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Coffee with Dr. Kish is your weekly refill of faith, hope, and love created especially for Christians who pour out daily but need to be poured into. Whether you're navigating burnout, wrestling with purpose, or simply craving a quiet moment with God, this podcast offers spiritual encouragement rooted in Scripture, justice, and grace.
Hosted by visionary educator and faith-rooted leader Dr. Kish, each episode blends biblical truth with real-world insight to help you reconnect with your calling, restore your soul, and rise with renewed strength. From devotional reflections to justice-centered conversations, this is your space to be still, be brave, and be filled.
Come for the coffee. Stay for the clarity. Leave with a heart refilled.
Kish Price (01:58.318)
Hello and welcome to Coffee with Dr. Kish. I am so excited about what God has in store for us to cover today. And it's really about a story that has to do with.
something that I just recently experienced that was really, really weird to me. And then God showed me a revelation from it. So I hope that your day is going well and that you're ready to receive this because I think it's going to be good for you. And I hope that it will be a word that you carry with you and it can open up new opportunities for you to see how God cares about you in so many ways with so much love.
And so here it is. I have been traveling a lot recently with my job. And one of the things that is interesting about that is most of my meetings have been remote meetings, know, just online meetings with people. But I've been meeting with people for sometimes a year without
seeing them in person because they may live in a completely different state. And we just have had all of these really wonderful opportunities to connect recently. And I thought it was interesting because I had a perception of what some of the people that I've been working with look like based on what I've seen in the box, right? Like the little box, if you...
know about Zoom meetings or Teams meetings, you you only really see what's in the box, right, when people are on camera. And because of that, you make assumptions that you don't even know you've made until you're confronted with seeing the person in person, right? So you may think that they are certain height. You may think that they are, you know, a certain way.
Kish Price (04:14.504)
And then when you see them in person, it's like, that's different than what I thought. I don't know if anybody else has had this experience, but I'm just sharing with you because it was so odd to me. It happened once, then it happened again and again. It was like just this kind of rolling theme that I was like, God, what is this? Because like, why am I so surprised by what I'm seeing and why did I form these?
you know, impressions of what I thought people look like in these boxes, right? And so, I mean, to the point where one time I literally had to tell the lady, was just like, I'm so sorry. I was like, I don't know why I thought you were, you know, not the height that you are. Like you were tall. I didn't expect that, you know? And she was laughing because she's like, I get that all the time. Like people are always so surprised when they meet me in person. So I decided to look it up because I'm like, okay, there's something to this, right? Like, what is it?
that's causing us to be in this place, right? So if you didn't know, this is what we're looking at. When we see people in those boxes, what we're looking at is the angles, the camera angles, right, that we're seeing. We're looking at depth perception. So we don't have as much as we would in real life. So that throws us off a bit. So that lack of depth perception, reference points.
are no longer what they usually are in real life, right? So your reference points are a little off. The lens may be distorted or the distance that the person is from the lens may change your view of how they really are in real life. And then body proportions, right? Sometimes somebody may have a really, you know, like long torso, but smaller, you know, height or...
shorter height than what you would think based on their torso. Okay. Anyway, I know that you're like, what kids like, what are you talking about? Well, here's the point. This is what God showed me is that the same way that I was so subconsciously confident that I knew how these people were in real life, even though I never met them, I spent so much time with them, right? Like we've had so many meetings over the years, you know, but why did, why was my perception so off?
Kish Price (06:39.458)
Well, what God showed me is that when we put people in a box, we don't have a real sense of who they are in real life. We don't really know because we're getting a two dimensional version of who they are. And when that happens, you're not getting the real picture. And just like we do that with people, because that's what we're limited to, right?
Sometimes that's all you get is that in the box feature. You don't get to see them or meet them in real life and see them in person. But when that happens and you see that there's a difference there, God wants us to know that we've been doing that with Him, right? I mean, that hit me so hard. Like I was like, whoa, we've been putting Him in a box. We've been zooming with God.
We've had God on teams, right? And we think we know him because we've been meeting with him. You've been showing up. You've been going to church all your life. Some of you, you've been going to church before you even knew how to say church, right? Some of you have been so intentional and so religious about your time, you know, your, your protected time, your, you know, quiet time with the Lord. And still we have put him in a box.
And that box has been framed by our life's circumstances. It's been framed by the teachings that you've received. It's been framed by your environment, right? And what God is saying is that he is giving us an invitation, right? He's like, that's fine. I'm glad that you're meeting with me. I'm glad that you're learning more about me, but you can't truly know me.
and say that we have an intimate relationship if you can't identify me in real life. And when I tell you that these occurrences that I had from my time with my colleagues at these conferences and meeting them in real life, it was like identifiable. Like I knew I could recognize their face, but I was also so struck by these.
Kish Price (09:02.478)
cognitive dissonant moments, if you will, that I had with like, well, wait, wait, what, what? Like I didn't expect this. God wants us to realize that we should break the box, break him out of the box, keep him out of the box. Okay. He wants to commune with us, but he never said it had to be within these frames, right? It doesn't have to be within a limited scope.
of your view of what you know or what you think you know. So every time we commune with God, it's an invitation to break those boxes. It's an invitation to ask God, teach me what you have for me to know today.
And I'm open to it, like whatever you have to say. When I open the word of God, and if you've read the word and it's familiar to you, sometimes you get into a place where you start thinking you know that passage so well that you just kind of read through it. You know what I mean? Just kind of like when they start listing out the descendants, it is like, my gosh, like if I got to read another name that I can't pronounce and you just.
You know, kind of skim through that part a little bit. No, like God is giving us an invitation to learn more about him through his word and in real life. Okay. Like both. And sometimes I think that is the problem is that we have him in such a box that we only see him through the lens of the word that we see as something in the past. We experience.
what these truths are for us that are real for us and think that they only apply to who they were spoken to directly in the word and ignore the parts where God says, and now you are my people and this applies to you. Right? So we're in this place where I believe God is calling us to see him in new ways, to experience him and
Kish Price (11:18.412)
bigger ways because he's such a big God. Can you imagine thinking about that juxtaposition I just shared with you of what I thought I knew about my colleagues and what I've learned from actually being in their presence, right? Things that I would not have ever experienced if I didn't have the opportunity to get closer, right? And what God is saying is I want you to draw closer to me, draw close to me.
Draw close to me. That is what his cry is to us in this season, in every season. Draw close to me, stay close to me. And he wants us to stop putting him in a box, right? Like if you're in a place, and I'm admitting this because I know there was a season in my life where God was on my checklist, right? Spending time with God was on my checklist. And I thought that was a good thing because he's on my checklist.
I got my devotion in, I read my word for the day, I prayed my prayers. no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I had to get checked. And I can't even recall exactly when it happened, but I remember him very clearly saying, and I'd like to be with you throughout the rest of the day. Like I'd really love for us to have more time. And I remember a season in my life where I was very deliberate about
my getting up and my going down, if that makes any sense. So it was very much like, okay, spend time with the Lord when I wake up, spend time with God before I go to bed, you know, pray and, you know, read some passages or meditate on some scriptures. But he wants to be a part of the whole day, your whole day, your night, right? Like he just wants to abide with you. And that's the sweetness of it is that that invitation is there every day to commune with him.
And we have such an opportunity to get to know him in ways that we never could have imagined. And he delights in that, right? Like just being able to spend time with him. And I know some of you are probably familiar with the love languages and thinking of those five love languages, and I'll probably forget one. if I do, okay, sorry. But you know, acts of service, receiving gifts.
Kish Price (13:37.462)
Right? Like so acts of service, people doing things for you, receiving gifts, being a way that you receive love, Words of affirmation, having people to speak into your life, over your life is another way that people receive love. Quality time, which is my number one, I believe in, I'm saying this because I believe God has, you know, he's all into
every single love language, but I do believe that that quality time is so important for him as well, right? To show your love, you know his love better by giving him quality time. And that means it's throughout the day. It means that when I am studying that I'm intentional about, okay, I need to...
make sure that my phone might be near because I'm not around all of my loved ones who may need to reach me, but I'm not relying on that being close by in order to pick it up at any point in time. A notification comes through and I'm like, let me check that or whatever. No, that's not what it's for. And I would like to say I have been highly encouraged actually by my coach to
and this is a business coach, but basically to stop the notifications. I don't know if that will help you too, but if you are seeing that your life is a little noisy and you don't even know why, and you have notifications on your phone for different things, go ahead and just turn those off. It's okay. It is okay for you not to be notified. It's okay for you to do your check when you do your check. Okay? So it has blessed me.
It's probably been about two weeks now that I've been doing this, but it is a blessing. So if you need to just do an inventory of your life, figure out what the noise is in your life, what's causing you to lose focus, not be as, you know.
Kish Price (15:46.434)
focused, locked in as you could be, look at those things and find a way to eliminate them, eliminate the distractions so you can truly lock in on what God is saying. So let's get into what he's saying today. And by doing that, I mean, we're going to look at some scripture here. And I know some of you are probably walking or running errands or moving around while you're listening to this. So I will read this word if you are sitting and actually enjoying some coffee at the time.
Feel free to open your Bible with me and let's read this. So we're reading from Isaiah 55 and I'm going to read verses 8 and 9 and this is from the English Standard Version and it says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts. Okay. So I know when we read this, a lot of times, right, there are key verses that you have learned, meditated on, and live by, right? So what I believe God is saying in this is that because we're not even aware that we've put him in these boxes, we don't even know when we're operating
from thoughts that we might think are his thoughts, and they're not even his thoughts. Ways that we think are his ways, and they're not even his ways. Let me challenge you, first of all, to think about your time in church, your time in your home, your time in your workplace or in community. There are certain things that we have learned, whether we have intentionally been active participants in the learning,
or passively participating, we've received downloads, right? You how you download things onto your computer, right? Is there, whether you're willing to acknowledge it or not is there. What happens is eventually you find out that you don't have enough space for something you actually need to download because there's so many things that are there that you're not even aware that they're there anymore because it was years and years ago. And
Kish Price (18:10.508)
all of a sudden it's like, wait a minute, I need to get rid of some of these things that have been downloaded. Well, in the same way we do that mentally, emotionally, spiritually over time, and we don't even realize what we've allowed to be downloaded into our spirits, what's been downloaded into our minds. So what do you really think about God? Right? So if you think about your education about God, typically that has come
from a church through leadership, pastors, Sunday school teachers, right? People who have taught you the word of God before you started studying for yourself. Now you're in a place where you may be studying the word for yourself and also receiving that teaching and leadership from instruction and instructors, right? And when that happens, God always calls us.
to get in our word, to not just hear what somebody says and just believe it and take it for what it is. It's so important because I know I was kind of, you know, raised like most people probably to respect authority. So you would think that if you have church leaders that are telling you that there are certain things that you should prioritize in your life or there are certain ways that you should think about what God says, but
You haven't studied that word for yourself to know like, does God really say this or is this my pastor's opinion? Okay. Why am I saying this is because it's very, very, very important. God holds his leaders, those that have been called to spread the gospel to a flock, to high standards. He wants us to share his word, right? But sometimes
And I don't know, I'm not trying to say that every time it's intentional. Sometimes it's ignorance. I know, you know, we all have an opportunity to learn more. So sometimes people have been trained to believe that a certain thing is true. And I'll give an example, very personal example. I had a pastor to share very publicly when I was in my teens, I knew it to be true.
Kish Price (20:39.574)
And I've said this before, so my friend Kayla, I've mentioned this before publicly, but I'll share it again. I remember him preaching multiple times. It wasn't just one sermon, but he would talk about women are not supposed to preach. And he was being very clear about, you know, where he was getting that from, that one passage that he was reading it from. And I remember feeling some type of way about it, even as a kid. But I was just like, hmm, that's interesting. I never looked into it for myself, right?
So then I go to college, remember just casually having a conversation, some kind of way it came up and I was just like, yeah, you know, and women aren't supposed to preach something like that to that effect. And my friend Kayla, whose mom was a pastor or preacher, evangelist at the time, was just like, no, that is not accurate. That is not accurate Bible. That is not what the word says. Like if you study the word, it is very clear that that passage was contextual when
He's speaking about women, not speaking in church. And that was because of what was going on in that time. Like basically like getting your Bible on study. Cause I don't know what you've been told, but that's not the full truth, the whole truth. Okay. That's just one example. I'll give you another. There are times where I believe that there are public popular teachings that are not grounded in scripture, not grounded in truth.
And people have just ran with these things and said that this is what God says and as if it is the only thing and you cannot see it any other way. I'm going to give you two examples and these are going to be harsh truths and I want you to educate yourself. I want you to do your own study and let me know what you have discovered from your own study. But there are people that actually believe that
because God does not approve of a lifestyle, that you have full permission to treat people like they are demons. That you have permission to hate people because they don't believe as you believe, or they don't live as you live. That you have permission to cast stones at people. Now, the Bible that I read is very different than that.
Kish Price (23:05.577)
Okay, that perspective Does god hate sin? Absolutely. I don't know if you could ever even pretend That there's a time in the word in which god says he loves sin Like you can't even who could you fool with that? Maybe somebody I don't know but It's very clear. That's all throughout the word. That's why jesus came to die for us Was to cleanse us from our sin, but there are times where people will be in this place of
assuming that it's okay to treat people like they are less than because God approves of it because he doesn't like what they're doing. No. God has commanded us to love everyone, even our enemies. So how is it that he said that's the greatest command is to love? And then we find it somewhere twisted in scripture that it's okay to hate people to
cast rocks to insult people, know, like make people feel like dirt. Like that is not God y'all. That's not Bible. So I don't know where those teachings, like that's my point. These downloads have happened over time and eventually it can make sense to you to think, yeah, you know, like this is horrible and God hates it and other, but he never made it clear to hate people. That's just not him. That's not him. That's not who he is.
He hates the sin. Remember our first episode, if you didn't catch that, we talked about this being a battle and our battle isn't against flesh and blood, but it is against wicked principalities, it's against spiritual powers that are at play. And if we keep that perspective and we know that we are called to fight and that God told us to put his armor on, that we stay ready with this word because that sword of the spirit, that's the only offensive
weapon he gave us right to fight back with is the word of God. And so we need that even now, y'all, if you're in your circles and people are just spewing hate and talking about people with hate, that is an opportunity to remind them, especially Christians, because I'm not, I'm not acting like you're talking to people who are not Christian. Sometimes it's Christians talking like this, y'all. And God has given us the authority to speak truth.
Kish Price (25:31.629)
Okay. So I pray that you walk in wisdom, know when to speak and when not to, but to speak up when you need to speak up, to speak truth, to speak love. Okay. So that we can keep God out of this box and understand that we serve a big God and he's called us to do big things in these last days. And it requires us, there's no way that we can get out of the box, which we will be talking about in our next episode, if we don't get God out of the box.
Get God out of the box, whatever box that is you put him in. And a lot of times we have to sit with these hard truths about what we actually think. Like, what do I actually think about healing if I've been raised on these truths and I know them to be truth, but then I've had these encounters where they didn't really manifest in the ways that I thought they would. When I've prayed with people,
said by his stripes you are healed and I've believed for the cancer to go and I've believed that they would be healed and then they didn't receive their healing on this side of glory What do I believe now right we have to sit and reconcile with these Thoughts that we have about God this understanding of who God is and his power and how big he is
Because once we get back to understanding, and I'm getting right back to this scripture we just read, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. So sometimes we have this image in our head of what we believe needs to be in order for things to be okay.
You said you could heal Lord. I believe that you can heal Lord. So heal Lord, right? Heal this relationship, heal this broken relationship, heal this sick body, heal this nation, right? He said to repent, humble yourselves and pray, right? And then he will hear from us. Then he'll restore our land. Like those are truths. But what happens when you don't see God show up the way that you expected him to? That's when we have to realize his
Kish Price (27:59.031)
thoughts are higher, his ways are higher. And so although we may not understand what he's doing and why we have to come to a place of understanding that he is God and he's so much bigger than what we see and what we have allowed ourselves to become comfortable with. So I invite you to think beyond what you know about God.
Think beyond what you've experienced and know there's so much more to experience. Know that there's so much more to know. There's so much more to learn, right? And sometimes we have these aspects of God that we know very well. Like I know you God as a provider. Why? Because I've been without and you've provided. I've had moments in time where I didn't know where our next meal would come from as a family. And you provided God.
I've had times when you told me to do a thing and I didn't have the resources and you came through with the resources in ways that I didn't even expect the ways that I've seen and expected him to come through. He didn't even use those ways. It was a completely new way. And that's the invitation. That's what he wants for you to see. Get him out of the box. Get him out of the box, out of your four.
Framed box and and know that he's so much bigger and his ways are so much higher his thoughts are so much higher So I want to commune with you God He wants to commune with you He wants to get closer He wants you to see so much more of what's not seen right and It's not because you're not making the time
you might be carving out the time and maybe you're not and maybe it is because you're not making the time. But it also could be that when you approach him, you're approaching him with a very closed mind and a very closed view of who he is. So even when we spend time with him, ask the Lord, God help me to see you as you want me to see you. Help me to read this word in a way that is impactful for my life.
Kish Price (30:26.167)
today. Show me what you have for me. Show me what you have to share with others. Speak to me. Make this word real and alive in my life because the word is living. It's not some stale old word. It is living for you today. So we are going to welcome God. We are going to trust and believe that he is going to come through because he can and he will every time.
It may not look the way that we expected it to look right you remember when the the Hebrew boys were in the fire and they said hey even if Like this is this is before you know Seeing what actually was gonna happen even if He doesn't come through he can he's able And that's our perspective that's where we have to be at all times. It's like
I know he can do it and he's able, but even if he doesn't, he's still good and he's still God because his thoughts are higher, his ways are higher. And I trust that over everything. That's where we have to get to is where we trust God and his thoughts and his ways over our own. Because if you're not careful, you can start to become bitter with God.
How do I know? Because I've been bitter with God before where I've been like, God, this was not what I signed up for. This is not what I thought was going to happen here, but it happened. And now I have to reconcile with God about what happened. like, okay, help me to understand here, Lord. And I know I might not ever get the answers to understand exactly why this went down the way it went down, but I have to trust you.
I trust that you know, I trust that your thoughts are higher, your ways are higher. He knows, he knows. Okay. And I'll leave you with this thought and in preparation for our next session together. When you think about God and you think about the goodness of God and you think about how he's shown up for you and you think about all the times that something happened and you didn't even understand it.
Kish Price (32:50.473)
Would you rather have a full understanding of what happened?
Kish Price (32:59.381)
and not have God's ultimate plan to take place? Or would you rather for God's ultimate plan to take place knowing that you don't have a full understanding of what's happening? I'm gonna choose the latter. I'm going to choose God's plan over mine because that's wise, okay? Let's just talk about it, is wisdom. And that's what God is calling us to, is wisdom.
He's calling us to understand, hey friend, I don't know what the world has taught you. I don't know how you put me in this box of thinking that your world is supposed to be exactly what you think it is. But I'm so much bigger. I'm a big God. I created you. I know all about you. I created you for a purpose. I have a plan for your life. And I want that to come to fruition. And in order for that to come to fruition, there are things that are going to happen in your life that you do not understand.
And I need you to trust me. Can you trust me? Will you trust me?
Kish Price (34:07.253)
My answer is yes. And I pray that yours is too. Okay. Let's pray. And I hope that you will join me for the second session of this. And I'm just grateful for all of you listening. I pray that if this podcast or vodcast has been a blessing to you, that you will share with someone that you think may need to hear this. And I just pray.
I don't take it for granted. I don't care if it's one person listening, that God cares so much about you that he wanted this word to reach you and he wants you to see him in new ways. And he wants you to know that he's so much bigger than anything you could ever imagine, that his love for you is so much bigger than you could ever imagine. So let's pray. Lord God, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for being such an amazing God.
Thank you for loving us beyond what we can imagine, Lord. And thank you for always showing up. Thank you, Lord, for filling in the blanks that we don't even know are there. Thank you, God, for working all things together for our good, Lord God. Thank you for giving us patience for those moments where we don't understand what's happening in our lives. We don't.
feel good about what's happening in our lives, but we know you're with us. Emmanuel, you are with us and you care and you are so present. And I just pray, Lord God, that you help us to identify where we have put you in a box, where we have limited our view and our scope of you, Lord God, where we have turned our time with you into a chore, Lord. Let us break
Kish Price (36:05.225)
that box Lord help us to be in a place where we understand the beauty of communing with you that you want to take our ashes and give us beauty for ashes that you want to take our mourning and give us an oil of gladness Lord that you want us to be able to praise you that you said you're the joy of you is our strength so that we can lean into our strength as we fight this battle that you've given us the armor to fight Lord help us God give us strength
I thank you right now in the name of Jesus for the wisdom that we are gaining from you because you said when we ask, you give it to us liberally. So we ask for wisdom as we go about our day, wisdom for how we need to interact with our family members, with our friends, Lord God, as influencers in this world that you have blessed us to live in. Help us, Lord God, to be your laborers.
in this harvest field, Lord God, that we will answer when you call, that we will step up, Lord God, and we will know that it's not about us, it's about you and that you give us the strength to do the things you called us to do, the hard things, Lord. I thank you that nothing is too small in your awareness of our need for you, Lord God, in all things that you are there, that you want to help us, you want to guide us. So I thank you right now. It's in Jesus' name.
Thank you for blessing every listener hearing this prayer that they will see you as you are, Lord God, that they will get you out of the box. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen. All right, love you friend, till next time.