Girls Gone Bible - God’s Not Mad At You | Girls Gone Bible

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

Hiiiii GGB:)   In todays episode we dive into Scripture to uncover the truth about God’s heart. He’s not mad at you—He’s waiting with open arms, ready to celebrate your return.   We explore how God’s love and grace are unconditional. No matter how far you’ve strayed, His love never changes.   We love you so much. Jesus loves you more. -Ang & Ari   JOIN US ON GGB+ 🥹❤️ https://ggb.supportingcast.fm   WE ARE ON THE OFFICIAL GIRLS GONE BIBLE LIVE TOUR! www.girlsgonebible.com/tour for the first batch of cities we have locked in :) WE LOVE YOU AND CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOU!   if you’d like to support Girls Gone Bible 🙏🏻🕊️🤍 Paypal- https://www.paypal.me/girlsgonebibleinfo Venmo- https://www.venmo.com/u/girlsgonebible

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Yours looks good. You look beautiful. Is that, what kind of shirt is that? It's Polo. Polo raflory. Polo raflory. Polo raflory. Is there something wrong with us?

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Scarface. What's up, Bar? Are you getting a flat white? No, do you want some? No. Why not? I don't want your poopy coconut milk. It's not poopy, it's coconut milk.

Coconut milk is the best. Yeah. You know last night when you said- I'm a good old creamer, girl. What are we talking about today? We are talking about when we feel like God is mad at us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So many of us go through.

We have to do an introduction. We didn't do that. Oh. Hi, I'm Ari. And I'm Ange. And this is Girls Gone Bible. We are two girls who love Jesus so much. We talk everything from mental health, relationships,

anything you've been through, we probably have too. You can feel safe with us. We say come as you are, just don't stay that way. Let Jesus do a mighty work in you. Don't say that. Weeping may come in the night. Weeping may endure for the night. But draw, coming in the morning.

Anybody? Anybody? What's up? You guys, before we get into today's episode, we want to announce again for the hundredth time that we are on the Girls Gone Bible live tour. You guys can go to girlsgonebible.com slash tour to get your tickets. We're going all over the country so many different cities It is absolutely insane that the fact that Jesus actually saved our lives

Has brought us the opportunity to go and literally tell everybody in America about it in other countries Eventually is absolutely insane. It's been the greatest blessing to be with you guys truly is absolutely insane. It's been the greatest blessing to be with you guys, truly. We always say it's one thing to talk to you over a podcast, but to actually see you face to face and just praise Jesus together has been the greatest blessing of our lives. It's so true. And we just love you so much. And you guys are our best friends, and I can't wait to meet you guys.

And one other thing, you guys know that we started something called GGBB+, which is a platform where we basically give you exclusive content. We like to call them conversations. We do little episodes together where we just talk, believe it or not, we can be even more real and raw on there than we are on here. And we even do solo episodes and we basically just will have a thought of like What is God teaching me this week and we go and we talk about it and we get really personal and you can go to girlsgonbible.com Plus and we just really want you guys to come and and honestly support the ministry and support the podcast I think it's a really great way if you love what we do here supporting us on GGB plus is a really,

it's really, really helpful and means honestly, the absolute world to us. So, all right, let's talk about it. Let's talk about the fact that so often, so many of us think that God is always mad at us, like you and I always think that God is mad at us. Especially me. And that's just not the truth.

It's actually the opposite. We are here today. I have been so excited for this episode. Oh. Sorry. You OK? I have been so excited for this episode because it's something that we walk.

I am so sorry. I just got something in my eye. It's OK. We have been wanting to talk about this for so long because it's something that we walk through and what so many people go through. And it is just such a lie of the stupid enemy to make us feel like God is always mad at us

or we always, you know, there's something that is in between. Like for me personally, something I always experience, and tell me if you experience this I Always because I know how much God loves me like I know I know it has changed everything about me It's changed everything about my life. And so I know how much he loves me. That's never in question But I always feel like he's like got a bone to pick with me a little bit You know what? I mean, like I always feel like I'll literally like go

into my quiet time. I'll go into my secret place and I'm so receptive, so ready, like me and Jesus, like I'm one with God. Like we are one, there is no separation. And then I'll always have these thoughts of like, mm, he's a little with you right now. Do you think that may be from your childhood? I think it's so many different things, and I definitely think it has a lot to do with childhood.

I think if you hear God as like this really critical voice, whatever, however you hear God, that's not completely aligned with what scripture says he's like, you can bet your bottom dollar that you probably had a voice in your childhood that then you projected onto God. And now that's what you think God sounds like when really it's a voice from your childhood that's either critical or condemning or discouraging and shames you when that is just not how God talks to us.

Do you experience something similar? Mine's a little different. When He saved me, like He saved me from such darkness. I had a little bit of religious OCD where I was like, I don't wanna do anything wrong because I don't want Him to pull His love away from me and I don't wanna disobey Him. And so I tried to be like the perfect person

and if I did the littlest thing, I would just dwell. You know, I just dwell. And so that's been my journey of trying to not be so hard on myself and understand that that's not how it really is and I don't need to condemn myself because I know that's not from God. Listen, you aren't going to see my meals on the Food Network, but I like to cook. I just want it

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It's the parable of the lost son. Today we're going to talk all about how God talks to you, what He sounds like, what He doesn't sound like, and the fact that if we can leave you guys with anything, it's the fact that Jesus is literally always standing there waiting for you to come back to Him. He is always waiting and hoping that you will come back to Him. He's never... I have in the past had this kind of complex with God where I almost felt like I was always

on such edge and in so much anxiety because I thought that He was... I had this narrative in my head that he was like waiting for me to mess up. Like, oh, it's only about time that you're going to mess up and do something and lose it all. You know what I mean? And I always felt like that. And especially within the past year, I, I just realized that that is just not the way that he is. That's not, he's just waiting there, hoping that we come back to him, even after the biggest, biggest mistakes that we could possibly make. So Luke 15 verse 11 says, Jesus told them the story.

A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate now before you die. So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later, this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into the fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding

the pigs looked good to him, but no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare. And here I am dying of hunger. I will go home to my Father and say, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me as a hired servant.' So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer

worthy of being called your son. But his father said to the servants, quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, and kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found. So the party began." Oh, really quickly, before we continue. So obviously in this parable, this son represents all of us,

all of us sheep that have strayed away, but God laid on him on Jesus, the sins of us all. That's what it says in Isaiah. And so where we are the son, we are all of the ones who walk away and God is the father who is literally filled with love and compassion and runs to us. The son has made massive life-destroying mistakes, and his father is sitting there being like,

let the party begin because my son is back. Everything he's done means nothing to me because he's come back to me. And I love this moment of when He says, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you. I'm no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant. He comes back to His Father in full, complete humility, with His face in the dirt, for lack of better words, which is how I know I have come to God so many times. And it is the best way to come to Him in such humility that you're like, I am not even worthy. I know I'm not worthy. But would you take me back? And then it says, He was lost, but now He is found. And then verse 25 says,

Meanwhile the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home he heard music and dancing in the house and he asked one of the servants what was going on. "'Your brother is back,' he was told, and, "'your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.'" The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, "'All these years I have slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to, and in all that time you never even gave me one young goat for a feast with

my friends. Yet, when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf." His father said to him, "'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day, for your brother was dead and has come back to life. He was lost, but now he is found." This story is incredible, and every single one of us can relate to it.

How many times have we decided to just pack up and go far away because we wanted to go by our own desires, and we all hit a famine spiritually. We all try to live however we want, and we sit in sin and do whatever we want, and then all of a sudden we crash because it's a lack of peace, and we run home to our Father. And you just realize that He's sitting there. We think that He's turned His back on us, and He's, when it says, but His Father was waiting for Him, and that I just picture God just being like, here, I'm right here, let's try this again.

It is just a journey of molding into God's image, and this is the perfect parable that explains it. I just relate so much to it. I spent so many years living however I wanted to, and I was so ashamed to come into Christianity. I felt so inadequate when I came into the Christian space, being around all these Christians that grew up in purity, and things like that, and that just wasn't the case. And I just, when I think about Jesus,

how He welcomed me in His arms and took me in His arms and welcomed me with love and compassion. And all of us are sitting here being like, oh, He's so mad at me, He's turned His back on me. No, this parable right here shows how loving and compassionate and forgiving and merciful He is. So good. It's so good. This lost son just represents all of us who are, and it happens, and even after you get saved, it's so often that people backslide. And I know I've had moments

early on in my faith where I made massive mistakes and went back on things that I said I wouldn't do and like made promises and had a conviction about something and said I would never do it again and then ending up going back to it willingly and then making the decision to backtrack once again and come back to Jesus and repent. And so this lost son in his rebellion

and in his immaturity, he loves the idea of his free will. And this is what I love about following Jesus so much is that we have free will. How fully, period, we have free will. But once you actually reach a level of maturity in your faith, you realize that while God doesn't make decisions for you, you should give Him the authority to. Surprisingly enough, yes, Jesus is our friend, and He's the love of our lives, and He loves us so much, but before He's our friend, He's our Lord. And I have so much respect for that man that I do allow him to tell me how to

think, how to behave, what to do, you know what I mean? And so this son in his rebellion and in his immaturity decides, I want to go exercise my free will, I want to go live my life, I want to go do this, that horrible, evil, dark things. And then he comes to the end of himself and he goes, oops, I hit actual rock bottom. I've made so many mistakes. And I have had now just such bad tragedy happen to me that I have no choice but to go back to God. And so how often do we have to hit a rock bottom

and like really come to the end of ourselves and then come crawling back to God. That's what it is. You know what I mean? And so it's so often I see all the time that people are so reluctant to follow Jesus. They're so reluctant to actually give their lives until it's crazy. I know.

That's why when I see people in hardships, I'm like, buckle up because if you submit to it, that's why these tragedies and things are connected to so much more. God's like, hello, I'm trying to get your attention. I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm allowing this because I'm after your heart. One of my favorite parts about this too is the contrast between the father and the brother. The older brother or the younger brother? The older brother. So the older brother is obviously very upset because he's looking at his dad saying, I've always done everything right.

I have never refused anything you asked me to do. I've always done everything and you've never given me the luxury of a fattened calf. And then so the father and the older son have such a difference in perspective. The older son is like, but he is a sinner and he was wasting all of your money on prostitutes. And he is just awful and he's a sinner and I'm better than him. And I was listening to a pastor a long time ago who basically compared the older son to the Pharisees and the Father as being God. And because they're all upset, the Pharisees at this time are all upset because Jesus is going and hanging out with the sinners and the prostitutes and the tax collectors and

all these people. And the Pharisees are literally like trying to find him guilty of like trying to find a charge against him based on Him just hanging out with these people. And Jesus is telling all these parables to let them know, like, this is who I have come for. This is who I have come for. We'll read a little parable before that, but it says there's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who need no repentance. And so our point in reading this story and talking about this, you guys, is because we want you to know this is the kindness of God. This is the

character of God. He is the most loving Father who does not, not only does He not hold your wrongs against you, He's not sitting there waiting for you to mess up. And He's not up in heaven looking down at you being like, there you go again, making a mistake. I have heard that voice so many times, and it's not even until this past year that I've been like able to be like, that is not Him. That's not Jesus. That's not what He sounds like. Yeah. Well, that's, that's, it's, I was talking about this with Angela the other day. I don't remember where we were, but it was, my voices were so loud. I remember I was telling you about this and all of a sudden I just, I had like a spiritual attack and the voices were so loud in my head and typically growing up and how I've dealt with it

my whole life when those voices come in, I believe it. I receive it and I believe it and then I get into a depression. And so I'm listening to these voices and I'm like, wow. I was like, this is noisy. And I'm sitting there and I start analyzing every single thought I was having. It was crazy you guys. I'm hearing like the craziest negative just it's just insane these voices and the negative self-talk that was

going on in my head. But now that's the beauty of knowing what it is. And I was so proud of myself, because I literally analyzed every single thought and I go, oh yeah? Oh yeah? I was like, get out! And I was like laughing. I was, but it was, it's funny, but then again, it's not, because it's a lot. And we have these spiritual battles, and we have this condemnation going through our minds, and so it's really important that we understand. Stephanie E.K. says it all the time, God's voice will never be against you. So anything that is negative self-talk,

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Just go to livegood.com slash ggb to save 10% off your first order. That's livegood.com.ggb to save 10% off your first order. That's livegood.com.ggb. Don't miss out on the opportunity to invest in your health without overspending. Do you mind if I really quickly just read something that I wrote out? The difference between condemnation and conviction, because it's so important to distinguish the voice of God between the voice

of the enemy, which is always accusatory. So conviction is a positive, constructive work of the Holy Spirit that leads you to repentance and spiritual growth. It helps the believer recognize sin and turn to God for forgiveness and restoration. It's motivating. It's uplifting. It helps the believer recognize sin and turn to God for forgiveness and restoration. It's motivating. It's uplifting. It pushes you towards God and says it makes you aware of your sin. So yes, you are aware of it, but it's godly sorrow. It's the type of guilt because condemnation and conviction will both feel like guilt. But one guilt is fully discouraging and the other guilt pushes you towards being better, makes you feel like guilt. But one guilt is fully discouraging and the other guilt pushes you towards being better, makes you more like Jesus.

And I want to let you guys know that conviction, when you come to that place of conviction and then repentance, it's as if it never happened. He will walk with you as if you are washed clean. He does not hold sin against you. He doesn't hold it over your head. Condemnation, on the other hand, is a negative, destructive voice that comes from Satan or yourself. And it seeks to imprison the believer in guilt, shame, and hopelessness. It causes despair and pushes the person away from God. Once you understand the difference between conviction and condemnation,

you will be so aware when something is making you turn in on yourself and saying, oh, and like hiding yourself from God. And it's just like the worst feeling in the world, you know, you know, you know, that is not the work of the Holy Spirit in you. Conviction sounds so different. My moments of like deep, deep conviction are honestly probably my most victorious moments. My moments of making a massive mistake and then coming to Jesus and knowing what He thinks and letting Him completely fill me with conviction, which

is coupled with His love and His mercy. It's not just anger. It is like coupled with his love and his mercy, like it's not just anger, like it's always coupled with his love and mercy. Those are my most victorious moments. My biggest failures are often my most victorious moments because I get to turn to Jesus and be like, I'm so happy we went through this, let's try again and do better. I'm sure that took you a lot of work.

It did, it did, and time. It's all, you guys, especially if you're newer, you cannot get down on yourself if sometimes we say things and you're like, oh, I'm not there. It takes time. It takes experience. People walk with Jesus their whole lives and still don't get it right every time.

And they still, and honestly, in the middle of a situation we talked about it last time, it is so much harder when you're in the middle of something to, we talked about it last time, it is so much harder when you're in the middle of something to understand what's going on. Your ability to analyze your thoughts in real time is so impressive, because it's the hardest thing in the world. Because the voice is so subtle.

It's not always so like, oh, you're stupid and ugly and whatever. It's not all- He's sneaky. He's so sneaky. Sometimes it's so subtle that you don't even you don't even know. It's not jarring. So you're not even aware of it, but you begin to listen to it and it's in your subconscious. The source of conviction is the Holy Spirit.

The source of condemnation is Satan or yourself. The purpose of conviction is to lead you to repentance and the purpose of condemnation is to bring guilt and despair. The tone of conviction is gentle, loving, and motivating. The tone of condemnation is harsh, accusing, and discouraging. Every time you're going through something, even after you make a mistake, I want you to analyze what you're feeling and write those things down and see if this is from the Holy Spirit or if it's from Satan himself. Do I feel motivated and pushed towards God or do I feel absolutely discouraged and overwhelmed and I want to hide from God completely? Do you understand how much growth you're going to have when you start doing that?

When you really understand that this negative self-talk is not from you or from God. You're gonna, literally, you're gonna be like a soldier in your gear, like defeating these voices, because we are in such a spiritual battle, even though the enemy is this big, like we always say, he is, like he's sneaky, especially with people that struggle, that grew up struggling so much with self-worth and stuff, like he knows how to get in your head. And so that is going to be, I want us all to really work on that this next year, into the new year, with, I love that you said that, writing those thoughts down.

And then sometimes we can feel like, you know, another thing that I have felt was a separation from God. Yeah. I feel disconnected. When I first started my journey with God, He was just like this with me and my brokenness, and He's so close to the brokenhearted, and it was just, it was insane what I experienced with Him.

And then, you know, sometimes during my journey, I have been like, okay, where is He? I don't have this crazy encounter. And so, you're like, oh gosh, did He turn His back on me? Is He not here? Is He mad at me? Did I do something wrong? God talks about how, you know, there's a wedge in between you and God when you sin. If He didn't do that, then we would just go around acting however we want. It's good.

He doesn't do it because His wrath is on us. He does it in His love, in His discipline, in His correction. That's the heart of God. He's a good Father that is after us, that wants us to be the best versions of ourselves. So anything He does when it says, "'Oh, sin separates you from God,

it's because out of His love, He's trying to correct us. And I love in Proverbs 3 verse 11, it says, my child, don't reject the Lord's discipline and don't be upset when He corrects you. For the Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights." And so I love that when he says, for the Lord corrects those he loves. So when you feel a disconnection, maybe you are someone who sinned and you're just saying, oh my gosh, he's turned his back on me. I feel like he's silent. No, it's in his love he's correcting you and he didn't turn His back on you and He's not silent from you.

He's simply just trying to show you the way. Oh, I love that. I love that. I love that. I love that. I love that you brought that up. Thank you for bringing up feelings because we've talked about it before and especially coming from two people. I'll speak for myself. I love the presence of God so much. I feel like since I met Jesus, since I really started following Jesus, that's how I experience Him. Sometimes I feel so close to Jesus that it legitimately feels like He walked in the room and He's sitting with me. Sometimes I feel like I close my eyes and I legitimately see His—I've had the most insane experience before where I— God was in my room.

Jesus himself, I closed my eyes and I know my eyes were closed, but in the Spirit I saw his nail pierced feet literally right in front of me when I was on my knees. I was bawling my eyes out and this is going to sound weird, but it was the most incredible. I cried for literally four hours. I was bawling my eyes out and I was wiping my tears and like metaphorically, but I was doing it with my hands, like washing Jesus' feet with my tears, like that woman in scripture did and it was the most insane experience I've ever had. And so he has graced me with such incredible encounters.

And it almost spoils you in a way. Because then when you're a little distra—I mean, there's so many elements that will affect how we feel God's presence emotionally, physically, spiritually. There could always be a block. I put in quotations, I'll tell you why in a second. Because our feelings are such an untrustworthy measure of our closeness to God. Nowhere in the Scriptures does it say that our intimate relationship with God is based on how much we feel Him, or if we got goosebumps, or if we started crying. Yes, those are all beautiful manifestations of the glory of God and God's manifest presence coming and touching your heart. What I've experienced so much is Satan

lying to me telling me that I'm far from God based on what I'm feeling. And specifically, there will be moments where I'll get into the secret place and I'll be like, and God broke performance and striving off of me. He began to, it's a forever work in process, but even a year ago, I was so performance-based. I was so works-based. I was so striving. How much scripture can I read? How many chapters can I get? If I was able to read five chapters in the morning, that meant that I'm a good Christian

and Jesus is proud of me. And I am just so different now. I have been wrecked by the love of Jesus in a way that has absolutely changed me. Like I am so not workspaced. In fact, scripture is absolutely my life and it's so important, but oftentimes I'll get into the secret place

and I sit and I say, here, love me. I know that's all you wanna do right now. Just love me. And I let him love me. And I don't feel the need to like try to do anything or be anybody or, you know, I know that I can't earn his love. He just wants to love me. And so sometimes I'll get into this into my quiet time and then I'll have this little nagging voice of being like, huh, you can't feel his presence because you still have an idol.

And then like, I'll have Satan whisper like my sins, because we've laid down the big sins. I used to know it's this, that, and the other. And now it's like the deep rooted sin in my heart of things that I still, you know what I mean? Like we all struggle. And he'll like remind me of the idols that I have in my life. And you put this above God and like you're still not healed from this and that's putting a block and you don't receive power from God because like just all these lies and I'm like you are such a big fat loser go away go away that's literally how I talk to him I literally am like this is not the truth in chapter eight, it says that nothing can separate us from God's love. Now, this is a tricky one because nothing can separate us from God's love,

meaning that God is always for us. He's always wanting us. He's always pursuing us. Nothing we do, no matter how bad it is, will ever make Him stop pursuing us. However, I want to say on the same coin because we don't want this episode to be like, Jesus loves you and whatever, like holiness, like we can't be perfect, however we have,

holiness is the standard. Being pure and holy and blameless in the sight of God is the absolute standard. So we can do things that put a little block between us, put a little separation. But the point is in knowing that nothing that we do will separate God from us. He still wants us no matter what we do. However, the pure in heart will see God. The better, you know, the more in right standing you are with God,

the more you will be able to access Him in the way that you want to. Yeah. And it says that, Romans 8 verse 31 says, What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us, including your thoughts? Since He did not even spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, won't He also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one. For God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? No one. For Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us, meaning he fights for us. Jesus is our high priest and our personal intercessor.

He literally prays to the Father on our behalf, my favorite thing about him. And then it says, can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean that he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow.

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See site for details. Know what else? I know for myself and so many of you guys that I talk to, we just like, we feel like we're too far gone. And we fail to forget that half of the reason why we sin is out of brokenness. Yeah. We are... We're all lost. We're all broken. We're all...

Do you think Jesus thought we were gonna live this perfect life? I can't even tell you how many times I've said, I am just too far gone. Like, I can't do this. And Jesus is sitting there being like, what do you mean? I knew you were going to mess up. Come back. It is not the time to turn away from Him. So many of you guys have just reared away from Christianity and Jesus and the Bible because you are so in shame and in bondage and you can't even look people in the eyes because you're so embarrassed of what you did.

And Jesus is saying, come to me. I just want to read a little bit about Him so you guys understand who He is. The Lord is compassionate and merciful. He's slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all of our sins. He does not deal harshly with us as we deserve. For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him is great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far as the east from the west. The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate. For He knows how weak we are. He remembers we are only dust." He knows how weak we are. He knows how hard it is to be a human living in this world, trying to figure it all out. And so I just I

want you guys to get rid of the shame. I want you guys to stop sitting there and just being like, I can't, I am too far gone, I have too much of a past. He will never accept me as his child. He loves you so much. That is your father. If you knew the love of God, he is like, I love you so much. I won't even remember those sins. You are washed clean. Come to me. I will, I will, I will wash you clean.

Like Ari was saying in that Psalm, he's slow to anger and does God get angry? Yes, but his anger is never arbitrary, like it's never without reason, and it's always, His anger is never an end. His anger is always tempered with mercy. He's always angry with the hopes of you coming back to Him. Like it's never just God's angry, and that's it. There's always an and, And the and is always the hopes of reconciliation and repentance. And I just want you guys to know, and like really hear me when I tell you this, that every time, and you will sin again, we all will.

I will, Ari will, all of us. And when you do, and you think you're so ashamed, and you try to hide your face, and you down and you don't even you can't even bear To look up at heaven because you're so ashamed of what you did and you think that God is looming over you being like wow Look at you once again You need to understand that literally what he's saying is come here. Yeah Come here. I Want you yeah come to me Come here. Yeah. Come here. I want you. Yeah.

Come to me. You can just come to me. Please don't go. Please don't turn. Please don't go away from me. That is literally the only thing that he's saying to you. Come back to me. It is his greatest hope.

Yes, the sin breaks his heart, but I can't even imagine how much more his heart is broken when Satan accuses you or your own self Accuses you so hard that it makes you turn from him Look at Peter. Peter was his very best friend Yeah, look at what Peter did betray him three times because he was he was he was scared He was Peter was so scared. We are all broken and scared. And we are just so imperfect.

And if you ever think you're going to be perfect and you're not going to have a slip up in your life, then you're kidding yourself. And what did Jesus do? Jesus understood. Jesus loved him. Jesus forgave him. And so when you look at all the disciples,

how they were the most imperfect human beings, they all were. It just helps your heart rest a little to be like, wait a minute, I don't have to be this perfect person. It's okay. It's okay that I'm imperfect. It's okay that I make mistakes. Yes, I want to live a good righteous life and I want to follow the Word of God, but you know what? I can rest a little. He loves me. He's for me. He's not against me. Jesus never changes. He never changes. He is love. And so, when I realized that, and I still struggle with it, I really do. I would be kidding if I sat here on here, preached to you and been like, when I realized and I walked this straight line, no, I actually really struggle if you guys want to know the truth. This has been one of my things in my journey. That's why I'm like

walking this thing with you. I really struggle. I struggle with perfection now and everything I do, I dwell. I'm a dweller. So anything that I do that may not be in the perfect will of God, I'm like, man, I just let them down. But so it's normal and it's okay. But when we sit there in shame and just beat ourselves up, how can God work through us? How can we receive God's love when we are sitting there condemning ourselves and letting the enemy win? So crazy. It's like we're giving ourselves over to the enemy when we sit there and we're letting the shame get to us. That's why we have to be strong. We have to know

where it's coming from. Another thing that you know you could be holding on to that you think God is mad at you is the past, which is one thing that I do too. I hold on to the past so much and I'm like, if I only did things this way, and it keeps me from, it keeps me, like it keeps me from doing what God wants to do. I feel like God is so ashamed of me. And what does God say? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. Don't dwell on the past. We need these scriptures. That's why I love that you know how to memorize scriptures because to have these in our pocket that when the thoughts come up, like I want you guys to start declaring these out of your mouth.

I started doing it recently. I have them in my notes and I wait a minute, okay, I'm thinking about the past. Don't dwell on the past. New has come, the old has passed away. That's what he says. I trust you, Jesus. This is what's in your word.

And remember this one. There is now no condemnation for those of us that are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. There's only an abundance of grace and mercy and forgiveness and correction. You know what I mean? And Scripture is very clear that it's out of His kindness. It's His kindness that motivates us, that pushes us towards repentance. What Ari just mentioned about the past has got me thinking a little bit about how I really think that if you

have unforgiveness in your heart towards yourself, that's something you really need to look at. Because just like how I said earlier, oftentimes the way in which we think we hear God is through a voice from our childhood. That if the voice you hear of God is negative, it's something that you heard in your childhood. Also, you really have to, if you struggle with always feeling like God is mad at you, you have to look and see if there's any unforgiveness in your heart towards your own self, because there's a massive chance that you're projecting your own unforgiveness and your own feelings about yourself onto God thinking that he's speaking to you like that when it's really you're speaking to yourself like that.

And so, and I just wanna say, if we are projecting anything onto God, we're projecting our own voice or our parents' voice or somebody's voice onto God saying that that's who he is, then you are making a God in your own image. And that is a huge issue. That is even deeper than just thinking God is not mad at you. You are completely distorted in your perception of Jesus

and you will never experience Jesus in a pure, in a pure revelatory way if you don't see Him rightly. We can't project somebody else's voice onto His. You know? Yeah. And I just, I know we talk about it all the time, but I just, for anyone who's listening, that has just, has been in such deep sin,

and you just feel so ashamed, and you're just going through just so much in your heart. I just, I hope you understand that no one is perfect. And if you only knew, I mean, I just, I don't know, I can't say this enough from a girl that came from the world and just felt so unaccepted. I just didn't feel like I was ever good enough

to be in this with Jesus. Like, I really didn't. I felt so inadequate when I first started the podcast. Like, I just felt like God was so mad at me. I was just so less than. And so I just, I want you to understand that actually your past is gonna be your greatest testimony. What you went through, he want you to understand that actually your past is going to be your greatest testimony. What you went through, He is going to use that and it's just like it's me and Angela's

testimony, it's going to be yours too. And I want you to think about this parable, this boy, how he went and he did the opposite of what he was supposed to do and how he just lived in sin and he was reckless and he came to the place of, wait a minute, I need my father. And his father accepted him with arms wide open. He didn't even wait for him to, he couldn't even wait for him to talk. The first thing the boy tried to talk, he said, I love you. I missed you.

Waiting in hope. And I just want you to have that picture in your head of Jesus when you think that you're far too gone. That is what Jesus is doing with you. I love that so much. It's so beautiful. This one little parable at the beginning of chapter 15, it's the parable of the lost sheep. Most of us have heard this, that Jesus leaves the 99 for the 1. That's who He is. That's the heart of God. The tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.

This made the Pharisees and teachers of the religious law complain that He was associating with such sinful people. He was even eating with them. So Jesus told them this story. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me,

because I have found my lost sheep. In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over 99 others who are righteous and haven't strayed away." I think about God took me on a little journey of when I first got sober. Um, as in my quiet time. And I asked him, like, would you, when I closed my eyes, would you take me there?

Because even now, like there is still so much, unfortunately, shame a little bit that's like wrapped up in it. And I asked him like, will you take me there and will you show me, show me where you were, show me how you felt about me? Cause I'm, I'm really so tired of feeling just like how you do, that I walk into these Christian spaces and I feel like this broken project even still, like you can't help but feel a little bit less

than all the people around you because of where you come from. And like, he takes me on this journey and all I hear from him is like, you were, you are, and you were the apple of my eye. Like, I loved you so much. In the middle of your mess, I adored you. I am obsessed with you.

I love you so much. And everything that you did, all the mistakes that you made, everything that happened, even the pain that you caused other people, literally went to zero the second you turned from me. And me and all of the angels in heaven began to rejoice because we said, Angela is coming back. You know? That is really cute. That is what he's saying about you too. He is not mad at you. God's not mad at you. I'm so mad at Satan lying to you, discouraging you, making you feel like you're less than and that God isn't the loving father that he is to you. He loves you so much and he's not mad at you.

And it's by no coincidence that he chose these two, these two girls who didn't come from Christian backgrounds, who come from really dark pasts, living of the world, our whole lives. It's insane. And it's by no coincidence, it's only by God's grace that we're sitting here. And it's because He's saying, look at these two girls and look at what I did for them. And I want to do that for you guys too. And so that's why I don't want you guys to sit in shame for even a second.

I want you to think about us. I hope we are a seat of faith for you guys to say, wait a minute, Anjanara, I don't have to sit here and say how far gone I am or my past is too dark or is he mad at me because I did this and that. Look at these two girls. He did it for them. He washed them clean. He will wash you clean too. You know, I love that you say that. That's so beautiful. That is, that is so beautiful. I'm going to really

try not to cry. Your makeup looks really good. That is, that's so special. That's who he is. That's who he is. That's who he is. He uses everything. And another thing too I wanted to share was, am I really far up?

I'm on both. No, I don't think so. Another thing I wanted to share that I had went through recently was I had been in my quiet time, and I don't know what you would call it, but you could say, you know, I wasn't having crazy encounters. But I would just sit there and I would worship and I would read the Bible and I'd be like, God, I just want to have an encounter with you, you know? And so, He had kept waking me up really early.

I kept showing up. nothing, no crazy encounters. That's okay, you know? But I kept waking up early, I kept going, nothing, nothing. And then all of a sudden, boom. And I think that's what God does. I have experienced this so many times where I'm like, Jesus, I wanna have an encounter with you. I feel like you've turned your back on me.

Where are you? Like, have I done something wrong? I know so many of you probably go through this. And if it's one thing I know, it's that act of showing up, being obedient, staying faithful to Him, still showing up. Oh, you don't hear from me. Are you still going to show up? And then there I am. You know, because we realize that God isn't a magician. He isn't. He's not just

going to show up when we're like, Jesus, come here, I want to have, you know? He's not like that. He's a physician. He works slowly and He works through you and it's all about faith. And me showing up, I was like, I'm glad you did that because it kept me, it keeps me hungry, it keeps me dependent and it keeps me coming back. Yeah. And so he's just, he's such a good dad. Yeah. And one of the things that we can really do to just stay sharp and know and one thing for me is mentorship.

One thing for Angela is mentorship. We need mentors. We need even Christian therapists. We need it. We need somebody to talk to. We need community. One of the things that really has helped me is I is a good Christian therapist. I remember saying to her, oh man, I just feel like, you know, this and that. And I'll never forget her saying to me, now is that a good dad? Is that what a good Christian therapist, I remember saying to her, oh man, I just feel like, you know, this and that. And I'll never forget her saying to me, now, is that a good dad? Is that what a good dad would do? And I go, you're right. It was like she spoke like that to me being like, and it's true, a good dad would not be against us. A good dad isn't going to be mean and harsh to us. No. And so- It's not him.

It's not his voice. Yeah, it's not... When we know that, we're like, okay, we can really, really just relax. Let's all relax. We can relax. We can rest. I have been in a season of one thing I have desired that I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and behold the beauty of the Lord

to inquire in this temple and to basically, it says, meditate on his goodness. There are moments where while I used to be basically in the spiritual Olympics, I used to try to climb a ladder to get to Jesus and he's like, why are you trying to climb a ladder to get to me? I already climbed down to get to you. You don't have to do anything. I used to, it was like, I had this sportsmanship in me where I just wanted to be and do and like whatever. And then finally I got to the point where I was like, I didn't fall in love with Jesus

because I wanted to be somebody for him one day. I fell in love with Jesus because I needed a savior and I was in a lot of trouble and He saved my life. And so I have really gone from a workspace performance and like I said, it's just funny to see my own heart change of being like, wow, like sweet Ange, she just wanted to do good for Jesus. She just really wanted to follow the rules. She just really wanted to do right. And that is still my heart posture. But now I naturally do the right thing because I am full of the love of God. I am full of the peace and the joy of God. And He is in me. His heart is in mine.

I'm one with God. We make the same decisions because we're one. You know what I mean? And so we say all this to say, you guys, He's not mad at you. He's not mad at you. He's not. He loves you. He's not. And if there is something we need to repent for, we love repentance here. It is the most important, not the most, but it is one of the most important parts of your faith walk, repenting, renouncing and denouncing any sin in your life and turning away from it and turning directly towards Jesus and running into the arms of Jesus. So we're gonna do the repentance.

Repentance is such a trigger word for some people, but really all it means is saying all the idols that I've had in my life, every sin in my life, every misconception and preconceived notion that I've had of God that is not biblical and is inaccurate, I renounce it. I declare that I do not believe that anymore. That's not who I am anymore. I'm turning from it and I'm turning towards Jesus. And Jesus, our sweet, sweet Jesus, if you don't know the gospel, God sent His one and

only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins. And you've probably heard this story your whole life, and it probably has either lost meaning or never has had meaning or power to you. But you're sitting here watching two girls who didn't grow up in the church, we did not inherit this ministry, we literally are only in ministry because we accidentally made a video telling people the very true story about how God saved our lives and how the love of God, the love of the Father, ruined us forever in the best way possible. And so today you have the option and the opportunity to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

And that might sound a little funny if like you grew up hearing that and you don't really understand. Jesus being your Lord and Savior is the safest thing you could ever do for yourself. It's the most amazing, the most beautiful thing you can ever do. It is the most natural thing. God created us in His image to be in perfect relationship with Him. And because we are imperfect people, we fall, we make mistakes, and we separate ourselves from God. But right now is literally a moment for reconciliation for you and God, that you can go from being an enemy of God to being His friend. Because like it says in Scripture, there might be 99 perfect Christians out there,

but if you are one, one sinner who wants to repent right now, Jesus left all of them to come get you right now. And I think it's no coincidence that you're here watching a Christian podcast and they're giving you this invitation. So we invite you to come say this prayer with us. Dear Jesus, I invite you into my life as my Lord and Savior. I believe you died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins. And I believe you rose again on the third day, defeating sin and the grave. Baptize me with your Holy Spirit.

Jesus, I give you my life in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If you just said that for the first time, welcome to the family. Oh, praise God. Praise Jesus for your life. Praise Jesus for your incredibly special and important life. You are so loved, so loved by Jesus.

I pray that He absolutely wrecks your heart in the best way. I pray He encounters you. I pray that He loves on you so hard. And if you did say that for the first time, we would love if you would write in the comments. And I promise you, we will keep track and we will pray for you. We're so proud of you guys. Love chasing Jesus with you. I love learning together with you. It's just the biggest blessing ever. And just don't be hard on yourself. Humans, that's what we are.

Humans. We'll win the best we can. We love you guys. We love you guys so much. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn his face towards you and give you peace.

We love you. Love you. Shalom, shalom.. Same game, Paul A's, it's all fine. You put a smile on your face. Bet on the sports you love with Bet River Sportsbook. Take a chance! Must be 19 plus, available in Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge.