Renewal of the Mind | Girls Gone Bible
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Hi guys, I'm Angela. And I'm Arielle, and we are Girls Gone Bible. We are a faith-based podcast. We talk everything Jesus, spirituality, relationships, mental health. We are just two imperfect girls with two imperfect lives that found Jesus and he saved our lives. And we just want you to come here and feel safe. Any religion is welcome. Anybody is welcome. And we just hope that you feel safe with us. We love you.

We hope that you learn a little something. We hope that watching today's episode will bring you freedom and bring you truth and bring you to the truth of who Jesus is and bring you closer to him. Yeah.

Dude. What? Happy New Year. Happy New Year, my sister. You didn't spend it with me. Who were you with? My family. Ari loves doing that. We'll be on live and I'll be like literally with my family. She'll be like, where are you? And like make it seem like I'm out doing something with a guy. I don't know what she's trying to get out. I'm like, I'm alone. So my prayer for this year is that...

Girls Gone Bible just reaches new heights, reaches as many people as humanly possible, that Jesus touches the lives of as many people as he sees fit through Girls Gone Bible, and that you and I spend the whole year together having a good time pursuing Jesus and just laughing the whole time. And I just really, I just, I want us to spend the year being best friends. Is that okay? This is truly like the time that like the best

time of our life right now. It really is. Angela and I are trying to figure out where we're going to go next. What city we're going to go next. Where are we going to live? So we've just been really preying on it lately. But we're not, the one thing we're not doing is leaving each other. Oh, so we feel it on our hearts a little bit that like it's going to be, I don't know what this is but I'm really scared. The one thing that we know, if that comes up again you got to say something. I don't see it. The Batwing?

Me and Ari, like, we feel an itch. Like, I don't think that God wants us in L.A. forever. We don't know exactly where to go. We just know one thing. Our husbands got to live in the same place. We got to live in the same place. So wherever we go, we're going together. She looks at me dead serious the other day, and she goes, Ar... I go, what, Mom? She goes...

I don't know, I'm just having a little bit of anxiety because I really want our husbands to be either brothers or best friends, I coin. She goes, but you know what the beautiful thing about Jesus is? He knows the desires of our hearts, right? Like, if we really want that, like, he'll put in the works. He'll sprinkle that in for us, right? That's what I said, sprinkle that in. No, honestly, it's because, and I genuinely had a moment of, like, a little bit of panic. Do you want the brush? No.

I genuinely had a moment. Is it okay like this? I genuinely had a moment of a little bit of panic because I was like, God, please, what are we going to do? What have her guys here? Where are we going to go? And then I had a moment where I was like,

God has written the most incredible story for our lives. How can we, for a second, when he's brought us to things that we've never even prayed for, that we never even knew to think of to pray for, he's created such a beautiful story in our lives. What makes us think that he's not going to do that when it comes to our husbands too? Oh, I know. Like he's going to do something so funny. It's got to go with the plot. Jesus knows. It might not be too funny. Oh, Jesus.

That would not be too funny. That would not be too funny. No, but... No, because I said to you, I was like... I said, well... I said, well, just in case, Ang, like, what if my husband's in, like, Texas or Nashville and I got to be there? We could just probably film, like, twice a month. And you looked at me in the terror in your eyes. You said...

I was like, no, that doesn't work. Everything is based on the fact that we're best friends and we live in the same place and we do everything together. It can't change. We live in Satan's pen and we're bringing people to Jesus. Exactly. That's the plot. We live in the devil's playground, bringing people to Jesus. We can't get off course. No, we'll move on right now. But I'm just so happy that we started this in LA because I think more than ever, the city needs it. So I think it was so meant to be for us to live here when we started it.

A hundred percent. And we needed to live the life that we had been living to start it. Oh, Lord. And, uh, yes. You can feel safe with us. You can. Please never feel judged while you're here. And actually, you know what? Speaking of judgment, I just want... So today we're talking about the renewal of the mind. And a lot of people don't even know what that is. We hear it all the time. What does it mean to renew your mind? What even, like, what does renew even mean? Like, what does that mean exactly? And...

We're going to talk a lot about transformation today and your life transforming and letting God, the spirit of God and the word of God actually bring transformation to your life. And there's going to be a couple of things that might feel a little bit confrontational in this. There might be conversations that will make you

kind of shy away or maybe harden your heart if it feels like it's challenging. And I just really encourage you guys to understand that we are only speaking from a place of experience that we've been through a lot. We've done a lot to come back and let you know that like,

God's word is the truth and this is the way that you should be living your life is according to this word. Yeah, and sometimes it's going to feel like, oh, that's a lot, but sometimes you need to hear the hard truth. You know, like I used to hear that and I used to be like, oh, but people need to tell you straight up and tell you the truth and tell you what it is because...

That's just the truth of it, and you have to live right. Thank you so much for saying that. And it's weird. I was thinking about the renewal of the mind, and I'm like, man, this should have been the first thing we talk about when we started Girls Gone Bible because transforming the mind and renewing the mind is vital. Really quick, back to transformation one second. I just want to say, too, that...

building on what Ari said about how it can feel like a lot. Also remember that like transformation doesn't happen in a day. You don't have to receive all of these things and then change everything over a day. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will you or your faith. So why is...

Can you show everyone your new Bible because I love it. Can we show everyone the lash on my Bible? Please. Please. Please. That's not okay. What the heck? This Bible was a gift and there's eyelash glue on it. Can we talk about really quick, can I, what is your word for the year? My word for the year? Yeah. What's yours? Mine is sacrifice. Why? Why?

Because I felt like... So I went to Passion, which was, by the way, the best experience of my whole life. I went to Passion. Please, guys, if you have any conferences around you locally, wherever you can go, go to a conference. It was absolutely life-changing. But I... Please, I wish... Shout out to everyone on GGB that yelled at Angela when I wasn't in the photo with her and all her 10 new friends. Shout out to all of GGB gang that was at Passion that kept finding me. I love you so much. That was really fun. We...

And God really put it on my heart. He kept telling me, because everyone kept asking, what's your word? What's your word? And so I was like, God, what's my word for the year? Like, I'm not, I don't think about stuff like that. And he really put sacrifice on my heart. And I think what he was trying to tell me was, so we kind of created a list, me and God, of a few things that I was going to lay down. Yeah.

Not even things that were necessarily bad. Like scripture says that everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. And so there was a couple of things in my life that it's not even that they were necessarily sinful or bad or like, you know what I mean? But God was kind of telling me, you can lay this down because you're a little dependent on it. You're a little dependent on this. This could potentially get in the way of our relationship. Can I ask what, or is that personal? I'll tell you later. Okay. And-

I thought everyone was our sisters and brothers. We're a family. Yeah, maybe later. And so it's just like little things, just some little things and a couple big things. And I really felt like God was pressing in on me, telling me that soon...

He's kind of taking me through little sacrifices that I'm having to make one to humble me before him and two to strengthen my obedience with him because he's bringing me through all these little sacrifices because he's telling, I feel like he's telling me that I and you as well, we're going to be faced with,

with some things soon in the next either weeks, months, years, where we're going to have to sacrifice some big things. We're going to have to make some big decisions and we're going to have to go against what the world is asking us to do and focus on and, and rely on God's word and what he's asking us to do. And it's going to be big sacrifices. And so I feel like he's getting me ready with little sacrifices. That is a great, great one. That's yeah. And I, I,

- The most rewarding thing, being your friend in such little time, but seeing how fast you've grown and had to shape up has been truly one of the most rewarding things I've ever gotten to watch in a friendship. I'm so proud of you. - I'm so proud of you. - No, truly, I am so proud of you, Angela.

I really am. You guys have no idea how fast she has shaped up and how just how much she sacrificed. And it wasn't easy for her, but she did it. And she has been so submitted to God. And I know it hasn't been hard for you. You had to unlearn a lot of things. And I'm just so, so proud of you. Jesus is so proud of you. Oh, I love you so much. Jesus is so proud of you. I can't wait to

It's been a whole episode talking about your transformation and you have been instrumental in me really renewing my mind. And I can't wait to get into that because nobody's mind got renewed quicker than this girl's. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. And we need to explain what renewing even is. But what's your word? Obedience. Wow. Obedience in my heart, in my mind. I've had to... God really took a lot away from me this past year and a half. And it's been difficult for me to...

really trust him and say, no, you're right, Jesus. This is, this is good that you took away. This is for a reason. Look at what you provided for me. Look at what you've done for my life. So just to really be obedient and trusting him and trusting what he's doing. And I've also had to sacrifice a lot and be obedient and it's been extremely difficult, but

just the best thing that I could have ever done for myself, but it's still hard. And so remaining obedient and my walk with him and what, you know, just, just being, doing the right thing, being obedient, obedience,

I have never seen a more obedient and willing heart than yours. And you talk about sacrifice. You will lay it down when God says, I don't care how much of the Bible you know. I don't care how much school you went to. I don't care about God. What he focuses on is the heart and your willingness and your obedience.

obedience and your hunger for Jesus is the reason why you have experienced in one and however long of being saved what people who are Christians their whole lives never get to experience because you want it. You know what I mean? It says that the pure in heart will see God and your pure heart, that is why you see God the way that you do. Thank you so much. I love you. I love you more. Shrimp.

- All right, now we're gonna insult each other 'cause that was really nice of us. Batwing down, okay. - Fix the hair in the back. - Fix the hair in the back? - How's my hair look? - Always good and I wonder why you don't help me. Okay, I just wanna, when we, so basically renewal of the mind, so I just wanna explain.

We're going to read a little bit from everywhere, but Romans 12, 2 says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. Renew means to change into something new and different, something better. The King James Version dictionary says, renew means to renovate, to rebuild or to repair.

And I have this journal. Gosh, journaling. I'm so... You know I love journal entries because it's like...

You're actually writing down exactly what happened. You guys, it's so important to write. I stopped writing for about six months and then I started again. And when I write to God, it's like everything becomes real on the page and you can, it's just like talking with him and you can go back and look at the transformation that happened in your life. I really encourage you guys to write. Today's episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. We are so grateful for BetterHelp and honestly, Ari's whole

journey and testimony is BetterHelp was a massive part of it for you. The thing about New Year's resolutions is that around New Year's, we all try to obsess over the things we can change and what we can do next when really we could just focus on the things that we're already doing right. I mean, talking to my friends is one thing, but having a non-biased counselor that you can go to and spill everything out that understands and that will listen to non-judgmental is just

has helped my journey so much. You know, it's just, it's different. It's just different when you have a good Christian counselor that you can go to and really just talk things out with. Anytime I feel any sort of pain, I can be a little avoidant with my feelings. I try to intellectualize pain so that I don't have to feel it. And I need somebody who can read me, who can read the situation and who can just tell me straight up what is going on. Because otherwise,

I might not be able to put it into my own words or express the way that I feel. So having a professional who's dealt with this, who's probably dealt with somebody like me, it's game-changing for your mental health and for the ability to process emotions and traumatic things that have happened to you.

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That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Girls Gone Bible. Thank you so much, BetterHelp, for sponsoring this video. And thank you for helping me on my healing journey. What, so this is, what is this journal entry? What year is this? So this is 2021. Okay. This fell out, but this is 2021. Is that during COVID?

This is right after COVID. Right after COVID. Okay. So the beginning of this journal, you would see, and it's embarrassing, so I'm not going to show anybody, but you see that I'm all about manifestation. I am all about writing. But you had Jesus. Yeah, I definitely had Jesus, but I was like, I did not understand what surrendering to the will of God was. Yeah, I thought that manifest... And I love Jesus, and I was a Christian, and I wrote about Jesus and everything, but I'd be like...

I'm so grateful that by September 28th, 2021, I will be making $100,000 a month. I used to do this. Shut up. I used to do that. I am so happy that I booked acting jobs back to back in September. You know, they say write it five times in a row. So I would write it five times in a row. So I have a journal full of that. And then all of a sudden, August 25th, I believe it's 2021.

For the first time, I start writing in a way that I never had. And I almost, I could argue that this is like the day that I got saved because I started writing. Show them on the top. It says in caps, Jesus is Lord. That's so cute. I'll put a photo. And honestly, I don't remember writing.

when I started writing, like talking like this, but I wrote, I'll put it on the thing, but it says August 25th, Jesus is Lord. I come in front of you, Lord, and kneel before you and confess with words and in my heart that you are Lord, Jesus Christ, my father and savior. You died on the cross for me, Jesus. You saved me from my sins.

I dedicate my life to you, Jesus. And then just so dramatic, nothing has changed. I go, I will fight the devil in Jesus name for the rest of my life.

I said, I love you, Jesus. You are the way, the truth and the life. Can I ask you something? Yeah. Was that before? Was that after you got sober? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a year. That's almost that's a year later. And so she had she had read this journal entry to me and she said, and I didn't even know what the sinner's prayer was. So you had just written that and that I have chill bumps, actually. That is insane.

kind of exactly what the sinner's prayer is. You just wrote that from your heart. Can you imagine that? That's incredible. Yeah. And it says, and scripture says that you can't, um, you can't confess that Jesus is Lord without the Holy spirit. So that was the Holy spirit in me speaking. Can you imagine that's what the Holy spirit will do. That's why it's,

Oh, we're so blessed. If we don't have anything in this life, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit. And isn't that enough? Absolutely, it's enough. Isn't there more? No, no. That's it. Oh, yeah. I got it. That's it. I don't need you guys to see me sing. By September 2020, I will be famous. Did any of those come true? No.

I mean, yeah. I mean, I'm like, I don't know. It's like a weird thing because when you, God says, when you ask for anything in my name that is according to my will, it will be done for you. It will be yours. But again, manifestation, the second you take Jesus out of it, the reason why it's demonic is because you are willing to step out of God's will. You're willing to do it. You're letting manifestation come before your relationship with God. So we're going to read this story today and I want you guys to guess.

Who's Mary and who's Martha? I'm sure you guys will be able to guess it quick. Yeah, so when we found this story, because we were thinking of what we wanted to talk about, what we wanted to read about either mental health or renewal of the mind or just like focusing on Jesus and letting God's word renew your mind and transform and change your thoughts. And we found this story of Mary and Martha. And we'll tell the story after because it really goes along with me and Ari's life.

So we're going to be in Luke chapter 10. It's at the end, starts at verse 38.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, don't you care about my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.

But the Lord said to her, My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details. There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.

I know that's really short, but let's go over what is happening here. So Mary and Martha, Jesus comes into their home. Mary and Martha are sisters. They're sitting there. Martha is losing it. She's freaking out. She's getting everything ready. She is consumed by worry and anxiety. She's running around. She's distracted. She doesn't even see that she has the Messiah. She has Jesus sitting right in front of her, but, and she's serving Jesus. So it's a beautiful thing. She is serving him. She's getting all the preparations ready. She's doing all the things, but

what she doesn't understand is that she can serve him in such a better way just by being still and just by listening. And before we even serve God and go and do his work like that, he just wants us to receive him. Her sister, Mary sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught. So Mary,

Mary sat at Jesus' feet, soaking in everything he was saying, soaking in his presence, soaking in his wisdom. And that's the difference between Mary and Martha. Jesus says to her, my dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details. There's only one thing worth being concerned about. And so Jesus is saying himself, I'm the only thing worth being concerned about.

Mary has discovered it. She sees that I'm the only thing that actually matters. And it will not be taken away from her. Meaning you're doing all these things. You're concerned about all these things. And all of it is going to go away. None of it lasts. But I am forever. I am eternal. And I will not be taken away from you. Yeah. Who do you guys think it is?

So we basically, so in this story about how me and Ari were just laughing about it because, you know, in this story, when Ari and I first met, we, there was like a, I was, you know, I had spent so many of couple of years reading the word, being with Jesus, just being like consumed by the peace of God that had taken over my life. And I really was Mary in this situation. Like I was always just chilling at the feet of Jesus. And when I first met Ari, um,

Would you describe yourself as being a little bit more like Martha? Absolutely. Tell them. Well, I thought that, like, when you and I first met, you were anxious and you were worried and you were distracted by all these things. And at one point, I remember when we first became friends, you looked at me and you were like, why are you... Where is this... What is this piece? Where do you get this piece? Yeah. And I'm like...

I'm just sitting at the feet of Jesus. That's literally it. Yeah, when I think about how I was living before I really had God and had the Word, I was bound in chains in my head. I was consumed with fear.

with just worry and anxiety, and it's just no way to live. And it's funny because you read the Bible, and it says so much in the Bible. An angel has appeared. An angel has come to give a message, and I think God will do that in your life. He'll either send someone in human form as an angel to give you a message, or he'll send someone as a friend, and that's what he did for me.

He sent you, and yeah, you saved my life. You were my angel. I'm kidding. You saved my life. You really did. You rescued me, and you showed me the way and the truth and the light. Jesus saved you. He did, but that's what he will do. That's how good he is, and I had to make the decision. I had to. See, the thing is when you...

when you find him, because I was having many supernatural encounters with God. I, you know, I tell you guys all the time, I, I was so, I went through a time when I could, I, by my own might, couldn't get through it anymore. I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I didn't feel like I was going to make it. And that's when I found him through the pit of despair, like I always say. And, and,

When I found him, I had many, many encounters with him, but I had to make the decision myself to renew my mind. And and so I met you and I'll never forget it. We were sitting in the car and the problem was, is I was I was drunk.

I did change when I had my encounter with Jesus. I did change. I felt a peace. I felt a presence. I felt something. I knew I wasn't alone, but the problem was, is I was still sick right here and I was still sick right here. And so when I met you and I know Jesus brought you to me at the most perfect time, I looked at you and this was before I had, I had read the Bible. I, when I had my supernatural encounter, I became obsessed. I was like, okay, I,

Because I always knew Jesus, but I didn't know him. So I became obsessed. I started watching sermons and I started to go to church and I started listening to the Bible through the sermons, but I never actually read it. I've never actually read the Bible. I just didn't know to. And so when you came into my life, I'll never forget being in the car and I looked at you and I said,

Man, I am just so broken right here. And I said, do you think that I need medication? Because I'm really suffering and the overbearing thoughts are just completely taking over my life and I can't get through the days. And I'll never forget you looking at me and you said,

No, let's give it a month. And by the way, I don't want anyone to feel ashamed about medication because that's why God did make medication. Some people, it is a good thing. It can be a really good thing. It can really help you.

For me, I wanted to heal in a different way. You know, you take medicine, but the problem is, is when it wears off, you're still left with your mind and the thoughts and the same problems. So I encourage everyone that is on medication to keep chasing Jesus because medicine is going to cure you for a time, but it's not going to cure you for a lifetime. Only Jesus can. And so you said to me,

Give me a month. Give us a month. Let's start reading the Bible. Okay. And so we start reading the Bible and we're reading the Bible and I'm reading all this scripture and it was like,

It was like medicine to my ears. I'm like reading all this stuff like, God is with me wherever I go. Do not be afraid. I'm reading this over and over again. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. I will not leave you or forsake you. Just all this stuff. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And I'm just reading this and it was like, it truly was like medicine going through my veins.

And I just, and I just, those were some of the best days of my life, just waking up with you in the morning and having you by my side, sitting with me, and you were so patient and gracious with me. And I'm so sorry. I just, I will never forget it. I mean, you guys, you have no idea what she did for me. I was sick right here.

She was truly my angel. Every morning she was relentless with me. She gave me more grace and patience than I could ever ask for. I prayed every day for a friend like her. I can't believe I'm crying like this. I'm so sorry.

I get so many messages from you guys saying, man, I'm so stuck. I don't think I'm ever going to see the light. And let me just tell you, yes, you will. Yes, you will. Because I can assure you that I was probably, if not more sick than you guys were right here. And she sat with me every morning and she just...

went step by step with me. But the thing about being a Christian and following God is they don't tell you how hard it's going to be, how difficult your walk is going to be. So when we were reading the Bible, I was coming alive and my mind was getting sharper and healthier. But then I went through another roadblock where I was...

I don't, I was, I was reading the word, but I was, I wasn't really understanding the word the way I should have. And it's trial and error. I mean, when you first doing your walk, it's really hard to just all of a sudden overnight become obedient. And so I was almost picking and choosing what I wanted to, to live by. So instead of, instead of, instead of letting,

the word changed me, I was almost changing the word. Do you know what I'm saying? And so it wasn't until I really made the decision to dedicate myself and my body to him and say, you know what? It's not about what I want and it's not about what I think is right. It's about what the word says. Because let me tell you guys something. When you really, when you really get an understanding of the word, it's

And you let it renew your mind. That's when the transformation happens. And then all you're going to want to do is right. And you're going to be more into what pleases God and less what pleases you when you really understand the gospel and the word and the truth of what it says. Yeah. You know what I mean? So true. Absolutely. And I'll say one more thing, you know, because even, okay, my New Year's resolution is to

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Remember, you guys, start the new year off with a delicious bowl of high protein cereal at magicspoon.com slash GGB and use the code GGB to save $5 off. Thank you, Magic Spoon, for sponsoring this video. You and I talk about this when we really started living right and being obedient to the word. And I, you know, a couple of my friends, you can got baptized, but they're still living in their old ways. And that's the thing. It's like.

God will meet you where you're at and he'll be there in your struggles. But it's your decision and it's your choice to say, you know what? I want to make change. I want to be obedient. I don't want to just pick and choose what I want to live by. I actually have to make the change to renew my mind. Thank you. And because that's the thing. You can be a born again Christian, but you're still living on hell here on earth. Why? Because you're still...

living the ways of the world, you're still, your thoughts are still being controlled by the world. And if you're still sinning and you're still sexually sinning and you're still treating people badly and you're still caught up in pornography, you know, you're still controlled and conformed by the world. Oof.

Preach. Preach. You just literally encapsulated everything to do with renewing of the mind, and you brought it all back to transformation, and you brought it back to choice. And that is exactly what I felt we should do today is bring it down and be so real with GGB gang and tell them about how you and I have had to, yes, Jesus will save you. Yeah.

He will save you. He will. He's a savior. He pursues us. He knocks on the door. He'll wait. He waits to like, yes, he does. But I think something that I've been dealing with a lot recently is like,

It all comes down to choice because I spent years reading the Bible. Guys, I spent years reading the Bible and yes, there were certain things that had changed in my life. There were certain things that a lot changed in my mind. I did have peace. I did have the fruit of the Spirit. I did overcome anxiety. I did overcome OCD. I did overcome addiction and alcoholism.

But at the same time, just like you said, picking and choosing, not letting the word change us, but trying to pervert the word or like construct it in a way that fits around the desires that we still have in our hearts. Yeah. I was sitting there picking and choosing. Yeah, absolutely. And like.

I'm sitting there and I've been thinking recently, why was there such a lack of transformation in my life for a while? And I'm like, hmm, was it that like I was blind to the truth, the enemy blinded me, I had scales on my eyes, societal programming, and I've come to the conclusion that I just didn't care.

I simply just didn't care. I knew the truth because I read it on the page. I know what it says. I know it says, don't do this. And I know it says, don't do that, but I'm sitting there and I'm still doing it because I'm not fought to be a follower of Jesus means that you follow Jesus. You know what I mean?

A renewal of the mind comes. Yes, the Holy Spirit will do a work in you, but you have to meet the Holy Spirit halfway. He can't just do the job for you. He who started a good work in you will bring it to completion, but you have to meet the Holy Spirit and make choices. God cannot impose on your free will. Yeah, you have to let your old life die, and it's not easy. It's really hard, but let me tell you, it is the most rewarding thing when you do it right.

You're robbing yourself, robbing yourself of the fullness that God has for your life, the life that He wants you to live when you are picking and choosing and when you're not truly abiding by the Word and living in the way that He wants. And

We're just gonna have an emphasis today too on kind of like God's commands his commandments and the truth is like The word sin is really sensitive to people people reject it It's a weird thing but sin is real and sin is there's a reason why it's bad It's not because God God doesn't put parameters in our lives because he wants to withhold things from us He does it because there are boundaries and he's trying to protect us and so and

Anything that God is withholding from you, it's for a reason. You have to make the choice to follow His commandments. And I want you guys to understand that

These are two people, again, like we said earlier, two people who have taken every rule that God has set in place, every boundary, every commandment. And we have tested his commandments with the opposite. We've went and we've done the opposite of probably everything that God has said not to do. We've gone and we've tried it. And we are we live to tell to testify to the truth that we've come to one conclusion about all of them. Yeah.

And it's that God is right. Yes. Yes. The Bible is right. Yes. There's a reason for it because it robs you of your peace, because it robs you. It opens doors. It robs you of your joy. It puts you in positions where you were never intended to be. And when you go against God's commandments.

I love that you brought up sin because I think it's one of the biggest parts of renewing the mind. And for me, especially, it was. And it wasn't until I let that part of me die and I let that part of me go is when I started to get healthy right here and right here, when I let go of that sin. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I know with you and I, it's like...

We have to make the decision to renew our mind, but it's like because we're so submitted to God and because we know the truth and what's right, it's so funny how watching you and I with our journey and just looking at each other and be like, we got to cut this out. Like enough is enough. Save on O'Reilly Brake Parts Cleaner. Get two cans of O'Reilly Brake Parts Cleaner for just $8. Valid in-store only at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Oh, oh, oh.

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God loves us so much, but he wants us to be delivered. He wants us to be delivered from that. Yeah. Thank you for saying that. I think about it all the time because there is, we live in a world where there are a lot of Christians who it's like, yeah, you, you said the prayer. You do believe that Jesus is the son of God and you will go to heaven. But that doesn't mean that God, that, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be following the word. Like

Christians who say, and I was one of them for a long time, who say they know Jesus, but they don't know the Bible, you're missing out. Like you're truly, you're just missing out. When you're missing out on the truth, you're missing out on the fullness that life and God has to offer in your life. And recently, especially, I'm sitting here and I'm really struggling with like feel good things.

Messages, sermons and stuff like that. The ones that are just like so focused on how much Jesus loves you. Yeah. Obviously Jesus. Like if you guys don't know the simple gospel, God so loved the world, he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Like Ari was just saying. We know that Jesus loves us. There is no question about us, about it. But he loves you so much that he wants to see this transformation happen in your life. He does not want you to stay the same.

Yeah, and he's our father. Do you think a good father is going to let us just be out here celebrating sin and perversion? He doesn't want that for us. You know, and...

That it's really hard in the world we live in because we really this world, seriously, social media, TV shows, everything. We're out here really celebrating just perversion, sin, sex. You see, it's everywhere. We can't get away from it. And that's why we have to be so careful with everything. I mean, people look at Angela and I, honestly, and they're like, you guys are a little like people that aren't submitted to God. Some of our friends, they look at us and they're like, you guys are a little bit like God.

are a little kooky. And I'm like, I don't care because the way that we are living and the way our hearts are and just the peace we have and the joy we have and the humility we have is truly because we stay away from that. We are living in darkness.

It can be beautiful, but it's really dark and it's scary out there. And that's why we have to, like Angela said, our ear gates, eye gates, we have to be careful what we're watching, what we're listening to. It's a big part of sin. It really is. It is. And it's a huge part of conforming to the world's patterns is by if you're constantly bringing that stuff into your mind and into your and watching it and listening to it. And I think about like,

Because we should probably focus a little bit and tell them what even renewing the mind is. But basically, renewing the mind is just interpreting life through the lens of the Word of God. It's taking your thoughts and changing them to match God's thoughts and taking your ways and making them God's ways. Your plans, your thoughts, your ideas, everything, but making them the way that God intends them to be and what His Word says.

and living, taking all of your thought patterns, all of your ways of thinking from before you were saved and completely letting God change them based on the word of God. - That's right. - And so every thought that you have, and I know it sounds intense, and again, this doesn't happen overnight, but over time when you are submitted in the word and you spend your days and you're meditating on the word and you're focusing and you're chasing Jesus,

You start to your thoughts. You will start to they will coincide with the word of God. And then you can start to challenge your thoughts. So when you have thoughts that come up that aren't in accordance with scripture, you can challenge them. And that's how you take them captive. And that's how you demolish them. And everything that sets itself up against God, you take you tear those thoughts down. And that's what renewing the mind is. Yeah. Now, you know what I do now every time I start, because the truth is, is that

renewing the mind isn't just a one-time thing. It's a lifestyle. It's a lifetime event. You have to work on your mind every single day. It's the most important thing you can do. If you knew me a year ago, you wouldn't have even recognized me. I let my

emotions run my life. I let my mind run my life. I had no control over my mind. It was scary. When I tell you I was living in hell, I mean it. And so I just was in complete despair. And now what I do is

Because don't think that those thoughts don't creep up, but when they do, or if I'm in a situation where I'm feeling sinful or I'm feeling stuck or I'm going back, reverting back to the past, they say, is, is, is the word aligning? Is my thoughts aligning with the word? That's why we are so relentless with the Bible because it's,

This is it. This is the truth. This is the light. This is where you go for everything. It's a daily, moment-by-moment choice to have the mind of Christ, to submit your thoughts to Jesus, to constantly challenge...

those thoughts and the truth is, and just maybe some practical ways for you guys to take those thoughts captive 'cause we know 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive in our minds and make it obedient to Christ." I've said it before, I'll say it again, that is truly what helped me beat OCD. I would repeat that.

but I would also put it into practice. I would take the thoughts that I was having and be like, is this going against the word of God? Is this coming up against? And like I, some practical ways of doing that, me and Ari are really big on,

calling each other calling somebody if you're sitting there and you're having your like you cannot I just want you guys to understand again like we've said about choice you guys have choice in the thoughts that you're having your thoughts are not supposed to rule you they're not supposed to govern you you are the governor and the ruler of your thoughts and you are not your thoughts so

So when your brain starts running rampant, talking to you crazy, telling you all these things, telling you all these lies, literally, I don't know what you need to do, but whatever you have to do, if you're sitting, stand, get up, walk around, speak out loud, be like, no, this is it. You just can't let it keep running and going and getting out of control. Call somebody and say, these are the

lies that I'm believing. This is what's going on. And have somebody speak into that to you to be like, no, actually, that's not true. But if you sit there and you just sit and you just wait and you just let it keep going and going, that's when, I mean, you'll lose yourself to it. And you're never supposed to lose yourself to your thoughts.

Man, as you're saying that I'm thinking about, again, sorry, I'm going back to this, but just how much you would declare that over me. And it did heal me so much. Like she would literally declare all of that over me. Like, no, that isn't true about you. And you would declare scripture over me. And, and it was, it's so powerful. And yeah, I mean, gosh, it's just renewing of the mind. It's,

I just... You are just such a big part of my renewal of the mind. I can't believe it. I'm so lucky to have you. I'm so lucky to have you. And I mean, here's the thing about Ari, though, you guys. I want you to understand that renewing of the mind, just like how we said...

So transformation, so the scripture that says do not conform to the pattern of this world. Do not sit and have your thoughts be in accordance to what the world says, to what your flesh wants, to what the TV says to do in the media and what the enemy is influencing your thoughts to be.

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. When there's a renewal of your mind, there should be transformation in your life when you become a Christian. And this is where I'm going to speak to you guys because this is where I'm going to speak from experience. I have been a Christian my whole life.

I then became like born again a few years ago. There was still a long time where I was in the word every day, having profound spiritual experiences with God, being touched by the Holy Spirit on the daily. And I am living in habitual sin. And there you could not tell me, you could not tell the difference between me and the other person in the world. Truly.

You know what I mean? There was such a lack of transformation. And why is that? Again, because I wasn't making the choice. I didn't feel like I had to. I didn't feel, I thought I could be a Christian that did this and did that and all these things. Thank you, Jesus, for the grace. Thank you, God, for conviction. I'm so grateful to God that...

even when we literally betray him to his face, that he still gives us so much grace and he still tries. And I'm grateful that he opened up my eyes and matured me enough and gave me the wisdom and the strength to be able to answer the call and to level up in those ways. Because there was a long time. So anyways, back to what I was saying about you is that you, you immediately, and it was really confronting for me. And I can't wait to have these conversations that we're dying to have, but there were certain things in my life that I was living with, living in,

That as soon as you really got saved, as soon as you start reading the word, you started comparing. Okay, but I'm doing this, but this is what God's word says. So I have like you, your renewal started immediately. And it was so confronting to me that I was like, hmm.

Okay, I guess I do have to take responsibility for my life. You have had such a major transformation in your life, but it's because you were willing and you wanted to. We have to choose to let God renew our minds. We do. We do. And I think a lot of the times you and I would be like, oh, well, we're learning. We're learning.

No, renewing in the mind is changing. I love that you touched on the desires of your heart, because oftentimes, most of the time, God's word goes against the desires of our heart. And it could be really hard to let your mind be renewed and to believe the truth and follow the truth when the desires of your heart go against it. Because God's truth says that, you know, don't do this, but my heart wants that, my flesh wants that. And it's like,

the truth is that's where you ask God for so much grace and strength and wisdom to overcome these things because oftentimes the desire oftentimes you have to make the choice first and then your change of appetite will follow that like for example I think about modesty for you and I right when we first were pursuing modesty I knew what it said and it's not that I didn't believe God because I always believe God I believe the word of God I believe that it's the truth and

I believe it, but I don't want it. You know what I mean? It goes against what I want. It goes against what I've done my whole life. It goes against what society says and how I feel I should be living or how I want to live. And so I think about modesty. The truth is when we first came on this platform, modesty was out the window for us. We had no idea. We had to reach a certain standard in the way that we are dressing. And I have to be honest in saying that

I believed God, so I kind of, I was just willing. I was willing to go, you know what? This isn't what I want to do, but I'm going to do it because God's word says, and now I have this responsibility, and I am going to change the way I dress, and I am going to honor God in the way, in how I present myself and what I put on my body. But I'm not going to lie. When I first did it, I still, oh, I missed it. I wanted to dress like this. I wanted to act like this. I want...

But after that step of obedience, after taking that step out, sometimes you have to have blind faith in the word, just like we have to have blind faith in following Jesus. We have to have blind faith in the word, even if we don't want it and we don't understand it, because that step of obedience from us, naturally, our appetite changed completely.

God changed the desires of our hearts. I don't want to dress the way that I used to. From the bottom of my heart, I look at some of the things I've put on my body and I'm like, that's crazy. By the way, I don't even see you in a crop top anymore. Yo! Oh man, I'm wearing one today. Bye!

But like seriously, you know what I mean? So oftentimes you have to take blind steps of blind faith with the word. Obey commandments, even if you don't agree with them. Obey the commandments. I promise you that that faith in Jesus and that understanding of the word comes, it follows after your obedience. God doesn't just wait for you to be perfect to put you in a space. Sometimes he puts you in a space because it forces you to reach that standard. You know, I love that you say that because...

Oh, my God. I have goosebumps when you say that because I thought, whoa, I'm never going to be able to do this. I'll never be able to wait for marriage when I'm in a relationship. I'm never going to be able to do certain things that I had to let go of. Yeah. I look back and I think to myself, no.

I can't imagine ever doing that again. I can't even imagine. How was I even living like that? How was I posting photos like that? How was I doing that? So that, yes, that is so true. I love, love, love that you said that because some people are probably listening to us thinking, I can't give that up. And guys, we were the same way. We literally looked at each other laughing, us two

Yeah. No, I know. And now we like transformed because we just went in blindly and we just we followed the word and then it just changes you. It changes you. It renews your mind. It really does. It does. I just I want to I just want to really quickly touch on this.

This idea of like, what are you filling your mind with? Philippians 4, 8 says,

Think, fill your mind with the word of God. That's why we tell you to spend every day in the Bible. Do as much as you can. Read as much as you can. Learn as much as you can. New Age spirituality teaches you to meditate to empty your mind. Christian spirituality tells you meditate on the word. Fill your mind with it. Because when you empty your mind, you leave so many doors open. You leave yourself vulnerable and open to demonic forces, all these things, anything.

to influence us from the outside world, but if you fill it with the word of God, that you're golden. I just, I want to read a couple of things from John, that from 1 John, that I have that are honestly just, I read them to Ari last night, and it just really speaks to what we're talking about today. I want to read 1 John chapter 1, 5 to 6. This is the message we heard from Jesus, and now we declare to you, God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God, but go on living in spiritual darkness. There must be transformation in your life if you really know Jesus and you're lying to yourself. You're lying to yourself saying that you're in fellowship with God when you're still in darkness. Yes, yes. Oh, I love that so much. 1 John 2, 3-6 says this.

and we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments. If someone claims, "I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in truth.

You can't say that you know Jesus if you don't obey His word. It's really, and trust me, I was somebody for a long time who was like, "I love Jesus, I love Him, I love Him, I love Him, but I'm betraying His word all day, every single day." You don't actually know Jesus, and it's a really hard truth to take in. - And that is the definition of an unrenewed mind. - Yeah. - When you're not obeying the word. - 1 John 2:14 says, "God's word lives in your hearts, and you have won your battle with the evil one."

So when God's word is in our hearts, that's how we win the battle. Yes. 1 John 3, verse 6 says,

If you keep on sinning, you don't know who Jesus is. Knowing who he is will change you. Knowing that truth will change you. And so if there's a lack of transformation in your life, you have to be honest with yourself and be like, I don't know if I know him that well. Because this should change. You want to change when you know Jesus. You know? Last one.

1 John 3, 18-19, Let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth.

So renewing of the mind is not just knowing the truth. It's acting on it. It's letting it change you. And it's living and following the word and following Jesus. That's what it means to renew your mind. And in following Jesus and following the word means that you will be living in the perfect will of God. So your life will be transformed and you will receive all of the good things that God has to offer. Peace, love, joy, hope.

All the things. Take it over. Jeez, I love that. That's the definition right there. You guys, the only thing that we can recommend for you guys to do is truly take every thought in your mind, make it obedient to Christ, have the mind of Christ, take every thought that you have and test it against the word of God and make sure that it matches. Isaiah 26, 3 says, you keep him in perfect peace.

peace whose mind is stayed on you. Keep your mind on Jesus the way that Mary kept her mind on Jesus. She kept her focus on Jesus. Martha's out here running around all crazy. She's distracted. She can't find peace, but Mary knows peace and it's because she's focused on Jesus. So focus on the word, focus on Jesus, focus on heaven. We love you guys. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn his face towards you and give you peace and

peace total peace in your mind in your heart we love you god bless you lord renew the minds of every one of your children that's watching release your peace on them today we love you guys so much we love you so much you guys you're our world thank you so much

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