Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 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 of the earth. Now, let's begin.
Speaker 1 00:00:31 Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to Life Refresh podcast. By now, I think you know who it is, <laugh>. I'll make sure the next time when, uh, I'll let you know when somebody different on. But we've been in this amazing series about living a lean life. We talked about living a lean life spiritually, living a lean life, mentally living a lean life emotionally. And I'll tell you, we couldn't even, we just literally scratched the surface on what it looks like to live a lean life emotionally. But one of the great things about living a lean life emotionally is the correlation of what it is to live a life, a lean life relationally. Now, if you aren't good with the emotional part of things, it makes it really difficult to be someone likable. Uh, the Bible says if you want a friend, you must first show yourself to be friendly.
Speaker 1 00:01:31 So, uh, that's in Proverbs. So, you know, nobody wants to be around anyone that isn't friendly. I mean, that's hard to get friends these days, period, let alone being friendly with them, right? So how, how does, how do we have a healthy, lean perspective of living a lean life? Now, recognize this. We've, we've talked about Jesus and his, I'll say his circle. You know, that Jesus had 12 apostles and within the 12, he had a closer group of three of Peter, James, and John, who got to see him transform in his glory in the, the, at the Mount of Transfiguration. And, uh, you know, there are some things that in relationship you just can't share with everyone. You know, there, there's some, you are only one person, <laugh>. And in order to dive deep and build relational equity with individuals, it requires going deep. And, uh, there's gonna be parts of your life where you're not, you're where you're gonna be seen in ugly moment.
Speaker 1 00:02:47 I'm reminded when, uh, Jesus, before he was going to be crucified, went into the Garden of Gethsemane and he went with Peter, James and John. And it is said that this was one of the most challenging moments of Jesus's ministry because he was crying. He was in anguish. The Bible said he was sweating as a drops of blood. He was anxious, he was afraid of what was to come in crucifixion, knowing that he was going to, he was all, he was God and also a human. And his humanity came out. And only a few people could handle that. Only a few people can handle what you go through. There may be some people that you can only call at night. It might be maybe one or two, but it's so important to know that these people aren't gonna hurt me or these individuals are gonna be there for me when I'm not my best self, when I'm afraid, when I'm scared, when I'm ugly, when I'm not, right, when I'm confused, and when I'm happy.
Speaker 1 00:04:07 Only so much of Jesus's ministry, all the emotions that he went through, only three really got to get up close and see it. Nothing wrong with the 12, you know, they're great. I mean, he did share life with them as well, but the closer ones, they got to experience some things that the others want, the others couldn't. Not that they weren't bad, it's just that Jesus chose these three. So we left off, why are we starting here? We left off. There is a, there's what we call a spirit of offense where, you know, we've been offended. <laugh> have our feelings hurt. And in many cases, I, I like to break up the word, but it means offend, offend. And it basically brings us to a point where we build a fence between us and another person. Therefore, what we thought was an individual's no longer that kind of person.
Speaker 1 00:05:01 And if we don't forgive relationally, we can't even get started. We have to make ourselves open. I'm not saying you need to not have boundaries, we all have those, but you know, a spirit of offense can actually make you lonely and box you in. You may be, you think you're building a boundary, now you're building a box, you're building a prison and only you can see out while everybody's looking at you. You're not open, you're not available, can be touched. Well, in Matthew 18, uh, verse 21 and 22, Jesus teaches to forgive without limits. I know this is different from the, the scripture in a pre, in the previous podcast, but I want to anchor this one 'cause I think this one's important. So then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me up to seven times?
Speaker 1 00:05:55 Then Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times or seven times 70. That's a lot of times y'all in a day. Like, let, let's think about it in a day. If someone offends you, it's like you need to have unlimited forgiveness on dispenser. I mean, someone hurt you. Here's some forgiveness. Someone says something wrong. Here's some forgiveness. Someone intentionally hurts you. Here's some forgiveness. I mean, you give forgiveness, they give forgiveness. Everybody gets forgiveness. It is a practice. It is a practice to forgive. It is a, it is a hard practice because we want holding onto pain actually makes us feel empowered, but it actually disassociate us from power. You know how powerful it is to say, you know what, I'm not gonna let them. I'm not gonna let the circumstances keep me from being the best version of me. That takes a lot of strength, takes a lot of power, and you can only do it with the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe to truly do it.
Speaker 1 00:07:04 I think we halfway do it. Sometimes there might be a little bit of unforgiveness in the back that we haven't dealt with, but I'm talking about even if someone intentionally is trying to slander and damage your name, are you willing and able to forgive them? When Jesus was on the cross and he was dying, the Bible says, he says, Lord, give them for they know not what they do. Now, this is the thing. If somebody is cutting on me, whipping me, beating me to a inch of my life, best belief, I think you know what you're doing <laugh>. You know what I'm saying? But Jesus had the all and the spiritual presence to say, Lord, give them, they think they're doing it right, but they don't know what they're doing. They think it's right, but they, they just don't know. Even to the point of death, Jesus assumed the best of us and best in us.
Speaker 1 00:08:09 The Bible says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Which means he believes that something is redeemable in each and every one of us. Therefore, we have been forgiven. Therefore, we should be able to forgive so that we may be in right standing, not just with God, which is what accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior does. But, but we're in right standing with each other. So many friendships get damaged because of a dumb assumption or lack of forgiveness. Literally, you may have had a friendship that may not be existing anymore because of a misunderstanding or someone not talking to you. I mean it, it happens. I get it. But if we don't forgive, we just, we'll continue to move forward and act like nothing happened when really it did, something happened and we need to forgive it. We need to acknowledge it, forgive and move on.
Speaker 1 00:09:05 And if it's, and if trust is broken along the way, allow them the opportunity to build trust. Again, you don't have to give it instantly. You just need to time to heal in those circumstances. Okay, so we, that was one practicing forgiveness. That's like forgiveness. Part two, <laugh> from this. But I want to get to, again, they've got a whole bunch of principles for this, but I want to do two more. I'm gonna do, we're gonna do three, pray for others. We call it intercessory prayer or praying for others is when you pray at night and you pray for your mom and your daddy, your grandma and everyone. That is what we call intercessory prayer. And it is something I think is on a spiritual level, really important because it allows you to think beyond you. Most times we actually bring, we bring our wishlist to God and just ask him to bless us, but we don't ask him to bless others around us.
Speaker 1 00:10:02 So intercessory prayer in itself is an important thing. It is our relationship with each other. So James five, chapter five, verse 16 says this, therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Or King James version says, the prayer of a righteous man avail much. This is really important 'cause I think what we've received and what we talked about is that forgiveness is we receive forgiveness from God. So that is a ho, a vertical relational piece. God has justified us through the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore we have been forgiven. So that is a real, that is up, up and down, right? And we confess all of our issues to God and we ask God to forgive us, right? But the thing is, sometimes we still do and damage and create the same problem that we left.
Speaker 1 00:11:06 Therefore, James, the book of James, in my opinion, is probably the most practical book on how to relationally deal with what you have spiritually. Um, this is where you see faith without works is dead. That is something that's super important because if I, if you say you have faith, but I don't see it as a friend or someone who's in relationship with you, I question whether you really have it or not. There is some fruit here. So if we are praying for one another and we confess our sins to one another, the Bible says that you will be healed. You'll be healed. Have you in your relationships told someone the things that you struggle with the most, the shame issues that you have, the, the the deep dark things that we, we've put away. Have you shared those yet? Have you done the hard work of getting healed or are you just dealing with the same issue over and over and over and over again?
Speaker 1 00:12:11 Y'all healing has a level of accountability in it. If we go to the doctor or, and we have a surgery, there is responsibility of the person who has taken an oath to take care of you, to heal you and bring you back to health or bring you to a level of health that they are alongside with you to see you get healed. That process can, can and will be painful. There are trials, there are errors, there are missteps, there are assumptions, there are changes in medication, there are changes in physical therapy. There are all types of processes that go along with getting healed, but there is what we call accountability when it comes to getting healed. Now, this is the hard part. Many of us don't like getting healed in front of people because at the end of the day, it makes us look weak.
Speaker 1 00:13:14 It makes us look not in control. It makes us look as though we are unable to handle the circumstances and the the problems that we have on our own. But this is the thing, if we could have healed and handled them on our own, we would've done it by now. We would've done it by now. And in all things, it's required that you go through this with somebody. Whatever your, this is, whatever that is, you need to have someone alongside you to help you get healed from it. It is hard to heal in front of people, y'all. That's why you need to have some relationships that'll keep you covered while you be built back up again. There have been so many individuals who've, uh, in ministry or in, uh, entertainment or whatever the case that have quote unquote fallen from grace. And it, it's hard.
Speaker 1 00:14:12 It's hard to see those individuals around, you know, uh, you know, the from what they were to where they are now. And you know, maybe if they had somebody with them that they could confess their sins to and not be ashamed, maybe they could have gotten healed. But I'm offering this up to you listener, uh, that perhaps if there's something that you struggle with, that you've built the relational equity and trust to deposit that with someone, that challenge that you have, whether it's drinking, whether it's sex, whether it is gossiping, whether it is spending, whatever it is, confess that to someone, someone that you trust. 'cause not everybody can handle the things that you go through, but you need to see and find individuals who are worthy of that trust and that can help you or just be accountable with you as you are healing.
Speaker 1 00:15:09 That's important. So we talked about first continuing and building forgiveness. Two, praying for one another, and then the last one here on to say, one that I think is important here is loving unconditionally. The Bible says they will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. And in one Corinthians 13 verses four through seven, we've heard this in so many weddings, <laugh>, I, I think it's incredible. Again, it's a great scripture, but I, I wanna make sure we put it in context here because it, it can be, it's considered like your greatest hits of scripture, but I wanna wanna expound upon it for a moment so that I can give it its due diligence here. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking.
Speaker 1 00:16:14 It's not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies they will cease. And where there are tongues, they'll be stilled. Where there is knowledge it'll pass away. For we know, in part we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes and when it disappears. When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, and when I became a man, I put away the ways of childhood behind me. For now, we see only a reflection in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. We know in part then I shall know fully, even as I'm fully known. Now, these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 00:17:18 Love in itself means so much. If I go back to a verse before I'm going to verse three, it says, if I have possessed, if I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to the hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is something that is a gift. It's a decision. It's not a feeling. All these things here that I listed out, love is patient love is kind, love. It does not envy. It does not boast. These are all action word. These are action words. These are things that need to be done. It's not a feeling. I don't, I don't think anyone has felt patient. I don't even know what that is. I mean, what are we talking about here? How do you feel patient? How do you feel kind? You have to embody these things and this is the thing y'all. We're not always gonna knock it out the park with what love is, but we have to have and use this as a guide for love unconditionally in our relationships, particularly in this one, which you see in marriage all the time are set at weddings. But the thing is, it goes beyond that close relationship. Love shows itself to the level, but you are willing to sacrifice for it. All these things, not self-seeking, keeps no record of wrong.
Speaker 1 00:18:44 That is how you build a relationship that
Speaker 1 00:18:50 Is the foundation for that. If you don't love unconditionally, you can't forgive 70 times seven. If you don't have love in your heart, you can't pray for someone. If you don't have the key ingredients, you, what are you doing? What are you doing? If you don't care, if you don't love, if you don't rejoice, if you don't want to protect anything, if you're not willing to work through it, if you're not willing to continue to hope, what are we talking about? There's no way we can build relationship, create relational equity with one another and hope and heal and forgive one another. I'm reminded in John three 16 and said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting. God's love. Letter was Jesus. Your love letter to your kids may be different, but I'll tell you why. That's the model that we have for loving one another unconditionally. Whether we're clean or whether we're dirty, whether we're right or whether we're wrong. Love finds a way to get to you and envelop you, heal you and forgive you. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the foundation for living a lean life relationally. There's more to it. I can only get and have so much time, but we would come to our last lean life principle and I'm so excited. Can't wait for you to listen to get you off next week.
