Episódios
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Episode 263-Focus on Jesus, Not Sugar
I’ve been reading and studying Romans 14 for several weeks. I thought when I first read it that it would an easy passage to talk about. I knew it related to my journey but in what way?
So I asked Jesus, “What is the message of Romans 14 for my listeners?” And He said, “Focus on Me, not on anything else. Not on sugar, not on food, not on diet laws, not on what to celebrate or not celebrate. Just focus on Me and everything will fall into place.”
Then it finally made sense. As a kid, I learned Romans 14:17 in the KJV, but I didn’t know the context of the verse. “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
The Amplified Version says it this way: “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking what one likes, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Did you hear that? It’s not about eating and drinking what we like. It’s all about the Kingdom of God. It’s about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Nothing else matters but allowing Him to lead us.
The MSG adds, “God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as He sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy.”
That makes a lot of sense because verse 18 in every version talks about serving God. We have to get our focus right before we can serve Jesus. I know that was certainly true in my case. For most of my life, my focus was definitely on sugar and not on Jesus.
Romans 14:18 AMP says, “For the one who serves Christ in this way, recognizing that food choice is secondary, is acceptable to God and is approved by men.”
This entire chapter is about the freedom Christ brought. This was especially important to the Jewish believers. When Jesus brought us His freedom, it cancelled the rules about what foods are clean and OK to eat and which were unclean and shouldn’t be eaten.
I get it. I really do. All their lives they had lived by what their “church” told them was proper. They knew that Christ’s liberty had set them free from all of the rules, but they weren’t ready to make the switch just yet. This was causing arguments in the church. In this chapter Paul is trying to tell the new Christians that what we eat or don’t eat is not something that matters regarding our heavenly destiny.
I talk about this as well as my own journey with sugar addiction in this episode.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
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Episode 262-Time to Wake Up
It’s time for Christians to wake up to what’s going on in the world around us. The time is growing short. We are closer to meeting Jesus now than we were first saved.
In Romans 13:11-14 Paul gives a dire warning about the future and describes how we as Christians we are still always one day closer to meeting Him.
He tells us how we should live by describing a normal day. First we have to wake up to the spiritual issues around us. Romans 13:11 tells us to wake up from our slumber. Second, we have take off the old clothes we were wearing in the darkness. Romans 13:12 tells us to “strip away what is done in the shadows of darkness, removing it like filthy clothes.
Next we must dress for battle by “putting on the armor of light,” as it says in Romans 13:12. We also must know our enemy and how to defeat strongholds.
Finally, we have to know where we are going. We have to be dressed to run with Jesus. Romans 13:14 MSG tells us we can’t loiter or linger. We have to be up and about what God is calling us to do.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
What is A Stronghold Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/what-is-a-stronghold/
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Episode 261-Holy Spirit Glow
Do you want glow with the power of the Holy Spirit? It’s certainly something I desire. This is lesson 20 in our study of the book of Romans. We’ve learned that Romans is all about the foundations of the Christian life, how to follow Jesus, how to renounce our fleshly desires, how to renew our minds and how to transform our lives.
Now in the latter part of Romans 12 we learn about serving God. After we learn to lay down our selfish desires, we begin focusing on what God wants us to do with our lives. It’s then that He starts showering us with His grace gifts so we can do the tasks He has called us to do.
These aren’t gifts to hoard. They are gifts to be used to serve Him. This where Romans 12:11 TPT says, “Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward Him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let Him fill you with excitement as you serve Him.” The Message says, “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame.”
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
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Episode 260-From the Inside Out
We can be changed from the inside out. We can renew our minds which will then transform us.
Romans 12:2 AMP and in the MSG gives us several keys to consider which we visit in more depth on the podcast.
First, to renew our minds we can no longer just go with the flow. We have to ask ourselves, is this really what is best for me or is it just what my flesh wants?
Second, we let God mess with our priorities, our habits and our comforts in order to transform us from the inside out.
Third, we don’t allow our old programmed minds to talk us into doing things that are not best for us.
Fourth, it’s not enough to just recognize and know what God wants for us we must quickly do what He wants us to do.
Fifth, our goals should always be follow God’s plans and purposes for our lives.
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Overcomers Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
VIP Freedom Coaching Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
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Episode 259-Surrender Delights God
Why should we surrender to God? Because our surrender delights God. If there is anything we should want to do it is to please God. Surrender also has great value for us on our journeys which also delights God. Romans 12:1 AMP: “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, dedicating all of yourselves, set apart, as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.” What does it means to be living sacrifices? It means to be alive to what Christ wants for us and dead to evil things. It means to surrender to God and that means everything on our journeys. When God talks about living sacrifices, He is talking about the fact that we have died to living for what we desire and have decided to live for what Jesus wants. Gal. 2:20 NLT: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice to God is intelligent, rational, logical because we are obeying God. We are following the God of the Universe who is bigger than we can imagine, but small enough to fit inside us at the same time. Who He is and who we are makes surrendering every single part of our lives to Him a rational, and at the same time a very emotional, course of action. Doing this now and every single day is more than a starting place. It will define how we live in tandem with Him for the rest of our lives.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
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Episode 258-Listen to God
Why don’t we listen to God? The other day I was jogging in the water and pondering what I would share on this podcast. I had been reading Romans 11 for several days but I had decided I was going to go on to do the next podcast on Romans 12 because I understood how it fit into my journey. Still, the last four verses of Romans 11 kept calling me back.
It’s a great section of scripture but I knew there was something I wasn’t getting. I have to grab hold of it first before I can share it with y’all. So I asked God to show me.
That’s when He asked me the question, “Why didn’t you listen to me when I told you to stop eating sugar the first time back in 1977?”
Then I saw clearly three reasons I didn’t and they all come from Romans 11:33-36 TPT, the passage I was going to skip over and not include in this series. But now I understand that it may be one of the most important lessons yet.
First, I want to read the passage.
“Who could ever wrap their minds around the riches of God, the depth of His wisdom, and the marvel of His perfect knowledge? Who could ever explain the wonder of His decisions or search out the mysterious way He carries out His plans?
“For who has discovered how the Lord thinks or is wise enough to be the one to advise Him in His plans? Or who has ever first given something to God that obligates God to owe him something in return?”
“For out of Him, the sustainer of everything, came everything, and now everything finds fulfillment in Him. May all praise and honor be given to Him forever! Amen!”
Here are the three things He dropped into my heart. All of them hit me hard because I remember believing them and feeling them at the time. They hit me hard because I knew each of these things aren’t true theologically, but at the time they felt very real to me personally.
1. You didn’t listen to Me because you felt I was too difficult to understand.
2. You didn’t listen to Me because you didn’t think I cared about you, really knew you or really wanted the best for you.
3. You didn’t listen to Me because you felt like you knew better than Me.
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
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Episode 257-Grace is Amazing
I know a whole lot more about God’s amazing grace today than when I accepted Jesus at age seven. I knew I had been saved by grace, but that’s all I knew. I also knew it was amazing because we sang about that all the time in church.
I love how grace is explained to believers in 1 Peter 4:10 AMPC: “Each of you has received a gift, a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment. Employ it for one another as good trustees of God’s many-sided grace, faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians by unmerited favor.
God’s grace is many-faceted because it is as vast as God. Grace is the DNA of God. It’s what He is made of. The grace of God cannot be explained or contained in a few words, but I see at least seven words that help us understand how grace operates in our lives. Each one seems to build on the other.
Grace saves us, sustains us, surrounds us, searches us, stretches us, strengthens us and stands us each in the place of our assignment or mission.
On this episode we are going to look at each of these aspects of grace.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers
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Episode 256-Rebuilding Jayne & You
This fiction book, Rebuilding Jayne, and the nonfiction book, Sweet Grace, are very connected. My biggest issue when I was super morbidly obese and Jayne’s issue in is we are both refusing to do what God was telling and showing us to do. I resonate with Jayne because in many ways she and I are a lot alike. We’re also very different. She is wealthy and I am not for one.
At one point God even told me, Jayne is you. Well, certainly at the core of her being she is. I do think it is so true that we are all alike in many ways and so very different in others. Yet, we can learn from each other. I never expected a fictional character in a book to minister to me, but she really did.
Even though I wrote the book, God had a lot to say to me through the story of the book. He told me what to write many times when I didn’t have any idea how to get a character to the point or decision they needed to make. I was just the scribe. He is the Author.
I wrote Rebuilding Jayne to help people understand God is not this big person in the sky ignoring what we are doing. He’s with us in every aspect of our lives. When He speaks to us, we need to pay attention and do what He tells us to do.
God knew His plan for me was what I needed in order to live. It took me many years to understand that what I told Him was the truth—I can’t stop eating sugar. I can’t do it by myself. But I can do it when I follow what God shows me to do. I had to surrender every part of me to God, even what I eat.
To Join Overcomers Academy go to https://Teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/
To check out my new book go to Amazon.com and search for Rebuilding Jayne by Teresa Shields Parker. Available in kindle, paperback, and hardback.
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Episode 255-The Master Potter
We are all lumps of clay in the Master Potter’s hands. God is God. He created us for a purpose. When we find that purpose it makes all the difference in the world.
Instead, a lot of us rebel against how God made us. Romans 9:20-21 TPT: “Who do you think you are to second-guess God? How could a human being molded out of clay say to the one who molded Him, ‘Why in the world did you make me this way?’ Or are you denying the right of the Potter to make out of clay whatever He wants? Doesn’t the Potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay an elegant vase or an ordinary pot?”
God is telling us that no matter what we look like, what our gifts or talents are or what family we were born into, whether we are rich or poor we all have to make a decision about whether or not we are going to follow God’s will for our lives.
The problems come when we want to be something God never intended us to be or we refuse to step into the destiny God has for us or we desire the same destiny someone else has.
God sees us for what we will become. He also sees the ways we have failed Him, but tells us time and time again that if we repent and turn to Him, we will be saved because He is alone is God.
Our bodies are like dust and to dust they will one day return. This is why God uses the analogy of clay and the potter. Our bodies are like the everyday common clay pots and dishes those in Biblical times used to eat their meals on.
The difference between us and those common utensils is God’s presence lives inside of us. “We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.” 2 Cor. 4:7 TPT.
The problem is that dishes get broken and so do we. Our dreams get dashed. People fail us. We fail ourselves. We do bad things that we can’t undo and feel, just like the broken dish we threw in the trash that there is nothing good left in us. If a broken dish needs to be thrown away, then what should be done with a broken person?
God, though, sees value in everything. He will use our brokenness to make something truly beautiful from our lives.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
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Episode 254-Jesus Loves Me
Romans 8:38-39 are some of the most dramatic, poetic and impactful words in scripture. They are so monumental that we sometimes just pass right by them. However, when we finally internalize what they really mean to us it will change how we view God and drive us to trust Him more.
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 NKJV
For eight chapters in Romans, Paul has been laying out the plan of salvation and sharing who Jesus is and why trusting Him is important. In this conclusion to the first part of Romans, Paul is telling these new believers that Jesus’ love for them is a trustworthy foundation for their faith. It will stand any test they might throw at it. His conclusion is a convincing and persuasive argument that NOTHING, can separate those of us who are in Christ from Jesus love for us which gives us access to Father God.
The depths of God’s love is seen in what Jesus did. It should be a big deal for someone to say, “I love you.” As awesome as that is, it’s quite another thing entirely for them to tell us that nothing will stop them from loving us. Nothing.
I love my husband. We’ve been married for 44 years. Not every year was perfect, but the imperfect years were mostly my fault. I say mostly because it does take two, right? See, God gave me a gem when he gave me Roy. He is calm, patience, loving. He has a servant nature that I could never outdo.
He loves me and I love him, but are there things that could separate me from his love? I’m sure there are. But he has already put up with a lot from me, think 250 more pounds on my body. That still didn’t stop him from loving me.
However, if I yelled and screamed at him every day, that would do a lot of damage to our relationship. Are there things that could come between even the most committed couple? Yes, I’ve witnessed it happen to those who thought they’d be married forever and then out of the blue, something happened to separate them.
My question then is how can God say that there would be nothing at all that could ever stop Him from loving me? We are humans and we aren’t perfect. We learned that back in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All means all, everyone, yes, me and you, too.
But here’s where Romans 6:23 ESV comes in. “ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This verse solidifies our fate as sinners, but it also gives us the way out. Jesus is God’s pure gift of love to us. It is only because of what Jesus did that God can love us.
Without Jesus willfully agreeing to leave His heavenly throne and come to earth as a human, die on the cross, be buried, rise again from the grave, and ascend to heaven, God couldn’t love us. We are sinners by nature. It took God with skin on to rescue us when we accept His gift of salvation.
If we have accepted Christ, God now sees us through Christ’s righteousness and as such we are welcomed into God’s presence.
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Episode 253-More than Conquerors
One of my main goals is to be a victorious Christian. I want to be an overcomer. I want to be able to conquer whatever difficulties come my way. Romans 8:37 tells us that in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. But what does that really mean? First and foremost I know I cannot be victorious without God’s leadership. That means I have to lean on Him every step of the way.
Paul, in Romans 8:35, asks the question. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then he goes on to list a bunch of things that are real fears people have. These are things we are afraid might cut us off from God and everything we love.
As I share this list that I compiled from various versions of the Bible, think of your own life. Have you encountered any of these things: trouble, hard times, tribulation, calamity, anguish, hatred, distress, hardship, persecution, harassment, famine, hunger, homelessness, deprivation, bullying threats, backstabbing, destitute, naked, danger, peril, sword, threatened with death, or the worst sins listed in Scripture.
To be victorious, to overcome, to be a conqueror, I can’t focus on difficulties that are happening or may happen. I really have to follow 2 Cor. 10:5 which tells me to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” In other words I have to intentionally take authority over my thought life.
In this episode we talk more about how to do this and how to be victorious in our lifestyle change journeys.
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Episode 252-God Is For Us
Do you believe God is for you? Are you living that our in your everyday life? Are there times you think you are all alone and have to protect yourself because you feel vulnerable?
Romans 8:31 NIV asks a really poignant question. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The issue for us is believing completely that God is for us. As this passage continues it uses words that remind us of a courtroom scene.
Romans 8:32-34 NIV: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.“
In this scene, God Himself is our judge and Jesus is our defense attorney. The question asked is really a no brainer. If the Judge, is for us then who can ever be against us? Really believing this, though may take some introspection on our part.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/.
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Episode 251-What is My Destiny?
You can probably quote from memory the main verse we’re talking about this week. Romans 8:28 NKJV, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”
We might see this verse as meaning God is behind the scenes pulling the strings and we are all just puppets. We also focus on the word good thinking this means that nothing bad will ever happen to us. So we think, why do we need to pray if everything is going to work out anyway? Why do we need to try to do what He wants for our lives, if it’s going to turn out great whatever we do? Still we realize that bad things have happened to us, so what does this verse really mean anyway?
Romans 8:28 is talking about our belief in the promise of what will happen if we are in Christ. It might be said this way: We have God’s sure promise that everything will work out for good because we are called by God. Our confidence is based around our belief in God and His calling on our lives.
This verse is here to comfort us and let us know that even the bad things which happen to us are things God can weave into our lives and use them for good. I have seen this in my own life. I have made so many blunders and mistakes on my journey. Eating myself towards an early grave was one of those that took up a huge part of my adult life.
For more watch the podcast.
Overcomers Academy link : https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247
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Episode 250-Towards Glory
As we’re running this race called life it’s good to remember that we are headed towards glory.
Suffering is part of living in our very mortal bodies. But suffering for Christ, either physically or in any other way, is not losing. It is winning. Romans 8:18 tell us that “what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.”
2 Cor. 4:17 NLT echoes that. “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”
I’ve know some great moments here on earth, sweet, intimate moments with my husband, loving moments with my children, beautiful moments exploring God’s creation, awesome times celebrating with family and friends. Multiply those by 1,000 and it still doesn’t come close to the glory that will be revealed to us one day.1 Cor. 2:9 NLT says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared for those who love Him.”It’s almost as if God is pulling back the curtain just a little to give us a taste of what is coming. In the great scheme of things, the suffering, the disappointments and pain that we encounter today are not such a big deal because we are in a race to the finish line. We are headed towards glory!
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/ -
Episode 249-Run the Race
We have a race to run while we are here on earth. It’s leading us towards a heavenly prize God already has waiting for us. Of course, we know we have an enemy that does not want us to run the race or obtain the prize.
One big obstacle our enemy throws in our way is condemnation. He makes us feel condemned or ashamed, guilty, fearful, unworthy, forgotten, useless, good-for-nothing.
God, though, tells us in no uncertain terms that we are not condemned. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1 NIV says. Or as TPT puts it, “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.”
As a Christian weight loss coach, I talk to a lot of women who feel condemned and like there is no hope for them because they just love to eat or feel like they are addicted to certain foods like desserts. They try to stop. They know God wants them to get healthy, but they just can’t.
When I was in this position and weighed 430 pounds, I felt condemned, ashamed and guilty. I worked through that but it took some time.
If you are feeling condemned, remember what Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14 NLT, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
We don’t live in the past so let’s step out of shame, guilt, worry and fear, forgive ourselves and then start running the race. That’s what Jesus is calling us to. His goal is for us to gain the victory prize He has waiting for us.
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Episode 248-The Conundrum
A conundrum is a difficult or confusing problem or question. It’s like a mystery we can’t solve. In Romans 7, Paul shares a conundrum that I identify with and I expect if you are honest, you do too.
Like any problem or mystery, I want the conundrum to be solved in 30 minutes like a good tv show. I don’t want to be left hanging to find out how things are solved for a week! Good or bad, I want it brought to end right now! However, for years I had no idea how to solve this issue that kept turning over and over in my mind.
Paul is really bold about his issue. He doesn’t tell us what the exact thing is he is referring to, but in Romans 7:19 he tells us straight out: “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”
Why can’t I do anything right? Why can’t I do the things that are pleasing to God? I want to do them, but many times I end up doing the opposite. Why is that? These are the questions Paul, is grappling in this chapter. And they are the questions we all struggle with.
None of us are perfect, even Christians, and we shouldn’t purport to be. In this chapter Paul makes that clear. He also tells us how the law shows us our sin, why we struggle with sin and what we can do about it.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
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Episode 247-What War?
We are in a war. We may not realize it as we walk through our daily lives but we are. Romans 5:17-6:23 talks about this as a war between the power of sin and the greater power of God’s wonderful grace.
If we belong to Jesus, sin has no legal control over us. We are free to follow God. However, we are just as free to be entangled again in the pull of sin.
Romans 6:6 TPT: “Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with Him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power.”
The whole purpose of Romans 6 is to remind us that we can choose to disentangle ourselves from the power of sin walk freely following God.
Romans 6:23 MSG: “Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.”
Find the Spirit-Led Transformation course with action steps, challenge, transcript and video by joining Overcomers Academy. Go here: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/.
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Episode 246-Patient Endurance
If you’re like me, somewhere along the line in Sunday School you learned the nine fruit of the Spirit which include: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are all great virtues we should be incorporating on our Spirit-Led Transformation journey.
As I was reading Romans 5 this week, I realized that as Christians there is one of these virtues we rarely talk about. That might be because along the way someone somewhere told us to never pray for patience because if we do something difficult will happen that will teach us the hard way how to be patient. How to endure.After the list of virtues, Galatians 5:23 TPT says: Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. In other words, all nine virtues are things we should desire to have in our lives in limitless quantity, especially patience.
We may not like learning to be patient, but apparently God feels it something we need. In Romans 5:3 we read a bit about why this is. “With joy let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship, distress, pressure and trouble produces patient endurance.”
All the bad stuff we have to go through in this life helps to produce a virtue God wants us to possess. We need patient endurance to get through whatever is going to be thrown our way in this life.
Hebrews 10:36 TPT really sums up what this entire episode is all about “You need the strength of endurance to reveal the poetry of God’s will and then you receive the promise in full.”
As always the action steps and challenges for this lesson will be in the Spirit-Led Transformation course along with the video and transcript. This course is only available in Overcomers Academy.
Go to: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/ to join.
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Episode 245-This Thing Called Faith
Faith is foundational on our Spirit-Led Transformation journeys. Without it, we have no transformation. Without it we cannot be Spirit-led. So what just what is faith and how do we know if we are really living our lives based on faith?
I’m a words person, so let’s see what the dictionary says faith is. First definition is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” Second definition says it is a strong belief in God.
Hebrews 11:1-2 has long been the go-to verse to explain faith. In NIV is says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” But we read that and say what does that mean?
To help us understand better, let’s read this scripture the Amplified Bible, which has a way of explaining things better.
It says, “Faith is the assurance, title deed, confirmation, of things hoped for or divinely guaranteed, and the evidence of things not seen or the conviction of their reality. Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses. For by this kind of faith the men (and women) of old gained divine approval.”
Remember the dictionary definition of faith we see that faith in God, or complete confidence in Him, comes from our foundational knowledge that we can trust Him to lead us.
In other words, we must have complete assurance that God is leading us and the eventual outcome of where He is leading us is for our good and His glory (as it says in Romans 8:28). We have the title deed to whatever the outcome is that God wants to happen. We have the title deed to whatever God has already put in our hands!
Several years ago we reached a milestone on our financial journey and paid off our house. We now have the title deed to our home. It is ours. Whatever God is telling you and me, if we have faith then we have the title deed to that. It is ours. It’s not just guaranteed by a financial institution, it is divinely guaranteed by the God of the Universe, who just happens to be our Daddy.
The next part is harder to understand because it is in the future. “Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.” God already sees it. He has called what we can’t see as if it has already happened because He stands outside of time and can see the whole picture of our lives.
Our faith in God has to help us comprehend as a fact what we cannot actually see, touch or feel right now. We cannot experience it by our physical senses right this moment but we trust God and have faith that what He has said will come true. This goes back to 2 Cor. 5:7 where Paul tells us, “We walk by faith not by what we see.” Friends, it wouldn’t be faith if we could see it!
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I feel like I really started living by faith around 2009, when I was 56. It took me lots of years to lose 250 pounds. First I had to totally surrender to God and trust Him for the next step on my journey. I had to get His lifestyle change plan for me and do what He said to implement it. I made a lot of mistakes on my journey and as such I am well-equipped to steer others away from my same mistakes.
One of the most beautiful and spiritual part of any transformation journey is learning how to have faith Jesus Christ, and to be led by the Holy Spirit in each step we take. Then the grace, mercy, favor and glory of God will surround us as we walk in tandem with Him.
Is it easy? I mean some of the things Abraham did look easy. Who knows, maybe he was glad to get away from his mother and father and go somewhere that he had inkling of. However it definitely wasn’t easy waiting for the promised son. And I don’t think for a minute it was easy preparing to sacrifice his promised son.
Yet, through it all, He trusted God. I like to think it all started with that first step out the door of his homeland, going to a place God said He’d show him. That’s faith.
Let me ask you, what would it look like for you to have that kind of faith on your Spirit-Led Transformation journey? What would it take to do whatever God is whispering in your heart to do?
It’s time. He’s calling you. Will you have the faith to take the next step?
Father God, I lift your children to You today. Give them clear directions. Remind them of Your promises and help them take that next step on their journey whatever that may be. Make it clear to them. Give them faith to take action.
As always the action steps and challenges for this lesson will be in the Spirit-Led Transformation course along with the video and transcript. This course is only available in Overcomers Academy.
Go to: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/ to join.
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Episode 244--Why Forgive Others?
An important step on our Spirit-Led Transformation is forgiving others. It’s actually a command from God. He demonstrates exactly what He wants us to do for others when He forgives us. He is teaching us by example.
Most of the time, this feels like a really hard thing to do so we sort of just put it in the back of our minds and leave it there. We have a problem with forgiving someone who has done us wrong because we want them to be brought to justice.
However, you aren’t bringing them to justice or hurting them by not forgiving them. You are only hurting yourself. It does you no good to hang on to the wrongs someone did to you. It’s only keeping you further away from God because God clearly says we must forgive others or He won’t forgive us.
Forgiving Others Is A Process
Forgiving others is a process we go through to disentangle or release ourselves from others who have hurt us and let God take care of us and them.
It’s the reason Jesus tells us in Luke 6:37 to “forgive others and you will be forgiven.” It’s the reason Paul reiterates that in Colossians 3:13, “Forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”
God wants us to demonstrate His principles of forgiveness in our personal lives and interactions with others. We want retribution, but He asks that we show them mercy and leave everything else up to Him.
Why Should We Forgive Others?
-Because God forgave us.
-Because God asks us to forgive others.
-So we demonstrate God’s forgiveness to the world.
-Because we understand God is the only one who can judge.
-Because it releases us from that person’s control over us.
-Because it is the only way for us to be at peace.
God wants to use His not-so-secret weapon of forgiving others to set you free to live in peace and demonstrate His forgiveness to the world at the same time.
Action steps and challenges for this lesson and others in the Spirit-Led Transformation series can be found in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
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