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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Brunch and Bible, where we navigate womanhood through the Word. I'm your host, Heaven, and this is more than a podcast, it's a movement. At Brunch and Bible, women gather, grow spiritually, embrace the complexities of life through word driven discussions, and find practical applications for their own journeys. This episode is a timely reminder that availability to God is less about open calendars and more about surrendered hearts. We talk through what it means to slow down, make space for divine interruptions, and say yes even when it's inconvenient. If you've been feeling stretched, distracted, or unsure of how to say yes to God, this one's for you. Hey, everyone. Welcome to a new episode of Brunch and Bible. And today we have another special guest. I'm here with my sister, Jessica Gonzalez. Jessica is such an amazing woman of God. She is a daughter of the most high first and she's a wife, she's a minstrel, she's so many other things. And I'm so excited to have her. For today's episode titled are you available? Are you available? And Jessica, say hi to the people.
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B
Hi everybody. I'm happy to be here.
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A
So, Jessica, the core scripture for today is an intro to Isaiah, the book of isaiah, which Isaiah 6, 8. And you see that at the beginning of the chapter of Isaiah 6, you see Isaiah encounter the Lord after King Uzziah dies. And he says, in the year that King Uzziah dies, I saw the Lord and his train filled the temple and all these beautiful things. And then if you go down a little bit to the verse 8, it says also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then he said, here I am, send me. And today's topic is titled are you available? Because I feel like in today's day and age there is a lack of availability. This is a channel for women. But honestly, I know men watch brunch and Bible as well, shout out to our men who support. But I think overall in this generation there is a lack of availability. You see the Lord looking for men to arise and I, I first want to get your take on before we jump off into the deep end. Because I, I feel like we could go a lot of different places with this. But what does it mean to be available for God use? Like when we say, here am I, Lord, send me. What, what does that actually mean? So that we understand it practically quickly.
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B
It'S saying, lord, whatever you want, however you want to use me, I'm available. I'M here. Wherever you want to send me. I'm here to listen to you. I want to take everything that isn't of you away from my life.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And walk into the purpose and the calling that you have specifically for what? For what you want me to do on this earth.
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A
Yeah, I think. I think that's so good that you said whatever, because sometimes we think that availability is one sided. Maybe it means like, oh, it means I need to preach, or it means I need to do something that maybe, I don't know, like lay hands on people and prophesy and all these things like that. But really availability in the hands of God is just being open for whatever he wants to make out of your life. And I want to throw it back to Genesis. Let's go back to Genesis.
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B
Okay.
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A
And you see In Genesis 1, I think it's 26, where it talks about how, you know, man was made. And at that point he had given man dominion over the Earth and over everything in the earth. And so one thing about God is that he's very principled to the point where he doesn't even break his own laws. Even though he's God and He makes the rules, he doesn't break his own rules.
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B
Right.
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A
And so we see now Earth being put in the hands of men to steward, really. And so now with that principle or that law that he has in place, I'm of the belief that whatever the Lord wants to do in the earth realm, he looks for men because he gave us that dominion. So that's how he moves in the earth realm. Right. And so now we see us being the stewards of the earth in. In any aspect that you. You in any mountain of influence, you see men being stewards of it. And then now we see the Lord looking, it says, it says in Psalms, I think that the Lord, he looks down and he searches to see if there's men who. Who seek him, who understand. You know, you see also in a place where he's like, I was looking in Ezekiel, I believe it talks about how, you know, I was looking for a man to stand in the gap and I didn't find anyone. So. So what is it like? What is causing. What do you feel like in this day and age is causing the lack of availability when it comes to giving God our all so that he can use it for his glory.
- [05:44]
B
I really think it points to completely dying to ourselves, completely dying to ourselves and not worrying about our own agenda that we have, but saying, putting God truly at the center of everything. The one that sits on the throne in our hearts. So everything that we do, he has to be the center of it. So if, if you're doing things that God is not the center of, you find yourself on the path where it's like you, you, you can find yourself so often far away because you've missed the point.
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A
Yeah.
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B
If he's not at the center of it, I don't want to do it. Like Moses said, if you're not there, I don't even want to be there. I don't want to go.
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A
Yeah, yeah.
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B
I, I don't want to be there. And I, I believe that other, that people just now, their own agendas can get in the way. Our own agendas. Cuz we, we're, we're guilty of this. Our own agendas can get in the way. Or our own routines and not allowing God to prune us and change us and just being comfortable with where we're at and being comfortable with being uncomfortable, you know, and, and growing. Deciding in the morning, like I'm not gonna, first thing I'm not gonna do is pick up my phone. I'm. I'm going to, to praise you, worship you, pray in the morning journal or whatever that is. Doing my devotional before I pick up my phone or taking that time and being disciplined. I think it's also a lack of discipline.
- [07:09]
A
Yeah. 100. I think that you made, you made so many good points. It's about dying to self really. And I think that there's not enough dead men walking. There's just not enough dead men walking. We've accepted Christ and here's the thing, right? When we talk about dying to flesh, when we come into the understanding of salvation and we accept him as our Lord and Savior. Or at least when I accepted him as my Lord and Savior, I thought to myself, with everything that God has done for me, the sacrifice of the cross, right. Doing something that no man could ever do or think of doing. The least I can do is give him my life. Like that's the, that's the, that's the bare minimum I can do is live a lifestyle devoted and committed to him. And whatever that looks like is what it is. If it means that I have to serve him all of my days, yeah. That means I serve him all of my days. And so we, we see that the Bible says that we are living sacrifices. That's, that's dead men walking.
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B
Yeah.
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A
We are, we are to continually place ourselves on the altar of sacrifice. And that also means giving up sometimes our deepest desires. Yes, I I'm gonna ask you a question, but I'll say that I never would have imagined that life would look like what it looks like now, even five years ago. But I literally just gave God my yes.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And I'm like, I'm a mess. But yes, whatever you want to do with me, I'm available. And it's. It's a very dangerous prayer. It really is, because you have to be ready for what God will do, and you have to be ready to let go of things and to be pruned, like you said, and to be shaped and to be disciplined. While other people can live life normally, you can't.
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B
Right.
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A
You know, while other people are in. Really doesn't even boil down to, yes, we are talking about sin, but also just even regular things. Yeah, you're not a regular. You can't be a regular churchgoer if you are someone who wants to be available for God's use.
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B
Right.
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A
Your devotion time may not look the same as everyone else.
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B
Right.
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Your times of consecration may not look the same as everyone else, but that is the. The price exactly you pay to be used by God. And the Bible says that no one's. No one builds a house without sitting down to count the cost, without sitting down to see. Actually, okay, I'm.
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B
I'm.
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A
I'm sitting down. I'm calculating, okay? It's going to cost me this, it's going to cost me that. And sometimes we don't sit down with ourselves and say, hey, this journey with Christ to be used by him, it might cost me a bit of my time and resources. It may cost me some discipline. It may cost me this. But nobody lays down their life for Christ, and he doesn't give them life in exchange. There's. There's no way. Do you know what I'm saying? So I want to ask you a question. I. I want to know at what point you can talk about how you got saved, maybe, and then tell us at what point was it right when you got saved where you said, lord, take it all, you can have every part of me? Or was it a little bit down the line, like, kind of where was it where you said, lord, you can use me and use all of me?
- [10:42]
B
I'd say so. I grew up in church. I've been baby all the way. My granddad is a bishop, my dad is a minister. So I've always. I've always been in church. But I. I can honestly say when I got to. Around 16, and my mom, she started going to a different church than where I grew up from. And that's where I learned just how God actually speaks to us and more about the relationship, more than don't do this or don't do that or you're going to go to hell type thing, you know? And I was getting to an age where I had a better understanding of what it meant to truly follow Christ. And, and just the fact that knowing that me giving my life to him is the best thing that I can do.
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A
For yourself.
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B
For myself, yeah. It's the best thing that I can do. Having, having faith and knowing that God knows the beginning to the end of my life. And it's, it's comforting for me to know that he knows what's going on. And so that, that love, just understanding the love that he had for me and the relationship that he actually wanted for me, it, draw, it drew me closer to him and know that it wasn about rules, but also understanding that he tells us not to do this or not to sin or whatever, because it, it causes us to be disconnected from him and disconnected from his love.
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A
Yeah.
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And you don't. I don't want that. I don't, I don't. I don't want that. I don't want that life. So it's like, okay, Lord, if anything is in the way that is going to disconnect me from you and your love, take it away.
- [12:22]
A
And you had that mentality at 16 when you gave your life to Christ.
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B
That's when I first started.
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A
Okay.
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B
That's when I first started. And so there are things in my life where I had to continue to lay down or things that I didn't even know because life is a journey.
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A
Absolutely.
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B
Life is a journey. And God wants you to walk with, with him through this journey. And ultimately the walk and the journey that you have is, is bringing him you closer to Him. And that's the whole, that's the whole point. So it's like the hardships and the things that we go through, it's ultimately supposed to bring us closer to him if we allow it to in the right way. So when I turned around that age, I realized how important the relationship is with God. And that's when I was like, okay. I was still in high school, so I was still young, and my mind was on school and choir and things I was doing. But once I got to college, it was different.
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A
Okay.
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B
Once I got to college, it was like, okay, I, I, when it came to, like, music and singing and stuff like that, I used to, I used to like, think if I Wasn't able to sing, like, I don't want to live. And I didn't.
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A
Wow. Yeah.
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If God was to strip that gift from me, I wouldn't want to live. And I didn't realize that that was an idol. That was. Yeah.
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A
Gift became an idol.
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B
Yeah. Yeah. So it was like, I gave. I got to the point, and it was like, towards. It was a little bit before college, so my senior year, where I went a month where I couldn't sing over a certain note, and it was like, that was the moment, the pivotal moment for me that was like, okay, I have this. This gift on an idol. Like, I'm idolizing this. This gift. And that was the point where I was like, okay, Lord, if I never. If I never can sing again, if you strip that away from me, I will still serve you. I will still worship you. I will find a way. Whatever that looks like, I will speak. I'll do whatever it is, because you're more important than the gift. So that was one of the pivotal moments of my life. And when I got to college, so I would post singing videos and stuff like that, but it wasn't fully Christian songs all the time. And then God took me to the point where it was just like, if you're gonna post worship singing, it's gonna be worship. And that was like, okay, God, I can do that. I'll do that. And I'd say that dying to myself, that was all a part of dying to myself. And doing that ultimately brought me closer to him. And knowing that he is the prize, it's so easy to just surrender. If this means that I'm going to be closer to you, Lord, then let it be so that's the gift. That's. That's. That is the. The prize in life. So.
- [15:29]
A
Wow. I like the gift. Being an idol, that's. That's a huge thing. And, you know, I actually feel like we live in a generation that's so gifted. Like, even there's. They're singing, but there's even so many other gifts aside that. And to be able to get to a point. Point to say, God, if you. If I never sing another note, you can have all of me. That's. That's true surrender. And sometimes we hide behind our gifts as a comfort. You know, even. Even. This is kind of transitioning even into service where we're hiding behind our gifts. But our gifts make room for the message.
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Right.
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That God has given us. I believe our gift opens doors for us to stand in front of kings and queens and all Spectrums of people to get the message out.
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B
Yeah, that's the goal.
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The message is Jesus. And so when you're talking about availing yourself to Christ, it's not just, oh, I've joined the choir, I'm singing every Sunday, or I'm running up and down doing admin. But aside that if God were to take that away. Right. What, what is still there? What, what is your message? Not only that, but are you still able to say, lord, here I am?
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Yeah.
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If we were to ground you, will you say, lord, here I am. Send me. I want you to give us a time where you, your yes. Because another thing too is that it's a daily thing.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You being available for God's use is not a one time thing where you're saying, Lord, in 2019, I said yes to you and so we're good. No, it's a daily decision that, Lord, I'm saying yes to you today, I said yes to you yesterday, I'm saying yes to you today and I'll say yes to you tomorrow. Right. And so I want you to tell us maybe about a time where you felt as though your yes cost you something or stretched you. And you know, we, we really don't, we don't talk about this too much because for some reason nowadays we've tried to glamorize. Oh yeah, Christianity. We tried to, oh yeah, it's just a one, two, you know, just serve God and just do this. And we've, we talked about it in the last season where we've now made it kind of like a marketing strategy and a marketing ploy. But I think it's important to be real so that we're not feeding people a scam that this, that it actually costs you again. The beautiful part is that when you lay it down, Christ gives you life. And there's nothing better than eternal life. Right. But being able to empathize with somebody on the journey that, okay, where were you where you felt like, yeah, this thing is tough. I'm going to have to let go of whatever this is or this. Yes. Is hard. Lord, can you tell us about a time?
- [18:48]
B
There's, there's a few.
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A
I'm just.
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B
I'd say when me and my, my husband, before we got married, God was leading into us into a different direction from the church that we were at, where we were comfortable at. And he was leading me into. My husband had already gone before me, but into a Spanish church. And when I came, that's when it like came. They started interpreting for me and Things.
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A
Oh. So it's like.
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B
It was actually. It was Spanish. It was Spanish. And so when I came, they started to interpret for me and things like that. And I left being comfortable at where I was at and going to a place where I'm the only one who looks like me. I'm the only one who. Who. The only American who doesn't speak Spanish and kind of felt like the odd one out.
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A
Yeah.
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And. But I knew that God was calling me to be in that place. And he's still.
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A
We go.
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We. We go to a bilingual church now. And he's still. I'm. It's still stretching me.
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Yes.
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You know, it's. He's still stressing. Stretching me being a part of it. But I. I learned that my yes to him not being comfortable is worth it. Yeah, it was worth it. It was worth it to. Okay, I'm gonna go into a place where I. It's. It's completely different. But God is going to bring me closer to him. And it helped me to die to myself even more because it wasn't about me or what I wanted.
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A
That's what it is.
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B
Yeah. It wasn't about me or what I wanted or where I felt comfortable or. I think we can get too comfortable sometimes. And when God asks you to go someplace that's not comfortable, you're like, o God, are you like, do you really want me? You know, and it's us. And God's like, just do it. And on the other side of obedience, you'll find new strength. You'll find that you didn't know that you could. I didn't expect I would go in and start singing in Spanish and all the things like that. And then the words and just the things that God started to reveal to me and my husband about the nations and us going out and being. Going into the nations and eventually going on mission trips and just the things that are even to come. It's like that he is preparing me in this place. He was preparing me. And is. It continues to. Yeah. For what is to come in the rest of my life.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And being okay with that and saying, okay, this is. This is. This is going to be a big part of my life.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And I got to get over being uncomfortable right now because the places that he wants us to go and where we'll be at, the yes that we have to give him is. Is he knows the full picture. And it's just beautiful to know that he knows. And in the moment, it's scary. And it's like, yeah, I, I've been at this church for however long and you're calling me to leave and go and not even that. It's, it's a completely different culture, you know, so that's, that's one of the things where it cost me my just being comfortable. But it was, it was worth it.
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A
It's well worth it. You hit on something, you said that it was not about me. And I think that in this generation, today's age, we see a lot of this me culture masked in this weird self love message. Now I'm all for, I'm a girl's girl. I like to take care of myself when I can and do all these things. But I think there's even a place where as believers we have sheltered ourselves off and said, I mean, I, I'm, I need to put myself first. Like I'm trying to be careful with how I say it because I'm not promoting self negligence. Yeah, right. But I mean in a place of destiny, some people will rather choose the comfort or the, the thing that they like over what God has told them and what God has said. And I want us to just talk about how the enemy has, has used this self love or this even shielding even in a sense of being afraid of people or being afraid of being hurt, you know, so I don't want to give myself because when we say availing yourself, it's, it's to his people. It's to his people. Right. For, for the glory of the Father. So how has the enemy used this self love, protect me notion to prevent people from submitting completely? How do you think he's used that?
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B
The moment that it no longer becomes about God and it becomes about you, you start to go on a path that God didn't intend you to go down. Yeah. And I'm talking about people who have been following Christ.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And it all goes to, it's me. I did this. Oh, that was me, everything. When the glory becomes, the glory comes to you and pride comes before the fall. And we've been, we've been talking about Saul, King Saul. We've been talking about that with our youth group and just seeing how he was anointed in the beginning and God chose him to be king over Israel. And it got to the point where he started to fill his head up. He started, and it was, oh, the house of Saul. It was all about Saul and who he was. And then the first time he was disobedient and Samuel came to him and told him, why didn't you wait for Me. It was with the battle and everything like that. And that's when he said, you can't be king anymore.
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A
Yeah.
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B
But the second time, he was disobedient, and God told him to kill. They were having a battle with the Amalekites, and God told him to kill the other king of Gog, and he didn't do that. The second time he was disobedient, he lost his mind. And there's always a price.
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A
There's always a cost to that.
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It is. It is. And when it starts to become, oh, it's all about me. Humility is. Humility will keep you. And humility is not saying, oh, I'm not good enough.
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A
That's not humility.
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B
Or it's not just saying. When somebody gives you a compliment, you just say, glory to God. That's not. That's not humility.
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Come on.
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B
Humility is understanding that everything that you have comes from God.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And that you can't. You can't do anything unless he. He authorizes it, unless you're willing and able to do what he's called you to do and lay yourself down. And that goes with. With the pruning that we were talking about earlier. It's literally taking a look at yourself so many times. Like, when you hear a word, sometimes you. You might think, oh, I know somebody like that. But how often is it, oh, you're speaking to me, fingers pointing back at you. How often are we like, ooh, I need to. I need to. Yeah, I need to get that together. And I think that, that. That goes with the. The self prioritizing and the enemy makes. Makes it seem like it's about us and us being comfortable and us. It's. It's about what we can do and everything, but the moment that you lose sight that it's not about you and it's about God, you start to. To fall away and find yourself in a place that you were never intended to be. So in. In this generation specifically, everybody has they want. Not everybody, but people, they want to promote themselves and be successful in the. Things like that. Which is not. Which is not wrong. There's nothing wrong with that. But when you start to prioritize your life over your life with God.
- [27:39]
A
Yeah.
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B
And you stop inviting him into spaces and you stop inviting him to. To do things with you, and it becomes about what you have. And God is just like, well, what about. What about us? Yeah, what? I want to do this with you. I want to walk with you through everything. So I think that one of the ways that we, we take a look at ourselves to keep that from happening. Is always looking at ourselves and really waking up in the morning and saying, God, here I am.
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A
Yeah.
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B
God, what do you want to talk about today?
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A
Wow.
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B
And. Or even just little things. God, what do you think about this? Or what do you think about that one? One of the things that I always talk about is learning how to love what God loves and despise what he despises.
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Yeah.
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B
And it's a journey, but the more you walk it out, the more you do it, it will be. You will know. You will know his heart.
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Yeah.
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B
And that's the goal is to know his heart.
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A
Yeah.
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And allow our heart to be a reflection of His.
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A
Yeah. I think that's so good. You sparked. Just so my mind is going, the first thing I want to talk about is there's vessels unto honor and there's vessels unto dishonor. And one thing that we have to know as human beings, whether you like it or not, you're a vessel and something is filling you.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Now you can decide what fills you. You, you can decide what overtakes you, overcomes you. But you are. Because of the nature of how we are built, we are filled with something. And so now we look at being used by God and we see that you mentioned how some use ministry or which is ministry being used by God in any way, shape or form. It doesn't mean holding a mic, per se, but you see people promote themselves and you see people use the platform of Christ for personal gain. And it's very. It sneaks in very subtly. That's the thing. Some, some people are outright deceptive and evil and they never wanted Christ in the first place. But even some people who started off right, a little bit of compromise, a little bit of, like you said, just not inviting him in spaces, subtly, you. You find yourself doing your own thing. Ministry can get you in that routine where you have so many responsibilities, you have so much to do. You're on autopilot.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You're showing up to church because you have to show up because you have to teach. And then after that, you know that you have to lead a worship session. So you got to prepare for that. And it becomes this mundane thing or even becomes this self gratification thing because you know that you'll be the center of attention on these platforms. And we're missing the cause of Christ. Now my next question is, you brought up Saul. Saul was somebody like you said that from jump, he was shaky. He didn't do right when he didn't wait for the prophet. Right. He wanted to jump ahead. And you see him though, still being king until a little bit, and then David is anointed. So I kind of come to this thing in my head where it's like, can you be used by God and your heart be far away from Him? You see, like. And this is why we can't equate being used by God to the power moves and laying hands and ministering on the mic. All these things are good and they are ordained by God. You see them in scripture, you see them as principles. However, we can't determine that as our availability, I don't think. Because when you look in the scripture and it talks in Matthew 7 that people who have prophesied in his name, they've cast out demons in his name, one day some of them will stand before the Lord and they'll say, lord, I did this. Lord, I did that. I was available for you. And he's going to look at them, unfortunately, and say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. So in us being available, where. Where does the matters of the heart stand? How much does it weigh? On top of just being this vessel who's going to and fro hosting the. The podcast sessions and ministering to people and doing this? And you're. As a. In retrospect or in. In the perspective of where your heart is, where. Where do you think that the heart weighs? Or how much does the matter of the heart or the purity of the heart or the stance of the heart weigh when it comes to being used by God?
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B
When you start to allow God to use you and your heart is far from Him, I think that goes. You have. It goes back to your. Why. Why are you doing this in the beginning?
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A
Yeah.
- [33:09]
B
And you could go on this journey of. My heart is not connected to what I'm doing. And I have. There's. There's this lady that we met. Her name is Bobby. And I have to. I have to say this because it just goes so perfectly of what we're talking about. But she says how God doesn't just use his children, but he loves through them. That's what he's doing. He's loving through you. So when you. There could be a time where you come to the point where you. It's not you allowing God to love through you. I'm just going through the motions and I'm just doing this, but my heart is not in it. So, yes, you can be used by God, but your heart not be Connected. And that's how you get drained. That's how you start to feel empty and you get to the. It's not lasting, you know, so that's why it's important that we always. When we allow God to use us, we come back and we get filled up and it's. It's not, it's not even. It's. It goes back to the everyday life. In your everyday. It won't feel like a chore if you just know him. Him and you're friends with God and you. Your relationship with him is so real and so pure and so intimate. It won't. It's not supposed to feel like some task in some. Some job. It's. God doesn't intend that for us. It's okay. It's partnering with him and it's okay. Making sure my heart is connected to His. And so I don't get to that point where I'm. I'm going through the motions or I'm doing stuff, or you start to let pride come in and your heart gets disconnected.
- [35:14]
A
Yeah.
- [35:15]
B
And God doesn't, He doesn't want that for us. He doesn't want us to get disconnected from his heart and to go through the emptiness and things like that. So I think it just goes back to make sure that we don't get to that part where we're following God, but our hearts are far, far from him, is to make sure that our everyday life is, is true when it comes to God, our relationship with him and it's authentic and that we're not just doing this just to do this or do it because it's ministry, but this is real. And it's just a. It's just a part of your relationship with him that's. It's, you know, it's just something, something that it's. It's a, an extra thing than just being a son or just being a daughter for the King.
- [36:07]
A
Yeah. So I think that's amazing. I think that brings a new perspective that it's just an expression of the relationship that you have with him. And when you do that, you're able to keep your heart intact. When you keep your mind and your. He said love me with everything. Right. And so when we do that, we're keeping the focus on him and we're remembering that my service or my availability, it's not everything, but it's part of my relationship.
- [36:41]
B
Right, right.
- [36:42]
A
Because when we make it our everything, we forget about God.
- [36:45]
B
Yeah.
- [36:45]
A
And again, it goes down to idolatry, where we're putting Things above him, when that was never the correct balance of equation. Wants to talk about something. You know, when you decide that you want to say yes to God, he takes you through a journey, and sometimes he brings you through situations and circumstances. And these we talked about in the last couple episodes, that sometimes he brings you through circumstances, difficult ones at that are hardships, not to punish you, but because he needs you to unveil a dimension of himself to a generation. Right, let's say we. Let's bring up Moses, right? Moses was from a child. His life was tumultuous. Like, you know, I think sometimes we look at the Bible characters, I don't even like to call them characters because that sounds so fake. Yeah, they're real people with real stories. Yeah, right. When we look at these real people with real stories, we need to really bring things to our perspective. Sometimes we get so detached and disconnected. But no, this man really from a child placed on water. Like, literally, they were seeking for his life from the time he was young. Imagine that. Then he gets floated off somehow, some way he sees or the daughter of Pharaoh sees him in the water and rescues him. And then he goes back to his mom, and then they bring him back to the palace. And then you see him grow up in the palace, right? You see him learn the ways of the Egyptians, the royals, right? And then you see him. You just see him go through so many different phases. You see, now he's in the house of the royals, but he has a heart for what's happening with the Hebrews. And I don't even know at this time if he knew his. His background and his history and all that he went through. And then you see him being enraged by the oppression and actually ends up killing an Egyptian. And long story short, he gets on the run, moves to Midian, finds his wife. Then he's in Midian in a place of preparation for a long time before he sent out. And so Moses could really write a storybook of his life before he even started being fully used by God, before he went to the burning bush and God revealed himself to him and he became the leader of the. The Israelites. But you see God preparing him even in the hard times, even when he was on the run. You know, that flare up was actually not that he was supposed to kill somebody. Right, right. But that was even just a picture of what the man Moses would do in the future for the Israelites. He was fighting for basically the social justice of the Israelites, you know, and then you see him in the house of The Royals. But that wasn't for any reason. That was so that he knows how to lead. Right. So you see God being intentional about every part of his story, even when it didn't look right. Right. And I believe that sometimes we go through things, you know, we think that when we give God our yes, it can be a bed of roses and everything's just going to be handy dandy, handy panky. Everything's going to be amazing. And then sometimes, quite literally, all hell breaks loose after you say yes. Meanwhile, God is trying to rearrange some things, put some things in order, and even just take you through a season so that you can know him and reveal him to others in that dimension. Yeah, right. I just. I think that we need to, as a generation, be if. If we are going to say yes. Because this is for people who want to say yes. If you. If you don't want to say yes, it's okay. I pray that you get to the point where you want to say yes and give God your everything. But if you feel like you're at that point where you need to surrender, just go ahead and do it.
- [41:05]
B
Yeah.
- [41:06]
A
Right. Say yes. You may not know what the entire picture looks like. You may not know exactly. It's only him who's alphanomic. You have something to say?
- [41:14]
B
I was. I was gonna say that. That's okay. Yeah, that's it. We have to get to a point where it's okay to not know what the entire picture looks like in. Allow God to take us on an adventure of life.
- [41:28]
A
Yeah.
- [41:29]
B
And I don't. I don't. I. I have. I don't have to know everything. It's okay for me to not know everything. And that just makes life more. Makes life more beautiful. The picture. When you don't know the surprises that you receive. I. I don't. I don't. Living a life where, you know, where everything's gonna happen is. I don't.
- [41:58]
A
It's not life.
- [41:59]
B
Yeah. Like, what's the point if you know you.
- [42:02]
A
If you know the end.
- [42:03]
B
Right, Exactly. You don't usually want to watch movies all the time that you've watched before, you know, so it's. It's like just the excitement that you get from life when you say yes to the Lord. It's like, okay, I'm excited now. Okay, Lord, I said yes to you. And whatever I thought that I had planned, I. I want your plans to replace that.
- [42:27]
A
Yeah.
- [42:27]
B
So, yeah.
- [42:29]
A
That's awesome. Do you have any final thoughts for the viewers? And then what I'll have you do is just pray for the viewers on the other side.
- [42:39]
B
I was going to read the scripture because you were just talking about falling into the, the circumstances in life and things like that. And the Scripture. James 1, verse 2. My brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Yeah, but let the patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete and lacking nothing. And when we do go through those different things in life, know that it's for a reason and it's an opportunity to grow and ultimately it brings us closer to God. And that's, that's the goal. Once you give him his, once you give him your yes, you're doing the best thing that you, you can do for your life. And also you don't know the people who you're going to come in contact with through life, who you, you're going to help that person. Like we talked the, this part of the question, the generation, you're going to help that person with everything that you might have went through in your life. I know some people, they wait to say yes to the Lord or they wait to get baptized and things like that, well, I'm not good enough and this and that. But God wants to use you in every, everything that you've gone through. There's this song for my good and one of the, one of the verses of the song, it says nothing is wasted in your hands. Nothing is wasted in the hands of God. So I just want to encourage anybody who, if it is hard for you to be available to God, know that once you give them your complete yes, you will, you will walk into a life where you never thought it's the best thing that you can possibly do for yourself and God. You will find yourself. I found myself in places where I'm just like, like wow, wow, God, like saying yes to you is the best thing that I could have done. And then my heart is, oh, I want to be somebody that will encourage and inspire somebody else to say so they can walk in that life too and do the best thing that they can do for themselves. Like, look, when you say yes to Jesus, this is the best thing that you can do and be completely available for him. And just the fruits of the spirit to that come into your life. The joy, the patience, the love, the things that will make life more worth living and just the discipline, the growing, the self control that you, you, you can gain and have. When you say yes to the Lord, there's nothing like it. It's the Best decision that you can make in your life and in every aspect of your life. I just want to encourage you to take a look at yourself and ask the Lord if there's anything in my heart that is keeping me from giving you my complete. Yes, Lord. Take it away. Yeah, take it away. Prune me and clean. Cleanse me, God, so I can be used fully by you. And yes, life is not always going to be easy. And he never said that life was going to be easy, but he walks with us through everything. This is a journey that's worth living. Life is worth living.
- [46:03]
A
Yeah. Wow, that was such an encouragement. Can you just pray over the viewers? I know there's probably a woman or even a man on the other side of the screen that is kind of battling. You know, I do want to give God my yes, but I'm not so sure what that looks like and, you know, may just need some encouragement in prayer. Can you just pray over them and speak over them as we close our episode?
- [46:32]
B
Yes, God, we thank you. We thank you that you are with us.
- [46:40]
A
Yes, God.
- [46:41]
B
That you've never left us nor forsaken us, and you never will.
- [46:45]
A
Yes, Lord.
- [46:46]
B
That you have never lost a battle.
- [46:48]
A
Yes, God.
- [46:49]
B
That when we put our faith and our trust in you is absolutely the best thing that we can do. And, God, I just want to pray for every person who is in between, who doesn't know what's on the other side of saying yes to you, God, I pray that you give them a peace that passes all understanding, knowing that when they completely surrender to you and give theirselves away unto you, God, that you will take care of them. That it's the best thing that they could ever do for themselves, God. And be okay with the unknown and not knowing everything but trusting you and having faith in you that you are exactly who you say you are. That in you we have everything that we will ever need, God. So show that to them, Lord. Show that to them that you are everything that they need, that they lack nothing once they say yes to you, once they give their yes to you, God. And I just pray that when they do say yes, they see your provision on the other side and they recognize it. And they recognize your voice, that they know your voice. That when you are calling them, Lord, that they are able to stand up and say, lord, here I am. Send me, Lord, I want to be used by you. I want you to love them through me. I want to be a vessel for you, Lord, in all of this. I pray in your name. Amen.
- [48:18]
A
Amen thank you so much, Jessica. I just love you. I love your heart for Christ. And I'm praying that you felt the. The love of Christ even as she was speaking and as we were discussing. And I'm praying that you say yes. I'm praying that you give God your all. I'm praying that you just give him a chance. Just try it. Just try it. And one thing that I know is that I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed beg for bread. And so as you do so, the Lord takes care of you. He keeps you, he provides for you. He restores you, and he gives you life and life in more abundance. So if you're blessed by today's episode, I want you to comment. I want you to like the video. I want you to share it to someone who you think may be blessed by it, and I want you to subscribe so that you can can see more uplifting content. Here at brunch and Bible, we navigate womanhood through the word. And so I'll see you on the next episode.
- [49:19]
B
Bye.