Walking by faith means you have to be tenacious! In The Violent Take It By Force Part 3, Ashley and Carlie explain the New Testament’s examples of faith we see in the soldier, farmer, and athlete.
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The primary scriptures explored in this teaching are James 2:21 and 2 Timothy 4:7.
Transcription
Ashley: Welcome to Abundant Life. We’re so glad you joined us today in the lounge, praise God. My name’s Ashley Terradez. This is my wife, Carlie. And praise God, we have a great program for you today. We’re talking about how The Violent Take It By Force, praise God. We’re talking about how your faith in God and the promises of God should drive you to action. It’s been a fun time. We actually top of halfway through a series here, I guess. We didn’t mean it to be a series, but it turned into a series.
And what we started off with was Jesus in Matthew, 11:11 and 12, we’ve looked at how Jesus said that if you’re born… Basically, if you’re born again today under the new covenant, you have more than all the Old Testament heroes had, because you had the Holy spirit indwelling in you. You have the word of God, complete word of God. You have a prayer language. You have a church. You have all these things. You understand that Jesus died for you. You have Christ in you. The hope of glory. You have all these things that the Old Testament characters didn’t have. So we found that we’re fully equipped, praise God.
Then the next part of that verse, this is Matthew 11, verse 12, says the kingdom of God has suffered violence and the violent take it by force. We looked to the fact that walking by faith means that you have to be tenacious. It means that you have to put your, go out and do something.
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: It’s not just sitting around.
Carlie: Put some action to that faith.
Ashley: Some action to that faith. It’s not just sitting around doing nothing.
Carlie: James puts it like this, he says faith without works is dead.
Ashley: That’s right. James two, I believe it’s 21 talks, how he says that faith without works is dead. You could study out this way. Faith without corresponding actions is dead. So basically if I told you something like, there’s a million dollars buried in the front yard, in the front garden.
Carlie: I’d go get a tractor and dig it up.
Ashley: You’d go and get a tractor or shovel or something-
Carlie: Something.
Ashley: … You said I believe-
Carlie: I’d do it with my hands, if I had to.
Ashley: … Spoon. But if you said you believed me but didn’t dig it up, you didn’t really believe it was there.
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: So what we’re looking at is that God has supplied us. God has given us, by grace, by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, he’s given us everything we need to succeed. He’s given us everything we need to live the abundant life. Praise God. Jeremiah 29:11, God has great plans for you. Praise God. But we have to do our part by faith in receiving those promises. God’s already given it to us, it’s our part by faith and that means violence. That’s the violent word here is talking about pressing in, going after, pushing through. We looked at pushing through our feelings, pushing through our circumstances maybe, pushing through other people’s opinions. just like the woman with the issue of blood. She pushed through the crowd. She pressed in through the crowd to grab the tassel of Jesus’s garment so that she could receive a healing.
So today is born again believers, all the promises of God are yours. They’re yes and amen in Christ. Amen. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:37, he says you more than a conqueror. You have everything you need to succeed, but what we’re looking at today is how we receive that and walk it out. I want to be clear here. This has got nothing to do with how much God loves you and how accepted you are. God loves you, if you’re born again. If you’ve given your life to Jesus, that’s the only thing you have to do. You’re born again, you’re going to heaven is awesome. But if you want to receive everything God has for you in this life, if you want to walk out the promises of God, if you want to live the victorious life on earth, then you’re going to have to do your part. You’re going to have to fight the good fight of faith, right?
Carlie: We access the promises of God through faith.
Ashley: That’s right. We access the promises of God through faith. That’s great.
Carlie: Right. And not just come-
Ashley: That’s how we access it.
Carlie: … to pass automatically.
Ashley: Automatic, and automatic.
Carlie: I like to think of it this way. No one just wakes up one day and finds that they’re saved. We needed to respond. Salvation is a gift. It’s been provided for us by Jesus, and you know what? He doesn’t want anyone to perish.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: Right? He wants everyone to come to repentance. Everyone to come into a relationship with him, but we know some people are perishing because they haven’t received that gift. It’s not automatic. No one accidentally finds themselves saved. There needs to be a response. We call this response to grace faith, right?
Ashley: Yep.
Carlie: That’s our saying, “Yes, I believe it. I trust you. I’m persuaded about what you are saying is true. I want it. I’m taking it. It’s mine.”
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: That’s what we’re talking about, exercising our faith.
Ashley: Yeah, being violent, being tenacious.
Carlie: Yeah, take it.
Ashley: Being the people that are laboring to enter into his rest.
Carlie: And everyone could do this.
Ashley: Oh yeah, this isn’t an exclusive club. This is for every born again believe. If you’re born again today you can do this. You can take these promises for yourself, praise God. And then we look to Paul, the apostle Paul given his spiritual son, Timothy, some practical advice. And in the last program we looked at, this is, if you’ve got your Bibles, this is second Timothy chapter two, second Timothy chapter two. And we talked about, starting in verse one we said, “And therefore,” this is second Timothy chapter two, verse one. “You therefore, my son,” he’s talking to Timothy. “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” We talked it there that the fact that Paul was telling Timothy, take the things you heard in my public meetings and run with those things.
You can get mentored. I’m doing the mentored, because people want to be mentored. I want to be mentored one-on-one. You could be mentored by a man of God by sitting in their conferences, by listening to their teachings online, by attending their church. You don’t have to be one-on-one over coffee. You can actually be mentored by listening to their teachings, sitting in the congregation, even if there’s a thousand other people there. It might not make your flesh feel as special as one-on-one treatment, but you can be mentored by sitting in a conference and listen to people’s teaching or going online and listen to their teaching.
Then he goes on here in verse three, and he says, “You therefore must endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” And then this is where we left off, verse four it says, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life. That he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” Verse five, “And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” Verse six, “The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.” Verse seven, “Consider what I say and may the Lord give you understanding in all these things.” Paul is giving Timothy some practical advice here about how to walk out his faith, how to receive the promises of God, how to be violent, if you like, and take it by faith.
And what we’re looking at here is three things that Paul mentions here, and I love these three examples that he gives. He gives the example of a soldier. He gives the example of a farmer and he gives the example of an athlete. And those three things have very different elements, if you like. He’s pulling out different parts of faith, if you like, on these three things.
So the first one here is the soldier. Paul is comparing our walk of faith to that of a soldier. He’s saying if you want to walk by faith, if you want to receive everything God has for you consider the soldier. What does a soldier do? Here’s some things about a soldier, some of the things I’m thinking of a soldier. First of all, a soldier submits to authority.
Carlie: Mm-hmm.
Ashley: Uh-oh. A soldier submits to authority.
Carlie: You’ve lost some people right there.
Ashley: Submitting to authority. Sometimes as born again, Holy ghost, grace and faith, tongue talking, devil chasing Christians we don’t want to submit to authority.
Carlie: And it’s how we resist the devil and see him free from us. James 4:7 says, “Submit to God, resist the devil and he’ll flee from you.”
Ashley: Right. So you have to submit to God.
Carlie: Yeah, there’s a power in submission. It’s not a weak thing. It’s a spiritual position.
Ashley: Amen. In fact, submission gives you authority. As you submit to God, it gives you authority. We have a delegated authority from Jesus. God has given us delegated authority. The authority over the devil is-
Carlie: Designated.
Ashley: … delegated.
Carlie: Yes.
Ashley: Delegated and it’s designated, I guess.
Carlie: Yes.
Ashley: But delegated authority. The authority over sickness, over sin, over poverty, over anxiety and all these things, it’s delegated from God himself. It’s a little bit like a sheriff or a policeman, if you like. His delegated authority, he can go out on the street in his uniform and a policeman, if you’re watching in another country. If you’re watching in America, a sheriff. If you’re watching in another country, I guess it’s police. A policeman can go out and hold up his hand and stop an 18-wheeler semi-truck or a lorry. Okay.
Carlie: You’re being bilingual.
Ashley: I’m being bilingual. This show goes out to all different continents. I know that people, some people speak English. Some people speak American. I’m going to get in trouble for that. But anyway, we say lorry. I believe in South Africa they say lorry. And in England, they say lorry, but in America they say semi.
Carlie: There you go.
Ashley: Semi truck. 18-wheeler, semi truck. He could go out and stop a semi-truck, just why? Because he’s got delegated authority as a policeman.
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: He had to submit to the police department. He had to submit, if you like, to the sheriff. He had to give up some of his own thoughts and feelings to be able to be part of something bigger. So that’s how now a soldier goes even to more extreme than a policeman. A soldier gives up his rights, gives up his feelings. A soldier submits to authority. What’s the leader of an army?Captain?
Carlie: Commander.
Ashley: I haven’t served. Commander? Whoever the-
Carlie: I think they have different ranks, so.
Ashley: … Ranks. A soldier’s the lowest, so whoever’s above a soldier, tells him to do something. They’ll say, “Private,” or they’ll say, “Do this.” He’s not going to say, “Well, I don’t really feel like it. Well, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Well, I don’t want to do that. I don’t feel like it.” No, he just has to do it. A soldier has to submit to authority in order to get the job done. Here’s the good thing about submitting to God’s authority. God only has good for us. Anything God asks you to do, it’s for your own good. God only has good. God is good. He is love. He has good things for you, praise God. So when you listen to God’s voice, when you submit to God’s authority, it’s going to be for your own good.
But let me take that another step further. I believe it’s godly to submit to authority from other people as well. Do you agree?
Carlie: Amen. Amen.
Ashley: I mean, some people don’t want to submit to authority. But if you don’t submit to authority, eventually they’re going to submit your un-submissive authority butt in jail. Because if you don’t submit to the law of the land… I’m free from the law, brother. I live under grace.
Carlie: How’s it working for you?
Ashley: Exactly. I’ll come and visit you. So we have to submit to authority and whether that’s legal authority… Here’s another thing. What about spiritual authority? I was talking to a guy the other day and he said, “How comes your ministry is so successful?” I didn’t really like that too much because it was successful. We’re doing what the Lord told us to do and praise God, we believe that we’ve got a mandate from the Lord to spread this good news around the world, and currently we do have a worldwide presence. We have offices in three continents, praise God. And we’re on television and doing as much as we can to get the good news out there. But I asked this question, I said, “Sir,” I said, “We’re quite a new ministry.” I said, “We submitted and served other people before we got here. We submitted to authority.”
So he asked me, he said, so what’s your secret, if you like? That’s want he wanted to know. What’s the silver bullet? What’s the secret to this? And I said, “I’m submitted to good godly men in my life.” I’ve submitted myself to authority. And sometimes it was a place of actual employment, where I was working for another ministry first. We worked for Andrew Womack Ministries for almost 10 years. We submitted there. I submit to my pastor at church. Now people get freaked out by this. You submit to your pastor, heavy shepherd in all this. No, if its good leadership, it’s good to be submitted to people who are going to actually help you and actually have-
Carlie: And that speak into your life.
Ashley: … and they can speak into life and good godly people. So I asked this guy, I said, “Who is your spiritual… Who are you submitted to? Who are your mentors?” He said, “Well, I don’t really have any mentors.” So I said, “Where’d you go to church?” And he said, “Well, I go to lots of different churches.” So I was like, “Well, who’s your pastor?” He said, “Pastor Jesus.” Now this concerned me because yes-
Carlie: Not Pastor Jesus?
Ashley: … No, not Pastor Jesus. Hispanic church, Pastor Jesus, no. Pastor Jesus.
Carlie: Okay.
Ashley: So, I-
Carlie: Sorry.
Ashley: … No, it wasn’t your fault. Pastor Jesus. I said, “We need people in our life.” We understand, we do submit to God, obviously that’s first place, but God said to set up order and we have to submit. Everyone needs some Pauls in their life, who actually over them, who are looking out for them, who are further up the road from them, who have more experience than them, that have their best wishes, that want the best for them. Everyone needs some Timothys, the people that they’re pouring into, people that they’re helping, people that they’re helping up, that they’re reaching down and looking down to help up. Not looking down to judge, but looking down to help up and pour into and to mentor them. And then everyone needs Silas, brothers in Christ, who they can fight with and run with. So who’s your Timothy? Who is above you that you submitted to?
Again as I said earlier, it doesn’t have to be a one-on-one, go out for coffee every week. You can submit to people, your pastor, if you’ve got a good godly pastor, who’s running a life giving church, you can submit to them. If you’ve got spiritual mentors, it’s good to submit to people above you that can look after you. And then when they ask you to do something, you do it, especially if you’re working for them and you’re serving them. We’ve worked for ministries and churches. We’ve been associate pastors at a few different churches, where we’ve helped the senior pastors and they’ve told us to do things, and unless it outright violates the Word of God, we’re going to do it, because we’re submissive. In fact, if we’re not going to do it, we need to either change our employment or change our attitude, right?
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: So submitting to authority is godly. And I believe as you submit to authority, you understand authority. I’m thinking of the Centurion.
Carlie: Mm-hmm.
Ashley: Were you thinking of the Centurion?
Carlie: He was a man-
Ashley: You are now.
Carlie: … I am now.
Ashley: So tell us about the Centurion.
Carlie: He was a man under authority that came to Jesus because his servant was sick. And Jesus said to him, “Well, I’m going to come to your house. I’m going to come to your house, lay hands on your servant, he’ll be made well.” And the Centurion said to Jesus, “No, just say the word>” and Jesus marveled, didn’t he? Because he said, “You obviously under… You’re a man under authority who understands the power of authority.” When we’re submitted and we understand the power of authority, we will release words that have authority.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: We’ll start to really exercise our faith through what we say, that the authority be released in our words, because we are submitted to godly authority.
Ashley: So when we submit to authority, we understand authority, we can operate in authority.
Carlie: Yep.
Ashley: Delegated authority. This is so powerful. So Paul’s bringing this out in this soldier example. he’s saying a soldier, he says here, “A soldier doesn’t entangle himself in the affairs of this life.” Now this doesn’t mean that we all go hippy and just don’t care about the responsibilities and stuff. No, we need to be responsible. We need to pay our bills. We need to have responsibility. We need to be involved in these things of the world. Okay? But we don’t get entangled with them. Our focus and our passion, isn’t in these things. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: If our treasure is in the world and worldly things and earthly things, that’s where our passion is going to be. No, God wants us to be at a higher level. He wants our passion and our hearts and our desires to be on godly things, on the kingdom of God, not on the worldly things. In fact, he says it this way in Matthew 6:33, in Matthew 6:33, he says regarding all these things, all these worldly things, what you’re going eat, what you’re going to wear and all these things, it says, “Seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” Basically your relationship with God, seek your relationship with God first, and his righteousness. Seek that first and then all these other things will be added to you. Our focus should always be on the kingdom. Our focus should be on the things of God, the kingdom of God.
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: In fact, I remember when we moved to Bible school in 2006 and I was running a business at the time and I left this business that I was making money at and you left employment, and we moved to the other side of the country. And I remember we had to look out, we had our three kids. They were in private school, in a private Christian school, so we had to pay their tuition. And then me and Carlie both went to Bible school full time. So basically my income, our income, if you like, went to zero.
Carlie: And we had five tuitions to pay.
Ashley: Yeah, and our expenses went through the roof because now we had five tuitions to pay.
Carlie: Yeah.
Ashley: We had to move to the other end of the country, didn’t know anyone. And I remember thinking, the first thing I was thinking, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thought, I was just being practical. I was thinking, if I can cut my expenses down to as little as possible, it’s going to help and that’s a good thing. It’s not terrible.
Carlie: Stewardship.
Ashley: Stewardship.
Carlie: Isn’t it?
Ashley: Yeah, but I was thinking lax. So I was thinking we can get one of these tiny little houses. In fact, where the Bible school is, Charis Bible College in England is in a place where they have things called terrace houses, which are, I mean, what we’re talking about? Eight foot wide, 10 foot wide houses, literally.
Carlie: Narrow.
Ashley: Very narrow houses, maybe 12 foot wide. And their front door actually opens up onto the sidewalk. And they’re basically two rooms downstairs, a lounge and the kitchen. And then two rooms upstairs, two bedrooms and that is it. We’re talking about, there’s houses joined next to them, side-to-side, and some of them even have houses joined on the back, so all three walls are joined on very small… If you’re talking square foot, we’re probably talking 500 square foot. We’re talking small. I’m thinking I can rent one of these tiny houses and get… This is before tiny houses were cool.
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: And get all my kids stuffed in one bedroom-
Carlie: They’re only small children then.
Ashley: … Small kids, put them all in one bedroom.
Carlie: They can sleep in a drawer, they’ll be fine.
Ashley: Would be no problem at all. And put them all in one bedroom and cut my expenses well down. And then, that’s going to help get through these two years of Bible school. And do you know what the Lord told me? He said. “You’re being selfish.” I said, “Selfish?” He said, “You’re only thinking about your needs.” He said, “Your affections, your thoughts,” if you like, “You entangled with this world thing. You’re only looking at the natural things. You’re only looking at your needs, your family’s needs, that’s it.” He said, “I want you to be focused on kingdom needs. I want to be focused higher on other things, on bigger things.”
And what happened was, cut long story short, is that he actually led us to rent this house that was much bigger than we needed. It was four bedrooms, four bathrooms. It was a beautiful house out in some acreage. In fact, it had electric gates, you remember that? And I remember taking a pastor back there once, and on the drive up to the house, he was like, “Oh, I remember my days in Bible school.” He said, “When I went to Bible school,” he said, “Me and my wife, we just ate rice and beans. And oh, I remember it’s only for season.” He’s going it’s only for a season. So I pulled up to the house. I was bringing him back for dinner. I pulled up to the house. I got my remote out and I pressed the button and the electric gates opened. And he was like, “You live here?” I was like, “Well, I only rent it. I don’t own it.” And he’s like, he’s looking around.We went up the winding driveway.
But what happened was that house enabled us to minister people. We was able to have people around, family and friends and stay with us and we was able to minister with them, kingdom needs, and was able to run a business from that, because it had a lot of property with it, a lot of acreage, was able to run a business from that.
So in actual fact, I was able to run a part-time business from that house. And even though the rent was a lot more than I would wanted to pay than a small house, I put the kingdom first. I chose the house that God told me to get, or God told us to get, was in unity about it. We wasn’t just being covetous, we wanted a big house. No, it was God led us in that direction. We was able to use that house for ministry. They even had mission teams come and eat there. We was able to use that house for ministry and was able to run a business from that house. And here’s the exciting thing, in those two years was at Bible school, we was able to give more away than we was when we was in full-time business.
Carlie: Yep.
Ashley: Isn’t that awesome? That’s how God does things. So when we put God’s kingdom first place, when we walk by faith, it was a step of faith to rent that house for that time, because the rent was a lot more than willing to pay. It was a step of faith. Paul’s saying here a soldier doesn’t entangle himself in the everyday things, the earthly things. He’s got a higher purpose. A soldier has a higher purpose. A soldier is part of a bigger picture. A soldier understands that it’s not just about him. He’s part of a bigger picture. He’s part of a team. He’s part of a unit. And he can’t just say, “I don’t want to do that.” Or, “I don’t feel like it.”
Carlie: Well he could try it but-
Ashley: He could try.
Carlie: … it’s not going to go well.
Ashley: It’s not going to go very well. He endures hardships. A soldier endures hardships. Now when I say endures hardships, this is what Paul says in verse three, says, “Therefore you must endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus.” We’re not talking about sickness. We’re not talking about poverty. We’re not talking about disease or anxiety. We’re talking about things like pushing through by faith. We’re talking about taking your thoughts captive. We’re talking about enduring persecution. We’re talking about fighting the good fight of faith. We’re not talking about sickness and poverty. Those things are not from God.
But if you’re going to walk a life of faith, there’s going to be some opposition. In fact, Jesus gives us a promise, right? He says in this life-
Carlie: In this world you’ll have tribulation. Cheer up.
Ashley: … Come on, cheer up.
Carlie: Because he’s overcome the world.
Ashley: Jesus tells us to cheer up.
Carlie: Yeah.
Ashley: That’s not a fridge magnet versus, is it? In this world you’ll have tribulation.
Carlie: Not really.
Ashley: But, so Paul is saying here, soldier, he has to now, a soldier doesn’t get to choose. I don’t endure those hardships. He doesn’t complain. Imagine if a soldier complained all the time. He’d be in pretty much trouble, wouldn’t he? How many times do we complain about hardships or complain about the situations we’re in, or moan about this and that not going right?
Carlie: It’s true.
Ashley: A soldier doesn’t do that. A soldier is part of a bigger picture. A soldier doesn’t even give voice to that. A soldier isn’t self-focused. A soldier is looking at the bigger picture. He’s part of a unit. I’m just going to tell you now, as born again believers, yes, God loves you. You’re the apple of his eye. He thinks you’re awesome. He looks at you and believe it’s Mark 1:11, or Mark 11:1, one of the two. He says, “This is my beloved son, in whom I’m well pleased.” God is well pleased at you. He sees you. He loves you. You are awesome, but you are meant to be part of something bigger than just you. You’re meant to be part of the body of Christ, praise God.
I would say get involved in a good church, good life. I say get involved with a team of people. Don’t make it all about you. My friend, Andrew Romex is, if you’re all wrapped up in yourself, you make a very small package. So a soldier realizes it’s a much bigger picture. He actually sacrifices some of his own rights and some of his own opinions, and some of his own pleasures in order to help a bigger cause.
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: That’s the purpose of a soldier. That’s some of the things a soldier has to do.
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: And it’s really important to do those things, praise God. So I think Paul talks about… Well, I’m getting ahead of myself. Is that talking about an athlete, in second Corinthians two, about an athlete? We may get there, but read us a testimony.
Carlie: A testimony.
Ashley: It’s testimony time.
Carlie: Okay.
Ashley: We just covered the soldier and we’re going to cover the athlete and the farmer maybe next time, because time goes too quick. But we always love to read, and I don’t want to miss out this time, so we always like to take a minute and read viewers and listeners testimonies. Because people receive from the Word of God, praise God, they receive from these programs and then they write us and tell us how powerful it’s been and what’s happened to them. If you’ve had a testimony, if the Lord has touched you by these programs, by the Word of God, then write us. Go to TerradezMinistries.com, Leave your testimony. We’d love to hear it, praise God. Or, you can even phone the phone number available on your screen. And these testimonies, now they’re powerful. They encourage other people, don’t they?
Carlie: We overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of testimony.
Ashley: By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: What Jesus has done and what we say about it.
Carlie: Mm-hmm.
Ashley: So who’s this? Who’s giving us a testimony?
Carlie: This is from Yawa. And she writes say, “My husband and I attended Abundant Life last year,” that was our annual Abundant Life event in Colorado Springs. She said, “At the time, our six month old son had been hospitalized since birth, having been diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome and expected to die within days.” I remember this lady because she left her son in ICU.
Ashley: That’s right.
Carlie: And came to the event.
Ashley: She came back, yes.
Carlie: And at first, when she was telling me, I was thinking, “Oh my goodness. She’s got a baby, literally a baby in ICU and she’s here at the event.” But you know when you’ve been given a diagnosis where the doctors can’t help anyway, she was exercising faith. She was there because she knew if anyone could heal her baby it was going to be Jesus.
Ashley: She felt God had told her to do that. It’s very important to say that.
Carlie: Yes, absolutely.
Ashley: We’re not telling you to leave your children and come to events. We’re saying God told her to do this. This really was an act of faith. This is what we’re talking about, the violent take it by force.
Carlie: This was her last result. His organs had started to shut down and doctors insisted that we make funeral plans because they were certain that when we came back, he wouldn’t be alive. So she had a lot on the line here. She was risking spending potentially her last few days with her infant son or coming to the event in search for a healing. Now this woman came in faith. During the conference, Ashley agreed in prayer that our son would live and declare the works of the Lord, and Carlie told us to never stop speaking life over him and to not be moved by what we saw. She was exercising faith. We got Carlie’s book and it soon become a soundtrack to our daily life. Actually, she self recorded her own voice reading my book.
Ashley: Oh wow.
Carlie: She made her own audiobook and kept playing it.
Ashley: They say that you listen to your own voice, like when you speak, that’s why it’s so important to confess the word.
Carlie: Yeah.
Ashley: When you confess the word, your brain has to stop and listen to you.
Carlie: Yeah. Well, it did. Within four months, she said, “Our son was well enough to leave the hospital and is stable today regaining everything that the enemy stole from him. We thank you for emboldening our faith through the teachings and testimony.” Man, that’s powerful. I want to encourage you today. If you’re faced with an impossible situation, stand on the Word of God and don’t quit. Don’t be moved by what you see. It’s hard not to be moved by what you see. It has to start like with this woman, with a decision. She made a decision to stand on the Word of God and put the Word of God before even her feelings, her emotions. She had to go beyond. Faith goes beyond what we see in the natural realm. And because of it, her son’s alive today.
Ashley: Wow, that’s an awesome testimony, praise God.
Carlie: They encourage themselves with the Word of God and held onto it with everything that was in then, and today her baby’s alive.
Ashley: Praise God. That’s a great testimony.
Carlie: That’s awesome.
Ashley: If you’ve got a testimony, please write us. Let us know. We want to hear from you, praise God. If you’ve got a question, we have questions, where sometimes we read the question, sometimes we read testimonies or both, so leave us your questions. Leave us your testimonies. We would love to speak them out during these shows, praise God, and answer those questions and glorify Jesus for your testimonies.
Carlie: Absolutely.
Ashley: Amen. Well, today we’ve been looking at how the violent take it by force. We’ve been looking at how the Apostle Paul gave Timothy some practical advice. And he gave three examples, he talked about a soldier, he talked about an athlete and he talked about a farmer. So we’re out of time this time, but next time when we come back, we’re going to cover the farmer and the athlete, praise God. Some practical ways that we can walk out this life of faith, praise God, because God dually provided everything for you. Now it’s up to us to walk it out by faith. Amen. Let’s pray before we let you go.
Father, we’re going to thank you for everyone watching and listening today. I thank you, Lord. You have given them everything they need to live out everything you’ve called them to do. And I thank you’ve provided for them everything. You’ve called them more than conquers. You’ve made us victorious, Lord. I thank you, we join heirs with you, Lord. I thank that we are one spew of you. Praise God. I thank you, Jesus, for everything you’ve given us. You’re a good father, Lord, and we love you today, and we thank you for everything good in our life, in Jesus name. Amen. Praise God. Well, thanks for joining us today. We’ll be back real soon. Remember, don’t just live a normal life, when you could be living the abundant life. We’ll see you next time.