Speaker 1: 0:02

Hi and welcome to our podcast Revelation Within on the go. I'm Heidi Bilesma-Efferson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the RevelationWithinorg ministry.

Speaker 2: 0:14

And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within, and we're so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within.

Speaker 1: 0:40

Well, we are in February when we're recording this podcast, and so, of course, it is the month of love, love. And we're kind of on that topic in our community. We're on the topic of love, god's love specifically, of course, because there is no love that can compete with the love of our God. Yes, so, what is love from the world's point of view, though?

Speaker 2: 1:03

Well, from the world's point of view, I mean, in so many ways it falls flat after we know who God is. So from the world's point of view, it's an intense feeling of deep affection or a strong feeling of warm personal attachment.

Speaker 1: 1:24

That's from the dictionary. That falls flat. It's a flat balloon.

Speaker 2: 1:33

Yeah, it kind of is. I mean, why do you say that, Heidi? Why do you say that it's a flat balloon?

Speaker 1: 1:41

Well, my feelings can change. Just if I'm not feeling well, if I'm tired or if I'm on vacation, my feelings might change. And if I allow my feelings to dictate what I refer to as love, like this feeling of deep affection, I will be all over the place. I will be critical and it won't be enough, both in my relationships to love others, but also in my sense of God's love. For me, it's so much more than that. It's an action. God loved the world so much that he gave his only son. He took action.

Speaker 1: 2:21

And so, yeah, there's a big difference between this dictionary definition that you read for us and true love, true godly love.

Speaker 2: 2:32

Sometimes I like to look up words in the dictionary and kind of see if I can, you know, find a deeper meaning. So I looked up love. I looked up some synonyms and I found fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, endearment, devotion, adoration, worship, passion, compassion, caring, concern, friendship, goodwill, sympathy, yearning, desire and relationship. I mean. So these are beautiful descriptions of love. But where in our lives do we really experience God's perfect love? Do we experience his love in nature, in church, with a close friend or family member, when we're celebrating? I mean, think about when do you experience that closeness to God where we're really it's like, oh, this is him, this is his love.

Speaker 1: 3:35

So we posted this question in our private community, RevWithinteam, and we have reduced the price. It's only $17.99 a month. Oh my gosh and you get all kinds of goodies.

Speaker 2: 3:47

That's so generous, Heidi.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Amazing. Anyway, we have asked the community where do you experience the reality of God's love? And it was interesting because oftentimes the people in our community said, in some really tough situations that don't get resolved, they're just kind of hanging out there. And so what we found is when we are enduring through pain and stress and sorrow and sometimes a trial that seems to go on and on that, many of us sense God drawing us closer and his love just affecting us. It's there and we can sense it.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Now, obviously there's other times, but sometimes you can really sense God's love in those difficult situations when we feel weak, when we feel inadequate and totally unequipped and completely exhausted. Sometimes that's when we're going to sense God's love. And so it's not always in the happy times, always in the it has to be perfect situation, perfect circumstances, we can sense God's presence and his love and his power and his joy, even in the midst of difficulties and sometimes in our wariness. We have to come to the end of ourselves. And that coming to the end of ourselves and that coming to the end of myself, when I have nowhere to look but up, that's when I'm going to see him like never before.

Speaker 2: 5:13

Yeah, that's so, so true, and I know that people often will say and I've I'm sure I've said it before too you know, where is God in this? He feels far away and distant, but so often if we just remember the truth that he is right there and start asking him help me to see you, help me to see your goodness in this, help me to see you in this difficulty, and then it's like, wow, I just feel like so often my eyes are opened to his presence.

Speaker 2: 5:45

Yeah, so some of the examples of really long suffering is what we call it. It's something that goes on and on. For example, caring for a loved one who's declining physically or mentally we have a lot of people in our community who are facing that situation. Or how about an adult child who's walked away from the Lord? What about grieving, grieving because of a divorce or a friendship that's ended or any kind of relationship that's broken? What about healing from an injury that has you in pain? Pain is so hard.

Speaker 2: 6:24

How about grieving a loved one who's passed away, feeling unfulfilled in your job? Or maybe you've been unemployed and haven't been able to find anything for a long time. Maybe you've been deceived or betrayed. Maybe the needs of a young, special needs child feel overwhelming. Or how about a marriage that's become disconnected? What about enduring chronic illness? I mean, really you fill in the blank, right? Everyone around us, pretty much every person around us. I'm trying to think of one person that I know that's not going through something difficult. We all go through seasons of life that feel long, never ending and just downright impossible.

Speaker 1: 7:11

So my impossible situation when I felt God's love in a really powerful way was during the ending of my first marriage, as things were kind of wrapping up, winding down, whatever. I mean it's just awful to think about it, but I mean it was impossible. I love this man so much. We'd been together over 30 years and I remember just weeping about God. How could this be acceptable to you, how could this be your plan, that you are calling me away from my husband, the man I married in 1985? Lord, how could this be? How could this be? And God laid on my heart in a way that was unmistakably him. He said I'm not calling you away from Bob, nearly so much as I'm calling you into deeper intimacy to come away with me. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 8:10

That just was a beautiful moment. I will never forget that. When you shared that with me, heidi, that was just one of those moments. You know that you never forget.

Speaker 1: 8:19

That's right. How about you? Do you have one?

Speaker 2: 8:21

So one of many, many situations that I can think of was when God was calling me away from teaching. I have been a teacher my whole life. When I was in kindergarten I wanted to be a teacher, first grade. I wanted to be a teacher. I mean, it was my life goal. It was the one thing that I just wanted more than anything really was to become a teacher. My whole childhood I played school every day with all my stuffed animals and friends and everything. I mean that was what I wanted to do, it was my passion, it was what I loved and it's still what I love.

Speaker 2: 9:02

But there came a point in my life where God said I'm going to pull you away from this right now, and it was because of, you know, the Lyme disease that I deal with. I had become so sick that there was just no way. Like it was totally clear, cut and dry. There was no way that I could go back to work in the fall, back to the classroom, and honestly, I was heartbroken.

Speaker 2: 9:30

I just couldn't believe that God was calling me away from something that I loved doing so much and that I was so passionate about. So in that, in the midst of that, in the midst of being so sick and in the midst of being called away, I realized what he was doing. Some of what he was doing I never know all of it, but there were a couple of big, big things that he was doing that turned into surprising blessings blessings beyond what I could imagine. One of them was that my youngest daughter was going through a really, really hard time. The blessing was that, because I was working so hard, I did not see how deeply she was struggling, and when I was home with her more, I realized what was happening and was able to be there for her during a time when she really needed me.

Speaker 1: 10:28

Really needed you.

Speaker 2: 10:29

And I could get so wrapped up in my job and my responsibilities as a teacher that I would be blind to other things Absolutely. And then the other one is still going on right now. One is still going on right now. The other one was that it gave me an opportunity to start coaching one-on-one and work with Heidi full-time in Revelation Within, and that's all I do now. That's all I do all day, every day, and I love it. And I never imagined that I would be in a place where I had the opportunity to do that and it's been amazing. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I really wouldn't. It's been an incredible experience and I I get to still do it. And so you know again, seeing God's love in that. I mean, there were many, many hard days. I couldn't even drive by the elementary school without crying. I avoided driving by the school for actually two years.

Speaker 1: 11:33

I know that sounds crazy and it's right in your neighborhood, so that's not easy to do.

Speaker 2: 11:37

No and get this. I left all my stuff there, my desk, everything for two years. I mean that's ridiculous, you know, hoping that I would go back and finally one of my coworkers called me and said you need to come get your stuff because we're moving things around and we're not really using it anymore. Anyway, that was definitely wow. God blew me away with that one. He just blew me away.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Yeah Well, and you know, I appreciate you sharing that story with us. The thing is, the world has so little to offer those of us who are going through a season of long suffering. Right, we may turn to different distractions or counterfeit comforts, but these actually prolong the heartache. We're not really processing it with the Lord, and they do us more harm than good in other ways as well. Well, what does God say about this, though? What is true from his perspective? Because, as you know, in Revelation, within mind renewal is thinking God's thoughts after him. So, when I'm in a season of suffering, I want to think with the mind of Christ First Corinthians 2.16, about what it is I'm going through. If I can think with the mind of Christ, I'm going to have a probably a very different perspective on what's going on, or what could be going on behind the scenes. So we're going to share a few of the thousands of words in the Bible that speak to us about this very thing about endurance, about perseverance and long suffering.

Speaker 1: 13:15

So, we'll start with Psalm 107, verse nine, for he satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Speaker 2: 13:28

Oh, my goodness, I love this verse.

Speaker 1: 13:30

I love this verse so much. I don't want to feel that longing. I don't want to feel that and I don't want to feel the hunger that's in my soul either. So I often preempt God's solution because I don't want to wait around for it. I just don't want to feel this heartache, this emptiness, and I run to other things. When he says he will satisfy my longing soul and he will fill my hungering soul with good things, wow, wow. I don't want to miss knowing God that way. He's the one who satisfies and who fills my soul.

Speaker 2: 14:08

Yes, yes, oh. I love the way you said that, heidi. Thank you. Okay, let's go to Psalm 138.8. Another favorite of mine. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Again, will the word will. It's going to happen, it's going to be. It's a done deal. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Again, will the word will. It's going to happen, it's going to be, it's a done deal. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.

Speaker 2: 14:32

Your steadfast love, o Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. I love imagining his hands at work in my life and his fingerprints all over the place, and I can't see the big picture. I can't see what he sees. What he sees is amazing the way he's weaving everything together and this comes in, and now this and no, not yet that, and then bring this in, and he's just doing this amazing work and I just love thinking about that. And then I don't have to worry about trying to figure out my own purpose. He's the one that will fulfill his purpose for me. And then, of course, his steadfast love. It's not just today, it's not for five minutes, it's not just, you know, next year, it's going to be forever. I love that.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Yeah, I know a lot of us. When we're going through something, our defaults are and this isn't the mind of Christ, of course, but the mind of Heidi. The mind of Heidi might go God, why are you letting this happen to me? Look at all this is going, that's going on in my life. Why is she or why is he allowed to do this to me? That's not the mind of Christ, and so I want to be steeped in the truth and what God's thoughts are about this.

Speaker 1: 15:56

It gives a totally different perspective. It doesn't minimize the struggle that I'm having. It doesn't minimize the pain and the heartache, but what it does is it gives me a new context for it. It's a context where God is sovereign and he's big and he's loving and he's intimate with me, and so that is the context within which these things are happening, these difficult circumstances. In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah the prophet is suffering, and I can just picture him being so uncomfortable with the sense of suffering and loss that he has as he looks around at his beloved homeland, and it's been destroyed and demolished and all these heartaches are going on, and yet he says this verse the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

Speaker 1: 16:52

Mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him. Lamentations 3, 22.

Speaker 2: 17:09

Oh.

Speaker 1: 17:09

I love it so much. I do too, you know. I don't want to wait in the emptiness, but if I do, if I choose to say I'll wait on the Lord, then I will experience what this passage says his love, his mercies, his great faithfulness, his enoughness. And that's just a great place to be. Even when I'm suffering, even when circumstances are challenging, I can experience these things.

Speaker 2: 17:35

Well and I know we've talked about this before you know the fact that God can take it when we go off on him. You know what I mean. I did that, you know, recently, where I mean not in a disrespectful way, but it's like, lord, this is too much, or this is too much for my friend, or this is too much for my loved one, for my brother, whatever it is. And it's like how could you choose this? I don't understand. And he gets that it's okay, it's okay to approach him that way, it's okay to be honest with him. But that's where he meets us. He meets us with his love and assurance and he says I know, I understand. We don't have to be afraid to tell him honestly how we're feeling.

Speaker 1: 18:22

Psalm 88 is a good reference for that too. Yes, so if the listener is concerned about, well, what does honesty with God when I'm miserable look like you can look at Psalm 88 and just recognize that God has recorded that in his holy word, and that's fascinating to me.

Speaker 2: 19:21

Well, and that's the Psalm that doesn't end well. That is my closest friend. Oh, my gosh, that Psalm, wow, but it is. It helps me to see. When I read it it's like, oh yeah, this is okay. God is listening, he hears, he understands. It's okay to be this honest with him. Okay, let's go to Philippians 1.6.

Speaker 2: 19:46

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I mean, this is such an assuring verse for me. I just feel like this is one of those verses that grounds my feet. You know how, when you feel like you're slipping around in the ice or slipping around on the sand or the mud, yeah, and you're like I don't know what I'm like, what I'm standing on, this is one of those verses where it's like you can stand on this truth. You can be sure of it. God will finish the work that he started. Even if it doesn't feel good, even if you're in despair, even if you're struggling more than you've ever struggled, god promises he will finish the work and the work is good. Yes, we know it for sure. We can count on this. Even if we have no understanding of what's going on. We can stand on this verse, this truth.

Speaker 1: 20:47

Psalm 27, verse 14, says wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. So, during the seasons of suffering and trial and challenge, it does. It requires waiting. Waiting for a shift, a change or a different perspective. But here's the cool thing the one we wait for is faithful, he is good, he is all loving and as I wait, I can rest assured that he is coming. I don't think he would tell me to wait for him if he wasn't.

Speaker 2: 21:23

Right.

Speaker 1: 21:24

You know, if somebody says to me well, wait for me here, they're not going to leave and not come back, and especially not if it's God, because we know our God is faithful and true and loving and he's not going to mislead us in that way, right?

Speaker 2: 21:40

right, okay. And then we have Romans 12, 12. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. So this is so clear. I mean God is just sharing with us here. This is what is going to help, this is what is going to feel better as you go through this trial, because you will go through trials. This world is full of trouble. He tells us that too. And so what are we to do? We're to rejoice in hope. God is our hope. We know that for sure. We can count on him. And then patient, there's that waiting again. Waiting is hard, but there's good things in the waiting. God does things in the waiting. He's active, he's busy and he knows what's best. His timing is perfect. And then be constant in prayer.

Speaker 2: 22:36

What does that mean to be constant? I mean I've got things to do. What does that mean to be constant? I mean I've got things to do. I think of it in terms of being in conversation all day long. You know, it's kind of like my bestie. I mean I'm in conversation with her all day long. We're texting and going back and forth. That's you, heidi. It is, it is, it is. But with the Lord it's like he's actually in my thoughts, and so it really goes quite a bit deeper. Because you know prayer, I can talk to him in my thoughts. He knows my heart, he knows my struggles, he's, he's all in mixed in there, and of course, the Holy Spirit is in us as well. So that's. That's pretty cool when you think about it that way, being constant in prayer, definitely.

Speaker 1: 23:31

Well, here's the thing too in our suffering, if we are left to our own devices, if we don't take captive our thoughts, a lot of times they'll run away with us and take us captive and we will do things that won't be helpful. I mean, they'll just, at best they'll numb us a little bit or distract us, but then we'll have to come back around to whatever it is we're struggling with. And so we want to have the mind of Christ and practice thinking with that mind, so that we don't turn to counterfeits, we don't do the overeating, we won't do the overscrolling, we won't do the spending money we don't have, et cetera. So we want to share with you one of our favorite mind renewal tools here at Revelation Within. It's really simple but powerful, and it's simply called Lord you will. And it's so useful for these times. We've been talking about those times when you're going through a trial and you don't see your way out of it. You don't see what's coming, it just feels like darkness.

Speaker 1: 24:36

He lovingly reminds us that, as we invite him into those seasons, he is busy at work behind the scenes, using everything in our lives for our good and for his glory, and he really wants us to take our eyes off of ourselves, off of what is seen, and to fix our eyes instead on him, on things above, on eternal things which are unseen, to look to him for that hope and for the future of good things that he intends for us. And as we look to him, we can sense, we can hear his invitation of love. This is not the love of the world.

Speaker 1: 25:16

It's so beyond that but, it's his perfect love, a love that only he can give. Yes, so how about if we teach our listeners the God you will?

Speaker 2: 25:27

Yeah, I would love to. I would love to. So we want to always start the very same way. Everything that we do, we want to start by inviting God in. We want to invite him in to join us in a sweet time of mind renewal.

Speaker 2: 25:41

And if you haven't yet, with whatever you're struggling with, you definitely want to spend a few minutes telling him what you're up against and how you're feeling. You know, don't skip over that. I think it's really important, especially when we're dealing with some kind of deep, long suffering. But then, once we've talked to him about it, once we've shared how we're feeling, then we want to focus on who God is, on his attributes. Who is God? What does he do for people, and at that point we can begin this wonderful mind renewal. Lord, you will.

Speaker 2: 26:17

And just in case, if you aren't quite sure who God is maybe you haven't looked at that in a really long time you want to go into the word of God to help you with that, and the Psalms are a great place to begin. You will find all kinds of descriptions of who God is and what he does in the Psalms, really everywhere in the Bible. But that's a great place to start. Okay, we're going to go ahead and use the scriptures that we just shared and we're going to share, basically, a truth list of what Jesus will do, what God will do in his love. Okay, lord Jesus, we want to invite you into this time of mind renewal with our listeners and with Heidi and I. We want to ask that you, this time of mind renewal with our listeners and with Heidi and I, we want to ask that you would be here for this, that you would please give us your thoughts, renew our minds. Lord, we love you In Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 27:13

Amen, so I'll start us off. Lord Jesus, you will satisfy my longing soul.

Speaker 2: 27:25

Lord Jesus, you will fill my hungry soul with good things.

Speaker 1: 27:30

And Lord God, you will fulfill your purpose for me.

Speaker 2: 27:36

God, you will love me with an enduring, forever steadfast love.

Speaker 1: 27:43

Jesus, you give me the strength to keep on.

Speaker 2: 27:46

You will keep giving me the strength to keep on Lord Jesus, you will provide endless mercies for me.

Speaker 1: 27:56

Jesus, you provide new hope each morning and you will keep providing new hope each morning.

Speaker 2: 28:04

Lord Jesus, you will be faithful without ceasing.

Speaker 1: 28:11

Jesus, you will be my portion.

Speaker 2: 28:15

Lord Jesus, you will be my enduring hope.

Speaker 1: 28:18

I love that Lord God, you will be faithful through anything I go through. All of it, All of it.

Speaker 2: 28:26

Lord God, you will complete the work that you have begun in me and in my loved ones.

Speaker 1: 28:33

Lord God, you will provide the courage I need.

Speaker 2: 28:39

Lord God, you will help me to wait on you, Jesus.

Speaker 1: 28:44

you will help me to rejoice with gratitude.

Speaker 2: 28:48

Lord Jesus, you will hear my constant prayers.

Speaker 1: 28:53

Lord Jesus, you will bring your perfect healing in your perfect timing.

Speaker 2: 28:59

Lord Jesus, you will cause all things to work for good.

Speaker 1: 29:04

Lord Jesus, you will be strong in my weakness.

Speaker 2: 29:09

Lord God, you will be my way maker and my promise keeper.

Speaker 1: 29:14

And Lord Jesus, you will be my comforter and my peace.

Speaker 2: 29:19

Wow, I mean, that's just right now, in this very moment, my soul is just full, like I'm not longing for anything else. I don't want to run and get this or do this, you know, it just feels like I want to just sit in this wonderful peace. It's just so good to renew our minds with God's truth. Okay, so then, what do we do with this list? Now you can write it out, or you can do it kind of on the fly, in the car or while you're waiting for somebody. But if you've got it written out, then you're gonna wanna read these out loud again and again. Maybe you wanna write them on sticky notes and note cards, make truth cards out of them, somewhere where you can see them.

Speaker 2: 30:04

Often, especially when you're feeling like I need to experience God's love and I need to know what is he up to, what is he doing you might want to whisper them to yourself when you first wake up in the morning or as you close your eyes to go to sleep at night. You might want to write them out longhand or type them into the notes of your phone so that you always have them with you. As you say what is true, your thoughts will change those patterns, those thoughts that have been in the same patterns for so long. You will notice that they're actually changing and soon your beliefs will follow. And then you'll begin to see changes in yourself, in your actions, in your words, in your conversation, in your responses to whatever comes your way.

Speaker 1: 30:58

Yes, you know, this is the key to our Revelation Within ministry is most of the people who came to us over the years before we were Revelation Within and we were still using the moniker Thin Within. They had difficulties with food and eating and their body image and certainly what we saw happening was as they began to train themselves to think differently about all the things that might have sent them to food before, as they began to think with the mind of Christ and think God's thoughts after him and began to trust that he will do these things that we've just been saying in our mind renewal tool. That is when they stopped running to food as consistently.

Speaker 1: 31:44

They began to think differently, which caused them to believe differently, which caused them to act differently. And this, of course, is still going on today, and we want to encourage any listeners to just practice this. This God, you will in the midst of my storms, you will. You will provide an ending where there is peace. It may not mean that all this stuff gets cleared up in a way that I think would be with a tidy little bow, but he will provide what is needed. He has promised that, and so I want to just continue to believe him for his promises. What is true? Life is hard, it just is. It's messy and disappointing and difficult, but it exists in the same context as the fact that God is greater. He is at work, he is on the job. He will be who he says he is and he will do what he says he will do. He will see you through. He offers us his supernatural love like nothing we can find here on earth. Our hope is in Jesus Christ alone. We can trust him to love us well.

Speaker 2: 32:55

Well, we are so glad that you have been here today and joining us, and we hope that you've enjoyed this as much as we have, and we would love to invite you to come to our next episode of our podcast, revelation Within. We'll see you next time.