Stepping In Faith
Stepping In Faith is a podcast that deepens your walk with Jesus each week by exploring the heart of faith, love, and relationships from a Spirit-led perspective. Each episode focuses on building intimate relationships with Jesus Christ, strengthening marriages, providing guidance for singles, and fostering healthy, God-centered connections.
Stepping In Faith
Prayer
Have you ever felt like prayer is just another task on your spiritual to-do list? What if prayer could transform from an obligation into the most natural conversation of your day?
In this profound exploration of prayer, Walter and Shanea unpack what it truly means to communicate with God beyond religious formality. They reveal how prayer serves as "the language of the spirit" – not merely words spoken at designated times but an ongoing dialogue that permeates every moment of our lives.
The couple shares a powerful revelation about moving from "expecting" to "knowing" in prayer, illustrated through Walter's relationship with his daughter. When she asks for something and he promises to provide it, she doesn't repeatedly ask because she trusts his word. Similarly, mature faith rests in God's promises rather than continuously petitioning for the same things. This shift fundamentally changes how we approach prayer – from anxious pleading to confident communion.
Through biblical examples like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refusing to bow before the king's idol, Jesus raising Lazarus, and Peter walking on water, Walter and Shania demonstrate what unwavering faith looks like in practice. Each story reinforces that genuine prayer flows from understanding God's authority and keeping our focus on Him rather than surrounding circumstances.
The most practical takeaway? Their challenge to meet with God three times daily for 21 consecutive days. This intentional practice helps transform prayer from an occasional activity into a lifestyle of spiritual connection. Whether through traditional prayer, worship, or simply conversing with God throughout your day, consistent communication builds the relationship necessary to walk confidently in the spirit.
Ready to revolutionize your prayer life? Listen now and discover how to make communion with God as natural as breathing. Your journey toward knowing rather than just expecting begins with this episode.
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Welcome back to another episode of Stepping in Faith, where, together, we explore the importance of having a relationship with God and how that relationship with God can impact the relationship you have with others. I'm your host, walter. I'm joined here alongside my lovely wife.
SHANEA:Shanea.
WALTER:This is Season 2, episode two. Okay, gotta keep that in mind. Everything is updating here for me, so this is the second episode of season two. We are back and grateful to God, keeping us, week by week, to record and do what he's told us to do. We like to open these episodes up with prayer, so that's where we will begin, and you prayed last week, right, mm-hmm. Okay, so I will start us off in prayer, and I don't know why it was taking such a long time for my iPad to update.
WALTER:Father God, as we come before you this evening, we thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace, your kindness, your joy. We thank you for your peace and we pray, father God, that your perfect will will continue to be carried out in every area and every part of our lives here on earth, as it is in heaven. We come up against the plans of the enemy and thank you that no weapons formed against us shall prosper. We thank you for being with us, even as we do what you've called us to do by recording this podcast. We thank you that you are in full control, father God, god, and that there is none that is greater than you. We give you the praise, glory and the honor and count it down in jesus name. We pray amen every time we record amen every time every.
WALTER:It was no train last night, was it? I don't remember there was no train last night. Every time we record, whether it's us recording or my wife recording for some strange reason the train wants to come by and interrupt what we're doing. But, holy Spirit, we still submit to you and surrender to you. So, season two what's this week's episode? Episode name it's called prayer prayer you got that first right no you did get talking about prayer before.
WALTER:okay, that came to me last week multiple times to discuss prayer. I heard it the first time and I was like, okay, maybe this is me. And I heard it again and that's what he wanted us to discuss Because I didn't know where we was going to take prayer. Prayer is such a vast subject. You know, it's not a simple cookie cutter situation. There's layers to prayer, right Like there's altars, there's all of these different things that you can dig into when discussing prayer. But that's what he wanted us to discuss. That's what the father stated. So that's what we're going to discuss. I know that I was praying actually Saturday morning and, like revelation after revelation just began to flow as I was praying actually Saturday morning and, like revelation after revelation just began to flow as I was praying on prayer and so, and then I think there was a word I got from God. Was it Saturday or was it Sunday?
SHANEA:Maybe Saturday.
WALTER:Saturday, so I am going to share this. This is not something that's going to be done every week. This is something that's being done right now, but I am going to share this. So I was in prayer Saturday and what I heard is do not bow to the king. We have been in a place where the leader of this country is expecting everyone to bow down before him in worship, and many are and have. Yet, as believers, we are called to be like Shadrach, meshach and Abednego Daniel 3, 7-30, which I will read in a second. Even with threats of being thrown into the fire, they stated they believed God would save them. Yet even if he didn't, they still would not bow. So we're seeing so many people cave under threats of being thrown into the fire. Believers or followers of Christ do not bow, simple as that. And so when I was hearing this, I went in, I read Daniel, and if you all hear this, we are, we apologize. Now, that's a plane Every time. Let's see was daniel, chapter three, starting at verse seven. So, um, actually verse eight. So daniel three, uh, starting at verse eight.
WALTER:And this is the account of sharadrach, meshach and Abednego. It says they said to King Nebuchadnezzar must be thrown into a burning furnace. But there are some Jews, shadrach, meshach and Abednego, whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon. They pay no attention to you, your majesty. They refuse to serve your gods and do not worship the gold statue you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered that Shadrach, meshach and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought in, nebuchadnezzar said to them Is it true, shadrach, meshach and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power? Shadrach, meshach and Abednego replied O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your majesty, but even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.
WALTER:Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, meshach and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes and other garments. And because the king and his anger had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in. So Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames. But suddenly Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisors Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace? Yes, your majesty, we certainly did. They replied. Look. Nebuchadnezzar shouted I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed, and the fourth looks like a god. Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, come here. So Shadrach, meshach and Abednego stepped out of the fire. Then the high officers, officials, governors and advisors crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them Now. The hair on their heads was singed and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke. Then Nebuchadnezzar said praise to the God of Shadrach, meshach and Abednego. He sent his angels to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king's command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any God except their own God. Therefore, I make this decree If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the god of Shirek, meshach and Abednego, they will be torn from limb to limb, or they will be torn limb from limb and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this. Then the king promoted Shirerach, meshach and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon.
WALTER:So I think it's really important to understand that we have been called to not bow. It's as simple as that. God don't want us bowing to anyone. It's as simple as that. I don't know what else to say. This word is so, I believe, important because it's so easy to just kind of stay under the radar, to submit to things that are clearly not of God, and I don't know how this will look for whoever hear this, what that would mean for you. But we have to be bold enough.
WALTER:I think what stuck out to me with Shadrach, meshach and Abednego is that they stated that they believed God would save them, but they stated that even if God did not save them, they still would not bow. And it's challenging, because how many people can say that, whether God saves me or not, I will not bow down. Even if I'm destroyed, I will not bow down, because by all accounts, this is the definition of persecution that no matter what you will submit to God, that you will not bow your knees to anybody else. So do with that as you may. It was also. I was reading Psalms 119. So Psalms 119 is really good. The whole chapter is just centered around obedience to God's laws. But we know that it's not just about the laws of God. It's also things specifically that God calls us to do, where he requires that we be obedient. Yeah.
WALTER:And what came to me as I was reading Psalms 119, after I finished reading, actually, because I was like, okay, god, what does this mean? And the first thing that dropped in mind is obedience is better than sacrifice, which is 1 Samuel, 15, 22 through 23. And I promise you all, we're going to get started. I just wanted to put this out real quick, and we know this. This is when Samuel was dealing with King Saul. In verse 22, it says but Samuel replied what is more pleasing to the Lord, your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen, obedience is better than sacrifice and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So, because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king. We got to be really careful to obey God. We got to be really careful to obey god. We got to be really careful to obey god. And that's what god gave to me. So we will get started. So prayer, babe.
SHANEA:Thoughts on prayer, or, if you want to add anything to what was just stated I think that, um, I don't know if I have any thoughts on prayer yet, since we haven't started, but on bowing down, I think that you know Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, while they adhered to the majority of the laws that Nebuchadnezzar had put in place, they did not adhere to worshiping him yes, like a God. So he wanted them to bow before a statue, and all the other Israelites did, all the other Jews did, because they were afraid of the consequences. And with the church, they are bowing down to, let's say, policies or laws that are being put in place to avoid consequences, or even businesses. They are going along with these policies that they really don't have to, but they choose to because they want. They don't want the consequences or possible consequences, but if, like Shirek, meshach and Abednego, they stood up for what they believed and they believed in God and they knew that God would save them, but even if God didn't, if they were unalived, they would be in a better place anyway.
WALTER:Or even if their business is destroyed or whatever. Have you, how much are you willing? Because if you bow, you will continue to bow.
SHANEA:Yeah, because it's like you know it's. You say the next day you don't wake up and then you get judged and you're like Jesus is like well, you chose this God over this one, you chose this over me. You know, you chose this before me and you, I don't give you the spirit of fear. So there was nothing for you to be fearful of. There's a better place for you anyway.
WALTER:So we once again, please don't bow, Do not bow down to things that's not of God. It's as simple as that.
SHANEA:Yeah.
WALTER:We are. We said this last week we're ambassadors. We are kingdom citizens. We belong to the kingdom of God. So we are submitted to the kingdom of God first, then to whatever policies of the land. In those policies of the land, we have to take them and we have to align them and say do they line up with how God has called us to live?
SHANEA:Yeah.
WALTER:Because we I mean the wife was talking about this, I think yesterday or the day before yesterday that the Bible is about marginalized people no-transcript let that sink in.
WALTER:So getting into prayer. So I think, the biggest, I think where we can start to set the tone, prayer is the language of the spirit. It's our way of communicating to the father, to our Lord and savior, and to the Holy spirit. So you want to add anything to that? No Straight. Savior and to the Holy Spirit. So you want to add anything to that? No Straight to the point.
SHANEA:Yeah, prayer is the language of the Spirit. Prayer is literally just you communicating with the Father, jesus and the Holy Spirit.
WALTER:Yes, it's like you speak in English. It's like you speak in Spanish, Portuguese, whatever Italian, Chinese.
SHANEA:What are you talking about? Actual language.
WALTER:Yes, I'm talking like there's a language that we speak to communicate with each other, but there's also a language in the spirit that you speak to communicate with God. Now, I'm not talking about, I'm saying that we also have to communicate with God. Now, that could be via tongues, you know, that can be just via really sitting down and having a conversation with the Father, but it's just really. It's how you communicate in the Spirit. It's through prayer. But I think sometimes we complicate it. But we'll dig into that more as we go on. So let's start here, praying without ceasing. You want to read 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 17? Chapter 5, verse 17?.
SHANEA:Sure, and we're reading the NLT version. Mm-hmm 1 Thessalonians 5, you said 15?.
WALTER:Chapter 5, verse 17.
SHANEA:Oh, chapter 5, verse 17. Never stop praying.
WALTER:That's all it says.
SHANEA:Yes, that's all it says is never stop praying. But I'll continue to read them. It says never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
WALTER:So prayer without ceasing, right, there should never be a moment when we're not connected to the Father in prayer throughout the day. Right? By approaching it from that perspective, it takes prayer. It shifts prayer from being a chore to becoming something that we actually depend on. Because I think, sometimes when we think of prayer, we think of prayer as being a chore. I have to get up in the morning and pray, I have to pray this afternoon, I have to pray at night.
WALTER:If you look at it from the perspective of you pray without ceasing and it's your ability to communicate with the father and you're consistently in communication with him throughout the day, it shifts your perspective on prayer Right, and so our life should be built around communication with God. And that's the scripture we always talk about Galatians five verse, about Galatians 5, verse 25. And Galatians 5, verse 25, I'm getting there right now, but essentially it states that in everything that we do, we should submit it to the Holy Spirit, we should be led by the Spirit in all we do. That's essentially, I believe, what Galatians 5, verse 25 says. Yes, since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the spirit's leading in every part of our lives.
WALTER:So it's impossible for us to follow the holy spirit if we are not consistently in prayer in communication yes, communication with the holy spirit, yeah, so ultimately, we have to remain in a state of, and we have to remain in a state of mind of prayer, right? There's never a moment in a day when you're not connected to the Father. So that's like to make it practical. You're going throughout the day, god. How should I approach this if you're dealing with a problem at work? God, how should I approach this if you're dealing with a problem at work? God, how should I do this? God, I want to submit this to you, god. How can I be of service unto you, god? What is it that you want to say to me today? Is there anything that you want to give me, to give to somebody else? Is there anything that you want to say to me? You know, these are just kind of practical ways that we can approach it. Is there anything that you could add to practical ways of praying throughout the day and communicating with God?
SHANEA:Yeah, it's those thoughts where you're talking to yourself Like I don't know if I could do this, I don't know why this person did this and this and that and that and that, and turn the eye to God this happened, why did this happen? What do you think about this? This is what I want to do. I don't know if I should do it or not Instead of just talking to yourself about it, because you're just going to keep going on and on and on, and then you create these scenarios and those scenarios turn into imaginations and we're supposed to cast down all these thoughts. So your thoughts, we just submit them to God, meaning submitting like, just say God, this is what I'm thinking Instead of.
WALTER:I think this yeah, and it's about believing that as you're praying or as you're seeking the face of God and you're communicating with him, he will, will answer. It's building that relationship to understand his voice, because many times, even with us, we just, a lot of times I find things out. I know I ask God questions and I know it's the same thing with you and he'll give you the answer. He may not give it when you expect him to give you give the answer, but eventually he'll give the answer, whether it be through a dream, a vision, a reign of word or something It'll bring back to that question you presented to him and then sometimes he'll give it to you right away. Sometimes he'll use a scripture to give it to you.
SHANEA:And sometimes he don't. Sometimes, he don't. Sometimes he doesn't.
WALTER:I think reflection is it's not just about what you do but about understanding why you do it. And it's not only about believing but about having a revelation of what you believe, because that revelation unlocks the power you've already possessed within. So, when we approach prayer, we have to move it away from being a chore, right, we have to reposition that it's not a chore, it's communication. We are communicating with the Father, yeah, and we have to believe, because sometimes we just pray to pray, but we don't believe that, as we are in prayer, that we are communicating with the Father and that he is hearing us, and so we approach it as if it's just something we're supposed to do. It's like you're checking it off a board or a list.
SHANEA:Yeah, but that's why it's important to pray without ceasing meaning talking to God all throughout the day, so that it doesn't feel weird. You know, like when you were a kid. You would just pray at night for all the things that you wanted, but you didn't really talk to God throughout the day. You just knew you were supposed to pray at night or at a certain time, or wake up in the morning. I for sure was avid about praying in the morning, praying at night, and that was pretty much it.
WALTER:Yeah, and so I mean a lot of times. Even with me, I would say that there are times where I'm dealing with stuff and back in the day I would call a friend, but now I'm going to God. Like God, I don't know how to do this. Yeah, I don't understand this. Please help me.
SHANEA:I don't get this the Holy Spirit is like your phone a friend?
WALTER:yes, the Holy Spirit should be your phone. A friend now? Uh, point three I don remember this, but I know I wrote this before. I said here, when hearing this and it's like, I saw an image of an interview with Danielle. Who's Danielle, I don't know. Do you remember the interview we saw with Danielle? I?
SHANEA:don't know what you're talking about. Who's Danielle? Someone apparently know what you're talking about. Who's Danielle?
WALTER:Someone apparently.
SHANEA:What interview Some interview but.
WALTER:As a girl Danielle is definitely a girl. No, I mean, I know, danielle is a girl, but I mean like Danielle is definitely a girl name. I don't know any men named Danielle and if there are, I'm sure there are. There shouldn't be no offense named Danielle.
SHANEA:And if there are.
WALTER:I'm sure there are. There shouldn't be no offense anyway, um, but I think the thing that stood out is um, it stated that she was referring to how our mind should be connected to the mind of Christ.
SHANEA:What interview was this with uh Ezekiel?
WALTER:Could have been, I don't know. Probably was with Ezekiel. Anyhow, it was something that was there. I like that part.
SHANEA:I think that's her name, danielle. I don't know.
WALTER:Okay, so first we have to remove all expectations in prayer. Right, just be. And I forgot who was talking about it, but they spoke about this, the couple, and doing this opens us to truly encountering the presence of god. Who, what couple was that? The uh lady that's a jew and the husband that travels to africa?
SHANEA:they were on with taylor oh, um, I don't know their name. I actually was supposed to look them up today because remember I had to dream about them.
WALTER:Okay, her name is not Danielle, right?
WALTER:Hold on, keep going, I'll find it, and so this is the model of prayer not striving, not performing, but abiding. So, essentially, I think a lot of times and I've I've fell victim to this I go into prayer with expectations. So I'm like God, I want to see you, so I expect to see God, or I expect to experience something in prayer, and when I don't, I feel like I'm a failure or I feel like I did something wrong, or I feel like God didn't come through for me, and so or Jamie and Donna.
WALTER:Okay, and so, with that being the case, it's important to understand that we should not have expectations in prayer. We should just go in prayer, just being open to whatever may or may not happen. It's not about expectations, it's just about spending time with God and just being in his presence. It's as simple as that. Anything you want to add to that, babe?
SHANEA:no are you talking about. Is that this the interview that you were talking we were referring to?
WALTER:I don't think so okay, but that's what they talked about. Um, our expectations and how our expectations get us in trouble during prayer. Yeah, so and so and then I think this is I would challenge you, right, but I say this and I want to be careful with what I say right, try to meet with God three times a day, but the challenge is not making it a chore, but just like I'm trying to have a conversation with him well, I mean or pray with god and see your god.
WALTER:How often should I meet with you?
SHANEA:and it should at least be three times a day it should, but I don't want to I mean daily bread. Every time you eat food, you need to be eating in the word and you need when you feed your flesh. When you feed your flesh, you should also be feeding your spirit.
WALTER:So so here's what we would challenge you with for the next. I would say more than a week, I would say the next two weeks. Everyone is hearing this for the next two weeks or for 21 days, and I'm not talking about the daniel fast, but typically they state what 21 days after 21 days is consistency. It becomes a habit. So for the next 21 days, I challenge everyone to meet with God three times a day. Pray on what that time should be in the morning, pray on what that time should be in the afternoon and pray on what that time should be during the evening time. Be consistent with it day in, day out, I don't care what's happening, what's taking place, and build your schedule around meeting with God three times a day.
SHANEA:And if you're eating three times a day, just spend that time with God.
WALTER:Yes, but what I want you to do, I want you to do this consistently Right. If you can spend an hour, spend an hour. If not, I would say, at the very least, 15 to 20 minutes.
SHANEA:Right, like on your lunch break, don't be scrolling on Instagram.
WALTER:Just open up your Bible or talk to him and be intentional about this. Do this consistently and see what happens. Do this consistently Whenever you hear this podcast. Start that next day. I challenge you all to do that. Okay, so you want to get start us off with from expecting to knowing, Cause this was something that God was dealing with me on Saturday. You want me to start it and you put come in.
SHANEA:Oh, are we on five now. Expecting to knowing? We have to expect, we have to move from expecting to knowing as we pray and seek the Father. What do you mean by that?
WALTER:I had a conversation with baby girl and I always think about my relationship with her Right and I talked to her and I'm talking about our 14 year old. I talked to her about how it went from before. She would ask me for something and she would consistently ask me for something, even though I said I was going to do it. Until now she asked me for something and when I tell her I'm going to do it, she don't ask me again. She just knows that I'm going to do it and so it's that. And so that's what God was dealing with me on.
WALTER:You remember when we talked about how we should approach prayer if there's an issue going on, should we pray about it over and over and, over and over and over again? And I was having a conversation with God and I'm like, well, I owe this. She don't do that with me. She asked me for something and she knows that I'm going to get it for her because of the relationship we have, she trusts me, trust me. So if she needs something and she comes to dad and say, dad, I need this, all right, baby girl, I'm gonna get it for you and I get it for her. She don't ask me again about it. She don't say anything. Now, if it's getting close, she'd be like dad, you remember I asked you about that? Yeah, I got you, you know. And so that's the way that we should approach prayer with the father.
WALTER:And what God was dealing with me on is that how people approach prayer showcases the type of relationship they have with Him.
WALTER:If you're constantly praying about the same thing over and over and, over and over again, it showcases the type of relationship you have with God and what it shows is that you really don't trust God. And when you pray about something, now, the key thing everyone is when you pray about something, now the key thing everyone is, when we pray, seek out that answer right, because, like with baby girl, I almost said her name when she asked me for something once. I tell her that I'm going to get it for it. She's done right. So the same thing goes for the father. When we are seeking the father and we are praying about something, once he gives us his word on it, we have to stand on that word and a lot of times and I've even been guilty of this gotta give me his word on something and I'll continue to pray about it because I haven't seen the fruit of what he stated, but the bible lets us know that god watches over his word to make sure his word performs and do what he said his word was going to do.
SHANEA:Yeah, the thing is is just being a place of receiving what it is that he has for you, so being in a place of thankfulness when you are praying. When you are praying, it's not you know, god, I need this anymore. It's God, thank you, because I know you're need this anymore. It's god, thank you because I know you're gonna do it. Yeah, whenever you do it, yeah, it's gonna happen. Yeah, because I'm not god so it literally is.
WALTER:Then when there is a knowing, there is a rest. So it's resting in that place and that's our challenge and I believe that's a scripture that speaks on resting in him. And so when we break it down right, expectations, just examples, a belief about what might happen, future oriented uncertain, based on desires, patterns, assumptions or social norms, emotionally charged, can lead to disappointment or satisfaction. And I think a lot of us right we approach prayer from an expecting or expectation like posture. We're in an expecting posture or expectation like posture with prayer. So the difference between expectation, as you see, see, and knowing. So knowing is a sense of certainty, it's grounded in experience, evidence or intuition carries confidence and rest, not striving. It's rooted in the revelation I already know the sun will rise tomorrow. So when there's a knowing and this is how we have to approach prayer it shifts, how our entire perspective yeah, it's like knowing when, knowing that jesus died on the cross, that by his stripes we are healed.
SHANEA:So I shouldn't be sick if I feel a little cold coming on. It's no, this is no. I'm not supposed to. This is no, I'm not supposed to have this.
WALTER:Yeah.
SHANEA:I know I'm not supposed to have this and you're speaking to that spirit and I speak to it. You got to go, and then it's gone.
WALTER:But it's the knowing, and knowing only comes by way of revelation. So I believe the issue with a lot of us and we've been there and we even still struggle with certain areas is, when approaching prayer, you have to pray that God will give you a revelation on that thing and understand that as you approach prayer. It's a knowing that if God said it's so, it is so, it's really. It's as simple as that. So we have to move from expecting to knowing, and that's once again it talks about. That goes to romans 12, verse 1 through verse 2, when it talks about renewing your mind yeah, that's what I was about to say.
SHANEA:I was about to say it's. It's constantly renewing your mind and so it's whenever you start to feel anxious and whenever you start to feel doubtful, you go back to god's word, you go back to the promises or you go back to the promises. So if you have to put up scripture around your house or you got to put it in your phone, if you have to write it down just so that you can remember, this is what God said, and I stand on what God said, and nobody's going to tell me anything different.
WALTER:And you can ask God because I know, with certain situations that we've dealt with, I'm like God what scripture can I use for this? And he'll give us scriptures, for specific scriptures that you can use for that particular situation that you're dealing with. So that's another thing. Once again, it goes back to communication with the Father. So let's see, this is good walking in the Spirit. I was going in about this walking in the spirit right hebrews 11, verse 1 through verse 3. You want to read? That the faith chapter. The goals of faith.
SHANEA:Hebrews 11. I'm reading NLT 1 through 3.
WALTER:Yes.
SHANEA:Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation by faith. We understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command Exactly that. What we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. Mm-hmm.
WALTER:So, and that Galatians 5 and 25 is here as well. But and we read that before so it's so important that we make walking in the spirit a habit, and what that literally means is God gives you a word on something and you go based off that word that God has given you. And you go based off that word that God has given you, and so you look at your circumstances and you say I choose not to focus on my circumstances, but I choose to focus on the word that God has given me. And that's essentially what Hebrews 11 and 1 through 2 is saying.
SHANEA:Yeah, or 1 through 3. It's definitely not easy to do. No means are we saying that this is easy. It should be easy for us. But because we're born again, we're used to seeing things with our natural eyes, and so if we don't see it, then it's out of sight, out of mind, or if I don't see it, it means I can't have it, or you know, if it looks like I can't get it, I know that I can't get it. Yes, and so it's hard to see in the spirit when you don't recognize what god's doing behind the scenes yes, it can be challenging, and so you have to.
SHANEA:But also it is challenging because you're a grown adult and you have to rely on God to do all these things for you, or not even do all these things. But you are, your will is submitted to his will, and so it's a constant battle. Like I could do it because I'm grown, you know like who's to tell me that I can't go here or do this or do that when I know that I need this. And now I got to. I feel like a child and I have to rely on a being that I can't see.
WALTER:That's the challenge that's associated. That's why the bible talks about in Hebrews 11, that they were accounted righteous because of their faith in him. So when you think of, for example, abraham and Sarah, god telling them that they was going to bear a child in their old age which was something that was unheard of, and they had, and Sarah was bearing, for the most part, she could not bear a child, which is why she had isaac lie down with ish, I mean with ishmael's mother, um hagar hagar to bear it to um to bring forth ishmael.
WALTER:so it is challenging sometimes, because the word that god presents to you does it looks nothing like. Many times is when God gives us a word. We got to be careful because sometimes we want things. Please, ladies and gentlemen, don't use this to justify trying to stay committed to a relationship that is extremely toxic. I'm not saying that, but sometimes, when God gives you a word many times, most time, majority of the time the word is always bigger and it's something that's out of reach for you. You can't do it in your own strength.
SHANEA:Which is why it's harder for you to believe that it could be possibly.
WALTER:Exactly, Nor I am going to flood the entire earth. I need you to build a boat and get two animals. Get two of every type of animal and put them in the boat, and I'm going to flood the entire earth. Noah began to build a boat and they looked at him like he was a fool. And as he was building this boat, he told them that the earth is going to flood. They thought he was crazy. He built the boat trusting God and the earth flooded, like God said it would.
SHANEA:It's hard. It's hard to do.
WALTER:It's challenging, and I mean, we can go through a plethora of examples of that, right, there's a plethora of examples in the Bible.
WALTER:But the thing is this we have to try to make walking in the Spirit a habit, right, and it's literally just we're not moved by what we see, but by the Word of God, both the Rhema Word of God and the written Word of God. So we're moved by the spoken Word of God in the word of God, actual Bible. Right, I think it's challenging for you to do that if you don't know what the spoken word of God is over your life, over a particular situation and I think a lot of times with people, that's where they challenge, or that's where there is a challenge and then knowing that you know without a shadow of a doubt, that God spoke that word, and then knowing that you know without a shadow of a doubt that God spoke that word, because once you know that God spoke that word, I believe it should be a little bit easier. It's still challenging, but it should be a little bit easier for you to wait on that word.
WALTER:No, I think it's challenging when people don't hear god's word um outside of reading what's in the bible so at that point then that goes into some of the previous episodes that we've touched on when you have to build a relationship with god, because god is because some people, a lot of people, say oh if, if you can't hear God, you just read the Bible and that's you know.
SHANEA:you can find a scripture to justify you going to be a teacher or a.
WALTER:Please don't listen to those people. Yes and no God's rhema word. There's always scripture that he gives us to back that word up.
SHANEA:Or, like you know, if a man you know doesn't work, he doesn't eat. So that gives me justification to go find a job that's going to pay my bills.
WALTER:Yes, Yet, listen, this channel exists. We are focused on primarily relationships, relationships as far as marriage, and relationship with God, and so it's, I don't know. You have to have a relationship with God and that's what we're going to push, because you need to hear the voice of God in your life, every area, in every part of your life, and you should not be having to go to a prophet to hear what the prophet has to say concerning your life.
SHANEA:If a prophet comes to you, a prophet should only be confirming what god has already spoken over your life yeah, or you could be doing works that you think you should be doing because you see it in the bible, but that's not necessarily what god wants you to do. Yes, I mean because, for example, then you start to become like your own God, like you know it all, in a way.
WALTER:Well, some people do believe that, hey, I'm going by the Bible and God allows me, he leads me, so I can just do whatever I want to do. And if I'm doing whatever I want to do, as long as my heart is right, I'm still doing the will of God. God will still bless it because he's not going to sit there and tell me everything to do. That's not the type of God we serve. He don't sit there and say what you should do, where you should stay, how you should live, what you should work, where you should work at, who you should marry, blah, blah, blah.
SHANEA:Yeah, and that mindset is very dangerous.
WALTER:Even though Galatians 5 and 25 tells us that we have to submit every part of our lives to the Holy Spirit.
SHANEA:It's very dangerous because you go and purchase a home that a Satanist had, or you go and buy a car that somebody did witchcraft in and now you're dealing with stuff that you don't got no business dealing with, or you touch an item or buy an item, or you just don't know. People out here are crazy.
WALTER:So, listen, we live by this. The first rule of thumb in any situation, please seek out the word of God for that situation, the actual word of God, not the scriptures. The actual word of God. Then pray that God will provide scripture reference to back up the word, which typically he does. If he gives us something, there's a scripture that he gives us to confirm that word. I think there's not a word that God has given us that there's no scripture that was tied to it. I believe.
SHANEA:No, there's always a scripture. It's just sometimes people take scripture on a context.
WALTER:Yeah.
SHANEA:Even when it comes to relationships.
WALTER:So walking in the spirit means letting the word consume your life. You become a living example of what God has spoken over you, living example of what God has spoken over you, and that should be our goal to become a living, breathing example of the words that God has spoken over our lives. That should be it. So hopefully at some point we can get to this point right and dig deeper into what it means to move in the spirit. But there's what was coming to me when I was taking notes is that there's levels of depth, like there's. There's different levels, right, there's seeing in the spirit, there's walking in the spirit and then there's living in the spirit. There's walking in the spirit and then there's living in the spirit, seeing in the spirit. Not only is that based upon being able to really hear the words of god, right, and receive the word of god over your life. Right, because it's weird how, when we try to explain, when you hear a word of god, it's almost like you see that word of God with.
WALTER:The scripture talks about being on the watchtower and looking to see what the Lord has to say. Right, watching to see what the Lord has to say, but it's interesting because he said watching to see what the Lord has to say. How would I watch to see what the Lord has to say? You see what I mean, so it's really interesting. So, seeing in the spirit, you also have where you can actually be taken in the spirit, where you can see angels. God will take you and allow you to experience different things like that. You'll see demons, you'll have visions, you have all of these things. There's levels to seeing in the spirit. It gets.
SHANEA:It's all down to discernment.
WALTER:Yeah, it gets crazy. And so then there's walking in the spirit, and when thinking of walking in the spirit, it's literally just allowing the words of God that God spoke over your life to really blanket your eyes. So you're not moved based upon your circumstances, all you see is what God said. And getting to that point because when we think of Jesus, that's who Jesus was. He walked in the spirit, jesus was, he walked in the spirit, he was consistently walking in the spirit. And then there's living in the spirit, and I think jesus did that too, to the point to where, when he was walking on water, there was like he seemed to be a ghost yeah he literally lived his life in the spirit.
WALTER:he had to come out of the spirit from time to time to deal with things in the natural. That's how much he was consumed by the spirit and that's what he's called us to. So, models of prayer right, real quick, we have Jesus and Lazarus. That's John 11, verse 1 through 44. Specifically 41 and 42,. Right, so, everyone, I want you to read John 11, verse 1 through 44. Babe, can you read verse 41 through 42? Babe, can you read verse 41 through 42?
SHANEA:So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to the heaven and said Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here so that they will believe you sent me. Then Jesus shouted Lazarus, lazarus, lazarus, come out. And the dead man came out why are you laughing at me? His hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them unwrap him and let him go.
WALTER:I was waiting on you to say two Corinthians. I am a little bit more educated than that Anyone that knows the inside joke will know the inside joke.
WALTER:A little bit more educated than that I was waiting for you to say two Corinthians, so this really stood out to me, right? So Jesus already knew the Father's will, right, but he spoke it out loud as a demonstration, teaching us how to approach God in prayer. So I think, the key thing, when you read this account of Lazarus, you will see that Jesus already knew that he was sick and even in the midst of him, knowing he was sick, jesus said it's not my time yet it's not time to go, because God wants to receive a greater glory in this. Yet he also knew that when he went, that he knew Lazarus was going to die and he knew that God was going to raise him back from the dead in order to allow everyone to experience the glory of God. So, when you are approaching prayer, that is the power of understanding the word of God, but not only that, it's also understanding the importance of going in the timing that God has called you to go.
WALTER:In that word that God has spoken over your life, it's meant for a specific season and a specific time. Outside of that season and outside of that time, that word is not going to work. So sometimes and I think someone has touched on this before, but sometimes we get caught up because we're looking for that word to work out of season at the wrong time and the enemy tried to use that to get us down, because we are expecting the word to come to pass that god has spoken over our life, but we don't understand seasons and times yet yeah so that digs into like Matthew eight, five through nine, and I'll read that real quick.
WALTER:And, babe, is there anything that you wanted to add, cause I know I'm saying a lot so good. And so let me see. When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him. Lord, my young servant lies in bed paralyzed and in terrible pain. Jesus said I will come and heal him. But the officer said, lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say go, and they go, or come and they come. And if I say to my slaves do this, they do it.
WALTER:When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said I tell you the truth, I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel. And I tell you this that many Gentiles will come from all over the world, from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven, but many Israelites, those for whom the kingdom was prepared, will be thrown into out of darkness where there will be weeping, gnashing of and gnashing of teeth. Then jesus said to the roman officer go back home, because you believed it has happened. And the young servant was healed that same hour, so that I was eating that up Saturday. So the Roman soldier, or captain, he understood authority because of his position in the army Right and he recognized Jesus authority in both the unseen and the seen world.
SHANEA:Yeah.
WALTER:He knew that Jesus only needed to send the word for heaven and earth to align right. And so my question is this how many of us out here are in a position when we don't understand the authority that Jesus carry, where all we need is the word of the Lord and the weight that that word carries to where, when that word is spoken in the right season and in the right time, heaven and earth will move to make sure that word performs the way he stated it should.
SHANEA:It's supposed to perform yeah what you got on that babe no, I was just reading my notes that I had when I read this. This was this was the beginning of last year, I think I may. I think I had a. I had a prayer here. I'll just read what I wrote.
SHANEA:And I said are you a soldier for the Lord? Will you go when he says go? Will you come when he says go? Will you come when he says come? Will you obey his every command because of his rank, because you are merely a soldier and he has authority over you? Many times I have fallen short of obeying his commands out of fear or laziness. I pray that God will continue to train me as a soldier for his camp. I pray that my shortcomings become less and less short and I pray that the Holy Spirit helps me to become more obedient and teach me how to reverently serve the Lord, our god. God commands the legion to leave a man or two and they go. They do what he says. The officer knew the lord's position. He understood ranking. Where do I fall in this category? I say I am a soldier. I am a slave to the holy spirit, a true servant. How much will I go for him?
WALTER:It's understanding Jesus' authority.
SHANEA:And understanding your position as a soldier, and the thing is that as an officer, because you have authority over all the power of the enemy- by way of Jesus. Yes.
WALTER:And it's like the dream I had on. I won't go into details, but when I used the name of jesus at first and the girl that was demon possessed backed up, but. I said the name of jesus again and she recognized.
WALTER:Oh, you said that from a place of fear and I recognized that I said it from a place of fear and I switched and I spoke against the spirit of fear and I began to say the name of Jesus again and she began to back up again and again and again, until I was told to take her through deliverance, and I did, and those demons submitted to the authority of Jesus Christ. So it's not even just that, it's also understanding that if you try to use the name or if you try to access it without knowing who he is, because even when jesus dealt with this roman soldier, this roman official, a roman officer, he stated to him what would?
WALTER:he always stated this is according to your faith yeah so the roman officer understood authority and understood the authority that Jesus carried, which is why, when Jesus spoke the word, it immediately performed.
SHANEA:Right which? And he? He believed it. Yes, because he knew who Jesus was Exactly.
WALTER:So another example of this and I think that we're in right here Peter walking on water. That's Matthew 14, 22 through 33. And, for time's sake, you all can read that. And so what was coming to me when I was reading that is that Jesus is the word. Right, peter could walk in the spirit as long as he kept his eye on him. And the reason that was so important is because God will give you a word for your life, right? And when you're looking at that word, you're focused on that word that God has given you for your life. You don't realize.
WALTER:The Bible says what, in the beginning, was the word?
WALTER:And the word was with God and the word was God.
WALTER:This is John 1, and it's referring to Jesus being the word, and so when that word is spoken, you're keeping your eye focused on that word, you're keeping your eye focused on Jesus, and as long as you keep your eye focused on that, as the storms of life come, you won't sink. Because the minute that Peter took his eyes off the word and began to focus on the storm that was surrounding him, and begin to focus on the storm that was surrounding him, immediately the Bible lets us know that he began to sink. So for us, when God speaks a word over our life, in spite of our circumstances, in spite of what we're dealing with and going through, we have to constantly remind ourselves to keep our eyes focused on Jesus, keep our eyes focused on the word that God has spoken over our life so we won't sink. But yet the beauty in that is that, even in the mist that, when Peter started focusing on the storm around him and he cried out to Jesus, jesus saved me. Jesus immediately saved him. Mm-hmm.
WALTER:So God's grace is still sufficient either way.
SHANEA:Yeah.
WALTER:So I have John 4, 43 through 54. Why did I put that here? John 4, 43 through 54. What's John 4, Shanae? I think I know what it is 43?. Yeah, John, 4, 43 through 54. I have here. I got it last minute. It must be.
SHANEA:Jesus heals. Unofficial son. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You want me to read it, or did you have a revelation on that?
WALTER:It's just another example Of Jesus' word. It's another example Everyone, you can read it. It's just another example of Jesus sending his word and his word did what he said it was going to do. It's really just pushing this point that when Jesus sends his word, his word carries power, his word carries life.
SHANEA:But you have to believe it.
WALTER:But you have to believe it, and that's the point that we're trying to push.
SHANEA:And the man was like okay, bet, I'm going to go back home. And before he can even get home, someone came to him and said hey, your son, he's healed. Yeah, he's alive, he's well.
WALTER:And it's just really we can't stress this enough the importance of understanding the faith, having faith in the word of God and developing a relationship with God so you can submit every part of your life to God and have an understanding of what God is speaking over, every part of your life. That's so important.
SHANEA:And know that it takes time.
WALTER:Yes, it doesn't happen overnight. That's so important and know that it takes time. Yes, it doesn't happen overnight. Even you know, I grew up in a church and I'm not going to be long.
WALTER:I grew up in a church. I encountered God at a very young age. I had words spoken over my life. My mother is very spiritual. She's experienced God in unique ways. My dad operated in the office of a prophet, and so I come from all of that.
WALTER:I really truly didn't encounter God until again, because I moved away until November 2022, 26. I had encounters with God prior to that, but even with that and even with my background in the church and even with my background of being in apostolic type churches and hearing God and knowing God and seeing seeing God and seeing God do supernatural things, I still had to go through a process of relearning everything and it took time to get to that point and it still sometimes is a challenge to deal with, because there are things I see God move on and there are things that we're still waiting to see God move on, and it is a challenge to submit your life to God based off a word that God has spoken. When God is trying to teach you to trust in him. It's like God, it's like. It's like in the spirit. You're learning how to walk. As a baby, you have to learn how to walk and sometimes, when kids are learning how to walk, they're going to fall.
SHANEA:A lot of times and you can't hold their hand. You just have to prop them up and see if they're going to walk.
WALTER:And so God is teaching us how to walk in the spirit. God is teaching you how to walk in the spirit.
SHANEA:But we have to have the childlike faith because babies are like. I know I can walk Exactly.
WALTER:And they can't, but they believe that they can. And you have to stand on that because your whole mind has to be renewed, because we've taken on this worldview and, like Emma was saying right, we're in. Babylon and we've taken upon the mindset of Babylon. Yes, and we have to do away with that mindset, or trying to merge Babylon, yes, and we have to do away with that mindset.
SHANEA:Or trying to merge, trying to merge the two, trying to convert Babylon to kingdom, and you can't. The two can't merge. The two are not the same.
WALTER:Exactly so, babe, you want to summarize those points real quick.
SHANEA:Okay. Prayer is the language of the spirit. We need to remain in constant communion with god. That means talking all throughout the day, communicating throughout the night, communicating with them. However that looks for, you could be talking, it could be writing, it could be speaking in tongues, it could be literally anything.
SHANEA:It could be singing it could be dancing, it could be drawing, it could be anything you know. Removing expectations and step into knowing so, removing expectations on what God should and should not do because he's God, and then walking in the spirit through the word of God.
WALTER:Both the rhema word and the written word of God.
SHANEA:So hearing God, whether it's dreams, visions, another word from a person, the word, and then you want to end us out.
WALTER:Yeah, I think it's important right to understand that we already have the power to command the waves of the sea. We just have to understand that. It's revelation that unlocks that Now it's not because of us, but it's because of who lives in us, right? Yeah.
WALTER:And then consistency is key. Try to challenge three times a day praying. That's going to be really important and we have to live as one who is aligned with the word, both written and spoken, and let prayer be the atmosphere of our lives. So it's really important that we understand the importance of walking in the spirit. It's not easy, it is challenging at times, because we have our soul and our soul is being regenerated and we have a worldview and we have all of these things that tells us not to submit to the Spirit of God. We live in a culture that is very selfish and self-driven and we live in a world where everything is trying to steal your time away from you. They're literally bidding for your time on a day-to-day basis, but we have to get to a point of being able to silence all of that for periods of time throughout the day, to really submit it unto God, so we can know what god is speaking over our lives. That's very key. That's very important that we do that yeah, I.
SHANEA:I just thought about what we're talking about um. Before um, when we were, we were talking about um and how we have worship playing all throughout the day in the house, to the point where we don't even recognize that it's still playing, until we need to know that it's playing. The music that we listen to is nothing but Christian music. We listen to Christian hip hop, christian R&B, we listen to CCM, we listen to gospel. There's a lot of artists out there that are Christian and so a lot of people they listen to music on their way to work, they listen to it in the shower, they listen to it when they're cleaning, they're just listening to it all throughout the day because they like to listen to music.
SHANEA:And it's shifting out those secular artists for artists that are Christian, so that you're constantly in a place of praise and a place of worship. You don't feel bad about it, you know. It doesn't make you get in your flesh, it doesn't make you feel angry, it doesn't make you feel sad, it doesn't make you feel like you want to have sex. It doesn't make you feel you know any type of way other than wanting to talk to God.
WALTER:Yeah. And there you have it everyone.
SHANEA:We still have to work on those playlists At some point.
WALTER:So, babe, you can go ahead and close us out. I think we ran over a little bit, but it's fine.
SHANEA:We appreciate you guys for tuning in, for watching, staying here with us in our living room yep that we gotta put all this equipment up at yep, and we will see you guys next week. Everyone be blessed yes, we love you all we will be responding to comments.
WALTER:We're going to try to do better in responding to comments it.
SHANEA:It's been crazy guys.
WALTER:But just keep us in prayer and until next week we pray. This has been a blessing to you and we appreciate you so much. God bless.
SHANEA:All right, bye-bye, bye.