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

0:00 Music. Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent. Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed. Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought was possible. Enlarge her territory. Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment. Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent to silence her. This isn't just a podcast.

0:49 This is holy ground. In Jesus' name, amen. Hello, and welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we're continuing on day three, Circle the Promise, on our series of the walls must fall, a 12-day Jericho fast of consecration and dedication. And we've covered the meaning of consecration. We covered the meaning of dedication. And so we're going to focus in today on day three of circling the promise or circle the promise. Keep walking even when nothing moves. Found in Joshua 6.3, the scripture tells us here that, But so he had the Ark of the Lord carried about around the city, circled at once.

1:38 Then the armies returned to camp and spent the night there. So their instruction was to walk around the walls for six days, one time with the Ark of the Lord. And on the seventh day, they were to walk around seven times. And then they were to shout on the seventh, six times, then a shout on the seventh lap, right? So those were specific instructions that the Lord gave to the children of Israel through Joshua. And today we're going to talk about circling the promise. And you keep walking even when nothing moves. And so I would love to hear how God is moving in your life during this 12-day Jericho fast of consecration and dedication. Remember, I told you it wasn't even about the food.

2:28 It was about how is your heart towards God and how is he speaking to you and how is he moving in your life? Are you really laid out before him asking him to do some great things? But are you really listening and obeying what he's asked you to do? And so circling the promise, the Lord gave me an assignment. Every morning I would get up and walk. I went from about two and a half miles to almost three miles now. And it went to three miles because I currently moved to Nebraska probably about three years ago. And I, I moved here quick and suddenly. I bought a townhouse with an HOA.

3:10 Nothing wrong with it. It's a beautiful place. But I bought it quickly. I didn't really get a chance to inspect it. Everything's beautiful. Don't get me wrong. But if I had a choice, I probably wouldn't have picked this place. But I did because I had to go and move really quickly. You know how that is. And so I wasn't complaining. God blessed me. And I was really excited about it. But one morning as I was just resting in the Lord, Or just as I wake up, you know, I'm always speaking to him or he's always speaking to me. He said, Connie, I want you to go. I want you to take a different walk this morning. And I was like, OK, like, what would that look like for me? Well, this area where I walk has a have some beautiful homes.

3:51 But in my mind, they are very expensive, very expensive homes. But he asked me, he says, Connie, instead of keeping straight, I want you to pretty much make a right. And just take a detour through these homes. And I really, honestly, I never went down that street, didn't really care to look at those homes because in my mind, they were not affordable in my mind. But I would keep straight. But it's this particular house on the corner, which I think is absolutely fabulous. It takes up the whole corner. The backyard looks at this lake. So I'm looking like this is a beautiful home too. So that's the house I'm always looking at. Right. But Gloria said, go take the journey around this. Take this walk around.

4:35 Come take a walk with me, he said. And I said, OK, I'll take a walk. And I walked around this corner and it's all these other beautiful homes. So, you know, I have your eyes focus on one, but then he shows you a garden of other choices because, you know, God knows us women. We like a variety of choices. And so he showed me other homes that were available and none of the homes were the same. Where I live, and you might live somewhere similar, where you might live in a condo or a townhouse where all the homes look exactly alike. And I'm like, no, it's nice and safe, right?

5:16 But after a while, you want your own home that looks different. And the Lord just took me on this journey. And so when this came up for day three, circle the promise, that's my journey. I walked three miles in the morning and it does take me on a little extra journey and it's three miles. And today I want you to focus on what does God have you doing that maybe seemed like nothing is happening, but he's showing you something different. And he wants you to walk it out even when nothing moves. Nothing is moving. But he said, Connie, this time next year, I want you to buy a house. You get to buy a house.

5:58 I want you to think about where you want to move. And he showed me the home. And then he said, contact your realtor, the realtor that helped me buy this place. And I said, I'm looking to move next year. And so he puts me on an app. And so he keeps me posted of what houses go up for sale. But the best thing about having a realtor is that you get to take a peek inside the homes. So not only do I get to walk this journey, circle the promise, I also get to look inside the home through these apps. And so before I even get to next year, I'm already kind of house shopping. You know how God is. God, he doesn't just wait. He's not a last minute God that some may think.

6:43 I think he does that because he likes to surprise us. But if you really listen to him, he'll give you strategies and plans to get your heart set. And no longer did I think those houses were not out of my reach. Because why? Why? Because it wasn't my idea to go look for a house. It wasn't my idea to call the realtor. It wasn't my idea to go right when I usually walk to the left. Do you get what I'm saying? So as we go through this Jericho fast of consecration and dedication. I want you to look what God is doing. He's trying to do a new thing in our life, but we are stuck in a mentality that tells us, I can't afford that.

7:25 No, not that. Oh, Lord, are you talking to me, right? And then we don't do that one thing, that extra lap. I have to get out of my home a little bit early because I'm taking that Jericho walk in my new neighborhood. Now, the first time I met that when I did that neighborhood walk, walk that little new area, I felt a little out of place because I didn't want people to think that, you know, I was casing a house. Why would people think that, you know? But you know what? I didn't want to feel like out of place. And so I'm really being careful not to stare at the homes, right? You know, but I was like, these homes are absolutely beautiful. And they, and they're none, none of them look the same.

8:07 And so, you know, I'm excited because I live in a townhouse place where all of them look the same. It's like, oh my gosh. You know, first that's okay. You know, I'm a retired police officer. It's always good to blend in for safety reasons. But at the end, I've been retired for 10 years. I'm done blending in. I want something that's mine. I don't want something so close. I don't want to hear the neighbor garage go up when it goes up in the morning. You know, I probably don't want to hear mine when it goes up in the morning. I don't want to hear when the person rolls out their garbage can. You see, that's how close I am. But God says, go and circle the promise. He might be telling you something else to do, but he wants you to go and circle the promise.

8:52 So let's get going. I know that was a little bit long, but I want to encourage you that God is speaking during this consecration and dedication. And he's speaking to you too, but he's not yelling at you. Remember, he didn't come in the whirlwind. He came in the still small voice, which I call the whisper. He came in a whisper. Are you listening? And so let's talk about on this third day of this journey, we walk in faith, not because the wall is shaking, but because the word is unshaken. Remember what God tells us is he's speaking to us when it's in the Bible, if he's whispering in our ear to give us direction, His word is unshaken.

9:36 So if his word is unshaken, that means that we are unshakable. Amen. So God commanded Joshua and the Israelites. To circle the city in silence once each day. They obeyed. And after the first lap, nothing happened. So I told you my first time around there, nothing happened. There are for sale signs, check this out you guys, in the lawn. So for sale sign in the lawn, I mean, you can stop and look at the house without looking like a cheaper creeper, you know? So I'm looking like, okay, that house is for sale. Do I like that house? I wonder what it looks like in the back. I didn't want to go look around the backyard, but then I pull it up on my little app and see if I like it or not. You see?

10:20 So the first lap, nothing happened. No cracks, no tremors, no confirmation. Come on. God didn't say that's your house right there. There was no confirmation. There was no movement in the sand. There was nothing. Just me walking was just the sound of obedient footsteps on dry ground. That is what I am doing. I don't say that that is what, some people say that they do that all the time. I marched around this place and then pretty soon it was mine. God told you to do that, then he got something up for you. But you don't just go find somebody, you know, just do, don't be a creeper, you know, don't do strange stuff. Be obedient to God. Talk to him first. If he sends you out there, then you go do it. But what that does is that stirs your faith.

11:06 That's how faith works. Remember the Israelites walked around that place in silence each day. And I just am praying in my holy language quietly. And sometimes I'm in silence because I'm mostly in awe. The first day I was in awe saying, thank you, Lord. And I got lost in my new neighborhood. I call it now, it's my new neighborhood. I circled a block twice. I said, okay, I'm circling the promise here because I I got lost and didn't know where I was because I never been in that neighborhood before. But that's okay. That first walk, nothing happened. Nothing tremored, nothing shaked, no house lit up and said, buy me, buy me.

11:51 But it was like my faith at work walking with me. God is with me, right? Sometimes you'll do exactly what God told you to do, to fast, to pray, to obey, and it looks like nothing is changing. But God isn't just tearing down walls. He's building up trust. He's providing, he is proving that obedience doesn't depend on outcomes, but on alignment. The promise doesn't fail because the walls didn't fall today. It's been circled. It's been surrounded. It's been subdued by faith. What do you think that has done for me? Just that obedience. That's not the only time I've been obedient to God, but that obedience of, Connie, this time next year, you're going to be moving. I'm like, okay.

12:41 And then I I said, where am I moving to? And he says, I want you to, are you walking? He says, and as I'm walking, he said, I want you to make a laugh. And I said, over here, Lord? Like, wow. And then, you know how we get super spiritual. Which house, Lord, is it? And I was like, I want that one. You know, we picked the biggest house on the block. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that, right? But today, God is asking you to circle the promise, not the problem. What has He spoken over your life? What breakthrough are you marching toward? Keep walking, keep fasting, keep praying. Even when you don't see it, God is at work behind the scenes.

13:24 How many can say amen for that? That God is at work behind the scenes. Let's pray. Father, I trust you even when I don't see change. Strengthen my feet to keep marching and my spirit to keep believing. Help me to circle your promise with faith, not fear. Remind me that you are not a man that you should lie. If you said it, you would do it. Let's decree. I decree that I will walk by faith and not by sight. I will circle God's promises with perseverance, knowing that every step is breaking ground in the Spirit. I believe that walking, that I believe the wall is weakening, even if I do not see a crack, right?

14:12 Even if nothing moves, I see that the walls are weakening. We have to say that. We have to believe that. Amen. And then let's talk about what our fasting focus is going to be today. You want to stick to your consecrated eating plan, whatever that is. Stick to that plan. Also circle your promise and prayer. Write it down, speak it aloud, and walk around your home praying over what God is getting ready to release. It's like, what is stirring in your heart? Because there's so much more we're going to talk about during this week because it's been a very exciting, what things are popping in a day for me, popping in a day.

14:59 When you know you got you, before you, as you bow on your knee, before, I don't know how you do your prayer, but before I start my prayer, get on my knees and pray to the Lord. Just bow on before him, according to like Ephesians 3.21. I bow my knee and I bow before the Lord, just a holy moment. And sometimes even before I even hit the ground, he's telling me something. He's speaking to me about the prayer, what my day is going to be like. He's just talking to me because he's waiting for us. He's waiting for us to do that, right? And so that's a consecration time. And so that's a time where you want to write it down, speak it out loud, speak what he said.

15:40 If he says something, say it out loud so your body can hear it. Because he speaks to our spirit. Say that out loud so your body can hear it, so your ears can hear it, so your mouth can articulate it, right? And praying over what he's getting ready to release. What did he say he's going to do? Then get ready for that. And sense that joy just rising up on the inside of you. Another thing you can do is in your journal, you can remember, Write down the promises that you are believing God for, right? Even when you don't see evidence yet, you know? Jeremiah 29, 11, as you see, is one of the prayers that when I close out the podcast, it's a declaration over you.

16:25 And over myself, because that's a prayer that he prayed for return from captivity, that he's a God, that he thinks about you. He has everything planned for you. Right. And so why not ask him, Lord, what you have planned for me today. Right. And how are you growing your faith? I'm looking at these houses. I'm looking at my budget. And these houses are beautiful. And I can't wait to see how God handles it. How he handles it just reminds me. Yeah, I'm not going to go there. It'll be another whole 20 minutes of devotional. But let's see how God takes care of his daughter because of obedience.

17:09 And how God will take care of you out of obedience. Amen. So until next time, I'll see you on the next episode. Amen. Thank you for listening to this episode. And before we close out, I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14. Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. So today we receive that truth. You said when we call on you, you will listen. So we pray. You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found. so we pursue.

17:51 You said you will restore us from captivity, so we declare freedom over every place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small. Thank you for always drawing near when we show up in faith. In Jesus' name, amen. Music.