WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.680 we can, I always find that that voice rather creepy. I don't know about y'all. 2 00:00:06.680 --> 00:00:15.000 So, good to see everybody. Hey Kate, hey Casey. We'll probably have a few more people 3 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:22.280 and jump on after a little bit, but basically what I do, it depends on how 4 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:26.040 big the group is. Sometimes I just have people, you know, just pop in and like 5 00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:30.240 with a group this size. It would just, I would just have someone, normal, I'm 6 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:36.400 gonna have y'all all unmuted, sorry, all muted, and then I'm going to, and then you 7 00:00:36.400 --> 00:00:39.960 can just unmute yourself if you have a question. The reason for that, in fact I 8 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:45.440 forgot to do all of that, the reason for that is if I don't, then there's feedback 9 00:00:45.440 --> 00:00:51.360 on the recording, and then people can't hear the speaker, whoever the speaker is, 10 00:00:51.360 --> 00:00:55.400 whether it's me or someone else, because it's feeding out of usually somebody's 11 00:00:55.400 --> 00:00:59.040 computer and then feeding back into, out of their speakers and back into the 12 00:00:59.040 --> 00:01:03.280 microphone. Anyway, so there can be feedback or whatever. So, we've just 13 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:07.520 learned for the quality of the recording to have everybody muted. So, I promise I 14 00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:11.480 want to hear your voices. Just unmute yourself when you have a question. When 15 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:15.200 it's a larger, when it's a larger group, I sometimes have people put their 16 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.880 questions in the chat, but for something like this, it's a lot more informal and 17 00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:25.120 therefore a lot more fun. But does anyone have anything that they would like to 18 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:29.960 start us out with? Any question that you've run, any issue that you've run 19 00:01:29.960 --> 00:01:40.040 into specifically about, you know, resting in, shifting into the Lord's love. So, 20 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:47.280 being able to interact with Him without the understanding how to fall into Him, 21 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:51.680 which is that place where we feel unsafe, and yet falling into that place of 22 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:57.040 safety, running up against the threshold and actually pushing past it. Is all of 23 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.840 that making sense? Is anyone having, having any trouble with that? Because 24 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:07.360 what I like to do is to help people in their, in their trouble spots and how, and 25 00:02:07.360 --> 00:02:11.800 just learn how to basically speak their language. So, I talk with them a little 26 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:15.480 bit and learn to speak their language so I can say in there, in a way that they 27 00:02:15.480 --> 00:02:20.040 understand, oh, okay, well this is how you do it. So, basically, as if all of us were 28 00:02:20.040 --> 00:02:23.480 speaking different languages, because we all have different backgrounds, different 29 00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:28.440 ways that we've, that we have approached the Lord, different relationships with 30 00:02:28.440 --> 00:02:33.240 Him, phrases, depending on our denominations that we've come from, all 31 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:38.160 mean different things. Our experiences cause us to interpret things in 32 00:02:38.160 --> 00:02:42.560 different ways. And so what I do in the rest intensive is yes, it is a community 33 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:49.240 and it is a group, but I like to learn each individual and gain and develop a 34 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:53.760 relationship with each person and really help each person understand in 35 00:02:53.760 --> 00:02:58.360 a way that they need to understand it, how to cross their particular thresholds 36 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:02.760 or their particular issues. So, I always like to make sure that, you know, like 37 00:03:02.760 --> 00:03:07.720 George Bush said so long ago, you know, no child left behind. I don't want anyone 38 00:03:07.720 --> 00:03:12.920 to be left behind and get lost in a group just because they don't speak up 39 00:03:12.920 --> 00:03:16.960 as much as someone else. I really want to make sure that either here or in the 40 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:22.200 private sessions that you ask the questions of, hey look, I'm running into 41 00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:27.640 this problem, you talk about doing this, I didn't understand or I flat-out can't 42 00:03:27.640 --> 00:03:32.680 do it, because there's a reason and it's usually just because there's some 43 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:36.160 way that I said it that didn't make sense in your world, which is perfectly 44 00:03:36.160 --> 00:03:39.840 fine, because it makes sense in mine and I talk about it from that perspective, 45 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:44.240 but I have my own backgrounds and my own experience and therefore it's not going 46 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:50.120 to translate into yours. That's one of the reasons why I talk a lot, why I 47 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:55.680 taught, I take a subject and I completely unpack it, talk about it from every 48 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:00.440 possible angle I can think of and then repackage it and sometimes it kind of 49 00:04:00.440 --> 00:04:04.400 annoys people and how it is that I teach, but the reason I do that is it helps 50 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:08.000 people finally be able to understand, because I talked about the same thing 51 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:14.360 from multiple different directions and so it ends up that the Lord attracts to 52 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:20.320 me the people that are okay with that kind of method of teaching, but it does, 53 00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:25.840 it doesn't really, not really conducive to every audience. So anyway, this is, this 54 00:04:25.840 --> 00:04:29.880 is the rest intensive, this is what you get, so I hope that it's helpful, but does 55 00:04:29.880 --> 00:04:34.440 anyone have anything that they would like to start us out with of like, say, 56 00:04:34.440 --> 00:04:38.880 any experience that, that you've been running into? I know that it's just been 57 00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:46.200 since Tuesday, but since you've been in the group or, or what have you. So, yeah, 58 00:04:46.200 --> 00:04:52.560 go ahead, Chris. You know, the practice that you've been talking about, I mean, 59 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:58.480 this is probably kind of a dumb question, but do you close your eyes? What are you, 60 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.120 who I mean, I heard the Lord asked me a question. And a few 61 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:10.680 days before we started, it was like I saw his eyes were 62 00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:15.040 flaming, you know, like it, and even what it talks about in 63 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:21.480 Daniel and Revelation, and not judgmental. But anyway, if I 64 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:27.680 sit, I don't know if I can see his eyes, you know, how do I 65 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:31.080 close my eyes and kind of imagine or how do you do that? 66 00:05:31.840 --> 00:05:34.480 So really, okay, so I'm really glad that you're asking this 67 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:38.720 question, because then it helps me bring up. And it helps me 68 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:41.520 approach the exercise from a completely different direction. 69 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.440 So basically, what I do is I try to take what it is that I'm 70 00:05:45.440 --> 00:05:49.360 doing, and then give someone because it's hard to explain 71 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:51.640 this, this concept are hard for people to understand this 72 00:05:51.640 --> 00:05:55.160 concept, right? So I give them an anchor, I'm like, okay, do 73 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:59.120 this. But really, all that you're so you don't have to do 74 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:02.760 it exactly like this. The reason I just explained my experience 75 00:06:02.760 --> 00:06:06.080 of what I do, like, oh, I have Jesus come and sit and I look 76 00:06:06.080 --> 00:06:09.320 in his eyes and do that is because people understand that. 77 00:06:09.320 --> 00:06:11.800 But really, all that I'm doing, and all that I suggest that 78 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:16.160 anybody on here does, is you are going to your Lord to meet with 79 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:19.760 him and allowing him to engage with you, period. And the 80 00:06:19.760 --> 00:06:23.560 manner of speaking, you're not engaging with him. You're 81 00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:27.600 letting him engage you and engage with you. So however you 82 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:30.840 need to do that, and however it ends up looking, you don't have 83 00:06:30.840 --> 00:06:33.880 to be sitting somewhere and trying to look in his eyes. I 84 00:06:33.880 --> 00:06:38.320 had somebody in one of the rest intensives. In fact, it was the 85 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:42.200 you know, the broadcast that we did on Tuesday night, that at 86 00:06:42.200 --> 00:06:44.560 that event, that conference, that conference, there was a 87 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.600 lady sitting in there, who told me later that the experience 88 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:51.560 that she had was, was when she looked for Jesus, he was coming 89 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:57.480 across a field, smiling, looking at her holding out his hand to 90 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:00.040 her and grabbed her hand and invited her to go somewhere. 91 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.600 That was that was her engagement with him. So that's, that's 92 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:10.800 great. And so basically, just, just however, and you need to, 93 00:07:10.880 --> 00:07:13.640 whatever you need to do, whatever kind of like a thing 94 00:07:13.640 --> 00:07:17.880 that you need to imagine in order to help give your soul, 95 00:07:18.280 --> 00:07:22.040 something to understand, of the fact that you're, you're 96 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:25.600 intentionally choosing, now I'm going to engage with the Lord, 97 00:07:25.880 --> 00:07:29.720 or now I'm going to let him engage with me. So the way I do 98 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:34.040 it is I usually just sit there, but I'm telling you that because 99 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:38.200 I've practiced so much, having that anchor for my soul to 100 00:07:38.200 --> 00:07:41.800 understand what in the spirit I'm trying to do, because I've 101 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:46.680 done that so much, I've become familiar with how to tell my 102 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:51.240 spirit to do that, without my soul having to have that anchor 103 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:54.880 of me sitting on the bed and having Jesus come into that I 104 00:07:54.880 --> 00:07:58.040 have learned how to in the spirit engage directly with 105 00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:02.360 Jesus, so that he can so that I can experience and feel his love 106 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:05.560 and so that I can move into him so that I'm immersed into him 107 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:10.600 and allow him to immerse himself into me. But the anchor that I 108 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:14.440 started myself with, that gave my soul and my mind and 109 00:08:14.440 --> 00:08:18.440 understanding of what it is I'm trying to do so I can then tell 110 00:08:18.440 --> 00:08:23.760 my spirit to do that was a look I sat and had Jesus come and I 111 00:08:23.760 --> 00:08:26.120 looked in his eyes, and I learned that I couldn't look 112 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:29.960 away because what I when I was looking away, I was breaking I 113 00:08:29.960 --> 00:08:34.679 was, I was, I was trying to protect myself, I was trying to 114 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:37.559 save myself because it was too much I was feeling overwhelmed 115 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:41.000 by his love, that feels unsafe. So I'm going to try to protect 116 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:47.240 myself by looking away, or whatever. And so you a lot of 117 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:50.640 people do like the exercise in the way that I've described it 118 00:08:50.640 --> 00:08:53.640 as Jesus coming and sitting, we're just walking up to them or 119 00:08:53.640 --> 00:08:57.720 whatever. But they can't see his eyes. Well, that's fine. I 120 00:08:57.720 --> 00:09:02.480 sometimes don't see his eyes. You know, this isn't this, this 121 00:09:02.520 --> 00:09:05.960 exercise isn't magical. No one taught it to me. I didn't have 122 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:09.600 some great spiritual, you know, person tell me to do it. It's 123 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:15.520 not in the Bible. It's just what worked for me to help me 124 00:09:16.160 --> 00:09:22.760 decide and then in real it in, then in reality, interact with 125 00:09:22.760 --> 00:09:27.240 them, not just wish I was enacting with I was interacting 126 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:31.840 with them, or imagine that I were no to really truly in my 127 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.520 spirit interact with them. This helps me it was an anchor that I 128 00:09:35.520 --> 00:09:38.720 could understand. So is that helpful? 129 00:09:42.040 --> 00:09:47.200 Yes, it is. Yeah. Yeah, last night, I couldn't see his eyes. 130 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:52.080 And yeah, yeah, yeah, you're just wanting to, you're just 131 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:56.440 wanting to intimately connect with them. For me, eyes are very 132 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:59.400 important. I love eyes. I love looking in people's eyes. That's 133 00:09:59.400 --> 00:09:59.920 how I can 134 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.320 with himself. I'm trying to understand how to connect with Jesus, his spirit, and I'm sitting 135 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:09.120 here in my, you know, my body and my soul much more aware of it than I am aware of my spirit. 136 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:15.280 How do I move to my spirit man? For me, it was just easier to connect with imagining eyes, 137 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:21.040 but a lot of people, and for most people, it seems to work. They seem to, that seems to help 138 00:10:21.040 --> 00:10:25.920 them. But for several people that I've talked to, they, they're like, that doesn't seem to work with 139 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:31.840 me. Some people can't even see him at all. I was like, that's fine. You're the thing that 140 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:38.240 helped might help you engage is maybe either a smell. I'm not really big on smells in the spirit. 141 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:44.880 I can't really, um, I'm trying to think, I think maybe my husband has noted sometimes that he 142 00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:50.480 smelled some things in spirit. I, I very rarely if ever have. So that's not a strong one for me, 143 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:56.160 but it is a strong one for some people. And then for others, uh, it's not seeing anything. 144 00:10:56.160 --> 00:11:02.080 They're more, they're more like prompted by hearing something or by feeling something. 145 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:06.800 And so engage with that, if that, if that's more helpful, but the whole point is just 146 00:11:06.800 --> 00:11:10.640 engaged with your Jesus, however you need to do that. And I just explained to people, 147 00:11:10.640 --> 00:11:15.600 that's how, what was helpful to me. Thank you. You're welcome. 148 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:22.160 So does anyone else have anything we can always move on to something else? If no one has anything 149 00:11:22.160 --> 00:11:28.400 or trust me, I always have plenty to talk about. I can always fill the time. Does anyone have a 150 00:11:28.400 --> 00:11:30.560 sentence? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. 151 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:38.640 And you there. Thank you so much. I'm already having so much fun. It's as much fun as you can 152 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:46.800 have process, I suppose. Um, but real quick, um, and I have to go back and listen to your video, 153 00:11:46.800 --> 00:11:52.800 but is there a lot of dialogue happening during this time? Just completely quiet, 154 00:11:52.800 --> 00:12:01.440 just him or not responding, like no dialogue. Yes. Yeah, correct. And, um, again, I'm not glad 155 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:07.280 that you asked that question. It's similar to why I recommended to people in the, in the video that I 156 00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:13.200 did that yesterday. I think it was yesterday. Yeah. I didn't know that it's fine. I was just 157 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:18.000 letting people know because it was kind of a, a long one. And so I didn't know that people had 158 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:24.000 been able to get to it yet, but the, one of the things that I talk about in there is, uh, uh, 159 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:29.520 Liberty had asked in one of the comments, she'd asked, Hey, how about music? How about worship 160 00:12:29.520 --> 00:12:35.680 music? And I said, well, I recommend not worship music, at least with lyrics. And then I went into 161 00:12:35.680 --> 00:12:41.760 some details of why and whatever. And I say, and simply is simply because it's a distraction, 162 00:12:42.400 --> 00:12:47.280 especially if there's lyrics. And for me, I cannot have a melody that I recognize. 163 00:12:47.280 --> 00:12:52.320 I can't have a song, even instrumental worship music that I recognize. I can't because it's 164 00:12:52.320 --> 00:13:00.800 too distracting. It's too familiar. So what works for me is soaking music. So if I want, so if I 165 00:13:00.800 --> 00:13:05.760 want music, cause you can do it with them without music, if you want music, um, I personally have 166 00:13:05.760 --> 00:13:10.240 new soaking music. And then sometimes it's good to have music playing in another room 167 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:17.520 where it's not too right there, but it's at least making some kind of white noise somewhere near 168 00:13:17.520 --> 00:13:23.680 you. And none of this is magic. I'm just telling you tips and tricks based off of human psychology. 169 00:13:23.680 --> 00:13:30.560 We tend to be easily distracted by things. And so you don't want to incorporate anything 170 00:13:31.520 --> 00:13:38.880 that would just into the exercise that would distract, including talking because there's 171 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:45.040 this whole engagement thing going on. And the whole point of the exercise is to really not, 172 00:13:45.920 --> 00:13:53.600 not have anything of us flowing towards the Lord. Rather it's to allow the Lord and the Lord only 173 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:01.200 to be flowing towards us. And the whole thing of that is to kind of begin to, to break off our, 174 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:07.200 break off this, this sense and this feeling and this interaction that we typically have had with 175 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:13.840 the Lord, where, where we, where our engagement with him, or should I say that anytime that he 176 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:19.760 and we are together, we always think there's something expected of us. And that has a tendency 177 00:14:19.760 --> 00:14:25.840 to trigger a works in striving and performance mentality. So we're trying to break off our 178 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:31.440 tendency to go into performance. There's nothing wrong with engaging with the Lord. The problem is 179 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:40.320 we typically associate any kind of flow from us to the Lord as some kind of a payment, including 180 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:46.720 payment of, Oh, thank you, Lord, this is forgiving me this. I want to respond so I can make sure that 181 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:51.680 you know that I'm grateful so that you'll keep doing it and you won't stop and I won't be 182 00:14:51.680 --> 00:14:59.680 abandoned. I won't be without it. So what we, we, it's really wild, all of this subconscious ways 183 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.040 which we're tremendously entangled by performance mentality 184 00:15:04.040 --> 00:15:05.680 and how we engage with the Lord. 185 00:15:05.680 --> 00:15:08.760 So that's why I recommend no dialogue, no back and forth. 186 00:15:08.760 --> 00:15:09.960 There's nothing wrong with dialogue. 187 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:13.080 I just would recommend not doing this exercise, 188 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:15.360 which you might only be doing for five minutes, 189 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:16.720 with any dialogue. 190 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.200 You know, later you can, 191 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:21.640 but the whole point is to begin to give yourself 192 00:15:21.640 --> 00:15:24.000 a different experience with the Lord 193 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.840 where you did nothing and received everything 194 00:15:27.880 --> 00:15:30.680 in order for your Lord to prove to you 195 00:15:30.680 --> 00:15:33.040 that you don't have to do anything 196 00:15:33.040 --> 00:15:35.040 and yet you will receive everything. 197 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:38.880 So that's what you're trying to teach yourself 198 00:15:38.880 --> 00:15:40.720 by forcing yourself, 199 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:43.360 by creating an environment in which you're forcing yourself 200 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:47.480 to interact in a way that you're not used to interacting. 201 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:50.200 Case in point, just a little side note, 202 00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:53.560 and we'll talk about this later. 203 00:15:53.560 --> 00:15:55.920 When I had to learn that the Lord loves me 204 00:15:55.920 --> 00:15:58.600 even when I sinned, what I had to do, 205 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:00.440 well, I don't know, it's probably a perfect week 206 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:01.280 to talk about it, 207 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.080 that the Lord loves me even when I sinned 208 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:08.080 is when I realized I was intentionally sinning 209 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:09.480 and I don't know what I was doing 210 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:11.440 because I remember where I was standing 211 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:13.240 and I wasn't with anybody. 212 00:16:13.240 --> 00:16:15.080 I was in my apartment all by myself. 213 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:17.240 And I don't know, I must've had some thought. 214 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:19.640 Maybe it was a negative thought about somebody. 215 00:16:19.640 --> 00:16:22.400 Maybe it was a negative thought about the Lord. 216 00:16:22.400 --> 00:16:23.840 Maybe I was resentful towards him. 217 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.680 Maybe I was upset. 218 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:27.280 And because I was going through 219 00:16:27.280 --> 00:16:28.360 a very, very difficult time with the Lord, 220 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:30.760 this is when I was learning about how to, 221 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:35.760 learning that I was loved by the Lord and to choose it. 222 00:16:35.760 --> 00:16:37.200 Anyway, whatever it was, 223 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:39.080 it was something that I had recognized, 224 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:41.000 oh my word, that's sinning. 225 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:42.760 Or at least I thought whether or not it was, 226 00:16:42.760 --> 00:16:45.240 I thought that it was, and that's what's important. 227 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:46.360 And here's what I did. 228 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:49.280 I didn't apologize to the Lord 229 00:16:49.280 --> 00:16:53.000 because what I realized is I was using apologies 230 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:55.360 and telling the Lord I was sorry 231 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:59.120 as payment, in other words, my repentance, 232 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:01.480 as payment for him to love me again, 233 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:04.040 as payment to keep connection. 234 00:17:04.040 --> 00:17:06.800 Because when I was growing up, I was taught, 235 00:17:06.800 --> 00:17:08.200 I was literally taught this. 236 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:10.240 In fact, I told my mother this just the other day 237 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:13.040 and she was shocked because I learned it in school. 238 00:17:13.040 --> 00:17:15.119 I went to a private Christian school. 239 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:15.960 I was homeschooled, 240 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:19.079 but the private Christian curriculum that we used, 241 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:21.800 that there was a teacher on the videos 242 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:26.599 who told, he literally said to me in fourth grade 243 00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:29.640 that when you sin, God stops talking to you. 244 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:34.120 Talk about trauma when you're in fourth grade. 245 00:17:34.120 --> 00:17:37.640 So I lived the majority of my life believing that. 246 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:40.320 So this isn't some kind of a belief in my head. 247 00:17:40.320 --> 00:17:43.280 It was ingrained into my very being 248 00:17:43.280 --> 00:17:47.560 because I wanted so badly to be connected with the Lord. 249 00:17:47.560 --> 00:17:49.760 So I knew in order to, and here's my point, 250 00:17:49.760 --> 00:17:53.360 in order to break that thing off of me 251 00:17:53.360 --> 00:17:57.480 because it was such an intrinsic aspect 252 00:17:57.480 --> 00:17:59.720 of my relationship with God 253 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:02.520 and the only way that I felt comfortable interacting 254 00:18:02.520 --> 00:18:04.920 with him or safe, that's the word, 255 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:06.400 safe interacting with him 256 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:08.920 is if I was always apologizing or whatever 257 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:10.360 and that he didn't love me 258 00:18:10.360 --> 00:18:12.800 or he wouldn't talk to me if I was sinning. 259 00:18:12.800 --> 00:18:16.080 I was like, okay, if he says that that's not true, 260 00:18:16.080 --> 00:18:18.440 even though I don't understand how that couldn't be true, 261 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:20.120 even though I don't feel it, 262 00:18:20.120 --> 00:18:23.000 if he says it, that's what I'm gonna go on 263 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:25.120 to prove it to myself. 264 00:18:25.120 --> 00:18:28.760 I am going to not apologize 265 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:31.640 while I'm intentionally sinning. 266 00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:34.360 I recognize that I'm intentionally sinning at this moment. 267 00:18:34.360 --> 00:18:36.040 Okay, instead of apologizing, 268 00:18:36.040 --> 00:18:38.920 which is my go-to in other words of repenting, 269 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:40.160 that's really what I'm saying, 270 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:43.120 is repenting, which is different than an apology, 271 00:18:43.120 --> 00:18:46.760 but we're just talking about this in simple terms right now 272 00:18:46.760 --> 00:18:51.280 because that right there is not the point of the discussion 273 00:18:51.280 --> 00:18:55.440 but instead of apologizing and repenting, 274 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:57.680 I stopped and I asked the Lord 275 00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:59.440 for something that I really wanted. 276 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:02.560 So I did the exact opposite. 277 00:19:02.560 --> 00:19:05.440 I didn't just allow myself to sit in, 278 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.040 okay, well, you know what? 279 00:19:07.040 --> 00:19:08.720 I've intentionally apologized 280 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:09.560 and I'm just gonna, 281 00:19:09.560 --> 00:19:12.000 or I've intentionally sinned, 282 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:13.960 chosen not to apologize 283 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:16.040 and I'm just gonna trust and have faith 284 00:19:16.040 --> 00:19:17.400 that the Lord still loves me. 285 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:21.280 I took it a step further and required of myself, 286 00:19:21.280 --> 00:19:24.480 okay, if you believe this, Ashley, act on it. 287 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:27.320 If that is true, what would you do? 288 00:19:27.320 --> 00:19:29.080 I thought, then I'd ask God for something. 289 00:19:29.080 --> 00:19:31.720 I'd ask him for something that I really wanted. 290 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:34.960 I mean, because talk about bad timing, you know, 291 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.320 you've just sinned and now you just, 292 00:19:37.320 --> 00:19:38.760 without repenting, you're just like, 293 00:19:38.760 --> 00:19:41.480 God, this is what I really want, you know? 294 00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:44.920 But he says that that is how he, 295 00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:46.520 that's how he views us. 296 00:19:46.520 --> 00:19:48.120 That's how much he loves us. 297 00:19:48.120 --> 00:19:53.000 So I thought, I am going to risk my relationship with him 298 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:55.600 on the fact that he said it 299 00:19:55.600 --> 00:20:00.600 because my, I was so deep in this. 300 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:07.920 idea that he would abandon me in my sin, that I felt that he might strike me with lightning, 301 00:20:08.800 --> 00:20:15.280 if not only did I not apologize and repent immediately, but that I was so disrespectful 302 00:20:15.280 --> 00:20:22.960 and dishonoring to ask him for something. So I thought, okay, this is really risking myself, 303 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:30.480 and this is what all faith is. It's risking ourselves on what God said, because if what 304 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:37.120 God said actually isn't true, then guess who's going to bear the consequences? Because I, 305 00:20:37.120 --> 00:20:47.920 in my relationship with God, is what I just risked. So that's just kind of a side note of 306 00:20:48.880 --> 00:21:01.840 of how, how I have, how extreme that I have gone to teach myself these things is, and the story, 307 00:21:01.840 --> 00:21:06.640 when I'm relating it to y'all, it may not sound very big, but I'm telling you, to me, that was 308 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:11.280 risking my very relationship with God, and I am not kidding. I actually thought God was going to 309 00:21:11.280 --> 00:21:16.480 strike me down with lightning. I'm not exaggerating when I say that. I don't have a tendency towards 310 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:22.480 the dramatic. I'm very intense. I'm very excessive, as y'all can tell, but I'm not, 311 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:29.520 I don't exaggerate, and I, and I'm not, and I'm not, and I'm not, you know, just like 312 00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:37.120 dramatic or whether, you know, too dramatic, but, but so when I say that I thought he was going to 313 00:21:37.120 --> 00:21:42.960 strike me with lightning, I really thought he was, because in my mind, God is wrathful 314 00:21:43.840 --> 00:21:49.520 before he's love, and I had to re-teach myself that that is not true, and the only way I could 315 00:21:49.520 --> 00:21:54.960 do that was I had to put myself in a position where God could prove it to me otherwise. 316 00:21:55.520 --> 00:21:59.200 I risked myself on the fact of, okay, God, if you say this is true, 317 00:22:00.800 --> 00:22:04.640 then works without faith is dead, so if you say it's true, and I'm going to believe it, 318 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:09.920 then I, then what would I do if it, what would I do? How would I act? What works? What I do 319 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:17.920 if, if, if I really do believe it? So, and then I would do it, and then God himself, not theology, 320 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:23.360 not logic, not talking myself into something and convincing myself that something's true, 321 00:22:23.360 --> 00:22:30.720 but actually allowing God himself by my own experience to prove himself to me is what 322 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:35.600 really we need. That's the only thing that's going to actually change our relationship with the Lord 323 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:43.040 is where we, where we put ourselves in a, in positions where God invites us to put ourselves 324 00:22:43.040 --> 00:22:52.560 into positions where he, where he can show up as he is. If he says he's good, he says he's provider, 325 00:22:52.560 --> 00:22:58.240 he says he's protector, then we have to be in, in order for us to change our understanding of 326 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:04.640 what it is that we believe, we believe thus far, we have to now be in a situation where we experience 327 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:13.440 our God as he says he is. So anyway, that's why I, and that's why, you know, recommended what it 328 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:17.680 is that I do. It's not magical to, you know, have a discussion, not have a discussion. It's just 329 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:24.400 like, that's kind of the point. It's that kind of a radical, dramatic obedience of casting yourself 330 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:31.200 on God's word, on literally nothing, but the fact that God said that will change everything. 331 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:37.200 And it literally will change everything like that. Your, your world, it will break horrible 332 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:45.920 strongholds of religious theology off of you by those dramatic, um, uh, when you dramatically 333 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:52.480 and recklessly abandon yourself on nothing but his word in moments like that. I'm a very extreme 334 00:23:52.480 --> 00:24:00.400 person, so I do very extreme things. So is that helpful? Does that make sense? Okay. 335 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:05.680 So, hey, Cicely and Dusty, by the way, how are y'all? 336 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:12.320 So does someone else have another question for us? Rita, go ahead. 337 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:21.920 In your video, you mentioned, um, abandonment and feeling that because on Tuesday, I felt like the 338 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:27.760 Lord came to me and I experienced him and I was like, oh, I want him to come back. So I've been 339 00:24:27.760 --> 00:24:35.920 trying and I'm like, but he's not back. So I don't know that feeling of, I need to, I guess I just 340 00:24:36.080 --> 00:24:41.280 I guess I just don't know how to get it back and I'm feeling like he's not coming back. So. 341 00:24:43.120 --> 00:24:49.040 Yes. Okay. So great, great question. So what you do is the way that he came to you is because he 342 00:24:49.040 --> 00:24:53.600 wanted to, and it's very effortless and you didn't have to do anything. So that's how it happens every 343 00:24:53.600 --> 00:24:59.760 other time as well. In other words, you, this, what it is that we have faith on is we have. 344 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.000 faith that he is who he says that he is, not that he's going to do something. 345 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:08.600 So who does he say that he is? He says that he's good. 346 00:25:08.600 --> 00:25:13.200 He says that he loves you unconditionally. 347 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:19.000 You know, he wants all of this, you know, shifting into rest, 348 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:21.900 into freedom, you know, into more love with him. 349 00:25:21.900 --> 00:25:26.100 He wants that more than we do. He wants it at a very intense level 350 00:25:26.100 --> 00:25:29.800 because that is the reason for which he created us. 351 00:25:29.800 --> 00:25:32.900 He created us for relationship with him. 352 00:25:32.900 --> 00:25:35.600 I'm trying to remember when we're going to talk about that. 353 00:25:35.600 --> 00:25:40.900 I don't know. Well, maybe we talked about it a bit on Tuesday, 354 00:25:40.900 --> 00:25:44.600 but maybe we're going to talk about it next Tuesday. 355 00:25:44.600 --> 00:25:50.800 Yes, we're talking about our union with him and the point at which we were created. 356 00:25:50.800 --> 00:25:55.800 We're going to talk about the fact that we were created for relationship with him before the world began. 357 00:25:55.800 --> 00:25:57.500 So you weren't created for creation. 358 00:25:57.500 --> 00:26:01.700 You weren't created for some physical destiny and purpose here on this Earth. 359 00:26:01.700 --> 00:26:06.200 We have those things, but that's not the purpose for which we exist. 360 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:09.000 And that's not the thing that the Lord focuses on with us. 361 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:16.300 He focuses on a relationship. My point in all of that is he created us to connect with us. 362 00:26:16.300 --> 00:26:21.500 So he wants that connection with you more than you do. 363 00:26:21.500 --> 00:26:25.000 So all you do is you trust that that's who he is. 364 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.500 You allow him to be who he is as opposed to God. 365 00:26:28.500 --> 00:26:34.400 You know, why are you so far away? I'm trying. I'm trying out of my desire and striving and desperation. 366 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:37.800 Won't you please come back? That is rooted. 367 00:26:37.800 --> 00:26:45.800 That kind of like desperation that we get is rooted in unbelief that he's not that way. 368 00:26:45.800 --> 00:26:51.100 And that's why we're desperate to convince him to come back. 369 00:26:51.100 --> 00:26:57.400 So we have to completely abandon all of that and then choose instead. 370 00:26:57.400 --> 00:27:06.700 Okay, let's start from the different position as opposed to as opposed to from the position that believing that God is lying 371 00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:11.300 and we're trying to or he's not proving, you know, that he really is, 372 00:27:11.300 --> 00:27:14.900 you know, manifesting what it is that he actually said is true. 373 00:27:14.900 --> 00:27:22.400 We choose that it all already is true and that the Lord will just manifest himself in the way that he wants. 374 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:26.100 So basically you expect it. That's what faith is. 375 00:27:26.100 --> 00:27:30.300 So faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. 376 00:27:30.300 --> 00:27:35.200 We actually expect it. It's not in a manner of speaking. 377 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:38.400 It's not the manifestation that we're expecting. 378 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:44.200 So we're not looking for and trying to put all of our hopes and our expectations on. 379 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:48.500 He is going to show up. I'm going to feel this way, you know, 380 00:27:48.500 --> 00:27:56.200 because that's putting our faith in a manifestation and in other words in the outcome and in what happens 381 00:27:56.200 --> 00:28:04.900 and instead what we what we begin to learn more and more is that the outcome is created by the fact by the fact that we have faith 382 00:28:04.900 --> 00:28:09.200 that God is who he says that he is that creates the manifestation. 383 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:14.100 So if we're looking for a manifestation without having faith in God that it's going to happen, 384 00:28:14.100 --> 00:28:19.600 it doesn't have what it needs in order to happen because what it needs is us together 385 00:28:19.600 --> 00:28:25.500 with the Lord having the faith that he is who he says that he is that causes the thing to happen. 386 00:28:25.500 --> 00:28:27.700 So I know we're just kind of said a lot there. 387 00:28:27.700 --> 00:28:31.600 I normally talk about it for much longer time than that about about faith 388 00:28:31.600 --> 00:28:34.300 and I'm trying to remember if we even get to that point. 389 00:28:34.300 --> 00:28:36.600 We may not even talk about that in this rest intensive, 390 00:28:36.600 --> 00:28:42.600 but I'm going to try to do I think just like a live or something to just go through to go through faith 391 00:28:42.600 --> 00:28:47.500 and how to actually have faith. So whenever we run into any kind of struggle, 392 00:28:47.500 --> 00:28:53.900 this is really good question because this goes for literally anything anytime you're like trying to shift 393 00:28:53.900 --> 00:28:57.000 it to an interest or trying to feel loved by God 394 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:10.500 or whatever is to stop trying and to stop to stop that and the feeling of death it to stop that desperation 395 00:29:10.500 --> 00:29:15.600 and seeking after the Lord and instead effortlessly. 396 00:29:15.600 --> 00:29:19.300 What's the word effortlessly just rest 397 00:29:19.300 --> 00:29:25.000 and expect that God and and choose that God is who he says that he is 398 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.800 and that you're going to see him show up in the situation 399 00:29:29.800 --> 00:29:32.900 and shifting you into the rest in you feeling his love 400 00:29:32.900 --> 00:29:36.000 or whatever in whatever way that he wants to do it. 401 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:42.800 So you're actually having faith that he is who he says that he is not that something's actually going to happen 402 00:29:42.800 --> 00:29:47.400 and that's how the thing happens. So it's taking it for granted that well, 403 00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:49.900 of course, it's going to happen. Of course, he's going to show up, 404 00:29:49.900 --> 00:29:53.500 you know, you know, whatever but not that. 405 00:29:53.500 --> 00:29:56.600 Oh, well, I'm going to have this particular experience. 406 00:29:56.600 --> 00:30:00.000 You're just you're just having faith in him the love. 407 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:07.200 little bit like I may not be explaining this well, but is it making sense? Okay, good. I think 408 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:11.360 it's about if it's not making sense and I just need to try again because I wouldn't have understood 409 00:30:11.360 --> 00:30:22.080 what I just said. Let's just be honest. There are some things in which we're just very grateful 410 00:30:22.080 --> 00:30:26.320 that things are understood by the spirit because like Paul, sometimes I just don't got it. 411 00:30:27.280 --> 00:30:35.280 So, now I'm not sure. Cicely, did you have a question or not? You did? Yeah, go ahead. 412 00:30:40.560 --> 00:30:44.320 So, how do you know that you're experiencing God? 413 00:30:45.600 --> 00:30:50.880 Like that you're, oh yeah, based off of your comments today. Go ahead. Yeah, I mean it's just 414 00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:56.480 like, I feel like that's the place that I'm at. I'm just like, how do I know that 415 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:05.680 I'm experiencing the Lord? Like, I guess I'm like, I don't know what to expect and experience 416 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:16.560 with him. Well, should I not have any expectations? No, no, no, it's a great question, especially 417 00:31:16.560 --> 00:31:21.600 because, and I don't know, I know that we've talked about this, but it's been so long ago 418 00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:26.720 that I don't remember, but I don't know, remember which denomination you come from, but a lot of 419 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:32.560 denominations, particularly in the charismatic or in the very hyper charismatic, they literally, 420 00:31:32.560 --> 00:31:41.440 well, I say literally, let's just not word it that way. They idolize experience. Yeah, 421 00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:48.880 and they idolize experiencing God, feeling him or feeling, I don't know, just absolutely overcome. 422 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:55.280 And then of course, depending on the experience, some of them will roll around the floor or 423 00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:02.320 there's a lot of laughter or whatever. I actually just came from a meeting where that happened. 424 00:32:03.040 --> 00:32:08.800 So, the pastor was walking around and laying hands on people and they were losing it. So, 425 00:32:09.280 --> 00:32:18.800 that did not happen to me. So, anyway, but the thing is that we can, that the thing is that 426 00:32:18.800 --> 00:32:24.720 with those experiences, if we're not careful, we can just feel close that we can trick 427 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:31.520 ourselves into thinking that we have a relationship with God because we felt a particular way 428 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:38.320 and because we've had a particular experience. So, if I have an experience, then it means God 429 00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:43.840 loves me. If I can feel him, it means God loves me. And if I can't feel him or if I don't have 430 00:32:43.840 --> 00:32:48.080 a particular experience or it's been a long time since I've had any kind of an experience, 431 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:55.440 well, then God must be mad at me. I might, you know, I must be sinning or whatever. So, anyway, 432 00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:01.360 so I just, I just say that just to mention that sometimes we can kind of like idolize experience 433 00:33:01.360 --> 00:33:05.280 as far as like that goes. But what I think that what it is that, so I just wanted to mention that 434 00:33:05.280 --> 00:33:09.600 in case that's what anybody was thinking was that's where their mind went with experience. 435 00:33:09.600 --> 00:33:14.240 But what I think that you're talking about with experiences, how do I know it's God that 436 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:21.520 I'm engaging with versus I just feel good versus it's just my emotions or because music is just 437 00:33:21.520 --> 00:33:26.960 right today. And, you know, it's how do I know I'm being affected by God versus something else? 438 00:33:27.600 --> 00:33:30.880 And I know you're not going to really like this answer, but let me like flesh it out. 439 00:33:31.840 --> 00:33:41.440 And that is that when that when it happens, you know, because he feels like anything so different 440 00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:49.680 than anything else that we that we engage with or are affected by because we're actually born 441 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:54.560 out of his being. No, we're not God. We're going to be talking about that on Tuesday, but 442 00:33:55.360 --> 00:33:58.000 about what it says in the Bible about where we came from and all of that. 443 00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:04.320 But we actually came out of his being. So when we hear his voice, just like it talks about, 444 00:34:04.320 --> 00:34:08.719 you know, the sheep know his voice. When we hear his voice, there is something 445 00:34:10.560 --> 00:34:16.320 that is so how would you put it? It's like it's almost like hearing 446 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:26.800 it. It's so familiar to us. It's basically down in our DNA. It's like, OK, that's like me. 447 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:33.280 There's something very there's something very safe in it. There's something very, 448 00:34:34.080 --> 00:34:39.600 very familiar in it, even though you may have felt like, oh, I've never felt like this before. 449 00:34:39.600 --> 00:34:44.400 There's a way in which you feel that you'd be like, I've been looking for this my whole life or 450 00:34:45.040 --> 00:34:51.760 that or that's my father or that that's me or that. And I don't mean that we're God. What I 451 00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:59.840 mean is like it is so much like that. It's like we feel that that's where our existence came out of. 452 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:05.680 I'm not meaning to make all of this sound very esoterical, but the thing is that God touches us 453 00:35:05.680 --> 00:35:14.240 that set at the deep level of our spiritual existence, that there's no way to miss it, 454 00:35:14.240 --> 00:35:20.160 especially if you are knowing that it's God that you're looking for. So I can imagine somebody who 455 00:35:20.160 --> 00:35:25.760 doesn't even believe in God, maybe it's never even heard of God, you know, wondering, you know, 456 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:30.480 what is this thing, what is this feeling, and not knowing how to quantify it, but you would 457 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:36.080 absolutely know. And there was something else I was going to say when you'd asked your question, 458 00:35:37.200 --> 00:35:43.600 but is at least some of that making sense? Have you ever experienced anything like that, 459 00:35:43.600 --> 00:35:49.920 what I'm talking about? I don't think so. No? Okay, well, that's really, I mean, 460 00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:54.640 and I think that that's what the challenge is, like, I've been a Christian, and in church, 461 00:35:54.640 --> 00:36:00.320 and led worship, and had all these experiences. But there is this part of me that I'm like, I 462 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:06.480 don't know that I've experienced, like Carrie Byler has talked about, like, you know, just 463 00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:11.600 feeling the love of the Lord just poured on her, like, liquid. And I'm like, what are you talking 464 00:36:11.600 --> 00:36:16.960 about? Like, I haven't experienced the love of the Lord like that either. But I've always been 465 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:22.480 very jealous of people that did. But I feel like that's the challenge for me. I'm a very feel like, 466 00:36:23.200 --> 00:36:33.360 yeah, touchy feely based type person. And so it's like, I expect to feel him a certain way. 467 00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:39.040 And I just it's like, I just, yeah. It's like, I just don't, I can't even think of a moment in my 468 00:36:39.040 --> 00:36:47.920 life where I'm like, God, I know that that was God. Like, yes. Yeah. Okay. So yes, that's helpful. 469 00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:52.080 So in line of what I was talking about earlier, you know, where people are chasing experience, 470 00:36:52.080 --> 00:36:57.760 or whatever, what it is that we want to do is we don't want to focus on how we're going to know 471 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:02.080 that that's him, or how we feel, or in other words, like what I was talking about with Rita, 472 00:37:02.080 --> 00:37:09.040 you know, the manifestation of it, you know, the outcome of it, what we focus on is him. 473 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:16.240 And when we do that, he reveals himself to us in a way that we can connect with and in a way that 474 00:37:16.240 --> 00:37:22.560 we can understand in a way that we can feel that we can experience. But if we keep expecting to 475 00:37:22.560 --> 00:37:27.920 have if we focus on the manifestation, if we focus on what it is that I'm feeling, or what it looks 476 00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:32.800 like, or whatever, then a lot of times we're going to miss God because he manifested himself in a 477 00:37:32.800 --> 00:37:37.360 different way. But we were looking for this thing over here, and he manifested himself like this, 478 00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:43.520 and we weren't paying attention to this. So if we just focus on him, and not how he makes us feel, 479 00:37:44.080 --> 00:37:48.960 or how or what possibly could happen, or how I'm going to know or how I'm going to get 480 00:37:49.600 --> 00:37:56.240 proven to myself, that such and such is true or whatever, then if we focus on him, then he'll 481 00:37:56.240 --> 00:38:01.840 more readily come and he'll show up in a way that and reveal himself to you in the way that he 482 00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:14.720 desires to. So we can actually miss him by trying to look for an experience because, 483 00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:25.440 especially because we're limiting God to our experience. We're limiting God to what we know, 484 00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:33.520 and what we have interacted with, and he's very other than that. So we have to allow him, 485 00:38:33.520 --> 00:38:39.440 I think, oh, I did a post on this on my personal page today, about we have to let God be who he 486 00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:46.640 wants to be with us. Whoever that is, however that is, we have to have to allow him to be that. 487 00:38:46.640 --> 00:38:53.680 And, and just see how he shows himself. He wants you to know who he is more than you want to know 488 00:38:53.680 --> 00:39:01.600 who he is. So he's going to make sure that you know. So, so yeah, as weird as it sounds, 489 00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:08.720 we're going to talk about this a lot. In order to have something, in manner of speaking, 490 00:39:08.720 --> 00:39:15.280 you stop focusing on it. Because what we're doing is we're choosing it instead of him. 491 00:39:15.280 --> 00:39:21.200 So the way that we can get this is if we choose him. If we choose him, then there's a trickle 492 00:39:21.200 --> 00:39:27.120 down effect, there's an outcome, there's a, there's a result and whatever. But we can't have 493 00:39:27.120 --> 00:39:32.640 that. If we're worshiping that, or we're focused on it, or this is all we know. And then we're 494 00:39:32.640 --> 00:39:39.520 forcing God into this thing. Because what can happen is then we can then create, create 495 00:39:39.520 --> 00:39:47.120 subconscious resentment against God. Because it's not happening, because he's not showing us or 496 00:39:47.120 --> 00:39:53.440 whatever. I had built up a lot of resentment against the Lord, because I was looking for his 497 00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:58.640 love in particular ways. And I felt that I was holding up. I was doing everything it is that he 498 00:39:58.640 --> 00:39:59.920 told me to do. But I. 499 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:01.920 I wasn't feeling his love. 500 00:40:02.280 --> 00:40:06.000 And so therefore he wasn't holding up his end of the bargain because 501 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:09.800 he said that I should be, you know, that I was loved. 502 00:40:09.840 --> 00:40:12.760 And so I'm like expecting it to feel a particular way. 503 00:40:13.360 --> 00:40:17.480 And I'm like, well, Lord, you know, or certain things to work out in my life 504 00:40:17.480 --> 00:40:18.800 and they weren't working out. 505 00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:21.920 So therefore God, you know, you're not loving me, but he 506 00:40:21.920 --> 00:40:23.120 says that he is loving me. 507 00:40:23.120 --> 00:40:26.360 So apparently I was looking at the wrong place. 508 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:31.960 So the way that I finally began to feel loved and the way that I finally began 509 00:40:31.960 --> 00:40:36.920 to, and when all of those, the things that I asked him for finally started to 510 00:40:36.920 --> 00:40:43.880 happen was then I let it was when I let him go, I no longer required God to 511 00:40:43.880 --> 00:40:47.400 manifest himself in a particular way. 512 00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:50.000 I just asked, okay, God, you be loved. 513 00:40:50.040 --> 00:40:53.760 You say that your love, I ask that you manifest that into my life and your 514 00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:59.000 love might manifest itself into my pain, suffering, and uncomfortability. 515 00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:00.680 It did in Jesus's life. 516 00:41:02.240 --> 00:41:04.240 God loved Jesus and look what happened to him. 517 00:41:05.240 --> 00:41:10.560 So I told God, God, I choose your love, not how, not a particular 518 00:41:10.560 --> 00:41:12.400 manifestation that I want. 519 00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:15.920 And so it's the same thing, you know, with like experiences or whatever. 520 00:41:16.240 --> 00:41:21.480 And I know it may not sound like the answer that we want, but what this whole 521 00:41:21.520 --> 00:41:27.840 rest intensive is about is actually helping people finally get to live what 522 00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:32.000 God talks about, because think about it, what it is that we've been doing so far, 523 00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:35.760 whatever it is, you know, whether it's been looking for an experience, no, like 524 00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:38.440 what you and I are talking about here, or any of the other questions have been 525 00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:43.000 asked, how we've been approaching it this far hasn't worked, it hasn't. 526 00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:44.520 So it must be something else. 527 00:41:44.840 --> 00:41:47.880 So we get to the point where we're desperate enough. 528 00:41:47.880 --> 00:41:52.600 In other words, we desire strongly enough him and to engage with him. 529 00:41:52.600 --> 00:41:57.160 We're finally willing to let this go because the pain of not having that 530 00:41:57.720 --> 00:42:03.280 becomes greater than the pain of not having this, and we end up finally choosing that. 531 00:42:03.640 --> 00:42:08.240 So anyway, that's how we can actually start to see things manifest into our 532 00:42:08.240 --> 00:42:12.440 life to finally begin to experience them, et cetera, and I believe that you will. 533 00:42:12.440 --> 00:42:16.440 And I believe that you'll, I personally, I'm not trying to be, I'm not being 534 00:42:16.440 --> 00:42:19.360 prophetic here and not saying that sayeth the Lord, but I personally, the 535 00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:23.680 belief, just my own opinion, that you're going to begin to experience them very 536 00:42:23.680 --> 00:42:27.560 soon, very quickly, we're not talking about in week six, you know, we're 537 00:42:27.560 --> 00:42:33.240 talking about very soon, but in order to do that, we have to stop holding him, 538 00:42:33.280 --> 00:42:37.040 you know, and not just this experience thing, anything else that any of us 539 00:42:37.040 --> 00:42:40.120 could bring up, we're like, God, I want this. 540 00:42:40.800 --> 00:42:42.600 You told me I could have this. 541 00:42:43.240 --> 00:42:45.200 You told me that you would do this. 542 00:42:45.240 --> 00:42:49.160 You told me that this is who you are, but why aren't you being that? 543 00:42:49.600 --> 00:42:50.880 Why aren't you doing that? 544 00:42:51.200 --> 00:42:57.120 That is actually accusation against the Lord, which is resistance, a resistance 545 00:42:57.160 --> 00:43:03.240 against him actually manifesting in that particular way, because God 546 00:43:03.240 --> 00:43:04.800 says he's already given it to us. 547 00:43:05.480 --> 00:43:09.360 So what it is that you want, God says that he's already given not just to 548 00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:13.080 you, but he's got, he's given to all of us, but the only way that we can 549 00:43:13.080 --> 00:43:18.280 receive it is to just receive it very effortlessly and to, and to stop 550 00:43:18.280 --> 00:43:19.000 resisting it. 551 00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:22.000 And one of the ways that we're resisting it is we're choosing it and not him. 552 00:43:22.640 --> 00:43:25.840 So we have to give this up in order to have him. 553 00:43:26.360 --> 00:43:29.560 Abraham was willing to give up his own son in order to have God. 554 00:43:30.720 --> 00:43:35.640 Um, and, uh, so anyway, um, I felt that was a long explanation, but 555 00:43:35.680 --> 00:43:37.320 did some of that make sense? 556 00:43:38.280 --> 00:43:38.960 Yes. 557 00:43:39.360 --> 00:43:39.880 Okay. 558 00:43:40.320 --> 00:43:40.840 All right. 559 00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:42.000 Good. 560 00:43:42.480 --> 00:43:46.640 Like I said, I know it's not like the most fun answer, but I'm, I'm promise 561 00:43:46.640 --> 00:43:51.000 you, these are the things that finally get the results, period. 562 00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:52.680 I'm not the only one. 563 00:43:53.160 --> 00:43:56.160 I began to live this and experience this. 564 00:43:56.160 --> 00:43:59.520 And I just knew because come to find out the Lord showed me, actually, 565 00:43:59.520 --> 00:44:00.840 I've been teaching you this for years. 566 00:44:00.840 --> 00:44:02.200 She just didn't know it was called rest. 567 00:44:02.200 --> 00:44:02.960 I'm like, oh my word. 568 00:44:02.960 --> 00:44:03.960 So this is fascinating. 569 00:44:03.960 --> 00:44:08.200 I've seen you work like this Lord in a myriad of different circumstances. 570 00:44:08.200 --> 00:44:09.640 I just didn't know what was going on. 571 00:44:10.120 --> 00:44:15.000 So I'm like, okay, I knew it enough because my, my life was operating like 572 00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:16.560 that and according to these principles. 573 00:44:16.840 --> 00:44:19.120 And then I began to teach other people how to do it. 574 00:44:19.120 --> 00:44:23.640 And I'm telling you between then and now I've had a lot of people go 575 00:44:23.640 --> 00:44:27.720 through, whether a large rest intensive and many rest intensive or personal 576 00:44:27.720 --> 00:44:29.760 private conflict, uh, complications. 577 00:44:30.120 --> 00:44:34.600 And I am telling you that what I, what I teach in here is the step 578 00:44:34.600 --> 00:44:36.400 that actually gets the results. 579 00:44:36.720 --> 00:44:40.720 Not the stuff that sounds good, or that allows us to finally reconcile 580 00:44:40.720 --> 00:44:42.760 different contradictory parts of scripture. 581 00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:48.000 No, this is the stuff that lets you finally experience God. 582 00:44:48.040 --> 00:44:50.400 This is what actually works. 583 00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:54.520 So not what makes us feel better or be more hopeful. 584 00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:59.960 So anyway, so remember that anytime I tell it here, you. 585 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:02.000 doing the answer that you really don't want to hear. 586 00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:05.880 It really is the thing that will get the results. 587 00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:08.720 So, and that's what it is that you were investing in 588 00:45:08.720 --> 00:45:10.680 when you chose to invest in the rest intensive. 589 00:45:10.680 --> 00:45:14.200 I know it was a significant investment that y'all made. 590 00:45:14.200 --> 00:45:18.040 What you're investing in is the result, not hope, 591 00:45:18.040 --> 00:45:20.840 not to learn something new, not another Bible study. 592 00:45:20.840 --> 00:45:24.120 It's when you decide that you want your life 593 00:45:24.120 --> 00:45:26.400 to be different, and you finally choose 594 00:45:26.400 --> 00:45:29.120 you're willing to invest in yourself 595 00:45:29.120 --> 00:45:31.120 and in your relationship with the Lord, 596 00:45:31.120 --> 00:45:32.920 and you're willing to do whatever it is 597 00:45:32.920 --> 00:45:34.960 that he reveals to you that you need to do. 598 00:45:34.960 --> 00:45:37.520 You're finally ready so that you can live it. 599 00:45:37.520 --> 00:45:38.920 So, anyway. 600 00:45:40.760 --> 00:45:41.800 Hey, Carrie. 601 00:45:41.800 --> 00:45:44.640 I know that you're not on video, but hello. 602 00:45:44.640 --> 00:45:45.880 Hi. 603 00:45:45.880 --> 00:45:47.120 Hello. 604 00:45:47.120 --> 00:45:50.920 A long time since I have been on a Zoom 605 00:45:50.920 --> 00:45:52.960 for the rest of the Zoom. 606 00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:54.280 That's right. 607 00:45:54.280 --> 00:45:55.480 Great. 608 00:45:55.480 --> 00:45:58.320 I know, our first one was what, two and a half years ago. 609 00:45:58.320 --> 00:46:00.240 Here we are all this time later. 610 00:46:00.240 --> 00:46:01.080 Yeah. 611 00:46:03.840 --> 00:46:07.480 Does anyone have another question? 612 00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:09.760 So, we'll probably only have time for one more, 613 00:46:09.760 --> 00:46:12.280 but does anyone have anything about, 614 00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:16.400 anything that maybe wasn't understood 615 00:46:16.400 --> 00:46:18.840 about what I was explaining about how to experience 616 00:46:18.840 --> 00:46:20.200 the Lord's love on a daily basis? 617 00:46:20.200 --> 00:46:21.480 Yeah, go ahead, Dusty. 618 00:46:21.480 --> 00:46:22.400 Do I have the name right? 619 00:46:22.400 --> 00:46:23.480 Is it Dusty? 620 00:46:23.480 --> 00:46:26.000 Because on Facebook, it looks different. 621 00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:27.200 Dustin. 622 00:46:27.200 --> 00:46:28.040 Dustin. 623 00:46:28.040 --> 00:46:28.880 Okay. 624 00:46:28.880 --> 00:46:30.560 Sorry about that, Dustin. 625 00:46:30.560 --> 00:46:33.080 My parents were going to name me Dusty if I was a boy. 626 00:46:33.080 --> 00:46:34.560 I'm so grateful. 627 00:46:34.560 --> 00:46:36.200 I've been called worse. 628 00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:43.160 So, I mean, you've kind of touched on this, 629 00:46:44.280 --> 00:46:49.280 but so like whenever you're sitting and you're intentional 630 00:46:49.960 --> 00:46:54.960 and you're seeking him to engage with him, 631 00:46:55.760 --> 00:46:56.920 to engage with you, 632 00:46:57.760 --> 00:46:59.640 like, how do you like just sit there 633 00:46:59.640 --> 00:47:02.920 and literally be still and not like, 634 00:47:02.920 --> 00:47:04.320 I think what my problem is, 635 00:47:04.320 --> 00:47:07.040 is I go through like a laundry list in my head. 636 00:47:07.040 --> 00:47:09.440 And I, and then like you said, the distraction, 637 00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:12.000 like I just get distracted and it's just like, 638 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:13.920 then I'm like thinking about my to-do list 639 00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:18.920 and I'm not sitting there being intentional with him, 640 00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:21.880 waiting to experience him, right? 641 00:47:21.880 --> 00:47:24.800 So then, like you said, a distraction, you miss it. 642 00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:27.280 Yes. 643 00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:29.000 How do you just like clear your head, 644 00:47:29.000 --> 00:47:31.280 I guess is kind of what I'm asking. 645 00:47:32.680 --> 00:47:36.160 Yeah, so there's different ways 646 00:47:36.160 --> 00:47:37.680 I could go about explaining this. 647 00:47:37.680 --> 00:47:39.080 Okay, so are you talking about 648 00:47:39.080 --> 00:47:42.560 after you are already seeing Jesus and engaging with him, 649 00:47:42.560 --> 00:47:44.760 you get, for lack of a better phrase, 650 00:47:44.760 --> 00:47:46.920 get distracted or you get bored? 651 00:47:46.920 --> 00:47:49.320 Or are you talking about getting your mind to the point 652 00:47:49.320 --> 00:47:51.800 where you can just slow it down enough 653 00:47:51.800 --> 00:47:54.760 to start to engage with the Lord? 654 00:47:55.720 --> 00:48:00.080 Yeah, I would say that, slow it down to like get into it 655 00:48:00.080 --> 00:48:02.600 because yeah, if I sit too long 656 00:48:02.600 --> 00:48:05.520 and I'm like trying to like think about nothing, 657 00:48:05.520 --> 00:48:08.680 like I just, like I said, 658 00:48:08.680 --> 00:48:10.680 I go through my laundry list in my head, 659 00:48:10.680 --> 00:48:12.280 these are the things I need to go do 660 00:48:12.280 --> 00:48:15.000 or, and I'm distracted by that. 661 00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:20.000 And it's like, I mean, I have had really good quiet times 662 00:48:20.040 --> 00:48:22.000 and I feel like I have experienced the Lord. 663 00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:23.280 Yeah. 664 00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:28.280 But it's, I know it takes like how do I, 665 00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:32.560 yeah, just to get to that spot basically, yeah. 666 00:48:32.560 --> 00:48:35.320 Yeah, so what I did to, 667 00:48:35.320 --> 00:48:38.360 and this is like really reaching back 668 00:48:38.360 --> 00:48:40.320 and I haven't taught anyone, 669 00:48:40.320 --> 00:48:42.240 talked to anyone about how to do this in a while. 670 00:48:42.240 --> 00:48:44.080 So this is like really reaching back. 671 00:48:45.040 --> 00:48:47.560 What I did in order to teach myself 672 00:48:47.560 --> 00:48:52.560 how to start having mastery over my own thought, 673 00:48:52.560 --> 00:48:57.000 my own mind, so that I could choose what it is 674 00:48:57.000 --> 00:48:58.640 that I wanted to focus on. 675 00:48:58.640 --> 00:49:03.640 And I wasn't going to be mastered or distracted 676 00:49:04.080 --> 00:49:07.000 or controlled by all of the other thoughts 677 00:49:07.000 --> 00:49:08.840 and all of the other noise that we crowd in, 678 00:49:08.840 --> 00:49:11.920 like a to-do list or whatever. 679 00:49:12.720 --> 00:49:17.600 And so what I did is I just began to practice things where, 680 00:49:17.600 --> 00:49:18.640 and this is what you can do, 681 00:49:18.640 --> 00:49:20.960 like before you engage with the Lord, if you'd like, 682 00:49:20.960 --> 00:49:25.960 just kind of go through a process of where you, 683 00:49:26.160 --> 00:49:29.040 I would kind of then, 684 00:49:29.040 --> 00:49:31.320 what helped me is I would close my eyes 685 00:49:31.320 --> 00:49:34.600 and this is again to like, just to kind of like, 686 00:49:36.560 --> 00:49:38.200 you know, you're talking about like, I don't know, 687 00:49:38.200 --> 00:49:40.000 focus, which you can tell that I'm having a hard time 688 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:41.120 talking, it's very late at night 689 00:49:41.120 --> 00:49:43.360 and I have not eaten well, so I apologize. 690 00:49:43.360 --> 00:49:46.560 But that I would close my eyes 691 00:49:46.560 --> 00:49:49.360 and I would imagine blackness 692 00:49:49.360 --> 00:49:53.400 and then one dot of light really, really far away. 693 00:49:53.400 --> 00:49:57.040 And then so that I've got everything cleared out, 694 00:49:57.040 --> 00:49:58.200 but then what's going to happen 695 00:49:58.200 --> 00:50:00.520 is you're going to start having all of these thoughts. 696 00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:05.360 because you got nothing. Now what I have is the reason I have the light is I focus on the light 697 00:50:05.360 --> 00:50:09.440 and it gives me something to focus on otherwise I've got this blackness and I focus on the light 698 00:50:09.440 --> 00:50:14.720 and I would just do that because what you're doing is you're practicing and exercising like a muscle 699 00:50:14.720 --> 00:50:20.480 control over your own thought. So you do that and you sit there for just a second you're like oh 700 00:50:20.480 --> 00:50:26.240 okay I can do this and then all of a sudden the thoughts start coming. So here's the key move 701 00:50:26.240 --> 00:50:31.200 through your thoughts as if they're clouds. So you'll start seeing it's as if these thoughts 702 00:50:31.200 --> 00:50:37.760 start coming towards you and instead of thinking instead of getting distracted by them like oh my 703 00:50:37.760 --> 00:50:42.000 word there's a thought and oh my god what's that thing and oh my word what's that thinking 704 00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:49.040 what what what um what am I thinking there you're instead of that think of them kind of like a cloud 705 00:50:49.680 --> 00:50:54.480 you're moving through them they're not substance that you need to pay attention to. 706 00:50:54.480 --> 00:51:00.800 So when any of us first flew in an airplane I don't know y'all but I always felt like you know 707 00:51:00.800 --> 00:51:05.200 I was going to when the when the plane begins to descend and you see a cloud below you and you 708 00:51:05.200 --> 00:51:09.280 think oh my word we're going to crash into the cloud and you don't you just move through it. 709 00:51:09.280 --> 00:51:14.080 So you what I did is I began to move through my thoughts as if they were clouds so there it's 710 00:51:14.080 --> 00:51:19.440 coming towards me and I have to realize it's not a threat I don't have to pay attention to it I 711 00:51:19.440 --> 00:51:26.000 don't have to note what it is that that that thought is or or think deeply into it it just 712 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:30.560 kind of like oh there's that whatever okay oh there's that whatever and I just move on. 713 00:51:31.120 --> 00:51:37.200 That's how I learned to master my thoughts instead of being mastered by them and constantly 714 00:51:37.200 --> 00:51:41.760 you know get all this distraction as if I felt I had to pay attention to them. You don't 715 00:51:42.720 --> 00:51:49.120 you're the you're the um uh you're the master that God created and you get to determine and 716 00:51:49.120 --> 00:51:52.720 get to choose as a king in your own kingdom what it is that you pay attention to and what you don't. 717 00:51:53.600 --> 00:52:02.000 So I just I didn't empty my mind as if I had no thoughts because you can't do that you just don't 718 00:52:02.000 --> 00:52:07.840 let them master you you just don't think about it. So you might know what a thought is or what 719 00:52:08.080 --> 00:52:11.840 a thought is about but you don't go any further you're just like okay whatever 720 00:52:11.840 --> 00:52:16.160 okay whatever it's like walking through a crowd of people and they're all trying to get your 721 00:52:16.160 --> 00:52:20.320 attention and you it's not that you don't look at them it's not like you pretend they're not there 722 00:52:20.320 --> 00:52:25.520 you're just like whatnot whatever you know okay whatever you just keep going because you are 723 00:52:25.520 --> 00:52:29.840 choosing yourself and you're choosing your destination you're choosing your focus over 724 00:52:29.840 --> 00:52:36.400 all of those things um and that that's how I began to practice that like I said it's a muscle 725 00:52:36.400 --> 00:52:42.320 and I've done it so long I I really hadn't thought about how I had it's been a while since I thought 726 00:52:42.320 --> 00:52:48.800 about how I practiced that um but that's what I used to do and then it enables you to more easily 727 00:52:48.800 --> 00:52:54.080 focus on what it is that you choose to focus on like okay it's me and Jesus because in a manner 728 00:52:54.080 --> 00:53:02.560 of speaking you are you're declaring to the universe to um to your world to creation that 729 00:53:02.560 --> 00:53:07.280 um that you're a king who's making a decision about what it is he's going to do in other words 730 00:53:07.280 --> 00:53:15.280 you're choosing to own yourself instead of being owned by the environment around you or whatever 731 00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:20.400 is trying to vie for your attention you own yourself you own your decision and you don't 732 00:53:20.400 --> 00:53:25.520 have to answer to any of creation for those decisions you're choosing now I'm going to focus 733 00:53:25.520 --> 00:53:31.760 on Jesus because this is what I decide I'm going to do I don't have to explain it to anyone I don't 734 00:53:31.760 --> 00:53:36.080 have to explain it to creation don't have to explain it to myself I get to choose so it's an 735 00:53:36.080 --> 00:53:44.720 it's a way of exercising our kingly ownership and mastery of ourselves because God says that that's 736 00:53:44.720 --> 00:53:53.120 what he gave us um if he gave us um our our right to um uh to make our own decisions and to declare 737 00:53:53.120 --> 00:53:58.880 our own decrees within our kingdom which maybe we'll talk about another point anyway does that 738 00:53:58.880 --> 00:54:07.440 does that help at all okay okay good I'm glad let's see what time okay so we um probably need 739 00:54:07.440 --> 00:54:14.960 to go but does anyone have just a quick question Casey you good just sitting there listed okay 740 00:54:14.960 --> 00:54:21.360 great yeah does anyone have anything really quick that y'all um before we jump off 741 00:54:21.600 --> 00:54:28.880 but yeah go ahead Kate these hours always fly by for me probably not for you but they do for me 742 00:54:29.520 --> 00:54:37.360 no this is great um okay quick question in regards to uh you had mentioned um 743 00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:45.200 just often throughout the day just declaring that or I'm choosing that God loves me yeah 744 00:54:46.160 --> 00:54:50.400 is there anything more to unpack of it I mean I think you touched on it briefly and just 745 00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:54.880 and just speaking that out in that moment or thinking that in that moment like no I'm just 746 00:54:54.880 --> 00:54:59.920 choosing I'm just choosing that he loves me um can you go into a little bit more depth in that 747 00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:05.520 in terms of how you walk that out day to day in the moments where you're feeling unloved or 748 00:55:06.400 --> 00:55:13.780 Yeah, so it's the same thing that I was just talking about with Dustin. You're a king who's making a decision 749 00:55:14.620 --> 00:55:19.640 You are owning yourself and you're making a choice because you say so 750 00:55:20.220 --> 00:55:27.860 Now we can safely do that and knowing that we have permission and authority by God to do that because he said it first 751 00:55:28.240 --> 00:55:29.920 He said that we love him 752 00:55:29.920 --> 00:55:36.360 and so all we have to do is make a choice in the decision that in our kingdom in our realm within the in the 753 00:55:36.680 --> 00:55:43.720 And the aspect in which we have authority and can make a rule and make a determination we choose 754 00:55:44.880 --> 00:55:49.620 Intentionally that what God has said is actually true in our reality 755 00:55:49.780 --> 00:55:55.720 So I'm so when I make a choice, I make it my reality because I think so 756 00:55:56.340 --> 00:55:58.580 I've decided that this is how it's going to be 757 00:55:58.860 --> 00:56:05.180 so this is it's fascinating that you ask that because it can be a challenge to 758 00:56:05.380 --> 00:56:08.780 wrap our minds around because if y'all were raised in in 759 00:56:09.220 --> 00:56:15.580 church societies like I was we're always taught that we are basically minions and 760 00:56:16.700 --> 00:56:20.860 We're just always waiting on God and we're always like, you know 761 00:56:20.860 --> 00:56:26.200 We're just we're always told what to do and we have no will and you know 762 00:56:26.200 --> 00:56:31.920 We're just we're just waiting on what on God's words so we can be obedient and it's more than that 763 00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:36.960 God's like no, don't be a limp dish rag engage with me make a choice 764 00:56:36.960 --> 00:56:39.120 I chose do you choose me? 765 00:56:39.240 --> 00:56:45.440 So all that God asks of us is that we always choose what it is that he creates what he says is true 766 00:56:45.440 --> 00:56:52.100 And what he presents to us as opposed to going off on our own and making our own decisions about doing all kinds of other 767 00:56:52.100 --> 00:56:53.980 things but like no no of 768 00:56:53.980 --> 00:56:58.100 all of the choices that you can make because I created you to be able to make choices of 769 00:56:58.100 --> 00:57:04.900 All the choices that you could make you that you could direct your intention and your free will and your decisions on 770 00:57:04.900 --> 00:57:12.140 I'm asking you to chew and I'm encouraging you to choose the ones that I presented to you are the truth 771 00:57:12.640 --> 00:57:16.480 That I told you, you know that I love you unconditionally, etc 772 00:57:17.160 --> 00:57:21.320 Choose make a decision for that. It's kind of similar to this is how I describe it 773 00:57:21.680 --> 00:57:28.080 We can't live vicariously through God's will just because God says something will not make it so in our lives 774 00:57:28.800 --> 00:57:35.000 Okay some point the fact that he said that we get all of these benefits by being a Christian and there are so many things 775 00:57:35.400 --> 00:57:37.360 that we 776 00:57:37.360 --> 00:57:42.780 That we read about in the Bible and we're not experiencing our lives, right? Does that make God a liar? No 777 00:57:43.260 --> 00:57:47.820 So he's given them to us that there's some way and so and that's his will 778 00:57:48.420 --> 00:57:50.900 But it's God's will being done right now. No 779 00:57:51.660 --> 00:57:56.020 We have to engage with it. In other words. God says, okay child 780 00:57:56.140 --> 00:58:01.660 This is what I am saying is true and I'm gonna leave it here and then I'm gonna remove my hand away 781 00:58:01.660 --> 00:58:04.180 And so it's just gonna lay here now. I'm asking you 782 00:58:04.600 --> 00:58:09.180 What do you choose you could choose this or you could choose this and what do you choose to be? 783 00:58:09.520 --> 00:58:16.560 To be your reality the reality in which you live make a willful conscious intentional decision 784 00:58:17.000 --> 00:58:23.320 What do you choose? You're like, okay God of my own free will I choose and I decide that this thing that you say 785 00:58:23.520 --> 00:58:27.840 Is going to be what is true in my life. It is going to be the the 786 00:58:28.300 --> 00:58:33.440 Nucleus around which my life revolves is this truth and God's like, okay 787 00:58:33.580 --> 00:58:37.620 Finally that truth that I've declared and my will that I've declared 788 00:58:37.780 --> 00:58:43.160 Finally that thing can become real in your life because you are the one who's the king who has the authority 789 00:58:43.820 --> 00:58:45.820 who's 790 00:58:46.500 --> 00:58:52.740 And they say of what gets to happen in your kingdom and you just said that this thing that I said is true 791 00:58:52.940 --> 00:58:54.940 Can now happen in your kingdom? 792 00:58:55.760 --> 00:59:01.200 So it's that type of a willful and intentional choice when I say a choice I do mean a choice 793 00:59:01.200 --> 00:59:04.520 I mean you decide whether you're gonna eat. I don't know 794 00:59:05.040 --> 00:59:08.720 Like what are you gonna eat tonight? You know you get to or what did you eat? 795 00:59:08.720 --> 00:59:13.000 You know you get to choose. Did you want to eat a hamburger or are you going to eat? 796 00:59:13.420 --> 00:59:18.000 You know the pizza which one are you gonna eat? You know, you get to choose 797 00:59:18.520 --> 00:59:21.760 You know, you're not you're not a child anymore. You don't have to listen to your mom 798 00:59:21.760 --> 00:59:25.480 You get to choose. It's that same kind of a willful intentional 799 00:59:26.560 --> 00:59:32.720 Kingly decision that we're making in the spirit, but all this is all that but what makes this all 800 00:59:32.720 --> 00:59:38.120 Okay, is the fact that God's saying choose what I've already declared is true 801 00:59:38.160 --> 00:59:42.120 Don't just make something up because you want it to be true. That won't make it true 802 00:59:42.120 --> 00:59:46.400 I'm asking you to choose the things that I've already told you are true 803 00:59:46.560 --> 00:59:50.800 But you have to put yourself on the line because say for instance 804 00:59:51.760 --> 00:59:55.800 Like I said, we can't live vicariously through God's will just because God says that this is true 805 00:59:55.800 --> 00:59:59.760 Doesn't make doesn't mean that I get to live that out and get to experience it in my life. I 806 01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:03.700 This guy is the king, remember God gave, 807 01:00:04.720 --> 01:00:07.140 says that the heaven is the Lord's and God gave the earth 808 01:00:07.140 --> 01:00:09.080 and the earth was given to man, right? 809 01:00:09.080 --> 01:00:12.440 And you told Adam to have dominion over creation. 810 01:00:12.440 --> 01:00:16.880 That means that creation was literally made 811 01:00:16.880 --> 01:00:21.320 to respond to us and to what we tell it to do 812 01:00:21.320 --> 01:00:22.800 and what we tell it to be, 813 01:00:22.800 --> 01:00:24.840 which is a much deeper conversation. 814 01:00:24.840 --> 01:00:28.440 But anyway, that I talk about like at the end of the series 815 01:00:29.000 --> 01:00:31.160 of the Inner is Rest series 816 01:00:31.160 --> 01:00:33.500 and we're unfortunately not gonna get into that one, 817 01:00:33.500 --> 01:00:36.240 but I can touch on it periodically in this one. 818 01:00:36.240 --> 01:00:40.480 And the fact that creation was made to respond to us 819 01:00:40.480 --> 01:00:43.880 because God says, I am a king over my own kingdom 820 01:00:43.880 --> 01:00:45.840 and I wanna teach you to be like me 821 01:00:45.840 --> 01:00:47.600 because I'm your father, you're my son, 822 01:00:47.600 --> 01:00:50.720 so look like me in your own kingdom. 823 01:00:50.720 --> 01:00:54.280 I'm gonna mature you to run your kingdom 824 01:00:54.280 --> 01:00:59.280 as a good and kind king, just like I run mine. 825 01:00:59.440 --> 01:01:01.320 So he gave us a kingdom 826 01:01:01.320 --> 01:01:03.520 and one of the kingdoms is ourselves. 827 01:01:03.520 --> 01:01:07.440 Therefore, he gave us the authority to speak into it. 828 01:01:07.440 --> 01:01:11.640 Therefore, we're the one who has to give his principle 829 01:01:11.640 --> 01:01:15.120 permission to operate in our life. 830 01:01:15.120 --> 01:01:18.960 That means that we're on the line 831 01:01:18.960 --> 01:01:22.200 and we're to, how would you put that? 832 01:01:22.720 --> 01:01:26.720 If it doesn't work out. 833 01:01:26.720 --> 01:01:29.280 So if we just live vicariously through God's will, 834 01:01:29.280 --> 01:01:32.000 well, God, you said, and it didn't work out 835 01:01:32.000 --> 01:01:34.720 and so I'm not to blame that, that's all on you, God. 836 01:01:34.720 --> 01:01:36.120 God said, that's not how it works. 837 01:01:36.120 --> 01:01:38.080 The only way that it happens in your life 838 01:01:38.080 --> 01:01:40.400 is if you choose of your own free will 839 01:01:40.400 --> 01:01:43.160 that what I've said is true, really is true 840 01:01:43.160 --> 01:01:45.120 and that's gonna happen in your life. 841 01:01:45.120 --> 01:01:49.200 So if things don't happen, guess who's on the hook for it? 842 01:01:49.800 --> 01:01:52.680 Us and we don't want to be on the hook for it. 843 01:01:52.680 --> 01:01:56.800 If we experience some kind of a pain, 844 01:01:56.800 --> 01:01:59.000 we don't want to be the ones to blame 845 01:01:59.000 --> 01:02:03.080 for our having made that choice. 846 01:02:03.080 --> 01:02:05.320 We want God to be one to take it. 847 01:02:05.320 --> 01:02:09.200 So that's why we don't wanna make an intentional decision. 848 01:02:09.200 --> 01:02:11.880 We're just like, okay, God, you made that promise. 849 01:02:11.880 --> 01:02:14.320 If it's gonna happen, I guess if you say it's gonna happen, 850 01:02:14.320 --> 01:02:15.960 I guess it's just gonna happen. 851 01:02:15.960 --> 01:02:17.600 So I'll just wait for it 852 01:02:17.760 --> 01:02:19.320 and I guess it'll just be, 853 01:02:19.320 --> 01:02:22.960 and if you didn't say that, well then it's not gonna happen 854 01:02:22.960 --> 01:02:25.680 or if you're really not true, 855 01:02:25.680 --> 01:02:29.720 then it really won't happen, but I'm out of it. 856 01:02:29.720 --> 01:02:33.000 No, no, no, God says, no, you put yourself in the game 857 01:02:33.000 --> 01:02:36.080 and you put your own self at risk 858 01:02:36.080 --> 01:02:38.240 and you put your own skin in the game. 859 01:02:38.240 --> 01:02:40.840 You choose that it's true so that if it doesn't happen, 860 01:02:40.840 --> 01:02:42.280 you've got no one to blame for yourself 861 01:02:42.280 --> 01:02:44.520 because God didn't make you make that choice. 862 01:02:45.400 --> 01:02:46.760 So we're risking things. 863 01:02:46.760 --> 01:02:50.920 Now, we don't ever have to worry about it not coming true 864 01:02:50.920 --> 01:02:53.880 or it not happening because God's the one who said so. 865 01:02:53.880 --> 01:02:56.880 I'm just saying that's the type of risk 866 01:02:56.880 --> 01:03:00.240 that it feels like to us when we make that choice. 867 01:03:00.240 --> 01:03:04.120 So when I talk about you make a choice that God loves you, 868 01:03:04.120 --> 01:03:05.520 you actually make a choice. 869 01:03:05.520 --> 01:03:09.000 God says, willful intentional decision 870 01:03:09.000 --> 01:03:12.600 is if you're a king making, here's the word, 871 01:03:12.600 --> 01:03:15.720 making it an autonomous decision. 872 01:03:17.200 --> 01:03:20.320 Where God's not in it, God's already made his choice. 873 01:03:20.320 --> 01:03:21.720 I already told you, this is it. 874 01:03:21.720 --> 01:03:23.320 This is what I declare is true. 875 01:03:23.320 --> 01:03:25.280 And then he lets go and he backs off and he says, 876 01:03:25.280 --> 01:03:27.920 okay, Kate, now what do you say is true in your life? 877 01:03:27.920 --> 01:03:29.080 This is what I say is true. 878 01:03:29.080 --> 01:03:31.800 I'm gonna take my hands off it and I'm gonna walk away. 879 01:03:31.800 --> 01:03:33.400 Now you have to walk over to the table 880 01:03:33.400 --> 01:03:36.160 and you have to say, no, this Lord 881 01:03:36.160 --> 01:03:38.520 is what I choose for myself. 882 01:03:38.520 --> 01:03:40.320 And so you choose that God loves you. 883 01:03:40.320 --> 01:03:42.440 God says, I love you unconditionally. 884 01:03:42.440 --> 01:03:46.200 And so you have to, and then he lets go, walks off 885 01:03:46.200 --> 01:03:49.040 and you have to say, I choose that that is true. 886 01:03:49.040 --> 01:03:52.200 So it will feel like you're making it up 887 01:03:52.200 --> 01:03:54.040 because you feel like, oh my word, 888 01:03:54.040 --> 01:03:55.720 I just made an autonomous decision 889 01:03:55.720 --> 01:03:58.640 as if I'm like trying to create reality or something. 890 01:03:58.640 --> 01:04:00.920 You're not because God just said it was true, 891 01:04:00.920 --> 01:04:04.320 but it's gonna feel like you're creating your own reality. 892 01:04:04.320 --> 01:04:06.160 But only create the reality, 893 01:04:06.160 --> 01:04:08.360 only give the authority and the permission 894 01:04:08.360 --> 01:04:11.680 to the things that God has already declared to be true. 895 01:04:11.680 --> 01:04:13.760 But you have to risk yourself 896 01:04:13.760 --> 01:04:16.240 in making that decision that it really is true. 897 01:04:17.160 --> 01:04:18.040 Does that help? 898 01:04:19.480 --> 01:04:23.240 Okay, so like I said, when I talk about making a choice, 899 01:04:23.240 --> 01:04:27.240 it's like, no, with your own decision, your own will, 900 01:04:27.240 --> 01:04:32.240 your own free will, but I was not taught that. 901 01:04:33.560 --> 01:04:34.840 I had to learn that. 902 01:04:34.840 --> 01:04:38.520 I literally had to learn that without anybody telling me. 903 01:04:38.520 --> 01:04:39.560 It was just me and God. 904 01:04:39.560 --> 01:04:41.880 And so can you imagine when I'm first like stepping out 905 01:04:41.880 --> 01:04:43.160 on these things and I'm like choosing 906 01:04:43.560 --> 01:04:45.360 my own free will that something's true, 907 01:04:45.360 --> 01:04:48.520 I'm like, am I risking my relationship with the Lord? 908 01:04:49.560 --> 01:04:51.720 Is he gonna be upset because I can be like 909 01:04:51.720 --> 01:04:54.840 one of those new agers or one of those Satan worship person 910 01:04:54.840 --> 01:04:56.600 just doing whatever it is that I want 911 01:04:56.600 --> 01:04:58.920 just because I want to, you know? 912 01:04:58.920 --> 01:05:00.040 And then I had. 913 01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.720 find out from the Lord and from the power that came as a result and the fact that finally God 914 01:05:04.720 --> 01:05:09.600 showed up in my life. I'm like, oh, so you really were waiting on me the whole time to make a 915 01:05:09.600 --> 01:05:16.160 decision of my own free will for you? It's like, yeah, I was just waiting on you. Oh my word. I 916 01:05:16.160 --> 01:05:23.440 didn't know that I had that right to make my own decision to choose God. I thought it was just, 917 01:05:23.440 --> 01:05:27.760 you know, I just, I made myself available. So God come and take me. God's like, no, 918 01:05:27.760 --> 01:05:33.680 I'm not going to take anybody. You give yourself to me. That's the only way that you can come into 919 01:05:33.680 --> 01:05:39.520 me. I'm not going to come take you. You have to be the one to submit yourself to me. You have to 920 01:05:39.520 --> 01:05:44.480 be the one to put yourself on the altar because I won't come get you. I will invite you. I will 921 01:05:44.480 --> 01:05:49.760 walk with you the whole way, but I won't take you. You have to give you. And that comes from 922 01:05:49.760 --> 01:05:59.360 our own willful choice and decision. So anyway, yeah. Good. All right. Well, I will see y'all on 923 01:06:00.240 --> 01:06:05.680 Sunday. I'll be letting everybody know and y'all be breaking up into a rest groups, 924 01:06:05.680 --> 01:06:10.160 which are basically kind of like, think of like small groups or whatever to talk about, 925 01:06:10.160 --> 01:06:18.960 talk about rest. There'll be a peer leader for each group. And, and so I'll, I'll announce what 926 01:06:19.520 --> 01:06:23.680 where, you know, everything that you'll need to know about that. That will be on Sunday night 927 01:06:23.680 --> 01:06:29.360 for nine to 10 PM Eastern standard time. And then of course we'll have the teaching on Tuesday, 928 01:06:29.360 --> 01:06:34.240 et cetera. So anyway, and then of course, stay active in group. Feel free to ask questions 929 01:06:34.240 --> 01:06:39.920 as things come up, because the whole point is not to learn what rest is, and it's not to learn 930 01:06:39.920 --> 01:06:46.160 about how to do this. It's to actually live it. So anyway. All right. Good to visit with y'all. 931 01:06:48.960 --> 01:07:08.160 Oh, Rita, did you have a question? Oh.