What's going on?

Everybody?

Hey, everybody.

So I know that we took a break last week.

I mean, we posted, but we didn't do the spiritual warfare thing.

Yeah, we took a break, actually.

It was.

It was great.

We had.

The missionaries from Honduras were here, and that was just, you know, just a great.

I think, just amazing that you had all of them in the room together.

Squeezed everybody in the room.

That was fun.

Camera angle worked, so that was good.

But also it gave me a break because I was on, like, I was just on so much.

Just done.

Well, I went on two, basically two different trips with the middle schoolers and then the high schoolers for a week.

And so.

Yeah, that'll drain it out of you.

So it's nice to actually have a kind of a week off.

It's.

It's getting to experience the 247 of ministry, that's for sure.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You're on every day for a week.

Yeah, like, all day you're just on and all night.

Oh, yeah.

Whether that.

Whether they're staying up or not, you're still on.

Yeah.

So, yeah, it's a lot.

It's a lot.

But it was good.

Yeah, it was really good.

No.

No regrets.

Definitely rewarding.

Yeah, no regrets.

No rag rats.

Not a single letter.

I've not heard that.

Anyway, so.

Anyway, so last time we talked about spiritual warfare.

Yeah.

On episode nine, talked about prayer and the power within prayer.

The power.

The pop.

The power of the dark side.

No power of prayer.

So, yeah, that's what we talked about last time.

We talked about how it can activate and empower the armor.

We went through the armor.

So if you're just joining us for the first time and you're like, what are you guys talking about?

We have been going through, with a couple breaks, a spiritual warfare series with kind of a focus in Ephesians 6 when it comes to the armor of Christ.

And so we went through each piece of the armor, he broke it down.

He tried to turn everything into a western theme.

And now we're kind of talking beyond that.

So we were linking all of it together with.

We did prayer on our last one, and then today we're gonna be talking.

About living in victory, living victoriously.

Victoriously in Christ daily.

Right.

Yeah.

So just the next step of the application, part of what we've been talking about, I mean, since we started this, it feels like spiritual warfare has, like, heightened.

Yeah, definitely.

All around me, for sure.

Me too.

Yeah.

And it's like, everywhere.

Not just me being aware of it, but, like, Feeling it.

You know, when you first came to me, the idea with doing this series, my first thought was, what are we inviting?

And here it is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so it's been one of those things that we just have to keep our minds in the whole.

Well, this is.

I mean, to be expected, right?

It is.

It's almost like what we want, Right.

Cause it means sometimes that we're headed in the right direction, you know, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If there's pushback from the enemy, it's usually because either you're doing something right or you're gonna do something right.

He's trying to stop it.

So.

Yeah.

I mean, it's kind of neat.

We go into this series on trying to help people understand spiritual warfare, and we get to live it.

Yeah.

Yep.

This is happening for sure.

And I went on student trips in the middle of it, so.

So you got to see a bunch of it.

Oh, man.

Yeah.

A lot.

But, yeah, so like I said, we've been going through Ephesians 6.

I would definitely recommend.

And I have been recommending.

Read through it.

Read with us.

And if you had missed episodes from before, feel free, go back, watch them catch up.

Not as much catch up, but get into it.

We want to know what you think.

Yep.

So what is one small daily habit or routine that has made a big difference in your spiritual life over time?

I'll tell you something that when I started it, I didn't know if it was going to be that impactful, but it ended up being really big.

Is actually just.

The Bible app is a really neat tool.

Like the YouVersion.

Yeah, the YouVersion Bible app.

It's totally free, so little plug for that.

If you're looking for an easy way to keep the Bible on the go and to jump into it for the first time or to start getting any kind of habit of Bible reading, it's an amazing app for that.

You can do different Bible verse studies.

You can do just.

It'll just give you daily verses.

You can even do Bible studies with friends because you can actually, like, link up with people in the app and do studies together, which is kind of cool.

You can comment to each other on things.

But that being said.

Yeah.

So when I first came across it, I remember thinking, oh, this is just nice to be able to have it.

And I started just finding random.

I didn't have anyone to do it with at the time, but find.

Finding random studies to go through and just.

I would do kind of topical at first, where I would just go, okay, let's talk about Anger.

And then we'd just talk about different parts of the Bible, talk about anger and move to a different emotion, and then more in depth studies from there.

And the thing is that it would give me like a daily reminder.

And, you know, I was able to always find the time.

I was very intentional about it, but it really wasn't hard to find the time, even if it was like, all right, well, I'm going to the bathroom.

Sure.

So there's time there.

But no, it beats scrolling, right?

It does.

And you know, it's something that actually, like, I feel like I have been a little slack on lately, so I could probably pick it up again and do more.

But like, it's something that's so easy.

And if you have it set so it can talk to you, like set reminders on your phone, some of these studies are like, don't even take five minutes.

Some of them take only a few minutes to go through every day.

And.

And even if you're starting for the first time, there's really simple stuff.

But what happened for me is that I would get so deep into it that I found myself just getting more and more aware of all of the story of the Bible as a whole, but more familiar with the scriptures to where somebody would say something like, oh, yeah, this is what the Bible says on that.

Because you just immerse yourself with it.

I just threw myself into it.

So, yeah, that one was for me, probably.

Yeah.

No, and that's a really good one because that has done a lot for my wife and I.

We've done studies together on it and had groups of guys do it, you know, and it's something that you don't have to be in the same place.

It's really nice.

You can comment, you can have discussions, you know, through the app.

And, you know, I think the only thing that's missing is maybe a chat section.

You know, it'd be kind of cool to have like an actual messenger type thing in it, but like a group, you know, like, here's our group of Bible study guys or what?

You know what I mean?

Make it easier to send it to and maybe.

But that might over complicate it.

But yeah, I found recently, so a friend, unfortunately I didn't have really the.

The space.

I haven't been able to make the space in my life.

I was invited to another app.

I'm forgetting what it's called right now, where instead of writing things in, you can just put a voice memo and you can reply via little voice memos to each other.

On thoughts and things that you learned, you know?

And I was like, that's cool.

Hondurans do that all the time.

Yeah.

And I mean, they send a voice message back instead of texting.

Totally cool with you texting them.

But then they're going to send a voice message back.

And I just thought it was the weirdest thing.

But it's interesting.

So they have.

Does it have devotionals in it as well, or is it just a. Yeah, so it's.

Yeah, I think it's.

Honestly, I think it was like a through the word thing.

But it was really cool because you sign up for it and you can do.

All your friends can get together, and then you end up signing or just sending messages to each other as you're going through a study.

And I don't have it up there.

I mean, that brings a personalness to it, which is kind of cool that you don't have through a text.

It does.

And it's kind of easier to.

You don't have to worry about how.

You'Re typing things out, spelling.

You don't have to worry about misreading things.

Yeah.

So, I mean, I need to make more time for that because I really wanted to do it.

And I keep getting so busy with the other stuff that I'm like.

It'S.

Another thing that I got to add into my routine.

It's not a bad thing for me.

When I have one solid routine, it's good if I try to add on another.

It's more of a challenge for myself.

So.

Yeah.

But I think it's through the Word anyway.

It's pretty cool.

You can send voice messages back and forth.

And so as you're going through a section of scripture and then there's a guy that'll have insight into it, that he'll go along with the study, and then you listen to it and then you can respond to each other.

So it's fun.

Yeah.

For me, I think the biggest thing that has been a routine that has shaped my spiritual life over time has been the first person I talk to when I wake up is God.

And the last person I talk to before I go to sleep is God.

And I don't mean like.

I mean, like, I fall asleep talking to God.

I wake up talking to God.

Like, it has just become a part of that now.

I mean, I have other times of the day.

I pray, too.

But like, that very first thing, even.

Even.

Even though it may not be anything long, like, that has been first person and last person every day.

And so that has shaped It a lot.

It changes perspective on like, you know, turning to him.

Like it really does.

I get lost in it sometimes even, you know, and so it's made it easier if, like, I wake up in the middle of the night just to start praying as well.

So I would say that's probably one of the biggest things.

And I mean, that's something that's an easy habit to create.

So, yeah, honestly, even the devotional thing is super easy to do.

You just got to decide you're going to do it.

That's one of the biggest things is like, once you get over the hump of deciding you're gonna do something and you're gonna make it a habit, it becomes easier most of the time.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

So, yeah.

So those are some really good stuff to think about on what can help get your spiritual growth happening and make some change in your life.

We'd love to hear more from you guys too, as you're listening to this.

If you have some really great things that have helped you, let's hear about them, Post them them, send them in to us.

We'd love to see what you got going on or if you have questions for us on the going abouts of doing the things that we're talking about, we'd love to answer that too.

Feel free to reach out to us.

But so anyway, yeah, so into our living victoriously in Christ.

So as I said before, we're in Ephesians 6 and our focal point, Ephesians 6:13, says, Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

And having done all to stand firm.

So we talked about each part of the armor throughout the series and talked about its purpose in keeping you safe and protected.

Most of them are defensive, one of course, being both, and also offensive.

But it says to put it all on and to be able so that you're able to withstand evil.

Which.

What is that?

Like, what is withstanding evil?

I would say it's not falling into the traps.

Right.

Like, I mean, that's part of it.

You've got, you know, we've talked about the doubt and we've talked about, you know, allowing ourselves to be tempted into sin.

Whether that's deceiving ourselves or being deceived into it.

That's okay.

It's just a little thing or something like that.

That is the little things that creep in like that.

Yeah.

And so I think the end of it speaks to it too when it says to stand firm.

Because it says basically, spiritual warfare is Going to be ongoing.

It's not an occasional thing.

It's every day.

And it can happen at any moment.

And so we have to constantly be ready as much as we can be so that we can stand firm, so that we can withstand anything that happens where the enemy is trying to beat us at our own game.

Yeah, and if you're actively, if you're actively seeking Christ, you should expect to actively be being attacked.

I mean, the devil's not worried about somebody as much who is nonchalant about their faith.

But I mean, if you're taking up the mantle.

For those of you that I know are doing the devotionals and are discussing the podcast, A, I appreciate it, but B, know that spiritual warfare is coming after you like that, then the attacks are kind of come because you are actively pursuing Christ and digging deeper.

So, yeah, and so it takes many different forms.

You know, it can be as simple as, or I hate to use the word simple.

It could be temptation, it could be discouragement, deception, conflict and doubt.

Those are easy weapons to be used against us.

And these things can creep in at the moment we let our guard down.

And so that's why we gotta be ready.

And one's the easiest place is when we try to relax.

I think when we get home.

Oftentimes for a lot of people, I think most people homes where we think we can kind of relax and we can let our guard down.

And sometimes that's when the attacks will come.

You know, some people feel like we do really great during the day and then it's when we're at home.

And it maybe could be something that a spouse does or a child does or even maybe your neighbor does.

Something happens, your dog even, and then you find yourself in a place of anger or frustration or something you see on TV suddenly gets you your head in a place of doubt or conflict.

And these things, you know, it's because we relaxed and these things come and we're not ready for them at that time.

It's funny that you mentioned dogs because, like, I've got two new puppies and they've been destroying everything that I own.

I can do it.

And I have not been guarded against that at all.

Like, my anger level has just blown up daily.

So that's a good point.

That's a good blow.

You know what I mean?

But truthfully, it's something that I need to be on guard actively on in my home.

Because you're right, that's where we are comfortable.

That's why they say kids act up more at home.

Than they do out and about.

That's just their comfort zone.

It's because they feel like it's a safe place to just not care.

For me, you know, I was talking to another pastor and we were talking about how the difficulty is sometimes when you go home, because, you know, as pastors, sometimes we feel like we're just on all the time.

Everywhere we go, we're just on.

And you get home.

And there's times where I love how he put it.

He's like, sometimes you just want to start turning some switches off because you just want to be relaxed a little bit.

And it's when we turn those switches off sometimes that that's the attack will come.

And you just got to be really careful because, you know, it only takes a moment.

I had a friend, I think I might have told this story before I had a friend that was.

That did ministry with me years back, and he was in a Walmart, and he let his bad day get to him in the middle of a Walmart, not thinking about it, and ended up snapping at this kid who was just trying to ask for something.

And he realized.

He's like.

He teamed to me.

He's like, I think I blew it.

I'm like, you might have.

But I mean, like, he's like, I just.

I let my guard down and I let my anger get the best of me.

And, you know, some poor kid got the brunt of it because he asked for something at the wrong time.

And.

Yeah, I mean, that's how it happens.

And an interesting thought.

And I'm not necessarily saying that this is the case all the time or anything like that, but, I mean, Jesus did talk about, you know, those people that you fed and those people that you clothed and whatnot.

Like, you did that for me.

And when you blow up at somebody that is a stranger or not a stranger, but you know, that is a stranger or whatever because your day is going bad.

Yeah.

Are you blowing up at Jesus?

It is an interesting question, isn't it?

I mean, like, then I don't know, you know, I don't necessarily care to dive down the rabbit hole of today anyways of, you know, are there angels that walk amongst us in human form and all that?

I'm not even thinking about that.

But if there was.

Right.

Like, even if that's the case, like, are you blowing up at somebody that God is placing in your life?

Even if they're just watching you, Even if they're just watching your behavior?

Like, are you letting the things that you think are just Affecting you or it's just one incident that came up.

Is that.

I don't know, just a thought.

Not that we should be in fear, right.

Of that.

But for me it's just trying to find ways to let things go faster and easier because yeah, the enemy loves to attack me in a snowballing effect where it's like one thing, not a big deal, two things.

Okay.

Three things, okay.

Four things, okay.

Five things, you know, and it's like, oh my goodness.

And then suddenly I'm just wrapped up in all this stuff to where like I need to be able to be able to.

It's something that.

It's always been something for me is just, alright, let go of that, let go of that, let go of that.

Yeah, that happened.

But let go of that and be quicker to just release it.

Because if I'm holding on to anything, it's danger zone for me.

If I'm sitting in there and I'm in.

And it took me years to really recognize.

But.

And it's been years and years of getting better and journeying with this and my wife trying to, you know, getting her involved in helping me and all that stuff where if I.

If she knows I'm holding onto something, she has to help me let go.

Yeah.

You know, because it's when I'm doing that, whether it's something I'm mad about or I'm frustrated about or is bothering me, you know, that's when.

If I'm holding onto it, that's when something else will come.

And then my reaction to that could be worse than it should be because I'm still holding onto this and I'm actually taking.

And so yeah, that's part of it is starting to recognize things in ourselves to work on, to get better at.

And the easiest thing, some people resonate this a lot.

Sometimes the hardest time to keep ourselves in that mind frame is like when we are in a zone that we kind of gave ourselves permission to relax.

And for some people, that's behind a windshield.

You're driving down the road, nobody can hear you and somebody does something stupid and you're calling them out on it.

Right.

Because you're behind the windshield, they can't hear you anyway.

Well, that's not necessarily healthy either.

And so they're doing that now that person does it.

Now you're just mad.

When I'm running behind, if I perceive that I'm running behind on my time schedule behind the car, my wife's constantly like, stop, relax.

Because she knows that that's you Know that's just gonna build.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah.

And something to note is that like at times in your life, you're gonna, you're gonna get better at those things.

Yeah.

And then there's gonna be times in your life where you get worse at those things.

Yeah.

Like it, it is an ebb and flow.

But that is why consistency matters.

Being consistent with how you address it and how you approach it.

Spiritual warfare and just your daily putting on your armor and being ready, standing firm.

It matters because like you said, the moment that you let that guard down, you're gonna get susceptible.

Yeah.

So first Peter 5:8 says, be alert and of sober mind.

Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion.

Look, looking for someone to devour.

Like, bro, that's.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, I mean, he is.

And that's the truth of it.

And all he's looking for is a foothold.

Well, and a lion's not gonna go after.

He's not gonna go for the fastest.

He's going for the weak.

He's going for the one that's limping that day.

Right.

You know, it's the same as like even fish.

You know, I've been a fisherman for my life so far.

And you know, for instance, a largemouth bass, if it sees a fish struggling, it's going after that fish.

That's an easy target right there.

And all it takes is you to give them that window.

And they'll come, the attacks will come.

And that's not to say that's the person who's not being effective.

That's not saying that.

That's the person who doesn't know their calling.

That's not saying that.

That's not the person.

That's the person who feels like I'm riding good, I'm in a comfortable spot right now.

And.

And that person is not, not constantly consistently reminding themselves that they have to be on guard.

Yep.

Because that person.

So the reason I say that is because it doesn't mean it's the weakest.

As far as like the person who's not studying scripture or the person who's.

I'm talking about the people who are studying scripture but are failing to be ready for when the devil pounces because that's the person that is in the weakest spot.

Yeah.

Well, consistent practice pays off.

Absolutely.

Ask anyone.

Like my brother in law played professional football at some of the highest levels and he told me the amount of preparation that goes into everything, I mean, constantly working out, constantly pushing it, keeping your body in a constant Shape all the time and all the details.

And honestly it's kind of like that where you don't get to not practice, you don't get to keep yourself in shape and then go walk on the football field and think everything's going to be fine.

Same thing in faith.

If you're not keeping yourself in some kind of consistent practice, then you're not ready for game day.

Yeah, you can't play.

Yeah.

Learning, learning, learning that through working out like it is more important to even do less weight but regularly than to have intense workouts every once in a while.

And so the question here is like what?

Why do you think that consistency is better than it matters more than intensity when it comes to living victoriously in Christ?

Because consistency is habitual.

Yeah.

It becomes almost second nature to you.

I got a question for you real quick on the follow up for that.

Because like a lot of people, a lot of people like change their routine because they're worried about their, they're giving to God becoming just habit.

So like how would, how would you.

Because I'm one of those people that personally I think that it's, that's a good thing.

I think that some habits are good.

But how would you address that?

Because even, even like in giving or in whatever, like, you know, some people are like, well, you know, I don't, I don't want that to become habit and not like a, you know what I mean, like personal or whatever, however they say that.

But okay, so that's a great question.

I've actually had this question asked before a few different times in different ways.

But okay, so number one, I think you need to do a heart check on it.

If you recognize that things have gotten kind of routine.

If it's feeling too routine, I would say first check your heart behind it.

Is this still worship for you?

Is this still a dedication to your Lord and this is because.

Or is this just something you're doing, just checking off a box in your day?

Yeah.

You know, if it's something that your heart's not in it anymore, that's when it could be potentially a problem.

I mean that's.

Honestly, if you read the beginning of Isaiah, when God's talking to them about their sacrifices and stuff like that, he gave them the sacrificial system to atoned for them, but the heart needed to be behind it.

The heart of, I'm doing this because I want to be right with my Lord and Savior for them, with my God, you know what I mean?

And so it was a dedication to their God, a heart for their God.

And that's what he wants from us.

He wants our heart, he wants our relationship.

He doesn't want to just be something you cross off your list.

So if it's something, you're still doing it.

Because this is how I worship my God.

And some people forget about it.

When it comes to, let's say, giving.

Giving is an example I can give for myself.

Even giving is one where it's like, Well, I give 10%.

I do it without thinking, okay, great.

That's not necessarily bad because you're recognizing him first in all.

You do.

So if you check yourself, you're like, well, why do I do this?

I do this because everything I have is from him.

And okay, well, if you're still in the right place, heart wise, then good, you go.

If you feel like, hey, you know what, maybe I could give a little more, or maybe this isn't challenging me enough in my faith, then pray about that with God and see what else maybe you might want to change.

Doesn't mean stop doing it.

It means maybe it's time for you to up the ante a little bit.

Maybe it's time for you to go, okay, I could probably do more.

I know this isn't affecting me enough in my faith to where it's consequential to my faith.

When we do this, there was a song lyric that's like, I always give, but I never give till it hurts.

And I was like, man, that's powerful right there.

But sometimes it means that we need to see if what we're doing and we're doing that comes with trusting God and relying on God more than it is relying on ourselves.

And so those are the kind of things to kind of bring up to it.

No matter what the habit is.

If something's just going through the motions and you don't have the heart in it.

And it could be even your prayer life for those who get up and I'm not picking on you, but like you said, you get up in the morning, first thing person talk to is God last, end of the night first.

If that's your you're working every time, that is about relationship and that is about bringing your heart to him and recognizing him, great.

But if it's something you're just doing, right, and your heart's not in it, something needs to change.

Right?

Right.

I think that's harder to do with prayer.

It's easier to do with physical things.

Whether that's serving, doing things, or giving or whatever that stuff's Easy to get in that mindset of the set it and forget it.

Which bring up that example.

I think money is the easiest one to talk about in that situation because for me and my wife, we have adopted a set it and forget it.

Yeah.

For our, for our giving.

But that is so that we know that that's out.

That's not even a part of like our thought of money, you know, and that frees us up to then be sacrificial when God calls for it in the day to day, you know, like might buy some of these groceries or be willing to give 10, $15 to this guy or you know what I mean?

Like, whatever the situations come up throughout our lives, we don't account for that first chunk of money that always comes out because that is the minimum that we're gonna give, you know, so in that it's not checking a box as much as like making it a priority.

And even though I don't think about it every week coming out, it's still set.

I've set my priority that this is the thing that we're doing as the minimum of what we're willing to do.

And I see people's perspective on the whole, like, well, I feel like I need to write a physical check every week.

Okay, do it, do it.

That's great if that's more impactful for you.

But don't feel pressured if you're in the same boat as me though either to think like, oh, well, this person said, you know, that giving that habitually, like that is a bad thing because it's not.

It's not.

You're right.

100% heart behind it matters.

And I think good habits are good.

Yeah.

And I think that the other thing we need to speak into that when it comes to the things that we do, there's going to be times where you miss part of this spiritual warfare.

I think that we haven't really talked about it too much, but I think it's important and this is a good place to do it because we want to be living victoriously is when we fall short, when we miss that time to give, when we forgot, when we weren't on guard, when we messed up.

You know, these things are stuff that it's good to recognize, but we don't need to beat ourselves up.

Right.

We live in grace is what we live in.

And it's amazing how much grace we've been given.

If God's forgiving us, we need to be forgiving us too.

It's part of the journey now to recognize it and go.

Hey, I want to this.

All right, Matt, you're slipping.

Let's keep that.

Let's get back home.

Course.

Or if things have gotten to the point where it's your heart's not in it.

Cool.

Recognize it, pray about it.

Make some changes, what you need to make, and then move forward in it.

Don't continue to beat yourself up.

The devil's gonna beat you up enough.

He doesn't need your help, man.

I heard that the world is.

You know that phrase of the world's gonna beat you up.

You don't need to do it yourself in an intense way recently.

That it.

Until somebody's, like, speaking it straight at you sometimes you just.

You're like, yeah, that's a good phrase.

And then whenever, like, it hits you that, you know the devil's gonna come at you.

The world is gonna beat you up.

Don't do that to yourself.

Yeah.

Like, you don't need to do that to yourself.

You already know how hard it is for yourself.

Right.

Like, so the difference is.

I'll tell you what it is, and I'm gonna use one of our words today because.

Awesome.

It's about letting go of our defeats and grabbing onto our victory.

Okay.

That's what it is.

It's letting go of our defeats and grabbing onto our victory.

We're talking about what it is to live victoriously.

Well, God has given it to us.

He's given victory to us.

He's given us the grace that has given us the victory over life, death, sin.

Yeah.

We mess up, we fall short.

Let go of that.

Learn from it.

Let go of that and grab back on the victory and start moving forward.

For sure.

Yeah.

My dad had a phrase that he.

He said a lot when I was growing up, and that is, you know, keep your eyes on the cross.

Yeah.

To hell with the world.

And that's not help.

Don't help those.

But, like, doesn't matter what they're saying.

Yeah.

Doesn't matter what they think.

You keep your eyes on the cross because that was the victory that was won for you.

Yeah.

And so just to wrap up where we kind of took off on that question, when you asked about consistency versus intensity, I just got off a week of intensity with students.

That is a mountaintop experience, an amazing experience.

But the thing is that when you come off the mountain, you have to live in real life again.

Intensity is great.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it.

It's fantastic.

Live in it when you're there.

But you gotta get Consistent in the valley or El.

That mountaintop is gonna come with a crash, and it's gonna come with a burn, and it's gonna hurt.

I just thought.

I just thought of a great analogy for this.

Yeah.

A rocket, right.

Shoots up in the air with the intensity.

Right.

But once the intensity's over, it just falls back down.

An airplane does the same thing.

Initially.

It shoots up into the air with intensity.

But it's been designed and it has intentionally been built to flow with consistency at that.

After it's hit that intensity, it has been designed to where it can consistently float for a time, you know, and that's really what we've got to do coming out of those.

Right.

We've got to figure out how can we design how we're walking, how our life is to where this mountaintop, we can float and glide with it.

And consistency coming out of it with consistency.

Yeah.

And you know what?

I think part of it sometimes when I think about doing that, I think about that phrase, Life's not about weathering the storm.

It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Shoot, man.

If you can be happy when the storm's there, I mean, boom.

Some people are afraid of them.

Some people welcome them.

Well.

And another way to think about it, too, I really like the idea behind the consistency versus intensity, because even relationally, if I talk to you for one whole day, say we spent a whole day together once a month, that's great.

But if I talk to you for five minutes every day, our relationship's gonna be better.

Yeah.

If I'm talking to you for five minutes every day, we'll learn to be more intentional about what we talk about because we know we're gonna talk to each other the next day.

It won't be shooting the breeze, but our relationship will be tighter over that time.

And so for those who think, well, I can't pray for an hour and a half, I can't pray for 30 minutes at a time.

Well, pray for five minutes every day.

Start the consistency.

God's the one who's going to step in and grow all that.

Right?

So I love it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So integrity.

We're going to integrate.

Thank you.

Yep.

Integrate the armor daily.

Starting with you kind of got it right off the bat.

Morning mindset.

Yep.

Right.

Starting the day intentionally with prayer and scripture.

This can be really impactful for so many.

I go through periods where I do this, and there's other periods where I don't.

And it's not because it's usually because I'm Replacing it with something else.

Not necessarily negative either.

So sometimes it's positive things.

But I will say that when I get up first thing in the morning, one of the things I usually will do, and I suggest to people that do, to ask God to not only help understand the scripture, but to help me understand it throughout the day.

Bring something into my day, Lord, that helps me with this, that helps make it stick.

It's amazing how God can take something that you're reading and make it real in your life.

Oh, yeah.

Because one of the things that God likes when people ask him for is wisdom.

When you're looking to understand.

When you're looking for understanding of him, he wants you to help.

He wants to help you understand.

And doing so like that is a wonderful thing to do.

So my prayer before Scripture is usually, you know, help me understand this, bring this into my day.

Yeah.

And you could start as small as a chapter, because if you did a chapter, one chapter a day, every single day in three years, you've read the entire Bible.

Yeah, so I did that recently.

Like, I finished that not too long ago, listening to it, one chapter a day, just one.

And trying to bite, bite size, you know, just little and nugget.

It was great.

It was.

It was really good.

And like you said, like, God uses what you read a lot to be like, yo, here's I gave you what you needed for today, even in this one chapter.

Yeah.

You know, and so just going back to that consistency with it, like, you start small.

Start small.

Don't try to.

Try to read the whole book.

A whole book a day.

I mean, there are some easy ones you could do that way.

You go New Testament, you can get some small books, but.

But even some of the Old Testament books are small.

Yeah, but yeah, just trying to bring it into your normal day, first thing.

Yeah, I think it's amazing, a conscious awareness throughout your day.

You want to remind yourself of the armor.

Yeah.

I was thinking about doing this on my mirror in my bathroom and just writing out like, you know, truth and then have something to recite, you know, or read and then going through and just doing each little like check boxes, but just daily reminders and changing up weekly or whatever.

Do something new.

But something I was thinking about.

So like with truth, speak truth over yourself, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

Going through it is important.

So see, it would be easy for me to do it when I'm thinking about, like my hat, for instance.

I'm always wearing a hat.

You know, think about interesting idea that I don't know If I'd be able to, like, every time I put on certain things, think about those things.

We good?

Yeah.

You know what we didn't do?

What?

We didn't pray.

We didn't.

We're talking about prayer.

We're talking about all these things.

We're talking about prayer and all this.

We didn't even take a break.

We didn't.

We just jumped right in.

We're like a half hour in, and we're gonna do that right now.

We're gonna take a break.

We're gonna take a break right now.

Welcome to the Truth.

All right, I'll pray.

Okay.

That's awesome.

God, I just want to thank you for this day.

Thank you for guiding our discussion before now, and I pray that you continue to guide our discussion after.

And I just.

I thank youk for the hope that yout give us and.

And the.

The.

The ability to just remain in youn, even if it's a little bit at a time, God.

And I just pray that yout.

You give us that.

That focus, that energy and.

And the.

The.

The desire, God.

Change the desires of our hearts.

Transform us by renewing our minds and then that thought process that we're trying to work through, God.

And I pray that you just.

You step in where we fall short.

God, I just.

I thank you so much for the love and the grace and the mercy.

I can't thank you enough for those things that you renew for us every day.

And that just flows through us.

And I pray that others can see it.

God, I pray that we can take our thoughts captive and our actions even more so.

Father, it's in your precious and holy name we pray.

Amen.

Talk about conscious awareness.

Right?

Right.

Bro, it kind of just rolled, man.

That was awesome.

Well, I mean, so other things that we need to think about.

You know, we want to speak truth.

Truth is important.

Speaking truth over yourself, especially as you pray, but also when you recognize things good or bad, Speaking truth over yourself is important.

We've talked about it like that, a lot about that in our armor series, as well as righteousness, guarding your heart and actions.

Peace, being ready to bring calm and clarity to your situation.

Faith, trusting God in challenges and in doubts.

Salvation, resting in your identity and assurance, the Word which is our weapon.

Recall and apply scripture as needed.

And of course, prayer, maintain open dialogue with God.

We've gone through them all of those.

I went kind of rapid fire there, but those were kind of what we've talked about, more in depth.

It's all part of this, and it's all part of living victoriously in Christ is having this stuff all the time.

Which leads us then to.

We talked about morning mindset, evening reflection.

Yeah, right.

Which is something that you have been doing at the end of the day in gratitude, confession, and surrender.

You know what helps, too, is getting those around you involved with it.

Like, if you're.

If you're married, if, you know, you got kids, whatever.

One thing that we have found is helpful is, like, just going through highs and lows.

It's looking at our day.

And even if our day was great, being like, okay, what was the lowest point of our day?

Ice cream was the lowest point of our day.

We had a great day.

Thanks.

That's a huge blessing.

But just truly reflecting on the day gives you an awareness of your surroundings and just your thoughts.

And it allows you to keep, you know, to take your thoughts captive a little easier.

Yeah.

We actually do this on our trips.

So with the middle schoolers, when we did the middle school retreat, we did this every day, highs and lows.

And then we do this with high school.

So during the move trip, every day, we do what's the highest, your daily low.

And actually we do it this way.

You can give one high and one low, or you can give two highs, but you can't give two lows.

Part of that reason is we don't want to get too into negative mindset.

Sure.

Because sometimes people are like, I didn't really have a low.

Well, then give us two highs.

Give us two things to celebrate.

But if you have a low, let's talk about a low.

Let's talk about a high.

Yeah.

What we do to combat that a little bit in our home is we do lows and highs.

So you start with a low, you end on a high.

And we don't allow.

We'll let you do as many highs as you want, but we don't allow no low.

Because I. I feel it's important to recognize whether it is, hey, I got to have ice cream today, or, hey, I had to put my dog down, whatever that low level is, it's important to be looking for it.

Not looking for it, as in trying to have it.

But it's important to look at that, because in the future, when.

When God's good, you see it in those low moments, too.

You know what I mean?

You're seeing that like, yo, God is good, even in our lowest times.

I think it also helps these situations to become more easily overcomeable as well when you take them captive like that and kind of, yeah, name Them.

This was bad.

But you know what?

It's okay because it was right, you know?

Yeah.

And so.

Yeah.

So what does putting the Armor Daily look like for you practically?

I mean, like I said, I. I am even considering writing it on the mirror.

Yeah.

You know, so I have to see it.

You know, like I said, I start my day in prayer, but, like, getting up, going to the bathroom, getting ready, whatever, like, I can be looking at it and thinking through every process of it.

And if you do it once, like, if you.

If you've already done it for the day, it's easier for it to pop back up in your head throughout the day.

Yeah.

So I would say.

I mean, I haven't done this yet, but this was something I was actually thinking about yesterday.

I was thinking through, like, what would that look like?

You know, how could I go about doing this without it taking up my entire mirror, you know, or whatnot?

So that's something you could do practically.

So the way I've done it and the way that I felt really helped me.

And maybe this will help someone.

So if this helps you, let me know.

I'd love to know if this helps you the way it helped me.

So a few years ago, more than a few years.

Oh, my gosh.

I don't know when it was.

It was a long time ago.

I realized for me that what I need to think about when it comes to putting on the armor is more like I'm putting on a uniform.

Because, you know, if you've ever had a job where you put a uniform on, once your uniform's on and people recognize you for working in a place, you now have to act appropriately, Right?

So, for instance, I've never worked at Best Buy, but I'm using an example.

If you worked at Best Buy, you did, and you have your shirt on, you got maybe your name badge on or whatever it is, you got something that says Best Buy on you, you're going to try to represent.

Well, that's your job.

You want to represent them well.

So if you're walking through the store and you're wearing that, you got to act the part, Right?

Kind of the same for us.

When we come to Christ, we forget that we now wear uniform.

It's not optional.

Whether we want to or not, whether we visualize doing it or not, we're now wearing uniform.

And so for me, it's just thinking about the fact that, okay, for me, it's spiritually, I'm putting on the uniform now.

I mean, a lot of pastors do that.

That way.

But I think it'd be helpful for anyone because I started doing it way before I was a pastor, thinking about, okay, I represent.

You know, it's about representing today.

How can I represent Christ?

Well, you know, because some, you know, the first time I heard somebody say, you know, you might be the only.

And I use this too.

You might be the only Bible that some people ever read.

You might be the only sermon they ever hear.

You might be the only church service they ever attend.

And it's all because of how they interact with you.

And so we've got to stay ready.

And so it's about having that uniform on and going, all right, I'm in uniform, I'm ready to go.

And sometimes for me, it helps to put on shirts like this that I'm wearing today.

Say like, Team Jesus and stuff like that.

Because it's like a name badge.

Look, this is who I'm representing today.

And if I know I'm putting on this shirt, it actually helps me stay more intentional and in the game.

That's why I wear them or why I wear a cross or something like that out.

Like, I wear things so that if people see them, number one, I want people to ask me about it.

I want them to comment on it.

Because I like having Jesus conversations in any form.

But it also helps me think, okay, if I'm wearing this, I need to make sure that I'm acting appropriately.

Yeah.

I've had people actually talk about not putting bumper stickers on their car and.

And you know, like, yeah, I don't like doing that.

Jesus stickers and stuff like that.

Because, you know, well, what if they see you acting off and it's like, okay, but couldn't the opposite then also be true where it's like, I have to step up my game?

Oh, yeah, this is a reminder.

Yeah.

Well, the reason I won't put one in my car is.

Cause sometimes things happen and all it takes is someone to miss perceive what you're doing on the road.

Sure.

You know, or you get distracted for a second and it's not your fault.

And I don't want people.

I don't want it to be a stumbling block, you know, I don't have as much control over what's going to happen around me on the road.

Sure.

You know what I mean?

So.

Whereas I have more control of myself.

So maybe just thought, plus if I'm wearing a T shirt says Team Jesus and a hat that maybe has a cross on it, today it's Kingdom Worker and somebody makes me Mad on the road.

I'm not gonna pull my window down and go, hey, Mr.

Right, let me tell you a thing or do.

Not that that's something I would do anyway, but it is something that you're like, I wouldn't do that even if I wanted to, because wrong signal.

I have a hard time remembering what I'm wearing currently.

All right, so this next thing we want to talk about is the signs of living.

Victoria.

Victory.

So like we'll talk about, just briefly mention like a sign and then I'll read scripture for each one.

Okay.

You maintain peace and confidence, even in pressure.

So Philippians 4, 6, 7.

Do not be anxious about anything.

But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Yep.

You resist temptation and recognize spiritual attacks more quickly.

James 4, 7 says, Submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

You recover faster from setbacks and failures.

Yep.

Proverbs 24:16.

Accidentally deleted.

Deleted it.

Delete.

Sorry.

Proverbs 24:16.

For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, and the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

So you help and strengthen others more naturally.

Galatians 6:2.

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

That's deep.

Yeah, that's.

That hit deeper.

That hit deeper.

Talking through this like this.

Yeah.

Your life reflects the fruit of the Spirit.

Alright, we're going back to Galatians.

Galatians 5, 22, 23.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

Against such things there is no law.

Yep.

So how have you personally noticed growth or fruit as you've learned to stand more firmly or more consistently?

I like that, the whole consistently thing, because the more consistent I am about standing firm, the easier I am at peace or patience and kindness and those sorts of things.

Like I see those things just happen versus like being like, alright, regroup, you know, like having to stop and stop myself from doing something stupid.

It just naturally happens less, you know, like I don't take the poor routes, you know, I will be quicker to listen whenever I'm doing things consistently, you know, on a regular basis throughout my day and every day.

So yeah, I think for me it's probably just noticing that things that I at one point in my life would have really gotten to me in the moments didn't where I'VE been more patient and more just more ready to be in the moment the way I needed to be to where things aren't affecting me the way that they would before.

Yeah.

I mean, because that's the biggest thing is when I'm like, oh man, that was different.

When you recognize that's something that would have bothered me more.

You know, I handled that different this time.

Way to go.

Pat on the back.

Thank you, Lord.

Yeah.

One thing that's really good to remember though is that victory doesn't mean zero battles either.

Victory is more of a consistent perseverance.

Absolutely.

Second Corinthians talks about persevering.

I think that's the running the race scripture.

Second Corinthians 4, 8, 9, which I'll bring up real quick.

That's what I was going to try to figure out.

We're not just persevering the attacks, we're persevering even our setbacks.

Paul does talk about.

This is a different scripture than I was thinking, but I am going to read it.

Paul talks about it running the race with endurance.

And to think of it more as that marathon than it's a long, it's not a sprint, it's not quick and over.

But.

So when we are running with perseverance, we are hard pressed on every side, but we're not crushed.

Right.

You can feel like if you're thinking about that running the race, like anytime that you've prepped for a race or you're working on running, you know, there's a point in which you feel like you are going to die because you are out of breath.

Right.

You are just, you can't do it.

But you know that the more that you're practicing it, that, and you're doing it consistently, that it's just a moment.

You're, you're, you're being pressed in on, but you're not being crushed.

You, you can overcome it, you know, perplexed, but not in despair.

Persecuted, not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed.

Backing up to the persecuted, but not abandoned.

Like with spiritual warfare specifically as we're talking about it, you running consistently, right?

You doing that consistent daily preparation for just with God.

You know that God hasn't left.

You know that God hasn't abandoned you.

And that persecution gets smaller in your mindset because you know that you're walking with the creator of the entire universe.

And so that relationship is really great because persecuted, not abandoned, struck down, not destroyed.

The only person who says that it's over for me is my God.

And So until he says that he's.

Not thrown in the towel yet, we're going.

Right.

And the day that he calls me home, that's more victorious for me.

So.

Yeah.

Yep.

But yeah, doing this, staying more consistent, it's all about trying to recognize your setbacks more quickly.

Stay on top of that big thing to do.

We've said this a lot and we're repeating ourselves, but stay in community.

It is so important.

Can you have people around you that can help encourage you and build you back up?

They're not there to condemn you, they're there to build you.

Those are the ones you want, the ones that actively care about your spiritual formation, that actively care about you going deeper in your relationship with Christ and then keeping a long term view.

See, that's the biggest stumbling block that I think when we do stumble, we look too short sighted.

Yeah, we stumbled here, but the race isn't over.

You know, I grew up in a NASCAR family and we went to a lot of the races.

And you know what was amazing?

There were times where cars got into some kind of scuffle accident maybe early in the race, and then came back and I saw a guy spin and win, where, yeah, he spun out and it looked like the race might have been over for him, but came back and won the race.

You can spin and win, baby.

You can get back in the race and you can go towards that finish line.

It's not about the things that happen now.

The race isn't over yet.

Get back out there, you know, tune.

It up well, and I think, I think it's good.

Hebrews takes it even a step further and Hebrews or not, Hebrews James takes a step further in James 1, 2, 4, and says, Consider it pure joy.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, first off, bro must have been living it because, like, yeah.

To say consider it pure joy.

When you, when you, when you go through trials of any kind, whatever the trial may be, consider it pure.

Whatever the trial may be.

Yeah.

Like, I can think of a few trials out there that you didn't consider pure joy are hard to consider pure joy.

But he says it's because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Right.

I'm talking about that perseverance.

And let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

We have to go through trials, we have to be tested because that's what builds up that perseverance.

If, if I don't go out and practice for a Race.

I'm not building up perseverance.

And whenever I have to go and finish the cross across the finish line, that ain't happening.

Yeah.

You know, so that's good.

That's tough.

That is a tough word to consider.

Pure joy, he says.

Pure joy.

When you face trials of many kinds.

Yeah.

So what's one thing that helps you get back up quickly when you've been knocked down spiritually?

My people.

Your people.

I have several people that I turn to, and they are quick to be like, let's pray.

And they're quick to give a good word.

You know, remind me that I'm not alone.

Tell you, that's probably been the biggest game changer for me, is when people.

When I found that those people in my life that were like, yo, dude, you're not alone.

I'm not here to, like, look down on you.

Right.

We're in this together, and you're not alone.

And that has been probably the thing that helps me get back up the quickest is those people.

Whether it's my wife or a core group of guys that I've got or whatnot, whoever that might be, that has been the game changer for me.

Yeah.

Yeah, definitely.

I've been there so many times where people have helped me back up so many times.

I would say the other thing that is important.

I would phrase it as this.

Preach the gospel to yourself.

Christ has overcome it all.

He's forgiven it all.

Find your place back in the gospel.

And that is that you rely on him, not yourself.

You rely on Him.

That's what it's about.

His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

So when we see him and we see what he did for us, and it was so much stronger than we can be.

Preach the gospel to yourself.

Preach grace to yourself.

Not permission, but grace.

Understanding the difference between going, it's okay that I do this bad thing, or it's okay that I messed up.

It's more of like, okay, you did it.

Let's move forward now.

You can get right back on track.

You can get right back into the race.

There's nothing worse than being stuck.

Yeah.

And that's all that beating yourself up over mistakes and shortcomings does is.

It gets you stuck.

Yeah.

But I mean, this is.

Remember, this isn't about condemnation.

This is about victory.

Christ is one.

We read the back of the book.

God wins and we share in that win.

And so keep grabbing for it.

As we talked about in the breastplate, too.

Like, he's already our righteousness.

Yeah.

There's no more victory needed.

You know, like that.

That is enough.

That it's his righteousness, not mine, that's covering me.

So keep that in mind, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

So, man, just.

I don't know, just stay.

Daily intentionality.

It's about staying consistent.

It's not about occasional bursts of intensity.

Those aren't bad.

But that's not what the game's about.

It's about running the long race.

It's not about going back to the NASCAR thing.

It's not about who's leading the first lap, second lap, third lap.

It's about who's leading the last lap.

So you need to.

It's not about the beginning.

It's about the end.

So keep working your way to the end.

It's going to be good.

So we talked about what is living victoriously in Christ.

Next week, what are we talking about?

Spiritual warfare.

Really, man.

It's a change of pace.

We'll probably kick up some stories about just how it hits in real life.

Spiritual warfare in everyday life.

Yeah.

I feel like I've got a few steps.

And then.

And then our final episode is the Questions and answers.

Yes, we need questions sent in, too.

We definitely need questions sent in.

I think I've gotten three.

We need more than that.

Send in your questions.

Don't hold back.

Don't hold back.

Well, let us sort them out.

Kind of like Jesus.

Jesus says, bring them all to me.

I'll sort them out.

Yeah.

And don't worry, I'm not going to, like, read off everybody's names or anything like that.

We'll just throw them out there.

Okay, maybe I will.

No, I won't.

Whatever.

We'll read the question.

We'll answer it.

It'll be great.

Yep, it will.

Any last thoughts before we wrap this up?

Really?

I mean, just.

Just keep running the race, man.

Yeah, yeah.

Race isn't over till it's over.

Right?

Right.

Slow and steady.

Slow and steady is okay.

Don't beat yourself up.

Slow and steady is okay.

The world's already gonna try to beat you up.

Slow and steady.

All right.

It's the.

It's the tortoise in the hair.

Right.

Don't get winded.

Don't get burnout.

Slow and steady.

So the reflection question for you guys is this.

Which piece of the armor do you most want to focus on applying more intentionally this next week?

Send us comments.

Want to hear?

I want to hear what you guys have to think.

I love every time people comment.

Like, it's.

It's uplifting for us that people are engaging in thought about what God is using us for.

Right.

And what God has to say to us.

So let us know.

Let us know.

Yeah.

And if for those that are following along with us this week, go back through Ephesians 6, I know we've been talking a lot about it, but this week is a good way to crawl through it.

Think about how to apply each piece in your daily life.

How to do so consistently, not just once, not just in a great way, but in an all the time kind of way.

So read Ephesians 6, focusing obviously on verses 10 through 18.

It's a good place to be with this series and just kind of speak it to yourself.

Speak it into your life.

Yep.

Update.

We're at 57 subscribers on the YouTubes, so thank you guys so much.

Shooting for that hundred mark here in the next six months.

We are averaging about 120, 121 downloads throughout the week on everywhere else.

Not quite to that hundred on the first day mark that we were aiming for yet.

But.

But keep working at it.

Keep sharing, liking, subscribing.

Most important comment.

Comment, man.

Like, I love interacting with you guys.

Yeah.

And so I mean to the point where I'm like, I'm buying somebody a shirt.

So keep that in mind.

Maybe we'll put together.

Maybe we'll.

You know what, I'll tell you what I'll do.

Not just a shirt, but whoever puts in the most comment or questions for.

For two weeks from now.

You're gonna up the envy.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna up the envy.

What we got?

I'm going to make them a 20 ounce tumbler.

Oh my goodness.

That's actually amazing.

Deal.

And I wish I could put questions.

We'll, we will put.

We'll put.

I'll make a special Spiritual Warfare.

Yeah.

Tumblr together.

That'd be amazing.

For his tumblers are legit and I'm.

Getting better, which is great.

Yeah.

No complaints.

God's awesome.

They're amazing.

So.

But, so.

All right, so whoever has the most questions submitted, which I got one person who has two, I need more.

And then we had one.

I think that on your list, Chat AI.

Oh, okay.

Maybe not chat gpd.

Whatever it is.

I don't even use this stuff like he does.

But, but yeah, bring it.

Get that shirt.

Get that Tumblr.

Bring us questions right.

For, for the Spiritual warfare questions.

And the winner will get a T shirt and a Tumblr.

Yep.

So thank you guys.

Put on that uniform.

Put your uniform on daily.

And God bless.

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Thanks for joining us this week and God bless.