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Hey y'all , I'm Gilon Marts . This is The Walking

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Well podcast . Thank you so much for tuning

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in and for listening , for watching

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however you're getting the podcast . We're in season

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seven , and season seven is all about wilderness

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places , difficult , dry , uncomfortable

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spaces that we can find ourselves in as believers

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, as a nation , as a world

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. Things have just been super weird lately and

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lately is the past three years for some of us but

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this podcast season is all about what

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it takes to make it through that , the skills , the tools

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, the things that God has given me , as I find myself

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in places where things are changing , the landscape

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is unfamiliar and I'm not really sure what's going on . So

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today we are talking about the

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necessity of having a disciplined and controlled

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thought life . The big thing

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about being- one of the big things about being

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in the wilderness is that you're vulnerable

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. You're in a place where you might be tired

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, you might be weary , you might be disappointed , you might be

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grieving , you might just be in a

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real unfamiliar space , and that is

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all a vulnerable place for you , for

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your heart , for your mind , for your soul . And

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I think sometimes , when we find ourselves

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out here where things are changing , where things don't look like

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we expected or anticipated . It's really

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easy to start to let your mind

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wander , to consider things

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, to entertain things , to engage things

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that , in a healthier season , you may not really

1:25

have been open to . And

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, man , i think it's also really important to know that the enemy

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uses the power of suggestion at

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will , like that's just his MO . He's never

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going to hit you with a full frontal unless it's

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like a kill shot and you're already

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down . But the

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enemy uses the power of suggestion and our

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minds are like massive computers

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, and so it can get really tempting

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to be lazy in this area and to not

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stay tightened up , to not

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stay armed up to the teeth , but

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we still have an enemy that

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goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom we may

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devour . You are in a vulnerable place

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, and I think about every situation where someone

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found themselves in a desert place . They were vulnerable

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, whether it was the children of Israel , whether it was Joseph

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and the pit hello , hagar

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taking off from Abraham and Sarah

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, jesus after fasting . Like

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these are vulnerable , vulnerable spaces

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. Our thought life is central

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, still , is still important

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. I think you know when you're in an abundant

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season , a season of abundance where things are going well

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, they look like they should . You

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know , like , oh yeah , i'm supposed to guard my heart , oh

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yeah , i think on these things . But when you find yourself

2:34

where , like things are upside down , something

2:37

about that space makes you go like , wait

2:39

a second , and you take some of the guardrails

2:41

off and are willing

2:43

to , like , entertain

2:45

and engage in behavior

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and poor mental health hygiene really

2:49

and not

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stay disciplined about

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your thoughts and where your thoughts go . And

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so the first thing to know is that the

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wilderness , the desert , is a vulnerable place

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And in vulnerable places you

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don't abandon the things that you

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know to do . It's even more important

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that you stay hydrated , that you protect your

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skin , that you do things , and then that you know , like , if

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you run a physical wilderness right , like you don't stop drinking water

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because you're in the desert and you've never been here before

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. It's even more important to make sure that you do the things that

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you know to do , and the same goes for your

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spirit , the same goes for your soul . You

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don't abandon the ABCs . Instead

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, you really kind of sometimes need to double

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down on those , be extra particular

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, extra sensitive to making

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sure that you're doing the things you know to do for good

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, spiritual , mental , emotional , soul

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health , right . And so

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the desert place is tricky

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, it can get really tricky , i know . For

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me , i have to be mindful that I can't weigh all the

3:44

potential outcomes and possibilities , because

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I was , i had the tendency

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to spiral , and like just spiraling

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is like making yourself sick , right , because you're , you're

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worrying , you're anxious , you're tired

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, you're not sleeping well , you might not be eating , or

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your brain is just running , running , running , running , running , and

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that is no way to live Like . You can't live

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an abundant life when your mind is running

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and when it's engaging in all the potential possibilities

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and what if and what if and what if and what if you

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can't , you cannot be healthy . There's no

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way to be healthy living life that way . And

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so instead we have to be intentional

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, even more intentional than you would be

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. You know , i think sometimes abundance seasons

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make us a little lazy and a little loose and a

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little lax And you can get caught slipping

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. But when you find yourself here

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in a space where you're in the unknown , you're in the unfamiliar

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, in the uncomfortable , it's

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not the time to fall off of your disciplines . In

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fact , it's the time to go back to what you know , to

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revisit those things to put yourself in remembrance

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. And so having a disciplined

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thought life is a core tenet

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of a believer's life , is a core tenet of any healthy

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person's life , And you

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have to be mindful of what you're thinking

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, what you're thinking on right . I

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told you guys in an earlier episode , proverbs 15

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, 15 says all the days

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. Well

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, it basically says your days can be made evil

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by desponding , by anxious

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foreboding thoughts . And

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it's not that your days are evil , it's that

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your days are made evil by evil forebodings

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and anxious thoughts . And so you can have

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a perfectly good day but , by the way that you're

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moving about in your own head , in your own mind

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, can create a reality for you

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that's not necessarily the

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reality . Right , like everybody else is having

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a great time , and you could just be biting your fingernails

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like , oh , my god , what's gonna happen ? And what about this ? And

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what if they say this ? And what if this doesn't happen

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? What if this happens ? How am I gonna handle that ? And you're

5:32

15 years in the future , a potential

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future , something that may not even happen . And

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so my encouragement is to be disciplined

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, be intentional about your thought life . You

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know , proverbs 4 , philippians

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4 , 6 through 8 really

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does list how we should move and maneuver

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and navigate our thoughts . Think on

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things that are lovely , just pure , honest

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, worthy of praise , excellent , of a good report , weigh

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on , meditate , consider these

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things , take these things into account , because

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meditation is like it's not

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. I mean , i feel like it's a little bit like magnification

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, but meditation , thinking on something

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, is like digging deep , burrowing

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into that thing . And so sometimes we burrow

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, but we're spiraling , as opposed

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to burrowing and digging into , like a well

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of water , right , a source of water . And

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so when you meditate , if you're meditating on things that are lovely

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, just pure , you're digging into

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a wellspring to get something that's gonna be nourishing

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. When you're meditating and weighing on things

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that are negative , that are

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things you hope to not happen , things that are fearful

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or cause anxiety , you're just spiraling

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. It's like a downward , just into nothingness

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. And that's the thing about anxiousness , anxiety

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and anxious thoughts . You could

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be thinking , thinking , thinking , thinking , thinking and you are blowing

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through your day . You are blowing through these

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like number days that you have

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as opposed to being

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present and living fully in the moment

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, because God gives us daily bread

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, each day , he gives us what we need and

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every day that God creates is a good day . But

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if we are spending our energy and our time

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on thinking about what may

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or may not happen , we are sapping

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literally the vitality out of our day and out

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of ourselves . And so being intentional

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is just basically training your brain

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, your brain , treated like a muscle , right

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? Be intentional about

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the things that you feed on , that you nourish with

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your mind . Your mind is a

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field , it is your plot of land

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that you are responsible for . You

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are the steward of your mind , we are the stewards

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of our minds . And so if weeds are

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growing there , that's on us , right . If it's

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barren and nothing really growing , that's

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on us too . If it's flourishing and thriving

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, we've tended to it well and partnered with God

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in the thing . And so , just

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looking at the field of our minds , like , okay , what's growing

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here ? Because I am

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, you know , i'm seeding it . I'm seeding

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my soil , and soil does

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not discriminate , it's going to grow whatever you put

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in it . Whether you put a seed

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of corn or you put a marijuana

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seed is not going to be like , oh , can I grow that here

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? It's going to grow it because that's what soil does

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. And so your heart , your mind just produced

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their soil . And it's on us to

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be intentional with what we're seeding . So

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one of the things that I teach my clients in the therapy

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space is the connection between feelings

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, thoughts and actions . We call it a little

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triangle , and so essentially

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, when we have a feeling , oftentimes we

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react to that feeling with the thought right , and

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it could be a negative or positive thought , but we go . I

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have this feeling , i have a thought

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in response to that feeling , whether that thought is true or not

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. And if we meditate on that thought long enough

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, it then becomes an action , and so

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that our thoughts are literally creating

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our reality . And one of

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the things I teach my clients , young and older

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, is reframing . You can take

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, you can have any kind of feeling in the world . You

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get to decide what thought is going to stay and is going

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to be meditated on and watered right

8:45

in that space . And so if my

8:47

thought , if I have a feeling of being , you

8:49

know , like I don't know what's going on , this is , i

8:51

have no idea what's happening My

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feeling could be like I'm uncertain

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. My thought could be oh my gosh

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, it's been so long of being uncertain , things

9:00

are never going to change . I'm always going to be in this place

9:02

, and then my action might be

9:05

, i don't choose to not

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even choose to , then my posture in life , my

9:10

position is defeated . It's like

9:12

I'm never going to be able to get through this space

9:15

right . I may not try things , i may not ask

9:17

God for things . I'm not going to be in hope , i'm not going

9:19

to be in faith , i'm not going to be in expectation . I'm

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not going to have a confession that this is the day the

9:23

Lord has made . I'm going to rejoice in it . Today

9:25

is going to be a good day , god . I'm expecting

9:28

to see you and see the goodness of the Lord

9:30

in the land of the living . I'm not going to do that

9:32

if my thought is I'm defeated

9:34

, i'm behind , i'm below , i'm beneath . I'm not

9:36

going to engage in life in that way

9:38

. But if I start with the feeling

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of man , i don't know what's going on , my next

9:43

thought the one that I choose to water and to choose

9:45

to meditate could be . but God does , and God

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is faithful . I don't know what's happening , but this

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isn't a surprise to God . God knows exactly

9:51

what's going on . This isn't the first time I've

9:53

been in a place where I don't know what's happening . God

9:55

, i'm looking to you . You may not be speaking to me

9:58

, but maybe now , in this season , i need to trust that

10:00

you order my steps , whether I know that you're doing

10:02

that actively or not . My steps are being

10:04

ordered of you . You enlarge the path beneath

10:06

my feet . There are no mistakes in God . That's

10:08

what I'm going to believe about my day And I'm going to declare that

10:10

, and I'm going to move in life that way . I'm

10:13

not defeated . I'm above and above . Only

10:15

That's who I am . That may be how I

10:17

show up . If that's the thought , the types of thoughts

10:19

that I nurture and I meditate

10:23

on , and so your thoughts really

10:25

are the difference between how you go through

10:27

life and even thinking on the

10:29

birds of the field , the lilies of the air Matthew

10:31

6 , like , hey , god takes care of them . That's

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like consider this , meditate on

10:36

, look at this . Hey , you see these lilies , you

10:38

see these wildflowers on the side of the interstate . Nobody planted those . Look

10:40

how pretty they are . Oh , my gosh , they're

10:43

decorated more beautifully than the richest king that ever lived

10:45

. Aren't you worth more than they ? This

10:47

is my meditation , these are the bounds

10:49

of my thought life . Right , This is the discipline , this

10:52

is the training . I run my thoughts through An

10:54

athlete . Hey you go to . You know

10:56

, when we play basketball , we were always in

10:58

the sun conditioning at the beginning of the season because

11:00

we knew there was a game , you know , a whole full season

11:02

we had to play later . And so some

11:05

of us , our minds , are out of conditioning

11:07

, they're out of shape , really

11:09

, they just kind of float and flop wherever . And

11:13

I'm just challenging us to be more disciplined

11:15

, i'm challenging us to be more rigorous

11:18

in what we allow and

11:20

don't allow , what we filter out when it

11:22

comes to our thought life , because

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our thought life is running things . The

11:27

thoughts that we entertain , that we engage

11:29

, that we sit with , that we nourish

11:32

, that we water like plants , those

11:34

are the things that are going to grow and ultimately frame

11:36

our reality and frame our

11:39

view of ourselves and our view of God . And

11:42

so , you know , reframing , like

11:45

what I just talked about with our thoughts , is

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something that you can do to help get your mind into shape

11:49

Practicing gratitude

11:52

. There's a guy on

11:54

Instagram , dr Amin , who

11:57

talks about , really

11:59

like , how he sets up himself himself

12:01

, how he sets himself up to sleep well , and

12:04

he talks about going through his day like a treasure hunt and thinking

12:06

about and trying to pick out the parts of the day

12:08

that Went well , right , and

12:10

I think you know the world is really on a gratitude

12:12

tip , but the Lord has definitely already

12:15

told us like it , you know , it's important

12:17

for you to Wage

12:19

on the good , think on the good , consider

12:21

what God is doing over there , think about what God is doing

12:24

over here , remember that time when the Lord came

12:26

through for you . That's all gratitude , starting

12:28

with God . I thank you and everything that

12:30

Jesus said . He started with giving thanks , lord . Thank

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you for God . I thank you for this bread that we're

12:34

about to receive . Lord , bless this bread

12:36

. Thank you that we , like Jesus , started with

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thanks and thanksgiving , with

12:40

Thanksgiving . Offer up your prayers and thoughts

12:42

to God . You know your request , make your question own to

12:44

God , and so thanksgiving

12:47

, gratitude , taking thought , for

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this is what's going well , this is what's going right

12:51

, this is a God moment , this was a God

12:53

wink . Lord , i know this thing is on my mind

12:55

and I saw you Ministered

12:58

that that request I had . Taking

13:00

thought of all of that nourishes your soul , it

13:02

builds you up . It's like feeding on something

13:04

that's actually going to Make

13:07

you stand up taller on the inside , because the

13:09

desert gets hard , the wilderness is uncomfortable

13:11

, but it's even worse when we're not

13:13

disciplined in our thought life . So that's my encouragement

13:15

to you guys this week to be disciplined

13:18

in your thoughts . I

13:20

have a friend . She and I were talking kind of about this very

13:22

thing and she was saying that

13:25

the Lord was sent to her , like how you need to narrow

13:27

your thoughts and You

13:29

know , i really like the way that that the

13:31

Lord put that for her This

13:34

idea of maybe you're considering all of these things

13:36

, maybe you're picking , you know , dipping your cup

13:38

in all these different pools of thought , and

13:40

it might be a good idea to just kind of Bring it

13:42

in , come back to center and go wait

13:44

. What are the boundary lines for

13:46

my thought life ? because I can't , i

13:48

can't just not have boundaries

13:50

. No , we know , and

13:53

at least by now , the importance of boundaries

13:55

from social media , pop psychology and

13:57

all of that . Boundaries are good , they're important

13:59

, they're helpful for us and for others . They

14:02

let us know what's able to stay in and what's able

14:04

to stay out . You know and

14:06

it makes me think of the scripture God

14:08

is not came to spirit of fear , but of love , power and a sound

14:10

mind , a sober mind

14:13

, a Disciplined mind , and so you

14:15

are empowered to have a disciplined thought life

14:17

, but it's definitely on you

14:19

and it's on me to make sure that we put those boundary

14:21

lines in place for what goes and what

14:23

stays out , because self-control

14:26

is a fruit of the spirit . So it's not just that we're supposed

14:28

to be thinking on all the things we are supposed

14:30

to be regulating and Be

14:33

intentional about the thoughts , the seed we

14:35

allow to be planted in our hearts and in our

14:37

minds . So that's my encouragement

14:39

Set up some boundaries , set up some guidelines

14:41

. Even if you make a list of ten things these are my rules

14:43

for my thought life and post it somewhere

14:45

You can see it . You know , i don't think on

14:47

, i don't think on , i do meditate on , i

14:49

do think of , i do take weight of . I

14:51

start my day waking up with gratitude . I end my

14:53

day going to bed saying you know , lord , thank you for

14:55

this , this and this . Set some rules up for your

14:57

thought Life , some really tangible one , so that when

14:59

a thought flies through as you're training your mind

15:02

, you know oh wait , that's breaking rule number two

15:04

We don't , we don't think on negative outcomes

15:06

, right ? So that's my

15:08

encouragement to you guys this week , if

15:11

you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel . Go over there and

15:13

subscribe . You're not subscribed . Wherever you

15:15

get your podcast , do that . If you've not left a

15:17

rating on Apple podcasts , you can also

15:19

do that and comment . I love

15:21

to like , reflect and talk back with y'all

15:23

in the spaces where comments are allowed . So

15:25

thanks again . I'll talk to you

15:27

guys next week . Make it a great one . Bye

15:29

.