August 9, 2023 • 38 mins
Could you be letting the past control your present?
In this episode, we discuss how the Bible is a love letter from a loving Father and not an indictment from a harsh, disappointed deity. As we continue to navigate through the contrasting themes in C.S. Lewis’s book, The Screwtape Letters, we venture into an examination of God's love for us and how it is undeniably different from the demonic relationship between Uncle Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood. It's not about feeling guilty or inadequate; it's about embracing our identity as beloved children of God.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the lovely and
beautiful Sherry Swalla.
How are you doing today, sherry?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I am doing great, and you know what, kara?
I've been thinking a lot aboutthe screw tape letters, and this
is coming from somebody who,like I said, grudgingly read
them because I didn't think Iwould like them.
And now it's coming like justpart of my everyday thought
process, and one of the thingsthat I keep thinking about is
screw tape and how he keepstalking to Wormward and I God
(00:57):
kind of reminded me that for thelongest time, I think that I
considered my relationship withGod to be like screw tape and
Wormward, where God was alwaysupset with me, he was always
irritated with me.
I couldn't do anything right.
Even when I tried to please him, I failed miserably, and that
(01:21):
is just so.
The opposite of the way our Godis, and I don't think that I'm
the only one that has feelingslike that or thoughts about God
like that.
But I guess I wanted to startour podcast this morning with a.
You know we talked about thechallenge last week of just
asking God you know, what is itthat you want to show me today?
(01:44):
What is it that you want totell me today?
Well, I think that we canexpand that challenge to say,
god, do I have a wrong image ofyou, do I have a wrong
perception of you?
And if I do, I would like youto take the month of August to
change that for me.
And that's kind of just wheremy mind has been this morning.
(02:04):
So I thought I would share thatwith everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And what a beautiful thing to do.
Right, it's like you know wewere talking in the okay.
Well, first let me welcome tothe chair of podcast, to all of
our new listeners who just nowbe tuning, who may just now be
tuning in, and you're like whatin the world are these ladies
(02:29):
talking about screw tape?
Like what?
This is my first time listeningto the podcast.
We are talking this this is thechair of podcast which is based
on John 16, the scripture, john1633, and Sherry will be
mentioning more about thatwonderful scripture at the end
of this episode.
(02:49):
But when she was mentioningscrew tape this summer, for the
past couple of months and allthe way from for June, july,
august and September, we arecovering a book called the screw
tape letters.
It is a book written by authorCS Lewis, l-e-w-i-s.
(03:12):
Some of you may know him fromthe Lion and Witch and a
Wardrobe or Mirror Christianity,or just two of his most
well-known books.
But he also has a book outthere called the screw tape
letters, which was written inthe 1940s, and we have been
talking about it for the pastcouple of months and we will be
ending it in September.
But and it is a book, it'scalled the screw tape letters
(03:35):
because it is about UncleScrewtape writing letters to his
nephew Wormwood.
Screwtape is a demon, a demonat a higher level than his
nephew Wormwood.
Wormwood is like a new demon.
He's just very new on the scene, basically, and Uncle Screwtape
(03:57):
is trying to show him the ropesby writing him letters, and so
that's what the book is aboutand that's what she was
referring to about Uncle's whenshe was talking about screwtape.
The book the screw tape lettersis about 31 letters and Uncle
Screwtape is trying to talk tohis nephew Wormwood about how to
(04:18):
handle his assignment.
His assignment is a new, is ahuman who is new to the faith of
Christianity.
It's a male and about his 30sor so and, as Sherry had just
mentioned, it is just definitely, when you look at the dynamic
between Uncle Demon and NephewDemon, it is definitely not the
(04:42):
same that we have with God, notat all.
So thank you, sherry, forsharing that and I just love the
challenge and something shementioned about just having that
ongoing dialogue with God justin the everyday and because our
conversations with God, you know, and actually you know, as
(05:04):
we're talking about letters, godhas written us letters.
We're talking about the screwtape letters to where a higher
level demon is writing lettersto a lower level demon.
But that is so not the case inthe letters that God has sent us
, which is his word.
We have wonderful, wonderful,wonderful, and we call it the
(05:27):
Bible.
It is his holy word.
It is all these love letters tous, in a way, and just his way
of just telling us hey, you maywant to be aware of this, or you
know, this is how much I loveyou, and these are some of the
things that happen, and I'mtelling you this for this reason
and everything else.
(05:48):
So it's kind of hard for us toforget, isn't it, sherry?
That God has written us lettersas well.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Absolutely, and I'm reading this book right now.
It's a book about friendship,but it keeps talking about and
it keeps highlighting differentstories in the Bible.
It keeps talking about howpretty much well, everybody in
the Bible, except for Jesus,everybody in the Bible is flawed
, and it talks about how Goduses the flawed and how God uses
(06:21):
the imperfect.
And again it's such a and I knowthat the screw tape letters is
fiction and the Bible is real,but it is such a contrast
between the way that screw tapeand, even though the screw tape
letters is fiction, you can readabout the enemy in the Bible,
and that is true and that isreal, and it talks about how the
(06:43):
enemy prowls around like aroaring lion seeking whom he can
devour sorry, and so.
So again it talks about thewhole screw tape rumor thing
where, where world could neverplease screw tape.
(07:04):
We could never please the enemy.
He could feed us all kinds oflies and he can pretend to make
us.
You know that we think thatwe're the next best thing to
slice bread, but we will never,ever please him.
The only way that he would behappy with us quote unquote
happy is when we are miserableand when we have failed and when
(07:25):
we have well taken abate.
He said for us, right, takenabate and going to hell Like
that.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, thatwe would be that we would
please him, and even then he'snot going to be pleased forever.
So when you, when you talkabout the Bible and the letters,
(07:48):
it's just like you said.
I mean it's even more than loveletters, If there's even
anything more than a love letter.
Like God, God accepts us forwho we are.
God wants to help us change.
We don't have to change inorder to be good enough to be
with God, and God's love is allencompassing, and the Bible is
(08:13):
just such a beautiful, beautifuldepiction of that and it's just
such a major contrast to whatwe're studying in the street.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Take letters it is a very stark start, startling and
stark.
In contrast, you know, it'sjust very, very it's the same
and it just shows you how whensomeone loves you and want the
best for you, and when someonecould really care less because
(08:47):
you're doomed regardless andthey just really want the worst
for you, and the perfect exampleof that.
Well, today, in today's episode, we are going to be discussing
letters 14 and 15 in the book ofthe screw tape letters and
(09:07):
previous episode.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Before you jump into that, I just want to say one
more thing, and that is thelength that God goes to to save
us and to show us how much heloves us.
I, I just want everybody, allof our listeners, to be able to
grasp that, and you will findthat in the Bible.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Oh, absolutely If you don't know the Lord, just give
him a chance.
Just reach out to him and sayGod, I heard on his podcast that
you love me.
Can you show me?
I'm reaching out to you, tellme what I need to do, talk to me
, show me your love and watchGod answer and you will know
exactly what Sherry was justtalking about the depth of his
(09:51):
love there and Sherry will beable to explain more about that,
too at the end of this episode.
And for those of you who arejust tuning in, we have been
covering we are calling this theSummer Series the book of the
school tape letters.
We've been covering for June,july, august and we'll go into
(10:13):
September, and we're justcalling it the Summer Series.
But we have already wentthrough previously letters 1
through 13,.
Letters 1 through 13.
So please go back and listen tothose previous episodes about
the different topics that we'vecovered.
(10:35):
Regarding the school tapeletters, again, we're not
covering the entire reading thebook per se.
On the podcast.
We're going over the majortopics that are discussed in
each letter, and so so manytopics have already been we've
covered about how the enemylikes to manipulate a person
(10:58):
into doing things that theyshouldn't do for the whole
purpose of just going, of makingsure that they go to hell,
whether they're Christian or not.
So if you would like to listento all of those previous
episodes, then please just goback and listen to those, but
you really, really want tolisten to the very first episode
and that would be the firstepisode in June and I believe
that episode was available onJune 7th and it is entitled why
(11:23):
Read the Screwtape Letters.
But in that particular episodewe went through a whole lot of
scriptures in the Bible.
In those love letters Sherrywas just talking about, we went
through all of that, tons ofscriptures on demons, because
the screw tape letters focuseson these two demons, uncle
(11:46):
Screwtape and his nephewWormwood and it's how we went
through the scriptures thattalked about the reality of
demons, the hierarchy of demons,who demons are, what is their
purpose and the biblicalperspective on demons.
And we gave all of thosescripture references and we went
(12:06):
into a little bit more in depthregarding that in the letters
that God has given us in hisBible.
So you definitely want tolisten to the June 7th episode
if you have questions and forthose who would like to discuss
this more in depth and you'relike.
Well, karen, sherry, I havethings I want to add.
I love the screw tape lettersand there's things I'd like to
(12:28):
share as well.
Then let us know.
You can use an email at theCheer Up podcast at gmailcom and
just let us know that.
And if we get at least 10people, we will start a live
Twitter space to where we willbe able to, all of us together,
(12:48):
be able to discuss it in a livesetting some of the topics that
are discussed in the book.
So, but we would like toreceive at least 10 people that
would want to be able to do thatso we can open up a live
Twitter space.
We will show the date and timewhen we actually get those
responses.
So, like I said previously, wehave went through letters 1
(13:12):
through 13.
Today we are in this episode.
We are going to cover letters 14and 15 of the screw tape
letters by CS Lewis, and thetopics that pretty much are
covered in this, in theseepisodes, are humility and the
(13:32):
subject of the past, the presentand the future and eternity.
And letter 14, he's talkingabout humility.
Uncle Screwtape is telling hisnephew Wormwood how to turn the
Christian that he's beenassigned to new found humility
(13:56):
into something bad.
Right, humility is the oppositeof pride and arrogance.
And the Christian that hisnephew Wormwood has been
assigned to has found this newhumility in his walk, his faith
walk or his life walk and thethings that he's learning on
this new Christian journey.
(14:17):
And Uncle Screwtape is nothappy about that.
He's like how in the world didyou let this happen and
everything else.
But again, like I always tellyou, nephew Wormwood, that all
is not lost, we can somehow usethis for our good.
What we need to do is turn thisnew humility he has, this
(14:37):
humbleness, this loneliness thathe has, into something the
opposite.
So let him still be humble, butlet him take pride in that
humbleness and that humility.
Does that make sense to you,sherry?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh, absolutely.
And it's so easy to do,especially if you're just not.
If you're, if you're lettingyourself be compliant or
complacent, if you're lettingyourself just get lazy instead
of staying intentional, it's soeasy to flip into that slippery
slope.
It's all it takes is a commenthere.
(15:13):
That isn't that you ignore theconviction of the Holy Spirit on
.
Or you're tired or you let yourguard down and before you know
it you can be in that judgmentalphase or mindset instead of
(15:33):
humility.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Absolutely.
You know, and one of the I'mgoing to sum up a quick quote
that Uncle Scrutte wrote to hisnephew Wormwood about humility.
He pretty much is saying Godwants to bring the man to a
(15:54):
state of mind in which he coulddesign the best cathedral in the
world and know it to be thebest cathedral in the world and
rejoicing the fact that it isthe best cathedral in the world.
But God designs him to be ableto do that and be able to know
all of that without being anymore or less or otherwise glad
(16:16):
at having it done than ifsomeone else did it, meaning
we're like, wow, that is so cool, I just built that cathedral,
that is so good.
But then if it was just yourneighbor who did it, you still
be as excited, you still be asglad, right?
Because you really know it'snot you, they did it.
It's the gift that God hasgiven you to be able to do it
right?
So whether it's your neighborwho does it or a relative who
(16:38):
does it, you'll be just as gladif you did it as if someone else
did it.
And, like you were saying, it'sso easy to turn something like
that on its head and when you'rewalking in that type of
humility and, as a Christian, Ithink it becomes a little bit.
It becomes natural, right,spiritually natural, the closer
you have, a more deeper,intimate relationship with the
(17:00):
Lord.
But that doesn't mean that weare not going to be tempted for
it to do exactly like, sherry,like you just said.
For instance, humility, it'slike, for instance, someone
who's humble may be, someone whoprays on their knees every
(17:20):
morning before when they get up,and they pray on their knees
every night before they go tobed.
But then they could be talkingto someone and they're just like
oh, I pray before when I wakeup in the morning and I pray,
you know, when I go to bed too,but I just don't do it on my
knees Now.
And the enemy could turn thatinto something like oh, my
goodness, they don't bow whenthey pray, they don't get on
(17:44):
their knees, they don't putthemselves low before the Lord.
How dare they?
Oh, and they call themselves aChristian.
You see how easy that is,sherry, and that's kind of what
you were talking about.
Exactly, exactly it is, and it'slike you take something that is
right for you and then you tryto be.
(18:05):
It turns the enemy, it turns itinto a self-righteousness,
almost, or like an act ofsomething, and you're just like,
all of a sudden, you findyourself looking down on people
instead of just being gratefulthat you're healthy enough and
able still to be able to getdown on your knees.
(18:26):
You know what I'm saying andthat is something that the Lord
has laid you to do, but now, allof a sudden, you're judging
other people by it.
So if we're not careful and ifwe're not being intentional and
I walk with the Lord on a dailybasis it is so easy to fall into
that false humility trap, right, and we don't even think
(18:51):
anything of it.
We just like well, I'm humble.
Why can't they be humble?
You know, but you'reautomatically producing like a
judgment on them and you don'teven realize that you're doing
it.
And I think so many times wejust we don't realize that we're
doing it without even knowingthat we're doing it.
(19:13):
And we just need to be very,very careful that we're not
allowing a beautiful gift ofhumility that comes so naturally
with Christians who, I believe,just have a wonderful
relationship with the Lord.
And you know, are certain pointsin a Christian walk.
We don't want the enemy to turnit into something that it's not
(19:33):
and I believe, and for thosewho would like to know more
about the Bible, says abouthumility.
Check out the scripture ofEphesians 4-2.
Is that right, sherry?
Was it Ephesians 4-2?
Yep, where it talks more abouthumility.
And I believe also in the bookof Mark, chapter 12, verses 30
(20:00):
through 31, I believe also talksabout humility.
For those who would like toknow how to recognize true
humility, true humbleness,humility is like a derivative of
the word humbleness or humble,and like true humbleness and
lowliness and a false version ofit, because we just have to
(20:26):
always be careful that sometimeswe need to walk that very fine
line.
In letters 15, excuse me, letter15 of the school tape letters,
the topic is pretty much talkingabout the past, present and
future, the past, present,future and eternity and
(20:49):
basically, in this case, schooltape wants his nephew Wormwood
to direct his human mind andattention to the past, which is
gone.
Of course the past has alreadyhappened or have an anxiety
about the future.
But he does not want him to lethis patient focus on the
(21:14):
present, because the strategy isto get him to be afraid of
what's going to happen in thefuture or sad and mad and
resentful of things that havehappened in the past which he
obviously cannot longer change.
But he definitely doesn't wanthim to just focus on the future
(21:37):
and he says something likeWormwood we want a man to be
ridden by the future, haunted byvisions of an imminent heaven
or hell upon earth ready tobreak.
And we need him ready to breakGod's command in the present If
by doing so, we make him thinkhe can attain one or the other
dependent for his faith or onthe success of his failures of
(22:00):
schemes whom he will not live tosee.
So basically he's just kind ofsaying get him so we're afraid
of the future, of what mayhappen on the future.
What if?
What if this happens?
What if that happened?
Oh, my goodness, what if thathappens?
And then what are we going todo?
What am I going to do?
What is the world going to do?
(22:21):
Get him so focused and anxiouson the future, or get him pretty
just ridden with guilt aboutthe past or regrets and
everything else, anything andeverything except getting him to
focus on the present, becausewhen he focuses on the present
(22:42):
he may actually realize what agift it is.
So I can see that being a very,very subtle but yet very
effective strategy.
What are your thoughts on that,sherry?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Oh, absolutely.
And I think that that's one ofthe reasons why we have the
challenge this month, becausewe're challenging people to be
intentional about the here andnow instead of living in the
past or afraid of the future.
And I know I myself just likehaving to take my thoughts
captive, choosing worship musicwhen I bake or when I'm doing.
(23:23):
You know, if I'm not having aconversation with my family
while we're painting our deck orsomething, having worship music
on so that I'm focusing myattention on God or having a
intentional conversation withhim while I'm focusing on doing
whatever you know mindless jobsthat I'm doing.
(23:45):
I think that, yes, I think thatthat's a very strong ploy of
the enemy to get people to godown that rabbit trail and
really it does not serve anypurpose, any good purpose, to
(24:05):
dwell on the past or to worryabout the future, because more
likely, 99% of what we worryabout won't happen.
Absolutely Right.
And if you think about the pastand if there's a way that you
can then use it for good of howhave I grown, how will I not
(24:27):
make that mistake again?
But most of the time whenpeople talk about or think about
the past, they're not thinkingabout it in that avenue.
I know.
Last year myself, god was reallygrowing me in certain areas of
my life, and so I was reallystruggling with the whole.
Why didn't I know this 24 yearsago?
(24:49):
My life would have been so muchbetter if God had woken me up
24 years ago, instead of when hewoke me up now and I had to
shift my thinking, because goingdown that thought process was
not doing anything good for me.
It was just putting me in astate of depression and instead
(25:12):
I had to say thank you, lord,that you woke me up now, instead
of 10 years from now or 20years from now.
Obviously, I wasn't ready tohear it.
I wasn't ready to see it.
Looking back, I could see whereGod had tried to show me
earlier and I just didn't get it, and I had to resolve that
within myself that you know whatthat's okay.
(25:32):
I wasn't ready, but I'm readynow.
I know how to do it now and theprogress is going to go faster
because I'm ready.
So it's a journey.
It's a journey, yes exactly.
Yes, exactly, and so I thinkit's really important that, when
we start to go down that rabbittrail, that we stop ourselves
(25:54):
and we thank Him for the gift ofnow and of knowing better now,
the maturity that comes with ageand life experiences.
And I think that we need tostick with being intentional
about nowadays and the presentand what God wants us to do from
here on out, what you need toconfess from the past and let it
(26:18):
go.
They say that the that's whythe rear view mirror is so much
smaller than the windshield infront of us, because we're
supposed to focus on what we'redoing right now and not focus so
much on the past.
There's nothing you can do tochange the past unless you can
apologize or make amends, andthen you need to just let it go
(26:38):
and you need to trust.
I mean, I think of Paul AnytimeI think about my past and I
have regrets about my past.
I think about the apostle Paulin the Bible and how he murdered
people.
He murdered Christians, and nowhe's a believer.
And there's so many people thatdon't even want to believe that
he's a real believer becausethey're scared of him.
They're like, oh, he's justtrying to infiltrate us so he
(27:00):
can murder us.
Well, sure, I would feel theexact same way, but he kept
saying I know that I was bad,but you know what?
I'm not going to focus on thefact of what I did before.
I'm going to instead focus myattention on what I'm doing for
God now, and that is what weneed to focus on.
What can I do for God now,instead of what did I do in the
(27:21):
past that I hate about myself?
What can I do for God now as athank you, lord, for fixing me,
for rescuing me, for redeemingme from the past that I used to
have?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Absolutely.
And you know, I rememberreading somewhere where someone
had someone was accusing,reminding them of their past.
You know, pretty much like, howdare you try to preach to me or
do something like this?
You think I don't know you, youthink I don't know what you did
, who you did it with and whyyou did it, and you know things
(27:58):
like that.
And the person, the thing waspretty much like well, yeah, but
I am not that person anymore.
I don't even know what you'retalking about.
Right, because when Godforgives us, the East is as far
as from the West.
It is completely forgiven.
In Paul's case, he got anactual new name, right, right,
(28:18):
he was Saul and then he becamePaul.
Now, in today's society, wedon't necessarily have that
luxury to just be able to go andI'll change our name.
I mean, we could, legally, ifwe wanted to, and actually
probably wouldn't be a bad idea,to help us remind us of who we
are in Christ.
Right, but and you know, butmost of the Christians today, we
(28:41):
don't go and we don'tnecessarily change our name.
You know when we be, you know,become a believer or whatnot,
but it doesn't, it doesn'tchange the fact that it's still
the same.
We're not that person anymore.
People would try to bring itback up and be like what do you
mean?
Yes, you were.
You know, I was there.
I got pictures of some videotape, you know.
(29:01):
And you're like, I'm so notthat person anymore.
I don't even live there anymore.
I don't know what you'retalking about and and in a case
and you're not trying to be aflippant You're just like I
don't need that person you talkabout, I don't even recognize
them, right, because you know,if you've ever looked at past
pictures and you see yourselfand you're like who is that
person?
Like, was that me?
(29:22):
Like I can't even recognizethat.
And so we just have to becareful that and, like Sherry
said, if the past is Somethingthat you're regretting or
something like that, you know,make what should have been a
tombstone in your life into astepping stone and Use those
things to help guide you in thefuture, to help you along your
(29:46):
journey and help others alongthe way, because it could be
such a huge blessing.
And Sometimes we're like Pauland we're just like kept the
constantly reminding people thatI am not that person anymore,
and we could say it all day longand twice on Sunday.
But you know what's going toconvince them your actions that
you showing, that is showing you.
(30:07):
The reason people came to trustPaul was because he no longer
went around killing them,killing Christians.
He wasn't there to do that.
And as our actions is whateventually will show people, to
get people to trust us again,especially if we were known for
doing some very nefarious things.
And and regarding the future, Ithink we all should be able to
(30:29):
just ask God and say Lord, whatis it that I'm afraid of?
And help me with that fear?
And In today's society, we haveto be careful with that.
I know a lot of Christians whojust will not watch the news
because it's just so dystopic innature.
You know, it's like the sky isfalling, everything's gray,
(30:50):
everything's.
You know it's almost likeyou're watching life in black
and white right, but a sad blackand white film, you know, and
it just looks like it's going toget worse and we just have to
Be aware of what's going on With.
I'll be an effect hit by what'sgoing on.
For instance, if the news issaying oh, my goodness, all
(31:13):
these things are failing thisbank, that bank, this bank, that
bank, use golly wisdom and belike, wow, I'm glad I know that
we have a lot of funds in thatbank.
Since it looked like it's notgoing to be a solvent Within the
next year, it may, it's goingto be wise for us to take our
funds out of that bank and putit into another one.
(31:34):
That is wisdom and Doing it andhaving guide, guide you the
whole way.
Fear is when it's like, oh, mygoodness, it's all gonna fall,
we're going to be broke, they'regoing to take all our money,
we're.
What are we going to do then?
Where we go, how we're going tosurvive, where we're going to
live, or we all going to end uphomeless, you know, and things
like that.
They kind of attacks you, youknow, and just makes you just
(31:58):
fear everything.
Oh, then if banks go down?
And what about food?
Is there gonna be a food sourceshortage, you know?
Oh, what about medicines?
Is there going to be a medicineshortage?
Well, probably all those thingsare going to happen, but
there's no need to be afraid andif you are sure those things
with the Lord, we are to carryburdens to him.
What are your thoughts on that?
Sharing?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Oh, absolutely.
And you know, for me,absolutely meaning everything
that you said for me.
When I used to live in fear24-7, I could tell, because I
would get this pit in my stomach, and I am somebody who
struggles with food issues, andso I always knew that I was
really, really worried when Icouldn't eat, when I lost my
(32:39):
appetite.
And the way that I can tellthat God has really healed me
and really worked with me inthis area is that now, when I
hear troubling news, yes, itmight still bother me, I might
be like, like you said, hmm, Ineed to be wise, I need to ask
God what we need to do in thissituation, but I don't get that
Pit in my stomach anymore.
(33:00):
I don't get that.
I don't know what we're going todo.
Type of a feeling anymore, andit's, it's huge, it's a
wonderful, wonderful it's just.
It's reinforcing to me thathe's growing me in that area.
Does it mean I'm never afraid?
No, but I know, and I'velearned to take it to him right
away instead of Doing on it andthinking that I have to fix it
(33:25):
or thinking that it's hopelessand nobody can fix it.
I remind myself that none ofthis is new to him, that none of
this is a surprise to him, andthat he knew about this before I
was even born.
So he's got it and all I haveto do is just wait, be wise, pay
(33:45):
attention, and he'll tell mewhat to do.
And on that note, I think thatwe I Think that we're going to
wrap up today, because next weekwe're going to start talking
about churches and gluttony, andthose are the next two chapters
and I'm really excited to delveinto those as well.
(34:07):
But John 1633 says these thingsI have spoken to you that in me
you may have peace.
In the world you will havetribulation, but be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world.
When we talk about fear and thefear of the future, that is
such a good verse to have,because God doesn't just ideally
(34:28):
say things.
When he says something, hemeans it, and if Jesus says that
In him we can have peace, thenwe can bank on the fact that in
him we can have peace, and itdoesn't matter if we were living
in the Roman times, back whenhe was alive, or if we're living
in 2050 or in 2023.
God's got us and we can rest inthat assurance.
(34:50):
And, as we've been talkingabout the month of August, go to
God.
Like Kara said, he knows thatyou're scared already.
He knows what you're scared ofbetter than you do.
You might just know that you'rescared, but you might not have
any idea of what exactly you'reafraid of.
Ask him.
He'll tell you.
God wants nothing more than tohave that personal relationship
(35:11):
with you and to have thoseconversations.
He wants us to want him.
If you are listening to thepodcast and you don't really
know what it means to have arelationship with God, but you
want to there's somethingpulling at you saying I want
what they have, but I don't evenreally completely know what
that is, and I'm going to inviteyou to say this prayer along
(35:33):
with me and ask Jesus to receiveJesus into your heart.
Pray and receive Jesus intoyour heart.
So if you pray this prayer andyou believe in your heart what
you're praying, then the Biblereassures us that you will be
saved.
So if that is you and you wantto pray this with us, then I
encourage you to pray thisprayer right now.
(35:54):
Oh heavenly Father, I come toyou in Jesus' name.
I believe you died on the crossand that you rose again and
you're stated on the throne.
Jesus, forgive me for all thatI've done wrong, and I too to
forgive all others.
Come into my life today andforever.
(36:14):
I am yours in Jesus' name.
Amen, and I want to say welcometo the family.
If you just prayed that prayer,please email us at
pureuppodcastcom and let us knowthat you made that decision,
that you are now a child of God.
If you want to learn how to growin your relationship with God,
(36:35):
we encourage you to seek out aBible-Blooming Church, or you
can head over to my website andyou can look at the Jesus in the
Everyday, monthly Membership.
It was created to help peoplegrow their relationship with God
, whether you've been a believerfor 15 years, whether you just
became a believer today.
It was created with that inmind.
(36:58):
So you can head over to SherrySwalwell,
c-h-e-r-i-s-w-a-l-w-e-l-lcom,and you can check that out as a
resource.
If that's something that you'reinterested in, head over to
CARES website, also CAREAHUNTcom, and you can find out about the
Habakkuk Series.
If you like to read about reallife things and if you like to
(37:21):
grow in your faith throughfiction, biblical fiction, check
out the Habakkuk Series.
It has won more awards thanWell let me just put it this way
it just keeps winning awards.
That's probably the best waythat I should say it is.
Her books keep winning awardsbecause they are that good.
So I would encourage you tocheck them out.
(37:44):
Have a great rest of your daytoday, have a wonderful August
and keep up that conversationwith God.
We will talk to you next weekas we continue the series on the
screen-tape letters.
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the lovely and
beautiful Sherry Swalla.
How are you doing today, sherry?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I am doing great, and you know what, kara?
I've been thinking a lot aboutthe screw tape letters, and this
is coming from somebody who,like I said, grudgingly read
them because I didn't think Iwould like them.
And now it's coming like justpart of my everyday thought
process, and one of the thingsthat I keep thinking about is
screw tape and how he keepstalking to Wormward and I God
(00:57):
kind of reminded me that for thelongest time, I think that I
considered my relationship withGod to be like screw tape and
Wormward, where God was alwaysupset with me, he was always
irritated with me.
I couldn't do anything right.
Even when I tried to please him, I failed miserably, and that
(01:21):
is just so.
The opposite of the way our Godis, and I don't think that I'm
the only one that has feelingslike that or thoughts about God
like that.
But I guess I wanted to startour podcast this morning with a.
You know we talked about thechallenge last week of just
asking God you know, what is itthat you want to show me today?
(01:44):
What is it that you want totell me today?
Well, I think that we canexpand that challenge to say,
god, do I have a wrong image ofyou, do I have a wrong
perception of you?
And if I do, I would like youto take the month of August to
change that for me.
And that's kind of just wheremy mind has been this morning.
(02:04):
So I thought I would share thatwith everybody.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And what a beautiful thing to do.
Right, it's like you know wewere talking in the okay.
Well, first let me welcome tothe chair of podcast, to all of
our new listeners who just nowbe tuning, who may just now be
tuning in, and you're like whatin the world are these ladies
(02:29):
talking about screw tape?
Like what?
This is my first time listeningto the podcast.
We are talking this this is thechair of podcast which is based
on John 16, the scripture, john1633, and Sherry will be
mentioning more about thatwonderful scripture at the end
of this episode.
(02:49):
But when she was mentioningscrew tape this summer, for the
past couple of months and allthe way from for June, july,
august and September, we arecovering a book called the screw
tape letters.
It is a book written by authorCS Lewis, l-e-w-i-s.
(03:12):
Some of you may know him fromthe Lion and Witch and a
Wardrobe or Mirror Christianity,or just two of his most
well-known books.
But he also has a book outthere called the screw tape
letters, which was written inthe 1940s, and we have been
talking about it for the pastcouple of months and we will be
ending it in September.
But and it is a book, it'scalled the screw tape letters
(03:35):
because it is about UncleScrewtape writing letters to his
nephew Wormwood.
Screwtape is a demon, a demonat a higher level than his
nephew Wormwood.
Wormwood is like a new demon.
He's just very new on the scene, basically, and Uncle Screwtape
(03:57):
is trying to show him the ropesby writing him letters, and so
that's what the book is aboutand that's what she was
referring to about Uncle's whenshe was talking about screwtape.
The book the screw tape lettersis about 31 letters and Uncle
Screwtape is trying to talk tohis nephew Wormwood about how to
(04:18):
handle his assignment.
His assignment is a new, is ahuman who is new to the faith of
Christianity.
It's a male and about his 30sor so and, as Sherry had just
mentioned, it is just definitely, when you look at the dynamic
between Uncle Demon and NephewDemon, it is definitely not the
(04:42):
same that we have with God, notat all.
So thank you, sherry, forsharing that and I just love the
challenge and something shementioned about just having that
ongoing dialogue with God justin the everyday and because our
conversations with God, you know, and actually you know, as
(05:04):
we're talking about letters, godhas written us letters.
We're talking about the screwtape letters to where a higher
level demon is writing lettersto a lower level demon.
But that is so not the case inthe letters that God has sent us
, which is his word.
We have wonderful, wonderful,wonderful, and we call it the
(05:27):
Bible.
It is his holy word.
It is all these love letters tous, in a way, and just his way
of just telling us hey, you maywant to be aware of this, or you
know, this is how much I loveyou, and these are some of the
things that happen, and I'mtelling you this for this reason
and everything else.
(05:48):
So it's kind of hard for us toforget, isn't it, sherry?
That God has written us lettersas well.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Absolutely, and I'm reading this book right now.
It's a book about friendship,but it keeps talking about and
it keeps highlighting differentstories in the Bible.
It keeps talking about howpretty much well, everybody in
the Bible, except for Jesus,everybody in the Bible is flawed
, and it talks about how Goduses the flawed and how God uses
(06:21):
the imperfect.
And again it's such a and I knowthat the screw tape letters is
fiction and the Bible is real,but it is such a contrast
between the way that screw tapeand, even though the screw tape
letters is fiction, you can readabout the enemy in the Bible,
and that is true and that isreal, and it talks about how the
(06:43):
enemy prowls around like aroaring lion seeking whom he can
devour sorry, and so.
So again it talks about thewhole screw tape rumor thing
where, where world could neverplease screw tape.
(07:04):
We could never please the enemy.
He could feed us all kinds oflies and he can pretend to make
us.
You know that we think thatwe're the next best thing to
slice bread, but we will never,ever please him.
The only way that he would behappy with us quote unquote
happy is when we are miserableand when we have failed and when
(07:25):
we have well taken abate.
He said for us, right, takenabate and going to hell Like
that.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, thatwe would be that we would
please him, and even then he'snot going to be pleased forever.
So when you, when you talkabout the Bible and the letters,
(07:48):
it's just like you said.
I mean it's even more than loveletters, If there's even
anything more than a love letter.
Like God, God accepts us forwho we are.
God wants to help us change.
We don't have to change inorder to be good enough to be
with God, and God's love is allencompassing, and the Bible is
(08:13):
just such a beautiful, beautifuldepiction of that and it's just
such a major contrast to whatwe're studying in the street.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Take letters it is a very stark start, startling and
stark.
In contrast, you know, it'sjust very, very it's the same
and it just shows you how whensomeone loves you and want the
best for you, and when someonecould really care less because
(08:47):
you're doomed regardless andthey just really want the worst
for you, and the perfect exampleof that.
Well, today, in today's episode, we are going to be discussing
letters 14 and 15 in the book ofthe screw tape letters and
(09:07):
previous episode.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Before you jump into that, I just want to say one
more thing, and that is thelength that God goes to to save
us and to show us how much heloves us.
I, I just want everybody, allof our listeners, to be able to
grasp that, and you will findthat in the Bible.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Oh, absolutely If you don't know the Lord, just give
him a chance.
Just reach out to him and sayGod, I heard on his podcast that
you love me.
Can you show me?
I'm reaching out to you, tellme what I need to do, talk to me
, show me your love and watchGod answer and you will know
exactly what Sherry was justtalking about the depth of his
(09:51):
love there and Sherry will beable to explain more about that,
too at the end of this episode.
And for those of you who arejust tuning in, we have been
covering we are calling this theSummer Series the book of the
school tape letters.
We've been covering for June,july, august and we'll go into
(10:13):
September, and we're justcalling it the Summer Series.
But we have already wentthrough previously letters 1
through 13,.
Letters 1 through 13.
So please go back and listen tothose previous episodes about
the different topics that we'vecovered.
(10:35):
Regarding the school tapeletters, again, we're not
covering the entire reading thebook per se.
On the podcast.
We're going over the majortopics that are discussed in
each letter, and so so manytopics have already been we've
covered about how the enemylikes to manipulate a person
(10:58):
into doing things that theyshouldn't do for the whole
purpose of just going, of makingsure that they go to hell,
whether they're Christian or not.
So if you would like to listento all of those previous
episodes, then please just goback and listen to those, but
you really, really want tolisten to the very first episode
and that would be the firstepisode in June and I believe
that episode was available onJune 7th and it is entitled why
(11:23):
Read the Screwtape Letters.
But in that particular episodewe went through a whole lot of
scriptures in the Bible.
In those love letters Sherrywas just talking about, we went
through all of that, tons ofscriptures on demons, because
the screw tape letters focuseson these two demons, uncle
(11:46):
Screwtape and his nephewWormwood and it's how we went
through the scriptures thattalked about the reality of
demons, the hierarchy of demons,who demons are, what is their
purpose and the biblicalperspective on demons.
And we gave all of thosescripture references and we went
(12:06):
into a little bit more in depthregarding that in the letters
that God has given us in hisBible.
So you definitely want tolisten to the June 7th episode
if you have questions and forthose who would like to discuss
this more in depth and you'relike.
Well, karen, sherry, I havethings I want to add.
I love the screw tape lettersand there's things I'd like to
(12:28):
share as well.
Then let us know.
You can use an email at theCheer Up podcast at gmailcom and
just let us know that.
And if we get at least 10people, we will start a live
Twitter space to where we willbe able to, all of us together,
(12:48):
be able to discuss it in a livesetting some of the topics that
are discussed in the book.
So, but we would like toreceive at least 10 people that
would want to be able to do thatso we can open up a live
Twitter space.
We will show the date and timewhen we actually get those
responses.
So, like I said previously, wehave went through letters 1
(13:12):
through 13.
Today we are in this episode.
We are going to cover letters 14and 15 of the screw tape
letters by CS Lewis, and thetopics that pretty much are
covered in this, in theseepisodes, are humility and the
(13:32):
subject of the past, the presentand the future and eternity.
And letter 14, he's talkingabout humility.
Uncle Screwtape is telling hisnephew Wormwood how to turn the
Christian that he's beenassigned to new found humility
(13:56):
into something bad.
Right, humility is the oppositeof pride and arrogance.
And the Christian that hisnephew Wormwood has been
assigned to has found this newhumility in his walk, his faith
walk or his life walk and thethings that he's learning on
this new Christian journey.
(14:17):
And Uncle Screwtape is nothappy about that.
He's like how in the world didyou let this happen and
everything else.
But again, like I always tellyou, nephew Wormwood, that all
is not lost, we can somehow usethis for our good.
What we need to do is turn thisnew humility he has, this
(14:37):
humbleness, this loneliness thathe has, into something the
opposite.
So let him still be humble, butlet him take pride in that
humbleness and that humility.
Does that make sense to you,sherry?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh, absolutely.
And it's so easy to do,especially if you're just not.
If you're, if you're lettingyourself be compliant or
complacent, if you're lettingyourself just get lazy instead
of staying intentional, it's soeasy to flip into that slippery
slope.
It's all it takes is a commenthere.
(15:13):
That isn't that you ignore theconviction of the Holy Spirit on
.
Or you're tired or you let yourguard down and before you know
it you can be in that judgmentalphase or mindset instead of
(15:33):
humility.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Absolutely.
You know, and one of the I'mgoing to sum up a quick quote
that Uncle Scrutte wrote to hisnephew Wormwood about humility.
He pretty much is saying Godwants to bring the man to a
(15:54):
state of mind in which he coulddesign the best cathedral in the
world and know it to be thebest cathedral in the world and
rejoicing the fact that it isthe best cathedral in the world.
But God designs him to be ableto do that and be able to know
all of that without being anymore or less or otherwise glad
(16:16):
at having it done than ifsomeone else did it, meaning
we're like, wow, that is so cool, I just built that cathedral,
that is so good.
But then if it was just yourneighbor who did it, you still
be as excited, you still be asglad, right?
Because you really know it'snot you, they did it.
It's the gift that God hasgiven you to be able to do it
right?
So whether it's your neighborwho does it or a relative who
(16:38):
does it, you'll be just as gladif you did it as if someone else
did it.
And, like you were saying, it'sso easy to turn something like
that on its head and when you'rewalking in that type of
humility and, as a Christian, Ithink it becomes a little bit.
It becomes natural, right,spiritually natural, the closer
you have, a more deeper,intimate relationship with the
(17:00):
Lord.
But that doesn't mean that weare not going to be tempted for
it to do exactly like, sherry,like you just said.
For instance, humility, it'slike, for instance, someone
who's humble may be, someone whoprays on their knees every
(17:20):
morning before when they get up,and they pray on their knees
every night before they go tobed.
But then they could be talkingto someone and they're just like
oh, I pray before when I wakeup in the morning and I pray,
you know, when I go to bed too,but I just don't do it on my
knees Now.
And the enemy could turn thatinto something like oh, my
goodness, they don't bow whenthey pray, they don't get on
(17:44):
their knees, they don't putthemselves low before the Lord.
How dare they?
Oh, and they call themselves aChristian.
You see how easy that is,sherry, and that's kind of what
you were talking about.
Exactly, exactly it is, and it'slike you take something that is
right for you and then you tryto be.
(18:05):
It turns the enemy, it turns itinto a self-righteousness,
almost, or like an act ofsomething, and you're just like,
all of a sudden, you findyourself looking down on people
instead of just being gratefulthat you're healthy enough and
able still to be able to getdown on your knees.
(18:26):
You know what I'm saying andthat is something that the Lord
has laid you to do, but now, allof a sudden, you're judging
other people by it.
So if we're not careful and ifwe're not being intentional and
I walk with the Lord on a dailybasis it is so easy to fall into
that false humility trap, right, and we don't even think
(18:51):
anything of it.
We just like well, I'm humble.
Why can't they be humble?
You know, but you'reautomatically producing like a
judgment on them and you don'teven realize that you're doing
it.
And I think so many times wejust we don't realize that we're
doing it without even knowingthat we're doing it.
(19:13):
And we just need to be very,very careful that we're not
allowing a beautiful gift ofhumility that comes so naturally
with Christians who, I believe,just have a wonderful
relationship with the Lord.
And you know, are certain pointsin a Christian walk.
We don't want the enemy to turnit into something that it's not
(19:33):
and I believe, and for thosewho would like to know more
about the Bible, says abouthumility.
Check out the scripture ofEphesians 4-2.
Is that right, sherry?
Was it Ephesians 4-2?
Yep, where it talks more abouthumility.
And I believe also in the bookof Mark, chapter 12, verses 30
(20:00):
through 31, I believe also talksabout humility.
For those who would like toknow how to recognize true
humility, true humbleness,humility is like a derivative of
the word humbleness or humble,and like true humbleness and
lowliness and a false version ofit, because we just have to
(20:26):
always be careful that sometimeswe need to walk that very fine
line.
In letters 15, excuse me, letter15 of the school tape letters,
the topic is pretty much talkingabout the past, present and
future, the past, present,future and eternity and
(20:49):
basically, in this case, schooltape wants his nephew Wormwood
to direct his human mind andattention to the past, which is
gone.
Of course the past has alreadyhappened or have an anxiety
about the future.
But he does not want him to lethis patient focus on the
(21:14):
present, because the strategy isto get him to be afraid of
what's going to happen in thefuture or sad and mad and
resentful of things that havehappened in the past which he
obviously cannot longer change.
But he definitely doesn't wanthim to just focus on the future
(21:37):
and he says something likeWormwood we want a man to be
ridden by the future, haunted byvisions of an imminent heaven
or hell upon earth ready tobreak.
And we need him ready to breakGod's command in the present If
by doing so, we make him thinkhe can attain one or the other
dependent for his faith or onthe success of his failures of
(22:00):
schemes whom he will not live tosee.
So basically he's just kind ofsaying get him so we're afraid
of the future, of what mayhappen on the future.
What if?
What if this happens?
What if that happened?
Oh, my goodness, what if thathappens?
And then what are we going todo?
What am I going to do?
What is the world going to do?
(22:21):
Get him so focused and anxiouson the future, or get him pretty
just ridden with guilt aboutthe past or regrets and
everything else, anything andeverything except getting him to
focus on the present, becausewhen he focuses on the present
(22:42):
he may actually realize what agift it is.
So I can see that being a very,very subtle but yet very
effective strategy.
What are your thoughts on that,sherry?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Oh, absolutely.
And I think that that's one ofthe reasons why we have the
challenge this month, becausewe're challenging people to be
intentional about the here andnow instead of living in the
past or afraid of the future.
And I know I myself just likehaving to take my thoughts
captive, choosing worship musicwhen I bake or when I'm doing.
(23:23):
You know, if I'm not having aconversation with my family
while we're painting our deck orsomething, having worship music
on so that I'm focusing myattention on God or having a
intentional conversation withhim while I'm focusing on doing
whatever you know mindless jobsthat I'm doing.
(23:45):
I think that, yes, I think thatthat's a very strong ploy of
the enemy to get people to godown that rabbit trail and
really it does not serve anypurpose, any good purpose, to
(24:05):
dwell on the past or to worryabout the future, because more
likely, 99% of what we worryabout won't happen.
Absolutely Right.
And if you think about the pastand if there's a way that you
can then use it for good of howhave I grown, how will I not
(24:27):
make that mistake again?
But most of the time whenpeople talk about or think about
the past, they're not thinkingabout it in that avenue.
I know.
Last year myself, god was reallygrowing me in certain areas of
my life, and so I was reallystruggling with the whole.
Why didn't I know this 24 yearsago?
(24:49):
My life would have been so muchbetter if God had woken me up
24 years ago, instead of when hewoke me up now and I had to
shift my thinking, because goingdown that thought process was
not doing anything good for me.
It was just putting me in astate of depression and instead
(25:12):
I had to say thank you, lord,that you woke me up now, instead
of 10 years from now or 20years from now.
Obviously, I wasn't ready tohear it.
I wasn't ready to see it.
Looking back, I could see whereGod had tried to show me
earlier and I just didn't get it, and I had to resolve that
within myself that you know whatthat's okay.
(25:32):
I wasn't ready, but I'm readynow.
I know how to do it now and theprogress is going to go faster
because I'm ready.
So it's a journey.
It's a journey, yes exactly.
Yes, exactly, and so I thinkit's really important that, when
we start to go down that rabbittrail, that we stop ourselves
(25:54):
and we thank Him for the gift ofnow and of knowing better now,
the maturity that comes with ageand life experiences.
And I think that we need tostick with being intentional
about nowadays and the presentand what God wants us to do from
here on out, what you need toconfess from the past and let it
(26:18):
go.
They say that the that's whythe rear view mirror is so much
smaller than the windshield infront of us, because we're
supposed to focus on what we'redoing right now and not focus so
much on the past.
There's nothing you can do tochange the past unless you can
apologize or make amends, andthen you need to just let it go
(26:38):
and you need to trust.
I mean, I think of Paul AnytimeI think about my past and I
have regrets about my past.
I think about the apostle Paulin the Bible and how he murdered
people.
He murdered Christians, and nowhe's a believer.
And there's so many people thatdon't even want to believe that
he's a real believer becausethey're scared of him.
They're like, oh, he's justtrying to infiltrate us so he
(27:00):
can murder us.
Well, sure, I would feel theexact same way, but he kept
saying I know that I was bad,but you know what?
I'm not going to focus on thefact of what I did before.
I'm going to instead focus myattention on what I'm doing for
God now, and that is what weneed to focus on.
What can I do for God now,instead of what did I do in the
(27:21):
past that I hate about myself?
What can I do for God now as athank you, lord, for fixing me,
for rescuing me, for redeemingme from the past that I used to
have?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Absolutely.
And you know, I rememberreading somewhere where someone
had someone was accusing,reminding them of their past.
You know, pretty much like, howdare you try to preach to me or
do something like this?
You think I don't know you, youthink I don't know what you did
, who you did it with and whyyou did it, and you know things
(27:58):
like that.
And the person, the thing waspretty much like well, yeah, but
I am not that person anymore.
I don't even know what you'retalking about.
Right, because when Godforgives us, the East is as far
as from the West.
It is completely forgiven.
In Paul's case, he got anactual new name, right, right,
(28:18):
he was Saul and then he becamePaul.
Now, in today's society, wedon't necessarily have that
luxury to just be able to go andI'll change our name.
I mean, we could, legally, ifwe wanted to, and actually
probably wouldn't be a bad idea,to help us remind us of who we
are in Christ.
Right, but and you know, butmost of the Christians today, we
(28:41):
don't go and we don'tnecessarily change our name.
You know when we be, you know,become a believer or whatnot,
but it doesn't, it doesn'tchange the fact that it's still
the same.
We're not that person anymore.
People would try to bring itback up and be like what do you
mean?
Yes, you were.
You know, I was there.
I got pictures of some videotape, you know.
(29:01):
And you're like, I'm so notthat person anymore.
I don't even live there anymore.
I don't know what you'retalking about and and in a case
and you're not trying to be aflippant You're just like I
don't need that person you talkabout, I don't even recognize
them, right, because you know,if you've ever looked at past
pictures and you see yourselfand you're like who is that
person?
Like, was that me?
(29:22):
Like I can't even recognizethat.
And so we just have to becareful that and, like Sherry
said, if the past is Somethingthat you're regretting or
something like that, you know,make what should have been a
tombstone in your life into astepping stone and Use those
things to help guide you in thefuture, to help you along your
(29:46):
journey and help others alongthe way, because it could be
such a huge blessing.
And Sometimes we're like Pauland we're just like kept the
constantly reminding people thatI am not that person anymore,
and we could say it all day longand twice on Sunday.
But you know what's going toconvince them your actions that
you showing, that is showing you.
(30:07):
The reason people came to trustPaul was because he no longer
went around killing them,killing Christians.
He wasn't there to do that.
And as our actions is whateventually will show people, to
get people to trust us again,especially if we were known for
doing some very nefarious things.
And and regarding the future, Ithink we all should be able to
(30:29):
just ask God and say Lord, whatis it that I'm afraid of?
And help me with that fear?
And In today's society, we haveto be careful with that.
I know a lot of Christians whojust will not watch the news
because it's just so dystopic innature.
You know, it's like the sky isfalling, everything's gray,
(30:50):
everything's.
You know it's almost likeyou're watching life in black
and white right, but a sad blackand white film, you know, and
it just looks like it's going toget worse and we just have to
Be aware of what's going on With.
I'll be an effect hit by what'sgoing on.
For instance, if the news issaying oh, my goodness, all
(31:13):
these things are failing thisbank, that bank, this bank, that
bank, use golly wisdom and belike, wow, I'm glad I know that
we have a lot of funds in thatbank.
Since it looked like it's notgoing to be a solvent Within the
next year, it may, it's goingto be wise for us to take our
funds out of that bank and putit into another one.
(31:34):
That is wisdom and Doing it andhaving guide, guide you the
whole way.
Fear is when it's like, oh, mygoodness, it's all gonna fall,
we're going to be broke, they'regoing to take all our money,
we're.
What are we going to do then?
Where we go, how we're going tosurvive, where we're going to
live, or we all going to end uphomeless, you know, and things
like that.
They kind of attacks you, youknow, and just makes you just
(31:58):
fear everything.
Oh, then if banks go down?
And what about food?
Is there gonna be a food sourceshortage, you know?
Oh, what about medicines?
Is there going to be a medicineshortage?
Well, probably all those thingsare going to happen, but
there's no need to be afraid andif you are sure those things
with the Lord, we are to carryburdens to him.
What are your thoughts on that?
Sharing?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Oh, absolutely.
And you know, for me,absolutely meaning everything
that you said for me.
When I used to live in fear24-7, I could tell, because I
would get this pit in my stomach, and I am somebody who
struggles with food issues, andso I always knew that I was
really, really worried when Icouldn't eat, when I lost my
(32:39):
appetite.
And the way that I can tellthat God has really healed me
and really worked with me inthis area is that now, when I
hear troubling news, yes, itmight still bother me, I might
be like, like you said, hmm, Ineed to be wise, I need to ask
God what we need to do in thissituation, but I don't get that
Pit in my stomach anymore.
(33:00):
I don't get that.
I don't know what we're going todo.
Type of a feeling anymore, andit's, it's huge, it's a
wonderful, wonderful it's just.
It's reinforcing to me thathe's growing me in that area.
Does it mean I'm never afraid?
No, but I know, and I'velearned to take it to him right
away instead of Doing on it andthinking that I have to fix it
(33:25):
or thinking that it's hopelessand nobody can fix it.
I remind myself that none ofthis is new to him, that none of
this is a surprise to him, andthat he knew about this before I
was even born.
So he's got it and all I haveto do is just wait, be wise, pay
(33:45):
attention, and he'll tell mewhat to do.
And on that note, I think thatwe I Think that we're going to
wrap up today, because next weekwe're going to start talking
about churches and gluttony, andthose are the next two chapters
and I'm really excited to delveinto those as well.
(34:07):
But John 1633 says these thingsI have spoken to you that in me
you may have peace.
In the world you will havetribulation, but be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world.
When we talk about fear and thefear of the future, that is
such a good verse to have,because God doesn't just ideally
(34:28):
say things.
When he says something, hemeans it, and if Jesus says that
In him we can have peace, thenwe can bank on the fact that in
him we can have peace, and itdoesn't matter if we were living
in the Roman times, back whenhe was alive, or if we're living
in 2050 or in 2023.
God's got us and we can rest inthat assurance.
(34:50):
And, as we've been talkingabout the month of August, go to
God.
Like Kara said, he knows thatyou're scared already.
He knows what you're scared ofbetter than you do.
You might just know that you'rescared, but you might not have
any idea of what exactly you'reafraid of.
Ask him.
He'll tell you.
God wants nothing more than tohave that personal relationship
(35:11):
with you and to have thoseconversations.
He wants us to want him.
If you are listening to thepodcast and you don't really
know what it means to have arelationship with God, but you
want to there's somethingpulling at you saying I want
what they have, but I don't evenreally completely know what
that is, and I'm going to inviteyou to say this prayer along
(35:33):
with me and ask Jesus to receiveJesus into your heart.
Pray and receive Jesus intoyour heart.
So if you pray this prayer andyou believe in your heart what
you're praying, then the Biblereassures us that you will be
saved.
So if that is you and you wantto pray this with us, then I
encourage you to pray thisprayer right now.
(35:54):
Oh heavenly Father, I come toyou in Jesus' name.
I believe you died on the crossand that you rose again and
you're stated on the throne.
Jesus, forgive me for all thatI've done wrong, and I too to
forgive all others.
Come into my life today andforever.
(36:14):
I am yours in Jesus' name.
Amen, and I want to say welcometo the family.
If you just prayed that prayer,please email us at
pureuppodcastcom and let us knowthat you made that decision,
that you are now a child of God.
If you want to learn how to growin your relationship with God,
(36:35):
we encourage you to seek out aBible-Blooming Church, or you
can head over to my website andyou can look at the Jesus in the
Everyday, monthly Membership.
It was created to help peoplegrow their relationship with God
, whether you've been a believerfor 15 years, whether you just
became a believer today.
It was created with that inmind.
(36:58):
So you can head over to SherrySwalwell,
c-h-e-r-i-s-w-a-l-w-e-l-lcom,and you can check that out as a
resource.
If that's something that you'reinterested in, head over to
CARES website, also CAREAHUNTcom, and you can find out about the
Habakkuk Series.
If you like to read about reallife things and if you like to
(37:21):
grow in your faith throughfiction, biblical fiction, check
out the Habakkuk Series.
It has won more awards thanWell let me just put it this way
it just keeps winning awards.
That's probably the best waythat I should say it is.
Her books keep winning awardsbecause they are that good.
So I would encourage you tocheck them out.
(37:44):
Have a great rest of your daytoday, have a wonderful August
and keep up that conversationwith God.
We will talk to you next weekas we continue the series on the
screen-tape letters.
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