WVW #020 – Can you handle the truth?

(00:00): There's a movie almost 30 years old. That has one of my favorite all time lines in it. You can't handle the truth. Jack Nicholson's character spoke that from a witness stand. He was in, I believe the army and was trying to defend why he lied, why he withheld the truth. Do you know what movie it was? It's called a few good men. I can't even believe it's 30 years old with Tom cruise, Debbie Moore and Jack Nicholson. It's funny though, throughout my life, I feel I was just the opposite. I didn't want to withhold the truth. In fact, my approach was that brutally honest emphasis on the word brutal. It didn't really serve me well. So I found out, but I wanted people to be honest with me, regardless of how it might hurt me. So I thought they want brutal honesty as well. That's not exactly true hiding truth or brutal honesty. What is the best approach? If you're struggling today with what the truth is and how to find it and how to use truth in love in your life, then you want to stay tuned because we have a word from God that you're going to want to hear.

(01:32): Welcome to episode 20 of the well-versed woman podcast. I'm Renee teller and I'm Theresa Morgan, Renee. And I are two perfectly imperfect women who have a heart to share our faith in life's journeys with you. What our journey has entailed is learning about God, learning that we can't do it alone. We can't survive without them. And we know if you stay to that, you're going to experience that same love of God and that peace that truly passes all understanding. But before we get started, we're going to want to do one thing. We're going to want to plug into that power source, our creator that has the direct line to revelation and wisdom in our life. So if you haven't done this before, just bear with us and stay tuned because we're going to take 20 seconds. We're going to close our eyes and we're going to ask God himself to open our hearts, our ears, and our minds to what he'd have us learn today. Here we go.

(03:06): That's it. That was 20 seconds. And again,

(03:09): And I'm going to encourage you to grow that still time. That is going to do so much for your connection with God and your peace that passes all understanding. But back to the subject today, we're in a series on grace and grace is the free favor from God. We love to talk about grace. And today we're going to talk about grace for peace and patience. So what does that have to do about what I talked about with truth and honesty and all of that, Theresa, we talk about the fact that God is full of truth and Grace Chase. I don't, we certainly do Renee because walking in this world, let's just put it out there. It's difficult. You know, it's difficult. It's more difficult in certain times than others, but it is tough. And the Bible has a lot to say about how we walk in this earth.

(04:10): You know, in of course, Jesus is our perfect model. If we look back in the book of John in the first chapter, it says the grace and truth came in the person of Jesus Christ. So as Christians, you know, it's a tall order because we always want to balance the truth with the grace that comes from the Holy spirit to get that truth out. And Renee, I loved your analogy. I just loved your opening because you were talking about, you know, initially you felt you wanted to be so brutally honest because with authors, because that's how you wanted others to be with you. But sometimes the brutality of honesty, um, is too much for people to bear the shutdown and then the truth can't slip in. So what we want to do is always walk in, in the spirit, as the Bible says, Renee, we want to walk in the spirit and we're going to look at some scriptures that talk about that today.

(05:17): Yeah, so true, Theresa, I think again, when I think about my brutal honesty approach, it was what my head told me to do before my spirit got connected. And my head said, this is, this is the way to go. And when we don't, when we live a life in our own intellect, go back to last week. If you want to listen to self-reliance versus God reliance, which Rene is all about self-reliance I do that very, very well. And how do we undo this self-reliance or my head game with the spirit. And there's a lot of scripture about how we're born in the flesh, Theresa and how we learn to walk in the spirit. And then that comes full circle to our peace and patience. But this idea of walking in the flesh or being in the flesh, right? Yes, that, that is exactly true. Um, first or second, Peter says that all things have been given to us that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ Jesus.

(06:31): So through the knowledge of what God wrote in his word, the Bible, all things were given to us, but we have to have that knowledge. So that awareness is so key. And I just love some of these scriptures because it gives us the knowledge like, Hey, wait a minute, the helper is not just nearby. I don't have to pick up the phone today. And through the amazing technologies of the world, contact the Holy spirit. I just grinning. I just have to look within right, Romans chapter eight, verses 11 through 16. But if the spirit of Jesus who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through his spirit who dwells in you. So the first thing that we have to come to grips with is that when a person is born again, the Holy spirit slips into our spirit in he's.

(07:35): There he's there in every circumstance to help us to walk in the spirit in not according to the desires and the lusts of the flesh. You know, if I could continue here, it says in verse 12 of Romans, chapter eight there for rather, and we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. If you live according to the flesh, you will die. If you live according to the spirit you put to death, the deeds of the body, you will live in this scripture, uh, the 14th scripture, Oh my gosh. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God, sons universal. You need men and women. So let's listen to that. Again, Renee, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are, we could say the children of that first 50 for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received a spirit of adaption. I who we cry out, Abba father, isn't that beautiful Renee that we have the Holy spirit residing within can at every turn he's there. We just have to cry out, help Holy spirit. And he's right there to help us to walk in the spirit.

(09:06): I love all of that. I love that you pointed out awareness is so key, so we need to be aware and you further went on to say, we just have to look within, and there's there's conflict there for me when I hear that, because I say, well, geez, is that person looking within or what is looking within? And that's why we make it so clear every single episode that you have to plug into the power source. So looking within isn't just, again, I'm in my head, Renee, I'm in my head, I'm analyzing I'm I'm with then no, no Renee. You need to be still so that God can intercede so that you can connect to the power source. You need to ask God to be there with you, Renee, which I, you know, which I've learned to do every morning in that still quiet time. And again, we start with 20 seconds. If it's two minutes, that's where I started. That's how difficult it was for me to Teresa, to look within, through him, right. Through connecting first with him and then listening to his spirit that has connected with my spirit.

(10:31): That's exactly correct. And, um, I just, I love listening to what you said about connecting with him because his death, burial and resurrection, the sacrifice of the cross rot us to, to connect with him and Hebrews four, I know, you know, we've talked about Hebrews four 16, but I love to be reminded of it. It says, let us, therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the, in our time of need. So God is not far off. When we invite Jesus into our heart to be Lord and savior, he is so close in. He wants to help. And in so many episodes, we discussed prayer. When we cry out Abba father, that is a prayer sending to the throne of heaven, through the power of the Holy spirit who resides in us. And the Holy spirit is so kind to respond.

(11:34): He responds with the plans. He responds with the assistance as to how we should respond to while that is going on in this world. You know, Renee Colassians chapter two, verse eight, it's just, I feel it's so where we live today, let's let's listen to this. Paul, the apostle Paul who wrote the book of Colossians says, don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies in high sounding nonsense that come from human thinking in, from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. Wow. Wow. So we have to, with the help of the Holy spirit, we have to sit back and go. There's so many things on boarding our mind today. What is truth? Right? Well, we have the truth bearer living inside of us. And if we can just be stele, if we can just take a step back and say, Lord, where is the truth in this? And how as your child has a Christian living in today's world, how should I respond?

(12:47): Oh, so great. What comes to mind? So vividly Theresa is our grownup children, right? So we take these God given gifts, our children, and we take care of them, our whole lives. And then they mature to a place where they have to make their own decisions. We still want to help. We will forever be their mom or their dad, but there comes a time where we have to wait for them to ask. We have to wait for them to come boldly to us and say, Hey, could I get some advice because we no longer can just throw ourselves at them. They are now mature adults. And I listen to the scripture, come boldly to the throne of grace. We have the responsibility to ask God, just like, we're not going to throw ourselves and direct our adult children. He is not going to do that to us as he Theresa, he is

(13:52): Wait until we come boldly

(13:55): To the throne room and ask and cry out Abba father.

(14:00): Oh, that is so true because why, why is that the truth? It's because we have free. Well, why has he given us free? Well, because love demands free. Well, so, you know, it's a system got put into place. And when we cooperate with the system, right, we are going to experience the fruit of the spirit, you know, in the book of Galatians chapter five. And I can remember kicking my children, um, down my long driveway when they were young and we'd get the Bible. And, you know, before they get on that school bus, we would read a scripture. And I wanted them to know the truth. That is, it's not a Rose colored garden out there. And I can remember opening to Galatians five and saying, Hey guys, you know, here's, here's some the truth, not everybody is going to be walking in love. Not everybody is going to be treating you properly because the truth is, is Galatians five verse 19 says, you know, the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions.

(15:16): Dissensions heresies, right? It goes on, you know, in depth. Paul is telling us in Galatians, I tell you before hand, just as I told you, in times past those who practice such things, you know, will not inherit the kingdom of God, which is graciousness peace and joy, the Holy spirit, you know, so I was saying to them guys, you're going to see this, but don't, don't respond the same way because you have the Holy spirit residing in. You just cry out for help because what's the result of that verse 22 to 25, the fruit of the spirit is love joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. And it goes on to say in verse 25, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. So have everything we need to survive in this world we have in, this is the awareness.

(16:21): We just cry out Abba father. We cry out how, and I have come to the place in my life where I know I can't do it alone. I know I was not made to do it alone. I was not made to carry the burdens of this world alone. And when I carry it in union with him, wow, he's my front guard. My rear guard. He's my, my tailwind. He's my friend. He provides in a glorious fashion, the strength that I need every day to analyze, to respond and to stay in a place of love and joy and peace. It's not always easy. You know, we have to fight the good fight of faith, but he is faithful like a good air traffic controller to bring us back, to bring us back on the chartered course of love, joy, peace, patience, it's cetera. That's what he meant for us in this life.

(17:25): So great. And this grace for peace and patience, you know, I learned probably the hard way comes that peace of patients comes from letting go of my fleshly approach, Theresa and filling myself up with the spirit of God

(17:45): And suspect

(17:47): Simple circle. That the more time we take to fill us up with the spirit, being still meditating on the word, understanding that these words are our power. And if you need more of that last week's episode is great. So go ahead and hit that subscribe button, but filling us our minds and our hearts with the word meditating on that. And that brings us full circle to growing our faith Theresa. And it's the faith. That is our strength in God, right?

(18:28): Oh my goodness. Right? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, and we should add here that it is through faith and patience, right? Hebrews chapter six, verses 11 and 12 says, and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises of God. And then it goes on to say in verse 19, it's God's promises that anchor our saw, wow, you know, Renee, I'm a pastor that I love said it this way. God does not put the promises in the Palm of your hand. He puts them within your reach because then the reach and character grows and, you know, don't, we all want to imitate our savior. The Bible says that we are being made back into the image of Jesus.

(19:31): So, you know, there is going to be a little struggle to stay in the rest in the faith of God. But as we continue and look to him and look to him, he who promised is faithful. He who promised is faithful. He never has let anyone down. Um, he does not, err, you know, God is faithful. He does not lie in, as we have said before, and as we know, he watches over his word to perform it. It does not return to him void, but it accomplishes what he said it forth to accomplish. And so we have this hope step fast. And you know, the Bible talks about setting your face like Flint. I say, I am going to be like someone who just will not let go of God's promises because he has proven his faithfulness to me over and over and over. And I know he's always at work in me and in the world to bring about his perfect, well,

(20:41): Amen. That is incredible. So go back and listen to this again. If you're wondering what you should be saying, this is a perfect one for Renee. What you should be saying in these times. We're so grateful. We have more on grace coming next week and the week after. And we know we're going to need it as we ramp up to bring this year to a close. Thank you for listening, Theresa. Here we go. I believe our listeners know the scripture by now, but let's remind them absolutely. Renee Romans 10, 17. It's just such a heavenly verse. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Amen.

(21:34): Thank you for listening. We so appreciate it. And we so appreciate the many, many comments that we have on our podcast. Episodes, the rating and reviewing really lifts us up, encourages our spirit and helps us to just keep forging ahead in a big, strong way. And you can receive a free well-versed woman journal. We still have some left. So go ahead and rate and review this episode and make sure you subscribe. If you haven't already, we are here for you. We have a Facebook community that we would love you to join. It's growing by leaps and bounds. We have prayer night on Thursday nights at 7:00 PM Eastern time. So please stay tuned and join us. And until next time we love you. We appreciate you. God is here with you. Amen. You man. Got it.

(22:27): Bless you.