In today's episode, we will be going over the importance of not being conformed to this world. We are in this world, but we should not be of this world. I'm going to go into several different things with this and pair it with some scripture.
First I want to say a quick prayer: "LORD, please open up the eyes, ears, hearts, and minds of every person that is reading this right now. Holy Spirit, please guide me. Use me as a vessel for your work LORD. Move me to do the will of God the Father, and help me to make an impact in other people's lives. I pray that you show us the truth, LORD, that we are able to see the truth, know the truth, discern the truth, and live by the truth. LORD, please just put a hedge of protection over our hearts and our minds right now and help us to be able to open up our eyes to see the truth of your words. Whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this episode, I pray that they receive it and implement it in their daily lives. I love You with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen."
Okay, so I'm just going to get straight into it. So I didn't plan this episode at all. I had a completely different subject that I was going to talk about. I had been praying before I left the house that the Spirit would give me the words to speak and help me to know what to say because today I don't know what it is you guys, but I've just haven't been feeling it today. I actually haven't really been feeling it much the past few days or week or so. I have been going through a little bit of turmoil in my mind. The crazy thing is nothing horrible is happening in my life right now. Nothing to make my mind go into turmoil, but I have been dealing with some spiritual warfare. I've made an episode on spiritual warfare before and I may go more into depth with it in a different episode. Anyway, after I prayed earlier and then drove here to come film this, God had put it on my heart to speak about this.
So I just want to go into the importance of not being conformed to this world. This world is so full of chaos and destruction. So many people tell you to live your truth, to do what your heart desires and whatever you feel is good, that everybody has their truth, and they just say all of these things. It is my duty to come on here whenever I feel that pull in my Spirit, to spread the truth to people and help them to not be deceived. There are so many people in this world who are being deceived right now, that are thinking that what they are doing is perfectly fine. They think that as long as they're happy, everything's okay and it's not going to hurt anyone.
The truth is, if you believe it or not, there is a spiritual battle going on every single day at every moment. There is a battle between good and evil and we have to make sure that we're filling our minds with godly things. We are getting into the scripture and we are equipping ourselves with scripture, with praying and staying constant relationship with Christ, and also with listening to the Holy Spirit and letting the Holy Spirit guide us. I'm going to get a little bit into the Holy Spirit today, but I did want to do a separate episode on that because I feel like I could talk about the Holy Spirit for days. That will be next week's episode, so make sure you stay tuned for that. We have to make sure we are filling our minds with good things and not worldly things. We have to make sure that even though all around us, all these people are doing these things, saying these things, and telling us to do these things, we have to stand firm in our faith. We have to guard our hearts and our minds and we have to follow Jesus Christ.
So let's get into some scripture:
"Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." -Romans 12:2
So right there, we can not conform to this world. We can't conform to this age, the new way of thinking, or whatever this world tells us. We cannot allow what others say and what others do to conform us to be like them. We have to be transformed by renewing our minds by digging into scripture and asking the Holy Spirit to show us the truth and use scripture to see the truth. In the Bible, We can see God's words, the truth of God's words, and we can see people throughout the Bible that had real encounters with God and how their lives had been completely transformed. We can see that transformation in our lives as well.
"Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7
So when we come to God with a thankful heart and we present our requests to Him, the peace of God is going to guard our hearts and our minds, and that will help us to not be conformed to this world. We have to make sure that we're staying in constant communication with God and that we're not worrying about the world and everything that's around us. It may feel like everyone is falling apart and everything is crashing down around us, but with Jesus Christ we can have peace. We know that we are not from this world. We have to be in this world for now until it's our time to go to heaven, but we should not be of this world. We have to make sure that we are presenting our request to God, we're being thankful, we're praying, we are asking the Holy Spirit to move us to do the will of God the Father, and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance. God the Father gave the Holy Spirit to us to counsel us and to help us. Whenever we're living in step with the Spirit, then we won't be able to be conformed to this world.
"You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you." -Isaiah 26:3
So we see again, whenever we are depending on the Lord then he is going to keep our minds in perfect peace. Not being conformed to this world and having perfect peace in our minds and in our hearts through Christ Jesus go hand in hand. If we're not living in peace and we feel like everything around us is just going to crash down, then that can make it very easy for us to conform to this world.
I do want to go a little bit into being very careful of the things that you are consuming in this world. So TV shows, songs, things that you are watching, and people that you are around, you may think that things you're doing daily are harmless and there's nothing wrong with them. You may think with certain TV shows, "Oh, it's okay, there's nothing wrong with it," but they have a lot of worldly things on there. Or if you are listening to worldly music or around worldly people that don't love God and don't have the same morals and values as you, but you're like, "You know what, even Jesus was around sinner s so it's fine for me to hang out with these people. I'm not gonna do everything they're doing, but I still want to be around them." We have to make sure we're being very careful with things we're doing.
I used to think it was completely fine to watch TV shows that had a lot of drama, foul language, people that were walking around with their bikinis all the time, and just a lot of things that were not okay that I've realized since I've been trying to let the Holy Spirit guide me. The Spirit will convict you of certain things and the Spirit will also grieve. Whenever you are doing things that are not in step with the Spirit, when you're doing things that are not in alignment with God's will for your life and you're consuming things that are not good for you, the Spirit is going to grieve and you will feel bad. If you're in tune and you're asking the Holy Spirit to guide you and to show you the truth, then you are going to start seeing the truth.
I started seeing a lot of things that I was watching, things that I was listening to, and things that I was doing. My eyes started being open to things that I didn't think were harming me in any way, or that I didn't think really had any effect on my life. I realized that they were playing a role in my mental health. They were playing a role in my relationship with God because when I was binge-watching these episodes, that was keeping me away from reading my Bible. It got to a point where I really still wanted to watch these shows. So whenever I would put them on, my mind would zone out and I could feel myself drifting away. It was like I could physically feel myself getting numb, getting numb to the things of this world, getting numb to my feelings. it was just something I recognized and I knew I didn't like it. The more I would binge-watch those TV shows, or the more I would listen to certain songs, or the more I would hang out with certain people, I realized that it was affecting my desire and my hunger for the Lord.
We have to have that spiritual hunger and thirst for the Lord. He will quench our thirst and He will satisfy our hunger, but we have to be in relationship with Him. We have to spend time with Him every day. We have to get in our Bibles, we have to pray, we have to have that quiet time. Whenever we fill our minds with all of this drama and just all of these worldly things that is going to make us numb and make us not have that spiritual hunger. I'm telling you guys, you may not think certain things that you're watching are not a big deal. You may not think certain things you're doing, certain people you're hanging out with, you may not think they're not a big deal. Like I said earlier in this episode, we are dealing with a spiritual battle, a battle between good and evil. Even though those people in your lives, the people on those TV shows, or the people that are singing those songs, those people themselves may not be the enemy, they could be controlled by the enemy. A lot of these worldly people are controlled by the enemy.
We have to be very careful about who we're listening to, and who we're letting in our lives. I'm not saying to only associate yourself with righteous people because yes, Jesus himself associated with sinners. He came to save the lost, the sick, and the sinners. We do need to associate with people to whom we can tell the gospel and we can shed love, light, and the gospel to them and we can hopefully be a part of them getting saved by Jesus Christ. But we have to be super careful who we are letting affect our decisions, who we are listening to, who we're taking advice from, what we are watching daily, and what we're listening to. You may not think it's that important but pray about it. If you don't think it's important, don't take my word for it. We have to test the spirits to know if they are good, if they're from God, or if they're from the enemy. Pray to God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to you. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into truth. Ask him to open up your eyes and show you that truth. And I will.
If you are constantly asking for guidance from the Holy Spirit, He will give you that guidance. He will show you the things in your life that you need to let go of and the things in your life that you need to have more of, like more time with Jesus, more time in your Bible, more time asking the Holy Spirit for guidance, more time spending worshiping the Lord and doing the important things. Everything in this world is going to lead to chaos and destruction and nothing good comes from this world. We are not from this world. Our true home is in heaven with Jesus Christ and God the Father.
Let's read a couple more scriptures:
"Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. Don’t let your mouth speak dishonestly, and don’t let your lips talk deviously. Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead." -Proverbs 4:23-25
In some other translations, it says "Guard your mind above all else." So the heart and the mind go hand in hand. We have to guard our hearts, we have to guard our minds. We have to make sure that we are doing the things that are important and letting go of things that are not good for us.
I also did wanna mention when it comes to TV shows, which I know I'm kind of going on a rant, but I feel heavy in my Spirit right now that I have to tell people about this. Someone is reading this right now that may have been struggling with this and they've been asking God to show them the truth. You are on this episode right now because I'm here to tell you the truth. So when it comes to certain movies and TV shows, I will not watch anything scary, anything that has witches, anything that has demonic stuff. There are scary movies and supernatural things that are demonic. The people who are creating those things, may not even realize what they're doing, but the evil spirits, definitely know what they're doing. Satan knows what he's doing when it comes to those types of things. Whenever you allow yourself to watch those TV shows and those movies, you are allowing darkness in your life. You're allowing your mind to be crowded with darkness, evil, and things that are not good So like I said, you can pray about it. If you love watching scary movies and supernatural things and you feel like there's nothing wrong with it, just pray to God about it and ask him to show you the truth.
I know I have had to completely stop watching that stuff. Scary movies were never something that I liked, so it was no problem for me to stop those because I hardly ever watched them anyway unless someone wanted me to. But I used to love watching TV shows about vampires, witches, werewolves, and all the supernatural things I loved. I have had to completely stop that because I would have dreams of witches chanting over me. I would have these crazy dreams and nightmares and wake up in a panic. The more that I have been spending time with God and asking him to reveal the truth, I realize that those shows are not good for me to watch. They're not good for my mental health, they're not good for my spiritual health. I have to guard my heart and my mind.
God has given me so much peace since I have gotten rid of watching certain things, listening to certain things, and doing certain things. He has given me so much peace. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not going to have turmoil, because I just said earlier that my mind has kind of been feeling in turmoil. I feel like Satan has been attacking me lately. He's been trying to get in my dreams. I did watch a movie with my niece not that long ago and I thought it was going to be completely fine. Then days after, I kept thinking about the movie, and in my dreams, I was having crazy dreams. Watching that movie gave an opening to Satan to torment me. I have had to do a lot of praying. I've had to do a lot of "Jesus, please help me. I need you. I cannot do this without you" and rebuking the enemy. So that's why I'm telling you guys from experience, it's so important to make sure you're guarding your heart and your mind, and you are being careful of what you're consuming.
"And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." -Colossians 3:15-17
So we have to let the peace of Christ rule our hearts. So how can our hearts be guarded with the peace of Christ? By prayer, petition, having a thankful heart, coming to the Lord, presenting our requests to Him, and allowing Jesus Christ to give us that peace and to guard our hearts and our minds. We have to have gratitude in our hearts. Jesus has done so much for us. He has completely transformed my life. He has changed me completely. If you've watched any of my other episodes about my testimony, you know some of how I was. Jesus Christ has completely made me a new person. I am so grateful for everything that the Lord Jesus has done for me. He gives me so much peace whenever I am just being thankful and praising him.
In everything we do, we have to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all for His glory. It's all for the glory of Jesus. We have to give thanks to God the Father for giving us Jesus. He sent His only son to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life in heaven. We are not from this world, we are not of this world. We're in this world, but we do not need to be conformed to this world because we have a true home in heaven. There is a better place for us, and that is with Jesus Christ and God the Father. While we are in this world, we can have heaven on earth because we have the Holy Spirit within us. We have Jesus with us at all times, and God the Father that we can call on at any time and have help from the Lord. We have that access and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, show us the truth, and help us through life.
So we have to make sure we are guarding our hearts and our minds, we are being thankful, and praying to the Lord. We have to make sure that we're studying our Bible and we're not just reading it, but we are meditating on the Word. I used to just go in and read the Bible. I have to remind myself that I need to sit on these words. I need to figure out, okay, "How can I implement this in my daily life? How is what I'm reading pertaining to what I'm dealing with or what I've dealt with before? How is this going to help me or help other people? What is it that the Lord is trying to show me through these verses?" That's why it's so important before you read the Bible, to ask the Lord for knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that you're reading and the wisdom to implement it in your daily life. I also always ask the Holy Spirit to guide me, show me the truth, and help me to see the truth, know the truth, discern the truth, and live by the truth.
So I hope this episode helped you guys. I know I did go on a little bit of a rant, and I feel like I could keep talking about this for days on the importance of guarding your heart, and your mind, and not being conformed to this world but I'm just going to stop it right here. I know that someone needed to hear this today and that's why God had put it on my heart. So I hope that this helps you. I know that chains will be broken in the name of Jesus Christ, and I know that the Holy Spirit will show you the truth. You just have to ask for it. You have to ask for that truth. Pray to the Lord, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to you and to open up your eyes and to be able to help you to not be conformed to this world. We have everything that we need. God has already equipped us with it, but we have to make sure we're utilizing the things that He has equipped us with.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
If you do want to contribute in any way, if you want to donate $5, $10, $500, whatever you can do to help me go on this mission trip, there are specific things that you will want to do whenever you click on that link to make sure that they know that you're supporting me as the missionary. So I'm going to tell you exactly what to do. If you want to click on that link and donate whatever you can. So you're going to go on the website: https://globalventures.tv/give and then you want to make sure you click on where it says "support a missionary." Once you do that, you'll put in however much you want to donate. Then in the "memo" portion of it, make sure that you type in my name so they know that it is for me, my name is Lorena Espy. Whatever you can do would be so greatly appreciated. I will be praying for you guys. I love you guys so much and if you can just send love and prayers and that's all you can do, that's amazing.
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.
For more info on the "Christ Transforms Me" journal or to purchase it click here
You can also follow me on Instagram (_lorenacamille_) I'll be posting frequently and doing daily stories.
For past Bible Studies on the books of Jeremiah, John, & Acts join our Facebook Community
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights
ความคิดเห็น