Well, thank you for checking in.
My name is Leanne Friesman, and this is Restoring Word.
It's a video blog designed to build your faith in God.
Thank you for taking time to listen today.
It's that time of year when we're all setting goals.
And it's an exciting time, but I have a lot of scriptures I want to share with you today.
And these scriptures have to do with inviting God into your plans that you're making for
the new year.
I've got some interesting and thought-provoking questions with some awesome scriptures just
to invite the Holy Spirit into your journey and into your process.
You know, when I started this journey in June, I had no idea that it would grow as fast as
it has.
And I want to thank you for taking time just to listen.
Some of you see it on one platform, but not on another.
And I want to thank you all for subscribing.
There's over 15,000 subscribers.
Most of them, of course, are not on YouTube.
Viewers are on Facebook and on Instagram.
And then I've got eight podcast channels that I'm on.
And just thank you for liking and sharing and taking time, especially share this with
someone that you feel needs to be encouraged in the Word of God.
And that's why I'm doing all of this.
Okay, so it's time to start the new year.
And it's time to start setting goals for the new year.
What are some important biblical things that you should think about?
You know, God wants to be involved in every aspect of your life.
No matter what it is, God wants to be involved in the journey.
So I have a couple things for you to think of.
First off, have faith and trust in God and know that He wants to be a part of that journey.
He wants you to invite Him into that.
And then He will, as you invite Him into the process, He may adapt or adjust some of those
yearly goals that you set out for yourself.
You know, when I set out on this journey, my goal was to just get people that needed
help to be able to listen.
I wasn't looking to sell anything.
I wasn't looking, you know, to take an offering or get bookings or anything like that.
I just wanted people to hear the Word of God.
I taught Bible for 28 years.
It was part of my gifting.
I knew what I could do.
I knew where my heart was.
And I didn't think that at this point in my life that the Lord was going to stop using
that gifting.
So I had to set some goals.
And I had to learn some technology.
And then I had to be consistent.
And then I had to figure out how to make it better and more professional.
And then I had to figure out how to market it and promote it and get it out there.
And all of it has been a big journey.
But in the very beginning, I just had to get a word from Him.
Lord, were you wanting me to do this?
Whatever the Lord is asking you to do, you want to invite Him in, especially in the early
part of those planning stages.
And you want Him to be involved in kind of laying the foundation in what it is that you
feel He's telling you to do.
Because I can tell you that if you will invite Him into the process, you will meet the right
people.
You will get the right help.
You will get the right assistance.
God will take you on a journey in Him and through others.
And He will be glorified in it, which is ultimately the goal.
But first and foremost, you've really got to invite Him into that process.
Then it's going to take some diligence and some perseverance.
It just seems like I never ever get to stop learning new technology.
It's part of what He's doing in my life.
It's part of what He's doing in terms of my calling.
It just seems like there's always something new for me to learn.
You're going to have to be diligent.
Be prepared for that.
But He will give you the grace and the strength to go forward.
There's going to be a cost.
You're going to have to invest in yourself.
You're going to have to invest in what He's telling you to do.
You might have to spend a little money to get it started.
For me, time is money because I just never ever have enough time.
So if I can find people like the Kingdom Messengers group that I'm a part of that
will mentor me and help me learn all of this technology so that I don't make the
mistakes that others have made, it's going to be more productive.
And I'm thankful every day for the Divine Appointment.
on this journey that I started because in my diligence and perseverance I had
to have good advice and have wisdom. I had people that would teach me and show
me how to do things and when he's in the journey and he's on it with you he's
going to lead you to the right people at the right time and at the right place.
The other thing that when you're starting something new you definitely
want to check your motivations and for me I think this was really a hard one
because I'm not gaining anything by doing this every week. I'm gaining
because what I do is I grow in Christ when I pour into other people. In pouring
into other people, other kids, my students, even my family, even the Bible study that
I'm doing now online. In getting ready for that it actually feeds me spiritually
so that's the number one motivation and then the number two is just to be
obedient. You never know how God will use something when you're just
getting started. His idea of what you should do is always going to be bigger
than what you think it is. Did I think I would have 15,000 people
listening to me last June? No, not at all. I'm thankful. I'm humbled actually. I'm
kind of blown away that I have people that will listen and I'm
thankful. I don't take that for granted. I take your time. I know how valuable your
time is and honestly that's why I try to keep these things under about anywhere
from 10 to 15 minutes because your time is valuable. So I've got some 25 verses
here to share with you and I'm just going to skip around and kind of read
aloud the ones that I think are important and then I'll try to post
these underneath the broadcast on YouTube and even in the comments and
discussion on Facebook. 2 Chronicles 15 7 but as for you be strong and do not
give up for your work will be rewarded. There is a reward to receive from being
obedient in him and ultimately that reward is to glorify God and to bring
people into the kingdom. Discipleship is an important principle and that's what
we're called to do is disciple others. Psalms 20 verse 4 he may give you the
desires of your heart so that your plans will succeed. If you invite him
into it and it's really your heart to do something for him and you invite him
into the process he's going to show you how to help it be successful. Psalms 33
and I've got a lot of scriptures from Psalms and Proverbs. Psalms 33 11 but the
plans of the Lord stand firm forever the purposes of his heart through all
generations. One thing God is interested in is building the kingdom. If what
you're doing is going to involve building the kingdom then he is going to
get involved with it. He's interested in others. He loves people and he loves
those that share his word and he will honor his word. Psalm 37 verse 4 and 5
take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord. Trust him. Commit the way to him. You know I had a
conversation with Grant I think it was Mother's Day about starting Restoring
Word and I didn't have really the resources in my hand until the first
week of June and then the Lord started dealing with me up in Sioux City. I
needed to start this and that's actually where it all began. Invite him into the
journey. Psalms 118 verse 8 it's better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust
in humans. There are going to be people who are going to come across your path
and they're going to try to give you their advice but ultimately you really
want to be led by him. Psalms 127 verse 1 unless the Lord builds the house the
builders labor in vain. You know if you're going to build something for the
kingdom you don't want it to be in vain and you don't want it to be a waste of
your time and your energy. You really want it to be productive. Well if you're
going to do that then you've got to invite him into the process and you've
got to ask for those divine appointments. You've got to ask for the
right people at the right time at the right place. He'll give it to you and of
course my one of my favorite verses of all time it was given to me years ago
Proverbs 3 6 trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding but in all your ways that doesn't mean just some of your ways or a
couple of your ways but in all of your ways acknowledge God in those things and
he
He will direct your path, he's going to show you what it is that you need to walk in.
Proverbs 21.5 the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
Step back and take some time, think about it, don't do things in a hurried manner.
Take a moment just to kind of say okay now Lord you know what I'm going to need, you
know what I'm going to have to do, you know what it's going to take to do this, I'm going
to wait and make sure that you're here.
You know the one thing that is most necessary to obey God is divine appointments.
You've got to be at the right place at the right time, you've got to have the right people
come and step in at the right moment for you to accomplish those things that you're called
to accomplish.
God moves through people.
Thank God for the people who got us down here to Oklahoma and thank God for the people at
ORU who mentored me.
I needed to study with the Delevins.
They poured their heart into me and taught me about intercession.
You know God will bring people across your path that you need.
The Delevins prepared me to walk into what was happening at Victor Christian and then
at Victor Christian there were teachers there that just became my closest friends and they
poured their heart into me and I had a pastor, Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty who had a vision
for Christian education but Christian education that would train praise and worship leaders.
You know if I hadn't been under a pastor that not only had a vision for Christian education
but had a vision to train the next generation of praise and worship leaders I couldn't have
done what I did.
I literally walked into and completed something that was really part of their vision.
I had the licensing and the certification to do it but really the vision was just as
much theirs and I just kind of walked that vision out.
God's heart is to raise up leadership.
He's always interested in discipling and training and mentoring the next generation and I'm
literally was at the right place at the right time and part of that was actually also being
at Word Explosion that year.
Bensonita Hossa was ministering and there was an altar call for people and it's a wonderful
glorious story in my book Born for More but it's really true.
Don't count people out of your journey.
You need to be at the right place at the right time.
You need to work with others who also have the same calling and the same vision and then
you need to have the diligence and the perseverance to literally like what I did start with nothing.
There's no curriculum.
Nobody was training kids in high school how to lead praise and worship.
If anything I was told I couldn't do it.
I'm glad I didn't listen.
I'm glad I obeyed God.
Habakkuk 2, 2-3.
Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so whoever reads it may run with it.
Journaling is important and when you're when you're really inviting God into God this is
the new year.
I'm organizing my life.
Write it down and make it plain.
What is it that you are attempting to do and you feel that God's calling you to do and
then begin to organize it so that those that are called alongside you can walk in agreement
with you and together you can build something for the kingdom of God.
That's him.
He moves through people.
Matthew 17, 20.
Truly I tell you if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain
and move from here to there and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.
If God's in it he will supply.
He will bring the people.
He will bring the equipment.
He will bring the resources.
He will bring the money.
It will happen.
Invite him into it.
But in writing everything down you also need to sit down and estimate and count the cost.
This comes from Luke 14, 28.
Suppose one of you wants to build a tower.
Don't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete
it.
Know what you need.
Don't hesitate to ask God for it.
Yes, he often will supply what you need and you won't.
You won't even know that you need it, and it will come to you, but really you need to
count the cost.
I thank God every day for my mom.
My mom believed in my program.
She believed in me, and God really used my mom early out at Victory Christian School.
We had an operating budget of $237 for the first 20 years I was there, and I really had
to believe God for a lot of those resources, and because my mom had been a music teacher,
I had a lot of those resources come in, and that's why it happened.
I'm thankful every day, but count the cost.
Organize it.
Think about it.
What are you going to need to accomplish what God's calling you to do?
Romans 12.2.
Don't conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, and then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is.
You're supposed to attest it and approve it, his good pleasing, his good, his pleasing,
and his perfect will.
Okay, there's a good will.
That's a good thing.
There's the pleasing thing, and then there's the perfect.
I can't always say that I've walked in the perfect will of God.
Yeah, I've missed it.
I know I have, but I have definitely tried to do what was pleasing for him.
I've definitely tried to step to the plate and do what was honoring and glorifying of
him, and I honestly, humbly, with all of my inabilities and my insecurities, tried to
do the best that I could to raise up the next generation.
I can tell you, if God's birthing something in your heart that's big, you really need
to invite him into the process.
And then you want to, is this the good will?
Is this the pleasing will?
Is this the perfect will?
Ideally, we would like to land on his perfect will.
I got good news for you, honey.
If you miss it, and you start off with good, keep going.
Just keep going.
You can land on perfect will.
Okay?
We're all going to miss it.
We're all going to have times where we stumble and we fall and we make mistakes and things
we should or shouldn't have done.
We're human.
We're all going to miss it.
But if we're humble and we invite him into the process and we invite him into the journey,
he will come in ways we couldn't have even imagined.
This is from Philippians 3, 13, Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have
taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what
is ahead.
I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me in heavenward
in Christ Jesus.
Press on.
Press in.
Keep going.
Don't get weary in well-doing.
In due season, you will reap if you faint not, but the good news is he's going to be
with you even when you do get weary, even when you do fail.
Keep going.
Step to the plate.
Don't give up.
If you screw something up, I got good news for you.
His grace is sufficient.
He will help you.
He'll bring the people across your path.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, what anything is excellent or
praiseworthy, think about these things.
When you start into this journey this year, I can tell you the enemy's going to mess with
your head.
He always does.
He's a liar.
He's a deceiver.
He comes to bring confusion.
Confusion is not of God.
If it's lovely, if it's pure, if it's noble, if it's admirable, if it's excellent, it's
a thing of God.
If it's confusion, if it's fear, if it's anxiety, those things are not of God.
That doesn't mean that you won't experience those occasionally, but ultimately you're
going to have to guard your mind.
Guarding your mind is the highest form of spiritual warfare that it is.
If you're called to do something for him, then you're going to have to guard your mind
daily.
Guard your mind.
Think on him.
Think on the word.
Organize your life in such a way that you can, whether it's praise and worship in the
car or podcasts while you're doing dishes or folding laundry or playing with kids, whatever
it is, think on godly things that will give you peace and he'll guide your path.
Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ that gives me strength.
You can't do a lot of things in your own strength, but let me tell you, when you do it in His
strength, you can do a lot of things, supernaturally, because His supernatural grace and strength
carries you.