January 5, 2026 • 20 mins
In this episode, Jenny introduces the Get Fit 2026 initiative, emphasizing the importance of walking with Jesus in every aspect of our daily lives. Let’s kick this off by committing to truly show up in our faith, build a relationship with Jesus, and engage with the Bible regularly. As we do, we can confidently rest in the promise of God's guidance and support as we seek to know Him more.
It’s going to be a great year and an amazing journey!
Get all the Scripture references mentioned in this episode: https://jennyzentz.com/podcast129
And please don’t forget to subscribe, share, rate, and review. Together we can help more women discover practical ways to apply the power of God’s Word to our everyday stuff!
Action Steps:
- Get a Bible you like and understand.
- Pick your spot where you will daily hang out with God. (a.k.a. Pray and read your Bible)
- Pray: Lord open the eyes of my heart that I might se wonderful things in your Word. (From Psalm 119:18
- Read John 1 (and continue with just one chapter a day in the book of John).
- Just keep showing up!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Welcome to the intertwined life podcast I'm your host Jenny zenz
I am a wife and a mom on a mission I've got a passion to
help women discover practical. Ways to apply the.
Power of God's Word to our everyday stuff.
I truly. Believe that our walks with the
Lord. Should be seamlessly.
Intertwined with our everyday lives, it should affect every
(00:25):
move we make and every breath wetake.
So come on, let's do life together.
You've got this because he's gotyou.
Good morning my friends and welcome to the back seat of my
car. This is really weird.
This may be the strangest place I've ever recorded.
(00:47):
I sometimes we get out there andwe're ready and we're going to
hit this strong and OK, we have a plan where to spend time with
the Lord, whatever it is. And everything keeps popping up
in our way and we're like Opal, maybe I'm not supposed to.
And let's stop and think if whatI'm chasing after is a place to
record an episode to get out to my friends and my church family
(01:09):
to say, hey, let's start this year strong.
Let's be walking in the steps ofJesus.
And I can't seem to find a placeto do that because I keep
running into things. I don't think the answer is,
well, I guess I'm not supposed to do that.
Let's let's think about the source here.
So there are going to be times where we have to fight for what
we have determined to do. And this is actually really
(01:31):
funny because I was getting frustrated.
So I've been, you may be able tohear it in my voice.
I've been sick the last few days.
Everybody's getting it. Thought it would go faster, just
keeps hanging on. So I kind of missed about 3 days
of really solid work I was goingto do to be prepared.
So if you're watching and you'renormally watching the
Intertwined Life podcast or you're listening, welcome.
(01:53):
I'm always glad you're here. And if you are from my Rock
Harbor Church, family welcome, especially if this is your first
time. I'm excited to take this journey
with you. So at church, we are kicking off
this initiative called Get Fit 2026.
And it is about every aspect of our lives being seamlessly
intertwined with walking with the Lord.
And what does that look like? And how do we get fit in faith
(02:16):
and in form and in friends and family, relationally,
spiritually, mentally, in all those ways.
So throughout the next few months, throughout this year,
everything that is appearing on this podcast is going to be
geared towards walking closer with Jesus, being a disciple.
What does being a disciple actually even mean?
And so we're going to be digginginto that.
We're going to be using John Mark Comer's book, Practicing
(02:38):
the Way as a jumping off point for shaping our year, for
shaping, hopefully the rest of our lives.
The journey we're on with Christ.
Whether you have never put your faith in Jesus and you're not
really sure or maybe decades ago, you gave your life to
Jesus. Regardless of where you are on
this journey, this series, this whole thing is going to be for
you. You're going to find amazing
(02:59):
value here. You're going to learn more what
it means to walk with Jesus and what that looks like and how you
do that and that it's not as hard as it sounds sometimes.
And you're also going to get encouragement from other people.
I'm going to be doing some greatinterviews, especially from some
people from my church. So hang in here with me.
If you're not part of my church,this is still going to be good.
If you're part of my church, this is the kicking off starting
(03:19):
point of our Get Fit 2026 initiative.
So even Christ, it tells us thatit was his custom, it was normal
for him to go and be away by himself with the Father and
spend time in prayer and stillness.
I'm pretty sure that if Jesus, the Son of God, who was God
himself needed to get away from all the things and he didn't
(03:42):
even have a cell phone, pretty sure we need to get away.
And maybe sometimes that looks like curling up in the back seat
of our car to get away. And so I think that it was
interesting that the Lord let mehit so many walls between being
sick and not being able to work in my normal space.
And then I go outside and the lawn mowers start up.
And then I go upstairs to another location and I realize
(04:03):
there's these goofy movie posters all over the wall behind
me. So that was awkward everywhere I
went. And so here I am.
So the point is, make it happen.So step number one of the Get
Fit initiative. Just show up.
Just show up. I want you to understand that
walking with Jesus means everyday showing up as
(04:24):
disciples. They didn't just go and work
with them for a few hours a day,Monday through Friday, they
literally left everything and walked with their rabbi, their
teacher. There were a plenty of rabbis at
the time. It was not unusual.
But Jesus's way of doing things,his way of approaching the world
(04:45):
and his dislike for religion because he preferred
relationship was radical. So what does it look like?
There is an ancient Hebrew, 1st century Hebrew blessing, and it
says may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.
I love this because the only wayto be covered in the dust of
(05:05):
your rabbi and that time that that was spoken was because they
would follow so closely and the roads were not paved.
They were not beautiful. It was pretty gross.
And so the dust and the filth would kick back up as you're
walking, but they were walking so closely with their rabbi that
they were just covered in his dust.
So the prayer as we get fit 2026, regardless of where you
(05:28):
are on your spiritual journey, is that this is a year that we
get dusty. And so I'm excited to do this
and kick this off with you guys.I want to talk about just a few
things in our first encouragement episode.
The number one thing is just decide you're going to do it.
Just decide you're going to walkwith Jesus.
Just determine every day you're going to spend time, you're
(05:50):
going to walk with Jesus. It's going to be your focus and
it's not going to be a part of your day, but it's going to be
woven throughout everything you do all day long, wherever you
are, whatever your task, you're never losing that connection.
The Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing.
Now we can't be on our knees in a temple or in a sanctuary 24/7
when we have other things that we have to get done because God
(06:12):
has also given us great things we've got to do, whether it is
in church or in the secular world.
We all are called to purposes and tasks.
And there are some things like the dishes that we just can't
pray away. So what we want to realize is
that praying without ceasing, that is this constant inner
dialogue you're having with the Lord.
And there was a pastor I once had and I loved what he would
(06:32):
say. If you don't know how to pray,
talk to God about it because that's what we're talking about.
We're not talking about specificprayers that are written out in
the book. Certain ones you do at certain
times, specific times. It has to be done.
That is more of a religious structure.
We are leaning into a relationship where we are just
constantly walking and talking in our everyday lives, in all
(06:53):
that we do with the love of our souls with Jesus, just sticking
close and learning from him. The best way to learn from him
is to read the Bible because that's where we're going to
learn about who He is, what he did, how He acted.
And then the more you get to know someone, the more when
situations come up that maybe you didn't read in the
Scripture. But because you've been walking
(07:16):
with Jesus, you've been learningabout Jesus, you've been reading
the Bible, you have better idea of how he might react in this
exact same situation. And so that's how we get to walk
closer and closer with the Lord.And when we say yes to Jesus and
we put our faith in him, and we realize we can't do enough good
works, that's not even a thing. We cannot make ourselves perfect
no matter what we do. That's why Jesus died.
(07:37):
He took our sins. He was perfect, He had no sin,
and he took our sin so that we can believe in Him.
When we put our faith in him forthe forgiveness of our sins,
we're being made right with God.He gives us his righteousness.
And then when God looks at us, he sees Christ first because
we're covered in the righteousness of Jesus when our
faith is in him. And so it's a beautiful exchange
(07:58):
and it's so powerful. But let's not just stay in that
moment of yes, and then never learning more of what that
means. If my husband Tim and I had
gotten married and then never spoke again, we really would not
have gotten to know each other very well and our love would
definitely not have grown. It would have gotten pretty
stale pretty fast. So think about it that way.
If you're saying yes or you saidyes a long time ago to Jesus and
(08:21):
you're trusting in what he did for you so that you can be
united with God, He's got awesome journey ahead.
Jesus always said come follow me, come follow me, come follow
me. So this is the time we say, OK,
I'm getting up and I'm following, let's go.
So what are some practical ways this looks like?
Let's be sure we're getting intothe word, which is church and
(08:43):
ease for saying that we're reading our Bible regularly so
that we can begin to know more about this God that we claim to
believe in and serve. We talked on Sunday morning.
Our pastor at Rock Harbor Churchmentioned that it takes 21 days
not to make a new habit, not to transform your 51 years of bad
(09:03):
habits. OK.
It takes 21 days to just begin breaking up the strongholds of
past negative habits and pathways in our minds.
So there's no magic about 21. That is just what we've been
talking about lately. It's been coming up a lot.
That's not a magic number, OK? It's not like thou shalt do this
for 21 days. That's not a thing.
(09:24):
But what I want you to understand is science has shown
us that this repetition of replacing bad habits with good
habits of constantly being renewed in the spirit of our
mind, which is what Ephesians 423 tells us, which science is
constantly proving the Bible. If you've never noticed that
it's pretty radical. So what we're learning is, oh,
(09:45):
he was right. If we are being renewed in our
minds constantly taking those thoughts captive as we're told
to do in Scripture and replacingthem with the truth of what is
true with based on the Word of God, the truth that never
changes, the truth that is truthno matter what the world around
us is doing, no matter how we feel, the Word of God is
(10:06):
something we can stand on. So we have to know the Word so
we can stand in the midst of thecrazy, in the midst of all of
our feelings. So let's get into the word.
So what is really cool is I've been talking about 21.
Well, there's 21 chapters in thebook of John.
So here's my challenge to you. January is just getting kicked
off. It's the first Monday.
So it's the 5th of January as I'm recording this.
(10:28):
And for many of us, January is the time.
It's a refreshing time for a lotof people.
It's the first for a lot of people.
It's that first Monday. For a lot of people, you're
like, I don't even think about it anymore.
And maybe you're listening to this in October, whenever it is,
today is the day. Make a decision.
Thought I'm showing up and I'm trusting you to do the work that
(10:49):
needs to be done so how do we dothat First of all, if you do not
have a Bible that you like and understand apps apps are really
great apps are cool. I'm so thankful that we can use
that, that we have those resources so accessibly.
But friends, there is something about holding the entire word of
God and but there's something about knowing how to find
(11:12):
Scripture in the Bible. And what I'm learning is there's
a whole generation, like I grew up in the Bible Belt in the days
of the sword drills, if anybody knows what I mean.
But there's a whole generation growing up now who have actually
never looked at or found Scripture in a full Bible
because they're used to scrolling and typing it in.
(11:33):
And while that is amazing, we'remissing something.
I, I feel like we're missing something.
Again, that is not like, you know, God telling you, thou
shalt not scroll again. That's not where I'm going.
But I want you to know if you don't have a Bible that you
enjoy and understand, please getone.
If all you have is your great grandmother's like 25 LB
(11:55):
original King James version of Scripture that you don't
understand, there's nothing wrong with that.
But these, I'll link to these onAmazon.
And if you are a part of Rock Harbor Church, we give these out
for free. They are at the resource table
every day and we have them in this beautiful teal and we have
them in black. And we always have a reading
plan in the front of them to kind of help you get started.
(12:15):
These are the new international version.
It's, it's a great version to really be able to understand
what was being said. The Bible was written in Greek
and Hebrew. It was not written in English
originally. So sometimes one translation
will say, hey, I feel like this word fits and this word fits
better because there's not an exact word in English.
So grab one that makes sense to you, that you feel like you can
understand the language better and dig in.
(12:38):
The more you start finding your way around, the more familiar
familiar you will get with it. Don't be intimidated if you
don't know where these books are, you'll start to figure it
out. You move to a new city.
You don't know where something is.
Maybe you flip to the front of the Bible and use the table of
contents just like you would usea map in a new city.
But after a while, you start to know where you're going without
having to check the map. So just think of it that way.
(12:58):
Give yourself some grace. Don't worry about struggling to
find things. Just dig in and enjoy this
journey that we're going on together.
Challenge today Read John chapter 121 days it or 21
chapters in the book of John. So let's just have a chapter a
day as we go through the beginning of this get fit
initiative. It will not take long.
(13:20):
It won't take long. There's really no excuse.
OK, It won't take long. Even if you have to go hide out
in your car. You can do this.
But also with our apps, if you have the You Version Bible app,
you can pull it up. You can even listen to it be
played. So even if you have to listen
while you're getting ready in the morning, but I challenge you
right now, find your spot, Look around your home, your office,
(13:41):
wherever it is. I prefer the morning because if
you're going on a journey and you're walking with someone and
you get up in the morning isn't the first thing you do.
Find out where you're headed today.
There's a lot to be said to that.
There was a lot of examples in Scripture, including Christ
himself who got up early and spent time with the Lord.
(14:01):
So I do prefer that before all the other things get started.
Don't check your e-mail, don't check your social media.
Leave that to the side. Put a notebook next to your
Bible and put your Bible and your notebook somewhere that you
can. For me, it's grab my coffee and
my Bible and I curl up in the specific corner, in a very
specific corner in my home. And sometimes I change that.
(14:23):
Maybe you don't have a spot and you need a spot.
You need to get it set up tonight with everything you
need. And that needs to be where you
go immediately when you get up. And if that means you have to
set your alarm 15 minutes earlier, just go for it.
It's you can do this. You can do this.
One thing I've done is I've actually prayed, God, wake me
up. And that sounds funny, but I
(14:44):
have many times prayed, Lord, wake me up when you want me to
get up. If I've been having trouble
getting up earlier, it's amazinghow many times the Lord has
answered that prayer and woken me up.
And then sometimes I have to say, Lord, could you make it be
like after 5:00 AM, you know, not before.
I'd appreciate that. There's times where I'm like,
wait, I should have been more specific.
(15:05):
Get up, spend that time in if it's evening that you feel like
is when you are the most clear minded, spend that time.
Get with the Lord. Read 1 chapter of John and
here's my challenge to you. When you sit down to open the
Bible, I love to first and foremost pray Psalm 1/19/18
(15:25):
Lord, open the eyes of my heart that I might receive wonderful
things out of your law. I love to pray that the prayer
that David said and I love to pray it when I open the Bible
because I can't make myself understand things.
I can't make myself have these great revelations, but God can.
So my prayer is, Lord, open the eyes of my heart that I'll see
(15:47):
what you want me to see today. And then there is a beautiful
scripture in Psalm 32, eight where God says my eye is on you
and I will guide you and counselyou with his eye on us.
He's watching us and not just like us as a people, but us
individually. He knows you.
He knows exactly your circumstance, exactly your, your
(16:08):
family, exactly your relationships, exactly your
needs, wants, desires, what lights you up and what hurts you
deep. He knows all of that.
And he says, I will counsel and guide you with my eye on you.
So lean into that. Lean into these scriptures and
say, Lord, I'm believing these things.
I'm trusting these things again.So there's this really cool.
(16:29):
When Tim and I went on our honeymoon almost 20 years ago,
we were on the island of Saint Lucia and they had this phrase
they would say all the time, no pressure, no problem, no
pressure, no problem. And it was kind of fun because
they were really encouraging youjust to relax and enjoy, right?
But I want you to think about that phrase as you go into this.
If you are trying to buckle downand refresh your walk with the
(16:51):
Lord for the first time, yes, you hit refresh for the first
time. If it's your first time to try
this or you're trying to just hit that reset, get a fresh
fire, fresh of walking and not just sitting and knowing that
walking it out. So trust that there's no
pressure, no problem. It is not your job to figure it
out. It's not your job to make
(17:12):
yourself understand it, not evenyour job to make yourself want
to do it. You just show up.
And there's so many beautiful scripture in Philippians 213
says that it is God who works inus to will and to do according
to his good pleasure. So sit down, open your Bible,
God, show me stuff, God, I'm here.
(17:34):
But God, you got to make me understand this and you got to
make me what to do this. But you tell me that you do work
in me to will and to do according to your good pleasure.
So God, I'm sitting here and waiting, expecting you to act
and excited to see how this journey takes me.
And my promise is to just keep showing up.
So that's the first step. Find your spot, get your Bible,
(17:58):
show up, show up. Lay those concerns of the half
twos onto the Lord and just showup and sit in his presence.
I promise it will be honored. James 48 says draw near to him
and he will draw near to you. How cool was that?
So you show up and say, God, I'mwaiting and I know that you're
going to show up and I know you're going to draw near
(18:19):
because your word says so. And you always are faithful to
your Word because he is the word.
All right, guys, which reminds me, John Chapter 1 today, read
that and I will continue to bring you some personal
encouragement, but also I'm going to be bringing you more
guided structure from the Practicing the Word curriculum
(18:39):
with John Mark Comer. I'm going to be putting
resources that you can go to in the show notes, other suggested
reading apps, podcast things if you want to go deeper and go to
that next level. And then I also, I'm going to be
bringing you some interviews, asI mentioned before, with some
great people in our church talking about the different
facets of getting fit, the different aspects of our life,
(18:59):
walking those out with Christ, how that looks, that how that
feels, how that practically plays out.
We're talking about everything from physical fitness to living
your life before Christ in the corporate world that is
completely secular, to fasting. What does that mean?
What does that look like? That's going to be our next one
that we're going to be putting out very soon.
(19:21):
So I'm going to encourage you tojust sit with that.
Don't be afraid. Just sit with it and prepare to
open your hearts and your minds and just say, Lord, I'm here,
I'm showing up, and I want to walk with you.
I want to be covered in your dust and leave the rest of Him.
You've got this because He's gotyou.
All right guys, it's going to bea great year and an amazing
(19:41):
journey and hopefully next time I will be somewhere a little bit
cuter than this. Bye guys, love you all.
Hey friend, if you enjoyed this episode and you got some good
stuff out of it, there's a few options.
You have 1. You could click that little
subscribe button and also. If you.
(20:02):
Would review this podcast. Oh my gosh, if you like what you
heard. Get on there, give it a five
star review. If you didn't like what you
heard, just pretend it never happened, OK?
But if you. Would do a review for me.
Just take a couple seconds and do that.
Not only would I be crazy excited, but also it would just
be a great way for us to partnertogether, for you to help this
(20:23):
podcast be seen by more women out there.
And you could be a part of helping more women discover
these practical ways to apply God's Word to just everyday
stuff. So I would love it, love it,
love it if you could help me outin one of those two ways.
Welcome to the intertwined life podcast I'm your host Jenny zenz
I am a wife and a mom on a mission I've got a passion to
help women discover practical. Ways to apply the.
Power of God's Word to our everyday stuff.
I truly. Believe that our walks with the
Lord. Should be seamlessly.
Intertwined with our everyday lives, it should affect every
(00:25):
move we make and every breath wetake.
So come on, let's do life together.
You've got this because he's gotyou.
Good morning my friends and welcome to the back seat of my
car. This is really weird.
This may be the strangest place I've ever recorded.
(00:47):
I sometimes we get out there andwe're ready and we're going to
hit this strong and OK, we have a plan where to spend time with
the Lord, whatever it is. And everything keeps popping up
in our way and we're like Opal, maybe I'm not supposed to.
And let's stop and think if whatI'm chasing after is a place to
record an episode to get out to my friends and my church family
(01:09):
to say, hey, let's start this year strong.
Let's be walking in the steps ofJesus.
And I can't seem to find a placeto do that because I keep
running into things. I don't think the answer is,
well, I guess I'm not supposed to do that.
Let's let's think about the source here.
So there are going to be times where we have to fight for what
we have determined to do. And this is actually really
(01:31):
funny because I was getting frustrated.
So I've been, you may be able tohear it in my voice.
I've been sick the last few days.
Everybody's getting it. Thought it would go faster, just
keeps hanging on. So I kind of missed about 3 days
of really solid work I was goingto do to be prepared.
So if you're watching and you'renormally watching the
Intertwined Life podcast or you're listening, welcome.
(01:53):
I'm always glad you're here. And if you are from my Rock
Harbor Church, family welcome, especially if this is your first
time. I'm excited to take this journey
with you. So at church, we are kicking off
this initiative called Get Fit 2026.
And it is about every aspect of our lives being seamlessly
intertwined with walking with the Lord.
And what does that look like? And how do we get fit in faith
(02:16):
and in form and in friends and family, relationally,
spiritually, mentally, in all those ways.
So throughout the next few months, throughout this year,
everything that is appearing on this podcast is going to be
geared towards walking closer with Jesus, being a disciple.
What does being a disciple actually even mean?
And so we're going to be digginginto that.
We're going to be using John Mark Comer's book, Practicing
(02:38):
the Way as a jumping off point for shaping our year, for
shaping, hopefully the rest of our lives.
The journey we're on with Christ.
Whether you have never put your faith in Jesus and you're not
really sure or maybe decades ago, you gave your life to
Jesus. Regardless of where you are on
this journey, this series, this whole thing is going to be for
you. You're going to find amazing
(02:59):
value here. You're going to learn more what
it means to walk with Jesus and what that looks like and how you
do that and that it's not as hard as it sounds sometimes.
And you're also going to get encouragement from other people.
I'm going to be doing some greatinterviews, especially from some
people from my church. So hang in here with me.
If you're not part of my church,this is still going to be good.
If you're part of my church, this is the kicking off starting
(03:19):
point of our Get Fit 2026 initiative.
So even Christ, it tells us thatit was his custom, it was normal
for him to go and be away by himself with the Father and
spend time in prayer and stillness.
I'm pretty sure that if Jesus, the Son of God, who was God
himself needed to get away from all the things and he didn't
(03:42):
even have a cell phone, pretty sure we need to get away.
And maybe sometimes that looks like curling up in the back seat
of our car to get away. And so I think that it was
interesting that the Lord let mehit so many walls between being
sick and not being able to work in my normal space.
And then I go outside and the lawn mowers start up.
And then I go upstairs to another location and I realize
(04:03):
there's these goofy movie posters all over the wall behind
me. So that was awkward everywhere I
went. And so here I am.
So the point is, make it happen.So step number one of the Get
Fit initiative. Just show up.
Just show up. I want you to understand that
walking with Jesus means everyday showing up as
(04:24):
disciples. They didn't just go and work
with them for a few hours a day,Monday through Friday, they
literally left everything and walked with their rabbi, their
teacher. There were a plenty of rabbis at
the time. It was not unusual.
But Jesus's way of doing things,his way of approaching the world
(04:45):
and his dislike for religion because he preferred
relationship was radical. So what does it look like?
There is an ancient Hebrew, 1st century Hebrew blessing, and it
says may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.
I love this because the only wayto be covered in the dust of
(05:05):
your rabbi and that time that that was spoken was because they
would follow so closely and the roads were not paved.
They were not beautiful. It was pretty gross.
And so the dust and the filth would kick back up as you're
walking, but they were walking so closely with their rabbi that
they were just covered in his dust.
So the prayer as we get fit 2026, regardless of where you
(05:28):
are on your spiritual journey, is that this is a year that we
get dusty. And so I'm excited to do this
and kick this off with you guys.I want to talk about just a few
things in our first encouragement episode.
The number one thing is just decide you're going to do it.
Just decide you're going to walkwith Jesus.
Just determine every day you're going to spend time, you're
(05:50):
going to walk with Jesus. It's going to be your focus and
it's not going to be a part of your day, but it's going to be
woven throughout everything you do all day long, wherever you
are, whatever your task, you're never losing that connection.
The Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing.
Now we can't be on our knees in a temple or in a sanctuary 24/7
when we have other things that we have to get done because God
(06:12):
has also given us great things we've got to do, whether it is
in church or in the secular world.
We all are called to purposes and tasks.
And there are some things like the dishes that we just can't
pray away. So what we want to realize is
that praying without ceasing, that is this constant inner
dialogue you're having with the Lord.
And there was a pastor I once had and I loved what he would
(06:32):
say. If you don't know how to pray,
talk to God about it because that's what we're talking about.
We're not talking about specificprayers that are written out in
the book. Certain ones you do at certain
times, specific times. It has to be done.
That is more of a religious structure.
We are leaning into a relationship where we are just
constantly walking and talking in our everyday lives, in all
(06:53):
that we do with the love of our souls with Jesus, just sticking
close and learning from him. The best way to learn from him
is to read the Bible because that's where we're going to
learn about who He is, what he did, how He acted.
And then the more you get to know someone, the more when
situations come up that maybe you didn't read in the
Scripture. But because you've been walking
(07:16):
with Jesus, you've been learningabout Jesus, you've been reading
the Bible, you have better idea of how he might react in this
exact same situation. And so that's how we get to walk
closer and closer with the Lord.And when we say yes to Jesus and
we put our faith in him, and we realize we can't do enough good
works, that's not even a thing. We cannot make ourselves perfect
no matter what we do. That's why Jesus died.
(07:37):
He took our sins. He was perfect, He had no sin,
and he took our sin so that we can believe in Him.
When we put our faith in him forthe forgiveness of our sins,
we're being made right with God.He gives us his righteousness.
And then when God looks at us, he sees Christ first because
we're covered in the righteousness of Jesus when our
faith is in him. And so it's a beautiful exchange
(07:58):
and it's so powerful. But let's not just stay in that
moment of yes, and then never learning more of what that
means. If my husband Tim and I had
gotten married and then never spoke again, we really would not
have gotten to know each other very well and our love would
definitely not have grown. It would have gotten pretty
stale pretty fast. So think about it that way.
If you're saying yes or you saidyes a long time ago to Jesus and
(08:21):
you're trusting in what he did for you so that you can be
united with God, He's got awesome journey ahead.
Jesus always said come follow me, come follow me, come follow
me. So this is the time we say, OK,
I'm getting up and I'm following, let's go.
So what are some practical ways this looks like?
Let's be sure we're getting intothe word, which is church and
(08:43):
ease for saying that we're reading our Bible regularly so
that we can begin to know more about this God that we claim to
believe in and serve. We talked on Sunday morning.
Our pastor at Rock Harbor Churchmentioned that it takes 21 days
not to make a new habit, not to transform your 51 years of bad
(09:03):
habits. OK.
It takes 21 days to just begin breaking up the strongholds of
past negative habits and pathways in our minds.
So there's no magic about 21. That is just what we've been
talking about lately. It's been coming up a lot.
That's not a magic number, OK? It's not like thou shalt do this
for 21 days. That's not a thing.
(09:24):
But what I want you to understand is science has shown
us that this repetition of replacing bad habits with good
habits of constantly being renewed in the spirit of our
mind, which is what Ephesians 423 tells us, which science is
constantly proving the Bible. If you've never noticed that
it's pretty radical. So what we're learning is, oh,
(09:45):
he was right. If we are being renewed in our
minds constantly taking those thoughts captive as we're told
to do in Scripture and replacingthem with the truth of what is
true with based on the Word of God, the truth that never
changes, the truth that is truthno matter what the world around
us is doing, no matter how we feel, the Word of God is
(10:06):
something we can stand on. So we have to know the Word so
we can stand in the midst of thecrazy, in the midst of all of
our feelings. So let's get into the word.
So what is really cool is I've been talking about 21.
Well, there's 21 chapters in thebook of John.
So here's my challenge to you. January is just getting kicked
off. It's the first Monday.
So it's the 5th of January as I'm recording this.
(10:28):
And for many of us, January is the time.
It's a refreshing time for a lotof people.
It's the first for a lot of people.
It's that first Monday. For a lot of people, you're
like, I don't even think about it anymore.
And maybe you're listening to this in October, whenever it is,
today is the day. Make a decision.
Thought I'm showing up and I'm trusting you to do the work that
(10:49):
needs to be done so how do we dothat First of all, if you do not
have a Bible that you like and understand apps apps are really
great apps are cool. I'm so thankful that we can use
that, that we have those resources so accessibly.
But friends, there is something about holding the entire word of
God and but there's something about knowing how to find
(11:12):
Scripture in the Bible. And what I'm learning is there's
a whole generation, like I grew up in the Bible Belt in the days
of the sword drills, if anybody knows what I mean.
But there's a whole generation growing up now who have actually
never looked at or found Scripture in a full Bible
because they're used to scrolling and typing it in.
(11:33):
And while that is amazing, we'remissing something.
I, I feel like we're missing something.
Again, that is not like, you know, God telling you, thou
shalt not scroll again. That's not where I'm going.
But I want you to know if you don't have a Bible that you
enjoy and understand, please getone.
If all you have is your great grandmother's like 25 LB
(11:55):
original King James version of Scripture that you don't
understand, there's nothing wrong with that.
But these, I'll link to these onAmazon.
And if you are a part of Rock Harbor Church, we give these out
for free. They are at the resource table
every day and we have them in this beautiful teal and we have
them in black. And we always have a reading
plan in the front of them to kind of help you get started.
(12:15):
These are the new international version.
It's, it's a great version to really be able to understand
what was being said. The Bible was written in Greek
and Hebrew. It was not written in English
originally. So sometimes one translation
will say, hey, I feel like this word fits and this word fits
better because there's not an exact word in English.
So grab one that makes sense to you, that you feel like you can
understand the language better and dig in.
(12:38):
The more you start finding your way around, the more familiar
familiar you will get with it. Don't be intimidated if you
don't know where these books are, you'll start to figure it
out. You move to a new city.
You don't know where something is.
Maybe you flip to the front of the Bible and use the table of
contents just like you would usea map in a new city.
But after a while, you start to know where you're going without
having to check the map. So just think of it that way.
(12:58):
Give yourself some grace. Don't worry about struggling to
find things. Just dig in and enjoy this
journey that we're going on together.
Challenge today Read John chapter 121 days it or 21
chapters in the book of John. So let's just have a chapter a
day as we go through the beginning of this get fit
initiative. It will not take long.
(13:20):
It won't take long. There's really no excuse.
OK, It won't take long. Even if you have to go hide out
in your car. You can do this.
But also with our apps, if you have the You Version Bible app,
you can pull it up. You can even listen to it be
played. So even if you have to listen
while you're getting ready in the morning, but I challenge you
right now, find your spot, Look around your home, your office,
(13:41):
wherever it is. I prefer the morning because if
you're going on a journey and you're walking with someone and
you get up in the morning isn't the first thing you do.
Find out where you're headed today.
There's a lot to be said to that.
There was a lot of examples in Scripture, including Christ
himself who got up early and spent time with the Lord.
(14:01):
So I do prefer that before all the other things get started.
Don't check your e-mail, don't check your social media.
Leave that to the side. Put a notebook next to your
Bible and put your Bible and your notebook somewhere that you
can. For me, it's grab my coffee and
my Bible and I curl up in the specific corner, in a very
specific corner in my home. And sometimes I change that.
(14:23):
Maybe you don't have a spot and you need a spot.
You need to get it set up tonight with everything you
need. And that needs to be where you
go immediately when you get up. And if that means you have to
set your alarm 15 minutes earlier, just go for it.
It's you can do this. You can do this.
One thing I've done is I've actually prayed, God, wake me
up. And that sounds funny, but I
(14:44):
have many times prayed, Lord, wake me up when you want me to
get up. If I've been having trouble
getting up earlier, it's amazinghow many times the Lord has
answered that prayer and woken me up.
And then sometimes I have to say, Lord, could you make it be
like after 5:00 AM, you know, not before.
I'd appreciate that. There's times where I'm like,
wait, I should have been more specific.
(15:05):
Get up, spend that time in if it's evening that you feel like
is when you are the most clear minded, spend that time.
Get with the Lord. Read 1 chapter of John and
here's my challenge to you. When you sit down to open the
Bible, I love to first and foremost pray Psalm 1/19/18
(15:25):
Lord, open the eyes of my heart that I might receive wonderful
things out of your law. I love to pray that the prayer
that David said and I love to pray it when I open the Bible
because I can't make myself understand things.
I can't make myself have these great revelations, but God can.
So my prayer is, Lord, open the eyes of my heart that I'll see
(15:47):
what you want me to see today. And then there is a beautiful
scripture in Psalm 32, eight where God says my eye is on you
and I will guide you and counselyou with his eye on us.
He's watching us and not just like us as a people, but us
individually. He knows you.
He knows exactly your circumstance, exactly your, your
(16:08):
family, exactly your relationships, exactly your
needs, wants, desires, what lights you up and what hurts you
deep. He knows all of that.
And he says, I will counsel and guide you with my eye on you.
So lean into that. Lean into these scriptures and
say, Lord, I'm believing these things.
I'm trusting these things again.So there's this really cool.
(16:29):
When Tim and I went on our honeymoon almost 20 years ago,
we were on the island of Saint Lucia and they had this phrase
they would say all the time, no pressure, no problem, no
pressure, no problem. And it was kind of fun because
they were really encouraging youjust to relax and enjoy, right?
But I want you to think about that phrase as you go into this.
If you are trying to buckle downand refresh your walk with the
(16:51):
Lord for the first time, yes, you hit refresh for the first
time. If it's your first time to try
this or you're trying to just hit that reset, get a fresh
fire, fresh of walking and not just sitting and knowing that
walking it out. So trust that there's no
pressure, no problem. It is not your job to figure it
out. It's not your job to make
(17:12):
yourself understand it, not evenyour job to make yourself want
to do it. You just show up.
And there's so many beautiful scripture in Philippians 213
says that it is God who works inus to will and to do according
to his good pleasure. So sit down, open your Bible,
God, show me stuff, God, I'm here.
(17:34):
But God, you got to make me understand this and you got to
make me what to do this. But you tell me that you do work
in me to will and to do according to your good pleasure.
So God, I'm sitting here and waiting, expecting you to act
and excited to see how this journey takes me.
And my promise is to just keep showing up.
So that's the first step. Find your spot, get your Bible,
(17:58):
show up, show up. Lay those concerns of the half
twos onto the Lord and just showup and sit in his presence.
I promise it will be honored. James 48 says draw near to him
and he will draw near to you. How cool was that?
So you show up and say, God, I'mwaiting and I know that you're
going to show up and I know you're going to draw near
(18:19):
because your word says so. And you always are faithful to
your Word because he is the word.
All right, guys, which reminds me, John Chapter 1 today, read
that and I will continue to bring you some personal
encouragement, but also I'm going to be bringing you more
guided structure from the Practicing the Word curriculum
(18:39):
with John Mark Comer. I'm going to be putting
resources that you can go to in the show notes, other suggested
reading apps, podcast things if you want to go deeper and go to
that next level. And then I also, I'm going to be
bringing you some interviews, asI mentioned before, with some
great people in our church talking about the different
facets of getting fit, the different aspects of our life,
(18:59):
walking those out with Christ, how that looks, that how that
feels, how that practically plays out.
We're talking about everything from physical fitness to living
your life before Christ in the corporate world that is
completely secular, to fasting. What does that mean?
What does that look like? That's going to be our next one
that we're going to be putting out very soon.
(19:21):
So I'm going to encourage you tojust sit with that.
Don't be afraid. Just sit with it and prepare to
open your hearts and your minds and just say, Lord, I'm here,
I'm showing up, and I want to walk with you.
I want to be covered in your dust and leave the rest of Him.
You've got this because He's gotyou.
All right guys, it's going to bea great year and an amazing
(19:41):
journey and hopefully next time I will be somewhere a little bit
cuter than this. Bye guys, love you all.
Hey friend, if you enjoyed this episode and you got some good
stuff out of it, there's a few options.
You have 1. You could click that little
subscribe button and also. If you.
(20:02):
Would review this podcast. Oh my gosh, if you like what you
heard. Get on there, give it a five
star review. If you didn't like what you
heard, just pretend it never happened, OK?
But if you. Would do a review for me.
Just take a couple seconds and do that.
Not only would I be crazy excited, but also it would just
be a great way for us to partnertogether, for you to help this
(20:23):
podcast be seen by more women out there.
And you could be a part of helping more women discover
these practical ways to apply God's Word to just everyday
stuff. So I would love it, love it,
love it if you could help me outin one of those two ways.
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