The Be.Attitudes of Following Jesus Series - Part 2A: Be With Jesus | Andy Yeoh

Hey, you welcome to the Generation's Church podcast. We pray you will be

blessed by this message Today I made a word of God both encourage and challenge

you to be all God purpose you to be. Now, let's dive right

in. Discipleship is a way of life, not a program, not a

project, not an event. It's a way of life. And this way

of life takes practice. Let me clarify and qualify what I mean by practice.

By practice is not just training. I'm not saying, oh, practice

so that you can become better. It also means tradition. I mean it

becomes your practice. This is how you live your like, this is your

way of life. When we use the word practice, we use it in

a tradition way. This is my tradition. This is my practice. I

wake up every morning at this time to pray. That's my tradition. Amen.

And it's not just attempt. Practice not just means just attempt. I'm

just attempting. It becomes an action that you consistently. Practice is not about

perfection. We're not asking and expecting all of us to get this right all

the time, all the rest of our life. No, we are aiming

for persistence and consistency. Persistence means it's suggests an implies. You will fail,

sometimes you will slip in, sometimes you will forget sometimes, but you

quickly get up and what and pursue the same direction again. Persistence and consistency.

Amen. I'm not sure where that I made. It sounds harder and

scarier than you should be, but I want to be true to what the

word says. Yeah, so I'm not trying to make it easy. I'm

not trying to make it hard. I'm trying to be faithful. So if

someone tells you, hey, come on, following Jesus is really easy,

we gotta think deeper than that. Is it really that easy? Because life,

even without Jesus already extraordinarily complex. Spiritual life can be even more complex.

Why because spiritual life deals with the depths. It's not just paying bills,

having fun, buying a car. It deals with the depths of your

life, next depth of your life. So for someone new to following Jesus,

and I'm gonna assume because remember we started the series, I said,

let's all forget what we thought we knew about the yposhit. So technically we

are all new to this. And for someone new this can all sound very

overwhelming, and following Jesus may be simple. He's following this guy who is

a god, but it's definitely not easy. Let's go back to Jesus's invitational

line. What did he say, Rabbi Jesus said follow me in other words,

When he said this to the Jewish listeners, it was literally this,

come walk with me around is real. I'm going to the shop today.

Come, let's go. Oh, I'm going to Peter's mother in law's house.

Come when Jesus follow me? In those days, they literally drop their

nets, left their homes and literally followed behind this man, this Jesus a

next words, and follow him day and night. And if we are to

apply this, because today Jesus is not in the flesh, we can't walk

behind him. When he said follow me, he is saying to everyone who

would want to do this, come and be with me. He's inviting every

single part of you today, come and be with me. Come follow me

in other words, and spend time with me. So let's talk about that

point number one. What does it mean to be with Jesus. We've heard

this before, sound so extra b with Jesus means what I come to judge.

If I'm in my toilet, am I being with Jesus? I feel

him? His picture is he's looking at me pooh, and I being with

Jesus? What does it mean? Was much easier for Peter James, John

Judas Thomas to follow Jesus because it literally, men don't stand there, come

with me. I'm going there, And they worked with him. It's much

easier for them. For us, he's like, what does this mean?

He's not here. So for Peter James, John is not a word picture.

It was literal for us. For us, it's like, we have

to ask, what does it mean, Jesus? What does it mean to

be with you? Because you're not here? There's a theology behind it.

Can we go a little bit deeper? There's a theology? So John fourteen

sixteen to seventeen, and I will ask the Father, and he will give

you another helper. In fact, another way to say is, I will

give you another one of me. So the Holy Spirit is the spirit of

Jesus. I will give you because I'm going physically, I will give you

another me to be with you for a while, with you forever. Even

the spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive it because it neither sees

him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and

will be in you. I hope you know by now. When Jesus says

something, every single word is intentional. He didn't just say the Holy Spirit

will be with you. He said the Holy spirital will be in you.

It's important, and the Holy Spirit comes not just to be with the disciples.

He just came. Jeez, the Holy Spirit need't just come to us

today to be with us. He didn't just take a seat like today he

see this road tomorrow he said, No, He's in us, and we

will explore that deeper what it means as we go now. To understand this

a little bit more, we have to go backwards and understand the theology of

the temple. Why because today when we say the presence of God, we

get people saying, ah, that's why I can sit at home and watch

online. Because God's presence is everywhere. Have you met friends at this not

saying it's better or God, I'm just saying today we understand presence very differently.

Right, God is everywhere in my heart? Is in your heart?

Oh? No, yes, yes, it's true. But to understand the

beauty of that, the significance of that, we have to go backwards.

Those days. God is not everywhere. He's not in your heart, my

heart. You know when Jesus said that I will send you another helper John

fifteen, just before he died, that's three years after the disciples had already

followed him everywhere. So it's the end of the life message. He could

only share that three years later. There's a reason before that. The Temple.

The Temple is where God's presence is. The Temple is like an overlap

between heaven and earth. If you wanted to meet God, if you live

in those days you want to meet God, you can't just go into your

car, shut the car, play some huge song and then clap your hands,

close the eyes, bower here and then pray. Today we can say

God will be there in your car, Amen, But those days, no,

you gotta go to the Temple. It was a physical building, a

particular location in Jerusalem that at a theological level, is that overlap between heaven

and earth. That's why Jesus said he he taught a counter temple message,

and he said, what do you remember? Basically, he said, I

am the temple joint up. The two was eighteen twenty two. So the

Jew said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things?

Jesus answered them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will

raise it up. Then the Jew the Jews then say, it has taken

forty six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in

three days? But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. In

other words, I am the temple. I am the overlap between heaven and

earth. I am the presence of God. I am the image of God.

God. You want to be with God, you be with me.

You see me, you see the Father. All these words now makes sense.

He's speaking to people who used to have to go to this physical place

to get God's presence. Now he's saying, if you're with me, you're

with God. I am the temple a man. John one fourteen. The

Bible says, and the word Jesus became flesh and dwelled among us. The

temple is now among us, the temple meaning the presence of God, God

himself. Jesus temple nackled among us, He templed among us, he dwells

among us. Right now he is the touch point between Earth and Heaven.

In the New Testament, Paul writes that the church, the Church is the

temple of the Holy Spirit, as well as our bodies, us who are

followers believers in Jesus Christ. The Church as the body of Christ, is

the temple. Individually, we are also the temple first Quarantine six nineteen.

Do you not know that your body is a temple? The Holy Spirit within

you? Your body is whom you have from God. You are not your

own second crinin sixty sixteen? What agreement has the Temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the Living God. As God said,

I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will

be there God, and they shall be my people. The Temple is the

dwelling place of God. So if the Temple is the dwelling place of God,

and you are the temple and the Church is a temple, what does

that make us the dwelling place of God? Now can you understand what Jesus

means by the Holy Spirit will be with you and in you? Why?

Because you are the temple. Just setting it up so that we can understand

at the theological level. What is be with Jesus. This is important.

This is part two. It's still foundational. Application will come later. So

I want to speak to you about this expect of interiority. All of us

Christian human beings who are very good with exterior stuff, going to church,

reading the Bible, and raising our hands. Not bad things, very good

things. We must do those things. But because we are so external people,

we j just people with how they dress, how they smell, how

they speak, and all of those things. It's a human We sometimes forget

that there is anious and you can't understand what being with Jesus means if you

only understand it exteriorly, like for example, if you understand being with just

exterior then I guess you will end up saying going to church again, I

would love to see you in church. Then not. But that's not being

with Jesus in his entirety. You must understand it from the inside out.

So I can be anywhere in the world. But God, you are closer

because God comes for you. Amen. God knows you better than you know

yourself. You think you know which guy is best for you, God knows

better. God is deeper in us, them is while you're out there singing,

gambling, womanizing, many minimizing, or whatever thingsing you're doing. The

reason you can feel guilt sometimes conscience and like the portical sun, while you're

eating pigs leftovers, you realize because God is deeper in you than you are

in yourself. This expect of interiority. I'm trying to invite you to go

in internally. Remember this the typos you have to start there. This expect

of interiorty is key, a key vecet to life with Jesus. In the

Psalms, you frequently find this phrase mentioned, and it's called awake my soul.

Here's what awake my soul tells us. The fundamental reality is this is

truth. You realize it, you don't realize it. You accept it,

you reject it, does not matter. The truth is this, God is

closer to you than you know, and it should that God has come closer

to us even than our own breath. But what is the problem. The

problem is our awareness, our tunement. We are not tuned. That frequency

is always there, but we are not tuned to that frequency. God is

always there, but we're not tuned to e frequency. Therefore we can't hear

him. I don't know how much you're old enough to remember radio. The

waves are always working. Something's going on, but we're we're we have to

tune to the right frequency to hear it. Thank God, He's closer to

us than we know. But our awareness, our tument, that's what we

need to work on today and for the rest of our lives. That that

that awareness that are tumen to the closeness that God has for us. The

intimacy is wavering. Some days we feel I can hear I can hear it,

I can hear it, Ah point nine, I'm tuning in. Some

days we are what what what? What? What? Some days we feel

so close to God and all we want is gone. And some days we

feel like we want nothing to do. Regard there's us, human beings,

wavering, fluctuating. We should learn like the Psalms, like David who prayed,

awake my soul, don't be asleep, wake up, Awake my soul.

Awaken. What it means is help me get in touch with the deepest

reality that is within me right now. And the deepest reality is God is

closer to me than I am to myself. That means that at any moment,

if you're tuning to God right now. You connect. It doesn't mean

like ah Man sucks. You know, I was so close to God last

year, and then for six months I was far away. Now I have

to repay the six months back. Awake my soul. The Hebrew word for

spirit is the word rua. The Greek word for the word spirit is numa.

You know what's the beauty They both mean the same thing. These words

are interchangeable. When the Bible talks about breath, when the Bible talks about

spirit, it's the same word rua numa. Spirit is breath, Breath is

spirit. I love the Bible because the Bible uses these concepts. That is

so beautiful. The Holy Spirit is like breath to you. In other words,

without the Holy Spirit, you die. With the Holy Spirit you live.

But that's one picture. Another picture is that's how close God is to

you. And even then it is even closer, still closer than your own

breath. God is there all the time. Come on this scipe books.

God's there. So some signs are oxygen when you breathe oxygen? What are

the lungs and respiratory system? The lungs and respiratorism allows us to breathe,

They bring oxygen to our bodies. Nobody's called It's called inspiration. What does

the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit inspires us. The Word of God

is inspired. Human beings were inspired to write the words of God. Inspiration

is scientifically, what is inspiration? Breathing in oxygen that gives you life,

that gives you being and makes you move. Inspiration what happens when you breathe

oxygen? The air oxygen goes to your nostrils, goes down your throat,

go downs a whim pipe, goes into your lungs because that's where the oxygen

is processed. And then where does it going Your bronchi, Your bronchios all

that your and it goes all the way to your avyo lea that's where it's

processed. And from your AVI only your AVI lid sends it to your rate

bod cells and it goes everywhere. That's why when your heart stops pumping and

no blood goes to your brain, you are typically just when the Holy Spirit

comes into you, like oxygen, inspiration, breath, it should go into

every part of your system. Affects your thinking, you're breathing, you're doing,

you're pupping pupping. Also, yes, there is there are things in

your life and you get rid of. You know, not being able to

bee is a problem. The doctors will tell you, right, we must

be able to also get rid of what the system don't need. I love

it. The spirit ruac numa breath. As you brief oxygen, it goes

into your system and it's to every aspect of your body. That's the picture.

When Jesus breathe. When Jesus says, I'll send you the Holy Spirit,

we are to be inspired, not expired. John fifteen one eight.

You know, on the last night of Jesus's life, he famously shed this.

This is his last words. He talked about vine and the branches.

He had this conversation with disciples. And you use the word meno in Greek,

which is the word a bye. The word meno is translated a bye

or remain or make your home, make your home. So I'm the vine,

and my father is a vine dresser. Every branch of media that's not

bread fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bread fruit he prunes

that you may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word

that I have spoken to you a bye in me and I in you.

As the branch cann bare food by itself unless it abides in the vine,

neither can you unless you are bodying me. So he's saying, make your

home in me, and I make my home in you. Remember temple twining,

place of God. That's all these concepts now line up. Make your

home in me, and I make my home in you, and then you

are bad fruit. In the last line there says this is how people know

you are my matthetists, apprentice, followers, disciples. So Jesus is saying,

once again, make your home in me, and I make my home

in you. We're at home with each other, is Jesus's promise. He

promises, if you make your home in me, I will make my home

in you. Amen. And then he expounds on it and he says,

this is how it's going to be done. How I send you the Holy

Spirit because I'm no longer here physically, so I send you the whole.

This is how this making home in each other is going to take place,

the Holy Spirit John fifteen twenty six. But when the helper comes, whom

I was sent to you from the Father, the spirit of truth, who

proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. So the deepest

longing of the human heart is union with God. Remember that that desire is

within all of us. So ultimately, another way to look at it is

we are all seeking for a home in God. In other words, we

are all looking for a home to abide in. Some of us are abiding

in our girlfriend's heart. Some of us are abiding in our mobile legends,

characters. Some of us are abiding in our masters, our status. Whatever

you get, you get a picture. Now, We're all looking for a

home to abide. But ultimately our home is in God. You know what

the disciples ask Jesus when they first met him John chapter one. Jesus turned

and saw them following, and said to them, what are you seeking?

What are you looking for? Why are you following me? What are you

seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi, where are you staying?

You think they meant his house? Where are you staying? Know what that

is staying? Men? No, Jesus, where are you abiding? Where

are you remaining? Where is your home? They're asking? Are you where

you make your home? Can I stay with you, Jesus? Can I

be with you? This is the beginning, and then three years later,

Jesus says, abiding me and I and you. What did Jesus say,

johnt of the woman? They asked him, where are you? Man?

Knowing? Jesus said, come in uoc and they followed him. Where are

you staying? They are? They are betraying their own desire? What are

you seeking? We're seeking for a home. Where are you staying? Master?

Where are you staying? Can I come with you? Jesus is,

come be with me? And so at the end of three years, Jesus

is about to die. Your apprenticeship is done here on earth. So what

do I tell you? What's my last words? What's our exit interview?

What I tell you? I tell you a bideing me? And how Jesus

now says, I will be with you and also within you. How do

I be within you spirit? I'll send you the spirit. That's how I'll

be within you. Amen. So at first it was just follow me,

just just watch me. I'll show you. Now he's in us. Today

he can be in us. His commitment to us is even outpacing our commitment

to him. His withness, his togetherness with us, his withness to meet

our desire is even deeper than we're able to articulate. So point number one,

what does it mean to be with Jesus? It means this, to

abide in Jesus and Jesus in us. I know it's very conceptual, but

you'll get it. It's like oxygen. That is what we cannot compartmentalize God.

It cannot be like when I have no exams, Jesus can be my

God. But when I have exams, he's got to take a back seat.

I got no time for him. It can't be when I got a

big business deal and a big project to complete. Jesus. No, he

is in your bloodstream. You can't push him away, but you can ignore

him. That's what we are doing. He's there. What we ignore that's

the worst thing we can do. And so when you are not with God,

you are ignoring God. So what does it mean to be with Jesus

is to abide in Jesus and Jesus in us. In other words, to

be in God and God be in us like oxygen, like your blood.

So let's be practical now, Number two, how to be with Jesus.

Three things. It's gonna get a bit like psycho a little bit, but

who made our brains. God, So he's okay to phsycho. Here we

go. How to be with Jesus. Number one, Direct our consciousness.

First, psychedelic we're talking about Okay, Okay. When I say consciousness,

I'm not talking about like some psychology something like that. It's consciousness, your

your state of being. Okay. Consciousness as in your awareness. You're conscious.

I'm aware. I'm a guy. I'm aware standing on stage right now.

I'm aware if I keep walking up, fall down, I'm aware,

my awareness, my awakeness. I'm not asleep. I'm paying attention. Direct

our attention. What do I pay attention to? Affection? That's a very

biblical Christian word, affection. Where's your heart? Where is your heart?

In other words, when I say direct our consciousness is our being? How

are we being from day to day? This is point number one of how

to be with Jesus. Consciousness is the flow is the flow. It's flowing

right now, okay. But the flow is a flow of thoughts, feelings,

images, ideas, perception. All that's happening in your consciousness right now.

Even your body, your sensors, you feel hot, you feel warm,

All that is your consciousness. Because if you're unconscious, none of that

is flowing. But you're conscious now that's flowing. That flow through a mindstream

and a feel of awareness. That's consciousness. How to be with Jesus.

This consciousness, this attention, awareness, this focus, this being, this

affection need to be directed. Otherwise you just flow awhere it wants, but

you have to stop. Don't flow here, don't flow. He'll just go

this way. When Jesus said in John fifteen, I will make my home

in you, and you make your home in me. This in verse seven

and eight. If you are biding me and my words abide in you,

ask whatever you wish, you'll be done for you. By this. My

Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so proved to be my disciples.

This is how you are my disciples when you direct your consciousness, your

attention, your affection, your awareness towards me. So if you think about

words, remember words have meaning. What Jesus was trying to refer to is

your consciousness, your being When you said abide, if my words abide in

you, he's talking about, like, where's your mind, where's your attention,

where's your affection? That's what he's talking about. So the reality is,

friends, all of us are abiding right now. All of us are

making a mental home where in something. The question is, is it Jesus

and the words of Jesus. We're all abiding, We're all abiding. See,

for most people, their consciousness, their abiding is not in Jesus,

whereas it it could be in fear. Their whole life is driven by fear.

I'm afraid to die, so I be healthy. I'm afraid to be

poor, so I pursue richness. Are afraid no wordy or want me?

So I better set on a nice profile on coffee bagel. I am whatever.

Okay, your consciousness, your abiding is in fear or some of us

anger, everything is. It's all about getting back at this person who hurt

me so much. We are all abiding right now. Our man, our

mind has a home somewhere. Some of us materialism, greed, last insecurity.

That is what many are abiding in. These are the words and thoughts

and ideas that pass through mindstream. How to get better, how to get

even, how to get revenge, how to not be there, how to

These are the thoughts and the feelings, and the desires and the perceptions and

the images and the ideas that feels, our consciousness, our being, entertainment,

sexualization, success, fantasies, revenge, anger, heart wounds, trauma,

beatenness, regret, guilt, shame, fear, insecurities, our consciousness.

If you're not intentional, it's abiding in all of those things all day

long. And the power of Jesus' words in John fifteen, his word picture

of the vine branches is this. He's basically saying, whatever you abide in

is the person you become. In other words, whatever your consciousness is giving

its attention to, you become that. Whatever you give your attention to is

the person you become. So your consciousness, which is your awareness, your

attention, your affections, it sets the trajectory of your spiritual formation and your

character. So if you're someone filled with a lot of revenge, that's the

trajectory that you're moving in that forms you spiritually, mentally everything. So we

say, oh, that person is really anxious. Oh Kannish is very anxious.

What do we mean? We mean Kannish His consciousness is habitually abiding,

grounding in fear producing thoughts. That's why the product is what anxiousness anxiety.

The mindstream is full of fear. When we say, oh, Josh is

very angry. He's angry all the time. That means his consciousness, his

abiding is full of anger and hatred and resentment and bitterness. So everything he

does becomes how do I get even? But friends, it's not just about

knowing. It's not it's just consciousness just information. Yeah, it's not just

a mind thing. It's not knowing or doing, but it's being so In

other words, abiding in being with Jesus is about learning to do this.

Aiming our consciousness, aiming our awareness, attention, affection at Jesus all through

the day, at least we try. That means you're at work and you've

got a problem aiming your consciousness at Jesus. Is you start to think about

Jesus in that situation? What would Jesus do in this situation. You're having

a fight with your spouse and you're aiming your attention, your affection, your

consciousness at Us. Now, suddenly, what would Jesus do if this was

his wife and they are fighting? Have you all heard of? Neuroplasticity is

the brain's ability to change and adapt due to experience. As you experience,

your brain changes and adapts. It's an umbrella term referring to the brain's ability

to change, reorganize, or grow neural networks. This can involve functional changes

due to brain damage, because if your brain damage, your brain had to

change function or structural changes due to learning. As you learn new things,

your brain is shaped and adapt a different way. Plasticity refers to the brain's

malability or ability to change. It does not refer to the brain bring plastic

neuro refers to the neurons, the nerve cells that are the building blocks of

the brain and nervo system. Thus, neuroplasticity allows nerve cells to change or

adjust. That means that, in other words, your brain, your mind,

your consciousness has the ability and power to change adept form habits. Don't

not have came up with this Heab's Law the signs of practice have believed that

neural connections are strengthened through repetition and practice. Some repetition and practice. He

was one of the pioneers in recognizing this principle of neuropracticity in what was later

coined Heab's law. That is, neurons that fire together wire together. Basically

just means practice makes perfect. When a behavior is repeated over and over,

the pathways in the brain begin to heart wire. So if you do something

consistently long enough, it becomes hard wired into it. It becomes muscle memory.

That's why those of you who drive car, you don't go into the

car every single time like okay, press what now? Okay now left,

let go where you don't use muscle memory heard wired. Research suggests that it

takes twenty one to sixty six days twenty one to sixty so something longer,

something shorter, takes twenty one to sixty six days to form a habit.

But there's a catch. It's not twenty one days in a year or sixty

six days in a year. You don't skip. It's twenty one to sixty

six days consecutively. You don't skip. You keep on doing it every day

for twenty one two sixty six days. You form a new habit. You

do that. That's where neuroplasticity, your brain is wired to the point that

it becomes hart wire, and now you have a new habit. It takes

effort on your part. You gotta wake up and go to the gym every

day, prefrobably at the same time, for the next twenty one days without

fail. For some of you sixty six days and then by after that you're

doing alarm clock. You just wake up and you go, and when you

don't go, something youls off. How is it related to being with Jesus

or a lot? So the basically idea is this, every time you think

a thought, it's like it's like driving down the road. You you drive

down down the road one time. What happens? You get a track,

You drive it down a thousand times. Now you got a rut. And

when you have a rut, now you cannot drive anywhere else. You end

up in the rut. You get me, You get a picture. Same,

it's with your thought. Every time we think a thought, it's easier

to think that thought again and harder not to think it. Think it again.

You get what I'm saying. Every time you think a it's easy to

think a again and harder not to think a that's neuroplasticity. Whether that thought

is a good thought or a bad thought. The more you think it,

the harder you'll become later on to not think it. So if I'm stupid,

I'm stupid. I'm stupid, I'm stupid. You'll get to a point

where you cannot think you're not your stupid You cannot think you supe anymore.

And someone tells you you're so smart. No, I'm stupid. I cannot

do this. I cannot do this. I cannot do this. I can't

do this over time. It doesn't have to be true. It's just in

your consciousness right now. Every time you think a thought, it becomes easier

to think that thought and harder not to think that same thought, whether the

thought is Jesus or sex. Well, what a contrast. If you think

about Jesus all the time, it gets harder not to think about him.

Why Because that's the ruts in your road right now. And so you're about

to masturbate and you think about Jesus and then you stop, You're about to

pay a bribe, and then Jesus comes in your white Because it's the rut

of your mind to do the opposite is why we end up in the mess.

We end up because our rut is made of something else. This rut

can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending where the road leads

to. That's why Paul said, remember, brother Paul pauls in Romans twelve,

don't be confirmed to this world, but be transformed. What by the

renewing of your mind? If Paul met Donald had he might have said,

Biden, neuroplasticity of your mind. Renew your mind through the word renewing our

minds is aiming our consciousness at Jesus. All throughout the day. We think

about his word, we think about his person, we think about his beauty,

goodness. It's called or what abiding means. You want to be a

disciple, you start with your consciousness. You start driving down this road once,

twice, three times. Past sounds very difficult sounds. I have to

be a saint. No. Remember, it's not about perfection. It's about

persistence and consistency. You won't get right all right? You think I passed

it. I think Jesus all the time. No, I get angry,

I get upset, I get disappointed, I get hurt. But I have

to train my mind. I have to be intentional about this. How do

I do it? Abiding his words? Read his words? I love How

this all don't make sense now? So renew our minds means aiming aim Just

aim not he thinking it yet? Just aim your consciousness at Jesus. What

is the reward of prayer? So it's Basically, it's it's like praying.

It's like God, I have this situation. I'm very angry right now.

What do I do. We think of the reward of prayer as uncert prayer,

breakthroughs, miracles, blessings, because these are the stories we often celebrate.

I get firing it to the offering back and I got fifty ring it

back within five minutes. Wow, Halleviah, Praise a Lord. I pray

for reason God gave me this. Yet that's that's one reward of prayer.

It's not the only reworder of prayer does happen. God is a miracle working

God. But uncert prayers in the form of miracles, blessings and breakthroughs are

not the only rewards of prayer. God always offers us his presence even when

he doesn't offer us his power. He may not give you the car you

want, but he's there. And this is this, This will be forever

be the mystery that we will never figure out this side of heaven. Why

God gives some people some things and it doesn't give you something. Why God

heals some people, he doesn't heal some That's up to God is his sovereignty.

He's smart, his mother, and you mother than me, he decides.

But he'll always be a mystery. But God always offers his presence even

when he doesn't offer his power. So if prayer for you, if you

only pray to get something back, your prayer is lacking something and you'll always

feel something's missing. So the longer we follow Jesus, the more comfortable comfortable

we get living within the mystery of His the wine wisdom. That means we

become more and more. Okay, if God doesn't answer some prayer the way

we want him to, because we know that no matter what, his presence

is with me, even if I don't have his power. Amen. So,

But speaking of consciousness and prayer, what do people do when there's a

blank space, when there's nothing to do? Most of us do this,

right. We're waiting in line, we're on the train, we got nothing

to do, we've got no focus. We start doing this. We start

scrolling. Most of us when our mind is idle, because when you're busy

working doing something, you don't do that, right. But when there's nothing

to do, when there's a they call it a blank space. We now

these days, we tend to go to this device and we start scrolling.

I can't put now this guy's name. You can try, but it's a

psychologist that said the unaided or the undirected mind tends towards chaos. We will

go to negative, dark places when our mind is unaided or undirected. That's

why I ask you to direct your mind. Direct your mind, direct your

consciousness towards Jesus, because if you don't, is going towards chaos. That's

it's autopilot. Your brain starts thinking about fear, the bad things that will

happen, failure, If you don't have something to focus on, your mind

will go into fear, anger, regret, shame, chaos. So most

people, depending on your personality, when your mind is idle, is unaided,

undirected, you will either leap to the past or leap to the future.

You either worry about a past that you cannot change or a future you

cannot control. And then you get worried, you get fearful, you get

anxious, whether you live to the past or the future. What happens is

it roups you off your present. You're not there, you're not in the

present, and your mind is always negative. We get so caught up in

the things we cannot control, and then we allow them to control us,

and then we end up losing control over what we actually can. We get

stuck up with things we cannot control, and those need control us. Now

we cannot. We lose the control that we actually have the present. End

with this, what do we do? What is abiding with Jesus? What

is consciously? What you passed away talking about is psychologicals a bible. Bible

Paul said, renew your minds, direct your mind. Jesus is abiding me.

Aim your consciousness towards me, think about me in everything. So and

with these three things are we recognize Let's recognize that there are three points in

our life where we are abiding. Remember I told you you are already abiding.

I don't know what it is. So from you is fear, some

of you is worried, some of you is insecurity. I don't know what,

But you're abiding. Jesus is saying, get your mind out of there

and abiding me. And that three main parts is the first thoughts in our

mind when we wake up, and the last thoughts before we fall asleep.

And then the third one is the random moment throughout the day when our mind

is blank and we have that we we stop at a traffic light, and

there's a moment there. We are early to appointment, and there's a moment

there we're waiting for our appointment. And as a moment there, we suddenly

suddenly do our work. We stop halfway, we take the time to breathe,

and then there's a moment that all those random places, that's where our

mind starts abinding. It starts lending and making a home somewhere. We were

busy. We're busy. But the first thoughts. The point is I have

also learned to become more intentional with what passed through my mind. The first

thing in the morning. I don't know whether my wife realizes or not,

but I don't go to my phone anymore. I go through the toilet.

I poop first. But as I pop, I open up my I think

my I bet, I bet? What Yes? By open up the Bible

and I'm not, Hey, I'm not seen now you know it's scene and

I'm not like, I'm not like immortal. Okay, you think I opened

a Bible and Richie three chapters are No, I just started learning. I

read the verse of the day. Let's start with that. Bro At least

that's the sentence that goes into my head first before anything else. And if

you don't believe me, God researches for yourself. The first thoughts in your

head when you wake up and the first thoughts in your mind before you go

to sleep. The impact they have on your life is huge. Don't underestimate

it. This is why Jesus wakes up at three in the morning and play

prays for three hours, three to six am before the sun comes up.

He prays, Jesus. I don't think he's just I don't think he's being

holy. He's already holy. Whatever Jesus does that is you get it right.

He's not trying to be more holy, He's already holy. I really

think Jesus is just trying to be practical. He told you to follow him,

so you must show you how it can be done. So he wakes

up because you know what happens at six am, every is already starting to

work. Remember Peter came to him. Oh Jesus, ware, you wan

everybody looking for you. You know what time? There was? Six am.

He was aligned within for him to counsel, to pray, to do

coaching six am. No wonder he become a three. If you become six

where God he's praying halfway, somebody call him, somebody message WhatsApp first time.

So three o'clock, nobody is awake. Nobody can tell me I pray

for three hours because I have to fill my conscience with the word of my

father, because remember he said, I only do what my father told me

to do. What if the reward of prayer just being with God, abiding

in God, aiming your mind is now hardwired to think about God. Jesus

never said, oh, this must pray three hours, pray speaking tongues fifteen

hours, or that it's good things. It's good things, but it's not

in the Bible. But I'm not saying these bad things. You can pray

in times for three hours, go do it. But let's be fit.

The Bible is just saying, pray, abide all throughout the day, as

you're driving, as you're pooping, as you're doing homework, as you're studying

for your exam, as you're writing a proposal. But it has to be

trained, because right now we are not there. When we abide in Jesus,

we are being with Jesus. And the more we be with Jesus,

our consciousness is trained, shaped and consistently it gets aimed at Jesus. Remember

when you think a thought long enough, it gets easier to think it again

and harder not to think it again. Maybe we will all get to a

point as we are disciples, we will get to a point where everything also

be think of Jesus. Thank you for joining us. We trust you have

been blessed by the Word of God. If you like what I've experience,

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