Stepping In Faith

Destroying My Idols

• Stepping In Faith • Season 1 • Episode 8

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Could your daily pursuits be quietly steering you away from your spiritual path? This episode of "Stepping in Faith" dares to ask the hard questions about idolatry and its subtle grips on our lives—from our desires and cultural beliefs to the relationships we hold dear. We open up about our own spiritual journeys, sharing how we uncovered these hidden idols and the pivotal moments that led us to re-align our lives with God at the center. It's an invitation to reflect on what might be quietly replacing God in your heart.

We take a candid look at how our culture often elevates relationships to an almost sacred status, sometimes overshadowing our spiritual priorities. With the foundational wisdom of Exodus 20:1-6, we explore the spiritual pitfalls of idolizing relationships and how societal norms and media have complicated this further. As we discuss the need for balance, we emphasize the importance of maintaining a strong spiritual focus, drawing from our personal insights and the teachings of Jesus. Maintaining God as our primary focus can prevent the spiritual consequences of misplaced priorities.

Our conversation doesn't stop at identifying the idols; we also explore the transformative power of scripture and the Holy Spirit in overcoming these spiritual hurdles. Reflecting on passages from Ezekiel, Joshua, and Romans, we discuss the liberation and guidance found in surrendering to God's will. We share how our spiritual journeys have been shaped by direct encounters with God, away from traditional settings, encouraging listeners to seek their own personal relationship with the divine. As we wrap up, we reaffirm our dedication to sharing God's message, hoping it inspires a blessed and spiritually nurturing week for all our listeners.

Ready to dive deeper? 🎧 Join us on YouTube for the full video podcast where we explore faith, love, and relationships through a Christian lens. Whether married, single, or seeking spiritual growth, our episodes offer practical advice and profound insights to strengthen your walk with Jesus. Don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you never miss a powerful episode. Let’s grow together in faith and purpose!
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Walter:

Welcome back to another episode of Stepping in Faith, where we explore the importance of having a relationship with God and how that relationship can impact the relationship you have with others. I'm your host, Walter, and I'm joined here alongside my lovely wife. Shania. All right, sound a little different than what I typically would say, but we're going to go go with it what do you mean?

Shanea:

like the intro oh, it's normally different.

Walter:

Oh, it sounded the same to me did it yep it didn't sound the same to me, but hey, we're going with it all right so this is episode eight, right? What's the title for this week's episode?

Shanea:

Destroying my idols.

Walter:

Destroying my idols, and for this week's episode you came up with that. That was given to you right? How did that happen?

Shanea:

So, you know, we always ask the Lord what it is that he wants us to speak about, and we were on a walk and we were praying and we asked God to let us know what it is he wanted to speak about. I don't remember what happened. I think you were talking to your sister I was talking to my sister, you were talking to your sister and as you were talking to your sister, I was praying and I got idolatry and actually the day before God was dealing with me on idolizing people and I had to renounce some things.

Walter:

That you idolized, that I idolized or people that I idolize.

Shanea:

I had to name some names of people that I idolized that I put before God.

Walter:

It's so easy to do.

Shanea:

Yeah, and so, while you were talking to your sister, while I was praying, what came to me was idolatry, and that's what he wanted us to speak about. I'm like God is that what you want us to? Speak about.

Walter:

I like idolizing relationships speak about, oh my god, is that what you want us to speak about, like idolizing relationships? And that's interesting because, uh, when we got back to the house, just a whole bunch of stuff just started kind of flowing in oh yeah yeah, a whole bunch of stuff started flowing was that when we got back to the house? Yeah, because we, oh, we got back and we started praying.

Shanea:

That's right. We started praying and we were just like, oh yeah, this is exactly what God wants us to talk about, because everything that was coming out of our mouths was idolization. And then it just kept going for the last couple of days. Yep.

Walter:

Yeah, especially this morning.

Shanea:

Yeah, for sure this morning?

Walter:

Yeah, for sure. So, um, since God gave that to you first, thing we always open this up by prayer. Uh, we are believers, as we always state. This podcast is not something that we created because we wanted to create it. This podcast is something that was created because God told us to.

Shanea:

Absolutely.

Walter:

And we did not want to do it.

Shanea:

Did not.

Walter:

And he kept making us aware of the importance of doing what he says.

Shanea:

Yes, because he's God.

Walter:

Yes, okay. So, babe, last time I opened it up in prayer, so we'll hand it over to you.

Shanea:

All righty. Father God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your love, your grace and your mercy. Father God, we thank you for all of our followers and listeners. Father God, we ask, father, that you will open up their eyes, open up their hearts, so that they may be able to hear and receive your word. I pray that this word of idolatry that we are speaking about today will bless those who need to hear it, who need to receive it, to destroy every idol and put you first. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.

Walter:

Amen, amen, amen, amen. A little bit longer.

Shanea:

Was it.

Walter:

But to God be the glory, to God be the glory.

Shanea:

You always talk about me. You always talk about me being long. I was going to go a little deeper but I was like all right, let me stop.

Walter:

You always talk about me being alone. Okay, so let's start this off. What is an idol? So, an idol is anything that takes the place of God in our lives, including desires, cultural values and mindsets, including desires cultural values and mindsets.

Walter:

It's so interesting because when we read the Bible, we think of idols as being like these gold statues or statues made of wood. But it goes so much deeper than that and that's one of the things that God was dealing with me on and you when we were discussing this earlier this week that idols could actually be a mindset, an idea yeah, you can make an idea an idol yeah, anything could be an idol, anything that, um, you place above god or you consult with or do before you consult with god.

Shanea:

So that's you consult with God. So that's shoot everything.

Walter:

Yeah, it's literally so we have here. Of course, it's not just physical objects, it can be desires, it can be thoughts or people that we elevate above God, so anything like you said that we elevate above God.

Shanea:

It's essentially an idol. God, it's essentially an idol. Yeah, well, it's uh uh what's the? Word. It's like a, a manifestation of of what those gods represent. So like money. The god of the god of money is mammon. You're worshiping an idol.

Walter:

That's the idol, that's the god but you don't realize it if you esteem your career or a certain uh financial status or a certain amount of money that you want to achieve, and I've been there above god, that's your idol, yeah so, even as we speak on these things, these are things that we've struggled with in the past. We didn't realize it yeah because, once again, we we discuss this all the time.

Walter:

Culture teaches, teaches you that it's okay to, it's okay to pursue those things, that you should be someone who desires to set goals. You should be someone that goes after a better lifestyle. You should be someone that go after a better career and being in this relationship and being and getting married and all of these different things. But at the end of the day I heard that at the end of the day, from the biblical perspective we don't realize that culture teaches us to idolize things. So where do we begin, babe, with this? Because there's so much good stuff that I guess we can start at the beginning uh, or we are um we've explained the definition of idols.

Walter:

Um, I want to dig into yeah, actually let's, and we've dug into that too. First, first and foremost, we have so much information.

Walter:

We do as we were going through this, god was just like downloading so much stuff and it's the same thing as it was with Relationship Covenants Like this could be multiple episodes because of all of the information. So it was really like God, provide us with wisdom on how to narrow this down, because it's so much that we're trying to cram into our podcast. So I think we'll start off with the spiritual dangers associated with making idols out of relationships or making relationships our primary focus, because this is a relationship podcast. Yeah.

Walter:

So you want to go ahead and go to Exodus 21 through 6. Do you have that pulled up or do you want me to read it?

Shanea:

I don't. You said where are we going?

Walter:

Exodus 20. One through six.

Shanea:

Exodus 20.

Walter:

One through six. I have it pulled up. You want me to read.

Shanea:

Oh yeah, sure, but what Go ahead?

Walter:

We are under part one, segment one what is an idol? Exodus 21 through 6 is there.

Shanea:

Oh, okay, I see I didn't see it highlighted. I'm sorry we're going to get this together.

Walter:

The first commandment yeah, and it's the best way to start yeah. So Exodus 21 through six. We'll read in the NLT version. It says then God gave the people of all these instructions. I am the Lord, your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other God but me. You must not make for yourself an idol or any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God who would not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children.

Walter:

The entire family is affected even children in the third and fourth generation of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. Yeah. So here's the thing. The challenge that we have, right is this right here, we believe that the covenants no longer apply to us, right?

Shanea:

Right.

Walter:

We believe that the new covenant.

Shanea:

They teach us to believe. Yeah.

Walter:

The new covenant did away with everything else.

Shanea:

Yeah, but it did not that Jesus did away with the law.

Walter:

He didn't. Jesus came to fulfill the law.

Shanea:

He came to fulfill the law.

Walter:

And so, and we're jumping ahead.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

But that's not the case. The biggest thing that we see that took place with Christ, with his death, burial and resurrection, is that he came to reconcile man back to God. So once you accept him as your Lord and Savior and believe it in your heart and you have faith, what that is? The Bible says Jesus stated that he's the stairway. He's the stairway to God, and so he allows us to have that relationship with God, placing us back in right standing with God as we go through the process.

Walter:

What they would say, is work out your salvation work out your own salvation through a life of holiness, consecration and sanctification, through a life of holiness, consecration and sanctification. But these covenants that God set in place.

Shanea:

They still stand. They still stand.

Walter:

Yeah, we talked about this in the last episode, and so I think that's really important that we touch on that. So this covenant that God stated and it's so, there's people that don't believe in generational curses, right, but the scriptures just said it exists. God said that it would go upon your children, your children, children, the curses that's associated with you idolizing, making an idol out of something, placing something above God or before God.

Walter:

Yeah, and Jesus came to fulfill the law, so without him, those curses ain't going to be broken, and cultural right Idolize relationships. Yes. They idolize marriage. Yes, they idolize relationships in general.

Shanea:

Yeah, if we're talking about relationships, yeah, you get the wife, uh, wife or husband for women, a lot of women, many, it's like that's, that's, that's the goal yeah, that is the goal, specifically women.

Shanea:

Yeah, you're taught for that to be your goal yeah, I mean we're taught that because that's what we watch that's what you watch all the disney chant, all the disney toys they make, yeah that's the toys you're brought, the cartoons, the movies, everything basically teaches you to make an idol. Everything is centered around being in a relationship yes, and so it's. So, then, like back in the day, like you weren't anything if anyone didn't marry you.

Walter:

It was like frowned upon. So what's interesting to me is and you got this earlier this week, but what God was saying before, he was essentially saying that we literally don't realize. But the very idea of marriage and relationship can become an idol, or has become an idol. The thought or the idea associated with the idea of relationship and marriage is becoming an idol within our hearts. Yeah, the idea. Yeah, the idea. You're not even married yet.

Shanea:

It's just the idea of being in a relationship can be an idol, because you're putting everything, you're doing any and everything to get that without consulting God. So, you're putting yourself in situations and doing things you should not be doing. That goes contrary to God's word, god's law, and that is an idol.

Walter:

Yeah.

Shanea:

That is an idol, because now you're making marriage a God. You're worshiping it with your body, with your finances, with your thoughts, and then you make that person a God.

Walter:

Yeah, james 4, 1 through 8. What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong. Right, you want only what will give you pleasure.

Shanea:

Right. So even if we stop there, you're asked. Marriage is something that we should naturally desire, because God said that we should not be alone, and there are plenty of men and women praying and asking God to give them a partner. But why? Why?

Walter:

We see the original design and we have to always go back to that, because this is what Jesus came to fulfill. Bring us back to the original design. Bring us back to that, because this is what Jesus came to fulfill. Bring us back to the original design. Bring us back to Genesis 2. Yeah, what's your reason?

Shanea:

for getting married. Is it just for because a lot of times we see a lot of people get married for selfish reasons?

Walter:

It can be For their own pleasure.

Shanea:

Like I need someone to help me with my business.

Walter:

I need someone to help me with my finances.

Shanea:

I don't want to be alone. I need someone to help me with my finances. I don't want to be alone. I need someone I can build with.

Walter:

Or an even greater one. I have trauma from my childhood, so I want someone and need someone to help me give that child what I never had Because I never dealt with the healing process of becoming whole. I never went through the process of allowing God to heal me. So now I need someone who I can bi-curiously live my life through and help me create children so I can live my life.

Shanea:

Or create a lifestyle that I've never had. I create a lifestyle that I see other people have.

Walter:

That's a big one that people do. Yeah, people get married because of lifestyles and so lifestyle change.

Shanea:

And, that said, I don't lend itself.

Walter:

And James said that you have to be mindful of this, because your motives are wrong, so you're not going to get it.

Shanea:

So you have all these people out here praying and asking for God to give them a spouse, and it's not coming. So now you're going out of your way, out of your way, out of your way, out of God's way, and in doing whatever you can do to make this happen.

Walter:

You don't realize that the enemy is there as well. So he sends someone your way and you're so desperate to be with someone because that's become an idol that you get into something God never intended for you to get into.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

And it's only the enemy's desire, because the greatest thing and we talked about this earlier today on the phone the enemy wants to take our time. Yes, he desires to take our time. Yeah, but we don't understand, and the scripture lets us know this. You can research it, and I mean, I guess, if we have to, we could put it in the footnotes. But everyone knows the fall of Satan Believers at least, you do. But what we don't realize, and this is what the Holy Spirit placed in my spirit, he was dealing with me on in 2023,.

Walter:

The beginning of 2023,. He said that what people don't realize is that the enemy was there prior and during the creation of everything he was there, prior to this whole world being set in place. Yeah, he was there as God created everything, which is why he was able to go and influence Eve within the Garden of Eden, and so the thing about it is the enemy is what he existed with God, and he exists with God outside of time. He's a part of the heavenly realm.

Shanea:

Yeah, and he knows. God gave us free will which is not really free will, but he gave us options to choose, and so if the enemy can influence your thoughts on who and what you should choose, then he got you.

Walter:

Or if he can get you to think on something so much that you esteem it above God or place it above God.

Shanea:

he got you Because he knows that, or make you think that you can be your own God.

Walter:

Yes, yes, make yourself an idol, and that's so good. Yeah. Make yourself an idol. Make your own choices an idol. Make the decisions you make an idol over God. Right. We have, so people listen to us. We have to get out of this place and this mindset of picking and choosing where we want Jesus to be our Lord. Right.

Walter:

We talk about this all the time. We have to get out of that, because that is something that's very dangerous. We get into the space of saying I want you to be my Lord and Savior over these particular things, and that's something else that God was dealing with me on, with you and I. There were some things that God was revealing to me earlier on, prior to us coming back together, and he dealt with me because he was saying that I was struggling with the idea. Right, I was struggling with the idea. And God was saying to me that you still haven't given that over to me, and I'm like what he's like. You haven't given that over to me.

Walter:

And he started to play back every instance in my mind of me saying, yeah, I've accepted the fact that you've called me to be with her, but the instances of saying, you know, but maybe, maybe I could do this. Well, god, if you did this, you did that, and it was like it wasn't. I didn't rest in it. Resting in it is like, okay, god said this is so, so that becomes your yes. So, whenever you speak about it, this is my wife, whenever you speak about it, this is what God has called me to and you stand firm on that. With Mary, we saw the example of her right she, immediately after the angel told her what was going to take place, she said let it be so.

Shanea:

And the.

Walter:

Bible says immediately that she was pregnant.

Shanea:

She was impregnated.

Walter:

And so what God was saying to me is with us, a lot of times will take place is because we don't accept it and we don't walk in it.

Walter:

We stop him from being able to move in that area of our lives, and so he loves us so much. To basically try to get us to the point of understanding, I need you to accept my perfect will within this particular area of your life. Right, so I can give to you what I have for you? Yeah, but you're stopping it and the enemy deceives us because we think we've accepted it, but we haven't. No, we've partially accepted the idea.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

Which stops God from doing what it is that God wants to do?

Shanea:

Right, because we have a lack of faith.

Walter:

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, it boils. It boils down to a lack of faith. It also boils down to a mindset of you still, because in that instance and in that moment, I still wanted to do what I wanted to do, right. I wanted to do what I wanted to do Because you've been told that you should do what you want to do yes, but then it was like it was self-righteous at the same time, because it's like but I've accepted it. Yes, that's yes, that's what God said. It is so, but God knows our heart.

Shanea:

Right, your mind was still saying I don't know about this. But I'm going to do it because you said so.

Walter:

Exactly. So we have to really get past the point of picking and choosing, where we want to make God our Lord and Savior and give him everything we literally have to lay down our life and die yeah. Die to ourselves. Yeah, so, um, that starts out with uh letting us know in the beginning, the uh first commandment, right where it all began god don't want us to have any idols right and he tells us what happens with idols. So we move on, babe. Um, you were looking at ezekiel. You want to read that?

Shanea:

yeah, ezekiel, um 14 through 16, read what all of it you can.

Walter:

You can summarize it if you want, um you can you know, because it's a lot.

Shanea:

Well, I mean.

Walter:

We can, let's see.

Shanea:

So right here we're, hold on, let me pull Ezekiel up.

Walter:

Because we do have a breakdown. We got Ezekiel 14, 3 through 5. Ezekiel 16, 15. Ezekiel 14 through 16.

Shanea:

I just got so much revelation reading that on idolatry. Hold on, let me pull it up. Ezekiel 14, right? So ezekiel 14 starts with idolatry of israel's leaders, and so I have here, note ezek, ezekiel 14, 3 through 5. And they go to a prophet asking for a message. So I, the Lord, will give them the kind of answer their great idolatry deserves.

Shanea:

I will do this to capture the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols. And so that last part lets us know that when we create idols, it creates a barrier between us and God. It separates us from God because he says, right here, you've turned away from me because you're worshiping something right. And then Ezekiel 16, this was the meat, meaty part 15 through 16.

Walter:

Yeah, verse 15 through 16 chapter 16, verse 15 and as we're going through this, um, read all of this. Yes, because this is some good stuff. Read everything, I mean I I got caught up in reading this morning and I just couldn't stop. And it's so much it's like it's hard to pull out particular scriptures out of it or verses, because all of it is just kind of it's a lot to take in.

Shanea:

Yeah. So Ezekiel, I'm not. I'm not going to read the whole thing cause it's kind of long, um, or it's not that really long. But ezekiel 15 says but you thought your fame and beauty were your own, so you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols where you played the prostitute Unbelievable. How could such a thing ever happen? So it's like what was placed on me is that God created. If you go back, go back a few verses. God talks about how, and this is it's titled the unfaithful wife.

Walter:

Ezekiel talking about yeah. It's titled the unfaithful wife but it's God talking to him, yeah.

Shanea:

But God was saying that you were naked and I grew I. Basically, I grew you, I grew you, I grew your breasts, I grew every part of you. I grew you, I grew your breasts, I grew every part of you. I grew the hair on your head and I clothed you. I clothed you in the finest linen, I clothed you with jewelry. I gave you fame, I gave you fortune, I gave you money, I fed you.

Shanea:

It's like it goes back to I fed you, and now you're using all these things that I gave you to give to somebody else to worship another god.

Walter:

that's adultery that's what the children your body they did that in the, the wilderness. They did that when he delivered them from egypt. They took everything that he had, that that the e, the Egyptians. They blessed them with right and they carved out gold statues to commemorate the gods that they worshiped in Egypt.

Shanea:

Yeah, yeah, we act like unfaithful spouses. That's what I got down here, and what I wrote is that, instead of seeking God's guidance, we make decisions that glorify idols, leading to spiritual adultery. As a bride of Christ, we are called to remain faithful to him, yet we often act like unfaithful spouses, spiritual adultery. Yeah.

Walter:

Committing adultery against Christ.

Shanea:

He loved us, he nurtured us, he adorned us. But we use all these gifts to chase after false gods. Mm-hmm, he loved us, he nurtured us, he adorned us, but we use all these gifts to chase after false gods, just like a prostitute.

Walter:

Not only do we do that, we try to find scriptures or we try to justify what we're doing. We try to justify and say, okay, well, grace is there, grace is there to help us through this. He knows we struggle with this. He knows that this is a struggle of ours. But the Bible lets us know. I believe in Romans 8, all of Romans. It touches on the fact that Christ came to free us.

Walter:

The Spirit of God it frees us from the power of sin, that we're no longer bound to sin. We're no longer bound to our fleshly desires. It's you choosing to be led by the spirit of God so you could be freed from your idols. One of the things that God was dealing with me on this morning is that the wilderness part of the wilderness experience we talked about, I think we done. Did we touch on that before? I feel like we did. Going through the wilderness experience oh yeah, I think we did. Did we touch on that before? I feel like we did. Going through the wilderness experience.

Shanea:

Oh yeah, we talk about it all the time.

Walter:

Yeah, because, of course, after Jesus received the Holy Spirit, the Bible lets us know that he was immediately ushered in to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to fast for 40 days and 40 nights, the way he was also tempted by the enemy. And then God brought back to my, my attention this morning. He brought back the children of Israel and how they were in the wilderness. And part of the reason, of the part of the greatest thing with the wilderness experience, or one of the greatest things is letting go of those idols. Yeah.

Walter:

It's a process that God wants to take you through of letting go of those idols. Yeah, it's a process that God wants to take you through of letting go of those idols.

Shanea:

Yeah, I mean we're jumping ahead a little bit, but we're just going to go with it.

Walter:

And so I'll leave it at that, because it's getting good. It was good when you said it.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

It's like, oh my gosh, yes, yeah, no, it's a said it yeah, like it's like.

Shanea:

Oh my gosh, yes, because yeah, no, like it, just like. It was a great revelation.

Walter:

Yeah.

Shanea:

Because we use the wilderness season all the time for a ton of different things, but when you really get to the meat of it, it's literally just putting you in a place where you have to rely on him.

Walter:

So it breaks down the fact that you had these gods that you relied on before it removed those gods, like you stated, and it places you in a position of totally relying on the father.

Shanea:

I mean we can go ahead and talk about it.

Walter:

We already hear it. No, let's continue, because you found some good stuff in Ezekiel. I see you have Ezekiel 16, 38 through 39 on here. The consequences of idolatry Was that God's judgment upon idolatry, allowing people to experience the consequences of their choices. What is it that you found in Ezekiel 16?

Shanea:

15 through 16? Oh, 16 was basically talking about god's judgment. Um, I will sentence you, uh, I will sentence you the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood. I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines which is crazy, right here, right? So when we talk about in the context of relationships you and we already talked about how it's prostitution it's adultery. Yes, because we use our bodies.

Walter:

Well, that's the other revelation that was given early and I don't think it's in here. Because we use our bodies Well. That's the other revelation that was given earlier and I don't think it's in here. But the other revelation that God gave to me earlier was what that we don't realize that when we are having sex. Right, you are literally. It's the ultimate sacrifice.

Shanea:

Yes, your body.

Walter:

You're giving everything, all of yourself, to this idol.

Shanea:

Your body was created by God. It is supposed to be a temple and an altar for God. You're supposed to be in a likeness in the image of God.

Walter:

Especially post new covenant. Yes, especially seeing that the spirit of God comes into well within you.

Shanea:

So what disrespect prostitution? What disrespect adultery? What disrespect adultery? What disrespect when we go out here looking for a relationship because we're supposed to? God gave us the ability to, to, to know intuitively we're supposed to be with someone.

Walter:

We're not supposed to be alone, right, but it starts with the relationship with him. Yeah, the first relationship that we should be focused on growing and focusing on heavily, is the relationship with him.

Shanea:

Yeah, and that is the point. But when we go outside of God's will and we do what we want to do, we get into some trouble.

Walter:

Yeah.

Shanea:

We get into a lot of trouble. We get into a lot of we get into a lot of trouble. We become adulterers of God, and I'm going to keep saying it because I thought it was just such a great revelation this morning that we commit adultery against God, spiritual adultery, because he gave us life and we use it. We're using our life to lift up someone else.

Walter:

Well, you know what comes to mind, to mind as you touched on that Ezekiel 8 and 9 that I was reading this morning, and it's a lot, but I just want to read some points on here, or read some of this.

Walter:

Let's start at verse 2. And this is basically an encounter that Ezekiel had with a vision from God. I was taken to the north gate of the inner court of the temple where there is a large idol that has made God very jealous. Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel was there, just as I had seen it before in the valley. Then the Lord said to me Son of man, look toward the north. So I looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance, said to me son of man, look toward the north. So I looked in. There to the north, beside the entrance to the gate, near the altar, stood the idol that had made the Lord jealous.

Walter:

Let's skip down, because let's read this. We're going to read the son of man, he said do you see what they are doing? Do you see the detestable sins? The people of Israel are committing to drive me from my temple, but come and you will see even more detestable sins. The people of Israel are committing to drive me from my temple, but come and you will see even more detestable sins than these.

Walter:

Skip down to verse 9. Go in, he said, and see the wicked and detestable sins they are committing in there. So I went in and saw the walls covered with engravings of all kinds of crawling animals and detestable creatures. I also saw the various idols worshipped by the people of Israel. Seventy leaders of Israel were standing there with Jehazaniah, son of Safran, in the center. Each of them held an incense burner, from which a cloud of incense rose above their heads. Then the Lord said to me, son of man, have you seen the leaders of Israel? Have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying the Lord doesn't see us, he has deserted our land. Went further down, then the Lord added come and I will show you even more detestable sins than these. He brought me to the north gate of the Lord's temple and some women were sitting there weeping for the God of Tamas. Have you seen this? He asked. But I will show you even more detestable things. And God kept showing them situation after situation.

Walter:

He talked about how, even at the altar, they were having idols all throughout the temple of God, even into the holies of holies, and verse I mean in chapter nine touches on the fact that he destroyed them. It goes into the fact that he marked the heads of those and anyone that did not carry that mark. They were taken out. Women, children, men, everybody were taken out because of idolization. Yeah. And so what we don't understand and this digs into what you were talking about we are now the temples of God.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

Right. We are now the temples of God. Yeah. First Corinthians, just for scriptural reference. I believe that is 1 Corinthians 3, 16 through 17. Right, and I'll read that real quick and then get your thoughts on it, babe.

Shanea:

Oh, I didn't even know you had that in there.

Walter:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 1 Corinthians. What is that? I had that in there because we had to put that in so people could know that this, you now became the temple. Yeah. You now became the temple. So three, let me see. So this says right here, beginning at verse 16. Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God? And the spirit of God lives in you.

Walter:

together are the temple of God, and the spirit of God lives in you. God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple, for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. We're the temple we are. So if the spirit of God dwells in us and we are creating idols in our heart, what does that mean? And we keep forgetting that. God is still God. We misconstrue God and Jesus.

Shanea:

Yeah, we get the two confused sometimes.

Walter:

They're one, but they're different offices.

Shanea:

Yes, you have the head, head which is God, god who is holy? Yes, and then you have.

Walter:

Jesus. You have Jesus, who is also God, the Son.

Shanea:

Who is God the Son.

Walter:

But he has compassion to say listen, I died for him.

Shanea:

But they're two separate.

Walter:

They are two separate entities, but they are one entity, it's literally Jesus sitting there trying to remind God, god, I died for this. It's God being like. You see what they're doing right now. Right, even the heavens is like you see what they're doing right now. Jesus is there basically saying I died.

Shanea:

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I died for this. Yeah, you can get to a point to where even Jesus is looking like bro. Don't do this again. Don't do this again.

Walter:

Don't do this again, and so I think that's the issue, when you understand that you are now in the temple of God. When you do things as far as idolizing things and, even worse, sex outside of marriage or sex in marriage with someone God never intended for you to be with, you are literally creating sacrifices towards other gods.

Shanea:

Yes, when you put something, you idolize something so much, or you want something so much that you will do anything to get it. That is an idol, because you need to be doing anything impossible.

Walter:

You would even send up prayers.

Shanea:

To get yeah.

Walter:

You would even send up prayers To get. Yeah, you would even send up prayers, I'm serious. You would even send up prayers begging God to bless you with anybody, somebody, something, when the reality is all you have to do is focus on him and he got you Because he already has a plan for you.

Shanea:

He already. He said it in the beginning it's not good for me to be alone. I'm going to make you a helper.

Walter:

It's so dangerous because we have to be really careful, because when you do that and you get whatever, this person is especially someone outside of God. Now you have a person that becomes your God.

Shanea:

Yeah, now you have a person that becomes your God. Yeah, you have a person that becomes your God and God will allow you to continue to be in our relationship. I mean, you will deal with the consequences. It says it right here, ezekiel 16, 15, 16, 16, specifically that, um, you will experience the consequences of your choices and he will lead you right into the hands of your very idols, only so that you can feel shame and humiliation. That's Ezekiel 61 through 63. Those who turn away from God eventually face shame and humiliation as their idols, fail them, leaving them empty and broken.

Shanea:

And that's why there's so many people out here, broken and empty, empty and broken because you fell into the arms of another God.

Walter:

And what was that? We were reading it today and it was a scripture. I think you saw the scripture. What. Where it was talking about choose you this day. What scripture is that? Choose you this day, who you will serve.

Shanea:

Oh, that should be in the notes, right? I don't know.

Walter:

That is because I want I think that's really important to let people know you have a.

Shanea:

Is that Joshua?

Walter:

It's Joshua 24. Joshua 14 through 15.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

I want to read that real quick to let people know you do have a choice. Joshua was speaking. Joshua 24? Mm-hmm.

Walter:

Joshua was speaking, joshua 24. Joshua stated here. He said 14 in LT. So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates rivers and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Will you prefer the gods of your ancestors serve beyond the Euphrates or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. Yeah, you got a choice, you can choose.

Shanea:

But for me and mine, we're going to serve the Lord Because we don't want any problems.

Walter:

Okay, we Gucci.

Shanea:

We good over here we.

Walter:

Gucci, we Gucci, and it's really this the Bible talks about the law being written on your heart, right? The baba also touches on the fact that, uh, and there's so much stuff that we can dig into, so um, we can really go deep into all of this we can just do a whole video on ezekiel alone yeah, because, um, it was saying this because and this is Romans 2.

Walter:

Romans 2 referred to the law being written on your heart. We're saying this because a lot of people argue that Jesus came and he did away with the law.

Shanea:

No, but he even said he didn't come to do away with the law.

Walter:

No.

Shanea:

He came to fulfill the law.

Walter:

Yep, that's Matthew 5, 17 through 19. Let's read that, because God gave me a revelation on that too, and listen, we, we all about the scripture.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

It's just really our thing is, as we read the scripture, the biggest thing we look at is like allowing the Holy Spirit to really speak to you, because outside of the Holy Spirit, I don't know what I'm reading. I'm just serious. I don't know how you read the scripture without the Holy Spirit.

Shanea:

Right.

Walter:

When the whole Bible was inspired. By the Holy Spirit. Yeah, I don't know how you do it, you don't know what you read and it seems like foreign stuff. But compared to when I used to read the scripture when I was a quote unquote Christian and before my true conversion, my encounter with the Holy spirit, my encounter with God. I didn't know what I was reading. I was just reading.

Shanea:

Yeah, you was reading like repetitively so that you can remember what it is that the Bible says. But now you're reading it and it's, it's, it's life to you.

Walter:

It's a revelation.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

It comes out.

Shanea:

It literally a revelation.

Walter:

Yeah, it comes out. It literally is food. I told you it was so crazy Initially when my encounter started back in 2022, I would read the scripture and my spirit that was intertwined with the spirit of God would jump. I can't explain it, but it would jump at the scripture.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

As I read the scripture, it would jump.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

It was so crazy, yeah, even when I started reading it it would jump.

Shanea:

Yeah, and like it was just like it was so crazy. Yeah, like even when I started reading it, I'm like why am I crying? I'm crying reading reading Jesus's crucifixion. I'm crying.

Walter:

All of that I'm crying. It's an encounter, because it made me realize that the scripture is truly alive.

Shanea:

It's alive. It's like when I'm reading this, I'm I'm feeling all the emotions. I'm like I don't even know I'm crying and I'm like this is crazy. I think I was reading a passage from jeremiah one time and I'm like I don't even know why I'm crying, but that's the same thing I was reading the uh, like you said, the crucifixion of jesus, like everything he was going through yeah the garden of gethsemane and all of that stuff and it was literally breathing me, I.

Walter:

It was, but it wasn't like emotions. It was coming from within.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

Like my spirit was crying out yeah. My spirit was crying out for what he was going through, and so you can't read the scriptures, please.

Shanea:

And we pray that you will get to experience.

Walter:

And encounter the Holy Spirit.

Shanea:

Man.

Walter:

Encounter God in such a life changing way, because it's nothing greater.

Shanea:

No, it's the greatest miracle. It is. It's the greatest miracle. People don't tell you that and they just tell you to read your Bible, but they don't. They don't know, they don't have the Holy Spirit living in them. People are going to disagree with this.

Walter:

They're going to disagree with this, but when I started my encounter with God, god had me, not people. God had me because I didn't get saved.

Walter:

I didn't rededicate my life, or I believe, truly get saved in a church or anything. It happened in my apartment, with me and just God. It happened in my apartment with me and God, and so one of the first things that he had me doing, he had me praying. I was praying. I didn't even realize at the time I was travailing. I was birthing something forth in the spirit. The Bible touches on that.

Walter:

I found scriptures.

Walter:

I didn't even know what I was doing at the time until I found a scripture later on and I did research and I'm like, oh my gosh, I was travailing, I was listening to worship music. Finally, it got to the point of God saying you need to get word in you. And as I began to read the word, it hit differently now, because now the spirit of God was alive, my spirit was alive, and so the word, as I read it, it was just coming up off the pages and revelations were just flowing and it became life and I could hear the Spirit of God speaking and I can hear Him providing revelation after revelation and scriptures from the Old Testament tied to the New Testament, and he would take me to scriptures and be like this is what I meant and this is what I was saying and I could see the revelation. And then, on top of that, when I started listening to different leaders who actually have a relationship with God, they started saying the same things that God was telling me, only confirming what God was saying to me.

Shanea:

Yeah, and then it's like when you went back and listened to the people that you were listening to prior to your conversion.

Walter:

You realize they didn't know what you realize they didn't know what was I listening to. And they're missing out on so much greatness, so much greatness, but let's get back to this, okay, because we're geeking out.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

Did we?

Walter:

do that, quite a bit yes, matthew 5, 17. This is Jesus speaking. This is the NLT version. Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law would disappear, until its purpose is achieved, right. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Yes, but anyone who obeys God's laws and teaches them them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. When I was reading this and I I tied this into the other scripture what God was dropping in my spirit and what he said to me is that Jesus came essentially to give us the power needed by the spirit of God to keep the law.

Shanea:

Right, because we couldn't do it in our own strength.

Walter:

No, and what that ties into that scripture because that came up afterwards is Romans eight, one through four, and Romans eight, one through 4 says this Romans 8. You want to read it, baby? You want me to do it?

Shanea:

You got it because I.

Walter:

So Romans 8, 1 through 4, says this. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus, and because you belong to him, the power of the life giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature, so God did what the law could not do he sent his own son in a body like the bodies we sinners have, and in that body God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins. Right Romans 8, paul is essentially saying, and all throughout Romans, that the Spirit of God has now given us the power, or provided us with the power, to be free from this power of sin. Yeah.

Walter:

The power that sin had over our lives. Right, he literally came to give us the power to infuse the law with the power as we accept him. Yeah, so that we're able to literally fulfill the law.

Shanea:

The law still stands.

Walter:

It still stands. The only difference is between those who are religious versus those who have a relationship with the father. Those who are religious, they still rely on their own works. Those who have a relationship understand that it is only by faith in Jesus Christ, faith through the relationship, faith through the Holy Spirit, that you're able to fulfill the law.

Shanea:

Yeah, they rely on their own works and then, when they don't have a solution for your problem, it's like that's normal and it's not, and it's so, it's so they write it off as oh, that's normal, that's normal behavior. You're gonna feel like that.

Walter:

You're gonna be like that you're supposed to struggle with these desires?

Shanea:

you're supposed to struggle with these desires?

Walter:

and I'm telling you it's, I've been there, we've been there, we've dealt with it. Yeah, I'm telling you this because I know the life prior when I was trying to make myself righteous by keeping the laws. Yeah, it is impossible it's impossible. You will fail because it was never meant to be something that you did out of your own strength. God knew this. The whole bible shows us example after example after example of this family.

Shanea:

They tried, they failed, time after time after time. That's why we have Jesus Christ.

Walter:

It was not enough animals that could be sacrificed to make up for the amount of sin they did, because we are in a world full of sin, where the enemy is the prince of this world. It's not enough world. Yeah, it's not enough animals, no, it's not enough sacrificial offerings.

Shanea:

No, it's not enough animals, because then you have to sacrifice. Then you start sacrificing people. Yeah, and that's what they did for those other gods they started sacrificing children. Mm-hmm.

Walter:

So Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice to provide us with the power that we needed by way of the Holy Spirit, once we believe and we accept him as our Lord and Savior, to be able to fulfill the law through him.

Shanea:

Yeah, because we couldn't kill people Through faith in him. That's called murder.

Walter:

Why are you still on that? I know I was just thinking about it. Yeah, because we couldn't faith in him. That's called murder.

Shanea:

Why are you still on that?

Walter:

I know, I was just, I was just thinking about it so, um, and you said the word that we're not supposed to be saying oh dang, you're supposed to unalive so we're gonna let that be okay, unalive, all right, so, um, that's good we can't say it we're not gonna get sidetracked.

Walter:

So we've that's a lot that we've kind of brought out. Sheesh, that is a whole lot. We've dealt with all of that. We've dealt with the consequences um, we've dealt with a lot today. We've went through a lot of scriptures and I believe we've done it in record time have we?

Shanea:

I mean, we could still keep going. Where are we actually anyway?

Walter:

we've. We went through a lot of stuff. We've touched on a lot of stuff, have we?

Shanea:

I mean, we, we did kind of generalizely, general generalizely generalize.

Walter:

I'm not taking that out either. General Generalize. We did kind of generalize some stuff, no, but I believe we've given a lot of meat. Yeah. And the scriptures. I believe is really important that you go back and just kind of reflect on that.

Shanea:

Read those scriptures for yourself, yeah, and just go back and really ask yourself am I idolizing marriage?

Walter:

that why I'm not married. Is that why I'm still single? Or um? Am I married and idolizing my marriage? Yeah, you really have to. Or what, in general, are you idolizing? Am I idolizing my career? Am I idolizing money? Am I idolizing particular goals? As believers, specifically, we know that God comes first and we can put nothing above him.

Shanea:

Even I'm not even going to get into that what I was saying about like, even like the word, you know, like not consulting with God but just strictly, just going to scripture and not having an understanding.

Walter:

You're not going to like that, but it is possible for you to place.

Shanea:

esteem the word above God.

Walter:

There was something that it's like using his word against him. I have to find the man of God that said it. It was so good. He said you have to combine the word of God with the word of God. So you have the spoken word of God that you combine with the scripture. So a lot of times, even with us, for example, god will speak something to us and later on we will find that thing in the scripture.

Shanea:

This happened today as we were going through it.

Walter:

God would speak things to me, he would speak things to my wife and as he did those things, we found the scriptural evidence to back up what God said. He would even just play scriptures or say a part of a scripture in my ear or I would hear it in my spirit I'm sorry, and I would find that scripture and it would back everything up. And so the two goes together, what my wife is saying, that we have those out there. And even I was that way. I looked at the scripture and I thought the scripture was the end, all be all. I did not prior. I didn't prior prioritize my relationship with God, because I didn't know to prioritize my relationship with God, because no one told me, no one told me, hey, you're supposed to prioritize your relationship, you should be encountering God.

Walter:

It should not just be scripture. You should be hearing from the Holy Spirit, should be providing you with revelation from the scripture, because, if not, you're no different than anybody out any other. Occult out here. Right. That have a Bible Right that's using that said Bible.

Shanea:

Exactly.

Walter:

Because the occult does use scripture and, yes, satan used scripture.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

Satan gave scripture back to Jesus when he was trying to get Jesus to fall during Jesus' 40-day fast. Yeah. He used scripture to try to tempt Jesus. He used it out of context.

Shanea:

Yeah, he misconstrued, it.

Walter:

Yes, he misconstrued it and then he used it out of context, but he still used scripture.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

So, scripture aside, I think the greatest way to put that babe, scripture outside of the holy spirit can be very dangerous yes, because you don't have a revelation and you're just reading it's the holy spirit that brings forth the revelation. Scripture outside or scripture aside from the Holy Spirit can be very dangerous.

Shanea:

Because now you're just looking at the law.

Walter:

And hear us. We're not saying scripture is dangerous.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

We're saying let me say this one more time because there's going to be people in the comment section Scripture aside from the Holy Spirit is dangerous. It is. Because scripture Timothy lets us know, is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is dangerous. Because scripture Timothy, lets us know, is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Shanea:

Right, so if you don't have the Holy Spirit, it's like, it's literally like a coded. It's a coded book.

Walter:

It is a coded book.

Shanea:

We touched on this.

Walter:

In an episode previously, apostle Selman said what there's the historical side of scripture, there's the theological side of scripture and there's the spiritual side of scripture, and most people only go as far as the theological side. Yes, and we know that, and we know Paul stated what the wisdom of this world is foolishness in comparison to the wisdom of God. Paul was not in the world, paul was a theologian.

Shanea:

He was a theologian and he was out here killing Christians.

Walter:

He was a theologian, so he said that wisdom Unaliving Christians. Dang. He said that wisdom. You got to stop saying that.

Shanea:

I got to stop saying that.

Walter:

He said that wisdom is foolishness in comparison to the wisdom of God. So we have to understand that it is really important that we have the Holy Spirit, that we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, so we can truly understand scripture. Yeah.

Walter:

We have to understand that. It is very important that as we are going to leaders, they have the Holy Spirit as they are teaching you scripture. They have the Holy Spirit as they are teaching you scripture. They have a relationship with God. They have a changed life. They show and display the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. You are where God has called for you to be. So you don't have people out here that's giving you tainted word. You don't have people out here that's giving you word that's been infused with their own selfish desires. You don't have people out here that's using the word of God to manipulate you, to get you to do what they want you to do. What Nothing.

Walter:

That is very important. That is very important. That is very important because the Bible is so powerful in the wrong hands and the right hands. That's good. It's powerful in both. It's just a greater level in the right hands. Yes, the Bible says what the word of God is a sword.

Shanea:

Yeah, I was just thinking. You know, I always say the sword of the spirit is the word of God.

Walter:

And what does it cut between? It cuts between your flesh. Yeah. Your spirit and your soul.

Shanea:

Right, Flesh, spirit and soul. I know it was flesh, but I know what the other one was like. I don't remember.

Walter:

I don't know why Siri was speaking just now. Yeah, nobody's talking to her. No, no, I don't know why she answered and so I'm trying to um find that scripture.

Shanea:

It will um yeah, but as you were saying that, that popped up my head. The sword of spirit is word of god. You know, I got that from bible man.

Walter:

So if you have children, so that's Hebrews 4 and 12 and Hebrews. Hebrews in general and I'm not going to geek out Hebrews in general is good. Please read it please. I love Hebrews. There's so much good stuff in there. Hebrews is good, so Hebrews says this, says this and this is the NLT 4 and 12, for the word of God is alive and powerful. I love that, for the word of God is alive and powerful. We just talked about this.

Walter:

Yeah, we literally just said it, for the word of god is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. Yeah, it exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes and he is the one to whom we are accountable In the right hands.

Shanea:

Yeah, because they can. People can use it as a weapon against you. It's still a sword.

Walter:

It's still a sword in the right hands, the word of God is extremely powerful. It is the greatest thing that you can do, if you're going to be digging into this Bible, is have a relationship with God. No one who wrote it the one who wrote it the one who inspired it you have to because if not, you are missing out. So if we could leave you all with anything, baby, what would you leave them with?

Shanea:

I honestly, I really think like the most important thing. Idolizing a relationship or a person is just one thing, but we have tons of idols. There are many things that we place. We place before God as a priority, and in order to destroy these idols, we have to go through a wilderness season of allowing God to remove those idols from us free us from those idols from us.

Walter:

Free us from those idols and place us in a position where we have total reliance upon him. Yeah, we have to die to self.

Shanea:

Yeah, you have to die to self. But, and the thing is, a lot of people don't really understand what the wilderness season is. It literally is just you and God.

Walter:

Nothing else. No, because we see what happened with the children of Israel. It was a bunch of it was extended.

Shanea:

It was a lot of them, yeah, but they all had the same mindset. The only people that didn't have the same mindset of them was Moses, and whoever was very close to Moses. Everybody else. They got out of the wilderness the minute Moses would leave their behind.

Walter:

They would be quick to put an idol together.

Shanea:

Exactly so. You can't be around the same people. You can't be around the same places.

Walter:

Yeah, you have to allow God to lead you, because if I would have done some of the things that I did myself, like having to distance myself from people, I would not have been able to do it because, for example, my friends were my family oh, absolutely so.

Shanea:

It was very family was your family yeah.

Walter:

Yet my friends were so close, same. So when god um took me through that process of saying, no, you got to cut all of this off. He had to remove the desires to even speak. And there were moments where I'm like, okay, god, can I at least just tell him he's like no, yeah, and while I'm saying this to say to remove the desires to even speak, and there were moments where I'm like okay, can I at least just tell him he's like no.

Shanea:

Yeah, and while I'm saying this to say that a lot of people say they've gone or been through a wilderness season, but they're still doing and being in the same places.

Walter:

Yeah doing the same exact thing and part of going through the wilderness experience or the wilderness season is he removes everything, and the scripture tells us is that john? I believe that's john, but it touched on that when jesus left the world. It may be john. I don't think it's mark. It could be. Um, which one is it it talked about when he? It touched on the fact that when Jesus left, he left with the power of God.

Shanea:

Oh, is that Matthew?

Walter:

I don't think it's Matthew. You can check. I don't think it's Matthew. I want to read that because that's the beauty of the wilderness experience. The beauty of the wilderness experience is meant to place you in a position, and it probably is, luke, let me see. Yeah, well, luke, and this is. We touched on this and I'll read this real quick. Luke four and one says then Jesus, full of the Holy spirit, yes, return from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil for 40 days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. So the first thing that we will say to you is that when you receive the Holy Spirit by the example of Jesus, the first thing it's going to do, the first thing he's going to do, the first thing the Holy Spirit is going to do because the Holy Spirit is a person the first thing the Holy Spirit is going to do is lead you into the wilderness.

Shanea:

First thing, yeah, lead you away, set you apart, come out from among, out from among.

Walter:

But the beauty with all of that is verse 14. It says Luke 4, verse 14. Then Jesus returned to Galilee filled with the Holy Spirit's power. Yes, reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. Yeah, he taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

He was ushered in. He was ushered into the wilderness. Yes. With just the Holy Spirit. Exactly. He left the wilderness.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

With the power of the Holy.

Shanea:

Spirit and he was able to return, but he was a completely different person now.

Walter:

With the power, because he had the power, the power of the Holy Spirit.

Shanea:

To break sin.

Walter:

To do everything that God called him to do.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

But that was impossible outside of Jesus, going through the wilderness experience. So with us, whom God has called, and we have different assignments, we have different mandates. Yeah, we have have different assignments, we have different mandates. Yeah, we have a different purpose, you have to go through the wilderness experience so that, when you are finished with your wilderness experience, you have the power, even with the children of Israel, to overcome anything really Even with the children of Israel where God was taking them. The land was occupied.

Walter:

Yes, the children of Israel where God was taking them. The land was occupied. Yes, Part of what they were supposed to be doing is receiving the power as they went through the wilderness experience to take that land. Yes, you're right. So this is so powerful. He went in full of the Holy Spirit.

Shanea:

Hallelujah, thank you, thank you, holy Spirit he left with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Walter:

Hallelujah, thank you. Thank you, holy Spirit. He left, with the power of the Holy Spirit, your wilderness experience, and we're going to leave you with this. Yeah. Your wilderness experience is what gives you the power of the Holy Spirit. You completing your wilderness experience is what provides you with the power of the Holy Spirit to do everything that God has the Holy Spirit to do, everything that God has called for you to do.

Shanea:

Exactly.

Walter:

Outside of that, it's not going to happen and take the land. And take the land by force. Of course, by force. So, reflections, our desire and our hope is that with this, you will examine your heart, you will examine your relationships. Have you created idols out of your relationships? Yeah, have you created idols out of the idea of marriage? Yeah. Have you created these idols and, if so, we hope we pray that you will go to God and ask God to free you from these idols that you've created.

Shanea:

To show you where these idols are. Who these idols?

Walter:

are, so that nothing will stand in the way of you becoming everything God has called you to become, everything God has called you to become, so that nothing will stand in the way of you encountering and experiencing God like never before, especially in these days.

Shanea:

So there is nothing that the enemy can use to get you out of God's perfect divine will because you still have something in you that's tying you to a God that's not God.

Walter:

Mm-hmm. So the scripture list says know what? So when the enemy comes, he finds nothing in you. Mm-hmm. He finds nothing in you that he can use against you. Mm-hmm. He finds nothing in you that he can use against you. If you still have idols, he can use those idols against you. Yes, he can use those idols against you.

Shanea:

I think that's everything.

Walter:

Yeah, I think that's. I was trying to find that scripture, but you know.

Shanea:

Isn't that? Isn't it the same place?

Walter:

No, no, I think it's John 16 and 33. Let me see, and I keep trying to end this, but we keep going. I mean. John 16 and 33. Um. What is that scripture?

Shanea:

Yeah that's good too what you reading 1633 no, what I wrote down here, that elevating relationships in marriage above god leads to spiritual unfaithfulness and brokenness, and idolizing anything, even something as good as marriage, results in separation from God and, eventually, disillusionment.

Walter:

Touch on it.

Shanea:

Because we see marriage as good. There's a lot of things people see as good, but you can still make it an idol, even food.

Walter:

Marriage is good Marriage is Godly. Marriage is of God. Marriage was designed by God. We see that in Adam and Eve. He designed the first marriage. Money is good. When Marriage is godly, marriage is good. Marriage is of God. Marriage was designed by God. We see that in Adam and Eve.

Shanea:

He designed the first marriage. Money is good when you have it.

Walter:

But money can literally become your idol. The Bible says money is also the root of all evil.

Shanea:

The root of all evil.

Walter:

So John 14 and 30,. Jesus was speaking in LT. John 14 and 30. Jesus was speaking NLT. I don't have much more time to talk to you because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me, but I will do what the Father requires of me.

Shanea:

So that the world will know that I love the Father okay, eating.

Walter:

Listen, oh my gosh, right now. Oh, holy spirit, you're so amazing. You're so amazing. Let me read this again, and I promise we're about to end. I don't have much more time to talk to you because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me, but I would do what the father requires of me so that the world would know that I love the father. You show the world know that I love the father, you show the world that you love the father by being obedient.

Shanea:

Yeah, it's a love language. That is, that's the scripture.

Speaker 2:

You show the world you love the father by being obedient to him.

Walter:

That's how you show. You show the world and God. Yes. You show God, you show the creator of the heavens and the earth, that you love him.

Shanea:

Jesus literally said this, so that we will know what God's love language is it's obedience, it's obedience.

Walter:

We said this before, but this hits so much. Yeah. Because Jesus subjected himself to say I'm going to show the world.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

That I love my father.

Shanea:

And how do we show that we love God, the father? Obedience, being obedient.

Walter:

And the thing that I want to leave people with. Jesus said the ruler of this world approaches. Yes. Yet he said he has no power over me. You want to get to a place in the wilderness. Experience will allow you to get to that point where the enemy has no power over you. Yeah. Get to that place. That's the encounter in God. That's through receiving the Holy Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to usher you into the wilderness experience. Yeah. And that's what we're going to stop tonight.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

So we pray that this was a blessing to you. We thank you for listening. We've seen the comment sections. We've been responding. We see that it's been a blessing to everyone. If this is blessing you, please share it yeah, share it.

Shanea:

Like it. Comment. Comment your experiences. Yes, we want to hear Any questions. Anything else, Comment how this is blessing you all of it.

Walter:

We are here for it. This is a mandate that we've been placed on by God, so we are going to see this through. This isn't about us.

Shanea:

No, not at all. This is about us being obedient.

Walter:

This is about us putting forth the information that God told us to put forth. This is about us allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through us. Allowing us to be a vessel To reach those that God has called for to reach. So anything you want to say, no matter how many, people it reaches.

Shanea:

It can reach five people, seven people.

Walter:

God bless this isn't monetized. Nope, it's not and we're not able to.

Shanea:

We're not going to be able to. It's cool. It's not ours, it's the Lord's.

Walter:

Yes, he will provide. So anything else you want to add, babe.

Shanea:

No, I think we're good.

Speaker 2:

Okay, Well we will see you all next week and we hope you enjoy your week. Bye.

Walter:

Bye.