Have You Heard The Good News?

In this episode, I read 70 scriptures on our identity in Christ with piano music in the background.  So relax and reflect on your true identity in Christ.  I also share a few minutes first before I start speaking the scriptures so I if you would like to start with the scripture reading with piano music go to the 6-minute mark and about 45 seconds in. Hi, everyone. Welcome to today's episode about our identity in Christ. Today, most of the scriptures I will be reading are in the New American Standard Bible. Some are King James Bible, some are New Living Translation, but there are about 70 verses that I'm going to read. And for me in my life, I read these every day, twice a day. And there was a season about a year ago that I was going through kind of a valley experience. And I was reading all 70 of these three times a day. And what's amazing is they're not even scriptures on healing, per se. They're more on who we are in Christ and our identity in Christ and what's amazing is they brought me out of that valley along with people and prayer and teaming up with people who prayed for me. But, you know, every day, I had to keep feeding myself the scriptures the word, and it was powerful. And you know, even Jesus focused on his identity. In Luke three, it tells us when John baptized Jesus, and then in verse 22, it says, the Holy Spirit descended upon him, in bodily form, like a dove and a voice came out of heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased."  Then in Luke 4 Jesus for 40 days, being tempted by the enemy, and he ate nothing during those days. And when they had ended, he became hungry. The enemy said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. And two things I want to point out that the very first temptation that the enemy gave Jesus was questioning if he was the Son of God, if he knew his identity, and I think if some of you think about it, that you've had that same temptation, wondering, are you really a daughter or a son of God? And the interesting thing is, that the enemy didn't say, Are you the beloved Son of God, which is what God told him before he went into the desert. He just said, Are you the Son of God? And then what did Jesus do? And all three temptations in Luke four that the enemy came at him with, He returned all three with scripture. And so I am such a word girl. I love the word of God. It's powerful. I've been healed by the word of God just reading the Word of God. It's, just alive and it's active. And God always knows what we need it when we need it. And so today I'm going to share these scriptures with you. And like I said, there are 70 verses, but again, I'm not going to read them, the addresses, you know the location of each verse, what I'm going to do is put those in the show notes and you can get a copy of that at my website gotbbb. And that's gotbbb.org. And you'll see all my podcast episodes. And then you'll be able to read the show notes right below the podcast episode. And so I'm going to just go ahead and start and bear with me if you hear some paper rustling because obviously there's a lot of verses and I had to print them out so it'd be easy to read to you. But just sit back and just relax. And just listen to these verses of who you are in Christ because of what Jesus did on the cross. And how God sees us and who we are to God and our relationship to God all because of what Jesus did for us. And because we're in him, and they're in us, all these things are true. And some of these verses I will be saying are just like, really amazing. And almost like, really like, Wow. I mean, like, you could study one verse for a whole week to get the understanding and the full meaning of it. But for right now, I just want to share these scriptures with you because they've been so powerful in my own life. And I know that they can bless you. So we're going to start with Romans three, verse 24. But that'll be the last time I give you the verse therein, from now on, I'll just be reading. Romans 3:24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Colossians 1:21b yet now has He reconciled Colossians 1:22 His body on the cross, to present us holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fills you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 And hope makes not ashamed, because the love of God is in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to me. Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also after listening to the truth message, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. 1 Corinthians 2:12b But the Holy Spirit who is from God, given to us that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts. I have divine favor and blessing so freely given to us and bestowed on us by God. 2 Corinthians 6:18 I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me says, the Lord Almighty. 1 Corinthians 3:21b-23 For all things belong to you and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 summary - Through Christ, he made all-new, now all these things are from God, who brought us close to himself through Jesus. We became the righteousness of God in Jesus. 2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life, through the true knowledge of Him, who called us by his own glory and excellence, for by these he has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you become partakers of the divine nature. Romans 3:24 Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Jesus. John 17:23b You love them, even as you love Me. John 1:1-4 summary - In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things came into being by him. In him was life and the life was the light of men. John 1:14-18 summary - The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John said, "This is the one whom I told you. He who comes is a higher rank for he existed before me, for of his fullness we have all received and grace upon grace." Grace and truth were realized through Jesus and Jesus came to explain God to us. Romans 14:17 summary - The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:4b,5,9 In love, he pre-planned us to adoption as sons and daughters, through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intentions of his will. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which he purposed in him, Jesus.  Ephesians 1:7-8 In Him, Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will. Ephesians 1:2,3,6 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.  To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved. 1 Corinthians 2:12b-13 the Holy Spirit given to us from God, that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by man or human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 My message and preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of power that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of man, but on the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10 For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even to the depths of God. John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in Jesus name, He will teach you all things and bring back to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 15:9-11 Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have spoken these things to you, that your joy be made full. Ephesians 2:8 By grace, you have been saved through faith and not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Colossians 2:10 In Jesus, you have been made complete. Psalm1:2-3 But his delight is in the word of the Lord and in his word he does meditate, day and night. We will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water bringing fruit and whatsoever he does will prosper. Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  Proverbs 4:20-22 Attend to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to us. Philemon 6 Let the communication of my faith become effectual. Working by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you, in Christ Jesus. Joshua 1:8-9 Keep the Word of God in you by speaking it and meditate daily and do all that is written in it. Then your way will be prosperous and have good success. Be strong and of good courage for the Lord God is with thee wherever you go. Ephesians 2:6 He raised us up together with him and seated us with Him in heavenly places. Ephesians 1:19 AMP So that you will know what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of his active power in us. These are in accordance with the working of his mighty strength. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 2:4,6,7-8 Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I say rejoice. By prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding shall guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Whatever is true, honorable, pure, worthy of praise, think on these. Romans 1:16 For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Hebrews 4:16 Let us, therefore, draw near to the throne of grace, that we will receive mercy and find grace to help us. Hebrews 10:17 God says He remembers my sin no more.  Jude 20 Keep myself in the love of God. 1 John 4 We love because He first loved us. 1 Corinthians 5 summary  - I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Galatians 2:16-20 summary KJV We are not justified by works, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. I live yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me. John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me." Psalm 12:6 The word of the Lord is pure. 1 John 4:17 As he is, so am I. Psalm 23:1-3 The Lord is my shepherd. He leads me to green pastures and restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Colossians 3:1-3 We have been raised up with Christ. Keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above for our life is hidden with Christ in God. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 summary - God established us in Christ and anointed us and gave us the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 3:11-12 We have boldness and confident access through faith in Jesus. John 14:17 The Spirit of Truth, he abides with you and is in you. John 17:17 Sanctify me in the truth, thy Word is truth. Ephesians 5:26 Sanctify me having cleansed me by the washing of water with the word. John 15:26 When the helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father. That is the Holy Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me. John 16:13 When the Holy Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He speaks what he hears from the Father. John 1:17 Grace and truth are realized through Jesus. 1 Corinthians 6:11 You are then washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit of God. Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and encouraging one another with psalms and hymns and songs, singing with thankfulness, in your hearts to God. Romans 8:37 And all these things we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loves us. 1 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us timidity, but power, love, and a sound mind. Galatians 4:6-8 summary - Because we have been adopted as sons and daughters, God has sent forth the Holy Spirit into our hearts crying, "Abba Father." John 8:31-32 If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. John 7:37-38 If anyone thirsty, let them come to me and drink. He who believes in me as the scripture says, from your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Psalm 29:11 The Lord gives his people strength, the Lord blesses them with peace. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 May the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times. Ephesians 5:18-19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 4:16-17 We have come to know and have believed, the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. By this love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as he is, so also are we in this world. So I thank you for listening to today's episode. I pray that you were blessed. And I'd like to end this with a short prayer. Lord, I thank you for all the people listening to this and listening to your word. I pray that the word penetrates deep into their heart, and they feel encouraged and inspired and have the strength to go through their day with whatever they need to do. I thank you for touching each of them in their hearts to know how much you love them. And to encourage them to stay renewing their mind in the word, and praying the word, hearing the word, studying the Word. And how powerful and alive it is and so connected to you because it is you. I thank you for touching anyone who needs healing in their body to bring complete healing, healing in their soul, emotions. And I thank you for touching each one in their minds and bringing life and encouragement and strength to every part of them and their families. Healing and wholeness in their families, and restoration with any separation of family members. And I thank you, Daddy, that you are such an amazing God and I thank you for your love and sending Jesus. And Jesus, I thank you for all that you did on the cross. And in Hebrews 12:2 it says you did it with the joy to come on the cross because you knew it was going to make all things new. And I thank you Holy Spirit for bringing comfort and bringing wisdom and strength when we need it and imparting all the help that we need in this life and I thank you for all that you do for us in Jesus name, amen. So I pray you all have a blessed day today and enjoy your day knowing how loved by God you are. And I thank you for joining this podcast episode. And if you know anybody that needs to be encouraged, I pray that you'll share this and let others know so that they can be encouraged and I thank you for all your support. Have a great day and remember God loves you!  

Episode 9 is a short "paraphrased" story of Gideon out of the Book of Judges. Does God see Gideon as an overcomer? Do you see yourself as an overcomer?  Listen to find out... or read these show notes. How many of us go through our day feeling like overcomers? Today, I'm going to share a short story of Gideon who definitely, in the beginning, did not feel like an overcomer. But I wanted you to hear the story that I paraphrase out of the book of Judges, so you can see that you are an overcomer too. I want to share a story with you about Gideon, and many of you know about Gideon, he's in the Old Testament. And Gideon was young and very afraid and had no confidence in anything that he could do. He was the youngest in his family. And when God came to talk to him, he was actually hiding in a barn, because there was a battle going on. And God came to him and said, "Gideon, my mighty man of valor, I need you to go do blah, blah, blah." And Gideon looked at him and said, "I can't go do that. I'm the youngest in my family. I'm just, I'm just a boy. I can't do that." And what did God say? Now Gideon, get up out of there and stop acting like a fool. And you know, stop being stupid and just get out there and do what I told you to do. Did God say that? No! God came to Gideon again and said, "Gideon, my mighty man of valor." That is how God saw Gideon. Even though in the natural Gideon is hiding and he's feeling little and very little and very small and very afraid. God didn't even acknowledge his fear. He didn't even acknowledge any of the complaints he had about doing whatever God asked him to do. He just reminded him, Gideon, you are my mighty man of valor. That means brave and hero and strength. And God had full confidence that Gideon was going to be able to do what he was asking him to do. But Gideon didn't have that confidence. So that is who our God is. God sees each one of us through His Son Jesus, through the payment that Jesus paid with his body and his blood on the cross, so that we can have full access, intimacy with the Lord, again, everything restored. And he sees us as His sons and daughters. And you see that all through the New Testament. And it says that we are already overcomers, and overcomer means victorious. Many of us, and I did this for years is I prayed from a non-over comer position. I prayed from trying to get to be an overcomer, trying to really exercise my faith muscles, and really trying to do it in my own strength. And now, I pray from knowing who I am in Christ, and all that Jesus did for me. So I just want to encourage you to really spend some time seeking God and renewing your mind to what the Word of God says about you. And I just want to pray right now. Lord, I thank you, I thank you for everyone listening to this video right now. I thank you for touching them in their heart, in their minds, all the love that you have for them, and that they are victorious, amazing women and men of God. They are your sons and daughters. And I thank you, Papa, for touching each one of them with a peace that you love them, that you are love, you are all love. And they can rest in that and pray from that mindset that they are loved. And I thank you, Papa, for just touching each one of them with the desires of their heart. give them direction, wisdom, freedom from any guilt or shame. Give them courage. Let them see that you've already made them courageous. They just need to see it. I thank you that they are so courageous, and so brave, and know that they have that safety net in Jesus. And as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus, you will keep us in the right place in strength and overcoming and victorious and safe. And I thank you, Papa, for your love. And I thank you for touching each one of them. In Jesus name, amen. Well, I hope you're blessed. And thank you again for stopping by and have a great day.  

Listen to hear how Jesus helps us be courageous. Here are the show notes: Hi, this is CindySpencer. And today we're going to talk about learning how to be courageous from a big chicken. And who's the big chicken? Me. Most of my life, I've been on the big chicken side versus the courageous side. Now, I have learned a lot about being courageous. And it's completely different than I ever thought it was. And I just want to share how being courageous is not what we think it is. It is possible. I'd like to share a story that I heard another person share that happened in history in the United States down in San Diego, no, San Francisco, they were building during the Depression, during the 30s, they were building that big, huge Golden Gate Bridge that's there by San Francisco. The sad thing was they were losing a lot of men, a lot of men were dying, because as they're building this big bridge, if they fell, they would drown in the ocean. And you know, they were way high up. And that's a big fall. So one of the men came up with a plan to devise this big, huge net. And I'm not sure exactly, but it sounds like it went the full length as a bridge wherever the men were working. And it cost a lot of money, which you know, during the Depression-era they didn't have, but it cost a lot of money for them to build this net. But it was so worth it because it saved so many lives. Men were able to work go to work on the bridge, and they didn't have that fear of am I going to fall today? And how many of us know that when you have something like that it affects your work, or whatever you're doing that you need to be brave for. And so these men were so thankful and so many lives were saved after they put this big netting in. And not only that, they discovered that the work got done in record time. And I don't remember all the details of how fast but it was in record time. And they figured out it was because the men were able to go up with confidence. And know that when they went up to work, they can work and be safe. And how many of us know that part of being courageous is knowing that if we are being courageous, we will be safe. That's a huge factor in every single one of us, through all of mankind. You know, the other day, I looked up the word courage. And do you know, the very first definition of courage was the heart. And then it went on to talking about brave and fearless and going out, even into the face of danger. But it starts with the heart and in the Bible when it mentions the heart, it's actually tying into your whole soul, which is your mind will and emotions. And that's where all this courage takes place because thinking about it, for the dictionary to say that a person going out bravely and fearless, they have to know in their heart, in their mind will and emotions who they are. There are many people out there that don't have a relationship with God or Jesus. And they're very brave. But they're doing it out of their own strength. Somewhere in their life, they built up the confidence that gave them that bravery. In my world that didn't happen. And I was not brave I was a big chicken my whole life. Because I never developed that confidence to be fearless or any of that. None of that happened for me until I found Jesus and realized that he was my net. And I didn't have to look at myself anymore. Even though I found Jesus over 35 years ago, I still was looking at myself and leaning on myself to do everything, which did not help at all in the courageous area. A couple of years ago, when I got totally set free from condemnation, I knew my right standing, I knew that I was righteous and that God saw me as his daughter, and loved and so free from all that nonsense, and all the lies of condemnation and what comes with it, that it was all gone. Then I was able to be more courageous, and go out and do some things that I wouldn't normally be brave enough to do. When I did have moments of weakness. And when I had those moments where I got into fear, I would sit there and remind myself the Word of God that says, I am the righteousness ofGod in Christ Jesus. And even if I had to say that 50 times in a day, I would say it because the word of the God is even how Jesus fought the enemy in the wilderness for 40 days when he went out there fasting, and you can read about it in Matthew four and Luke four, where Jesus went out after he got baptized, and he was out there fasting for 40 days. And Satan came to him and tempted him. Three different things. And the very first one was his identity. Are you really the Son of God? This happens soon after Jesus just got baptized, and the whole heaven opened up. And Papa God comes down and says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased." So Jesus wasn't gonna even bat an eye at that comment from Satan saying, Are you the Son of God? And what did he do? He threw back scripture, all three instances, he threw back scripture. So scripture, if Jesus can do it, we can do it. And it's powerful. And it always brings me comfort and peace. And I have other verses that I do, too, that God can show you those special verses that are just for you. That will bring you peace and comfort. So when we do pray, we need to have the mindset that we're praying from that victorious position in God. Not from our human state, which is weak and frail, and having to strive, to perform and to please God, and to do it in our own strength. But to pray from knowing you are loved, you are already put in right standing, which is what righteousness means. Righteousness, I am the righteousness of God, through Christ Jesus, that's in 2 Corinthians 5:21 I say that all the time, if I have any moments of weakness, which I do, I tell myself and remind myself, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And it brings a renewal of my strength and peace, not of my own, but from him. And so I just want to encourage you that if, if you're praying, pray from that victorious position that you already have. Pray from that, knowing that you are loved and that Jesus already accomplished everything on the cross and gave us the authority to call things into action to call things right to call, healing into our bodies call things into healing and our families. Even if you had a bad day, even if you had a big fight with your husband, and you said something really stupid in and you blew it with him and you feel so bad, I have done that. It could ruin your whole day. God loves us so much that something like that doesn't matter. We're still in right standing. And when we asked the Lord to forgive us for that mess up, we just need to believe that he's forgiven us. In Hebrews 8:12, it says he will not remember our sin anymore. And in Mark 5:36, Jesus says, Do not fear any longer, only believe. Believe, and the word faith is almost the same in the Greek and the Hebrew. You just have to believe. And faith is just trusting God's Word is true and it means what it says. I struggled with that verse that says he remembers my sin no more because I struggled with condemnation for over 30-40 years. But if I had just taken his word, if I had that net, if I could have seen myself in righteousness, I struggled with receiving righteousness. And I could not see myself in that right standing because I kept looking at myself. I kept looking at the mistakes I was making, instead of looking at who my savior was, Jesus, and looking at what he did for me, and got my eyes off myself, and put my eyes back on Jesus. And if you remember that story, in the Bible, where it talks about Peter, who got really brave, really courageous, when he saw Jesus walking on the water, towards the boat. He got really brave, and he wanted to be like Jesus, and he wanted to get out of that boat, and he wanted to walk on water. And he did. And he actually took a few steps and he was walking on water. But then what happened? He saw some waves start billowing up and he saw the storm come. And so he got his eyes off Jesus. And he started to sink. If he had just kept his eyes on Jesus, I know that I know that he would have kept going, because Jesus is our safety net. Jesus is that net, that makes us courageous women and men of God. Jesus and all that He did, is how we can be courageous and brave, and go out and do what he's called us to do. And to walk, knowing you are loved, and you don't have to walk in that condemnation anymore, or guilt or shame. It's gone. You just have to believe that he forgave you. When you ask Him to forgive you, believe. Like Mark 5:36 says, Do not fear any longer, only believe. Remember, God loves you.  

Cindy Spencer 0:07 Hi, my name is Pastor Cindy, welcome to The Good News podcast. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to have all the benefits that Jesus purchased for you on the cross? Guess what you already do? I spent most of my life looking at my performance both good and bad. Instead of looking at what Jesus had done for me, my relationship took a radical turn when my focus went off of me and I put it back on Jesus. My heart's desire is to stir up your faith and passion for Jesus and bring you into new levels of friendship with him. Ready to hear the good news? Let's hop on over to today's episode. Whoo. Hey, everyone. Before we start this episode, today, I just wanted to give a big shout out to my sister Kathy, who 37 years ago on July 17, brought me to the Lord and got me started on my walk with Jesus. Thank you so much, Kathy. I love you lots. Hey, welcome, everyone. This is Pastor Cindy. And today for this episode, I've invited two of my friends. And I have Jeremy Horton and his beautiful wife, Carolina Horton. And they're here today to talk about salvation. On today, July 17, 2019, it is my 37th birthday, as being a Christian. And I decided to share about salvation today and different perspectives, and how Jesus has touched my life in such a different way, compared to how he's touched Jeremy, and how he's touched, Carolina. And so we're going to share our different stories, and encourage you guys that no matter what your path has been like with Jesus, that it's beautiful. And it's so personal. It's so God treats us all with our personalities, and our individual likes and dislikes and who we are and how we learn. So I'm going to go ahead and start with Jeremy, thank you so much for coming today. Jeremy Horton 2:24 Thank you, Cindy, for having us. We really appreciate your presence and God's presence in this room right now. Cindy Spencer 2:30 Thank you. Yeah. And this is Carolina. Carolina Horton 2:34 Yes. Thank you for having us, Cindy, really, such a pleasure to be able to share the love of God and the miracles he's done for us when they can Cindy Spencer 2:42 encourage someone else. Exactly. And I just I have to tell you guys that are listening. You know, I've known Jeremy and Carolina for about a year now. And they just glow. The love of God has touched their heart in such a way that they just glow and they love to help people and they love to serve in the church. And it's just changed their whole family, their three girls. And so we're going to talk a little bit about that. And some of the differences that I experienced in my walk over the 37 years. So why don't we go ahead? And do you want to start Carolina and kind of just share how you found Jesus and what it was like growing up? Yeah. Carolina Horton 3:30 So I was born and raised in Chile, I was part of a very strict religious Catholic school. My whole upbringing, there was no encouragement to really have a relationship with Jesus, where to find it for myself, it was very much rules-based and just staying within those rules. Okay. So when my husband, after being married for 10 years, decided to go on this walk. I was against him. It's something that I did not receive. I didn't think I needed in my life. So when he found Jesus, it was really different for you. It was night and day because I saw such a transformation in him. Wow, that it made me want it. I really Jesus. I saw Jesus in him. When I was being a pest, he would just love me. When I would try to fight with him, he wouldn't respond. He was fathering our children in a very different way. So I reached the point where I said, What's different? What is it? And he said, Is Jesus? I said, Well, no, I've read the Bible. I know, I know. He said You don't? You may have read. But you don't know Jesus. Cindy Spencer 4:53 Wow. How did you feel? Carolina Horton 4:57 I mean, it humbled me in really in a soft end of my heart, and it made me realize that there is something that I don't know. So I said, Okay, sure. Let's try. Okay. And he came in, and, you know, I was asking him to change me. And he went ahead and just change my whole household. Wow, that's so much more than, you know, I'm like, help me with my mess. And he's like, I'm gonna clean a little bit, honey. That's amazing. And he Jesus is so good. Yeah. So good. so kind. And so full of truth and wisdom. I mean, I had so many questions that I didn't know who to go to. And he so kindly has revealed time after time, answered all of my questions. Wow. very logical person. And so if things don't make sense, I can't trust it. Believe it digest it. Yeah, me too. But he Cindy Spencer 5:57 That was part of my problem too. Carolina Horton 6:00 But you know, he's so kindly put people in my life who spoke to me the way that I needed it. He put different people in different seasons who have watered what he's growing, who have thrown new seed, in good soil. It really has shown me You know, I've always thought of myself that I'm independent. And so I got this, I can take care of it. But there is such growth, in fellowship and in family and in contact with people. You know, it has really brought me to the revelation of the body of Christ and how you may be a thumb and I may be a pinky together, make it happen. Yeah, right. Cindy Spencer 6:47 I mean, you can't if you don't have an elbow. Right, right. Arm won't work. Absolutely. Right. So for you, it's been two years. Carolina Horton 6:58 Two years. Yes. Cindy Spencer 7:00 Okay. So, Jeremy, I think you mentioned earlier that you've been saved like three years now. Jeremy Horton 7:06 Yeah, about three years now. It'll be three years in October this year. So, you know, when I started off, I was dealing with a lot of addiction. A lot of just stuff that I dealt with my past because, you know, I never grew up with any church upbringing. You know, I had great parents, but a lot of rules. So and a lot of rules I like to break. So I wasn't really a good citizen, you know. So, I was just tired of my life. I was tired of failing. I was tired of disappointing my wife tired at this point in my kids. I almost lost my job at Boeing. I had to actually go through a rehab program just to save my job at Boeing. And when I came back, and when I passed my rehab program, I met a guy named Kevin, and he introduced me to the Bible. He said, Hey, read the Bible, read the Bible. Well, I wasn't quite ready yet. So I kept I avoided him a lot. So he would find me.   Every single time I avoided him. So he was like, You know what, just read the Bible. And I got tired of him asking me telling me to and so I started reading it at work on my breaks at lunch even. But at work, I was watching a Todd White video. And at the end of the video, he was like, hey, whoever wants Jesus right now in their heart and wants to change and wants to repent, and accept them right now and say this prayer. So I said that prayer, and I just felt something shift. Something shifted, where I just felt so different, like, it had to be supernatural. Because the transformation work to where I used to be at it was It couldn't have been just me. So one by one thing started getting knocked off as far as the old me my addictions, my, my cussing, my, my, my, the hate towards my brothers, the unforgiveness I had towards people. It just started breaking and I just had this hunger to serve my God to serve Jesus. When I, when I found that Bible series on Netflix, I would watch him get crucified continually, I would put that episode on repeat, because I wanted the revelation I wanted to know. And now I know I have this appreciation that what he did on that cross wasn't just for my sin, it was for my true value. Like, he really told me how much he loves me and how much he valued me just for what he did on the cross. So since then, I just been really, really just in a place of serving God, and serving with him Cindy Spencer 9:41 and just wanting to give back just Jeremy Horton 9:43 wanting to because you have to not because I have to, because you want to because I want to and I love him so much because he loved me first. You know, and I love that the book of Ephesians. It was like my favorite book. Because, yeah, because it talks about how he knew us before the foundation of the earth, you know, and he said he set the plans before us. So like, it's crazy, because I was never an accident. You know, I was never an accident. And I am here for a purpose. And I was always searching for a purpose and my purpose here and wow. Now I know my purpose. Wow. Yeah. So that's Cindy Spencer 10:20 amazing. And you know, the Bible says that he puts that in us. Jeremy Horton 10:23 Yeah, exactly. Cindy Spencer 10:24 And we're searching, but sometimes it's can be drugs, sometimes it can be another religion of another god, you know, and we're searching and searching and, and like myself, I didn't grow up with religion. But I did have some time in a Lutheran Church. Yeah. And so I knew God, but I didn't really know Jesus or the Holy Spirit. And by the time I got saved, you know, 37 years ago, I was 20 years old. And it was a long time of still feeling of doing where I had to perform for God. And I just constantly felt like I let him down. I get it. And I dealt with shame and condemnation. And I never heard that. You know, that John 3:19 that says, you know, Jesus came to set the world free and save the world. He didn't come to condemn us. Right, right. Right, you know, but I kept doing this condemnation. And a few years ago, I was in my concordance. And I looked at the word salvation, both in the Greek and the Hebrew. Yeah. And it says that your salvation means saved, made well, delivered, prospered and protected. And I was like, Wow, that is salvation. I mean, I had no idea. And so if you guys listen to Episode Six, I went into more of the Scriptures and all of that. So I'm not going to go into that today. But today is more just building our relationship with Jesus in a, in a new way, no matter where you're at, right? You know, and it doesn't matter if it took me 37 years to get it and Jeremy gets it. You know, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. So the three of us really want to encourage anyone that's listening to this, that, whether you're struggling with anything Jeremy had, or Carolina had, or any experiences I had, that it's never too late. And Jesus is here to help us, no matter where we're at, and he knows the way we need to learn the best. Yeah, like he knew that you needed to hear it from Todd White. He knew how Carolina needed it. And he knew how I needed to hear it. And so it's just, it doesn't matter if you've been saved 50 years, or if you've been saved one week, you need to just really give yourself grace, and just accept what Jesus did on the cross that he loves us so much, and that we are worthy of His love. And that's why he was on the cross. And that was beautiful. Jeremy, when you said that, you know, you watched him in the passion on the cross. You were seeing how he valued you, for him to go through that. He doesn't do that for something that's not valuable. Right? Right. That's his body. It's his blood. And all that was done for us to walk in all these things forgiven, made, well delivered, prospered and protected was right. And so I also want to encourage anybody that maybe you have dealt with condemnation or shame, and you didn't know that all of this stuff happens, the minute you get saved, that it's not too late to walk in that because I could go into regret. And I could say, Man, if I had known that 37 years ago, my whole Christian walk would have been different. Yeah. But I'm not doing that. I learned it a couple years ago, I'm moving forward with that truth. And it's been amazing how my love for Jesus has grown. When I found that out. Yeah. And so um, the other thing I wanted to talk today about in one of the facets of building our relationship with Jesus, is sharing our faith. Would you like to share how sharing your faith has been for you, because we all kind of have things that we're nervous about, or we're not sure about, but what helped you in Carolina Horton 14:32 sharing your faith? Certainly, I mean, my husband, he had something he really enjoys is something that comes natural to him. Ever since I've become saved and come into a new family and relationships, he has really taught me the value of those relationships and our family itself. So I was really shy, didn't have a lot of friends, isolation was a really thing, like a real thing for me. So just interacting with people was difficult. But ever since I've gotten the revelation of His love, and the fact that we're part of a new family, and that we're Jesus friends, I don't see them as strangers that I have to share a big plot with. I just talked to them as friends who are in need of something. Cindy Spencer 15:18 Wow, a truth that you have, Carolina Horton 15:20 right? Because most of the people, the troubles, they go through their complaints that they have about the world themselves, their families, their peers, Jesus is the answer. Mm hmm. They do the only answer, exactly. They just don't know. You know, they don't know what you don't know what you don't know. Right. So it's, it's a way to just start a conversation and to see them as friends. I really see them as I'm going to approach a friend who I know needs something. Cindy Spencer 15:50 Yeah. Because you know how it changed you. Carolina Horton 15:53 And that's, you know, once we do get to sharing, and you open up those conversations, we overcome by the blood of the Lamb, which is not me at all. It's all him. In the word of our testimony. I can share the heart places He's brought me out of I can share the changes he's done in me right. In witnessing that. That I mean, that is a witness. That's how you share it. They're like, Wow, really? I didn't know. At some point. I didn't know. Cindy Spencer 16:24 Wow, exactly. We all do that. Carolina Horton 16:26 Yes. So it's about just sharing the good news. really, truly, it is good news. Like when you have good food, you're like you have to try this. Same way. It's you have something good that they have no idea exists, and you Cindy Spencer 16:43 really want them to try it. Yeah. That's really good. I like that. Carolina Horton 16:49 Because aren't we like that? That's great. Please, just if people are like, No, thank you. I'm not hungry. Please just try it, one bite, I know you will. Wow. So and then it also comes with you know, when people say no, you just have to pray for them. You have to bless them on the way out and know that, you know, maybe Lord knows that somebody, it's on somebody else to reach them. Right. Because condemnation, at least with me was a real thing. They said no to me, I failed you today, you know? And he's like, no, that just that wasn't your assignment, Cindy Spencer 17:22 and that you planted a seed, right? And now Holy Spirit will bring them the next seed. Carolina Horton 17:28 And even by me just being obedient and stepping out. Yeah, even though I don't see that fruit. If it builds my relationship with the Father. Exactly. It brings me closer to him. The outcome isn't on me. It isn't. Cindy Spencer 17:43 It's on the Holy Spirit. It's on him. It's on him. And we just all some of us are waters. Yeah, some of us are planters and some of us are harvesters. And some of us, you know, like, you may have experienced all three, Carolina Horton 17:57 we are all right at different times. Yeah, completely agree. Totally. So,   Cindy Spencer 18:02 so don't Yeah, anybody listening, you know, it's just, you don't know where the person to at. And you may just be at the beginning of their even hearing about God. Or you may be right at that time where they've been hearing about it from somebody that's been that greasy wheel you know, just like, like telling them about it and telling you I finally you come along and then Carolina Horton 18:26 boom, there's a nice, when is that divine alignment that you Yeah, answers to somebody's prayers. Maybe their mom has been praying for years. And a stranger comes and tells you the love of God. And it just hits them like a train. And they get wrecked and Holy Spirit shows up in your just changed. Exactly. I can do that. Cindy Spencer 18:48 No, only he can. He can. And that's the beauty of it. Because then it takes a lot of that pressure off of us. Yeah, we're just we're the hands and the feet and the mouthpiece in his heart. And then he does, he brings the increase he does that's right. And how about you Jeremy, how would you explain sharing your faith? And yes, someone that either hasn't done it before or maybe nervous about it? Jeremy Horton 19:12 Right? Well, when I first like I said, when I first got saved, I was listening to Todd White, and he'll go out and pray for people for healing. So I did the same thing. I was like, wow, I want to see this thing too. So I started first started with my family. When if one of our kids got a headache, we pray for them. And then they got healed. So I was like, Okay, I'm gonna take it outside these walls now. So I started praying for people at grocery stores wherever we would go. And I would see healings most of the time, but sometimes I wouldn't see it. So I was left with the awkwardness, you know, in those times. And so I would really look for that thing. I will try to find people to go pray for all the time. But then I came to a place where I was feeling like, okay, I seen the person get healed. I want to see something bigger I want, I want to see them shift their way of thinking, I want to see them say Okay, first, I don't believe in a God, to now they believe in a God from what you've experienced. So I like to use my life as a walking testimony. I use it, I use my testimony. And I've been through so many things. So if he can do it for me, all the mess that I was in, I know that he can do it for anybody that's walking around right now. Exactly. So you know, it wasn't until last year when I was really feeling comfortable. Because you know, anything feels awkward when it's new, ya know? So I was really, it was something like that I really had to force myself to do because I knew that was my calling. So I always wanted to go after it. So even though the awkwardness, I did it, it just grew on me. So did it get more comfortable as Oh, wow? Like, it grew. It grew so much I got so comfortable. I'm comfortable doing it right now, I'm would go out anywhere, anywhere and do it. You know, we do it a lot, actually. So, you know, I'm really I really enjoy doing it. Because like my wife said, you know, we might just be that that person's parents answered prayers. Yeah. You know, really stirred my heart is that I have some family and friends who are dealing with some addiction and some stuff that I feel that the world and the enemy is snatching away from me. So I almost use that as a motivation, not just me operating out of love, like I always operate out of love. And that's what God wants me to do. I'm working with God, but then I'm, I love just taking away what the enemy thought was his, and bringing it back to where it rightfully belongs, right. And so that's where I operate it. I'm thinking like, wow, like, I want somebody to go do this from family, my friends who are going through this stuff. So, you know, I see this world so messed up. I like this road, like crazy is getting crazy. But the good news is we are the life like Jesus is the life. And we're the answer like, so that's what that's my motivation. I just want to be able to be part of the solution. Yeah, I want to be a part of the solution I want. I want to see this world transformed. You know, and if Jesus can transform me, at one at a time, then that person in front of me, can be transformed to and imagine what that can do for that person's all the people in his life. He could go transform those people. And those people can transform more people. So like, it's all Jesus, you know, I mean, it is Cindy Spencer 22:51 a gift that keeps going on. Jeremy Horton 22:52 Yeah, yeah. So why complain about the world? I don't want to I want to go be a part of the solution. Yeah, that's my goal. Cindy Spencer 23:00 Yeah. And that's that light that I seeing you guys? Yeah. It's love. Yeah. You just have that love. And it's his love, that's right? in you because you received his love, right? And until we receive His love, which is another thing I struggled with the first 20 years in my faith, and was believing that he could love me. Yeah. But we operate in loving others through the love that we receive from him. That's right. Right, right. And that's what you guys did. Now, obviously, I have it now. And I got that revelation over the last 20 years, you know, 17 years, but it took me a long time. It wasn't instantaneous. And so, um, that's the thing I think that I picked up on you two so much is that love. And I knew you're young in the Lord. And I'm like, wow, yeah. They're just like little power balls, you know, and they're so full of light and love you just when you guys, minister to people, yeah. And like, you know, I watch you when you pray for people at church and stuff. Yeah. You guys just are pouring out Jesus' love. That's right. It's just so evident. And people know it, people feel it, people see it. And so that's what we all can have, you know, just by receiving, yeah, it's just receiving, because he's already done it. And he just wants us to believe that's right. And then be at rest in that. But like you, I'm very analytical. I spent a lot of years analyzing everything instead of just receiving it now. I'm all about like, let's receive, you know, I mean, that's why I named my ministry. The ministry that I run for the last couple of years is called The Joy of Receiving Love, just because that's where the joy comes in. Yeah. You know, is when you receive His love. Yes. Right. And and then you pour it back out. And that does a whole nother thing inside of you. Yeah. When when you receive His love, there's like, wow, you know, there's so much excitement. And then when you give it out to another person, yeah. And you see their light come on, and their heart touched. Yeah, there's nothing like it. Yes,   Jeremy Horton 25:18 for sure. Cindy Spencer 25:19 There's nothing like it. So, um, the other thing I would like to have you share with is, if there's anybody listening that maybe doesn't know Jesus, and Jeremy, if you would like to Jeremy Horton 25:33 Yeah. You know, if there's anybody listening right now, who would like to have Jesus in their life or even wants to rededicate their life to Jesus right now, I just want you to, like, just genuinely believe and repeat after me. We're going to pray for Jesus to come into our lives and enter our hearts right now. Okay, so, right now, just repeat after me. Dear Lord Jesus, I open the door to my heart. I say sorry for my sin. I choose to follow you and make you the Lord of my life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen, man. Yes, yes.   Cindy Spencer 26:18 And so if anybody answered that call and prayed with Jeremy, we would love it if you would contact me at my email address is joyofreceivinglove@gmail.com. And let us know that you just received Jesus so we can celebrate with you. And if you have a Bible, Luke 15 shares three parables that Jesus tells about how heaven celebrates heaven last to celebrate with a new salvation. So we'd like to join heaven and you and celebrating your note new birth experience and just to answer any questions. And, you know, I just want to thank you guys so much for coming today. And that was powerful just for people to get to see that there are so many different ways that your salvation looks. And these are just three ways there's way more because God is so about us and who we are and our personality. And just, it doesn't matter what we struggled with, or what we knew right away. Doesn't matter. His love is always pursuing us. And in Philippians 1:6, it says, the work that God starts he always finishes right. Yeah, so we are all a work in progress, no matter if you started off, you know, right from the get go or not. Right? We are all a work in progress our whole life. And we're always growing, there's always things to grow in. And like they're being able to grow their kids and, and be able to impart to their kids these truths at a young age, right? So just imagine what their kids are going to be like as adults compared to what you know, they had to go through as adults. So there's just so many amazing things. And truly, my favorite word to say about salvation is it's the greatest miracle, there is. It's greater than even healing because, without salvation, all of that is I mean, it's nothing, nothing, right? Yeah, it doesn't mean anything. So we just thank you for coming today and being a part of our podcast today, and we just hope you all have a great day. Bye. Have a good day. Remember God loves you. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Learn three different ways to look at your relationship with Jesus that I experienced and discover some new truths to building a better walk with Jesus. Hey, everyone, this is Pastor Cindy saying thank you for coming to today's podcast, where we'll be talking about building a better relationship with the Jesus, we are continuously growing and learning more about our friends and family and getting closer and building a deeper relationship. So it only makes sense that we would do that with God too, and, and getting to know them better and continue building that relationship and learning more about him, knowing who we are to him, and who he is to us. And I've also discovered over the years that salvation is truly the greatest miracle. So it only makes sense that we would want to know more and grow in our relationship with Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior. One of the reasons I decided to do a series of episodes about salvation, is because, on July 17, 2019, I'm celebrating my 37th year of walking with Jesus. And I did some reflection and realized I could pretty much bring it into three different phases of my walk, and I want to share them with you. So I'm hoping as I share these three areas that some of them will be relatable to you, and maybe bring some understanding to your walk with God in three areas that I realized two of them, I did not have my understanding and perspective on who Jesus was and what he had done for me correctly. And then the last one is when I got my understanding correct about Jesus, and what he had done for me, and how everything changed after that. The first one that I want to talk about is the timeframe that I dealt with, probably 20 years, or more, which I'll call law. And I don't mean like the law of the United States are breaking the law here in the States, I'm talking biblical law. And in the Old Testament, it talks about there were 613 laws and the 10 commandments. But what happens is, when you are under that mindset of operating in the law, one way you can know, if you're dealing with that is if you always have this thought of doing good, get good, do bad, get bad from God. I don't know how many times I felt like if I let God down or did something wrong, he was going to strike lightning at me. And now it's just like, you know, I know how loving he is. And I knew he was loving back then. But I could even love him with all my heart. And I loved having a relationship with him. But it was just a struggle in how close I felt to him because I felt very distant from him. And that I found out was not on his end, that was all on my end because I had a misunderstanding. And that that was where the whole problem was, is I just had a misunderstanding of who God is. And didn't know how much he loved me. And it took me 19 years of my 37-year walk to really, really believe that he truly loved me just the way I was in all my mess. And once that happened, things started to change. But then I entered a new phase. The next phase is what I call the religious mindset. And in that one, it's you have to have this, do this, do this to become this, or do this and then do this again. But don't do this. To become this didn't keep me from loving God. I just thought this is the way it was. And I thought everybody did this. And now I'm happy to say that I entered the righteousness phase. I cried and cried. And yes, it was a happy cry, not a sad cry. I was so happy that I finally got it I finally understood righteousness. Yes, that one word made a big difference. In everything that how, I saw how I saw God, how I saw Jesus, how I saw myself and how he I kind of started seeing how he saw me. And it was so much better. So because it's so much better, I'd like to reiterate the differences between the three, law does good, get good, or do bad, get bad from God. religion says you need to achieve this, you need to do this, you need to do more. You need to do this again. But don't do this, to become this. And then God will bless you. Then righteousness says that you have already become because of what Jesus did on the cross. Religion gets you focused on your obedience, your actions, and your self. Righteousness gets you focused on Jesus and his obedience going to the cross to make us righteous. If we stay occupied, occupied on him by beholding him and what he did for us, things will change for the better. Now I'd like to read some of my favorite passages from the Bible that have really helped me. The first one is Colossians 1: 19 through 23. In the New Living Translation, for God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ. And through him, God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God, you were his enemies separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled us to himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless, as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in don't drift away from the assurance you've received when you heard the good news. The good news has been preached all over the world. And I Paul had been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it. I love that verse. And it just says everything it says pretty much everything in a nutshell. But there are so many more verses that share about this. And so back 1500 years before Jesus came, God had, through Moses installed the law, the whole system of the law, and before that with Abraham, and before that there was like 2500 years, that was done with grace. But during the 1500 years of law, there was 613 laws and 10 commandments that were put in place by God for the Israel people. And in James 2:10, Paul, or James tells us that if you broke one of the laws, you broke them all, it was no different. So it basically was impossible to keep all the laws and not ever fail. And God did that with several intentions. But one of them was for people to realize that they would need a savior and that they couldn't do it on their own, and they couldn't perform and save themselves. And so that's why he would do that. So that when Jesus did come, they go Yeah, we want to save you because this is just too hard to do this on our own. During those 1500 years of law, if they sin, they had to make a sacrifice that with an animal, and the blood of that animal covered their sin, but it didn't remove the condemnation. And it didn't permanently remove, but it just covered it enough that it was in the way God said to do it. So because God said to do the sacrifice that way, he still continued to bless them after they made that sacrifice even though they had sinned. While Jesus in the book of Hebrews, it tells us that Jesus came and he only did it once he was on the cross once and shed his blood once. And not only did it do more than cover our sins, it removed them. And in Romans four, eight, it also tells us that the punishment was taken off of us because all the punishment was put on Jesus when he was on that cross, along with our sins along with everything that he did on the cross. So for Romans 4:8 tells us that sin is not imputed to us, only on Jesus. And then in Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17. It says that God's telling us that he does not remember our sin anymore, which is absolutely amazing. To me, I really struggled with that one for years when I heard that it just how could God forget my sin, I certainly remember it. Even though I had asked Jesus to forgive me. And he had forgiven me and cleansed me. But I still had that either law mentality or religious mentality that affected the way I received his love and the way I received his forgiveness. You know that that's a huge statement right there, to receive His love, but also to receive His forgiveness, to receive what he did on the cross. And that work that he took all of that punishment. He was beaten, he was crucified on the cross, all for us. About a year into the timeframe that I started realizing that I was walking in righteousness and not condemnation in law, right religion anymore. I was in my concordance. And I just love looking up words in the concordance because it makes verses come more alive and get a better understanding. And it really helps my mind to see what the verse is trying to say. And one day I decided to look up the word salvation, both in the Greek and in the Hebrew. And I was amazed at what salvation means. It actually means five different things. It means saved, made well delivered, prospered and protected. We receive all of that when we get saved and accepted Jesus as a relationship with Jesus. All of that is instantly ours in our spirit. I remember thinking before I found that out, that I knew that I had access to healing, and prosperity and protection because the Word of God told me, but again, I thought it was something I had to earn. It was something I thought I had to do this and do this to get to become that. And here the whole time, I already had it. And it was at my disposal whenever needed. And I just didn't know it. This is why I'd like to encourage you to really do what you can to really start studying about your identity in Christ, and that you're a child of God and you're loved by God, and that you have a great savior that did everything for you. He took all the punishment of our sin on his body, so that we can have direct access with God again, we have dominion again, we have authority. And it's just amazing all that Jesus did for us on the cross. And it's really fascinating once you get into the word and start studying it. So if you haven't done it before, I'd really encourage you to do it. It's just an awesome journey. Another story in the Bible that I'd like to share about is back in Genesis 15. And it was God and Abraham and God had asked him to take three animals and two birds and cut the three animals in half. And he wanted to make a blood covenant with Abraham. So that Abraham knew that the promise of a son and land a new Promised Land was going to be his. And so if you read Genesis 15, especially verse 17, it says that God Himself became a flaming torch. And as an oven that was smoking from heaven, and passed between the pieces of the animals by himself and did not have Abraham do it with him. Most customary, it was, well actually traditional that if there were two people making a blood covenant with the animals that way that both people walked through, to seal the agreement. But God Himself wanted to make this agreement and not involve Abraham, because he wanted to show Abraham that he himself was going to keep this promise. And didn't matter what Abraham did, that Abraham wouldn't be able to mess it up. And, you know, I kind of see that with Jesus, that when Jesus came in, he came on the cross. He also by shedding his blood, was making a blood covenant with us, by himself, and not making us a part of that covenant having to do the blood part of it as well. He did it all on his own. And I just want to read a couple of verses that, that show this, there's actually about four of them that are just really good that I feel like I want to share Matthew 26:28, for this is the blood that seals the New Covenant, it will be poured out for many for the complete forgiveness of sins. Mark 14:24, he said to them, Jesus said this to them. This is my blood, which seals the New Covenant poured out for many. Luke 22:20, after supper was over, he lifted up the cup again and said, This cup is my blood of the new covenant I make with you, and it will be poured out soon for all of you. And then in Hebrews 10:29, it says, How much more severely do you suppose a person deserves to be judged who has contempt for God's Son, and who's scorned the blood of the new covenant that made him holy, and who mocks the Spirit who gives us grace. And those were all read out of The Passion Translation. So like I said before, that blood covenant that Jesus sealed on the cross for us, gave us forgiveness of sins, made well delivered, prospered and protected. That's pretty amazing. And he also did it with himself as his father did with Abraham, so that we couldn't mess it up. Because they know that we're fickle, they know that we do change their minds, they know that you know, we would have trouble understanding this. And so they wanted to make it simple, and all on themselves to keep their promises to us. The other word I looked up when I was looking up salvation is I looked up Savior, and in the Greek, it means we need a savior. And we cannot do this without him. And it said that he was the deliver And the one saving, and the other part of the word that I forgot to tell you about salvation, it also says, the one being saved. So the Greek word for Savior is all about him being the one saving, and the Greek word for salvation is all about us being the one saved. And it goes even deeper. If you read Romans five, it talks about how there's a sin nature that came in. And when Adam and Eve fell, they caused sin nature to come in all of mankind. It's something we're born with. And it basically points to the fact that we're separated from God. But when we accept Jesus into our hearts, and start walking with a new relationship with Jesus, and salvation, then all of that changes, and we immediately have open access to God the Father again, and we have Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And they dwell inside of our spirit, and we're clean and we gained from the sin and all the penalty of sin, because Jesus took it all on his body. So I would encourage you to read Romans five, it's amazing, actually, the whole book of Romans is amazing. And maybe even start with chapters three and four, and then go into five and six. I mean, it's just, I don't know, I think three through chapter six are some of the most powerful in the whole Bible. Another scripture that I'd like to share is John 16, verses 7 through 12. And this is Jesus saying, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment of sin, because they believe this sorry, of sin, because they believe not on me. And of righteousness, because I go to my father, and you see me no more of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. And I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. That is amazing. In a nutshell, he's basically saying, he, if he goes, then he'll send the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. And in that process, the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin. And the sin is not believing Jesus, and what Jesus was about to do on the cross. But the way I like to explain it is that the Holy Spirit will convict a person who doesn't know Jesus, to draw them unto wanting to know Jesus, and wanting to repent of their sin and give their life to Jesus. But it's not condemnation. The Holy Spirit's very gentle. And he comes and he's like a gentleman. And he comes to each individual and draws them unto Jesus and let them feel his love. And then gives them the choice Yes, or now to want to accept Jesus or not. And let's say the individual might be 30 years old. Well, that doesn't mean if the Holy Spirit came once that he's not going to ever come again. He does it for a whole lifetime. He will always draw a person to want a relationship with Jesus, no matter how many times they've said, No, or no matter how many times they disregarded the idea of Jesus and who Jesus is and what he did. It doesn't matter. God is love. And he will always draw us unto him and almost like, like wooing, I said to him, no matter what we say, because He created us he knew we were fickle, he knew that there'd be things we wouldn't understand. And so they just always are coming to us with that love, that they will never force themselves on us. They always want us to have that free choice Another scripture that I'd like to read is Romans 3:24 to 28, in the New Living Translation, yet God and His grace freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Jesus Christ when He freed us from the penalty of our sins. God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in the present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for he himself is fair, and just, and he makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast then that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. I want to share a story that God laid on my heart the other night, while I was studying to put all these notes together, and he gave me a beautiful story, he says, What if I gave you a gift, gift of a white dress? And then he showed me that if it was a guy, he would give him a white suit, and beautiful material, it would be beautiful, and fancy and pretty. And you went to the park? Would it be hard to keep clean? Would you be wanting to maybe not sit on the park bench because you might get your brand new outfit from God dirty? Well, let's say you were walking along and somebody jumped in a big puddle and made a big stain on your pretty new white dress or white suit? Would you be able to clean it? Well, Jesus showed me that that stain was a representation of sin. And in 1 John 1:7, it says, if we walk in the light, as Jesus Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, who is God's Son cleanses us from all sin. And in the Greek, there's a Greek tense of the word cleanses. And that Greek tense says that it's continuously cleansing, present time, continuously cleansing. So God was showing me that my dress or your white suit, will always be able to stay clean, because of the blood of Jesus that is continuously cleansing us from all sin. And all we have to do is thank Jesus for whatever sin we did. And just thank him for cleansing us and forgiving us with his blood and dying on the cross for us. Instead of begging him or going into condemnation, because you sinned again, and you just feel like you're farther away from God, but you're not. And he's showing us that he's continuously cleansing us from all our sin, as we come to Him, and He wants us to draw closer to Him. And salvation is a gift from God. It says that Ephesians 2:8. And it's done as a gift so that we can't boast. Because if we were trying to earn our salvation, then we could boast that we did it in our own strength. But if it's a gift, you can't do that. And so that's why they gave it to us as a gift. It's a beautiful love story. Thank you for coming today and learning how to better our relationship with Jesus by learning the goodness of God and all that they did for us on the cross, and even learning from a few of my mistakes. If this message spoke to you, would you consider leaving a review and some stars so others can find this podcast? I hope this message stirred your faith to know how loved by God you are. And always you can always contact me at joyofreceivinglove@gmail.com if you have any questions, Have a great day!

Episode 5 is an interview with Nancy Ann Johnson about her brand new book called Ask For Your Miracle.  Meet the author in a heart to heart talk as she shares the testimony of how Jesus healed her. Let this comeback story restore your hope in the promises of a miraculous God. You can find more from her at engagingjesus.com Cindy Spencer 00:00 Welcome to Episode Five. Ask for your miracle. This is Pastor Cindy Spencer, here to talk about good news. Just like the title says, In a world that likes to talk about negative news, I want to shout from the rooftops good news. I will be sharing a variety of topics in this podcast. But as the song says, Remember the best news, it's all about Jesus. Welcome to today's episode, we are going to interview Nancy and Johnson. She wrote a book called Ask For Your Miracle. I've known Nancy for eight years now. And I've actually basically been here alongside while she's been going through this journey that she wrote about in her book. And so today, we get to hear about different facets of her book and different things that we think that would just totally bless your day today. So welcome, Nancy. Nancy Johnson 01:05 Hi, Cindy. And so glad to be here. And I'm just so thankful to have you for a friend and just to be alive. So I'm, I'm so glad I met Jesus, and he's lined all this up for us. Cindy Spencer 01:16 Yes, literally, she's thankful to be alive, it's you should get her book. I mean, it's amazing her story. So we're here today to hear some little juicy bits about your book. And you're going to share some of the things that you wrote about. And one of the things I'd love for you to share is explaining the title that says, Ask For Your Miracle. And why you decided to write this book. Nancy Johnson 01:42 Yeah, um, I'm just so excited to share my testimony with people, you know, I've, I almost died and was in a position of a lot of weakness. And God was able to bring me out of that and restore me completely, not just me, but my marriage and our finances. So I want to share that with people. Because it's good to know that Jesus is doing miracles today. And that there are steps that you can take to get to that kind of victory. And so I kind of laid out the steps and it's healing spirit, soul and body, learning to pray with faith, you know, learning that we can actually believe God for a miracle, and they actually has promises that we can step into. And so knowing him is, is an amazing thing, and nothing is impossible for him. And so my main point is to ask, you know, seek knock and never give up like I had to just hang on and never give up. I wanted that promise of healing at one my miracle. And I wanted you people also to know that you can do it. I just want to encourage you to fight for your miracle and fight for your healing. And I'm using the pain in the situation that I was in, to be my life purpose now and to help others, to help others and to give hope to others, to encourage, and encourage others that they can do it. And so there are lots of neat things in this book about those keys. I talked about having an extraordinary marriage, I talked about the Holy Spirit, I talked about resting in the love of the Father, and just different things on faith and prayer. So I just wanted everybody just to dive into those things, because God's amazing, and he's the best friend that you'll ever have. Cindy Spencer 03:19 Amen! I agree with all that. That's amazing. And I know that at the back of the book, I was really excited because you, you added some scriptures that are for people that maybe don't know where to start. Can you share a little bit about that? Nancy Johnson 03:37 Yes. So the Word of God is really important. And when you're contending for one of those promises that God has given you, you literally need to go through the Bible and find the promises that you need. So what I did, since I needed healing, I went through and studied the healing scriptures. And I put some of those in the back of the book that I studied on who I am in Christ, my identity. And I put some of those in the back of the book. And I also found healing faith scriptures that I needed to learn about faith and how faith works and how to believe for miracles. And so when we, when we go over the scriptures that we need, we're actually meditating on them, we're learning them are memorizing them, and we're speaking them out loud because God created in the book of Genesis, it says, God created the world, by speaking or speaking it into being and so we learn to speak out his word, His Word will not return to Him void. And then we're also sowing and reaping a harvest. So part of my healing was learning really fast what the promises of God were because I was in a crisis situation. And so I wanted to put those in there. And then in each chapter, I also put steps and I put a prayer. And so for those days, when you may not have time to read a whole chapter, whatever, you can just go right to the prayer, pray out the prayers, you can go right to the back, pray out your scriptures. And just have that as an amazing resource. Cindy Spencer 05:01 Yeah, I mean, it's like the whole book is a resource because it covers so many different things. And, and you provided things in there. You know, so for the prayers. And one of my favorite quotes, I'm going to quote this out of your book, you wrote that if you want this is God talking to you. And you said, he said to you, if you want more authority, Nancy, then get right next to my heart. And you went, Whoo, whoo, that's exactly where I need to be. Can you share about that? Nancy Johnson 05:36 Yeah, I love that.  I have a heart to worship God. And I found that that's the best place to be like when you are, when you are so in love with someone, you just get lost in that love. And you forget all about yourself, which is exactly what I needed to do is to forget about all those problems, all those circumstances. And when you do that, when you forget about yourself that much, and you're so focused on the other Your Beloved, you actually can get caught up in the spirit, which happens to me a lot in worship happens to a lot of people in worship, and you end up being in the heavenly's, right before the throne. It says it says the veil is torn, we have free access to the throne of God. And we can be caught up in the Spirit. It says in the book of Revelation, "come up here". And so that's where he wants us to be. And so he's telling me, get right next to me, that's where the place of authority is. And so I always wanted to be in worship, like, that's what I wanted to do all day long. It's the most joyous, most wonderful thing because when you're in that place, in the praises He enthrones you, which means the gates of your heart are wider.  You're wide open to love, and He is on the throne. And He battles for you. And so in that place, it's just gloriously fun, wonderful, you know, if you can smell the fragrances of God. It's all available to you right there. And that's the place where you're at the power of the center of the universe. And that's what I was telling me if you want more authority, be here, abide in my love. It says in John 15, it says to abide in the vine. And when we abide in that place with Him and we know His word, then whatever we desire, He will do it. Cindy Spencer 07:16 Now I know you and so I know that this works for you at church. But I also know that you're a huge worshiper at home. Can you kind of share with people how they can do this at home? Nancy Johnson 07:29 Yeah, so what I do is, I found out that the enemy doesn't like it when we worship. So it's one of my favorite things to do. And so I turn on my radio or my iPad, and I run worship music 24/7, so I leave it on all night. And it's going in my home, and it actually creates an atmosphere. Like the throne room, in our homes. And I've taught a lot of people this through the years, actually hundreds I mean, almost everybody I tell is to just to keep your music on because it's doing warfare for you. It's cleansing the atmosphere, it's cleansing your home, and it's keeping the enemy away and strengthens you. Yeah, it's powerful. Yeah. And it's that spiritual atmosphere where whatever you sow it's like pregnant with possibilities. You're sowing your word into that atmosphere. It's just like, wow, stuff just starts manifesting fast.   Cindy Spencer 08:27 That's amazing. And I know, there's another chapter that you shared. And this is another quote that I really liked. And you said, I would never want to do anything without my glorious friend, the Holy Spirit. Can you tell us about him and your relationship with him? Nancy Johnson 08:48 Yeah, I'm just so excited about the Holy Spirit. He is like pure joy. And it says in Acts it actually says that Jesus, when He ascended, that he was telling his disciples, I'm not going to leave you orphans. I'm going to send you the promise of the Father. And then He told them to wait in the upper room until the power comes. And what was that power? Well, it was the Holy Spirit. And so they prayed and prayed and prayed. And, you know, a mighty rushing wind came, and then tongues of fire broke out in the room and landed on everyones head. And they broke out in other languages. I mean, it was just amazing. And then right after that, they went out and 3,000 people got saved. So that's when the power came in. And they were telling me in the healing rooms, Nancy, you've accepted Jesus into your heart, you know, the promises of God. But now you also need the Holy Spirit, because he's where the power comes in, for all of these miracles, that you're asking for and the things that you need to break through on. So I was after the Holy Spirit, like, like, I just wanted him and I desired him so much. And I had asked them to pray for me. And I believe that I got baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is what Jesus came to do. He came to baptize in, in the power and the fire of the Holy Spirit I and so I felt like I got that, but I didn't get the what they were talking about the prayer language. And so I kept going after and I kept asking, and finally, I read a book, or Joyce Meyer wrote, called, Knowing God Intimately. And then just me and the book, I got, I got it, this prayer said, and I got what she said. And it actually came out of my mouth. And I was so excited. I ran through the house, and I went to bed that night, and I woke up in the morning, and now my feet had been swollen up. As part of what was wrong with me, I had really bad circulation. So my feet were swollen up really huge. And I went out on the couch that that morning to do my exercises because they told me, you've got to get your circulation going, or we might have to remove your I had abscesses, and they might have to remove my foot. So I was really like, when I'm doing my exercise, I look up at my feet, they're all down normal size, all the water, drain out of them everything and I jumped off the couch, my heart was pounding and I'm like, What in the world, nobody prayed for me. It wasn't because I knew how to receive from people. I was going in, getting prayer and they were praying for me. But I had never gotten anything on my own and, and all I got was my prayer language. So I was so thrilled with the Holy Spirit. And like I was so wowed, like, I'm going after the Holy Spirit, I'm going to learn how to pray my prayer language. Because what happened was, the prayer language is the perfect will of God. In Corinthians, that's the perfect will of God. And they were praying for me in English, but I wasn't getting that breakthrough. So once I learned how to pray that language, things started really breaking off of me very quickly, I started to get my foods back my blankets and clothes, you know, that I couldn't do before shoes, things like that a lot more quickly. Holy Spirit is like my best friend. Like, He talks to me, he plays with me, I just have so much fun, I just hear him, He chases me. I mean, just,  He is pure joy. And He's like, my best friend Cindy Spencer 12:10 And He is! And Jesus told us in like John chapter 14 through 16, that the father was promising to send him to us. You know, and he was very excited about that. And he was going to be our comforter, because he knew, like literally for those disciples that they were going to be dealing with him on the cross and dying and just think, you know, everything was over. And you know, when He rose from the dead, and they saw that He was alive. And they, even at that moment, when they saw that He was alive, He still told them to go and wait for the Holy Spirit before you go do any ministry. Because He knew that we would need the Holy Spirit's wisdom, His comfort, His strength, His direction. And you know, you read about that all through the New Testament, you know, where He gave them direction where to go, where not to go, Nancy Johnson 13:06 and help them with strength and edify them in the Holy Spirit. Well, Jesus showed us how to live as a God-man, by emptying Himself out when He got baptized in the Jordan River. And the Holy Spirit came down and rested upon him. And then the Holy Spirit drove Him out into the desert for 40 days, when He came back, He walked into the synagogue and took out the book of Isaiah, and says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me and set the captives free. And so He showed us how to do it as sons and daughters. We need to empty ourselves out and have the Holy Spirit. And so that's how we are supposed to do the Great Commission, how we're supposed to do the greater works. It's all because of the Holy Spirit and how to walk out that amazing life of signs and wonders with Him. Cindy Spencer 13:55 And you know, I've been watching you for eight years, and you have a very close relationship with the Holy Spirit. And one of the things you also talked about, which is pertinent to the Holy Spirit being with us is believers who are also receivers. Can you share more about that? Nancy Johnson 14:16 Yeah, so we're saved by grace through faith. And so there's a two-part thing going on here. God has the grace for us have everything we need. It's a free gift. But then we also have to use our faith. So it's two things going on. And the believer, that's a receiver, that's the one that knows they're coming for prayer, they're asking God, and they can just relax and let him pour it on. They've learned that God actually God gives a spirit without measure. So if you can just lay down and soak, you know, actually not even asking anything, but just learn how to soak and rest in the fact that he's a giver, God is a restorer of all good, then you can just be the receiver, you can just receive every promise, you can just sit down and relax, he actually calls us to rest, rest in all of what he's done for us, enter my rest, which is not striving. We're not striving after our healing, we're actually going to rest in the fact that he's given us the promise, we know what's going to happen, it might not happen immediately. It didn't happen immediately for me, even though it's all finished. And it's all done, according to First Peter 2:24. Yeah, God has, you know, taken all that upon Him, we were actually dead to sin and live unto God now, and by his stripes, we were healed. So it's a done deal. So we rest in the fact that it's done. But we continue to ask, we continue to knock we continue to seek, but that was striving. And so that's the believer, that's a receiver and a lot of people have their receivers turned off. Because being plugged into, like a TV being plugged into this socket, it's always there, or the radio, the radio waves are always going, the TV's always broadcasting, but we're not plugged in. And so we have to get plugged in, we have to learn to pray, we have to learn to worship, we learn to read the word we learn to meditate. And that's all. All of those and the presence and seek the presence of God. Because He says, seek my face, you know, seek My face and go after His presence. And so we want his presence around us always. So that's about being, you're tuned in to Him at all times, listening, aware, you know, submitting surrendering, repentance is huge, you know, those are all tool belts, those are all weapons on your tool belt that you can use as ways to learn to tap in and engage the Lord. Cindy Spencer 16:42 And understanding that we have all that God's given us, the right to be healed. And every single one of us is worthy for that healing because that's all that Jesus did on the cross. And all we have to do is receive that. And like you said, our receivers aren't broken. I went for years with my receiver not plugged in. And I didn't know that God really wanted me healed and, and that I thought I had to do it in my own strength and wasn't resting in Him. And you know, Romans 8:11 tells us that the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is indwelling in us. Yeah. So we're one third, you know, dwelling with God, and then our body and our soul. And so it's just, he's so powerful. Yeah. But we have to know that.  Nancy Johnson 17:35 Yeah, and that's all about renewing the mind. And why we keep going over the promises, you know, and renewing our mind because the enemy keeps trying to take us out with these little deceptions here and there. But if we stay in the Word of God, we stay in those promises, then our mind, just like Romans 12, one and two says, We are transformed. We're not conformed to this world but transformed by the renewal of our minds. And so that's where we want to walk into that change, that transformation that, like God. I don't want to stay the same anymore, you know, help me change. So that's where we get in the word was why we study it, why we keep going after him. And He is the word of God. So if we're after His presence, we're after Him and worship were after Him in the word, were after Him in prayer, that he is the word and so we will be transformed. Cindy Spencer 18:25 So I would encourage anybody that's listening to this, if you don't know where to start, like, how do I renew my mind? Where do I start? She's got in the back of her book, those scriptures we talked about earlier. And they talk about faith in and your identity in Christ truth, that of what God did for you. And what you do have and his promises, and there's nothing like getting enlightened to those truths. Just, it gives you that understanding that you need that makes your receiver work, that Ah-Ha moment, yeah. Nancy Johnson 19:11 My gosh, I have all this already. All I have to do is get my mind to come into agreement with my spirit. Yeah. And then my body just will follow along. Cindy Spencer 19:22 Yeah. Because faith is just coming into agreement with the truth of God's word, right? His Word is full of the truth. But we have to come into agreement with that. That's faith. Yeah. That's why He said, it's just a mustard seed of faith. You're just coming with your agreement with Him. Nancy Johnson 19:43 And he's the, He's the God of breakthrough. So yeah, all we need is that breakthrough mindset, like, He's in you with that breakthrough mindset all the time, like He can do far above all you could possibly imagine or think. So He's just taking us little by little into that kind of mindset. That is the breakthrough, like, Oh, my gosh, I can dream big. Yes, I can because of Him and who's in me, He loves the higher thoughts. Cindy Spencer 20:08 And He really does want me well. Right. And He wants me to have a prosperous life and just be happy and joyful. Because He's provided everything for us. Now we just need to come into agreement. Right? And ask Him and say, Poppa, I want everything you have for me. Yeah. And that's what you did. And you stayed asking, and you stayed asking! Nancy Johnson 20:29 Yeah, I literally had to hang on like a pit bull. Because the tracks and the strongholds I had for so long, that sickness was my identity, because I was sick for over 14 years in that situation. You know, I had to pull out of that. And so I had to rewrite the whole, the whole of my thoughts and my systems, everything had to change. So it wasn't an overnight miracle for me, but I, I really stayed with it. Lord kept telling me, you can't be passive. You can't let the enemy run over you and you draw a line in the sand and you fight back. Yeah. And not with my own strength, but by the Spirit says the Lord, It's by the Spirit that I am doing it with. Cindy Spencer 21:13  Yeah. Because we can't do it alone. Even Jesus couldn't do it alone. Yeah, He said He had to do everything with the Father. And so that's why we need the Holy Spirit to help us with everything. Yeah. And so the other thing I wanted to find out, and have you share with people is, you know, you, you took this journey with this book writing, but what would be different if you started out as a teenager and had done things different? Because you mentioned earlier that, you know, you started a little bit later in life. So do you wish that you had known some of these things earlier? What would you tell a youth that's listening right now about what they could do different, to be more empowered at an earlier beginning and start off different? Nancy Johnson 22:07 Yeah, for all those youth that are out listening right now and want to become a writer, or, you know, maybe you have another dream in your heart. My heart is that you would get to know Jesus, like, if I had known Him and excepted Him into my heart when I was a lot younger, then I would have been so blessed my life because God wants to pour blessing after blessing after blessing on his children. And, you know, now that I'm at this, this elder age, I could have had all of those blessings and accumulated all of those blessings. And so I would really suggest that all of you young people, you really go after Jesus and give him your heart, and just let Him pour out over your life, all these blessings. But as far as learning to write when I was younger, I would have gone after journaling, because I've learned to journal with God. And it's an incredible experience. And it helps you learn to write.  One of the ways that I learned it is just to get a notepad and ask, what do you want to do is, first of all, you want to write a letter to Jesus, like, tell Him you love Him, pour out your heart, on the paper, for Him, you know, all of everything I want to say. And then actually, there's a prayer that you can pray that would that you say, Lord, I gave you my pen. And it's the pen of a ready writer, which is din the Psalms, Book of Psalms. And that's a scriptural prayer, and then have Him write a love letter back to you. And you'll find out that what He writes, is incredibly loving. It's incredibly kind, it's full of wisdom, it's full of good fruit. And He'll always be encouraging you. So you learn to be able to tell the difference between your voice and His voice and the enemy's voice because the enemy, he wants to kill, steal, and destroy. So if there's anything that's negative at all, or that's pressuring you are discouraging you that's the enemy's voice coming in there. So when you learn to journal with the Lord, and you give Him the pen of a ready writer, He can tell you all kinds of wisdom that you need for the day. He can tell you how much He loves you, He can tell you what you need to know about, you know, if you want to learn how to really get into His word, you know, what revelations that you need, you know, we should go through scriptures. You know, tell me about this Lord, and start to dialogue with Him. Write back and forth. The Lord said and then write. And then ask Him another question. And the Lord said, and it gets to be a really fun way to learn about your life and your destiny and what you're supposed to be going after. Cindy Spencer 24:38 And then you always have it there to look back over. Maybe you're having a rainy day, and you want to look back over something positive. And you can go back and read it. And, you know, it talks all through the word, especially like in Psalm 139. And in the book of Malachai, where God Himself is writing books about us. Yeah. Back when we were born, before we were born. And even like, today, you and I are having this conversation. And we're talking all about Jesus and all about God. And they're up there recording this. Yeah, it talks about that in Malachai. I mean, it's just amazing. So they love to speak to us.  Nancy Johnson 25:19 Yeah. And one thing is, sometimes you might not always hear a thought or a voice, but you might see in pictures. So there are different ways that you can hear his voice. Cindy Spencer 25:27 You can draw. Nancy Johnson 25:28 Yeah, you can draw, you can draw it out. One of the things that you want to do is just make sure it lines up with Scripture. So just check it after. If it doesn't line up with scripture just toss it out. And go with what you got that goes with Scripture. So it's fun. Yeah. Do you think in pictures? If you smell fragrances, there's so many ways he talks to us. That's amazing. They'll give you music, sometimes videos, movies that you might have seen, so there is a lot of ways that you can hear God's voice. Yes. Cindy Spencer 25:59 Amen. And, you know, you mentioned how important salvation was not only for, for you with this whole health condition but also you wished you'd had sooner. So can you share a little bit more about that for anybody that's listening that may not have a relationship with Jesus right now? Can you share on that? Nancy Johnson 26:24 Yeah, I just want to say that Jesus is always knocking at the door of our hearts wanting to have relationship, he loves us so much, you know, I've had visions of the Father just crying over His children, the lost children and, and so He's a Father that, you know, when the son comes back to Him, He's a Father that will run with the robe and the ring and fall on your neck and kiss you, He loves you so much. And Jesus would leave the 99 sheep to go after the one. Then all the angels in heaven are celebrating when one of God's children comes back to Him and gives them their heart again. And so if there's anybody listening right now, you can just ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin. And, you know, he remembers it no more he doesn't remember it, whatever kind of mistakes you made. He accepts you right where you're at, you know, I made all kinds of mistakes. Right where I was at, and yeah, and took me into his heart and under his wing, and started to teach me and disciple me and, and so it's really, he's the best friend I've ever, ever, ever had, and the most amazing, miraculous God that can help us with everything. And so if you're listening right now, and you want to give your heart to Jesus, just say this prayer with me. Just say beautiful Jesus, come into my heart. Be my Lord and Savior. I believe that you are the Son of God, forgive me of all my sins, walk with me through life. Be my Father and fill me with your loving Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. And we just thank you, God, for the salvation. Yeah. And just suggest that you all get into a Bible-based church and start learning the Word of God and start being you know, discipled, and get into small groups and friends, so you can learn and you can grow and, and get this book. Yeah. Thank you so much, Cindy. Really appreciate it. Cindy Spencer 28:27 Yeah, no problem. I mean, I'm so excited for you, Nancy. And just, this book brings so much hope, brings so much hope, no matter what your situation is, maybe, you know, she talks about marriage, maybe your situations, not health, but maybe it's a marriage or maybe it's your work, whatever the situation is these truths that she wrote in this book, help with every situation. So I just encourage you to get her book and I thank you for coming by and listening today and, and getting to meet Nancy and you'll see her heart all through the book. You know, it's just, it's very apparent all through the book, her heart and her love and passion for Jesus and, and we just had her heart for people. Both of us have a heart for people and that's why we're doing, whether it's a book or a podcast, we're doing this to share with other people and bring hope that there is good news out there. There's good news. And as Jesus said, He loves you. So have a great day. Be blessed. And subscribe to this podcast so you can hear more coming out more good news coming and have a great day. Take care. Bye. Nancy Johnson Bye.  

Over 6,000 years God the Father, Jesus the Son and Holy Spirit have come to fellowship with us.

Love of the Father Part Two continues with more on the story in Luke 15:11-32 Also deals with things that are common today that we deal with as Christians. Thank you for coming and please subscribe to the show for more to come:)

Love of the Father Part One is based on the story Jesus tells us in Luke 15:11-32 It is a beautiful story Jesus shares with us about His Father and their love for us. Some show notes are available at http://haveyouheardthegoodnews.libsyn.com

Hi! I am Pastor Cindy Spencer. This episode is an introduction to this podcast and who I am. Thank you for coming and please subscribe to the show for lots more to come:)