Standing: Guard Your Mind: The Helmet of Salvation

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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, where you take the word with you

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on your drive to work, while you're getting ready in the morning,

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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, 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. 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 the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we are in episode six, Guard Your Mind,

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the Helmet of Salvation.

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We're learning about the armor. We're learning that it teaches us how to stand.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and I want us to continue our watermark moment. We're almost done.

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A couple more episodes. I'm encouraged. I hope that you are encouraged.

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I want you to take this time as a moment to pause, to reset, to take a spiritual

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water break and to receive a little encouragement to help keep your faith going

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strong, that we will finish strong in this season of life.

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I want to read, like I do all the time, every episode, I want to open it up

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to Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10 through verse 18.

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All right, and it's going to be, I'm reading it from my African Heritage Edition,

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which is a King James Version. Let's go.

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Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

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Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

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For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,

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against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,

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against spiritual wickedness in high places.

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Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

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And having done all to stand, stand therefore, having your loins girt about

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with truth, having on your breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod

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with the preparation of peace.

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Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you are able to quench all

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the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,

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which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer

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and supplication in the spirit and watching work thereunto

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with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

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As we see here, we're starting to understand the order that Paul has us learn

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our standing equipment.

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You know, remember that this is very intentional, truth, righteousness, peace, and faith.

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And now that we come to the helmet of salvation, the battle has now reached the head,

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the mind, the place where thoughts are formed, the place where fear grows,

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the place where doubt starts talking, the place where identity can become confused.

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And I do not believe the helmet comes here by accident because after you have

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been standing for a while, after you've been hit with fiery darts,

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after you've been waiting, resisting, after you have been fighting to keep your faith,

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the battle can become mental. So why the helmet?

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A helmet protects the head. A spirit and spirituality points us towards the mind.

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What do you think? Think about your helmet. When you put it on.

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What happens? You begin to realize that the helmet is on and it's heavy.

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And so just like you have that sword of the faith shield, that becomes heavy.

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And then once you start getting, remember, you're holding a fight.

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The fight has been long because it's asking us to stand, therefore stand,

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stand, stand. And now the fight is getting long. And when the fight is more

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than a day, come on, ladies and gents.

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Once the fight is longer than a day, now it's starting to get in your mind.

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Am I really fighting the right battle?

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How did I end up getting this fight? Why am I fighting? Why is he fighting back?

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Because whatever ground you take, it's a ground that he loses.

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The devil doesn't want you to take any ground.

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And he used the weapons that God has given him. He can mess with your mind.

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He can mess with your faith, but he can't touch you.

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He cannot touch you unless you open the gate to that. Just like Job,

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he cannot touch you unless you open the gates.

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And so what's the gate? It's your big mouth.

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You open your big mouth, you say something, and he's like, hey, I got that one.

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So why the helmet? The helmet protects your head. And spiritually,

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that points us towards the mind.

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What do you think? What are you thinking on?

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What do you believe in yourself? What do you believe about yourself?

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What do you believe about God, about your future?

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What do you say or what do you believe after you've been disappointed?

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What do you believe when the answer is still not here yet? The enemy does not

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have to distort everything around you.

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If he can convince you to lose hope in your mind, that is why the salvation

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becomes a helmet because that salvation reminds you, I belong to God.

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I have been redeemed. I have been forgiven.

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I have not been abandoned. My identity is not determined by this battle.

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Salvation is more than a past event.

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Sometimes we talk about salvation only in a past sense. I got saved.

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And you know, that's true.

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But scripture also speaks to salvation as something that's present and future hope.

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1 Thessalonians 5a says, And for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

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That word hope matters. The helmet does not just remind you of what you came

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from. It reminds you of where you are going. It reminds you that this moment is not the whole story.

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This season is not the whole story. This disappointment is not the whole story.

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This attack is not the whole story.

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God is still riding. The battle of the mind. There was a book by Joyce Myers

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that was really popular.

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It was a battlefield of the mind. And that's where the fight starts.

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And that's where it ends. You can end it in your mind. The battle of the mind.

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Some of the loudest battles never happen in public.

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They happen in your head. Nobody hears them. Nobody sees them.

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But you know they are there.

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But if I fail, what if God doesn't come through?

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What if I miss my chance? What if I'm too old? What if I'm not enough?

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What if nothing ever changes?

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What if I prayed? What if I had prayed too long? What if I misunderstood God? And we fall on.

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One thought becomes a whole mental battlefield.

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That's why 2 Corinthians 10, 4 through 5, it says, For the weapon of our warfare

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is not carnal. I want to read that.

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2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, and there we go.

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And it reads, For the weapon of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through

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God, through the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and

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every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God.

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And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and having

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in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Look at that.

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The Bible tells us to cast down those imaginations and.

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Any high thing that exalts itself against God.

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It took me a while to understand what that meant, but if it's not saying what God said, cast it down.

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If it's going against the Word of God, cast it down.

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If it's going against the truth that you believe in, cast it down.

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If it's going against the righteousness, cast it down. If it's going against

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your peace, your gospel, cast it down.

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And then it says, bring everything into obedience. That means you have to begin

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to say something so you can turn around that thought life.

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Your thought, you can't think. Sometimes you can't think at the same time you're

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talking. Sometimes you can't because God speaks sometimes through our mind.

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But at the end of the day, we have to understand that we have a part to play in this.

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We're not just putting on equipment and prancing around. We have to keep our.

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Dukes up, keep your obedience up, right?

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I love this. It says, it says, enter into captivity, every thought to the obedience of Christ.

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Not every thought deserves agreement. Not every thought deserves residence.

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Not every thought deserves authority. Some thoughts must be challenged. Think about that.

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If it's against going against what you know that God said, you have to cast it down.

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I don't care if it looks the same since last year.

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It's not the truth. It's not the truth. This is a reality, but is it what God said.

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You have to keep saying it until it looks like it's the truth that God has already told you.

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The enemy also attacks the mind through condemnation.

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He reminds you of what you did, what you said, where you failed,

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what you should have done differently.

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And then he tries to move from you did something wrong to you are wrong.

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That's a dangerous shift. But Romans 8.1 takes says there. It says there is

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therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

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Conviction leads you back to God.

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Condemnation tries to make you hide from him. Conviction says repent.

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Condemnation says run. Conviction says God wants to restore you.

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Condemnation says you are finished.

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The helmet of salvation reminds you that your identity is not determined by your worst moment.

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Your identity is determined by Christ. Remember the hiding.

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It happened in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned.

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Remember, they went and hid. We don't want to hide. We want to run to God.

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And who told you who you are?

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This is where the battle gets personal. Who told you who you are?

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Was it God or was it disappointment? Was it scripture or was it rejection?

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Was it Christ? Was it something somebody said years ago that you are still caring?

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Maybe somebody told you you are difficult.

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You are too much. You are not enough. You will never make it. You are too old.

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You miss your opportunity. And somehow that voice became part of your internal dialogue.

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But the helmet of salvation says, the voice does not get to name me. God does.

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When I put my helmet of salvation on, I went and I said, I have the mind of

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Christ. I have a sound mind. I speak that.

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And sometimes throughout the day, things try to get in your mind.

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You protect your heart so it rises up to your head. And I'm thinking like, whoa.

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And sometimes you have to speak out the truth in spite of what your mind is saying.

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And I remember I was getting a lot of things kicked back and it started to affect

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me. And I was like, wait a minute, hold up.

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I'm still in training. This is a learning experience.

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This is stepping me up to my next level. It's taking me higher.

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The more I write, the more I read these grievances, the more I keep having maybe

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do a few over because I misread it or didn't answer the question.

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You know, that is helping me to see things clearly.

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You know, someone else is paying attention. So I need to be more sharp.

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This is prepping me for my next, my next move, my next level of promotion.

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Never ever think that God is going to keep you where you are.

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If you want to say you can't, God is a God of promotion.

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So never let those voices outspeak what God has already told you.

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It might sound kind of, you know, like you're talking to yourself in there.

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You'd be like, nope, that's not happening.

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Nope, I'm not going to let that touch my heart.

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You're talking out loud. And you notice that when you speak it out loud,

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that those thoughts just go away because it's an attack.

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Every thought is not your thought, you know?

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So what does salvation say about you? Salvation says you are redeemed.

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You are reconciled to God.

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You are forgiven. You are adopted. You belong to Christ. Think about this.

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You put on the helmet of salvation.

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You are saying this to yourself. I am redeemed. I am reconciled to God.

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I am forgiven. I am adopted.

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You are. I do belong to Christ.

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Ephesians 1.7 tells us, In whom we have redemption through the blood, the forgiveness of sin.

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8.15 tells us that we receive, come on now, the spirit of adoption.

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I am. I do belong in the kingdom of God.

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I have been adopted by the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, if any man be in

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Christ, he is a new creature. I am a new creature.

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Old things have passed away and all things have become new.

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This is what your helmet protects, your understanding of who you are because of what Christ has done.

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Hope protects your mind. Hope

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is one of the most important forms of protection in a difficult season.

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When hope disappears, everything feels heavier. But biblical hope is not wishful

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thinking. It's confidence rooted in God.

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God of hope fills you with awe, joy, and peace in believing.

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God is called the God of hope. I love this.

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That means hopelessness should never be allowed to speak as though it has a final authority.

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You may not know how God will move, but you can still have hope because you know who God.

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Is. Isn't that something? God of hope. You have to remember that.

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No matter where you are right now

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in your fight, I told you this is encouraging, that God is a God of hope.

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We can fill our mind with a lot of biblical knowledge and make us sound smart,

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but if we don't know the God who gave us that knowledge, and if we can't hold

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on to our hope, if we don't know our salvation, if we don't know who we are

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in Christ, we're going to lose.

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Knowledge without wisdom is like not working.

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What is the best to know it and not ever be able to have it be part of who you

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are? Do you understand what I'm saying?

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You know, so I love studying the Bible. I love teaching about black history

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on mass, but God took us on another, another road because he wants to fill you with hope.

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He wants you to put your armor on, not like you putting on clothes,

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but so that you can stand and stand therefore and stand and stand believing

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without doubting, without wavering.

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And because the God of hope has the final authority.

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And then we put on the helmet of salvation. We have to renew our mind.

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The Bible tells us in Romans 12 too that be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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Renewing your mind must be brought back under the influence of truth.

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You cannot control every thought that enters your mind, but you don't have to

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entertain every thought that arrives either.

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Some thoughts need to be replaced. Fear with truth, condemnation with grace,

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hopelessness with promise, confusion with scripture, comparison with identity.

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This is not pretending negative thoughts do not exist. It's refusing to let

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them become your ruler. Think on these things. Philippians 4,

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8 tells us a powerful instruction. What's what you think of?

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Think on things that are true or honest or just or pure or lovely of a good

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report, think on these things. That is not,

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shallow, positive thinking. It's discipline, spiritual thinking.

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Paul is teaching us that the mind needs direction. If you feed your mind fear all day, fear will grow.

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You feed your mind comparison, comparison will grow.

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You feed your mind outrage, outrage will grow.

00:17:11.629 --> 00:17:14.834
But if you deliberately return your thoughts to God's truth,

00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:19.495
your strength, you will be strengthened in your spiritual stability.

00:17:19.820 --> 00:17:23.309
The helmet comes after the shield. The order matters here.

00:17:23.878 --> 00:17:27.918
The shield of faith deals with what's been fired at you.

00:17:28.052 --> 00:17:33.926
The helmet of salvation deals with what you began believing after you have been hit.

00:17:34.205 --> 00:17:38.638
Now, that's powerful. The dart may come from the outside, but if you accept

00:17:38.638 --> 00:17:42.779
the message attached to it, it becomes an eternal battle.

00:17:43.098 --> 00:17:51.438
The shield says, I will trust God. The helmet says, I will not let this attack to find who I am.

00:17:51.798 --> 00:17:55.891
Your watermark moment. So take the spiritual water break today and ask yourself,

00:17:56.064 --> 00:18:01.480
what thought has been taking too much space in my mind?

00:18:01.766 --> 00:18:08.470
Fear, condemnation, regret, comparison, hopelessness, a lie about your age,

00:18:08.655 --> 00:18:11.279
a lie about your future, lie about your worth.

00:18:11.628 --> 00:18:14.884
And then ask, does this thought agree with what God says about me,

00:18:15.122 --> 00:18:20.719
if it does not, it does not deserve the final word. And when I say it does not deserve the final word.

00:18:21.518 --> 00:18:24.606
A lot of times people rehearse, they rehearse. Well, you know,

00:18:24.862 --> 00:18:27.358
I don't know if I'm going to do it. I don't know if I can do it.

00:18:27.555 --> 00:18:32.847
I don't know if this is the Lord. I mean, you're talking condemnation and defeat

00:18:32.847 --> 00:18:37.203
before you even, God told you you're a winner. He told you to apply.

00:18:37.621 --> 00:18:42.107
He told you to wait on me. He told you not to keep checking the status of application.

00:18:42.409 --> 00:18:46.547
And yet your mouth is open saying something totally different than what God

00:18:46.547 --> 00:18:53.164
says. That's when you have your Shield of Faith crew come around and tell you to shut.

00:18:53.546 --> 00:18:56.901
Do you want this? Do you want to stay where you are? What do you want?

00:18:57.186 --> 00:18:59.920
Stop saying that you've been defeated.

00:19:00.216 --> 00:19:02.399
Stop saying that you made a mistake.

00:19:02.724 --> 00:19:08.817
You know, what does God say about me? If it does not line up with what God says

00:19:08.817 --> 00:19:12.174
about me, then it does not have the final word.

00:19:12.453 --> 00:19:17.166
You know, you may say I made a mistake, but I am not condemned.

00:19:17.352 --> 00:19:19.279
I am waiting, but I'm not forgotten.

00:19:19.552 --> 00:19:25.729
I am disappointed, but I'm not without hope. I am in a difficult season, but I am still God's.

00:19:25.938 --> 00:19:32.567
I did not listen. I do not know what will happen next, but I know who holds my life.

00:19:32.840 --> 00:19:34.935
That is the helmet of salvation.

00:19:35.249 --> 00:19:40.623
Your mind cannot go tilt in a moment of the battle. Guard what enters.

00:19:40.786 --> 00:19:45.546
We also must be careful about what we continue to allow in our minds.

00:19:45.888 --> 00:19:48.866
Everything you watch, everything you listen, every conversation,

00:19:49.215 --> 00:19:52.169
every social media feed, every voice, every opinion.

00:19:52.953 --> 00:19:56.343
Everything, not everything deserves access to your mind.

00:19:56.633 --> 00:20:00.372
Just spiritual warfare is not only about resisting thoughts after they come.

00:20:00.645 --> 00:20:04.888
Sometimes wisdom means controlling what you repeatedly expose yourself to.

00:20:05.178 --> 00:20:10.234
Guard the gate. Protect your peace. Feed your mind with strength in your faith.

00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:12.127
So is it what you're listening to?

00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:16.693
Is it feeding your mind or is it taking time off? You know, we're all guilty

00:20:16.693 --> 00:20:21.641
of kind of wandering off the path, but don't stay off the path. Get back into your work.

00:20:21.949 --> 00:20:26.133
Turn on your Bible. Look the Bible up. Get your eyes on the pages in the Bible.

00:20:26.133 --> 00:20:29.089
Turn on the podcast and follow along with the scripture.

00:20:29.402 --> 00:20:34.958
Keep your eyes on truth, right? Your mind is not the enemy's property.

00:20:35.277 --> 00:20:41.069
This needs to be said to yourself clearly. My mind is not the enemy's property.

00:20:41.406 --> 00:20:45.034
The enemy may attack your mind, but your mind does not belong to him.

00:20:45.353 --> 00:20:48.465
You belong to Christ. Your thoughts can be renewed.

00:20:48.883 --> 00:20:52.232
Your hope can be restored. Your identity can be re-centered.

00:20:52.569 --> 00:20:56.209
You can learn to recognize a lie before it becomes a belief.

00:20:56.418 --> 00:21:00.533
You can learn how to answer condemnation with grace. You can learn to answer

00:21:00.533 --> 00:21:04.678
fear with truth. You can learn to answer hopelessness with salvation.

00:21:05.009 --> 00:21:09.283
This is why today's Watermark Moment is titled, Guard Your Mind,

00:21:09.283 --> 00:21:10.489
The Heaven of Salvation.

00:21:10.907 --> 00:21:15.667
The battle may reach your thoughts, but it does not have to take over your identity.

00:21:16.009 --> 00:21:20.293
Salvation reminds you, you are still God. And in our next episode,

00:21:20.293 --> 00:21:25.303
Paul places something in your hand, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

00:21:25.698 --> 00:21:28.897
Because after you know what's true, after righteousness guards your heart,

00:21:29.129 --> 00:21:32.844
after peace steadies your feet, after faith lifts the shield,

00:21:33.111 --> 00:21:37.864
after salvation guards your mind, now you're ready to answer the lie.

00:21:38.143 --> 00:21:42.433
And your answer is, it is written. What a powerful way.

00:21:42.729 --> 00:21:47.912
We think salvation is for our time when we go to heaven, and that's true,

00:21:48.261 --> 00:21:53.613
but it's also for our standing here on earth. It also helps to guard your mind

00:21:53.613 --> 00:21:56.986
because your mind belongs to God. You think about.

00:21:57.560 --> 00:22:01.589
Adam and Eve, when Eve heard the serpent talk about, you know,

00:22:01.792 --> 00:22:06.112
then God will, he doesn't want you to be wise like him. And you're thinking

00:22:06.112 --> 00:22:09.826
like, in my mind, he made us wise like him.

00:22:10.012 --> 00:22:12.201
So you're fighting for something.

00:22:12.514 --> 00:22:16.492
You lost something to be stolen that shouldn't have been stolen, right?

00:22:16.792 --> 00:22:21.732
Our words are not knowing the truth, not knowing who God is,

00:22:22.023 --> 00:22:26.417
that Satan can come and still kill and destroy all the time. Let's pray.

00:22:26.841 --> 00:22:32.384
Father, thank you for the gifts of salvation. Thank you that our identity is secure in Jesus Christ.

00:22:32.698 --> 00:22:36.748
We guard our minds today. We ask you to help us guard our minds.

00:22:36.974 --> 00:22:40.950
Watch over our mouths. Where fear has taken up too much space, bring truth.

00:22:41.299 --> 00:22:48.967
Where condemnation has been speaking, bring grace. Where hopelessness has settled in, restore hope.

00:22:49.286 --> 00:22:53.652
Where comparison has distorted our identity, Remind us of who we are.

00:22:53.837 --> 00:22:58.394
Help us to take everything captive to the obedience of Christ.

00:22:58.679 --> 00:23:03.451
Renew our mind. Teach us to recognize thoughts that do not agree with your word.

00:23:03.747 --> 00:23:07.630
And teach us how to cast them down immediately and not to entertain them.

00:23:07.909 --> 00:23:11.232
When the enemy tries to use our past, our mistakes, our waiting,

00:23:11.232 --> 00:23:15.090
or our disappointments to redefine us, remind us we belong to you.

00:23:15.386 --> 00:23:21.092
Protect our mind with the hope of salvation. Keep us clear. Keep us grounded. Keep us hopeful.

00:23:21.388 --> 00:23:25.782
Keep us with the mind of Christ because we have a sound mind.

00:23:25.782 --> 00:23:27.924
And I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

00:23:28.244 --> 00:23:34.442
In our next episode, we're going to talk about the sword of the Spirit and the power of prayer.

00:23:34.709 --> 00:23:39.916
And this has been your host, Connie Morris. And this is the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:23:40.201 --> 00:23:44.421
And I'll see you on the next episode. Diary to your mind.

00:23:44.647 --> 00:23:48.386
Before we close today, I don't want to take for granted that everyone listening

00:23:48.653 --> 00:23:50.081
knows Jesus personally.

00:23:50.464 --> 00:23:55.863
If you have listened to this episode or any other episodes and felt something stirring in your heart.

00:23:56.292 --> 00:24:00.002
Maybe you know about God, but you're not sure you truly know him.

00:24:00.170 --> 00:24:04.378
Maybe you grew up in church, walked away, got hurt, became tired,

00:24:04.767 --> 00:24:07.103
and never fully surrendered your life to Jesus.

00:24:07.503 --> 00:24:11.913
I want you to know this. God loves you. He has not forgotten you.

00:24:11.913 --> 00:24:13.870
He is not waiting to shame you.

00:24:14.038 --> 00:24:16.999
He is calling you home.

00:24:17.178 --> 00:24:21.184
The Bible says in Romans 10, 9, if you declare with your mouth,

00:24:21.404 --> 00:24:28.672
Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

00:24:28.864 --> 00:24:31.289
Salvation is not about being perfect.

00:24:31.498 --> 00:24:34.412
It's about surrendering to the one who is perfect.

00:24:34.732 --> 00:24:42.144
Jesus died for your sins, rose again, and made a way for you to be forgiven, restored, and made new.

00:24:42.261 --> 00:24:45.773
So right where you are, you can pray this prayer with me.

00:24:45.935 --> 00:24:51.096
Lord Jesus, I come to you today with an open heart. I believe you are the son of God.

00:24:51.479 --> 00:24:58.793
I believe you died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that God raised you from the dead today.

00:24:59.182 --> 00:25:02.253
I confess that I need you. I repent of my sins.

00:25:02.573 --> 00:25:09.033
I ask you to forgive me, cleanse me, and make me brand new. Jesus, come into my heart.

00:25:09.347 --> 00:25:14.890
Be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my King. I surrender my life to you.

00:25:15.082 --> 00:25:18.490
I give you my past, my present, and my future.

00:25:18.762 --> 00:25:22.698
Teach me how to walk with you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

00:25:22.965 --> 00:25:26.913
Lead me in truth, healing, obedience, and love.

00:25:27.233 --> 00:25:29.793
From this day forward, I belong to you.

00:25:30.173 --> 00:25:34.173
In Jesus' name, amen. If you pray that prayer from your heart,

00:25:34.330 --> 00:25:38.661
I want you to know that heaven has heard you. This is not the end.

00:25:38.992 --> 00:25:43.874
This is only the beginning of your walk with Jesus. Find a Bible-believing church,

00:25:44.053 --> 00:25:49.232
begin reading the word of God, pray daily, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow.

00:25:49.510 --> 00:25:54.259
God is not looking for perfection from you. He is inviting you into relationship,

00:25:54.566 --> 00:25:56.784
transformation, and eternal life.

00:25:56.987 --> 00:26:01.677
Through Jesus Christ. And remember, you are loved, you are not forgotten,

00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:04.400
and God still has a purpose for your life.

00:26:04.731 --> 00:26:07.616
Thank you for listening to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:26:07.813 --> 00:26:12.283
Until next time, keep walking in truth, faith, and freedom.

00:26:23.254 --> 00:26:26.429
Family, thank you for spending time with me today.

00:26:26.708 --> 00:26:30.365
To every woman listening who has ever felt hidden, overlooked,

00:26:30.365 --> 00:26:32.832
or pushed aside, hear me clearly.

00:26:33.093 --> 00:26:37.633
God has not forgotten you, and neither have I.

00:26:38.028 --> 00:26:42.782
Now let's go before the Lord and close this out with a word from God.

00:26:43.206 --> 00:26:47.635
Because someone out there needs this reminder today.

00:26:47.908 --> 00:26:51.896
Jeremiah 29, 11, verses 11 through 14.

00:26:52.325 --> 00:26:57.175
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

00:26:57.175 --> 00:27:01.085
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

00:27:01.375 --> 00:27:06.118
Then when you call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you,

00:27:06.373 --> 00:27:11.695
you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

00:27:11.695 --> 00:27:17.751
I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you back from captivity.

00:27:18.123 --> 00:27:24.095
Father God, we thank you for your word, that it is true, that it is living, that it is for us.

00:27:24.246 --> 00:27:29.295
You said you know the plans you have for us, plans to prosper us and not to

00:27:29.295 --> 00:27:32.199
harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.

00:27:32.483 --> 00:27:36.785
So today we receive that, not just in our minds, but in our hearts.

00:27:37.011 --> 00:27:40.726
When we feel overlooked, remind us you still see us.

00:27:41.016 --> 00:27:46.247
When we feel forgotten, remind us you still have a plan. And when we feel hidden,

00:27:46.572 --> 00:27:48.783
remind us you are still working.

00:27:49.074 --> 00:27:52.232
Your word says that when we call on you, you will listen.

00:27:52.563 --> 00:27:55.755
So we call on you now. Hear us. Strengthen us.

00:27:55.999 --> 00:28:00.330
Guide us. Help us to seek you with our whole heart, not halfway,

00:28:00.544 --> 00:28:02.495
not sometimes, but fully.

00:28:02.710 --> 00:28:07.162
And as we seek you, let us find you in every season, in every place.

00:28:07.686 --> 00:28:12.904
Even the hidden one. Restore what was lost, renew what feels broken,

00:28:13.223 --> 00:28:17.635
and remind us that nothing in our lives is wasted in your hand.

00:28:18.036 --> 00:28:24.227
Lord, we trust you, we believe you, and we stand on your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:28:24.542 --> 00:28:28.610
This is Diary of a Black Woman podcast, and I'm your host, Connie Morris,

00:28:28.883 --> 00:28:31.636
and I'll see you on the next episode.