Low Oil: Ep. 3: Clogged, Not Empty: Restoring the River of Living Water

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and this is Faith on the Go,

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where you take the word with you on your drive to work, while you're getting

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ready in the morning, or even in those quiet moments before prayer.

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Real life, real word, and real growth, all while you are on the go.

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Before we get into today's word, let's take a moment to center ourselves with a familiar prayer.

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The prayer of Jabez.

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Oh, that you will bless me indeed and enlarge my territory.

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Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

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Father God, we come before you this day asking that you will indeed bless us,

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not just with what we have, but in who we are becoming.

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Enlarge our territory, Lord. Lord, expand our capacity, our mindset,

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and our ability to receive what you have for us.

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Let your hand be upon us, guiding us, covering us, and leading us in every decision we make.

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And Father, keep us from harm, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,

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that we may walk in peace and not in pain.

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And Lord, just as you heard Jabez when he cried out to you, hear us now.

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Your word says that you granted his request, and we believe that you are the same God today.

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So we come boldly before you, knowing that you hear us, knowing that you see

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us, and knowing that you respond to the prayers of your people.

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Have your way in this moment as we sit, listen, and receive your word.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Hello and welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host Connie Morris and I'm so glad that you are still with us.

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We're going to continue our series, Low Oil Warning. We're at day three.

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The title for this episode is Clogged, Not Empty, When the Flow is Blocked.

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Our foundational scripture is found in John chapter 7 verse 38,

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but I'm going to start at verse 37.

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It says, in the last day, the great

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day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts,

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let him come unto him and drink.

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Verse 38, He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said,

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out of his belly should flow rivers of living waters.

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And so we see here in 738, that this is Jesus talking, and he stood up,

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He said he stood and cried.

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So he said it with a voice of passion.

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You ever had somebody saying something and they're passionate about it,

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but yet at the same time they're speaking it, their eyes are watering and they're

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crying, but they're not crying tears of sadness.

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They're crying tears of joy and how important it is that you do that.

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Especially, you know, it shows up when you're in an argument with someone you

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really care about and you don't believe their story or his story or her story

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or your best friend's story.

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And they want you to believe it. So they add a little emotion,

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not a little, a lot of emotion behind it.

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And based off that emotion and based off your discernment, you'll say,

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wow, you're really serious about this.

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And that's what I hear when I hear this in John 7, verses 37 and 38.

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Because it says, in the last days, the great day of the feast,

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Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.

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He that believeth on me, as the

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scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

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We see here God is not blocked. He's not clogged. He's not empty.

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He works on the overflow and he wants us to work on that overflow too.

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But we have to believe it. We have to be thirsty for it. We have to come to the right person.

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Yeah, you're thirsty and you go get water from your refrigerator or from your fancy faucet, right?

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But if you are seriously hungry for Jesus, it was showing your prayers.

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It was showing your attitude.

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It was showing everything that pertains to you because Jesus cried out.

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And when he cries out like that, he's getting your attention,

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but he also wants you to believe.

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Like, come on now, you don't have to be clogged. You don't have to be empty.

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He says, and he also says here, it's like, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

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Out of his belly shall flow.

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This is not a trickle. This is not occasional movement.

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This is a continuous flow. The word belly refers to the innermost being,

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the place where the spirit resides.

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And the expectation is not that the spirit will sit stagnant within you,

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but that he will flow out of you like a river. A river moves. A river carries life.

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A river refreshes everything it touches.

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And here is the key. If there is no flow, then there's something wrong.

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And it's not the source. It must be the passage.

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The problem is not about us limited to supply. The problem is an obstruction.

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Because according to Jesus, the river is always there.

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So if it's not flowing, then something is blocking it. Come on now.

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If you have the Son of God crying out these words, those words alone should

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actually uncloth you. Because when Jesus set his faith.

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Faith and it's faith towards something, he always gets an answer.

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And so if you're ready to have an answer, we're in the right episode,

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that you're not clogged, that you're clogged.

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And how do we stop that? How do we get back to that flow?

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What is missing about that flow?

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Let's go to some more supporting scriptures.

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I spent a lot of time on that one, but we'll see. Luke 10, 40 to 42.

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It says, But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said,

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Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?

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Tell her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her,

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Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about much things.

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But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part,

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which should not be taken away from her.

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Back to Mary and Martha. I told you I loved that story. But Martha was cumbered about serving.

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Martha was not doing wrong. She was just distracted.

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And you know, distraction can pull us away from the very presence that sustains us.

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And I don't know about you, but it comes easy. You go down, you get ready,

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you go, I don't know where you pray, maybe upstairs down.

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I go downstairs in my living room. I got a little path that I walk and I'll

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put on my music. And one time I was

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listening to another church. They pray in their holy language.

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And it's a 24-hour prayer line, a prayer podcast.

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So I plug it in and I'm praying with them. But somehow their music got scratchy or something.

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They're from Africa. So sometimes the signal is not clear. And I said,

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that's just a distraction.

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I want to pray with you, but I know my time is limited.

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And so I would love to hear you figure out, get the scratching sound out.

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But right then it was a distraction. you know, and I don't want to take the

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time that I set apart for God to be distracted.

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Sometimes it plays good and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't,

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I turn it off. Sometimes I'm praying with no sound on it, no sound on anyway.

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I like a little music in the background, but sometimes I just want it to be

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quiet, no distractions.

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But we know about Martha. We covered that in our last podcast that Jesus intentionally stopped by.

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And we know that Martha, when Martha and Mary observed Jesus raised Lazarus

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from the dead, we realized that Martha was not the same person.

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She was still serving, but she had a different attitude.

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So this is the Martha before she had that experience with Jesus, right?

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That momentary relapse. But we know that Martha, because Jesus spoke to her,

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and when Jesus said those words to her, she probably made what you call a self-correction, right?

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And so we too, to unplug our oil, to unclog us, unclog us, that sometimes,

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not sometimes, many times, our disobedience is causing our clogging.

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Let's go on to Hebrews 12, 11.

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Our disobedience can be causing our clogging.

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12 verse 1, and it reads, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with

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so great a cloud of witnesses,

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let us lay aside every weight and sin which does so easily beset us,

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and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

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Lay aside every weight.

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Not everything that weighs you down is set, but it still slows you down and

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restricts your movement.

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Lay it down every weight. What is that weight? We covered that in the last episode.

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Whatever is holding you down, are you doing too much? We talked about that.

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Are we doing too much? Are we so stuck on image control that we're doing too

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much, that we don't spend enough time in the presence of the Lord.

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It says that every weight is a sin. That's why he says, lay aside every weight.

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And the sin. So he includes and the sin as though it's separate from the weight.

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Let's go to Mark chapter 4, Mark chapter 4, verse 19.

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Let's read all of it. We're going to start at verse 14, verse 13,

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all the way to verse 19. And it says, know ye not this parable?

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And how then will you know all parables. And it says in verse 14,

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the sower soweth the word.

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15, and these are they that by the wayside where the word is sown,

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but when they have heard, it cometh immediately and taketh away the word that

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was sown in their hearts.

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Verse 16, and these are they likewise, which are sown on stony grounds,

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who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness.

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And have no root in themselves, and so endured but for a time.

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Afterward, when the affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake,

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immediately they are offended.

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Verse 18, and these are they which are sown among thorns.

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Such as hear the word, and the cares, and the deceitfulness of riches,

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and the lusts of other things enter in. choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. Verse 20,

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And these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and

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receive it and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.

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We see here the process of the seed, the sower soweth the word.

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And so we'll get the word of God, and immediately Satan steals it.

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So bam, that could start off a plug. The second time we receive the word with

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gladness and then affliction and persecution comes, another still.

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And then these are the words that are sown among thorns.

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Hear the words, but here go another one. And the cares of this world and the

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deceitfulness of riches enter in and it chokes the word.

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And last one, it says, these are the one that are the word that is sown on good

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ground, which is your heart, such as hear the word, receive it,

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and it brings forth fruit, some 30-fold, some 60-100.

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The cares of this world chokes the word. Choke means to suffocate.

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Vice pressures can crowd our spiritual flow if not managed properly.

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And we all know, and if you don't know, now you know, that the ever had weeds in your yard?

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Back in the day when we I didn't have a lot of money.

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We had those dandelions come up. And those dandelions have super long roots.

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My dad loved a nice green grass, but yet we didn't have any money for a dandelion

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flying, you know, weed killer, right?

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So we will have to go in and dig those dandelions out. And you don't want to break it halfway.

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You have to dig it from the root so that they will not return because they're choking up.

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The grass. We see here that Satan has this process.

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Remember, he comes around as a roaring lion.

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And so he's stealing from us. When we don't take the word to heart,

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if we allow the cares of the world to take it out, we allow affliction and persecution to do it.

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Even when we receive it in gladness, we have to protect our hearts.

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We have to protect the seed that we are sowing so that we would not allow the

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weeds of the world to choke it out.

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You can be full and still not flowing. This is the condition of many believers.

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They have the spirit within them, but there is no outward evidence of movement, life, or refreshment.

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Why? Because their lives are overfilled with noise, crowded with responsibilities.

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Saturated with distraction, and burdened with unprocessed wait.

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That's how the flow becomes restricted.

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Let's do some real talk here. This is what being clogged looked like.

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You wake up and immediately reach for your phone instead of God.

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Your day is filled with activity, but not moments of stillness.

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Your mind is constantly running, but rarely resting.

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You are always doing, but rarely receiving. And then you wonder why.

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You feel disconnected. You feel spiritually dry and you feel like something is missing.

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It's not that God stopped speaking. There was just too much noise for you to hear him.

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There's something powerful about this section right here. When we talk about,

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I haven't heard God in a while, God's always talking.

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He's always talking, moving and getting you going.

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Open up your eyesight so you can see different, open up your vision,

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I'm sorry, your vision so you can see different things. But sometimes we get

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so busy about busyness, right?

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And those busyness moments is

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one of the subtle blockage of spiritual flow because it feels productive.

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As long as we're doing something, as long as we're busy for Jesus, everything is well.

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And sometimes we get busy for somebody else, your work, your employer.

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But it disconnects you from the very source of strength.

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How do we restore the flow? These scriptures may sound very familiar because

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God, it's like, you ever had God tell you something?

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He's like, you told me that yesterday. Well, you didn't do that yesterday.

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God likes to repeat himself.

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He repeats himself. I know, I know. It says, number one, how do you restore

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the flow is that you have to remove unnecessary noise. And that's found in Psalms 46, 10. It says.

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Stillness creates space for God to speak and for your spirit to receive.

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I remember a long, long time ago, I was doing yoga.

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And one of the things that this was a yoga instructor.

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I know, hello. And one of the things that they like to do in yoga is what you call meditation.

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And it's a strength of not allowing your flesh,

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to want you're sitting up certain pose for a long

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period of time and they call that meditating well

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after a while your body starts to scream and you're

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no longer thinking of meditation you're just trying to figure

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out how long is he gonna keep us in this the sitting pose and when i'm gonna

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get up so you actually you actually lose the i don't know how they do it you

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lose that meditative part when your body starts to hurt you're giving up saying

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here so but the bible tells us here that be still and know.

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So you don't have to sit in a certain pose. You can sit in your most comfortable

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chair, lean it back, close your eyes, and just sit and wait.

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Not putting on a timetable, but if you got somewhere to go, you can,

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but just sit and wait and say, Lord, I'm just waiting for you to speak. I need my flow restored.

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I need that living water to flow because I feel stuck.

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And so you want to create a space for God to speak.

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And one thing that our pastor mentioned today, and it was a side note on what he does.

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He says, when the Lord speaks, write it down, steward that word,

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because he has more to say.

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So he watches how you steward the word of God.

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And in my early podcast, I spoke a lot about that because that's how I started

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writing the devotionals because I would sit in prayer and God would have an

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idea or he'll give me a dream.

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It was always fun because they just started flowing.

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Now I'm at about 356 or so and I'm going through the 356 and God was still out

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of the blue, still talk. He don't care. He talks to us.

00:18:16.580 --> 00:18:20.500
But when we're still, when we take that time and we're setting our time apart

00:18:20.500 --> 00:18:24.000
just to hear him, just to say, Lord, I just want to hear your voice.

00:18:24.060 --> 00:18:28.180
It could come through the word of God, start reading the word, maybe worshiping.

00:18:29.172 --> 00:18:33.652
In your own voice, sometimes singing a song from the melodies of your heart,

00:18:33.792 --> 00:18:35.012
singing spiritual songs.

00:18:35.212 --> 00:18:41.152
I remember a time where they would tell you to take a Psalms and put sound and music to it.

00:18:41.252 --> 00:18:45.952
Well, I'm not that musically inclined, but I would try if no one's listening, but I'll try.

00:18:46.192 --> 00:18:52.512
I'll sing the Psalms 91, Psalms 23, making a melody in my heart, right?

00:18:52.812 --> 00:18:56.372
And then God will speak. And if he doesn't, I'll have a dream.

00:18:56.572 --> 00:19:02.392
He wants to talk to us. Let's go to number two, prioritize presence over productivity.

00:19:02.792 --> 00:19:08.172
Luke 10, 42. We know that part because that's our foundational scripture.

00:19:08.432 --> 00:19:12.732
Let me find it again. It says, Mary has chosen the good part.

00:19:13.032 --> 00:19:20.032
What is that good part? What is the good part? The good part was her sitting at the feet of Jesus.

00:19:20.392 --> 00:19:24.752
And one thing he said that was so powerful when I read this and I reread it.

00:19:24.812 --> 00:19:29.152
It says, but one thing is needful and Mary has chosen that good part.

00:19:29.496 --> 00:19:35.476
Which should not be taken away from her. The time you spend with Jesus is not lost time.

00:19:35.676 --> 00:19:41.296
It is valuable time. And you won't know until you do it for a long time.

00:19:41.536 --> 00:19:47.976
So the other morning I woke up and I spent time with the Lord and I was like, wow, Lord.

00:19:48.156 --> 00:19:52.056
And I'm starting to see some things manifest from our prayer,

00:19:52.116 --> 00:19:54.096
but it's in God's timing.

00:19:54.316 --> 00:19:58.136
I always wanted like yesterday, we pray, we go to Burger King,

00:19:58.216 --> 00:20:01.776
we put our order in And we drive through that, wherever, how long that little

00:20:01.776 --> 00:20:05.036
world is to get to the second part, second window to pay your money.

00:20:05.136 --> 00:20:08.276
And then we pay our money and we get our Burger King our way,

00:20:08.396 --> 00:20:10.856
you know, but that's not how God does it.

00:20:11.056 --> 00:20:16.116
God listens. He hears your prayers, but he has to wait to conditions that everything

00:20:16.116 --> 00:20:20.156
is right until you mature into what you ask, you know?

00:20:20.416 --> 00:20:25.516
And so when you mature into what you ask, you start to see that he did hear,

00:20:25.656 --> 00:20:30.196
but his answer was so much better than what I thought it would be.

00:20:30.396 --> 00:20:36.816
I was like, I thought it was going to be this, but he gives us way more than we can ask or think.

00:20:37.096 --> 00:20:41.876
So you got to remember, time with God is not optional. It is essential.

00:20:42.156 --> 00:20:44.056
You have to put him first.

00:20:44.396 --> 00:20:47.936
Time with God is not optional. It is essential.

00:20:48.316 --> 00:20:51.496
Go with me to 1 Peter 5, verse 7.

00:20:51.636 --> 00:20:58.656
1 Peter 5, verse 7. And it says, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you.

00:20:58.836 --> 00:21:03.876
I want to go back to verse 6. It says, humble yourself, therefore,

00:21:04.456 --> 00:21:10.596
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. It's a semicolon there.

00:21:11.036 --> 00:21:15.136
Then it says, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you.

00:21:15.456 --> 00:21:19.276
Sometimes I read the Bible and it reminds me of a procedure.

00:21:19.676 --> 00:21:24.856
If you have policy and procedure or standard of practices, this is powerful

00:21:24.856 --> 00:21:29.716
because it tells you first, you have to humble yourself, not to anybody, but to God.

00:21:30.433 --> 00:21:34.873
And that he will exalt you. But then he tells you to get the weight out the way, right?

00:21:35.253 --> 00:21:38.253
He wants to exalt you, but let's move the weight out the way.

00:21:38.373 --> 00:21:42.213
So he tells us in verse seven, casting all your cares upon him,

00:21:42.433 --> 00:21:44.373
for he cares for you. I want to keep going.

00:21:44.493 --> 00:21:49.813
Verse eight, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil,

00:21:50.033 --> 00:21:55.293
as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.

00:21:55.753 --> 00:22:00.313
Semicolon, it keeps going. Verse nine, whom resists steadfast in the faith,

00:22:00.433 --> 00:22:07.413
knowing that the same affliction are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

00:22:07.553 --> 00:22:11.493
That's why you can't just be quoting one scripture, because that one scripture

00:22:11.493 --> 00:22:15.713
is nice, but it tells a story. It tells you the procedure.

00:22:15.973 --> 00:22:21.413
It tells you a little bit of background of why it's so important to cast your cares on him.

00:22:21.873 --> 00:22:25.353
Because in some translation it says, for he cares for you.

00:22:25.533 --> 00:22:29.133
And he's just telling us here, I want you to be sober, be vigilant,

00:22:29.133 --> 00:22:32.893
So we know what that means because your adversary, the devil,

00:22:33.053 --> 00:22:38.293
which we just covered in Matthew about how he, how he's comes immediately to steal the word.

00:22:38.593 --> 00:22:44.273
So we have to be very vigilant and sober, protecting the word that God puts

00:22:44.273 --> 00:22:48.513
on our heart, stewarding over the word, writing it down, finding out where is

00:22:48.513 --> 00:22:51.833
that said in the Bible, doing some research. Has he done it before?

00:22:51.973 --> 00:22:55.553
Is he going to do a new thing in my life? And so when you release mental and

00:22:55.553 --> 00:22:59.113
emotional clutter, you release the weight.

00:22:59.633 --> 00:23:04.533
And so what you don't release will continue to weigh you down.

00:23:04.793 --> 00:23:10.193
So far, we've covered how to restore the flow, remove the unnecessary noise,

00:23:10.553 --> 00:23:15.573
prioritize presence over productivity, and release the mental clutter.

00:23:15.733 --> 00:23:22.973
What you don't release will weigh you down. And let's go to favorite scripture, Matthew 6.

00:23:23.233 --> 00:23:25.993
Go to Matthew 6, verse 33.

00:23:26.293 --> 00:23:30.233
But I'm probably going to read a little bit more. So I love that Matthew 6.

00:23:30.739 --> 00:23:38.419
6, verse 33. And I want to start at verse 25. I won't read all that, but let me see.

00:23:38.739 --> 00:23:43.199
Therefore, I say unto you, verse 25, take no thought for your life that what

00:23:43.199 --> 00:23:48.639
you should eat, what you should drink, nor yet for your body, what you should put on.

00:23:48.819 --> 00:23:52.939
Is not the life more than meat and the body the raiment?

00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:58.079
And I'm going to skip over to verse 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God

00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:03.119
and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

00:24:03.239 --> 00:24:07.459
We have to simplify our focus. We have to seek first God.

00:24:07.679 --> 00:24:11.959
And he said, all these things will be added unto you. What are all these things?

00:24:12.279 --> 00:24:19.139
And you get a chance, read Matthew 6, 25 through 34, and he'll tell you what those things are.

00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:23.519
When God is first, everything else falls into place.

00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:27.639
Everything else starts to align. At first, it doesn't. It seems like there's

00:24:27.639 --> 00:24:32.639
a lot of resistance, a lot of drama, a lot of trauma start coming up.

00:24:32.779 --> 00:24:37.399
But once you stay consistent with God, everything, when you begin to seek Him

00:24:37.399 --> 00:24:43.679
first, everything begins to line up towards that goal that God has for you.

00:24:43.959 --> 00:24:47.319
Let's decree, my life is not cluttered or congested.

00:24:47.439 --> 00:24:52.279
I remove every distraction and every weight that blocks the flow of God in me.

00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:57.039
The Spirit of God flows freely through me, unrestricted and unhindered.

00:24:57.199 --> 00:25:00.579
I am clear, focused, and connected. Let's pray.

00:25:00.999 --> 00:25:07.939
Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for your spirit is not limited, but it flows. Now stop.

00:25:08.219 --> 00:25:15.119
I repent for a lot of distractions, busyness, unnecessary weight to take up space in my life.

00:25:15.439 --> 00:25:18.379
Clear my mind, clear my heart, clear my focus.

00:25:18.859 --> 00:25:24.699
Teach me how to be still again. Teach me how to prioritize your presence over everything else.

00:25:24.979 --> 00:25:27.139
Remove every blockage that is hindered.

00:25:27.750 --> 00:25:33.050
That's handling your flow in me, and I make room for you again. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:25:33.926 --> 00:25:40.106
Take a pause for a heart check. What is taking of the space in your life that belongs to God?

00:25:40.366 --> 00:25:44.326
Where have I allowed the busyness to replace connection?

00:25:44.666 --> 00:25:50.106
Create one moment today where you intentionally disconnect from everything to

00:25:50.106 --> 00:25:54.266
reconnect with God because flow requires space.

00:25:54.646 --> 00:26:00.346
And this morning in prayer, and Lord gave me this example, and it felt like

00:26:00.346 --> 00:26:05.226
this. And so usually when I go to his presence, I feel him close.

00:26:05.306 --> 00:26:07.966
But this morning I felt him far away.

00:26:08.086 --> 00:26:10.406
And I'm like, Lord, you feel like you're far away.

00:26:10.546 --> 00:26:12.846
And he says, yes, you're distracted.

00:26:13.186 --> 00:26:18.786
And I said, I don't want to be distracted no more. What do I need to do to close this gap between us?

00:26:18.786 --> 00:26:22.946
And one thing he said is that you will come home and the first thing you do

00:26:22.946 --> 00:26:27.986
is turn on, I have an iPad and I start watching little YouTube clips,

00:26:28.086 --> 00:26:29.806
you know, like I missed something.

00:26:29.966 --> 00:26:33.926
So it's kind of like I'm eating, but I'm just watching these clips and it just

00:26:33.926 --> 00:26:36.666
kind of, it just kind of fill in the space of the quiet house.

00:26:36.906 --> 00:26:42.006
And he says, no more of that. That is causing a drift, a spiritual drift.

00:26:42.006 --> 00:26:44.946
And it's because I take that as a priority.

00:26:45.146 --> 00:26:50.466
What are you doing as a priority? We're actually to create the space between you and God.

00:26:50.746 --> 00:26:54.906
And I felt that space. And I said, Lord, what is this gap that I throw between us?

00:26:55.066 --> 00:27:00.106
And he showed me. So I ended up deleting that YouTube app off of my iPad.

00:27:00.426 --> 00:27:04.526
And I mean, deleted it, not hide it. Because you hide it, you can find it.

00:27:04.706 --> 00:27:07.006
And then you can go back to your habit really quickly.

00:27:07.246 --> 00:27:12.326
But if I actually delete it, it takes a process to turn it back on and get reconnected.

00:27:12.446 --> 00:27:14.626
And then I realized maybe I don't need that.

00:27:14.826 --> 00:27:18.346
I took it off my phone. And then when I did it right in prayer,

00:27:18.426 --> 00:27:22.606
I said, I'll be right back. And I did all that. I came back and then I felt his closeness.

00:27:22.786 --> 00:27:25.706
And so how do we know that there's a clog?

00:27:26.066 --> 00:27:30.146
You know when there is like this space and you've been in any relationships,

00:27:30.666 --> 00:27:32.526
and you guys are in the same room.

00:27:33.179 --> 00:27:36.299
It could be with a friend. It could be with your husband. It could be with the

00:27:36.299 --> 00:27:38.519
guy you're dating. And you're in the same room.

00:27:38.659 --> 00:27:42.539
And because there's some unresolved conflicts, even though we're in the same

00:27:42.539 --> 00:27:44.559
room, we could be sitting right next to each other.

00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:51.679
It feels like a big gap between us. And that's that same feeling you get when you're clogged.

00:27:51.739 --> 00:27:54.719
It's like a space that's blocking you.

00:27:54.899 --> 00:27:58.579
And I said, Lord, I don't want nothing that come between us in this.

00:27:58.739 --> 00:28:04.479
I don't want to ever feel that distance from you again. And so I was like, and today was practice.

00:28:04.699 --> 00:28:10.979
I came home and I sat, I just turned on. I listened to my own podcast, of course.

00:28:11.179 --> 00:28:14.159
I turned on my own podcast and was listening to it. I'm like,

00:28:14.239 --> 00:28:17.999
whoa, this sounds really good. You know, and that's what I did when I ate my little dinner.

00:28:18.419 --> 00:28:21.919
And so that's something I wanted to share with you today. Close the gap,

00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:27.479
unplug the clog, and let the river of the Holy Spirit flow in and through you.

00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:31.959
This is your host, Tani Morris, from the Diary of a Black Woman podcast,

00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:34.979
and I'll see you on the next episode.

00:28:45.926 --> 00:28:49.046
Family, thank you for spending time with me today.

00:28:49.326 --> 00:28:53.046
To every woman listening who has ever felt hidden, overlooked,

00:28:53.146 --> 00:28:55.446
or pushed aside, hear me clearly.

00:28:55.746 --> 00:29:00.266
God has not forgotten you, and neither have I.

00:29:00.526 --> 00:29:05.506
Now let's go before the Lord and close this out with a word from God.

00:29:05.666 --> 00:29:10.246
Because someone out there needs this reminder today.

00:29:10.546 --> 00:29:17.286
Jeremiah 29, 11, verses 11 through 14. For I know the plans I have for you,

00:29:17.446 --> 00:29:21.086
declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

00:29:21.446 --> 00:29:23.726
plans to give you hope and a future.

00:29:24.006 --> 00:29:28.846
Then when you call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you,

00:29:28.966 --> 00:29:34.306
you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

00:29:34.426 --> 00:29:40.366
I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you back from captivity.

00:29:40.806 --> 00:29:46.746
Father God, we thank you for your word, that it is true, that it is living, that it is for us.

00:29:46.926 --> 00:29:52.086
You said you know the plans you have for us, plans to prosper us and not to

00:29:52.086 --> 00:29:54.866
harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.

00:29:55.146 --> 00:29:59.486
So today we receive that, not just in our minds, but in our hearts.

00:29:59.626 --> 00:30:03.486
When we feel overlooked, remind us you still see us.

00:30:03.626 --> 00:30:08.966
When we feel forgotten, remind us you still have a plan. And when we feel hidden,

00:30:09.206 --> 00:30:11.446
remind us you are still working.

00:30:11.866 --> 00:30:16.606
Your word says that when we call on you, you will listen. So we call on you now.

00:30:16.926 --> 00:30:21.906
Hear us. Strengthen us. Guide us. Help us to seek you with our whole heart,

00:30:22.146 --> 00:30:25.166
not halfway, not sometimes, but fully.

00:30:25.366 --> 00:30:29.786
And as we seek you, let us find you in every season, in every place.

00:30:30.353 --> 00:30:35.593
Even the hidden one. Restore what was lost, renew what feels broken,

00:30:35.793 --> 00:30:40.373
and remind us that nothing in our lives is wasted in your hand.

00:30:40.613 --> 00:30:46.733
Lord, we trust you, we believe you, and we stand on your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:30:47.273 --> 00:30:51.273
This is Diary of a Black Woman podcast, and I'm your host, Connie Morris,

00:30:51.453 --> 00:30:54.353
and I'll see you on the next episode.