Girls Gone Bible - War of the Mind | Girls Gone Bible

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

TW mental illness, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders Mental health + Jesus.  We're covering a really heavy topic today. We want to have an open and vulnerable conversation on the darker parts of mental health issues to remind you that there is no shame in anything you might be feeling. Our minds are delicate. We all struggle. But we are MORE THAN CONQUERERS through Him who loved us. (Romans 8:37) We love you. Your mind belongs to Jesus. -Ang & Ari  if you’d like to support Girls Gone Bible 🙏🏻🕊️🤍 Paypal- https://www.paypal.me/girlsgonebibleinfo Venmo- https://www.venmo.com/u/girlsgonebible https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/girlsgonebiblepod/support

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and edit podcasts right from your phone or computer so no matter what your setup's like, whether you're at home or in the studio, you can start creating today. Then you can distribute your podcast to Spotify and everywhere else podcasts are heard. With Spotify for Podcasters, you can earn money in a variety of ways, including ads and podcast subscriptions. And best of all, it's totally free with no catch. Ever since we discovered Spotify for Podcasters, you guys, it has changed the game. I mean, we're able to do video podcasts without just having to do audio podcasts. And we're able to do Q&As and polls at the end. And it has just brought us so close to you guys and really created a community feel. So we really recommend that you give it a try. Download the

Spotify for Podcasters app or go to www.spotify.com slash podcasters to get started. We love you. God bless you. Hey! You know I'm working on my modesty. You're super modest. How long have you been thinking about that one? I'll get that part out. No, I love it. Hi, everyone. Girls Gone Bible episode, I have no idea. Yeah, what episode are we on? I think it's our fifth. Episode, I am not.

I literally just said to Ari before we came on, I was like, do you think there's going to be a day where we're not nervous the day that we do these we were just saying we're like I don't even know how we get here in the car I'm so blacked out I don't even think I look at the road my mind is in another place

the entire time and I just think it's because we care so much and I think it'd be different if we were coming on here talking about nonsense and life and like whatever. It's heavy stuff. But it's just like we feel such a responsibility talking about Jesus. And like, obviously, our main goal is to bring as many people to Jesus as we possibly can.

So it's a lot of pressure. But today's episode is mental health and spiritual warfare. And this is the thing about mental health. Before we get started, I really just want to preface this by saying we're not doctors, obviously. Everything that we're going to talk about regarding mental health is going to come from experience, like our personal experiences, which are very particular to us, and also from like a spiritual aspect. So just remember that doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, like those are the people you go to along with going to God with these problems. And I just want to say, too, because we're going to bring, obviously, Jesus into it and scripture. obviously Jesus into it and scripture. But I just want to say that mental illness is real and it's a force and it's a power that comes to steal, to kill and to destroy.

And we are by no means ever making light of it. We're never putting a bandaid on it, saying that, you know, just pray and you should be over it like sometimes the church makes people feel that way um it's real it's serious and i just hope that we can somewhat help in any way and show you that through everything we have victory through jesus so okay you wanted to start off with a really great story that you read to me earlier. Yeah. So today we're going to read out of Mark chapter 9, and we're going to start at verse 14. In my Bible, it's called A Boy is Healed. So basically, there's this little boy,

and he had several issues going on within him, and one of his problems was that he had a mute spirit in him. So he had a demon inside of him that was causing him to not be able to speak. And it was also causing him seizures. So the father basically called Jesus and was like, can you please come and heal my son? And then if we go to verse 21, it says, so Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to the boy? And he said, from childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.

But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said to him, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe help my unbelief. So beautiful. And I just want to pause and say, that's actually a prayer that I say all the time. I'm constantly, when I notice things of unbelief or doubt within me, I say, Jesus helped my unbelief. Get rid of this doubt, Lord. I give you my unbelief. And I ask, I ask you to give me belief and faith in you or your word or whatever it is. And then we move on to verse 25. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit,

saying to it, deaf and dumb spirit, I command you come out of him and enter him no more. Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly and came out of him. And he became as one dead so that many people said he's dead, the little boy. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. I just think about all the times. I know. I was just thinking about all the times that he's picked me up by my hand and lifted me up. Thank you, Jesus. And when he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could we not cast it out? So Jesus said to them, this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. Prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer.

I just wanted to start with this to show before we get into the heavy topic of mental health. I just wanted people to understand who has the ultimate victory and triumph over it. He's the savior and the way maker. Right. Let's talk about our own journeys with mental health, because I know that both of us have dealt with mental health issues, anxiety, OCD, depression. And both of us have had, you know, kind of in a sense like beat these things. Yeah. So we're going to start off with spiritual warfare, the pot, the I call it the war of the mind. So first of all, I just want to say the enemy is real. We all know what he does he's out to kill steal and destroy okay and we want to believe in god but we don't want to talk about the devil you actually my when i started my friendship with you i actually didn't even know about the enemy and i think that was the beginning to my healing

um and you know god needs you to believe in him so he can do things in your life. But Satan doesn't want you to believe in him so he can continue to do things in your life. So the greatest victory that he can have is for you to say, I don't believe in you. You're not real. So, you know, you can continue to be played like a fiddle and be whopped upside your head all day right okay so i want to get into ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 verse 10 sorry put on the whole armor of god that you may able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So let's break that down. The wiles is the strategy. Okay. The strategy. So Satan will have you thinking in a way that's so wrong, but somehow convince you that it's right. Right. I all know about that you know um when you experience

depression out of nowhere and you have the compulsive obsessive thoughts and you don't know where it's coming from and you're just trying to get out of it or you have a suicide thought and you're like where is this thought coming from but what we don't realize is the most powerful thought of the devil is suggestion. Okay. The devil wants your mind. He wants your soul. He wants your intellect. He wants your emotions.

So how do we put on the armor of God? We clothe in his word, right? We clothe in his word. So when we wake up, we put on that word. We rely on that word. We trust in that word. We live in that word. Here's the upside of, here's the good news.

We have authority over demons, okay? So when they come in our mind and they make us feel crazy and they make us feel like we want to kill ourselves or they're you know we have those those obsessive compulsive thoughts and you think it's you right god says i give you authority over these demons so anything the devil has we have authority over Satan's ability. I would love to just end with Luke 10. Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

So scorpions meaning demons, power meaning authority. So God has given you absolute mastery over demons. Amen. Okay. And, but if we don't know that you won't ever execute that. Let's go, Jesus. Let's go Bible. I'm telling you, my life changed. I went from a victim to a person of victory the day that I realized the authority that has been given to us from Jesus. And we receive that authority because what he did on the cross, that just lit a fire in me. I love him. I love the keys. I literally wrote so much about authority through Jesus. Thank you for saying all that. Wow. I'm that was so beautifully put. I can't even deal with it. And then I just want to end this with because this is I think this is a big one. James four. He says, submit yourself, therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will

flee from you. Amen. Okay, so that I love that verse so much. Submitting means humble yourself, humble yourself to God's way, to God's word. And when you do that and then all of a sudden you start to get those thoughts again. I'm going to kill myself. What do I do? I'm not good enough. I'm bad. Then you say, no, I have God's stripes on.

I'm actually going to live and I'm going to and I am healed and I'm going to be OK. going to live and I'm going to, and I am healed and I'm going to be okay. And when you do that, he says, when you do that, the devil will flee, meaning he will run with fear. Amen. Amen. Jesus said in the Bible, the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to give you life to the fullest. Absolutely. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. All right. So these are all, one of the reasons I really encourage people to read God's word is because throughout the Bible, there are promises. That's what I like to say. Whenever I read something like, I have come to give you life to the full, I think that's

a promise from God. I received that promise. The Bible is full of his promises to us. So while we're aware of that and the authority that we have, let's talk about the times in our life where we weren't aware of that authority, where we were victims to the devil's schemes and his plots and traps. Do you want to go first? Why don't you start?

Okay. I love your story so I really want you to I love you um so basically I I've talked about this before how I I literally went my whole life not at least not being aware that I had anxiety or um I never experienced depression I had no mental health issues I get into my 20s I start having fear big fear like which I can't even imagine because now looking at you you have none of that well you and you and I met far after I was healed from these things yeah so I mean I really I started experiencing anxiety without even knowing what it was. And that was probably around like, like the middle of the 2000, like 2015, 16 to where like, it's such a conversation now. It really wasn't that much of a conversation then. So I didn't

hear of that many people feeling what I was feeling. And I think the devil really does his work in the dark. Like he loves to get us alone and think that we're alone in something because then we don't talk to people about it. We don't, we don't bring light to it. And that's what Jesus does. He illuminates everything. And so I was experiencing anxiety and to get specific, I was diagnosed with OCD, anxiety disorder and panic disorder. I was having panic attacks every single day. I would have described myself as living in like a heightened state of anxiety 24 hours a day. I had phobias. I couldn't drive over bridges. I couldn't, I could barely drive a car for like a year I couldn't get on the highway I would have

a panic attack did you ever get into a car accident or anything no nothing imagine nothing triggered it and really quickly I just want to say if because the devil is going to go for your mind like you said what did you say mental warfare or war of the mind exactly if he can get your mind he can take everything absolutely um and if you are if your mental is being attacked, just understand that you have something so special down on the inside of you. And the devil knows that. And like he doesn't want what God put in you to come into fruition. Because now looking back on all the warfare I had of the devil trying to keep me down and keep me addicted to things and an alcoholic and all the things and like a shell of myself because I had so much anxiety he didn't want me to come and start girls gone bible he knew wait and say what you do when every time we get those thoughts

oh I rebuke them hey hey go back to hell where belong. I will rebuke those things in public. I don't care. I have no shame. She'll literally take it out of my brain with the air. She'll go, I take that out in the name of Jesus. Go back to hell where you belong. 100%. I rebuke them.

And I didn't know. So when I first started to get anxiety, I didn't know that what I was experiencing was spiritual warfare and demonic oppression. So I'm having all these things. experiencing was spiritual warfare and like demonic oppression so I'm like having all these things and to get specific because I want to be specific so people who have experienced what we've experienced like can feel they relate to it my OCD came in the form of obsessive thoughts um I had really compulsive thoughts my people might not know this but OCD is the is the stem of like a lot of other issues such as anxiety addiction eating disorders like these are all because of the obsessive component of it like I get addicted to things really easily because I become obsessed with them I um have you know

dealt with my fair share of disordered eating and body dysmorphia and obsessively you know I never really counted calories but like obsessively just being obsessed with what I ate and what I weighed and just what I look like and you know what I mean and so and that all stemmed from my OCD so people think that OCD like they're like oh I'm so OCD I have to have everything clean that's a very small fraction of what it actually is. I'm thinking about, because I have such bad food in my house when you would scan all the food. All right. That's just because you're so healthy, though. No, don't make fun of my OCD. All right, you want me to be honest about a love boy in my life? I think my OCD was kicking up a little bit, and I downloaded this app. She scanned everything in my house.

She goes, I can't believe you don't have diabetes the way you eat. No, but there was a point in time where I wouldn't eat anything without scanning it first. You were a nightmare. My mom gets really mad at me because she'll... Tell her the steak story. My mom always has told me my whole life that I have... I don't have... What is the word I'm looking for?

I'm an extremist. It's like I'm on one side or the other. I don't... And that's like truly, that's like the addictive, OCD, obsessive, compulsive part about me. She says that I go back to Florida to visit every time with a new diet. Last time I was on the carnivore diet. Worst. No, like, I'm sorry for me.

Worst decision of my life. I was eating steak three times a day. You and me. Addicted to steak. We gotta move on. I can't breathe. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No. I was eating steak. I was taking...

I was taking steak in a Tupperware. Your mom was so mad at you. My mom was so mad. I was pre-making steak and putting it in a Tupperware and taking it everywhere with me and she's looking at me like,

I know you're going to be off of this in two days but I'm really concerned for you. Why would you do that? That's what I'm saying. It was so annoying. It was so annoying. Alright, anyways. so that's how my OCD shows up in a funny way but still like you can tell with that type of mentality it can get dangerous and um and so yeah back to being like painfully anxious I was having panic attacks every day and it's not funny I was having panic attacks every day. And it's not funny. I was having panic attacks every day. And I got to a point where then I started, I mean, I was developing. And we, it's funny, we talked about this a few weeks ago.

And it's something that I want to bring up because we talk about mental health in a way still, even how open we are with it, that glamorizes it. And I feel like people really only talk about depression and anxiety because the other parts of mental health are really shameful and scary. We should never be ashamed of it. When you talk about bipolar, schizophrenia, being in psychosis, the scary, not fun parts of mental illness and like one thing that you and I talked about was intrusive thoughts so when I was struggling really badly I had weird intrusive thoughts and I'm not ashamed to admit it I would um have these thoughts like for example I couldn't go on a balcony because I'd go even on like a fourth floor balcony I'd go out and think I would have a thought like what if I jumped off I know that that's not my thought I've

never been suicidal not in a day in my life who like I'm not thinking these things but in the at that time I didn't know where these thoughts were coming from I didn't know what was happening to me I thought I was going crazy and not like the like you know cute like you know going create like I thought I was losing my mind I know actually I thought something was wrong with me I know so because my anxiety just was it was like feeding itself because I wouldn't really talk about it because I didn't know what to say and I felt like a freak and I felt there was something wrong with me. It just kept getting worse and worse and worse to the point where then I started to deal with derealization and depersonalization, which is a symptom of anxiety. That's like I was fully disconnected from my body.

Sometimes I felt like I was almost like watching everything from an outside perspective. You're living, but you're dead. Exactly. Survival mode. Yeah. from an outside perspective. Oh, you're living, but you're dead. Exactly. You're in survival mode.

Yeah. And I believe that it was my body kind of trying to protect itself from the anxiety. So I was almost like detaching from myself to protect myself. And I remember I had a really scary thought. It was at the height of it after I got sober. Because then after I got sober, you think that like all the problems went away. But then it took about a year for me to for Jesus to really heal me fully. But like I then I remember I was quarantined and I was sitting with my family that I've known my whole life and we're playing cards.

And I was with my brothers and their wives and my mom. And I looked around and for a split moment, I I thought that I didn't know these people. It was such a weird. And that's like that's the personalization It was such a weird, and that's depersonalization. I literally was like, these are strangers. Like weird, weird, weird stuff that was fully unexplainable. I was so scared, and because I was scared of it, like the enemy feeds on our fear.

Because I was afraid of it, it was just getting worse and worse. Until finally, I got on a call with a psychiatrist because I was like of it. It was just getting worse and worse until finally I got on a call with a psychiatrist because I was like, I'm not right. Like some, I need to do something about it. And that's why I encourage you while you need to pray, you need to read the Bible. You need to stay close to Jesus. If you need help, you go get help. You talk to somebody because when you talk to somebody, I didn't need somebody in that moment to tell me, Hey, everything is going to be okay. I needed someone to tell me, you are not the only person that's ever felt like this. It's actually normal what you're going through.

Therapy changes your, I loved, I love therapy. I'm still in therapy. I love it. I never got into therapy like that, but I will say I got on a call with a psychiatrist and basically I had one session and I was bawling my eyes out I said I'm losing my mind I think I'm becoming like some I think something scary is happening to me and I don't have a control over my thoughts this is what I'm feeling this that and the other she literally goes you're not losing your mind so many people feel this it's actually

really normal Ariel do you know what happened to me shackles off free God spoke to her in that moment to tell me nothing you're not crazy you're fine yeah these are like these are things that happen to people your mind and she told me you don't have to believe everything that your mind tells you and so from that moment on I literally was like, okay, other people feel like this. I'm not alone. I don't need to be scared. That's beautiful. And then we'll talk about the prayerful and spiritual aspect of it afterwards. But I want to get into your story too.

Can I just ask you one more thing? What are some tools that you did to cure your intrusive thoughts and anxiety and obsessive compulsive so thank you for asking one thing that helped aside from the obvious like um you know spiritual aspect was breathing exercises were so good there's something i think it's like a 448 breathing exercise that you can look it up. On the Calm app, they have breathing exercises, and it, like, regulates your nervous system. That was life-changing for me. That was life-changing. Something else that I did, you know, we stay away from anything new age,

but I think there are practices that, you know, Jesus would endorse, you know, for us to do. Something else that I did, someone told me that the opposite of anxiety is a grateful heart. And so they said the way that you can combat anxiety is by focusing on gratitude. And we know that like when you write down things you're grateful for, it will rewire your brain, your brain chemistry. And so I had a notes app on my phone and I did this and I still have it it's so cute to look back on the place that I was I'll show you one day it's like so sad where I started to then you see like my whole healing journey it's so cute so I started just throughout the day every time I had a moment that I was grateful for something I would write it down in my notes and then then I did that for weeks. It changed my brain chemistry. And at that same time, it's just so cool how God works all at the same time.

At that same time, I started, this was even before I started praying heavy. I started listening to worship music for the first time. Worship music. Worship music. It helps me so much. It will change the atmosphere in whatever room that you're in. It changes your heart. And so those are some practical everyday things that I did.

What is your favorite worship song? Right now? It changes. Waymaker. You love Waymaker. I think I've heard it. I love it. I just think I've heard it so much.

Oh, mine right now is Fear of God by Upper Room. It's so, so good. I've never heard of it. And Give Me Jesus. Give Me Jesus. Give Me's literally it's really cute um but yeah and so those are practical everyday things along with reading the word and we'll get into that too there's so much scripture that you speak over yourself there's a lot that i want to read about but first i want to get into yours. Okay. Yeah, so a little bit of background about myself. I had a mom.

God bless her. I have a mom. She's an angel. Thank you, Jesus, for her. But my mom suffered immensely from bipolar, anxiety, depression. It was so bad that she didn't leave the house for almost 10 years so growing up like ever i mean no yeah she couldn't get out of the house it was brutal to grow up and have to watch someone you love so much suffer like that she was in shackles did she have agoraphobia

was she afraid to leave the house she was just she suffered so bad from depression yeah she was in shackles. Did she have agoraphobia? Was she afraid to leave the house? She was just, she suffered so bad from depression. She was in a rut. And unfortunately, it caused her to be depleted and sleep all day and be on medications that made her sleep. So that was really hard watching her live like that. And so from watching her live like that, I was like that. I never want to be that. I have to get out of Boston.

I left at a very early age. I didn't even want to face my problems because I wanted to be the exact opposite of that. And this past year, when I went through a really hard time, you know, when you're going through a really bad time and you have no choice, like you're so desperate for a miracle and to figure out what is going on. I literally felt like I was losing my mind. Like my friends and family were looking at me like, you're dead. Like, are you ever going to come back? And so I was so desperate. I started counsel.

And, you know, I watched what the pills did to my mom and the Xanax and all things like that. And I just was like, I really don't want to get on medication. But my friends and my family, they were like, I really think you have to. Like, this is the last straw. Like, I feel like you're dying and I think you have to. Like, this is the last straw. Like, I feel like you're dying and I think you need to get on it. So I tried it and my body almost rejected it. I threw up. I couldn't sleep. I was profusely sweating in the middle of the night. So I was like, I can't take this. So I kept talking to my counselor and I decided to,

when I started my faith, my walk with God, I started prayer. But I had to get real with God and God will meet you in your truth and he will be there to help you, but you have to get real. He is not afraid of your problems. He will meet you right in the middle of all your problems. And he's a healer and a savior. And when I started to realize that, I swear to you, this is coming from someone. And I know I talked about this on the last episode. I suffered severely. I mean, I'm someone who had such bad obsessive compulsive thoughts. My mind wouldn't stop. I would call you and ask you the same question 500 times. And you'd be like, oh, you just asked me that like 100 times.

My mind wouldn't stop. It got to the point where my mind, my thoughts took control over my mind. Yeah. And it was something that I couldn't control. So I started speaking what was making me anxious. And I invited Jesus into every single one of my conversations. And I just kept saying, God, help me with my mind. I would put my hands on my head. I'm not kidding you. I'd put my hands

on my head. I would get down on my knees and I would be like, God, please heal my mind. I just want to be better. I want to be better. And I would speak. I would be like, I can't stop the thoughts. Jesus, please help't stop the thoughts. Jesus, please help me stop my thoughts. Please help me. Please show me my mind. Show me what's going on. I don't want to turn to medication. I just want to be healed. It didn't happen overnight. I struggled. I struggled for a while. But with prayer and with my relationship with Jesus and talking to him, and I know some people that are listening to this, it sounds a little it can sound a little hokey. But I promise you from coming from someone where I didn't think I was ever going to get out of it. And by the way, I always had this theory that with time, mental illness is only going to get worse.

And I will tell you, my friends, my best friends that who, by the way, weren't believers, and even my family who weren't super religious, they are now look because of the miraculous things God has done in my life. They're looking at me like, I need this guy. What do I got to do? I need him because they see me and how I'm this. I'm a completely different person. I'm healed. I'm just, they see what it did. They see how much he healed me. They see that he completely healed my brain chemistry and my mind. And it's all about getting real with yourself, prayer, counsel. And by the way, do you want to know what they would do with kids that suffered severe mental illness? They would have them take care of animals because it does two things. It takes the,

um, it takes the focus off, and it gives you purpose. So one of the big things that helped me also was ministering people, helping people, loving people. It took the focus off of myself. So I was able to, when I started helping others and just being there for others, I was like, wow, I'm going to be okay. there for others, I was like, wow, I'm going to be okay. You know, a time where I really started to see you like receive real true healing was when you got strong enough in your faith where you started to pray for others. And by the way, we are overcome by, um, the blood of the lamb and

the word of our testimony, your testimony. That's why Jesus brings us through things, because look at your testimony. Every person in your life. And she's right. A lot of them, nonbelievers come to you and they're like, I don't know about any of this stuff, but I see what's happened to you. And like, do you think you can pray for me, too? I don't even know if I believe what you believe.

And then you started praying for other people and you praying for other people healed you. Absolutely. That is, I have goosebumps because it's true. When you pray for other people, that's when you get blessings also. There's a story in the Bible about the woman who, there's a woman who was bleeding for like 12 years. She had an illness and Jesus was walking on the road in a crowd of people. And the woman went and was like, I need to talk to Jesus. And then she grabbed the, you probably heard about the story about like, she grabs the garment of his, uh, the hem of his garment. She, all she did was touch his clothing and immediately her bleeding stopped

and it healed her. And Jesus turned around and was like, who, who touched me? And then she was like almost scared because she was like, you know, it was me. And then he said, um, go on. Your faith has made you well. So just believing and having faith is healing in and of itself. Yeah. So unbelievable. Yeah. That's beautiful. So much. Well, so when, so when do you think, do you still struggle? Do you have residual stuff? Would you say you're fully healed? Because I know that I have momentary lapses of resorting back to that obsessive thinking or anxiety and stuff like that. Of course. Yeah. And i said this in one of the

podcasts just be when i say that i'm healed and i say that i'm all better does not mean by any means my life is perfect i still struggle i still get intrusive thoughts i still get major spiritual warfare and by the way the closer you get to God, you will experience spiritual warfare. That's why we talk about this, because it gives you tips on how to resist the devil and bring God to you. But yes, it's your life is you're always going to struggle. But when you when you have the tools to handle it, it's a lot easier, isn't it? Yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's tools. A lot of people don't know

and this is i think the reason why we're so obsessed with we're not obsessed with spiritual warfare but we're obsessed with the power that we have through jesus because a lot of the time in church tell me how you feel about this because you've been to a lot of different churches in la the one we go to now one it's very powerful in the sense of, I mean, they speak to the spiritual life of Christianity and it's like we have deliverance and we have like a bunch of all that stuff. There are other churches in LA and other places that I've gone to that people will complain they don't feel the Holy Spirit there. And I don't think it's that the Holy Spirit's not there. I think that they shy away from the topic of spirituality because it's like weird.

It's weird to say that you have a demon inside of you talking. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like it's not modern. Yeah. But let me tell you one thing. We were created. I was thinking about this a lot last night.

We were created to be spiritual beings. We live in this body, but we are spiritual beings inside. And we have a yearning and an inclination towards spirituality. That if we don't feed that, we're going to go looking for it elsewhere. And I really believe that's the reason for the rise in New Age spirituality and tarot and all this stuff. It's everywhere people are obsessed with it because we want to be spiritual so if we're going to take spirituality out of the church in fear that it's going to like make people think it's weird or like reject it or

not believe it then they're going to go looking for it elsewhere in crystals and stuff like that like we need to by the way all Everything. It's all witchcraft. You put your hope and your belief into anything other than Jesus, not good. Sorry. Go ahead. I just wanted to touch upon something. So when I was going through my thing, do you mind off the cuff doing this prayer for people? Because I'm sure they're yeah

um angela and i swear the feeling i had after this prayer was just so i would be like angela the thoughts are taking over me what do i do i can't control my mind she would be like come here and i remember there was a moment too where I was like do you think I should just get on the medication for a little bit and she said absolutely not and she would put her hand she you would put your hands on my head can you do a prayer yeah okay I would so I would I would just put my hands and I would take her hands and I'd be like put your hands on your head and I say this it's 10.5. It's one of my favorite things. This is, by the way, what beat my OCD. I repeated this every single day, all day, whenever things got out of control in there, this is what I said.

So you put your hands on your head and you say, I demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And I take every thought in my mind captive and I make it obedient to Christ. And then I repeat over and over and over captive and I make it obedient to Christ. And then I repeat over and over and over again that I have the mind of Christ. I have the mind of Christ. My mind belongs to Jesus. My thoughts belong to Jesus. Jesus created us.

God created us to be for us. He will never be against us. So if you have a thought that is against yourself, it can't be from God. So you rebuke that thought. Don't even listen to it. Laugh at it. You know what I do? I love that, by the way.

When you say laugh at the thought, because whenever something comes with confusion, you laugh at it. Go back to hell where you belong. Do you want to know something? This is going to sound so ridiculous, and I don't care. One time I was posting a video on TikTok. I was basically doing like the salvation prayer, like inviting people to, you know, accept Jesus into their life. As I was at your house, I was editing this video. And I remember I'm editing this video on Easter, trying to like go fast so

I could post it. And I'm having thoughts. We had been out to dinner the night before. Do you want to know the thoughts I was having in my head repeatedly was going? You looked so ugly last night. No, everybody was laughing at you because you're so ugly. You're like over and over. And it took me a second where I didn't even realize because I'm so separate. I don't even pay attention to that stuff. I'm like, I literally out loud. I go, devil, get out of here. like, I literally out loud, I go, devil, get out of here. Get out of here. I was like, what? So like, I'm not thinking that obviously you need to understand when you're thinking those ridiculous things about yourself. That's not you. You would never say that about yourself. Rebuke it, laugh at it, be like, separate yourself from it. So you understand that's not me. I don't want to talk

like that. Another thing about anxiety and depression and all that stuff. I don't know about you. Yes. So you and you were doing something that I did when I was in the thick of it where, you know, power of life and death on our tongue. And we say, be careful what you're saying. Don't say I used to do this all day. I don't feel good. I don't feel good. I'm anxious. I'm anxious. I'm coming into an agreement.

I'm coming into agreement with anxiety and the devil. Yes. I'm I'm telling. I'm coming into an agreement. I'm coming into agreement with anxiety. And the devil. Yes. I'm telling him, yeah, you're right. Whatever these thoughts are, I receive them and I believe them. And we never want to give the devil any power. Ever. He has no power.

Yes. And so I would sit there and I would say all day, I don't feel good. And you in the thick of it, what would you say? You would be like, I'm always going to feel you in the thick of it what would you say you would be like I'm always gonna feel like this I'm never gonna get better it's and we would be like hey it's enough enough change it change the rhetoric change the narrative that you're saying to yourself rebuke it in the name of Jesus don't receive any of that stuff it's not yours to receive God did not create us with the intention of us living with obsessive thoughts and thinking negatively about ourselves. Can I read a little bit of scripture about stuff that I love?

Sure. Authority through Jesus, Matthew 16, 19. Jesus says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth He gave us keys. He died on the cross to give us authority. We have the keys. We have the keys to rebuke whatever we want, to cast out whatever we want, anything that's not of him. And this is how you pray. Jesus, he says in the Bible,

cast your anxieties on him because he cares for you. You cast them out. Jesus, I rebuke negativity and I cast it out of me. Jesus, I take my insecurity and I leave it at your feet. Jesus, I take my obsessive thinking and my addictions and my mental illness and I leave it at your feet. I give it to you, and I ask you to have your way with it, God. Give it all to him. You say it with your mouth. You say it out loud. Just remember, always pray out loud. Jesus, I give it to you. I give it all to you. I love that. I love when you pray. I love you. I feel so much lighter. In Luke 10, 17, it it says the 72 returned with joy saying lord even the demons are subject to us in your name do you know what that means so he they came back so excited because

it's not just jesus himself that has authority over the demons the the the people came back saying when we rebuke them in your name, they have to bow down to us too. We have that power on earth right now. Yep. And before that's why we should be grateful every second of the day for what Jesus did on the cross, because otherwise we wouldn't have that gift. We didn't have that before,

but because of that, he gave us the keys. We'll be getting whopped upside the head by the devil. Whopped. And this is my favorite thing to say over myself. I have not been given a spirit of fear, but a power of love and of a sound mind. It's 2 Timothy 1.7. Jesus, man.

I love him so much. I love him so much. And also, I just want to say that, like, I think there's this stigma in the church that because, you know, if you have faith in Jesus, that means everything should be perfect and you shouldn't struggle with anything. And, yeah, but it's just not realistic. And it's also not up to us to decide when Jesus gives us a miraculous healing situation. Um, I know for me, it took a long while for me to heal. And I'm so glad that you touched upon that because be patient with it. Things aren't going to happen overnight. It took me a while too yeah of course of course like yeah I mean over the course of a year or two um and so things don't happen overnight the way I

like to describe it is like you if you look at your heel if you're in the depths of anxiety and depression or mental illness and you think about whoa I have a long way to go in terms of healing that's so overwhelming and that'll keep you bound and down. Yeah. I think if you look at every day as like a little victory here, a little victory there, prayer day by day, you just take it day by day. You will eventually get to a point where you're like, whoa, how did I even get to this place? And that's exactly what happened to us. And exactly. And it's also like life experience too, is going to do it for you because you're going to be in a bad situation and then you're going to remember another time that you were when jesus came through and it's going to give you you grow in that confidence

with god um yeah but i just i want i want everyone to know that there is no shame no shame mental illness let me tell you i don't know the statistic but i know a lot of people are struggling and like mental illness is weird like there are things that feel weird and again like i said i feel like mental illness is okay to talk about when you've overcome it but if someone like right now it's like so beautiful because we've overcome it but if someone were to come on who is in the middle of being in psychosis or like really struggling with something scary, it's not as glamorous and it's not as accepted. And that's sad. That's a really sad fact.

But just know like you're not crazy. So many people are feeling what you're feeling. So many people. We're all struggling. And in some are feeling what you're feeling. So many people. We're all struggling. And in some way, everybody is struggling. Yeah. We all are. So it's okay.

Give yourself some grace. I have overcome so many things. And there are still things. I come on this podcast. I talk about Jesus. I'm, you know, coming to lead spiritually while still dealing with things in my life. Um, and I don't, I hope there's a day where I literally don't have one issue that I need to be delivered from, but I don't think that's possible. And, and I think too,

it says in the Bible, guard your heart. And I think that is so important because we've talked about it before, the ear gates and eye gates. Ear gates and eye gates. Whenever we're listening to music, we look at each other and we're like, ear gates and eye gates. Every time we want to play a. Yeah, so I mean, we're not listening. We don't do that. All right. Yeah, we definitely don't, right?

So I just like you have to be aware that another. That's how, you know, I know for me when I listen and or I'm watching something scary like anxiety, the fear like comes into my heart. Let me say, too, that like the devil wants us to be scared so badly. He wants us to be scared because if you're living in fear, you're not going to do anything. You're not going to do anything for the kingdom of God. You're not going to do anything. You're not going to do anything for the kingdom of God. You're not going to make moves for Jesus. You're going to sit there in your fear, doing nothing, being a shell of a person. And that's what he wants from you. So if you feel that in yourself, you need to come up, get out and be like, absolutely not. The thing about spirituality

is like, you got to get a little gangster with it. Like you have to be like, you have to be like, no, I'm not going to let the devil do that to me this guy used to be after my intellect yo my thinking my emotions that's what he does but when I was when I was anxious you got I can't it's so funny because you can't even imagine me in that space right like of being that anxious I had no noness, not an ounce of boldness. I would describe it as I had like an apologetic, and it was only a couple years of my life. You did?

After every sentence, I would be like, it's okay, right? No, no, literally. I had an apologetic presence. I'd walk into a room apologizing that I walked into the room. It was so weird because that's what he wants from us. He wants to take every bit of goodness that God gave us. And we have to say, how do I word this? You have to say no.

Yeah, you freak devil. Get out of here. All right, guys, before we close, we wanted to bring up something very near and dear to our heart. There's a film coming out on July 4th, and it's called The Sound of Freedom. And it's a movie. Arielle will tell you a little bit about the film, but it's on the topic that is so devastating and so disturbing. So common now. It's happening every day right now as we speak to millions of people and children is human trafficking.

And it's something human trafficking is something so funny the media doesn't even talk about it. It's something that's so disturbing that it's hard to face. But I think that we have a responsibility as people, as Christians, as as humans to face because these are children like we have to protect our children. The children are the future. And so this movie is it does a really good job at shedding light on this. Yeah, this film was so beautifully made. It really sheds light on what's going on right now. It's about a boy who got rescued from human traffickers and his sister is still captive. So he goes on this big mission to try and save her. And it's an incredible film. It really gives you some information on what's going on. And it's beautifully done. So it'll be entertaining while

being about something really important. And I pray that we get to do more things like this because... What's really sad about human trafficking, too, is that you would never even know. It's businessmen that are doing it. It's normal, average people that are coming and sweeping you up in L.A. when you're pumping your gas. You have to be so careful. You have to be, like, seriously, have so much awareness of your surroundings. Get off your phone.

Be careful at night. Like, I hate that that's the world that we're living in. And I'm not telling you to live in fear because God is in control. But I think that God wants you to meet him in being cautious and being careful so on that note I just want to read and finish with something from Romans God's everlasting love Romans 8 31 what then shall we say to these things if God before us who can be against us yeah Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing

will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Yes. And that is so beautiful, Angela. I love that. I love you. Amen. We love you guys so much. Thank you so much for your support, your kind words.

We see them all. We are constantly in tears looking at each other. We can't believe we are able to minister you guys. We love you so much. We love you so much. We love you so much. Thank you guys for everything. Thank you for the support. We are going to start posting weekly. Yes. Every Friday. We kind of just wanted to get our feet wet in this. We had no idea that this was going to happen. We don't know. We don't know why God trusted us with this, but we care deeply, deeply. So much from the bottom of our hearts.

To do him right, to make him proud, and to not come on here and just do whatever. We want to be educational, and we want to make a difference. Yeah. I don't know. I'm looking at your earrings. They look so good. Okay. So many people have been asking where we get our jewelry.

Everything is Jackson. My little chain bracelet bracelet they make men and women's jewelry it's like the coolest street wear like i just really like really cool it's classy and dainty too exactly it doesn't tarnish which i love i only shower with my jewelry i will not go through the effort of taking it all off and it doesn't tarnish and i'm being completely serious so guys god bless you read your bible stay close to jesus 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 in jesus name bless you in jesus name oh