Episode #25 – Being Spiritually Alive

Transcript:

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another podcast Soulish Femme. Welcome to real talk Mondays and Thursdays. If you are here for the very first time, I would like to welcome you and to those of my returning listeners. Thank you once again for coming and returning and supporting my channel. Today is titled, “How to be spiritually alive?” Perhaps, this is going to be controversial and if you are one of those people who are still triggered by what I’m going to say. Then you probably should exit now. This concept actually dawned on me the night before when I was asked by my husband, let us pray. The prayer, our father, that Jesus taught his disciples, if you don’t know the our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That actually is something that I said, what’s the difference does it make? I asked my husband, what’s the difference does it make? Because sometimes we are spiritually unaware that we just go through the motion.

How many people are legalistic in this world? They do the right things, go to church and they read their Bible. But somehow there is a disconnected. We see a lot of disparity that is happening in our world today. Some people are too spiritual, very charismatic and they always blame the devil for every choices and every action that they have done but they will never take accountability. And some people are very theologian like they’re very focused on the memorizing the Bible and teaching about the word of God but they have not focused on the soul and the spirit. So when I asked my husband what’s a difference does it make? It was my own conviction in my heart because actually God asked me the same question. Here you are praying night after night day after day but is there really changes in your life? Have you really changed on the uh spiritual level or are you just one of those people who are legalistic? The people that Jesus had to deal with in his time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the high priest that Jesus said, “You are a hypocrite. You are always looking good on the outside. You’re always consumed of the outwardly appearance, but your inside is dirty. You’re wicked. You’re full of brood of vipers. Your wickedness is from your heart.”

Prosper Body, Spirit & Soul

Could it be that the missing link of our church today or even in my own life, the majority of people that are called Christians, the follower of Christ because we have forgotten the soul. This is why my channel is focusing on three things. Prospering in body, spirit and soul. Because you cannot separate the body from the soul and the body from the spirit and soul. These three things I think are the very crucial steps. This is why you hear so many scandal coming out of the church today. Yet they call themselves Christians and they go to church Sunday after Sunday and they will preach to you about godliness and about how to be a Christian. But yet they are still involved in an action that is actually not good and they’re still easily tempted. That’s why because they are still wounded. They have forsaken the idea that you cannot separate science and religion. You cannot separate psychologist and religion. These three things I think is because we need them. Physicality, human anatomy is part of science. If you understand how the body works then you know exactly that you are not just a physical body. Your brain composed of thoughts which is actually it’s your soul. What you think about really matters and how you function in life.

This is why Jesus always talk about your heart. The issue is the heart.

The problem is that many people are still wounded because of the trauma that have the that they have not yet dealt with. The trauma that they still refuse to acknowledge and confess that they were traumatized as a child. We can always sing kumbaya to church and clap hallelujah and we want to perform to God because we think that God is impressed by our performance. When in fact when you read the Bible, if you truly understand the very core of what the principle of the Bible is always about the spirit. The fruit it is your character. It is what you do behind closed doors when no one is looking. That’s why Jesus said the evil thoughts comes out what: Theft, murders, envy, jealousy. The evil thoughts are in your heart. That’s why Jesus had to deal with the heart issue.

Your Thoughts Matter

That’s why Jesus said to the Pharisees that not the food that you put into your mouth that will defile you. What defiles a body are the words that coming out of your mouth. So the very important thing that Jesus wants to talk about. I mean especially to me was that your thoughts do matter. It all comes down to what have you been thinking about. If you want to live a life that is active, a life that is fulfilling, then your thoughts really do matter. It is something that we feed our mind constantly. It is what we entertain. It is what we meditate. It is what we study and read because our thoughts are malleable. Our thoughts can be a dumping ground for Satan. Our brain is somewhat being influenced by the world, Satan, our stinking thinking, and our belief system.

Many of us are going through the motion is because we have been programmed that way. We believe what believe what we believe because of our upbringing, because of our culture. It is because of what people told us. But if you do not shift the wrong thinking, the pattern will continue on and on. So, if you have been born in a family that are very negative and toxic and they have never really admired your work and they’re very highly critical. Guess what? You’re going to subconsciously do that once you become older. You wonder why you’re so also negative. You’re a Betty downer. Everything you see is half full cup instead of a half-full cup. And so, you ended up become this person who’s always depressed and down and you always blame it on everybody else. It’s because of how you were programmed. It’s because you have influenced by the wrong people.

Now, if you shift that thinking, then you’re constantly going to be aware of how you’re thinking. That’s why Philippians 4:8 says, “Fix your thoughts.” You have to meditate on the things that are excellent, worthy of praise. Think about things that are excellent, praise, praiseworthy, things that are good.” I know it takes a lot of practice. As I said, you cannot stop your thoughts. You cannot stop thinking about things, but you can replace them. You can choose to think positive thoughts. You can choose to think thoughts that are going to uplift you instead of to make you feel bad about yourself. That’s why I said, “Be careful how you perceive yourself in the mirror because what you think about yourself is going to magnify and it’s going to reflect in how you carry yourself.” The majority of people feel depressed and have a low self-esteem because it starts with their mindset. If you wake up every morning and you tell yourself that you’re ugly, you’re too fat, you’re too dumb, you’re too broken, or you’re too depressed.” Then that’s exactly the kind of programming and that’s the kind of belief that you’re going to tell yourself every day. And that’s exactly how you carry yourself. Not too confident and you feel so depressed and you’re going to always try to compete with everybody else and trying to try to think that your life is not better than theirs.

So self-confident is something that you believe in yourself. I really think that confidence has something to do with how you see yourself in the mirror. You cannot fabricate confidence. It’s either you have it or you don’t. However, confidence build over time by giving yourself the ability to internalize positive thoughts and telling yourself that you have it and you don’t have to perform. You don’t have to validate to be liked or to be loved by someone. Thoughts is something that can govern us. It is how we function on a daily basis. If you feed your mind with thoughts and you tell yourself, I’m going to do something today, your body is going to follow. Your thought is the control tower. So it all starts with how you’re thinking.

Examine Your Heart

Secondly, the issues of the heart. And Proverbs said, “Guard your heart above all else, for the issues of life comes out of it.” Even Jesus said it too. And I’m going to I’m going to reiterate when Jesus said, “The murder, the thieves, you know, stealing and coveting, it all starts from the heart. Guarding your heart is taking the time to understand why you think the way you do. Why are you bittered with someone? Why do you have unforgiveness? Where does this rage come from? You know that the result of rage is because of the pain that was inflicted upon you. Outburst of anger, bitterness, unforgiveness because there’s a source of that. A person did not just wake up one day and decided to be bittered about life or to hate you for no apparent reason. We usually wake up one day and we have all this anger issues. We have bitterness. But if you do not locate the source of that bitterness and resentment, you’re going to always activate that part of you. Unless you are going to be so honest with yourself and sit with your pain and ask yourself the question where did this come from?

Locate The Source of Your Pain

As I said before, I had outbursts of anger, rage. I had so much pent up angry anger. I had a pent up emotional turmoil that was buried and it was dormant for many years. It was because of my childhood trauma. It was because I had been abused verbally, emotionally. And that will take a toll on you eventually. So if you are not willing enough to look at those painful painful trauma, it’s going to manifest one way or another. As I said on my last podcast, healing is a process. Healing takes a lot of time. But the sooner you deal with your trauma, the sooner you’ll become better at it. But you cannot be better if you are unwilling to look at the ugliness of your pain. You cannot be a better version of yourself unless you are honest enough to have accountability and to be truthful about what happened to you. Because coward people are usually rather want to look the other way and for pretend like nothing happened to them.

So issues of the heart is something to do with your belief system. It is the subconscious mind. What are the thoughts that you have been feeding your subconscious mind? What were the words that has spoken to you as a child that you still internalize today and you made them your own identity. I think I wrote one some of the things that before in my last journal or many years ago. Your identity determines your life. Let that sink in for one moment. Your identity determines your life. How you identify yourself, whether you’re a victim or you’re a victor. Whether you’re a powerful or you’re a pathetic loser. That will determine your life. However, you see yourself in the mirror, that determines your life. Whatever you believe about yourself, that determines your life. If you believe that you’re always going to be a victim and nothing good come out of your story that you’re always going to play the victim, “Woe is me, I am such a pathetic loser.” Then you are going to be determined your destiny. And that’s why many people have become so apathetic in life. They have given up on themselves and they have no goals and vision.

And many people are losing the sight of what God has in store for them. If you look at the story of the Bible, there are countless stories in the Bible that you can learn that people usually are chosen. Because they were chosen by God, not because they were special, but because there they were broken people. These people were not perfect either. So when you look at the story of Moses. He was not perfect. Abraham also was very old. When God asked him to get out of his family’s life, he was very old and was almost dying. He was 100 years old. But yet God was not looking at the age. God doesn’t stop at your disqualification. He doesn’t really disqualify you because God is the only one who qualifies us. So when you think to yourself that your identity is based upon people. As I said, if you are not vertically aligned with the creator, this is why majority of us are going to look around asking for people’s breadcrumbs and validation. And if they don’t give that to you, your life is over and you crumble.

Your Words Matter

Thirdly, of course, a part of being alive spiritually is to be living in this life that is full of joy and purpose and meaning is to watch what you say. This is one of the things that God would always deal with. My tongue, your tongue, it either brings life or death. Your tongue, your words do matter. It brings life, cursing or blessing. Your words are what Jesus said, the evil thoughts come out of your heart. So first of all, your thoughts, your heart and the words that are coming out of your mouth, the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So whatever you meditate, whatever you have contemplated, it will eventually come out of your mouth. As I said, when you want to know what a person thinks about you, listen to what they’re saying about you when they’re upset and triggered. That is the truth.

Although some people can deny the fact that they say, “I never meant that. It is not what I said or I just said it because I was so upset with you.” Because actually, when a person is very upset with you, that will reveal who they really are and how what and what they’ve been thinking about you when they’re upset. Because at that moment there is no more filter. There’s no more self-control. That’s why Jesus would always say we have to guard our hearts because our heart is very fragile. Our heart can expose us. Whatever is going on in our heart, it can expose us of how we truly feel about that person. So if you hate that person, it will eventually come out of your h of your mouth and the way you treat the person. Did I say house or mouth? It is something that the word of God in James that’s something that your tongue is so James the brother of Jesus said your tongue is so small but is so beastly.

Your tongue is so small but it can ignite a fire. It creates a lot of tension and conflict in relationship. This is why it’s important that we have to study our tongue. It says in Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of the foolish pours forth foolishness.” Did you know that God would always bring me to the same problem? My tongue, my speech and learning how to communicate effectively because your communication style reveals so much about you. And many people grow up not learning how to communicate effectively. Unfortunately, it is not one of the curriculum in our schools to learn how to communicate. And that’s why we have a lot of conflict today. And do you know what God revealed to me? The very thing that I’m using you to use is your instrument. Your words are the very thing that Satan also are trying to trip you up and trying to sabotage you.

When God called me to do my podcasting and YouTube channel back in 2020, I think it’s also the very thing that I have a hard time controlling. It’s my tongue. Because it’s also one of the tools that Satan wants me to trip up. That’s why James said, “If you want to be a teacher, not everybody should be a teacher because there’s going to be a greater judgment when you teach something.” And it is something that you use your mouth, of course. But as I said, my problem is cursing. And I used to gossip a lot and slander. And these were the things that God would always convict me of and says, “Be careful what you say because what you say do matter.” And exactly what the Bible says, let let your words always be with grace. You know, sprinkle it with a salt. Season it, excuse me, with salt so that it may impart grace to the hearers.

Words Have Impact

And when you think to yourself, what you know, words really are not impactful. Actually, words do are impactful. That’s why when kids have been told many times and you tell kids that are they’re stupid and dumb and they’re ugly. They’re going to internalize that. And I really believe that people that are in jail right now, especially men, because they have committed a crime because of the words that were spoken death to them when they were little. They were not being spoken life, but they were spoken death and cursing. And that’s what I said as a parent, as a mother, it’s important that we tell our our children how they are loved and appreciated. Of course, it comes with a territory. It doesn’t come easy with us because we are not taught as a society to have affirmation. But that’s why we are told that a man of a wise person, the mouth of the foolish pours out foolishly. And a wise also teaches his mouth how to speak. When we also have to deal with people that are foolish, unwilling to listen. You must stop arguing because somewhere in one Timothy it says to avoid contentions, avoid wranglings, and avoid conflict because they will generate strife.

Usually people that are foolish because they’re unwilling to listen to what you have to say. There’s nothing that you can convince them. Otherwise they should listen to you. When you’re dealing with a foolish person, they are not there to understand you. They’re there to argue with you. In that case, you must remove yourself from the other person’s presence. That’s why communication is something that God will always teach me how to communicate with people. And if a person is not willing to listen to you because they’re foolish, then stop it altogether. Might as well end the discussion or walk away from this person. Because a wise person is willing to learn. They are there to be teachable. They have a teachable spirit. But a foolish man, if you would like to argue with a foolish man, look at them and listen to what they’re saying. They have no sense. They’re going in circles. Arguing with a foolish person is like you’re just going to a mountain top over and over again. It’s like going to the wilderness, but they have never really understand the concept of understanding.

But when our tongue knows how to speak correctly and we teach our tongue the right way of how to use the right language and it is also important how you use your language and not only so much about what you say but how you say it. We can have the right words. We can have the right sentence. But if you convey your message with the tone that is angry, that is full of attacking, that also can trigger a person. And as as I said, this is one of the things that God is still working in my heart. It’s my weakness. It’s how I deliver my message because I can be really blunt. I have no break. I have no problem of telling you what I think especially when I’m being triggered and I’m very upset and I do have that tendency that I can just cut you the knife. I mean the the Bible says there are words that are piercing like a sword and I can be that person that I can pierce your heart with my tongue that I can insult you and make you feel bad about yourself that you’re going to feel as though you are insignificant in my sight. I can have that kind of ability.

If I really want to to make you feel so small and you’re going to just have this idea in your head that, “My goodness she just really you know talk as if she doesn’t care about how I feel.” Because exactly what happens when you are so fed up with people and you have been so impatient with people. That’s exactly what is going to reveal to you that sometimes you just say out of your emotion. However there are also consequences because you cannot really take the words that you have already spoken. Once you’ve spoken the words, you cannot really take it back. That’s why words are very powerful. We may not think that it is, but it’s actually it is. Because as I said, there are still words today that have spoken to me in the past from the people in my life that if I think about them, if I internalize them, I will get affected. There are words that were spoken to me when I was a little girl that I’m not going to mention, but they were something that had impacted me and how I view myself. That’s why as I said if words are not that powerful why do you think wars come from and conflict starts in a relationship, argument conflict, and chaos. It’s because from your tongue. It is the words that coming out of your mouth.

Learning to Communicate

Because majority of us as I said we are not taught how to communicate. Because we think that communication is only about talking but we never really understand that communication also is about listening. We like to talk more than we listen. We like to give opinions and we have nothing short of opinions today in our world. We just want to share and share until the cows come home and we just like vent about the things that the world shouldn’t learn about ourselves. But we have been programmed in our world to always share about what we’re thinking. But actually it’s going the other way around. You must learn that there’s a time to be quiet. There’s a time to reserve. There’s a time to be private. And there’s a time to share and to speak your mind. But sometimes for too many people, we think that the more we talk, we become more relevant. And the more we share, we are become more important. When actually you have more devalued yourself. The more you share so much about yourself, there is no more privacy. That’s why people want to be in your face and they want to know more about your life because you’re the one who opened that floodgate for them to intervene and to intercede in your life or not intercede but to kind of know about your business.

And why are you being triggered when people want to know about you? Because you’re the one who opened that door for them to find out about yourself. So that’s why I said communication and your tongue is something that you must learn in how to communicate effectively. Understanding also comes with it and that’s what I said if you want to live the life of this world of how you can be a better version of yourself. Your thoughts, your emotions, and your speech. These three are the things that you must always have to remind yourself. This is why if you want to see change in our world today, in your own life, you must not go through the motion. Going to church is not enough. Reading your Bible is not enough. Without application and without execution, it means nothing. Faith without action is dead. You can read and memorize verses. And if it doesn’t really penetrate in your heart, this is going to be just legalistic. And Jesus hated those people. He hated the fact that these people were going to the temple. They dressed the part. But yet he found out that these people were actually robbers. They were taking something that didn’t belong to them. So Jesus said, “You people, you love to dress in a market and people want you want people’s applause and approval, but yet you were robbing widows and you were actually bribing a lot of people.”

So Jesus had to deal with his people in his day. And would you think that we have not yet have the same problem today? The same problem that Jesus had spoken against his generation. We still have the same problem today. People haven’t changed. As I said, we are so technologically savvy. We send people to Mars and to the moon, but no one can really change the heart. The Bible is clear. Jeremiah says, “I the Lord thy God who tests the minds and the heart of people. I the Lord thy God who exposes the thoughts and the hidden motives of people.” Jeremiah said the heart full of wickedness above all. The heart is the issue. And even though we are living this life of you know talking about AI and artificial intelligence and we want to have this robotic technology that is going to do the job for us.

The Heart Issue

But do you not recognize that we still have the same issues today? We cannot fix hatred. We cannot fix division. We cannot fix pride. We cannot fix the kind of character that people are embodying is because only the spirit of God can truly change that. No amount of technology and no amount of whatever devices that they’re trying to operate can change the mind and the heart of a person. Unless as I said, if you deal with your trauma and you’re honest with yourself and how you can be a better version of yourself? That’s the only way we can have a better life and a peaceful world to live in. Because people are going to react. Because of their wounds. They’re coming from a painful place and if you are a person who have been traumatized and you are not dealing with that you’re going to inflict that upon your children.

Healing is a Choice

And last but not the least. My last point is when I was watching this new series of the crown. I think this was done many years ago by Netflix and I was re-watching this episode where Philip the late husband of the Queen Elizabeth, you know, the queen from UK. I did not realize that he was traumatized as a child. And so in this movie, he was depicted that he had so much trauma. And I was very touched by that one scene when he was giving all of his effort and energy of rebuilding something. He was thrown into a a Scottish school, like a boarding school exclusive for boys. And he found out that his very sister that he loved so much was killed and his nieces were also killed in the airplane. And so he was actually pouring his soul and building this gate and he was trying so hard to put all of his frustrations to that kind of meaning. So, I think in life when we have been traumatized, we can either fuel our energy to be better ourselves. We can rebuild our lives or it can either go the other way around.

Of course the choice is ours. So when you have been traumatized and when life knocks you down because life is going to knock us down. And that’s what Jesus said, “In this life, you will have tribulation. You will suffer greatly.” It’s not guaranteed that is always going to be sunny, rainbows and skittles. But there’s going to be time in your life that you’re going to have so much pain and you’re going to face with that. And it’s up to you how you face it. Either you’re going to rise above it or not. And in this movie, I was very, you know, I was crying because I can feel his pain on an a level that humans cannot really articulate of how painful it must have been for him. When all his life, he was dependent upon that sister. The sister was the only one who was there for him and who was holding his hand and you know making sure that he was taken care of. But yet she was taken out of the picture and God had taken her so soon that his life was falling apart. He was probably 13 years old and the amount of agony that he had felt that day must probably have shattered his life.

Yet he, as I said, he focused that energy towards something that was good and not destructive, but it was something constructive. And really, people that have been traumatized, some people built resiliency. They have decided that this pain is not going to be my downfall, but this suffering is going to help me and propel me into the best version of myself. As I said, some people can either use their pain to make themselves better and some do not. And I hope that you’re not going to choose the latter. Hopefully, you’re going to rise above the occasion. And you’re going to be the better version of yourself despite of what has done to you. Despite of what life throws at you. And that’s exactly what this channel is all about is to be bold, be brave, be courageous, and keep the faith. Because that’s all exactly what you need today in this lifetime. We cannot afford to have quitters and people that are just going to crumble when life knocks us down. Because, as I said, suffering is part of life’s journey. And I really think that suffering is what makes you stronger and builds resiliency. And suffering is going to make you stronger.