Walls Must Fall: Day 3: Circle the Promise: Breaking Barriers of Faith

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Music.

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host,

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Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent.

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Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed.

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Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought

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was possible. Enlarge her territory.

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Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment.

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Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent

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to silence her. This isn't just a podcast.

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This is holy ground. 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 we're continuing on day three,

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Circle the Promise, on our series of the walls must fall, a 12-day Jericho fast

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of consecration and dedication.

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And we've covered the meaning of consecration.

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We covered the meaning of dedication. And so we're going to focus in today on

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day three of circling the promise or circle the promise.

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Keep walking even when nothing moves. Found in Joshua 6.3, the scripture tells

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us here that, But so he had the Ark of the Lord carried about around the city, circled at once.

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Then the armies returned to camp and spent the night there.

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So their instruction was to walk around the walls for six days,

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one time with the Ark of the Lord.

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And on the seventh day, they were to walk around seven times.

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And then they were to shout on the seventh, six times, then a shout on the seventh lap, right?

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So those were specific instructions that the Lord gave to the children of Israel through Joshua.

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And today we're going to talk about circling the promise. And you keep walking

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even when nothing moves.

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And so I would love to hear how God is moving in your life during this 12-day

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Jericho fast of consecration and dedication. Remember, I told you it wasn't even about the food.

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It was about how is your heart towards God and how is he speaking to you and

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how is he moving in your life?

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Are you really laid out before him asking him to do some great things?

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But are you really listening and obeying what he's asked you to do?

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And so circling the promise, the Lord gave me an assignment.

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Every morning I would get up and walk.

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I went from about two and a half miles to almost three miles now.

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And it went to three miles because

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I currently moved to Nebraska probably about three years ago. And I,

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I moved here quick and suddenly. I bought a townhouse with an HOA.

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Nothing wrong with it. It's a beautiful place. But I bought it quickly.

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I didn't really get a chance to inspect it. Everything's beautiful. Don't get me wrong.

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But if I had a choice, I probably wouldn't have picked this place.

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But I did because I had to go and move really quickly. You know how that is.

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And so I wasn't complaining. God blessed me. And I was really excited about it.

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But one morning as I was just resting in the Lord, Or just as I wake up,

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you know, I'm always speaking to him or he's always speaking to me.

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He said, Connie, I want you to go.

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I want you to take a different walk this morning. And I was like,

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OK, like, what would that look like for me?

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Well, this area where I walk has a have some beautiful homes.

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But in my mind, they are very expensive, very expensive homes.

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But he asked me, he says, Connie, instead of keeping straight,

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I want you to pretty much make a right. And just take a detour through these homes.

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And I really, honestly, I never went down that street, didn't really care to

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look at those homes because in my mind, they were not affordable in my mind.

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But I would keep straight. But it's this particular house on the corner,

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which I think is absolutely fabulous. It takes up the whole corner.

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The backyard looks at this lake. So I'm looking like this is a beautiful home

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too. So that's the house I'm always looking at. Right.

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But Gloria said, go take the journey around this. Take this walk around.

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Come take a walk with me, he said. And I said, OK, I'll take a walk.

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And I walked around this corner and it's all these other beautiful homes.

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So, you know, I have your eyes focus on one, but then he shows you a garden

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of other choices because, you know, God knows us women.

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We like a variety of choices. And so he showed me other homes that were available

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and none of the homes were the same.

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Where I live, and you might live somewhere similar, where you might live in

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a condo or a townhouse where all the homes look exactly alike.

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And I'm like, no, it's nice and safe, right?

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But after a while, you want your own home that looks different.

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And the Lord just took me on this journey. And so when this came up for day

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three, circle the promise, that's my journey.

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I walked three miles in the morning

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and it does take me on a little extra journey and it's three miles.

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And today I want you to focus on what does God have you doing that maybe seemed

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like nothing is happening, but he's showing you something different.

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And he wants you to walk it out even when nothing moves. Nothing is moving.

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But he said, Connie, this time next year, I want you to buy a house. You get to buy a house.

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I want you to think about where you want to move. And he showed me the home.

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And then he said, contact your realtor, the realtor that helped me buy this place.

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And I said, I'm looking to move next year. And so he puts me on an app.

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And so he keeps me posted of what houses go up for sale.

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But the best thing about having a realtor is that you get to take a peek inside the homes.

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So not only do I get to walk this journey, circle the promise,

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I also get to look inside the home through these apps. And so before I even

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get to next year, I'm already kind of house shopping.

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You know how God is. God, he doesn't just wait. He's not a last minute God that some may think.

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I think he does that because he likes to surprise us.

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But if you really listen to him, he'll give you strategies and plans to get your heart set.

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And no longer did I think those houses were not out of my reach. Because why? Why?

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Because it wasn't my idea to go look for a house. It wasn't my idea to call the realtor.

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It wasn't my idea to go right when I usually walk to the left.

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Do you get what I'm saying?

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So as we go through this Jericho fast of consecration and dedication.

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I want you to look what God is doing.

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He's trying to do a new thing in our life, but we are stuck in a mentality that

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tells us, I can't afford that.

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No, not that. Oh, Lord, are you talking to me, right?

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And then we don't do that one thing, that extra lap.

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I have to get out of my home a little bit early because I'm taking that Jericho

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walk in my new neighborhood.

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Now, the first time I met that when I did that neighborhood walk,

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walk that little new area, I felt a little out of place because I didn't want

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people to think that, you know, I was casing a house. Why would people think that, you know?

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But you know what? I didn't want to feel like out of place. And so I'm really

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being careful not to stare at the homes, right?

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You know, but I was like, these homes are absolutely beautiful.

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And they, and they're none, none of them look the same.

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And so, you know, I'm excited because I live in a townhouse place where all

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of them look the same. It's like, oh my gosh.

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You know, first that's okay. You know, I'm a retired police officer.

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It's always good to blend in for safety reasons. But at the end,

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I've been retired for 10 years.

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I'm done blending in. I want something that's mine.

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I don't want something so close. I don't want to hear the neighbor garage go

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up when it goes up in the morning.

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You know, I probably don't want to hear mine when it goes up in the morning.

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I don't want to hear when the person rolls out their garbage can.

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You see, that's how close I am.

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But God says, go and circle the promise.

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He might be telling you something else to do, but he wants you to go and circle the promise.

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So let's get going. I know that was a little bit long, but I want to encourage

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you that God is speaking during this consecration and dedication.

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And he's speaking to you too, but he's not yelling at you.

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Remember, he didn't come in the whirlwind. He came in the still small voice,

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which I call the whisper.

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He came in a whisper. Are you listening?

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And so let's talk about on this third day of this journey, we walk in faith,

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not because the wall is shaking, but because the word is unshaken.

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Remember what God tells us is he's speaking to us when it's in the Bible,

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if he's whispering in our ear to give us direction, His word is unshaken.

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So if his word is unshaken, that means that we are unshakable.

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Amen. So God commanded Joshua and the Israelites.

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To circle the city in silence once each day. They obeyed. And after the first lap, nothing happened.

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So I told you my first time around there, nothing happened. There are for sale

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signs, check this out you guys, in the lawn.

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So for sale sign in the lawn, I mean, you can stop and look at the house without

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looking like a cheaper creeper, you know?

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So I'm looking like, okay, that house is for sale. Do I like that house?

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I wonder what it looks like in the back. I didn't want to go look around the

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backyard, but then I pull it up on my little app and see if I like it or not. You see?

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So the first lap, nothing happened. No cracks, no tremors, no confirmation.

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Come on. God didn't say that's your house right there. There was no confirmation.

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There was no movement in the sand. There was nothing.

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Just me walking was just the sound of obedient footsteps on dry ground. That is what I am doing.

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I don't say that that is what, some people say that they do that all the time.

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I marched around this place and then pretty soon it was mine.

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God told you to do that, then he got something up for you. But you don't just

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go find somebody, you know, just do, don't be a creeper, you know, don't do strange stuff.

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Be obedient to God. Talk to him first. If he sends you out there,

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then you go do it. But what that does is that stirs your faith.

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That's how faith works. Remember the Israelites walked around that place in silence each day.

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And I just am praying in my holy language quietly.

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And sometimes I'm in silence because I'm mostly in awe. The first day I was

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in awe saying, thank you, Lord.

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And I got lost in my new neighborhood. I call it now, it's my new neighborhood.

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I circled a block twice. I said, okay, I'm circling the promise here because

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I I got lost and didn't know where I was because I never been in that neighborhood

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before. But that's okay.

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That first walk, nothing happened.

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Nothing tremored, nothing shaked, no house lit up and said, buy me, buy me.

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But it was like my faith at work walking with me. God is with me, right?

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Sometimes you'll do exactly what God told you to do, to fast,

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to pray, to obey, and it looks like nothing is changing.

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But God isn't just tearing down walls.

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He's building up trust.

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He's providing, he is proving that obedience doesn't depend on outcomes, but on alignment.

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The promise doesn't fail because the walls didn't fall today.

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It's been circled. It's been surrounded.

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It's been subdued by faith. What do you think that has done for me?

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Just that obedience. That's not the only time I've been obedient to God,

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but that obedience of, Connie, this time next year, you're going to be moving. I'm like, okay.

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And then I I said, where am I moving to? And he says, I want you to, are you walking?

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He says, and as I'm walking, he said, I want you to make a laugh.

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And I said, over here, Lord? Like, wow.

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And then, you know how we get super spiritual. Which house, Lord, is it?

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And I was like, I want that one. You know, we picked the biggest house on the

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block. Nothing wrong with that.

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Nothing wrong with that, right?

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But today, God is asking you to circle the promise, not the problem.

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What has He spoken over your life?

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What breakthrough are you marching toward?

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Keep walking, keep fasting, keep praying. Even when you don't see it,

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God is at work behind the scenes.

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How many can say amen for that? That God is at work behind the scenes. Let's pray.

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Father, I trust you even when I don't see change.

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Strengthen my feet to keep marching and my spirit to keep believing.

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Help me to circle your promise with faith, not fear.

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Remind me that you are not a man that you should lie.

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If you said it, you would do it. Let's decree.

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I decree that I will walk by faith and not by sight. I will circle God's promises

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with perseverance, knowing that every step is breaking ground in the Spirit.

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I believe that walking, that I believe the wall is weakening,

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even if I do not see a crack, right?

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Even if nothing moves, I see that the walls are weakening. We have to say that.

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We have to believe that. Amen. And then let's talk about what our fasting focus is going to be today.

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You want to stick to your consecrated eating plan, whatever that is.

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Stick to that plan. Also circle your promise and prayer.

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Write it down, speak it aloud, and walk around your home praying over what God

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is getting ready to release. It's like, what is stirring in your heart?

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Because there's so much more we're going to talk about during this week because

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it's been a very exciting, what things are popping in a day for me, popping in a day.

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When you know you got you, before you, as you bow on your knee,

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before, I don't know how you do your prayer, but before I start my prayer,

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get on my knees and pray to the Lord.

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Just bow on before him, according to like Ephesians 3.21. I bow my knee and

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I bow before the Lord, just a holy moment.

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And sometimes even before I even hit the ground, he's telling me something.

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He's speaking to me about the prayer, what my day is going to be like.

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He's just talking to me because he's waiting for us. He's waiting for us to do that, right?

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And so that's a consecration time. And so that's a time where you want to write

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it down, speak it out loud, speak what he said.

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If he says something, say it out loud so your body can hear it.

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Because he speaks to our spirit.

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Say that out loud so your body can hear it, so your ears can hear it,

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so your mouth can articulate it, right?

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And praying over what he's getting ready to release. What did he say he's going

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to do? Then get ready for that.

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And sense that joy just rising up on the inside of you.

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Another thing you can do is in your journal, you can remember,

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Write down the promises that you are believing God for, right?

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Even when you don't see evidence yet, you know?

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Jeremiah 29, 11, as you see, is one of the prayers that when I close out the

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podcast, it's a declaration over you.

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And over myself, because that's a prayer that he prayed for return from captivity,

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that he's a God, that he thinks about you.

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He has everything planned for you. Right. And so why not ask him,

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Lord, what you have planned for me today.

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Right. And how are you growing your faith?

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I'm looking at these houses. I'm looking at my budget. And these houses are

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beautiful. And I can't wait to see how God handles it.

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How he handles it just reminds me. Yeah, I'm not going to go there.

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It'll be another whole 20 minutes of devotional.

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But let's see how God takes care of his daughter because of obedience.

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And how God will take care of you out of obedience.

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Amen. So until next time, I'll see you on the next episode.

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Amen. Thank you for listening to this episode.

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And before we close out, I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14.

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Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper

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you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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So today we receive that truth. You said when we call on you,

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you will listen. So we pray.

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You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found. so we pursue.

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You said you will restore us from captivity, so we declare freedom over every

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place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small.

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Thank you for always drawing near when we show up in faith. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Music.