# What you can learn while suffering persecution for Christ

An episode of [Amani Talks Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1669865575), 29 Oct 2024, 38 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/62610809/16014950_what_you_can_learn_while_suffering_persecution_for_christ.mp3

Key verses: Luke 6:22-23 2 Timothy 3:12 Ephesians 6:12 Exodus 14:14 Romans 12:19 James 1:2-4 1 Peter 5:10 Psalm 23:5Support the show

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hi you guys, welcome back to the Amani Talks podcast.
[0:02] Speaker 1: You're here with your host Amani on the podcast where
[0:05] Speaker 1: we have our Christian based topics and we talk about
[0:08] Speaker 1: deepening our relationship with the love. So let's get into
[0:12] Speaker 1: our topic for today. Okay. But even if you do
[0:17] Speaker 1: not follow me on TikTok, you have definitely seen all
[0:20] Speaker 1: about me for the past week straight, okay, and it
[0:24] Speaker 1: has not been good stuff I wanted to talk about,
[0:28] Speaker 1: not even from what's been going on, but my I
[0:33] Speaker 1: guess point of view and the way I was taking
[0:37] Speaker 1: it and the way that all Christians should take persecution
[0:42] Speaker 1: for Christ, suffering for Christ trials when you know that
[0:46] Speaker 1: you did nothing wrong other than just speak the truth.
[0:50] Speaker 1: And I have these flash cards, y'all know, like every
[0:53] Speaker 1: other episode I talk about these flash cards, girl, because
[0:56] Speaker 1: I really love these flash cards. And I have one
[1:00] Speaker 1: the category of flash cards of Versus that helped me,
[1:05] Speaker 1: and that category says suffering slash persecution for Christ. I
[1:10] Speaker 1: know you guys can't see it because the writing is like,
[1:13] Speaker 1: you know, so thin, But I actually made these flash
[1:19] Speaker 1: cards months and months and months ago, I think around February,
[1:24] Speaker 1: because that was around the time it was either February
[1:26] Speaker 1: or March. Because if you guys, remember, if you have
[1:29] Speaker 1: been following me since that long, you remember around that
[1:33] Speaker 1: time is when I was going through the same exact
[1:36] Speaker 1: thing that I'm going through right now, this whole internet
[1:39] Speaker 1: frenzy people against me. I was going through the same
[1:43] Speaker 1: exact thing in March when I broke up with the
[1:46] Speaker 1: guy that I was dating, and I said, good guy,
[1:49] Speaker 1: great guy, just was not my husband, so we broke
[1:52] Speaker 1: it off. Every bad or every relationship does not have
[1:56] Speaker 1: to end bad. It doesn't always have to be some
[1:58] Speaker 1: messy breakup. And you should date people that treat you well.
[2:03] Speaker 1: That should be your standard, and then the husband is
[2:05] Speaker 1: above standard. Oh the men on the internet hated it.
[2:09] Speaker 1: They were coming for me for weeks, okay, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter,
[2:16] Speaker 1: okay for weeks. So that's the first time that I
[2:19] Speaker 1: made these flash cards because that was a trying time
[2:23] Speaker 1: for me, and I made these flash card versus to
[2:27] Speaker 1: just remind me of what it should look like and
[2:31] Speaker 1: what my posture should be and also my understanding of
[2:35] Speaker 1: suffering for Christ. So back in February March, that was
[2:40] Speaker 1: when I first first, first, first started transitioning my content
[2:46] Speaker 1: on my socials. So when I was sharing that breakup story,
[2:49] Speaker 1: I made sure to make it a point to say
[2:51] Speaker 1: that usually after breakup, I'm a mess for months, crying
[2:55] Speaker 1: in the club, you know, like that's always how I
[2:59] Speaker 1: handled breakups because they were you know, breakups are hard,
[3:02] Speaker 1: they're emotionally trying, especially when it's a serious relationship like
[3:06] Speaker 1: that was. It wasn't just for play play. We were
[3:08] Speaker 1: talking about a future together, but he just didn't possess
[3:15] Speaker 1: future qualities. Okay, so that's why we broke up. But
[3:19] Speaker 1: I made sure to make a point to say that
[3:21] Speaker 1: God has been carrying me through this breakup. Like usually
[3:24] Speaker 1: I would be a mess, but I know the reason
[3:27] Speaker 1: that this is happening, and God has been carrying me
[3:30] Speaker 1: through it. And that was the very first video I
[3:33] Speaker 1: ever said God, ever, I ever said his name on
[3:37] Speaker 1: my platforms ever. And I did not think that it
[3:43] Speaker 1: was a coincidence that that was the first time that
[3:45] Speaker 1: I was trying to start introducing, you know, my relationship
[3:49] Speaker 1: with God on my socials, and that was the message
[3:52] Speaker 1: that God attacked like nothing else, right, I did not
[3:56] Speaker 1: think that that was a coincidence. I knew it was
[3:59] Speaker 1: because when you say his name, the demons shake, shiver,
[4:05] Speaker 1: and shake the table. Okay, they're quaking. The demons are mad. Okay.
[4:10] Speaker 1: Some of these verses really helped me through that time,
[4:13] Speaker 1: along with a lot of prayer. That's when I first
[4:15] Speaker 1: got back into church, and I was at the church
[4:17] Speaker 1: I had joined a few months later. And yeah, so
[4:21] Speaker 1: this situation recently is not anything new for me. I'm
[4:27] Speaker 1: sure you guys know that, but it was to a
[4:29] Speaker 1: higher degree, I will say, because like every other video,
[4:32] Speaker 1: for like five days straight, all you saw were think
[4:34] Speaker 1: pieces about me, which I don't mind think pieces. Everyone
[4:37] Speaker 1: has their opinion, but anyway, I don't want to talk
[4:39] Speaker 1: about the actual thing pieces themselves. I want to talk
[4:42] Speaker 1: about what we as Christians and we as followers of
[4:45] Speaker 1: the Lord, should expect from our walk with God, especially
[4:48] Speaker 1: if we're gonna proclaim him publicly, and the things that
[4:51] Speaker 1: we should be learning in the process. So first off,
[4:54] Speaker 1: I just want to start off with the verse that
[4:56] Speaker 1: I have in the front of this stack, because it
[4:59] Speaker 1: just perfectly captures the entire tone of what was going on. Right,
[5:04] Speaker 1: So this is Luke six twenty two through twenty three.
[5:08] Speaker 1: Blessed are you When men hate you, and when they
[5:11] Speaker 1: exclude you and revile you and cast out your name
[5:14] Speaker 1: as evil for the son of Man's sake, rejoice in
[5:17] Speaker 1: that day and leap for joy, For indeed your reward
[5:20] Speaker 1: is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers
[5:23] Speaker 1: did to the prophets. So if you guys just happened
[5:27] Speaker 1: to not be on tiktoks, I know it. Not everyone's
[5:29] Speaker 1: on TikTok. What was going on is that people did
[5:32] Speaker 1: not like the fact that in my last video, when
[5:35] Speaker 1: we were talking about aligning yourself with the young godly,
[5:41] Speaker 1: I gave Kirk Franklin's Kirk Franklin Chandler Moore, Oh, what's
[5:45] Speaker 1: the other girl named Kiara? Kira's sheared they were all
[5:49] Speaker 1: on Glorilla's new album, and Gloorilla has a rap album
[5:53] Speaker 1: and they were doing a gospel song and put it
[5:56] Speaker 1: on her rap album. And I said, Mmm, probably not
[5:58] Speaker 1: the wisest thing for Christians to do, because you don't
[6:01] Speaker 1: want to align yourself with the young godly because bad
[6:04] Speaker 1: company corrupts good morals. And that's literally one Corinthians fifteen
[6:08] Speaker 1: thirty three. Right. Oh, people hated it. People ab as
[6:12] Speaker 1: soon as I posted it, people hated it. They were
[6:16] Speaker 1: basically saying that I was being judgmental, right, And that's
[6:20] Speaker 1: that's a worldly person's favorite thing to say about someone
[6:24] Speaker 1: that just points out the truth. If you have eyes
[6:27] Speaker 1: and ears to look at a situation and just call
[6:29] Speaker 1: it for what it is, they will just say it's judgmental,
[6:32] Speaker 1: and it's just a cop out to avoid accountability and
[6:37] Speaker 1: avoid the truth. Because when someone is faced with the truth,
[6:41] Speaker 1: that forces them to change, and most people don't want
[6:46] Speaker 1: to change, a lot of people are comfortable with what
[6:49] Speaker 1: they're doing. A lot of people are comfortable in their sin.
[6:53] Speaker 1: People don't want change. They don't want to have to
[6:56] Speaker 1: because here's the thing. If they change, they have to
[6:59] Speaker 1: recognize that what they were doing before was wrong. And
[7:03] Speaker 1: a lot of people don't want to say what I
[7:06] Speaker 1: am doing right now is wrong. They don't want to
[7:08] Speaker 1: admit that, so then they act like what they're doing
[7:10] Speaker 1: is not wrong, and instead of them not being wrong,
[7:14] Speaker 1: you're just being judgmental, Right, they turn it around on you. No,
[7:18] Speaker 1: I'm not wrong, You're just being judgmental. That's what the
[7:21] Speaker 1: conversation becomes. Every single time you point out in a
[7:24] Speaker 1: situation that's so obviously like just just even take take
[7:29] Speaker 1: the Christianity out of it, just logical logically, like critical
[7:35] Speaker 1: thinking would lead you to understand that there are just
[7:38] Speaker 1: some things that are just object like come on now,
[7:43] Speaker 1: like there are some things that you can't even defend.
[7:46] Speaker 1: But even in those situations, people will still just say, no,
[7:49] Speaker 1: you're just being judgmental. So that's where it all kind
[7:52] Speaker 1: of started from, right. People didn't like that. They felt
[7:55] Speaker 1: like I was being judgmental against these people being on
[7:59] Speaker 1: Lower's rap album. And then it became, well, who are
[8:04] Speaker 1: you to talk about anything concerning God when you were
[8:09] Speaker 1: just da da da da da da da what a
[8:12] Speaker 1: few months ago last year. That's what the conversation evolved into.
[8:16] Speaker 1: Then it became, oh, I don't really care about what
[8:19] Speaker 1: she was doing before. I just don't like how she talks.
[8:21] Speaker 1: Her tone is so condescending and judgmental. I just don't
[8:25] Speaker 1: like that. I just don't like how she's so condescending.
[8:29] Speaker 1: I don't like her tone. That's what it became. Right,
[8:33] Speaker 1: So now everyone's hopping on the hate bandwagon now all
[8:35] Speaker 1: of a sudden, all this time people have had a
[8:39] Speaker 1: problem with me or a problem with my content, but
[8:44] Speaker 1: no one said anything before, cause no, it's not about
[8:48] Speaker 1: her talking about God. It's just the fact that da
[8:51] Speaker 1: da da da da Okay, Okay. So that's just to
[8:55] Speaker 1: give you guys the background of what was going on. Right,
[8:58] Speaker 1: So let me tell you, guys, I think the three
[9:00] Speaker 1: things that I've really learned while going through this trial
[9:05] Speaker 1: and even the one back in March, and even for
[9:11] Speaker 1: upcoming trials because this won't be the last time. Probably,
[9:16] Speaker 1: let me tell you what I've learned, what I'm still learning,
[9:19] Speaker 1: and what I will definitely do better with applying in
[9:24] Speaker 1: the future. So, first of all, it's the acknowledgment, right.
[9:27] Speaker 1: Acknowledgment is the first step acknowledging the situation for exactly
[9:31] Speaker 1: what it is. Because when you are a Christian suffering
[9:35] Speaker 1: persecution for Christ, you have to understand this will happen.
[9:40] Speaker 1: It's not about if. It's about when two Timothy three
[9:44] Speaker 1: twelve says yes, and all who desire to live godly
[9:47] Speaker 1: in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. That didn't say yes,
[9:53] Speaker 1: and some who desire to live godly in Jesus Christ
[9:56] Speaker 1: will suffer persecution. It doesn't say yes, and all who
[9:59] Speaker 1: desire to lif godly and Jesus Christ may suffer persecution. No,
[10:03] Speaker 1: it says all will. So if you are truly living
[10:07] Speaker 1: a godly life, you will suffer persecution for Christ. And
[10:11] Speaker 1: if you can go your whole Christian life being a comfortable,
[10:16] Speaker 1: cushy Christian sitting on the sidelines, and you never have
[10:19] Speaker 1: any adversity, you never have any pushback, you never have
[10:23] Speaker 1: anyone persecuting you just because you're proclaiming his name, then
[10:28] Speaker 1: you should really rethink. Okay, am I actually doing my job?
[10:31] Speaker 1: Am I actually doing what the Lord called me to
[10:33] Speaker 1: do with my Christian life? Right? Because we are called
[10:37] Speaker 1: to go out and proclaim his name, we are called
[10:39] Speaker 1: to spread the Gospel. We're called to advances Kingdom. That's
[10:42] Speaker 1: why we're still here on earth. I think I said
[10:45] Speaker 1: it in a few episodes back. If we were meant
[10:47] Speaker 1: to just sit back and not do anything after we
[10:51] Speaker 1: get saved, the Lord would just take us up into Heaven.
[10:53] Speaker 1: That moment we get saved, he leaves us on earth
[10:55] Speaker 1: because we have a job to do, the great commission,
[11:00] Speaker 1: this thing that Jesus told his disciples before he was
[11:02] Speaker 1: taken back to Heaven. He gave us our jobs. Go
[11:06] Speaker 1: and preach, go and talk about me. Go and tell
[11:09] Speaker 1: people about me. That is our jobs. And if you
[11:12] Speaker 1: are not using whatever gift the Lord has given you
[11:16] Speaker 1: to spread his name, then yeah, it is possible that
[11:19] Speaker 1: you can just sit back and look on the sidelines
[11:21] Speaker 1: and never be persecuted. But then you have to think,
[11:24] Speaker 1: am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing as
[11:26] Speaker 1: a follower of the Lord? Because if Jesus himself was persecuted,
[11:30] Speaker 1: why should you not be if you were following him.
[11:33] Speaker 1: So first is the acknowledgment that in this Christian life
[11:36] Speaker 1: you will have persecution. So when things like this happen,
[11:40] Speaker 1: when trials, persecution like this happens, you shouldn't look at
[11:43] Speaker 1: it as oh my God, why am I going through this?
[11:46] Speaker 1: Why me? Lord? That should not be your prayer. You
[11:49] Speaker 1: should just be asking the Lord to reveal to you
[11:52] Speaker 1: what he's trying to teach you, show you, or strengthen
[11:55] Speaker 1: you in during the trial, because you know what's gonna happen.
[11:59] Speaker 1: Acknowledging that it's going to happen is the first step.
[12:01] Speaker 1: Another part of the acknowledgment is acknowledging, Okay, what is
[12:06] Speaker 1: actually going on? So I know I'm going to face
[12:09] Speaker 1: persecution at some point, but let me take a step
[12:12] Speaker 1: back and it really analyze the situation. Why is it
[12:15] Speaker 1: going on, right, and what is this battle? Ephesian six
[12:20] Speaker 1: twelve says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
[12:23] Speaker 1: but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness
[12:28] Speaker 1: of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
[12:32] Speaker 1: heavenly places. So you have to understand if you're in
[12:36] Speaker 1: a situation to where you're suffering for Christ and you
[12:38] Speaker 1: know that it actually is a suffering for Christ's type
[12:41] Speaker 1: of situation, right, because their situation is to where we
[12:44] Speaker 1: get ourselves in our own mess. But if you know
[12:47] Speaker 1: that this is no like I really am being tested
[12:50] Speaker 1: because of my belief in the Lord. Right, you can't
[12:53] Speaker 1: look at people who are coming against you and just
[12:55] Speaker 1: look at the person. You can't be like, oh, this
[12:59] Speaker 1: person is against me. That should never be your attitude.
[13:02] Speaker 1: And that's why. Yeah, I made a couple videos and
[13:05] Speaker 1: response literally just too one on one page one or
[13:08] Speaker 1: the other page. But it wasn't like I was taking
[13:12] Speaker 1: the situation personally right, because, like I said, I'm sure
[13:15] Speaker 1: that there were probably like thousands. I'm not even exaggerating
[13:19] Speaker 1: y'all like probably thousands of thing pieces about me. I know,
[13:24] Speaker 1: I didn't even see a percentage of it because there
[13:27] Speaker 1: were people that were already blocks from me that were
[13:29] Speaker 1: talking about it. Okay, but I wasn't taking it personal
[13:32] Speaker 1: because number one, you'd have to know me personally for
[13:34] Speaker 1: me to take anything you say personally. That's number one.
[13:37] Speaker 1: But also because if I'm talking about God and I
[13:41] Speaker 1: pull out scripture and that's what you're mad at. I
[13:44] Speaker 1: can't really sit back and look at people, especially the
[13:47] Speaker 1: people that don't even identify as Christian, right, they don't
[13:50] Speaker 1: read the Bible. They would never tell you that they
[13:52] Speaker 1: believe in God. I can't look at these people and
[13:55] Speaker 1: be like, oh, they're coming against me, girl, it's their demons.
[14:00] Speaker 1: All have to understand every human, you know, we are
[14:03] Speaker 1: made of a lot of compartments, I would say, but
[14:07] Speaker 1: we all have a body, a soul, and a spirit.
[14:11] Speaker 1: We all have that. If you don't have the Holy
[14:15] Speaker 1: Spirit within you, you have another spirit. Catch that. If it's
[14:22] Speaker 1: not the Holy Spirit, it's another spirit. People are walking
[14:26] Speaker 1: around with demons and spirits within them. And that's not
[14:29] Speaker 1: even to be exaggerative, Like I'm not even trying to exaggerate.
[14:32] Speaker 1: If you go and look back during the three years
[14:34] Speaker 1: that Jesus Christ had his ministry, I see a lot
[14:38] Speaker 1: of him exercising demons out of people. He did it
[14:42] Speaker 1: for Mary Magdalene, he did it for the man in
[14:46] Speaker 1: the tombs, and those were two cases to where it
[14:49] Speaker 1: was multiple demons inside of one person tormenting them. If
[14:54] Speaker 1: multiple demons can inhabit these people and torment them, right,
[14:58] Speaker 1: just think about all the people that are walking around
[15:00] Speaker 1: with just one demon, just two demons, just one spirit
[15:03] Speaker 1: inside of them. That's anti God. Even after Jesus Christ
[15:07] Speaker 1: was you know, crucified, resurrected, came back and showed himself
[15:11] Speaker 1: and then went back up. Even after that, he gave
[15:14] Speaker 1: that power right through the Holy spirits and his disciples
[15:19] Speaker 1: so that they could then release demons from people. Y'all
[15:23] Speaker 1: have to understand that people are walking around with demons
[15:26] Speaker 1: inside of them. And this is not a matter of
[15:30] Speaker 1: you going against another human being. You are not wrestling
[15:33] Speaker 1: against flesh and blood. You are wrestling against the demons
[15:36] Speaker 1: within them, the spirits within them that do not want
[15:40] Speaker 1: you to say, Lord Jesus God. They don't want to
[15:44] Speaker 1: hear that. So when I acknowledged just those two things
[15:48] Speaker 1: right that number one, it's guarantee I'm gonna go through this,
[15:53] Speaker 1: and then number two, it's you know, it's it's it's
[15:57] Speaker 1: not flesh and blood, it's it's spiritual warfare. It allowed
[16:02] Speaker 1: me to remove myself from this situation. It allowed me
[16:05] Speaker 1: to not give into the spirit of offense and stitch
[16:10] Speaker 1: and come back for every single person talking about me.
[16:13] Speaker 1: It allowed me to really remove myself from the situation
[16:16] Speaker 1: because I'm like, it's not about me, it's not about Amani.
[16:20] Speaker 1: It's about people's demons being against the word of God.
[16:24] Speaker 1: That's what it was, you guys. Okay, So what's next?
[16:27] Speaker 1: Right after you have acknowledged that, Okay, this isn't a surprise.
[16:32] Speaker 1: I know I'm gonna go through persecution. Also, it's flesh,
[16:36] Speaker 1: it's not flesh and blood, it's spiritual warfare. What should
[16:40] Speaker 1: you be doing while you're going through it? Because I
[16:44] Speaker 1: was going through this for five days straight, and y'all know,
[16:46] Speaker 1: my job is social media. I can't escape it. I
[16:49] Speaker 1: have to still post my content on my page, post
[16:52] Speaker 1: the podcast content. I still have to be engaged somewhat,
[16:55] Speaker 1: so I'm seeing it all the time. It's like, okay,
[16:58] Speaker 1: what should my attitude be the storm and as humans,
[17:03] Speaker 1: when people are ganging up against us, calling us out
[17:06] Speaker 1: our name right, saying all type of nasty stuff, lying,
[17:12] Speaker 1: our first instinct is to go on the defense. When
[17:16] Speaker 1: someone's trying to attack you, emotionally, verbally, physically, whatever, your
[17:21] Speaker 1: first instinct is to defend yourself. That's just survival. But
[17:26] Speaker 1: I had to remember that it's not up to me
[17:29] Speaker 1: to fight this situation because I could have clapped back
[17:32] Speaker 1: at every single stitch if I really wanted to. Every
[17:36] Speaker 1: single time I saw a video stitching me, I could
[17:38] Speaker 1: have stitched it right back. And I used to do
[17:40] Speaker 1: stuff like that. If you guys have been following me,
[17:42] Speaker 1: you know I used to do stuff like that when
[17:44] Speaker 1: somebody says something, oh amani, oh, I'm stitching a video baby,
[17:48] Speaker 1: and I'm letting you have it. So that's how I
[17:50] Speaker 1: handle the situations BC before Christ. But being a new
[17:57] Speaker 1: creature comes with I would say it's the opposite of
[18:03] Speaker 1: a lot of responsibility. It's relinquishing responsibility, which is not
[18:08] Speaker 1: easy for us because we like to stay in control.
[18:11] Speaker 1: You like to control the narrative. You like to be like,
[18:13] Speaker 1: uh uh, this is actually what's going on when someone's
[18:16] Speaker 1: lying against you, Right, you want to do that because
[18:19] Speaker 1: that just seems logical. Sorry, it just seems like the
[18:22] Speaker 1: right thing to do. But there are so many verses
[18:25] Speaker 1: that I also had written down because I have another
[18:28] Speaker 1: category that says, let God deal with your enemies. And
[18:31] Speaker 1: I made this category the same day I made the
[18:34] Speaker 1: suffering for persecution category because I just have to remember, Okay,
[18:39] Speaker 1: if it's not me battling another person, and it truly
[18:42] Speaker 1: is spiritual warfare, I have to let the Lord take
[18:45] Speaker 1: this over for me. Like in Jude, when Judah was
[18:50] Speaker 1: writing about how Satan and the archangel Michael his name
[18:55] Speaker 1: is Michael, right, I think it is, though Michael. Oh
[18:59] Speaker 1: my God. If I'm wrong, y'all can correct me in
[19:02] Speaker 1: the in the in the comments. But anyway, Jude writes
[19:05] Speaker 1: about how they were fighting over the body of Moses, right,
[19:08] Speaker 1: I guess right when Moses died and instead of the
[19:12] Speaker 1: Angel exercising his authority over Satan because that angel over
[19:17] Speaker 1: ranked Satan. I think, I think, if I'm not wrong,
[19:20] Speaker 1: like that angel is like one of the highest or
[19:24] Speaker 1: probably the highest ranking angel. He could have fought with
[19:28] Speaker 1: Satan and probably won. I'm sure he would have won.
[19:31] Speaker 1: But instead of taking the authority into his own hand,
[19:34] Speaker 1: what did he say in Jude one nine? He says,
[19:38] Speaker 1: the Lord rebuke you. I'm sure if he wanted to
[19:43] Speaker 1: fight Satan he could have. That's actually his job. I
[19:47] Speaker 1: see a lot of Christian memes that say, like Gabriel
[19:50] Speaker 1: was the messenger, I forgot what the other angel was,
[19:53] Speaker 1: and then like, but this angel, arch angel Michael, he's
[19:57] Speaker 1: the fighter. He's the one you call when you know
[20:01] Speaker 1: somebody got a scuffle and the angels gotta win, like
[20:03] Speaker 1: he is the So he could have fought Satan, the
[20:08] Speaker 1: one most likely, but he acknowledged there is one greater
[20:13] Speaker 1: than me that ultimately controls this entire situation. The Lord
[20:16] Speaker 1: rebuke you, and this verse I just kept like I
[20:22] Speaker 1: swear it like every like I would like six times
[20:25] Speaker 1: a day. I have to repeat this to myself Exodus
[20:28] Speaker 1: fourteen fourteen. The Lord will fight for you. You need
[20:32] Speaker 1: only to be still. And that's so hard for us
[20:37] Speaker 1: when people are coming against us, when they're lying on
[20:39] Speaker 1: your name for no reason, they have no cause, just
[20:44] Speaker 1: lying to lie. People are ganging up against you, gang
[20:47] Speaker 1: like bandwagoning right, nothing else to talk about, so they
[20:51] Speaker 1: talking about you. It is so hard to keep your
[20:54] Speaker 1: mouth shut, it is. It's so hard to let the
[20:58] Speaker 1: Lord fight for you. And I did end up saying
[21:03] Speaker 1: a couple things back, but nowhere near what I could
[21:07] Speaker 1: have said. If I really wanted to go there with people,
[21:10] Speaker 1: I could have. I could have fought my own battle
[21:15] Speaker 1: in a lot of different ways, and who knows what
[21:18] Speaker 1: the outcome would have been. There were a lot of
[21:20] Speaker 1: people that were tagging me in these people's stitches like
[21:24] Speaker 1: Amani like. They said this, like come get them, like
[21:28] Speaker 1: you know, Amani like, and I was just seeing this
[21:31] Speaker 1: and I'm just like, y'all, like, I'm not doing that.
[21:35] Speaker 1: I'm not going to come for anybody. Yes, this person's
[21:39] Speaker 1: coming for me, but I'm not going to sit here
[21:41] Speaker 1: and stitch anyone's particular video and come for them and
[21:45] Speaker 1: call them out of their name like they're calling me
[21:46] Speaker 1: out of my name. I can't do that anymore. And
[21:51] Speaker 1: the verse that was just going through my head was
[21:53] Speaker 1: the Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still, psal,
[21:57] Speaker 1: I'm fifty to fifteen. Call upon me the day of troubles.
[22:01] Speaker 1: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. So
[22:05] Speaker 1: if I know that, I just have to sit back
[22:08] Speaker 1: and let the Lord fight for me, the Lord of Hosts,
[22:11] Speaker 1: the Lord that went before David, all the accounts going
[22:14] Speaker 1: through First King, Second King's first Chronicle, Second Chronicles, even
[22:18] Speaker 1: before that, Joshua really through Second Chronicles right, And I
[22:22] Speaker 1: had to recognize I can't always take things into my
[22:26] Speaker 1: own hands, because ultimately, my life is not my own.
[22:31] Speaker 1: If I truly believe that my life is not my own,
[22:34] Speaker 1: then how are my battles my own? And it's hard.
[22:38] Speaker 1: It's hard because that really exercises your self control and
[22:43] Speaker 1: your patience with people. And I will say that patience
[22:48] Speaker 1: and love for people is something that I do struggle
[22:51] Speaker 1: with just a transparent moment. I do struggle with loving people.
[22:56] Speaker 1: It's hard for me to tell people I love you.
[22:59] Speaker 1: I can't really tell people I love you outside of
[23:01] Speaker 1: like my family and like my two close friends. I
[23:06] Speaker 1: still struggle with saying I love you to people. Even
[23:09] Speaker 1: at church. I struggle with saying the words I love you.
[23:13] Speaker 1: And that's something that I prayed about a lot, like Lord,
[23:17] Speaker 1: help me to have love for people. And I truly
[23:20] Speaker 1: feel like the only way that you could truly love
[23:23] Speaker 1: people is if you have patience with them, because the
[23:28] Speaker 1: average person is absolutely infuriating. And I'm not even talking
[23:34] Speaker 1: about non Christians and people that are persecuting you, just
[23:37] Speaker 1: the average person. People can be annoying, people can be irritating,
[23:42] Speaker 1: people can be downright, just like I said, infuriating to
[23:46] Speaker 1: deal with on a day to day basis. So you
[23:50] Speaker 1: cannot truly come to understand loving someone unless you have
[23:53] Speaker 1: patience for them. And what produces patience James one, verse
[23:58] Speaker 1: two through three, My brethren, count it all joy when
[24:02] Speaker 1: you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of
[24:05] Speaker 1: your faith produces patience. So if I know that I've
[24:10] Speaker 1: been praying to the Lord about him helping me to
[24:13] Speaker 1: have love for people, and the only way you can
[24:16] Speaker 1: have love for people is if you are patient with them,
[24:19] Speaker 1: and the only way that you can get patience is
[24:24] Speaker 1: through the testing of your faith. I recognize this situation
[24:30] Speaker 1: as not only am I toughening my skin by going
[24:37] Speaker 1: through persecution for Christ, but the lesson I should be
[24:41] Speaker 1: gathering from this is that the Lord is pruning me.
[24:46] Speaker 1: So that's another thing. After the acknowledgment and after you
[24:51] Speaker 1: kind of let the Lord, fight your battles while you're
[24:54] Speaker 1: going through the storm. What lessons are you learning in
[24:56] Speaker 1: the storm. Ask the Lord to reveal what he wants
[24:58] Speaker 1: to show you. And I truly feel like during these
[25:01] Speaker 1: past five days, I have exercised a lot. Oh, I'm
[25:06] Speaker 1: telling you guys. There were so many times I would
[25:09] Speaker 1: be in my I would literally be on TikTok recording
[25:11] Speaker 1: a video about to upload it, literally about to upload
[25:16] Speaker 1: a two minute long video. In that verse, the Lord
[25:21] Speaker 1: will fight for you. You need only to be still
[25:22] Speaker 1: will go through my head and I will put it
[25:24] Speaker 1: in my drafts. Y'all don't even know how many TikTok
[25:26] Speaker 1: drafts I got Right now, I gotta clear them drafts
[25:28] Speaker 1: out of every single time I picked up my phone
[25:32] Speaker 1: and I almost said something, every single time I wrote
[25:35] Speaker 1: a comment and then just deleted it. Every single time
[25:38] Speaker 1: that I almost let it get to me, and then
[25:41] Speaker 1: I just had to remember, be still. The Lord will
[25:46] Speaker 1: fight for you. Romans twelve nineteen says beloved, do not
[25:51] Speaker 1: avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it
[25:54] Speaker 1: is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.
[26:00] Speaker 1: So if I believe the word of God and the
[26:02] Speaker 1: Word of God is telling me, do not avenge yourselves,
[26:06] Speaker 1: and the Lord is saying, vengeance is mine. I will repay.
[26:09] Speaker 1: I have to understand that the Lord is just. He
[26:14] Speaker 1: is sitting on the throne. He's controlling all these situations.
[26:18] Speaker 1: If you guys read like the first forty two Psalms,
[26:21] Speaker 1: all those psalms are written by David, and I highlighted
[26:25] Speaker 1: because I'm going through Psalms right now. I highlighted all
[26:28] Speaker 1: the time that David talks about the Lord looks down
[26:32] Speaker 1: from heaven, but like on the surface of earth, looking
[26:35] Speaker 1: at all the sons of men, seeing who are for him,
[26:38] Speaker 1: who love him. He reaches or he looks down, he
[26:42] Speaker 1: lends his ear to see if there's anyone that's following him.
[26:46] Speaker 1: David says that a lot, and I only heard that
[26:50] Speaker 1: sentiment from David so far. He's the only one that
[26:54] Speaker 1: I've heard writing about the Lord is looking on the earth,
[26:57] Speaker 1: looking at all the people, seeing who will follow him.
[27:02] Speaker 1: And if I believe that, and I trust that, then
[27:05] Speaker 1: I have to believe that the Lord is looking at
[27:07] Speaker 1: me in this very situation, seeing what I'm going to do.
[27:11] Speaker 1: He is on the throne, y'all, Like no matter what
[27:13] Speaker 1: you're going through, the Lord is still in control. So
[27:18] Speaker 1: there were just so many verses that I had to
[27:20] Speaker 1: go back to and remind myself, don't you don't have
[27:23] Speaker 1: to avenge yourself. You don't have to fight, you don't
[27:25] Speaker 1: have to stitch that person's video back, you don't got
[27:28] Speaker 1: to cust nobody out. Vengeance is mine. I will repay
[27:33] Speaker 1: these people that went against me, just for quoting First
[27:38] Speaker 1: Corinthians fifteen thirty three. Those people will get their justice.
[27:46] Speaker 1: They will because one of my prayers while I was
[27:49] Speaker 1: going through all this is I ask for the Lord
[27:51] Speaker 1: to vindicate me and for vengeance to be his. I said, Lord, please,
[27:57] Speaker 1: while I'm going through this, show me what you need
[27:59] Speaker 1: to show me me. Prune me, Lord, search my heart
[28:02] Speaker 1: for anything that is causing this. And I also said
[28:06] Speaker 1: to the Lord, vindicate me, because that's another thing that
[28:11] Speaker 1: David prayed for a lot. When you go through the
[28:13] Speaker 1: first forty two Psalms, he prays for vindication and vengeance
[28:16] Speaker 1: a lot against his enemies. And that's always something that
[28:19] Speaker 1: I was always I felt like I shouldn't pray for
[28:23] Speaker 1: It's like I always felt like when you pray for
[28:25] Speaker 1: your enemies, you should just pray Lord, just you know,
[28:28] Speaker 1: they don't know any better. Please Lord, just you know,
[28:31] Speaker 1: forgive them. Their sins helped me to forgive them. That's
[28:34] Speaker 1: always the attitude that I felt like I should have
[28:36] Speaker 1: against my enemies. But when I see David praying for
[28:40] Speaker 1: the Lord to vindicate him and to have vengeance in
[28:43] Speaker 1: this situation, I felt like it's appropriate. If I know
[28:47] Speaker 1: the Lord and the Lord knows me, why am I
[28:50] Speaker 1: praying to him like I don't know him? Why am
[28:52] Speaker 1: I praying to him like he isn't just like he
[28:55] Speaker 1: won't repay these people back for exactly what they're doing.
[28:59] Speaker 1: So it's not like I was praying, Lord, get these people,
[29:02] Speaker 1: get these people. Lord. It's not like I was praying that.
[29:04] Speaker 1: But I did pray for vindication in this situation, like, Lord,
[29:08] Speaker 1: help me to come out on the other side vindicated.
[29:11] Speaker 1: And that just comes with letting God deal with your enemies.
[29:16] Speaker 1: Because if I trust that vengeance is the Lord's and
[29:20] Speaker 1: I trust that he is just, then I will be
[29:24] Speaker 1: vindicated in this situation when I know I did nothing wrong.
[29:27] Speaker 1: And then, lastly, the last thing I want to talk
[29:29] Speaker 1: about is about the posture that you should have not
[29:33] Speaker 1: towards people, because we already talked about you know, your
[29:36] Speaker 1: attitude towards the people doing you wrong and persecuting you,
[29:41] Speaker 1: but the attitude you should have toward the Lord in
[29:44] Speaker 1: this situation. One Peter four or thirteen says, but rejoice
[29:48] Speaker 1: to the extent that you partake in Christ's sufferings, that
[29:51] Speaker 1: when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad
[29:54] Speaker 1: with exceeding joy. Verse sixteen says, Yet, if anyone suffers
[29:58] Speaker 1: as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let
[30:01] Speaker 1: him glorify God in this matter. And I just thought
[30:04] Speaker 1: about when Paul and Silas were jailed. And when they
[30:09] Speaker 1: were jailed, they didn't doubt God. They didn't pray and
[30:14] Speaker 1: ask why is this happening to me? They didn't even
[30:18] Speaker 1: pray and ask God to deliver them from the situation.
[30:21] Speaker 1: What did they do while they were in chains? While
[30:24] Speaker 1: they were in jail, they started singing praises to God.
[30:29] Speaker 1: They started immediately glorifying God. And as they were singing,
[30:34] Speaker 1: the jail shook, their chains broke off. They were free
[30:40] Speaker 1: to go. They the Lord released them from their shackles.
[30:43] Speaker 1: In the midst of them glorifying and praising the Lord
[30:46] Speaker 1: in the midst of their suffering and persecution. So Fir
[30:51] Speaker 1: Peter four sixteen is telling me, if anyone suffers as
[30:55] Speaker 1: a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him
[30:57] Speaker 1: glorify God in this matter. And then I remember Paul
[31:00] Speaker 1: and Silas, and I remember all the times that David
[31:05] Speaker 1: was being chased down by Saul, and then his own
[31:08] Speaker 1: son was seeking his life, and all the times that
[31:10] Speaker 1: he had to, you know, be a refugee to his
[31:13] Speaker 1: own people, and he still lifted up God's name all
[31:17] Speaker 1: the psalms that he wrote. I'm like, Okay, I shouldn't
[31:21] Speaker 1: be sitting around my apartment. I mean, first of all,
[31:24] Speaker 1: I wasn't sitting around my apartment sulking mad anyway, because
[31:26] Speaker 1: I already told you guys, I was removed from the
[31:29] Speaker 1: situation because I understood it wasn't me they were attacking, right,
[31:33] Speaker 1: But even if that were my attitude, it shouldn't be
[31:38] Speaker 1: because even in the midst of my persecution, I should
[31:40] Speaker 1: be glorifying the Lord. I should still be praising him
[31:43] Speaker 1: because no matter what I'm going through, God is still good.
[31:46] Speaker 1: And sometimes we forget that in all trials in life,
[31:51] Speaker 1: no matter how serious they are. To you, God is
[31:54] Speaker 1: still good through all of those things, So why aren't
[31:58] Speaker 1: we praising Him while we're suffering? Why aren't we praising
[32:01] Speaker 1: Him in all matters of our life? And about three
[32:06] Speaker 1: days into what was going on, right like, when every
[32:10] Speaker 1: other video you saw was a think piece about Amani talks.
[32:15] Speaker 1: Her name is Trinity. She has the podcast for Infusion,
[32:19] Speaker 1: a really good Christian podcast about friendships. I was a
[32:23] Speaker 1: guest on her podcast last year before I even turned
[32:26] Speaker 1: my podcast around, y'all, and on her podcast actually was
[32:32] Speaker 1: the first time that I really brought God into the
[32:36] Speaker 1: situation because she just brought it out of me. And
[32:38] Speaker 1: that's what God's people will do too. That's what God's
[32:41] Speaker 1: people will do. They will bring that out of you,
[32:44] Speaker 1: even if that's not the season that you're in. God's
[32:47] Speaker 1: people will bring the church out of you. Okay. But anyway,
[32:52] Speaker 1: ever since I came on her podcast, we've always kept
[32:54] Speaker 1: in touch. She's really good about always like reaching out
[32:56] Speaker 1: to me and everything. And she reached out to me
[32:59] Speaker 1: to check in on make sure I was doing good
[33:01] Speaker 1: because of everything that was going on. And she reached
[33:04] Speaker 1: out to me to just check in see if I
[33:05] Speaker 1: was good because of everything that was going on, you know,
[33:07] Speaker 1: and we were talking, and you know, I was just
[33:10] Speaker 1: telling her about what was going on, and she was
[33:12] Speaker 1: you know, speaking, y'all, just speaking life and encouragement into me.
[33:17] Speaker 1: Gave me a word that even made me think about
[33:19] Speaker 1: something a little bit differently, about things differently. Right, And
[33:23] Speaker 1: after that conversation, about twenty minutes into it, I could
[33:28] Speaker 1: have cried, not because of the persecution I was going through,
[33:33] Speaker 1: but because of the love that I felt from Trinity.
[33:38] Speaker 1: And that's a way that the Lord shows his love
[33:40] Speaker 1: for us is through the people that he sends into
[33:43] Speaker 1: our lives that speak his word to us, right Like,
[33:47] Speaker 1: God shows his love for us through his people through
[33:50] Speaker 1: how they love us. And that's why it's so important, y'all.
[33:53] Speaker 1: Y'all know, I don't got a lot of friends. I
[33:55] Speaker 1: already talked about my isolation period, the Lord pruning me,
[33:59] Speaker 1: you know, removing relatedationships. I can count my solid relationships
[34:03] Speaker 1: on one hand. Okay, outside of my family. And after
[34:06] Speaker 1: me and Trinity got done talking, I swear to y'all,
[34:10] Speaker 1: I'm not even trying to be churchy or be you know,
[34:12] Speaker 1: like do too much and say too much. But I
[34:15] Speaker 1: remember just like being on the verge of tears, and
[34:17] Speaker 1: just like lifting, I was literally in the bathroom cutting
[34:19] Speaker 1: my Bob Shorter, the bob that everybody I can like,
[34:22] Speaker 1: you know, the Bob, Yeah, the Bob. I was in
[34:24] Speaker 1: my bathroom cutting my Bob Shorter when we were, you know,
[34:27] Speaker 1: sending voice notes back to back and forth. And I
[34:31] Speaker 1: just put the scissors down and I just raised my
[34:33] Speaker 1: hands and I just like I think I forgot what
[34:35] Speaker 1: song I was listening to, but I just started praising God, like,
[34:39] Speaker 1: thank you God for this trial, because I know my
[34:43] Speaker 1: reward in heaven. I know the character you're developing. You're developing,
[34:49] Speaker 1: sorry and me, I know the patience that's being produced.
[34:57] Speaker 1: You know. I just I just thanked him for the
[34:59] Speaker 1: tr I thanked him for even counting me worthy of
[35:04] Speaker 1: suffering for his namesake. I just thanked him for what
[35:11] Speaker 1: he was producing in me while I was going through
[35:13] Speaker 1: this trial. And I thanked him for reigning supreme regardless,
[35:19] Speaker 1: because that's what the Lord commands of us. He commands
[35:22] Speaker 1: us to praise him regardless because he's good regardless. So
[35:27] Speaker 1: I just want to encourage you all if there are
[35:29] Speaker 1: ever seasons to where you're going through persecution or you
[35:33] Speaker 1: have been and maybe you didn't handle it the right way,
[35:36] Speaker 1: because I have not always handled mine the right way.
[35:39] Speaker 1: And even this episode in itself is just a reminder
[35:42] Speaker 1: to me about the next time that this probably will happen.
[35:46] Speaker 1: Think about what happened this time, about the improvements I
[35:49] Speaker 1: could make, about the things that I did, about how
[35:52] Speaker 1: the Lord carried me through it. Really, because things like
[35:55] Speaker 1: this could have really mentally destroyed somebody else. Know, things
[36:00] Speaker 1: like this, The Lord just has me build different, y'all.
[36:04] Speaker 1: Like I just have to say, And it's not me,
[36:06] Speaker 1: it's the Lord. It's the grace that he has over
[36:08] Speaker 1: my life. It's the love and mercy he has over
[36:10] Speaker 1: my life. Because for me to still be like okay,
[36:15] Speaker 1: and it takes a different type of mental fortitude, like
[36:20] Speaker 1: a different type of mental strength. And I only get
[36:22] Speaker 1: that mental strength from God, from Him. To be honest
[36:27] Speaker 1: with you, no matter what you're going through during a
[36:30] Speaker 1: tough time, God is still good, He is still in control.
[36:34] Speaker 1: Lean into it, I would say, I wouldn't even say
[36:37] Speaker 1: back away from it. Lean into it. Lean into what
[36:40] Speaker 1: the Lord is trying to show you, what he's trying
[36:42] Speaker 1: to teach you. Lean into some of these verses, I
[36:45] Speaker 1: just want to just close out with a few verses
[36:48] Speaker 1: that just talk about rejoicing in the midst of tribulation
[36:52] Speaker 1: and persecution. Well, really it's two verses that I want
[36:55] Speaker 1: to leave off with. One Peter five to ten. But
[36:59] Speaker 1: may the God of all grace who called us to
[37:01] Speaker 1: his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered
[37:05] Speaker 1: a while, perfect establish, strengthen and settle you. And then
[37:09] Speaker 1: Psalm twenty three to five, you prepare a table before
[37:13] Speaker 1: me in the presence of my enemies. Period clock it.
[37:20] Speaker 1: You prepare a table before me in the presence of
[37:23] Speaker 1: my enemies. So when you're going through trials, when you're
[37:26] Speaker 1: going through people persecuting you for the Lord's namesake, just
[37:29] Speaker 1: remember to acknowledge what's going on, let the Lord fright
[37:33] Speaker 1: for you, and to rejoice in all times because God
[37:37] Speaker 1: is still good. Y'all. Happy early birthday to me. My
[37:40] Speaker 1: birthday is this Friday. By the time that this episode
[37:44] Speaker 1: comes out, I would have already celebrated my birthday and everything.
[37:47] Speaker 1: So yeah, just another year, another year of blessings, another
[37:52] Speaker 1: year of growth. Of course, Lil has to make her
[37:55] Speaker 1: little appearance in the pod. Oh my gosh. Anyway, I'm
[38:01] Speaker 1: closing out. I will see you guys later. Bye.

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