Change, transformation, and growing into the person we'd like to be is not easy; especially if you don't solicit some help. The words in the "Good Book" are the manual we need to transform and grow. This allows us to trust and have faith in the Lord! Pay attention to this week's episode the KEY word needed for transformation in your life.
Change, transformation, and growing into the person we'd like to be is not easy; especially if you don't solicit some help. The words in the "Good Book" are the manual we need to transform and grow. This allows us to trust and have faith in the Lord! Pay attention to this week's episode the KEY word needed for transformation in your life.
Change and transformation. Not only do I love both those words, but I really love what they mean in my life. I love change, but I also know most people, don't not only most people don't, it's very difficult to change. How can we make it easier? How can we go about embracing change? We're going to talk about what brings true transformation and blessing today. So stay tuned. Welcome to episode 66 of the well-versed woman podcast. I'm Renee, a teller and I'm
Speaker 2:Teresa Morgan. You see Renee and I are two perfectly imperfect women, as we say every week. And we come to you. We love to share our faith and share a life journeys, walking with Jesus Christ so that your faith can grow and mature as well. What
Speaker 1:We love to share is the fact that it's about a relationship and not about a religion. And we talk about that week after week, developing this relationship with the one who created us. We also know that in order to get our downloads from that creator, we need to plug in and we do that by taking 20 seconds to be very still preferably closing our eyes and asking our creator to fill us with what we need to learn today, open our eyes, to see our ears, to hear and our hearts, to know what we would learn today. So I'd like you to get ready for those 20 seconds, because they're going to start right now.[inaudible], That's it. That's 20 seconds. And I'm going to encourage you to grow that time. Really, really try. You know, we're just coming into that month of September, just wrapping up the first week here. And you can make a difference this month by just making it a point to grow that 20 seconds talking about change. And that might be a change you need to make. I know it's difficult, but you know, Theresa, there is some ways that we can get help from our creator from this big God that we're developing a relationship with. He is the only reason that I think I've learned to embrace change. And the only one who has given me the power to do some of these hard changes that we've, I've tried to make in life.
Speaker 2:That's so very true, Renee. And I love when you said he's given you the power. So when we think about the relationship with the Lord, we know, and we've talked so much about the vibrant living presence of the holy spirit that dwells within us. So God of the universe, who's all powerful, all loving, all kind, all just wants to bring about and help us with the change in our life. According to the plans and purposes that he has for us. So I just love that when someone puts their faith in Jesus as Lord and savior, right? So he's the savior of the world, meaning that through his death, burial and resurrection and the blood he shed, we have available forgiveness of sins in, when we put our trust in him, when we acknowledge him as Lord and savior, we become a Christian in the holy spirit, then dwells in our spirit to help us with the change and the transformation that Renee and I have been talking about for the last couple of weeks today, we want to dive right in Renee to Romans chapter 10, verses nine through 10 in the Bible says this, it was written by Paul. The apostle. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart, that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved for, with the heart. One believes underwrite righteousness, which means right standing with dad and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Verse 13 says, so today I want to talk not so much about salvation in the act and the action of salvation believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth. We've talked about that, but I would, I would really like to hone in on here is the word Lord that you confess with your mouth, the Lord, Jesus, you know, Christ's work on the cross. What we, what we call the redemptive work on the cross brings the forgiveness of sins. So it saves us from eternal punishment for our sins. And it transfers us into eternal life with God. So Renee, you know, we have said, Jesus is the bridge to bring us back to the father. When we put our faith in receive Christ as our savior, we have eternal life, but the Bible is also very clear that we need to make him more. So he's not only our savior, but he's our Lord Renee. You know? So when someone is a Lord, right, it means he has reign over us and authority over us. And we are going to look for him for our instruction and we are going to become his disciple. So really Renee, you know, as Christian is a Christian, we become little Christs, meaning we disciple after Christ. So when we see things in the Bible, in his word, we can choose to do them or not do them. And when we choose obedience, Renee, that's when the true change and transformation starts to happen. I want to say one little caveat here. So people don't get confused. If someone is thinking, oh well, I've made Jesus. My, my savior. If I disobey, do I lose my salvation? No, absolutely not. The Lord keeps Intacct our freewill, even after we're saved. But what he does is he brings us to a place where that salvation that has occurred in our hearts and in our spirits can be worked out through our soul. And when that happens, Renee, that's the beginning of transformation.
Speaker 1:So true. I also feel that that obedience to that Christ-like being that trying and striving to be like, Jesus, that obedience is what sets the whole train in motion tracer. When I began studying the word and began obeying or trying to do what the word was, teaching me to do everything in my life began to change. Does that make sense? It was like, I got like, you know, when the train is going down the track and then the, then it shifts a little bit and you get on that, that proper path. And now you're on the right track. And every time you obey, you get further and further along, down the track
Speaker 2:And see that's so true, Renee. And I love that analogy because you can, you can say, and you can liken it to when you receive Christ, you get on the train, right? You're you're on the train and then you have a choice to get off at the next stop, continue new the journey, right? So with Christ, what you want to do is you want to follow his lead, the lead of his spirit, the holy spirit at every stop. Lord, do you want me to get off here? Is there something you want me to learn? It's a step, get back on the train. So it is, it becomes a life of being led by the holy spirit. And it's also a life of trust, right? It takes great faith to obey, and there's a learning curve in learning how the Lord leads us, learning how the Lord speaks in that we've talked a lot about is developed in our prayer time with the Lord in our experiences, following the Lord. But suffice it to say here today is that God loves obedience. He loves obedience to what he says in, in his word, because that is God's way of good of the good life. If you will. Right. I Renee, I've, I've heard the Bible, uh, called the good book. It is the good book because it's filled with wisdom, the Proverbs and the Psalms, the gospels, the, um, the letters that follow is there. Chuck full with wisdom that we need day in and day out to leave to lead good, healthy, prosperous lives. Let's look at what, um, the Bible says in the book of first Samuel chapter 15 verse 22, and the Lord says this he's talking, um, uh, in the old Testament and Samuel was a prophet of God. And the Bible says in verse 22. So Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice. So we can see here, obedience is better than sacrifice. Of course, first Samuel was in the old Testament and the, in that day, the Hebrew people sacrificed a lot, right? The, the bulls and the goats were slain to present a blood offering for remission of sin for a time waiting for Jesus to shed his blood once. And for all. So God is saying even above sacrifice, I desire obedience point Renee. Why is that? It's because number one, obedience requires faith. Number two, when we obey God, then could help us along our path in a trajectory for good change, good transformation. If we were in a row in a relationship that wasn't healthy, he'll help us get out. If we're in a financial bind, he'll help us smooth that over. If we need healing in our bodies, he'll help us in that regard, whatever we need in this life, he wants to put us on the good path and show us exactly how to get there. And if we choose obedience, he will get us there.
Speaker 1:Mm. So true. And obedience is he ends up being easy. Tracy, I think in the first part of my life where my life was more about religion and not about relationship, I felt like I had a bunch of rules to follow, but once I started spending time with God and developing a relationship like I do any other friend and got to know him in that quiet time with just he and I, where I'm praying. And literally again, like we do in the beginning of every episode, plug into my creator, plug in and be still and ask him to speak to me and read the word with, with the good book in front of me, everything changes. And you realize how easy it is to be obedient, how easy it is to follow the things that he's teaching in that book. It, um, it truly is a good book to help us walk through this life. It's like our, um, manual, right? Like we get with an appliance. It's like our manual where he's protecting us and guiding us. And you begin to realize that, geez, you know, I can, I can pay attention to this. Not that I'm not gonna fall. Not that I'm not gonna, you know, if the, if the word and God teaches us that divorces in good. Well, I made that mistake, but the reality is I now see why he said it's not good. It was a very painful process to go through. So you begin to realize Tracy, like you said, through, uh, the faith through the walking the journey through marrying up the words in the book with the steps of our daily life, why the words are in the book and why you need to obey. And the more you begin to see it, the easier it is to obey. And it's like the self perpetuating motion, right?
Speaker 2:That's so very true Renee. And once you start walking with the Lord, reading his word, praying, entering, entering into a life full of faith, you see that the commandments and everything in God's word, the teachings, um, the dictates, if you will, are there for our safety and our protection, let's see what the Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 19 and 20, the Bible says, this is God. He says, I call heaven and earth as today against you. That I have set before you life and death. Now here in the book of Deuteronomy, I should say that this is a sermon that Moses is giving to the people, Israel, right? He says, therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord, your God, that you may obey his voice and that you may cling to him for. He is your life and the length of your days. It's that beautiful. Again, we see the word, the Lord, the Lord, your God. So again, we see that if we obey his voice, if we obey his word, we cling to him, right? We want to be so close to him that there's a clinging for. He is our life in length of days. So if we want to enjoy good long, prosperous life, we want to be certain to obey at every turn. When we're reading the word, we might get a nudge or an impression to do something, to call someone. We might hit hear that. Still small voice recognize that it's God saying go ye this way. Not that you know, Renee, there have been times when I'm driving and I'll have, you know, an extra witnesses in my heart. And we've talked about the leading of the holy spirit to make sure, you know, I don't roll through a story or to make sure I'm not going to go into this part of the neighborhood. Or I can remember one time Renee feeling. Yeah. In my heart, my daughter and her girlfriend were in the car and they had jumped in the car with me. And I was, you know, going down Erie Boulevard and they wanted to stop to taco bell to get something. And I had such a witness in my heart, Renee that day, not to go. And I said to the girls, girls, I don't know. I'm just feeling a leading in my heart. And I think the Lord is saying, no, no, no, not today. I didn't hear words, but I just felt a very strong leading in my heart. So my daughter at the time looked to her girlfriend and said, oh, we really have to follow that. My mom usually, you know, doesn't say these things. So if she feels strongly about it, let's follow that. And do you know, Renee, the very next day, there was an article that there was food poisoning. I don't know if you know exactly what it was, but, um, that they had a recall food and, you know, people, uh, they were trying to prevent people from getting sick. So this, these are the simple leadings of the Lord to keep us from experiencing ill things. So that again, we can experience good long length of days in good, long, healthy, prosperous life.
Speaker 1:So true. What a great story. You know, I love you keep bringing up the word the Lord, because even Merriam's dictionary, here's the number one definition, a ruler by hereditary, right. Or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due. So that is so cool because that's exactly what we're talking about to whom obedience is due. Once we decide that, that this God is deserving of our, our relationship and our servitude, you know, we call him Lord and we want to obey him. It's, it's so great. Because again, Theresa, that, that circle, you know, because we learned to trust him, we learned that when we do obey him, that good things happen, that things come into being, and the more we trust them, the more faith we have, the more we obey him and around it goes, it's, you know, you just have to get started. Right. You just have to get on that train and start going down that track of obedience, because if transformation is tough for you, it sure makes it a lot easier.
Speaker 2:Sure does Renee and I love that you bring to the table that, you know, this life of faith is a growth process in just start, see something in the word when you're reading. And you know, if it bears witness to your heart, right. Start doing it, God may be correcting you, or God may be leading you, or God may be giving you a nudge. My, my sister calls the leading of the holy spirit of nudge. And, and I just love that, you know, what we want to get out on the table here is that faith, Rene is practical, right. We apply it to our everyday life so I can remember. And I, and I just, I love the practical stories. You know, my mom and dad, you know, some time ago, they were both living in Rene. They were coming up again up to their 50th wedding anniversary. My dad at the time was, was sick. And, um, they would have had a 50th wedding celebration in January. But my sister, the summer before, she just felt a leading that we should have that celebration in July before they actually reached at Jan that following January, where, when it would have been 50 years and, you know, I said, roll, let's go with it. We had this beautiful 50th celebration and, you know, Renee, my dad passed that October. So what a beautiful example of the loving holy spirit leading us to say, Hey, let's do early because we want to celebrate this very important event in your family. And again, that's what we're talking about. We're talking about obedience to God in a practical manner that brings about joy in just wonderful events and happenings in one's life. You know, sometimes it's a correction. Sometimes it can be, you know, a little painful, right. Painful to the ego. And you know, if it's God, right. So some of the listeners might say, yeah, but how do I know? It's God, you know, I I'm thinking he's leading me in this direction, but I'm not sure. Wow. When you're not sure keep praying. Right. Keep praying on it. Because if it's God, it'll always keep.
Speaker 1:Hmm. It's so true. That just reminds me when you say it of how little patients I have and how much more patients I need, because it does take patients as well. Again, it's a journey, a relationship that is what we talk about so much is not a black and white quick answer. You know, it's, it's developing and growing us, you know, God doesn't move, frankly. He is clearly black and white. He is who he is and that's it. It's our relationship. That is the, the thing that's growing. It's us being transformed, which is what we're talking about today. Our need to transform ourselves from our fleshly world and desires into our spiritual being and being, as we said in the beginning Christ-like and all we can be and how we can be like Jesus, like our Lord, it's, it's a journey. It's a process because we are spirit beings in a flesh world race. So we talk about that all the time. And you know, again, to, to sum it up, the book is our manual and it's the way we grow our faith and our trust in God.
Speaker 2:That's very true. And while you were talking Renee, I was thinking about walking into our bookstore of our church is, you know, the word shop. And I walked in one day and I saw a beautiful print with a scripture underneath it. And the scripture was from Isaiah 12, the 12th chapter of Isaiah. The third verse in the Bible reads this with joy. You will draw water from the Springs or the fountain of salvation with joy, you know, where they, I bought that print in. It's one of my cherished prints because I felt at the time the Lord was speaking to my heart saying, you will find great joy as you draw water, right. As you look to me, the holy spirit is often considered water, right? Fresh Springs. So as I look to him and drop my daily water, my daily bread, there is such a joy when you follow the leading of God. And when you know that you know that, you know, you're being obedient to him. I don't know if there's any greater joy in life, because at that moment, you're flowing in the plans and the purposes that you were designed to flow in. So God wants to bring you into those fresh streams of life that he had planned for you. Even before the foundation of the earth. The Bible said that ha ed is how much he loves us. That is how well we're known in the heart. And mind of God. The Bible says that before the foundation of the earth, he knew us Renee isn't that a pacing that our lives really began in the mind of God. And as he gave our spirit into our, into our mom's womb, right? He had the blueprints, the plans Renee. And so once we're all beading to him, we're flowing and there's no greater feeling that flowing in the blueprints of your lives with, with your savior. It's such a beautiful communion. It's such a beautiful comradery, what the Lord and we get to do life the way God originally designed it to be in concert with the one who made us
Speaker 1:Great way to end this Teresa it's. That was just beautiful. And it's so, so true. And you know, you, and I want to jump through these microphones and really hug everybody and let them know how real it is. And you can only now by doing, you know, and being your own relationship with this, God. So give it a try. We promise you, you won't regret it. Remember it's like every other relationship that you have tried to grow, just do it like that. And it will blossom into the most beautiful thing that you can, could have her imagine.
Speaker 2:So very true in a you and I can give great testimony to that in our lives. I wonder the scriptures I'd like to leave our listeners with this week is from second Corinthians chapter one verses 20 to two. Again, the apostle Paul wrote this in the Bible, says for all the promises of God in him in Christ are yes. In, in him, amen to the glory of God, through us. Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, in his anointed, us as God who has also sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts is a guarantee that beautiful. Again, another scripture that bears witnessing in gives us the truth that the holy spirit lives in our hearts he's seals us, right? He comes into our spirits and we're sealed. Um, the Bible says in, he is our holy helper that helps us to achieve all that we're talking about in this podcast today, Renee,
Speaker 1:That's great, but you have one scripture that we recite every week, Theresa, what is that?
Speaker 2:We should do Romans 10 17. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing
Speaker 1:By the word of God, talk to you next week. Thank you for listening. And you know, you can subscribe to this channel, but you can also rate and review it. And we would love for you to do that. Write us a little review, write us a little comment about what you liked about what you'd love to hear. And then we'll send you a well versed woman journal in the mail. We also have a Facebook community. You can join called the well-versed woman, just put in a request to join that group. And we will approve you and let you in. And last but not least the show notes, our favorite part, the word of God written in the note of every single episode, so that you can go back through and review these scriptures. These particular ones, that'll help you with obedience. That brings about true transformation. Thank you for listening. And we'll talk to you next week. Bye now really lovely.