S4 EP1 | Is What You Say Is On Your Heart Materializing in Your Life? 4 Priorities That Every Christian Needs in Their Life
Welcome to Season 4 of Affirming Truths!
Carla wastes no time diving into today’s topic - are you seeing God’s will materialize in your life? Are the things you say you want - like a happy marriage, wellness, a good relationship with your children - actually happening? If not - it may be time to look at how you are prioritizing your life.
Carla shares the 4 top priorities that should be in everyone’s calendar.
Why priorities are important
Carla shares how it can be difficult to prioritize the things that feel important to you, and when you do a time audit, you may find that your time spent doesn’t actually align with what you say you value. It all comes down to this - What you don’t prioritize won’t materialize.
If you don’t have:
The work life you want
The marriage you want
The relationship with your family you want
The health you want
The relationship with God that you want
Then it’s time to ask yourself what you truly treasure. Is it chasing accolades and recognition or something else? Are you willing to change how you spend your time?
Look at the story of Mary and Martha - Jesus made it clear how we should prioritize our time and how the attitude of our heart follows how we prioritize. Carla also points to Noah as an example of prioritizing God’s will in action.
There is HOPE - you are in charge of your time, your choices, and ultimately, your priorities. You can change how you spend your resources according to what God is calling you to.
So, what is God calling you to prioritize?
To Love Him
This is the first of the greatest commands, so it is your greatest priority. Are you spending time in prayer and worship? Are you honoring Him in the mundane?
2. Love Others
How are you loving your family? Your spouse and/or kids? Do you prioritize communication, respect, grace, and forgiveness? How do you love your neighbor and the church? Does it show up in your schedule and effort?
3. Care For Yourself
Are you neglecting yourself? We are called to love others the way we love ourselves. Not to be mistaken for self-idolatry, where your happiness is the greatest ideal, but stewarding the gift of the vessel you’ve been given? Are you moving, resting, nurturing yourself?
4. Surrender to Him - Acting in Obedience to His Calling
Where is God calling you? Are you laying down your will daily and picking up God’s? Are you asking Him to transform your heart so it looks like His?
You will find:
Peace
Joy
Comfort
Provision
When you prioritize Kingdom Goals!
Affirming Truth - I will prioritize my life in line with the Kingdom.
Key scriptures:
Matthew 6:33
Luke 12:34
Luke 10:38-42
Colossians 3:2
Connect With Carla:
Inquire about 1:1 coaching ---> carlaagreswellness@gmail.com
Join In His Image Wellness Collective ---> carlaargeswellness@gmail.com
Come hangout on IG with me @carlaarges
Check out the blog
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Carla: Hey friends, welcome to Affirming Truths. I'm your friend and host Carla Arges. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith, and root our identity in Christ. My hope is that you will leave each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review.
[00:00:33] Carla: I am so glad you're here. Let's get started. Hello, friends. Welcome to season six of the Affirming Truth podcast. I am your host, Carla Arges, and I am so glad you're here with me today. I am excited about season six. Before we dive into today's topic, let me just prepare you for what you're in [00:01:00] for. We are going to talk All things hope and encouragement as you struggle and you know, me being someone with bipolar and borderline personality disorder, I have a special heart for women who are struggling with their mental health while journeying through their faith walk and this season is going to be here to support you.
[00:01:27] Carla: We're going to talk about how to train our thoughts. We're going to talk about the father wound. We're going to talk about how we overcome when our feelings are so huge. Guys, we're going to talk about what it means to go from fight or flight to flourishing. We're going to talk about how we can be used by the kingdom.
[00:01:50] Carla: We're also going to have tough conversations like Are we putting ourselves before God's plan? Are we abdicating [00:02:00] our role and responsibility in flourishing with our mental health struggles? We're going to go and do it all. And I'm also so excited because God has really placed on my heart to come alongside of you guys.
[00:02:16] Carla: In a personal way with a focus on one to one coaching, and he's really put it in my heart through this podcast to give you the tips and tools to go on your own and carve out a life of thriving to the glory of God in the midst of your struggles. But I know for some of us, we just can't do it on our own and we need that help.
[00:02:40] Carla: I know I was one of those. People who I was given the steps to follow, but the steps seemed overwhelming and I needed someone to come in and break it down for me and show me how I could apply it practically to my own life and my own specific situation. So that's you who is [00:03:00] overwhelmed by the instructions, but is ready to break free.
[00:03:04] Carla: Then I want to come alongside you and you can always book a discovery call with me. That link is going to be available in the show notes going forward. And I'm so excited. Anyways, we are coming off of Easter, it is Easter Monday, happy Easter everyone. And I thought, keeping in the spirit of Easter, while we're still here, I wanted to talk today and open the season up with asking ourselves the question, what does the resurrection mean for our suffering?
[00:03:40] Carla: What does the resurrection mean for our suffering? I mean, our suffering has purpose. God never created us to suffer. He never created us with sickness. He never created us with sin. That was never his intention, but sin entered the [00:04:00] world and God uses it for our good and his glory and the furthering of our king of his kingdom.
[00:04:09] Carla: So our suffering has purpose in the kingdom. He has given us a framework for suffering, right? We see this through the life of Jesus leading up to the cross. We see a framework for suffering that Jesus didn't stop praising his father. He was obedient. There was thankfulness and there was ultimately glorification with God.
[00:04:33] Carla: There's a framework and we see it in other people's lives and Job and Paul. There's a framework for our suffering that we can move through. That doesn't have to steal our joy. When we invite the Holy Spirit into our suffering, it actually becomes our sanctification. And how cool is that, that God wastes nothing.
[00:04:57] Carla: What the enemy wants to [00:05:00] use to harm us, our suffering. The Holy Spirit comes in and uses it to sanctify us, to make us more like Jesus. Guys, no one likes to suffer. I totally get that. Like I said, I have bipolar and BPD, and I am impacted daily. Especially with BPD, I'm impacted daily. I have an ongoing battle, and battle equals suffering, right?
[00:05:31] Carla: I don't think anyone would say they go into the battle and there's no suffering. There's suffering in the battle. There's wounds in the battle. But guys, we can take ground in the bottle. We can be victorious in the bottle. And we see that through the resurrection. So I'm going to share with you today three ways or three meanings the resurrection has for us in our suffering.
[00:05:57] Carla: Are you ready? Get a pencil and paper, [00:06:00] write these down. You're going to want to remember these. Number one, we are made right before God. Our suffering is not a punishment. What does the resurrection mean? That we are made right before God. And we don't need to look at our suffering as a punishment, as some of us has been led to believe.
[00:06:23] Carla: We see in Romans 4 25, it says he was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. So he went. To the cross for our sins, right? That's where the freedom from sins came. But in his resurrection came our justification. And what is our justification? Our justification is being made right with God.
[00:06:50] Carla: Where once there was a divide, where once there was a void, where once there was a veil, The veil has come down. It has been ripped down and we can have [00:07:00] relationship with God. We are made right. We are justified. We are redeemed. We are made whole before God. So even though on this side of heaven, we have suffering.
[00:07:13] Carla: It does not take away our justification that we have through Christ Jesus. Our suffering does not put us at odds with God. Our suffering is not. Punishment from God. Our suffering is the effects of sin on this side of heaven, but glory to God. He justifies us in the process of our suffering that we are made right before God and being made right.
[00:07:43] Carla: You know what that means? It means we can approach God. We can take our suffering to him. We can go into the throne room of grace and receive his mercy. That's one of the beautiful things about being made right with God. We can have [00:08:00] relationship. We can exchange our burdens for his peace and his comfort.
[00:08:06] Carla: Glory, glory, glory to God for that. Number two, the second thing that we learned from the resurrection in face of our suffering is that Jesus defeated death. Therefore, our suffering is not our end. Hallelujah. Praise be to God. Suffering is not the end of our story. Suffering is not what is the overarching theme of our life in first Corinthians 1555 and 57.
[00:08:41] Carla: It says, Oh, death. Where is your victory? Oh, death. Where is your sting? Thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus defeated death and in him [00:09:00] and through him we can defeat our suffering. Do you hear that? You may have suffering in your life. You may have struggle. You may be battling with anxiety.
[00:09:12] Carla: You may be battling with depression. You may be battling with overwhelm, relational stress, financial stress, mental illness, whatever it is. Within that, you have Victory. Jesus defeated death and the grave. You can, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you, defeat your suffering. Does that mean it goes away on this side of heaven?
[00:09:42] Carla: No, but it does mean you can walk in victory in the midst of it. It has no hold on you. Do you understand that? You are not at the mercy of your suffering, and I want you to really stand in that authority. [00:10:00]Number three. The third thing that we, we learn about our suffering through the lens of the resurrection is this.
[00:10:11] Carla: Jesus suffering led to the resurrection. We will be resurrected with him and our suffering will end. The suffering had a joyful conclusion. The suffering didn't just continue. The suffering didn't just end and it was business as usual. The suffering led. To a miraculous, joyful, hope filled conclusion. And that conclusion is for us to appropriate in our lives now.
[00:10:47] Carla: In first Corinthians 15, 20, we read, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Do you know what it means when it says he is the first [00:11:00] fruits? It means other fruits will follow. And friend, you are the other fruits. We are going to be resurrected with Christ.
[00:11:08] Carla: Our suffering will end in miraculous hope. Like we suffer with Christ, we'll be glorified with him. Your suffering is not the end of your story. Your suffering is not the end of your story. Resurrection life is the end of your story. Glorification with Christ in heaven is the end of your story. Victory is the end of your story.
[00:11:38] Carla: Here's the thing, like I mentioned, you need to invite the Holy Spirit. Into your suffering, so it becomes sanctification and so you can walk it with joy, like it says in the word for the joy before him, Jesus went to the cross for the joy before [00:12:00] you, you can endure your struggle and your suffering and there is joy found in Christ.
[00:12:08] Carla: There is joy found in Christ. Where are you focused friends? Are you focused on the truth and the hope of the resurrection? Are you focused on your suffering and your pain? It's not to say you don't feel it. Jesus felt the weight of his suffering. I'm always reminded Jesus went to Gethsemane and was on his knees, suffering in anguish.
[00:12:36] Carla: And yet, Like the framework for our suffering shows, he was obedient to God to walk the road of suffering for the joy that was before him. What road are you walking in your suffering right now? Despair? Overwhelm? [00:13:00] Hopelessness? That's not God's story for you. That's not the power of the cross. That's not the power of the empty grave.
[00:13:08] Carla: Do you understand that the same spirit that rose Jesus from the grave is alive in you? Are you walking in that spirit? Like really think about it. The same spirit that rose Christ from the dead is indwelling in you. Are you walking? Like you have that spirit inside of you. Are you walking in the authority of Christ?
[00:13:36] Carla: Are you walking in victory? Are you hope filled? The resurrection is a story of hope. Are you hope filled in your suffering? Your affirming truth for you today is the resurrection is a promise of hope in my suffering. I will joyfully cling to this hope. [00:14:00] And our anchoring verse is found in Romans 15, 13, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.
[00:14:15] Carla: Do you hear this? May the God of hope fill you with what? All joy and peace. Guys, that's fruits of the Spirit. Why? So that by filling you with that, you would have the power of the Holy Spirit. So you can abound in hope. God wants to fill you with these things. Are you receiving them? Are you open? Are you open handed to God?
[00:14:44] Carla: Yes, Lord. Fill me with all your joy and peace. I believe in the hope of resurrection. So powerful Holy Spirit. Um, and help me to abound in that hope today, [00:15:00] friends, your suffering is not for anything, but it doesn't have to be what is the, Oh, a shadow over your life. You have hope and you can have joy and peace.
[00:15:15] Carla: God wants to fill you with those things. Will you let him? Talk to you later.
[00:15:27] Carla: Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media, but if we're not, come find me on Instagram at KarlaArges or at AffirmingTruths. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye friends!