Welcome and Reflection on Disconnection

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Hello and welcome to Walk the Walk . I welcome you back . Last week , we talked about how sin is more a disconnection from God , and your homework for the week was to kind of analyze areas of your life where you felt disconnected and why have you become disconnected ? So hopefully that was something that you did this week , and also we were hoping that you could maybe identify your sins and try to figure out . You know what's going on here . Is it because I'm drifting away ? So hopefully you've gotten some things written down in your journal . Now here's the great thing is , last week I mentioned that the journal was not being has not been published , and then , after my podcast , a couple of hours later , I got notice from Amazon that it is published , and so I don't believe it's on there just yet , and maybe at the time of this podcast it's already been on there , so I will be sure to let you know when it's available for you to purchase .

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So this week's question we're going to look at how does thinking about sin as being disconnected from God change your life , and was there a time when you ever felt connected ? You know , I think the thing that we need to look at is it's not about well , it's not always about our actions , but more of just trying to stay close to God , and that's hard , that's hard sometimes .

Not Performance But Presence

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So it's not a performance , it's a presence . How close are you to God , the presence that you have with him ? Is he close to you ? Yes , he's close to you , but are you close to him ? You know God doesn't keep a scorecard . Thank God , because if he did , if he kept a scorecard of all of my actions and my sins , I'm sure it would fill a room . He's inviting us to stay close to him and close to his heart . When I'm connected , my choices are better , my attitude's better , everything just seems to improve . It's not about striving , it's about staying close .

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What action steps maybe you've already taken from last week , or maybe you're going to start this week ? What action steps can you take ? Well , the first thing is what you're probably already thinking is I need to pray , and some of you are like you know , once I get up , I do this , I do that and I forget about prayer . Well , don't get up , stay in bed , pray while you're laying in bed and hey , nothing wrong with that . Read your Bible . Some of us have a really hard time making the time to read our Bible . Well , listen , some people like they can download it onto their phone and you can still be in bed and listen to the Bible reading for that day . I am a paper kind of person . I have notes . I write notes in my Bible to help me remember . So I'm about having

Practical Steps for Staying Connected

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it , a book , right there in front of me .

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You may be okay with listening online , if that , if that helps you do it . You know you're not earning God's love because you're already loved . He loves you as much as he possibly can . You're not saying , okay , god , this week I was so much better . Now I'm sure you love me more . That's not the case at all .

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Make every day about him . First , when you wake up in the morning , think about God . Now , some of you if you're like me , I'm up at 4 or 5 . Sometimes I'm up 3 o'clock in the morning . Take that opportunity to say prayers . Take that opportunity to talk to God . Talk to Him like he's your best friend , because he is . Tell Him how you feel , your frustrations , your anger . Let him know . Now , it's not going to be a surprise to God . He's not going to be like what he knows , but he wants you to recognize that in yourself Sit quietly , listen . I'm just telling you that because I think it's a good thing , but as far as me , sitting quietly is a hard thing . But sitting quietly means I'm listening , and I'm not so sure I'm the best listener , but I try , and maybe you're not either , but you need to try .

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Choose a scripture , choose several scriptures . Some people have their favorites and some people say I can't remember scripture . Write them down . Here's a scripture that maybe you might want to consider John 15 , 4 . Remain in me as I also remain in you . No branch can bear fruit by itself . It must remain in the vine . Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me .

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Now people have tried to bear fruit on their own , maybe wealthy people , maybe people who don't ever want to be part of God's family . They are I can do this on my own and some of them you think , gosh , how do they succeed so much they don't even believe . Well , maybe on earth they're succeeding , but you have to forget . We have a heavenly home coming up , but you have to forget . We have a heavenly home coming up , so don't forget that . Father

When We Feel Most Connected

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, the Lord , has made a place for us , and maybe our heavenly earth is going to be so beautiful that nothing that we had on earth will make any difference .

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Or listen to John 4 , 8 . Come near to me and he will come near to you . Now listen , he's near you , he's with us every day , but we're the ones that pull back , otherwise we would not be sinning . You would be feeling that conviction so much that you would not be sinning . Now I'm not saying we're not going to ever sin and we're going to be perfect , by no means , but I can bet you this some of your decisions will look much differently .

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Ask God to come closer and , like I said , he is . Maybe you should ask yourself to get closer . Help me , god . Stay connected . Show me my weaknesses . Give me a hunger for you . Let my life naturally show your love , your patience and your peace . God , I want to stay closer to you , but I find it so hard . It's my own doing that keeps me away . It's my own doing that keeps me away . Ask God for forgiveness every single day , because you need to , every single day we all do , and give us a fresh start . Fix our connection , lord . Fix my eyes , my ears , my heart . Let me bear the fruit of being close to you . You know , the next part of this question was was there a time when you ever felt connected ? And most of us will say yes to this .

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Now , there are reasons why we have felt connected and sometimes it's the same reason we feel connected as the same reason we get disconnected . Let me share with you Times of feeling the most connected to Jesus are in seasons of your need . Maybe there's a medical issue , there's losses job losses , people losses , broken relationships but then again there's seasons of gratitude . Health issues are are you're cured , you have a new job , you have a baby , you have a mare , you get married . Those are times when you feel close to god as well . Maybe at your church during worship time , maybe sitting on your porch and just letting the birds chirp or whatever . I know that sounds pretty cliche , but there are people who just love doing that and feel that connection , see the beauty of God's work . For me it used to be when I worked . Driving to work , I used to always have a long commute and I took that time to listen to praise music and just pray . I prayed in the spirit . I prayed to God all the way to work .

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Maybe your connection that you feel really close is during reading your Bible ,

Slowing Down and Finding God

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helping the needy , visiting the sick . Maybe it was during times of surrender Of drugs , alcohol , pornography , pride . I mean there's so many of those things that you may have been in the valley of those and now have come out the other side . In Jeremiah 29 , 13 , it says you will seek me and find me . When you seek me with all your heart , you know it's not going to be enough just to say your heart . You know it's not going to be enough just to say God , I got to get closer , get closer , let's get closer . It's going to take effort on your part and if you've done it before , you know what that looks like . If you've never done it and you've never been close to God , it can be a little challenging sometimes because we don't have God physically right here beside us , but we have God right here in our hearts . If you are struggling to get close to God , if you're a new believer and you're thinking I'm not feeling it , I'm not feeling it .

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Tina , talk to your pastor , talk to other Christians , pray . Have them pray with you , have them pray over you . Prayer is the language that we use to talk to God . You know , sometimes life forces us to hold on and other times God's just telling us hey , hey , hey , slow down . I'm right here , but you're moving so fast you don't even know . It's like driving your car on the freeway at 80 miles per hour . You don't even know what's going on around you . All you can focus on is what you're doing . I don't recommend that you drive 80 miles per hour on the freeway , or anywhere for that matter . Slow down , you know . I say this because when Jeff had a stroke , I think God had a message for me , and that was to slow down .

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I worked , not a lot , but I really worked . I was always into something Do this , do that , do this , do that and my focus just became on my busyness . Now God has slowed me down . My busyness is about him . Make your business busyness , about God's pray .

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Father , thank you that you are never far . Thank you that when we seek you , you're there . Show me when I where I've drifted and why I drifted , and draw me back to you . Make our connection deeper . Teach me to rest in your presence . Help me to trust your love . Bear the kind of fruit that points others to you . Open my eyes , open my ears To you , not to the world that's so hard to live in right now , but we draw closer to you because we know of your perfection and we don't

Closing Prayer and Next Week's Topic

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want to focus on this unperfect world . Thank you , jesus , for calling me . Thank you for allowing me to listen to this podcast that says you know what . It's okay how we all feel , because we all obviously are feeling the same way , or there would be no need for a podcast . But , jesus , be right beside me and you know I'm going to fail . You know I'm going to stumble , but help me to stand up , wipe off my brow and look to fail . You know I'm going to stumble , but help me to stand up , wipe off my brow and look to you . Thank you for all your blessings . Cover each and every one of us in the precious blood of the Lamb . In Jesus' name , we pray Amen .

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Now , if you're following along in your journal , next week's podcast is going to be on what does Jesus' love and forgiveness mean to you , and have you truly ever experienced one or both of these ? So make sure you come back next week as we talk about this . I think it's going to be a great podcast and it's always great because you're here listening and share this podcast with somebody else . Make sure you look to get the journal , and by the time this journal's out there's going to be other things that I will have published as well that I hope that you will consider Even the one new book that's called Christianity Made Simple , probably more of a resource for you as somebody who might be talking to others about Christ . It may be a great resource for you to give to them , but we'll talk more about that later . Thank you so much for joining me and I will talk to you next week . Have a blessed week .