Stepping In Faith

Birthing Forth Ishmael's

• Stepping In Faith • Season 1 • Episode 9

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Why do we often rush ahead, mistaking an "Ishmael" for an "Isaac," and miss out on the blessings of God's perfect timing? In this enlightening discussion, we unravel the timeless biblical stories of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac, drawing powerful lessons about faith, patience, and obedience. As we navigate through scriptures like Galatians 4 and Genesis 15 and 16, we explore how our impatience can lead to conflict and delay the fruition of God's promises, urging you to trust in His divine plan.

Our journey reflects on the importance of spiritual discernment, particularly in relationships. We liken covenants to spiritual marriages and emphasize the significance of aligning our decisions with God's will. By examining the narrative of Abraham and Sarah, we highlight the dangers of settling for less and mistaking human solutions for divine promises. The stories of Hagar and Ishmael serve as poignant reminders of the unforeseen consequences that can arise when we act outside of God's guidance.

Throughout our conversation, we emphasize the need for a strong prayer life, self-discipline, and accountability to prevent poor choices. By contrasting biblical examples of faith and impatience, such as Mary’s trust versus the Israelites' misguided actions, we underscore the necessity of consulting God in every decision. Our exploration invites you to embrace obedience and trust, reassuring you that aligning your actions with God's plan will lead to fulfillment and the blessings of His covenant. Join us as we invite you to deepen your faith and let divine guidance illuminate your path.

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, together, we focus on the importance of having a relationship with God and how that relationship can impact the relationship you have with others. This is episode nine, and that was a lot.

Shanea:

Why your microphone all in the middle of your face?

Walter:

Is it? It looks that way from you, but not from them oh, okay so welcome back, even though my wife interrupted me. Uh, I'm your host, walter, and I'm joined here beside my lovely wife shanea like I said, this is episode nine. Yeah, uh, babe, what is the title of today's episode?

Shanea:

Today, the title of this episode is called Birthing Forth Ishmael.

Walter:

You're in an up north accent, but we're going to go with it. Yeah, so Birthing Forth Ishmael. Hmm, before we get started and dive into this week's episode, you prayed last week, right? I believe I did.

Walter:

Okay, so I guess it's my turn to pray. So we will do that. We say this every episode, or almost every episode. We are believers, so we like to open these episodes out in prayer. This is not our podcast. This podcast belongs to God. He told us to start it quite some time ago, and we had no other choice but to be obedient. And so here we are, so we will start off in prayer.

Walter:

Father God, as we come before you this afternoon, we thank you for your love. We thank you for your mercy, we thank you for your grace. We thank you, father God, that even in the midst of everything going on, you are still in control. We pray, father God, that this week episode will touch the hearts, god, of those that you've called for it to touch. God, holy Spirit, we yield to you. We ask that you would speak through us, let your word go forth. We decrease, asking that you would increase in us. We submit ourselves to you. Breathe upon this episode, breathe upon this home, god, breathe upon this word that you've given us. God, we thank you, father, god, for lives being changed, for lives being impacted. God, we thank you that people will come to know who you really are personally and that they will develop an intimate and personal relationship with you. God, lord Jesus, we welcome you in, we acknowledge you as our Lord and Savior, we yield to you and we submit to you even now, and it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Shanea:

Amen. I thought you were about to preach a sermon or something. That was kind of long.

Walter:

It was not that long.

Shanea:

It was.

Walter:

It wasn't that long.

Shanea:

I think it was a little long.

Walter:

All right.

Shanea:

But let the Holy Spirit use you, baby sometimes you get caught up. Sometimes it happened let him use you so here we are, episode nine nine birthing forth ishmael's.

Walter:

Of course, uh, every week we pray, uh on what god wants us to discuss for the upcoming episode. Uh, I believe that I had already asked god what he wanted me to touch on. A conversation I had with a friend over in arizona you know I'm talking about Rich came back to mind, and we were discussing Ishmael versus Isaac, where, like Romans was wrong.

Shanea:

My mics went out, I mean my headphones.

Walter:

I can't hear anything you're saying. Both of them went out.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

That is weird. Make sure you're plugged in. Can you hear me? Yes, I can.

Shanea:

Both of them went out. Yeah, that is weird, make sure you're plugged in.

Walter:

Can you hear me?

Shanea:

Yes, I can.

Walter:

Oh, so we had some issues, but we're going to go with it. We're not going to let the enemy stop what God has called. No, I'll monitor you. I can hear you. Okay. So we were going.

Shanea:

We were discussing. You were talking about how you was talking to Rich.

Walter:

Yeah About Ishmael versus Isaac. That is, I believe, Galatians 4, 21 through 28. So that came back to mind.

Shanea:

Galatians.

Walter:

Yeah, that's when Paul was discussing Ishmael versus Isaac, and so that came to mind and God was like he wanted me to discuss that it was the promise fulfilled and birthing forth Ishmael's. And so we know what Isaac versus Ishmael is right. And so we have Isaac right, which is the promise that God made to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah was bearing and God promised that Isaac would come through Sarah and Abraham and through that, the descendants of Abraham would be so numerous that even if he looked at the stars and tried to count them, he couldn't. We know that they struggled with that word when they came through by the Lord and they birthed forth Ishmael through.

Walter:

Hagar. So some of the scriptures that we're going to be discussing this week is Galatians 4, 21 through 28,. Proverbs 18, galatians 5, 25, genesis 15, 4 through 8, genesis 16, genesis 17, 21 through 15. I'm sorry, wait, genesis 17, 21 through what 15? No, that don't make sense Probably 21 through 25.

Shanea:

Genesis 21,. 8 through 13.

Walter:

Probably 21 through 25. Genesis 21, 8 through 13. And then we also have Luke 1, 26 through 38. Luke 2 and Matthew 1, 21.

Shanea:

And Exodus 32.

Walter:

When did you get Exodus 32?

Shanea:

The children of Israel.

Walter:

Okay, it's not in here so babe.

Shanea:

why is this important to understand Isaac versus Ishmael? Because it's important to understand the story of Abraham, sarah and Hagar, isaac and Ishmael, or Ishmael and Isaac, because it all stems from God promising you something and you have to wait for that promise to be fulfilled. So their story is a representation of when you are impatient and waiting on God, you can birth forth something that will cause strife, cause conflict cause tension will cause that promise to not be fulfilled. Yep.

Shanea:

And it would be direct disobedience to God, because it's a breaking of covenant in a way. But your birth, you become your own God. It's a breaking of covenant in a way, but your, your birth, you become your own God. Yes, essentially.

Walter:

Yeah, because, um, it's just it's. It's a reminder and I know that people don't like to hear this and our comment section on Instagram has been crazy but it's a reminder that you can make a covenant, but the promise that God made to you is linked or tied to the covenant he made with you and whomever he made that covenant with.

Shanea:

Yeah, it's like you can't make a covenant with God.

Walter:

But you can make a covenant with man Right, but you can make a covenant with man Right, but you can make a covenant with man.

Shanea:

And we see that and we'll talk on this story heavily throughout this episode.

Walter:

Yeah, Yet the promise that God made to Abraham was connected to the original covenant that God made with Abraham through Sarah.

Shanea:

Go ahead, no no, no, no, no, no. I was just saying that. So the story prior to Abraham and Sarah making an agreement between themselves to birth a child forth through Hagar was agreement between them. But prior to that, god had already made a covenant in agreement with Abraham.

Walter:

Yeah, which we can jump into right now, that's Genesis 15. Genesis 15 and 16. Well, I have specific scriptures that. I, because we're not going to read all of it because it's a lot, but you can read all of Genesis 15 if you like. So Genesis 15, beginning at verse four, or we can start up at verse one. You have it, babe, you there. No, no go ahead, okay.

Walter:

Sometime later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him do not be afraid, abram, for I will protect you and your reward will be great. But Abram replied O sovereign Lord, what good are all of your blessings when I don't even have a son, since you've given me no children? Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir. Then the Lord said to him no, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir. Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him look up into the sky and count the stars, if you can. That's how many descendants you will have. And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Then the Lord told him I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession. But Abram replied O sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it, actually possess it? So then it goes on that God gave him instructions on what to bring a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon and to sacrifice it.

Walter:

And we go down further, verse 17,. And it says let's see. No verse 18, uh, let's know. Verse 17. It says and the sun went down and darkness fell. Abram saw a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the hill, the halves of the carcasses. So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said I have, I have given this land to your descendants all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates river. And it goes on down to say dig further into that. But the biggest thing here, a few things to point out. God made a covenant with Abraham. He was known as.

Walter:

Abram at that time. Yet he made it specifically known to Abram that, no, it wouldn't come through your servant, Right? He said that he would birth forth a child. Abram was trying to figure out, because he knew that Sarah was bearing. And so now this was the introduction of the covenant that God made with Abraham and Sarah. So we start there, right. And he told him that you know, if you look up to the stars, if you can count it, that's how numerous your descendants are going to be. Of course, Abraham could not count the stars, so he was saying your descendants were going to be significant. Now we dig. He was saying your descendants were going to be significant, Now we dig, we dig. I would say we go further. I'm sorry, and we look at.

Walter:

Sarah and we see with her and Hagar, and I think that's chapter 16 or 17, that Ishmael was birthed for it. Yeah, do you want to read maybe chapter one or first one through five?

Shanea:

um, okay, so the birth of ishmael um, genesis 16 and LT verse one. Now Sarah, uh, abram's wife had not been able to bear children for him, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarah said to Abram the Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her. And Abram agreed with Sarai's proposal. So Sarai, abram's wife, took Hagar, the Egyptian servant, and gave her to Abram as a wife. This happened 10 years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan. So he had sexual relations with Hagar and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram this is all your fault. I put my servant into your arms, but now that she's pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who's wrong you or me.

Walter:

So we see chapter 15,. God made a promise to Abram or Abraham. Chapter 16, abraham and Sarah try to fulfill the promise, because it was some years later since the promise had been made and we see immediately from them trying to fulfill the promise. Because it was some years later since the promise had been made, and we see immediately from them trying to fulfill the promise. And it was more so, sarah, that actually encouraged abraham to sleep with hagar, which birthed forth ishmael she gave him a wife.

Walter:

That stood out to me why did that stand out to you?

Shanea:

because it didn't say like she just gave him to her, she presented another wife for him. Well, when back then, when you're sleeping with people, you create covenants, yes, you still create covenants. You create covenants, you kind of get married in the spirit yeah, you still create covenants.

Walter:

We don't.

Shanea:

We don't touch on that, and people may not like to hear that they don't want to hear it, but when you have sex with people, you're creating a covenant, a tie.

Walter:

Yes, but we saw once again Sarah, and we talked about this earlier today. It reminded us of Adam and Eve. Yeah. God made a promise to Abraham, told him what he was going to do. Yeah.

Walter:

He made a covenant with Abraham. Yeah, abraham told his what he was going to do. Yep, he made a covenant with Abraham Yep. Abraham told his wife Sarah. Sarah tried to fulfill the covenant because she's like I can't give you a child. We're getting older, so let me give my servant Hagar to you and she can bear a child for us.

Shanea:

But Abraham didn't go back to God and say hey, god, this is something that me and Sarah are thinking about. What do you think? No different than even Adam in the garden.

Walter:

But if he were to listen closely to what God has said, if he would listen closely to what the Lord has said to him, he told him that the child would come through. The child would not come through a servant. So if the child was not going to come through the servant, that means the child was going to come through you and Sarah, right. So one of the things I think this kind of showcases that we have no patience, and I think about every aspect of our lives. But this is a relationship podcast, so we will tie this into relationships. The Bible says that God said that it's not good for man to be alone. Right.

Walter:

Yet Genesis two and we've touched on this so many times it stated that God would find a helper that's suitable for Adam and it stated that God put Adam into a deep sleep. And it stated that God removed a rib from Adam and God used that rib to create Eve and God brought Eve back to Adam. So for us we look at, there's a desire for us to be married, there's a desire for us not to be alone. But the issue is God has already promised that to us, that he knows that that desire is inside us. And the Bible also tells us he said something specifically to Adam and Eve. He said be fruitful and multiply and have dominion, so post the new covenant with Christ.

Walter:

We know this takes us back to Genesis 2. It's God's desire for us to fall back into his perfect plan. We know that your mind has to be renewed. You have to go through a process of transformation. You have to go through the wilderness experience, consecration, holiness, sanctification, and it all gets you back to a point where you have your entire life that is submitted unto the will of God. But the issue with humans is that we are in a space where we don't want to wait on God. Yeah, what little faith.

Walter:

So we go forth in every area of our lives, birthing forth Ishmael's.

Shanea:

Right In every part of our lives. We're not talking about just children.

Walter:

And what the Holy Spirit said to me. He said a lot of people don't experience their Isaac because they settle for Ishmael that is so deep. A lot of people don't experience their Isaac because they settle for Ishmael.

Walter:

They think, but they mistake their Ishmael for Isaac becauseac because ishmael while he was blessed, he was also cursed and he when you dig into the scripture and we'll read that, because they're going to come again in the comment section and I don't feel like it um with it with the angel of the lord, genesis 16, we already read that. The Bible says verse 7, the angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness along the road of Shur. The angel said to Hagar, sarai's servant, where have you come from and where are you going? I'm running away from my mistress, sarai said. She replied the angel of the Lord said to her return to your mistress and submit to her authority. Then he added I will give you more descendants than you can count.

Walter:

And the angel also said you are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, which means God hears, for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey. That don't sound like a blessing Mm-mm. The only thing that I heard had that was and that's what the Holy Spirit was given to me this morning the angel of the Lord said that Hagar's descendants through Ishmael would be great.

Shanea:

Yeah, and the angel comes back or I don't know if it's the same angel, but there's another when Abraham and Sarah kick them out and they're in the wilderness. An angel comes again and lets them know, and I don't remember which chapter it is oh, we're gonna dig into it, but go ahead that, um, that, uh, ishmael would have many descendants and he will birth fourth princes. Uh, but it didn't say that he was going to be blessed with anything else. He's fulfilling the blessing of. Abraham, because God told Abraham that all his descendants will be blessed.

Walter:

Well, he would be blessed to have many descendants. So he got that part of what God said.

Shanea:

Yeah, but Ishmael is not the heir.

Walter:

But it also came unfortunately, and people are going to hate this it came with a curse. If you read what the angel of the Lord said to Ishmael's mother, hagar, that was a curse. That's not a blessing. No.

Shanea:

When you are against everyone and everyone is against you. Ishmael's descendants, and this is why genealogy is so important in the Bible. When you read through it, you can follow patterns, just because there's not a specific scripture to validate what we're saying. You can go through the genealogy and see who Ishmael birthed, see who he birthed His children and his children's children. They were all rivals. He birthed Babylon, direct rival against Israel, against God.

Walter:

Because Sarah and Abraham tried to fulfill the promise themselves.

Shanea:

Outside of God's will. Outside of God's will.

Walter:

And we're going to dig into that too, because it's a key point and I don't want to jump ahead when Abraham wanted God to honor the covenant through Ishmael.

Shanea:

So we have a lot of people in the comments saying that God blesses all covenants and this is a clear and he honors all covenants.

Walter:

This is a clear indicator that he only blesses the covenants that he created. Right and people keep arguing us with the word recognize and honor you can pray, you can ask him to have mercy on a covenant that you created or something that you created. Yet when we see the angel of the Lord speak, then the descendants were numerous, yet literally we saw what happened.

Shanea:

Your promise is fulfilled, it becomes tainted. God's will.

Walter:

When you try to. It's as simple as this when you try to fulfill, when you try to fulfill God's promise for your life by way of your own means, you taint that because you're trying to fulfill God's promise through your flesh, which is what Paul was touching on. Right. Versus allowing the Spirit of God to fulfill that promise, because the Bible teaches us that God watches over His Word.

Shanea:

To perform, to perform that Word.

Walter:

And so what happened with Abraham and Sarah? They didn't believe that they could have an Isaac. They didn't believe they could have that. So they felt like, okay, god made this promise, so it's our responsibility to fulfill it. They moved in their flesh and once again it ties back to Abraham. I mean to Eve and Adam, because Sarah was the one that actually encouraged Abraham to do what he did, just like Eve encouraged Adam to do what he did, just like Eve encouraged Adam to do what he did. So that touches on women and men, but specifically men, if God has called you to be the head of the household, if he's called you to be a leader.

Walter:

First, you have to have a relationship with God. Second, you have to know the voice of God. You have to be naked and unashamed before God, like Adam was, and even in the midst of that, you have to be at a space where you will yield to God and do whatever he says, however he says, and you have to stand firm on that word, to where no one, including your spouse, can get you to change that.

Shanea:

Even back in Genesis, god was like why did you even listen to her? You're not supposed to listen to her. You're supposed to consult with me first.

Walter:

But women, this thing goes for you all too. The same thing can be applied to you. There's areas in your life that God has said something to you. You can't allow your husband or anyone else to tell you differently. You also have to get to a place in God where you are naked and unashamed before God, where you have an intimate and personal relationship with God. The Bible says what Draw close to God and he will draw close to you.

Walter:

So, what that lets us know that it is our responsibility to cultivate a relationship with the father. And as we cultivate that relationship with the father, we will learn his voice. We will recognize his voice and through doing so, when he speaks and say something, we stand on that and no one can stop us from believing that.

Shanea:

Right, but it's important to look at the pattern where God is speaking to the husband first, he gives commands to the husband first.

Walter:

In the what's the word when we're, like within the confinements of a marriage? Yeah. Now, if you are single, god is speaking to you. Yes, because when you are married, what should be happening is your husband should be hearing from God.

Shanea:

Yeah, he should be the head.

Walter:

And then it follows all the way down to wife, then to children, spiritually, yeah, he should be the head, and then it follows all the way down to wife, then to children. Spiritually, yeah, the problem is and we dealt with this before um, society and culture have, especially within the African-American community, um, we've gotten to a place where we are used to women being the head of the household.

Shanea:

spiritually, it's not even just the our community base.

Walter:

You think it's everyone.

Shanea:

It's everyone, because we were just listening to that other podcast last night and it was still put on the wife to if your husband isn't going to church, if he isn't doing this then the wife needs to be the one to war in the spirit.

Walter:

Yeah, I guess everybody got praying mamasmamas, aunties, great aunties and we were talking about this.

Shanea:

It's just so crazy to me, because jesus is a man, jesus is a man, paul is a man, abram's a man adam is a man adam is a man and we see all of these different examples we see all these different apostles of god speaking to them first, and they were all men and they pray, praying and they had oh they had great relationships with the Father.

Walter:

They prayed, they saw His face out, they cried before the Lord, they communed with Him, they spent time with Him.

Shanea:

But many say, men, they shouldn't. They're not that emotional, they shouldn't be out here praying on their knees and crying out to Jesus, because they're men, jesus specifically.

Walter:

He even showed, in the Garden of Gethsemane, an example. The Bible says that his soul was crushed to the point of death, the amount of sorrow that he was experiencing. No, you should, and I think that's the issue, because the Bible touches on watchmen and I believe that it's important that, men, you are supposed to be the watchman for your family. Let me say that in the camera.

Walter:

Men, you are supposed to be the watchman for your family. It's unfortunate that we are in a culture where men are not held accountable with being who God has called them to be. I blame men, and I blame women, though.

Shanea:

Yeah, yeah, no, because the women are the enablers.

Walter:

Yes.

Shanea:

The men just don't. They don't take any initiative to change or want to lead.

Walter:

So we are talking about Abraham and Ishmael and Sarah and Hagar. As we just read Genesis 15, god the Lord spoke to Abram, not Sarah. He spoke to Abram, not Sarah. He spoke to Abram. He came to Abram first, which means that Abram was in a place to be able to receive from the Lord. Now there are examples we see with Mary that the angel of the Lord went to Mary because there was something specific that he wanted that was connected to Mary, but majority of the examples we see God going to man.

Shanea:

But God did still go to Joseph.

Walter:

He did go to Joseph as well and said hey, you got to marry her, sorry.

Walter:

Calm down, bro, because you're thinking about putting her away and you're not going to do that. And so that's a key about. We think about finances, we think about career, we think about having a house, we think about all of this. Let me get into the gym, let me do all of these things. Yet we are many men are weak spiritually. You have no prayer life, you have no self-discipline with regards to things of God. You have no accountability, because true accountability comes through the Holy Spirit.

Walter:

Conviction, Conviction, the greatest thing, which keeps you from doing things that you don't need to do, and all of that comes through having a relationship with God, and so we have to get back to a point where we encourage men to seek God's desperately, and that that is the first thing that you do before trying to entertain a relationship or marriage. Because people are coming for us in the comment section because we're saying that you should submit everything you do, including your partner, to God, and so who you live the rest of your life with should be based on who God leads you to.

Shanea:

Yeah, and it's crazy because we were just talking. It's just, we have all these leaders in the faith who are like I'm going to consult God before I write this book, I'm going to consult God before I step into ministry, I'm going to consult God before I do this or this and this, I have to consult with him, or he's told me I can't do this yet.

Shanea:

But they're still also the ones that say you could choose your spouse, you can do whatever you want to do you could choose your spouse and God is gonna bless it because it's it's a marriage but it's not God but they don't ever tell you you should go to God first and let him lead you to your spouse. It's just like, yeah, you should, but if you don't, it it's okay. And it's so sad because we're all out here just jacked up Like nobody has a revelation, and we thank God for blessing us with this revelation that he's given us.

Walter:

Yes, and it wasn't easy to come to, because it is your entire life having the understanding that you have to submit it to God and it's not the popular thing to do, because people want to do what they want to do and it just ultimately comes down to the fact that we want to be our own God. Or, more importantly, we misconstrue and we think that God serve us and we don't understand it. We serve him. So, because we feel like God serves us, we're like, ok, I can do whatever I want to do. So, because we feel like God serves us, we're like, okay, I can do whatever.

Walter:

I want to do and I will submit this to God and he's going to bless it because he's such a gracious and merciful God.

Shanea:

Yeah, well, that's where the enemy deceives us, and we were talking about that that just because we have choices, we think we could be our own God.

Walter:

And you have choices.

Shanea:

The enemy makes us think that. Well, because we're made in god's image and god gets to choose, we also get the ability to choose. But we have to choose within the confinements of his will. God don't have a confinement, he get to choose whatever he want to do, when he want to do it, because he's god and we're not god we're like him in that we can choose.

Shanea:

We just have to either choose life or death. We either have to choose his way or our way, and the enemy is always going to get us to choose our way.

Walter:

Yes, that's very true, and it goes back to this we were given a choice because God just won us. God is not a dictator, yet we have to also understand.

Walter:

I think it's so important to get this, because God is not a dictator. Yet we have to also understand. I think it's so important to get this. Psalms 139 shows that God knows every decision that you're going to make. So let's switch this out. Why not be in a position where you submit every single decision to God, since he knows what's ahead of you? It's almost like a train wreck is ahead. God knows, the train wreck is ahead. You know that God knows that a train wreck or whatever is ahead, but you still choose to do whatever you want to do without consulting with him. I don't understand it. We talked about the GPS system before. You have a whole GPS system to get where you want to get to or where you need to get to, but you don't use it. You're in an unknown location, you've never been there before and you're going to find your way to wherever you're going and end up like the children of Israel where they were in the wilderness for 40 plus years, I believe, and literally all of them die.

Shanea:

Yes, except for two.

Walter:

The next generation is what went on to see the promised land? Because of disobedience, because you want to do what you want to do. And so now, when we dig into, let's see because I think we've already touched on the consequences we are. Where are we at, babe? Because we talked about a lot of stuff. We talked about the. We kind of discussed the tension between Hagar and Sarah, but it was more so well there was.

Walter:

There was tension with Sarah, with Hagar, because of how Hagar act when she gave Abraham a child. You know how it be with women. Sometimes it's like you, like you can't even have kids.

Shanea:

Right, so it's just acting outside of God's will will lead you to relational discord and competition, long lasting struggles, strife, all these things that people keep saying oh, it's just normal, like you should. You should go through those things and it's just like no, you don't have to. People choose to do that. No, because you choose things outside of God's will.

Walter:

Well, this is the thing that we have to understand, and I don't. Where's that scripture? At what paul? Was it paul speaking? We found the scripture where he was talking about how, uh, there's suffering that's produced by your own oh, that's peter.

Shanea:

That was peter what?

Walter:

what chapter was that? Um uh dang dang, dang dang uh let me see first peter three and eight hold on.

Shanea:

It's in my notes and I just highlighted it I think I got it.

Walter:

I think it's first peter three and eight it's first peter three and eight four it's not three and eight.

Shanea:

It's four, four, 14 through 19.

Walter:

14 through 19?. Okay, I see.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

Yeah 14.

Shanea:

14 through 19.

Walter:

Okay, let's see, let me get there on the phone so that I can read it, because this mic is in my face and I can actually move this out. There we go, because you saw my being in my face anyway, okay so it was in your face yeah, yeah, um, and you said it's first Peter 4 yeah, first Peter, 4 through 14 okay there we go, I mean 14.

Walter:

And I'm really. We're reading NLT beginning at verse 14, 1 Peter 4. If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing. But I had a dream and we talked about this before who have never obeyed God's good news. So I won't go into full details with the dream. But I had a dream and we talked about this before.

Shanea:

All right, so it's. And then 19 says so if you're suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right and trust your lives to the God who created you, where he will never fail you.

Walter:

Okay, so this goes back to a dream I had, and I'm not going to go into the dream, but I'll go with the message that God was giving me. The message that God was giving me was that there are those who make decisions that are not of God and they suffer because those are decisions and they think that they're suffering because of the name of Christ. And that's not suffering, that's self-produced suffering.

Walter:

That's not suffering because of the name of christ, right, suffering because of the name of christ is that christ told you to do something and you do what he told you to do and it produces forth suffering, right. So an example is the disciples going forth and preaching the message, and preaching the word of god and them being stoned and them being um cutting or you. You know the stuff that took place. We can't I don't know if we can say it, but they went through some, really they went through a lot of suffering.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

And.

Shanea:

Martyring for.

Walter:

Jesus, exactly that's suffering.

Shanea:

Becoming a martyr for Jesus is suffering. But you making decisions is not suffering, because Peter says it right here If you suffer, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble or prying into other people's affairs. Now some people will take that literal, but it's literally saying you made decisions that are causing you to suffer.

Walter:

Exactly.

Shanea:

These are all decisions. To murder someone is a decision. Stealing is a decision. Making trouble is a decision. Prying into other people's affairs is a decision.

Walter:

Unallow someone. But yeah, I guess that's scripture, so we have to say it. So yeah, those are decisions that you made.

Walter:

Yes, scripture yes, so it's a difference between suffering based on decisions that you made and suffering in the name of Christ. So when we go right back into this, I think we were going to go to Genesis 16. Actually, genesis 17 is the next place that we're going. Genesis 17 is where god is speaking to abraham again. Right, uh, verse one uh.

Walter:

When abram was 99 years old, the lord appeared to him and said I, I am El Shaddai, god Almighty, serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants. At this, abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him this is my covenant with you. I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations and kings will be among them. You see the difference between when he spoke to Hagar versus him speaking to Abraham and Sarah, With Hagar and Abraham it was princes.

Walter:

But, with Abraham and Sarah. It was kings. Okay, I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant. I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant. I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you, and I will give you the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever and I will be their Lord.

Walter:

Now it digs further and tells him that for this covenant to be true, it's important that he obey Verse nine. I won't read it all, but it states then god said to abraham your responsibility, your responsibility comment section your responsibility, people. That's trying to come for us because we took, we're doing what god told us to do. Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants. Their responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. So and it digs into circumcision da-da-da-da-da from generation to generation.

Walter:

Now what we understand and the challenge people have is I believe people don't understand the importance of studying the Bible and being led by the Holy Spirit. So if it's saying here, right within this particular covenant, that is Abraham's responsibility to obey that said covenant, covenant, to keep the terms of that covenant, that's what any covenant that God gives to us. It is our responsibility to obey the terms and condition. We see in all regards.

Walter:

If you don't follow the terms and conditions if it's a protection plan for your tires, if it's a protection plan for your electronics or whatever it may have be if you don't follow the terms and conditions of that said agreement, it becomes null and void. Well, the same thing goes to God. The same thing applies Even in Christ. The same thing applies you giving your life to Christ, you dedicating your life to serving God, does not mean because you still have to continue to work out your own salvation. It is through faith. It is through faith in Christ Jesus and you accepting him as your Lord and Savior and you being baptized within the Holy Spirit and receiving the Holy Spirit, that you have the power now to actually adhere to those covenants the terms and conditions.

Shanea:

Through repentance, yes, like the covenant that he made with David, but repentance is what Turning away Repentance is not.

Walter:

God forgive me for doing this. Now I'm going to go do the same thing. That's why every time Jesus would heal people, he would say what?

Walter:

Go and sin no more. He was telling them you have to repent for what you've done. Now Repenting is not God forgive me per se, it is part of that but repentance in its entirety is a complete change of your lifestyle. It's changing what you once did. That is true repentance. So he touched on Abram. He told us what Abram. He said he would give him numerous descendants. He said he would have kings. Yeah. Right, and that's what we see. That ties into Hagar and Ishmael.

Shanea:

Yeah, and that's the thing where the Holy Spirit was dealing with you on and saying that people settle for Ishmael's and never get their Isaac's. Because people are okay with princes and not kings. They think that princes are. You know, that's great if I have a prince, but why not have a king?

Walter:

But they forget the part why not birth kings? But they forget the part when God told Ishmael's mother that you would deal with nothing but strife.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

Meaning you would deal with nothing but problems. Yes, Meaning you would deal with nothing but problems Discord. Right. Everywhere. Yes, all your descendants. Yeah, discord, they forget that part. Yeah.

Walter:

They forget that part. You want to do what you want to do and you want to discord, and you want the princes instead of the kings. Yeah. Yet the key thing is verse 15, when he spoke about Sarai. It says Then God said to Abraham Regarding Sarai, your wife, her name will no longer be Sarai. From now on, her name will be Sarah, and I will bless her, and I will bless her, and I will bless her, yes, and give you a son from her.

Walter:

Yes, I will bless her richly and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will be among her descendants. Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. How could I become a father at the age of 100, he thought, and how can Sarah have a baby when she is 99, when she's 90 years old? 99?.

Shanea:

I think is's a 99 is 90 when she's 90 years old.

Walter:

So Abraham said to God may Ishmael live under your special blessing. But God replied no, sarah, your wife will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant. I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant. As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked, I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants, he will become the father of 12 princes and I will make him a great nation.

Walter:

But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year. When God had finished speaking, he left Abraham. That's a lot to take in, huh. People don't like this.

Shanea:

No, they don't like this because people want to do what they want to do, but we have to follow law. Like there's a pattern when you go outside God's will, you're either going to get blessings or you're going to get curses. And this is all. We're going to continue to keep preaching.

Walter:

Because it's the reality of what it's saying. What we saw here is two things Preaching, because it's the reality of what it's saying what we saw here is two things, and this is what God was dealing with me on.

Speaker 5:

Part of the blessing of that covenant was tied to Abraham and the other part was tied to Sarah.

Walter:

The reason that Isaac has everything that Isaac has, and everything came through Isaac, is because he received not only blessings from his father, but also his mother, yes, who God made a covenant with.

Shanea:

Yes, whoever finds a wife. Finds the Bible, finds treasure and this is what we touched on and obtains favor from the Lord. Exactly so it's not every wife that you get to choose, it's just the one.

Walter:

It's not whoever finds the wife that they want. It's whoever finds, or is led to, the wife that God has called them to.

Shanea:

Whoever God has called you to finds a treasure and obtains favor from the Lord.

Walter:

Because people are going to say the same scripture, but it is scripture and you just have to.

Shanea:

You need to have the Holy Spirit in you to understand this. You got to understand this by the spirit, and we're about to say this and you can tie.

Walter:

We're about to say this. God told me in the beginning, when we, when I started my encounter with him, he he took me to Genesis two. He took me to the part where he and I said this before where he removed the rib from Adam and placed it in Eve. And once again what God said to me, what the Holy Spirit revealed to me is he never stopped doing that. He never stopped doing that. He never stopped that.

Speaker 5:

So if you believe that God has called you to marriage, because we see examples of those that was not Jesus prime example.

Walter:

God has taken a part of you, man out of you before you were even born, and placed it in the woman that he called for you to be with.

Shanea:

Well, we are Jesus's bride. He is in us and we are in him and we become one. That is true, so we are the bride of course we are the bride, so I'll take that back then.

Walter:

Yes, so, but Sorry, from an earthly perspective, he never got married.

Shanea:

Right.

Walter:

So, but from a spiritual perspective.

Shanea:

But we know that marriage is spiritual.

Walter:

Which people came for us with as well. Right and Jesus is a prime example of showing that marriage actually is spiritual.

Shanea:

It is actually spiritual.

Walter:

So, with that being the case, right, you may not like it, but this is just the reality of what it is. It's not something that's supposed to feel good, but we see this example. We saw Abraham because he had doubts that God could fulfill the promise through him and Sarah, which is why he pushed Ishmael in.

Shanea:

Right, he was impatient.

Walter:

And God was like no, I will bless Ishmael because of you, but he's not tied to this. Right. The covenant that I've made the covenant because God went back to speaking and touching on the covenant. The covenant I made is through you and Sarah by way of Isaac. That's who I made a covenant with and those blessings are tied to that said covenant.

Shanea:

And people can argue all they want, but there's plenty of examples, other examples in the Bible, where God has given a command, has made a covenant and people haven't honored it and they become cursed.

Walter:

Yes.

Shanea:

Samuel comes to Saul and says to tell Saul to go ahead of him to Gilgal and he will come down in seven days and they can sacrifice burnt offerings. But then in 1.

Shanea:

Samuel 13, when Saul's actually in battle. He's scared because he's losing soldiers. And it's been seven days and Samuel hasn't showed up yet, so he goes ahead. And it's been seven days and, um, samuel hasn't showed up yet, so he goes ahead. And it's it's very clear in the bible where it says saul did not consult with the lord before he, uh, presented these burnt offerings. And then, after he presented those burnt offerings, there comes samuel. And samuel is like you know, you curse right and your kingdom is going to be destroyed because you didn't follow God's commandment, you didn't wait on the Lord, you became impatient.

Walter:

The challenge becomes waiting on God.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

That's the challenge for us all is just simply waiting on the Father, and it always gets us in trouble when we don't.

Shanea:

Because you start doing things to fulfill a promise that God promised you and you think it's in your doing.

Walter:

You think you can create your own covenants with God, and God is going to bless it, and this is what we can dig into this. Let me see, are we there yet? I'm looking. Let me see, are we there yet? Um, I'm looking, I'm looking. You can keep going. We could cause we've been going for a little bit, so we gotta. Well, we talked about a lot of stuff. Um, we have, and this, this happened before we get some good stuff we could keep going.

Shanea:

I know we gotta get ready to go to. Yeah so get ready to go to church.

Walter:

So, continuing on in this, what God brought back to my attention is Proverbs 18 and 22. And we touched on that already. He, a man who finds a wife in LT States finds a treasure and obtain favor from God, and so that was tied back into Sarah, the blessings being tied to Sarah, and I know that we have this desire to see the fulfillment of God's promises in our lives. But I believe what this shows us an example of is the importance of waiting on God, because when we don't, not only will it negatively impact us, yet also it's still not going to be blessed by God. No.

Walter:

The covenant is not going to be fulfilled.

Shanea:

No.

Walter:

Because in a sense you could say oh well, ishmael was blessed, but was he? No, was he.

Walter:

No, you could say, oh well, ishmael was blessed, but was he no? Was he no? What jesus, what? What? What god was saying the lord was saying with jesus? He was saying that, um, whatever is tied to you is tied to him, so I'll at least let him have that. But that covenant that you and sarah made I don't recognize. That's not something I recognize. People ain't gonna like that either. But is that's not something I recognize because it's not my covenant? Right, I acknowledge that you made the covenant.

Walter:

I do, but still what I said to you is tied to the covenant that I made with you. I made the covenant with you. You can make a covenant with man Right, but I made that covenant with you. So the covenants I make with you are the covenants that I bless. That receives the fulfillment Right Of my blessings upon your life.

Shanea:

Right, and that's in one of the revelations I got earlier, when we was reading about God's promise for salvation and redemption through Jesus Christ.

Shanea:

The promise about God's promise for salvation and redemption through Jesus Christ, the promise, and without going to him, without acknowledging Jesus, we start to become our own gods, redeeming ourselves, being our own redeemers, being our own helpers, being our own counselors. When the promise is only through Jesus Christ, your fulfillment is only through Jesus Christ. It's not in Baal, it's not in Satan, it's not in the Christ, it's not in bow, it's not in Satan, it's not in, it's not at the spa, it's not in money, it's not in any other other deity. It's only through Jesus Christ.

Walter:

And you're referring to Exodus 32. Yeah, and you're also referring to Luke 1, 26 through 38, when angel of the lord tells mary that god's promise is coming in the form of a savior, which is jesus yeah and her willingness to trust god's plan versus creating her own way to fix things, unlike the israelites.

Walter:

But the golden calf shows the importance of waiting and accepting the savior god has promised and we saw with mary that a few days later when she went to see her cousin that immediately John, yeah, john, jumped received the Holy Spirit Exactly. And so she was pregnant because of her faith Not to fulfill the promise herself, or try to figure it out, right, just accept that it wasn't going to happen.

Walter:

She didn't say oh, let me go have intercourse with my husband To make this happen, to make this baby happen, and God's going to bless that baby and the Holy Spirit is going to fill the baby.

Shanea:

She didn't say how am I going to get pregnant. She just received it, Right.

Walter:

And so we have to learn to receive, and then let it be and let God do the work, and that's what Paul was touching on, and we can go there. Uh, that's galatians 4, 21 through 28, and this is what paul was touching on in galatians, which started all of this out.

Shanea:

Actually, you said galatians, what for?

Walter:

21 through 28 and it says uh, tell me who you want to live under the law, or tell me who you want to live under the law. Oh, tell me you who want to live under the law. Do you not know what the law actually says? The scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God's promise, but the son of the freeborn wife was born as God's own fulfillment of his promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai, where people received the law that enslaved them, and now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman and she is our mother.

Walter:

As Isaiah said, rejoice, O childless woman. You who have never given birth, break into a joyful shout. You who have never been in labor for the desolate, this part right here is so good to keep the law. Just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. And we know later on when we dig into Genesis, Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, was sent away because Ishmael was picking on Isaac and the angel of the Lord and I believe it was. Let me make sure I don't want to misquote that is Genesis. Is that Genesis 21? Let me see, because I want to make sure, because I don't want to just misquote, but to see who I believe it was the angel of the Lord.

Shanea:

What that confirmed Abraham to send him away?

Walter:

No, that, yeah, to send them away. Was it the angel of the Lord or was it? Who was it?

Shanea:

I don't remember seeing it. I thought Abraham just sent them away. I think he was just talking to God.

Walter:

No, he was sent away. Verse yeah, it was 21. Genesis 21, verse 8. When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. But Sarah saw that Ishmael, the son of Abraham, and her Egyptian servant Hagar she saw them making fun of her son, isaac. So she turned to Abraham and demanded get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, isaac. I won't have it, but God. So it was. God told Abraham tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted, but I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar's son, because he is your son too.

Shanea:

And this is what's hard too is because, um, we created these Ishmaels and we didn't consult with God. But in order to really see this fulfillment in this promise that God has promised us, we have to kind of get rid of the Ishmaels in our lives.

Walter:

That's challenging.

Shanea:

It's challenging because it's something that you did, it's something that you wanted.

Walter:

And Ishmael can be the representation of anything it can be a career, it could be anything. Are you willing to be at a point where God says you have to let that go, that you will let it go? Yeah. Because what God was saying to Abraham is do not allow this to come in between or become a distraction to what I've already promised you, what I've already said the covenant would be and who the covenant would be tied to.

Shanea:

Yeah, like this can't go with you into this season that I'm trying to take you into. Because it's, something that you did. There's consequences.

Walter:

The consequences are you're not going to be around your son, and it was hard for Abraham to deal with. Yeah. And so that's the whole come out from amongst them. Yeah, and so let's the whole come out from amongst them. Yeah.

Walter:

And so let's just speak to this. In no way do we condone divorce, Mm-hmm. Condone divorce. The biggest thing that we always try to get in the whole reason for this podcast is that we have to come to an understanding of consulting with God on who we marry so it does not end in divorce. We know for a fact it's not even a belief. We know that the reason that many divorces end, especially within the body of Christ, is because you don't consult with God. The divorce is end because you pick and choose who you want to be with. Right.

Walter:

That's why y'all divorce is end. Right. And so, with that being the case, that's why your marriage is end. Because God is not in it.

Shanea:

Yeah, and you try to bring.

Walter:

God in after you've already made the decision that this is who you want to be with, because you want to be your own God. Right. And then you try to find scriptures to justify your sin. Then you get mad when people tell you that it's sin and that you are wrong, because God is supposed to lead and direct every single area and every single part of your life. So you now become a distraction to those who desire God, who aren't married yet, who have an opportunity to do it the right way. Right.

Walter:

So everything kind of ties back to this Ishmael and Isaac ties back to that. You have a choice to make. We have choices to make in life. Either you're going to follow God's way or you're going to follow your way. But don't think that you can be like Abraham. And you saw what happened when Abraham did it, when he and him and Sarah produced Ishmael and he wanted God to fulfill the promise through Ishmael. And God told Abraham no. He flat out told him no. He said I told you that this is not connected to anyone else other than you and. Sarah. Right.

Walter:

The promise will be fulfilled through you and Sarah, by way of Isaac. Right. Now I would allow Ishmael to have what you have. Yet Ishmael still dealt with issues, and we see this birth forth nations that went up against the children of Israel as the angel of the Lord. As the angel of the Lord said they would. Yeah. So why in the world would you want to deal with unnecessary problems? Is there issues with marriage? Yes, there is, because the enemy do attack God centered marriages. We know this.

Shanea:

But he attacks them primarily before you even get there. He places you with people you're not supposed to be with.

Walter:

Yes, he does. And when he do attack those said marriages, it is different because there is a blanket of protection over those marriages. That is a covenant that God created. So now it is God's responsibility to look over that covenant.

Shanea:

Right, Just like when Abraham and Sarah. When Abraham was given his wife to what's his name, Abamek.

Walter:

Something like that.

Shanea:

Whatever his king name, is he got cursed? Whatever that king name is. He said it bad, he was was like why did you give me?

Walter:

this.

Shanea:

You're trying to get me cursed why did you give me this woman? God broke that and god specifically told um. I don't know his name, I don't know how to say it because I didn't write it down a, b, I, m e, l e, c h I don't know how ablumac um whatever, whatever his name is, I'm not even gonna try to butcher his name but god gave him a dream and god told him.

Walter:

He said I allowed you to not yeah, he said I got it right here, verse uh. Genesis 20, verse 3. It says but that night god came to ablamac or whatever in a dream and told him you are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married yeah but ablamac, or whatever his name, had not slept with her yet.

Walter:

So he said lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Didn't abraham tell me she is my sister? And she herself herself said yes, he is my brother. I acted in complete innocence. My hands are clean. In the dream, god responded yes, I know you are innocent. That's why I kept you from sinning against me and why I did not let you touch her. Now return the woman to her husband and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don't return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people would die.

Shanea:

God kept him from touching her.

Walter:

But the key thing is, even in that instant, sarah hadn't birthed for Isaac yet, so that entire situation would have been tainted even greater, even greater. So God was like there's something that I am doing, that you're trying to. I made a covenant, I made a covenant, and so we have to be really careful because, yeah, but I would have to pray on that because Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as his wife. Yes, but Abraham wasn't able to give Sarah to the king as his wife. No. But we're not going to go into that. No.

Walter:

That's a different subject. We'll pray on that and see what God says. So ultimately, we have to be mindful.

Shanea:

He wasn't able to give. Well, I guess, yeah, yeah um, that's a little that's.

Walter:

That's a different subject yes, so uh, not, and we're not saying that god uh, we're not saying that god co-signed on what sarah and abraham did. Apparently he did no, he was not for it.

Shanea:

No.

Walter:

God's perfect design for marriage is what we saw in Genesis 2.

Shanea:

Right, he created Adam and Eve. You get a choice. Abraham even married after he had Sarah, after Sarah passed away. But those children were also not blessed. They were blessed by Abram Abraham, but they were not blessed by God. They still became direct rivals.

Walter:

So, ultimately, we have to learn to really just and I know it's easier said than done trust God. The Bible says Galatians 5.25, that you should and I'm paraphrasing you should allow, essentially saying you should allow the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, to lead every part of your life. Right.

Walter:

And when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead every part of your life, you won't birth forth Ishmael's, you will birth forth Isaac's. But being able to birth forth those Isaac's is waiting on God to fulfill his promise. And so, for those who are desiring marriage we would say especially for those that are not married yet the greatest thing that you can do is cultivate and develop a relationship with God so that you can know the Father's voice so that.

Walter:

God can lead you so you don't get into a point where you birth forth Ishmaels and you become comfortable being with that said Ishmael and never be able to experience Isaac.

Shanea:

Yeah, Isaac.

Walter:

And I think that is how else do we leave it? I think that's good. I think that's good. Okay, I think that's everything, dude. Is there anything you have that you want to add? We've touched on a bunch of stuff.

Shanea:

I think that's it. I was looking for a scripture from Isaiah where he talks about waiting on the Lord. I think it's Isaiah 55. I can't find it right now. I have so many notes to be honest.

Walter:

Well, it's challenging to wait on God. You're saying Isaiah 40 and 31?.

Shanea:

Isaiah 55, 8 through 9. And hold fast to God's promises, knowing that his plans are perfect and will not fail.

Walter:

And why is that scripture so important?

Shanea:

Because you have to be still and know that he's God. You have to wait on him, which?

Walter:

is not easy. It's not easy, but if you have to, wait on him, which is not easy.

Shanea:

It's not easy, but if you don't wait on him, then it won't be perfect. And if you know that it can be perfect, why would you not want to wait? Yeah, you know.

Walter:

And we will get into why it's important for you to wait on God at some point and be able to share our testimony on the things that we experienced from not waiting on God, and it was some challenging things that we both went through and the enemy literally had us both in situations where we dealt with similar people.

Shanea:

Yeah, still dealing with those consequences.

Walter:

Yes, and so please hear us. Consequences, yes, and so please hear us, and both of us can attest to. I know I can heavily attest to that. Prior to making a decision that I made previously, god sent everybody my way to tell me not to, and I didn't listen. Yes. But part of me not listening was because I was still dealing with unresolved trauma. Yeah. I needed to be healed, I needed to be delivered, and set free.

Walter:

And there were bloodline curses that were set in place within my family and myself that led to me not being able to get out of something until God's grace brought me out of it Right Until you made a new covenant With Jesus Christ. With Jesus Christ, that's the only way to get out. But even in the midst of that like he still keep, you brought me out of it.

Shanea:

Right Until you made a new covenant.

Walter:

With Jesus Christ.

Shanea:

With Jesus Christ. That's the only way to get out.

Walter:

But even in the midst of that, like he still keep you and he still will watch over you to say, hey, you know what? This isn't something that is good for you, this is something that's going to destroy you. Yeah, I'm going to pull you out of this.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

That's why, for us, it's so important that you have an understanding of the importance of not creating covenants outside of God and that you allow God to lead you in everything you do. And I don't understand why it's such a controversial thing to say, to say, hey, in everything you do, be led by the spirit of God. In everything you do, submit it unto God In marriage, submit it unto God Because you are not in a space and we've talked about this ourselves that when you are coming from a place, where you have a worldview that is tainted, that you're born into a world full of sin.

Walter:

It can be very dangerous because you start making decisions from your flesh instead of making decisions from the spirit, and when you make fleshly decisions, it birth forth fleshly things, which is not good. Like your flesh is wicked, so it birth forth wicked things right, versus when you make decisions that is guided by the spirit of God. It bring forth blessings. Right. It bring forth things that are good and pure and true and whole.

Walter:

So why would you not want to make decisions that birth forth light and not darkness? So we are just encouraging everyone to do that specifically, not only just in other areas of your life, yet specifically within marriage, specifically within marriage. Specifically within marriage, because our story isn't the only one, because our story isn't the only one. There's countless stories from different people who made their own decisions, and they suffered from making their own decisions, and they have people that told them that that's God's will for your life.

Shanea:

There's people who are still in these marriages.

Walter:

That they created.

Shanea:

That they created and won't get out. But now they've made some type of excuse and used scripture to justify them suffering in marriages that God didn't call them to be with.

Walter:

Yeah, Instead of going to God and saying God help. Yeah.

Walter:

God, help me. I made a decision outside of you. How do I deal with this? How do I deal with this? And, once again, this is not an excuse for you to get out of a marriage because you all are having a disagreement or anything. We get out of a marriage because you all are having a disagreement or anything. This is something which is why we tell people before you get married submit this to God, because once you're married, you have to go through a lot to make sure you are doing what God has called you to do, because there could be cases and I mean I have a friend who, unfortunately, they got married, I believe, before they were supposed to Because, women, it's important that you don't get with a man who don't have a relationship with God. Not claim to be a Christian, but have a relationship with God. He cries out to God. He can hear the voice of God.

Walter:

He knows God's plan for his life like have a relationship, you will go through hell, even if it's who God has called you to be with, because now you have to take on a role that God never intended for you to take on.

Shanea:

Right, because if God isn't leading his life, then who's leading his life Exactly? Who's influencing his thoughts?

Walter:

Exactly, exactly. And men, why would you get into a marriage when you don't know how to love that woman, not having a relationship with God? You don't know how to love her.

Walter:

So, how are you going to love her? The Bible tells us that you can't. When you think of 1 Corinthians 13,. The world teaches you that love is conditional. God teaches you that it's unconditional. And, as men, the Bible tells us that we are to love our wives as Christ loves the church. So why would you get into a marriage with your wife when you don't have a relationship with Christ? How can you be everything that God has called you to be, aside from God? How?

Shanea:

can you try and fulfill promises? Without the other piece of you to help you fulfill that promise. That too. Why would you? Not want to treasure. Why would you? Not want to obtain favor from the Lord.

Walter:

Think about this. There are people out here who died never fulfilling the things God wanted them to fulfill. Yeah. Because they were tied to people that God never called for them to be tied to.

Shanea:

Yeah, they settled with Ishmael's and not Isaac's.

Walter:

My hat goes off to Abraham and Sarah, because at least they acknowledged it and said okay, well, we're going to do it your way Right, and birthed forth Isaac. They wasn't like no, I don't want that. You know, we're going to stick with Ishma. That you know, we gonna stick with Ishmael and just whatever comes along with Ishmael right they didn't create any more Ishmaels no, they waited on. Isaac and God did everything he said he was gonna do through Isaac.

Shanea:

But I think this is a great place to end yeah, and I'm sorry if I talked over you when you were talking earlier.

Walter:

I didn't even notice. You're fine, so we appreciate you all for tuning in. Hopefully this week's episode was a blessing to you and if you like this, definitely like, comment, share, subscribe. All that good stuff.

Shanea:

Yeah, please share your testimonies. Yeah, in the comments. Follow us on Instagram, on YouTube. We have the podcast on Apple Podcasts all those places, all those places you can listen to.

Walter:

And people, please in your comment section. I think I feel like Micah right now. What's Micah's last name?

Shanea:

Turnbow.

Walter:

I was thinking that I feel like Micah Turn. What's Michael's last name? Turnbull? I was thinking that I feel like Michael Turnbull. Do not be disrespectful in our comment section because you will get blocked. Yeah. This is not a space for that, because even if you disagree with what we're saying, the Bible still tells us that we're to approach our brothers in love. In love.

Walter:

And the Bible still tells us that we are to operate within the fruit of the spirit, Galatians 5. And it tells us that there's two different ways that you can operate. You can operate out of your flesh or you can operate out of your spirit. So if you're going to operate out of your flesh and be outright disrespectful to us or anyone in our comment section or any of the people that's following us, let me explain this to you. My energy to block is on a thousand to you.

Shanea:

My energy to block is on a thousand. Yeah, we will not tolerate people harassing other people in the comments because of their testimonies and their their experiences with god, exactly you can't tell people they haven't experienced god exactly, so please don't get blocked no do not get blocked, be respectful.

Walter:

Be respectful because it is as simple as if you don't like it, you don't have to like it and you don't, I don't. I don't know what social media has done to people to make people feel as if they have to comment on every single thing. And it is so dangerous when you don't understand something and you automatically dismiss it and say it's not God Right, because you may be coming directly up against the hand of God which is a very dangerous place, especially when you don't have really anything to back it up.

Shanea:

You're just going off your feelings.

Walter:

Exactly so. Please stop it. We're not here for that. Everything that we're doing is out of love. This word that God has given to us is something that we've sat on for some time. Yeah.

Shanea:

This podcast is spirit led, for sure. We don't just come up with this stuff out of our heads. We don't just look at scriptures and say, hey, you know what we're going to talk about this today. No no, we're literally directed.

Walter:

If he don't say nothing, we ain't going to record. It's as simple as that.

Shanea:

Yeah, If God does it, says I about this week.

Walter:

Exactly so. I'm saying that out of love and we're not against people disagreeing. That's just the reality of what it is. We also know this isn't for everybody, and that's absolutely fine. We are here to encourage people to follow hard after Christ, not follow us as we follow Christ. Follow Christ as we follow Christ. Right. That's what it's all about. So once again, we will see you next week. We pray this has been a blessing to you. Yes, and thank you for listening. Thank you All right Bye.