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Welcome to The Overflow—the bonus round of faith and real-life conversation with Brandon and Susan Thomas. Every week, they unpack the powerful insights, behind-the-scenes experiences, and personal reflections that didn’t quite fit into Sunday’s sermon.
This is where the conversation gets practical, honest, and a little bit unscripted. Whether it's an encouraging word, a deeper dive into Scripture, or a hilarious moment from their week, Brandon and Susan bring fresh perspective and spiritual fuel to keep you going.
It’s real talk, fresh takes, and full hearts.
These are the conversations too good to cut and too real to miss.
How do I know if it's God's will or just my feelings? Buckle up for this one. Welcome to The Overflow. Today, we're gonna talk about how to know God's will for your life. So many times we ask, and it's not in the Bible, like the Bible doesn't say, Mary Susan.
Speaker 1:The Bible doesn't say, Go to that college. The Bible doesn't say, Take that job. The Bible doesn't say, Private or public school. The Bible doesn't say a lot of these practical things and we have to know
Speaker 2:We do.
Speaker 1:What God's will is. So Susan, today, we're gonna and I'm gonna put it all on your shoulders. Okay. I'm just gonna kick back here. Perfect.
Speaker 1:And you're gonna tell everybody how to know the will of God.
Speaker 2:Yeah. No problem. Oh, no. I when you say this this statement and this question, how do I know? Here's what jumps into my head.
Speaker 2:Jeremiah twenty nine eleven. Maybe you've heard this passage many times or maybe it's the first time to hear it. Where God says, for I know the plans I have for
Speaker 1:you,
Speaker 2:says the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. So if like I break down that passage, a, God says, I know the plans. But I already I already know the plans for you, God says, and his plans that God has. Then he goes on to describe the plans by saying these plans are to prosper you.
Speaker 1:Telling you.
Speaker 2:That's in the word of God, Not to harm you. I'm not out to hurt you. I'm not out to withhold from you. I'm not out to keep my best from you, to prosper you, and to give you a hope and a future. That is the word of God.
Speaker 2:So God has a plan. Do we miss it sometimes? We
Speaker 1:do miss
Speaker 2:it How do we know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we do. And that you can know. And the reason I know this is one of my life verses, I'm gonna read it for everybody, Romans twelve one and two. Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true worship.
Speaker 1:Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Here it is, you ready? So that you may discern, discern, to choose, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect. Wow, I mean there he says, here's how you can know my will, okay? And he goes in one step after another, and one of the things I love that he says is, That you may discern.
Speaker 1:That really does come into that. That's the word we're looking for.
Speaker 2:Okay, real quick, can we talk about how you used to say discern?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I know you're trying to avoid it.
Speaker 1:I am. You're over there grinning at me. Past the mic, you're over there just grinning, and I'm ignoring you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, say it.
Speaker 1:Well, I used to say like a discern.
Speaker 2:Discern. Discern. Discern.
Speaker 1:Instead of discern.
Speaker 2:Discern. I wanna just say, well done. You just really
Speaker 1:You did.
Speaker 2:You made great strides. You corrected yourself at the very Yeah. Beginning in the verse.
Speaker 1:The kid the kids have have terrorized me enough that I realize it's weird for me to do discern. I'm just
Speaker 2:very proud of you.
Speaker 1:Why be quirky if you can avoid it, right? So discernment is what we're going for
Speaker 2:here. Yes.
Speaker 1:And discernment is distinguishing between right and wrong, good and evil. It's really recognizing what God wants here. Like, what is the sweet spot right here? What's the target? When am I over the target here, God?
Speaker 1:I want to be on the That's
Speaker 2:so good.
Speaker 1:And I think that's the first thing is just, where, you know, you're just, is your heart, you know, I think that's where it says, in view of the mercy, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. You know, I want to be over the target. Yeah. I want to be over the, I'm not fighting you here, God. I want to choose the right school.
Speaker 1:I wanna marry the right person.
Speaker 2:So good.
Speaker 1:I wanna take the right job. We'll do whatever. Mhmm. I just wanna know.
Speaker 2:And being able to navigate that requires that we understand a little bit better, what am I navigating?
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And as I think about God's will versus my feelings, they don't always align. And left to my natural state, they rarely align. Immediately, I think about the diagnosis of our heart. The heart is deceitful above all things, desperately sick, desperately wicked. Who can know it?
Speaker 2:And so we're if we're just on our own trying to navigate life, yet we live in a world that says what? Follow your heart. Yes. We talk about this all the time. We'll never stop talking about it because it's an ongoing situation that we have.
Speaker 2:But knowing God's good plan that we talked about a minute ago, this good plan to prosper, not to harm us. God already knows the plan. Well, my heart is deceptive left to itself, so it's going to go the opposite of God's plan. I'm gonna miss it if I'm on my own. And so I think one of the things we have to remember is I can't follow my feelings.
Speaker 2:That's not that's not the thing to follow. I have to follow the Lord, but what does that mean? What does that look like?
Speaker 1:Well, it starts out in view of God's mercies. Okay. So let's talk there. Like, what are you looking at? And in view of God's mercies, that's not something you do, that's something you view.
Speaker 1:I'm looking, where am I looking? He says first, view my mercies. I think there's a little bit of a process here that if you want to know the will of God, it starts with your mind being in the right place. You're alluding just now to self discipline with appetites and desires. But if I'm viewing the mercies of God, I am cultivating the right pace, the right rhythm for approaching this decision where I'm saying, Okay, let me look back.
Speaker 1:Before I look forward, because I'm asking forward. I'm saying, What do I do next? Before I look forward, he's saying, Pause, look back, because your heart may not be ready to move forward. You need to remember the moments that I did come through with you. You gotta remember how I provided.
Speaker 1:You gotta remember, and that'll breed gratitude, because you may be wanting to go through that door out of greed, not gratitude. But in view of God's mercies may absolutely pull the thorn that would have had you walk through the wrong door.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And so it's in view of God's mercies being swayed by anti God wisdom, anti God paths, because I'm viewing God now.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, and in view of God's mercy immediately makes me think of Matthew chapter six, when there's listed all these things that we as people tend to worry about, starting with base level needs like food and clothing, just base level provisions. And yet God says, you know what? Lost people, they fixate on this. Lost people that don't know me, this is all they think about.
Speaker 2:But I want you to think about my kingdom. Think first. Focus first on the kingdom of heaven. All these other things will be added to you. And so the view.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's the view. So that's a really powerful even just let's get real practical. You've got a decision in front of you. Ask yourself this question.
Speaker 2:Does this decision align with God's kingdom or not? That's like a new thought for many of us to even have. Because that's not a normal thought for a person. But if that becomes a filter in your decision making and and we're talking about, you know, those bigger decisions in life, honestly, it can be small ones too. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But does this this decision, if I say yes to this or if I go through this door, is it in alignment with God's kingdom? That right there may be your answer.
Speaker 1:Well, and I wanna I wanna piggyback on one thought you just said. You said this could be bigger. These are bigger questions, but actually smaller questions. Yeah. And I wanna clarify that.
Speaker 1:The bigger questions that you're answering are always the culmination of smaller decisions. The big decisions are always the culmination of smaller decisions. This is, you cannot miss this. And that is why it really is important, okay? Am I gonna call this friend, or am I gonna call that friend to get coffee?
Speaker 1:Am I going to
Speaker 2:Go to this party?
Speaker 1:Go to this party, or go to that party? All these little decisions need discernment.
Speaker 2:Because maybe I should think, well done. Maybe I should go to this party, but don't go to that party.
Speaker 1:Right. And so that feeds that prayerful every single day, like Paul said, pray without ceasing. Just say, God, I wanna view this and view your mercies. I wanna look past And then the next thing he says is, Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. And that's where I go back to what I said a second ago, where you want to be over the target.
Speaker 1:I wanna do it your way. You know? Sometimes we go to God with prayer requests, and we say, God, I wanna know your will. But when God tells you his will, you're like, tell me a different will.
Speaker 2:When I was dating, I would pray, dear God, let this this person be my husband. But it was a broken relationship. I was dating the wrong way. I was dating the wrong person. And it's like sometimes we ask God to bless our sin.
Speaker 1:Yes. That's what I'm God will
Speaker 2:never bless our sin.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Why? Because he loves us, and he knows sin leads to our death. Why would he bless that?
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'm so grateful for the unanswered prayers, as, our prophet, priest, Garth Brooks would say. God. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. This is not the view, this is the do.
Speaker 1:This is the, okay, what's the next right thing to do? Okay? If your mind is wanting to do the right thing, but then you're not making simple, little right decisions, You're going to be feeding folly,
Speaker 2:and
Speaker 1:you're going to be starving wisdom.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And you've got to feed wisdom, and you need to starve folly. Ultimately James said, Hey, show me how you're walking. Faith without works is dead. Show me what you're doing. Show me your life.
Speaker 1:Show me step by step by step. And, those simple steps of obedience, like the things you know to do, like I'm going to make myself a living sacrifice. And that means that part of the process, I'm viewing your mercies, I'm remembering how you came through in the past, I'm looking at your promises, I'm in the word of God. But there are things that you're telling me to do that are uncomfortable. Okay.
Speaker 1:It's on the altar. Yeah, I keep all my money, I don't give anything to the church. I don't tithe, don't give, I don't do any of that, and I get a little annoyed when, well, good luck finding the will of God for your life. When God has clearly said, we're a tithing people, we're a generous people, we're a giving people as a matter of worship.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah. When you're in your in your relationship and you're dating someone and you're sleeping with them and you're maybe you've moved in together and you're living together and you're, in many ways, playing married, but you're asking God, God, is this the one? And it's kinda similar to what I said earlier, but we're asking God to bless something that's very, very broken. That's not that's not of his will. We've gotta start with those decisions and really evaluating them and saying, where I am currently, is it in align with God's kingdom?
Speaker 2:Is it in align with God's design? Or is it the complete polar opposite, yet I'm asking for God's best?
Speaker 1:And there's a principle in scripture. Listen. God loves to work in patterns. This is kind of a thing I'm on the last eighteen months, maybe two years, and that is God likes patterns. All over the scripture, you see like where Jesus was crucified is where Isaac was offered and the ram was the substitution.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's like it doesn't That's a pattern. There's all these patterns. You see when Moses lifted up the staff, and you know, all these patterns, all these patterns all over scripture. And you see a pattern where Jesus says, Do the little right, and I'll open up the big. We want the big, but we don't want the little.
Speaker 1:God, I want you to show me who to marry, but I'm not going to date your way. God, show me the career I'm supposed to have, but I'm gonna operate inside my career however I want to operate. God, give me access to a lot of money, and boy, I'll be generous, but I'm not gonna tithe when I'm on an hourly wage. You know, it's just that mindset and the pattern that God says, give me your little sacrifices. Give me those little things.
Speaker 2:I think you're hitting on something that sometimes when we're asking the will of God, we think it's not, that we have no part to play.
Speaker 1:That's right. There's a discernible link between wisdom and behavior. Faith and works.
Speaker 2:Right. Well, and, you know, God says, do not be deceived. Whatever a man sows that he's always also going to reap. Well, the reaping is God. What I want my life to look a certain way.
Speaker 2:What's the plan? This good plan that you talked about that's to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me hope, future. That's the plan. Lord, how do I get there? And we can sometimes think, oh, well, everything happens for a reason, which I can't wait to preach about.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. You know? We just say these statements that are throwaway that really place us in a in a inactive position at the victimhood almost of the almighty. Whereas God is saying, put your hand in mind, let's sow the right seeds, and watch the harvest that you'll live in.
Speaker 1:Just think of it this way. It's like these little behaviors. Okay? And with each small obedience, with each small behavior that you're giving to the Lord, every single one of them, seeds in the ground, as Susan just said, seeds in the ground, what you're really doing is you're reinforcing wisdom, every little bit of wisdom. And wouldn't it be true that after like three sixty five days of little wisdom, that your mind, your heart, your soul, your hands, your body has become acclimated to wisdom.
Speaker 1:All of a sudden, the door of wisdom is opening, and a big opportunity is in front of you, and guess what? You're ready for it, because you have reinforced wisdom. And there's little bitty lessons that have been, and maybe even through the course of the little things, there's a current of a pattern. And then that pattern is the pattern you will rely on for that big decision.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And you're like, how do I how do I have this wisdom? The beautiful thing is is God says, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask. But don't be like an unbeliever who doesn't really believe the Lord and doesn't trust the Lord, or he won't give you what you're asking for. You'll be, like, tossed around like a, you know, wave out at sea.
Speaker 2:But ask the Lord for wisdom. And I will say, practically, one of my favorite, favorite books of the whole bible, and honestly, it makes me wanna go read the whole thing again right now, is read the book of Proverbs. Read it start to finish. Don't do it all in one sitting. Take a chapter and marinate on it and maybe even a half a chapter because, I mean, each verse is chock full of so much truth and wisdom, and it's very, very practical.
Speaker 2:It's so practical. But these these beautiful directives and and words of wisdom that God gives to us help us know what step to take. You wanna know the will of God? Honestly, one way, start in the book of Proverbs. And and don't just hear it.
Speaker 2:Don't just listen to it. Live it by the power of the holy spirit in your life and watch what happens.
Speaker 1:The proverbs acclimate you to wisdom. Yeah. You're talking about, you know, there's 31 chapters in proverbs, so one a day. And then maybe even half a day and do it in two months. Half a proverb a day, do it in two months.
Speaker 1:But, man, it'll acclimate you to wisdom. You're reading wisdom every single day. And then it says, here's an enemy to wisdom, here's an enemy to discernment, here's an enemy to knowing the will of God. Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world or to this age, the scripture says. Okay, so that's an enemy to a good filter.
Speaker 1:That's an enemy to good discernment, and that is conformity to this age. And what the Apostle Paul here is saying, you want to make right decisions. If you're following the world, you won't. You want to make right decisions. If you're just copying your culture, you won't.
Speaker 1:If you're just trying to live in the vibe, okay? This is big, because I love a good vibe, and you learn your vibe, vibe is culture. Vibe is culture, There's nothing wrong with vibe, but if you seek to live in the vibe, then you'll say, have the vibe of I'm independent, and I'm rebellious, and I kind of have this streak of, and you're in that vibe, but then the Bible teaches, Hey, you're to do life in community. And you'll never have wisdom if you don't embrace community. But my vibe is, no, forget about your vibe.
Speaker 1:Or there's a pull toward greed in the culture. There's a gravitational pull to to conform to the patterns of this world.
Speaker 2:No doubt about it. And the patterns of this world are always in opposition to the the plans of God. That's the wild thing. The patterns of this world oppose the plans of God. And it dates back to the very beginning where we consistently talk you know, we talk about Genesis chapter three.
Speaker 2:But Genesis one and two, God had a plan. He this was the plan. He laid it out for Adam and Eve. He was very clear. You can have any of the fruit in this garden, but do not eat the fruit of this tree.
Speaker 2:And what happened next? The liar came with his lies and says to Eve, did God really say? And she believed him. She believed the lie. She hurt she followed her heart because she saw that fruit and and she desired what it had to offer her.
Speaker 2:So the reason we go back there so often is it's ground zero of what we do today. Where in your life right now do you ask the subtle question, did God really say? Did God really say I don't need to pay my taxes? Yeah. Or that I should pay my taxes?
Speaker 2:Wait. No. Did God really say that I need to be yeah. Pay my taxes, that I need to be honorable? Did God really say and we just we begin to twist ever so slightly what God's will and plan is to make it fit into what our desires are.
Speaker 1:That's so good. And when I think of conforming to the patterns of this world, I also think about, I think about how the world will tell you what you should do. The world says, Well, this is who you're to be. And I even think about Keystone. I think about there are people out there who are critics of the church.
Speaker 1:There are people out there who are constantly attacking the local church, the American church. There are people out there who have a beef with the church, and they will tell you how church is to be done. They've never visited your church, but they'll hop on a podcast and tell you how your church is to be done. They've not given a dime to your church, but they'll tell you how all your people shouldn't be giving, okay? I decided a long time ago, we're not going to take our cues from the haters.
Speaker 1:We're not going to conform Keystone Church to the pattern of the voice of this world. We're going to bring around us wisdom voices, and ask for God to give us wisdom. Yeah. We'll ride with that. I think people make a mistake in church life of listening to the critics, they're always responding to the critics.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, that's that's what their criticism is. Let's let's form and shape ourselves where they won't say that about us, and then they'll find something else to say. You can't please it.
Speaker 2:I remember one time I was at a salon. Okay? And the lady who was helping me, I remember what she she said to me. She she did not go to church. I think, you know, she maybe been some time in her life, but she didn't go to church.
Speaker 2:But at some point, she became very adamant that people should not wear hats in church. And I'm like, why do you care?
Speaker 1:Yeah. You don't even go.
Speaker 2:You don't go.
Speaker 1:What do you
Speaker 2:And what and she was very, like, I mean Convictional. Very convictional and very judgmental to anyone that would ever wear a hat in church. It was the most strange moment, you know, that she could not see clearly. Yeah. Yet, those are the types of voices, and that's a very silly example to what you're saying, but it was a real thing that happened to me.
Speaker 1:I'll give you one with Keystone, and I I I love the Overflow because I I said from the very beginning, when we decided to do the overflow, I said, I gotta talk about what I wanna talk about. If I can't talk about what I wanna talk about, I don't wanna do it. I right now wanna talk about, when we began to ask God this big decision, we know we need to have a place to call home. We know we need a place that's ours.
Speaker 2:What
Speaker 1:will it look like? And there are these little voices. Now this is discernment. This is knowing the will of God. There are these voices in the back of my head from my past, my church past.
Speaker 1:I had experienced some churches where people were critical of the church, and critical of decisions, and critical of building buildings, and critical of those things. And I heard those voices. And began to affect how I dreamed about what we would do. Almost like, Oh, well, we won't have that because people are not going to like that. Oh, we won't do that.
Speaker 1:Hey, we need to, and you know what? God just spoke to me, and He said, I'm going to plant a vision in your heart, if you'll trust me. We're going to plant a vision together, and the people are going to love it, it's going be amazing. And the vision He gave me was in direct contrast to all the critical things that people said. I remember I was in a church once where the church wanted to put a fountain in front of their church, and there was all these little critics, really loud, Hey, we don't need to spend money on a fountain.
Speaker 1:We don't need And that got in my head on beauty in church. Then God said, Hey, what if beauty I like beauty. I like things that are pretty, and I especially love it if you did it for the right reasons. I especially love it if it was an offering to me. I especially love that if your heart was in the right place.
Speaker 1:And so what did we do? We built a beautiful church because that's the vision we had to give God that, to be a visual gift to the city. See, and what's the number one thing we hear When people, after a friend brought me or a friend invited me, I drove by this beautiful church. And when it was time for me to go to church, I wanted to go to the pretty church.
Speaker 2:And
Speaker 1:you know, that's just us finding our discernment, our the will of God for our life, and making good decisions. So
Speaker 2:Let me ask you this. When you say because that's that's a powerful way that God, you know, just led us. Yeah. If we had to make decisions. You know?
Speaker 2:Big decisions. Oh, yeah. Back. No. Lord, what is your will for us?
Speaker 2:And it and some of those things may look different for everybody. Not everything is, oh, this is wrong or this is right. Sometimes it's like, god, what kind of because we could have built many different kinds of church buildings and not been necessarily wrong or right. But I wanna go back to something you said because I think for the person listening, you know, we're all on this journey of of discerning the will of God and he and it which involves hearing his his voice. You said that God spoke to you.
Speaker 2:God spoke to me and he said. Somebody here may be saying, how
Speaker 1:did this not
Speaker 2:speak to me? Yeah. Help us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, everything we've been talking about. We're kind of walking through this and that gets to the next thing.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And that is how do you conquer the conformity of this age, those critical voices, or maybe it's your tape recorder in your head of a parent speaking over you, negative thoughts, whatever. How do you not be conformed to the pull of this age? Whatever it is, the Bible says, by the renewal of your mind. Okay? How do you hear God's voice?
Speaker 1:It's all these things. It's in the view of God's mercies, I'm looking in the right place. Make your bodies a living sacrifice. Okay, I'm doing the right things. Little step by little step, I'm giving God that, and I'm giving it to God.
Speaker 1:I'm not self leading, I'm giving it to God. And it's like a prayer thing, it's like a daily thing. And then, I'm spotting so I began to realize I'm listening to critics. Am I building a vision on people that have nothing to do with us?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Then, renewal your mind, scripture reading, prayer, presence of God.
Speaker 2:He began to drop dreams in your heart that couldn't come from you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they couldn't have come from me, and it's time. For me, sometimes these things drop quick. I'm a little scared of quick vision, you know? Quick vision, I have quick vision all the time. Okay, so I'll have ideas for our family, there's an idea right now I have for our family that is a crazy idea.
Speaker 2:Have you told me about it? Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay. Like, I have this dream that one day I would love for us to have a home in Tennessee in the mountains that my brothers could fly fish out of, and we could go, and we could VRBO it, or whatever, and all that kind of stuff. That's like a vision, right? That's like fun, I'm talking about, we're, you know, just later, who knows?
Speaker 2:I'd rather be at the beach.
Speaker 1:I know, you would love it to be at the beach. I want to fly fish in the Smokies, where I was born, all that. And it's just a fun little thing, but if it's still there five years from now, we gotta talk. I mean, we gotta talk, this thing isn't going away. I'll have crazy ideas like that about our personal life, but I'll also have crazy ideas for church.
Speaker 1:I love and welcome the crazy quick ideas, but I've said to the team many times, Hey, this one's not going away. I still have a strong affection for this. And the visions that are the result of prayer, and here's what I was going to say too, if you provide space for the renewal of your mind, like I'm talking about quiet. I was just recently driving up to Oklahoma to move back out of college for summer break, and then driving back. And I'm like, hey, there's just gonna be a period of time on this drive where I'm just silent, and I'm just listening to the Lord, and it's amazing how God fills the silence.
Speaker 1:Wow. There was another time where I said, okay, I'm just going to listen to some sermons and some stuff that encouraged me. And all of sudden I began to dream about talks that are coming. And how's that happen? Because I gave God space to engage my mind, as opposed to just listening to a podcast, or listening to sports, or politics, which is, or my two go tos, for fun, and then, or just listen to music.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's that's so powerful, and that really hits on something that is very dear to me in in this journey of, okay, how do I know the will of God? How do I hear the will of God? Is prayer. Prayer.
Speaker 2:When, know, the renewal of your mind that comes from reading the word of God, transformed by the word of God, and prayer. Prayer is hearing the voice of God, and it's an active interaction with God. I I can't tell you that the longer I go in my life, the more I'm realizing that when I pray, there's great results.
Speaker 1:Yes. Things happen when you pray.
Speaker 2:Things happen when I pray to the point where any decision, really, I mean, of of any weight. Okay? Like, it may not be like what brand of of flour am I gonna purchase at the grocery store. But, I mean, if it's a decision of weight, I am in a space where, I mean and you we laugh about it, but I'm like, have you prayed about it? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, I say this all the time. It's because I I literally think, god, I don't wanna be in this category of dealing with a decision that I made. And you're like, man, wish you'd have asked me. I wish, Susan, you'd have asked your father in heaven. Because, you know, so many times we have not because we ask not, the bible says.
Speaker 2:He says, seek me, you will find me. You wanna know my will? Seek me. Let's be let's engage in conversation. And I believe that that's a very practical way for you right now in your life.
Speaker 2:Anytime you're facing any kind of decision, pray. Go to the father. Get on your knees. Sometimes we need to activate our bodies, and even praying out loud is very important. I I pray all the time silently in situations where maybe I can't pray out loud, but praying out loud is very important.
Speaker 2:It's those activations of our of our body engaging with our faith.
Speaker 1:Kneel and kneel. Get on your face.
Speaker 2:Get get in your closet by yourself and get on the floor and kneel before Powerful things happen. And I believe that's one of the ways we hear the
Speaker 1:voice So let's talk a little bit about practically, how do I land this plane? Okay? And you just said, pray. Pray. Okay.
Speaker 1:I would say, let's get even more practical, daily pray, and when you're in, I'm not talking about the every single day, but when you're in big decision mode.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I would find a place to pray. And maybe that's daily, but find a place that you have mentally decided when I enter into this place, it is a sacred space for me and God. That could be a chair, it could be a place outside, it could be, literally, I have friends that they go into their closet. Mhmm. It could be in your office, but what but find a place.
Speaker 2:And breath breath prayers. That's what I call them, breath prayers. Let's say you're about to walk into a hard moment and you didn't have time to get somewhere by yourself because it's happening in real time. I mean, there are so many times when it's almost under my breath, I'll just say, Lord Jesus, help me. God, guide me in this moment.
Speaker 2:God, I don't know what to do. Please show me the way to go.
Speaker 1:And then as you pray, do an obedience check. Like, how's my behavior? Am I living the life? Am I walking the walk? God, would you show me how I'm not making my life a living sacrifice to you?
Speaker 1:Do an obedience check, because behavior is linked to vision. Behavior is linked to wisdom. So do an obedience check. Really evaluate, is there anything in my walk that's preventing me? Am I dating the wrong person?
Speaker 1:Am I watching the wrong shows?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Oh.
Speaker 1:Am I I can't hear you because my brain is just full of this wrong music.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You know, what's true is that something's always transforming us.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. That's right.
Speaker 2:Something is always shaping you. What is shaping you right now? What is shaping you? What are you consuming? What are you watching?
Speaker 2:What are the podcasts? What are the what's the scrolling? You know, what is it? Doomsday scrolling? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean what's it called?
Speaker 1:Dooms scrolling. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Dooms scrolling. Just what are we doing? What are we consuming? Who are we listening to?
Speaker 2:Who are the voices? And we better make sure if we wanna know the will of God, we need to learn the voice of God.
Speaker 1:You went right to the next thing I was gonna say, and that's who are the voices. Not on podcasts necessarily, that's great. I'm talking about who are you going to for advice? And that could be podcasts. You could be seeking wisdom, or your algorithm.
Speaker 1:I just would caution you, that should not be the first place you're guiding yourself. You need physical people in your life that have, and who are those people? Are they foolish? Is their life a disaster? I was recently being told, I can't even remember when I was being told this, so maybe dangerous for me to quote it, but, where somebody was getting advice from somebody who is a disaster.
Speaker 1:Like they said, This is my mentor. And when you begin to peel back, Okay, tell me about your mentor. Oh, my mentor, you know, I think he's a Christian, oh, okay. And my mentor, believes in astral projection, woah, okay. You're not gonna make good decisions if you're listening to this.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah. And I mean, that takes me right back to many, many, many years ago, Susan sitting in her master's degree program in my counseling on my counseling profession path and seeing so many of my colleagues that were in classes with me, and these are the people going into the helping field, that we're going to help people. We're going to counsel people. And I'm telling you, so many of those people were in terrible relationships, mentally unwell, emotionally unstable. Some saying out loud that I'm here, so I'll get better.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And yet these are the people going into the profession to give others wise counsel.
Speaker 1:It's a mess.
Speaker 2:It's it's a mess. We've gotta watch it. And when it comes to voices, I'll just quickly say, and we can do whole podcast just on this. I'm passionate about about the voices that we listen to. But I believe there's four voices total.
Speaker 2:Four voices that you hear at any given time in your life every single day. One is the voice of God. Depending if your ears are tuned and if you're listening and if you're seeking, he is speaking. It's never a question is God speaking. The question is, are you listening?
Speaker 2:Are you discerning his voice? Secondly, we have an enemy, and that enemy whispers lies. He's the father of lies, the bible says. That's his native tongue. And so sometimes the thoughts in your head, you think, where's this coming from?
Speaker 2:It's coming from your enemy. Yeah. The whisper of lies. Third, the voice of other people. Other people speak, and that's what you were just talking about.
Speaker 2:Who are those who are those people that you're listening to and going to for counsel? And then finally, your own voice. Those four voices at any given moment are speaking. You better make sure which voice that you're listening to and which voice that you're following.
Speaker 1:I'll add another voice, the word of God.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Are you being shaped by the word of God? And if you wanna make right decisions, you need to be a Bible person.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:That means daily reading the Bible. That means get in a good church, and don't just sit there, take notes, talk about those notes with your spouse, really engage the content, memorize scripture, engage your church, get involved, and you'll begin to see things change in your The way you make decisions just begins.
Speaker 2:It's wild, because the Bible is God's voice. The Bible is His Word. In fact, it is Him. Jesus said, you know, when he he was the word, the word became flesh.
Speaker 1:So good.
Speaker 2:You know? And so knowing the word only helps you hear the voice of God. Wow. I don't know that you can hear the voice of God very well without his word.
Speaker 1:Goodness. Wow. No, you can't. And we want God to speak audibly in our ears when he has spoken clearly in his word. And we need to be people who lock into the word of God.
Speaker 1:That is the number one way you know the will of God is clearly. Okay. Well
Speaker 2:There's probably a lot more to say on this topic, but I think that we've covered a lot. And at the end of the day, just keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep pursuing him. He has a will. He has a plan, and it's good for your life.
Speaker 2:Seek after him, and you will find him, and you will find his will for you. So we hope you've enjoyed this conversation. Can't wait to continue it on The Overflow.