December 4, 2023 • 46 mins
Don't miss our power-packed episode as we explore the realm of faith, health, and relationships with Heather Vecera, founder of Without Walls Revival Ministries. We unpack the profound impact of seemingly small things in life and how they can shape your faith, health, and overall well-being. We delve into the concept of "sweating the small stuff," discussing how being mindful of our thoughts, beliefs, and actions can trigger significant shifts in our lives.
Life is a series of choices and in every moment, we get to choose between life and death. Our conversation navigates this concept, focusing on choosing life in every small decision we make and the subsequent power of healing and intimacy with God for personal growth and fulfillment. The discussion also includes the importance of taking care of our bodies as Christians and the biblical principle of being faithful with little, to be trusted with much.
Finally, we take you through the importance of community, forgiveness, and authenticity in your life and how competition and comparison can hamper our relationships. The conversation culminates with the exploration of the transformative power of having an intimate relationship with God and its impact on our lives and those around us. Heather shares personal experiences, offering insights about God's presence in her life and providing encouragement for you in your faith journey. Buckle up for this enriching journey that promises to bring about a positive change in your life.
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Episode Transcript
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Heather Vecera (00:04):
God, I need you is the most powerful thing you
can say.
If there's places in your heartthat have not been healed, it's
going to be hard for you toconnect intimately with God and
even get to the point where youcan honor others when the Holy
Spirit gets hold of us,radically gets hold of us, like
(00:27):
it's impossible for others notto see it.
Aaron O'Connell (00:31):
Welcome to the WHY to Fitness Podcast.
I'm your host, aaron O'Connell,and today I am joined with
Heather Viserra.
How you doing today, heather.
Heather Vecera (00:42):
I'm great, Aaron .
It's good to be with you.
Aaron O'Connell (00:45):
Thank you for joining me, and you are the
founder of Without Walls RevivalMinistries and Associate Pastor
of Loft Church in Heron,illinois.
Please tell me just a littlebit about Without Walls Revival
Ministries.
Just start highlights so peoplecan get a little bit and to
know you a little bit more.
Heather Vecera (01:04):
Yeah, so Without Walls is my extended ministry.
Most of my ministry is donethrough Loft Church.
But Without Walls was kind ofstarted out of a season in my
life when I was working at achurch and it was before I was
filled with the Holy Spirit andI was filled with the Holy
Spirit in a church.
(01:24):
That really doesn't embracethat.
But one of the things thathappened, the Holy Spirit kind
of came on me and I began topray that the spiritual walls of
the church would come down, notjust that particular church but
the church in general.
And he just put like a desirefor intercession and for revival
.
(01:45):
And so I began, probably about20 years ago, I would lay my
hands on the walls of thatchurch and pray for the walls to
come down, but it was reallylike an act of obedience and
speaking about like thespiritual walls of the church
and really my heart is just tosee revival and sustained
revival, not only in this nationbut every nation.
Aaron O'Connell (02:09):
Yeah, amen, amen and yeah, and the word
church is actually Echoliasia,which is a gathering of people.
We don't need the walls of thechurch to be gathered in his
name and really be considered achurch.
So I just love what you'redoing and I love how you just
have a passion to teach othersto live out their faith outside
of the walls and build a genuinetransformational relationship
(02:32):
with Christ, because that's whatthis podcast is about.
That's why I'm having you onthis podcast, because a lot of
people you know they work stillon Sundays.
Some people don't have a churchthat they go into, but they may
tune into a podcast, they maytune into a sermon at home that
starts igniting that fire andthen all of a sudden they
realize, wow, I need to get backinto church, I need to get into
(02:56):
community.
So that's why we're here andthat's why I have you on this
podcast.
And also you hold a bachelor'sin psychology.
So just everything put together, that's why I reached out to
you to have you on this podcastand we'll just love to dive into
our topic, which today we aretalking about sweating the small
(03:18):
stuff.
Can you expand just a littlebit on sweating the small stuff?
Heather Vecera (03:22):
Yeah, well, there was a book that came out
like a long time ago and it wascalled Don't Sweat the Small
Stuff.
But you know, there are thingsthat hang up that gives us,
there are hangups in our faith,and they're the little things
and it's the little things thatmatter.
It's the little things thatblock the intimacy that we have
(03:44):
with God if we don't payattention to the small things,
because he's looking at thesmall things, not really things
that are visible to everyone out.
You know, in the light it's.
What are you doing behindclosed doors?
What are you thinking in yourmind?
What are you thinking in yourheart, and what fruit is that
producing?
Aaron O'Connell (04:01):
Yeah, no, for sure, for sure.
And it's amazing that I justactually did a podcast just the
other day.
It just came out and he waslike a lot of people have this
little pet sin and they like tokeep this little pet sin around
and it's just real small but itreally is blocking those
blessings that God wants tobestow on you, really blocking
(04:27):
the purpose that you may beneeding to walk in that end goal
for this life, because you'reso just built into your regular
routine of just that's just alittle thing right here.
I really love this topic, whichalso goes into health and
fitness, because so many peoplelook at the big picture of, oh,
(04:49):
I'm least working out, I'm, I'm,I'm eating this certain way,
whatever it is, but then theymay just have so much stress,
they may have so much sleepdisorders, these little things
that they don't think are reallyhappening and like affecting
them but it's actually thedownfall of them.
So I really love this topic.
(05:11):
When, what would you give tolisteners as advice to really
help them to pay more attentionto the small stuff?
Heather Vecera (05:22):
I would say like our thoughts, you know, develop
into our beliefs and then ouractions.
So, first of all, take captive,you know, take every, take
captive every thoughts, you knowyou have to renew your mind
daily and speak on what you wantto see over yourself.
Not like a word of faith here,but the truth is, when you speak
(05:45):
the word of God, it's alreadywritten, it's already, it
already says, it's already thetruth.
So, you know I am renewed.
I do have the mind of Christ.
I can do this, you know, and wewere talking actually last
night, a group of us and I saidI like to actually insert my
(06:06):
name into scripture.
Aaron O'Connell (06:07):
Yes.
Heather Vecera (06:08):
Like first Corinthians, you know I may not
be walking in love perfectly,but if I speak that you know,
replace my name where it sayslove you know and begin to speak
that out.
It will develop into action.
You'll actually begin to walkit out and that's putting your
(06:29):
faith into action.
So it starts in the mind, ofcourse, and then sometimes I
think it was Joyce Myers you saydo it, afraid you know or do it
.
you know, even even thoughyou're not there yet, just
proclaim it and just go out anddo it, and if you're, the
(06:51):
reality will catch up to whatyou're saying.
Aaron O'Connell (06:54):
I love that.
I love that.
I love that.
Some are the little things thatpeople don't pay attention to,
that are affecting that intimacyof the Lord, that blessing that
they want, that God wants to bestow on them.
What would you say?
Some of those little things arethat people are just
overlooking.
Heather Vecera (07:13):
The distractions .
Social media social media canbe great.
Aaron O'Connell (07:18):
Yes.
Heather Vecera (07:19):
And that's feeding off of a lot of those
reels and things like that,Wasting, wasting time.
And then what you're allowingin your ear gates and your eye
gates eventually comes out ofyour mouth gate, yes, Out of the
abundance.
The heart speaks.
(07:40):
So you know what kind of musicyou listen to, what kind of
podcast you listen to, what kindof TV shows that you're
watching.
Whatever you're putting in willeventually come out.
Aaron O'Connell (07:55):
Yes.
Heather Vecera (07:56):
So I want to make sure that what I'm putting
in is something that glorifiesGod.
Aaron O'Connell (08:01):
Yeah, and my pastor actually said it this way
.
He said what you fill your mindwith, you will eventually will
be feeling.
So those like you said, throughthe music, through just the
endless scrolling, thecomparison, whatever it may be,
you then eventually will startfeeling it.
(08:21):
You know, you go try to talk tosomebody that has anxiety,
depression.
You can't just walk up to themand be like, well, just be happy
, just know that God's got it,you know, and it's if you just
do it right there and theyhaven't been filling themselves
up with that.
It's almost impossible to feelthat way.
But over time, when you'reputting those truths in, when
you're filling yourself up withthe truth of the God and
(08:44):
focusing on the Prince of Peace,eventually all of a sudden what
used to bother you before willno longer bother you.
I absolutely love that.
And also you said just thoselittle distractions which
reminded me of the parable ofthe seed, where the farmer
scattering the seed and everyonethat says, okay, the one's on
(09:05):
the short, the shallow soil, theone on the road, those people
aren't Christians.
Great, but there's that onethat grew up within the thorns
and the vines and they gotchoked out and that's what's.
And they don't.
They didn't produce fruit.
The Bible, jesus, didn't saythey produced fruit, and that's
what we, as believers, want toproduce.
(09:25):
Is that fruit?
Because you will know a tree byits fruit.
And, as a Christian, we need tobe bearing fruit because if
you're not bearing fruit, youmight fall into Matthew 721,
lord, lord, and he says I neverknew you.
Yep, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Heather Vecera (09:44):
Do you?
Remember that song that was.
It was called it's a slow fade,I think it was.
I can't remember who sang it, Idon't remember they.
In this song it talks abouthaving like it.
It's a slow fade into sin.
But it's those little thingsthat and the little choices that
(10:08):
we make.
You know, sometimes people arelike I don't understand what's
happening, God, like how did Iget in this situation?
And it's because of the choices, the little choices that we
made.
You know, it's, it's slow, butthen it turns into something big
.
You know, whether it's it's anaffair, or whether it's it's
lust, or whether it's overeatingor or whatever your sin, your
(10:32):
struggle is drinking too muchand turning into Drugs for
comfort.
It's the little choices like.
You really have to beintentional about Doing the
right thing, not in a religiousway, but seeking that intimacy
with God so much that thosethings don't Appeal to you the
(10:54):
way that they used to.
And it takes practice and ittakes intentionality of sitting
before God in his presence andsaying I don't feel it now.
I'm, I'm struggling now, but Iknow what the truth of your word
says and I'm here to seek yourface, I'm here for your presence
.
Fill me in these places thatare not healed.
(11:17):
Amen and he'll, he'll do it.
Aaron O'Connell (11:20):
That's, that's for sure.
And that just reminds me,especially within the health and
fitness industry, so manypeople take advantage of their
20s, even there, even their 30slet's be, let's be honest.
And they're just partying,they're drinking there, they're
eating all the foods that theywant and with no regard to it,
(11:41):
and then even even still on that, when they're depressed, when
something bad happens, theircomfort is food.
Their comfort is is that theworldly pleasures, like you were
saying, and Unfortunately, whenyou're not paying attention to
the little things like whatyou're filling your temple with,
(12:02):
what you're filling your, your,your physical body with.
Not only, we know that our mindsand our physical bodies are so
Entwined, especially our diets,but what happens is then, over
time, things just start slowlyshutting down.
They start slowly slowing downand then, all of a sudden, you
get to your late 30s, 40s, 50s,whatever it is, and you have a
(12:25):
host of problems you have, youhave diseases, you have
disorders, whatever they may be,and I for one would find it
very scary to All of a suddendie, let's just say, at 55, 60,
whatever it is, from some formof Eating.
You know, making your, let'sjust say, diabetes just got out
(12:48):
of control, whatever it is, oryou got cancer because you were
eating so horribly and justconstantly stressing your body
out.
And you get to God and say, man, I had so much more for you, I
had so much more planned for youthat you could have done so
much more good.
You could have had this muchmore here in heaven, so much
(13:10):
more.
You know treasures here inheaven, but you wasted it.
You wasted through these foodand I find that would be really
scary to get there and just like, have to hear that, I have to
know that and obviously ifyou're in heaven you're not
gonna be regretting or any ofthat type of thing.
But I want to get, I want tohear well done, my faithful
(13:31):
servant.
And those little things likediet Matter.
You know, we, that's what ourbody is, it's, it is, is the
whole, is the temple, and themore energy we have, the more
clarity we have from our whatwe're putting into our body, the
more effective we are gonna befor the kingdom of God.
Heather Vecera (13:54):
Amen.
Aaron O'Connell (13:55):
Also, I like to acknowledge Luke 1610 that says
whoever can be trusted with thelittle can be trusted with much
, and whoever's dishonest with alittle will also be dishonest
with much.
And.
And then I believe there'sanother place in the Bible.
I don't have that verse righthere, but it says whatever
little that you have will betaken away.
How would you put a message outthere over Luke 1610, of those
(14:24):
that can be trusted with littlecan be trusted with much?
What would you like?
How would you expand that?
Heather Vecera (14:30):
Well, obedience brings blessing when we
surrender to the Lord and trusthim to give us the blueprints,
and when he gives us thoselittle convictions and those
little reminders hey, you needto get back on the narrow path.
We need to listen to him.
(14:51):
Instead of fighting and beingrebellious, just submit and
yield our spirit to him and Lethim do his work in us and in
that we see how he can work andhow he can.
He can grow us, mature us andBring all kinds of blessings,
(15:11):
not just health wise, but inyour relationships, in your
finances, in your ministry.
Obedience is everything.
Aaron O'Connell (15:22):
Yeah, it really is.
Like you said, it impacts yourfinances, everything.
As a Christian, we know thatGod created us in his image.
He gave us the blueprint in theBible to live the most abundant
carefree well, not carefree,but free freedom, living just
(15:42):
the most purposeful, loving lifethere is.
And anytime we get outside ofthat, there's going to be
problems there's, you know.
It can range from death all theway to just staleness, whatever
it may be, which is why we needto walk in that maturity.
Yes, when you're a youngChristian, you know you got so
(16:03):
much to learn that, even if youdon't know everything, just
moving forward is great.
But as you start maturing, it'sjust you need to start diving
in deeper and deeper and deeper.
And I was wondering just howwould you starting off with just
seeking versus striving?
How would somebody startwalking in maturity?
Heather Vecera (16:29):
For me, it's been actually diving into the
word and sitting before the Lordand asking for that
understanding and allowing himto be the teacher.
There's a you can get a lot ofinput.
We have information and youknow, podcasts and things like
(16:50):
this ready available, butthere's nothing like letting the
Holy Spirit be the teacher.
That's so true.
Aaron O'Connell (16:57):
And Jeremiah 2913 says you will seek me and
find me when you seek me withall of your heart.
Heather Vecera (17:07):
And that's everything, not just like one
part of your life, it'severything it's.
When you surrender to Christ,you surrender everything, every
part of you.
Aaron O'Connell (17:17):
Yes, yes, and that's why, you know, one of the
Pharisees came up.
He's like hey, what's the mostimportant to Jesus?
He's like what's the mostimportant command, you know?
Or he was like Well, how do youinterpret it?
Well, you need to love the Lordwith all your heart, all your
mind, all your soul, likeeverything, and also love your
neighbor as yourself.
(17:38):
And then, obviously, jesus knewhe was like Well, who's my
neighbor?
And that's where the Samaritancomes in.
You know, because we're alwayslooking for those ways out, that
little bend and break.
It's our sinful nature, it'show the devil kind of slimes in.
And that's why we need toremind ourselves of Jeremiah
(17:58):
2913 and seek with all of ourhearts.
Romans 12 1 says to offer yourbodies as a living sacrifice,
which is how you eat, how yousleep, how you wake up, how you
worship, everything.
It's just all connected.
And you know John 1549, wherewe must remain in the vine.
(18:19):
Would you like to talk a littlebit about that?
Heather Vecera (18:25):
Sure, yeah, I was actually going to say it
keeps coming back to me.
Yeah, you know, every, everyday, we have the opportunity to
choose life or choose death.
And that is, you know, you findit a lot through Deuteronomy.
A lot of them start out choose,choose life or choose death.
But it's really putting the oldperson.
(18:46):
You know, when we we receiveChrist, then we put that person,
the old person, to death.
But a lot of times what we dois we try to resurrect that old
person and we don't choose life,we choose death, we choose
death.
So what we need to do is is puton Christ and choose the path of
(19:07):
God, choose life, Because whenyou choose, choose God, there's
abundance in that living andit's not.
It doesn't mean you geteverything that you want, but it
does mean that you put on him,you put on his peace, you put on
his joy, you put on hisstrength and you're able to walk
in it and you're able to dolife and accomplish things at a
(19:31):
different I don't know, in adifferent realm than the normal
person.
And that's why a lot of peoplelook at Christians sometimes
ones that are truly walking inthe faith, and like what's
different about you Like, howare you able to do what you're
able to do?
Because the power of Christ,the whole power of the Holy
(19:51):
Spirit living within us, it's,it's, it's what gets us, gets us
through.
Aaron O'Connell (19:58):
Yes, yes, I love how you said every choice
is the choice of either life ordeath, because it really is that
.
That that's serious.
Those little things like wewere talking about before are
choices of death.
We must because if we loveJesus, jesus said if you love me
(20:21):
, you're going to obey mycommands.
Because there is no better waywhen you, when you know, when
you know beyond, beyond a shadowof a doubt, that his way is
better.
I always like to say it likethis if I were to be holding a
million dollars in one hand or apiece of poop in the other hand
, and I offered it to you everysingle month, I was like hey,
(20:44):
which one do you want?
You're never going to pick upthe piece of poop.
Heather Vecera (20:49):
Right.
Aaron O'Connell (20:50):
You know, no one in their right mind would
but as Christians that is whatwe're doing.
That is literally what a lot ofus do, because Jesus says that
I'm the way, the truth of life.
I have come to me, seek me.
You know, matthew 11, 28 sayscome to me all there, weary and
burden, I will give you rest.
How many people are strugglingto get rest?
(21:11):
You know sleep, you know peaceto get away from anxiety.
Yet they go to pills, they goto non-Christian counselors,
they go to drugs, they go towhatever, whatever else.
You know, let me get this newmattress, let me get this new
sleep sleeping tracker and allthese other things.
(21:32):
And you ask them it's like haveyou been in the word lately?
Oh, I just don't understand it.
Well, seeking, you will findknocking the door will be open
unto you.
You know like, do you not?
Do you not believe that his wayis better?
Oh, I do, I do, but it's likethere's no buts.
(21:52):
You know that, but is whereyou're picking the piece of poop
from.
You know which, which is justso, which is so much.
But we also, when we startwalking in maturity, we need to
start honoring others aboveourselves as well.
Can you, can you speak a littlebit to that as well?
Heather Vecera (22:14):
Yeah, I was going to say too.
You know, without Christ we cando nothing, and if there's
places in your heart that havenot been healed, it's going to
be hard for you to connectintimately with God and even get
to the point where you canhonor others.
It starts with that intimacywith the Father.
(22:37):
And that's what, john, I wasgoing to go back real quick.
That's what John 15, fourthrough nine says apart from me,
you can do nothing.
Yes, and it means you know whenI'm talking about putting on
Christ and letting him him live,basically infiltrate every part
of you.
(22:57):
You're walking in the spirit.
You cannot produce fruit.
You can put on a show for awhile, but eventually that
facade is going to come downwhen, when the pressure gets to
you, when life gets to you, youwill break or you will fall back
into sin, or you will fall backto those things that you were
(23:21):
feeling yourself with beforeChrist.
And that's what happens a lot,even to Christians.
They fall back into sin becausethey are not feeling themselves
like they should be with, withhis spirit.
And he does that.
You know it's not somethingsuper natural to just say you
(23:42):
know, you can go and ask theLord, you can ask the Lord to be
filled with a spirit, but Idon't.
I wanted to make sure I didn'tthrow that out there incorrectly
but basically sit before theLord and say God, I need you.
That's, that's a powerfulphrase God, I need you.
I heard that years ago I can'tremember who said it, so I don't
know who to give credit to, butsomebody said God, I need you
(24:04):
is the most powerful thing youcan say, and it really is.
Lord, I need you today.
God, I need you in this.
Be with me as I make thisdecision.
Like he really wants to beinvolved in the little things he
cares about, the little thingshe cares about the details of
(24:27):
our life.
He's not a God that's far out,he's a ever present God, one
that walks with us and talkswith us.
Aaron O'Connell (24:37):
For sure, for sure, he definitely.
And I know, even just as recentas the other day, I'm actually
writing a paper, a 15 page paperfor my PhD and I was struggling
, you know, just couldn't figureput words on the paper.
Usually I'm just so good atwords, I can get things done.
(25:00):
You know, I can research to ifI ever have that brain blockage,
whatever it is, and for somereason I just couldn't and I had
to sit there and just be likehelp me, help me, god, I can't
do this.
Heather Vecera (25:15):
It's that childlike faith, too, that he
loves.
You know, you're a dad, so youget it.
When your kids come to you andthey need help with something or
or whatever, it just gives usjoy to be able to be that parent
.
And that's how God the Fatheris to us.
When we reach, reach up to himwith childlike faith, he
(25:38):
responds to that.
Aaron O'Connell (25:39):
Oh for sure.
And also, even though mydaughter's only seven years old,
I've I've have experiencedcertain not only talking to
other parents, but researching,you know, parenting, counseling,
all those different types ofthings.
And it's not when everything isgoing right that you're.
You're like, oh, help me dad,help me dad.
(26:02):
Because it's like.
Then I usually respond to mydaughter where I'm like hey, you
know what to do, come on.
And it's more of anencouragement that I'm giving
her.
But when everything's goingwrong, when you have that
teenager, when you have somebodythat just royally screwed up,
you know you want to be thefirst person they call.
(26:22):
You don't want them to be likeoh, I need to hide it from my
dad, I need to try to figurethis on my own, because he's
going to be, he's going to beangry.
No, oh, our God's not going tobe angry.
He already knows what'shappening.
He wants to help you.
And when you're going throughthose troubles, when you're
going through the times when youcan't figure out, that's when
(26:44):
you start reaching out to God.
That's when you need to sitthere and not be.
You know, you need to humbleyourself and sit there and be
like I may need to help, I needto reach out for help to others
and that's the importance ofhaving that community around you
, the community of believersbeing within the church, having
that church family, so you cancall on those others because,
(27:08):
yes, jesus is the head of thechurch, but we are the body and
we have so many different parts.
As 1 Corinthians, 12, 22through 27 says, where we may,
we're going to be weak.
Where other places, people arestrong and we need to reach out
to those people and that happensbecause the Lord will speak
(27:28):
through them.
Heather Vecera (27:29):
Yeah, Community is so important.
You know, family is importantto God and in our society,
especially the American society,we come and we go as we please.
We're a consumer society.
We even go to church to consumeinstead of to give out.
The truth is, god wants ustogether as a family that are
(27:53):
truly connected, and it's hardto do sometimes in church.
You come and you're there forjust a moment of time and you
see each other's faces.
Maybe you talk a little bit ina small group, but that's not
all there is to it.
When you actually do life witha community of believers and
they see your weaknesses andthey see your strengths and they
(28:15):
can rejoice with you whenyou're rejoicing and born with
you when you're mourning, thatis is really the, the essence of
the body of Christ, and we'remissing that and that's why we
don't have revival in Americaand that's why the church is
dying, because we've lost thatconnection.
Yeah, not for sure.
Aaron O'Connell (28:37):
And we just have so much jealousy,
comparison, competition that'sjust left and right, to the
point that people on socialmedia are editing their videos
just because they're not feelinggood enough about themselves,
but at the same time they'resaying, hey, fall in love with
yourself.
It's just you, you know.
But there's this selfishmessage that's going out there
(28:59):
that it's all about me, it's allabout I, you know.
There's, there's, you know,just so much, just yet,
narcissism.
It's even in the personaltrainer of the health and
industry who says you versus you, you know, and I hate that
statement because if it's youversus you, somebody has to lose
, and it's you, you know.
(29:24):
There shouldn't be thatcompetition or that comparison,
because even second Corinthians1012 says like hey, don't worry,
we weren't there to say we wereas wonderful as all these other
men and how important they are.
But they're comparingthemselves with each other,
using themselves as the standardof measurement.
How ignorant and that's what alot of us are doing is we're in
(29:46):
that rat race of the world andwe're using the worldly
standards instead of the truthsthat God has for us, and you see
that all the time, I'm sure aswell.
Heather Vecera (29:59):
Yeah, yeah, it's just in the ministry as well.
Oh even more.
Aaron O'Connell (30:08):
I can imagine.
You know there is,unfortunately, there is church
competition, there are thesedifferent things and it's like,
no, if only we had that unity.
You know, even, even, evenacross lines like as Christians,
we should be praying for Israel.
It says it right there in theBible we need to be praying for
(30:28):
Israel, but also we need to bepraying and blessing our enemies
as well.
So, even within what's going onright now in the Middle East
between Hamas and Palestine and,you know, in Israel, we need to
be praying for both sides youknow, and that's just going far
fetched.
But even you know Catholicversus Christian, you know
(30:51):
whatever there isn't this versus, it's no let's.
Let's love each other, as lovefulfills the whole entire law,
and from there then we're ableto lift each other up and not
just pay attention to these,these secondary measures that
cause so that people just payattention to.
(31:14):
You know, like in in in life,we need to sweat those small
things.
We need to look at those thingswhen it comes to our
relationship with Christ andwhat the Bible says.
But when it comes to ourrelationships, those little
things we need to, we need tohonor others.
We need to be able to realizethat and forgive.
(31:35):
We need to forgive becauseChrist first forgave us.
Heather Vecera (31:40):
That's right.
Yeah, unity is so important.
And if, if we can embrace thelove of God for ourselves and
really grasp hold of that, it'simpossible for that not to
bubble up and overflow out of usinto others.
And when we work together andwe honor each other and each
(32:04):
other's gifts and stay in ourown lanes, like if you just be
yourself, you know, as awkwardas you may be, just just be who
you are, embrace who God's madeyou to be, he can work with that
, because he's the one whocreated you in the first place.
He created every little detailabout you.
(32:24):
He knows the desires of yourheart and and he, he's the best,
the best one to trust.
Don't go and try to copysomebody else's fitness or
routine stuff or or orsomebody's ministry.
Let the Lord work those thingsin you and through you.
Aaron O'Connell (32:48):
Yeah, he's given us all our unique gifts.
We need to be our authenticselves, because when we're
authentic selves, that's when weexperience the least amount of
stress, the most amount offreedom.
And stress is that hiddenculprit that no one can talk
about, but is really what'sbringing everyone down.
It's, you know, stress from themind.
(33:10):
You can be stressing to do theright things and it may be
better to do the wrong thing.
In freedom, you know, like when, when and not obviously the
wrong thing versus within Christand in what the Bible says.
That's when we need to actuallygo against our flesh and doing
(33:30):
those right things.
Speaking to working out, eatingnot not worrying about having
to get the next promotion, thenext dollar and just stressing
so much because I need to takecare of my family.
No, what if, all of a sudden,you took that step back, stop
stressing and you spent moretime with your family that you?
(33:51):
Maybe God's going to open upyour eyes to a brand new
opportunity that's going toprovide 10 times more.
Heather Vecera (33:58):
Right.
Aaron O'Connell (33:58):
But there's so much more peace.
Heather Vecera (34:01):
Yeah, absolutely .
I mean, if you want the peaceof God is to focus on kingdom
things, like everything that wehave in this world, whether it's
wealth, whether it's fame, it'sall gonna pass away.
All of that's gonna pass away.
The only thing that's gonnasurvive is what's eternal.
(34:24):
So when we say you seek Godfirst and then all these things
will be added to you, that'swhat it's talking about Seeking
things that are important to Godand seeking things that are
important to the kingdom, thingsthat invest in the eternal.
Aaron O'Connell (34:45):
Yeah, that's Matthew 633.
And if you just back up to twoverses saying don't think about
what you should eat and what youshould drink, you know, look at
Solomon and all of his glory,yet he wasn't even as clothed,
as beautiful as the lilies.
Yet God cares for you so muchmore.
So don't think about whatyou're eating and what you drink
(35:06):
.
These are thoughts that consumeunbelievers.
But, like you said, acknowledgeGod and seek him first in his
righteousness, then everything'sgonna be added into you,
everything that you need.
And also, god doesn't just stopthere.
He usually gives you your heartdesires as well when they're
aligning with him and you'rereally searching.
He's gonna let you have theabundance for your passions and
(35:28):
all that stuff.
But we also need to not alwaysbe so rigid, constantly focusing
on God, where you're just likeokay, I need to do this, I need
to do this.
You can't get into thatlegalism.
But also we need to be able tolearn to accept grace and extend
grace as well, wouldn't you say?
Heather Vecera (35:48):
Yes, absolutely.
I was gonna say too, in walkingout relationships and things,
when you have any type of, oneof the little things that can
spoil the vine really isunforgiveness.
When you have unforgiveness inyour heart, that is like one of
the major things as a pastorthat I see.
(36:10):
That is a roadblock for manyand it's one of the things that
I've come through the most in mylife is learning how to forgive
others and really having theeyes of Christ to see others the
way that he sees them, and youtruly forgive somebody.
(36:31):
You can see them in the lightthat Christ sees them as a maybe
they're not saved, but maybe apotential son or daughter of
Christ.
You want to see them redeemedand set free and letting things
go just, not only for youpersonally, but physically.
(36:53):
If you're holding on tounforgiveness, there's going to
be a physical toll on your bodyand mentally there's a toll on
your body.
When you hold on tounforgiveness You'll say, oh, I
forgive them, I forgive them andreally they haven't, they
haven't.
They're still holding it inbecause when I've seen when the
Holy Spirit gets hold ofsomebody and it really hits them
(37:14):
and they realize and they feelthat love and compassion of
Christ come and fill them up.
All of a sudden their view onothers changes and, like I said
before, that's when you reallysee honor happen in the body of
Christ, when you see a healthychurch, a healthy community of
believers is when they'rehonoring each other.
(37:36):
But you can't do that if youcan't extend grace, because
we're human and, like you said,you can't be striving, you can't
make it into legalism.
You really just have to walkthis thing out together and put
people on pedestals and think,oh, this person has to achieve
(37:58):
this, they have to walk outtheir faith like this.
That's between them and theLord.
You have to keep your eyes onyour relationship with the Lord
and if somebody does something,then extend them grace, because
we're all learning, we're allmaturing, we're all in this
journey together of getting toknow God more.
Aaron O'Connell (38:20):
Yeah, no for sure.
And if you go right now on toJohn Hopkins Medicine, if you go
on the Mayo Clinic and justresearch forgiveness and health,
you'll realize all of a suddenthey'll say, hey, forgiveness,
you need to forgive, like yourlife depends on it, because it
literally does.
It helps lower risk of heartattack and proves cholesterol
(38:42):
levels and sleep, reduces pain,blood pressure, levels of
anxiety, depression and stressand just a whole host of things
more just from forgiveness.
And I love how God always orshould I say Jesus always takes
it to that next step.
And it's like how often do wesupposed to forgive?
(39:03):
70 times 7, 490.
And when you start looking intothe Hebrew, you start looking at
all the alphanua and all thosestatements and that's the same
thing as my peace will be withyou is the same as that same 490
.
But right there in Luke issaying, hey, love your enemies,
(39:24):
bless those that curse you, prayfor those that mistreat you,
which goes completely againstall of our desires, where we
want to get even all thosethings.
But that's where it goes backto considering others more
important than you and not beingin that selfish way that always
just keeps taking us down anddown and down.
Heather Vecera (39:48):
Yeah, that's right.
Aaron O'Connell (39:50):
And also we need.
We also need to be givers aswell, you know, yeah, that's
just a fruit.
Yes.
Heather Vecera (39:59):
You know, holy Spirit, when he comes and he
fills us and and we walk inthese little steps of obedience
and we make the right choices,we step toward him and the fruit
follows, yes.
So the fruit of forgiveness,the fruit of loving others, the
(40:20):
fruit of walking with grace witheach other.
And you cannot have that muchof the Lord without giving
becoming a part of that, becauseyou can't hold on to it.
You won't have to experiencewhat you've experienced.
You won't have others to totake part in the kingdom.
(40:44):
Hey, I found life.
I found life abundantly.
Here it is.
This is how I was, but this ishow I am now.
Aaron O'Connell (40:55):
Yes, you know.
Heather Vecera (40:55):
I was lost, but now I'm found.
Aaron O'Connell (41:00):
I was blind and now I see, yeah, that is one of
the shortest testimonies thereis in the Bible.
I don't know who he was, butall I know is I was blind and
now I see it's right there inthe Bible.
You know, because God doesn'tcare, doesn't want us to be a
lawyer for him, he just needs awitness.
Heather Vecera (41:23):
And you know he, when, when, when the Holy
Spirit gets hold of us,radically gets hold of us like
it's impossible for others notto see it, especially when you
know the Holy Spirit has reallygotten hold of somebody's, when
you see change in your family.
(41:44):
Yes, yes it impacts your family.
So, when you submit yourself toChrist and they like, oh, I know
how she lived, yeah, that'sgonna last a few weeks, she's
going to be back to the old oldperson before we know it.
But when they see that change,stay in your consistent, in your
(42:07):
faith.
It does some amazing things.
I've experienced that with myfamily when the Lord got hold of
me and I went through a radicalchange in 2020.
It changed my whole family.
My mother, who raised me andwas is you know, in church her
(42:27):
entire life, all of a suddenrealized what she was missing
this intimacy with with God.
And when the Holy Spirit gothold of her, it was amazing.
I got to baptize her and thenfrom that, my brother has really
gotten hungry for the Lord.
My children it's, but that'swhat.
(42:50):
That's how it happens, god is amultiplier.
Yes, so he wants to multiplythat.
And when we, when we see peoplegrasping hold of this, walking
in maturity, paying attention,sweating the small stuff, yeah
we're gonna revival in our ownhomes, in our cities amen.
Aaron O'Connell (43:12):
He is that multiplier.
Just go look at the feeding ofthe five thousand.
You know where he's like.
Well, what do you have?
Just that little bit.
If we just give that little bitto him, we're gonna be able to.
He's gonna multiply it and putit out there and have left overs
always because he's the God ofabundance.
That you know just.
(43:33):
I love that because I always saythis if you were to know that
Jesus was right around thecorner, and he's right there,
he's performing miracles, therehe is.
Well, we know what happened inthe Old Testament everyone they
flock towards him that.
But the crazy thing is he isright around the corner.
He's not even around the corner.
He's right here with usperforming those miracles.
(43:55):
He's.
He's healing people, he is,he's setting the captives free.
He is right there.
And when you feel that, whenyou understand he's right there,
he's accessible to you, he'show you can have that intimate
relationship with him and youstart shouting it on the
mountain tops you're notcovering the light with the bush
, no, you're letting everyonesee it.
(44:16):
You're right, things do change,because I have that exact same
testimony of things echoingthrough my family as well.
Got my family to all be comingto just same church as me and
from there and one of my sistersone of my sisters has always
been really chasing, but theother one is now really back on
fire which we've been prayingfor her husband and because he
(44:38):
knew nothing of the Biblewhatsoever.
And just the other day he'slike you know what, I need the
good book?
Like it was so out of leftfield, my mom, my, my sister's
like what do you mean the goodbook?
Like, thinking it was like atitle of a book.
He's like no, the Bible, youknow.
And like, because when youstart seeing that change I know
(44:59):
I radically changed, you know,and just it's going through that
family.
Just like you said, it justmultiplies.
And I love that because wereally need to be encouraging
others in that faith and notneglecting us meeting together,
as Hebrews 10, 23 through 25says, because it's so important
(45:20):
to stick together, because thenthat's where the Holy Spirit
really shows up and justmultiplies, like you said yeah,
he perfects us throughrelationships with others yeah,
I love it, but yeah it.
Just to round off this podcast,is there any advice or any last
(45:41):
words that you would like to doand just give to the listeners
of either you know how to eitherstrengthen themselves or how to
just encourage them, or how tobe more mature in their faith?
Heather Vecera (45:52):
whatever it is, just, no matter what you've gone
through, god is is for you,he's not against you.
And don't be too hard onyourself, give yourself grace
and just lean into him as afriend, because that's what he
(46:14):
truly wants to be.
Is is your friend, and nomatter what happens to you, no
matter what you go through, whatyou face or you could lose
everything, but if you have him,you have everything that you
need, and that is that's thebest word of advice I can give
(46:35):
you well.
Aaron O'Connell (46:36):
Thank you so much for just joining in with me
and having this conversation,and yet it's.
It's just been a blessing withyou on this podcast and just
being able to spread the word ofGod, heather he's been a
blessing to be with you well,thank you so much for joining me
.
All right, you have a great dayyou too.
Heather Vecera (46:55):
All right, bye.
God, I need you is the most powerful thing you
can say.
If there's places in your heartthat have not been healed, it's
going to be hard for you toconnect intimately with God and
even get to the point where youcan honor others when the Holy
Spirit gets hold of us,radically gets hold of us, like
(00:27):
it's impossible for others notto see it.
Aaron O'Connell (00:31):
Welcome to the WHY to Fitness Podcast.
I'm your host, aaron O'Connell,and today I am joined with
Heather Viserra.
How you doing today, heather.
Heather Vecera (00:42):
I'm great, Aaron .
It's good to be with you.
Aaron O'Connell (00:45):
Thank you for joining me, and you are the
founder of Without Walls RevivalMinistries and Associate Pastor
of Loft Church in Heron,illinois.
Please tell me just a littlebit about Without Walls Revival
Ministries.
Just start highlights so peoplecan get a little bit and to
know you a little bit more.
Heather Vecera (01:04):
Yeah, so Without Walls is my extended ministry.
Most of my ministry is donethrough Loft Church.
But Without Walls was kind ofstarted out of a season in my
life when I was working at achurch and it was before I was
filled with the Holy Spirit andI was filled with the Holy
Spirit in a church.
(01:24):
That really doesn't embracethat.
But one of the things thathappened, the Holy Spirit kind
of came on me and I began topray that the spiritual walls of
the church would come down, notjust that particular church but
the church in general.
And he just put like a desirefor intercession and for revival
.
(01:45):
And so I began, probably about20 years ago, I would lay my
hands on the walls of thatchurch and pray for the walls to
come down, but it was reallylike an act of obedience and
speaking about like thespiritual walls of the church
and really my heart is just tosee revival and sustained
revival, not only in this nationbut every nation.
Aaron O'Connell (02:09):
Yeah, amen, amen and yeah, and the word
church is actually Echoliasia,which is a gathering of people.
We don't need the walls of thechurch to be gathered in his
name and really be considered achurch.
So I just love what you'redoing and I love how you just
have a passion to teach othersto live out their faith outside
of the walls and build a genuinetransformational relationship
(02:32):
with Christ, because that's whatthis podcast is about.
That's why I'm having you onthis podcast, because a lot of
people you know they work stillon Sundays.
Some people don't have a churchthat they go into, but they may
tune into a podcast, they maytune into a sermon at home that
starts igniting that fire andthen all of a sudden they
realize, wow, I need to get backinto church, I need to get into
(02:56):
community.
So that's why we're here andthat's why I have you on this
podcast.
And also you hold a bachelor'sin psychology.
So just everything put together, that's why I reached out to
you to have you on this podcastand we'll just love to dive into
our topic, which today we aretalking about sweating the small
(03:18):
stuff.
Can you expand just a littlebit on sweating the small stuff?
Heather Vecera (03:22):
Yeah, well, there was a book that came out
like a long time ago and it wascalled Don't Sweat the Small
Stuff.
But you know, there are thingsthat hang up that gives us,
there are hangups in our faith,and they're the little things
and it's the little things thatmatter.
It's the little things thatblock the intimacy that we have
(03:44):
with God if we don't payattention to the small things,
because he's looking at thesmall things, not really things
that are visible to everyone out.
You know, in the light it's.
What are you doing behindclosed doors?
What are you thinking in yourmind?
What are you thinking in yourheart, and what fruit is that
producing?
Aaron O'Connell (04:01):
Yeah, no, for sure, for sure.
And it's amazing that I justactually did a podcast just the
other day.
It just came out and he waslike a lot of people have this
little pet sin and they like tokeep this little pet sin around
and it's just real small but itreally is blocking those
blessings that God wants tobestow on you, really blocking
(04:27):
the purpose that you may beneeding to walk in that end goal
for this life, because you'reso just built into your regular
routine of just that's just alittle thing right here.
I really love this topic, whichalso goes into health and
fitness, because so many peoplelook at the big picture of, oh,
(04:49):
I'm least working out, I'm, I'm,I'm eating this certain way,
whatever it is, but then theymay just have so much stress,
they may have so much sleepdisorders, these little things
that they don't think are reallyhappening and like affecting
them but it's actually thedownfall of them.
So I really love this topic.
(05:11):
When, what would you give tolisteners as advice to really
help them to pay more attentionto the small stuff?
Heather Vecera (05:22):
I would say like our thoughts, you know, develop
into our beliefs and then ouractions.
So, first of all, take captive,you know, take every, take
captive every thoughts, you knowyou have to renew your mind
daily and speak on what you wantto see over yourself.
Not like a word of faith here,but the truth is, when you speak
(05:45):
the word of God, it's alreadywritten, it's already, it
already says, it's already thetruth.
So, you know I am renewed.
I do have the mind of Christ.
I can do this, you know, and wewere talking actually last
night, a group of us and I saidI like to actually insert my
(06:06):
name into scripture.
Aaron O'Connell (06:07):
Yes.
Heather Vecera (06:08):
Like first Corinthians, you know I may not
be walking in love perfectly,but if I speak that you know,
replace my name where it sayslove you know and begin to speak
that out.
It will develop into action.
You'll actually begin to walkit out and that's putting your
(06:29):
faith into action.
So it starts in the mind, ofcourse, and then sometimes I
think it was Joyce Myers you saydo it, afraid you know or do it
.
you know, even even thoughyou're not there yet, just
proclaim it and just go out anddo it, and if you're, the
(06:51):
reality will catch up to whatyou're saying.
Aaron O'Connell (06:54):
I love that.
I love that.
I love that.
Some are the little things thatpeople don't pay attention to,
that are affecting that intimacyof the Lord, that blessing that
they want, that God wants to bestow on them.
What would you say?
Some of those little things arethat people are just
overlooking.
Heather Vecera (07:13):
The distractions .
Social media social media canbe great.
Aaron O'Connell (07:18):
Yes.
Heather Vecera (07:19):
And that's feeding off of a lot of those
reels and things like that,Wasting, wasting time.
And then what you're allowingin your ear gates and your eye
gates eventually comes out ofyour mouth gate, yes, Out of the
abundance.
The heart speaks.
(07:40):
So you know what kind of musicyou listen to, what kind of
podcast you listen to, what kindof TV shows that you're
watching.
Whatever you're putting in willeventually come out.
Aaron O'Connell (07:55):
Yes.
Heather Vecera (07:56):
So I want to make sure that what I'm putting
in is something that glorifiesGod.
Aaron O'Connell (08:01):
Yeah, and my pastor actually said it this way
.
He said what you fill your mindwith, you will eventually will
be feeling.
So those like you said, throughthe music, through just the
endless scrolling, thecomparison, whatever it may be,
you then eventually will startfeeling it.
(08:21):
You know, you go try to talk tosomebody that has anxiety,
depression.
You can't just walk up to themand be like, well, just be happy
, just know that God's got it,you know, and it's if you just
do it right there and theyhaven't been filling themselves
up with that.
It's almost impossible to feelthat way.
But over time, when you'reputting those truths in, when
you're filling yourself up withthe truth of the God and
(08:44):
focusing on the Prince of Peace,eventually all of a sudden what
used to bother you before willno longer bother you.
I absolutely love that.
And also you said just thoselittle distractions which
reminded me of the parable ofthe seed, where the farmer
scattering the seed and everyonethat says, okay, the one's on
(09:05):
the short, the shallow soil, theone on the road, those people
aren't Christians.
Great, but there's that onethat grew up within the thorns
and the vines and they gotchoked out and that's what's.
And they don't.
They didn't produce fruit.
The Bible, jesus, didn't saythey produced fruit, and that's
what we, as believers, want toproduce.
(09:25):
Is that fruit?
Because you will know a tree byits fruit.
And, as a Christian, we need tobe bearing fruit because if
you're not bearing fruit, youmight fall into Matthew 721,
lord, lord, and he says I neverknew you.
Yep, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Heather Vecera (09:44):
Do you?
Remember that song that was.
It was called it's a slow fade,I think it was.
I can't remember who sang it, Idon't remember they.
In this song it talks abouthaving like it.
It's a slow fade into sin.
But it's those little thingsthat and the little choices that
(10:08):
we make.
You know, sometimes people arelike I don't understand what's
happening, God, like how did Iget in this situation?
And it's because of the choices, the little choices that we
made.
You know, it's, it's slow, butthen it turns into something big
.
You know, whether it's it's anaffair, or whether it's it's
lust, or whether it's overeatingor or whatever your sin, your
(10:32):
struggle is drinking too muchand turning into Drugs for
comfort.
It's the little choices like.
You really have to beintentional about Doing the
right thing, not in a religiousway, but seeking that intimacy
with God so much that thosethings don't Appeal to you the
(10:54):
way that they used to.
And it takes practice and ittakes intentionality of sitting
before God in his presence andsaying I don't feel it now.
I'm, I'm struggling now, but Iknow what the truth of your word
says and I'm here to seek yourface, I'm here for your presence
.
Fill me in these places thatare not healed.
(11:17):
Amen and he'll, he'll do it.
Aaron O'Connell (11:20):
That's, that's for sure.
And that just reminds me,especially within the health and
fitness industry, so manypeople take advantage of their
20s, even there, even their 30slet's be, let's be honest.
And they're just partying,they're drinking there, they're
eating all the foods that theywant and with no regard to it,
(11:41):
and then even even still on that, when they're depressed, when
something bad happens, theircomfort is food.
Their comfort is is that theworldly pleasures, like you were
saying, and Unfortunately, whenyou're not paying attention to
the little things like whatyou're filling your temple with,
(12:02):
what you're filling your, your,your physical body with.
Not only, we know that our mindsand our physical bodies are so
Entwined, especially our diets,but what happens is then, over
time, things just start slowlyshutting down.
They start slowly slowing downand then, all of a sudden, you
get to your late 30s, 40s, 50s,whatever it is, and you have a
(12:25):
host of problems you have, youhave diseases, you have
disorders, whatever they may be,and I for one would find it
very scary to All of a suddendie, let's just say, at 55, 60,
whatever it is, from some formof Eating.
You know, making your, let'sjust say, diabetes just got out
(12:48):
of control, whatever it is, oryou got cancer because you were
eating so horribly and justconstantly stressing your body
out.
And you get to God and say, man, I had so much more for you, I
had so much more planned for youthat you could have done so
much more good.
You could have had this muchmore here in heaven, so much
(13:10):
more.
You know treasures here inheaven, but you wasted it.
You wasted through these foodand I find that would be really
scary to get there and just like, have to hear that, I have to
know that and obviously ifyou're in heaven you're not
gonna be regretting or any ofthat type of thing.
But I want to get, I want tohear well done, my faithful
(13:31):
servant.
And those little things likediet Matter.
You know, we, that's what ourbody is, it's, it is, is the
whole, is the temple, and themore energy we have, the more
clarity we have from our whatwe're putting into our body, the
more effective we are gonna befor the kingdom of God.
Heather Vecera (13:54):
Amen.
Aaron O'Connell (13:55):
Also, I like to acknowledge Luke 1610 that says
whoever can be trusted with thelittle can be trusted with much
, and whoever's dishonest with alittle will also be dishonest
with much.
And.
And then I believe there'sanother place in the Bible.
I don't have that verse righthere, but it says whatever
little that you have will betaken away.
How would you put a message outthere over Luke 1610, of those
(14:24):
that can be trusted with littlecan be trusted with much?
What would you like?
How would you expand that?
Heather Vecera (14:30):
Well, obedience brings blessing when we
surrender to the Lord and trusthim to give us the blueprints,
and when he gives us thoselittle convictions and those
little reminders hey, you needto get back on the narrow path.
We need to listen to him.
(14:51):
Instead of fighting and beingrebellious, just submit and
yield our spirit to him and Lethim do his work in us and in
that we see how he can work andhow he can.
He can grow us, mature us andBring all kinds of blessings,
(15:11):
not just health wise, but inyour relationships, in your
finances, in your ministry.
Obedience is everything.
Aaron O'Connell (15:22):
Yeah, it really is.
Like you said, it impacts yourfinances, everything.
As a Christian, we know thatGod created us in his image.
He gave us the blueprint in theBible to live the most abundant
carefree well, not carefree,but free freedom, living just
(15:42):
the most purposeful, loving lifethere is.
And anytime we get outside ofthat, there's going to be
problems there's, you know.
It can range from death all theway to just staleness, whatever
it may be, which is why we needto walk in that maturity.
Yes, when you're a youngChristian, you know you got so
(16:03):
much to learn that, even if youdon't know everything, just
moving forward is great.
But as you start maturing, it'sjust you need to start diving
in deeper and deeper and deeper.
And I was wondering just howwould you starting off with just
seeking versus striving?
How would somebody startwalking in maturity?
Heather Vecera (16:29):
For me, it's been actually diving into the
word and sitting before the Lordand asking for that
understanding and allowing himto be the teacher.
There's a you can get a lot ofinput.
We have information and youknow, podcasts and things like
(16:50):
this ready available, butthere's nothing like letting the
Holy Spirit be the teacher.
That's so true.
Aaron O'Connell (16:57):
And Jeremiah 2913 says you will seek me and
find me when you seek me withall of your heart.
Heather Vecera (17:07):
And that's everything, not just like one
part of your life, it'severything it's.
When you surrender to Christ,you surrender everything, every
part of you.
Aaron O'Connell (17:17):
Yes, yes, and that's why, you know, one of the
Pharisees came up.
He's like hey, what's the mostimportant to Jesus?
He's like what's the mostimportant command, you know?
Or he was like Well, how do youinterpret it?
Well, you need to love the Lordwith all your heart, all your
mind, all your soul, likeeverything, and also love your
neighbor as yourself.
(17:38):
And then, obviously, jesus knewhe was like Well, who's my
neighbor?
And that's where the Samaritancomes in.
You know, because we're alwayslooking for those ways out, that
little bend and break.
It's our sinful nature, it'show the devil kind of slimes in.
And that's why we need toremind ourselves of Jeremiah
(17:58):
2913 and seek with all of ourhearts.
Romans 12 1 says to offer yourbodies as a living sacrifice,
which is how you eat, how yousleep, how you wake up, how you
worship, everything.
It's just all connected.
And you know John 1549, wherewe must remain in the vine.
(18:19):
Would you like to talk a littlebit about that?
Heather Vecera (18:25):
Sure, yeah, I was actually going to say it
keeps coming back to me.
Yeah, you know, every, everyday, we have the opportunity to
choose life or choose death.
And that is, you know, you findit a lot through Deuteronomy.
A lot of them start out choose,choose life or choose death.
But it's really putting the oldperson.
(18:46):
You know, when we we receiveChrist, then we put that person,
the old person, to death.
But a lot of times what we dois we try to resurrect that old
person and we don't choose life,we choose death, we choose
death.
So what we need to do is is puton Christ and choose the path of
(19:07):
God, choose life, Because whenyou choose, choose God, there's
abundance in that living andit's not.
It doesn't mean you geteverything that you want, but it
does mean that you put on him,you put on his peace, you put on
his joy, you put on hisstrength and you're able to walk
in it and you're able to dolife and accomplish things at a
(19:31):
different I don't know, in adifferent realm than the normal
person.
And that's why a lot of peoplelook at Christians sometimes
ones that are truly walking inthe faith, and like what's
different about you Like, howare you able to do what you're
able to do?
Because the power of Christ,the whole power of the Holy
(19:51):
Spirit living within us, it's,it's, it's what gets us, gets us
through.
Aaron O'Connell (19:58):
Yes, yes, I love how you said every choice
is the choice of either life ordeath, because it really is that
.
That that's serious.
Those little things like wewere talking about before are
choices of death.
We must because if we loveJesus, jesus said if you love me
(20:21):
, you're going to obey mycommands.
Because there is no better waywhen you, when you know, when
you know beyond, beyond a shadowof a doubt, that his way is
better.
I always like to say it likethis if I were to be holding a
million dollars in one hand or apiece of poop in the other hand
, and I offered it to you everysingle month, I was like hey,
(20:44):
which one do you want?
You're never going to pick upthe piece of poop.
Heather Vecera (20:49):
Right.
Aaron O'Connell (20:50):
You know, no one in their right mind would
but as Christians that is whatwe're doing.
That is literally what a lot ofus do, because Jesus says that
I'm the way, the truth of life.
I have come to me, seek me.
You know, matthew 11, 28 sayscome to me all there, weary and
burden, I will give you rest.
How many people are strugglingto get rest?
(21:11):
You know sleep, you know peaceto get away from anxiety.
Yet they go to pills, they goto non-Christian counselors,
they go to drugs, they go towhatever, whatever else.
You know, let me get this newmattress, let me get this new
sleep sleeping tracker and allthese other things.
(21:32):
And you ask them it's like haveyou been in the word lately?
Oh, I just don't understand it.
Well, seeking, you will findknocking the door will be open
unto you.
You know like, do you not?
Do you not believe that his wayis better?
Oh, I do, I do, but it's likethere's no buts.
(21:52):
You know that, but is whereyou're picking the piece of poop
from.
You know which, which is justso, which is so much.
But we also, when we startwalking in maturity, we need to
start honoring others aboveourselves as well.
Can you, can you speak a littlebit to that as well?
Heather Vecera (22:14):
Yeah, I was going to say too.
You know, without Christ we cando nothing, and if there's
places in your heart that havenot been healed, it's going to
be hard for you to connectintimately with God and even get
to the point where you canhonor others.
It starts with that intimacywith the Father.
(22:37):
And that's what, john, I wasgoing to go back real quick.
That's what John 15, fourthrough nine says apart from me,
you can do nothing.
Yes, and it means you know whenI'm talking about putting on
Christ and letting him him live,basically infiltrate every part
of you.
(22:57):
You're walking in the spirit.
You cannot produce fruit.
You can put on a show for awhile, but eventually that
facade is going to come downwhen, when the pressure gets to
you, when life gets to you, youwill break or you will fall back
into sin, or you will fall backto those things that you were
(23:21):
feeling yourself with beforeChrist.
And that's what happens a lot,even to Christians.
They fall back into sin becausethey are not feeling themselves
like they should be with, withhis spirit.
And he does that.
You know it's not somethingsuper natural to just say you
(23:42):
know, you can go and ask theLord, you can ask the Lord to be
filled with a spirit, but Idon't.
I wanted to make sure I didn'tthrow that out there incorrectly
but basically sit before theLord and say God, I need you.
That's, that's a powerfulphrase God, I need you.
I heard that years ago I can'tremember who said it, so I don't
know who to give credit to, butsomebody said God, I need you
(24:04):
is the most powerful thing youcan say, and it really is.
Lord, I need you today.
God, I need you in this.
Be with me as I make thisdecision.
Like he really wants to beinvolved in the little things he
cares about, the little thingshe cares about the details of
(24:27):
our life.
He's not a God that's far out,he's a ever present God, one
that walks with us and talkswith us.
Aaron O'Connell (24:37):
For sure, for sure, he definitely.
And I know, even just as recentas the other day, I'm actually
writing a paper, a 15 page paperfor my PhD and I was struggling
, you know, just couldn't figureput words on the paper.
Usually I'm just so good atwords, I can get things done.
(25:00):
You know, I can research to ifI ever have that brain blockage,
whatever it is, and for somereason I just couldn't and I had
to sit there and just be likehelp me, help me, god, I can't
do this.
Heather Vecera (25:15):
It's that childlike faith, too, that he
loves.
You know, you're a dad, so youget it.
When your kids come to you andthey need help with something or
or whatever, it just gives usjoy to be able to be that parent
.
And that's how God the Fatheris to us.
When we reach, reach up to himwith childlike faith, he
(25:38):
responds to that.
Aaron O'Connell (25:39):
Oh for sure.
And also, even though mydaughter's only seven years old,
I've I've have experiencedcertain not only talking to
other parents, but researching,you know, parenting, counseling,
all those different types ofthings.
And it's not when everything isgoing right that you're.
You're like, oh, help me dad,help me dad.
(26:02):
Because it's like.
Then I usually respond to mydaughter where I'm like hey, you
know what to do, come on.
And it's more of anencouragement that I'm giving
her.
But when everything's goingwrong, when you have that
teenager, when you have somebodythat just royally screwed up,
you know you want to be thefirst person they call.
(26:22):
You don't want them to be likeoh, I need to hide it from my
dad, I need to try to figurethis on my own, because he's
going to be, he's going to beangry.
No, oh, our God's not going tobe angry.
He already knows what'shappening.
He wants to help you.
And when you're going throughthose troubles, when you're
going through the times when youcan't figure out, that's when
(26:44):
you start reaching out to God.
That's when you need to sitthere and not be.
You know, you need to humbleyourself and sit there and be
like I may need to help, I needto reach out for help to others
and that's the importance ofhaving that community around you
, the community of believersbeing within the church, having
that church family, so you cancall on those others because,
(27:08):
yes, jesus is the head of thechurch, but we are the body and
we have so many different parts.
As 1 Corinthians, 12, 22through 27 says, where we may,
we're going to be weak.
Where other places, people arestrong and we need to reach out
to those people and that happensbecause the Lord will speak
(27:28):
through them.
Heather Vecera (27:29):
Yeah, Community is so important.
You know, family is importantto God and in our society,
especially the American society,we come and we go as we please.
We're a consumer society.
We even go to church to consumeinstead of to give out.
The truth is, god wants ustogether as a family that are
(27:53):
truly connected, and it's hardto do sometimes in church.
You come and you're there forjust a moment of time and you
see each other's faces.
Maybe you talk a little bit ina small group, but that's not
all there is to it.
When you actually do life witha community of believers and
they see your weaknesses andthey see your strengths and they
(28:15):
can rejoice with you whenyou're rejoicing and born with
you when you're mourning, thatis is really the, the essence of
the body of Christ, and we'remissing that and that's why we
don't have revival in Americaand that's why the church is
dying, because we've lost thatconnection.
Yeah, not for sure.
Aaron O'Connell (28:37):
And we just have so much jealousy,
comparison, competition that'sjust left and right, to the
point that people on socialmedia are editing their videos
just because they're not feelinggood enough about themselves,
but at the same time they'resaying, hey, fall in love with
yourself.
It's just you, you know.
But there's this selfishmessage that's going out there
(28:59):
that it's all about me, it's allabout I, you know.
There's, there's, you know,just so much, just yet,
narcissism.
It's even in the personaltrainer of the health and
industry who says you versus you, you know, and I hate that
statement because if it's youversus you, somebody has to lose
, and it's you, you know.
(29:24):
There shouldn't be thatcompetition or that comparison,
because even second Corinthians1012 says like hey, don't worry,
we weren't there to say we wereas wonderful as all these other
men and how important they are.
But they're comparingthemselves with each other,
using themselves as the standardof measurement.
How ignorant and that's what alot of us are doing is we're in
(29:46):
that rat race of the world andwe're using the worldly
standards instead of the truthsthat God has for us, and you see
that all the time, I'm sure aswell.
Heather Vecera (29:59):
Yeah, yeah, it's just in the ministry as well.
Oh even more.
Aaron O'Connell (30:08):
I can imagine.
You know there is,unfortunately, there is church
competition, there are thesedifferent things and it's like,
no, if only we had that unity.
You know, even, even, evenacross lines like as Christians,
we should be praying for Israel.
It says it right there in theBible we need to be praying for
(30:28):
Israel, but also we need to bepraying and blessing our enemies
as well.
So, even within what's going onright now in the Middle East
between Hamas and Palestine and,you know, in Israel, we need to
be praying for both sides youknow, and that's just going far
fetched.
But even you know Catholicversus Christian, you know
(30:51):
whatever there isn't this versus, it's no let's.
Let's love each other, as lovefulfills the whole entire law,
and from there then we're ableto lift each other up and not
just pay attention to these,these secondary measures that
cause so that people just payattention to.
(31:14):
You know, like in in in life,we need to sweat those small
things.
We need to look at those thingswhen it comes to our
relationship with Christ andwhat the Bible says.
But when it comes to ourrelationships, those little
things we need to, we need tohonor others.
We need to be able to realizethat and forgive.
(31:35):
We need to forgive becauseChrist first forgave us.
Heather Vecera (31:40):
That's right.
Yeah, unity is so important.
And if, if we can embrace thelove of God for ourselves and
really grasp hold of that, it'simpossible for that not to
bubble up and overflow out of usinto others.
And when we work together andwe honor each other and each
(32:04):
other's gifts and stay in ourown lanes, like if you just be
yourself, you know, as awkwardas you may be, just just be who
you are, embrace who God's madeyou to be, he can work with that
, because he's the one whocreated you in the first place.
He created every little detailabout you.
(32:24):
He knows the desires of yourheart and and he, he's the best,
the best one to trust.
Don't go and try to copysomebody else's fitness or
routine stuff or or orsomebody's ministry.
Let the Lord work those thingsin you and through you.
Aaron O'Connell (32:48):
Yeah, he's given us all our unique gifts.
We need to be our authenticselves, because when we're
authentic selves, that's when weexperience the least amount of
stress, the most amount offreedom.
And stress is that hiddenculprit that no one can talk
about, but is really what'sbringing everyone down.
It's, you know, stress from themind.
(33:10):
You can be stressing to do theright things and it may be
better to do the wrong thing.
In freedom, you know, like when, when and not obviously the
wrong thing versus within Christand in what the Bible says.
That's when we need to actuallygo against our flesh and doing
(33:30):
those right things.
Speaking to working out, eatingnot not worrying about having
to get the next promotion, thenext dollar and just stressing
so much because I need to takecare of my family.
No, what if, all of a sudden,you took that step back, stop
stressing and you spent moretime with your family that you?
(33:51):
Maybe God's going to open upyour eyes to a brand new
opportunity that's going toprovide 10 times more.
Heather Vecera (33:58):
Right.
Aaron O'Connell (33:58):
But there's so much more peace.
Heather Vecera (34:01):
Yeah, absolutely .
I mean, if you want the peaceof God is to focus on kingdom
things, like everything that wehave in this world, whether it's
wealth, whether it's fame, it'sall gonna pass away.
All of that's gonna pass away.
The only thing that's gonnasurvive is what's eternal.
(34:24):
So when we say you seek Godfirst and then all these things
will be added to you, that'swhat it's talking about Seeking
things that are important to Godand seeking things that are
important to the kingdom, thingsthat invest in the eternal.
Aaron O'Connell (34:45):
Yeah, that's Matthew 633.
And if you just back up to twoverses saying don't think about
what you should eat and what youshould drink, you know, look at
Solomon and all of his glory,yet he wasn't even as clothed,
as beautiful as the lilies.
Yet God cares for you so muchmore.
So don't think about whatyou're eating and what you drink
(35:06):
.
These are thoughts that consumeunbelievers.
But, like you said, acknowledgeGod and seek him first in his
righteousness, then everything'sgonna be added into you,
everything that you need.
And also, god doesn't just stopthere.
He usually gives you your heartdesires as well when they're
aligning with him and you'rereally searching.
He's gonna let you have theabundance for your passions and
(35:28):
all that stuff.
But we also need to not alwaysbe so rigid, constantly focusing
on God, where you're just likeokay, I need to do this, I need
to do this.
You can't get into thatlegalism.
But also we need to be able tolearn to accept grace and extend
grace as well, wouldn't you say?
Heather Vecera (35:48):
Yes, absolutely.
I was gonna say too, in walkingout relationships and things,
when you have any type of, oneof the little things that can
spoil the vine really isunforgiveness.
When you have unforgiveness inyour heart, that is like one of
the major things as a pastorthat I see.
(36:10):
That is a roadblock for manyand it's one of the things that
I've come through the most in mylife is learning how to forgive
others and really having theeyes of Christ to see others the
way that he sees them, and youtruly forgive somebody.
(36:31):
You can see them in the lightthat Christ sees them as a maybe
they're not saved, but maybe apotential son or daughter of
Christ.
You want to see them redeemedand set free and letting things
go just, not only for youpersonally, but physically.
(36:53):
If you're holding on tounforgiveness, there's going to
be a physical toll on your bodyand mentally there's a toll on
your body.
When you hold on tounforgiveness You'll say, oh, I
forgive them, I forgive them andreally they haven't, they
haven't.
They're still holding it inbecause when I've seen when the
Holy Spirit gets hold ofsomebody and it really hits them
(37:14):
and they realize and they feelthat love and compassion of
Christ come and fill them up.
All of a sudden their view onothers changes and, like I said
before, that's when you reallysee honor happen in the body of
Christ, when you see a healthychurch, a healthy community of
believers is when they'rehonoring each other.
(37:36):
But you can't do that if youcan't extend grace, because
we're human and, like you said,you can't be striving, you can't
make it into legalism.
You really just have to walkthis thing out together and put
people on pedestals and think,oh, this person has to achieve
(37:58):
this, they have to walk outtheir faith like this.
That's between them and theLord.
You have to keep your eyes onyour relationship with the Lord
and if somebody does something,then extend them grace, because
we're all learning, we're allmaturing, we're all in this
journey together of getting toknow God more.
Aaron O'Connell (38:20):
Yeah, no for sure.
And if you go right now on toJohn Hopkins Medicine, if you go
on the Mayo Clinic and justresearch forgiveness and health,
you'll realize all of a suddenthey'll say, hey, forgiveness,
you need to forgive, like yourlife depends on it, because it
literally does.
It helps lower risk of heartattack and proves cholesterol
(38:42):
levels and sleep, reduces pain,blood pressure, levels of
anxiety, depression and stressand just a whole host of things
more just from forgiveness.
And I love how God always orshould I say Jesus always takes
it to that next step.
And it's like how often do wesupposed to forgive?
(39:03):
70 times 7, 490.
And when you start looking intothe Hebrew, you start looking at
all the alphanua and all thosestatements and that's the same
thing as my peace will be withyou is the same as that same 490
.
But right there in Luke issaying, hey, love your enemies,
(39:24):
bless those that curse you, prayfor those that mistreat you,
which goes completely againstall of our desires, where we
want to get even all thosethings.
But that's where it goes backto considering others more
important than you and not beingin that selfish way that always
just keeps taking us down anddown and down.
Heather Vecera (39:48):
Yeah, that's right.
Aaron O'Connell (39:50):
And also we need.
We also need to be givers aswell, you know, yeah, that's
just a fruit.
Yes.
Heather Vecera (39:59):
You know, holy Spirit, when he comes and he
fills us and and we walk inthese little steps of obedience
and we make the right choices,we step toward him and the fruit
follows, yes.
So the fruit of forgiveness,the fruit of loving others, the
(40:20):
fruit of walking with grace witheach other.
And you cannot have that muchof the Lord without giving
becoming a part of that, becauseyou can't hold on to it.
You won't have to experiencewhat you've experienced.
You won't have others to totake part in the kingdom.
(40:44):
Hey, I found life.
I found life abundantly.
Here it is.
This is how I was, but this ishow I am now.
Aaron O'Connell (40:55):
Yes, you know.
Heather Vecera (40:55):
I was lost, but now I'm found.
Aaron O'Connell (41:00):
I was blind and now I see, yeah, that is one of
the shortest testimonies thereis in the Bible.
I don't know who he was, butall I know is I was blind and
now I see it's right there inthe Bible.
You know, because God doesn'tcare, doesn't want us to be a
lawyer for him, he just needs awitness.
Heather Vecera (41:23):
And you know he, when, when, when the Holy
Spirit gets hold of us,radically gets hold of us like
it's impossible for others notto see it, especially when you
know the Holy Spirit has reallygotten hold of somebody's, when
you see change in your family.
(41:44):
Yes, yes it impacts your family.
So, when you submit yourself toChrist and they like, oh, I know
how she lived, yeah, that'sgonna last a few weeks, she's
going to be back to the old oldperson before we know it.
But when they see that change,stay in your consistent, in your
(42:07):
faith.
It does some amazing things.
I've experienced that with myfamily when the Lord got hold of
me and I went through a radicalchange in 2020.
It changed my whole family.
My mother, who raised me andwas is you know, in church her
(42:27):
entire life, all of a suddenrealized what she was missing
this intimacy with with God.
And when the Holy Spirit gothold of her, it was amazing.
I got to baptize her and thenfrom that, my brother has really
gotten hungry for the Lord.
My children it's, but that'swhat.
(42:50):
That's how it happens, god is amultiplier.
Yes, so he wants to multiplythat.
And when we, when we see peoplegrasping hold of this, walking
in maturity, paying attention,sweating the small stuff, yeah
we're gonna revival in our ownhomes, in our cities amen.
Aaron O'Connell (43:12):
He is that multiplier.
Just go look at the feeding ofthe five thousand.
You know where he's like.
Well, what do you have?
Just that little bit.
If we just give that little bitto him, we're gonna be able to.
He's gonna multiply it and putit out there and have left overs
always because he's the God ofabundance.
That you know just.
(43:33):
I love that because I always saythis if you were to know that
Jesus was right around thecorner, and he's right there,
he's performing miracles, therehe is.
Well, we know what happened inthe Old Testament everyone they
flock towards him that.
But the crazy thing is he isright around the corner.
He's not even around the corner.
He's right here with usperforming those miracles.
(43:55):
He's.
He's healing people, he is,he's setting the captives free.
He is right there.
And when you feel that, whenyou understand he's right there,
he's accessible to you, he'show you can have that intimate
relationship with him and youstart shouting it on the
mountain tops you're notcovering the light with the bush
, no, you're letting everyonesee it.
(44:16):
You're right, things do change,because I have that exact same
testimony of things echoingthrough my family as well.
Got my family to all be comingto just same church as me and
from there and one of my sistersone of my sisters has always
been really chasing, but theother one is now really back on
fire which we've been prayingfor her husband and because he
(44:38):
knew nothing of the Biblewhatsoever.
And just the other day he'slike you know what, I need the
good book?
Like it was so out of leftfield, my mom, my, my sister's
like what do you mean the goodbook?
Like, thinking it was like atitle of a book.
He's like no, the Bible, youknow.
And like, because when youstart seeing that change I know
(44:59):
I radically changed, you know,and just it's going through that
family.
Just like you said, it justmultiplies.
And I love that because wereally need to be encouraging
others in that faith and notneglecting us meeting together,
as Hebrews 10, 23 through 25says, because it's so important
(45:20):
to stick together, because thenthat's where the Holy Spirit
really shows up and justmultiplies, like you said yeah,
he perfects us throughrelationships with others yeah,
I love it, but yeah it.
Just to round off this podcast,is there any advice or any last
(45:41):
words that you would like to doand just give to the listeners
of either you know how to eitherstrengthen themselves or how to
just encourage them, or how tobe more mature in their faith?
Heather Vecera (45:52):
whatever it is, just, no matter what you've gone
through, god is is for you,he's not against you.
And don't be too hard onyourself, give yourself grace
and just lean into him as afriend, because that's what he
(46:14):
truly wants to be.
Is is your friend, and nomatter what happens to you, no
matter what you go through, whatyou face or you could lose
everything, but if you have him,you have everything that you
need, and that is that's thebest word of advice I can give
(46:35):
you well.
Aaron O'Connell (46:36):
Thank you so much for just joining in with me
and having this conversation,and yet it's.
It's just been a blessing withyou on this podcast and just
being able to spread the word ofGod, heather he's been a
blessing to be with you well,thank you so much for joining me
.
All right, you have a great dayyou too.
Heather Vecera (46:55):
All right, bye.
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