Godfidence
A space for self growth that is rooted in deep love for self, faith, radical self acceptance, authenticity, and positivity. Walk with me in Godfidence as the person God created you to be. I am here to help remind you of the light that is within you, the purpose God has for you, and to inspire and awaken the creator within you.
Godfidence
The Value of Divinity
Can you truly put a price on love, memories, and cherished experiences? Join us as we unpack the profound differences between value and price, using biblical parables and modern-day reflections to explore what really matters in life. Through the story of the merchant seeking goodly pearls, we illustrate how sacrifices made for something invaluable can shape our lives in immeasurable ways. We also discuss the metaphor of not casting pearls before swine, emphasizing the importance of protecting what we hold dear.
Drawing parallels between Christ as the Good Shepherd and contemporary relationships, we delve into the significance of valuing what is precious and the ultimate sacrifices that true love demands. Reflecting on the parable of the vineyard and the profound metaphor of the Good Shepherd, we contemplate how much Christ values His flock, to the point of laying down His life. Our conversation also highlights the importance of effort in relationships and personal achievements, arguing that true appreciation comes from hard work and perseverance.
Finally, we explore the journey through suffering and divine love, drawing from scriptures in Proverbs, Romans, and 1 Peter. We discuss God’s unwavering presence during hardships, emphasizing that life's challenges are opportunities for growth and character development. Through the story of Job and other biblical teachings, we encourage listeners to find hope and strength in faith, understanding that both light and darkness are integral parts of God's grand design. Tune in for a transformative discussion that promises to reshape how you view value, sacrifice, and divine purpose in your life.
The word today is value versus price. Value, by definition, is the regard that something is held to, deserve the importance, worth or usefulness of something, while price, by definition, is the amount of money expected, required or given in payment for something. So value is the regard that something is held to, while price is the amount of money expected for that something. Man puts price tags on something and that something could be a car, a house, clothes, food, right. Man puts a price tag on it and it determines the value of something. Some things cannot be bought. Some things are too large, right. Like you cannot put a price tag on one's love. You cannot put a price tag on a husband's memory when he got married to his wife. You cannot put a price tag on family. You cannot put a price tag on certain things, right, you can only price things that are material, but some things you cannot put a price tag on. So price is in reference to the physical realm, but value is in reference to the spiritual realm, because value is determined by the person. Value is determined by what you deem as valuable To one man. What they deem as valuable will not be the same as another man. This is why many times you see, when a parent passes away, their kids get their car, their house and they end up selling all of it because to them it doesn't hold much value. It was only valuable to their parent who now passed away, and that parent might have had photos and art and might have all these things right. But the kids now that it's getting passed down to they don't value any of it because it doesn't hold any sentimental worth to them. There's no memory attached to it, there's nothing that they value. They don't value it. So what do they do? They get rid of it. The things stored up on our heart, the memories, the experiences, the love, these things you cannot put a price tag on because they are valuable to the one who possesses them.
Speaker 1:So now let's reference scripture Matthew, chapter 13, verse 45 and 46. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls and having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Let's break it down the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls. So now we have a merchant who is seeking goodly pearls, A merchant who is specifically seeking goodly pearls, a merchant who was specifically seeking goodly pearls, and when he found one pearl of great price remember price, not value he found one of good price. That means that there was a price tag on it. That means that there was a number that he could buy it right, because things of value you can't buy it. It's not like a dog, because see if some, if a merchant went to a store and he was seeking dogs but he sought out a dog that ended up being owned by an owner he was in a family he could not buy that because the owner would say there's no price tag on that. The owner would be like no, it's not for sale, I don't care how much money you offer me, there's no price. That would have me giving up my dog, because this is my family, right, and I value this dog.
Speaker 1:So this pearl that he found was one of great price, meaning it was up for sale, meaning it was accessible. So he went and he sold all that he had and bought it. That means everything that he had was invaluable to the one thing that he was buying. He bought it because he saw value in it, because to him that was what he had been looking for that was his treasure, that was what he was seeking. So when he found it, he knew how to value it. The price tag it didn't matter what the price was. He sold all he had and got it because he valued it, because that's exactly what he had been seeking. So for him, now that he owns this pearl, it is of great value to him. It is of great value to him. He had to give up everything he had to get it. So now he values it. You see, because he had to work for it and you know the story of how to get a pearl. They have to go down into the ocean, dive hundreds of feet or whatever, and get pearls. Such a journey to get a pearl. It's not like pearls that you just always can buy top dollar. No, people have to go on missions to go get those pearls. They have to work for it, they have to find it. They value it when they find it right. So this man sold everything that he had. How much more of great value is that pearl now? Because he lost everything that he had, or he was willing to sell everything he had to get it it. So now let's look at Matthew, chapter 7, verse 6 to 7.
Speaker 1:Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. We're going to look up the definition of swine. Swine is regarded as the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals. What is that word? One sec, we gotta look it up Now. We gotta look up abhorred definition, all right. So abhorred, abhor I really hope I'm saying that right, because what if I'm just saying whore and it's, it's not actually pronounced like that abhor, abhor. Okay, so abhor is regard with disgust and hatred. So by definition it says do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before the most unclean and most disgusting of all animals, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. So let's just put an example to this. I love pigs with all my heart. So and I am plant-based, I don't eat pigs. So let's just put in reference here that swine is in reference to pigs, because pigs are probably the most disgusting of all animals. They literally lay in their poop. They're just like and I love them and they're so cute, but like in regards to this, they're probably the most disgusting animals Like do you want to go sleep out with a pig? Probably not, you know. So do not give what is holy to the pigs, right? Do not give what you value to the pigs, because they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this is so crucial because when you value something right, you have a need for it. It's something that you're seeking, right? You have a need for it. It's something that you're seeking. If you're on a deserted island, you have no means of transportation, you don't have a boat, you don't have anything, and you're alone on an island and you find a million dollars, but there's no economy, there's no system. What a value would that be? Nothing. You would use that money as toilet paper because you don't value it. What are you going to use this money for? You can't buy anything. What survival skills is this helping you? You can't make a weapon out of it. You can't kill an animal or, like, get food with it. You can't do anything with it. Now, on that island, if you find a machete, if you find food, if you find something to start a fire with, valuable because you have a need for it. So where you are at in life is determining what you have a need for and what you're going to value, depending on your current circumstances. This is what's creating what you're going to value in your life right now.
Speaker 1:So in reference to this analogy that I'm speaking on, we're going to say it's pearls, because this man was seeking pearls, so he had a need for it, and for some reason he had a need for pearls. So in it says nor cast your pearls before swine. So really, what I get out of this is do not flash before another what you value, because they will not value it as you do. They will treat it as crap, they will treat it as garbage, they will treat it as anything else. To you it might be sentimental. To you it might be of great importance, right, but to them they don't see it as that. They're not going to cherish it as that. They're not going to treat it with the same love and tender care as you do.
Speaker 1:One man's trash is another man's treasure. To you, what you find as valuable, you hold it in your heart. You hold it near and dear to you, right, but to another it's trash. To another it's something that they trample under their feet and tear to pieces when you have that thing right Because in like Matthew 13, he bought it so he could own it. Because when you buy something it's now yours. You have a responsibility to treat that thing with the love and respect of something that you value, just like the people in your life. If you are given these people right and you value them, you're going to treat them of great importance because of how much value that you see within them, because of what they add to your life, because of how you feel when you're with them, because of whatever right You're going to value them. But if you give what is holy to the dogs, if you let these animals right, if you let these people come and take what you have as valuable, know that you are not going to get it back in the same condition.
Speaker 1:So Matthew, chapter 21, says here another parable there was a certain land owner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it and built a tower, and he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country. Now, when vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the vine dressers that they might receive its fruits and the vine dressers took his servants, beat one, killed one and stoned another. He says the last of all, he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son. But when the vine dressers saw the son, they said amongst themselves this is the hair, come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. So basically, he leased it to a vine dresser. And we can put this in reference to today's world.
Speaker 1:If you have a house and you value your house because it's where your kids were born, it's where your kids were raised, you put love and intention into building this house. You built it with your hands, you built it with your grandfather, you built it with the wood from your backyard, right, like you value this house so much. And then you lease it to someone and they come in and they destroy your house. They destroy it Absolutely destroy it, like there's not even recovering from it. It will never be the same because you leased it to one who doesn't value it. You leased it to someone who doesn't see the value in it. So they didn't treat it with respect. They didn't care for it the way you care for it. They didn't treat it like how you treat it, because they don't value themselves. They don't value their own life, not know how to value what you have given them, how to value your gift, how to value your heart. And how many people do you give yourself to that don't know how to value you, your heart? How many people do you give your body to who don't know how to value your vessel? How many people do you give your heart to that don't know how to value who you are as a person right, and they leave you worse than how they found you. They leave you broken, they leave you trampled on because they didn't know how to value you as a person right. They did not know how to value it. You gave something to someone who did not see the value in it and they left you broken because they did not see the value in what you were giving them.
Speaker 1:This is also in reference to John 10 when it talks about the good shepherd, and the teaching here is he who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. Leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. Ooh. So what is Christ talking about here, when you are not the shepherd, you are a hired hand, and a wolf comes. The hired hand leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. Why? Because they're not his, because they aren't his, but the good shepherd. What does it say after this? Okay, so the next part says I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as a father knows me, and I know that father and I lay down my life for the sheep. Christ is saying I will lay down my life for the sheep. Why? Because they're his family, because he values them, because he values them because they're his. Oh, my goodness. And how does he value it? Because he had to pay a price for it, god, my God. He had to pay a price for it, did he? He might have had to sell his life for the sheep. He might have had to die on a cross for these sheep. He values it because there was a price to pay and he paid the price. So now he values it, oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:And you see, why many times relationships aren't working today is because the people, or the man or the woman are not valuing that partner because they didn't have to work for it, they didn't have to pay a price for it, they didn't have to sacrifice anything for it Not time, not energy, not money. It was given to them. You know how many times, woman, I'm just going to use it. You give your body to a man just freely. He doesn't have to take you out, he doesn't have to buy you anything, he doesn't have to have to, and you just give yourself baby. He's not going to value you the same. I'm sorry, it's just the truth. It's just the truth. When a man has to work for it, he has to pay a price for it. He will value it that much more because this is nature, just as a lion who has to work for his prey.
Speaker 1:Imagine if a lion or any animal in the wilderness didn't have to work for their food. They didn't have to go out and hunt for it. They didn't have to. It just was handed to them like easy. It was just like here you can have it, you can have me. Their prey just came up. What fun is that? It's not. It's a natural instinct for them to go out and hunt. It's in their nature to do this right and they get a satisfaction from it. How much sweeter is that meat when they had to work for it? How much sweeter is that food when you had to work for it?
Speaker 1:And nowadays, met humans, dogs, right, the domesticated animals food is just easily accessible, right? You know how much food in the grocery stores are just pre-made meals that you just go and buy. You don't have to cook any, or frozen food, right, you just put it in a microwave now and people are just eating it. Dogs they just get fed out of a dog food, right? Dogs' natural instinct is to hunt, to work for their food. Nowadays they're coming out with these bowls where the dog at least has to, you know, like work to get his food, because they have these things now that are made where they're stimulating the dog's mind, where the dog has to work through traps and stuff to get the food. That's within something you know. Hopefully you know what I'm talking about. But for humans, right, we have all this pre-made food.
Speaker 1:It is in our nature to go out and go harvest an almond from the tree, break it open, crack it open. You know how much time it would take to open one almond nut? Probably 30 minutes. Have you ever tried it's so hard. You know how much sweeter that one almond would taste. Now I can go buy a bag from the grocery store and eat 30 in five minutes. Less Like a minute. That's crazy. There's no stimulation, there's no work that had to be had, so the fruits of my labor are not as sweet because I didn't have to do much labor to get it.
Speaker 1:Now if I had to pay a big price for it, if I had to pay like almonds right, they're of great value because, guess what, they're very hard to get. That takes a lot of work to get one almond, so they're priced higher. Almonds are priced higher in the grocery stores. Many nuts are because of the time and energy that it takes to actually go get these things harvested and sent out and shipped out and stuff right. So then you have to pay a big price in the grocery stores $15 for a big bag.
Speaker 1:Will I value that? Maybe, but do I value money? See, this is going to affect how I go about my life, how I treat things. If I don't value $15 and it's nothing for a bag of almonds, I will eat almonds like no tomorrow. They will be gone in like whatever, or I give them away or I throw them away. Right, I don't value it. If I had to go work for a whole bag of almonds, baby, that thing would last me 10 years. I would probably eat one a month because I would value all the work that I did to have that thing. So wrapping it back, right, what? Where did I go off on this tangent? What we work for we value Sometimes in life. When things are just given to us, we don't value it the same.
Speaker 1:And this is why God talks about how a good father will correct and convict his children. A good father would let their child or mother, good father, a good parent, would let their child go through some things in life to learn their own lessons. A good parent wouldn't try and go save their kid from anything and everything bad that could happen. Right, they would let them have the free range to go and make mistakes because you see, you have to, you have to mess up, you have to go through hard times, you have to struggle, you have to feel fear and then take the steps necessary to overcome that fear alone. And many times and parents in today's age are just not letting their kid even struggle when it comes to solving a little puzzle or whatever. They might sit there and get so frustrated trying to figure it out and the parent comes in and, you know, helps them out. No, let your kid struggle a bit. So a good parent is going to let you go through dark times, hard times in your life so that it builds up character in you, it builds up this strength in you. It's actually God's love being revealed when you are going through hard things, because it says that through the hard things we persevere and it's actually strength being added unto us.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to look up this. So scripture that backs us up Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 11 through 12. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest his correction. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects, just as a father, the son in whom he delights. So in correction. This is actually in love. We correct as a parent. A parent corrects you in love.
Speaker 1:The love that a parent has for you is manifested through correction. That is the fruit of the love in a parent, because a parent doesn't always have the good job right, the easy work. It's not always everything's going to be okay. It's. I know you're going through hard times, but life is not always easy. You know life isn't fair. It's the harsh truth that you know. A parent has to deliver and that is the fruit of their love. That is the manifestation of love, is correction when it comes to a child and a parent. Dynamic and more.
Speaker 1:Scripture that backs us up is Romans, chapter 5, verses 3 through 5. Not only that, but we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. So what is this reveal? Again, the love of a parent.
Speaker 1:The love of God manifests through correction. It manifests in the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is our teacher. When we receive the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Mother, the Holy Divine, feminine Energy. This is what it says when it says the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a feminine aspect. The Holy Spirit is your corrector, is your teacher, is your convictor, is your guide, is your intuition, it's the discernment, it's the wisdom, the knowledge, the understanding. It all is in the Holy Spirit. These are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, actually. So God's love is manifested through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us freely.
Speaker 1:And when we talk about not only that, we rejoice in our suffering. We rejoice in it Because the suffering produces endurance. The fruit of suffering is endurance. Suffering is like a tree, then right, and the fruits of it that it produces are endurance. And what is endurance, then?
Speaker 1:The seed of endurance, the seed of the fruit, endurance produces character. So then you plant character, right, and it reaps up a good tree, full of life, full of hope. Character produces hope. So now the seed that's planted into the ground. Thank you, holy Spirit. So now the seed of character is left into the ground and it produces hope. So now hope is a new plant, a new tree that is rooting up, and it's a tree of life, thank you, god. And it's now a tree of life called hope. Now the tree of life is called hope, just like a willow tree or a whatever. The name of this tree is now hope and it's full of life, it's full of good fruits and it will not put us to shame. Hope does not put us to shame. Oh, my goodness, god, you are amazing. You are amazing, all right. And now we have one more scripture reference to back this up 1 Peter 5, verse 10.
Speaker 1:And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. Amen, after you have suffered a little while. And after you have suffered a little while, so many people think that this walk with Christ is going to be butterflies and rainbows and sunshine, and that is the greatest deception of unbelievers. Right Is that when you walk with God, your life should be bountiful and beautiful and you should never be touched. You should be bountiful and beautiful and never. You should never be touched. You should never have to go through hard things. Why would God exist, why would God be real if they're suffering?
Speaker 1:And yet God is saying after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. Glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. That means that God is letting the suffering happen. That means that God is permitting suffering to come upon you. What do you mean? I'm God's chosen, I am God's favored, and yet I'm going to have to go through suffering. Yes, because the suffering produces humility. The fruit of suffering is humility. You have to be humbled in order to stand behind Christ, in order to get behind Christ, to let Christ guide you, to let Yeshua guide you, to let Yeshua go before you, to be a follower, to come second. You have to be humbled, otherwise you will walk around like you are God, like you are the creator of everything. Right, we have to be humbled through suffering and the God of all grace, the God of all grace, will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. What does that mean? Restore? He will give back whatever has been lost in the suffering. He will confirm who he has said you are.
Speaker 1:You might have forgot who you were in the suffering. You might have became weakened in your suffering. Right? God is saying I'm going to confirm who I have said you are. I'm going to strengthen you in this season and then I'm going to establish you. That means I'm going to give you a place, I'm going to give you a position, so that people know that this suffering was not done in vain, that people know that this suffering doesn't mean I have departed from you. No, my hand has been on you. My hand has been on you closer than it's ever been before. I am drawing nearer to you than I have ever been before. People saw the suffering on your life and they thought I had departed from you. They thought that you had been outcasted down. Bad, that there was no hope left for you, right? But I am drawing nearer to you and in this season I will restore everything that has been lost. I will confirm who you are in Christ and in purpose. I will strengthen you. I will give you back all your strength and not just your own strength. I will be there to add my strength unto you. And then I'm going to establish you. I'm going to give you a throne. I'm going to give you a position and it will be established. That means it can't be taken from you. That means, whatever it is, the throne that I have for you has your name on it. That means this is for you in this season, because you have endured the suffering a little while, because you went through the trial and tribulation, and now I will come before and restore and confirm and strengthen and establish you.
Speaker 1:This is the word of God, this is the promise on our life. How many people, when God gives us something right, when God speaks something into us like this word right Do we lose faith and we lose hope? In the awaiting of the promise, we have a vision that God gives us and we see it and we get excited and we start working towards it. But along the journey of suffering that we have to face, we believe oh no, maybe maybe God didn't call me to start this business, maybe this relation, maybe this man isn't the one who I'm supposed to be with, maybe this woman isn't the one who I'm supposed to be with. Right, we start doubting and we are lacking the confirmation. Right, we don't hear God affirming it. We don't, we're weak. Right, we start to doubt, we start to become immersed in disbelief, we start to lack the trust in the words that God has spoken, and so we never get to see the vision come to pass. Because we gave up prematurely, we stopped believing, we lost the hope, we lost the faith and in our suffering, the suffering has us. We don't have suffering. Suffering now owns us. We go and experience suffering, but sometimes suffering becomes who we are, because we identify with the suffering.
Speaker 1:You got lost in the darkness. You let the darkness devour you, not let it be what was sent to strengthen you, to equip you. You started to become the darkness. You were meant to be the light in the darkness. You were meant to hold the light, but you shut off your light and you became what was around you. You started to be immersed in the darkness. You let your light be for the darkness instead of holding the light. As you're walking in the darkness, in the suffering, continuing to stay, be the hope, be the faith right and remain steadfast until God's word comes to pass, because God has promised, and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. This is the promise of God, this is the word of God, but many people are not eating from the word of life. So what happens? The words of the world come to devour you Because you have let what other people have said become more valuable than the word of God in your life.
Speaker 1:People tell you you must be going through suffering. You're going in the wrong direction. You shouldn't be experiencing this much turmoil. If that's the man of God, the one that God called you to be married to, right, you shouldn't be having to go through all this hard times. If this was actually for you, shouldn't it be aligned? Shouldn't it be easy? Who promised this? Is that the word of God or is that the word of man? This, is that the word of God or is that the word of man? God never said it would be easy. We want to live this life.
Speaker 1:I feel like when people become enlightened, right, you start to you know, do all this spiritual things and live a life that is light, and you start to believe everything should always be aligned and there should not be hardship. If it's for you, right, there should not be hardship. If it's for you, right. If it's for you, you must fight for it. Sometimes you have to fight for what's for you. You have to get through the suffering, and God is going to let the suffering continue before you prevail.
Speaker 1:And yet sometimes in the suffering, we let our own wisdom, our own understanding, come before God's understanding. Our own understanding says I shouldn't have to suffer like this. Our own understanding says if this was the man or woman for me, it wouldn't be this hard. Our own understanding says if I was meant to read the Bible, it would be easy. I would just feel called to do it. Where is the discipline? Where is the discipline? Where is the perseverance? Where is the times that you show up when you don't feel like it? Where is the times you set your emotions aside and say no, I know what God has spoken and I know I have to see it through because this is God's word on my life. I cannot let my own understanding come before what God has spoken to me. I know that it doesn't look like the promise is coming. I know that it doesn't look like God has touched this. I know that it looks like God has departed from me. I know what it looks like, I know what it feels like, but I know what God has spoken, and so I will continue walking in this way because I know that it's the path that God has set out for me. No, I don't believe it. I know it because I know what God has spoken.
Speaker 1:And along the path, along the journey of so many people whispering things, even yourself, right, whispering things, these thoughts that come in, all the things right that want to get you out of the suffering and into this ease and comfort and grace. Right, all the time feeling comfortable, all the time feeling good. Right, you become your biggest op from becoming the greatest that you can be, from achieving your potential. You become your greatest op Because you don't let yourself go through the suffering. You want to always be in the peace, in the comfort, in the known, and God is like after you have suffered a little while, after you have suffered a little while, then I will, then I will. This is a God, a good parent, right, allowing you to suffer. You have to get out of your own way. You have to literally let the words, the wisdom of the world die in you. But if you're not devoted to hearing God, meditating, reading the word, doing your practices to hear what God is speaking to you, and every day you're on social media and every day you're letting other people speak into your room, every day, whatever, you're getting filled up on the words of the world and not the words that God is speaking to you, right, and you walk astray. You walk a path that does feel easeful, but it didn't build and produce the character, it didn't produce the endurance it didn't produce right. And so they're not just given, they're earned. They're earned in time.
Speaker 1:When you plant a seed right, an apple tree, let's say, when you plant an apple tree, it takes at least four to five years before that thing even fruits. It takes such a long time for that tree to even start producing fruits. It takes time, a little while. You know what a little while could be, just like the word soon, a little while. That's the universal. A little while is. There's no set time for how long that season of suffering is going to be. But in the season of suffering, the promise, the fruits of that. What God is promising is restoration, confirmation, strengthening, strength and establishment. This is going to be the fruit of that suffering. So when the fruits will come is unknown, because it says a little while, a little while is. So it's like saying soon. Who knows when that will be right. So once the suffering has been like a tree planted in you, right, there's no telling when you will bear the fruits of all that seed that's been planted. Plant a seed into the earth and it's the name of the seed of suffering. That tree is going to grow up, but there's no telling when it will fruit.
Speaker 1:You can have an idea. God might have given you a glimpse, or a vision to keep you persevering right in that storm, showing you little glimpse of what's to come, you know, giving you little, a new song on your heart that you can sing to be joyful, to be in remembrance of. You know what God is doing, that God is with you, right, but when you will see the fruits of it is unknown. God is with you, right, but when you will see the fruits of it is unknown. Your works cannot be done in vain. They cannot be done because of what you're going to get out of it. They have to be done simply because of who your God is, because of who you love, because of your relationship right, because of what you're told. If you do what you do just for the fruits, god is not going to bless you because God doesn't care. God doesn't care what you do for him if you don't know him. In the end times, it says, many people will prophesy, many people will do many great works, perform miracles in my name, in God's name, yet never know him and he'll say depart from me, for I never knew you. God doesn't care about what you do for him, if you do not have a relationship to him, if you do what you do for the fruits of what God is giving, but not because of who God is, god will withhold the fruits from you.
Speaker 1:Many people have to endure suffering for much longer, like the story in the desert 40 years. It could have been a four-day trip, it could have been a four-week trip 40. Because they still had to suffer A little while. The soon could have been four weeks, but it ended up being 40 years Because what they were doing would have been for the fruits. There was no relationship established, there was no connection. So God will allow for things to happen.
Speaker 1:This doesn't mean that you have a bad God. This doesn't mean that God hates you. This doesn't mean that God is not good because you're going through hard things. It means that God's love for you is manifesting in the suffering, and many people have a hard time understanding that, maybe because of how your human parents raised you. Your human parents raised you with coddling, with spoiling. Right, you always got, yes, you always got everything you wanted. You were never told no, you never got grounded, you never, like I myself experienced this. And so God's love, right.
Speaker 1:God, the one who sees, who is speaking to the version in me who I am becoming right. Because, see, god knows all the versions of me. God knows my heart and intentions, god knows my dreams, god knows the version of me that I'm seeking. God knows all these things right. So God is going to speak to not just this version of me, but all the versions of me, and God knows what I need, what this version of me, eve, needs to be equipped to be that version of me. So God is going to give me the parenting that is going to raise up that queen in me.
Speaker 1:God is going to give me the parenting that is going to be to raise up that king in you, right, or that king or queen in you. And it might not look like how your parents parented you because, you see, they weren't raising a king or queen, they were raising you to be like them. Oh, my goodness, holy Spirit, thank you God. They were raising you to be like them. They weren't raising you to be better than them, because they can only give you from what they have. They can't give what they don't have. They can't give love that they don't have. They can give knowledge that they don't have, they can give wisdom that they don't have, right?
Speaker 1:Okay, so David was the youngest of eight sons of Jesse. Jesse was a farmer and a sheep breeder of the Israelite tribe of Judah, and David spent much of his boyhood tending his family's flock. Right so, david was a shepherd boy who grew up to be a king of God's people. But he didn't know this. Right so he was a shepherd because his parents, his dad right stewarded him up to be, like him, a shepherd. Because his father didn't know the anointing that was on David's life, so his father could not steward him to be a king. Right so when a king came and chose David out of all of them, he had to steward the king and teach David, because his father, his parents, could not oh my gosh, his parents could not raise him up any further, right so, because God knows the version of you that is anointed, so because God knew the, not just the version of David that was a shepherd, but because God knew the David that was a king of God's people, god had to speak to oh my goodness, god, god had to speak to the David that was a king, not to the king in him, not speaking to the shepherd in him.
Speaker 1:Many times, god's love is manifesting in correction and conviction because of who we are to be, because of the calling that we have in Christ, because of the purpose that we have when we walk with God. Right, not when we walk in our own way, not when we walk in the way that makes other people feel comfortable, not when we walk in the way that other people have set out for us. Many parents said oh, you're going to be a doctor because we've all been doctors. Oh, you're going to be a shepherd because we've all been shepherds. Right, your parents try to force this road on you, but you see, god has called you to something greater than they have ever been. A new road, a new wave is being paved. You're going to be the first one in your family to break the freaking curses, to be a millionaire, to do the oh my gosh, to travel the nations, to go and travel the world. You are called to something much greater. So God has.
Speaker 1:You have to allow God to be the parent, you have to allow God to be the one speaking to you, you see, because God is going to nurture and speak to that version of you that is the millionaire that has traveled the nations, that has done the unspeakable, that has done something that your family line has never seen before. God is speaking to this version in you, but your parents can only speak to the version of you that they want you to be, that they've known. They can only speak to oh, my goodness. They can only speak from their experience and they've never experienced what you've experienced, because God is taking you to places they've never been. And this isn't any harshness on your family. They did what they could do. They took you as far as they could.
Speaker 1:Right Now, you're at a dead end and you're like where do I go? You have to depart from your family for where God is calling you. That's not to say you can't have relationship. That's fine, but know the position of those who are in your life so you don't allow for someone who is simply meant to be a support system to be the coach in your life. You have to know where to place people in your life so you don't let you know the person who's just meant to be a brother, just meant to be someone you know you connect with when you need a shoulder to cry on. Be the person who is telling you financial advice. You have to know the position of the people in your life, because why are you letting a broke family member teach you about finances? Why are you letting your parent, who has never been in a high position, right, who has never been an entrepreneur, talk to you about entrepreneurship or coach you to be, or give you advice or anything right? Know the position that people are meant to be in your life so you know where to fix your ears and when to turn and listen to God, to shut out the noise of the world, so you can let the voice of God become loud in you, because that voice in you is directing you to the steps that you need to take, to be and go to the places that they have never been.
Speaker 1:The tree that you sit under is going to determine the fruits that you eat from. Who you follow, who you listen to, is going to determine the fruits of your life. And if you are under your parental guidance, if you are under a broke person's guidance, right, if you are under a popular person's guidance who doesn't have the Holy Spirit in them, you will. Your fruits in life will be a result of who you sit under. So understand that when you are breaking these generational curses when you are doing the never done before in your family line, right?
Speaker 1:God has to position you into a new walk. God has to discipline you greater than your parents have disciplined you. God has to position you into a new walk. God has to discipline you greater than your parents have disciplined you. God has to speak to you a little bit harsher than maybe your family has spoken to you. You see, they want to nurture and coddle this version of you that makes them feel comfortable. They might not say the hard thing to you because they don't want to make it uncomfortable in the house. You know they don't want to step on toes. They don't want to be confrontational. They don't want to say that harsh truth because no, then then you might go, then you might, you know, break free from the chains, then you might take a different direction, then you might leave the home right. So they want to make sure it's all good and comfortable. So they don't say the hard thing. But God is going to place people in your life in this season who aren't afraid of hurting your feelings. God isn't afraid to hurt your feelings.
Speaker 1:I think that we have now such a sensitive generation that anytime something is said that that is like a sword right, that hurts your feelings, you want to run and tell mom and dad. You want to run into isolation, you want to be embarrassed, you want to let whatever right Get the best of you. Instead of allowing what the truth right, allowing the truth that's being spoken to be the darkness that you use to alchemize into light, to be the ammunition for you to go further than you've ever been, some people are feeding the harsh truth to you and instead of you taking that truth and rising above and using it to fuel you, alchemizing it right, you're letting it devour you. You're letting it keep you in a box. You're letting it keep you still. Someone might say you know, you've never done that before, you have no degree in that. How are you going to do that? Sending out all these shots, right? And instead of you saying I'm going to rise above and prove to you just how much you're wrong, you start to believe these things and you let it box you in. And these things that people are saying are typically your family, because they think that they know you best. They think that they know you. They think that they know the route that you should be walking. We've all been doctors. You're to be a doctor too. They're speaking to that doctor in you and God did not call you to be that. Whatever people are saying in this season, do not allow it to get you down. Use it. Use it, the harsh truth that people are going to speak to you, use it. This is God's voice.
Speaker 1:God isn't always gentle parenting. God is sometimes is all of it. It's gentle parenting and it's the harsh. God has to play good cop, bad cop. God is all of it. It's gentle parenting and it's the harsh. God has to play good cop, bad cop. God is all of it.
Speaker 1:Can't just play one side, because God doesn't care about hurting your feelings. Sometimes your feelings have to be hurt. Sometimes your mental health has to go. Sometimes you have to be broken because in those spaces you will finally shatter every idea of who you think you've been. So God can plant the idea of who you really are. Sometimes it's in losing everything. Sometimes it's in walking the hardest path that you possibly could to then finally turn to God and let yourself rise into a different position, because you let go of the identity, because you let go of who you think you've been, because you let go of all your attachments, you let go of all the weight of everything you've been carrying right. It's in the moment when we are most broken that God can finally plant a new seed where you can rise up into a new version of thee, where you can rise up into an even greater version of yourself. It's in those moments that is God's love.
Speaker 1:It's not always the sugar-coated, it is the harsh, it is the tongue that is like a sword, it is the truth. The truth is not always nice to receive, but it is the most freeing thing that we can give to someone. They say that the truth will set you free. Right, and in many cases people don't want to speak the truth because they're afraid of losing control. God doesn't fear these things. God is not like man Fearing. If I say the truth, then they're going to walk away from me and then I can't control if they leave or not. So I'm not going to tell them the truth, because then I can control how they react. Because if I don't tell them that I cheated on them with this person, then they'll stay in my life and I don't give them an option to leave me, and then I can control my reality and everything's great, right or whatever it might be. I'm just using that as an example. But God is not like man. God doesn't care about any of that. God cares about the truth, and only the truth, because God is the truth, god is the truth, god is the truth.
Speaker 1:And when we can face the truth, we can finally rise into who we are. When we can face God, when we can face ourselves, when we can look in the mirror and say you know what? I've been acting as a shepherd, but I know I'm a king. Because the moment that God places the anointing on your life and speaks to you, shows you a vision of who you are and speaks right about who you are becoming, who God is equipping you to be right. You can no longer be that same version, walking the same path, listening to the same people and being comfortable when the anointing is revealed on your life. You can no longer feel comfortable being who you've been when God reveals your revealed on your life. You can no longer feel comfortable being who you've been when God reveals your worth and your value. You can no longer accept the treatment that you have been getting, because now you see. Now you see yourself the way God sees you. You can no longer act the same. You can no longer walk the same. You can no longer talk the same. You can no longer be comfortable in whatever it is that you are doing that isn't aligned to that version of you.
Speaker 1:Imagine David gets the anointing of being a king and he tries to continue being a shepherd in his life when he knows he is a king inside. It will eventually eat him alive. You know when you're making a decision that goes against everything in you. Everything in you is telling you that that's not your truth. Everything in you is telling you that you need to walk away from those people. Everything in you is telling you that you're not meant to be a doctor, even though you went and studied for seven years to be it. And yet you're afraid. You're afraid to face the truth. But it's eating you out inside. It's eating you alive. That dream in you starts to eat you. It starts to kill you when you don't walk in your truth, when you don't step up to the anointing, when you don't step up to the anointing, when you don't become who God is speaking to right. It's so heavy on your heart. It becomes a burden. It no longer is something that's light and fluffy. It weighs on you. It will tear you apart.
Speaker 1:There are some people whose souls have died in this life because that version of them, the anointing that they never stepped into it, started to become a burden in their life. If you do not start listening to people who have the knowledge and wisdom in the area that God is sending you in, right, if God is saying you're going to be a millionaire, then you are meant to be stewarded and sitting under financial business owners, financial people who are successful already in that field. Right? If you aren't doing these things, it then starts to weigh on you so hard Because you know in all your heart, mind and soul that you are meant to be doing something that you're not doing and you start to justify it and excuse it and eventually, I believe God just lets you do your thing. God just lets you walk in your way. God just lets you live in your comfort.
Speaker 1:But it's not comfortable. God doesn't even have to do the conviction, because it's your own spirit that's convicting you. That comfort that you're trying to rest in becomes uncomfortable. You can't find peace anywhere. You can't find joy anywhere. Everywhere you look, you're sad. Everything you're doing isn't fulfilling you. Your own life doesn't produce good fruits. God doesn't have to do the convicting, it's already in you. Every day you wake up in despair. Every day you wake up depressed. Every day you wake up anxious. Yes, because God is calling you, god is giving you direction and you're not listening.
Speaker 1:You care about the fruits over the relationship. You care about having what God has promised. You care about having the restoration and the confirmation being affirmed, being strong, being established. You care about having all of these things over having a relationship. The thing is, you care about the fruits more than the relationship. Every day you're waking up in depression and you just want to feel ease and grace, but you don't want to have the relationship. You don't want to do something new. You don't want to walk in a new way. You don't want to move out of your parents' house. You don't want to get new friends and leave the people who are no longer serving you. But you want the fruits, you want the restoration, you want the confirmation, you want the strength, the strong or the strengthening and establishing of God. You want to wake up and have the fruits of the Holy Spirit joy and peace and love and just a happy not happiness, but a joyfulness of life. You want the fruits of God and what God can give you, yet you don't want to change your ways and after you have suffered a little while, we suffer, not because of even what God has to do, because of what we are unwilling to do.
Speaker 1:Many of the suffering that is brought upon our life is by our own doing. It's by our own hand. And God gets so much what's the word that I want to say? He gets so much glory. Right, the enemy gets so much glory. How many times do people say well, the enemy is doing this in my life, the devil is doing this in my life. Why is he getting the praise and recognition I was like why is he getting this recognition for what you are doing to yourself? It's so much easier to point our finger outside and say the enemy is doing that or God is doing that or whatever right.
Speaker 1:But most times, when it comes to our suffering, it is not the devil. It is our own unwillingness to walk with God. It is our own unwillingness to let go of the life that others have carved and paved out for us and to walk in a path that is greater than anything we've known, it is much easier for us to walk in the known than to step out into the unknown and take a leap of faith to reveal how much we do actually trust God, how much faith we do actually have in God. But that comes from relationship and many people, like I said, want the fruits of what God is giving to people the joy and the this and the that. Without having the relationship, they don't want to take the leap of faith, they don't want to actually listen to the God's word.
Speaker 1:When you have a relationship and you value the relationship with God over the fruits, you value who God is in your dark times and when you're in the depression and when you're feeling joyful, when you value who God is, you will learn to be present for all of it. Yes, the hard times and the good times. Yes, the depression and the. Because you understand that even amidst the depression it's God's correction, that depression is telling you something's off, that you're suppressing the artist in you, that you're whatever. It's there to teach you, it's there to help you. When you understand oh, I'm still favored, I'm still chosen by God. Here you start to understand that it's all good fruits because you're sitting under God and God is within you see. But the Holy Spirit must lead you, christ must lead you, and when you sit under the Holy Spirit and you sit under Christ, every fruit that comes from the tree is life-giving. Yes, all of it, all your emotions, all your feelings, all your thoughts, they're all life-giving. And you stop trying to run from the darkness, from the depression, from the insecurity, from that, and you start to embrace it and you start to understand that it's all there to teach you that it's all God's love, that it's all for the glory of God, and you no longer just value what God is giving you, you no longer just value the fruits that come off the tree, but you value the tree in itself, because the tree is providing you with shade, it's providing you with security, it's providing you a home, it's providing you a friend, it's providing you with so much more than just fruits. John, chapter 11, verse 4.
Speaker 1:Glory of God. This heart, this depression, does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This anxiety does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This doubt does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This relationship does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This betrayal does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This backstabbing does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This gossip does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This gossip does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This hatred does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God.
Speaker 1:I know that you hear me. Whatever you are going through, that you deem as something that is apart from God. If I'm depressed, I can't be with God. You know, if I'm this can't be from God. You know, if I'm this can't be from God. This suffering, this, this must be an attack of the enemy. This is God's hand, just like in Job. The devil had to go to Job and ask permission from God, or the devil had to go to God and ask for permission to touch Job, to bring upon suffering to Job, to affect his health, to take his family, to affect his house. Right. He had to go through God to get permission and God granted it.
Speaker 1:What you think is apart from God are actually God's fruits. For you to produce endurance, oh, my goodness, holy Spirit, to produce good things in your life, to produce character, to produce endurance, to produce strength. But you think, in your own understanding, that if the fruits do not look holy, they don't look good on the outside, that there's nothing good in it for you. Because it has a bruise, because it has a scar, because it has a little bit of damage on the outside, you say this this can't be from God. But God said it is full of what you need for your body, full of the minerals and vitamins you need, full of the lessons that you need, full of the tests that you need. The fruit has in it what you need. But because it doesn't look how you thought it would look from God, you reject it and you say no, this fruit isn't from God. Even though you're sitting under the tree of life, even though you're sitting under the Holy Spirit right, even though you're sitting under Christ, you want to look at some of the fruits and say this isn't from God. But God allows all of it to be.
Speaker 1:For you, the journey of life is to not have a goal, to not go through hard things or to not ever face suffering. It's to be able to alchemize the suffering and turn it into something good for you, it's to be able to take the hard things in life, the things that are dark, the depression, the loneliness, the anxiety, all of whatever's being thrown at you, the betrayal, the gossip, whatever right and you're alchemizing it and using it for you. You're using it as your ammunition to take you further than you've ever been before. What is being thrown at you is for you to use, but you let it destroy you Instead of taking it and rising above it. This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the son of God may be glorified through it.
Speaker 1:The sickness, the everything that you are facing in your life, the hardships Let us not give so much glory to the enemy, so much glory to Satan, to the devil, to the enemy right, because God is allowing it. God is allowing all of it and it's all for you. Let us remember to not give so much of a platform of praise to the enemy, to Satan, to the devil, when hard things are happening in our life. Let us not separate God from the enemy, let us not divide things in our mind, because it's all one and it's all God. The darkness and the light is God. God is all of it, all of it and everything in between. God is all of it, not just the good, it's all of it. The opposite of light is darkness. The opposite of good is bad, but really it's all one, it's just masked as something different. Darkness is light, masked as darkness. The moon is still light, it's just masked. God is working in all of it.
Speaker 1:So I just pray that this word would encourage you to remember that whatever you are facing right now, god's hand is on it. And if you are being led in the wilderness by the Spirit, you are going to be led out of the wilderness by the Spirit. And when you are led out, oh my gosh, the fruits that God is promising you, the fruits that God is promising you, the restoration, the confirmation to be strengthened and established, you can hold on to the promise as you're in the wilderness, knowing God has led you there, and remember that you are coming out as a whole new being, as a whole other version of yourself that you've never known before. That is so beautiful. So I pray this encourages you to hold out the hope until you see the vision come to pass, until you see the fruits come to pass, until God's word is fulfilled in your life. God has spoken these words. They will come to fruition.
Speaker 1:Yet you have to prevail through the storm. You have to see how God's grace is in the darkness. You have to be able to praise when it doesn't look promising. You have to be able to weather the storm when your relationship looks like it was just, you know, like not something that you were meant to commit and put all your time and energy into, when you've invested it. But that's the person that God told you you're going to marry. You have to be able to weather the storm to be able to see the fruits. So I pray that you just stay encouraged in whatever hardship that you're in right now. God is with you. I love you so much. This was such a beautiful word. Thank you, holy Spirit. Thank you for every single person who's tuned into this, who has given their attention and their time and their energy to this word. God, I pray that you would allow for it to impact them, to be fruitful in their life, that they may see the fruits of your word. God, thank you, amen, amen.