Hey guys and welcome back to the salt not sweetener
podcast. I'm your host Danielle Townsend and
I hope y 'all are having a Wonderful weekend
as I'm recording this it's Saturday and we are
gearing up for what the news Says is gonna be
a pretty Big snowstorm where I'm out. We're predicted
to get between like it keeps fluctuating but
the Like most frequent numbers I've been seeing
are 9 to 14 inches of snow So yeah, I'm gonna
go ahead and assume that the next day or two
if that does occur are gonna be days where I
am staying in and reading the Bible and I'm encouraging
y 'all to do that too because it is a blessing
When God allows us to be slowed down, right?
That's something he's really revealed to me the
past couple years is when Things aren't going
the way that I would like them to go when maybe
plans I've created for myself Doors that I think
are gonna be open all the sudden clothes God
will use that as a protection and a redirection
and for any of those who are listening that are
expecting to be huddled up in the house the next
couple days. Maybe you're annoyed that you can't
go to like your normal routine. You know, maybe
there's a little bit of frustration of you can't
go to the gym or like you can't go to church
or whatever it may be. I do want to encourage
you to have a bit of a different perspective
and look at this as the perfect time to lock
in with the Lord. The perfect time to be in his
word and get in his presence and worship and
praise him. I have learned through my walk y
'all that When God allows things to happen that
forced me to slow down That forced me to kind
of have to like take a break and stop for a moment
The perfect thing to do with that time is getting
God's presence and it's amazing what he'll do
with that So utilize this see this as an opportunity
to get in his presence. Okay, God bless Now the
topic today y 'all is a topic that's kind of
hard for people to accept Especially if you're
a former people pleaser or someone who cares
a lot about how you're perceived Or you want
to show everybody love or whatever it may be
I used to fall into all of those categories and
still at times I feel conviction But that is
1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33 where it
says do not be deceived bad company corrupts
good morals And when I was asking the Lord for
some scripture, you know, I felt the Lord pressing,
pressing it on me to record a podcast episode
today. I really didn't intend to. I wanted to
put off until tomorrow, but I felt it pressed
on me and I was like, okay, Lord, give me some
scripture. Like what, what, what direction are
we going into with this episode? And it was very
timely because there's a lot of things that he's
been speaking to me just in my personal life,
you know, and he led me to the story. in the
book of Luke chapter 5 with the man who was paralyzed
and there's a group of men who brought him on
a stretcher to be healed and the topic of today's
episode is who you're with the company you keep
is so important And it really can affect your
walk with Christ. The company that you keep,
the influence you allow in can either really
propel you, like push you forward, increase,
encourage your relationship with Christ when
you're stepping into a calling, or it can do
the opposite. It can be the thing that destroys
you, the company you keep. And I'm feeling led
to him. Give you an example of Solomon. Solomon
who was the wisest man. He had the wisdom from
God. He was the wisest man. He was the richest.
But look at the company he kept. He went a little
extra. He had, what was it, like 700 wives, like
300 concubines. He had a ton of women. And in
his old age, His wives, these women that he entertained,
turned his heart away from God, and he started
to worship other gods. The wisest man, the man
with the most wisdom, the man that God had blessed
with wisdom, the richest, fell, fell into sin,
fell into temptation, and the company he kept
played a large role in that. Now it looks like
the majority of his life, you know He was able
to avoid that but eventually the compromises
you make will lead to destruction It was all
those compromises over time and he fell into
that bad Company corrupts good morals. You can
have a great set of morals. You can be rooted
in your faith You can believe that Jesus is Lord.
You can have all these desires to do all these
things You can have wisdom. You can have read
the Bible cover to cover front and back Many
times, you could know everything about the fruits
of the spirit and putting on the armor of God,
but you surround yourself with the wrong people
long enough consistently, you continue to make
those compromises, eventually you're gonna start
being led astray and led away. And a lot of times
you don't realize it's happened until destruction
is at your door. And I'm speaking from personal
experience y 'all, I have had to learn God has
been so thoughtful. Glory be to God with who
I allow in my life and there's been lots of people
I've wanted to let in where God's like, uh -uh
You can't be close with that person. Uh -uh.
You can't be getting spiritual guidance and advice
from this person You can't be telling that person
all these specific things about your walk with
Christ and at the time I didn't understand why
and then the times when I wasn't really listening
to the Lord and He allowed me to get close with
people or let people in because he knew I would
learn I saw some of the damage it would do. I
wanna be so clear with that y 'all and I've shared
this like in every podcast episode. I'm often,
I'm not speaking, like literally everything I
speak to y 'all on. It's not the thing of like,
and this isn't a thing to be proud of, but I've
had to learn through experience. I've had to
learn through trying to do it my own way and
being hard -headed or not having faith or not
trusting So when I speak to y 'all on these things,
it's not even a thing of like I've just read
it and I'm like I can tell you what I've read
a lot of it is I'm telling you what I've experienced
firsthand and I've experienced what it's like
to You know befriend or get close with people
that you know God is telling you to have boundaries
with And I ignore those boundaries and later
on I see why God called me to have those boundaries
And glory be to God he helps me get back on track
But I've learned from experience and Felt very
highlighted in reading this with and reading
this part Of the book of Luke. I'm gonna read
this to y 'all real quick. Just a little short
It's here. We'll start in verse 17 of chapter
5 and Luke. On one of those days while he was
teaching Jesus, Pharisees and teachers of the
law were sitting there who had come from every
village of Galilee and Judea and also from Jerusalem,
and the Lord's power to heal was in him. Just
then some men came carrying on a stretcher a
man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him
in and set him down before him. Since they could
not find a way to bring him in because of the
crowd They went up on the roof and lowered him
on the stretcher through the roof tiles onto
the middle of the crowd before Jesus Seeing their
faith. He said friend your sins are forgiven
And when I read that immediately what came to
mind is those are some amazing friends Those
are some faith -filled friends. Those are the
kind of people that you want around you those
and I want to start off with identifying like
those are the kind of people that we want in
our circle the people that their faith is so
strong that they're gonna push you further to
Jesus like imagine if these friends were lacking
in faith and motivation imagine if they would
have said oh the crowd's too big sorry dude we
can't carry you any further It's getting a little
rough. Oppositions have risen. I gotta go. Peace.
A lot of us surround ourselves with people like
that. Those are the people that we call, like,
yes -men. Like, fair -weather people. The people
who are totally down, ride or die as for you.
Tell you whatever you want to hear. And then
when the going gets a little rough, they're nowhere
to be found. They are nowhere to be found. And
I want to be very clear that I'm not talking
about the people who support you when you are
making bad decisions. A good friend is going
to tell you when you are the source of your own
pain and suffering. A good friend is going to
tell you, hey, maybe the reason why you keep
getting cheated on is because you're picking
lustful people. I'm not saying that cheating
on you is a good thing, but can you identify
that there is a problem in the people that you're
picking, that you're picking people who are rooted
in lust? Or someone who's slowed or who's quick
to anger and keeps crashing out and they find
they're facing a lot of consequences a good friend
is gonna tell you hey, I Know dealing with the
consequences suck. But have you ever thought
about the crash out mentality? Have you ever
thought about the quick to anger? Have you have
you asked God to make you slow to anger to increase
your patience? Have you prayed for him to help
you on that a good friend is going to point out
and identify when like There is a work and an
effort you can make when maybe you're kind of
the source of your own pain and suffering, right?
I'm not talking about a friend or a person that
will just tell you you do you boo. A person who
loves you is going to call you out in your sin
and point you on the path to righteousness. A
person who truly loves you. A person who's loving
you correctly is showing you the love of Jesus.
Okay, because Jesus showed us how to love love
is patient love is kind we know what love looks
like and that's the kind of love i'm talking
about today someone who loves you like the love
of jesus is going to lovingly point out but when
you are walking in obedience to christ There
is opposition that comes along with that. When
you are serving the Lord, when you are a willing
vessel, there is opposition. There's hardships
that are gonna pop up. Jesus literally warned
us about that, that the world's gonna hate us,
that we're gonna be persecuted on His behalf.
We see how many times servants of the Most High
faced opposition throughout Scripture. We see
it with Paul. We see it with the disciples. We
see it with Nehemiah when he's rebuilding. We
see it with David when he's just anointed to
become king and Saul's out his throat. And this
man that we're referring to here in the book
of Luke needed healing. He needed Jesus. And
when his friends were faced with the opposition
of, it's too crowded, they didn't say it's too
crowded, we gotta stop, we're dropping you off
here, we gotta go. By faith, they said, we're
gonna make a way. We're gonna get you through.
There are a lot of people, and I'm saying this
to you today because I know I've needed to hear
it so many times, the people you surround yourself
with need to be the people that tell you to keep
going and to keep putting your faith in God.
that are going to lift you up in prayer. I was
just talking with someone last night about Moses,
and I'm pulling this out the depths of my brain.
It's been a long time since I've read this, y
'all, but it was when there was a battle occurring.
And every time Moses had his hands raised, lifted
up to the Lord, like in our worship stance, a
stance of praising and worshiping to Lord, every
time his hands were raised, God's people were
seeing victory and the enemy was being overtaken.
But every time his hands lowered and started
falling down, the enemy started overcoming them.
So it was Moses' brother, I believe it was Aaron
and her, that literally lifted his hands and
raised his hands up. They helped him in that
moment. And they saw victory. The people that
you surround yourself with, if you were gonna
live, Life being a vessel being used by the Lord
you got to surround yourself with people who
are going to uplift you in prayer Who are going
to win when you're telling them I can't do this
anymore I can't do that who are going to tell
you to deny the flesh and put your faith in God
Quit surrounding yourself with the people who
are telling you well, it's okay to sin Well,
it's okay to just turn away from God for a little
bit. It's understandable. It's all these things
We live in the world that has twisted we live
in the society today that has twisted what the
love of Jesus is and Has made us believe that
love is whatever keeps someone comfortable and
feeling good But the love of Jesus comes with
a conviction when we're falling away and there
are a lot of people who have twisted it and believe
that love is telling someone whatever they want
to hear whatever makes them feel good in that
moment and just being that shoulder to cry on
and telling them it's okay to go into sin and
it's okay to go into all these things knowing
that that leads to separation Someone needs to
hear this today the people you surround yourself
with are they people that say get in the word
Are they people that remind you of what God's
Word says and who God is? Are they people that
encourage you to read scripture? Are they people
that encourage you to pray? Are they people that
encourage you to deny the flesh? Are they people
that encourage you to submit your will to God
and to obey Him over what makes them feel good?
Because that's the thing too, right? Is we live
a life submitted to Christ. When we die to self,
we put our fleshly desires aside. And sometimes
what God is calling your best friend to do might
not be what you desire, like on the fleshly sense.
But are you willing to accept what God is calling
them to do? Are you willing to accept the steps
he is asking them to take and putting your fleshly
desires aside? Do your friends do that for you?
Does the company you're around do that for you?
Or do they make you feel comfortable in sin?
Do they make you feel comfortable in being lukewarm?
Do they make you feel comfortable in gossip?
Do they make you feel comfortable in being a
drunkard? Do they make you feel comfortable in
being lustful? Do they make you feel comfortable
in putting God a second, third, fourth, fifth
priority in your life? Because scripture actually
tells us to seek first God and His righteousness,
His kingdom, and everything will be added on
to us. We know. that whatever we need in life
whatever it is that we're yearning for that we're
whatever it is that we need that god knows we
need if we're just focused on him and being in
his presence and obeying him these things are
going to be added on to us that's the rest we
have as Christians we don't have to cook it up
for ourselves we don't have to create it for
ourselves we give it to god and we focus on him
and whatever steps he needs us to take if we're
in his presence we're going to hear that phone
call we're going to we're going to hear the call
That he has for us and we're going to be able
to answer it and he will give us the strength
the boldness the faith to answer that call Do
you have friends who are when you're going through
a hardship are they telling you to get in god's
presence? Are they telling you that he can heal
this are they telling you that he can fix this?
Or are they encouraging you to rely on your own
understanding? Are they encouraging you to rely
on your own ways? Are they encouraging you to
rely on your own strength? Are they speaking
fear and death and doubt? Or are they speaking
life in God's truth? Because this person here
in the book of Luke, he surrounded himself with
people who their faith and their desire to obey
God surpassed the obstacles that the enemy was
throwing at them. because of who he surrounded
himself with he received healing because he didn't
walk himself to Jesus his friends carried him
to Jesus and that's the thing is there are gonna
be times in your walk with Christ where your
prayer doesn't feel like enough And I want to
be thoughtful with the way I word this okay because
we are not saved through other people's relationships
with Christ and God hears our prayers But there
are gonna be times in your walk with Christ and
I'm speaking from experience where it feels so
heavy and Although you're praying and although
the attacks of the enemy the warfare is picking
up and there are gonna be times in your walk
where the prayer of a righteous person, the prayer
of other people who are in good standing with
God is going to make an impact. There have been
times where I have been led to reach out to my
church prayer team and I could tell when they
were praying for me y 'all because it was like
a weight was lifted. I could breathe again. I
have a couple brothers and sisters in Christ
that have prayed for me fervently and I have
felt it. And in all honesty for me, that's kind
of a rare occurrence of when I reach out for
prayer Like it's not like every single day. It's
not like every single week and there's no shame
and I'm just saying for me personally Up into
this point that's been more I am in that consistent
daily prayer life with the Lord But it's every
so often that gets really heavy and I'm like
when I'm praying to God I feel like he's telling
me have some people in agreement and prayer with
you reach out ask for prayer Man, it has made
a world of a difference. And maybe someone's
needing to hear that today. Reach out to your
church prayer team. Reach out to that brother
and sister in Christ and just say, I need prayer.
Don't be ashamed of having people pray for you.
It's actually powerful when a righteous person
prays for you. When other people are in agreement.
And that thing's in God's will, baby. God hears
Psalm 145 18 the Lord is near to all who call
on him to all who call on him in truth So we're
identifying right here y 'all how important it
is to have Someone praying for you To have someone
encouraging you It is so important to have those
people in your life, in your circle. You know,
it's so interesting. I was going through and
I was reading Galatians the other day, and I
felt led by the Lord to do a little bit of a
deeper look in on what happened in between his
conversion and like his starting of ministry
work and evangelizing because when we read about
Paul's conversion sometimes y 'all it seems like
zero to 100 real quick that things happened right
like he's he's spent his whole life persecuting
like he spent most of his life persecuting Christians
right and he's going along his merry way getting
ready to do it on the road to Damascus when he
encounters God and God reveals the truth of who
Jesus Christ is to him and he's blinded and then
he goes through a period where he's like fasting
and God has someone come and lay hands on him
and he's healed and it seems and I know it's
not just me but it seems in reading that like
he skips to ministry pretty quick right it seems
like almost immediately after He's walking into
places and proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the
way of the truth of life and that people need
to, you know, repent. And people are like, isn't
this Paul that was persecuting Christians? Like
it seems like a night and day change. Like he
receives the truth and bam, he's ready to go.
But in doing a deeper dive, Paul was actually
called into an isolation period. Did y 'all know
that? It's talked about in chapter one of Galatians.
We're Paul and I'll pull it up right here y 'all
I'm in the she reads truth study Bible, which
is the Christian standard Bible the Christian
standard version And it says here in chapter
1 verse 15 Paul says but when God Who from my
mother's womb set me apart? I want to pause here.
Okay. This is a reminder that when God is Creating
us in the womb like it's referred to in the book
of Jeremiah Before I formed you in the womb like
I knew you I had a plan for your life God already
had a plan to use Paul and this is your reminder
today that When you were like before you're informed
in the womb God had a plan for what he wanted
to do with your life There is a calling for you
to step into so don't be sitting around today
thinking that you don't have a calling or you
don't have a purpose but the way you're gonna
identify that is through private time with the
Lord and Seeking him fervently and asking him
to reveal his call for your life his purpose
for your life what does he want you to do but
moving on it says and called me by his grace
was pleased to reveal his son in me so i could
preach him among the gentiles i'm gonna pause
here okay so we we can see that not only like
like when god revealed to paul the truth of jesus
christ Who Jesus Christ was he also revealed?
Paul's calling and saying like I want you to
preach to the Gentiles I want you to speak to
them. That's your target audience God kind of
showed Paul. This is your target audience Paul
Paul was anointed to go and speak to the Gentiles
to the people who didn't know God He wasn't being
sent to go and proclaim it to the Jews and convert
all the Jews No, he was sent to the Gentiles
to help them integrate right So God revealed
that to Paul and I'm someone who I can speak
from personal experience y 'all I've shared with
y 'all testimonies on this of when I Started
seeking God when I was in the middle of the desert.
It was just me my Bible and prayer time And the
Lord started revealing to me truths I had never
seen in scripture before and like my heart started
shifting and started changing. It felt so radical
transformation. God revealed to me the calling
that he had for my life. He gave me a dream of
things I was going to do one day. God can do
that for you. He hasn't changed. He did it for
Paul. He's done it for me. I've heard many testimonies
of other people that he's done that for. Where
he says I'm going to turn your pain into testimony.
I'm going to use you But you have to ask God
You have to be willing to receive that from him
and that comes from private intimate time with
him you are not going to receive Like clarity
on your calling and your purpose from everyone
else's revelations and everyone else's relationships
with christ It's wonderful to go and listen to
sermons on sunday. It's wonderful to listen to
other people's testimonies. It's wonderful to
listen to those podcasts. I'm glad y 'all are
listening to my podcast. But this is supplemental.
This should not be your relationship with Christ.
Your relationship with Christ should be one -on
-one. These things should help you to understand
Christ better. These things should help you.
You know, there are times when God will speak
through other people to you, where you'll be
listening to something and you're like, oh my
gosh, that's what God's been trying to communicate
to me. But this, my podcast, should not be the
only way you know Jesus. This should not be the
only way that you feel conviction. This should
not be the only way that you're learning scripture
Your sermon on Sunday should not be the only
way Your pastor and church should not be the
only what I'm not gonna listen to any other voice
Your pastor should not be an idol Your religion
should not be an idol Someone needs to hear that
today. Okay, we are one body Christians are followers
of Christ not followers of a denomination if
you have more loyalty to your denomination then
you do the bible in its entirety it's entirely
entirety y 'all know what i mean not a not a
piece of the bible should be being left out or
discounted your loyalty should be to jesus and
i i think that that whole thing is a whole other
podcast episode for another day that i'm sure
we'll go in on at some point But going back to
the point of this y 'all is all these things
are supplemental But they should not be your
relationship. You are not saved off of your parents
relationship with Christ You're not saved over
your pastors relationship with Christ and you
can actually receive Words and understandings
from God alone. It doesn't have to come through
your pastor It doesn't have to come through that
one podcaster If you spend intentional time with
God, seeking Him with your heart, humbling yourself
before Him, praying to Him, being in His Word,
He will reveal mysteries to you. He will answer
you. You will hear from Him. You want to know
what your calling is? You want to know what your
spiritual gifts are? Like, what's a better way
to word this, Lord? we know that there are gifts
of the Holy Spirit that God will give us to carry
out our calling. I want to be so clear, y 'all,
that the gifts that God gives us aren't things
for us to build ourselves up. It's not for us
to receive glory. It's not for us to receive
money. We're not meant to be using our gifts,
the gifts that God gives us. It's like a gift
of knowledge, for example, wisdom. It's not meant
for us to use to get ahead in life and do whatever
we want to do Our gifts are to be used to further
Christ Jesus To build up the body of Christ which
is the church To bring other people closer to
Christ God gives us a calling For our life if
that's teaching if that's evangelizing and then
he gives us gifts to help us to carry out that
calling, right? So if you're teaching, if you're
called to teach people, God may give you that
gift of knowledge. He may give you that gift
of wisdom. He may give you a gift of discernment,
whatever it is. But you're not gonna know that
just through your pastor's relationship with
Christ or through the videos you watch on YouTube.
God will reveal those things to you through personal
time and intimate time with Him. Amen. Okay,
so just how we can see how God will use. It's
important y 'all that we stress just how much
God can use with your personal intimate time
with Him and how other people's relationships
with God and their testimonies and their points
of view are wonderful, but that's not your relationship.
That's something that can be supplemental. We're
gonna continue to read this. Okay, cuz we're
gonna see how this is so important in Paul's
walk I think we can all agree that Paul was used
by God in some pretty amazing ways, right? He
wrote a lot of books in the Bible And there's
a lot of the New Testament that we quote today
we refer back to today Paul was redeemed in some
pretty awesome ways. He was used by God in some
pretty awesome ways Paul suffered on the behalf
of the gospel in a lot of ways that a lot of
people aren't willing to suffer. He humbled himself
to the point of being imprisoned, stoned, like
there was a time when people thought he was dead,
right? And he popped back up like, it's crazy.
We can agree that Paul was a vessel being used
by God. and if you want to be used by God in
mighty ways you have to be willing to go through
the pruning and the requirements that God the
qualifications is a better word because before
Paul was able to be used by God in the ways he
was he had to be qualified by God right and we
know that Paul had like the pharisaic teachings
right because he was a Pharisee at one point
so he had the law but he didn't know anything
about like faith in Jesus and that is what God
took him through personal revelation let me see
here we're gonna go back to reading here in the
scripture Galatians 1 we're going to go back
to verse 16 it says to reveal his son in me so
that I could preach him among the Gentiles I
did not immediately consult with anyone I did
not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become
apostles before me instead I went to Arabia and
came back to Damascus when Paul was converted
when he received the truth of Christ he didn't
immediately go through he didn't immediately
go into ministry He didn't immediately go into
evangelizing. He went into isolation. God told
him. God called him away from the path that most
people would normally take. He said here most
of the apostles would go up to Jerusalem. That's
what most of them did. But that isn't where God
called him to be. God called him to be somewhere
else. God called him more in the space of isolation.
He said, I didn't immediately speak to anyone
about this. I didn't immediately go and start
asking everyone else for their opinions and asking
everyone else for their understandings, who they
thought Jesus was, who they thought Jesus, who
they know Jesus to be, what they think I should
do, who they think. No, what Paul did is he had
his intimate time with the Lord. He didn't speak
to anyone. He was speaking to God. And I can
speak to that personally all when I remember
it was 2024 in August when I really started seeking
the Lord and praying and being in scripture and
it wasn't until October that the Lord moved me
out of that desert area and it wasn't until I
think like The end of November beginning of December
when I even started like branching out and like
slowly making like a friend or two in the christian
community it was very slow that the lord was
allowing me to add influences back into my life
that's something that he did with paul all those
years ago and he's still doing with people today
because i'm speaking from experience y 'all that
he did it with me too and it's in scripture where
jesus says like My sheep hear me and my sheep
know my voice But y 'all if you're so busy listening
to other voices if you're so busy listening to
what your pastor is saying God sounds like if
you're so busy listening only to and If you're
so busy listening to what your friends or your
family to what everyone else on social media
says God sounds like but you never Really sit
down the presence and hear God for yourself.
It's gonna be really hard to discern the voices
It's gonna be really hard to discern what is
God and what isn't because we know that the devil
masquerades as an angel of light and especially
the closer we get to end times there's going
to be a lot of false teachings there's going
to be a lot of wolves in sheep's clothing there's
going to be a lot of people who say things that
sound but call it Christian and it sounds good
to your ears but if you know God's voice you
know his word and you know his character that
doesn't hold true Paul warns us about people
who are preaching a gospel contrary to the one
we've received And if you don't know the scripture
for yourself, if you don't know God's voice for
yourself, if you don't have that consistent relationship
with him, it's going to be really easy for you
to listen to the deceptive voices. And oftentimes
that's going to come out of the people you have
closest to you. And if you don't know God's voice,
you're not going to be able to trust it when
you hear from him. I remember you all going through
the period of when I was... Again, it was so
important that I had those couple months of when
it was just me, my Bible, and the Lord in prayer
time because I really had to work on discerning.
When I would feel like I'm hearing from God,
I would have to learn how to like, what does
God's voice sound like? And does this hold to
the Word of God? Does this contradict His Word?
And there were times when I was hearing things
that were not from God. And I was able to be
like, this is a deception of the enemy. This
is a lie of the enemy. This is a trap. And then
there are times where I'm like, no, this can
be held to God's word, and this is God's voice,
and this is something that's from God. Someone
needs to hear this, too, y 'all. The enemy will
present you opportunities, too. Look at Saul
and David. When David was in that cave, and Saul
went in there to take a whiz after Saul had been
trying to kill David, the people behind David
were hyping him up, saying, God's delivered him
into your hand. Now's the time to take him out.
Now's the time to get revenge. David didn't do
it, and he actually felt grieved for how close
he got to doing it. Because he understood that
that wasn't what God was calling him to do. God
wasn't telling him to, now's your time, make
yourself king, do it yourself, take out the one
who had once been anointed and chosen. David
knew that God was going to do it in his own timing.
But if David didn't know God's voice and didn't
know God's character, he might have believed
what his friends were telling him to do. That's
why I'm telling y 'all today your personal relationship
with Jesus is so important and it is very important
To have trusted pastor like that the pastor that
the person that you're listening to the Sunday
sermons That you know that they have a relationship
with the Lord and that you see the fruits like
that is very important pastors Our pastors are
often ordained by God and anointed by God and
I'm not at all discounting their relationship.
I have gotten some amazing guidance from pastors
who have spoken wonderful things into my life
and like I There are some that I truly I'm like
I admire your relationship with Christ and like
when they speak something when they give advice
I listen Because I know that they have a relationship
with Christ But I wouldn't be able to identify
that if I didn't first have my relationship with
Jesus, right? It's hard to identify who does
and doesn't have relationship with Jesus who's
giving you advice It's hard to test the spirit
if you don't know the spirit in the first place
Because we're supposed to test prophecies that's
another thing we're warned about Right, and I
believe it's first Thessalonians because the
Thessalonians are losing their minds y 'all because
they're they're believing There are some people
in the church who are basically convincing them
and this is just my rundown summary. Okay But
there are some people who are freaked out that,
you know, like the second coming of Christ has
already happened and they've missed it because
there are some false prophets that have already
kind of slipped into the church and are saying
things contradictory. And because they don't
have the discernment, because they're not rooted,
because they're not rooted in God's voice, they're
believing any voice that comes and says it's
from God. And they would have saved themselves,
you know, Paul corrects and like, I believe it
was, yeah, was it? It's been a while since I've
read this, y 'all, but he, they're getting corrected
and they're being spoken to. It's saying, I plead
with y 'all. Basically, like to guard your guard,
your hearts, like be discerning of the voices
that you are entertaining and listening to. They
would have saved themselves a lot of panic if
they would have just been discerning. And someone
may need to hear that today. You're gonna save
yourself a lot of pain unnecessary pain and heartbreak
that God didn't intend for you to go through
If you spend more time knowing his voice and
discerning and moving by faith there are people
who like Believe that they're just born with
this. I want to be so thoughtful with the way
I word this y 'all That God will gift you, that
is one of the things God can gift you with, is
an extra level of discernment. But discernment
comes through knowing God and knowing His Word.
How can you discern what is from God and isn't
from God if you don't know God? How can you discern
good from evil? If you're not using God who is
good as the guideline, right? So just food for
thought y 'all your your relationship with Christ
is so important is so important is so important
We're gonna go further in here right Where Paul
Paul is not consulting with just anybody he's
spending time getting personal revelation from
Christ personal revelation from the Lord the
Lord is revealing things to him in his one -on
-one relationship and then we see here in verse
18 then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem
to get to know Caiaphas and I stayed with him
15 days but I didn't see any other apostles except
James the Lord's brother I declare this in the
sight of God I am not lying in what I write with
you and we see here that God was selective over
who Paul was allowed to be close with who Paul
was allowed to receive spiritual guidance and
instruction from Paul wasn't allowed to be besties
with all the apostles Paul wasn't allowed to
go and like be in that huge group and I'm getting
guidance from all of you and I want to hear I
want all of you to give me your two cents and
your thoughts and your opinions he wasn't sharing
his personal walk and his personal revelations
with all of them either Says here after three
years. I did go up to Jerusalem and get to know
Caiaphas three years He was spending time with
God three years before God allowed him to make
friends with Caiaphas And it says here that he
was only with him he only stayed with him 15
days And there was one other apostle he kind
of kicked it with, James. Other than that, he
wasn't close with everybody. God was being very
mindful with who Paul was allowed to listen to
and receive from, but also who he was allowed
to share with. And I've seen this in my personal
life, y 'all. There were a lot of people that
I wanted to be friends with, and I just wanted
to be besties with, and God called me to have
boundaries. or God actually closed that door,
wouldn't even allow me to take a step through
it. It was really hard for me, y 'all, when I
was just trying to make community as a Christian.
It was hard for me because I felt like I was
just rebuilding in general and getting to know
people. And like, it was really hard. And I felt
like the doors kept getting closed. Like, every
door kept getting closed. And I was like, God,
do you not want me to have friends? Do you not
want me to have a community? Like, what's going
on here? And every time the Lord revealed to
me, he was like, I have done such a work in you.
And I want to use you But that also means that
you can't just be around everybody and I know
it's painful and I know it's lonely at times
But one day you'll understand why I had to do
it you'll understand why I'm doing what I'm doing
I can't tell y 'all how many times I had to say,
God's my best friend, Jesus is my best friend,
Jesus is my person I confess to, Jesus is my
person I pour out my emotions to, how many times
I was going through it and the only person I
could really call up was Jesus. But that was
so important because Jesus is the only one who
could heal. Jesus was the only one that could
fix. Sure, when I call up friends, if they're
very good friends, they're gonna encourage me
to go to Jesus. They're gonna speak the word
of God back to me But in that time period the
only person I could go to was the source And
I got so used to going to Jesus now eventually
when I did start getting close to people and
When I would like vent It would be very noticeable
to me the second like my It wouldn't sit right
with me when I would notice, oh, they're encouraging
me to go to the world instead of encouraging
me to go to God. Maybe this isn't the best friendship
for me. Maybe this isn't the best connection
for me. I wasn't able to do that until I had
spent so much time going to God that it was abnormal
for someone to recommend me to not go to God.
And it was actually a red flag when they would
start recommending I go to other places or do
other things. Look at how God used Paul. But
he had to have an isolation. He had to be selective
with his circle. If you want to be used by God,
there's a very good chance he's going to call
you to do the same thing. We know that bad company
corrupts good morals. We know that we're supposed
to guard our heart. We know that we are supposed
to be testing the spirit behind things. We know
that we're supposed to have boundaries as Christians
To love people in a Christ -like way which comes
with boundaries so of course of course God is
gonna call you to be discerning with who you
allow yourself to be close with on a daily basis
because that's gonna determine the direction
you go in and there's a reason why we're called
to be equally yoked and People there are a lot
of people who only see that as relationships
like romantic relationships, but that's what
businesses that's what friendships to The people
that you call your best friends or your closest
confidants the people that you should you should
be able To go to them in times of stress and
struggle and hurting and trust that they're going
to lead you closer to Christ I'm not saying that
they're gonna be perfect or that they're gonna
handle things perfectly But these should be people
that lift you up that pick you back up not people
that tell you it's fine to stay down Who you
surround yourself with Can be detrimental or
very encouraging And as we said in the beginning
of this episode if you need just an example of
someone we have Solomon We have Solomon who fell
into that temptation with his wives after years
dancing on the line after years of there's a
reason why he wasn't supposed to have all those
wives so he was disobeying God in the first place
having that many and we've talked before in the
past y 'all episodes about open doors to sin
and how that gives the devil more legal access
to your life and there were things that Samson
was that not Samson I guess we'll talk about
Samson in a minute y 'all I'm feeling like to
talk about him too There are things that Solomon
did that went against what God wanted him to
do, like one thing, taking all those wives. Also,
he was getting kind of lazy with the sacrifices,
too. He was making compromises in these areas.
He was making excuses for sin. And saying, well,
I honor God in these other areas. So it's okay
for these areas to fall short. And I think that
speaks to, you know, the cheap grace that we
operate out of today. I've talked to you all
about this in previous podcast episodes about
cheap grace versus costly grace, where a lot
of us nowadays operate on that cheap grace of
like, God will forgive me. I can send as much
as I want and do whatever I want to do. And they
don't see that that disobedience is an open door
for the devil to run rampant in your life. There
have been multiple people I meet now as a Christian
this has been a running one and I can't you know
I'm not speaking from the place of judgment because
I didn't always wait until marriage or intimacy
before I gave my life to Christ That was not
like a boundary I had but it's interesting about
a couple years leading up to giving my life to
Christ I started feeling conviction about intimacy
with someone I wasn't in love with By the time
I gave my life to Christ, I'd already been abstinent
for a while and I'm abstinent until marriage.
I've been abstinent for years and I recommend
that for anybody else because I believe that
that's what God calls us to, that we're not called
to physical intimacy outside of marriage for
good reason. And that's a whole episode for a
whole other day. But there are a lot of people
who call themselves Christian that don't honor
that area. I have literally talked to people
firsthand that they're like, yeah, no, that doesn't
work for me. There has been there was one person
y 'all who and I I want to be I'm gonna try to
It'd be very thoughtful with the way I wear this
there is a person who's really interested in
pursuing me that found out that I was waiting
until marriage and they're like Well, don't you
do will you do other things outside of marriage?
I said no like I'm I'm full -on like No, that's
not happening and they said well that's not my
personal belief is that I can do that and like
God will forgive me like he's graced me to do
that and that's a perfect example of cheap grace
y 'all of like some areas you're like I'll obey
God other areas it's like God understands I'm
not even gonna try to deny myself I'm gonna try
to do it God gets it and a lot of people operate
out of that but operating out of that leads you
to being Solomon For how many years did he make
an excuse of marrying all these wives that worshipped
gods that weren't even God? All these false idols.
Not only was he marrying a plethora of women,
but these women didn't even believe in God. It
was like a double whammy. Lust and idolatry.
But then also he started slacking on the offerings.
And he got so used to making excuses. for doing
that that just became a part of his life that
by the time he fell like eventually of course
he fell in to just that full -on disobedience
worshiping other gods it wasn't he woke up that
day and start worshiping the other gods it started
with those compromises of who he allowed around
him and the things that he started saying god
has graced me to send in this area god has graced
me to be disobedience no he hasn't His grace
is shown in the fact that he hasn't struck you
down and taken you out, but that doesn't mean
that he agrees with what you're doing. And that
doesn't mean that there is not going to be suffering
for what you're doing. Speaking from experience,
y 'all. But look at Solomon and what happened
when he wasn't discerning, and when he just let
anyone around him. I encourage y 'all to go read
about Samson and Delilah. It's been a while since
I've read about Samson and Delilah, y 'all. But
long story short, Samson was, he had supernatural
strength from God. And God gave him a couple
different covenants. I believe one was not to
cut his hair. Another one was he couldn't be
around dead bodies. He gave him a couple different
covenants. The other one I believe it was he
wasn't allowed to drink. He wasn't allowed to
be around wine. And he had this strength. And
there was a woman, Delilah, that started getting
all up around him and he started entertaining
Delilah. But Delilah was working against him
and she was looking for ways to take him down.
She was playing in his face. She was being nice
and kind to his face while actually just trying
to figure out his weaknesses of how to take him
down. And someone may need to hear this today,
too. You need to trust in what God is speaking
to you over what you see. I cannot tell y 'all
how many times that before starting a connection
with somebody or getting close to someone and
like I'm taking it to God and God's telling me,
nope. Set boundaries. You can't be close with
this person. And at first I'm like, why God?
They seem nice. They seem like they care. They
seem like they want to be friends. They seem
like they'll be supportive and all these things.
And God's like, just trust me. I cannot tell
y 'all how many times I've come up in prayer
of like, there's been a lot more times where
God tells me to have boundaries and to close
a door than He says to open a door and let someone
in. A lot more times He tells me to close a door.
And I listen to that and obey that. And there's
a lot of times when later on I start saying,
uh, that's why. I'm glad I listened in God because
if I would open up that door that would have
been a whole situation that would have been a
whole lot of unnecessary pain and suffering and
you know there have been times when I didn't
especially in the beginning where I didn't obey
that and found out for myself the reason why
I have such a fear and such a reverence now I
have learned through experience I have learned
it's better to just trust God and what he speaks
to me than to play around and figure it out for
myself and I'm not perfect and I'm not perfect
but I'm learning and Samson is a wonderful example
of that Cuz I wonder how differently it would
have been if he would have just like been sitting
consistently in God's presence instead of relying
on his own pride and his own desires and his
own understanding and just really submitted it
to God and Instead listen to God's warnings and
God's promptings, you know It happened for a
reason like got God used it God knew how it was
gonna happen But that's another example There
are some times, and I'm saying this in the most
loving way I can, that people are being nice
to your face and playing in your face. And the
only way that you're going to know to set boundaries
with them is by listening to God, because everything
that you see might say this is a safe person.
And God may be the only thing saying, stay away.
And you have to trust in God, stay away, over
your flesh's desire to allow it in. Lovingly.
lovingly obey God obey what he's warning you
about and calling you to do obey in his guidance
and his instruction and I want I pray that this
is you know if you're having conviction and listening
to this that there's hope in this too Okay, because
the qualifications to be used by God, it's so
important to understand y 'all that an anointing
comes along with a crushing. God anoints you
with what? Oil. When David was anointed to become
king, he was anointed with oil. When God anoints
you for something there's oil, but how do you
receive the oil? Oil comes through a crushing,
through the olives being crushed. So God will
anoint you for something. He will anoint you
for a position. He will anoint you to be like
with David to be king. God may anoint you to
speak to a group of people. God may anoint you
to do a thing. But before you get there, there
is a qualification he puts you through. His own
qualification. It's not about the degree that
you get. You can have all the biblical knowledge
in the world and you can have a master's degree
You can have a doctorate you can have all these
things But if God has not anointed you for it,
if God has not called you to do it, you're not
going to see God's hand But you can see someone
do that very same thing that the person with
the doctorate and the master's degree is doing
and they will excel way over that person Simply
because the hand of God is on their life because
God has anointed them for that thing And someone
needs to hear this today. You cannot duplicate
an anointing if God hasn't anointed you for that
thing You are not going to be able to mimic what
that other person is doing Jealousy and envy
over someone's anointing and someone's calling
Can cause people to throw away what God has planned
for their life God has created you when you were
formed in the womb. He already had a calling
anointing for your life. Quit spending time being
jealous of what God has anointed someone else
to do, and called someone else to do, and ignoring
what you could be doing for the kingdom of heaven
right now. But understand that it comes with
a crushing, a qualification. For example, if
God's gonna send you to speak to people, He's
gonna take you through seasons where you're gonna
get used to being rejected first. and you're
gonna have to go through walking by faith, you're
gonna have to go through all these things and
it doesn't feel good. Y 'all, even for me to
be able to speak to you on the things I've had
to speak to you today, how I just told y 'all
I have learned all these things through suffering
and experience, that is part of a crushing. The
way I am even able to speak to y 'all today didn't
come through me being able to wake up and do
it, I suffered a lot to even be able to speak
to y 'all on the things I'm speaking to you on.
Where I'm so casually mentioning like trials
and tribulations. I've been through it didn't
feel casual There are pains and sufferings. I've
been through the other people would be crumbled
by and I didn't get through on my own strength.
It was God If you are going through a crushing,
if you are going through a period where God is
telling you no, and he's being selective with
who you're around, and he is closing a lot of
these doors, and maybe you're going through a
lot of pain, a lot of suffering, stop looking
at it as pain and suffering, start looking at
it as God is qualifying you. If you know the
calling God has for you, you know that there's
an anointing on your life, know that it comes
with crushing, and know that God will use it.
So I want this to be encouragement for you today.
That though it feels like he's he's giving you
some very difficult things to work through and
move through that this is qualifying you but
this is the crushing that he is going to use
and the wisdom and the experience that God will
give you through his crushing and his anointing
is a lot more than you're gonna get in that master's
degree in that doctorate degree and that's not
saying that that it and that is not at all to
say that those are unusable or unnecessary because
God will call people to that too but God's requirements
and God's qualification Matters a lot more than
the worldly requirements and the worldly qualifications
We have constructed systems now of like this
is what you need to be qualified to speak on
this This is what you need to be qualified to
hold this position. God doesn't that's not how
God moves That's not how God moves And if whatever
season you're going through is how God has just
what has decided he's gonna qualify you Submit
to it want this to be your encouragement y 'all
and someone needs to hear this today may need
to hear this when we're on the topic of you know
not being jealous or envious don't be jealous
or envious of like seeing the calling that someone
else has or stepping into that because you don't
know the crushing that they had to go through
you don't know the suffering and you might not
be able to withstand the suffering Just like
they're suffering that you may be going through
that other people wouldn't be able to withstand
or get through Don't be jealous of someone else's
calling because you're being jealous of that
suffering, too And that might be suffering that
you don't want to sign up for and the most loving
way possible and I felt convicted of this as
well y 'all I Felt convicted of this as well
I believe I'm really speaking to someone today
of stop paying attention to other people's callings
and other people's anointings in the way that
they're carrying it out. I used this analogy
years ago, and I stopped using it, but it's something
I'm feeling the Lord in this moment kind of put
on me to speak up on again today. I used to use
the saying that it's like you have a garden,
right? And you're supposed to be watering your
garden. You're supposed to be tending to your
garden. so that in due time, you are going to
reap a harvest. But there are people who have
a garden in front of them, seeds, like they can
be working on that garden, but they're looking
over at their neighbor and they're paying attention
to how that person's tending to their garden
and how it's watering and they're watching that
person's garden grow. And they're so busy paying
attention to what that person's doing and to
what that person's focusing on and what their
harvest looks like. That they have neglected
their own When you are too busy focusing on what
someone else is cultivating and what someone
else is doing and what someone else is growing
You're gonna be watching that and you're not
gonna be tending to your garden and when harvest
time comes, what are you gonna harvest? Because
you haven't been you haven't been spending that
time with the Lord You haven't been asking him
to reveal to you your purpose and your calling
You haven't been walking in obedience of what
he's calling you to do in your personal So how
can you be upset that you don't have a harvest
when you haven't even been investing? Time with
the Lord and obeying him if you're so busy watching
other people you're gonna watch them reap harvests
and You're gonna turn around and have nothing
in your garden And here's another thing too is
God knows what you need in your garden God knows
what's gonna work for you God knows you like
lemons and you like pumpkins and you like Peaches
so he's growing that in your garden. He knows
that those are gonna be the things That you're
gonna sell the best that are going to be the
best for the kingdom of heaven but you're looking
over at your neighbor and you're seeing them
grow watermelons and you're seeing them grow
corn and really tall sunflowers and that looks
cooler and that looks better and all of a sudden
you have no gratitude for the specially picked
out for you peaches what was it peaches and pumpkins
and lemons you don't even like sunflowers you
wouldn't even be good Selling watermelon. Why
are you? If you're paying so much attention y
'all to what other people are harvesting and
having a jealousy over that you're gonna lose
appreciation and gratitude for what God has specifically
Cultivated and created and selected for you before
you were formed in the womb He chose this for
you We are all parts of the body a foot, you
know, the ones an eye once a foot once a hand
One part of the body can't say to the other,
I don't want to be this, I want to be that. God
has selected you for a reason. Every one of us,
our purpose should be to boost Christ and to
bring people closer to Christ. And I encourage
you to focus on that. Focus on your relationship
with Christ and ask Him what you can do to step
into your calling to guide you in obedience.
This is my encouragement today to focus on your
relationship with the Lord and stop paying attention
to what other people are achieving and what pace
other people are moving at what they have going
on and Just focus on your relationship with God
and trust that the steps that you need to take
if you're seeking first the kingdom and His righteousness
I'll be added on to you. I am someone who has
fallen into the distraction I know other people
do of looking at what other people have going
on around you The enemy loves to distract you
with envy and jealousy and fear because sometimes
you're not watching other people because you're
jealous sometimes you're watching other people
out of fear that they're gonna try to like steal
your harvest or take your harvest i went through
that season y 'all because i i had to go through
that where i had people literally trying to sabotage
what god was trying to do in my life and the
enemy wanted me to be so fearful that i was spending
all my effort and all my energy trying to block
that and trying to like fix that myself and do
all that, that I would stop having my intimate
time with Christ and I would stop working on
things. That I learned that if I just focused
on my relationship with Christ and spent intentional
time with him, that the weapons of the enemy
would fall to the floor in God's timing. That
I don't have to defend myself or to block these
things, that God will do it for me. The enemy
wants you to focus all your energy on trying
to protect yourself and do these things yourself
when all you need is the blood of Jesus. I believe
that was in the book of Exodus. Be still. He's
like, I will fight for you. You need only be
still. God will do the fighting. God will do
it. That's in his character. It's what his word
says. That's one of the biggest distractions
of the enemy is having you fearful of the plots
of The schemes that he has going on and trying
to protect yourself and plan accordingly when
you realize that you don't need to plan for all
that because God already has and Your obedience
to him is also going along with whatever he has
planned for a lot of fear is gonna fall away
and you'll see yourself being able to water your
garden again and In God's timing a harvest whatever
that looks like. I don't know God's purpose in
calling for your life I don't know what God's
trying to bring out of you. I don't know what
he's trying to do with the suffering But I do
believe that's going to lead to the fruits of
the spirit. Joy, peace, patience. I pray that
this episode is encouraging as well as convicting.
And some of the things I'm saying to y 'all I
needed to hear today and I needed to be reminded
of too. And I pray that God blesses you with
this and that you are brought in closeness with
him. And I thank y 'all so much for listening
to this episode. This was the Salt Not Sweetener
podcast and I'm your host Danielle Townsend.
And I do ask that you hit subscribe wherever
it is you're listening to this podcast. Leave
a review. It's really helpful if you like you
can rate it if you're on Spotify. If you're on
Apple you can actually do reviews. You can leave
comments on the episode. I see your guys's comments.
Leave a comment. Share this with people. Share
it on social media. Share it in the text. That
is helpful too. And have a blessed day. Bye guys.