The Hope Hotline - How Hard Is It To Live In Victory? Part 2

Episode Date: May 15, 2026

How Hard Is It To Live In Victory? Part 2

and welcome to the Hope Hotline. It is an amazing Friday and tonight is Dare to Be. Yeah. Which is going to be so good. I'm so excited. I love, I love this night. I love getting together with my girls and, you know, Monday nights are awesome. Yep.

But there's no worship prior to. But tonight, worship and the word, which is really. really, really awesome. And Bible study is way different than having somebody come in and speaking to you, which is what Jared did. Jair did last night in the men's. I mean, our men's hub on Monday nights is a Bible study. And I know Travis is doing something similar, but people can talk back. Yeah. You didn't get to talk last night if he came to Lion's Den. And I heard he had a phenomenal crowd. Yeah. So I love it when a church, Church is not top heavy.

Yeah. And people know that they're supposed to be doing ministry, and then they walk in the ministry God's given them. That doesn't mean everybody who says they want to do it is going to. Right. But if God tells us, then you are. But it's so amazing to see people feel like God's telling them to do things and then them actually do it.

Right. Because a lot of people say, I feel like God's telling me to do something, and then they don't do anything with it. Right. I know. I feel like there's that extreme. It's like there's people that like want to do all the things and try everything and nothing pans out because it's like their own like thought and own desires.

And it's just bred off. And then there's the ones that have so many great ideas and we'll never do it. I know it's such a shame. I know. Because they mean because God literally is just waiting. I know. Come on. Let's do it.

I tell Tom. I was like, because I didn't even tell Tom. I mean, he would have said yes. But I think I did tell him and he forgot actually. I told Tom that last night was his first one and Norma was like just bragging on it. Like when she got home like you wouldn't believe like how many cars. La la la la la. And I was telling Tom and he's like, Jared's doing something else.

And I'm like, yeah, like he felt called to do this. This is flipping awesome. Yeah, very burdened by it. Like knew he had to do this. That's what I said. I'm like he was on it. He could not. Yeah, he couldn't let it go.

And it's been like the thought. prayer for a while. So, yeah, so it was good to. It was good to do it for sure. Yeah. It's awesome. It's just getting them ready for the next thing. Yeah, and we had people outside of the church come too that knew about it.

So. Which happens for Dare to be. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So. And they'll be here on Sunday now because they made some friends and had a good experience. Yep.

It helps. I agree. And Jeff is right behind him, right there with them. You know what? You know what the Tommas used to do, which was really popular? They might need to bring it back at some point. But that marriage class that you guys used to do was so good. Wait, I don't think we did a marriage class. Huh? I don't think we did a marriage. Yes, you did one a long time ago. You did it. Well, maybe it was just a Bible study. Yeah. But it talked about marriage. No, so. But I think you're right. I think that's needed.

Much needed. Yeah. It is. Can't be me and Tom. We have a horrible marriage. Oh my gosh. I can only people who have bad marriages or good marriages. Stop it. You're so ridiculous.

I don't think people can hear from us one more time. That's the great thing. Like we get sick of hearing ourselves. So it's really great that there are other people that are like, I'll do it. Yeah. Yeah. But I think Heather and Travis have toyed around with it too. Yeah.

I don't know if they want our advice, though. What is that? I don't think they want her. advice though people don't people don't but they need it I'm telling you that that class would be packed yeah yeah I know because you can always get better your wife and call her a woman it's better than bride make your make your peace with the Lord literally oh my gosh it's better than calling somebody the bride oh my gosh I would kill somebody his bride oh my gosh I would kill somebody oh my gosh I would kill Tom if he called me that I'd be like smacking him right up side of

I'm like that is too archie cheesy. I'm going to have a chair announce that from now on around hope to me. Yeah, you're a bride. I'll hit him. Here's my bride. I will literally punch him square in his chin. I'd like to see that actually. I'll make sure that happens.

We're talking about victory today. Yeah. I will be victorious in that fight. That sounds like victory to hope. I'll be coming to a place of victory. with that. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. So you want to do the little advertisement or whatever and then like do I want to talk about Tom. Do you have Tom's TikTok and Instagram thing too? Yeah. That's my not not it. But his ad do you have that? If you don't, it's okay. I'm probably doing

Canva. Let's see. Let me see real quick. I'm looking up on the screen because I can see stuff you can't. But so while we're doing the ladies thing tonight, Tom will be doing his Instagram live. And I think it's going to make people very torn. Oh, okay. Because do they want to come in here us or do they want to come and hear him or do they want to stay home and hear him?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's going to be a rough one. Because live is not recorded. so you can't. Yeah. And although the recording them, they're going to be using them for ads.

They're not using them for people to be able to watch again. Right. I mean, I think that's a good idea, though, because... I do too. Like, then you have to be there to watch it. Yeah, instead of like... Yeah, like waiting until later.

Like... And he, his numbers for only... What number are we on? We're going into number five, correct? Instagrams. And... So TikTok, he's only done two. He's going into three.

TikTok, he had 50, he was on average in the 40s. He has, his highest was 51. Instagram, he's done, this will be fifth. And that has been between 70 and 80. Wow. Like when you run those numbers in chat, they're actually are like blown away that because they can see the statistics of lives.

And even on TikTok, it'll always say it's exceeding what the average is or whatever. And it's crazy that he's doing as good as he is so quickly. God is good. Very good. And that's with no real presence. He has no followers on Instagram really. And he has none on TikTok. He is growing.

But it just goes to show you that, you know. Jair must have heard that you were ready for a fight. Jer knows I'm going to. Jerr just walked in. He's ready for me to punch him right across his chin if he says one daggle word. Oh my goodness. We already got her all feisty for you. I'm riled.

Don't do it. Okay, put that thing on there, girl. I'm trying to, okay, I made a new one, but because it's not Instagram only. It's TikTok too. Like Hope was just saying. But for some reason, I can't, it says the file's missing, so I can't pull it down. Eight o'clock. But yeah, 8 o'clock.

Oh, no, no, it's right here. It's right here. Hold on. We're going to do a little switcher-roo. Okay. Right here. Oh, I didn't, yeah. You don't have a mic. That doesn't say TikTok. Yeah, right there. Instagram and TikTok, but that's his handle. So I'm going to show them the Instagram or their, the TikTok handle in a second. Oh, okay. I see. Live Instagram and TikTok right under his picture, Friday 8 p.m. And he does go into some pretty good stuff too. Like, oh, okay. This, tonight's about sensationalism. Oh. He is about to pave.

some people off tonight. Oh, the comments are going to be wild. Oh, the comments are going to be off the chain. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. I literally am kind of devastated. I'm not going to be on for this because it's going to be pretty intense.

It was like Tom won't care. He will probably still be answering questions when we're getting done. Yeah. Oh, he will be. because he's going to be ticking some people off left and right he definitely will so that's ticot yeah so it's the at tom liply one um not sc not the past one but if you go to your if you're on ticot and you go to your messages like your dms um at the top it shows you who's live so around eight o'clock if you have a hard time finding them if you just go to your dms in ticot and then look at

the top it shows like different stories um usually the first one is all the lives that's how I usually find. TikTok's a lot more fun. Yes. Because there are people on there that are. Oh gosh. It's a wild wild west. It's yeah.

And you got some, we had that like 290,000 view one. So you got a bunch of followers from that one. And that I think that was. It's very hairy. Yeah. Exactly. I mean,

it gets, it gets pretty like they get on TikTok. Not not really. He hasn't had to deal with. I mean, he's had people, but nobody's been horrible. They've just been.

Instagram is all of our church people. Yeah. I know. Instagram is very, is very, is very, calm. Yeah, yeah. Very gentle. Yeah.

TikTok could be chaotic. It can be. It hasn't been yet, but I have a feeling. Maybe tonight. Tonight's tonight. It could be tonight. It could be tonight.

Defense on if that girl shares the, the Pastor Tom's quotes and stuff. Oh, can you imagine? And all of a sudden. His biggest fan. Yes. Oh my gosh.

Okay. So, Jare, are you? you identifying as a woman today? Yep. I've brought some nasty media in here. This is what you guys need. Well, it's not really. It's an invite only.

So you said I'm always invited. That was your first guest. And it should have been your last. Maybe she wants you to pull up a seat next to her. Oh, my. Sarah's going to love this today, though. Hold on. But I still want to tell.

Okay. Oh, yeah. Go, go, go. You're right. Sorry. Super sorry. So, okay, so you're going to have to choose. Well, no, what you can do is come to dare to be.

It's your girl. Only girls, not Jair identifying as a girl. But if you, yeah, if you want to come tonight, we would love for you to be there. Bring a friend. Bring your girls. And then it's from seven to nine. And then so what you can do is come. And then at nine o'clock, you can hop on the live because it's still going to be going.

Pastor Tom's going to go all night with this one. You're going to have to, like, shut him off. You're going to have to, like, grab his phone from him after this one. Or you might just be like, like, like over it at some point because it's not the first time he's had this conversation. Oh yeah. Oh my gosh. We shall see. But yeah, definitely come tonight May 15th tonight. Tonight is the night. Seven to nine and I think that's pretty much it. That's the important stuff. There we go. So, okay, now we can get into it. Hot diggity. So last, okay, so before we get into it,

I'm going to talk about what we talked about on Wednesday. Oh, I want to make sure everybody knows, Wednesday of next week, we will not be doing the podcast, correct? No. Wednesday, we will be. Wednesday, the 27th. Wednesday the 27th. Next week. Next week's the 20th.

So we will be doing it next week. We'll be here. The following week, we will not be doing it. Wednesday, we will not be here. Thank you. Yep. I knew what's coming up. It is.

I knew one was going to sworn it was next week. Not yet. Thank God. You know what? May is like flying. I know. Bye. Let's slow down.

Already halfway. Back the truck up. For real. Oh my gosh. Crazy. I just, I cannot go over how fast time it's flying. I cannot believe it's May. Me either.

Halfway. There's only 12 months in a year. Christmas. I know. I know. Literally. It really does feel like. It feels like I was just in here doing Tudy's hair for the performance.

Yeah. Like there's no way it was that. What in the world? I know. It's crazy. Mm-mm. It's crazy. And I'm working on Christmas. I'm finishing up right now. But like, it's crazy that it's already Christmas Eve service. That's what I'm talking about. But it's nuts. Five months. So before we go, get into it, what we talked about on Wednesday was being, living in victory. A lot of times people think that. living in defeat is actually where a Christian's, I'll say this, either when somebody becomes a Christian,

they believe like everything is going to be smooth sailing from that moment on. And when it's not, then they get defeated and then they're like questioning everything, right? Or a Christian believes they're just like the world and defeat is just the way life is. So, That's the way, that's just the way it is. And so they look just like the world as the tough things come their way. But that's not what the word says at all. And we talked about the reasons why, I'm not going to go through it because I want to finish today because we only have 45 minutes. And Jera has joined the group.

So Lord only knows what's going to happen. And you are more than welcome to say things. Like you can talk. See, that's an invite. But if you do, you have to talk like this into the mic. Yes. Otherwise, you can't talk. Yes. I've got my radio voice too.

Oh, gosh. Please don't. No radio voice. You sound like Casey Kaysam. You don't even know who that is. Do you know who Casey Kaysam is? I do. No way.

I do too. Yeah, I do too. What? What? He's top 40. Oh my gosh. He sounds like movie phone. But how did you know?

How do you guys know who he was? Because he's way before your time. He always hosted New Year's Eve. No, that's Dick Clark. Oh, my gosh. I knew you didn't know who Casey Kaysa was. No, I know Casey Kaysa. He had dark hair until he died.

He died his hair dark. He never went gray. He was a very short man whose voice was extremely deep. Mm-hmm. He was a DJ. A music dance show. No. That's Dick Clark.

He had top 40. Yes. You do not know who he is. Show her who he is. Yeah, this guy. Hairspray. I know him from that movie. Are you sure that's not Frankie Valley from Harrispr?

Oh, maybe. I don't know. Maybe I don't know who he is. You don't. I'm pretty sure you don't. I think if you heard his voice, you'd be like, I think I heard his name. Yes.

But maybe I don't know who he is. Yeah, I don't think you did. Clearly. I would be shocked if a millennial did know who he was. Okay. Rude. Do you know? Do you really know who he is?

No, I do. I just, I don't, like, I can't tell you. No, I see him. And I'm like, yeah, I definitely know this. And he did. He did the Casey case. I'm like, what is it? Was it radio?

Like, it was radio? Yeah. Just top 40. But why do I know his face? One of the biggest DJs ever that have ever lived. One of the most well known. He did. He had every Sunday.

he had Casey Kasem's top 40, and it was Sunday night in every radio station pretty much carried out. That's probably how I know. I mean, it didn't matter. He wasn't on their radio, but they paid for him to do the top 40. Yeah. And you literally were sitting waiting to hear. What's the top 40?

Waiting to hear what number one was. Yeah, because 1988 to 1998 was Casey's top 40. So that was like 98, I was 14. Yeah. So anytime. Like those are 14 years. Casey Kasem is our version of. Bubba, the love sponge.

What was his name? Yeah. Yeah. What was his name? Carson Daly. Carson Daly. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So he would be our Casey Haysom equivalent to what we would consider. Probably. Because he did the, he counted down. I think it was the 10. For MTV. Yeah. On billboard charts.

He was. He was on Save by the Bell, too. Oh, maybe that's how I know him. Because he did like a top 40 on Save by the Bell. Okay. I know. I saw every episode of Save By the Bell. Every single one.

See, Hope, this is your fault. We only have 43 minutes now. Because you questioned Vanessa about who she knew him. I knew she didn't know. Oh, my God. It's not possible. It's not possible. It's not possible.

Oh, my gosh. I'm not going to go back into everything that we covered. So watch the one previous to this, but the natural instinct for people is not to walk in victory. So how do you do it? Because your flesh doesn't do it. Like your spirit man knows victory. Your carnal nature goes straight to the negative all the time. Like it's the renewing of the mind is what we talked about really on Wednesday.

Yeah. What's crazy is people honestly believe that if you're walking in victory, that means you'll never have a battle. You'll never have to resist. You'll never have a struggle. You'll never have temptation. That's just not the truth. You can face all of those things and them not be a problem for you and you overcome and walk in victory. And even if you do have to walk through something like a struggle or you'll face many trials in this lifetime,

it says you'll overcome and you'll win. So like even if you go through a trial, it doesn't have to feel like a trial and you can walk in victory through it. I, in the past, I can tell you this, for over six months now, I feel like I feel like I, I have had to face one trial after another, like one thing. And it might be almost a year now that I've been, and they've all looked different. And even through them, like I'll talk to myself, which is what Tracy was saying, she talks to herself. Vanessa, do you talk to yourself and like you're daily, hourly, weekly, monthly? Basically telling yourself, no.

No, that's not what the word of God says. I'm not, I just a couple days ago, remember saying to myself, like, I'm victorious. So I'm not allowing what I'm wanting to act or feel. I'm not allowing myself to believe it, to accept it, to receive it, to even have an inkling. Because if I do, I literally am saying this in my head. If I do, I lose. Right. I'm not doing that. I don't, it doesn't feel like victory is right here, but I know that it is.

It's like healing. It's the same exact. Either you know that by his stripes you are healed even though you don't see it. Faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen, which is Hebrews 113. Those are, call those things that be not as though they are. I mean, like all of those things are no different. When you're dealing with healing, they're no different when you're walking through a trial and tribulation. Like money, you're sitting there looking, where's the money going to come from?

Doesn't matter. Have you paid your tie? Then the word is true. The needs met. But how do you respond? Because the average person in the natural goes to the negative. They don't go to the winning and see that it's already right there. And they just crumble and then are like so downtrodden instead of like, I just was

listening to Kenneth Hagan, and I loved what he said. I was listening to a message from yesterday. And he didn't even, obviously, he never heard that song, this is how we fight our battles. No. But he literally said, if you're walking through something, it's in your praise that shows whether you believe that you're on the other side of it and either it's victory or it's healing or whatever. He was like, how you respond and how you praise and how you work. And how you worship is actually what you believe. Right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

It's so true. Go ahead, you girls. Add your two cents. Recently, I have been praying very, like, honest. Oh, and Jared, too. Sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, Jer, I'm used to.

I've been praying very honest prayers. Like, Lord, I'm, this is, these are my thoughts. This is how I'm feeling right now. Yeah. Can you show me why? And a lot of times, and then, like, wait. for a response and a lot of times he'll show me, well, you're not abiding here.

Or, you know, like, there's, there's a root to this. Like, well, let's get, let's get to that so that these thoughts don't come back. Or, you know, I can, like, overcome them quickly. But it's like, I just been praying super honest prayers with the Lord. Like, he's like, this is how I'm feeling.

Now, show me. Is there, is there a root to this? Is there something that I need more knowledge or revelation on? And just praying, like being honest with the Lord. Don't you think that in my, and I sit there and I say, hear you say that. And I think to myself, man, God must really love that because he already knows. Right. Yeah.

He already knows like the truth about the situation. But to hear you be transparent and then come to him like a friend and say, okay, I need your help. Yeah. Instead of acting like you're already there. Which you're, he knows you're not. Right. And you know you're not. Right.

Or like begging him for like, like a way out a lot of times it's something that we have to do within ourselves like yeah and you know that's one of the things kenneth hey good was saying in this message that i heard this morning he's like beggars aren't winners yeah beggars don't believe they're winners yeah and that's so true it's true like you're not coming from a place of victory if you're begging because you're there's obviously doubt there yeah and the beg And I never thought about it like that, but I'm like, it's so true. Somebody who's a winner calls it out, speaks it out, declares it.

They're not begging and hoping. That's what I've been learning, reading his book, the Believers Authority. If you ever, he has it on YouTube, it's a four-part series. I don't even know how many times I've listened to it, which is that book. Yeah. So, and obviously it's not an abbreviated form, but I'm just telling you, if after you're read it, you'll end up, if you ever listen to it, you'll be like, man, oh man, because it's so good, because I don't read a lot. I read the Bible all the time, but I don't read a lot of other things.

And you just, it'll penetrate a different way than when you, how you read it. Because I've read lots of Andrew Womicks and then I've gone back and listened to him teach it. And there's a whole. Right. When you fully understand that all authority has been given unto, unto us, like you take ownership. Right. You grab hold. What's yours? You claim. it. Right. And you actually can demand it. Right.

Because it's already a provision that's been provided for you. So you're not demanding something that's not yours already. Right. Exactly. You can just come from a different place. But what do you want to say, Tracy? And then we'll let Jerr give his two cents. I don't know if you have anything to say about specifically about gratitude.

But I think one thing that keeps me in a good place is just even when I'm asking, for something or I feel like I'm in lack or feel like I'm praying for stuff. I try to remember like all the things that I'm super thankful for even in that situation because even in like a really crappy situation or one that you don't understand or one that's really hard, there's something in there that you can be thankful for. And so I it just for me it's always perspective and it's always keeping your mind on things above, you know? And so and then when you have the gift of faith, you know what's going to work out. So it's just like reminding yourself like, okay, I don't love that I'm seeing this right now and it's actually really frustrating. However, I know it's

going to work out and God like, thank you that we still have this and thank you that like whatever it is based off whatever situation you're in. I also do this. I also think, I do that too because I think it's super powerful to speak the things that you've already seen come to pass that he's been faithful in. Yes. It's a faith boost. But I also think, and this is the other thing that I do is I thank him for, even though I haven't seen it come to pass, I thank him for the specific things. I thank him for these specific things that I'm standing on because I know that they shall come to pass. So my mind is already as if it's already happened. And that helps me to do it. When I'm saying it, I'm reminding myself of the fact that it's a finished work. Exactly. It's a done deal. Like I'm already, I've already won.

So I think, yeah, I think it's super powerful. Jair. Oh, I'm a fun one. I was one of the ones that probably early on in my walk thought that when you're a Christian, you don't go through as many battles or hard battles. Yeah. You kind of, like if you tithe, everything's going to be perfect. Or if you... Lots of people are like that, Jare. I was.

Lots of people are. And it was before I came to the church. And it's getting partial messages, too, because I would, you know the scriptures, you know what David went through. And you'd hear like, you know, evangelists and stuff like that. And they're just talking, you know, speak to it. And it's gone.

And there's parts where it's not. nice hearing people's struggles too because you understand how they've overcome it but they don't have time to go through all that. So another thing for me is I looked at battles as I was failing somewhere in my walk but what I learned later when I was willing to change was God's taking me through places to refine me and in that refining I became a whole different person. I became battle hardened. I became I grew in my faith and then he would take away idols like in business. I wasn't truly, I didn't truly see who he was and how faithful he was until he took everything to the point of everything was going to go away. And it got me to a place of faith where I actually laughed when we didn't have enough money.

And I remember Tracy's like, that's not funny. And I'm like laughing. That was a new. I was like, why are you laughing? That was a new season. She's never seen me like that. I know. I was like, are you okay?

And I laughed because I knew either God was going to have to fix this and he would or he had. or he had something better. Yeah. Or he had something coming around the corner. And I've never been taken to the edge of my faith like that. And when I did it, I could overcome anything. So we look at trials as like either we're failing, we're not believing enough,

but God's refining. If you're willing to grow, God will take you to places you didn't know you could go and you become this whole other person in faith. And then you can get used somewhere else. And that's what I've learned the most recently. And it's so exhilarating and freeing when you're like,

taken to that edge of faith because most people don't want to go there. I think you said that last week. Most people don't want to go through the fire of refining and grow. But if you're willing to go through it, man, what's on the other side is so beautiful. Resilience. That's what's on the other side. You become resilient. And that's a beautiful thing.

But you're not resilient in and of yourself. You are in him. I just remember, like, when you, you know, you talk about your business. and laughing at not having the money and stuff like that. We first started this church. We started out in a school, and it took minimal to run it. And then the Lord told us to move into this building that was 28,000 or yeah. Let me see, how much was that?

28,200 was it? How much was it a month? It was ridiculous. I can't remember how much it was. a month for us to rent this place out. I think it was in the 20s. What was it a month? No.

Yeah, it was very close to what we, yeah. It was like $20,000 a month, 22, ate something another, something like that. It was, but that was back when commercial properties, you couldn't get them. And it was tough. And it was the only place available. But not only that, it was where God told

is no you're going here and we were like we have 40 people who attend this church and how is that going to or was it 14,000 I can't remember it's some ridiculous amount of money some ridiculous amount of money that wasn't even possible and we only have 40 people attending the church and I just remember going how are we going to do this every month but the Lord's like it's not for you to figure out that's my battle and I remember like there were a couple times I called my mom and I was crying because I was like, we don't got it. And like, what the heck? So, I mean, I've been battle ridden and I have had to fight. And like, every month that we had the money. Every month God came through. And it got to be a place where we did laugh because we were like, I don't know. Maybe we're going

to have to find another place or, you know, God knew and God said to go and maybe he's going to move with somewhere else or whatever. It's like, it didn't matter. It wasn't 20, it was in the high teens or low teens. It was like 14 or 12. I gotta look that back up, but it was ridiculous what we had to spend. The next place we went to was over half.

We left there and we ended up going to a place so it was like $4,500 a month. Which felt like a relief, I bet. I was like, who can breathe. Literally. Yeah. It was crazy. But I wouldn't have had the faith for this building.

Right. If I hadn't had to go through that. And you wonder why God has you go through things. Uh-huh. And he always, if he tells you to do it, then he's going to see you to the other side. Right. And what that looks like is up to him. Your job is to ride in the passenger seat and just shut your mouth and just shut your mouth

and not be a backseat driver and trust him and do what he says and don't do it and don't do what he doesn't say you know and a lot of times we get so scared that we either try and backseat drive or we try to take the wheel and he's like that's dangerous because it's not you're deciding you're not to decide you're not and that's what happens a lot of people they get scared so they try to take things back and they start making the decisions and that's when you make really big mistakes. That's where the trouble comes. Don't lean on your own understanding.

No. But I totally understand what you're saying, Jer, like, when you laugh, because you get to a place, you're like, I don't know. I'm just going to do. I'm doing what he told me to do, and I'm not going to do anything more

and am I going to do anything less. But boy, oh boy, we're hanging on the cliff with one little, finger. Is true. Am I going to fall or am I going to be pulled back up? And you just don't know. But every single time, he's faithful.

Even if it doesn't look like it, let me tell you what biblical victory looks like. Oftentimes, biblical victory will look like saying no when you want to say yes, which is exactly what we were just talking about, saying no when you want to say yes or saying yes when you want to say no. It could go either way. you making your own decisions. Forgiving when you're hurt, staying faithful when you're tired,

praying when you feel dry, that's tough. Trusting God when nothing makes sense. And I left off one, which I put in another spot, but being in the word, just like when you're praying, being in the word when you just,

have you ever been so anxious about something that when you're reading the word, it's like words on a page and it really isn't penetrating anything, like, because you're so anxious, you're just doing it out of habit. But if you shut down all that carnality and you say, get rid of it, this is your time. I'm going to, I'm going to take the time. I'm going to do this in peace. And then you literally focus on those scriptures that speak to you and what you're going through and you can receive them and then you get done and you feel like a brand new person. But I have read the scriptures over and over and over again so anxious that they meant nothing to me. I mean, it felt like whatever. That was a waste of time. And it was a waste of time.

Or you read it in hopes that it like unlocks something, like a genie in a bottle kind of thing. It's like fasting. Yeah. You do it to move God. Yeah. And it doesn't like that. No, it's not. At all. But if you shut it down and you really focus on the scriptures because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

If you shut down all that emotion and all those feelings, because feelings are not real. Anxiousness, anxiety, depression, all of that is not. Not real. That's the carnal nature. You shut that down. Then the word can really speak loudly to you. It'll penetrate whatever doubt you're having. And then you can walk in faith.

But if you just try and walk hand in hand with the anxious, the depression, and all the feelings and emotions that you're experiencing, along with the word, it won't work. Right. And then you're going to sit there and go, well, I read the Bible. No, you really didn't. You did it with you. You kept the part of you that was the bad part.

And the word can't supersede that. It says that in 2 Timothy, that somebody who's believing for both things, a double-minded man is not going to receive anything. So when you're reading the Bible all the while, keeping with being anxious, you're double-minded. It's not going to happen.

Well, and the Bible is a supernatural book. So if you're reading it with a natural mind and all these feelings and all these emotions, it's going to be hard to like click in. Like you just read, like you said, you're just like reading words. Yeah. You're not, how do you get a revelation, a spiritual revelation from the Holy Spirit if you are reading words anxiously? That's where I think fasting is huge. I do too. That's where fasting is because your flesh is always fighting. your spirit man. And when you fast, your spirit man's actually defeating and suppressing your carnal man. It's like Andrew Amick says that when he would

fast, or I'm sure he still does, and his carnal man would be going just eat, you're hungry. And he'd go, okay, that's another day. And if that if that flesh still was rising up, in him, he goes, that's another day until his body stopped arguing.

That's what you have to do. And most people will be like two days without eating. You keep adding on to what you're already doing. Yeah, that's what you do. That's what you do. You fight your carnal man. If you want to walk in victory, you defeat your spirit man has to defeat your carnal nature, your flesh.

That's what you have to do. You have to be that serious about it. And most people, to go without a meal or to go without a cup of coffee, like even people who do coffee, and that's all they do for a fast, it's like they're going to die. They can barely hang on. Do you know what I'm saying?

Oh my gosh. I've literally had people say that they've gone without coffee and nearly killed them. I thought, listen, I did it with Red Bull and I thought the same thing. I did no Red Bull for, I don't know, like a month or whatever, and I was like, I think I want to die. I love it so much. You know, I'm so good. I mean, can I live without a Red Bull? Absolutely.

Do I want to? No. But it's true, though. Yeah. I think the overarching thing I think you just said is victory is consistency. If you can consistently be stable with your emotions, that's victory. Like if you, you'll have a moment high, but you come back to like that, that constant. And then you'll have a low, you come back to, like, if you can rebound quickly and

stay consistent with your emotions, like, that's victory. Yes. The highs and the lows and the highs and the low, like, that's exhausting. And that is not victory. No, no, no, no. Or they think victory is when breakthrough happens. Right. Right.

Yeah. Right. You know what's funny? That's when your eyes see it. God gave me something because Jare wanted to talk about this at youth. And so we kind of like, we went back and forth a little bit. But God gave me something at youth on Wednesday. And it was exactly what you just said.

Victory is not a destination. Victory is a place we operate from. Like I felt that in my spirit because it is. You like try, you think like when I get here, when I have this much money, when I have kids, when I get married, when I, and that's going to be the victory. But really it is. It's from the place you're operating from. Like that's where victory is. Yeah.

in all circumstances. Yeah. Literally. Done and done. Two thousand years ago. Right. Because all things were met. Yeah.

On that cross. He said it is finished. Paid and full. Paid and full. That's it. Will you walk in it? Will you believe it? And that's the thing.

It's whether you choose to believe God's word or not. Even in the heart, even in the valley. You know, you can sleep on that boat, just the way Jesus. did. Well, you know, I think it's so funny because, like, a lot of people would say, well, it's easy for you guys to say. But I'm like, in some ways, it might be that's the case right now, but you don't know what I deal with day to day. You don't know what this church deals with day to day. My home like goes through our experiences though nobody sees it.

Right. Or nobody, um, a lot of times because you look like you're not going through anything doesn't mean that you're not. It's actually spiritually, you're performing, and that's not a performance, but you're performing actually as the word of God says that you're supposed to. So even though somebody looks like they're not going to. through anything doesn't mean that they're not. And a lot of people would say, well, we are not going through or having experienced what you have. And I would say, well, you don't know that. And if you knew, like I've known Vanessa now 10 plus years. A long time. I know where they've come from. I know what they've walked through. And even in the middle of that, for the most part, hard.

Hardly ever, hardly ever, probably not even a handful of times, even though I know what they were walking through, you would have never known it. Not because they are just happy go lucky people. It's just they live by the word. Even with Jaron Tracy, like if they were to tell you what the last three years, would you say three? It might be four. No, no, no, no. shortly thereafter you guys coming to this church, how long are you guys come to your church since 2020?

So six, but it was like, I think it's five years when your partnership and everything, wasn't that five years ago? 2021, January. So it's five years. Like in the five years that I've known them, they've had legal battles, they've had, they've had employee issues,

like off the charts. Yeah. Like what they've experienced, no one has even known because they don't carry it like that. And even though J.R. wanted to at times, like, this is, he's not kidding when he's saying, like he's had to learn certain things. And most of it's been at Foundation Church. All of it. Yeah.

All of it. Okay. So, like, the greatest thing, I know that this is like a slogan for something. I don't know what it's for. but the greatest thing you can do as a believer is to never let them see you sweat right and that is that means when all your friends reject you when your business uh is going through difficult times when people have a lot of that aren't even your friends but of people have a lot of lies and innuendos and words that are just not real and true to to say um and you want to defend you know and you want to defend

and fight your integrity and your character, and God says that's his. When you're facing financial situations that you just sit there and go, like your house gets blown away in a hurricane and the insurance company is basically saying, unless you have the money to make the repairs, we're not paying you.

What are you doing that? Like, how do you come up with the money to bake the repair? So you get the rest of the money that they don't even give you what you're really out. Like all of these situations are real situations when there's four million dollars worth of damage done to a building and you sit there and go, you're only going to give me this, let's not even touch it. This is not even close to touching it. What do you do? Never let them see you sweat. Because the battle is gods and either you believe it and you trust it or you don't.

I mean, when you make barely enough to eat a week, but you do eat. And at the end of the year, you look at how much you make and how much you paid in tithe. And you say, the math doesn't add up. Yeah. I'm just saying to you, never let them see you sweat. Because when you do that, you're actually showing who God really is in your life. You're saying you walk from a place of victory even in the midst of the middle of, not even being there.

And that's his power. And it actually creates, most people are anxiety-ridden for extended periods of time because of the situations they're walking through versus somebody who has maybe moments of being anxious, but overcomes. It's way better to have moments than to live in anxiousness until they get to the other side. There's no faith in that, just so you know. God's still going to see you to the other side,

but you'll be measurable the whole way through. That is true. When you didn't have to. Right. There's a better way. You know, it makes me think of something Tracy's mom said a long time ago when I first met them.

She would get comments all the time because they had wealth, they built wealth. And people always said, it must be nice, must be nice. And she's like, you have no idea. We used to drive an old van. Like, you don't know the cost. We always joke and say,

you don't know the cost of the oil. But it's true. is people always look at somebody's middle or, and I've done it too, you look at somebody's middle instead of what all the cost was to get to that point. Yeah. And when they say it's easy for you guys, well, the decision to be easy is up to us. We can continue to do everything in our own strength or finally get to a place where we learn our lesson and let go and surrender and then it becomes easy. There's still trials and things like that, but when you let go and he's your strength, Like that's what I've learned the most recently is when you operate from peace.

Yeah. That's when faith is working because you're not doing anything but trusting. Yeah. And then it does seem like things happen faster. You're not trying to, you're not getting, you have to learn the lesson as hard. He doesn't have to keep taking you through that test. But when you surrender and you're like, okay, this time I'm actually letting go. Yeah.

It does get easier. Well, time speeds. Time speeds up, right? Yeah. Whereas when you're walking through it and it's arduous, it seems like the clock and getting to the other side of it, it feels like forever. But when you're walking in peace, it feels like split second. They're there. Like it's like that wasn't that hard. That didn't take that long. It's true. When in all reality, it took the same amount of time as the other way.

You just come from a different place with it. But pastors, like some of the greatest pastors I listen to or even know, they all say that. They all are, they all say like, why, Lots of people have lots of things to say, but they're like, you have no idea what it took to get here. And they still are walking through things. But they have such a foundation of faith that believing for things is no longer like this monumental task that it used to be because the foundation is so thick. Right. It's way different. Like I was almost homeless at one point.

When my kids needed Christmas gifts, we went into the dumpster and got some Cole's cash. I've seen an eye open, a blind eye open. Like, you can't tell me nothing. I know. Like, you can't. I'm sorry. Like, faith is my default. I've seen too much.

I've seen the hand of God too many times. Oh, yeah. For you didn't convince me otherwise. You just know that you know. Literally. And like my mom loves to tell the story about how a tank of gas got us like hours, a low tank of gas like on E got us hours from home. It should never, I mean, hours of driving on an empty tank.

Now I would say to you, if that tank, even though it was on E, if the gas had run out and we ended up being somewhere, even then I would have known that God's still going to come through. Right. Yep. And that's where people are like, well, if they, their story is in the gas never running out. Okay. And that is a great thing. But what's your story when the tank does run out?

Do you still stand in faith? That's where most people land. Right. And you need to be able to stay in that same mindset when the tank runs out. I remember that Christmas and we found the Coles cash that everybody was like tossing in the trash. And never for a moment I was like shamed about it. I was like Jeff and I looked at each other and it was like the Lord answered our prayer. Literally.

Literally. I've been there, girl. So it was never a point where I was like, oh my gosh, I'm like in the domster. No, I was like, man, get me, like, get me, prop me up into this dumpster, and I'm getting those coupons. I know. I know. It's crazy.

It's a different lens. It's lottery. You freaking think you won the lottery. I was like, when I went and did those garage sales. I didn't feel like a victim in that moment. I was like, heck, yeah, let's get this cold cash. Literally. I know, because I, when I did the garage sale for Christmas, like every garage sale, I was

like, I cannot believe that I am finding. these things. And these are all things my kids wanted. Some of them were brand new. Some of them were used, but they were still like new. Like I felt like I won the lottery. It is. It's a gratitude. And I think that's how you pass the test. It is. And when you pass the test, like I've, that was one and it was one and done. We've never had to do that again, ever. We've always increased ever since. Like, pass the test. Exactly. Well, I will say this, and this is where it comes to, what I have right my next notes was is you know what the devil loves the devil loves when Christians become spiritually numb and this is when you don't pass the test he loves it when

you become spiritually numb you're distracted emotionally drained and that's where I feel like people over a period of time they're anxious they're anxious they're anxious they're anxious until anxiousness is no longer even an emotion that it's available to them because because they're drained completely. Devil loves that, just so you know. So true. You're inconsistent and you live discouraged. And you walk like that, the enemy knows.

And listen, he also knows when you're exhausted, you quit fighting. Understand that. Galatian 6'9 says, don't get tired of doing what is good. Nobody accidentally lives victorious. Nobody. That is a purpose. that is purposed, that is strategic, and it is only done by having like a list of things that you do in order to continue to walk in victory.

And if you have to write them down, you write them down, which is prayer, Bible study, fellowship, worship. It's not saying the things that you want to say. not doing the things that you want to do, which is really what a lot of people do. They take the bull by the horns themselves, they take control over the situation, and then they wonder why it flops.

It's because you decided to no longer do with the Lord. It would have been really easy for Tom and I to say, we're not going to rent this place anymore. Let's find a different place. We had a 12-year, or excuse me, a 12-month lease. And what's crazy is, at the end of that 12 months, we renegotiated it and made it about $4,000 less, which felt like a huge reprieve. Yeah. Because it was $12,000.

I remember it, $12,000, a little over $12,000. And then we got it down to $8,000. It felt like a huge reprieve. But at the end of the day, when you still only have like 50 people, $8,000 is a lot of money. Yeah. I mean, it's huge, especially when you're only bringing in like $3,500 a week, which is crazy. At that time, we weren't even bringing in $3,500 a week. We could have said, we can't do this anymore. Right. We're just going to cut our losses and walk away. But we didn't because the

Lord told us, that's where you're going to be. Right. And it would way easier to do the other, because the market had drastically been changing in that 12 months. But you have to be strategic if you want to walk in victory. You just do. And a lot of times, watching your words, renewing your mind. Fasting, getting rid of that carnal nature, being consistent, walking in obedience. Obedience is huge. Yes, I agree. Giving forgiveness.

True. Oh, yeah. True. Asking for forgiveness. Okay. Giving it and asking. Yes. And then, yeah, and then walk in it.

Don't just say it happened. Like, know that if that person needed you, you would be there two seconds to help them. Like that's forgiveness. Yeah, it says in Mark 11, 23, and 24, and I think it's 25. It says that, say to the mountain, if you say to the mountain, it would be moved and be cast into the sea. And you believe in your heart, it will be done. But then it goes on to forgiving. Part of receiving and believing and believing and having faith that you'll get what you believe for,

you get whatever you're saying to the mountain to be moved and cast into the sea. If you want to see that, part of that is forgiveness. True. Good. That's really good. And people, they walk around, I'm like, it says in the Bible, in so much you forgive, you are forgiven. Right.

So you should know, you don't necessarily, it says also in the word that people need to come and ask you for forgiveness. Okay, but in that, that is true. You don't have to forgive them, like, to their face unless they ask for forgiveness. But in your heart, you should harbor no ill-well. You should have no bitterness towards them. You should forgive them. Right.

You don't have to embrace them. Right. Yeah, it's a non-negotiable when you're a Christian. Absolutely. Luke 6, starting in verse 32, says, But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Or even sinners love those who. who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that? Even sinners

do the same. Like, we're called to love even the hard to love. Yeah. Love your enemies. Yeah. I mean, that's a tough one. And at the very end it says that very thing, but love your enemies, do good. Lend. Hoping for nothing in return and your reward will be great. Which is pretty dang hard. I mean, for me, I'll be honest with you. Like, I've had to, you know how you pay it forward? I've gone through a drive-thru, and a person behind me, like, literally did us dirty. And the Holy Spirit was like, pay for whatever they bought because they had them and, I guess, their kid in the car. Pay for whatever they bought.

And I'm like, are you kidding me? But you do. Because that's what the Bible tells us to do. I just got convicted. Oops, sorry. I almost lost my salvation yesterday in traffic. Wow. Somebody tried to cut me off and did.

And I was not nice. You need to go take that for the Lord. In my heart. Go get the communion cup. Oh. We'll take communion right after the podcast. I'll make sure she's still saved. Just in case.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. You got to like, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You got to do the tough things. And sometimes the tough things is paying it forward and doing things forgiving.

But also the tough things is this thing right here. Yeah. I think that's harder than forgiveness a lot of times. Is watching your stinking words. Yeah. Because a lot of times we speak defeat. Yeah. Instead of speaking victory.

And a lot of times what I will say is things like, I can't do this. Nothing ever changes for me. I always struggle with this. Maybe this is just who I am, which, listen, there are people that have a mindset of this is the way I grew up. This is the way things have always been for my family. So this is the way things will always be in my family. And I'm talking about from financial to, physical. I mean, how many times do you hear people say, well, my family has a run of this and

it's genealogy, like cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, like dementia, all these things, they'll speak these things of defeat over themselves. Or we've always lived beneath a certain level. If you're a person that's middle class and you don't want to be middle class, then don't speak middle class. If you're a person that has always, like your family has always been on the dole of the government and you feel like, well, that's just been our, that's not your life. That's them. That's not you. Don't have that mindset. Don't accept that as the way it has always been, so that's the way it will always be.

Your words are powerful. Life and death is held in the power, is held in the power of the power. the tongue and you want to be in bondage to something be it speak it speak it over your life and you will be bound by that very thing it's very dangerous to speak things that are antithetical to scripture over your life because you're prophetically um making them come to pass super dangerous who wants to say something to that because i bet you i bet you jair has something to say about that Because in my heart, I know that Jair knows words matter. Words matter, Jay.

I've learned the hard way that your words matter. And I could instantly watch my life change. When I start speaking, the enemy wants you to make your mouth move. He wants you to make whatever is happening to you, he wants to try to get you to talk. And he'll squeeze you until you talk, especially if he knows you'll do it. So having a great wife like Tracy, you know, at certain point, she's like, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear that. Are you going to give up?

Are you going to quit? And she's like, you know, she would tell me that. And I'm like, no, I'm not going to quit. She's like, well, quit saying it. I think you even said that the Pastor Tom once. Yeah. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouse speaks to. Matthew.

Right. So I learned what's going on inside. Why am I speaking this? So if you start learning and you start seeing your life change instantly when you start changing your words, it teaches you pretty quick. But a lot of times people like the feeling. I think Pastor Tom said that one time from a sermon. He's like, people love.

the feeling of venting it out. They just like that instant satisfaction because you gives you a relief, you know, instantly. Momentary. But you're also speaking death over it. So I've learned my words definitely matter. And I stop. And only that, if you have a godly wife or husband, they don't want to hear it. You know, you're bringing down the atmosphere in the house and things like that.

And they don't want to have it around them. So I stopped delivering my trash to her yard because she wasn't going to have it. And then it taught me to shut my mouth. Yep. It's one thing to talk about something that it's one thing to talk about something and to figure out how you're going to maneuver through it. Right. Right. That's one thing. Yes. And are you seeing what you're believing for? There are times where Tom and I will talk about specific things, whether it be health things, whether it be church things, whatever, you know, in our family or whatever, are we seeing what we're believing for?

And we examine those things. And then when and if we say, well, we're not, like to be perfectly honest with you, you know, and Tom always will say to me, like, if it's something healthwise, he'll say, I really want to be careful about how I say this. because he doesn't want to give Satan one ounce. But a lot of times for us to stand in agreement, words have to be spoken. You have to be careful with the words that you say so that both of you can stand in agreement

to get the results that you're believing for. Because sometimes, like, in all honesty, it's good for you to be honest and say, I don't, I've had to say it. Tom's had to say it, whereas it's like, my doubt is too big be honest my doubt in this area is too big so okay i've got to attack the doubt to get to the belief to get to the result if you don't ever verbalize that and be honest about it and you shouldn't be doing it with a lot of people have that one confidant that'll stand with you

it's again strategic versus venting and throwing up right that there's two different things one comes from a place of of um you keep using the word strategy but it's the best way to say it's it's you're coming from a place of creating a plan versus a place of just saying things because that's how you feel in that moment two different things so understand you can talk about things but how you talk about them and how you're believing them to come to pass, there's two different things. If you know that you're going to get the victory, you're missing an element to get you there,

that's one thing. The other way is detrimental. And you know, like eventually you know you're like either, like your spouse is just like diarrhea, mouth like just going, going, going, going. Exactly. And saying the same thing over and over and over again.

Out of frustration. And you can tell. It's totally different. And yeah, and you have to use discernment. And sometimes like they're your spouse. So, like, you have to hear what they're saying. And sometimes you can be a great mentor and be like, I hear what you're saying,

but this and this. But when they keep going and you can see they're like losing their peace or they're like, you can feel like depression wanting to attack the situation. Like that's, you have to, you also can't be in your feels if you're going to be the person that makes a hard statement. Like either you're going to stop saying this or just give up. Like if you're going to say hard things like that, no, it's from the Holy Spirit. Because you don't want to say that at a frustration either because then you're both just

using emotions for. No good. Right. And I do. When I have, like, here's the thing, and I will say this to women specifically right now. When you're talking to your husband, because egos are very, men's egos are very sensitive and they're very fragile to a certain extent. I mean, I don't know hardly the most, the strongest men that I know, even still have fragile egos. So when you're talking to your spouse, which I have said, listen, either shut up or whatever.

But it was in a moment that it wasn't where it wasn't going to tear him down. It was in a moment of like, listen, we have talked about this so many times. Stop talking. Like you're not going to quit. So just stop saying it. But then there are moments where they're in a very vulnerable place. And they need you to be the very thing, like the Word of God tells women, we are the pillars of the home. You need to be that pillar in the moment and say, you know what?

You can't stand on your own right now. But I can stand behind you and I can hold you up. And that's what I'm going to do until you get back to the place of strength in order to do it. Because there are moments where men carry a very heavy load. and we as women don't get it. We really don't. The makeup of a man, even though you may not think that that man is,

he's very passive, he's not very aggressive, or whatever, he's not the man's man that you think he should be or whatever. Even that man has a frail ego and wants to be, it needs to be, all that we want him to be,

our family wants him to be, and mostly with God. God innately put that in them. And when they feel like they're not attaining that, we have the ability to make them feel like that's true or that's not true. And that they can be that man. And it's really important as a woman that you do that for them. Because eventually that man will believe there's nothing he can do.

And that's destroying a spirit and a soul of an individual. And you should never play a play a person. part in that, whether it be your child or your spouse. And a lot of times people think, well, you're an adult now. You know, get off your, you know, pity party, Nancy, but it's not like that. It's not like that. Men are very, very different. And we as women, there's a reason why we have a stamina that's very different than a man. Our stamina is very long. Theirs is very short. They are sprinters. We are long distance runners. And, And God made us like that for a reason.

So just because he can't do that doesn't mean that he's weak. It just means he's different. And you have a job to do. And you need to reach that goal and attain that for him. Instead of like making him or making it look like it's lesser. It's not lesser. It's they do way more. They do way more than we could ever imagine or even think in the spiritual realm a lot of times.

carry a heavier weight for the family if they're being the true priest of the home. So you need to back them up and you need to be there for them because it's a big deal. It's a big deal. A victory comes when we stand together, not when we work against each other. That's the truth. Very true. Well, you speak to the king, you get the king. You speak to the slave, you get the slave.

It's true. It's true. It's true. Well, thank you for being with us. Hopefully we see you tonight, either on Instagram Live and TikTok Live with Tom likely a Bible study or here at Dare to be it's going to be a powerful night and if you can't make either one of those which shame on you if you cannot we'll forgive you because we want to walk in victory uh be here on Sunday live in person or live stream 10 o'clock see you then bye