Be Clay
" You are the Potter, I am the Clay! " Like me, you may have heard this phrase multiple times and even said it yourself. Whether you are in the church or not, this has become a popular phrase; that eventually in some cases became a cliché. However, has it crossed your mind what it really means to say " I am the Clay"?When you hear this phrase, you may imagine the positions of a “Potter” and “Clay” in this relationship. Understanding that the “Potter” makes and molds the clay to the desired finished product. You understand that the “Potter” knows the process needed to obtain the product's intended purpose. You may even imagine a “Potter” molding clay on the Potter’s wheel into a bowl. It is only possible for the clay to become a bowl if it cooperates with the Potter. The clay has to understand that its duty is only to be molded. The “Potter's” purpose will never come to fruition if the “clay” is non-cooperative.
Here on the “Be Clay” podcast, we will talk about how to accept and endure the duty of clay, as we allow the Potter to perform the same. We will explore the positions of “The Potter” and “The Clay” and the dynamics of each role. In the past years, I have learned and am still learning the roles of “The Potter” and “The Clay”. I have come to the realization that I was not fulfilling the role of “The Clay”. Instead of allowing “ The Potter” to mold me, I was fighting back and trying to mold myself. You can imagine what a mess I made! If you can relate, know you are not alone. “You are the Potter, and I am the Clay” will not be just something you say, but you will learn and understand your role and “ Be Clay”
Be Clay
Sculpting Spiritual Depth: Beyond Surface Religion to Genuine Connection
What if building a genuine relationship with God could transform your life in ways beyond mere religious practices? In this episode of Be Clay, we challenge you to move beyond the superficial and explore the profound process of spiritual formation. We kick things off by discussing the metaphor of God as the potter and us as the clay, emphasizing how this challenging yet vital process shapes our spiritual journey. We dive into the complexities of human relationships—familial, friendly, and romantic—and how they can deepen our understanding of our connection with God. We also touch on the sensitive topics of church hurt and hypocrisy, sharing valuable insights on how a solid personal relationship with God can help you navigate these common obstacles.
Through my heartfelt narrative of my spiritual reawakening, you’ll learn about the journey of rededicating my life to God. I open up about my daily prayers, the significant purchase of my cherished study Bible, and the conviction to live a life that honors God. My story is a moving testament to the struggle of one-sided relationships and the profound desire to comprehend and reciprocate God's immense love. These reflections provide a roadmap for anyone seeking to build and nurture a relationship with the divine, highlighting the stages of forming meaningful connections both with God and others.
We also examine the essential role of church community in our spiritual lives, emphasizing the necessity of forgiveness and understanding. Drawing parallels between our relationship with God and other relationships, we discuss how mutual care and sincerity are crucial. We delve into the importance of discerning true spiritual guidance and the dangers posed by false preachers, stressing that a genuine relationship with God is key to navigating these complexities. By the end of this episode, you’ll be equipped with the wisdom to embrace and nurture your relationship with God, fostering a deeper, more authentic connection with Him and your spiritual community. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion that promises to enrich your spiritual journey.
You are Loved!
Not just a little, but greatly
Not just today, but forever
Not just by some,
But by the ONE who created you in His Love
And HE's Not The ONLY One
We Love You Unconditionally
&
There's nothing you can do to change it!!!!
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Welcome, welcome, welcome. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Be Clay. How are you doing today? Thank you for allowing me to be part of your day today. You could be listening to anybody else, but you're listening to me and I appreciate that. I appreciate you. It is your girl, alisa.
Speaker 1:Okay, I think I'm not going to do all the AKAs today because you know, you already know. Whatever you call me, that's what it is. So what's up? I am so sorry the way these episodes have been coming out. I'm going to get it together. We're going to get this thing together. I know I keep saying it together, we're going to get this thing together. I know I keep saying it, but we are going to get this thing together. But I'm just so grateful that I am still listening and that this is still going. This is still a thing. With all that being said, if you are new here on the Be Clay podcast, we are learning through this journey of how to allow God to be the potter, the potter and we be the clay, understanding the relationship and the purpose of clay and the purpose of the pot Potter, and understanding that we are not to mold ourselves but allow him to mold us, and it's not going to be easy or fun, but it's what's needed to be done. And so, with all that being said, so I want to, basically, I want to say piggyback, but continue on from the end of my last episode.
Speaker 1:In the last episode, I brought up how I came here, basically where I am in God, where I am in God, and I ended up the episode if you did not listen to it about, uh, talking about relationship. Okay, uh, talking about relationship, not religion, but relationship with God. Religion we just go to church, right, we talk about stuff, but we're not really trying to do none of that Like religion is the Sadducees and Pharisees who just, you know it sounds good, but we already know it's not it. And when you have a relationship with him Is no different Than when you are in a relationship With other people, whether it's a friendship, whether it's a relationship as a son, a daughter With your parents, a relationship with your, you know, whatever, whether it be your man, your woman, whatever, whatever and in a relationship or whatever significant other, whether it be your man, your woman, whatever, whatever and in a relationship, there are different stages, right, different stages in a relationship. When you're in a relationship, pick one, pick a relationship and let's start thinking about Just pick a relationship Right now. We're going to start off with a relationship. Let's break this down Before I get into that, as you are thinking about which relationship that you are going to pick, as we break it down, you know relationship with God and because I did say that I was going to do the next episode was going to be about church, right, was going to be about church, right, and but before we really I get into church, I really believe that I need to um, talk about relationship with God, because the question is, or the question, or statement, when it comes to church, people say, well, I don't need church to believe in God.
Speaker 1:People say, well, I don't need church to believe in God. Well, I don't need to go to church to you know, to actually, you know, not to say to believe in God, but to be God. God know me, you know, it's my heart, you know and everything else. I don't need church. Church is full of hypocrites and you know people who, all these people want money and this and the other.
Speaker 1:I got hurt from church, all these different things when it comes to church and in the last one of these episodes, whatever, but recently, when I was bringing up, I said that I have endured church hurt. However, no matter what hurt I have received, it did not deter me from the church in itself and, although I've been to multiple churches, when I left a church it was not because of that church hurt and this is how I got to the place and this is how I got to the place where I was able to go to whatever you know, whether I leave the church and church I am now, or you know how to church I am now and different things like that was because of my relationship with God. It was is very important and to understand that the foundation because there are, you know, there are people who want, like you know, I want, to go to church. I just got to find that one. This is how you find that one. Your relationship with God is how you can find that one. That's how I found that one. If you want to say what's my relationship with God, you know, and you know, yeah, it was my relationship with him, because I loved him more than people in itself, and that's just. That's just being honest, right, we understand. We understand, if you listen to the last episode of how I was there and what he has done, and we can get to all of that. So you got your relationship Because, yes, depending on the relationship, there are some different benefactors, but for the most part, any relationship works.
Speaker 1:Okay, those nights in my room where the Lord had just poured his love on me, I finally came to the decision. You know what? I don't want this to end. I want to continue on with this. Here I am God, totally surrendered to him. Here I am, so basically rededicated. My life in my room Wasn't even at church, right? Um, rededicated my life to him. Um gave him everything at that moment, at that time. Here's my heart, here's my mind, here's everything. I want you to have it all.
Speaker 1:And one of the things I said to him was listen, god. I don't want my mama's God. I don't want my daddy's God. I don't want even the guy that I'm listening to every Sunday, guy that I'm listening to every Sunday. I want this, I want you. I don't want what I grew up with, grew up knowing of. You know, I want this, I want you and I want you to teach me you. And that's exactly what he did. And so he taught me how to have a relationship with him. He taught me how to have a relationship with him and it was amazing. Like every single day, I became more and more closer to him than I was a day before. That was my prayer, god. I want to be more closer to you than I was a day before. I want to be more closer to you when I go to bed than I was when I woke up. That was a prayer that I prayed every single day, so I would talk to him.
Speaker 1:Eventually, I was able. I made enough money that I actually put my own Bible it wasn't just using other people's Bibles or whatever. It was a study Bible too so that I could just study the word. Uh, I was, that was, that was like my best friend. And I actually lost a Bible. Well, someone lost it and they left it on the school bus when I was going to a meet, a wrestling meet, and I cried for days for that, because that was my best friend. As far as I was concerned, my Bible was my best friend and but I loved him.
Speaker 1:I love God, I love our relationship, I love what we built and, um, even when I became uh, what, when, when, when sin was presented to me by people my age or whatever and they like well, elisa, you know you can do, you can do this, you can do that. You know he's going to forgive you anyway. And I was just like, well, why would I want to even put him in that position? Why don't want me put me in the position? Why would I want to hurt him on purpose and then say, now, forgive me. Like that's how much I valued our relationship, where I didn't want to hurt you, right, just because I know you can forgive me anyway. Like I didn't want to just use you like that. Like understanding that he's been in this one side of relationship for so long, why do I want to keep you in that one side of relationship for so long? Why do I want to keep you in that one side of relationship?
Speaker 1:Now, I understood one side of relationships because I've been in one side of relations basically all my life and you know it ain't great, it's not fun. It's not fun knowing that you value your relationship more than the other person, or how many people is in this relationship with you, whether it was sister to sister, whether it was friendships, family. You know relationships with family I valued, I care more. Family you know relationships with family. I valued, I cared more. I guess to some degree I may say I love them more than they actually love me, if they actually do really love me for real. So I understood the to a degree, because I can never really actually. I can never really Actually, I can never really understand To the extent that he loves us More than we love him. I really can't. I can't understand to as much as I could. I'm limited in my understanding, but I understand to how you can love somebody More than they love you. And so Now that we and now that I gave you time to grab a relationship and let's break this down, okay, let's break this down.
Speaker 1:When you're in a relationship, this is an introduction period, stage right, and of the relationship, whether it was a friendship where you might have been friends with this person, let's say you've been friends with someone since kindergarten. Those first couple of days of kindergarten you might just be on a little playground or whatever. I don't know if everybody actually had a playground in kindergarten, but however you met that person, there was an introduction stage where at first it might've either y'all in the same table or whatever. There was something that you may have liked about the person something that drew y'all together, whether it was some similarities that both had the same color on that day, or you like the same color or something whatever. Something happened and to a degree and for me the introduction period doesn't mean you always have something automatically right away because I wasn't a person that went out like, hey, my name is Elisa, do you want to be my friend? That wasn't a person that went out like, hey, my name is Lisa, do you want to be my friend? That wasn't me.
Speaker 1:A lot of, I think, and I think especially once I started school, um, because by the time I started kindergarten, um, uh, there was a lot of damage. That had been much that I've ever been done. So I, I love people don't get me wrong but I didn't like them, and so I just knew people that wasn't going to like me, because at least you were rare. So, um, you're different than everyone else and people don't like different, and so I think I wasn't the one to go up there and be like hey, you know, my name is Alicia, you want to be my friend? Because the answer to me would have been they don't want to be your friend Alicia, nobody wants to be your friend Not the new kids per se, to a degree, so, but there was things that I guess that people's the kids, you know whatever saw in me and wanted to be a friend.
Speaker 1:That's how most relationships start. They came and introduced themselves to me, um, and, and usually something that, uh, they need to help with or not just help. I have no problem helping anybody, um, and I think that's how a lot of the friendship was. They needed something and I helped them and that's you. We became friends after that. They had a long conversation and then we are friends.
Speaker 1:So when you are in a relationship with someone after the introduction period, you just have the initial introduction. I'm not going to say that you're not your full, you're totally yourself. But there are some things that you may, may not, um, you know, give off, because then again, it's the introduction period. Why would you give them everything? Right? You give them enough to go through that period. But eventually, as y'all begin to spend time with each other and, you know, get to know each other past the first name, you realize there are some things, some strengths, there's some weaknesses, and the both of you just you know, um, and you are now contemplating if that, those strengths, those weaknesses, those likes, those dislikes, those things, is this good enough for me to stay in this relationship? Or do I need to stay in this relationship? Or do I need to the way it is, or are there? God, I cannot talk today. Or are there some adjustments? That needs to be made? Right, are there some adjustments? Based on whose part do I think that the adjustments need to be made? Will it be on my part, on their part, or both parts? And so you can't, but you don't.
Speaker 1:It's not just happening at one time. You constantly have to continue to do that Because, especially like if you were, if you was in a relationship at kindergarten, you were in one level, but now that you're in first grade, there's a whole bunch of stuff going on. So you gotta understand where we are at this level, whatever right, um, and as time goes on, you grow or you don't grow. All these different things, these things are benefactors when it comes to your relationship with people, because sometimes, who you was in kindergarten, not who you are in third grade, I don't know. You know you can say there's been a relationships that I have had with people in kindergarten and by the time we got third grade, we was no longer friends. Why, right, something? Something happened and you evaluate that relationship and realize, ok, this is no longer happening, this can't happen. Right, this is not right. Where they are now is not where I am going and we can no longer be friends. And so that's that's it. And so in a relationship, you go through these stages, you reevaluate each stage and then you make a decision, um, based on you know, your evaluation.
Speaker 1:And that's different from religion, because religion you just do. There's a bunch of rules you follow and you just do it. You don't even know why you're doing it half the time. Sometimes you just do it. It's something you've been accustomed to. There's traditions that it's just become a tradition or right of what you do. The tradition is, or you know, is you go to church and is you go to church, and then you go to church every Sunday, or now a lot of people are doing on Saturdays. But whatever, right, you go in, you sing the songs, you play the music, you do this and then you go home. Nothing changes. You do this and then you go home, Nothing changes. You do church. Right, for those you know.
Speaker 1:And I say, do church, because you know we dance the dance and, right, we know how to dance the dance and when to do and the beats and all of that. We know how, when to do the hallelujahs and this and that and the other. We know what to look like, how, when do the hallelujahs and this and that and the other. We know what to look like. We come in with our, uh, the clothes that we wear, and because, because it's a fashion show in church, right, um, so you know you got to look correct, right, all these different things. And then you just go home and do what you want to do.
Speaker 1:Now, sometimes, back in the day we'd leave, sometimes we'd say, oh, let's wait at least till Monday, but now we don't even always wait till Monday. We didn't always wait till Monday. Right, we can do it, right, we, you know, we didn't always necessarily wait to get off the church grounds doing stuff right there, even on the church grounds, saying stuff you're not going to say, even on church grounds, that's religion, no care in the world whatsoever, because this is just. You know something, it's just a form, a form of godliness. Right, you know that's religion. Because, just because you dance with the dancers and even with the tongues. You know, don't get me. You know, make someone made up of a tongue Doing church, that's religion. But then come down and somebody else swing in here, oh, you going to hell, that's religion.
Speaker 1:No type of concern for our behavior and what it's doing to God. Do we even care if God is really pleased, for real, with our behavior and our demeanor when we say what we do? Uh, do we even care that if someone looks at, if someone from the world looks at themselves and they look at me, and they don't see no difference, does that even matter, right? Um, because they should see a difference. They should see a difference.
Speaker 1:Um, in the old testament we understood that the lord god had different laws, um, that he had put in place for his people, for his israelites, and that was basically because they should. There should be a difference. People should know automatically if he was of God or not, without you necessarily really saying anything, without you saying, like you don't have to say anything. They should just all like you knew, oh, they got a Hebrew coming. Why? Because they're certain the way they clothes was all way. Um, you know the clothes they wore and you know the different things like there's a certain things, a certain look that they had and they just knew who they were. But, and everything else.
Speaker 1:So that's how God wanted us to love, you know, and we didn't have to circumcise necessarily the people, but we had to. He wanted us, our heart, to be circumcised, to cut off the things that doesn't belong to him, because he can't, he can't, um, dwell with that, um, those things that we continue to keep on to because he's such a holy and sovereign God. That doesn't work, right, um, he wants us to. He don't want us to be robots. Why he's not making you know? Uh, that's what the free will is for. He wants to choose him. He don't want us to be robots.
Speaker 1:Because what type of relationship would that be like? Do you like when we're forced in a relationship? It's not, it's not good, right? It's not good to be be forced in a relationship, to be forced to be with somebody that you don't want to be with. Everything you're going to do is going to have some type of a hidden agenda, is going to be, you know, bitterness and anger and all types of negative things attached to every thing that you do, everything that you say, all of that.
Speaker 1:So God didn't want that. He understood that, you know. So he gave us free will so we can choose to be in a relationship with him Right, and with and within that choice, as he began to pour out his love on us and his grace and his mercy and all the good blessings and things that he has for us and things like that. It will be will, we will, we will. We are even more appreciative of what he gives and what he does for us. If it was forced, then we just like whatever, but when it's not forced, then it gives him even more of a greater pleasure to do for us, just like as a um, a mother. You know, when we give our children gifts and it's not forced upon us to give this person the gift, the appreciation of you, you know, we know how we get the kids gifts and we just can't wait to give it to them because we know that they're going to be so happy and we can't wait to and we anticipate the smile on their face or the excitement of, oh, my God. You know all of that we anticipated and when we get it it just warms our hearts, it just gives us great pleasure that we was able to bless them and we was able to give them something that they want and all those things. All these emotions that goes, but it's great emotions. That is the type of relationship that God wants with us.
Speaker 1:Everything that he says, see, in religion, we just think it's a bunch of rules, you know, and we, you know, don't, don't. You know, don't fornicate and commit adultery, all those different things Be sober, and all these different things that we're supposedly not doing or whatever. We just think that God is just trying to be, you know, a party pooper, to say the least. I'm just going to say it like that. You know, just like our kids feel the same thing when we tell them don't do certain things, they just feel like we just don't want them to have fun and we feel like God just don't want us to have fun. He just want us to be bored and want us to be miserable and all these different things. That's religion. But when you are in a relationship with God, you really understand that he's doing that because he really does love us. He's telling us like listen, let me tell you something.
Speaker 1:Sex ain't just physical. First of all, there's a reason why I created it. I created it for, for marriage, people for this. But, however, I'm trying to tell you, okay, there's a lot that goes into that and so I need you to, uh, you know, like, learn how to be relation with me first, even before you've been getting married, because it's a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1:Y'all crazy, you know. You know, remember, like Jeremiah, you know, right, jeremiah, the heart is desperately and deceitfully wicked. Who knows it? But God, okay, you guys are some evil people, I understand it. Y'all was made of my image, but then sin came in. When sin came in, um, you know, it twisted some things up. The enemy is down there twisting a lot of things up, making it seems like it's one thing when it's really not, um, giving you illusions, right, and because you are sheep and, um, you know you're going to follow whatever and you're not always going to listen, but you don't notice a lot of things that go with that. And so I'm telling you, I'm trying to protect you from from your own self, wait, just wait a bit and let me teach you and let me show you right, like, not just that, but all the things they tell us not to do. There's reasons for that. We understand that. I'm just trying to protect you just like.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of things, the reason why we actually have real reasons why we tell our kids not to do certain things. We try to protect them from what they, what can happen. They don't understand as a child because they're minute and they they're like oh no, you just want me to have fun. But when we say hey, don't touch that, or hey, don't go there, or hey, like we're trying to protect you. So, as a baby who's like, ooh, this is nice, this is cute, I wonder what this do. And they go try to put their finger in the socket. Oh, a finger in the socket. Oh, hey, I, I, I right. Why? Because we understand, look, you can actually hurt yourself. Same thing, same thing.
Speaker 1:God is protecting us from our own self, our own self, okay, which is why he say there's a lot of things that we encounter and space that we put ourselves in and in the realms that we put ourselves in, spiritual realms. Right, especially when you smoke and all this stuff, you put yourself in a spiritual realm that you're not even equipped to handle. Right, you know you're not equipped to handle, you just don't have what was needs to handle it. And now we're going through extra stuff because we just don't listen. Now, when you and God and you have a relationship and you make stupid mistakes and you start doing stuff just because you're going off of your own emotions and your own understanding, he gives us grace and gives us mercy and I'm not saying he doesn't give grace and mercy if you're not in him, because he does. He blesses the just as well as the unjust. There are some things that he has kept you from danger, seen and unseen.
Speaker 1:But when you're in God it's a different story though I mean it's a different story though, like, I mean it's. It's different when you have a real relationship with him, because now you like, because when you and when you end him and you do something and you like, dad, I shouldn't do that, my bad, but you feel some type of way though it's more than just like I just messed up, it's like, dang, I really hurt you and you are godly sorry and he can work with that. When you're not in him and you're just doing religion, you're just like, oh well, and you keep it moving and you cause more damnation for yourself, like you are really destroying your body even more and you're becoming more and more dead Because the further and further away from him that you are, the more and more dead that you are. He is life. There is no life without him. Like there is no such thing as called life without him. We may think it is, but it's an illusion. Trust and believe's an illusion. Trust and believe it's an illusion. And so, um, you know, you become more and more cold, like he's like the sun right. The further, further further away from him, the more cold you are. Um and so.
Speaker 1:But when you are in God, you have built this relationship with him and you're like man. I'm so sorry, god, I should have listened to you. I know you were trying to tell me, but you know I don't listen. And he's like, yeah, I know, because it's in your nature. He understands, it's in your nature to a degree. You know, whatever, this is how I can go from here. So if you want to do this again, whatever this thing, whatever it is, even when it comes to unforgiveness, right, Because we want God to forgive us.
Speaker 1:But he said I cannot If you don't forgive. I talked about this before and I'm going to keep bringing this up because I'm looking around, it's a lot of unforgiveness and we wonder why. You know we're not going so far in our lives is because we are holding unforgiveness and he cannot forgive us. He just cannot forgive us if you don't forgive. He understand it could be a struggle. He understand that it can be, you know, challenging to say the least, but at least have the mindset to forgive and coming to him and asking him I need your help. And I mean not just like, oh God, I need your help, but you really don't want his help just at saying it, but really I need your help and you are determined to do whatever it needs to be done so that you can finally forgive, he can work with it. He's not working with just I'm just not going to do it, okay. Well then, I guess I'm just not going to forgive you either. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:So like we come to God with some stuff like we don't even want to accept, right, we come to him with some stuff that we don't even want to accept, right, we come to him with some stuff that we don't even want to accept. We don't even like it the way people treat us or how they do to us, but yet we're going to give it to him. Why and we expect him. He's supposed to just accept it with no problem, like, wow, who are you? We ain't nobody Like. We ain't nobody different. Like, what is this A relation? When you have a relationship, you actually care about how you treat each other. When you have a good relationship, right. When you're in a relationship that you value, you care about how you treat that person. Um, when you're uh, married, right.
Speaker 1:There's things that we do, as you know, as a concern, as we care about our spouse, things we won't say how we act with other people, all these things Because we value this relationship. If we want this relationship to work, we can't just come here and do certain things. It won't work efficiently If we do certain things, if we're out here running these streets instead of being home. You know all these different things and so, in a friendship right to work effectively, there's just things that you would not do because you understand that it would hurt your relationship, it would do some damage to your relationship. Not that somebody is controlling you. You just understand that it will hurt this relationship. Even as a parent, you know it's things that we need to do and should do, to continue to reevaluate our parenting, because it will hurt and damage our relationship with our child, the child that wants us a child, and then grow up and then it can, and the things that we do and don't do can hurt the relationships that they are acquiring, whether as kids, their friendships. Acquiring, whether as kids, their friendships and then as grownups again, you know, eventually they will have relationships that become, you know, like getting married and you know, and have their own kids. All these different things matters of how we, what we do and don't do.
Speaker 1:Now, what does that mean when it comes to church, right, church, right, so he wants us To fellowship. They have come together as a gathering since the beginning of time, right, you know, with the synagogues and everything else, and even afterwards, when he came and left, like when Jesus came and he died. After that, the assembly together is something that we need to help us to basically walk this walk to. As, paraphrasing, you know, we here we get instruction. We, we get instruction. We, we get guidance. Right, if you are sick or something's wrong, go to the others at the church, right, bear one, you know, bear one another's burdens, all these different things. He tells us, where you know, that we need each other to help each other. When he sent out out. He, when he sent out disciples, sent them out two by two, like he want. We need, um, you know help, right? Um, we need the fellowship. Um, you may say I don't, but you do need the fellowship. You may say I don't, but you do need the fellowship.
Speaker 1:There are times when you're too weak and when you're weak in your faith, when you're weak in your stature. You have those like oh, my brother is weak, so let me go help them. And they are strong enough to help you and to pull you out and to go through this with you and all of that and vice versa, et cetera help you and to pull you out and to go through this with you and all of that, and vice versa, et cetera. So, if you're by yourself, you're just going to be weak by yourself. Now, don't get me wrong. Um, you know Jesus is everything and we need him, but he orchestrated that weak like we can help each other. There's times where you know um, he'll put. Where you know he'll put, it's still him. Okay, it's still God.
Speaker 1:Because there I know for sure for me, for me as I talk about the encounter that I have with people, and and um, that, as I say, let's go from outside of church, right? So if you, if I work with you um, I have worked with you, um or you see me, you know in everyday life, right, and you have an encounter with me and you say, oh my God, she helped me this, that and the other, I would not be where I would need to be to help you if it wasn't for church. I know for sure. There's many things that I have been through and almost died, spiritually as well as physically. And if it was for me to be in the house, that, where God said, listen, lisa needs you, I need you to do this, I need you to do that, I need you to pray for her. And then they pray for me, they lay the hands, they do this, they do that. And now I got strength. Okay, and that's what I'm saying, like you need, like it's still him, because he would put your name on people's hearts or, and they say, pray for her and pray for him, he would even have. You know, listen, they're going through this, they're going through that, and then people will intercede for you. It's still God, it's still God working through people, the pastors you know Now, unfortunately, right, and I'm going to get more into this in the next one, but unfortunately, everyone doesn't listen to God, and that's just it is.
Speaker 1:But again, that's not something that we don't know. He told us there was going to be false preachers, and everything he told us. He gave us instructions on that. He said um, try to spare by the spirit, right? Um, you know my people by the fruit they bear. Now, that's what he said.
Speaker 1:However, if you don't have a real relationship with God, you don't know what you don't know you can. There's no way you can identify what fruit you're looking for. If I, um, because I know what a apple tree looks like apple tree looks like I'm not going to mistake it for a orange tree, right. But if I don't know, if I never seen or heard about or really understood what an apple tree looked like, and I see an orange, I'm like, oh, that's an apple, right, I'm going to identify something that I was not. And then, when I've been eating these oranges all this time and then thinking it's an apple, and there's someone coming to me that it's not, I don't know what to do with that.
Speaker 1:And so this is why our relationship with God is the first foundation, first that we need to work on when it comes to church. First of all because, um, you know, um, yeah, because you don't know, like you don't know, there are, like I said, there's false witnesses out there. Yes, you know why? Because that devil wants us. He, uh, he don't want us. Like he loves for us, he cares, he's, he doesn't have no care for you, but he wants to take as many as he can away from God, just to prove that he's better than God.
Speaker 1:Right, so he's going to do things and he's going to use people to mock God. So, of course, if I'm going to mock God, then you know I'm going to do it in the church, like that doesn't make any sense. Like I'm going to do it in the church Like that doesn't make any sense, like I'm going to do what you least expect it. Right, he comes to assembly. Then, when he came to the gathering for Job, you know he already got people of the world. So he's going to try to get the people in church. Like, come on, he already got the world, he already got them, they can care less. Right, he's not going to go, you know, but I'm going to try to see if I can turn people away from God, and so that's just his hidden agenda. That's why you got false preachers and false witnesses and you know it's a lot of hypocrites and this, that and the other, but that's not saying that God himself said don't go. It's just that don't go to there, don't go there. Um, that's not everybody, but that's just the word coming to fruition.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of things going on in the church. I understand, I really do understand, and every time I started to think about you know, oh my God, I can't believe this is going on. And the Lord said why can't you win? In my word, it tells you that this is going to happen and so you know. But when you have a relationship with him, it changed the game. It changes the game.
Speaker 1:Am I going to say you're not going to endure any church hurt? No, of course not, because we're people and we don't know anything else. It's in our nature to hurt, to do so. But when you have the right ones, that is, in God, the right church, they welcome the chastisement and the instruction by God to fix it, to fix them, to allow God to fix them. Like my pastor said, anyone can be used, so even if it comes to the fact that he is used, or she's used by the devil. They are in him enough that when God like, listen, you was wrong, or whatever, my bad, I'm sorry. And they can come back and apologize. And so that is the difference.
Speaker 1:Because we was born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Okay, we were born, born as soon as we came out, sin all over us and all we know is sin. There's a lot of things that we would teach our kids to do, and they already did. You know that was wrong. There's a lot of things that we would teach our kids to do, and they already did. You know, um, that was wrong. Sin. We was born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Okay, um, and so we're. And I remember I just said that our heart is desperately and deceitfully wicked. Um, our minds is bad, it's trash. That's's why we need it, needs to be renewed. That's why we need Jesus. If he was able to make it, he would never die. But we can't make it on our own. We can't do things right. That's why we need Jesus. He definitely knew we can't do right, even once Jesus came and left. That's why we have the Holy Ghost, like we, it's so right. And once Jesus came and left. That's why we have the Holy ghost Like we is.
Speaker 1:So, um, take the time to evaluate, really evaluate, your relationship with God First. Right Again, he said try to spare by the spirit. Uh, we know the food of spirit is what. You don't know his character If you haven't. If you have, if you don't pay. Character If you haven't. If you have, if you don't pay, if you're not spending time with him, you don't know what it looks like. I would don't really look like God. You only know what looks like him.
Speaker 1:If you know him right, um, you might know of him, but it's the difference when you know him the same, if, um, if someone just know of you and they have all these pre, uh, determined, um, you know thoughts and about you because, based on what they heard from other people about you, because based on what they heard from other people and what other and their opinions of you and it's not until someone actually spent time with you, have a conversation with you Then they realize like, oh, this is who you really are, and vice versa, as far as other people goes, as far as other people goes, and so we need to have a relationship because then you can know where to go, because you know where to go If you are in a church, should you leave, should you stay and why's why not, and all those different things like that. Because he wants you to have somewhere where your relationship with him evolves Right and not digress or regress I don't know if I said it right, but right. He wants your relationship to evolve and to continue to grow and mature Right and not stay stagnant or not at all or you walk away from him at all. So I am stopping right here and then I will come back and with but I will not say part two, but I would come back with a part. Now that we understand how you know I'm coming back With Breaking down, even in the church, but we understand that we need A relationship With God like a good one, not a distant relationship, but I mean cause. If, if you want this relationship, you might as well stay in religion, right, stay in, stay in the religion. So, but the difference I mean now we don't understand that, a difference between the two.
Speaker 1:I hope you try to understand the difference between two, um, between religion and relationship, and I hope you understand the difference between the two. I hope you understand the difference between religion and relationship and I hope you understand enough to want to have a better relationship with God and church can help you with it. I'm not saying, wait until you have a better relationship with God and then go to church I'm not really saying that but because church can help you mature in your relationship, church can really help you even start a good relationship with Him. If you're like I don't really have one, you try and do your own and working you can go to a good church where you learn to teach you how to have a relationship with him. So, um again.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to stop right here and I'm going to come back. Um, so I will see you in the next episode. Until then, please know and understand that you are love, that you are love not just by a little, but greatly, not just today, but forever, and not just by some, but by the one who created you in his love, and he is not the only one. We love you unconditionally and there's nothing that you can do with that. And understand and know that love never fails. Bye.