Girls Gone Bible - How To Abide In Jesus | Girls Gone Bible

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Hiiii GGB! This week we're getting into what it really means to abide in Jesus… not just believing in Him, but staying connected to Him daily. We're reading from Psalm 91 and John 15 and talking about how intimacy with God isn't about striving, it's about remaining. When we stay rooted in Him, we find protection, peace, and purpose. Proof that everything we're looking for is found in staying close to the One who gives us life. we love you so much. Jesus loves you more. -Ang & Ari ORDER OUR NEW BOOK! You can order our new book "Out of the Wilderness— 31 Devotions to Walk with God Through Your Hardest Seasons" at girlsgonebible.com/book JOIN US ON GGB+ 🥹❤️ https://ggb.supportingcast.fm COME SEE US ON TOUR: Tickets for our tour are now on sale. Go to www.GirlsgoneBible.com/tour WE LOVE YOU AND CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOU! Grand Canyon University Earn your degree online or on campus with programs designed to fit your life. Enroll today and find your purpose at GCU.edu/MyOffer. Missing Messiah Explore the evidence behind one of history's biggest questions. MissingMessiah.com takes a deeper look at faith, history, and the story of Jesus through thoughtful research and discussion. Visit MissingMessiah.com to learn more.   Olive & June Salon-quality nails from home made easy with the Olive & June system. Everything you need for a flawless at-home manicure. Get 20% off your first system at OliveandJune.com/GGB.   Dose Daily A daily wellness beverage crafted with adaptogenic mushrooms for energy and mental clarity. Save 35% on your first subscription at DoseDaily.co/GGB using code GGB NOCD Personalized, evidence-based therapy for OCD from licensed professionals. Schedule a free 15-minute call with their team at https://learn.nocd.com/ggb Fast Growing Trees The easiest way to add beautiful trees and plants to your home without the hassle of a nursery. FastGrowingTrees.com delivers healthy, ready to plant trees straight to your door. Use code GGB for 20% off your first order at FastGrowingTrees.com. The Christ Podcast A faith-centered podcast exploring the life, teachings, and impact of Jesus through thoughtful conversations and real-world application. Listen now at TheChristPodcast.com   Ladder App A science-backed supplement system designed to support performance, recovery, and daily wellness with high-quality ingredients you can trust. Start your free 7-day trial with no credit card at Ladder.fit/GGB and get $10 off your first month when you join with our link.   Hosanna Revival Beautiful, thoughtfully designed Bibles and faith-based tools to help you stay rooted in the Word and deepen your relationship with God. Use code GGB at HosannaRevival.com for 15% off.

I like my hair dark so much better. Oh my gosh, when I look at those videos of you blonde? What were we thinking? I had blonde blindness. I look, I love when I'm darker. I don't know. And then I just get a kick. I need to change my hair every so often.

I know I'm dying to cut it short, mine short. What do you guys think about Ari having a bob? I told her. No, I don't want a bob. I just, like a Hayley. Why? A Haley Bieber cut. She doesn't have a bob.

That's not considered a bob. Well, she's like right here. Bob so many times. I definitely don't like having super long hair. In 2000, in 2022, I almost shaved my head and smashed a car with a bat. Why? Well, I had a mental crisis. Good for you.

I almost did that. I almost did that three months ago. We're past that, though. Could you imagine you and I eyeballs? You know, I always wanted. to go bald for a role one day. I just felt it'd be so empowering. Yeah. What? You don't like the shape of my head to be bald. You're so rude. I saw it in your eyes. I heard. Angela likes to make fun of me of like past things that I've said. Go ahead. Why don't you know it's my favorite thing that you said.

You were talking about suicidal ideation. You said, I shall live and not die. And I think it's iconic. And it's scripture. I think it's something that you should literally spew out of your mouth when you have suicidal thoughts. Yeah, truly. I shall live and not die. What's the other thing that you caught when I said, my king of kings? My king of kings? Guys.

I got it from a song. I got a ticket at your house today again. Why don't you tell me? I don't know, but I'm really disappointed. I have about, I think it's 13 tickets I have to pay right now. I have a lot of toll tickets. I don't even know how to pay them. Me neither.

I tried paying my money. Toes online and they wouldn't. I have like 25 on there. Why do we do that? And then they all they start out as like two dollars, but then I forgot that to pay for months and months. It's been a year for me. And then it's like they go up to a hundred to get suspended. Your license is going to get suspended. That's not like. I also have to go to traffic school because I have a point. No, you have a point. I've never had a point in my license and I've crashed my car. I know you've crashed a car. You crash a car many times. I've I've crushed my car on. to Cinco de Mayo's once when I was in high school and then once when I was about 20. And so I don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo because it's bad vibes.

Cinco de Mayo is a Spanish holiday, right? Yeah, May 5th. Do you know any Spanish? Did you take Spanish? Okay. See? Do you know that porque means why and porque also means because? Okay?

Porque means why, but it also means because. Guys, my Spanish. brothers and sisters, you let me know if I'm right. I love Spanish. I can't believe how much I want to be Spanish. My tongues, all of a sudden one day, like when I speak in tongues, all of a sudden one day, they obviously like shift. What are you laughing at? I'm just, they obviously look. You spoke Spanish in tongues? Um, no, but my tongues sounds Spanish now. I like, all of a sudden one day, it's like I was gifted. I don't think I'm, I'm not speaking Spanish, but I have a Spanish accent when I'm speaking in tongues. and I don't know where it came from, but I roll my R's very, it's like spicy.

How? I know. What does it like sound like? I'm not going to. Tongues are for me, you know what I mean? It's to edify me to build up my inner man. Yeah, I think people that are Spanish are very blessed. I mean, I just, I don't know what it is.

I just want to be Spanish. I think Spanish girls are truly the most beautiful girls in the world. I just, yeah. And I have about three Brazilian shirts. I actually should wear one on one of the episodes. Yeah, rep the Brazilians. You tell people you're a Brazilian when we're out. That's how I used to book every single job when I was in the entertainment industry because they thought I was exotic.

You are exotic. Am I exotic? Well, you're Albanian. I know, but I'm white. You're not white. When people ask me, I have to be like, I'm like Dutch. Dutch German. Italian, Boston.

Do I look Albanian? Yes. Really? Yeah, but you don't look like Duolipa, Albanian. Why don't I look like Duolip? And I'm just kidding. I'm fearfully in wonderful made. I just love Duolupa.

You're really leading people astray these days. No, we are having fun. And we decided, remember? Remember that episode on comparison? Shut up. We decided that we are. going to be ourselves and have fun and sometimes ourselves is a little bit sarcastic and a little bit real like sometimes yeah sometimes they're saying we want to look like this person do i want to look

like anyone no i want to look like you margarabi you do look like margot robbie oh my gosh would you you look like margot rabbi would you please and you're a good singer we're going to be friends you cannot quote the wolf of wall of street that's where we're draw the line. Really quick, you guys. Last night, please, if anybody's ever done this, I want to know and I want you to message me because it's not okay. Second time in my life where I drive away at the gas station with the pump still in my gas tank and I rip it off the thing. It's like, pulled. She does it all the time. She did it one time and the gas started exploding out. Do you remember? Was that you? No, that wasn't me. Who's that? That wasn't you. No, one time we did it when we live in Florida

and we, what? I wish we lived in Florida. Maybe that was a son. What is wrong with me? No, we live in California. We live in California and Ari and I got our taxes back. How much we had to pay in taxes. And I was at the gas station. I call Ari. We are in blue. blacked out. We were losing our mind. This is the first year we have a business. And we got to pay dices. We were not prepared to be robbed in the state of California. So I'm at the gas station and I'm freaking out. Ari is freaking out. I book it. I drive with the pump in the gas tank and I drive so fast and I ripped the thing off and I was so I didn't know what to do. Like that was the first time I didn't know what to do. I called a friend of mine. And I was like,

what do I do? And then about the taxes or the gas pump? Oh. Same. Literally. And then so the guy comes and he gets my, he got my like registration and or whatever, my insurance and maybe my insurance paid for, I don't even know. And then this time last night, I don't even know why I did it.

I don't even know. I had no excuse. I didn't have a bad phone call. I can't stop thinking about when we were so devastated. We called the tax guy on three. way and we said, hey, I think there's a misunderstanding here. We owe what? We hired you to get our money back. We're so mad at him that poor guy was just like, this is not my fault. Or was it? I don't know. Listen, we're not meant to pay taxes. We're meant to evangelize,

cast out demons, pay for the sick. I have nothing, look at me, I have nothing to do with taxes. And guys, we're really happy to know that everybody hated. the other studio as much as we did. Can I ask you guys something? If you don't like something, why don't you tell us? You have to tell us. Other people that have come out of their woodworks being like, by the way, that was so ugly. You guys are keeping that to yourself. We're just sitting in those ugly blue chairs with the books and the weird lighting. The lighting was so bad. And then also, someone, I was dying, laughing. When you guys are funny, it just makes my whole life. You have no idea. someone commented and said, yeah, I had no idea what that Harvard-looking background was.

And I was like, yeah, it's not. It was nice. Can you guys, like, be in communication with us and let us know when you don't like something? Yeah, tell us everything. Seriously, we read everything. Even those comments that just feels sad a little bit. What? Where'd you go?

Where'd you go? I don't know where I went. I don't like when you do that. This is a little bit. I'm like, oh, no, no, no, where are you? All my friends go, and I don't like when you're quiet, when you're quiet, everything okay? Yes, everything is so good. So good.

You want to go to the Catholic Church? I was, you know what? Oh, yeah, I was on the phone with you. We should go sit. You should go with me. I did that the other day, you guys. The little Catholic church where I found Jesus is my little meeting. place with him and I went the other day and sat in there for a few hours and oh there's something so

sacred and holy about sitting in that church alone and looking at Jesus on the cross it's so it's like that moment of solitude with him and the silence I was with I was with um michael culliano's and just a little while ago and um michael was saying to me because michael grew up Greek orthodox and he obviously knows that I grew up Catholic and he told me he was like listen you're never going to be Catholic again he's like but it'll always be in you he will always have a draw towards the tradition and the reverence and just like and I feel that even more recently of just like I want to be in those like incredibly reverent and holy spaces I miss I miss being in the presence of of nuns there's not

Nothing holier than, I mean, that's their whole life, is intimacy with Jesus. Listen, that might be me in you. My mom said that to me yesterday. I'm not even kidding. Because we were talking about my single, she goes, I just don't know what's going on. No, it's just because she goes, what do you think?

You think maybe Jesus wants you to be a nun, Ariel. I go, mom, enough. Enough. Could you see the little thing? I could see. Are you allowed to wear lashes when you're a nun? Are we allowed to wear a lip liner? That is such.

Is that good? question. Oh, I thought you were going to say it was blasphemous. That is such a good question. Someone is going to clip this all over the internet and we are going to get canceled. Can you wear lip liner as the nun? These are kind of like my constituents. Can you tan the face too? Can you go to sugar and bronze and get a spray tan? That's a good question too. Can you use olive and June press on nails? Can you get it? Yeah, can you get your nails done? Can I wear a cute hoop? Can you watch. Love Island. Love Island Christian version hosted by Angie and R.

Is this a cancelable episode so far? Probably. We're probably going to get canceled. Listen, we are, this is what we're doing in the body of Christ. We're going to have fun. Well, thank God for a little bit. What, me? I was a Pharisee. What do you think? Yeah.

No, I think I could have been too. Watch one Philip Mitchell sermon, you'll start screaming at everyone. Okay, guys, today, before we get into today's episode, we want to remind you guys that we are on the Girls Gone Bible Live Tour. We want to see you guys so badly on tour with us worshiping Jesus, preaching the gospel, and just gathering around the throne together. So you can get your tickets at Girls Gone Bible.com slash tour. And while we're here, we want to remind you guys that we are on GGB Plus. It is a platform where we take you guys behind the scenes, conversations that you can't see anywhere else.

We love GGB Plus because it's so intimate, vulnerable. It's our little community. And so you guys can go to Girls Gone Bible.com slash plus to subscribe. Who else loves Hosanna Bibles? This is our new one, our spring one. I still use my beat up one. But those are the best. The beat up ones are literally the best.

We are going to church today. We have so many exciting topics for the next few weeks. We just want to grow. in intimacy with Jesus. We want to get back into the word. We just want to remind you guys that like there is nothing. And when I say nothing, there is nothing more important than the word of God. There is nothing more authoritative than the word of God. Our lives need to be fully and completely submitted to the word. Jesus himself submitted to the word. How much more should we? I think I was talking to a couple people the other day.

Actually, you were there. Okay. We were all in a conversation the other day and we were talking about revival because there's clearly a revival happening right now in America all over the world. And me and my friend were talking about the revival that took, the revival that took place in like the 70s and the 80s and just like the outpouring of the spirit that took place. And she, our friend actually lived through that. And I was asking her, what's the difference between that revival and this one? And she said that revival was like the pouring out of the

Holy Spirit, the gifts, like a hyper charismatic movement where the Holy Spirit just like tore through every bit of like religiosity. And everybody got to know the Holy Spirit. And this revival is of course spirit filled, spirit led, this is the sort of the spirit. This revival that's taking place is like an honoring of the word. Like you see it everywhere. People are in love with the word. My pastor, Darren, he literally like is a Bible scholar and his church is exploding. And I truly believe that it's because he honors the word the way he does. And I have so many pastors and leaders that I admire and respect who typically would teach kind of like revelatory teaching, which is still rooted in scripture, but it's a little bit, it's revelatory as opposed to like expository teaching.

And I see those leaders moving a little bit away from revelatory teaching into expository teaching because we're starting to realize that like we need to be standing on the word, the author's intent, the context that the word was written in. And I think what's happened in this season is we've moved away from this idea. I think what happened with Christianity is it started to blow up. It started to become trendy. Everybody's on social media. Everybody is an Christian influencer and it just became this really trendy thing to be a Christian. And I think as it started to explode and there was famous Christians, people wanted to say the next best thing. Like it's like people just wanted the next profound thing to say and talk about. And so everyone is always trying to come up with something new

or something great to say. And I think the Lord is just like really, really pruning and refining us and the whole body and our teaching and bringing us back to the basic principle that the word is enough. We don't need anything more than that. It's enough to teach directly from the Bible. We don't need to come up with anything new. And I just, really wanted to say that because it's so important to me and Ari, it's, there's nothing more important than the word, especially in a season that I've been in where you can't rely on emotions and feelings. Whenever you're going through something, you really, really, really need to make an emphasis not to rely on those emotions and feelings and not gauge whether you're close or far

to God or not based on how you feel because our feelings lie constantly. And so for me, the safest that I feel in my faith in this very moment is when I'm reading the word. Yeah. Because it's not based on my feelings. It's not based on anything that it's the most solid thing that we have. And yeah, sorry to go on a tangent. That's great. And Ari and I really want to talk today about intimacy with God,

um, abiding in God what that means. We have so many thoughts. Ari's going to read from John 15 a little bit. right? Yeah. Ari's going to read from John 15 in other places. I want to take you guys into a little part, just a little verse in Psalm 91. So Psalm 91. A lot of us know it. It is the Psalm of protection, essentially. People always say, like, memorize Psalm 91 and recite it every time you feel feel fearful or you feel anxious or you feel like things are not well. I want to give you guys a little teaching about just the first verse in Psalm 91. It's those who dwell in the secret place

of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. What verse? Verse 1, 91 verse 1. Oh, okay. So in the NLT version is those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. But I'm reading from NIV, those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. And so first I want to recognize this. This line, it says those who dwell in the secret place of the most high. As I'm reading the scripture, I realize that something is being established here. And it's that the secret place is his. The secret place, we talk about the secret place all the time, the secret place that we culture, actually belongs to Jesus. And that is important for him to let us know because I think a lot of people,

including myself, we are on a journey of our own lives. We're the main character of our own lives. And we feel like God at times is a great accessory to the life that we're already living. And so we go about our lives, including Jesus in our plans, in our dreams, in the things we want to do. And it's as if we just bring him along on our days. But the truth is there's a place that he, established for us to meet him. And it's his. It's the secret place of the most high. So if you want the second half of this verse to continually abide in his presence, you have to first meet him in the place that he's called you to. The other part I love about this so much, those who dwell in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. So there's the difference

between dwell and abide. To dwell means to live in or to reside. So it literally means that you make your residence somewhere. To dwell means that you are living there. You're a resident. It's permanent. And to abide means that you remain or stay. So do you see the difference? One is you make residence somewhere and the other one is you remain or you stay. We make our residence with God when we dwell in the secret place. We literally make our home with him. And this is the thing, everybody wants to go out and be on mission and start a podcast or start a ministry or do all these things or even simply just go and evangelize. Like we need the abiding presence of Jesus with us as we go. It's the power of the Holy Spirit.

I was with a friend recently and she told me she was doing like a series of podcasts in D.C. And she said something that stuck with me. She said, I feel like everywhere I've gone. She'd like had so much warfare leading up to it. And even when she was there, she got food poisoning. And then she said every episode that they filmed, she said that she felt like the peace of God follow her. And I'm like, that is the abiding presence of God. That she's not sitting on her knees in the secret place.

She's out and about on mission doing the things, but the abiding presence has gone with her. And so whatever we want to do in life, whether it's speak and preach the gospel in front of 100,000 people or go to the grocery store. we need the abiding presence with us everywhere we go, but we only receive that abiding presence when we make our home in God. And so that's why we talk about the secret place so much because everything that we want in Jesus is first found in the secret place. You have to dwell. You have to spend time.

And then I wrote this down, the shadow of the most high follows and covers those who faithfully dwell in secret. And so if you're looking for the type of intimacy with Jesus that protects you as you go, that covers you, you find it when you first dwell. When you go to the place that he's established for you both. And I just love that so much that it's not only that we create a place because we know that we need something from him. God is calling us to the secret place. He's called us there. There are no shortcuts.

cuts. You don't just get to receive power without spending time with Jesus. You don't just get to, and I know from experience what it's like to go and try and be on mission when I'm not filled, when I haven't spent, when my lamp is not filled with oil, when I have not taken time to sit still and get alone and quiet with God, I know what it's like. Yeah. And it's powerless. Yeah. Yeah. My mom will say that to me. Like, she'll always know when I, when I did in dwell because I'll have this little bit of an attitude. I'll be short. She'll be like, oh, you didn't spend time with Jesus today. Wow. And I'm like, I call you back. My mom, whenever I'm anxious, my mom goes, have you read the Bible? Yeah. Did you go to the Catholic

church? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And then my last point that I want to make on this that I love so much is the secret place isn't meant to be visited. It's meant to be dwelt in. Yeah. To make your home in. And I feel like a lot of us, including myself at times, we treat the secret place intimacy with Jesus as a place like to check off a box and to simply just visit when it's like, no, no, you're walking through the front door of the home that God has prepared for you. And he's literally sitting at the table. Every morning that we wake up, God is sitting at the table. he's prepared a meal he's prepared the placemats there is a drink with your name on it and he's saying come and dine with me yeah like it is not hey what's up see you later he's inviting you to eat with him yeah he's inviting you

to enter in like truly truly enter in um and the last thing i'll say the secret place intimacy with jesus is a paradise it's a paradise that alone time that beautiful, precious secret time that we have with Jesus is a paradise because it's filled with joy and renewal and fulfillment and refreshment and heavenly wisdom and hearing the voice of God. And so yes, it's a paradise, but we cannot treat it like a vacation. It's a home. We enter into our home. We take our shoes off.

We take our coat off. We sit at the table and have a meal with our dad. Yeah. And so we will never stop emphasizing the secret place and how powerful it is. But for me, this has been transformative. Just this one verse, those who dwell in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. I need to be under the shadow of the almighty. When I go into the world right now, I need to be covered by his shadow.

Because in my own defenses right now, I am completely all the time. I'm completely powerless. And so another thing that I'll say is I value the secret place so much and I know what it's like to have a really hard time being in there. Like I know what it's like to be in so much pain and so anxious. Specifically with a mind that is running wild and not being able to sit still. It is so painful. Like when everything in your body just wants to run. Yeah. I would say getting still with the Lord is so important. It's so important. You have to.

And there have been so many times where I forced myself to sit down and just stayed silent and just kept breathing kind of in a meditative way and waited for my thoughts to calm down. I think it's like I think the study is that it's about seven minutes or maybe 13 minutes. We can look it up. It's at least let's say 10 minutes before. your mind is actually in a place of stillness. For me, it's around 20. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. So like getting still sometimes means not immediately opening the word, but just sitting and just not talking. And like meditation is an amazing thing and just waiting until your thoughts quiet and your heart is still enough. But I will say like I have, it's been transformative for me going on prayer walks and worship walks. Sometimes I don't take my phone and I just

walk and I talk to Jesus, that is making your residence in God. Like that is in a lot of time. So I just want you guys to know that it doesn't have to look like something specific. You can, and that's another thing, though, of having that allotted time in the morning is that then the rest of your day commuting with the Holy Spirit is so easy. That abiding presence where you just, you can't even help yourself, but like every thought that you have, you're like, Jesus, what do you think about that? Lord, what do you think about this? Jesus, that was weird. What did you think about that?

Like, that is cultivated in the secret place first, you know? I love that you talked about sometimes it's not easy. And I know we were talking about that last night. And I just, I love sitting in my quiet time. But when I am full of that anxiety where my head is spinning, the last thing I can do is sit. And so sometimes when you're talking, I was just thinking of something that I did, like, when you can't sit, sometimes the best thing to do is literally in that moment, you start walking around your room and be like, God, help me, I need you. Like those simple little prayers of crying out, help me, I'm overwhelmed. My mind is spinning.

Help me. I need you right now. I need you right now. Like those are the most powerful things you can say. Exactly. And so I just want to let you know that I hear you about. Thank you. being so anxious but being like but wait i have to sit and dwell but i can't my mind sping i can't even

open the bible and when you guys are in situations like that you you you switch it up you switch it up start walking around starts just start saying like like david jesus where are you i need you like things like that's and that is sometimes the most powerful thing you can do i something else that i want to say that builds intimacy so much. We've never done an episode on tongues, but like praying in the spirit, praying in tongues has changed my entire life. Tongues are for the edification of yourself. It's to build up your spirit man. So you don't pray in tongues for other people. You pray in tongues for yourself, for your own spirit. All of the other gifts of the spirit are for other people. like prophetic gifting is for the benefit and the edification and the building up of the church.

The gift of healing, same thing. Evangelism, same thing. The gift of tongues is for your personal strengthening. And during my hardest moments where I don't have words to pray, the past few months of my life, I've probably prayed in tongues more than I've prayed in English because I don't know what to say. I literally don't know what to say. and in the moments that I don't know what to say and it feels even inauthentic to pray because I'm like I don't know I'm just praying the I don't know what to say I don't know what to say I will run around my room praying in the spirit at the top of my lungs and I truly believe it's like one of the greatest ways to process emotions and pain because when you pray in English of course it's amazing and you can process with the Lord and be like God this is what I'm feeling what do you what do you say about this emotion would you speak to truth over it. But for me, I just feel like there's something so much deeper than I can even

express with words. And scripture says that the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf with groanings that can't be uttered. So I am like, whatever I might know what I'm feeling on the surface, but there's something so much deeper and under that that when I pray in the spirit, I feel a major emotional release. I feel, I don't even know what I'm praying, but the Lord does, the Holy Spirit does. And those are like the biggest releases that I have of anxiety. Because again, stress and high anxiety make it so hard to pray. And like you can say, Jesus, take away the anxiety all you want. And a lot of the time for a lot of us, it doesn't happen right away.

It doesn't. So that's a tool that I've used is praying in the spirit. And there's so many videos, you guys, of the gift of tongues. And John Bevere has a really good teaching on the gift of tongues. I really want everybody to pray in the spirit. I want everyone to pray in tongues. It's so edifying. It builds you up so much.

Yeah. And then if you don't speak in tongues, you just go right to the scripture and start just saying it out loud. So good. When you don't have the words to say, start speaking scripture out loud. Yeah. Simple scriptures. And the last thing that you said is you intercede.

There's so many times I don't have the words or I don't know what to say. I have this highlighted. This is one of the scriptures I actually will say out loud. And this is like an example of what you can do when you don't have the words when your anxiety is so deep that you just can barely pray. You go right to scripture, go right to God's word. And you say the scripture as if it's you. And the Lord says, I will rescue those who love me. Lord, you will rescue me because you love me.

You will protect me. I know I'm in this anxiety right now, but you will protect me because you will protect those who trust in your name. When I call on you, Lord, you will answer. You will be with me in trouble. You will rescue me. You reward me with a long life and you will give me salvation. Like when you start speaking that out, in your anxiety, in your despair, there is a peace that comes upon you.

There's sometimes we just don't have the words. We don't know what to say. And that's okay. He sees that. And that's when you go to the scripture, the truth. I love what you said when you said, don't rely on your emotions. We can't. The heart is so deceitful.

I spent my whole life relying on my emotions. I'm depressed. I'm anxious. And I would stay stuck for weeks and months on end, being depilitated, believing the lies, believing my mind. And so that's why the word, the truth, reading scripture, saturating yourself in it is the greatest thing you can do. So if you guys can go to John 15, it says, I am the true grapevine and my father is the

gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit, so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine, and you are the branches, and those who remain in me, and I and them, will produce fruitful. much fruit. So I love this because he, this has been my life since finding Jesus. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit. That's anything that's disconnected from him.

For me, that was having idols in my life, striving to be successful, putting all these things that disconnected me from God. And he prunes the branches that do not bear fruit so they can produce even more. When he talks about fruit, he's talking about the kind of character that he develops in you as you remain in him. I love this scripture because it's just such a incredible description of what Jesus does as you go on your journey with him. He cuts off every branch that doesn't produce fruit. That's what he does with us. Everything that disconnects us from Jesus, he starts to prune. For me, I was constantly trying to do things on my own. I was constantly trying to strive on my own. I was constantly trying to chase success, chase this, chase that, chase idols,

chase relationships. So he started pruning those things off of me. And then he says, he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. As you abide in Jesus, you stay connected to him. You spend time with him. That's what relationship is. Think about a person that you love. Think about a relationship that you're in right now. What do you do? You spend time with them. You put effort into them. You sit with them. It isn't just five minutes of Jesus, thank you. And then you walk out. No, it's you sit and you abide and you listen and you cultivate this a beautiful relationship. You spend time all day. You talk to them. You ask some questions. You put effort into them. That's what it looks like to abide and to have relationship.

I think so many of us, we miss that. Yeah. And so to understand Jesus is to spend time and understand that you can trust him so much, his love, his security, his safety. And that comes with relationship in time and abiding in his presence. It's not about performance. As you spend time in his presence, your heart starts to transform and you start to bear the fruit, bear the fruit of what? Of love, of joy, of peace, of patience, of goodness, of kindness, where you were bitter, your heart will start to cultivate the heart of Jesus, where you have unforgiveness.

You start to bring that in the presence of Jesus, abide in Jesus, and then your heart softens. And then he says, for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, meaning that if the branch cannot stay alive, if it is not connected to the vine, in the same way for us spiritually, we will be spiritually dead if we are not constantly connected to Jesus. Yes. So how do you stay connected to Jesus through prayer, through obedience, through sitting, through not just always talking, but actually listening through cultivating a relationship, through asking questions? The other day, when I was driving home from your house, I had about an hour drive. And I said, you know what? I'm going to, I was thinking a whole bunch of things in my mind.

And I said, let me shut off my radio right now. And let me say this out loud. And so for an hour and a half, I just found myself talking to Jesus. Jesus, what do you think about this? I need to tell you about this. So listen to this. And next thing you know, I was home. I spent the whole hour just talking to Jesus, telling him how I feel, telling him what I want, praying to me. And that is what relationship looks like.

It's not a one-time thing where you go to church on Sundays and then you go about your week. So good. To have a relationship, true relationship, it's consistent. considering him in every single one of your decisions. It's talking to him throughout the day. It's asking, Jesus, how's your heart? We do a lot of talking in our prayer time, but do we ever sit and listen after? Yeah. I love that. Jesus, how's your heart? It's so cute. I say that all the time, but that's what it looks like to remain in him. And then he remains in you. His presence dwells in you. And it is true. From apart from me, you can do nothing. I mean, that says it all.

Yeah. That's why everybody's spiritually dead. That's why everybody is living in chaos and anxiety because we're severed from the vine. We're living apart from Jesus. You know, the next part right after what Ari read that I love so much, if you remain, since we're talking about the abiding presence, how to truly abide. And remember, abide means to remain to stay. So it's all about going about your day, continuing to remain in the presence of God, no matter where you are, even if you're not praying necessarily. It's about that abiding presence that goes with you, that lives within you, and follows you everywhere you go. And so the next thing, a practical thing that God gives us, if you remain in me, and my words remain in you,

we started out this episode talking about the power of the word, the power of the Bible, how important the word is. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, listen to this, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted. We don't even take a moment to think about the actuality of what that means. He's saying, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, anything you ask it will be granted. Now I think of that, does that mean if I ask him for a range rover or like whatever that he's going to give it to me, it will be granted? I don't think that's what it's saying. And I'm just now realizing this. If you remain in me, so first you abide continually, and specifically my words remain in you.

If the word of God is within you, your heart, your mind will be renewed and your heart will be aligned with scripture so that automatically your prayers will align with scripture. And if your prayers, if what you're praying and what you're asking for is in accordance to the scriptures, which is in accordance to the will of God, it will be granted. So it's this through line of You remain in Jesus. His words remain in you. You will automatically be praying the prayers of the Father. And that's what prayer really is. It's about joining heaven and praying the prayers that are already on God's heart that align with His will. And I love that so much. So that's like a practical thing. We remain in Jesus. His word is in us. Anything we ask for will be granted. And then the next thing,

I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Listen, remain. That word, remain again, to abide to remain, remain in my love. And you can ask, how do I do that? Well, he literally answers it in the next sentence. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love. Just as I obey my father's commandments and remain in his love. Thank you, Jesus. He always gives us the perfect example. Why do we do the things we do? Because Jesus does it first. Jesus obeys his father's commandments. In that way, he remains in his love, never straying away from the will of God, never straying away from the purposes of heaven. So if you want a really practical way to abide,

to remain in the love of the Father, you obey His commandments. And that's why obedience is so unbelievably important. So yes, it's spending time in the secret place and it's cultivating that relationship and that intimacy, but it's also the practical steps of simple obedience. Being obedient to what the word says and then being obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

These are all ways that we remain in his love. love them so much. She makes it so easy. And then I love because so many of us feel like but I'm not good enough. And I really want to talk about that, the condemnation of because it really

severs your relationship with God and it really, it disrupts it. Like you feel like you cannot sit in his presence when you do not feel worthy. So true. It says in verse, it says in verse 15, I no longer call you. slave because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. You are my friends. You didn't choose me. I chose you.

So many of us feel like we choose him and we have to constantly gravel for a relationship with Jesus. And that's not what it is. He says, you did not choose me. I choose you. I've been chasing after you. Even when you turn your back on me, I'm chasing you to come back to me. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that my father will give you whatever you ask for using my name. This is my commandment. Love each other. Thank you, Jesus. I love that so much. Yeah, I want to talk about that because I always say, like, when I'm in my secret place, I will pray till the performance is out. Yeah. Because there are times where I can almost hear myself performing. Yeah. So I will be praying and I will get finished and I will feel nothing. And I'm like, all right, let me get real. And so you will see a difference when you start

performing. He is not asking for your performance. He's asking for your honesty. And that's why I love David so much. He did not sugarcoat his prayers if you read through the song. God, why did you turn your face from me? Lord, help me. Like, where are you? Like, he is crying out in anguish. And you see him go through all of these emotions of anger and frustration to Jesus, but he's honest in all of his prayers. I think about the person that I trust the most, I run to them. That's the first person I run to them. The person that I know I can be completely messy and honest with. And you can be like that with Jesus. What about Jesus? I'm struggling with loss so much today. I'm struggling with anger and bitterness. I'm scared. Help me. Like these are the moments where you will see the wonders and the presence of God.

come down. And so I wanted to talk about that because I feel like we struggle so much of shame and not being able to be honest. I was literally in church yesterday and my pastor, Darren, he taught on X something. I can't remember. But he basically, I wrote this down because I was so profound and spoke so deeply to my heart yesterday. He said, don't just pray it away. Pray him into. it. And so this is what I want people, just going based off of what you said, of like, honest prayers to build true intimacy. I think what he means by this, don't just pray it away, pray him into it. Like, if you look at so many stories in scripture, Jesus on the boat with the disciples, there's a massive storm. And Jesus isn't necessarily taking the storm away. But the

point is that he's in the boat with them. Yeah. Jonah is in the boat. And, Jonah is in the the belly of the whale. That's a disaster. That's not a good thing. That's a really weird place to be, a dark place to be. God is with him in it. We have Daniel, who's in the lion's den. That's not a good place to be, but God is with him in there. Jesus is led by the spirit into the wilderness. That's not anybody's, nobody wants to be in the wilderness, but God is in there with him. And so that spoke to me so much yesterday because I am constantly praying it. away, pray the pain away, pray the grief away, pray the sad, pray the anxiety away. And it's been really pivotal for me to realize it's not just about praying it away. It's about inviting him

into it. The point is that he's in it with me. And so often we pray for the bad things to go away and they don't go away right away because God doesn't want them to go away away right away because it's producing something within you. It's producing long suffering. It's producing strength and resilience. But the point is, if you're praying for it to go away and it's not, it's time to pray Jesus into it. Lord, I invite you into my grief. I invite you into my pain. I invite you into my fear. And I rebuke it in the name of Jesus. And if it doesn't go away, you pray him into it. That's the whole point. Yeah. Is that God is with us in the mess. He's with us in the disaster. And I wrote this down. Jesus consistently moves toward exposed and messy places.

not away from them. You look at every female in the Bible, almost every girl in the Bible, they're messes. The guys too, trust me. But I'm just talking about the girls. The girls don't come to Jesus completely buttoned up and perfect and ready to go. They usually have probably snot going down their noses, their faces in the ground. And I think something that I've been walking through that Ari and I were talking about last night that I kind of felt like the Lord revealed to me because I was in church.

and worship has started and I was like commanding my soul to worship Jesus. I'm like I had like and I was I felt numb. I was feeling numb and I was like Lord this is my worst nightmare. I hate feeling numb. I and I realized and I felt the Lord say to me I'm meeting you exactly where you are and I literally got down on my face. I laid down I think it's called prostrate. I laid down.

And I started bawling my eyes out because I got this sense that like, something that's been revealed to me in this season is that like, I know that suffering brings other people closer to Jesus. I know the scripture that God is close to the brokenhearted. I don't believe it for myself. Yeah. And in this specific season, what God has revealed to me the most is that there's so many scriptures that I know cerebrally that have not taken.

root in my heart. And I believe them completely for other people and I don't believe them for myself. And it's shame that stops that from happening. It's fear. Yeah. And so I realize like you were saying that suffering makes you feel closest to Jesus. And for me, suffering I've realized makes me hide away because I don't believe that he loves me in my suffering. Yeah. Like I've realized, I know he does, but I don't feel that because every time I'm suffering I'm like oh he he would want nothing to do with me right now so I'm going to shy away and I'm going to wait till I feel a little better yeah so there are times where I'm like oh I want to read the word right now but I don't feel good yeah I'm anxious my mind I'm just going to wait and then there'll be a moment where like it kind of lifts a little bit and I'm like oh this is the perfect moment I feel good and I get into the secret place and I'm not feeling numb so I feel the presence of God and I'm just like oh my gosh I've had it so backwards I've had it so backwards I've had it it's so, yes, you take advantage of the moments where there's relief and you can feel in all those things. But when I'm shaking in the morning and I'm feeling my worst and I'm so anxious and my hands are shaking and I'm opening the word. I did it the other day where I was like, I feel like absolute

garbage right now physically, emotionally. And I'm going to open the word anyways. And I've literally felt the Lord be like, this is where I meet you. And so that was a profound moment for me because yeah, I just, I've realized that I truly, truly believe that God wants nothing to do with me unless my heart is full of faith and I'm feeling so joyful and excited for life and inspired and not angry with him. It's been a season of constantly praying when your heart is hardened towards people. I think it can become hardened towards God if you're not careful. And so it's a continual prayer and like also having patience and grace for myself that I'm a human and God is so patient and gracious that he's like, don't worry. In time, you learn to trust again. And so that's kind

of the space that I'm in right now of like I'm having to learn to trust again. And I know I trust him with my mind, but you can think your way into something as much as you want. But until your spirit grabs it and catches it and like receives that revelation. There's like a shift in the spirit. It has to happen supernaturally until that happens is when there's like true breakthrough. So yeah. And one more thing that I just want to say that I wrote down back to like the abiding life. I wrote many people relate to Jesus as someone they visit and not somebody that they are joined to. And like that's the definition of an abiding life is that we don't just visit him in the secret place place. We don't just visit him in the morning. Christ lives in us. It's an identity.

We are joined. We are joined spiritually, emotionally, physically, I am under the lordship of Jesus Christ. We are in oneness with one another union. Like we are, he lives inside of me and I remain in him. Like it is a continual conjoining of us in Jesus and it does not get severed. So I think it's just like it's so important to understand that as you go throughout your day, you are never separated from Jesus. You are never separated from the Holy Spirit, from the voice of the Spirit, from the presence of the Spirit. Like it's just I also wrote down that we have to shift the conversation from quiet time to abiding life. I love quiet time. I love the secret place, but it's not our relationship with Jesus is not just, it's formed

in the secret place. So we can't get away from or graduate from the secret place. But it's, it's a broader picture that it's not just about that one quiet time in the morning. It's an abiding life all day long, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, oneness with Christ. I just love him so much. I love the imagery of the cross, the death, the burial and resurrection of Jesus. I love this idea that we are buried with Christ and we are raised to life with him, that the day we give our lives to Jesus, we have been buried. Our old self is gone.

It's not us who lives anymore, but Christ lives in us. And I just love the idea that I have truly been buried. My prayer every day is Lord, I join you in your burial. I join you in your death first. And then I join you in your burial. And then God, I join you in your resurrection. I love them. I love them too.

And I love that you said that sometimes your heart gets hardened because it's so real and it's so human. If you ever think anyone has a perfect intimacy with Jesus, they're lying to you. As humans, we get bitter, we get frustrated, we turn, we can't open our Bibles. We don't feel like it. I just feel like, just don't be so hard on yourself. Truly. Because I, there's so many of you guys are like, but does this person have a close? a relationship with Jesus because they can sit for two hours. Like, am I not close enough to Jesus?

No, it's called we're all humans and we go through seasons where we're angry, anxiety. Sometimes we can't. I really need you guys to know that like as human beings, we're just, we're so messy and we go through so many seasons of different things. And it's normal. I need you guys to know it's normal. But we can't have secrets from someone we trust. And so there's nothing that God year more than our openness to him. That's all he asked for. I know that from experience. I know that from trial and error. It's just... Era. Era. I just think this is a journey of all of us. Really learning the love of Jesus. This is a forever thing that we will never quite fathom the love of him, but we would really know how to rest easy if we truly could fully see the love of Jesus.

In Psalm 105, it says, search for the Lord and for his strength, continually seek him. Continually seek him. That means it is a constant pursuit of Jesus. What is your attention focused on right now? What idol do you have in your life? What do you have on the pedestal? Jesus should be first above everything. It is a constant pursuit. So many people say, how do I stay on fire for Jesus? It says right here in verse 5. Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and his rulings he has given.

Sometimes when I feel so dull and dry in my seasons with Jesus, I will sit there and I will just meditate on every moment that I've had with him where he has come through for me. All of those moments of my pain and my heartbreak where he was right there for me. I will literally meditate on his face,

me in the shower, me in that church. Like, meditate on them. Go to the scriptures. Go to John. Go read about the character and life of Jesus. All the miracles he's performed. It creates this fire back in you. Oh, yeah, that's who Jesus is.

Like, sometimes we need that reminder. Get a picture of his face. Like, really dwell in that. I know from my own life, when I feel so distant from God, and you're like, but I'm praying and I can't hear anything. Well, are you living in constant rebellion? Like, these are things that really do separate us. So I want to talk about that real quick before we ended.

It says in Isaiah 55, verse 6, seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God for he will forgive generously. When you're living a life of compromise, when you have hidden repentance that you are not bringing to the fourth foot of Jesus. Yeah. When I have pride and stubbornness, when I have unforgiveness in my heart, when I'm in my word and I'm praying, but you're going out and you're living the opposite. Yeah. And you're doing what griefs his heart. Yeah, that's going to separate you from Jesus. And so if you are sitting there being like, but I pray, but I sit and I'm with him, but you're living a completely different life, a life of compromise, then yes, that is going to hinder your walk with Jesus. But the good news is he's says, let them turn to God that he may have mercy on them. And you can turn to him and he will forgive you

generously. Do not hide your sin. He's opening up. He yearns for you to bring that to him, to talk to him about that, to say, Lord, help me with my loss. Help me with this compromise in my life. I want to live for you. Give me a heart to hate what you hate. And then you go on this journey of trusting him and abiding in him and it's this safety that you have with him and you will want to run a run to him and then through that love of trusting him you will want to live for him and that compromise that you're sitting in right now you'll say what have I been doing I don't want to live like this anymore and that's how he prunes you and then you will bear the fruit of him so good so good I mean truthfully you know that scripture the prayers of a righteous person avail much imagine how

how much more sitting compromise affect your prayers? I have sat in shame so much. Scripture says that the righteous fall seven times, but will rise again. When I read that, that is one of my favorite scriptures that I've tattooed on my heart. He knows that we are going to fall. He expects us to fall, but we will rise again. We will bring that to him and we will rise again. Condemnation will hinder your relationship with Jesus.

Yeah, so true. And I'll end this with, I was just telling. and last night, I used to let my thoughts, the condemnation thoughts take over me so much so that I just felt so unworthy. And now as I get stronger and stronger, which came with intimacy with Jesus and saturating myself in the word, I'm able to literally hear my thoughts and catch them and be like, that's not true. God doesn't condemn me. He doesn't tell me that I'm shameful in all these things. If you can take authority over those thoughts and understand that God will never condemn your mind. God's voice is graceful. He will never tell you, do not come to me. He'll say,

okay, he'll correct you, but he will say, come to me though. Whenever you hear that condemning thoughts, catch that thought immediately, take authority and replace that with the word of God. So good. And then when you take authority over those thoughts, there is a power that you carry. The devil can't even come close to you. It's so true. You know? A hundred percent. My pastor told me this yesterday, he said, I encourage you all. This is all an exercise for us. Get away and get into solitude with Jesus. Take a whole day. Put your phone away. Get out a journal. Whether it's the beach, it's somewhere that is secluded and silent where you have no distractions. We are never, this busy chaotic life, it's too much. Yeah. Get somewhere quiet with Jesus.

you're never too busy for a day with Jesus. Take a day, spend like six to eight hours. Yeah. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Sit in the silence. When you get past that uncomfortability, you will start to heat. You will start to see the wonders of God. It's in that solitude and silence with Jesus where you don't sit there and talk, talk, talk.

But you sit there in that silence where you will start to hear God. You will start to see His presence come down. So I'm going to encourage us all to take a day. and spend about six to eight hours somewhere and just complete. Somewhere that, somewhere that. I love that. I love to go to a park where there's greenery, a beach, anywhere, somewhere where it's just complete silence where nobody's around where it can just be you and Jesus.

So let's all do that together. I want to do that. I need to do that. Yeah. It's called like a Jesus retreat. That's what it is, a Jesus retreat. So let's all find a day and do that. And let's all see what happens.

Guys, we love you so much. We can't wait to see you next week. Thank you for being our best friends. We love you. We love you. Go be with Jesus. Go abide in the presence of God every day. We love you 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. Shalom, shalom. You love you.