(0:00)The lie of exhaustion
if you come from a culture that glorifies burning yourself to the point of exhaustion you're not going to think there's anything wrong with you but you're actually not glorifying your maker by killing yourself my problem is that if you don't know you need to fix the way you think you will not fix the way you think if you think that the way you think is fine you're not going to make any changes to it right
(0:26)Meet the new guest
filter hello and welcome back to pfon filter [Music] yay um as you see we have recruited a new guest hi everybody because we needed a little bit more Vim I don't know what that says about today today they have enough Vim but um yeah t I had they fired you w i mean T's not here so I don't I don't really know what to say but we have fire to wow you guys are gangster man I mean if you're he can appeal the decision like you know hopefully I live up to you know the hype I I'm sure you will I'm sure you will but Esther tell the people about yourself sure so hi everybody I am Esther Griffin I am a mother a wife um a risk taker all the things and I'm happy to be here yay we are I'm so sorry so sorry how do you say you're a mother a wife and a risk taker like being a mother and being a wife is a risk having a husband is a risk ah I see I see I see okay just going to have some insight on multiple things and we're excited to have her voice in the mix thank you darling so how's it going PF how's this week been it's been it's been a good week it's been a busy week um I'm excited that Esther is joining us Esther is a lot of fun um risk taker too I can't get that out of my head I'm so sorry yeah but you know it's it's it's good to be it's good to be here looking forward to tonight yeah and what you guys are going to come up with all right um we're just going to jump right into it yeah so I and estra had this conversation as we always do without you you know that I know you have a problem with it that bothers me how you sit down and talk about people behind their back what it is I mean it's pretty normal in 2024 talk about people behind their back is not Christian Le it was not gossip we're telling you now that we were talking yeah it was a convers that what that
(2:36)Is talking behind backs gossip?
that sanctifies it I don't know I don't know okay but we were talking about rest and what that means um and why is it necessary so I think we'll kind of just
(2:49)What does rest actually mean?
get started with talking about when you hear the word rest what do you what do you think what does that mean to you okay for for me rest in in principle right is a a time where you are not doing anything right where you're not just not doing anything but you're um how like you're you're being restored right you're being refreshed um but it's symbolized by the lack of activity yeah we we exist on three planes where where spiritual where intellectual or emotional or psychological if you want to call it and we're physical right um our spirit doesn't need to rest because our spirit comes from God and has the life of God and and all of that stuff right but our soul our mind our intellect our psych needs to rest and our bodies need to rest and you know people go on holidays for their bodies right they they they they stop work they stop all the running around they stop all the activities
(3:57)The 'Naija' vacation reality
although people from my side of the world I don't a vacation for us is not really a vacation doesn't ex like you're doing a lot of things yeah you you leave your country and go to another country just to shop and be doing things yeah so you you you you come to America for a vacation and you are in the mall 24/7 right and then you go back home and you are just as tired as um um when you when you when you left yeah but you know behind the the concept of rest for me is a season from activity it just stopping right and not doing anything until the body is rejuvenated until the mind is restored and refreshed okay that's what rest means to me so I'm hearing what you're saying and
(4:39)Why did God need to rest?
I'm thinking cuz I'm thinking the first place in the Bible that I I remember ever rest being ever mentioned was when like you know after God created um after the six days of creation and then it says on the seventh day God rested and I think sometimes I'm like why did God need to rest like he's God what does that actually mean what does like what did that look like for him right and why was it necessary okay so so think about it like this right first of all let's be clear God does not get exhausted the Bible says in Psalm 121 he neither Slumbers nor sleeps right so he not like he's tired and he needs a break that is not God but there's a scripture in in the Bible that I think in my mind explains it train a child in the way that he should go right and when he's old he will not depart from it God had literally just created Adam and Eve right and he was the example of of life right how he lives or how what they saw of him is what they would live on yeah remember that at this time there were no laws yeah right the laws came much later so God was modeling good behavior if you want to call it that it was modeling how to live for them by showing them that you work for 6 days and you take a day off right um and because he created us without an infinite amount of energy right our energy resources can be depleted yeah so I think he did that so that they could see that this is the way it works you work for a while and you rest yeah and you know we we do that
(6:33)Parenting and the 'copycat' effect
with our kids right your kids I tell folks that you don't realize that your children learn how to be human beings from you they pick up everything everything not just the things you tell them things that you don't tell them the things that they see you do yeah they talk like you they walk like you they scratch their head the way you scratch your head you know and the weird thing is that as you get old as they get older they become more like you right and think about it all of us in this room in 5 years time you guys are going to be like dang I look just like my father just like my mother you know and you fought that for so long but they trained you you know they train you on how to laugh I definitely catch myself and I'm like that is definitely my dad's Behavior like exactly I I I I make a face and I and I know that face I've seen that face before and I didn't like it when I saw it now it's my face so I think that's what God was saying yeah I think to your point I was just thinking about like what are the different ways that a person can rest there's like seasonal rest there is weekly rest especially in our culture so I guess I would ask you know what are the different forms of rest that tend to show up in you know like modern day Society like I I I think the idea simply of stopping right but so so okay let me
(7:52)Why I cut my vacations short
talk about me I can rest my body but resting my mind is a different challenge of together right so I can I I I'll take a vacation so on on my calendar they'll put vacation days everybody in the office knows these days I'm not available and all of that right and I'll go away but I always cut it short so if if if I have seven days on the calendar Pastor L will tell you by day four I'm looking for a flight back the only reason why I will spend the seven days is if I cannot find a flight to bring me back right at a reasonable cost then I'll just rough it yeah and for me that's roughing it right staying in some place doing nothing I figured out that for me the maximum days of vacation that I can tolerate is 3 days but why is that not a form of not being able to just be at peace no it's a form of not being able to shut my mind down I can shut my body down yeah if I if I sit down or lay down on a bed or sit down on a beach my body will stop yeah right and my C will start their own process of Rejuvenation but my mind doesn't stop right and that even while you're there even while I'm there oh no what my mind is I I I literally my mind is like just non-stop it finds something to fixate on something to think about and so when I go on vacation and I rest my body I come back and I'm tired cuz your brain hasn't rested you didn't stop right that's why people can say you know I haven't done anything but I feel tired exactly because mentally you're still active
(9:34)Worry vs. Strategy
right so we live in a world where people are physically some people are physically inactive but mentally they're still very active right so they're still burning out they're still wearing out and they think that the burning out or the wearing out comes from um a season of activity right stop stop doing this but really it's not what you are doing sometimes it's what is going on in your head yeah right and and that brings you to a place where like okay so what is going on in your head that you cannot stop thinking about yeah and there's only one word for it it's it's worry it's worry right it's not planning right is not strategizing it is if it is any of those things it is planning and strategizing out of worry right the only thing that keeps my mind going is some level of anxiety right about this or that if that makes any sense so how do you navigate that you enter into God's rest right for me so two things number one I have had to re I've had to how I how will I put this change the way that I think about myself right especially in relationship to God one of the challenges that we have is that and I say this quite a lot is that we don't fully appreciate the extent to which God goes for us right the Bible says if he freely gave you his son right then how much more will he not give you everything else so if somebody gives you the best that they have when you are at your least worthy right then what would stop them from giving you things that are not of that pale in value to what they've already given you I found out that one of the things that keeps my mind going is that trying to please God right trying to be on the right side of of God's line you know and it gets very stressful so what I have done now what I have learned now what the Holy Spirit has ministered to me now is that God loves me right Jesus has finished the work you know the only part of the New Testament where the word labor is used is the verse that says labor to enter into his rest right and the rest is the place where we seize from our efforts and attempts and our striving to please God so I I I have a
(12:02)Laboring to enter His rest
question when you say labor what does that like do you mean like literally give up everything or strive to your maximum to rest like so for instance I think about work going to work and you know does that look like taking two days off or three days off from work and saying I'm deciding that I am going to rest yes it has to be intentional but also understand this remember what I said about how you can take your body away from work right but do you take your mind away from work yeah right if you're worrying about your job if you're worrying about job security if you're worrying about you know your colleague at work if you're worrying about this deadline you're you're not physically at work but mentally where are you you're very much at work right and then you leave work and then you start worrying about the kids the husband the clothes the party the this and the that and the this and the that and you know we find things to fix it on right however if you come to a place where you're like you know what God loves me right and he will sort out all the things that need to be sorted out my responsibility is just to remain in a position right where I am eligible to be blessed by him that is the labor laboring to remain in that position so you don't take a vacation from work and you're worried about work you're only worried because you you you see you see potential problems and your inability to resolve them right or you're concerned about the resolution of them if you come to a place where you realize that you know what there is nothing that anybody throws at you right right if they Clos the door then God wanted that door closed and if he opens the door they cannot close it so why are we threaten why are we not resting why am I calling my vacation short right so what I'm hearing is I guess rest when we actually truly rest we are saying I guess two things we are trusting in God's provision for that like that he will take care of us but we are also trusting in the finished work of Christ that we are enough as ourselves exactly it starts at the mindset exactly exactly so that's what I have learned right that the reason why I have not rested all these years is because my faith my confidence in God was not where it should be now I've have
(14:17)Faith in God vs. Faith in self
always had a lot of faith in God but the problem was I have no faith in myself and I've always thought that God's blessings were dependent on my ability to measure right to measure to meet up and I'm not one of those people that will tell you that I'm I'm perfect right I am I am deeply flawed right and I I it's the truth you know I'm aware even if nobody knows about my sins me I know so the idea that I could be comfortable right being so flawed and God would love me based on the theology that I grew up with oh my God it was impossible I I you know there was no peace right but when I realized that all of my righteousness is a filthy R before the Lord right and that in Christ I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus I have peace I have peace with God right I have peace in my mind yeah however situations crop up right that
(15:24)When your own sermon tests you
test that yeah I you know I I I preached a sermon a couple of weeks ago in church where I talked about giving thanks even when you are going through it right and you know I felt very comfortable preaching that sermon because I had been through it and I thought you know I was past the stage of going through it and then I got thrown into it literally days after that sermon right and a couple of people sent me my sermon like okay and I and that really irritated me like like well you said it like like you know and then people now had this attitude people around me now had this attitude like they were watching me to see if I'm going to live up to my own sermon right and and it it it ticked me of no end right but what ticked me of the most was it it it made me feel like I was repeating a class that I thought I had graduated from right and what I felt the Lord said to me afterwards that yeah you there are different stages of this thing yeah at one point the issue was did you trust me okay now you trust me right how quickly does that trust kick into the calculation right how quickly does that trust determine how you behave and how you feel because you know our feelings are a consequence of our thoughts correct right so if you think right you will feel right if you feel wrong check your thinking I have a question what would you say to people that believe like rest is overrated you know they would die they will die they will die well they will lose their mind and they die okay in a society that glorifies like busyness and like hustle culture and grinding and like you have to be on that and almost looks like if you are resting you are lazy how do you navigate like resting like without being lazy or without um and not just even the appearance of it but without actually like where is the line like is this complacency or is this like I need where where's your confidence right where's your trust right so so again it's amazing how many things revolve around what we believe of ourselves and God so you're in an office right you got this great job they're paying you Boku money right and everybody there is a coming at 6:00 a.m. leave at 5:00 a.m. right that doesn't but you get Point walk through the clock right they don't take vacations they walk on weekends their phones are always on you know their marriages are in tatters right and you on the track to the Sea suite and that's how everybody on the sea Suite is who is going to get you there right do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the Rene of your mind right who is going to get you to the Seas with is it your effort or is it God if it is God you're not going to kill yourself to get there yeah if it is God there are lines that you're going to draw and say you know what I'm just not going to do this I'm not going to jeopardize my family right I'm not going to jeopardize my health I'm not going to jeopardize my own mind right you know you're not being lazy you're you're burning the candle at both ends you can barely think straight you're drinking more coffee than water you know it is not healthy right but you under this pressure who is putting you under the pressure it can't be God but even in the mindset right especially now you hear that people say God only helps people to help themselves where did they get that from it's not in the Bible it's not scriptural see God does not ask you to be lazy right but there are limitations right and when you insist on exceeding the limits of his provision you are stepping into your own abilities and what you what your eye will see there you come back and tell us right every time we overextend ourselves right right nothing good comes out of it so the thing we're trying to overextend ourselves to get when we eventually get it we have nobody to enjoy it with or we have no energy to enjoy it right you've got people who are working five jobs but they don't have a relationship with anybody they've got all this money they dress well but they go home and they're by themselves right and they're miserable but they've got money and you've got the people who are they say they're happy right but just catch them alone for 5 minutes and watch them break down in tears from the stress how it affects them we are limited right the Bible says that in my weakness God's strength is perfect yeah there are times when I have to make room for God's Perfection and I've come to understand that I I I I one of my favorite names of God is El Shai right um the Lord is my sufficiency right I always pray is that Lord where I am insufficient right where I am not enough where my strength is not enough yeah come and be my El should die come and be my sufficiency well I think it's easier said than done everything is easier said than done that's why it's a labor to enter into his rest yeah a continuous practice Yeah CU because even with the mind like if it's even a like you know how like the Bible says that you know that we should renew our minds like like it's not a one time you'll you'll get it and you'll be done the rest of your life you'll be good um it's just a constant like hey Jesus I'm back again this thing is I'm struggling like help me help me rest like actually show me what that looks like and I guess so we were talking about you said like physical rest which is like stopping activity um you said um I don't know if if it's emotional or your mind I guess um what would that look like so that would be like trust just trust in God and trust in God right and then you said our spirit man does not need rest per se in that sense yeah in in the sense of stopping right in the sense of it's a different Bain with our spirit right um your spirit many times feeds off of your soul right if you're exhausted mentally you're going to feel tired in your spirit you're going to just feel run down even more than when you're physically exhausted right it's almost like your spirit is the foundation that carries all the weight Yeah by itself your spirit is good but when it carries the weight of your soul and the weight of your body then it gets one down right for me I found two things that have helped me me to rest mentally one I discovered very recently the first one was trusting God right but the truth is that trust is going to get tested they're going to shake how do you know when to go on arrest how do I know yes when I'm exhausted when I am incapable of of functioning when I am irritable unnecessarily when I am overly emotional right when I do not have as much self-control as I should have then I know that okay you are you are you're getting to the Limit right of your abilities yeah um you know you know when you're tired right you know when you're mentally tired you're snapping at people your fuse has gone from 25 to two you know you you are taking you know you're just cranky and crabby are not nice you know and you're making mistakes right the numbers you're missing one here you're missing two there yeah right it's not hard you know what you said about renewing the mind my problem is that if you don't know you need to fix the way you think you will not fix the way you think if you think that the way you think is fine you're not going to make any changes to it right and if you come from a culture that glorifies um burning yourself to the point of exhaustion right you're not going to think there's anything wrong with you but you're actually not glorifying your maker by killing yourself it doesn't you know one of the reverse is um and hopefully you guys I'm I'm not going to lead on that I'll let you guys lead is that question of burnout I hope you ask me something about burnout I have something to say about burnout I was saying that there are two things right number one is faith in God trust yeah right but number two is finding something that can actually distract you right from focusing on your problems expand on that a bit so people and this practical Faith your faith will get tested right and when your faith is tested your faith your mind needs room right to refocus focus on God if your faith is being tested and your mind is in this churn on your problems on your challenges which is you know is reflex if you cannot step away from the churn right it's going to be hard to find God again you need to find somewhere where you can be still right where your mind can be still yeah and when your mind is still yeah and you're not thinking about your problems you're not rehashing the issues the Holy Spirit has has room to whisper to you and say what God Said in the middle of the churn what am I going to do what are they going to say how is this going to happen the holy spirit is banging on the door you're not going to hear him so sometimes right when your faith is been tested right when you you've learned to rest in God by faith and then that faith is tested right sometimes you need to find a way to steal your mind and for me interestingly enough was baking right we're just talking about this so I started baking when I was a kid right and it was simply because what are you baking what what do you like to bake I bake anything this morning I made candid bacon like literally I woke up I was like let me try this never made it before time bring some in for us as well absolutely I've never made it in my life never made it in my life and I looked at the recipe and I was like messed around with this a little bit and my daughter and her husband and the other daughter and my wife were all like where did this come from I made it anyway let me not brag but bacon right for me and I didn't realize this until maybe two weeks ago cuz I was in that you know in that shaking place when I started baking it was just because I I liked sweet things I have a sweet tooth right and I wasn't going to get it anywhere and even when I got there I didn't get what I wanted right so I started baking myself you know picking up recipes here and there a little bit of recip development experimenting and all of that stuff but I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing yeah and I I like to do things well I don't do if I try something and I don't do it well I'm going to put it down you do it I'm going to try and try and try and try after while I'm going to put it down anyway I've gotten pretty decent at baking and I don't bake a lot of things but the things that I bake I've got decent at it I I realized one day that you know what you have not thought is for one moment about your problems all I was thinking about measuring the recipe getting the temperature of the oven right bringing the thing out of the oven at the right time my mind was so fixated on that process that for almost 24 hours I did not remember my problems right and what that what apparently had happened cuz I was going over it in my mind was now I'm hearing the holy spirit in the I haven't gone away I I'm not fasting right I'm praying and asking God for clarity and he's speaking to me but where right cuz usually when I'm in that place I don't hear anything and and I don't know if you guys ever experienced it when you yawn can you can you hear what anybody saying when you're yawning that's how it feel feels when you're Ying when you're stressing it's hard to hear God right because many times he speaks in a still silent still Small Voice bacon helped me calm my mind in a way that I I I'd never found anything you know some people go golfing golfing doesn't work for me some people swim I don't like water some people you know drive driving is nice but it doesn't do me like that you know the only thing that I have found right that for me yeah that I have found for me that has um distracted me enough of the Holy Spirit to some people it's nature right one of my pastors told me that when he goes away and he's near the water right he just comes him when I go when I'm near the water just like why am I here here you know this water just moves now before you know what's happening stories that touch the heart I so I you know find you have to find a way to steal your mind for me baking does that right and when I am baking I don't think about anything I had an interesting experience yesterday night so there are two issues that have been on my mind how to solve problem a and problem B I came back from church I got home from church about um 4 sorry 6:30 and on the way home somebody had called me my my younger brother had called me and said hey he needed a cake to take to work so I got you I'd been out of I'd been out of my house since about 10: 94 9:50 to go to church 6:30 p.m. that's already God knows how many hours I'm driving home and I'm wearing the clothes I I preached in I don't change and I start to bake just go straight I go straight to the oven and I'm there until about 1 that's a long time yes I didn't take off my jacket I didn't take off my pants I didn't take off my shoes I didn't take off my socks this exact same thing about 1:15 1:30 and that was because I was leading the prayer meeting in the morning and guess what happened I now started having dreams right and guess what I was dreaming about my problems so I felt like this this problems are chasing me that if they can't catch me during the day while you're awake they waiting for me at night don't worry tonight me and then we're going to deal with it nobody's no no no no no no it was just it just very funny to me that you know it's so interesting that you have been able to find something that completely distracts your mind um from what's going on um because most people can you know I'm just as I'm hearing you talk I'm like people don't have hobbies they don't have they don't even have time to find those things I was that guy that's what I used to say that's that's actually what I used to say right I don't have a hobby I don't like a lot of things that people find interesting I I find them extremely boring I but we all have something yeah yeah right and if you are intentional about finding it you will find it right try different things we say I don't have a hobby and this what I I don't have a hobby and I didn't do anything oh uh Fe let's go you know and do this let's go hiking hiking I've not been hiking in my life for for for recreation I've been hiking as fun for those that like to get outside hiking is slapping is trekking hiking is what what happens when you are poor oh man so I don't I don't hike God has blessed me like I don't need to do that I don't need to hike no more you know or or you know just things that this was my philosophy anything that stresses me physically people tell you that their hobbi is going to the gym I'm like do you know what happens when you go to the gym relaxing see so you have your I I started two months ago and I now like if I don't go for 3 days I'm like my body feels jittery it's so relaxing so I I've heard that I I've also heard you know when you when you have a heart attack you get certain symptoms you start to sweat shortness of breath achy muscles right what else um General weakness fatigue fatigue where does that happen in the gym exercise exercise is is is your body don't listen to PF stimulating heart attacks please exercise it's good for you so that's why I don't I don't exercise I feel like I'm having a heart attack every time I exercise why do I want to keep stop pushing this propaganda exercise is good it is okay do you sweat when you exercise not a lot okay but I know people that do I see them in the gym so Bo you sweat do you your muscles ache because they've so what I realized that they only ache if I don't go consistently so like let's say I go on a Monday okay let's topic please on a Monday gyat and then I don't go and then I don't go Tuesday by Wednesday is a gymnast a gym F once you once you start you start but yes occasionally they may ache yeah okay it muscle sweating your heart is beating fast is doing what it's supposed to do what are the symptoms of a heart attack what are the symptoms of a heart attack muscle aches sweating fatigue irregular heartbeats what else you know Jesus walked I just want to say that he walked everywhere it was good for him and you didn't hear the story of him riding on a donkey that donkey was the the Maserati of his time a young donkey how many horsepower but no but going back to like our initial um um conversation on rest so Hobbies necessary and they're important to help um quiet our mind I don't like the word hobby because hobby implies frivolity and some of us have an instant mental block about being frivolous right finding something you enjoy that can take your mind off things right if you enjoy it enough from me I found out if you enjoy it enough you will take your mind off the things that bother you and you're not taking your mind off them to forget your problems if you want to forget your problems go and drink you forget them and then when you wake up they will heat you again right it's not about forgetting them it's about giving the holy spirit it's about quieting the noise of your anxiety of your fears right it's about just shutting down those voices is for a minute right so that the Holy Spirit can actually speak to you and all the counsel and all sometimes even the people giving you advice they become just noise right and you need to just shut everything down shut everybody down some people achieve that by going a way to pray you know climb on the mountain that's me I was going to ask about that as well don't don't I don't clim just not climbing on a mountain but when people like take time away to just kind of like seek God's face concerning it may be a specific thing or just a general direction of their lives would you consider that like a form of rest depends on what your mindset is when you go and what you're doing when you go right if you're going there to walk right to to labor to travail right you're not going there to rest yeah if you're going there to meet with God and you're praying and sometimes prayer becomes intense and it's travailing and it's you know and it's um it's Earnest it's fervent right but there's a mind that we must have when we go to meet with God right the Bible talks about how Jacob wrestled with God and he left the rest the match with the with a limp and people have turned that into some you know exercise in gymnastics in the place of prayer right it is simply holding on to God right holding on to God to the point where you are changed you are transformed right by that experience it can take any form yeah so there's some people who will go into that space and they will come out of that space refresh I really can't imagine going into the presence of the Lord and coming out of the presence of the Lord stressed yeah the problem that I used to have is that I went into the presence of the Lord to walk right I went in there to pray you know how many hours have I prayed I need to to pray more right I didn't go in there to just just be loved on right to just be ministered to by his Spirit yeah the Bible says that after the devil um tempted Jesus in the wilderness right that he went and the Holy Spirit Min minister to to him right we don't go into God's presence for the Holy Spirit to minister to us we go into God's presence to give him a list of the things that we want right it's a it's a recital it's a lecture it's a lot of things but many times we don't come out feeling refreshed I actually really like this techology because I think about like there are moments that I would like call my big sister and be like I'm coming to your house because I'm just tired and I don't want to be an adult for for a few days I want someone to take care of me um and I just I was thinking must be very nice it is actually it's quite nice honestly I just I'm a bum I wish I had a big brother but um whose house I could go to um but yeah but I've never thought of that in like spending time with God like hey God I'm going to come to you and let myself just be a baby and let you take care of me for this time um but I really like that cuz I cuz I like I literally I guess cuz I have that like physical like so yeah it makes so much sense to me it's it's it's literally right it says with stammering lips and another tongue I will speak to these people this is the refreshing with which I have caused the weary to rest when God speaks to us there is a refreshing that happens right when you genuinely hear a word from God one of the ways that you can test whether you have heard from God is how you feel after you received the word says you'll be led forth with peace and with joy if God speaks to you you will have peace and you have joy if you do not have peace and you do not have joy what has dropped in your mind in your spirit is not God it might be your memory of a word right it might be anything but God's presence I mean God is God right God doesn't enter a storm and the storm Remains the Same right if he's there it's going to calm down right so if the storm has not calmed right you go for two weeks of pray and you come back and your blood pressure hasn't come down you didn't meet God you did a lot of work a lot of let's be generous I call it spiritual work but in reality many times it's religious work right there people who go up to that mountain and they come back oh my God and you can see the glory of God reflected on them right and those are people who understand their relationship with God who understand that you know what God loves them right and they're coming with boldness before his throne right to receive the grace and the mercy that they need they're coming with boldness to receive the wisdom because they know he does not upid them they're not going in there with fear yeah right they're going in there to hang out with their big sister their big brother their father right their mother who is just going to be like my child I got you right religion has deprived us of the blessings of God's presence because we enter God's presence to go and do as opposed to go and just be but I mean that's what we've been taught you know yeah culture Society yeah you know was work to get work hard to reap the benefit of your hard work you know yeah um it it feels like it's a sewing and reaping thing like like you sew to reap but there's not an understanding that you can just go and just receive yes like you don't have to do anything you don't have to sew anything to receive a harvest yes in a sense in a sense yeah in a sense because I don't want people to listen to this and think that I am saying or that we're saying there is nothing to do but the hardest part of the doing is from changing the way that we think I I I never really understood how my feelings impacted my actions right but my feelings don't originate of themselves they don't just fall out of the sky my feelings are always the product of my thoughts right how you speak to me will affect me depending on what I think about what you said how you said it and what I think about people talking to me like that if I think it's cool I'm going to sit down here laugh with you until somebody comes and tells me that do you realize that that girl was disrespectful problem so they have to change the way that I think and by the time they done changing the way that I think guess what I'm annoyed at you but I wasn't annoyed initially yeah because somebody has gotten in my head and change the way that I think and that made me realize that Fe if you can think the right way you will feel the right way and you will behave the right way there are certain things that transcend our psych like our body you can't think yourself out of hunger there's no mind over matter you're hungry you're hungry better eat you know that's the truth but there's something things that like Faith trusting God right I have have more faith now my turnaround time in the middle of this crisis for me is unbelievable for me is unbelievable for my wife is like oh my God so slow but for me it's unbelievable this where I am now takes me like two years to get there right but it's simply because have come to a point where I realize that man Fe your name is Olu your name is Olu God loves you that is my Revelation my name is my Revelation I've had this name for 55 years and I never saw it it was just a name and lately on social media is a name that you demons apparently the way they vilify that Fe me this Fe me that Fe me this please leave Fe me alone please please and Fe me you to respect yourself but you get my point yeah resting is being secure in that love it's hard for things to shake you I I think I think about like the verse that talks about like you know you can't really add another minute to your life like you can't add anything to your life you know like yeah you know so how much more would God provide for and I think that's the main thing that people are mainly worried about their provision their housing you know um I would say these are like yeah I don't know what rich people problems are but I'll say these are like regular everyday people problems you know and so right that that scripture comes to mind like and the scripture says take no thought to what you will eat or drink because your father in Heaven knows that you need these things right and this is the way I I I squar that Peg right Jesus died when I did not know I needed him right when I got saved I I wasn't one of those people that got saved slowly and then it stuck right I was a very bad person and then I got saved and the Bible says and for me it's so real cuz I knew how bad I was some people have for forgotten me I remembered Bible says while we were still Sinners God commended his love for us to us in that Christ died for us I remember exactly when in my mind he died between I came to recognize his death but in my mind I always imagine that that is when he died between my year one in University and my year six of a 4year program right somewhere in there he died for for me I swear to you if you had known me you would not have given your fingernail because I did not deserve it I did not deserve it and and he did it and I didn't know right I didn't ask him I didn't say Lord I need help send your son to the Cross right he sent his son to the cross and said Fe me you need help my son has gone for you right so think about that scenario yeah he does all of that for you without you asking does all of that for you without you jumping through any Hoops you don't even perform one religious exercise you don't fast once and you are delivered right you don't give one offering and you are saved then now that you are saved he's going to demand that you jump through hoops just so that you can eat food that he gives to unbelievers who don't jump through those hoops come on man what kind of God is that it's better of them you don't be his son because those on their lives are easier cuz they don't jump through these hoops and they still get food they don't jump through hoops and The Sun Shines on them just like it shines on you so why should I suffer to get what the children sorry what the the the the the the strangers are getting for free what kind of father is that give The Outsiders food but make his children beg him for it if you understand that you will have peace how do people practice like changing their mind how like what does that look like practic practically speaking to your mind talk to yourself the same way that you confess for your healing confess for your mind right immerse yourself in the word of God right I tell folks when you read the Bible what are you looking for right if you're looking for Revelation so that you can be a boss boss lady boss woman for so that you can slay them on the job site yes we want to slay them too Auntie I I think you're going to have a problem but if you look in the word for why God gave us the word right you will find God and the Holy Spirit starts to do the work the Bible says abide in me Jesus Christ says abide in me right in in using that terminology I believe he's given us an example of what we're supposed to do remain in him remain in the place of faith in him remain in the place of trusting in Him of depending on him right when you remain there the Holy Spirit starts to do a work in you right so in order for me to remain in Christ I want to know all about Christ I'm looking for Christ everywhere when I'm talking about Christ I'm talking about him from the perspective of the things that I have discovered about him when I read the Bible right I'm consumed right by Christ because I want to remain in him you know what that does my mind is been transformed right because I am beholding him the Bible says as we Behold Him we are transformed into the same image from one level of Glory to another that's really thinking about him as you behold someone thank you thinking about them consistently yes that's good and and and remember that scripture we are with open faces beholding with unveiled faces beholding like in the mirror the image of God we transformed the glory of God we transformed into the same image from glory to glory what the mirror does is reflect what it sees right so you go in front of the mirror the only thing the mirror is going to to send back to is what it sees right so basically the mirror is um what's the word reflection is reflecting what it sees reflect what you see you'll become like what you see so the mirror becomes you your image is engraved on the mirror right because the mirror is displaying you you display Christ whatever you see of Christ display it that's good whatever you see of Christ even you see him being merciful display Mercy if you see him being kind display kindness but some people they will only see him when he whipped the people out of the so they want to be whipping people up and down that's hilarious you know it's funny when you were talking about uh just like our minds and how right um that's where like all of this starts I'm so I'm currently in the New Testament right and I'm reading a lot of Paul's letters and I realized today actually that a lot of his letters are to the church and he's literally addressing a particular group of people Christians in the church right regardless and a lot of his letters are teaching them one how to behave um now that they have been given Christ like you need to let go of these things like I know they have told you these are the laws and these are the things but I promise you Christ died this is the this is the reason why he died de so that you are not held or Bound by these things and these laws anymore and I think for me it just it resonated a little different because I think sometimes I'm just of the impression that all and a lot of people are of the impression that the world is becoming a really terrible place but then I'm like it's always been terrible it's been really really bad for a really long time like when you read his letters and you hear what the society is doing you're like it's the same thing it's always been a problem actually worse like was worse then and we're I'm and and I'm I'm realizing that he's not addressing those things actually he's not saying go and change the way that these people think he's saying you guys be the difference I'm I'm teaching you to be set apart and to to be different which is why that even the verse about do not be conformed to world even hits differently because it's like no like literally you guys are a different you're a different group of people now um whether or not you were born into this or you accepted Jesus like you are the same and now you live by different set of rules I think for me it was just like interesting to see that hey he's teaching them like they need to change their minds and their minds needs to be like they need to be taught how to live in this same society that they're living in even though they're going to have to look different than the rest of the people you know when I when I read those letters right and I agree with you um that it's it's a lot of it is about the way that they live right the reason why and I as I as so so why was it important for him to change the way that they live the way that they think it is because if they don't if they didn't learn how to live in Christ they would return to the law back to the same old things that they were doing before not the sins not the sins we we worry about Sin right but look at Jesus Christ Jesus Christ didn't really bother with Sinners right he he didn't really you know John the Baptist was the one going around telling people to repent Jesus Christ you know was more annoyed with the religious right he actually focused on the religious his his encounters with religious people were extremely negative with Sinners was always compassionate kind yeah right which is interesting cuz it's the other way around today now yeah right and who are we serving anyway Paul needed for the people to remain in Christ so it wasn't just about leing in Freedom for the sake of living in Freedom it was about living in Freedom so they don't go back into bondage because they would go back into bondage because what happens with with with with with sin is this with everybody not everybody most people when you do something bad right after a while you get tired of doing it right you get frustrated with yourself that you keep messing up so you start to create these rules for yourself or you revert to the rules that you knew growing up and you think that those rules will set you free but what those rules do is put you back in bondage and separate you from Christ you know the Bible talks about people who have fallen from the grace of God we always say that thing to talk about people who have fallen into sin no it is people who have departed from the grace of God and when you depart from the grace of God let me tell you what happens you enter back into the law once you enter back into the Lord you and the devil are on Level Playing Field he will do you like Shish kab because yeah by the works of the law shall no man be justified and he wants you to try to justify Yourself by The Works of the law so he wants to bring you back to that place where he knows you will fail but if you in Christ he can't touch you so he has to pull you out of Christ and to pull you out of Christ is not sin sin is not what pulls you out of Christ it's Moses that pulls you out of Christ he wants to get you back into Moses wants to get get you back into trying to obey the 613 laws because once you start trying to obey the 613 laws even God himself is like bro we left this thing for a reason it does not work it is obsolete the Bible calls it obsolete right so when you try to live by those things you are going to fail if you fail in one law if you stumble in one the Bible says you have failed in all is a 100% or 0% why would the devil want you playing in that space 100% or 0% and the church the religious Church they have excised from the 613 laws more than 20 30% of the laws they say oh these are ceremonial laws these are not necessary anymore right but the Bible says if you do not observe to do all that is contained all not the ceremonial laws the handwashing laws the period laws the whether you can eat shrimp or E laws every all the laws right so they've told us that these laws are no longer relevant so already we are guilty of disobeying 613 laws why wasn't the devil wants you there and that was what Paul was trying so hard to get those guys not to go back to right that's why he said to the Galatians who has Bewitched you to think what you started in the spirit you finish in the flesh did you receive the Holy Spirit by your Works no the real witchcraft in the church all the Jezebel spirits and uh and all the things that they are seeing in the church they don't understand it is not to drive people to immorality to drive people to religion when Jesus Christ said it is better that you are cold right the lukewarm is the religious that's what makes you look real and God cannot abide it because it is a focus on self a dependency on self an exaltation of self a lifting up of self a worship of self right and God is not going to compete with you is either him or you so choose choose your choice so I'll ask you what will be two things that people can take away around around rest the two main things trust God learn to trust God for me learn to trust God and find a way to shut your mind off bake a cake it works man for PF it works for PF but um thank you guys so much for joining us for this episode um I hope that it was insightful um and transformative I really hope that everyone actually takes a minute to just reflect and ask how they are prioritizing rest and if they're not why and what's preventing you um more so the mental than the physical um and learn to trust God like and if it means begging God to help you to learn to trust him like sometimes it looks like that and that's okay too um but thank you guys don't forget to like subscribe share with your friends and family comment stop emailing PF on the side or texting him comment on public platforms we want to know what you're saying or thinking um and then yeah that's it for tonight it is we'll see you guys next so unfilter [Music]