. Okay, but we know
wives are supposed to be submitted to the husband's
husbands are supposed to be submitted to God,
right? Husbands love your wives as Christ loved
his church. You can't properly love your spouse
or submit when you're not first submitted to
Christ and don't know the love of Christ. How
can you share the love of Christ with people
if you don't know the love of Christ yourself?
Husbands, how can you properly guide your wife
if you are not submitted to God's guidance? If
you don't know the love of Jesus, how can you
love her the way Christ loved his Church? When
that comes to a consistent relationship and submission
to Jesus. Wives, how can you know how to submit
to a husband if you don't know how to submit
to Christ? And how are you able to discern the
love of Jesus? If you haven't experienced the
love of Jesus, because I don't want to get too
deep in on this, but something I have seen a
lot, you know, there's a lot of trauma. There's
a lot of people who don't want to submit. Women
who are like, that's too risky to submit to a
husband. And I think that comes from us seeing
what happens when we submit to people who aren't
submitted to Christ, right? Because we do think
of the people who take advantage and mistreat
and misuse and there are stories of that and
that's why women we have to know the love of
Jesus we have to know what God calls us to do
and what he wouldn't call us to do we need to
know the word of God we need to be locked in
in taking things to the Lord and have that discernment
strengthened you know that way we can we can
look at the fruits We can test the spirit behind
the words we can see is this man actually like
is he really shown the love of Jesus Is this
the love of Jesus or these just like our feelings?
Was the things he talks about submission wise
are these things that are in God's Word are these
things twisted? When you work on pursuing your
relationship with Christ and receiving the love
of Christ, there's a love that's gonna develop.
And that's the root, the basis of this episode,
y 'all, is you have to love God more. There have
been times when God has called me to speak a
word. when God has called me to share a testimony,
when God has called me to do a thing where I'm
like, God, if I do that, like there are some
real things I could lose in life. Like there
are some things that like if people felt some
type of way about this, like there's some damage
that could be done. And I had to trust that God
has already prepared for whatever reaction is
going to happen. If y 'all go a couple episodes
back, I believe it is the opposition episode
where I'm breaking down how to deal with opposition.
This fear is a form of opposition. One thing
God had drilled in me so many times lovingly
was whatever the outcome of you obeying me is,
I have already planned for that outcome. If it's
a lost trust, I've already planned for that and
you will be restored with better. If you're blessed
because of it, Trust that I planned for that
as well. Trust that I have already planned for
every possible outcome. Like that is why I felt
God so heavily. I already know what's going to
happen and I'm still calling you to do this,
so trust me. And I pray that this helps you today.
Pray that this helps you and there's just a little
bit scripture. I'm feeling led to read to y 'all
and it's the beginning of the book of Jeremiah
and It says here in chapter 1 verse 4 the word
of the Lord came to me This is the Lord speaking
to Jeremiah when he's calling Jeremiah to Be
a prophet to speak to a group of people who have
been rejecting God's prophets who have been Leaning
into their idolatry and he's telling Jeremiah.
I want you to go speak to them Which must have
been really intimidating right and this is what
God says the word of the Lord came to me. I chose
you Before I formed you in the womb. I set you
apart before you were born I appointed you a
prophet to the nations on a pause here. This
is God saying Before you were even conceived,
I already had this plan for your life. I already
decided I was going to anoint you and appoint
you to be a prophet. This isn't just a luck of
the draw. This isn't just a whim. I have planned
this long before you were conscious. You were
set apart for this. It goes on to say here, Jeremiah
says, but I protested. oh no lord god look i
don't know how to speak since i am only a youth
then the lord said to me do not say i am only
a youth for you will go to everyone i send you
to and speak whatever i tell you do not be afraid
of anyone for i will be with you to rescue you
this is the lord's declaration i want to pause
here for a moment How many times do we say that?
How many times do we say, but God, I don't know
enough. But God, I'm a new Christian. But God,
I don't know this. But God, I'm to this. I'm
to that. Think back to Moses. When God was telling
Moses, I'm going to be using you to deliver my
people from the hand of Pharaoh. Moses was saying,
but I can't speak. I'm not a speaker. Just find
never a reason to say, God, not me. You can't
use me. This is God right here saying and I remember
y 'all when I I didn't want to start this podcast
Fun fact God had been putting it on my heart.
I remember it was like March I didn't start this
until August I remember in March already feeling
like I feel like this is what God's calling me
to and I remember saying it out loud in May and
in June and saying but I don't have the equipment
and I don't know how to do that I'm not a techie
person. I remember saying I don't know enough
I'm not cool. I remember every finding every
reason and then finally in August the Lord convicted
me so hard where it's like I have to do it this
podcast was started out of obedience. Let me
tell y 'all and I remember the Lord giving me
the scripture of do not say You're under qualified.
Do not say you're too young. Don't say any of
these things I want to repeat this right here
where God says for you will go to everyone I
send you saying you are going to obey and you
will speak whatever I tell you to speak do not
be afraid of anyone for I will be with you to
rescue you God's promise right there wherever
you go I'm going to be with you you're obeying
me trust and believe I got you And then verse
9 goes on to say then the Lord reached out his
hand touched my mouth and told me I have now
filled your mouth with my words see I have appointed
you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot
and tear down to destroy and demolish to build
and plant Well, I remember When I was starting
this podcast and something I took to God. I was
like God I don't know what I'm gonna talk about
I don't know what I'm gonna say. What do I even
say this podcast is about? Is this just gonna
be me sharing testimonies? Is this gonna be me
reading the Bible? Like what do I do here? And
I remember God saying like I will I remember
reading this and I felt the Lord speak to me
I felt the Holy Spirit stir within me and I just
had a knowing that God will give me the words
God will give me the topics And honestly, y 'all,
I don't know. There has yet to be a day where
I have had like a podcast episode long had thought
out. I'll sit down in the morning and start reading
scripture, start praying. And, you know, if God
gives me a topic and scripture and leads me to
it, we have an episode. And if I don't feel like
there's anything he's speaking to me to relay,
I wait on him. Like I said, this podcast was
created out of obedience. I don't want this to
be something where I'm speaking my own heart
or my own agenda or my own whatever. I want to
be strictly speaking about what God calls me
to speak about. Like that Opposition episode
that was one where I sat down in the morning
and I was praying to God and literally y 'all
I end up making a list of this is one thing This
isn't everything. This is how to overcome opposition.
I felt like God was early like I wrote down like
a bullet point list Most of the time that doesn't
happen most of the time. I might have a couple
pieces of scripture, but i'm just here on the
podcast episode y 'all Speaking what the Lord
has been speaking to me And relaying it in the
best way I can and sharing testimonies And that
has solely been what this podcast is is like
trusting God will give me the words because I
don't have them i'm not as wise as god makes
me sound as the holy spirit in me makes me sound
to be real there have been times when i say something
i look back and i'm like yeah that was definitely
not me and someone needs to hear this today if
you have a fear that you don't have the words
or you're not smart enough trust that god will
be with you you have the holy spirit dwelling
within you he will give you the words pray to
him that he gives you the words pray to him that
you're able to discern And the best way to know
His voice is to spend time with Him. Now y 'all,
I pray this episode has blessed you and helps
you, encourages you. And whatever area you need
encouragement in, if this is more encouragement
to work on your relationship with Christ, I pray
it encourages that. If this is encouraging you
to share your testimony, to go evangelize, I
pray this happens. If you have been dealing with
opposition for stepping into your faith, I pray
that this gives you the encouragement. I know
that God is going to use this in a lot of different
ways with a lot of different people. And I do
want to encourage you, if you haven't read the
book of Jeremiah, y 'all, read the book of Jeremiah.
I know it's a long book. It's like 50 chapters.
It took me a while to get through. I remember
sitting down and reading it at the beginning
of the summer, and it was a transformational
read for me, but it wasn't an easy read. I'll
be so real with y 'all, some of it feels repetitive.
About the first 40 chapters are Jeremiah warnings,
but you know the beauty with that is it shows
how many times God is willing to warn. How many
times He tries to pull out our hearts. So I encourage
whoever you are listening to today to do a deep
dive into the book of Jeremiah. It's a wonderful
read. And I pray that this episode blesses you.
And that you get your strength, your boldness,
and your courage from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have a wonderful night. God bless.