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Hi,

Welcome And Series Context

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welcome to our podcast, Revelation Within on the Show! One of your hosts and the owner and leading coach of Revelation Within Ministry.

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And I'm Christina Mother, your other host, also Revelation Within Coach. We are so happy to invite you to join us for the Revelation Within.

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It was well, hopefully. Or if you're new here, welcome. Welcome at all. Yeah. We are in the midst of a podcast series called Loud Longings, Holy God. And today we're going to talk about attachment. It's so funny. When I hear the word attachment, you know, I think of when Michael, my husband, and I were living on Catalina Island, and there were all kinds of things that wanted to attach themselves to the hull of your boat.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

That's not the kind of attachment we're talking about. No. Are we talking about attachments for emails? Because that's the first thing I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

No. No. Well, we're going to talk about what we're going to talk about. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Let's talk about it.

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So,

What Attachment Really Means

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really, what this is, it's the things we instinctively turn toward when we feel distressed, when we feel overwhelmed, afraid, maybe, lonely, exhausted. All those fun emotions. And in those moments, longing can quietly begin looking to lesser things for salvation. And that's attachment. That's one of the things that is attachment.

Breath Prayer You Are My Portion

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So before we begin, let's get still together.

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Okay, that sounds good. Let's go ahead and take a slow breath in. And a slow breath out. We have a breath prayer for us today. We're gonna inhale, you alone, and we're gonna exhale and say, are my portion. So let's breathe in nice and deep.

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You alone.

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Exhale. Are my portion portion? Inhale. You alone exhale are my portion. And one more time, inhale. You alone exhale. You are my portion. Beautiful, beautiful. Today

Psalm 16 And The Idea Of Portion

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I want to go ahead and start with Psalm 16, verses five and six. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. So I just love this language of portion. Because you know, everybody lives from some kind of portion, something we lean on, something we depend on, something we run toward for comfort or stability. And scripture keeps gently inviting us back to this truth. Who is our portion? Jesus. Jesus Himself is our portion.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Hmm. It's interesting because when I think of the word portion, I think of portion control. Yeah. Right. And portion it out. And all of that. And really, when you think about it, if Jesus is my portion and the scripture says he is, wow, that's an abundant gift. That's an abundant portion. Yes. One of the things I think we may misunderstand sometimes is what attachment actually is. I think we live in a place where we experience the struggle of attachment or longing for attachment, but we don't really recognize there's a word for it. And here's the thing attachment is not weakness, it is part of being human.

Made For Connection Not Shame

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Think about it. Children, they attach. Friends, attach. Spouses attach. Christina and I had a week together in person. Oh, not that long ago. And we were attached. Yes, lots of hugs, lots of hand holding as we did our visits to different places. I mean, it sounds so silly and giggly and all. But you know, I take great comfort from the fact that God made human beings in such a way that we were created for connection. We were created for dependence and trust and communion. I think it's cool that we are told in Genesis that God made us in his image. And he is triune. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit existed in perfect triune communion and fellowship since the beginning of time. And I mean, and that's just fascinating. He made us in his image. That's attachment. Wow. You know? Um, so the problem is not our longing for attachment or attachment itself, the problem comes where our attachment settles. What are we attaching to?

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Yes, so, so good. And

When Habits Become Little Saviors

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you know, I think this is where we begin realizing that food or scrolling or overspending or control or busyness or whatever it is can slowly become more than just habits. They can begin functioning like little saviors. I know. You know, little places we instinctively run when life feels overwhelming.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Yeah, yeah, and that never happens. Life never. No, I'm kidding. It has felt very overwhelming a lot for both of us, I think, in recent months. Yeah. I think one of the sobering things about counterfeit comforts is that they rarely look obviously evil. Usually they look comforting. And how bad can that be? Right. They're predictable, they're immediate, they're available. I can go online and shop till my heart is content if that could ever happen. And I can grab something out of the fridge. It's convenient, it's immediate. Honestly, when I'm hurting, and I don't know about you, but when we're hurting, immediate relief can feel very, very compelling. Talk about tempting. Oh, it is so tempting to grab whatever's just quell the ache of my heart, of my mind, whatever it might be, numb it, soothe it, stop it, and just you know, silence it. And food responds instantly. It really does. Scrolling, even scrolling. I mean, I could go online to my face, my feed is hooked up to give me videos of puppies because I've been puppy shopping and I just had to pass up the puppy that was born for Michael and me. It makes me so sad. Oh my gosh. But life has changed for us. So, financially speaking, it wouldn't have been the best decision to spend a bunch of money on a well-bred puppy. Oh, I'm so sad. I'm so sad. But that's just it. See, I was looking for attachment. I love my dog now, but he's not a wiggle bottom dog. He is not a wiggle bottom, he is he jumps all over me when he's glad to see me, and that's not always fun. Um, and it is immediate though, I'll say that. Yeah, it's definitely immediate. Oh, but immediate relief really can feel uh like that'll do the trick. And food does it instantly, scrolling does it instantly. Yeah, that's how I got off on puppies, huh?

unknown 8:47

Yeah.

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And grabbing a hold of control of something and checking boxes and and dotting i's and crossing T's and cleaning up, and that is like an instant gratification of feeling like I've got it together.

Immediacy Versus Relationship With Jesus

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But Jesus, he kind of is inviting me into relationship instead of immediacy. And relationships sometimes, you know, they don't offer a lot in the immediate moment sometimes. Um, and I don't know about you, but that uh it reminds me that I am vulnerable. I am vulnerable, I don't get my desires answered in the moment, not very often.

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Right, right. Yeah, so this is so important to think about um because many of us are not consciously rejecting Jesus. We're not doing that. We're not we're not saying, okay, Lord, you know, you wait over here. I'm I've gotta scroll all these videos first. I'll get right back to you, and it's gonna be fine. You know, that's not or you go ahead and scroll your videos. No, you just sit right here and we'll scroll side by side. Yeah, you know what? This is so funny. I saw on the internet the other day. Um, somebody had made a video that was all animals, like cute, adorable, beautiful, sweet animals. And he said at the beginning of the video, he said, run this a few times and it will fix your feed. It will fix your algorithm. I was like, oh my gosh, this is where we are, you know. Um, because you know, if you run this a few times, the that social media, whatever Facebook, will say, Oh, this is what she wants to see over and over and over. So anyway, but it's not like we're consciously saying, Lord, I reject you. That's not what's happening at all. We're just instinctively turning elsewhere first. And you know what? Over time, those places of immediate relief can begin shaping us, it can become more than something that's just a quick distraction. It can really change us.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

It's interesting when you said it can shape us. I instantly had an image in my head of a potter with a potter's wheel and the clay being formed and shaped. And wow, if I go to certain things for immediate relief, do I really want to be shaped by that? I want to be shaped by the potter, the one true faithful potter, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Father God. I really want to surrender to that shaping, not some other shaping that isn't intentional on my part.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Right. Wow. Right, yeah, right.

No Other Gods Protects Our Hearts

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You know, Exodus chapter 20 feels really relevant here. This sounds crazy, but in it, God is very clear about a boundary he has for us. He says, You shall have no other gods before me. And that sounds really severe. He's not kidding.

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Yeah.

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And really, when you think about it, he's protecting us from placing our ultimate trust in things too small to carry us. Right. Yes. When I think about the things I have inadvertently oftentimes allowed to carry me, you know, food, having what I want, when I want it, and however much I want of it, that is not gonna save me. Um, achievement, all kinds of achievements, those can't save me. Control, being having a hold of life and keeping it in a certain in certain boundaries. Now, there's nothing wrong with having boundaries, but when I live for that, when I look to that to give me a sense of purpose, identity, and worth, we're running into problems. And other people definitely cannot ultimately save us. You know, there are times when I wonder, am I wishing for, I'll say wishing because I'm not praying for it, wishing for grandbabies so that someday they can give me a sense of purpose and worth. I will say, God and I have talked about that quite a bit. No, I'm not, I'm not, yeah, it's probably not gonna happen anyway.

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Yeah, it still might. God can do anything.

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Here's the truth, though. Only Jesus, only Jesus can bear the weight of being my savior, your savior, our savior. Only him. He is the only one.

Jesus Gives Himself Not Tips

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Well, and I think what one of the most beautiful things in the gospels is how Jesus consistently offers himself to people, not merely advice, not merely improvement, not well, have you tried this, or why don't you try this again? None of that. He provides himself, he gives himself rest for the weary, bread for the hungry, living water for the thirsty, and how about peace for the anxious?

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I had a pastor wise beyond his years at the time he was in his early 30s, and he said, you know, God doesn't promise us answers, Heidi, he promises us himself. And I mean, I cannot imagine saying to him, I don't care, I want answers. Yeah, right. No, I mean, he is the only one that can meet that need in that moment. Um, I think many people who might be listening today may realize that they've been asking for smaller things to hold weight that they were never meant to carry. Food was never meant to carry, even scrolling was never meant to carry the weight of being where I turn when I have a need. It really wasn't. I don't think that any of the people who have created Facebook and Instagram and all of these things had any idea we're gonna create a species of people who can't function unless they have little screens in front of them scrolling ruined wedding videos and hobby videos and things like that. Oh my god. Wedding bloopers. Yes, no, yeah, I think many people listening today probably realize that we've been asking smaller things to hold weight, weight that they were never meant to carry. Um, not because we're foolish, but but really because we're human and because we're hurting. You know, hurting people make dumb choices sometimes. Yeah. And because we're thirsty, yeah, you know, Jesus says in John 15, abide in me.

Abide In Me Over Behavior Fixes

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Oh, this has been coming home to me in whole new ways. This whole idea of abiding. Uh remain in me, stay connected to me. Jesus is saying, draw your life from me. And I think that invitation is so much deeper than behavior modification. You know, just stop eating. What you need is Jesus, stop scrolling. What you need is Jesus. That's all true. That Jesus is what I need, but I don't think it's about behavior modification, it's relational attachment, yes, holy attachment, loving attachment.

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Yeah, not try harder. No, uh remain with me.

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So maybe one of the best questions that we can ask ourselves and invite God into it is Lord, would you show me what am I trusting right now? You know, in those moments when I'm feeling really sad or disconnected or unloved or forgotten or whatever it might be, I usually don't want to ask questions. I just want it to go away. I want to clock out and I want to hide under the covers, and that would be that. Yeah. But if I were to just with a little act of my will, dare to invite God to tell me, Lord, what am I trusting in right now? And and ask it not with panic or with self-condemnation. Oh great, Heidi, what are you trusting in right now? And just being honest. So when distress rises, where do I instinctively run? What feels like if I just had this, I could breathe again? If I just could do this, I could feel so much better. Those moments reveal so much about what we look to for refuge, for protection, for comfort.

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Well, and Jesus, you know, he's not exposing those places to humiliate us. That's not what's going on. Not at all. He wants so much more for us than what we normally run to. He knows that he can give us something so much deeper. He's inviting us into deeper freedom. Ultimately, counterfeit comforts always ask for more. Have you noticed that? Yeah. It's like, oh, I'm gonna go to this and I'm gonna feel better, I'm gonna relax. And we're not relaxed. And we're like, it's it doesn't work, and so we go for more, or we go for the next counterfeit comfort. We switch to you know, spending, or we switch to food, or we switch to something else because they don't work except in the moment for just this tiny little amount of time. But the counterfeit comforts always ask for more and they satisfy less and less. But Jesus, he leads us toward the actual life, and he's the only one really that can.

Relief Versus Refuge And A Prayer

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So this week for you, when distress rises or agitation or sadness, maybe you could just pause gently and invite God to show you Lord, what am I trusting right now? Listen to what he tells you because he he I think he likes to respond to those kinds of questions. Oh yeah, and then just pray Jesus, you are my portion here. Not not like mechanically, like a robot would, um, with you know, not no no, but relationally, Jesus, you are my portion. I want to feast on you. I want to give myself totally to you, even as you've given yourself totally to me. And then let yourself return to him again and again and again.

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I'm just gonna go ahead and pray. Lord Jesus, thank you that you alone are able to carry the weight of our trust. Forgive us for the ways we turn toward smaller comforts before turning toward you. Teach us, Lord, to recognize the difference between relief and refuge. And Lord Jesus, where our hearts are feeling frightened or needy, please draw us gently back into deeper attachment to you. Lord, be our portion, be our steadiness, Lord, be our peace. Thank you, God. We love you and we love being yours, and I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Well, thanks, friend, for joining us for this episode of Loud Longings Holy God as part of our Revelation Within on the Go podcast.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Yes, we're so glad you've been here today, and we would love to invite you to join us for our next episode of Revelation Within.

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I forget.