The Gospel of Feel-Good: Has Self Healing Replaced Holiness?

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Gospel of Feel-Good: Has Self Healing Replaced Holiness?"

Podcast Information:

• Title: To My Sisters
• Hosts: Courtney Daniella Boateng & Renée Kapuku
• Episode: The Gospel of Feel-Good: Has Self Healing Replaced Holiness?
• Release Date: June 29, 2025

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Introduction In this poignant episode of To My Sisters, hosts Courtney Daniella Boateng and Renée Kapuku engage in a deep exploration of contemporary Christian practices, specifically addressing the rising trend of the "feel-good gospel." They interrogate whether modern self-healing and wellness practices are supplanting traditional notions of holiness and sanctification within the faith community.

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Defining the Feel-Good Gospel Renée initiates the conversation by defining the "feel-good gospel" as a cultural shift where the pursuit of personal happiness and wellness takes precedence over spiritual growth and holiness. She articulates, “Anything that we idolize, we become a slave to. We have become a slave to feeling” (00:58).

Courtney expands on this by contextualizing the feel-good gospel within societal constructs like the American Dream and the pursuit of happiness. She asserts, “The aim of the human experience is for the human being to feel good, is for the human being to live a life of pleasure or to live a life of abundance” (05:00). This perspective, she argues, inadvertently distorts the true essence of the gospel by shifting the focus from God's definition of a fulfilling life to a secular interpretation centered on personal satisfaction.

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Contrasting Feel-Good Gospel with Traditional Gospel The hosts delve into the fundamental differences between the feel-good gospel and the traditional gospel message. Courtney emphasizes that true gospel revolves around “dying to your flesh” and aligning one's life with God's purposes, even when it conflicts with personal desires. She states, “The point of life is to be reconciled, to live a life of worship, to spend time with God and to fulfill his purposes for your life” (05:00).

Renée builds on this by discussing the concept of “comfort over conviction.” She highlights how the Western quest for instant gratification and abundance often leads believers away from enduring trials that foster spiritual growth. Renée questions, “How do I learn to make room for a man in my life without coming off as masculine?” (26:05), tying personal struggles to broader spiritual convictions.

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The Role of Suffering in Faith A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to understanding the role of suffering and trials in the Christian journey. Courtney shares personal anecdotes, including a pivotal moment where her pastor challenged her understanding of Christianity beyond personal success. She reflects, “There is no doubt in my mind that whether you serve God or you don't, you will be successful... but at the end of your life, what are you going to have to say” (48:44).

Renée echoes this sentiment by asserting, “Suffering is not indicative of failure” (42:51). They discuss how enduring hardships strengthens faith and character, aligning with biblical teachings that trials produce endurance, character, and ultimately, faith. Courtney reinforces this by citing Job's story, emphasizing restoration through trials: “Job went through a whole trial, came out no kids, no wife, and he was ill. But then it was restored to him three times more than he ever had” (45:43).

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Authentic Christianity vs. Conditional Faith The dialogue transitions to critique the notion of conditional Christianity, where one's faith appears strong only in favorable circumstances. Courtney challenges listeners by questioning the authenticity of their faith when faced with adversity: “If you are a Christian who says that you believe in Christ and the work that he has done to obtain salvation for you, and you are still living a life of rampant, repeated sin, it is proof that you do not actually believe you're saved” (26:54).

Renée adds depth by highlighting the importance of unconditional faith and the transformative power of true Christianity, which persists beyond material blessings. She asserts, “Christians are willing to be martyred, that Christians are willing to be persecuted, that Christians are the people that are okay living a life of sacrifice” (21:37).

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Call to Action: Embracing Faith and Conviction As the episode draws to a close, Courtney and Renée encourage listeners to prioritize eternal conviction over transient comforts. They urge sisters to engage deeply with Scripture and cultivate a steadfast faith that withstands life's trials. Courtney shares a reflective question for the audience: “Where in your life have you been living a life where you have chosen or prioritized comfort over conviction?” (60:46).

Renée reinforces the need for personal and communal growth, emphasizing the importance of sisterhood and accountability in bolstering one's faith: “Do some deep soul searching... challenge yourself to stand for something” (59:37).

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Notable Quotes:

• “Emotions are great indicators, but they're not great rulers.” — Renee Kapuku (00:48)
• “Anything that we idolize, we become a slave to.” — Renee Kapuku (00:58)
• “The point of life is to be reconciled, to live a life of worship, to spend time with God and to fulfill his purposes for your life.” — Courtney Boateng (05:00)
• “There is no doubt in my mind that whether you serve God or you don't, you will be successful... but at the end of your life, what are you going to have to say.” — Courtney Boateng (48:44)
• “Suffering is not indicative of failure.” — Renee Kapuku (42:51)
• “If you are a Christian who says that you believe in Christ... you are still living a life of rampant, repeated sin, it is proof that you do not actually believe you're saved.” — Courtney Boateng (26:54)
• “Christians are willing to be martyred, that Christians are willing to be persecuted...” — Renee Kapuku (21:37)

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Conclusion Courtney and Renée wrap up the episode by reaffirming the importance of unwavering faith and the true essence of Christianity. They encourage listeners to seek a relationship with God that transcends mere emotional well-being, advocating for a life of holiness, sacrifice, and steadfast conviction. The episode serves as a compelling call to reassess contemporary faith practices and realign them with the foundational truths of the gospel.

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Reflective Question for Listeners: Where in your life have you been living a life where you have chosen or prioritized comfort over conviction? What does pursuing holiness really look like on a day-to-day basis for you?

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Stay Connected: To continue the conversation and receive more insights, listeners are encouraged to subscribe to To My Sisters on various social media platforms, join the Sisterhood community, and engage with weekly live streams and newsletters.

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Note: Portions of the transcript containing advertisements and unrelated content have been omitted to maintain focus on the episode's primary discussion.

Transcript

[Courtney]

Hey, I'm Elise Hu, host of the podcast Ted Talks Daily. For more than 20 years, Paylocity has been leading the way with cutting edge work solutions like On Demand Payment, which offers employees access to wages prior to payday, flexible time tracking features which enable staff to clock in and out through their mobile device, and numerous other cutting edge solutions that simplify collaboration across hr, finance and it. Learn more about how Paylocity can help streamline work and enhance business outcomes for your [e-mail] Simplified.

[Renee]

The Gospel of the Feel good Has self healing replaced holiness?

[Courtney]

Girl is feeling it. She wants to go and knickknack paddy whack, give the dog a bone.

[Renee]

Emotions are great indicators, but they're not great rulers.

[Courtney]

You ain't never felt it. You married now anyway, so you be, you be doing a whole bunch of knickknacks.

[Renee]

Anything that we idolize, we become a slave to. We have become a slave to feeling.

[Courtney]

If you say that you believe in the miracle of Jesus dying, dead and resurrecting after three days, but you can't believe in the miracle of God helping you to cull your own horniness. Hello and welcome to the To My Sisters podcast. I'm Courtney.

[Renee]

And I'm Renee. And we are your online sisters and hosts of the To My Sisters podcast.

[Courtney]

We are all about promoting the wellness, growth and development of a community of sisters around the world.

[Renee]

And in today's episode, episode we are going to be talking about the Gospel of the feel good, feel good gospel. Yeah. Has self healing replaced holiness good? I'm very excited to talk about this topic, especially with you because I know that you in I'm screaming. Oh my God. Especially with you because I think what I very much admire about you, Courtney.

[Courtney]

Oh Renee, please. You'd be making me your most Behave yourself. Say what you're going to say. I shouldn't have even stopped. Oh God.

[Renee]

Oh, give me an inch. I'll take a mouth. But what I actually really admire about you is the deep sense of personal but also public conviction that you have around holiness and sanctification. And long may it continue. Continue to be stirred by the spirit in these kind of areas.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

And we've spoken about it on a number of different, you know, episodes around the importance of wellness and healing and just getting yourself together as a girly. Right. And prioritizing, taking care of yourself. But as with most things in this life, finding balance and finding a nice soft spot where you're able to do both hold, you know, your faith up, but also hold and recognize your need for wellness, holistic healing practices and all of that kind of good stuff. Sometimes the balance can be skewered one towards the other. And so what we've seen recently, especially not just in culture but also in the church, is we've seen therapy speak into the church, which, you know, has given language to a lot of the experiences that a lot of people have been having in church. We have seen a whole bunch of feel good practices enter this whole notion of taking care of oneself to the extremes. And so I actually wanted to start the conversation with understanding what is the feel good gospel. What do you understand or how do you articulate this kind of new cultural norm around doing the things that make you feel good under the pretext of wellness, well being and all of that kind of good stuff. And how is this antithetical to the.

[Courtney]

Gospel that's so good? Oh, this is a very deep one. Yeah, I think one I want to contextualize this with saying for myself and also for yourself, we are just two daughters of God, believers in Jesus Christ. We are not perfect, we are not the blueprint. And I know that even thinking back to our conversation about is Christianity becoming an aesthetic? It can be easy to hear a conversation like this and then put the person who's speaking on some kind of pedestal or feel as though they are being condescending or they're just calling you out. And I'd never want anyone who listens to this to feel like that. So this is not us pointing fingers and being like people are doing this wrong, we're doing this right? Absolutely not. Even if it does come across like that, please do forgive because I think God just wants all of us to be helped. And if we can share knowledge, insights, thoughts, and hopefully God inspired like things that can encourage people, that's all that we really want to do. I know that sometimes those things are not delivered perfectly. That's why I wanted to say this.

[Renee]

It's a good caveat.

[Courtney]

But the second thing that I would say is I think that the feel good gospel is deeply rooted in, to some degree, things like the American dream and the pursuit of happiness. And this belief that the aim of the human experience is for the human being to feel good, is for the human being to live a life of pleasure or to live a life of abundance. And how this can begin to slip into the gospel is believing that the gospel and gospel, the word, the definition is, or the translation is simply good news. Believing that the good news is that God wants you to live a good life forgetting that the definer of good is God. God defines what good means. And if you look at the Bible's definition of a good life, it is not the life that is being taught to us by the world. World as good. Yeah, Right. And so what a feel good gospel is, is the gospel that appeals to your own flesh, forgetting that a pivotal part of the actual true gospel message is the dying to your flesh. Yes. And sometimes that means that the good life God is welcoming you into is a life that sometimes will not good look good to you or the world. Yes, but it will be good. Because ultimately the purpose of life is not the our own fulfillment and it's not our own pleas and it's not our own self actualization. The purpose of life is to be pleasing unto God and to live a life where you are one with God. That is literally the point of life. The point of life is to be reconciled, to live a life of worship, to spend time with God and to fulfill his purposes for your life. That is not always going to feel good. The feel good gospel tells us that the aim of our life is to feel good. And that can sometimes hold us back from doing what God actually wants us to do or living a life that is actually aligned with him and is according to his purposes, his standards and his ways. And I think another thing to contextualize this is this is very Christian. I think for us, as we're seeing a rise in Christian culture and Christian content, we can forget that Christianity is actually a religion. And I know that people have done a lot over the last like decades be like, no, it's not a religion, it's a relationship. And I get why that has been birthed because sometimes people take religion too far and it becomes about religious dogma, religious practices, and it becomes just about the rituals and not necessarily about cultivating relationship and forgetting that Christianity is very different from other religions, but it is still a religion. And the reason why I say that is when we are talking about the Gospel, what's pivotal to the Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ that is a person and us living a life like he did if we are to bear his name as Christians. Right. Like I'm Ghanaian, a person of Ghanian descent. I am from Ghana. If I'm a Christian, I'm a descendant of Christ, I am from the kingdom of Jesus.

[Renee]

That's my ethnic.

[Courtney]

There we go. So I'm not just bearing this name. I'm not just bearing this name because it's cultural. I'm bearing this name because it is an identifier that I am one of Christ. The same way when I say, when you say you're a Nigerian is because you're identifying. I come from this country. And so with this conversation, when we are talking about the gospel, we cannot remove Christ from the gospel, but oftentimes feel good. Christianity will remove Jesus Christ from the gospel and tell you that the gospel is God wanting you to live a good life.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

God wants you to be healthy, wealthy and happy. That's what he wants. But that's not the gospel. The gospel is we have sinned and we need a savior. And if we come through Jesus Christ, we can have a new relationship with the Father because of Christ dying for us while we were still sinners. And us having faith that when he died, he died for my sin. And now he's resurrected, I can resurrect with him into a new life, not just here on earth, but a new life for eternity. And what also died was my flesh when I got baptized. Or when you get baptized in that water, your flesh dies with Christ and you resurrect a new person. That means that there are certain desires that you had for, for health, wealth and happiness which are going to have to die with that flesh because they were coming from a fleshly place. Maybe you desire to be happy, healthy and wealthy because of your own greed or because you didn't want to suffer any kinds of discomfort. I know we're going to talk about that in this episode. You don't want to suffer any kind of discomfort in your life because you don't want to stand for anything. Or maybe you were just a slave to your flesh. And so if you're going to say you've accepted the gospel message, you've accepted the good news, you are a Christian, you live like Christ. That means that you have now died to those desires you had. And so sometimes proof of the gospel in your life is sometimes the discomfort that comes with living a new life in Christ. Sometimes that's uncomfortable.

[Renee]

That's beautiful.

[Courtney]

Yeah. Very long winded way of trying to define it.

[Renee]

No, listen, I'm all about definitions, man. It sets the, sets up the context real well. Good. And I think it's great to provide context to those who may be familiar with a type of feel good gospel but haven't really had the language to be able to articulate what it is or they may have come across it in various forms. I would say that even something like the prosperity gospel is an offshoot of the feel good gospel or you know, felt needs there's all these terminologies that we often use, but essentially exactly what you said is removing Christ, it's removing the need for sanctification and it's really running away from suffering. And I think this actually segues quite nicely into the next kind of question that I have, or rather the next conversation pointer around comfort over conviction. And how for many of us, the reason that we are dulling our sense of conviction is because we are too couched in comfort. And especially in the west, we have a very interesting relationship to comfort. And again, we've spoken about instant gratification, we've spoken about access to having more, more, more. We've spoken about greed and gluttony, which tend to be quite serious things that within our society we're dealing with, despite the perception of lack that a lot of us are experiencing. So talk to me a little bit about our relationship with suffering and how in our striving towards comfort, many of us are actually running away from conviction and the, the beauty that is also present in suffering.

[Courtney]

Yeah, that is so good. I think one people are under the impression that God cannot be glorified through your suffering.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And we're going to define what suffering is or that God cannot be glorified if you are not living in what the world deems to be a blessing.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

So for example, how can God be glorified if you are a 37 year old woman and you're not yet married? How can God be glorified if you've been married for 20 years and you don't yet have children? How can God be glorified if you've been, I don't know, you've been working faithfully and you have not hit six figures. How can God, how can you actually say your God is good when there are people who don't serve him, who have got children, who are married in their 20s, who have bought multiple houses, whose businesses have succeeded? How can you say your God is good when you haven't achieved all of these things? And what that is saying is, how can your God be good if he hasn't given you the desires of your flesh? How can your God be good if he has not given you the superficial things that make the human experience? And I say superficial. But in our world we are taught that these are the meanings of life, these are the full, be all and end all of our fulfillment of the human experience. And so if you have not received these things, I'm not saying they're bad, but if you have not been receiving these Things. How can God actually be. Be good? And how can your life tell off his goodness when actually the gospel was shown through? I'm 37 and I don't. I'm not married, and yet I'm still faithfully serving, yet I am still happy, yet I am still at peace, yet I am still content. Yeah. I've made myself available for to be counsel and to be of help to other people. Yet I live a content life. Right. Exactly the same with not having children. We married for 20 years. We don't have children. Yet I've been a better parent to many other children than sometimes their own biological single parents. Yeah. You know, I am still walking in calling. I am still walking in charity. I am still walking in generosity. I am. My heart is not hardened towards the Lord just because he hasn't given me something that maybe I. I wanted for a long time or even in the pain of it. I can still sing praise songs. That's a. That's a life that makes people question the God that you serve. How come you've been trying for a baby for 20 years and you can still have a smile on your face? Place when people are running back and forth, back and forth that their lives are being shattered by this thing. Because God is not just a giver of gifts. He's a gifter of. He's a giver of presence. And his presence brings such a peace. His presence brings such an identity. His presence carries such a joy that yes, even in times where I may cry, I can only be downcast for so long because I have a place where I can cast my burdens. That is a life that evangelizes. That is a life that draws people to think, what kind of God are you serving? Because I've seen people that serve other things. Or maybe people who have idols and people who run to alcohol or drugs because of your same situation. Or people who their marriage has completely ended because of. Maybe children has not come, but yours is still intact. You and your husband still seem happy. What's going on there? It's because we have God at the center.

[Renee]

Hallelujah.

[Courtney]

And there's something so powerful about those kind of testimonies which share of God's faithfulness and his goodness, even without the blessing being attached. The blessing being attached. Because the blessing isn't the thing. The blessing is the person.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

The blessing is God to have his presence. There's. There's this quote that I heard, like in my early Christian life, which was, hell is not the presence of the devil. It's the absence of God. Right. And so if you're living a life where you do not have God, you are living in hell. But what that means is when you are living a life with God, you're living in heaven. Right. And for a lot of people, even if they don't get houses, material things, if they have God, if they have his comfort, if they have His Word, they can live a life of contentment and joy. And I think it's very interesting that you brought up the whole Westernization versus, like other places in the world, oftentimes in Western culture we are taught that if you do not have certain things, how can you survive?

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

How can you live? We feel as though if I don't get that next bigger house, how's my life going to feel? Happy. We feel like it's the end of life. Forgetting that there are a lot of people in a lot of circumstances who have way less and yet they are so happy. There's a reason why. And I'm not saying that corruption or sin doesn't exist in countries where there's lack of resources. Oftentimes actually, poverty cajoles evil. It does. However, what I am saying is there's a reason why we are living in the west where there's so much development, there's so much progression, and yet we are seeing high rates of depression, high rates of drug use, high rates of alcoholism, high rates of. Of suicide because. And, and they say, like, religion is the opioid of the masses, but actually, no, it's because God brings a certain level of peace to people who lack.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And that isn't a bad thing. That isn't a foolish thing. Oftentimes we're pursuing more and more possessions because we think it will bring us that feel good feeling. And then when it doesn't, we are.

[Renee]

Left so broken, empty.

[Courtney]

So empty. And like, life is not worth living. And that's the lie of the west oftentimes. So God is like, you were saying this in another episode. I think God is not a genie. He may be a creator, but he's not a genie. So what happens when he doesn't give you your wish or your prayer on your command? Are you still going to be a faithful servant? Right. And that's what the life of suffering is about. To kind of define it. It's not necessarily about like, oh, woe is me now, I'm a Christian, I can't have things, I can't dress nicely, I can't. It's about living a life of. If God tells me, like, you said conviction. If God tells me when you, when you wear these clothes, you become someone that isn't like Christ. When you. And it's not the same for everybody. It's a personal thing. This is where the whole Christianity is a relationship thing. Right? Or when you, when you run your business this way and you're getting this amount of money, somehow you kind of stop serving me. You stop, you don't give, you're not generous. And so I kind of want you to lay this thing down. That is a suffering. When you've spent your whole life, maybe building a company or a business, and now God says, says, I don't like the person you are. Put it down. I don't like the, the things it brings out of you. Because God cares more about who you are, not what you have. He cares more about what your heart is saying and what your heart is carrying more than what your hands are producing. But we want to trick God into thinking because we are producing, we must be a fruitful people. But the fruit that he is looking for is the heart's fruit. Yeah, that's the fruit that he's looking for. And so it's living a life that says, okay, I am not going to do anything that will compromise. And the fruit of my heart. Yes, even if it's the fruit of my hand, I can put it aside. That is a suffering life. It's when God tells Abraham, take the son, the only son, the one that love, take him up that mountain and sacrifice him to me. And when Abraham is about to do it, that's when God said, now I know you love me. That's how I know you're dedicated to me. You don't care about having anything above me, even if it's a good thing. And that's the thing. Sometimes God is going to ask you to sacrifice a good thing so that you can have God, so that you can have him, so that you can prove that you want him more than you want anything else. And another thing, I think sometimes we forget the essence of Christianity.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

I was saying in an episode a while back that, like, my uncle passed away and my uncle was a priest. And when going to do his funeral, we went and stayed in the monastery that he stayed in. So we're living a monster amongst priests. And I was raised Catholic, not Catholic anymore. But seeing the life, the monastic life, like seeing the life of monks, the lives of priests, and seeing how they dedicate themselves to things like intercession and all these other things, I was reminded of the simplicity. But Also the gravity of Christianity. These are people who have dedicated their entire life, as in they. They've even taken the focus that they would put on marriage and the focus they would put on children and devoted it to God in priesthood. Right. And priests. Being a priest is more than just your vocational work. Being a priest is a calling for all of us. We are all called to be priests.

[Renee]

Right.

[Courtney]

We are all called to be people who pray and who intercede and who take spiritual things seriously. Right. And to see the lifestyle of these priests. These are people who are charitable. We stayed there for, like, four days. They gave us food, breakfast, lunch and dinner. They gave us accommodation. And at the end, they were like, we don't want any gift from you. Don't give us anything thing. We're thinking, how do you upkeep this place? God upkeeps it.

[Renee]

What does he. Straight into the bank account.

[Courtney]

I've never tried to create a business plan for you so that you can be sustainable. And it's not to say that these things aren't wise, but sometimes it's to say that to be a priest is to live a life of faith.

[Renee]

Yes.

[Courtney]

And that's what they're demonstrating. They were charitable, they were hospitable.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Anything they needed, they went above and beyond to make sure we had it. Not because we were these. I'm not a diplomat, I'm not a diplomat's child, not because we are these people of nobility, but simply because they are priests and they take care of people. They are priests and they. They host people. They are called to be Christians and Christians are charitable. Christians are generous. And often when you say these things, unfortunately, the world cannot agree with that testimony.

[Renee]

That part, man.

[Courtney]

They may not agree that Christians are the most generous, that Christians are the.

[Renee]

Most sacrificial, at least the ones they've encountered.

[Courtney]

That Christians are willing to be martyred, that Christians are willing to be persecuted, that Christians are the people that are okay living a life of. That's different from every mainstream in the culture, but they're okay with it because they're content with their life and they are dedicated to living a life of holiness.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

That Christians are people that live a sinless life, that Christians are people that are honest. If you go around talking about, I'm a kingdom this, I'm a kingdom that, but you haven't got any of attributes of the hospitality, the humility, the. The intercessory nature of a Christian. Are you really a Christian?

[Renee]

Do you know what, Courtney? Literally the thought in my mind was, if your Capacity to be a Christian is dependent on you feeling good. Are you a Christian at all? Because a lot of us are conditional Christians. God, I will be charitable. I will be hospitable. I will be all of these characteristics that are the bare minimum standard of being a Christian. So long as you bless me. Yeah. If you bless me, then that's what's going to come out when really we should be able to be that irrespective of the circumstance. That's what faith is.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

That's what the gift of the spirit. That's what the fruit of your heart really is. It's that irrespective of what happens around me, I can still remain faithful. That's what we saw in Abraham. That's what we saw in Job.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

When that. Listen, I love how, like, when Christians are going through a tough time. I'm going through my job season, going through my job season. What is that season trying to bring out of you?

[Courtney]

Yeah. But dare I even say we do these things because we've already obtained the blessing facts. I think that's where sometimes we get it wrong. We think the blessing is all the things God will add on to us. The blessings. The. The ultimate blessing is what you've already received salvation. You have eternal life. And that's the thing about Christianity. And this is why conviction is so important.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

If you live by comfort instead of conviction, it's a sign that you've lost sight of eternity. You have lost sight of eternity. If you are seeking your own comfort, it's proof that you think the life that you're living here on earth is all there is to life.

[Renee]

That's good. That's so good.

[Courtney]

But actually, sometimes when you compromise on your own comfort because of your conviction, it's because you value eternity more than you value this present time that we are in. You realize that this flesh, this. This Courtney Melanie Queen, this thing that you see right now, is going to pass away and I'm going to have a. A glorified body. I'm still going to be black. I just. I want y to know I'm still going to be black and I'm still going to be a woman.

[Renee]

You're so annoying.

[Courtney]

Yes. Because these things are not inherently sinful. I was created black and a woman for a purpose. Thank you very much. Just the caveat. I swear, I'm still gonna be a black woman.

[Renee]

If we get to heaven and I see a blonde, blue, a white, a white man.

[Courtney]

Bigger conversation for another day.

[Renee]

Do you know how funny that is?

[Courtney]

But the Courtney that you see now.

[Renee]

Whatever she will be, whatever she will.

[Courtney]

Be a black woman, she will be in her glorified state. Right. And she would live on far longer than the Courtney you see now.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Right. I will not be here. I will not feel the desires that I feel right now. I will not feel the contentions that I feel right now. I will not feel the pains that I may feel right now because I've just denied myself of certain pleasures. I won't feel that. I won't be hungry for food. I don't know exactly how we'll work up there. I hope there'll be food, but that could be the gluttony, you know. I don't know how it will work. But. For example. For example. Right. The Bible says that there's no marriage in heaven. So I can be probed to believe that the desires that we may have for physical sex.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

We won't have that in heaven.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And so I may want to satisfy that urge right now.

[Renee]

Yes.

[Courtney]

Let's say your girl is feeling it. She wants to go and knickknack Paddy whack. Give the dog a bone.

[Renee]

I dislike you. I cannot stand you.

[Courtney]

You ain't never felt it. Yeah. You married now anyway, so you'd be. You'd be doing a whole bunch of knickknacks.

[Renee]

Several bones. Several bones. Hallelujah.

[Courtney]

Facts. But as much as I may feel that now, as somebody who is not yet married, there can be a desire to satisfy this thing immediately, there's a need for this instant gratification. And so I will satisfy my flesh. I may compromise on a certain conviction to be abstinent or to flee from sexual immorality. I may do something that grieves the Holy Spirit, someone that I say I have a personal relationship with, all for the sake of satisfying a desire on this side of eternity. And what that is evidence of is I have lost sight of doing something that will help me cross over into eternity. Not because I have to work for my salvation, but because I have already obtained salvation and I want to please the one that gave it to me, and I want to prove to myself that I actually believe in it.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

I would dare to say if you. Oh, if you are a Christian who says that you believe in Christ and the work that he has done to obtain salvation for you, and you are still living a life of rampant, repeated sin, it is proof that you do not actually believe you're saved. No.

[Renee]

Facts.

[Courtney]

You don't actually believe you're saved, girl. You don't believe it? Because if you are telling me that you believe in the miracle of God resurrecting Jesus from the dead, if you believe in the miracle of Jesus Christ first of all. No, no. If you believe the miracle of first of all, Jesus being born of a virgin, if you believe the miracle of Jesus being God in the flesh. If you say that you believe in the miracle of Jesus dying, dead and resurrecting after after three days, but you can't believe in the miracle of God helping you to cull your own horniness and to put it to the side. Do you really believe in the first three? Because I think the fourth one is quite a minor situation. Oh Lord, let's be honest.

[Renee]

Oh heavens.

[Courtney]

You don't believe that God can get you through the night without going on pornography, but you want to tell me you believe in a resurrected Jesus?

[Renee]

Oh heavens.

[Courtney]

Hey sis. We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you a ding ding ding dilemma because one of the sisters needs our help. Hey ladies. I recently started tuning into your podcast and I love the content surrounding love relationships. Just building your self worth as a woman. Thank you. This year I feel like God has me in a season of isolation and I finally decided to move on from a six year relationship after the last three years of trying to make amends. And despite the trauma that I went through, I am still looking forward to giving someone else an opportunity to love me and vice versa. Recently I have been trying to focus on myself by going to the gym, journaling, traveling and getting back on the dating apps. But I know being a woman that is independent in my early 30s, owning my own house and having a great career is intimidating for a lot of men. I'm just so used to doing everything on my own own. I'm trying to give myself some grace in this season and learn from my past mistakes when it comes to men. So how do I learn to make room slash space sorry for a man in my life? How do I approach dating and the idea of partnership without coming off as masculine? How do I cultivate the side of me that is nurturing or nurturing, gentle and submissive? Oh sister, you and me both, we both have the same question. I don't know. Honestly, I think the thank you for sending in this dilemma. First of all, and I will be honest and transparent in saying I have asked myself the same questions and I'm currently on the journey of figuring out how this works. But I will share one of the biggest things that has helped me in this season of preparing to be married. Preparing to be a wife and take up that, you know, call to submission. I think one realizing that you are submitting onto God and therefore you practice submission in singleness by submitting to God, by allowing him to take care of you, by allowing him to be the provider, allowing him to lead you, allowing God to be the one that you go to for help in times of trouble. And that's the starts to work certain muscles. Not because your partner is ever going to come and take the complete role of Jesus Christ, but they or God in your life. But it, they are going to come and take some kind of leadership role and they are going to take some kind of headship role. And in order for you to get comfortable with the idea of submitting thoughts and feelings to somebody or the idea of allowing somebody to step in and provide for you and to lead you and to get, give you advice, I think the best place and the safest place to practice this is practicing it with God, allowing him to lead you, nurture you, guide you, lead you, everything, literally provide for you. And I think it shows us sometimes ways that we don't trust God per se, and we begin to work through that. Oftentimes it's the same things we carry into relationships. Maybe you may have had a childhood which forced you to be hyper independent. That's one thing that I discovered in my life life and that hyper independence will not only show up in my romantic relationship, it will also show up in my relationship with God. I probably will struggle to trust God with or with any kind of dependence because of my childhood. And so I'm going to do the work, go to therapy, read certain books, genuinely pray and practice depending on God before I make a move that I, I think is absolutely amazing because I'm maybe not used to submitting it to my parents or my older siblings. I'm not just gonna do it. I'm gonna take a minute to pause and be like God, I submit to you that I would love to do this thing in my career or do this thing next week in my calendar. What do you think? That's literally it and allow him to speak. And I think that helps us to work and train that muscle. Especially because you're not submitting because you believe in yourself to be unable to lead yourself or incompetent. And I think that's why a lot of us take issue with the idea of submission. I'm competent enough, I am able enough to lead myself. However, submitting something to someone is so that you can make sure you're both in Alignment and going in the direction that you've been called to at all times. It's very easy to want to be super independent. But before you realize that you're working against your own teammate and so you're getting used to submitting things to God because you and God are one team. Team. So, okay, God, I want to do this in my schedule next week, but what is your will and your desire for me next week, especially being the one with such great knowledge about me and what I need. Tell me whether this is actually a good move to make, if this is wise. And then after submitting it to him, he may be like, no, this is perfect, go ahead and do it. Or he may tell you actually keep that day a bit free or maybe move it to the end of the month because I think you're going to be a bit tired next week. And so when you get that insight, that is the benefit of submission. So my ultimate advice, practice it with God before you practice it with your man, girl. And I'm not saying the two are exactly the same or exactly equal and that when the man comes into the picture, you're going to have exercised that muscle so strongly that you never have an issue with it, but it will prune you and it will help at least get the groundwork done. Because if you can trust the Lord, you can trust the God of that man, man that you're about to marry. And that's the last thing I would say as well. If you're out here practicing submission, make sure that you are submitting to a Christian man. Okay? Not every man should be submitted to. And so as you are going on these dating apps and stuff like that, and you are maybe entertaining different guys as you should live your. Live your life, girl. And make sure you find that right guy for you. Make sure that he's also submitted to the Lord, because it will make submitting to him much more easier. Because ultimately when you submit to him, you'll realize that you're actually submitting to the Lord in your submission to Him. It's a mystery. Sometimes it's hard to understand. I haven't got my head fully around it. But I pray God's grace over you as you go on this journey, sister. So let's get back into the conversation. Do you really believe?

[Renee]

Oh, heavens, you know, oh, heavens, oh heavens.

[Courtney]

Because which one is harder to believe?

[Renee]

Which one is it? Which one is it?

[Courtney]

If you're telling me that, and, and again, it's not because these things are easy, but oh my gosh, these Things are worth it. Yeah, these things are worth it. And you can lose sight of the eternity and the blessing of having eternal life with God. And this is the essence of Christianity. We are not to win people over to Christianity because hey, you're going to get all these things. Yeah, because people are getting things and they're not getting saved. They may think they're saved because they call themselves Christians. Christians, but calling yourself a Christian and being saved are two different things. Now at Verizon, we have some big news for your peace of mind for all our customers, existing and new. We're locking in low prices for three years guaranteed on my plan and my home. That's future, you peace of mind and everyone can save on our brand new phone. On MyPlan, when you trade in any phone from one of our top brands, that's new phone peace of mind. Because at Verizon, whether you're already a customer or you're just joining us, we got you. Visit Verizon today. Price guarantee applies to then current base monthly rate. Additional terms and conditions apply for all offers. With the Redfin app, you'll know the moment your next place hits the market. Whether you're looking to buy your dream home or rent a sweet apartment. Give Redfin your gotta have it wish list of property features and you'll receive real time notifications tailored just for you, ready to see it up close and personal scheduling a tour is just a tap away. Don't wait to find your perfect match. Download the Redfin app and start searching today and help us all if we get to, you know, the pearly gates or however God's gonna do it. I got like, I know you call yourself a Christian, but I don't know you.

[Renee]

Who is this one again? Where put the fingerprint in.

[Courtney]

I don't identity is, is not identifiable.

[Renee]

It's like, do you know what? I think the ethnic example is actually an excellent example because it's one thing to call yourself Nigerian, Ghanaian, whatever, but it's another thing to have identifying markers of such. There's a lot of people who, you know, even back in the day when everyone, everybody was Cherokee, everybody was like a bit Irish. Oh, my granddad was something. I was like, I didn't see your granddad in Kumasi, your white granddad in Kumasi. I don't know why you think that you're 18 or want something removed and oh yeah, that's why. My eyes go light in the light. Like when the sunshine is.

[Courtney]

I can see.

[Renee]

Yeah, my hazel eyes are your eyes Are brown any black? Black. But anyways, that was a identity, identity crisis that we had in our proximity. It's white supremacy.

[Courtney]

Absolutely.

[Renee]

But it's one thing to call yourself something and it's another thing to be identified as such. And I think the feel good gospel tricks people into thinking that they can simply call themselves a Christian without identifying as one. It's one thing to say I am a Christian and it's another thing to be a Christian. And a lot of us are living former rather than the latter. The Christian life is one of suffering life. You will suffer in this life. I know that Comfort. I know, I know, I know. We all actually have a desire to be comfortable. That's like, oh, listen, we've all seen Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You know, like, we all want the accommodation, we want shelter, we want food, we want all of these kind of things, but we have been tricked into thinking that following our emotions. And we've said this in previous episodes as well, emotions are great indicators, but they're not great rulers. We have idolized our emotions so much, we've become a slave to it. And this is the thing, right. Anything that we idolize, we become a slave to.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

We have become a slave to feeling good. Oh, this just felt so good. That's why we're having. That's why we're fornicating. Because it felt good.

[Courtney]

Exactly. For a moment.

[Renee]

For a moment. And then the worst thing is when you do become addicted, you're now chasing a high.

[Courtney]

Yeah. That.

[Renee]

Only. That you will never ever experience. But, you know, the one high that you will experience again and again.

[Courtney]

Eternity.

[Renee]

For much eternity. And I think, I think because we don't actually, like, spend time understanding, like fathoming eternity forever. This is a fleeting moment.

[Courtney]

We think it's worth the trade.

[Renee]

We think it and we've seen it time and time again.

[Courtney]

That's Genesis 3.

[Renee]

Satisfying. The flesh has an expiration date because your flesh is going to die. And call me a conspiracy theorist, but I think the reason that we see the downfall of certain celebrities is because their time is up, as in their number. That whatever it was, that whatever entities of darkness they were entertaining, their time is up.

[Courtney]

And the, the deceit of it all is it's because that downfall doesn't happen immediately.

[Renee]

Yes.

[Courtney]

Right. So in Genesis 3, when the fall of man happens and Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the garden, and it's like, oh, no. Oops. The word says that they died, but they were still alive.

[Renee]

They were still around.

[Courtney]

They were still Living it was a spiritual death and it only took time to catch up with what happened spiritually. So sometimes you were seeing people really reap the fruit of things they did years, years that they have not repented of. But spiritual time and physical time are catching up and they always catch up.

[Renee]

The chickens coming home to roost.

[Courtney]

Simple as they always catch up at one point that it is guaranteed to catch up with each other. Even if you do not receive justice here on earth or consequences here on earth, there is appointed to man one time to die. And that is the ultimate meeting of spiritual time and physical time.

[Renee]

Ah, that one.

[Courtney]

You've died on earth. Welcome to eternity for you collaboration. Hello. We have come a junction of time where, where you will spend eternity and how you will spend eternity will now be determined for you based on how you lived this very short period of time. Very short, but it's easy to lose sight of that. But our time will catch up with us. And, and I think it's ultimately looking at scriptures because oftentimes if you go to a church which, which is I guess a promoter of feel good Christianity, you're not going to hear scriptures. Like, if you desire to follow me, you must pick up your cross. Anyone who says that they're a disciple of me, you must pick up your cross and carry it. And when we look at Jesus and his life, it was a life of sacrifice. It was a life of, okay, I'm going to do some hard things because of the calling on my life. Everyone is out here trying to find their purpose. But once you find your part in God's purposes, of what he's trying to do in the world and you carry out, it's going to be filled with some crosses to bear. It's going to be filled with some responsibility, it's going to be filled with some discipline and some diligence. And it's going to be filled with you having to tell yourself no so many times so that you can say.

[Renee]

Yes to God, dude.

[Courtney]

And that's not glamorous. That's oftentimes the part that's not documented. And that's why you cannot, you cannot determine your Christianity based on the content that you watch. You must determine your Christianity based on the word that you, you read.

[Renee]

And you need to read it.

[Courtney]

And you, you need to read.

[Renee]

You yourself, you actually need to read your. Read that book. Open it. And another thing. Well, there's so much stuff to talk about here, Courtney, but one thing that really pops into my mind that's really important to say suffering is not indicative of failure. I think too many of us think that because we're going through a tough time, there's something wrong with us. Either we're out of alignment of God's plan, or you need to pray harder and intercede because we don't have the traditional markers of success that the culture and the world dictates. That has crept into the church. You now have whole prayer storms dedicated to removing yourself from suffering, not realizing that suffering is also part of God's plan. It's such a bitter pill to swallow. It's a tool in God's hand. And yes, you know, there may be blessings, but sometimes there won't be. Sometimes there actually won't. This might be your thing to carry.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

And that's okay.

[Courtney]

And sometimes the blessing doesn't come without the trial. You have to go through the trial if you want to find. When you look in the Bible and you look at how people came to have revelation of who God was.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

It was because they were in the midst of something.

[Renee]

Yes. Yes. And God, like, I love how God exists in contrast.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

You cannot have the blessing without the trial.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

You can't. You can't even fully fathom or understand how great something good is without it. Without experience the depths of how low something can be to you. Think about, like, how much. Right now it's really sunny. Everybody in London is enjoying, like, the counting up. People's countenances have literally lit up. Why? Because they have the memory of winter.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

They know how bitterly cold winter is. So they know that, ah, I'm in my season of abundance right now. I'm enjoying the sun rays. This is teaching me something. Let me fully embrace it and even store up for winter.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

Because so many of us, we're trying to live in a blessing, and we can't always live in blessings. Blessings can be fleeting, too. Right. Like, how many of us will pray for the. Praying for the relationship. I'm praying for the marriage. Marriage. But your marriage will fall on rocky times.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

We're praying for the kids. Your kid might be a delinquent.

[Courtney]

For a season.

[Renee]

For a season. God. Ah, God willing. Amen. Hallelujah. We need to do some intercessory press for some kids because some of them be delinquents. But it's understanding that, yes, you may have prayed and you're looking forward to a blessing, but that doesn't make you exempt from suffering. And it's through suffering that we can achieve sanctification. That's how. Listen, it's It's. It's funny that we believe that. That we can identify Christians by the blessings that they obtain. I think it's by the suffering that they go through, as you mentioned, and they get through and they overcome, because that's what the power of Christ enables us to do, to go through and overcome a trial and a tribulation.

[Courtney]

And that's the testimony of true faith. Like when the Word says that you should rejoice when you go through trials, because trials produce. I think it's endurance and that produces character and that produces. Produces faith.

[Renee]

Yes.

[Courtney]

Right. Ultimately, Christianity is not sexy.

[Renee]

It's.

[Courtney]

It's not. But it is worth it.

[Renee]

This is it.

[Courtney]

It is so worth it. When I think about when. When people ask about our character development and all of that, it has come through suffering. But he has come through suffering with Christ.

[Renee]

Yes.

[Courtney]

Right. People suffer and don't get through it. People suffer and become more foolish than when they went into the suffering. People suffer and come out worse. But I. I've never seen a Christian who holds on to Christ go through a bad season and come out of it worse. I haven't. Maybe worse by the world standards. Job went through a whole trial, came out, no kids, no wife, and he was ill. But then it was restored to him.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Three times more than he ever had. And whether that restoration is going to come on this side of it, eternity, or on the other side of it, I would rather have that than hold on to this.

[Renee]

Yes.

[Courtney]

Do you get what I mean? I think that's ultimately what we need to embrace as Christians.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Trusting that God's way is better and pleasing God is worth more.

[Renee]

More.

[Courtney]

It's more valuable than anything I could ever possess. And it makes me sad to think that for a lot of us, we think that this Christian thing is about many possessions, that we're stopping it from producing the character of Christ in us, and that's what's giving Christianity a bad rap. I am not a perfect Christian, but I know I am trying to become better and better on the inside so that God can truly be glorified in my life. So that when people do come and ask, how do you have this? Or how do you do this? Or how did you get through this? I'm always just pointing back to, without God, I cannot do it.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And I remember. Yeah. I think I'll share this story. I remember when I first got saved and I was struggling to have faith and full trust in God and really surrender my life and my plans to him, because I've Always been a high achiever. I've always been super ambitious. And I remember going to my pastor's house and my pastor at the time and sitting down with him and being like, you know, yeah, I believe in God. And he was like, but do you trust him? And I was like, I don't know. And as the conversation was going, he kind of was like, courtney, I think you believe in God, but I don't think you're a Christian. And I was like, why? And he was just like, because you don't want to lay your own life down for him. And I thought to myself, but why do I need to lay down my life? Excuse me, I don't understand. I'm on trek for a great life. And he said this really pivotal thing to me. He was like, there is no doubt in my mind that whether you serve God or you don't, you will be successful. Because that's just the sort of person he's made you to be. If you're in Christ or if you're not in him, you're going to be rich, you're going to thrive, you're going to be successful. But at the end of your life, what are you going to have to say to your makeup? And I thought to myself, wow, I have to be a Christian because at the end of my life, there is an account that I need to give, and I can't show my company accounts. I can't show my bank account. Exactly. I have to give an account of the life that I live in accordance with God's word, because I cannot buy my entry into heaven. I cannot buy my entry into heaven. I cannot perform my entry into heaven. And that conversation was so pivotal to me because it always reminds me that no matter how well I do, me doing well is not evidence of my salvation.

[Renee]

Yes.

[Courtney]

It's not me being successful. And this is why I. I am really convicted around people who come to Christ because they want things. You can get things and not be saved.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And ultimately, salvation is why we evangelize. Salvation is why we are here. Because we believe there is no other way, way to get to heaven except through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to have a relationship with God except through Jesus Christ. And if you think that's too radical to say, you may not be a Christian and we can lose the essence of that because we have a relationship with God. Speak to God. Pray to God. You cannot pray to God except through Jesus Christ.

[Renee]

God cares about your feelings and your emotions. There's grace. There's grace. There's there's grace.

[Courtney]

There is grace. He came in the form of a person called Jesus. That was grace handed to us on a plate. And if we're going to receive it, let us receive it and now live in the abundant life that it's afforded us. And I know conversations like this can be techy because we have women from different faiths who listen to the POD and who are part of the sisterhood and it's genuinely just. And that's why we say faith is a conviction.

[Renee]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Courtney]

But the same way that one of my mother Muslim sisters will tell you the only way to God is not through Jesus, but through Allah is the same conviction I need to have and the same conviction I do have that the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. And if we don't see eye to eye on that, that's fine. We can still be sisters. We can still love each other. I can show you the love of God, you can show me the love of God through how you believe it should be shown. But I must stand 10 toes down on this belief for my whole existence is anchored on it.

[Renee]

Yeah. Yes.

[Courtney]

That's the conviction of faith. And people don't want to declare that because declaring that truth, declaring that conviction is costly.

[Renee]

Yes.

[Courtney]

It costs you. Christians in the early church were martyrs.

[Renee]

They were killing them left, right and center.

[Courtney]

Slay, lick down. Like, we were learning history over the weekend and he was saying how for. Basically at this monastery.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

We walked into a room, me and my cousin, and we saw loads of out owls. I was like, why are there so many owls? Like small owls. I was like, what does the hours work? Because me, I will run away from.

[Renee]

Anything.

[Courtney]

If I think this is some kind of ritual. I will take my shoes, I will run away. I don't care if you pronounce the name of Jesus, I'm out of here. Anywho. So I was like, why would these owls. Please explain yourself now because I won't need it for another night in this place.

[Renee]

Eyes.

[Courtney]

And they were saying how. Oh, no, the owls is. It's a symbol because I will see so well in the dark. It's like even in the midst of darkness, you can see the light. And I was like, oh, okay, that's. I can chill. And it. He was just explaining how no symbols are actually really important in Christianity because even in the early church, you could not say to somebody, I was a Christian. You had to have, because they would kill you if you say, I believe in Jesus Christ. During the days of the Roman Empire that's the end. That's the end of you. We're killing you right now because we believe, they believed that that faith was too radical. These Christians are turning the world upside down. They're preaching a gospel about love your neighbor and don't kill your enemies and give to the poor and take care of the orphans. That's going to destabilize economies. Yeah. These people coming together to do this, going to actually shatter what we know as an empire which is built on. On subjugating people and that is built on slavery. So let's kill these people as soon as they rise up with all of.

[Renee]

That holy, holy holies, that Jesus juice.

[Courtney]

That you all be drinking, even as soon as they rise up to tell us that the way we do marriage isn't right. Who are you to tell us that the way we do marriages are right? I enjoy having four wives kill them. Do you get what I mean? And so you couldn't profess that you're a Christian with your words. So how you would do do it and show people that you're a Christian, it was the way that you live and having some kind of signal. So that's why they used to share the symbol of the fish, because it was proof that I am one fishes of men. Right. I am one of Jesus's people. So they would share these symbols. And the reason why I say that is we forget this history of Christianity. Exactly. Because I don't know it before this weekend. Because Christianity is now trending. We need to be careful that we do not feel forget our history. Because when you forget your history, you forget why you do certain things and why it's important to do certain things. But you also forget the legacy you are standing on, the reason why Christianity has thrived. There's a lot of. I'm not going to ignore the. The history that's attached to how Christianity has been spread around the world and how many people have done many evils to make sure that Christianity actually spreads. But when you look at, at their actions, you can tell they were not Christians. And it's the same reason. And this is the reason why we need a relationship with the Word, because then it tells you people. When you read the Book of Acts, when you read through the entire New Testament, people were dying. People were dying. Having to let go of everything they had built in their life. Paul had built up reputation, prestige, People feared him. He had power, had to lay it all down for the sake of the Gospel. And so if you're going to church and you're being told, you can have the world, you can have the world and you can have the life that you live before you got saved and you can have Jesus. You need to question whether you're actually living according to the Bible, which is the ultimate authority of our faith. Not your pastor, not your favorite podcaster. The Bible. So when you read it and you know it and you really take in the Word.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Your faith will find a new foundation, it will find a new strength, and it will find true conviction. Conviction isn't just about personal conviction. Conviction is about the conviction of truth. We know so much about personal conviction. That's just not my personal conviction. I can drink, I can do whatever. Okay, fine. But some convictions cannot be debated because some convictions are built on truth. There is a conviction of the truth we must all share if we are to bear the name Christian. So when I say living by, or when we say living by your convictions, I challenge people to not just think about living by your moral conviction.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Live by the conviction of the truth and whether you believe in it or not.

[Renee]

Fabulous.

[Courtney]

Lol.

[Renee]

Fabulous.

[Courtney]

I hope that helps any of us.

[Renee]

Somebody is listening to this is helped me some. But.

[Courtney]

God, because we're getting into a term not to be hocus pocus, which in itself is actually a spell. Not to be. Not to be, you know, hyper spiritual. Not to be holy. Holy. But we're coming into a time where it is truth against truth.

[Renee]

No, it's really untrue.

[Courtney]

We're living in a world where truth is so subjective. I don't want to step on people's political toes, but if that's your idol.

[Renee]

Then it's coming down my truth.

[Courtney]

We're living in subjective truth, personal truth. But when you're a Christian, you say that you believe in this. This truth as the truth.

[Renee]

Correct.

[Courtney]

And that is a personal conviction which we need to pray that God continues to cultivate. And that conviction is called faith.

[Renee]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Courtney]

So we're not have. We're not building faith for things. We're building faith in Christ. So when we talk about the Philgal gospel, even the prosperity gospel, which teaches you you need more faith so you can access more things, they're deterring you from the essence of Christianity, which is to have more. More faith in him and what he's done, what he's doing and what he's about to do in you through you and for you, girl.

[Renee]

We need to raise the offering.

[Courtney]

And so my prayer for everybody.

[Renee]

We need to raise that.

[Courtney]

No, my prayer for everybody is genuinely that God would help you to have faith in Him.

[Renee]

Amen.

[Courtney]

Because that is what brings the peace in the times of trouble. That is what helps you to endure through sickness. That's what helps you to. You have the sobriety that you need to have a godly marriage. That is what helps you to even withstand the trials that you're going through in your life. I know we started off this conversation talking about healing, but that's what even encourages you to pursue the idea that.

[Renee]

You can even be healed in the first place.

[Courtney]

Because I have faith in who God is.

[Renee]

Amen.

[Courtney]

I have faith in what he's done. If God can resurrect Jesus from the dead, he can heal me from the ability. Abuse of my father. He can heal me from the abuse of my mother. He can help me. That's my conviction. If God can resurrect Jesus from the dead, what can he not provide?

[Renee]

That is my personal minister. Sorry, this right here. No, this right here is where I'm territorial about. Court me. She is actually my minister. CDB.

[Courtney]

Bye, everybody.

[Renee]

If you want to put like the PayPal link to support.

[Courtney]

That's why I say you. Sometimes I have to watch you. Because if I leave you by yourself, that's how you'll be doing. Prophetic line for £50,000. I need to watch you very close.

[Renee]

Do you know what? Yeah. Genuinely, Sometimes I think I'm like, if I wasn't saved, I would actually be such a scoundrel. They'll call me tax collector. I would be a scoundrel. But that's why I have such an appetite against those types of people, you know, that's it.

[Courtney]

That's why justice rises up.

[Renee]

Call me Paul in this area. I hate the scammers. I'm a conservative when it comes to those areas. Courtney, God bless you for your. That was excellent. That was. That was so soul searching. And I think I really want the sisters that are listening into this episode to do some deep soul searching. Yeah, do some real deep soul searching. As beautiful as it is, to be able to feel good at what cost? And I love the point, the distinction you made between, you know, my truth, the truth, personal conviction, conviction from the truth, the importance of actually standing for something. And in this case, know the Bible so that you can stand in it. Because more times, as we become gradually more and more illiterate in general, in general, because literacy. I don't know if you've seen this. Like, I'm not even trying to. Like, this is not even me being mean. It's just a reality that we Face where the education system is failing miserably and people's education is now the podcast, it's now the tick tocks. It's now all of these things, the sermons that we can't even get through these days. Now, the sermons need to be punchier, and they need to be 10 minutes, 20 minutes, because our ears are already fleeting. We're already somewhere, somewhere else.

[Courtney]

Read.

[Renee]

Read your word.

[Courtney]

Read your word night and day.

[Renee]

And as much as it's beautiful, I know, like, one thing that we say as Christians often is, oh, you might be the only Bible that somebody reads. You shouldn't be.

[Courtney]

Give them a Bible. Give them a Bible.

[Renee]

You shouldn't. You shouldn't be. There is a church, whenever I go on my walks, there's a church that I walk around, around that has a box of free Bibles. So if you walk by, it's like, please, take a Bible. We need to bring that back on masse big time.

[Courtney]

It's true.

[Renee]

Because your lack of pursuit of truth doesn't mean that you will be exempt from the wows of the enemy. If anything, you become more of a prey because of your willful ignorance. It's not just ignorance.

[Courtney]

It's will. Willful.

[Renee]

The pursuit of the feel good. It is willful ignorance and willful laziness. It's neglect. Neglect of your soul. So, sisters, as we wrap up this conversation, please, we implore you, the condition of your soul, as much as it's great to feel good, where's your soul at?

[Courtney]

Take it seriously. That's one thing my uncle would always say. Sometimes when you sit down, do you consider your soul? That's like, literally, that's the conversation anytime we would do anything. When you sit down, do you consider your soul?

[Renee]

It's your soul.

[Courtney]

That's. That's the only question he would pose to us. And you think, is this decision even worth it? Is this action even worth it? Is this addiction even worth it?

[Renee]

In the grand scheme of things, does this really matter? And you know, when you speak to, like, elderly folks, folks that are actually blessed to have even reached an old age, all of these things that we're thinking about, worrying about, about, and they don't matter. Yeah, you're literally on the cusp of meeting your maker.

[Courtney]

Yes.

[Renee]

And yes, it may feel far away now, but the day will come. Everybody dies.

[Courtney]

Yes.

[Renee]

Word to Drake, Everybody dies.

[Courtney]

But now everybody lives forever. Everybody lives forever. I think the last thing I wanted to add, I know this episode's already gone over time, but there are two things. One, there Is a deep mystery in the fact that. That Christ said, whoever tries to. I don't know, was it Christ or Paul? But whoever tries to preserve their life.

[Renee]

They will lose it.

[Courtney]

But who? Yeah, but whoever loses their life for me, they will find it. They will actually have life. It's a mystery. How can I die to live? And how am I living to die? But there is fulfillment in dying to your flesh. I know Christianity can come across as, oh, so then I can't do anything. I can't have any fun. The thing that you consider life is.

[Renee]

Actually killing you, boy.

[Courtney]

It is actually killing you. You just can't see it. Your eyes are not open to see that the thing you think brings you such life is ending you. And the thing that you think is death is actually what's going to bring you life. The thing that you're struggling to submit yourself to, the thing you're struggling to surrender to God, the thing that you're struggling to do in obedience is actually the access to life that you want. That is the key. The second thing. What was the second thing that I was gonna say? Oh, no, God, bring it back.

[Renee]

Bring it back. We didn't. Remember us. Bring it back. Anyways, it's giving part two anyway, so even if it doesn't come, because, girl, we. When I say we scratch the surface, like we just a little.

[Courtney]

There was another thing that I was going to say, but now I forgot a bit. But, yeah, I just want to. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Thank you.

[Renee]

We're still doing part two, though.

[Courtney]

The other thing is this. I don't want this episode to make anybody spiritually insecure.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Or to throw them into overthinking.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Because it's very easy to think, okay, so, God, am I actually a Christian? Am I actually going to heaven?

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

I actually saved every day. You're asking. I'm actually say every old school. You're there.

[Renee]

I feel like every Christian goes through that.

[Courtney]

Oh, my God. You doubt your faith and you doubt your Christian Christianity. There is a place we get to in our Christian faith, in our Christian walk, where we can say confidently, yeah, I am a Christian.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

I believe in Jesus Christ. I know that when Christ comes back, he's coming to get me. That's why I can endure through all of these things. That's why I'm going through all of these things. That's why I can obey with such ease. Because I know my God is coming back for me. Right. Right. Almost without a shadow of a doubt. Yeah. And yes, I still have faith. I still don't know 100%. But I am confident. I am convinced. I am convinced that Christ is coming back for me. Right. And so I don't want anyone to think, well, will I ever really know? Will I ever feel like I'm a good enough Christian? It's not about being good enough. It's about being sure.

[Renee]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And there is a place you can get to by the grace of God where you are sure. I have settled on this matter that Jesus Christ is coming back for me.

[Renee]

Amen.

[Courtney]

So you can get to that place of security.

[Renee]

Jeez.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Renee]

Raise the offering.

[Courtney]

And that's what, that's what raises up conviction in your heart. Because I, I did that thing. But God is coming back for me. You know, I need to. I need to act like it. I need to act like it. I need to act like I'm over that thing that held me back bound. Because I say that. That's what I believe.

[Renee]

Yeah. Anyways.

[Courtney]

Yeah. So there is an assurance. There is a blessed assurance. And you are assured.

[Renee]

As we wrap up, ladies and gents, if you would like to support our ministry, there'll be a link below.

[Courtney]

There won't be any links. Well, actually there will be. There will be a few links to correct the sisterhood and to plug in. But don't listen to a word this girl says.

[Renee]

You can support our offering by joining the system Hood.

[Courtney]

That's an exchange for this. This is pro bono work.

[Renee]

Let me get into my feel good man. Serious. Hey, sisters. We hope you enjoyed that episode. It was a hot one. And we definitely love to hear your thoughts, your feelings, your convictions around that episode. So make sure you drop it like it's hot in the comment section below. Below. But before you go, as per, we love to leave you with a reflective question, a little activity, something to be thinking about as you go about with your merry day and your merry week. And this week's question is all about comfort over conviction. Ask yourself, where in your life have you been living a life where you have chosen or prioritized comfort over conviction? What does pursuing holiness really look like, look like on a day to day basis for you? So have a little bit of a think about that. Challenge yourself. It might even be a good prompter for you to share with some of your other sisters and let us know where are those areas that you could be doing a little bit better in, Sis. And where are those areas where it might actually take a little bit more faith to lift yourself up out of? We are sending lots and lots of love and prayers as you go about this week. And of course make sure that you stay up to date with everything related to two Months My Sisters. You can find us on literally every single social media channel. You will find us. We're there over at To My Sisterhood. If you're a new sister or you're a returning sister and you haven't yet subscribed to the YouTube, I'm side eyeing you heavily. I hope that's a personal conviction. Please subscribe. Please support everything that we are doing over at To My Sisters. And of course you can follow us both individually on all of our social media platforms. My lovely, wonderful, wonderful convicted bestie at CD Barteng. And of course come and follow me over at Renee Kapuku. And not to mention make sure that you are signed up to the To My Sisters mailing list so you never miss anything that happens in the To My Sisters streets. You can sign up [e-mail] my sisters.com and you will be blessed with a weekly newsletter, a little personalized love note if you will, to help you get through your weeks in 2025. And if you want a little bit more accountability and a little bit more community, you can also sign up for the Sisterhood, which is our digital ecosystem, our digital community of sisters from all walks of life. And we'll be back with a weekly exclusive live stream on Wednesday evening. Every single Wednesday. So make sure that you don't miss out out. Sisters, we love you. We adore you. Have a fabulous, blessed, wonderful week and we'll catch you in another episode. Until then, keep glowing and growing. Every idea starts with a problem. Warby Parker's was simple. Glasses are too expensive. So they set out to change that.

[Courtney]

By designing glasses in house and selling.

[Renee]

Directly to customers, they're able to offer prescription eyewear that's expertly crafted, crafted and unexpectedly affordable. Warby Parker glasses are made from premium materials like impact resistant polycarbonate and custom acetate, and they start at just $95, including prescription lenses. Get glasses made from the good stuff. Stop by a Warby Parker store near you.