Josh: Hello. Hello. Hello. We’re just two normal guys trying to live this Jesus life. My name’s Josh.

Andrew: Hey, Hey, my name is Andrew and we are this Jesus life podcast. Josh, what is happening? My dude,

Josh: dude. How are you? Every time we do our intro, I’m doing well. How are you? But we do our intro, uh, zoom lags. No, no, no like lags on one of your words, it’s easier either your name or that, uh, or this, whatever you say, the thing.

And that’s. It’s always like, like if you go back and listen to it,

Andrew: maybe I just always list, uh,

Josh: Oh, that might be true. Maybe flame zoom. It was really easy the whole

Andrew: time.

Josh: It could be possible

Andrew: tech issues.

Josh: I apologize for blaming zoom when it should have been better.

Andrew: That’s funny, dude. I’m pretty good. I’m pretty good.

Um, pretty uneventful day. Um, just worked and it’s Monday, which we normally do this on Sunday night. Um, But yeah, man. Good. No complaints. Um, chickens are fine. I gave him some food before this. Like I knew they had plenty of water, but I went out there and they were pretty low on food. So I’m like, I’m gonna hook you up.

So they got a full, like two day supply.

Josh: Do you like treats, can you like, or is that like a thing for chickens?

Andrew: It’s totally thing you can buy and like dehydrated, dead bugs, and they love that you can buy there’s all kinds of stuff. But my chickens treats, I just pull a bunch of weeds from around and then throw them in there and they love eating, like all the leaves and stuff.

Josh: Well that, or your logs, your wife was posting on Instagram. Well, no,

Andrew: no, those are entertainment

Josh: logs. That’s what she said. Yeah. She said Andrew calls he’s

Andrew: entertainment walks, dude. The chickens probably call them paradise. They love this man. They’re like this law is legit.

Josh: Um,

Andrew: yeah, they think it’s really fun.

Josh: Yeah. I buy my dog treats usually like, yeah. Like beef sticks, like from the convenience store, he’s a big fan. Uh, you just get like the little ones, like Jack size beef sticks. Um, yeah, like sneak them to them. So like, There’s like four dogs here right now. So, um, I gotta like give my dog a special treat, so he knows that I still love him.

You just carry

Andrew: one pound of beef sticks unwrapped in your pocket and just do

Josh: weird. Like the dog’s constantly following me. There’s like, what’s that smell? You smell like beef.

Andrew: Yes. Mellis one gym,

Josh: but Jack’s a huge fan. That’s also how I get him to get my car. Immediately is I’ve trained him. Hey, you get my car.

I give you a beef stick. Certainly supply in my car as well. Cause there for awhile, he was like, I’d rather not, no, that was pick him up. He held out.

Andrew: He’s like, I know you got a slim Jim Brown.

Josh: Well, that’s all they ate on that. On our road trip. Back from California, he just ate beef sticks. Cause he wouldn’t eat his regular food because he’s been ruined and only likes wet food.

Now, Kenny dry food.

Andrew: Oh, my gosh, dude. Would you rather only eat beef sticks for a week or only eat ice cream for a week? One flavor, like a flavor you don’t like or very salty the hands

Josh: down. Yeah. Yeah. Not even a competition. Yeah. The oatmeal cookie from Josh and John’s here in Colorado Springs.

Andrew: He did.

That is so good.

Josh: So good.

Andrew: Yes.

Josh: So good. I may or may not have had. Uber eats or get hub or whoever actually delivers it out here, deliver it at least three times during quarantine. Just like once a month. Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. That’s true. That’s no problem there. No problem there at all.

Josh: That’s what I’m thinking.

Andrew: So, man, what’s going on with you?

I know the beef stick thing. That’s a big deal.

Josh: Do you have abandoned my finger this morning? Now the people listening, can’t see this, but you can see this. See this here. And this is my, it was a beef stick injury. This is my aloe vert avert Vera, Vera. Yeah, I think, uh, the little dish, cause I put my finger inside of it all day today, because more on me was pouring bacon grease into, uh, like a bowl with.

Paper towels in it. And like, I even saw it coming, like, as I was watching it, I watched it go onto my finger were like, Oh yeah, Nope. That was really bad idea. So I couldn’t type with, I only typed with one hand all day today, I guess the other hand wasn’t functioning, but it feels fine now. I just don’t want to cash affected.

Andrew: That sounds horrible, man. Like just bacon grease, something so lovely doing something stupid.

Josh: It wasn’t like it sat there for a little while. Like it was. Sizzle and hot right on the white frickin pointing finger of all fingers. Like how do you pick your nose or at least your left nose. If my left pointing fingers, not working,

Andrew: why couldn’t it have been your pinky?

Josh: You know, nobody needs it. You can

Andrew: get by without that,

Josh: but pointer, finger stewed.

Andrew: There’s a lot to point out these days. Now that COVID is lightening up.

Josh: You got to point at stuff. That’s true,

Andrew: man. Started to hear that, bro. That is rough.

Josh: Yeah. Yeah. So that’s how I started my week off. But other than that, it’s been great.

Andrew: Yeah. Hey, one, one great thing. Uh, my old boss told me, Hey, I listened to your first episode and you have a great podcasting voice, Andrew, and, and he didn’t mention yours. Snow.

Josh: What? It’s so rude. That’s just rude is one of my friends. One of my friends said, Hey, I listened to your podcast. It’s awesome. Your coast is amazing.

That’s a little funny me hazing.

Andrew: That’s funny. I’m sure you only listen to one. It’s all good.

Josh: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you need to tell him he needs to listen to more. Yeah. Especially if you only listen to the first one, like, come on. I know, I know it’s rough.

Andrew: Yeah, don’t start for

Josh: some out of the gate. Yeah. It’s like the Bible.

Don’t start with Genesis. Start, start with John A. Little over three force your way through the Bible. That’s a great place to start. Same with us. Start with Busan puffing and whatever called the herb herb started there like everybody else. Cause that’s our most listened to by far, but

Andrew: a shame shame on you.

That was my favorite so far. I think

Josh: that was good. Maybe.

Andrew: Dude.

Josh: All right. It’s one of the ends of all of them that I really like. That’s when content gets really good and like, really me. So if you don’t listen to all of them, just skip to the ends and listen to

Andrew: 20, 30 minutes, then that’s cool. That’s like our

Josh: first, like, yeah, our first, like.

40 35, 40 minutes. We’re just warming up. Like

Andrew: we’re just talking beef sticks and bacon burdens.

Josh: Yeah.

Andrew: Okay. Beef sticks and bacon birds is actually playing at a, at the lodge by my house tonight. Are they trying to get there?

Josh: No.

Andrew: That’d be a good band name, beef sticks and baking. Bergens

Josh: you think it’d be like a cover band? They write their own stuff, like kind of band. Do you think beef sticks in bacon? I

Andrew: think it would probably be like a acoustic cover slash hardcore

Josh: mastic.

Oh, yeah. Blue stick, hardcore band.

Andrew: They do acoustic covers and then they switched to real

Josh: hardcore just for their,

Andrew: their, their beef sticks and then their bacon birds. You know what I mean? So it’s kind of cool.

Josh: That makes sense. It’s like the passion project of the lead singer. He’s like the bacon Burnside and you just start screaming, scream.

I don’t know, popular when I was in high school. That was a  musical. All about it. Let me just seen what seemed like people were angry.

Andrew: Speaking kind of starting at the end, that and getting off base. You want to know a crazy thought? I had this morning as I was listening to revelation

Josh: revelation.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, I’ve listened to all of the new Testament and blast a couple of months.

So I’m in revelation now. So. Dear revelations, 17, 18 and 19. They, this is a, this is potty word, but it’s the Bible. They talk about the whore of Babylon, a lot

Josh: whore, Babylon, whore of

Andrew: Babylon, and now Babylon like corrupt. So the world with all these like central desires and like all this wealth and this like materialism and all this stuff.

And bro, the whole time I’m listening, I’m sitting there not thinking America is the chosen next Israel. And like that is biblical land. But thinking how we might be the whore of Babylon. No, not you and me, but like her called her shirt. Like we might be that

Josh: going to be interesting when the end times do finally play out of like, What we thought were going to happen and how they actually like, cause now you’re like now you’re functioning modern day of what it’s talking about.

Granted, it’s not describing it in modern day terms. Um, it’s like, you know, he survives and everybody can see him at the first time. We were like, when that was written and I was like, what? This is just a piece you’re in a bunch of different places. And we’re like, no, you have the internet or cable TV. Like it’s going to be broadcast around yeah.

World and things like that. We just don’t think, I wonder how much of that is going to be in place.

Andrew: Yeah, totally. But yeah, man, I, uh, but I think that might be something, even if that wasn’t, the original intent might be something that like, at least maybe everybody could think that in culture, their culture throughout the time of like, Oh man, maybe we are that, like, it might be one of those kind of like a.

I don’t know, cyclical, not cyclical, but at one of those truths that spreads across time and maybe everybody can look at it in their lifetime and be like, our culture is pretty messed up. Maybe where that, and maybe we shouldn’t be that, you know,

Josh: in all reality, like we’re probably as a humanity, more moral today than at any place in the future, at least from a.

The perception of it, right. Mike, the underbelly of humanity. Really? Isn’t the norm of humanity though. It’s still exists, right? Like it’s this hidden version of humanity. Yeah. Like I was watching the Jeffrey Epstein documentary on Netflix.

Andrew: I don’t even want to watch it. Cause I know all the conspiracy theories around that dude.

But tell me more, sorry.

Josh: Oh, I didn’t know. That’s a bunch of conspiracy theories around him. They’re probably all true. After walking in watching the documentary, the dude had so much power because I think he was filming these men, doing things to show them that they shouldn’t be doing. Yes. I think that’s the whole thing.

Um, and they don’t really get to that. Like the very end. You’re just like going through this, but it’s like this whole like world out there, he was like this, like. The despicable in discussing this of everything that’s going on right now, you would like, if someone just sat you down and just said, Oh yeah, this, like, you’d never believe them.

Like this doesn’t really happen. And then it’s like, uh, like these are real powerful people that the entire world knows that are all wrapped up in this that you’re like, wait a second

Andrew: past presidents like ambassadors. You’re totally right, dude. Yeah.

Josh: Yeah. Boggling. The whole thing is mind boggling. Uh,

Andrew: yeah.

I don’t know what a, I feel like we can make a said segue from there into a, maybe even into confession, honestly, but what are we talking about tonight? What are the things we’re covering in these Jesus habits?

Josh: As we continue with these Jesus’ habits to this, we’re talking about getaway talk more and you did wrong.

That’s our fancy, that’s our fancy way of saying, Hey, will you look at us and pay attention to us when we scroll through your podcast? Speed.

Andrew: That’s right. Because what we’re

Josh: really talking about is solitude, prayer and confession. Uh, those are just our fancy titles for them because. We noticed that people really want to know if they can smoke.

The marijuana is when we call them herb. Yeah.

Andrew: We’re just rebranding classic concepts, you know, that’s what we do.

Josh: Yeah. And again, like we get these ideas, these spiritual disciplines from, from Jesus behavior, I’m here on earth as we try to imitate him. Um, granted not confession, we said the last week to you, but, um, and a lot of these things like we’re breaking apart.

Um, for the sake of conversation and the sake of, um, probably easier to understand the ideas and the concepts, but in all reality, majority, if not all these things, concepts happen in what we call like your daily time with Jesus or your devotional time, or, um, your quiet time. Um, no matter, you know, whatever you call it that time you spend with Jesus, um, hopefully pretty regularly, but let’s be honest to six.

Tell us, um, not that often, if it ever right. Um, right. So, you know, we’re breaking them all apart, but in all reality, this is probably happening when you’re sitting down in the morning at the night at night, whenever you’re sitting down what Jesus, and these are the things that we practice and we don’t practice this, these, and we’ll keep saying this well, we don’t practice these cause they’re all good Christians do.

Yeah. We practice these habits because these are the things that get us connected with Jesus that deepen our relationship with Christ. Um, and that’s why we practice these. So keep that end goal in mind, you can do all of these things that miss the point completely. Yeah on the outside, you look like a great Christian, but on all reality, you’ll be like, he’ll be like the first season, dead man’s bones on the inside.

And that’s not the goal. Like we want to get to the, you want to get to a deeper relationship with Jesus, a deeper trust faith in Jesus, believing he is who he said he was, and he’s going to do what he said he was going to do. And this is how we get there. So keep that in mind. I know plenty of people in my life, um, and through the years that, um, Read the Bible every day, hyper, religiously, they know it inside and out.

Um, um, but yeah, yet they don’t look any more like Jesus today than they did a year ago. Um, so there’s an issue there. Um, the issue is their focuses on. The information and the knowledge and not on the relationship.

Andrew: Hey, how do you measure that? Like how, how that’s a, it’s such a good thing you just said.

And you’ve said that a bunch of times, cause I’ve known you a long time, but like one of those things you think about in your life is do I look more like Jesus. This year 2020 than I did in 2019. And then when 2021 comes, you’d kind of ask yourself that question again. So like, how do you know if you’re on track?

How do you know if you’re looking more like Jesus practically? Like how do you measure that? And I don’t know. Yeah.

Josh: The great question. Um, how do I measure it? I think a lot of it just comes down to like, uh, Even with James says, right? Like, yes, our faith is about works, but show me, show me faith without works.

Like there’s there go hand in hand. And I think the works he’s talking about is, you know what, um, Paul says to, um, uh, the Galatians, um, what we call fruits of the spirit. Like here are the things that are prevalent in your life on a greater scale today than they were a year ago. Um, you know, are we seeing this thing?

So the fruits of the spirit are, um, shoot, love,

Andrew: peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control.

Josh: There go. You. Boom,

Andrew: that was painted around my mom’s

Josh: kitchen. Like the banana song or whatever.

Andrew: I wasn’t learning about bananas

Josh: with that.

Andrew: No, my mom hand painted that around the perimeter of our kitchen.

Josh: Well, and this is where, like we get it wrong. Oftentimes I’m not saying your mom had it wrong. Not at all. I know you listen. You’re, you’re a fantastic woman. Um, that’s right. But the thing, we get it wrong. Yeah. It is. We look at those and say, Oh, those are the things that I have to live out. But in all reality, I’m not focusing on those things.

Those are the result of my focus on Jesus. Building my relationship with Jesus as I practice Jesus habits. Um, these are the things that should be greater in my life. If I’m living in line with who Jesus called me to be, and I’m growing in deeper relationship with Jesus gives these are the, these are the truths about you, right?

Like he was love, he was joy. He was, he was, uh, he, he walked with peace. He was extremely patient, um, kind, you know, he had. High levels of goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. There was a song. There’s another song, not that cheesy children’s song that we used to sing at my life church in like the main worship services.

I don’t remember what’s called, but.

Andrew: Okay. Side note about the fruit of the spirit at the very, very end of that verse. It says it’s love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness self-control. And then it says at the, uh, against these things, there are no laws. Um, and because of that, I’ve thought about getting a tattoo.

Um, a lot of times actually that’s like a judge gavel in hammer, like kind of cool, you know, drawn cool. Um, because. Like so many things leading up, up to when the fruit of the spirit is described are about laws and are about like governance versus, um, versus religion versus how you live out here, faith.

And it’s like, Hey, these are the character traits. These are the attributes that you’re going to start looking more and more like, and exhibiting more in your life. If you follow me,

Josh: And by the way,

Andrew: laws don’t matter in this regard, here are your character traits. You can live out no matter what. So I’ve just thought that was really cool.

And I only realized that was the tail end of that verse. I don’t know, like a year, two years ago. And ever since I’ve been like, that would be my next tattoo if I get another one.

Josh: So I’m picturing like an entire back. Like dedicated to this, this tattoo, and then maybe like full back the gifts, like, or the gifts, the fruits of the spirit, like going down the arms to like full sleeves.

Andrew: It’s just grapes and tangerines and like

Josh: a little fruit. Yeah. Oh, it’s different things. And they’re just like, what? This is, this is weird. This guy is like super in fruits. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. So I think like that’s a big thing for me. So like yeah. When I look at my life today, am I more patient today than I was a year ago? And do this multiple times a year? Like, isn’t like a January one kind of thing though. That’s probably a good time to do it. Um, create the habit, but, um, yeah, so it’s, it’s going through those things and.

And if I’m going through my life and say it’s six months and I’m re-evaluating, and I don’t feel like I’ve grown in any of those areas. Um, and like American society is like jump to the end, get to the win. Right. So it’s like, I’m just going to imitate all these things, but let’s be honest. Yeah. You try to imitate all those.

All those fruits of the spirit and like, you’re going to be exhausted. That’s a lot of work. Like you gotta, you gotta take the slow, um, and shaping of our hearts that Jesus does as we’re in relationship with him. And let that just be the by-product like that’s life giving that’s full that’s. That’s not getting down to the ugliness of, of trying to perform.

Andrew: And measure year over year, like measure it mentally every year. So that you’re not saying it’s Tuesday. Did I master patients today? Master? Yeah.

Josh: Yeah. And if it’s, and if you don’t see growth, like something’s not working, so to continue doing what you’re doing and expecting different results, right? Like that’s insanity.

Um, so you got to change what you’re doing. So if it’s, I’m not spending any time with Jesus, well, there’s a change that we can make. Let’s start standing time with Jesus. Let’s start some Jesus habits and let’s start investing some time in this relationship. Um, but if you are. I mean, you read your Bible religiously every day.

Um, you go through your prayer list and you pray for the things you need to pray for every day. Yeah. But you’re not seeing a fruit of that. There’s an issue somewhere along the way, you got to change some things up. Um, yeah. And I’ll say this, the issue is not on Jesus’s side. Nope. Like you’re working with a perfect relationship here.

So the issue is definitely going to be on your side. You got to do some, gotta do some soul searching.

Andrew: Dude. And, uh, so I know I started reading this book, the ruthless elimination of hurry, and then you like lapped me. Cause I think you did an audio style on your drive. Maybe. And I think you’ve finished it or nearly dead, but, um, man, this book as well, grabbed me a lot of times and it’s been a good reminder.

I’ve kept it on my desk the whole time. Um, as I’ve been reading it slowly and it’s like one of the few things I see between meetings and a man with our first point being solitude, get away, have some silence. Um, man, I think if you feel like you’re spinning your wheels with Jesus, Yet you are reading your Bible, you’re in community or you’re attending church here.

Um, if you’re, if you’re doing all the things that are kind of your mental check boxes and your worn out, and you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, um, I would counsel most people to just get some silence and, and we said, get away. And like the first thing I think of getaway is go camping, you know, or go fishing, just go sit by a river.

If you don’t fish. Yeah. Long drive, take a long walk. I really don’t care. Like. Find a bench somewhere. And just sit there, turn your phone off. Do you know what I mean? Like, yeah. Some silence like that silence where you’re, if you pray all the time and you still feel like you’re spinning your wheels, get some silence and just shut, you know, you can just say, maybe just say, Hey God, could you speak to me?

I’m going to try not to talk or, or think about much. I’m just going to be quiet for awhile. And then just shut up. Um, whether that be 10 minutes or, or a a day, I don’t know. I don’t know what you need, but I know that my phone, as we’ve been talking about, I had four new notifications about all kinds of stuff, and we’ve only been talking 10 or so minutes.

And, uh, dude, it’s like, it’s constant, you know, put it on, put yourself on, do not disturb for a little bit. You know, that’s what Jesus did a lot. Um, he would always. You know, sneak off, even if it was DePaul and all nighter and be in solitude, you know, in Luke, it just says simply, but Jesus himself would often slip away into the wilderness and pray Luke five 16.

And, uh, there’s something there.

Josh: Like

Andrew: there’s some rationale behind that.

Josh: So, um, I don’t know. Maybe it’s like, you can get so easily practical with this. Like, you know, I live in Colorado, we have trails constantly everywhere we have. Easily accessible trails inside the city. You put some headphones in and you just start walking.

Like that’s, that’s an assault you like. And, um, going back to the eliminate hurry, um, book, um, like his story is so impactful because he pursued this in such a drastic way, right? Like here’s a mega church, pastor church of a thousands of people, um, coming every weekend. Um, and he says, I’m going to step down.

Yeah, like he built this thing. It’s his church plan. Um, granted, yes, Jesus builds the church. Um,

Andrew: but he was the head pastor.

Josh: He was the lead pastor. He was the main guy. Um, he built this whole thing and then he decided one day, this is too much.

Andrew: Like this is going to be a small campus pastor.

Josh: So he switched to being a campus pastor of his own church.

What a transition, not only for him, but for his organization. Whoa. Uh, but like. That might be the drastic step you have to take. Now you do it under great counsel. You talk about it for a long time. Um, you pray through it. Um, you, you see counsel of, of good friends that love Jesus and love you, um, and then make those tough decisions.

But like maybe, maybe your life’s so busy and you can’t find time to get away. You can’t find time to, to live in solitude and, and to be silent. Um, and you got to take some drastic steps to get to those places. And then it’s going to take sacrifice on your part. It’s going to take sacrifice on the part of those around you.

Um, let’s say sacrifice on your family’s part, but, um, in all reality, like you’re going to be a healthier, you, you’re going to have a deeper intimacy with Jesus. You’re going to have a better understanding of how life works. Um, you have a greater level of wisdom is as Jesus gives and. Um, you’re going to be a better human being for them, um, then than you would have been, if you just keep going at this pace.

And I know that’s probably not what you want to hear. Um, like you want to hear like the easy way to get to these places, but in all reality, there’s not an easy way to get to these places. Like sometimes are really hard decisions and it feels like your part of you is dying. Um, yeah, that’s what we’re called to do as followers of Jesus.

It’s less of me and more of Jesus.

Andrew: But I, I don’t know. I, I think you’re right, but I don’t know that that’s something that you just do one day, unless you’re like, so on the verge of burnout and recognize it, that you’re like, this is my only life raft then maybe you do. But man, for me, one of the things, things a few, a few weeks ago, I had a day at work actually had a series of days where it was just like, Zoom calls, zoom calls, zoom, call, phone call a quick P for two minutes.

Oh, phone call. I’m late to another zoom call. And it was like all day, dude, like eight 30 in the morning till five 30, six 37 at night, like days in a row. And another one of those was coming up and I started looking at my calendar saying, okay, our teammates in this meeting, like are people on my team in this meeting?

Great. Do I actually have to be there? No, I’m going to shoot him a text. Hey, you got this because, well, like, I don’t think both of us need to be there and not

Josh: really could use a break.

Andrew: Do you mind covering this? Awesome, bam. Get an hour back. You know what I would do with that? I wouldn’t catch up on the hundred and 1,030 emails I had.

I would go outside for like 20 minutes and just. Go under a tree. You know, if it wasn’t raining, going to retreat, chill out, take a few minutes, not take my phone with me. You know, even like, if I miss a phone call, they can wait 10 minutes, 20 minutes. That’s fine. So just really practical for me is like a small way in my work time that I’m trying to build that muscle of like, Do I have to be there.

Is it essential that I’d be there? Could this be handled by somebody else? I trust. Well, and I’m not like this high ranking person at my job. I just am recognizing that. If I say yes to everything that I’m never going to get silence, I’m never going to get solid. And by the way, my employer’s gonna not get my best effort out of me.

You know, it benefits them. If I’m. Actually able to step away for a little bit and focus on the things that I need to focus on, uh, to get my job done well, and I think spiritually it’s the exact same, there’s focusing on things you need to focus on to, to live your, your life well, in a way that honors Jesus.

Josh: So yeah, it’s priorities, right? Yeah, you’re going to determine at some point what’s more important than, than others. Um, and I, I get the poll of the things right in front of us feel the most important. Um, but in all reality like that, Healthier you is, is going to take some intentionality to get to and evaluate your schedule and evaluate your time and see what you’re dedicating the most time to.

And the other part is like, oftentimes after days, like you’re, you’re talking about like, what do we do after we get out of work? And we lay on the couch for the next two and a half hours watching Netflix. Yeah. Or whatever, because we’re just so exhausted. But what if we use that time? And it may feel like sacrifice in the moment.

It may feel like you don’t want to do it, but use that time just to get away to go sit out on your back deck and enjoy the sunset and enjoy the, the, um, just time alone and focusing in on Jesus. Yeah. Could be, could be some impactful things. Um, but yeah, if you haven’t read, um, what is it, the ruthless elimination or pursuit of.

The ruthless

Andrew: elimination of her. Hurry by John Mark comer. Um, dude has a podcast I want to check out. He’s probably awesome all the way through, but yeah, check that out. But seriously start small. Like if you’re like, we’re probably not, uh, on Jesus’s level to do ministry all day and then go pull all nighters and pray thin polo, nighters, and like walk in silence or whatever though,

Josh: though, it’s a possibility.

Like, I’ve seen plenty of people go through those seasons. They’re not getting a ton of sleep and the miraculous power of Jesus, they have plenty of energy. So,

Andrew: and we’re not okay. Speaking of sleep and speaking of like this balance thing, like work life balance and, and all of that, um, I think we way over value.

Like, I think it, all the science is like, you know, get roughly eight hours of sleep all the time. You can, all of that. That’s like the ideal, you know, but in, I think in our normal life work life and in our spiritual life, there are definitely seasons, you know, God said this, this realm up in a way that we have four seasons, you know, um, I think as a reminder so that we.

Recognize sometimes, man, I got to work really hard in the season. I had to rest really hard in the season. I got to build friendships, relationships, hard, Susan gotta confront stuff in my life in the season. Like I, I just, um, I don’t know. We shouldn’t always expect to have to be on a perfectly perfect spiritual 10, you know, who we should.

Be striving to be on a trajectory of looking a little bit more like Jesus, and I think maybe silence, solitude, camping, fishing, sitting by a river, walking on a hiking trail. Taking some time alone in nature is my preference, but it could be sitting in your basement quietly, if that’s your preference, you know, if that’s what you need, just take small steps to, to move in that direction.

Josh: That’s good. Yeah. That’s a good word. Well, let’s keep working through these things. Jesus habits.  what we call it. Getaway let’s. Let’s dive in to talk more. Yeah, let’s talk about prayer. Um,

Andrew: talk to me, man right now.

Josh: Well, prayers more about talking to Jesus, but I’ll talk to you in this moment. Um, I think, I think, honestly, this is probably the one

that we get the most screwed up on.

Andrew: Huh? Why? Um,

Josh: because I think at times for people it’s super confusing, like you get that question pretty regularly, like how do I pray? Um, and, and then, and the other side of it. So like, it’s, it’s, it’s either, I don’t know what I’m doing. Um, or I know way too much about what I’m doing and I’m not spending enough time actually doing it.

Right. Like, well, I got my formula, right. Okay. I have my journal and has all my lists of all the people I need to pray for and the things that I’m praying for all good things, but then it becomes this less of a relationship and more of a transaction I’m got, I’m just going to go through my list really quick.

And then when I’m done with my list, um, I’ll ask for some forgiveness and then we’ll move on. Um, but like there there’s, I think there’s power. Like you go through Jesus’ prayers, right through the gospels, the ones that are recorded and there’s like raw emotion there and there’s depth there and there’s such a high level of life.

It should ship there with, with the father, like. How do we get to those places? And in though Jesus gives us structure to how to pray. Like, I don’t think it’s a formula on how to pray. I think it’s a structure in terms of like, Hey, here’s the things that we should be praying about on a regular basis. It’s not a, Hey, here’s all the blanks now fill in the blanks and you’ll be all set and good to go.

Like you got to remember the end goal. And the end goal is that I’m more in tune more. Uh, in love more connected with Jesus and to do that, I, I do these things as these are important things, but, um, like Matt or Jesus goes into, um, Kind of a rant for lack of a better term against the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the day.

And those that love to see themselves standing and praying in front of people. Um, he calls them hypocrites, um, those that like to stand on the street corners and to be seen by others. Um, And then he goes into this whole thing of like, that’s not what it is like, like you’ve gotten what you, what you you’ve gotten out of it.

Like, that’s all you’re going to get is the, the honor of man, which may be enough for you. But if you want what I have for you, um, this is how you do it. And he says, when you pray, go away into your room, close the door and pray to the father who is unseen. Then you pray, then your father who sees what’s done in secret will reward you.

And this is that relationship piece, right? Like this is the, the back and forth. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling, like the plugins for, they think they will be heard because of the many words that they say, don’t be like, them for your father knows what you need before you even ask him. Mm. Hmm.

Then this then is how you should pray. We call this the Lord’s prayer. You may have heard it, um, uh, throughout your life. You’ve spending time in the church. You spend time at the Catholic church. I know for sure you’ve heard it. Um, but the Lord’s prayer is our father in heaven. Hallowed, be your name. And your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread and forgive us the debts. I forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, lead us not temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And, and we can break this apart and I guess we can, we’ll just quickly break it apart. Yeah, yeah. Um, of kind of what it’s saying and how we should pray to get just super practical about it.

But our father in heaven, hallowed be their name. Hollywood simply is another word for Holy. Yeah, I know that because, um, I did a children’s camp with my youth pastor when I was like 17, 18. I did a skit where he was like, I don’t know, like this little. Midget I’m like arms. I don’t know how to explain it.

He was like the head and then he had like a body. Uh, and he, I don’t know if that’s the skid or not. I might be confusing. Who is this

Andrew: little midget guy? Cause he had that go ahead. In his body.

Josh: I started praying and then I was the voice of God. And like he would interrupt me or I’d interrupt him and like, It was a great skit.

I thought maybe cheesy now, I don’t know, but it was rather entertaining,

Andrew: but that first, that chunk is like, God is Holy. And you recognize that, right. Whether you’re a midget or not, you recognize God is Holy

Josh: and that’s, that’s just, that’s, you know, um, Um, appreciation back to him. That’s, uh, affirming who he is.

That essentially a lot of that prayer is yes. God knows who he is. Um, God doesn’t need your affirmation and who he is. He’s pretty secure. Um, but you need it. You need to be reminded of who I’m talking to you and in the, the privilege that I have to have such a relationship with you and to remind yourself of God’s faithfulness.

And, um, it’s really just that those Thanksgivings, like, you know, what are all the things you’re thankful for because of who got is. And who’s got what’s God’s character and, and remind yourself of those things and your kingdom come, your will be done. Um, that’s a statement of will, right? Um, that’s kind of refocusing ourselves of, Hey, it’s not about what I want.

It’s about what Jesus wants. If I want to live the full life that we’ve been talking about, like, um, then, then I have to live a life that Jesus wants me to live rather than how I want to live it, you know, that’s where your kingdom come. Um, and then, you know, how do we bring that kingdom into our daily lives as well as we see throughout the, the, um, The verses before this, where we call the sermon on the Mount charter in Matthew five, but give us our daily bread.

Yeah.

Andrew: It’s not me providing it’s you providing for me, you know? Yeah. I’m going to trust you in that and

Josh: yeah. And this is where we present, you know, here’s the thing has got them asking for here’s the things that I’m asking for others for, and yeah. Oh, those things like I got you a baby. Cause I was praying for your baby.

So like there’s a, when I asked for twins, you only have one day. My gosh, I’ll pray for triplets and see if you get twins, see what happens. Just kidding your wife, even if like, even if I didn’t pray, if it happened and she gets pregnant tomorrow and she’s having twins. Oh, I’d be blamed. I’d be super sad.

Andrew: Yeah. Would he be,

Josh: and then we get into a verse 12 and this is all Matthew six. I don’t know if he just said that or not, but forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors and this is just forgive us, our sins. Here’s the things, God that I’ve, I’ve done against you. And we’ll get it more into confession here in the next section.

But, um, we also forgive, um, Those that have wronged us. I’m like, that’s a, that’s a big deal. Like verse 14 of this, the same chapter says, if you forgive other people, when they sinned against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive others, their sin, then your father will not forgive you of your son.

Yeah.

Andrew: That one’s hammered home because it’s, it’s not just saying, God, forgive me. It’s the action piece of God. Forgive me and help me forgive these people. I’ve already forgiven or this thing I’ve already forgiven and helped me actually let it go. You know, um, helped me because I maybe don’t want to, but I know that I, I need to forgive them if I’m going

Josh: to.

Yeah, well, even from a selfish standpoint, like. Maybe we’ll get to this confession again, but, uh, from a selfish standpoint, like not forgiving somebody and giving somebody that power over you, like, that’s just that’s nonsense. Like, why would you want to do that? So from a selfish standpoint, forgive, so they don’t have that power over you anymore, so you can let it go and move on.

And I know, I know people do horrific things against other people, and I know there’s a good chance that people have done horrific things to you, and I’m not trying to downplay. The pain that that’s caused or the evil that, that existed inside of that. But I am saying for the sake of your sanity, for the sake of, of you the full life, um, we forgive, um, yeah, and yeah, and we forgive because Jesus forgave us.

That’s right. And then finally lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. It’s looking ahead. Um, where, where are the areas that I could fall into? Um, what are the areas that Jesus needs to reveal to me that, um, I so easily succumb to, um, when I’m tempted with that sin. Yeah. And dig into that, but,

Andrew: okay.

So that was, that was a really practical framework of kind of how to pray or a explanation of, of why maybe why, part of why Jesus prayed in this way. But, um, Man, if you’re not used to praying and you’re listening to this, uh, how the heck do you know what to pray for? How do you know what to pray for on a daily basis?

Cause I know this thing I could have quoted this to you, but I don’t pray this way every day. Um, if I’m being honest, um,

Josh: Jesus don’t pray that way. Yeah. I don’t think that was the point of what he’s saying. Right, right. It’s just like, here’s the structure, here’s the things you should be praying for the course of your week, but, um, how do you, like, I think, I think in terms of praying, like, just start with talking with God and maybe it’s as awkward and weird as say, Hey God, I’m Josh.

It’s nice to meet you. Yeah. Uh, and, and, and letting the conversation go from there. Um, just like meeting a new person for the first time. Now, you’re not going to have those first day questions of like, Hey, if you could go on their adventure, where would you go on to the venture to? Um, I’ve never used that question, but that’s a good question.

I should. I’ll put it to my repertoire, but let’s be honest. I’m not the one carrying those conversations,

but like, just start in the conversation. It’s awkward as it may feel. And it’s like, I’m not talking with anyone. Like, you know, I don’t know if he said this or the worship thing, but, um, one of the most impactful things going back to worship and I think it also applies here. That’s why I bring it up that I’ve ever heard was, um, Some pastor told me once or some preacher.

I don’t remember where actually I heard it was like pictures of the throne room. So like the throne room is described and in revelation by by John and, um, just the, the most of it and the L yeah, the words, not luxury, but I can’t think of any other word. Just the high, like honor, God beautiful. Right? Like, yeah.

Put that image in your head while you’re singing. It’s the same idea here. Right? Put the image of Jesus in your mind and whatever that image is going to look like, maybe it’s the Jesus. That’s, that’s sitting on a stump and he has children around him. Um, like whatever that Jesus needs to be in and just picture, you’re having a conversation with Jesus across the table.

Now we don’t know what Jesus looks like. I get that. But I’m like, there’s something to that of like, just, just create the imagery inside of your head. Um, so maybe it feels a little less awkward, um, just to start talking. But that’s all it really is. Like, it’s just talking and listening and that’s what prayer is back and forth.

And, and there’s some structure to it. Like confession plays into that. That’s a big piece and re re um, focusing on what Jesus wants to refocus on. Like that’s a piece, but, um, if you’re just starting out on this, it’s just not a normal habit. Um, start there. I don’t recommend. You starting with, um, here, Jesus, here’s all the things I need you to intervene in and do something about the thing that gets you off on the wrong foot.

I think then you go down that road and it feels super transactional and you know, Jesus is the big vending machine in the sky, like right. Like you never get, you never get to that more intimate place. I think when it’s harder to get there, when you start at that place. So start at a place of just having a conversation and then introduce those things is as you grow in this Jesus habit, but yeah,

Andrew: man, I, that that’s really good.

And, uh, and I’ve been, I’ve been praying for a long time and I think the. A kind of metric that I’ve been not metric and we’re not judging this. It’s not on a Likert type scale of questions, you know?

Josh: Wow. We are like, when you pray out loud, like just know the whole tables, like how could that was

Andrew: totally like, Oh, that was, that was a six, 600%.

No, the, so. The scale that I’m, I’m like the prayers I notice when I pray them. Like the things that I, if I stop praying and I think to myself, that was really honest. That was good. Like I was. I was actually honest. I needed to hear myself and, you know, God already knows all these things. He doesn’t need us to say them, but I think half of there’s just us needing to get to the point of being honest with ourselves Foley

Josh: in front of them.

Andrew: And if you picture him in his throne room, if you picture him sitting on the chair next to you, whatever it like, that’s, if that’s helpful to get you to get honest, And do it because in those moments where you’re just being honest, like I, I gave up something for a season in my life recently here, and I was telling her about it the other day.

I’ve driven a curb there for a long time. That’s not. Don’t smoke

Josh: you.

Andrew: No, I don’t. You’re killing me

Josh: now, dude, Andrew, when I say things like this and like everything inside of you needs to correct it. So no one ever thinks that it could be actually serious. No, I know.

Andrew: Which is exactly why you say it

Josh: was killing your shirt.

Like,

Andrew: Oh, this is recorded. Um, but I. Just a few days ago, I was praying and I told Jesus, Hey, I gave this up. And, um, I don’t want this to be in my power, not cause I suck at, at doing things I suck at follow through. So I gave this up and I want to honor you with it just helped me along the way. Please give me grace along the way.

Remind me of this. Don’t let me think about longterm. Let me just think about today, you know, and I’ve probably said it way better than that because when I finished that prayer, I just, I sat down to start doing something else and I was like, wow. That was like the most honest moment I’ve had with Jesus for a while.

And he’s given me a ton of grace in it and it’s been really meaningful. Um, and I don’t know, like, I just feel like half of it is just, we gotta figure out how to cut all the crap in our lives. So we can just talk honestly, with God about what’s going on today. What’s going on. Like that’s mind,

Josh: you know, that’s a phenomenal word.

Um, like I think so much of life today is, is. Is creating this facade of who we want to be. And then we start to believe that too, we actually are. And then we’re not even honest with ourselves to be able to deal with the things that we need to deal with to find freedom. And I’m in this life and find hope again.

Um, in, in all reality, like, um, Like if we, we start here of like, Hey, if you can’t be honest with yourself, be honest with Jesus. Like start there and just, just start talking and talking about the hurts of your life years of your life and the exciting things of your life and the joys of your life. Like, just go through the emotions of just letting it out for me.

It helps to pray out loud, right? Like to verbally pray. Um, so like, No, I can’t do that all the time. Like if you’re around people, it could be strange and weird and I get that. But like, if you can find some solitude, find some time to get away. I mean, you use that time to pray. Like last Sunday. Um, I went on a trail that I knew at the very end of the trail, there was a picnic table that overlooked, um, part of Colorado Springs.

Um, and I was like, well, I’m, I’m going out there to spend some time with Jesus. Um, so I hiked out there and sat on a bench and. Prayed and read my Bible and. Um, sat away. I’m getting text messages and super distracting,

Andrew: funny

Josh: people. We’re talking about solid gene getting away and I’m like all these and the crazy thing is my computer has, um, do not disturb turned on, but like, I can see it.

I’m covering it on the, uh, and there’s sorry, people, I apologize. Um, easily. We’re distracted. We can hide. I did a naked hanging in. Cause I felt like I needed to be bare before God. Um, the people on the trail appreciate it at all.

Andrew: Everybody at the picnic table left

Josh: quit. I was like, you sat the guy don’t you want to spend time with Jesus too?

Do you not love him? Um, But yeah, that was my I’m going to get away. And it was only, I was only out there for a couple hours. Um, but that was my time to get away and just to pray out loud, um, talk about things and to get to the root of some things and to help, um, get some wisdom on things and understanding things better and all those things, but it was just, it starts with conversation.

Like, just start it out, God, this is how I feel, or God, this is what I’m angry about. Or, or God, I’m not sure. Um, what role you played in this, but what the hell? Yeah. Why did you let this happen? Like let those things out. Like, I always say this to people like your Jesus can handle your doubt. He’s a pretty, he’s a pretty strong God.

I’m not really worried. About you throwing things at him. Um, and even though accusing him of things, um, he can handle it. Um, but the problem is your faith can’t handle it. It’s not dealt with. Um, so like if you just hold onto your, your doubts, you just hold onto your frustrations. You hold on your disappointments that you felt like God disappointed you.

Um, and you don’t let those things out. You don’t talk about those things with God. Like your faith can’t handle that. It’s going to keep eroding and eating away. And eventually you’re going to, you’re going to stand up one day and say, wait a second. I don’t. I don’t think there is a God, like you’ve got to open up and talk about those things and open up and talk to Jesus about those things.

That’s what we’re, we’re pushing for right now. Um, so yeah, find the time, put it on your calendar and just say, I’m going to spend some time with Jesus and I’m just going to talk in them. You probably want to spend some time listening. Um, silence is also super helpful. Uh, if you talk the whole time, the conversations one sided, uh, and the wisdom wasn’t as good as it could have been.

If you shut up for a second and just kind of look right.

Andrew: That’s right. And if, uh, if you need some exhilaration, just. Be nude in public, you know, like Josh,

Josh: you’re going to prison for it. There’s no way to know that one, but exhilarating

Andrew: part.

Josh: Yes. Super exhilarating. Let’s do it. That’s really what we want to get to.

Right. Like, as we’re talking about, it’s like, we want to get to that place where just bare before God. And I think it’s not just emotionally and intellectually bear before God. Like, I think it’s physically as well. Well, you go back to you, go back to Adam and Eve in Genesis, like sin clothed us. So we should be all walking around naked.

Wonder this too, like, think about in society because our clothes are definitely a level of security and protection, um, practically, but also emotionally, um, like if our society was just always bear. I’m not trying to get into the sexual side of things because I get that side too. I be like, well, I didn’t get anything done and I’ve turned around direction.

Um, but in all reality, like there’s a level of like emotional bareness in that that you’re like, Oh, like our society probably be in a much healthier place. There’d be less, you know, facades of imagery of who you want to be. And yeah, just genuinely who we are. Yeah,

Andrew: I think you’re onto something, man. Like a you, when you pray don’t uh, tone.

I dunno. I was trying to say this well, but like don’t try to pray and look like the perfect prayer. Don’t try to be like, okay. Somebody took a picture of me. It, it should be on a billboard as I was praying. Billboard titled how to pray. You know what I mean? Like, uh, just focus on, on being real with, with God, speak to him real honestly.

And what you said was gold about if you, if you don’t do that, if you’re not honest about anything with God or with people, but especially with God, then over time. Whatever faith you have is gonna shrink and shrink and shrink. And it’s going to be because of you, you know, it’s not going to be because Jesus, isn’t there waiting to forgive you waiting to, to reset you to say, no, I want to call you upward.

I want to call you to be more Holy and more set apart in this life because he does, he constantly does. But if you are constantly hiding and hiding and hiding and saying. No, I’ll just put on another layer of clothes. I’ll just put on another jacket. I’ll put on another thing. I’ll throw this hat on. So you don’t see me.

So you don’t see the real knee then eventually you’re not going to see the real you, and you’re going to start, like you said, projecting that onto God and saying, well, God must not exist because this is all crappy. This is all messed up. There’s no way I could be this bad and I can’t even face myself and there’d be a good God.

No, obviously not. I’m going to do whatever makes me happy, you know, and that’s going to be the end. It’s going to be the slow fade. And, uh, and that’s no bueno. As they say.

Josh: Yeah, that’s good. That’s good. Well, I think we’ve hopefully given you some great advice in terms of prayer, what it could look like in your life and with all these uses habits, like I encourage you to just start somewhere, um, take small steps as you need to take them in.

Um, just start somewhere, um, in terms of fostering this relationship with Jesus and, um, keep your eye on the prize. It’s not the action of what we’re doing. Um, it’s, it’s the destination of the destination as a deeper intimacy with Jesus. Tell him, cause that’s the only thing that’s going to help us live a better life.

Um, but yeah, let’s keep moving and we’ll talk about you did wrong.

Andrew: You did wrong. I did wrong

Josh: confession.

Andrew: Yeah, dude, confession. Uh,

Josh: and I just thought, I didn’t tell you, I don’t know if I told you this beforehand, Andrew. I thought it’d be a really good idea if we just share like our, our deepest sins that we’ve ever committed just publicly here.

Uh, and just confess them, not just only to each other, but also to God and our audience. Right. Cause I think that’s all they really want to hear is they just want to hear like how bad of a person are you.

Andrew: Well remember, we’re going to do the whole segment where we just bring other people on and they confess to us and we just tell them like,

Josh: dude, you’re really bad.

We’re going to create another show and that’s all, we’ll call it. You did wrong. You didn’t, you did wrong

Andrew: your tagline. They finished their weeping

Josh: and we won’t tell them. Well, they’re getting into, like, it’s just gonna be like a surprise, like, Hey, come on. Right. We just want to interview you. We think you’re super interesting.

We’d love to just pick your brain and then we just get them down and just like slowly just ease them into getting to that place. So they’re like, Oh yeah. And then just, yes,

Andrew: that’s right, dude. So that’s good. Um, yeah. So even though this is part of me being more vulnerable with people, this whole Bob guest thing, uh, I’m not gonna do that kinda confess I’ll, I’ll call you up.

And I’ll all metaphorically called Jesus up and my wife and all that. And I’ll confess when I did wrong, but, uh, but there’s limits to that, right? Like we shouldn’t, even though we share so much on social media men, there are some things that are for people. Who who love Jesus and love you and forward Jesus, you know, for your prayer time, some real confession, like we don’t have to put everything on the internet.

We don’t have to put everything on a blog on social media, on TechTalk, whatever the heck that is. We don’t have

Josh: to totally get me tic talk, Andrew. I downloaded talk like a week ago. Right. My screen time notification or whatever that comes up on Sundays, that tells you how much time you’ve spent on your phone popped up and said, Hey, Josh, you’ve spent three hours and 45 minutes more than the week before.

Wow. That’s a lot. I spent it on, so I open up my phone and I’m like going through the apps. Cause it’s going to tell you how much time you spent on it. Yeah. In four hours in 20 something minutes, Josh bent in a matter of seven days, watch tick tock videos. I don’t know how it sucks you in like you just you’re like I got nothing else.

I just opened tick tock watching video after video swiping up. And all of a sudden two and a half hours has gone by like, like Netflix has shut off. It’s completely done at this point, the TV shut off and you’re just sitting there on the couch, still watching tick tock videos. Oh my gosh. If you don’t, if you’re not on tick-tock, don’t get on tick.

Tock

Andrew: sounds horrible

Josh: Australia life.

Andrew: I’m so glad I have not downloaded it. And you know what I’m going to keep doing. I’ve done this a few times. I’m just gonna call it tack, tack. Um, so that people are like, acumen doesn’t know anything about social media. I’m just gonna be like, yeah, I don’t don’t expect me on there.

Um, tech, tech. Dude.

Josh: Well, here’s the crazy thing. You don’t have to create an account. I don’t even have an account, but you can still watch the videos.

Andrew: Oh my

Josh: God sucked me in.

Andrew: It sounds horrible.

Josh: It’s probably entertaining, but let’s be honest. I’m not going to stop to entertain it. I don’t like. I don’t know if there’s ever been an app in my entire life that I’ve laughed like so hard or I’ve cried at, I went through down this like tunnel yesterday, the day before I was watching like military people coming home videos.

Like, how do you not cry during that emotional roller coaster? Ticktock that’s funny. No, sorry. Tack

Andrew: ACTech gets you, man. It, it draws you in, but, uh, no, I was just going to say is like, man. Confession. It should be intimate. It should be like the, okay. Confessing a sin is straight up. Like I did wrong. You know, we title it.

You did wrong, but it’s like, I don’t want to say it. You probably want to hear it. Jesus, but I did wrong. Here’s why here’s how, uh, And then the key to it is like, he doesn’t just want to hear it. I did wrong. Here’s how, here’s why, but I did wrong. Here’s why. And, uh, and I need to repent from this. Like I’m trying to repent from this.

Would you help me repent and repent? Let it literally means to turn away from. So it’s like if I send over here in this way today and tomorrow, and the next day, eventually you got to hit a point where you’re confessing Jesus. I sinned in this way and I want to repent from that and I need your help to repent from it because I’m obviously not doing it.

I’m obviously still up. Josh, close your phone to looking at tick tock again,

Josh: please.

Andrew: Well, as you

Josh: know what her text messages were.

Andrew: So you tear your Wells up and then you got mad for a second. And I was

Josh: like, I have not been listening to you the last five minutes.

Cool.

Andrew: Yeah, they just go, well, you gotta repent from that, bro. You got to turn away from it. Um, I don’t know if that’s maybe overly simplistic, but I think it’s, you got to say the thing you don’t want to say that, you know, you need to say, and then you gotta lean on Jesus to turn away from it.

Josh: Well, I think, I think we talked about this before, too, to kind of add on to what you’re saying.

Like, um, like after you’ve confessed sin, if it doesn’t feel exposing. Yeah, it doesn’t feel like I just kind of showed everything. Like you didn’t do it. Right. Um, then, you know, you hear, you know, you’ll, you’ll listen to people, you know, from time to time and they’ll say, well, I’m tired of confessing the same sin over and over again.

Yeah. I don’t think you’re digging into the sin yet then dude, like, like if you really digging into it of like, Hey God, like yeah, I’m confessing. This is what I did, but then go to the next layer of the engine, right. Peel that back. Like here’s what I was doing leading up to that place. And I think this is what I was thinking.

Um, as I was kind of falling into that, that sin again, and maybe this is how I was feeling like. Dig into like the real roots of what’s going on. So you can really repent and turn around. Like if you don’t get to the roots of those things, like you haven’t pulled anything out. Yes. Jesus forgives. Yes. Jesus.

More than capable of, of, of ripping those roots out, you know, from, uh, From a miraculous standpoint, but at the same time, like oftentimes we got to do the hard work to dig into the root of why we keep going back to that. But, you know, and in this case, we’re talking about habitual sins, right? Um, you know, why can I not love this individual?

I’m constantly demeaning to them. I’m constantly unpack, you know, uh, lack of patience with them. Like that’s a visual sin as much as. Watching porn is that bitch Wilson. I’m like dig into the roots of like what’s, what’s really causing these things and have that conversation with Jesus and in the posture of confession and the posture of humility of sending, like, I, I’m not figuring this out Jesus.

Like we keep coming back to the same place and I keep falling for this same stupid sin again. Yeah. Um, and this is how I fell for it this time and get to the detail. I know we’re being vague, um, in terms of how, like this isn’t how I would pray it. Praying pretty specific detail. Um, But get to NC what roots come out and start doing the hard work in inside that confession.

And it doesn’t feel good in the midst of it. Often times it doesn’t feel good right after it, but the next day usually feels much better where you’re like, yeah, it’s out on the table. Like. There’s nothing. There’s no secrets between God and I like, yes, there’s no secrets in the sense that God knows all, but now there’s no secrets in the sense that I’ve exposed everything as well.

And there’s power in that.

Andrew: Dude you were saying, you were saying, um, God, of course could take, take that stuff away in a miraculous sense. And I got this thought of, um, like the, these spiritual disciplines, confession, prayer solitude, and the ones we talked about last week. Like they. Set you up to experience miraculous stuff.

They in themselves, like the thing that kind of make you, that put you in a place where if God did a miracle in front of you, you could actually see it as a miracle. Totally understand. Oh, that was miraculous. You know, like I think there. I think there are the small daily things that make you able to be aware of what is truly going on in you and around you and others, what God might be up to in your life.

And then it sets you up to actually see, Oh my gosh, that was a miracle. I had no idea that it was a miracle, but it’s, that is now that I look back at it or now that I see it live, you know, um, I just don’t think, like, I think the, like when healing and all that, when Jesus was going around and doing all the crazy miracles early on this minute, John clap crowds of thousands, thousands, you went to his hometown and they, they basically were like, Hey, do those miracles we heard about, cause we know you.

And that seems crazy. And he’s like, yeah, you don’t have the faith for that. You don’t deserve that. And then they tried to like push him on, off a cliff literally. And he walked through them, which I want to see what that means. I picture like 300 walked through them, but they, they basically were just like, uh, We don’t, we don’t believe that you did that.

And he’s like, yeah. So you’re not going to see any of that, but it might’ve come back to these spiritual disciplines of like, we haven’t been trying to pursue the Lord. We haven’t been truly confessing and we’ve just been skating by, we’ve just been saying the words of. You know, I did this and I fell short.

And, uh, sorry about that. I’ll see you again next Tuesday. Um, I haven’t really been spending those times with you. Um, so I just think that’s good the day in, day out, spiritual disciplines make us ready for a lot more,

Josh: as you say that, like in this, these aren’t necessarily spiritual disciplines, but as a pursuit of Jesus, like I think of the bleeding woman, um, that says like, if I can just touch his cloak.

Like, if I can just get a little piece of him, that’s all I need. And that’s the reality of our walk with Jesus, right? Like as we practice these spiritual disciplines, like if I just get a little, if I just get a little piece of him, that’s all I need. Like, that’s the thing that’s going to get me through this next week.

That’s the thing that’s going to completely change my perspective. That’s the thing that’s going to shift everything is, is I, as I pursue new things, right? Like. Like that’s the, the thing is, I’m just, I’m just trying to pursue Jesus and these disciplines are the thing that helps us pursue Jesus and there dreamily important, extremely helpful, as long as you do them.

Right. And I’m not saying, doing right in terms of how you practice them, but the motivation of why you’re practicing them. Right. Like it’s super easy, you know, and there’s plenty of like, You open the Bible app and it gives you a streak now, right? Like it tells you how many times have you, Oh, it’s not. How many times do you read it’s how many times have you opened it?

That’s what it’s tracking. You’re gonna read the verse of the day and call it a day. Um, but like, Like there’s things in society that like, yeah, what they’re designed for is like to help us build habits they’re designed for good, but all of a sudden, like it becomes this, I’m just going to put up this image that I’m a good Christian, and this is what good Christians do.

And you’re missing the point completely. This is why it’s not working. It’s like that relentless pursuit of like, if I just get a little piece of his cloak, like if I just get a little piece of his presence, if I just get a little piece of them and that’s all I need, that’s the thing that’s going to change everything.

And then that’s the heart behind, like what we’re trying to portray here as we practice these disciplines, these are the things we do just to get a little piece of it, you know? Yeah. The benefit the woman had was she physically touched the guy, like she got to touch Jesus. We don’t get that, that privilege, but we can experience this presence through the whole gift of the Holy spirit in our lives.

Like, like that’s just that little piece. And whether it’s through, through worship and in, you know, putting our devotion or attention towards Jesus through song or through over that looks or, um, whether it’s confession that just getting real with Jesus to deepen our relationship and our trust. And, um, man, just to think like, When we expose ourselves in such a way to Jesus in that way, the trust that that gets increased in those moments between us and, um, Dude,

Andrew: that is, that’s such a good example.

And, um, before we pull this to a close, I just wanted to remind the listener, remind you I’m like that lady in the, I just need to cut touches cloak story. I’ve been bleeding constantly for like years and years. I think it was 12 years, but it was a long time. So it wasn’t just like. I have this minor affliction that I realized yesterday, it was like, I’ve carried this thing with me for years.

It’s it’s been horrible. And I’ve found like I’ve tried all these other solutions. I’ve tried, you know, this potion, I’ve done that. I’ve, I’ve gone to this place and touch that rock. I’ve done, whatever, you know, I’ve listened to all the advice to the world and you come to this place of being like, The, the only thing that is going to you are this is Jesus and I don’t need much.

I just need the tiniest Dutch oven and it’s done, you know, maybe it’s just, I just need that one, one honest prayer that have been holding out for me. Jesus. I just need to, to shut off all my stuff for an hour, because. I know finally that I’m scared to be alone with myself because I don’t know what else to say or think in front of Jesus.

And I don’t know what they’ll say or things that say to me in that time, but. I’m going to take that time and go and do that. Um, I dunno. I just think like, we, we, we make it so can make it so hard. We get in our way so much, you know, but, um, sometimes you just gotta take time and get away or, or really pray and say the thing that you’ve been holding out on, um, Or confess in the thing you’ve been holding out on.

It’s just like a relationship with the person, you know, you gotta be honest and, and you know, when you gotta be. Um, but yeah, man, I think, I think this has been helpful discussion for me. I feel like I’m encouraged by it. So, um, I dunno, any final, any final thoughts on your

Josh: no, I think we just said it was.

Was, um, really summed up well and really got to the root of like the heart behind what we’re trying to do. Like for me, it’s I want you to be in the place where hope lifts. Um, yeah. Like I want that to be the primary characteristic of your life. And the reason that you haven’t is because of what Jesus has done and is doing in your heart in your life.

And to get to those places, just like you said, is. Like we practice these Jesus habits. Um, we practice these spiritual disciplines, um, just to pursue Jesus, um, just to be in close proximity with him, um, to hear his voice, to experience his love, to experience his truth, to, um, experiences correction in our lives.

As he corrects things that need to be changed and sin that needs to be confessed. Um, But yeah. Um, those listening, we love you. Um, thank you so much for listening. Um, we really do. You hope that this conversation is helpful and all of our conversations are helpful. Oh, if we say things that you don’t like, uh, please reach out to us.

We’d love to have a conversation about them. I’ll tell you why we believe the way that we believe these things and how we got to these places. Um, hopefully we can come to an understanding, maybe not an agreement, which is fine, but we can definitely come to an understanding of each other. Um, as we try to live this Jesus life.

Yeah, it’s always my friend. It’s good to see you,

Andrew: dude. Good to see you. Thanks for this conversation. Talk to you soon, man. And get off tick tack .