Show Notes
We have made it to the conclusion to the Heart Issues lesson! It has been an amazing lesson to go through. More importantly, the tools that you need to guard your heart from heart issues can be found here! Listen in!
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Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:13 Welcome to the life refresh podcast. My name is Ryan Robinson. And if you are looking for a podcast that is designed to uplift, encourage, and revive your heart, mind, and spirit, you're in the right place. Welcome to the journey of becoming the version of you. God, designed from the foundations.
Speaker 0 00:00:34 Now
Speaker 1 00:00:35 Let's begin.
Speaker 1 00:00:49 Hello and welcome back to life refresh podcast. So excited and delighted to have you back here today. As we conclude our lesson of heart issues part three today, um, if this is your first time listening, I am your host, Ryan Robinson. And, uh, I love to talk about the things that we need to do to refresh our life, to reevaluate and get better value, better consistency, better, uh, about the things that make us who we are, and I'm super passionate about it. And, um, if you haven't shared this with your friends, with family, if you've gotten any value in this podcast, share it with them, share it with them. This information is free, but it could be pivotal and transformational, uh, to your friends and family. So I encourage you. If you've gotten anything, any value out of at least one podcast, share it with someone I guarantee I guarantee if you did, they might find something else. Um, but 1% better each day will make a difference in your life. So, um, again, just share wherever you share podcasts, apple, Spotify, Google, we're all, all there. <laugh>, we're all there. All right.
Speaker 1 00:02:16 So, uh, I just wanna jump right into the content. Um, we left and concluded on, um, part two, as what, with this question, what does it look like to guard our heart and keep our minds focused on what we have to focus on? Um, easy said easier said than done of, of course it's easier said than done. It is something that I think many of us ideally know what we should do, but circumstances, situations, climate people that you're around can actually make that thing very, very difficult. Um, we left off with one of the scriptures there, um, that kind of reinforces this, this topic of how do we guard our heart, but we started with Proverbs four verse 23, and it says this above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it, guard your heart, guard, your heart. So what does that even look like?
Speaker 1 00:03:25 And, and we gave a few examples, but to, to, to expound upon what we left off with, sometimes our gates, our eye gate, which are the things that we see in our irrigate, the things that we hear inform our heart. Okay. So if you happen to be watching a television show or a commercial, um, marketing is super, I mean, that's what marketing's all about. It is actually giving you an image, a vision of what it actually looks like to be an owner of a BMW, to be on a vacation in, in, uh, Cancun or Bahamas. There's all kinds of things. Um, what, it's, what it's like to have a particular product or have a particular procedure done, whatever it is, there is vision that is given to help us envision what it would look like if we were to purchase, uh, just, uh, this particular item procedure.
Speaker 1 00:04:35 What have you now, the thing is we need to actually bring our vision to the product. Okay. Um, the Bible says for, we perish for lack of knowledge and where there's no vision people perish. Okay? So the two things that are super important knowledge so that we won't perish, but vision is another thing that causes us to perish. So if you don't have the vision and the knowledge to go with the vision, you are also, uh, upper Creek, if you will. So again, I want you all to understand that marketing visual, and there's nothing wrong with it, right? We all know there's particular products and services that we need. There's nothing wrong with it. There's nothing wrong with it, unless you are looking for yourself in it. Okay? If you are looking for yourself in the services, in the product, in the material, then that is not the way you should be living your life.
Speaker 1 00:05:38 Now, also, we can go to the same thing with music, the things that we hear, the things that, uh, entice us, those things are also important. We have to guard what we hear. We have to guard what we hear, and you could also become what you hear. Okay. Um, Bible says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So that means if we are hearing about faith, we will increase in faith. Likewise, if we increase in hip hop or whatever, we listen to, that will also take root in our system, in our heart and take root in our heart. So again, if faith can be increased by hearing other things can be increased by hearing too negative talk gossip. What have you, again, still applies.
Speaker 1 00:06:33 Okay. Now that we've established what our eye gates and irrigates, um, allow us to receive, what is the plan that will guard our hearts and keep us, and I want to go to Philippians chapter four, uh, starting at verse four. Now this is actually gonna bring about maybe five, actually five ways, five ways that we can guard our heart. Okay. Um, this particular, um, section of scripture is an exhortation, an instruction on how we as people, which, um, obviously we in, in meaning the, the observer was happening in this particular part of scripture, um, are able to glean from and apply to our own lives. Okay. Um, so Philippians chapter four, verse four says this rejoice in the Lord, always again, I say, rejoice, let everyone come to your to know your gentleness. The Lord is at hand, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with gratitude, make your request known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will protect your hearts and minds through Christ.
Speaker 1 00:08:08 Jesus, finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are, honest, whatever things are, just, whatever things are, pure, whatever things are, lovely, whatever things are of good report. If there is any virtue, if there is any praise, think on these things, do those things, which you have both learned and received and heard and seen me do. And the God of peace will be with you. Okay? So let's just jump right in. Cuz I think there's so much to take apart in here. I don't, we don't have a whole lot of time, but I want to get to a couple things here. Um, it clearly states in verse six that we need to pray. We talk about, I just talked about, God knows you has a plan for you, um, and knows you better than you think. You know yourself. He's fashioned, you he's created you. He knows everything about you. So why not go back to him and acknowledge, Hey, I need some help with what's going on. Cause we're not meant to carry the burden of the world on our shoulders. We are not at all.
Speaker 1 00:09:27 The Bible says to cast your cares upon him for he cares for you. And the thing is we don't do enough CA uh, care casting because there's a level of trust that we have to establish. And trust is hard to pray. Even in the first place is somewhat acknowledgement of trust that I can't do something and I need someone greater than myself to help me accomplish what I need to accomplish, to help me to go through what I need to go through. There is a release that has to happen in order for one to come into an acknowledgement that they need prayer and they need a God to help them. So it is, uh, it's not just a divine trade with God. We're not just trading this for that. Okay. Um, it's in fact, it's an unequal exchange that we actually benefit from because God indeed cares about us.
Speaker 1 00:10:39 So if there's any encouragement, if you haven't done it before, um, or you do it and have a hard time doing it, depending on the circumstances, I highly recommend that you pray. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to sound eloquent. It doesn't have to use big words. It can just be you and God having a conversation and see what happens. See what happens. Um, I, I just encourage you, but it starts there. It starts there. Okay. Um, so let's, I want to continue on the scripture here. So this is inkling being, sorry. Verse six, be anxious for nothing. Okay. That means having confidence, but in everything by prayer, which we've established and supplication with gratitude, that means asking with gratefulness, which is number two gratitude. Be grace attitude, be grateful. This is a buzzword that we hear all the time, all the time, this like, you know, you can experience gratitude.
Speaker 1 00:11:55 Think, think, thank you for, and the thing is you can be thankful for a lot of things, but how often do we slow down enough to actually look at what we have and not what we lack in order to get gratitude or even be thankful for a moment. I mean, the things that we take for granted are things that we, we just take for grant. The things we take for granted are may they might be common things that someone else might not be experiencing. In fact, gratitude is the second actionable step that gets you into peace with God or gives you peace of from God. Uh, discontent is the opposite of gratitude. And the lack of being grateful leads to demanding more from yourself, more for, from your life. More material, more, more, more, more, more that's what lack of content creates this insatiable desire to fulfill a deep hole, big hole that only God can fill.
Speaker 1 00:13:14 I don't care how much money you have in the bank. I don't care how many cars you have in the garage. I don't care how many, uh, whatever you got, <laugh> it doesn't, it will not cannot give you happiness. Now don't get me wrong. It could help a lot. <laugh> it could help a lot. Having a lot of money, having a lot of cars, having a lot of clothes, it can help a lot of things, but ultimately there's a line where there's not gonna be enough satisfaction. So just like an addict who needs to get more to get the same high he helped he or she felt the first time you're gonna have to buy more, purchase, more, sell more in order to get that same feeling again, until we look at and stop running away from what we already have. Now, if you demand anything outside of your reach or out of your reach, your heart can be full of turmoil. We talked about this in, in part two says, hope deferred makes the heart sick, but joy is the tree of life. You know, that's the thing that made Adam and Eve sin against God. They wanted the one thing that they couldn't have fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
Speaker 1 00:14:51 But they could have eaten from any and every tree except that one, they thought that they lacked something. In fact, the Bible says they will be like, God, but here's here's the kicker. They were already like, God, come on. Somebody. They were already like, uh, Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of God already. So the thing is, if you are chasing something that you think will bring you happiness. In fact, I challenge you and I dare you to look at yourself and perhaps you already got what you need. You just choose to not see it in a way that God wants you to see it. If you feel like you lack, importance or value, start looking at yourself with value, come on. Somebody, somebody needs to hear that you are valuable. You are loved, but you have to see that for yourself. Named self name brands. Can't do it for you. Accolades. Can't do it for you. They only last for about a moment. So gratitude in action can bring peace in difficult times, training our brain to find the good and thank God. And thank God in the middle of it
Speaker 1 00:16:38 Opens up our heart to receive peace and experience less anxiety. Now you have the option every day to see if you have a glass half empty or a glass half full. Are we gonna be thankful for what we have in the cup? Or are we gonna be anxious for what we don't have in the cup? Okay.
Speaker 1 00:17:10 There's something to think about there. All right, let's go. Let's go to, to, to number three. Um, there is, um, a process of right thinking, okay. Right thinking. Um, so we already talked about gratefulness, right? That we gotta be grateful. That one, we need to pray two. We need to be grateful. Um, but, but verse eight, uh, gives us, uh, what we should focus on. Um, and it flows right into number two. Um, but the positive thoughts should look like this. What do we focus on when we need to be grateful? We can't just say be grateful and not give you all the instruction on how to be grateful. So let's break it down based on what the scripture is saying. Okay. So these are the type of things that will provide and create right? Thinking in our minds and into our hearts. One thing that says whatsoever, things are true.
Speaker 1 00:18:15 Okay. Noble, right? Pure, lovely, admirable. Excellent praiseworthy. If there is anything, anything, anything think on these things. Okay. So, okay. Paul who's the author. Philippians gives us these things whatsoever. Things are, um, excuse me, whatsoever. Things are true whatsoever. Things are honest, just true or pure. Excuse me. Lovely, good report virtue. Now he goes to this as if there is any praise, anything, he puts it and brings it down to the lowest common denominator. What can you give God praise about last time I checked. If you are listening to this podcast, that means your hearing is good. If you can blink your eyes, that means your eyes are working. If you can wiggle your toes, that means you still have feet on your legs. If you have anything, if you can feel the cold in the house and you have AC God bless it. That's a blessing.
Speaker 1 00:19:42 Especially when it's like 90 plus degrees out here, like it's been the last few weeks here in Ohio. It is something to give God praise for. And this is the thing I'm not asking you to have a sense of poll and act like things. Aren't okay. Or every that there's nothing going on in the world that could cause you to be down. I'm not saying you ignore it and have this sense of Pollyanna. That everything's gonna be okay. Sometimes everything isn't going to be okay. But if you look and dig and cultivate something to give God praises for the Bible says that you will receive the peace of God and it will be with you. Excuse me. The God of peace will be with you. If you focus on what you have and who gave it to you and give praise for just that, you can give God praise for your, for your food on your table. Cuz there's people that don't there's, there's there's people who have, who don't have the senses that you have, that they can't see. They can't taste, they can't here or they might have, they might be colorblind or whatever the case is. It, there is something to give God praise about and to be thankful for, if you can't find anything, I would challenge you that you're not alive.
Speaker 1 00:21:28 You can, if you choose to find something that's praiseworthy and I guarantee that it would, it will help you. It will challenge you to be present in the moment and find something that you can focus on to make sure that you guard your heart. Okay? Now the last, the last couple pieces here, once you say all these, once you do all these things at this point, you are putting God's work word to the test. Okay? Now the thing is in, uh, Matthew, excuse me, not Matthew, John 13 verse 17 says, now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. I'm gonna say that one, one more time for the people in the back. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. It's not enough to just know I'm gonna say it again. It's not enough to just know. We have a ton of information out here. How many people act upon the information that they've received? We must put into action and put into practice the things that God has outlined as his best for us. Like, I don't think he's playing with this one.
Speaker 1 00:23:18 Give it a moment. If you, if you just thought about something positive for one minute and your mouth doesn't, you don't, uh, crack a smile or a smirk or something. I that's, that's in the word I got. If you think on these things, you will, you will be in a different place. Peace will come across you when you can't find hope. And that's how you guard your heart. Okay? It's super pro it's it. And this is the thing. It is super important to know that if you do it, Jesus says that you will be blessed if you do them. Obeying brings blessings. And this's the thing. And obedience has this whole terrible connotation in, in, in our culture these days. But it's literally just living out what you
Speaker 1 00:24:22 Know to be true. It's just following the instructions. It's not that complicated. If you know, as a child, I told my, I tell my daughter, Hey, I need you to pick that up. Obedience just it's like, oh, I'm just gonna pick it up. There's a level of obedience to it that it doesn't come to. You know, you getting fit. Like there isn't something that I made you do it. So you have to be obedient. It's just following the directions. It's just following directions. You have to follow the directions in anything. You have to be obedient. Do the instructions if you want the thing to work. Okay. Then the last part here is to trust God in all of it by Proverbs five, sorry, Proverbs three, five, and success trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean on unto your own understanding and all your ways, acknowledging him. And he will direct that path. All of this requires trust in God, that's it. That's it. You gotta try it. You gotta try it. You gotta try him. He is open. He's willing. He's available. God is bigger than our knowledge, our senses. He knows everything,
Speaker 1 00:25:46 But we have to be in relationship with him and just trust that he's gonna lead us and guide us to where we need to be. In fact, whether we like it or not, he's always leading in guiding us. Whether you are a believer in, in, in Jesus or not, he's still leading in guiding us. He's still leading us. It may not be everywhere. We want to <laugh>, but he's still leading and guiding us. But all of this comes down to is a matter of trust. Do I trust myself or do I trust God? And through all of these things, will it really guard my heart? And it's at that moment, are we gonna choose to trust God in all of it? Or are we just going to have wishful thinking, say that this is a fairy tale and continue on with the miserable life or moments in life that we have. I'm challenging everyone on this, on listening to this podcast today, that heart issues are real, but God has a subscription at prescriptions. Excuse me. God has a prescription for heart issues and we just listed the prescription here, but it's not enough for us to go through all the motions, have all the conversations and even have all the podcasts talking about how do we guard our heart and keep our heart. If we don't apply what we've learned.
Speaker 1 00:27:48 So I'm challenging you this week. Think about if you can, at least once or twice a day, this week, think of something positive. Write it down a moment that you grew up in a friend that you haven't seen, or a moment that you shared with a good friend, whatever it may be, whatever it may be. Think on that. When you're having a rough moment, be present enough to say, I'm not gonna let this negativity derail me from having peace with God. And the Bible says in the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ. Jesus. That concludes our teaching of heart issues. Part three. So excited to put this one in the books again, but make sure you share this with somebody. I guarantee you. It's gonna bless you. Looking forward to our next topic at the next podcast of life refreshed. You do not want to miss this next one. Take care.
Speaker 4 00:29:05 Thank you for tuning into the life refresh podcast. There are three things I'll need you to do before you go one, subscribe to this podcast, whether it be through apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcast, make sure that you subscribe to get the latest episode in your feed. Two rank the podcast. If you like what you heard today, make sure you give it a great rating on those platforms. It'll help get us the exposure we need to make our message much broader and reach a different audience. And three, make sure you share this episode. I guarantee if you found value in it, someone you're connected to will find value in it. Well, with that said, take care and tune to the next episode of.
