June 22, 2026 • 31 mins
Don't forget to grab your free scripture journal at PrayingChristianWomen.com/journal today!
How do we discern true spiritual guidance from modern trends, and when is looking for a sign actually opening the door to something darker?
In this episode, Jaime and Alana dive into the nuanced—and sometimes confusing—topic of modern “witchy” trends, New Age language seeping into Christian self-help, and the age-old practice of seeking signs. They discuss the critical difference between earnestly seeking God’s guidance and relying on spiritual shortcuts or omens, exploring how to tease out what is biblical, what is evil, and what falls somewhere in between.
Alana highlights the concept of “plundering the Egyptians”—taking what is useful from secular tools without adopting their faulty foundations—while warning against attributing divine power to our own subconscious desires. Meanwhile, Jaime opens up about the tension of making agonizing parenting decisions with her husband, Matt, and takes a deep dive into the biblical story of Gideon’s fleece. She questions whether Gideon’s demands were a wise test or a lack of faith, ultimately suggesting that God was simply meeting Gideon where he was, rather than providing a universal instruction manual for our own decisions.
Along the way, they swap practical wisdom on navigating the gray areas of modern Christian discernment. From the surprisingly grounded trick of flipping a coin—not to let chance decide, but to bypass people-pleasing tendencies and reveal your true, underlying desires—to an honest look at historical practices like casting lots and "Bible roulette," they offer a discerning yet grace-filled perspective. They emphasize that with the Holy Spirit and the Bible, we already have exactly what we need to seek God's will, warning against the temptation to treat scripture like a Ouija board.
Whether you are wrestling with a major life decision, trying to untangle cultural self-help from biblical truth, or simply need a reminder to listen to God's voice without demanding a supernatural sign, we hope this episode encourages you to lead with prayerful discernment, intentionality, and confident grace.
Discover More:
Explore additional episodes of Praying Christian Women, Mindful Christian Prayers, and other Christian podcasts at Lifeaudio.com
Check out our new podcast, Christian True-Crime Junkies!, on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts!
Connect with Us:
Stay updated and engage with our community:
On Substack @PrayingChristianWomen
On Facebook @PrayingChristianWomen
On Instagram @PrayingChristianWomen
On YouTube:
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Life Audio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hello, welcome back to the Praying Christian Women podcast. I
am Alana here with Jamie.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
How are you doing great? I'm feeling really good.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
The voice is back and I'm not so hoarse and
feeling good.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Based on our topic, I'm picturing Glinda in the original
Wizard of Oz or like, are you a good witch
or are you a bad witch? Which are you feeling
like today?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm feeling like, okay, So if I feel like a
good witch, does that make me bad? I'm feeling like
a bad witch because I'm not into sorcery and witchcraft.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So it's a trick question. It's like you know, asking
somebody are you lying to me or something?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
It's like, yeah, okay, hold on, well.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We are back to talk more about which is witchcraft,
what's to be spiritually discerning regarding and I have absolutely
seen an increase in what some people would call which
he practices. I think you when I would probably call
it more just sort of woo woo stuff in mainstream
(01:09):
self help and things like that, even in some alternative
healing circles. And so I think it's important for us
as Christians to recognize we're not talking about people five
hundred years ago who went on trial. We're talking about
things that impact our lives today.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, I feel like when I was growing up, kind
of in my tween and teen years and then maybe
into the Frank Peretti years. I'm not sure when his
stuff came out, probably more my teenage young adult years,
but Frank Peretti, for those that don't know, we're like
this present darkness and like some of the very spiritual warfarey.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Kind of things.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
And the big antagonist in those books was like the
New Age, you know, like New Age was kind of
seeping into the preschools and into the community. And the
New Age of that era, I feel like was different
from what we're seeing now. I don't know if I
could put my finger on it, but I just feel
like it's it used to be so compartmentalized and different
(02:13):
from Christianity, and I believe that today, I think it's
seeped in, and I think that Christianity has adopted some
kind of just I don't know, like absorbed some of
the New agey kind of language and beliefs. And at
the same time, as the more I learn about some
(02:34):
of the language that's used in some of the New
age circles that have nothing to do with Jesus, I
can actually glean biblical you know, we've talked about this,
We've had all kinds of conversations about manifesting and you know,
energy and frequencies and different things.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
This language that's being used, and I.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Believe that there are just like there is with everything,
there are elements of truth in some of these things
that can be parallel to what we see in the Bible.
But it's getting muddied, and I think we need to
talk about it so we can tease out what is biblical,
what is evil, and what is just kind of somewhere
in between.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Absolutely. There's a phrase that a Christian psychologist kind of
early pioneer coined. I think it's Larry to Krap who
coined it. He called it plundering the Egyptians. And so
when the Israelites are fleeing Egypt, the Egyptians are giving
them like they're jewels and they're giving them gifts, basically
(03:36):
being like, tell your God to stop destroying our nation.
And his use of the phrase plundering the Egyptians was
let's take what we can from secular science and secular
practice and use it if it works in the church, right, Like,
just because the person who created a tool that's you
(04:00):
to build the physical building that your church works and
wasn't a Christian doesn't mean that you're wrong to use
that tool right to physically build your church. And sometimes we,
or at least in certain circles, are like, well, if
it's not right from the Bible, or if the person
who spearheaded this philosophy was not a Christian whose theology
(04:24):
lines up with everything I believe, then the foundation's faulty,
and therefore we've got to throw it all out. And
I would wager that there are some times where, yes,
if the foundation is that faulty, maybe you do.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Throw it all out. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
That's why in our last episode, a lot of Christians
in our family, for a good chunk of when our
kids were very young, like we had as little to
do with Halloween as we possibly could. And for people
who didn't listen to the last week's episode, I'm also
not stating that that is how every Christian family should
react to the holiday. They were going to be talking
(05:01):
about all this kind of stuff and basically learning what
do you keep, what do you throw out? What is
so tainted that you've just got to get rid of it.
And what maybe has a little negative truth in it
that you can easily sift out from all the other junk.
But what is so corrupted by what it's enthrouded in
(05:25):
that we don't even want to touch it.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
One of the spinoff topics that I think we're going
to focus on a lot today from Witchcraft is looking
for signs. We touched on Gideon asking laying out the fleece,
which is, well, we'll go into that a little bit
if you haven't heard of that. That is basically him saying, God,
you told me something. I want to know if this
(05:48):
is really what's going to happen, And he laid out
this fleece and asked for kind of a miracle to
prove it. Tea leaves were mentioned, so, you know, looking
for signs. There's so much the language today, there's so
much of this the universe sent me a sign, or
I just love it when when the universe drops me signs.
(06:09):
But a parallel language could be, hey, I love it
when God sends me a godwink or a sign. You know,
So what is it? What is correct? How do we
think about these things? So I'm going to start off,
you know, we're going to be talking about like signs
and things like reading the tea leaves, and I'm just
going to give us a couple of verses that lay
(06:31):
the foundation for these practices and just kind of go
through and talk through them. So Deuteronomy eighteen ten ten
through twelve says, let no one be found among you
who practice practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft.
Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.
And then Leviticus nineteen twenty six, do not practice divination
(06:54):
or seat omens. So, you know, we kind of talked
a little bit about this before, but like these practices
were kind of, I don't know, the people of Israel
were surrounded on all sides by paganism, like the Canaanites,
(07:14):
the Philistines, like they had not only pagan beliefs, but
some of them like overtly evil and you know, yeah,
like burning their kids to sacrifice to these gods. And
so the words that are used here's it's pretty much
looking for signs that help you make a decision, but
(07:40):
not just asking God, but looking to other means like
trying to take a shortcut. I'm convinced that the reasons
that he gave these commands not to do these things
were because there were spiritual forces that were not God,
that there were dark forces that could their way into
(08:00):
any open door that people gave them.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And or, on the other hand, if.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
They just left themselves open to whatever sign, like hey
let it be sunny tomorrow. If I'm supposed to marry
this person, that's not seeking God's guidance, that's just leaving
it to chance. So I think there are two different
things at work, either just superstition leading to chance or
actually opening yourself up to a dark force, whether it's
(08:27):
a spear guide, whether it's an influencer in determining an
outcome based on one of these things.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So yeah, I think it's similar to the spectrum that
we talked about earlier about like fortune cookie to like
Chinsey horoscope to fortune telling to whatever goes even beyond that,
you know, seance or something. And I think in a
(08:54):
lot of these questions there is something that does begin
with something innocuous like flipping a coin. To me, I'm
not inviting the devil into my soul. If I'm like,
do I want an apple or an orange, and I
can't decide, so I flip a coin.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Right?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Is that one hundred and eighty degrees different than casting lots?
I see them as on a similar spectrum at the
very least. Right, So, if we have flipping a coin
to make a decision as being in almost every case,
can you think of a case for flipping a coin
would actually be spiritually dangerous? Like it might not be
(09:36):
the wisest right, I'm gonna flip a coin to determine
if I'm gonna, you know, marry this guy. Not a
wise choice. But do you think it's it's ever could
open you up to spiritually being manipulated?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, I mean I think if you go into it,
I mean I think your heart condition, your intention going
into something is definitely a good litmus test, Like am
I going into this? That's a bad example, because you
can have good intentions and still have a bad outcome.
For instance, let's say I was really tempted to literally
(10:22):
when we were making the decision whether or not to
allow our then sixth grader go back to public school
in middle school or keep him homeschooled. It was one
of the most like grueling decisions of our parenting, and
we kept coming back different and we were like, God
give us unity, and I was both of us were like,
(10:45):
should we just flip a coin? Honestly?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Should we just say God help us?
Speaker 4 (10:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And I think I use the word casting lots. Should
we just cast lots and see if God does that?
And I do think that when you try to take
a shortcut from hearing from God in a genuine way,
that it could open you up to potential evil inserting itself.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I could absolutely agree with you on that, you know,
especially like I'm taking it to a comical extreme and
I'm picturing you and Matt like with a six sided
Monopoly game die and like taking five minutes to pray
over this die and you know, and then you know,
doing some kind of ritual before you roll it. Like
(11:36):
to me, yeah, that that's actually that doesn't pass my
spiritual debt check.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
But this kind of brings us to Gideon's fleece because
Gideon did this, So why don't we just go ahead
and read about that? Because this is one of the
most like confusing things, you know in some ways, because
it is it seems to kind of go against this idea.
So Gideon in Judges chapter six, verses thirty six through
(12:02):
forty in the NIV, Gideon said to God, if you
will save Israel by my hand, as you have promised,
so this is the first thing. Apparently God had already
told Gideon in that and I didn't go back to
see the way that God told him. But Gideon is saying,
you've already said that you're going to save Israel by
my hand. I'm not sure. I really, really really want
(12:24):
to be sure that I heard you right. I will
place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there
is dew only on the fleece and all the ground
is dry, then I'll know that you will save Israel
by my hand as you said. And that is what happened.
Gideon rose early in the next day. He squeezed the fleece,
wrung out the dew a bowlful of water, so we're
not talking like a dusting. Then Gideon said to God,
(12:46):
don't be angry with me. Let me make just one
more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece,
but this time, make the fleece dry and the ground
be covered with dew. That night, God did so. Only
the fleece was dry, all the ground was covered with dew.
So this is Gideon heard from God. He's trying to
confirm it, and he asks this insane thing, and he says,
(13:10):
don't be angry with me the second time he does it,
which is implying that he knows that he's kind of
testing God. And so I mean, I have to come
away from this like if I were to do this
exact thing, if Matt and I had just said, all right,
we're going to do exactly what Gideon did.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
We're literally going to lay this.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
You know, I killed a sheep last hunting season and
we have this piece of wool. We're literally going to
reproduce this.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Could you just shear the sheep so a little baby
sheep doesn't have to die?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
I'm sorry, Well, it wasn't. It wasn't a baby. It wasn't.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
It was very It was an old sheep, but it
died of natural causes. We simply okay, no, But I
have to say, and maybe I don't believe that the
miracle would have happened.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I just don't.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
And maybe I'm woman of little faith, but I really
think that if we had said we think, let's say
that we had some kind of because so he's not
trying to make a decision first of all, one way
or another, yes or no. He's saying, I think I
heard from you, confirm it this way. But even if
we had made a decision like, Okay, we think Joey's
(14:22):
gonna stay home and do homeschool for another year. If
we're right, if we think we heard from you, right,
do this exact thing. I have to tell you. I
don't think that the next day I would go outside
and be able to squeeze a bowlful of water out
of that skin and the rest of the grass beat
totally fine.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Or you know right?
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So then what if you say, I think I know
what you're saying, and you test God and it doesn't
get confirmed, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Then there's a hard one because I think in the
scenarrey you you're presenting, it kind of makes the fleece
the magic yeah, and less about God. Now. I think
that sometimes I've heard different interpretations of Gideon in his fleece.
I don't see anything that leads us to believe that
(15:18):
Gideon was wrong for doing what he did. Right now,
he was afraid that God would be mad, but it
never says that God was even close to getting mad
at him.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
No, it reminds me of Thomas when he asked Jesus.
It reminds me exactly of that story where he could
have said, as he did many times, you of little faith,
and shook his head.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
But he didn't. He was just like, hey, didn't, come on,
I'm gonna show you.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
And it reminders are so hard on Thomas, and it
always irks me exactly like you said, Jesus does not
chide him. Jesus presents to him the proof that he
said he needed. And I think about the Brian church
in Acts and when they're presented with the Gospel, they
(16:05):
are applauded for going back and seeing if what they
heard is true. In scripture, Gideon did not have the
Bible to like the full Bible to read and to
say Gideon will go and defeat the Midianites. So we
(16:29):
have three options, and the Bible doesn't tell us which.
Either Gideon had very little faith and God was getting
angry with him but put up with his demands for
a sign, or Gideon was actually really wise to test
this crazy notion and make sure that it wasn't coming
from his own delusions of brand ear and God was
(16:52):
he was doing exactly what God wanted to have his
will confirmed, or maybe somewhere in the middle, maybe it
was just kind of a neutral thing. God was like, oh, yeah, sure,
if you need another sign, here you go, and like
there's no emotion attached to it whatsoever. You know. It's
like when your kid asks you for a cup of
water and you're like, okay, here you go, you know,
(17:12):
And that's literally all there is to it. Now, we
can't read all of that into it. We don't know
that God was getting tired of Gideon's lack of faith.
We don't know that Gideon was doing something wrong. We
don't know that maybe Gideon was doing exactly the right
thing to be wise and to test the verse that
(17:35):
you always love to go back to, don't treat prophecy
with contempt, test everything in a way. That's exactly what
Gideon's doing. He's not discarding the prophecy that God gave
him that he would defeat the mini Nites, but he's
also testing it. So literally, I don't think we have
enough information to know if Gideon was doing the right
(17:57):
thing or the wrong thing, or somewhere in the middle.
Now here's another really interesting thing, because if I'm in
your scenario about the homeschool question, and I truly do
want to sign, I wouldn't pick a police I would
pick something like I've done this before. If I'm supposed
to go to fred Meyer before I go home, let
(18:20):
this light be green, you know what I mean. And
here's the thing. I think that sometimes we attribute Holy Spirit,
Big D discernment to things that are just our subconscious
(18:41):
talking to us. So by that, what I mean is
I think it's wrong to attribute it to God, but
I don't think it's wrong to test what's in your subconscience.
Let's say I am trying to decide do I want
to fly down to Utah and see Jamie, And in
(19:01):
my brain, I'm like, here's all the pros, here's all
the cons I've prayed about it. God hasn't given me
a green light or a red light. So I decide
that I am going to put out a fleece, my
fleece just because I know me, and I'm going to
be very honest and transparent with you my fleece.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Even if I.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Went into it with a open mind and the best
of intentions as possible would be something that would be
more likely to happen than not if I was meant
to go visit you, because I know that I want
to go visit you. Yeah, to me, that's not bad,
that's not evil. The only danger is if I attribute
it to God. But really it's just my desire talking
to me. But like, for people who can't make a decision,
(19:42):
were you Are you even the one who told me
this trick? If you can't make a decision and you
just flip a coin, not to decide, but to see
how you feel.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
No, you told me that I told you that you did?
You did?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
You told me that we were talking about it in
an episode, And that is one of my favorite things
I've taught all my kids that I'm like, if you
can't make a decision and you're not feeling guided in
any way.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Flip a coin.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
And I'm not about huge things necessarily, but maybe for
big things, but flip a coin. See how you feel
about that. Are you disappointed? And that might reveal what
really is the best thing to do? Are you excited?
Are you thankful?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
And so? Our daughter's very indecisive.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
She loves to you know, she loves to ask other
people what she should do, and I'm like, you have
to make that decision yourself. But I told her that
this is a really good way to help reveal what
you truly want. And I think the reason she has
a hard time is she's a people pleaser and she's
always anticipating, well, what if I do this, will this
person mind? If I do this, will this person mind?
(20:50):
I think it helps us get in tune with what's
inside of us and how we really feel about something.
And maybe again, that's good what the Holy Spirit is
saying to us. Maybe it's helping us get in tune
with that still small voice in a.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Way, maybe where I would differ because I think in
that case, there's still small voice is your will.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
And I don't think it's wrong to talk.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I think all of us need to.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Tap into our will.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, especially as women and especially as people. Please, we
are taughts to not listen. But I think that often
the still small voice that we are learning to listen
to is really just our own and that's okay too, right.
So again, if we're talking about little things, should I
go to the mall with this friend or should I
(21:48):
go to the movies with that friend? And she feels
like either way, someone's going to be let down. And
she says, Okay, I'm gonna flip a coin.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
And here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
The coin is not going to tell her which to choose.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
I think that's that's part.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
The coin isn't telling you what to choose. It's revealing
what you already wanted.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
So basically, the way you do it is just like, Okay,
if it's A, I go to the mall.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
If it's B, I go to the movies.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
You flip the coin. If it lands on A and
you feel happy, that means you wanted to go to
the movie right. If it lands on B and you
feel sad, that means you should go to the movie
right or whichever. I forget which one was, as I know,
but yeah, no, we get it. So we're not attributing
any magical power to the coin. I think that it's
(22:37):
important to not attribute divine power to that voice. I
don't think that's the voice of God. I think that's
just us, especially as women, who have a hard time
knowing what we want, learning how to ask ourselves what
do I want? You know, like it sounds really silly,
but sometimes like ask your stomach or ask your tongue,
(23:00):
what do you want to eat right now? Like, and
take a minute to listen. You're not praying to God
right like. I think it's actually dangerous to attribute like
holy spirit power to this. I think it's just a
good practice to learn how to voice what you want.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah, And I think that is kind of what it
boils down to, is if you're looking for signs, if
you're looking for who you're attributing it to. In terms
of the coin flipping, now, omens are kind of another thing.
I think so omens are more like things like you know,
the if the crow flies over your head, someone's gonna die,
(23:41):
or if you hear an al hooting three times, then.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Things that are meant to be bad lack or that
kind of.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Thing right or impending doom. So again, I feel like
I just have to go back. And you know, Israel
was not meant to seek guidance, well we go to
war or not. You know, well I saw a crow
fly by, and so yes, we should go to war
because that's a sign, or seeking advice from the dead,
(24:11):
trying to communicate with with with spirits of those who
have passed, or ancestors for wisdom and I go back
to Israel was surrounded by pagan nations, and I don't
doubt that some of those, you know, like Bail and
you know, these these different pagan gods, I don't doubt
(24:33):
that there were principalities behind them, evil spirits and all
of these things, the omens, the magic, the necromancy, the
medium ship, is all opening doors for evil to influence
the actions of God's people.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
And and so.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
I really think that a lot of this protective measure
was to protect evil from masquerading as truth and good
and leading people astray. And if we take that concept
and we PLoP it into today, it's a very similar thing.
It's like, where are you opening yourself up for evil
(25:15):
to masquerade as truth to guide you and help you
make decisions or help you gain knowledge or wisdom about
how the world works. And like you alluded to earlier,
it all boils down to God's word in our hands.
We have God's word in our hands, and we have
the Holy Spirit living in us, which Gideon didn't have.
(25:37):
He had the Holy Spirit would alight here and there
and help people and talk to people, but he didn't
have the Holy Spirit living in him. And so between
that and God's word in our hands. We have everything
we need, presumably to receive guidance from God. It doesn't
mean that it's straightforward. It doesn't mean that we can't
(25:59):
make mistakes even hearing from God or in interpreting his word,
because we could use the Bible like a Ouiji board if
we wanted.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
And I think people do that fairly regularly. Yeah, so
there's that, Well you're ready for a can of worms.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
So the Israelites didn't go to war because they saw
a crow fly, but they cast lots, right, And that's when, like,
if my kid came to me it was like, what's
that about, I'd be like that, that's where we need
our little soundboard button.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Oh yeah, right it is.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
And the next question, please write and the Urim and
thummim like on the those were stones that alleged sounds
very superstitious.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
It does.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
So, you know, I think if if we went the
easy Sunday school answer, I think you already hit it,
and that is we have the Bible now and so
there is not a need for extra biblical casting of
lots or that kind of thing. I think the deepest
answer is probably way more complicated than I wouldn't even
(27:12):
know where to begin. Here's another way to look at it.
I don't really think that this is This is not
my opinion, but I could see some people explaining it
like this. There's a verse in Proverbs that says something
like the lot is cast into the lap, but it's
every decision is from the Lord. And there's this idea
(27:35):
of if you're casting lots superstitiously, God can still meet you,
just like if you're playing Bible roulette right where you're
trying to make an important decision. So you just open
up the Bible and throw your finger on a verse
and it's not what the Bible was meant for. But
(27:55):
that doesn't mean and it's not something that I would
advise somebody to do. It also doesn't mean that somebody
who does it superstitiously can't be met by God in
that way. So maybe it's almost a picture of God
meeting us where we are.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
I don't know. I think that hits the nail on
the head.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
I think the story of Gideon and the Fleece is
about God meeting us where we are.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I think I agree.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I think when we are setting ourselves up with like
a mindset and just living our lives in submission to
God's will that we will find it. And I think
these conversations are important, Like you know, if casting lots
happened biblically, if the urim and thummin were used somehow
(28:44):
for yes or nos, I mean I know that those
in particular were handed down by God.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
It was this is what you'll do exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
God did not hand me a set of marbles and
say shake them up, and whicheverone, like you know, falls
into the middle is the one that.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
So I think we need to separate those things.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
We also need to remember that not everything in the
Bible is supposed to be repeated. It's an illustration of
God meeting Gideon where he was. It's not an instruction
manual for Oh, he had that outcome, So I need
to do the same thing. And I just think we
do need to hold those two things a Let's live
(29:25):
our lives in submission to God in an earnest desire.
And I think that probably had something to do with
Gideon's situation, was he just desperately wanted to know what
God wanted from him, and he really wanted to make
sure he was hearing God right, and God honored that
and blessed it. It doesn't mean he's going to do
it for someone else in a separate circumstance. But on
(29:46):
the other hand, I think we do need to absolutely
guard against any doorway for evil influences, which are absolutely real.
There's a spiritual battle. There are evil forces out there
that can in this world, and they can manipulate physical things, presumably,
I don't know for sure, but we need to make
(30:07):
sure not to open ourselves up to anything that could,
you know, allow the enemy to get a foothold. So
beyond that, I think there's a lot of discernment individually
that has to happen.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, I think that that's a great closing point. So
I don't have a blessing in front of you, so
I am just going to come up with one off
the top of my head. And my hope and prayer
for everybody listening is that God will meet you exactly
where you are, that you will give you the guidance
and the words that you need in exactly the way
(30:41):
that makes sense to you, in the language that makes
sense to you, and that you will be very confident
knowing that it is His voice. And I also hope
and pray that we all learn to listen to our
own small voice and also have the wisdom to know
which is our voice and which is God's voice, and
(31:02):
that those wouldn't be at war with each other, but
it would work together beautifully in guiding us.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Amen. Amen.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
We'd like to take just a quick second to thank
the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us
on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com,
you will find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in
their network.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
They've got shows about.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more. That's lifeaudio
dot com.
Life Audio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hello, welcome back to the Praying Christian Women podcast. I
am Alana here with Jamie.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
How are you doing great? I'm feeling really good.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
The voice is back and I'm not so hoarse and
feeling good.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Based on our topic, I'm picturing Glinda in the original
Wizard of Oz or like, are you a good witch
or are you a bad witch? Which are you feeling
like today?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm feeling like, okay, So if I feel like a
good witch, does that make me bad? I'm feeling like
a bad witch because I'm not into sorcery and witchcraft.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So it's a trick question. It's like you know, asking
somebody are you lying to me or something?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
It's like, yeah, okay, hold on, well.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We are back to talk more about which is witchcraft,
what's to be spiritually discerning regarding and I have absolutely
seen an increase in what some people would call which
he practices. I think you when I would probably call
it more just sort of woo woo stuff in mainstream
(01:09):
self help and things like that, even in some alternative
healing circles. And so I think it's important for us
as Christians to recognize we're not talking about people five
hundred years ago who went on trial. We're talking about
things that impact our lives today.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, I feel like when I was growing up, kind
of in my tween and teen years and then maybe
into the Frank Peretti years. I'm not sure when his
stuff came out, probably more my teenage young adult years,
but Frank Peretti, for those that don't know, we're like
this present darkness and like some of the very spiritual warfarey.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Kind of things.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
And the big antagonist in those books was like the
New Age, you know, like New Age was kind of
seeping into the preschools and into the community. And the
New Age of that era, I feel like was different
from what we're seeing now. I don't know if I
could put my finger on it, but I just feel
like it's it used to be so compartmentalized and different
(02:13):
from Christianity, and I believe that today, I think it's
seeped in, and I think that Christianity has adopted some
kind of just I don't know, like absorbed some of
the New agey kind of language and beliefs. And at
the same time, as the more I learn about some
(02:34):
of the language that's used in some of the New
age circles that have nothing to do with Jesus, I
can actually glean biblical you know, we've talked about this,
We've had all kinds of conversations about manifesting and you know,
energy and frequencies and different things.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
This language that's being used, and I.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Believe that there are just like there is with everything,
there are elements of truth in some of these things
that can be parallel to what we see in the Bible.
But it's getting muddied, and I think we need to
talk about it so we can tease out what is biblical,
what is evil, and what is just kind of somewhere
in between.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Absolutely. There's a phrase that a Christian psychologist kind of
early pioneer coined. I think it's Larry to Krap who
coined it. He called it plundering the Egyptians. And so
when the Israelites are fleeing Egypt, the Egyptians are giving
them like they're jewels and they're giving them gifts, basically
(03:36):
being like, tell your God to stop destroying our nation.
And his use of the phrase plundering the Egyptians was
let's take what we can from secular science and secular
practice and use it if it works in the church, right, Like,
just because the person who created a tool that's you
(04:00):
to build the physical building that your church works and
wasn't a Christian doesn't mean that you're wrong to use
that tool right to physically build your church. And sometimes we,
or at least in certain circles, are like, well, if
it's not right from the Bible, or if the person
who spearheaded this philosophy was not a Christian whose theology
(04:24):
lines up with everything I believe, then the foundation's faulty,
and therefore we've got to throw it all out. And
I would wager that there are some times where, yes,
if the foundation is that faulty, maybe you do.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Throw it all out. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
That's why in our last episode, a lot of Christians
in our family, for a good chunk of when our
kids were very young, like we had as little to
do with Halloween as we possibly could. And for people
who didn't listen to the last week's episode, I'm also
not stating that that is how every Christian family should
react to the holiday. They were going to be talking
(05:01):
about all this kind of stuff and basically learning what
do you keep, what do you throw out? What is
so tainted that you've just got to get rid of it.
And what maybe has a little negative truth in it
that you can easily sift out from all the other junk.
But what is so corrupted by what it's enthrouded in
(05:25):
that we don't even want to touch it.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
One of the spinoff topics that I think we're going
to focus on a lot today from Witchcraft is looking
for signs. We touched on Gideon asking laying out the fleece,
which is, well, we'll go into that a little bit
if you haven't heard of that. That is basically him saying, God,
you told me something. I want to know if this
(05:48):
is really what's going to happen, And he laid out
this fleece and asked for kind of a miracle to
prove it. Tea leaves were mentioned, so, you know, looking
for signs. There's so much the language today, there's so
much of this the universe sent me a sign, or
I just love it when when the universe drops me signs.
(06:09):
But a parallel language could be, hey, I love it
when God sends me a godwink or a sign. You know,
So what is it? What is correct? How do we
think about these things? So I'm going to start off,
you know, we're going to be talking about like signs
and things like reading the tea leaves, and I'm just
going to give us a couple of verses that lay
(06:31):
the foundation for these practices and just kind of go
through and talk through them. So Deuteronomy eighteen ten ten
through twelve says, let no one be found among you
who practice practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft.
Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.
And then Leviticus nineteen twenty six, do not practice divination
(06:54):
or seat omens. So, you know, we kind of talked
a little bit about this before, but like these practices
were kind of, I don't know, the people of Israel
were surrounded on all sides by paganism, like the Canaanites,
(07:14):
the Philistines, like they had not only pagan beliefs, but
some of them like overtly evil and you know, yeah,
like burning their kids to sacrifice to these gods. And
so the words that are used here's it's pretty much
looking for signs that help you make a decision, but
(07:40):
not just asking God, but looking to other means like
trying to take a shortcut. I'm convinced that the reasons
that he gave these commands not to do these things
were because there were spiritual forces that were not God,
that there were dark forces that could their way into
(08:00):
any open door that people gave them.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And or, on the other hand, if.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
They just left themselves open to whatever sign, like hey
let it be sunny tomorrow. If I'm supposed to marry
this person, that's not seeking God's guidance, that's just leaving
it to chance. So I think there are two different
things at work, either just superstition leading to chance or
actually opening yourself up to a dark force, whether it's
(08:27):
a spear guide, whether it's an influencer in determining an
outcome based on one of these things.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So yeah, I think it's similar to the spectrum that
we talked about earlier about like fortune cookie to like
Chinsey horoscope to fortune telling to whatever goes even beyond that,
you know, seance or something. And I think in a
(08:54):
lot of these questions there is something that does begin
with something innocuous like flipping a coin. To me, I'm
not inviting the devil into my soul. If I'm like,
do I want an apple or an orange, and I
can't decide, so I flip a coin.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Right?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Is that one hundred and eighty degrees different than casting lots?
I see them as on a similar spectrum at the
very least. Right, So, if we have flipping a coin
to make a decision as being in almost every case,
can you think of a case for flipping a coin
would actually be spiritually dangerous? Like it might not be
(09:36):
the wisest right, I'm gonna flip a coin to determine
if I'm gonna, you know, marry this guy. Not a
wise choice. But do you think it's it's ever could
open you up to spiritually being manipulated?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, I mean I think if you go into it,
I mean I think your heart condition, your intention going
into something is definitely a good litmus test, Like am
I going into this? That's a bad example, because you
can have good intentions and still have a bad outcome.
For instance, let's say I was really tempted to literally
(10:22):
when we were making the decision whether or not to
allow our then sixth grader go back to public school
in middle school or keep him homeschooled. It was one
of the most like grueling decisions of our parenting, and
we kept coming back different and we were like, God
give us unity, and I was both of us were like,
(10:45):
should we just flip a coin? Honestly?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Should we just say God help us?
Speaker 4 (10:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And I think I use the word casting lots. Should
we just cast lots and see if God does that?
And I do think that when you try to take
a shortcut from hearing from God in a genuine way,
that it could open you up to potential evil inserting itself.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I could absolutely agree with you on that, you know,
especially like I'm taking it to a comical extreme and
I'm picturing you and Matt like with a six sided
Monopoly game die and like taking five minutes to pray
over this die and you know, and then you know,
doing some kind of ritual before you roll it. Like
(11:36):
to me, yeah, that that's actually that doesn't pass my
spiritual debt check.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
But this kind of brings us to Gideon's fleece because
Gideon did this, So why don't we just go ahead
and read about that? Because this is one of the
most like confusing things, you know in some ways, because
it is it seems to kind of go against this idea.
So Gideon in Judges chapter six, verses thirty six through
(12:02):
forty in the NIV, Gideon said to God, if you
will save Israel by my hand, as you have promised,
so this is the first thing. Apparently God had already
told Gideon in that and I didn't go back to
see the way that God told him. But Gideon is saying,
you've already said that you're going to save Israel by
my hand. I'm not sure. I really, really really want
(12:24):
to be sure that I heard you right. I will
place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there
is dew only on the fleece and all the ground
is dry, then I'll know that you will save Israel
by my hand as you said. And that is what happened.
Gideon rose early in the next day. He squeezed the fleece,
wrung out the dew a bowlful of water, so we're
not talking like a dusting. Then Gideon said to God,
(12:46):
don't be angry with me. Let me make just one
more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece,
but this time, make the fleece dry and the ground
be covered with dew. That night, God did so. Only
the fleece was dry, all the ground was covered with dew.
So this is Gideon heard from God. He's trying to
confirm it, and he asks this insane thing, and he says,
(13:10):
don't be angry with me the second time he does it,
which is implying that he knows that he's kind of
testing God. And so I mean, I have to come
away from this like if I were to do this
exact thing, if Matt and I had just said, all right,
we're going to do exactly what Gideon did.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
We're literally going to lay this.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
You know, I killed a sheep last hunting season and
we have this piece of wool. We're literally going to
reproduce this.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Could you just shear the sheep so a little baby
sheep doesn't have to die?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
I'm sorry, Well, it wasn't. It wasn't a baby. It wasn't.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
It was very It was an old sheep, but it
died of natural causes. We simply okay, no, But I
have to say, and maybe I don't believe that the
miracle would have happened.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I just don't.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
And maybe I'm woman of little faith, but I really
think that if we had said we think, let's say
that we had some kind of because so he's not
trying to make a decision first of all, one way
or another, yes or no. He's saying, I think I
heard from you, confirm it this way. But even if
we had made a decision like, Okay, we think Joey's
(14:22):
gonna stay home and do homeschool for another year. If
we're right, if we think we heard from you, right,
do this exact thing. I have to tell you. I
don't think that the next day I would go outside
and be able to squeeze a bowlful of water out
of that skin and the rest of the grass beat
totally fine.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Or you know right?
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So then what if you say, I think I know
what you're saying, and you test God and it doesn't
get confirmed, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Then there's a hard one because I think in the
scenarrey you you're presenting, it kind of makes the fleece
the magic yeah, and less about God. Now. I think
that sometimes I've heard different interpretations of Gideon in his fleece.
I don't see anything that leads us to believe that
(15:18):
Gideon was wrong for doing what he did. Right now,
he was afraid that God would be mad, but it
never says that God was even close to getting mad
at him.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
No, it reminds me of Thomas when he asked Jesus.
It reminds me exactly of that story where he could
have said, as he did many times, you of little faith,
and shook his head.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
But he didn't. He was just like, hey, didn't, come on,
I'm gonna show you.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
And it reminders are so hard on Thomas, and it
always irks me exactly like you said, Jesus does not
chide him. Jesus presents to him the proof that he
said he needed. And I think about the Brian church
in Acts and when they're presented with the Gospel, they
(16:05):
are applauded for going back and seeing if what they
heard is true. In scripture, Gideon did not have the
Bible to like the full Bible to read and to
say Gideon will go and defeat the Midianites. So we
(16:29):
have three options, and the Bible doesn't tell us which.
Either Gideon had very little faith and God was getting
angry with him but put up with his demands for
a sign, or Gideon was actually really wise to test
this crazy notion and make sure that it wasn't coming
from his own delusions of brand ear and God was
(16:52):
he was doing exactly what God wanted to have his
will confirmed, or maybe somewhere in the middle, maybe it
was just kind of a neutral thing. God was like, oh, yeah, sure,
if you need another sign, here you go, and like
there's no emotion attached to it whatsoever. You know. It's
like when your kid asks you for a cup of
water and you're like, okay, here you go, you know,
(17:12):
And that's literally all there is to it. Now, we
can't read all of that into it. We don't know
that God was getting tired of Gideon's lack of faith.
We don't know that Gideon was doing something wrong. We
don't know that maybe Gideon was doing exactly the right
thing to be wise and to test the verse that
(17:35):
you always love to go back to, don't treat prophecy
with contempt, test everything in a way. That's exactly what
Gideon's doing. He's not discarding the prophecy that God gave
him that he would defeat the mini Nites, but he's
also testing it. So literally, I don't think we have
enough information to know if Gideon was doing the right
(17:57):
thing or the wrong thing, or somewhere in the middle.
Now here's another really interesting thing, because if I'm in
your scenario about the homeschool question, and I truly do
want to sign, I wouldn't pick a police I would
pick something like I've done this before. If I'm supposed
to go to fred Meyer before I go home, let
(18:20):
this light be green, you know what I mean. And
here's the thing. I think that sometimes we attribute Holy Spirit,
Big D discernment to things that are just our subconscious
(18:41):
talking to us. So by that, what I mean is
I think it's wrong to attribute it to God, but
I don't think it's wrong to test what's in your subconscience.
Let's say I am trying to decide do I want
to fly down to Utah and see Jamie, And in
(19:01):
my brain, I'm like, here's all the pros, here's all
the cons I've prayed about it. God hasn't given me
a green light or a red light. So I decide
that I am going to put out a fleece, my
fleece just because I know me, and I'm going to
be very honest and transparent with you my fleece.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Even if I.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Went into it with a open mind and the best
of intentions as possible would be something that would be
more likely to happen than not if I was meant
to go visit you, because I know that I want
to go visit you. Yeah, to me, that's not bad,
that's not evil. The only danger is if I attribute
it to God. But really it's just my desire talking
to me. But like, for people who can't make a decision,
(19:42):
were you Are you even the one who told me
this trick? If you can't make a decision and you
just flip a coin, not to decide, but to see
how you feel.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
No, you told me that I told you that you did?
You did?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
You told me that we were talking about it in
an episode, And that is one of my favorite things
I've taught all my kids that I'm like, if you
can't make a decision and you're not feeling guided in
any way.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Flip a coin.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
And I'm not about huge things necessarily, but maybe for
big things, but flip a coin. See how you feel
about that. Are you disappointed? And that might reveal what
really is the best thing to do? Are you excited?
Are you thankful?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
And so? Our daughter's very indecisive.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
She loves to you know, she loves to ask other
people what she should do, and I'm like, you have
to make that decision yourself. But I told her that
this is a really good way to help reveal what
you truly want. And I think the reason she has
a hard time is she's a people pleaser and she's
always anticipating, well, what if I do this, will this
person mind? If I do this, will this person mind?
(20:50):
I think it helps us get in tune with what's
inside of us and how we really feel about something.
And maybe again, that's good what the Holy Spirit is
saying to us. Maybe it's helping us get in tune
with that still small voice in a.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Way, maybe where I would differ because I think in
that case, there's still small voice is your will.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
And I don't think it's wrong to talk.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I think all of us need to.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Tap into our will.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, especially as women and especially as people. Please, we
are taughts to not listen. But I think that often
the still small voice that we are learning to listen
to is really just our own and that's okay too, right.
So again, if we're talking about little things, should I
go to the mall with this friend or should I
(21:48):
go to the movies with that friend? And she feels
like either way, someone's going to be let down. And
she says, Okay, I'm gonna flip a coin.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
And here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
The coin is not going to tell her which to choose.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
I think that's that's part.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
The coin isn't telling you what to choose. It's revealing
what you already wanted.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
So basically, the way you do it is just like, Okay,
if it's A, I go to the mall.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
If it's B, I go to the movies.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
You flip the coin. If it lands on A and
you feel happy, that means you wanted to go to
the movie right. If it lands on B and you
feel sad, that means you should go to the movie
right or whichever. I forget which one was, as I know,
but yeah, no, we get it. So we're not attributing
any magical power to the coin. I think that it's
(22:37):
important to not attribute divine power to that voice. I
don't think that's the voice of God. I think that's
just us, especially as women, who have a hard time
knowing what we want, learning how to ask ourselves what
do I want? You know, like it sounds really silly,
but sometimes like ask your stomach or ask your tongue,
(23:00):
what do you want to eat right now? Like, and
take a minute to listen. You're not praying to God
right like. I think it's actually dangerous to attribute like
holy spirit power to this. I think it's just a
good practice to learn how to voice what you want.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah, And I think that is kind of what it
boils down to, is if you're looking for signs, if
you're looking for who you're attributing it to. In terms
of the coin flipping, now, omens are kind of another thing.
I think so omens are more like things like you know,
the if the crow flies over your head, someone's gonna die,
(23:41):
or if you hear an al hooting three times, then.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Things that are meant to be bad lack or that
kind of.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Thing right or impending doom. So again, I feel like
I just have to go back. And you know, Israel
was not meant to seek guidance, well we go to
war or not. You know, well I saw a crow
fly by, and so yes, we should go to war
because that's a sign, or seeking advice from the dead,
(24:11):
trying to communicate with with with spirits of those who
have passed, or ancestors for wisdom and I go back
to Israel was surrounded by pagan nations, and I don't
doubt that some of those, you know, like Bail and
you know, these these different pagan gods, I don't doubt
(24:33):
that there were principalities behind them, evil spirits and all
of these things, the omens, the magic, the necromancy, the
medium ship, is all opening doors for evil to influence
the actions of God's people.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
And and so.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
I really think that a lot of this protective measure
was to protect evil from masquerading as truth and good
and leading people astray. And if we take that concept
and we PLoP it into today, it's a very similar thing.
It's like, where are you opening yourself up for evil
(25:15):
to masquerade as truth to guide you and help you
make decisions or help you gain knowledge or wisdom about
how the world works. And like you alluded to earlier,
it all boils down to God's word in our hands.
We have God's word in our hands, and we have
the Holy Spirit living in us, which Gideon didn't have.
(25:37):
He had the Holy Spirit would alight here and there
and help people and talk to people, but he didn't
have the Holy Spirit living in him. And so between
that and God's word in our hands. We have everything
we need, presumably to receive guidance from God. It doesn't
mean that it's straightforward. It doesn't mean that we can't
(25:59):
make mistakes even hearing from God or in interpreting his word,
because we could use the Bible like a Ouiji board if
we wanted.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
And I think people do that fairly regularly. Yeah, so
there's that, Well you're ready for a can of worms.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
So the Israelites didn't go to war because they saw
a crow fly, but they cast lots, right, And that's when, like,
if my kid came to me it was like, what's
that about, I'd be like that, that's where we need
our little soundboard button.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Oh yeah, right it is.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
And the next question, please write and the Urim and
thummim like on the those were stones that alleged sounds
very superstitious.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
It does.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
So, you know, I think if if we went the
easy Sunday school answer, I think you already hit it,
and that is we have the Bible now and so
there is not a need for extra biblical casting of
lots or that kind of thing. I think the deepest
answer is probably way more complicated than I wouldn't even
(27:12):
know where to begin. Here's another way to look at it.
I don't really think that this is This is not
my opinion, but I could see some people explaining it
like this. There's a verse in Proverbs that says something
like the lot is cast into the lap, but it's
every decision is from the Lord. And there's this idea
(27:35):
of if you're casting lots superstitiously, God can still meet you,
just like if you're playing Bible roulette right where you're
trying to make an important decision. So you just open
up the Bible and throw your finger on a verse
and it's not what the Bible was meant for. But
(27:55):
that doesn't mean and it's not something that I would
advise somebody to do. It also doesn't mean that somebody
who does it superstitiously can't be met by God in
that way. So maybe it's almost a picture of God
meeting us where we are.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
I don't know. I think that hits the nail on
the head.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
I think the story of Gideon and the Fleece is
about God meeting us where we are.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I think I agree.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I think when we are setting ourselves up with like
a mindset and just living our lives in submission to
God's will that we will find it. And I think
these conversations are important, Like you know, if casting lots
happened biblically, if the urim and thummin were used somehow
(28:44):
for yes or nos, I mean I know that those
in particular were handed down by God.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
It was this is what you'll do exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
God did not hand me a set of marbles and
say shake them up, and whicheverone, like you know, falls
into the middle is the one that.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
So I think we need to separate those things.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
We also need to remember that not everything in the
Bible is supposed to be repeated. It's an illustration of
God meeting Gideon where he was. It's not an instruction
manual for Oh, he had that outcome, So I need
to do the same thing. And I just think we
do need to hold those two things a Let's live
(29:25):
our lives in submission to God in an earnest desire.
And I think that probably had something to do with
Gideon's situation, was he just desperately wanted to know what
God wanted from him, and he really wanted to make
sure he was hearing God right, and God honored that
and blessed it. It doesn't mean he's going to do
it for someone else in a separate circumstance. But on
(29:46):
the other hand, I think we do need to absolutely
guard against any doorway for evil influences, which are absolutely real.
There's a spiritual battle. There are evil forces out there
that can in this world, and they can manipulate physical things, presumably,
I don't know for sure, but we need to make
(30:07):
sure not to open ourselves up to anything that could,
you know, allow the enemy to get a foothold. So
beyond that, I think there's a lot of discernment individually
that has to happen.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, I think that that's a great closing point. So
I don't have a blessing in front of you, so
I am just going to come up with one off
the top of my head. And my hope and prayer
for everybody listening is that God will meet you exactly
where you are, that you will give you the guidance
and the words that you need in exactly the way
(30:41):
that makes sense to you, in the language that makes
sense to you, and that you will be very confident
knowing that it is His voice. And I also hope
and pray that we all learn to listen to our
own small voice and also have the wisdom to know
which is our voice and which is God's voice, and
(31:02):
that those wouldn't be at war with each other, but
it would work together beautifully in guiding us.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Amen. Amen.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
We'd like to take just a quick second to thank
the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us
on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com,
you will find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in
their network.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
They've got shows about.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more. That's lifeaudio
dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com