The Truth In Love podcast will present God's timeless truth through the lens of His amazing love. We will do this not only through stories of people who have experienced His peace, love, strength, and wisdom through tough circumstances, but also by endeavoring to give the Bible’s answer to life’s great questions, like: Who is God, what's my purpose, who am I, how can I know God, what is heaven and hell, what is truth, and why is the Bible's truth better than my own version of truth? These are legitimate questions folks ask, and we as Christians should have the answers! God has a magnificent plan for every person. We are thrilled to be part of discovering and sharing what His Word reveals to bring hope, peace and great love into the hearts of all humanity. Join us every Tuesday morning at 5:00 a.m. CST for The Truth in Love podcast, with your host Kimberly Faith
Welcome to the truth and love podcast with your hosts Kimberly Faith and John Mack. The truth and love podcast seeks to present God's timeless truth through the lens of his remarkable love.
Kimberly Faith:Alright, dad. Now we've got our mics on.
John McLarty:Okay. Let's go for it.
Kimberly Faith:You took your mic off the floor, which is a good thing, and you got Roxy all settled there.
John McLarty:Roxy is settled.
Kimberly Faith:Keeping all of the chickens together is a big project. Last time we we talked about, last podcast, the wonderful benefits. And it actually, wonderful is not even a big enough word of the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit's presence in us benefits us.
John McLarty:Yeah, it was a great blessing and a challenge, as always. But yeah, the transformational work of the Holy Spirit in not only salvation, but then for the believer in transforming our lives.
Kimberly Faith:Well, I think one of the one of the best memories I have of that podcast examples is, you know, we are in a spiritual warfare, and and the Bible's, you know, replete with examples of that. And, you know, if we are using our pea shooter this is a different example than the fire hose, but this is another example that popped in my brain. We're using a pea shooter to fight the enemy. When we have, you know, all the firepower of heaven to fight the enemy, then why
John McLarty:would We're we Spirit of God.
Kimberly Faith:That's right. Then why and who's already won?
John McLarty:He will guide us, lead us
Kimberly Faith:Direct us.
John McLarty:Reveal the word of God to us.
Kimberly Faith:Right. And so we want that. And so on the flip side, what we talked about last week is the what are the serious implications of rejecting the Holy Spirit? And that's what we're gonna talk about.
John McLarty:Yes. Very transformational.
Kimberly Faith:Yes. And I think
John McLarty:Essential to understanding.
Kimberly Faith:It is because I think sometimes when we're learning theological concepts, we think, oh, that's nice, and I'd like to do that. But we're not understanding the implications of not doing it, which is which is, you know, the implication of using a pea shooter against somebody who's firing m 15 at us
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:Are are very serious. And and we need to understand that this is serious business.
John McLarty:So We're in a spiritual warfare, and we need all the firepower we can get.
Kimberly Faith:That's right. So not only from the spiritual warfare standpoint, but just also living the abundant life, which we've talked about a lot. And so let's kind of I wanna give everybody the the bluff. Okay? The bottom line up front.
Kimberly Faith:There are three scriptures that talk about the ways that we basically reject the Holy Spirit. And they're written to three different audience or two of them are written to believers and one to unbelievers. And we're just gonna get those right on the table from the beginning. Because the three words that are used to give us this to couch what we call rejecting the Holy Spirit are the words quench, grieve, and resist.
John McLarty:Interesting.
Kimberly Faith:And so let's just Variations. Yes. Yeah. Yes. And so let's just read those three verses right off the bat, and then we're gonna come back and look at them with more detail.
John McLarty:Right. So the sample one, first Thessalonians five nineteen, do not quench the spirit.
Kimberly Faith:And the word spirit in these verses I'm I'm gonna take a shot at using some of these Greek words, is pneuma Mhmm. Which is the word for spirit. And in that particular verse, the word quench is zbenumi, which means to extinguish the flame. And we're gonna talk about this and what who this was written to and what it means for us in just practical terms. And then what's the second verse?
John McLarty:Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. So Ephesians four thirty, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Kimberly Faith:Right. So this word, grieve is, is a deep personal sorrow. And that's gonna become important. This is because this is language of a wounded relationship.
John McLarty:That's interesting because we think we all can relate to, you know, grieving. Yes. And it's a deep sorrow.
Kimberly Faith:Yes. Yes.
John McLarty:And this is saying do not grieve the grieve the Holy Spirit.
Kimberly Faith:Mhmm.
John McLarty:The the Holy Spirit is capable.
Kimberly Faith:Of being grieved.
John McLarty:Of being grieved.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. And then let's read the third one.
John McLarty:Do not resist. So Acts seven fifty one. Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did, so do you. Now just a little aside there because we talked about the spirit of God functioning kind of in some ways similar, in some ways different in the Old and New Testament. He's speaking to the kind of the leadership of Israel.
Kimberly Faith:Yes.
John McLarty:And he's saying, ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ear, so this is in the days of Jesus. Yes. Jesus had just been crucified. But he says, ye always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did. Yes.
John McLarty:Which means the Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament.
Kimberly Faith:Right. And we're
John McLarty:gonna And they were capable of resisting him.
Kimberly Faith:Yes. And we touched on that in We're last week's gonna we're gonna go a little deeper in that in this podcast as well. And so let's let's kind of let's kind of do a quick review because just to give context, and remind folks what we talked about last week, Because this idea of of basically, rejecting the Holy Spirit, whether it comes in the form of resisting, whether it comes in the form of grieving or quenching. This this isn't just a theological, discussion. This is something that if we're engaged in, can cost us eternity.
Kimberly Faith:It can cost us other people eternity. It it can cost us miss miss blessings. It can it can rob us of peace. It can rob us of joy, the abundant life, and and we can be mowed down by the enemy's Right. Forces.
Kimberly Faith:So this
John McLarty:is These aren't minor benefits.
Kimberly Faith:That's right. These are major they have major implications for our life. So we talked about let's just review the benefits real quick. And the first one we talked about was the well, one of them we talked about. Can't remember the order we talked about last time was he intercedes for us in our prayers.
Kimberly Faith:Right? You know, you're sitting in the hospital waiting room. You don't know if your your loved one's gonna make it, and you don't have any words for prayer, Holy Spirit will intercede.
John McLarty:I'll just read that real quick. It's right out of Romans eight twenty six through 27 because it's so profound that we have this benefit, this resource. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weakness, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. So just as said, sometimes we've just been gut punched. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
John McLarty:Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. So he's intervening on our behalf in ways that we don't even know what to even pray for.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. And that, you know, that really is I'm glad that you read that because, you know, it's it's kinda like when when my kids were little. They thought they knew what they needed, but they really didn't. You know, they would always ask for a piece of pie Right. Before a bowl of beans, you know, but they needed that bowl of beans.
Kimberly Faith:They needed that salad.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:And and I think that just this picture of the spirit interceding isn't just what we want, because the bible also talks about trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. And Proverbs also talks about how he will get or maybe it's Psalms. He will give us the desires of our heart. The fact is when we are surrendered to the spirit of God and he is working actively in us, our desires change because we have the desires of Christ.
Kimberly Faith:Right. And we have heavenly desires. We have desires that are pure and peaceable and and bring good things to everybody, not just ourself. And this is way off script, but I I just wanted to bring this up because I think that we we have to train our physical brains to understand the goodness of God. And I think every opportunity that we get to do that, we need to interject that into our conversation.
John McLarty:Well, and that really does, though, blend into the next point of benefit, and thus he transforms us.
Kimberly Faith:Right.
John McLarty:So he does actually gives us the desires of our heart, but as our heart is conformed to his desires, and that's through this transformation work of the Holy Spirit.
Kimberly Faith:Right. And just to again reemphasize that this is not self improvement. Okay?
John McLarty:No. Transformation.
Kimberly Faith:Transformation is much different than reformation. Transformation comes from inside. The the real us is our soul. When we are born again, our soul is in Christ, and we can be transformed. What has to be transformed is not our soul anymore.
Kimberly Faith:It's the outward person, right?
John McLarty:Right. Yes. It's letting that soul break through the veil of the flesh. Show the personality of true born again soul.
Kimberly Faith:It's what Jesus was when he
John McLarty:looked unobscured, by
Kimberly Faith:the When Jesus walked on this earth, he did that.
John McLarty:He was the example.
Kimberly Faith:He was the example. And know, you think about, we talked about the fruit of the spirit. Well, that's not the fruit of Kim. That's not the fruit of John. That's the fruit of the spirit.
Kimberly Faith:When somebody says, wow, you really seem like you have a lot of love for me, I I correct them and say, no, you're not seeing love from Kim. You're seeing love from Jesus.
John McLarty:Well, that goes right into this verse about transformation, second Corinthians three eighteen. Mhmm. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. I love that phrase unveiled face. You know, you think about what what clouds our vision of God is sin in our flesh. That's what that's what keeps us from seeing God for who he says he is. But when we yield to the spirit, we're getting to perceive him the way that we're supposed to perceive him.
Kimberly Faith:And what that does is it God is good. He's everything good that we want. And when we start seeing him for who he says he is instead of who the devil and the world and our world our our flesh wants us to see him. Satan doesn't want us to know how good god is.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:And and that's what he did in the garden. He sullied the like we talked about in that podcast, the four lies that Satan told Eve. Mhmm. He's still doing that today. God isn't good.
Kimberly Faith:He isn't love you. He isn't really just. He doesn't really get to make the standard for righteousness. Matter of fact, you can be your own god. As long as we believe that, then we will see him with a veiled face.
Kimberly Faith:We will see him with a veiled a veiled view vision, and we will never think God is good. But when we start seeing him as he transforms us for who he says he is, we want to be more like him. We want to change.
John McLarty:And, you know, there's actually a measuring stick for that transformation out of Galatians five twenty two-twenty three, it's the fruit of the spirit. Because that transformation happens through God, by the spirit, but it is part of the Christian life. It's part of Christian growth.
Kimberly Faith:Yes.
John McLarty:You put aside the flesh. Yes. It's like we can't just make up this godly nature that God has put in us, but we can let it be revealed. Yes. But it says, so the measuring stick is the fruit of the spirit.
John McLarty:So what we should experience and people should see is the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, who doesn't need more kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
Kimberly Faith:Right. You know, it's it's, what you just said about what we people should see and we should experience. I think that's important that that both of those things should be happening.
John McLarty:Yes.
Kimberly Faith:It's it's not like we have to, oh, I've gotta be loving to my You know? No. Because to experience loving your enemy, you're also experiencing the love from God. Right. We were his I was his enemy before he when he came and died
John McLarty:for He brings peace to
Kimberly Faith:us. That's right. But my point is it's it's not just us struggling to do something. Mhmm. It's us experiencing something.
Kimberly Faith:You can't give away what you don't have. And when you have it, then you want to give it away because that's the essence of love. Right? And when you have peace, you can't help but share it because it emanates. In a in a chaotic world, peace is a light.
Kimberly Faith:Right? So I think this transformation is is it's self evident, and I appreciate that you brought up Galatians because you look at Galatians in chapter five before that, it talks about the works of the flesh. Mhmm. And it's all the things that that we don't want.
John McLarty:You know? So those fruits are the result of the spirit of God not being quenched.
Kimberly Faith:That's right. That's right. And then, of course, we also talked about making the word of God come alive to us and just how beautiful that connection between how Jesus is the word and the word is written for us to, you know, to be able to read and to put into our mind and to transform our thoughts, but how the spirit in us gives us this gift of, like, I think we called it night vision goggles almost, where we're reading the word. And and I think the other example we used was, hearing a song in Spanish but not knowing the language. But but the spirit allows us to know the language of God.
Kimberly Faith:And
John McLarty:Right. He reveals, he reveals things to us through his spirit.
Kimberly Faith:Right. And so kind of as we segue into this into the primary idea of this podcast, which is the implications, the serious implications of rejecting the Holy Spirit. You know, I would I would just challenge everyone listening to this because this has been the challenge that I think that God has given me is, you know, when when I read your word with God's word, is it flat? Is it meaningless? Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:When I'm praying, do they are the prayers feel like they're hitting the wall? Do I feel the spirit actively transforming me? I I used the example last week of saying something that was not nice in my office, and the spirit immediately taking hold of me and saying that that was grieved by that. If we're not experiencing those things, then we need to be very concerned. And I and I and I tell you that I'm not saying this from me telling you this.
Kimberly Faith:I'm telling I'm saying this from me experiencing this. I know it's a constant battlefield to surrender in such a way to the Holy Spirit that I'm not rejecting him. That makes sense.
John McLarty:Yeah. And that's that's actually even though it's unpleasant feeling,
Kimberly Faith:you
John McLarty:experience an unpleasant feeling.
Kimberly Faith:Right.
John McLarty:But the good thing is that you are feeling. Yes. Yeah. You know, that means your soul, your spirit was sensitive to the spirit of God, and you felt that grief, and you felt like, I need to make this right.
Kimberly Faith:How horrible would it be if you had no feeling in your hand and Exactly. You put it on a in a fire and then just watched it burn and had no sensation. That's kind of really stark example of what we're talking about. The spirit gives us the sensations that we need in order to operate in reality. And so let's talk about let's go ahead and talk about first Thessalonians five nineteen that says, do not quench the spirit.
Kimberly Faith:So
John McLarty:Simple sentence, but a lot of meaning.
Kimberly Faith:Yes. Yes. And so we talked about this word, quench, meaning. I'm probably not saying it right. But anyway, that's a Greek word, which means to extinguish a flame.
Kimberly Faith:And and, you know, you think about, the spirit being a flame in our life. Well, that flame, it's not like we the flame goes out when we don't take care of it, when we fail to feed it. Right?
John McLarty:Yeah. Of oxygen.
Kimberly Faith:Right. Right.
John McLarty:It goes out.
Kimberly Faith:Oxygen, you know, wood.
John McLarty:Mothers it with water.
Kimberly Faith:Right. And so, you know, this is a good point now, another good pivot really. Talk about what are the enemies that want to extinguish the flame? And we know that we've talked about the enemies being Satan. We talked about the enemies being the world culture.
Kimberly Faith:And, the most obvious one is the flesh.
John McLarty:Lives right with us.
Kimberly Faith:Just sleeps with us, walks with It's where soul is housed in our flesh. Right? And it's a self serving, God resisting, Adamic nature that we carry even after we're born again.
John McLarty:I like a phrase here. The spirit's born again. Our soul's alive to God, but our flesh did not get the memo. Flesh is like, I'm not transformed. Right, right.
John McLarty:I have the exact same thoughts, desires, appetites as I did before. You got saved.
Kimberly Faith:Right. Yeah. Exactly. I like what Galatians five seventeen says, and you wanna read that?
John McLarty:Sure. For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another. So this is to believers. This is to born again Christians. And these are contrary one to another so that ye do not do the things that you wish.
Kimberly Faith:Right, and just by way of understanding that you wish, the new you, the real you, the soul
John McLarty:The soul.
Kimberly Faith:The born again soul. Right.
John McLarty:As the mind of Christ is made into the righteousness of God Right. And the flesh is like, oh my goodness. What just happened to my person?
Kimberly Faith:Right. And and so, you know, I mean, let's just kinda get real here and talk about the ways that we quench the spirit. Mhmm. You brought up, we deprive it of oxygen. You know, the fire, we're talking about the fire, right?
Kimberly Faith:The spirit being the fire. We fail to feed the fire. Well, how do we feed the fire of the spirit in us?
John McLarty:One of the ways is prayer.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. Prayer? Mhmm.
John McLarty:And the word.
Kimberly Faith:The word. Right? And, you know, there's an old adage. I don't know who said it first, but whatever you feed grows. Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:Right? Right. And whatever you neglect starves. I think that's, maybe that's not the whole way it's said, but that's the way I think of it.
John McLarty:Yeah. And like whatever dog you feed the most in a fight, that dog will win.
Kimberly Faith:Will win. Yeah. So the gist of the idea is in order for us to sense the spirit in our life, we have got to constantly be feeding it instead of feeding our flesh. And and I say feeding the spirit, I don't mean that the spirit needs anything from us. But we're feeding our soul with things that make the spirit brighter in us.
Kimberly Faith:Does that make sense?
John McLarty:It does. This kind of prayer, the word, and there's something else that's not normally thought of as feeding. But Jesus said, I have meat to eat that you know not of. Well, had just gone and shared the gospel.
Kimberly Faith:Right.
John McLarty:So that was kind of obedience, and that was ministry. So ministry actually is a feeding to us.
Kimberly Faith:Yes.
John McLarty:So that's kind of obedience. Well,
Kimberly Faith:you know, there's an old another old saying. This is as a man
John McLarty:the Lord.
Kimberly Faith:As a man thinks, so he is.
John McLarty:And that may
Kimberly Faith:have come out of Proverbs. I'm sorry. I don't have the quotes on these things, but they're just coming to come to mind as we're talking. You know, that that if we think about ourselves in the way that God's word tells us about who we are, like we're created in the image of God. We are his workmanship created for good for good works.
Kimberly Faith:Right? We are created for his glory. If we think about ourselves according to what God's word says about who we are, that's who we become. But the way that works, the mechanism is we're feeding ourselves with God's word. The spirit is working in God's word to transform us, and that feeds the flame.
Kimberly Faith:And the flame gets so hot that everyone around us sees it. It's not like it's not our it's not us. That is the spirit's presence in our life. And and I I know that, you know, I I mean, I'm just a regular Christian that seems to have the same struggle that everybody else does. I can tell when my flame's hot and when it's not.
Kimberly Faith:Mhmm. Because when my flame is hot, in other words, the Holy Spirit in me is hot, I walk into a room with a different attitude, a different presentation, a different just a totally different dynamic than I do when I'm just being Kim.
John McLarty:Yeah. Most people it's kind of Jesus in us shining through.
Kimberly Faith:Right. And it doesn't
John McLarty:born again nature, that born again soul has the mind of
Kimberly Faith:Christ. Right.
John McLarty:Which cares for others, loves others.
Kimberly Faith:That's right. And and it's not oh, it's it's often not accepted. It's often rejected. Yeah. You know?
Kimberly Faith:Which Jesus was rejected. You know? It's not just because a particular person is rejects us does not mean that we're doing anything wrong.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:It's Oh, yeah. Often because we're doing a lot of things right. And the most important thing is Jesus said he's not of this world. We're not of this world.
John McLarty:Well, the person the man that shared the gospel with me, I was very upset with him.
Kimberly Faith:Because he
John McLarty:thought I he was was under Holy Spirit conviction.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. And you didn't like being called a sinner.
John McLarty:That's right.
Kimberly Faith:I mean
John McLarty:You know, and I have noticed this. People have this uncanny uncomfortableness. Just knowing you're a Christian
Kimberly Faith:Yeah.
John McLarty:Can make people uncomfortable.
Kimberly Faith:It does. Uncanning. Especially if well, the people that are are uncomfortable or angry are the people that are we're gonna talk about them in just a minute. Resisting, that's the third word. Right?
Kimberly Faith:The the third way that we reject the Holy Spirit. But the the thing is, I I think that this is something I just wish I'd gotten through my head as a younger Christian, that this quenching of the spirit Mhmm. Is not a one time thing. I'd always you know, a lot of in a lot of Christian circles, hear, oh, that I wonder if I've quenched the spirit. And I remember thinking this as a young Christian.
Kimberly Faith:I wonder if I've quenched the spirit. But if I'd been thinking all along that every little sin is dimming the flame as opposed to the one big thing. Right? I would have been much more careful to, gosh, why am I still using my pea shooter right now when I have the the big guns available?
John McLarty:Usually, quenching the spirit is a series of small steps. Right. Every Just one big dump of bucket of water on the fire.
Kimberly Faith:Right. Right. Like like the example I gave from the last podcast of just saying some things that were not appropriate. If I had not repented
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:Then that would have been one more, you know, way I've quenched the spirit.
John McLarty:Sure, because then that makes it easier next time to ignore kind of that
Kimberly Faith:The prompting.
John McLarty:That small voice. Yes. Know, it wasn't just yelling at you, but you were like
Kimberly Faith:It was a lack of peace. Was a lack of peace.
John McLarty:And then I've actually I think everybody can relate to this, Christians that are in the process of trying to quench the spirit. Then you think, well, maybe this is just me and these people didn't even catch what just happened. And then twelve hours there, it's still there, it's like, oh, no, I think this is the spirit of God. I know it's the spirit of
Kimberly Faith:God.
John McLarty:And like you said, the next morning, you
Kimberly Faith:Right. I was ready to do it. Yeah. I was couldn't wait to get there and Yeah. And apologize.
Kimberly Faith:But it's it's not just the sins of commission either. I think it's important to understand that it's also the sins of of omission.
John McLarty:Like, when
Kimberly Faith:we're when the Lord lays on our heart to pray, and we distract ourselves instead.
John McLarty:We don't. Right.
Kimberly Faith:When the Lord nudges us, and we've talked about this a lot, to share the gospel or give our track to somebody
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:And we just kind of rationalize away, well, that person doesn't look like they're very interested in Jesus. How are we supposed to know what they're interested in? The Holy Spirit knows that.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:Maybe we are too busy for church or we're gonna do something else that, you know, we rationalize. They well, you know, they don't nobody will really know if I'm gone. We're too tired to disciple. You know, that's been a big challenge for me. I mean, I work all day and then sometimes I'll teach a bible study or I'll have somebody I'm ministering to that I will invite over for dinner, and I'm tired.
Kimberly Faith:And that's just that's just human. That's how we that's where we live. We're tired. We don't wanna share our home because the people have messy kids. You know what I'm saying?
Kimberly Faith:I mean,
John McLarty:it's just
Kimberly Faith:all these things that are just where the rubber meets the road. Every time that we ignore the spirit saying do this, we are quenching that fire a little more. We're putting that fire out a little more. We're becoming unempowered, weakened.
John McLarty:And it's kind reminded me of spiritual just being calloused.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah.
John McLarty:Like, you don't you know, you say your fingers get calloused by playing guitar, then after all, you don't feel it anymore.
Kimberly Faith:Right.
John McLarty:Well, and playing guitar is a good thing because your fingers don't hurt. But in the spiritual realm, it's a bad thing. Yeah. If you just get so used and I've I've experienced this.
Kimberly Faith:We've done.
John McLarty:So used to ignoring God. Right. Then God has to up the game a little bit.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. Yeah. And he does because he loves us.
John McLarty:You know, he chastens those the children that he loves.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah.
John McLarty:And that's like, oh, Lord. Then when you have that repentance, that breakthrough, it's like, it's really wonderful. There's this new freshness. God wants us to be sensitive to him.
Kimberly Faith:He
John McLarty:does. And just obedient, not because he wants slave servants. He actually wants to bless us.
Kimberly Faith:That's right. Again, that's the whole problem is our mindset about who God is. We really know him for who he says he is, then we want him. And and sometimes I'm ashamed to say this, sometimes I just pray, Lord, help me desire you.
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:And I hate even saying it's like it'd be like be saying, hey, dad. I really don't like being around you, but, you know, gosh, I'm just gonna I hope you can help me like you. That's
John McLarty:just Yeah.
Kimberly Faith:That is it's a I'm ashamed to pray that prayer, but god gets that too. Yeah. He gets it. Mhmm.
John McLarty:And so A loving God.
Kimberly Faith:He is such a loving God. And so just going back to this idea of quenching the spirit, that you know, if your prayers have become they seem like a monologue or if you feel like you're not you're not changing, you're just kinda stalled.
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:And when you read the word, it's just kinda, you know, just words on a page. It's time to really, I mean, really just do an inventory. And I'll tell you what I do. When when I have when I start feeling any of these things that that I just described, I ask this holy spirit where show me where I've gone. Where do I need to turn around?
Kimberly Faith:Show me what because usually not the whole my whole life. It's usually just a pocket. It's like, oh, you know, in my work, I did this, or maybe I didn't tell the whole truth because it was too hard. Maybe in a relationship, I didn't take the time to do what I was supposed to do, so I need to go back and fix it. Or maybe I just, didn't read my Bible when I was supposed to.
John McLarty:Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah. I'm just thinking, I've had an experience lately of having a prayer list, and you have all these names and people you're praying for or situations. And the Lord, you know, probably already ahead of this, the Lord just kind of showed me, John, before you just start praying your prayer list, you just need to talk to me.
John McLarty:You just need to say, Lord, be with me today, soften my heart, give me wisdom, show me any areas of my life. And that one on one, it's like before just a list of prayers. I'm just relating to it. Relating to what you're saying, god's gonna answer that prayer. Lord, soften my heart.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. Yeah. It's a great prayer.
John McLarty:Make make me more attuned to you. Yeah. Of course, he's gonna answer that prayer.
Kimberly Faith:That yeah. Of course, he is. That's that's so interesting because one of the challenges that the Lord has given me the last three months has been you know, I'll lay in bed in the morning and start praying, but I found that a lot of my prayers were, god, do this, do that, help me with this, help me with that.
John McLarty:Right. Yeah.
Kimberly Faith:And the Lord was like so what he showed me was a little different. It was just be thankful.
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:And so I actually just wrote a devotional about this because I kinda went down the tier of things to be thankful for. And it's helped me remember how to be because, you know, you kinda stall sometimes. You know? And it was like, okay. I'm gonna thank him for physical stuff first because that's the easiest.
Kimberly Faith:Right? You can think about breath and life and a a cool house or a warm house depending on the temperature outside. Think about the food. You can think about it's easy for us. Right?
Kimberly Faith:And then kind of going on to all of the the blessings, the relational blessings, like family and friends and the, you know, having people I like working with and and then the spiritual. And then just at at the end of that prayer, at the end of just thanking him and being very intentional about it, it's almost like it it takes and it tunes me into really what I need to be praying for.
John McLarty:Do you
Kimberly Faith:know what I'm saying? It's like, I really don't need anything physical. I really don't need anything. You know, I've got lots of friends and family, but the god's like, okay. Now you can really be tuned into praying for what matters.
Kimberly Faith:And that's been it's been great.
John McLarty:So kind of relating to this subject, what I'm saying is the benefit of not quenching the spirit is this lively two way relationship between us and God It's so beneficial to us, that blesses us. And then that helps us be a blessing to others because no one enjoys being around an old, dull, hardened, grumpy Christian. Grumple snort.
Kimberly Faith:That's a new word, Is that a new word?
John McLarty:That's a good one. That sounds like something you and Thomas would read. So
Kimberly Faith:so this kind of brings us in, to the second verse that we read, which is Ephesians four thirty, and do not grieve the holy spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Now this, lupaeo word is so interesting to me because which is the word for grieve, the Greek word for grieve, is to cause deep personal sorrow. And, you know, this is like this kind of personalizes the holy spirit because you think about this phrase, we cannot grieve someone who doesn't love us, and we cannot grieve someone who isn't present.
John McLarty:Yeah. So I see a difference in quenching is just you're ignoring that the flames died out and the spirit's like, you really don't have influence in my life. That's different.
Kimberly Faith:It's like the difference between the person holding the flashlight and the person holding the flashlight. You've got two different dimensions. Mhmm. The the the quenching is the flashlight batteries running out. The grieving is the person holding the flashlight, if that makes sense to you.
John McLarty:It does.
Kimberly Faith:And and, man, it's just when you personalize the Holy Spirit, it's it's a relationship failure, really. It's a relational failure to cause genuine sorrow to the Holy Spirit. That's a different dimension. Yeah. And again, this is written to Christians.
John McLarty:I'm making this very personal. If somebody just said in my life, maybe an old friend, and I'd just forgotten about them. They'd forgotten, you might say ignored each other. And then if this person called me, reached out to me, said, You know, John, I hadn't heard you from me for two years and that has really hurt my feelings. That's different.
John McLarty:That's way different. And I'd be like, Oh, and so this relationship meant something to you to the point that you're calling me and saying you're grieved. This hurts your feelings. Wow, it's so significant to think of the Holy Spirit being that personable. Instead of just like, oh, you're ignoring me.
John McLarty:I'll ignore you. See you later. Right. Things won't probably go won't go too well for the judgment scene of Christ. Right.
John McLarty:That's your choice. Yeah. No. He reaches the grieving is re he's reaching out to us
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. Yeah.
John McLarty:And letting us know, you know, this doesn't feel right.
Kimberly Faith:And and he doesn't like, he's not looking to escape the relationship.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:I think we Exactly.
John McLarty:Like, okay.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. We often impose
John McLarty:Like, fine. Just be that way. Impose Post on his attitude.
Kimberly Faith:We impose human attitudes on God. Mhmm. You know, human reactions on on God. And and I think that, you know, we like, I I can imagine if if all of the sin that we have committed committed against the Holy Spirit in quenching, grieving, however you wanna look at it, had been committed by somebody close to us, we would not be so quick to want to reconcile that relationship.
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:It would take a lot of repentance on that person's part and really not just repentance, but probably making up for the bad stuff. Right. You know what I'm saying? But the but the Bible tells us that restoration is it's such a beautiful gift. And I'm I'm gonna skip ahead just a little bit because I think this is a good time to bring it up.
Kimberly Faith:First John one nine says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is written to Christians.
John McLarty:That's very important.
Kimberly Faith:It is very important.
John McLarty:This is not this is to Christians.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. This is not talking about salvation because salvation solidifies a relationship. We're talking about the journey with God.
John McLarty:So as Christians, just to really hammer this in, we still need forgiveness. Yes. Not that our soul is hanging in the balance. Right. Because the soul's been born again, saved in the flesh.
John McLarty:Elijah, we can minimize, Oh, that's just my flesh, and it's no big deal. Yeah, it is a big deal because it's grieving the Holy Spirit and it's hindering our effectiveness. And we need to ask for forgiveness. That's a great verse.
Kimberly Faith:It's like this, since we've used the spiritual warfare example, it's like we're taking the weapons that the Holy Spirit has given us to fight and to be successful and to have victory, and we're pounding them, you know, damaging them, and we're throwing them back in his face. We're we're we're turning around, taking our m 15 and smashing the Holy Spirit in the face. That's a really graphic example. That's what we're doing. Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:And and that's very personal. You know, if if if I had given my children you know, I mean, I provided a home for my children, and their their response to that was, let's just burn it down. Yeah. You
John McLarty:know? Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:That's really a big deal. If if I made a beautiful cake for my son, he just threw it in my face. That's very offensive. And the fact is that our sin is that is us not just firing our pea shooter across the enemy lines. That's us joining the enemy
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:Against the forces of God. That's Jesus said, you're either for me or you're against me. And just to and I'm not trying to guilt trip anybody. This is a reality check. This is, hey.
Kimberly Faith:We're in a spiritual warfare, and we have this empowerment that we can neglect. We can, actually offend this empowering spirit to the point that we're really fighting against God or enmity with God. Mhmm. And that's and that is think about think about just in a on a battlefield if if somebody who was on, you know, side a decided to join side b, and, you know, what what a breach that would cause.
John McLarty:Yeah, sure, your team would be like, why is he over there? Right. Yeah, not a small thing.
Kimberly Faith:And what if that person took a bunch of other people with him?
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:You know? And what if in that process, the person who crossed over the line, there were people whose who were being you know, whose territory had been was forfeited because of that. The souls that we would forfeit by by joining the enemy forces, which sin is the force that's enemy, you know?
John McLarty:And it'd be easy to say people would say, well, haven't crossed that line. But here's Paul lists some of the sources of grieving the Holy Spirit.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. Want you read this.
John McLarty:I think we can all say, oh, maybe I've got a little bit of that. Ephesians four thirty one, Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.
Kimberly Faith:Right. You know, and I go back to that example in the office, that conversation I had where I had said some things I shouldn't have said. Look, it's either loving or it's not. Our conversation I I heard a a pastor say one time He
John McLarty:was speaking. Yeah.
Kimberly Faith:I heard a pastor say, don't say it unless it's three meets your three part criteria. It's kind, it's honest, and it's necessary. Mhmm. That eliminates a lot of speech.
John McLarty:It does.
Kimberly Faith:I mean, it eliminates a lot of speech. But if it meets that criteria, it's probably from God's word. It's probably something that fulfills the it it displays the fruit of the spirit. It's, you know, showing love, joy, peace, compassion, kindness, gentleness, neatness. I like to think of sin as a crime against God's love.
Kimberly Faith:That's to me when you think about like, I use the example of throwing the cake back in my face or burning down the house that I built. That would be a crime against my love. My love made those things for my kids.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:And if they destroy those things, that's what our sin is to Jesus. He gave everything. That's right.
John McLarty:It's re
Kimberly Faith:it's more than rejection. I think it's I I don't know. That's a I don't mean to be critical of that word, but I'm just saying it's it's rejection plus complete disdain.
John McLarty:Malice.
Kimberly Faith:With malice. Yeah. Yes. That's a good word to
John McLarty:use. And
Kimberly Faith:that destroys relationships. Mhmm. You know? We need to view the Holy Spirit not just as this fire, but as this person.
John McLarty:Right. And And That he takes it personally Yes. To be he he's grieved. He takes it personally to be rejected.
Kimberly Faith:As would we. Yeah. I mean, it's not like this is this is Greek to us. You know, If we were in a position of the Holy Spirit, which we can relate to having been in relationships with other humans, you know, we would not take kindly to many of the things that we do to the spirit if they were done to us by another human.
John McLarty:But I do want to say this. Mean, I agree with the malice, but just to reject, we think, well, I don't hate God. I'm not angry at God. I'm just not going to obey God. That's a grievous sin too.
Kimberly Faith:Right, and that's a good point.
John McLarty:Kind of that sin of omission rather than commission. Just God's not going to be in control of my life right now. I've got my own thing to do.
Kimberly Faith:Right. But think about and I totally agree with what you're saying because I think the way we look at sin, the way God looks at sin are definitely two different things.
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:But you look at back going back to the the the in the podcast, we talked about the four lies. You know, Eve was in the perfection of the garden.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:And she and and she had not experienced the effects of sin yet. So she didn't have any context. All she has is a context of the goodness of God. And Satan is able to convince her that God isn't good, and that God doesn't really mean what he says and that he doesn't really have the authority, the moral authority to tell her what to do. You know?
Kimberly Faith:And I think whether you look at that with malice or just ignorance, that's
John McLarty:still I'm just thinking, you know, sin can my point is this can be very subtle. Yes. Like Adam and Eve didn't just like, well, we're just gonna shake our fist in hatred of God. Yeah. They're just like, no, we're gonna just fall for these lies.
Kimberly Faith:Right. And that's that's kinda was was
John McLarty:really disobeying.
Kimberly Faith:I was kinda reinforcing the point you brought up was that, you know, they were in complete ignorance of what it felt like to be in the throes of sin. And they were they succumbed. So this this idea that we reject the Holy Spirit as born again believers, we need to understand that the whole spectrum of the warfare of Satan is is going to be unleashed against us from the most obvious to the most subtle and keeping us from experiencing the full range of being able to hold the fire hose power of the Holy Spirit and fight the flame, so to speak. You know?
John McLarty:And there is kind of a progression of quenching the spirit, which is ignoring him. And then you get to the point of grieving the spirit where it's almost more than just a little bit of ignoring. And grieving the spirit, it's come to the point where he's taking it personally.
Kimberly Faith:I think that's a really good point. That's a really good point. I think that that actually is we can understand that because relationships are that way. Yeah. You know?
Kimberly Faith:I mean, I may ignore your phone call
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:And and just take you for granted
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:And be, you know, kind of callous and indifferent. You know, I heard somebody say that that the apathy is the great enemy of love.
John McLarty:Yeah.
Kimberly Faith:Mhmm. You know? Yeah. But then at some point, it's gonna become personal for you.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:And it's not gonna be just, well, you know, gosh. Why would I you know?
John McLarty:Yeah. I'm not gonna just put up
Kimberly Faith:with this. We're supposed to be friends.
John McLarty:Yeah. Instead of just thinking, well, Kim's just busy. Right. Begin to think, Kim's got some what have I done?
Kimberly Faith:Exactly. You Yeah. And, of course, you know, the spirit hasn't done anything wrong.
John McLarty:Right. Exactly.
Kimberly Faith:So, and so let's kind of shift for a minute here and talk about rejecting the spirit from the perspective of somebody who is not born again. This is so when we talk about resisting, which is the third way that the spirit can be rejected, let's talk about the verse that you read in Acts seven fifty one. And so let's talk about the context first of this verse. Wanna read
John McLarty:that Oh, okay. So this is yeah. This is the unsaved. Right. So we've been talking about in the context of Christians Right.
John McLarty:Quenching the spirit and grieving the spirit. But this is the leadership of the nation of Israel.
Kimberly Faith:The religious leadership.
John McLarty:Acts seven fifty one, Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears I think it was is this Paul saying this or Peter?
Kimberly Faith:No, this is Stephen. You Stephen, right before he was
John McLarty:always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did, so do you. Right. Yes, that was Stephen's response.
Kimberly Faith:Right before he was stoned.
John McLarty:And And infuriated them. Right. And they killed him.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. They killed him. And, you know, it's so interesting because we we talked about this last time, How you know, here's Stephen talking to the Jewish leadership, supposedly the house of witness of God. Right?
John McLarty:Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:This is a religious leadership. Granted, they were living in in, you know, subjugation because Rome was Rome was in in control. Right? They were in Rome. And or they weren't in Rome, but Rome had control of of their territory of the nation of Israel.
Kimberly Faith:But I wanna just go back to Genesis six five, because this isn't something new. This resisting the spirit is not something that just happened in the New Testament times. In in Genesis six five, we talked about this last week a little bit. God said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever. This was right before the flood.
John McLarty:The flood.
Kimberly Faith:In the time of Noah.
John McLarty:Yeah. Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:And the the idea is that the spirit, from the beginning of time, had been actively contending with pressing upon, urging humanity towards God, drawing people in a relationship. Again, the idea is the spirit had been drawing hearts to salvation.
John McLarty:Right.
Kimberly Faith:And Noah's generation had been ignoring that work and resisting it. And there I mean, when you if you look at the description of the times in Noah all through the Bible, there's references even back, back to that time. They had degenerated into an awful, awful time. And God just said, you know what? I'm gonna destroy the world and start over.
Kimberly Faith:And it's and it's, you know, this is this is this should be very, very scary, and I'm not trying to guilt trip anybody, but, you know, it's kinda like if if you were driving dad towards a cliff, full throttle, and I saw that there was a sign saying bridge out ahead and I took it down, you know, it would be a great disservice to you. We wanna make sure people see this sign. There there's a bridge out ahead, you know, and if the Holy Spirit is speaking and drawing you to salvation, you're not promised today. You're not promised tomorrow.
John McLarty:Yeah. And I think that's very important. Someone feels that and rejects it, that's a serious thing. Yes. When I was lost and felt that conviction, like I just said earlier, it made me angry in my flesh.
John McLarty:But I kind of dread the thought of that very day when it was so fresh, if I hadn't yielded, then maybe the next time I was challenged by the spirit of God, maybe it gets easier to reject. Yeah, that's for people I mean, the Bible says today's the day of salvation.
Kimberly Faith:That's right. Yeah. If you're if you're hearing this podcast and you have any doubt that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, today is the day of salvation. And the world wants to make it hard. Satan wants to make it confusing.
Kimberly Faith:It's not. Jesus, he came, he became incarnate, he lived a perfect life, he was the perfect lamb of God. Mhmm. And he offered himself freely on the cross, gave his life, took the full penalty of our sins, every human sins, from the beginning of of creation all the way into the future, whatever that looks like, past, present, future. And he he paid for those sins with his life.
Kimberly Faith:He was separated from his father and paid the penalty, the full penalty. And salvation is his gift. And when we
John McLarty:And he offers that gift.
Kimberly Faith:Freely. That's right. But the spirit if the spirit is drawing you to accept that gift, then don't listen to the world. Don't listen to the lies. Don't listen to the I don't need it.
Kimberly Faith:I'll do it later. I'll do it when I'm better. I'll make myself better. That was my the big lie I believed. Okay, Lord.
Kimberly Faith:I want your salvation, and I'll be better. No. That doesn't work that way. It's a free gift. It's grace.
Kimberly Faith:It is I surrender, not I'll be better.
John McLarty:Yeah, and that's a good point. That day I felt that, I ended up being saved that very day. And just to urge our listeners, I did not have to go through a year worth of Bible study and go study creation versus evolution. The spirit of God was just drawing me, and I'd heard the gospel, this message of salvation, that you just shared that Jesus had gone to the cross, he was God, manifested in the flesh, died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, offered it for those who had heard that message and then in repentance wanting to turn from sin and turn our life over to God. So yeah, it was a yielding.
John McLarty:It wasn't a great work that I can boast about.
Kimberly Faith:That's right.
John McLarty:But it was a yielding, which is the opposite of resistance.
Kimberly Faith:That's a good point. That's a good point, dad. I didn't thought about that because I just think about it. Know my salvation was just a surrender. To that To
John McLarty:not surrender. If somebody's kinda pushing on you and you don't yield
Kimberly Faith:Right.
John McLarty:You have to Resist. You have to resist. Yeah. You have to push back.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. Yeah. And it's and and, you know, Jesus, the the gospel story is so powerful. You know, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. You know, when it when it talks about what Jesus did, he if you're listening to this, just know this.
Kimberly Faith:Jesus measured the value of your soul in the currency of his blood. I mean, that is that is what he gave. And if if you feel the spirit drawing you to Jesus Christ, you're being that means you're being given the desire to repent because you know the way that you've been living is wrong, and you're being given faith that is a gift that enables you to believe and to surrender, knowing that Jesus Christ paid the price for your salvation, and he did that through his death, and he conquered death because he rose again and is living today. And if you're being drawn, just say I do. Just give the Lord your life with your give him everything, and you will have the gift of salvation, and then you'll be able to have engaged this great gift of the Holy Spirit.
John McLarty:And just to kind of put a little bow tie on that, I'm thinking about Jesus' message, Repent ye and believe the gospel. So we hear that message, we turn to him, but then we just trust. We believe that it's not this, oh, and if I live the rest of my life perfectly, and it's that moment of salvation. It's like a little child that fell and they just ask mommy or daddy, pick me up. And they're believing.
John McLarty:They have a need, they ask, and they're believing.
Kimberly Faith:That's good, dad. I think
John McLarty:So it's a trusting. And I didn't have to have this full doctrinal explanation of that. I knew I was being drawn, was being offered salvation, And the same with you, same with everybody.
Kimberly Faith:Right.
John McLarty:You repent, which isn't this, you know, years of, you know, making penance.
Kimberly Faith:Right. Crawling to Mecca on your knees.
John McLarty:Repentance means yield. It's a it's a turning.
Kimberly Faith:60. Or one eighty.
John McLarty:Yeah. One eighty. And saying, Lord, save me. I'm a sinner. Right.
John McLarty:And then what God has promised to do, he will do.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. You know Amen. It's I appreciate you saying that because I remember the spiritual anxiety that I felt, and just never knowing if I was good enough, if I had done enough, if I died tonight, would I go to heaven, would I go to hell, Had the rapture come and I've been left behind? You know, all those things that that strike fear in us, you don't have to live that way. The spirit is drawing you to salvation.
Kimberly Faith:That's the best gift you could have right now. And when you give your life to Christ, you're laying your feet into the capable hands of someone who conquered death. You don't have to worry about that part of your life is secure. That one of the verses we read earlier is the spirit seals us unto the day of redemption.
John McLarty:That's exciting you said that, Kim, because I had I just had this idea. You were talking about the Holy Spirit.
Kimberly Faith:Right.
John McLarty:The Holy Spirit's drawing a person to salvation, and then they yield. And then I just see the Holy Spirit rushing in for fellowship and that ceiling.
Kimberly Faith:Love that.
John McLarty:And then that relationship's there, and it's wonderful. It's life changing.
Kimberly Faith:Yes.
John McLarty:And then just to kind of back up to the Christian experience, why then grieve that Holy Spirit that drew us and came to fellowship with us and lived within us?
Kimberly Faith:It's kinda like it it what it reminds me of when you said that the Holy Spirit rushes in and seals us. I'm thinking about the fruit of the spirit rushing in, and we, for the first time in our life, this is how I remember it, I feel completely loved. I feel complete peace. Mhmm. I feel a a joy that I'd never experienced before.
Kimberly Faith:It was inexplicable, you know, and, you know, just
John McLarty:It's not just the it's yeah. Right. I'm just gonna it's not a religious decision to follow a bunch of rules. Right. It's it's an experience.
Kimberly Faith:It's a relational experience.
John McLarty:Yes.
Kimberly Faith:And and the reason we go back as born again believers into this grieving or, quenching of the Holy Spirit is because we're deluded. We've been to the beach. We felt the sun in our face. We felt the sand in our feet. We've seen the crash of the waves.
Kimberly Faith:We've enjoyed that beauty, and we've never learned to really appreciate it. Because when we do learn to live there, to live in that place, we never wanna go back to the ghetto. Mhmm. You know? And as a born again believer who did go back to the ghetto, and God, by his great mercy and grace, sent me a postcard of the of the seaside, and he said, look what you're missing.
Kimberly Faith:Mhmm. And I was like, oh, I remember that. And he brought me back, and I just you know, it it's so emotional for me to think about that. But all the time I spent in the ghetto, that God still was chasing me down. Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith:You know? Here we are today.
John McLarty:Oh my goodness.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah, here we are today. So I'm gonna we'll stop this podcast before I start crying.
John McLarty:Well, a little image in my mind, Kim, just to recover yourself. So once we're saved, I see this spirit rushing in, we're saved, and then I see our flesh just lost. Kind of got body slammed, but it's not dead. So I see different ways in the Christian. We're talking about grieving the spirit.
John McLarty:So this flesh crawls back, know, kind of regained itself, comes to consciousness. And as a Christian, we still have the flesh, and it kinda crawls back. And then it you know, if it's fed, it achieves victory and dominance again. Then that's the that's the spiritual fight we're talking about.
Kimberly Faith:Yeah. Romans chapter seven.
John McLarty:Yep.
Kimberly Faith:So well, dad, this has been a great podcast. It has. Yeah. I just wanna I hope anyone listening to this has been greatly encouraged to reexamine where you are. It's a measurable thing.
Kimberly Faith:You can measure these things. Is your life being transformed? Are your prayers being interceded in?
John McLarty:Yes.
Kimberly Faith:And is the word alive for you? Those are just three great measuring sticks that we can all use, and we have to use them every day to to make sure that we are, instead of quenching the spirit, instead of rejecting the relationship, we are feeding it.
John McLarty:And if you don't have the spirit already, we've given the solution, is the cross.
Kimberly Faith:That's
John McLarty:right. Salvation through Christ. Repent and believe.
Kimberly Faith:Repent and believe, whether you're born again or not born again. You know? That's that's the that's the solution. So that this has been a good this has been good for me and my soul to dig into this today.
John McLarty:Always are, Kim. Always enjoyable.
Kimberly Faith:Hey, friend. If this podcast lifted your heart or challenged your faith, imagine what God can do when you dive even deeper. That's exactly what you'll find at gofaithstrong.com, a growing hub of podcasts, devotionals, music, and resources to help you stay strong in your walk with Christ. We're all about helping you live your faith out loud, not just once a week, but every single day. You need a boost in your quiet time?
Kimberly Faith:Struggling to stay grounded in the truth? Looking for a community walking the same path? It's all there. It's all created to point you to Jesus. And if this episode encouraged you, would you do us a quick favor?
Kimberly Faith:Every like, follow, and share helps us reach more people with God's truth. Join us in the mission by spreading the word today. Hallelujah. He rescued me.