Whom Will You Serve

PODCAST Episode: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/7F91kxxQwWb

I want to share a recent moment of internal conflict that I think will help everybody. On the surface, there was a simple choice, to get my matcha latte, which I normally do routinely.

However, this day in particular became much deeper, more like a spiritual battle mentally, but also physically. It was something going on that was unusual, where a typical ride to go get that matcha latte, became an internal struggle, which I had to question why? There was a strong desire to say, no, I don't need that matcha latte. But the other part of me is like, yes, I do! There was an internal resistance that I was having that I just could not understand. There was obviously something going on; physically I was saying, yes, I want it but then there's something that was saying, no, you don't. This wasn't just within the body, but also the mind. Truly something internally was going on with me that day...it was wild; it was sudden.

I had this internal struggle and because I couldn't understand why because again, I'm just going to go get my matcha latte?? I decided to do what I know is the first thing to always do, especially now, more than I ever did before, which is to pray about it. So, I'm praying. I'm confessing "You know what my desire is right now. You know, I'm going to go get this matcha latte", and I'm confessing to Holy Spirit expressing what the conflict is that's going on within my mind and my body and trying to figure out why & what is going on. I couldn't help but also have thoughts where I was questioning, is this me being too hard on myself because of the conflict that I'm having and now I'm praying about it. Or is this the enemy's temptation? Is this the Holy Spirit telling me to resist this? What is going on? Because I was really contemplating what could possibly be going on, whether that be just me, or is it something deeper?

I used to think, things were easy or just the way things are and if there was something going on, it was not something I really prayed about. So, the reason why I'm bringing this to you today is because for a lot of us...we don't understand where all of a sudden thoughts and uncomfortableness is coming from.

• It's usually because it's asking you to stop and listen, and a lot of us don't stop or listen, and then we continue to do what we want to do.... but that can lead to bigger repercussions if we don't stop to listen. Then we question why?

• Well, it's because those uncomfortable things that's happening in your mind, whether it's tormenting thoughts, really harsh thoughts that are negative about you... about the situation.

• it could be going on in your body, this really uncomfortable feeling going on

Some will question what is going on because you don't understand. Some of us tough it out and will push through. We push the thoughts away. We suppress it, we repress it. Or we allow those thoughts to go on because we're so used to having those thoughts go on and on and on.....but we usually keep on trucking, right? We keep going to our destination.

Well, the reason why I'm bringing this up is because now I'm asking you to start praying about it, seeking wisdom and understanding as to why, what's going on.

One of the other things that is important about this is knowing your scriptures, this is one of the ways you can also understand what's going on, because in this instance, while I was praying, eventually my mind quieted down and the internal noise in my mind stopped. I got my matcha latte... I pulled up, I ordered it, I drove away, and all of a sudden while I was driving a thought popped up into my mind and it was a scripture that said, you cannot serve two masters. You can find this is in Matthew 6:24 & Luke 16:13.

Matthew 6:24 AMP

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].

So when I got that verse in my mind and I thought about that mental and physical battle that I was just having, and he was talking about two masters.

• I recognized that one was telling me, yes, go get it.

• The other was telling me, no.

What's that one thing that was telling me? Yes. Go get it! My flesh, my pleasures.

The thing that was telling me, no, asking for my soul (mind, will, and emotions). By what? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit at that time was telling me, no, don't get that matcha latte.

I had to continue to think about this, I'm thinking.... I'm thinking. As I was contemplating things I recognized that this wasn't a battle between good and evil outside of me. It was a war within. I mentioned there's a lot of things involved with us cleaning our own closets, it's not always just a spiritual battle between spirits. It's sometimes with yourself.

Spirit fighting against my flesh.

The flesh, I realized, has two modes: survival and pleasure.

·         Survival mode wants to hold onto control and life, but

·         Pleasure mode craves instant gratification—things that can lead to spiritual death.

The Holy Spirit, however, wants us to live and choose life, to resist these temptations, and anything that becomes idols in our heart, and a separation from God. Instead, it is to create new habits and disciplines that draws you closer to God & breaks you free from dependency on anything that is not of God.

The flesh will desire that which may not be good for you, right? The matcha latte it has its benefits, but how much of the benefits cater to your flesh and how many actually caters to your soul, or the Holy Spirit?

There are benefits of green tea and I can tell you all the benefits as much as I want, but that's me trying to justify this to the Holy Spirit at that moment, which was telling me no. So, we can justify as much as we want and find the good in something, but the bottom line is, if Holy Spirit is telling you no, then you're going to have that resistance within because your flesh is going to want to say yes.

Your soul is truly, actually wanting to obey the Holy Spirit. You're in conflict with yourself. We can find justification in ice cream. We can find justification in why we keep going back to a certain person that we know is not good for us. We start counting down in all the ways that they are good for us, right? It is when you weigh the benefits versus the consequences that you receive from them; the realization of the benefits is not so much.

I can tell you that yes, there are health benefits, to green tea, to having matcha.... but then what is the actual repercussions? How can this end up not being good?

Where we're looking at this, in one way, what we thought was good can actually be evil. Physically for our health, but also disobedience and rebellion spiritually. We are not seeing the destruction or corruption in our choices at times where the Holy Spirit does.

The flesh has two modes survival and pleasure. Alot of us live in that survival mode. Some form of holding onto control and to a life. We know what we can expect. Right? It's something again that we know. Also, the pleasure mode. It craves instant gratification. It craves the things that it wants, whether it's good for the body or not. It's going to go for what it craves; a lot of that is because we've not disciplined ourselves yet to not succumb so fast and easily to those instant gratifications.

These instant gratifications can lead us into a spiritual death, which is essentially separation from God.

The Holy Spirit wants us to live and choose life, not just in the land of the living, but also that eternal life. That is by resisting the temptations, and anything that becomes any idols in our heart and create separation from God.

Holy spirit is asking us to create new habits and disciplines that draws us closer to God and breaks us free from the dependency on anything that is not of God. As I was driving home with my matcha latte and yes, I was sipping on it while I was still contemplating, and I was reminded of Apostle Paul's words that I refer you to read Romans 7: 14 – 25 AMP.

Romans 7: 14 – 25 AMP

The Conflict of Two Natures

¹⁴ We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature of the flesh [worldly, self-reliant—carnal and unspiritual], sold into slavery to sin [and serving under its control]. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. ¹⁶ Now if I habitually do what I do not want to do, [that means] I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (morally excellent). ¹⁷ So now [if that is the case, then] it is no longer I who do it [the disobedient thing which I despise], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not. ¹⁹ For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. ²⁰ But if I am doing the very thing I do not want to do, I am no longer the one doing it [that is, it is not me that acts], but the sin [nature] which lives in me.

²¹ So I find it to be the law [of my inner self], that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. ²² For I joyfully delight in the law of God in my inner self [with my new nature], ²³ but I see a different law and rule of action in the members of my body [in its appetites and desires], waging war against the law of my mind and subduing me and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is within my members. ²⁴ Wretched and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]? ²⁵ Thanks be to God [for my deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness, my sinful capacity—I serve] the law of sin.

Paul reveals the solution in Romans 8, and in other scriptures Hebrews 12:1, 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, Galatians 5:16-18, Colossians 3: 1-17 Genisis 4:7

I ask that you read these scriptures, utilize any Bible that you currently have, and also you can go online, I use Bible Gateway to read many different versions so that you can get a clearer understanding. Also pray and ask for revelation and insight as to what those scriptures are saying. And listen to yourself. Listen to your body. Listen to your heart. Are you being convicted? Are you receiving memories of instances where you were led by your flesh versus by the spirit? How did it serve you in the end? Ask yourself how did your life reflect the story that Paul just had?

For all those who are not yet following and does not fully understand. I hope this helps today on how and why you feel certain ways at time, and what internally is being pulled out of you to recognize that you are following the flesh right now, and something is trying to tell you to stop. Instead of us covering it up with drugs, alcohol, sex and shopping and all this other stuff, it's asking you to stop and pray, seek understanding, ask for wisdom, ask for help.

Your flesh has reigned for so long that sin is very powerful within us and to come out of agreement with those things. It requires prayer and it requires the Holy Spirit to lead us and give us the strength to come away from our sins.

The question for all of us remains the same. Whom will you serve?

In that moment, I served my flesh. I got the latte. As I drove and as the revelations kept coming, and I started understanding why figures in the Bible, like Abraham and Joseph were given new names in Genisis 17:5 & Genisis 41:45. It wasn't just a change of name, it was an acknowledgment of a new identity.

The old identity, the one that submitted to the worldly desires, was being shed for the new one, and they were literally wrestling with the old identities, the old people they knew, the old places they knew, the old behaviors, the beliefs, the way they perceive things. They were fighting, they were traveling and doing things that along their journey finally led to them acknowledging and stepping into their new identities. Which they could not do by themselves; it was through God that this was possible.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].

Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me

We have an old identity, lived as a life led by the flesh. Through Jesus we have a new identity. The one in Christ is now aware of the spirit. And the battle always existed. We just didn't have that knowledge of why or the strength to resist. We didn't have an understanding. We didn't have knowledge about it.

Hosea 4:6 AMP

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge [of My law, where I reveal My will].Because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

Lacking knowledge of God has occurred generation from generation to generation. One of the reasons why the Bible continues to talk about legacies and who begat who and the length of the lineage, is because there were times when people, fathers who followed God that once they had children, somewhere down that lineage, someone fell away from God. Then the next generation; maybe they came back in alignment with God, but maybe some didn't and depending on how long that time frame went, people forgot. From generation to generation to generation to generation to generation; we were no longer taught the true ways of God and what it means to listen to ourselves, to be at peace within ourselves. This world we live in is busy, full of technology, full of distractions. We don't have time to listen, and we don't have time to understand what's going on in our body, or our soul. Not only that, but we've also had so many things that came up against us that, we're fearful to feel or to hear whatever our body has to say or why our body is feeling the way it is feeling. The thing we know is we want to stop.

There's a tug of war between the two, the spirit and the flesh. Again, the more we grow in our awareness of God, the stronger that battle becomes. The flesh does not want to lose control. The survival patterns and the seeking of pleasure, only to refresh us temporarily, before the next survival pattern and cycles begin again. The cycle of pride and destruction in all areas of our life continuously on repeat. This battle does not kill the flesh physically. It can. Eventually it does.....but in a form of dominance. Its reign; its sinful desires. The reign of the flesh. It's time for us to declare that it is over!

That we are shifting from the kingdom of the flesh to the kingdom of Christ, where we are led by the Holy Spirit and our bodies...our physical bodies are cared for, not out of selfishness or desire for worldly riches, but as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Out of the fact that we are made in his image and out of God's love for his people, as it is written in 1 John 4:19, Isaiah 54:10, 1 John 4:9-10, Ephesians 3:18-19. I again ask you to read these.

Paul talked about knowing how to be content in all circumstances, in plenty and in want. He learned to deny himself, to put off the sin that so easily hinders. The beautiful thing is that Jesus as our Savior, we are under grace and we can repent and we can change our ways. We're not under the punishment of the law of sin and death once we claim Lord Jesus as our Savior.

Romans 8:2 AMP

2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

John 1:17 AMP

17 For the Law was given through Moses, but grace [the unearned, undeserved favor of God] and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Grace is God's unmerited favor, love or help. It's a pardon. Divine grace, mercy, favor, thanks, excellence, and virtue.

Where we fall down. It's God's grace that we have through Jesus Christ. Because of his sacrifice for us that we're able to get back up. When I told you our toxic cycles that are on repeat and then we get a reprieve, and then we go back, and we fall right back into it. Well, this time because you're really acknowledging it, because of your understanding of grace that you have to get back up. Where you can repent, confess your sin, and change your ways. It means I'm now putting to practice; where I used to practice in a way that harmed me and harmed others. Well, I fell down. Okay. My flesh, I succumbed to it. I justified the sin, and I did it anyway. Lord, I repent. I'm changing my ways. So now you become the doer of the word. And you change your ways. And it takes one step. One day at a time. The grace to fall and get back up. We've received through Jesus Christ. If we miss the mark, we have the grace to repent and get back up to do better.

Romans 3:23-24 AMP

23 since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] [a]grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus

How do we do that? It's to deny ourselves. To deny yourself once again is what I refer to. Like lifting weights until the flesh submits. Until the mind is renewed. Until there is a right spirit in you, until you are in right standing and in right relationship with God. We have been raised up in the way of the world. Now we are being raised up in the spirit. Your internal state. Denying yourself and following Christ is winning the inner war. And it requires active effort and sacrifice. These verses. From Jesus himself and the apostles. Clarify what it means to choose the spirit over the flesh.

Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

So, to lose it is our old way of thinking and believing. Our old patterns and mindsets of ambitions. Our desires that have been rooted in sin and when we lose that life, when we put it aside, when we repent and change our ways. We then find our life. We find the answers we've been searching for.

Romans 8:5-6 (NIV)

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

1 Corinthians 9:27 (NIV)

No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

And I'm going to stop right here and say this right now. Again, it was me that was going out there to get this matcha latte and it was recent. And you know what? I still get a matcha latte sometimes, you know, and it's the biggest thing I want you to recognize is, again, I said, the idols of your heart. Okay? We are to pray, and we are to ask God for deliverance from the things that we are having a hard time breaking away from. Sometimes he doesn't want you to lose the thing completely. Sometimes he just wants you to wake up and realize you are depending too much on this one thing the idol of the heart. When you are being dependent on it. I mentioned in my matcha latte, but let's go ahead and talk about coffee. For how many coffee drinkers there are, how many people that have to have a cup of coffee. Have to have to have to every single day and if they don't, they're going to bite your head off. Right. A dependency upon a thing. Okay. You have to have certain clothes. You have to have a certain lifestyle. What is your idol? Okay. Not just the money, but also how you appear. Because one day, maybe you can't afford to go out there and get that new car or, those new clothes and you're so worried about what other people are going to think of you. "Oh, I couldn't get my hair done."

"I couldn't get my nails done"

"I couldn't get that perfume."

"I couldn't get that Cologne."

"I couldn't get that purse."

"I couldn't get these Jordans."

Matthew 6:25

The idols of your heart. What are you dependent upon?

So really, it's a teaching for us all that we are to repent and change our ways. It's like the gym. We're going to face those temptations every day, but we're going to get up and go to the gym. We're going to get up, and we're going to do what we have to do to deny ourselves, whether that is fasting from it. And yes, I definitely have done that to make sure that that is not the idol of the heart. Breaking dependency of it.

With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. - Matthew 19:26

and he will make a way out of no way. Isaiah 43:16 And where those items in our heart, those desires, those lusts, that greed, that sin, that gluttony, that anger, that rage, that unforgiveness, the idols of our heart, that victimhood. That fear-based thinking, the idols of our heart. So, I myself; am in training y'all so that I also will not be disqualified for the prize.

We're all working towards something, and it's about becoming better every day and grateful for the grace that we receive through Jesus Christ. The lesson I want to reiterate that I mentioned in another podcast is that within just this matcha latte moment, within my confession to you. Within this testimony to help us all. Is in the power of honesty, the power of confession and I don't have to make an announcement to everybody.

It's an announcement to yourself. It's an announcement to say, you know what this is something I need to look at and sit with God, praying about it, confessing it. I had to acknowledge the conflict within me because between the flesh and the spirit and all that was happening. It was by bringing it into the light, I was able to get answers and a deeper understanding of my own spiritual revelation. Nothing can change if you don't first bring it to the light.

This is a gym for our soul. This life, in every single situation we run into, every decision that we have to make.

Every second, every minute, every hour, every day for our maturing in the spirit.

We're developing new muscles.

It's uncomfortable. It's necessary though. We must be willing to suffer a little bit to feel uncomfortable, because every time we felt uncomfortable in the past, we've sought the comfort in external things again coffee, sugar, TV, shopping, sex, rage or other temporary gratifications.

Now we are to let go of the behaviors, the beliefs, the habits, the perspectives and anything that separated us from God.

All the things we ran to, knowingly or unknowingly and now choose to run to God. Choose to no longer run from him. He already knows what you're doing. He already knows what you're doing! And it's just about STOP. Every time we run, we're only hurting ourselves and not only that, there's only so far we can go. God will cleanse us.

I'm going to ask that you read John 3 & Titus 3:5-6 And then I'm going to read to you:

Ezekiel 36:25-27 AMP

25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My ordinances and do them.

Now we can put into action, stepping into the new and change our ways, starting now.

• Instead of us picking up that sugary drink, we can pick up the Bible

• instead of turning on the TV. We can turn to pray.

This is the new discipline, the new commitment. It's about choosing to change our ways so that we can break free from the chains that have kept us bound.

• Kept us in toxic cycles.

• Kept us in toxic patterns,

• Kept us in toxic thoughts, mindsets, beliefs, behaviors, and the way we perceive things.

This is the path to freedom, to the very thing we've always wanted.

The flesh wants you to replace one bad habit with another bad habit. The Holy Spirit wants you to replace it with the Bible, with prayer, with gratitude, with service, with worship, and guarding ourselves from the way we think, speak, behave, feel and perceive. Teaching us new ways of being. New ways of thinking. New ways of choosing. These are actions that will strengthen us to overcome battles we did not even realize we were in. And again, it will be like going to the gym. You first just have to start. You will want to quit. But the more you persevere because you will be tried in every aspect of your life, internally and externally, you will see eventually how far you've come. One season after the next.

With each choice that you make today, whom will you serve and what tool and disciplines will you pick up to help you in this inner war?

I have a question that I really want you to think about because it's not just one thing in our life, but what are your matcha lattes? The things that you know you should resist but still find yourself craving?

• What is your personal pleasure mode?

  
  

• What is your survival mode?

  
  

• What can you identify as the tug of war between your flesh and your spirit?

So when I say survival mode, you're beating yourself up mentally. You're talking all these negative things. You're complaining, but the Holy Spirit wants to tell you you're loved. God so loved us he gave his only son; that you're fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image. Or. God did not give you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, a spirit of love and a sound mind.

When you think of these things, the tug of war. When you think about what that inner conflict feels like, begin to just start listening to yourself, listening to your mind, listening to what your body is saying, listening to how it feels. And do you know how you do that?

It's getting away from the busyness of things. Get away from your distractions. Turn off the TV. Sit in silence.... like legit silence. Start listening to what your body is saying. And begin to start praying for help for you to overcome those things.

When you get such a need to start getting up and going after things. Let's say, what is the temporary pleasures of your flesh calling out to you to do?

The flesh - when I say flesh, it's our physical body. It's our nature, our unrenewed human nature. The sins, the pleasures, the survival aspects of us. The parts that are driven by immediate desires, instant gratification, the pursuit of things that feel good right now, the things we believe we're entitled to because I want it.

Where we don't even think about how it's going to impact us long term, how it's going to impact the people we love long term, how it's going to impact our bank account long term, how it's going to impact our health long term. But right now, I want it.

So while you're sitting in stillness, think about all those things your body is asking you to do.

• Think about the thoughts that your mind is thinking.

  • Is it hurting you? Is it toxic?

And then. Listen deeper what's the voice telling you that is actually loving and kind?

If you cannot hear the voice that's telling you of things that are loving and kind.

It's just because those other voices volume was turned up higher too long and we came into agreement with those things. And that's what I'm saying. We must start coming out of agreement with them and God's words helps you break those agreements.

Your prayers help you break those agreements and everything else I talked to you about earlier about what the path of freedom is. Reading the Bible. Prayer. Gratitude. Service. Forgiveness. Repentance. Worship.

Protecting ourselves from the way we think, the way we speak, the way we behave, the way we feel and perceive. Stopping right then and there. Slowing down that automatic pilot mode.

Slowing down the way we always once believed us to be.

Where can we start identifying our old behavior? And how can you now start shifting into that new identity through Christ Jesus?

Jesus is the living word, right? Living word. By his words, he's talking to you in the Bible about all those good things. Well, Jesus became the living word so he could be that living model to you, to how to live in patience and peace and forgiveness. What it means to come up with those against the Pharisees in life. The Pharisees in your inner world. Those things that you have to come against.

So what we are now to do is identify our instant gratification, the pleasure that's immediate, that we crave, the compulsions and the habits, the areas where we have been corrupted and have been compromised, where we make compromises on ourselves and within our choices and how deeply they are hurting us.

• Where we have cycles of craving, we give in. We bend our boundaries. And then eventually we feel some type of shame or regret later. Potentially. Right. And then the cycles continue, and we pass those cycles on to others.

  
  

• Then we have an external focus where again we have the pleasures that come from something outside of us food, people, environments, purchases, entertainment. Ways we seek validation from others, the outside, the external things.

  
  

• Then also we need to look at the short-lived things. The sugar high wears off. If we seek sugar, the dopamine that we receive through searching through the internet, scrolling when we buy new things and when we get high, when we get drunk.

  These, things, these external things. They're external, but they feel good. It's a form of dopamine, but they're short lived.

Finding new sources of dopamine.

One thing I want you to think about is. On this journey in our gym. Imagine that we're trying to eat healthier. You become bored. A thought pops into your head about a chocolate sundae, chocolate cake or fried chicken. And you know, your flesh is talking about. Yeah, man, let's go get it. And, ooh, that tastes so good! Your mouth is salivating, and you think about how good it will be. You justify how good you've been. You justify us all the benefits and that all that you have done for yourself and why you deserve it. You're going back and forth again. You have that tug of war.

That right there when you're by yourself and you're thinking these things, and you're thinking about turning on TV, saying to yourself man, your show is on....your game is on, or about playing video games or I wonder what such and such is posting right now, or who to call, who to go hit up and do something with.

These things right now are the temporary pleasures of our flesh.

Now, here's the thing is that, say, for instance, you get up, you break away from your silent time. You're like, nope, I'm done. I can't do it no more and you start fasting. Whatever you're breaking away from, and you're taking that time for yourself so you can hear yourself.

You now cave into your flesh and go get whatever it is you're looking for. You satisfy your temporary craving. You satisfy your flesh. When this happens, I want you to go in silent mode. I want you to really look at the thoughts that you're thinking and the ways your bodies are feeling right then and there. Okay. You have a sugar crash, or you have you feel bloated. You feel dizzy. Your heart is palpitating. You might have thoughts of regret. You might have guilt. You had that cake, and it sure was good. But now you're having things coming back at you that's not so good and it's in your mind and it's in your body.

Why do you have that?

Because you had a battle between your flesh and your spirit and your flesh won.

The benefits, no matter how good it was at the instance; it gave you a negative, a not so good feeling afterwards. But long-term freedom in the spirit. Instead of seeking those outside things of pleasure. Now you're going internally. You choose not to get up. You choose to stay in silence. You choose to continue your fast.

You're going to have those inner conflicts, right?

But now you're really aiming towards connecting to God. You're really aiming to connecting to understanding. When you have freedom. That freedom within yourself. All of a sudden that's not so temporary. It becomes a lasting state of being inside you, where before you couldn't slow down your mind. Before you couldn't stop your cravings. Well, eventually you start focusing on the prayers. Eventually you start, thinking about the soaking in the word and you're thinking about the context of the word, and you're praying about the word or you're singing and, you're just choosing to be in an internal state of pleasure. Then you recognize, wow. I don't have any guilt where I had a tug of war, where my flesh was trying to get me up because I didn't listen to it. Now I'm actually in a state of peace. I'm in a state of. Okay, I'm doing good right now. This is different, because God's words are in your mind. You're so worried about the word (bible) and trying to understand the word (bible), or you're receiving revelation and receiving aha moments, then all of a sudden you can fight a little bit more. If we make those short-term gratifications and again, if we stumble, if we fall. Okay. We're going to repent, confess. Get back up. We're going to continue to try to do better.

That's what this gym is about. This is what our journey is. Because of the fact you've not practiced these things, and because of the fact we're also human, and because of the fact there's a lot of different life circumstances that we come up against each and every single day.

We're not going to be perfecting anything immediately, and it could be a year or two later and all of a sudden something comes up and you may have a problem later about doing something you used to do successfully. But this is where endurance and perseverance come in. Continuing to seek peace and strength and your well-being. Seeking inner peace and control instead of being slave to our cravings, find ways so that we could focus on God. Focus on the things that we know we are to be focusing on that will lead us to inner freedom and self-respect. The power, the love and sound mind that God's talking about the internal focus when we have a sense of accomplishment, spiritual growth, character building, moral building, value building, principal building, and a deeper connection to God. Understanding.

In times of testing, every single day, we're going to have a choice. Every time you make the right choice, you build that spiritual muscle. Every time you listen to the spirit versus the flesh, you build your spiritual muscle.

So right now, your flesh is pretty bulked up, right?

Because that flesh was winning for a long time. But now you've been putting your spiritual muscle to the gym and putting it to the test each and every single day. Having challenges and overcoming in the spiritual aspects of yourself and things become easier... and not all the time because again, there's going to be certain circumstances in life that may become challenging, but that doesn't mean we give up on our spiritual workout sessions. That right there is a chance for you to really up your game. That's your boss level.

For those who like to play video games, when you come up against something that's really hard, that's pulling you away out of your routine of muscle building and your spirit, that's your boss level and you're to overcome that Goliath, that boss in that level, and you're going to pull away stronger in your spirit if you overcome it.

If you don't, give yourself grace and compassion.... again, pray about it and see how you can do better. What was your weaknesses? What was unearthed. What was revealed when you were at that boss level? What memories came up for you where things were rooted originally so you didn't really lose, right? That battle with Goliath just showed you where you're a little bit more ill-equipped because of a root of an emotion that's still been unhealed, unforgiveness might be there. Bitterness might be there. Anger might be there. Regrets might be there. Fear, guilt, shame might be there. An idle might be there.

That just means, okay, you got to the boss level. Great job, but it looks like, you know, you didn't win. It looks like you need to go on back down, to the next level. Handle what Goliath just recognized was a weakness within you. So, where I'm weak you'll strengthen me. Okay. I was weak I didn't realize until I faced Goliath there. And now, you're revealing where I was weak so that you can make me strong. So how do you make me strong here? What is the root of my pain? What is the root of where this hurt came? Where this thought came, where this behavior came, where this belief came, where this perspective came and where I'm weak, make me strong; and that requires some work of you, right? That's that gym, but you're not going to be alone.

Then you can come back and then hit that boss level again until you're victorious. It takes time. During your working out, it's going to feel like suffering at times. There's going to be some things that we've not walked in. Things we've not felt. Things we ran from. Things we just didn't understand that we're going to have to come up against. And those areas where, instead of complaining, we find ways to rejoice in it, just like in that boss level. So, there's going to be a form of suffering. Expectations that you were going to come up in there and conquer that boss immediately. Recognizing that there's still some work to be done. Praying. Silencing things. Be still and know that I am God. Allows you to put yourself in a place where we weren't before. These are the things that's building us up. Half of the suffering is because of the fact we're finally telling ourselves no to the flesh, or we know where that flesh is leading us is not going to help us right now. So no. And then we have to put up with, you know, your flesh having attention tantrum. Mad that you're telling it, No. And y'all, for real, think about how many times we're told no or told something we don't like and that internal feeling that we feel and that wanting to justify ourselves or be defensive.

Well, tell yourself no and you're going to feel your body being defensive to you and legit having a tantrum. And that's where that going to the gym comes in. Because eventually that flesh is going to be disciplined, that flesh is no longer going to be reigning over you, and you're going to receive that sense of peace in your mind and your body. You're going to have a strength that you didn't know you had. And that's where the freedom comes in. The overcoming of your Goliath's, of your own flesh. There was a saying once that said, I'm not in competition with anybody but myself. And it's so true. We are in competition with ourselves.

We're in competition with overcoming sin, overcoming darkness and overcoming spiritual blindness, overcoming our separation that we had because we chose those things of the flesh versus choosing the things that God needed and wanted for us and desired for us to do.

For I have plans for you not to harm you, but to prosper you, and hopes for a better future. We are to look at who we are, and the world mirrors it. Our home mirrors it. What we surround ourselves with mirrors it. What we buy and invest in it mirrors it. How we talk to one another mirrors it. How we look at ourselves in the mirror and the thoughts that we have. Those things mirror it.

When you're alone by yourself and actually listen to it, the world doesn't have to be your mirror anymore.

You can start listening to yourself and start changing the image that reflects back to you.

Most of the things that we have in this world, the idols of our heart. They look harmless. They yeah, in our fleshly and our worldly understanding, may feel and seem to be good. The approval we get from others, the comfort we get from things, the money and the things we can obtain with it. The knowledge, the abundance of the knowledge that's going all around us and even being productive, but I've been in the book of Ezekiel and this book of Ezekiel. I really do ask you guys to read from the beginning all the way to the end. It really highlights, what we need to understand about idolatry and how idolatry is hidden in the secret places of our heart.

In Ezekiel 8, God shows the prophet, the hidden idols in the temple, the things that the people thought no one would see. And Ezekiel 14, he makes it clear the real idols are not statues, but the desires and the allegiances that we set up inside of our hearts.

Today, I've provided a list to you, because sometimes my stories may not be exactly mirroring what you guys are going through.

• Everyone is different.

• Everybody has different journeys.

• Everybody has different perspectives.

• Everybody has had their own different life experiences and circumstances.

So, this list will hit upon, our idols within our hearts somewhere and somehow that relate to us all:

·         Approval / validation (likes, praise, recognition, people-pleasing)

·         Money / wealth / materialism (greed, possessions, luxury, “security”)

·         Work / productivity / busyness (career, hustle culture, identity in job)

·         Relationships (romantic partner, spouse, children, family, friends)

·         Knowledge / intellect / wisdom without God (education, certifications, self-sufficiency,

& overthinking)

·         Pleasure / entertainment (food, music, TV, games, hobbies, social media, leisure)

·         Comfort (staying safe, avoiding growth, resistance to obedience)

·         Control (needing to manage outcomes, perfectionism, lack of surrender)

·         Pride / ego (self-worship, arrogance, stubbornness, defensiveness)

·         Self-image / appearance (body, beauty, clothing, “brand,” reputation)

·         Technology / social media (scrolling, likes, attention, distraction)

·         Addictions / substances (alcohol, weed, drugs, smoking, sex)

·         Fear / anxiety / worry (letting fear be the driver instead of faith)

·         Religion without relationship (tradition, performance, works without intimacy with God)

·         Bitterness / unforgiveness (holding grudges, feeding offense)

·         Success / achievement (idolatry of accomplishments, status, ambition)

·         Influence / power (needing authority, recognition, leadership as identity)

·         Comfort in people’s opinions (seeking approval over God’s voice)

·         Past trauma / pain (clinging to identity in wounds instead of God’s healing)

·         Self-reliance (depending on your own strength, not God’s Spirit)

·         Lust / sexual desires (porn, sex outside marriage, fantasies)

·         Tradition / culture (putting customs or family expectations over God)

·         Busyness & distraction (using activities to avoid dealing with your heart) Remember the story of Martha and Mary Luke 10:38-42

So Luke 10:38-42, where I want you to read about Martha and Mary, where Martha was running around doing all these things and she was mad. Mary wasn't getting up to do it with her. And Jesus is like, no, actually, Martha, you need more like Mary by sitting at my feet and learning from me, asking me questions.

So all these things right here. We think are good but are actually evil. These things right here are the things that we're to really look at as idols in our heart, where we have put these things before God.

• No, God I'm too busy to pray.

• No, God I'm too busy to read the Bible.

• No, God. I'm too busy to go serve.

• No, God I got things have to buy right now other than, donating or serving by tithing or whatever is happening, right?

• No God, you know, I can't I have work to do. I've been working to become a partner in this law firm. You know, I don't have time for you right now. God.

Whatever it is, it can be our own families, or how we're so tired. Honestly, I'm going to find this Bible verse, but I thought this was interesting. In this one Bible verse, Jesus gives a parable and he's like, there's a servant and he's been out in the field. He comes in from the field, he serves his master dinner, and then he still has to go serve God. You know, it's like he knows you're going to have work to do, but you still have a spiritual job, which is to serve him. This is the building of the muscles of how to balance your physical life with your spiritual life.

I mentioned once before I had understood the mental, the emotional and the physical aspects of it. Not perfectly the financial, not the relationship perfectly but the reason why is because the one key thing that was missing was the spiritual. The one sure thing that is your sound and strong foundation. If you don't have that strong foundation, then everything else will continue to crumble and fail. Things will be a struggle. Or you might be successful in one area in life and not successful in another and I mentioned that in another podcast, but something will always be a little off.

The list can go on and I just included a little bit but again read Isaiah 5:20 The things we thought were good were actually evil. Again, it's just about our intentions of those things and if they are idle or not.

The good news is this is that God does not only expose idols, but he does also promise renewal. So, I talked earlier how he will cleanse us. Well, now in Ezekiel 36:26–27, He declares, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” This is the hope we cling to. That by grace through Jesus Christ we are not left to fight the flesh alone. God himself cleanses us. He renews us, and he empowers us to serve him as our one true master. So here's my challenge for the week. Again, in case you forgot, I'm putting this as another reminder to sit quietly before God. Take your time and ask "Lord, what masters am I serving in secret?" "What idols are in my heart?" and be honest, because only what comes into the light can be healed. Then you invite him in to exchange that heart of stone for a heart of flesh.

Return to him, because at the end of the day, the question isn't whether we will serve a master. It's which master will you serve? Let us all start today and every day, because every day is a new opportunity. It's a process. Let's bring our darkness out into the light. No more hiding. Let's get it out to the light.

Our idols and again, refer to the list for ways in that we can truly identify some of the idols of our heart, so that we can really start humbling ourselves. God may ask you to release them from your life, but that doesn't mean that I want you to think it's hopeless or not worth it.

We still live in this world, but we are not of it. We may utilize these things, but we are to put God first and never become dependent on anything else. We do not allow those things to rule over us in compromise, or in a way that we are corrupted by those desires.

As a way of learning and expanding ourselves, I just again ask for you to take this time to really listen. Write down those scriptures, search out definitions and words. If you're hearing me say words and you're like, what does that mean? Or even if you think, yeah, I know what that means, do you? Look at where the word originated. Look at original translations of the words. Look at the etymology of the word. Look at the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Aramaic translations of the word, and then again read the Bible in other translations. I use Bible Gateway, but there's other sources that you can utilize.

Continue to ask questions in prayer. Pray and ask for help and understanding with what you're reading in Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." I'm praying this helps you, and I encourage you to share it with at least one person who you feel is on their own inner war and even if they haven't told you again, look at the mirrors. Look at the fruits of people and you'll know who we're to reach out to. Not just by this episode, but just through you learning. You have an opportunity to help raise another person up. You can always be a watchman for them. You can pray for them.

Just as we discussed; we can identify our idols in our heart. You don't have to bible thump no one because that's not what Jesus did.

You just be you and choose love. Choose patience, choose peace. Pray and ask for guidance.

You don't have to bible thump. Just be there. We all have struggled in some way and instead of judging and instead of condemning another person, pray about it. How can we help? But also again, utilize every opportunity to see if that's an outer reflection, reflecting what's truly in you to.... pulling the thorn out of our own eyes.

Always looking at the opportunity on how we can humble ourselves and how we can heal ourselves, and how we can look at things that we may be blind to within ourselves. You know, there's a saying about rose colored glasses when we're in love. Well, there's also a reason why; in order to see ourselves, we have to look in a mirror and sometimes we don't even see ourselves unless we're looking at a mirror.

So, when you're looking at this outside world, what is it asking you to see within yourself? Pulling a thorn out of your own eye. Making sure you're clean in the inside before you judge another person and even before we help another person, we are needing to really seek God.

Every day is an opportunity to contribute something better to another person. I pray that this helped you and brought some light to the darkness and, you know, brought some revelation.