Stephanie Ike Okafor - Jesus:Discovering Purpose in Him

God cannot establish his will through your life if he does not have authority over your life. Welcome to pluck pod with me, Stephanie okafor and this is your invitation to return to what matters the most, and that is your relationship with the Lord Jesus. Now, last week I was teaching on grace and it really boils down to that grace is God working in and through us in order to fulfill and establish His will. And so when we talk about the will of God, I mean there's sometimes this I don't want to call it an obsession of like God, what is your will that people often have, right? What is God? What is your will? What is your will for my life? What is my purpose in you? What is this? What is that that. We actually become stagnant while trying to discover the will and his purpose and we just get stagnant, We get stuck, we don't do anything. And because of that, this episode, we're gonna be talking about how do we discover our purpose in God? Right? How do we discover you know, what he created us for, what his will for our life is. How do we discover that in him? And I get it right, I understand why purpose is such a significant topic because unless something or someone fulfills the reason that they were created for, then they are just wasted potential, right, And nobody wants to be that. Nobody wants to feel like wasted potential. Nobody wants to come to the end of their days and just look back and it's like, why didn't I follow the Lord's voice sooner? Or why did I know this sooner? Why did I do that sooner? Or you know, whatever the case might be. Right, no one buys a car just to keep the car in the garage and drive it, right, then you're wasting the potential of the purpose for that car. So I get it, but I don't want this cold thing about purpose to be this unhealthy obsession because then again people just get stuck and stagnant, and that is also not God's will for you. And so we're going to really dive into this. You know, my prayer is that this is not just simplified enough, but it's still you know, holding the core truth about purpose and ultimately, what I want you to see in this and for what I want you to take away from this episode is that your purpose is discovered in Christ and with him, right that you will begin to learn that everything is about him. Right, It begins with him, it flows through him, It exists for him. We begin with God, we exist for him. Everything is about It boils down to Him. And as we journey in this, that it would remove the anxiety that comes with this idea of purpose, and that we begin to live more in our walk with the Lord. We become more present in our walk with the Lord and not try to isolate him from this obsession of the discovery of purpose. Right, and so you know, let's get into it. There arefore foundational truths that I want to talk about in discovering your purpose in Christ. Right now, remember Acts seventeen twenty eight says for in Him we live and. Move and have our being in Him. So let's kick off. Number one. The key thing that I believe you should know is that you are set apart Jeremiah one to five. It says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you before you were born. I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. You see, you didn't start in your mother's room. You started with God first of all. That should give you a sense of calm, right, that this journey, this thing I'm trying to discover, this thing I'm on, It's not just about me trying to discover it. There is a reason. If I started with God and he decides to put me at whatever point he decided to put me in the realm of time, then there was a purpose behind that. But that purpose is not something I need to try to figure out on my own right. Because we have all these things, you know, how to discover your purpose, how the ten steps to this or five steps to that, whether you good at what do you love X, Y and Z. You know, Judas love to steal, but he had a call to be an apostle. Sometimes it's not always in what you think you love. But why I'm trying to say that you were set apart is that, first of all, let's just lay down the ground. Let's just lay down the foundational part of it. That there is a call on your life. There is something that the Lord desired you to reveal, to express to embody on the earth, that in the moment, in the time that He released you to the earth, there is something unique about you. Some people watching this you may feel as though, because of the circumstances around your birth, because of the circumstances around your family, how you grew up, things you experience, maybe trauma, maybe pain, maybe rejection, that you began to embody those experiences as you know just who you are, like maybe you started to feel worthless. You started to feel like you know, when the scripture will say, can anything good come out of Nazareth, That's how you might have felt about your life. When you look at the different things that have happened to you, you look at your past. I just want to say this for every single person you are set apart. When the Lord said this to Jeremiah, it was not just a message that was specific to Jeremiah. He's also revealing the intentionality behind when behind creation when it comes to mankind, that he's not just you know, You're not just this random idea that showed up because you know your mom and your dad got together or however you came about. It's not just this random idea before. That's why I love how God starts this that before I formed you in your in the in the womb, I knew you before before you got there. I knew you, So you were never random, right. You started with God and then he says, before you were born, So check this out. Before you were put in your mother's womb, before you were formed in your mother's womb. God knew you. Now it is almost impossible for us to comprehend this. What does that mean? So you know, did we just exist in eternity and then we came into time. There's so many complexities to that that we're going to get into later on the podcast, but not on this episode. But I want you to just see the language here, the intentionality here, that the knowledge of God concerning you, the love of God about you. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, So I formed you in there. I I am the one behind the time that you were born and who you were, the family were born into the community you will be raised in all of that. There was something about all of that that was factored into what God has designed to do through your life. Before I knew you, and then when he desires to place you in the womb of your mother, there was already something that he saw that you would answer. There was already something that he saw that your life would fulfilled. There was already something that he saw that your life would embody. And so before you were born. So now you are not just this. You were not just this being or this this idea or this person or whatever you want to call it. That was just with God. That was just God's secret. Let me just say you were not just God's secret. Now your maid known, your mom and your dad had a baby shower. The news is going out there, invitations around and in some unfortunate events, you know, it could be something that was hidden, but it is known to people. It is known to a few people right that this woman is with child. And the Lord is saying, while you were in there, you were not just in there randomly or you know, just happened to be because they didn't use protection or whatever. No, the moment I put you in there, there was a plan for your life. So he says, before you were born, I set you apart. Why because I appointed you. Now to Jeremiah, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. But God's words to Jeremiah is revealing God's intentionality behind your birth, behind the birth of every living being, and I'm talking about mankind, the intentionality behind that that the moment you came into time, it was because there was something connected to your life that your life was called to answer. I you know, for me, I have two kids. I have a daughter, I have a son. And when I tell you that both pregnancies, the Lord told me before it happened, because he began to speak to me about my children and who they're called to be on the earth. And it was so amazing. One of the ways that when I met my husband that I knew, I mean, there are so many things that was just like, without a shadow of the doubt, that this is the one that God said, who God gave me. But there were things about our children. There are things about our children that God revealed to me before I met him, that God also revealed to him. And so one day we were talking about kids and we started to just talk about things that God had revealed to and it was mind blowing how this whole time, two people that have never met that God will orchestrate their paths to meet each other. And because we were yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can also recognize each other and know that wait, we are in your like we have a role in each other's life, like my path is connected to yours, like God destined this, God willed for this to happen. And the words that God gave us about our children were identical. And so even before my daughter came, there were things the Lord said about her. Before my son came, medically it was not advice for me to even be pregnant with my son. And when the Lord said, I am the maker of your body, and I am telling you your son is gonna come. Your son is coming, and he needs to come at this time. This is the this is It. Was such a beautiful experience because you see that the Lord is in charge if you let him, if you let him. Some of you may know the story with my firstborn, and you know some of the complications that they mentioned. But the Lord showed that his hand was what was in charge. And so medically I was not advised to have my second when I did. Technically I was supposed to wait another year. But the Lord, who is the maker of my body, he said, no, your son. I remember when the Lord told me your son needs to come next year. It was such an interesting moment. And he told me a portion of my calendar in this year that I should block off. Don't accept anything, don't do anything, because by that time your son will be born, and you're not going to be traveling for the months. And I remember when I had told my assist and I was like, Hey, we're gonna block off this much time and I'll explain later because I was not even pregnant then. But why I'm. Sharing this, it's because no child, no life comes to these earth, comes to the earth randomly or without intense, without purpose. You were set apart for something. You were set apart to carry out, to display to embody, to fulfill the will of God in a unique way. So I want us to just establish that because for anyone who will think that their life was random or their life was just they're trying to figure it out based on human reasoning. No, you were set apart by God. So what you're gonna discover is in Him, not anywhere else. Because some of the things that you may call your gifts and your talent and all of that, you can function in your gift and your talent and not function in what you were set apart to do. And it's crazy because you could have success in it because your gifts and your talent were supposed to be almost like a vehicle, a tool for the things that you were set apart for you might feel like, you know what, you love to talk, or you have this love for the news, and you're like, you know what, my purpose is to be a news anchor. It doesn't work like that. Because the gift is not just supposed to be something that you know you serve. The gift is supposed to serve the will of God, right, and so it's something you be set apart for. But I just want us to just establish that that you were set apart. Your life is not random. Your life is not just this, you know, wasted space for anyone who has been dealing with the torments of the enemy on their mind about their life about maybe because of the conditions of the country you were born in, the conditions of the family you were born in, the things that you have experienced, because let me just say this, there are some things we experience in this world that was not in accordance to the will of God. It is just the manifestation of the evil in the world. But that does not change God's plans about you. That does not change God's mind about you, and that does not change God's ability to fulfill what he sets you apart for. You're set apart by God. He has knowledge of everything you were gonna face, and he still sets you apart for his purpose and his will. Right. So establish that in your mind I have been set apart for something. My life is not random. My life is not just to try to figure out how to exist and die. No, there's so some thing unique that the Lord has set me apart for. Now. Number two purpose weaves in the mundane with the exceptional. Now here's a perfect example Matthew four, verse nineteen, when Jesus encounters some fishermen that would become his disciples, and he has this, you know, one of the things he says to them after their encounter is literally, come follow me, and I will make you fishes of men. It's interesting that Jesus, the way he speaks to them is in a way that they could connect to what they have given a huge part of their life in serving or in their occupation being fishermen. And when he calls them, he says, I will make you fishers of men. Now here's the interesting thing, because before this moment happens, Luke actually gives us a a better picture of what was taking place because the Word of God tells us how they have been fishing for a while, but then they caught no fish. And then the Lord comes and he literally tells them, now, let's go to Luke five from four to six. And he says to Simon, who is Peter, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. But Simon answered and said to him, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish that their net was breaking. Now, what I'm trying to share is that as fishermen and what could seem as mundane and their occupation that just seemed random and mundane, they learned patience. When they went fishing and caught nothing, they didn't just quit immediately. They toiled. So that tells you that they were able to They had, you know, fishing, something about fishing had taught them how to linger, how to wait on a thing, how to develop endurance. They had discipline, and in this encounter with Jesus we also see they have humility that here comes someone who they don't even know what is his expertise and fishing for the people who have knowledge about what it means to fish where to throw their nets where they would, you know, potentially get the best catch. They were willing to listen to an advice that is contrary to their expertise. They had humility. You see sometimes what you call mundane, the thing that you cannot wait to get out of because you're just like God, what's my purpose? What's my purpose? Purpose? Purpose is actually the thing that is developing you for what will connect the dots for what you've been set apart to do. Because in being fishes of men, human beings are more. You need more patience with a human than with a fish, but you could develop it with a fish. Do you know what it means to win? To Even the scripture says that they that win souls are wise. There is a wisdom to bring a person out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, and it's a wisdom of the spirit. Do you know what it means to intercede for someone who rejects what you're bringing presenting to them, who constantly is telling you, look, I don't believe in that God, I don't want no parts of it. And you continue to pray for them the endurance that requires the discipline that requires the humility that you need to not be so quick to go into an argument mode and to show love, and to be able to listen, to listen even if you don't know what you know, what the other person is saying would have any weight, but you choose to listen. So oftentimes what we call mundane is weaved into our ability to walk out. What the Lord says about us is all weaved and tied together. That the exceptional moment you're waiting for to say, you know what, I ran my race that you want to have the confidence of knowing Lord, the thing that I believe that there was something unique that you called me to do and I did it. But they're all weaved in together. It's not this isolated moment or event. And why I'm saying this is because in whatever you know to do, do it with all diligence and in service unto God. When you don't know what to do, don't get caught up in anxiety about what is this? What is God? What is your will? What is my purpose? What is this? What is that? What you know to do? Do it well? When you are a good steward of the last instruction God gave you. When you are a good steward of the thing that you are and trusted with now, then in his divine timing, he would reveal what's next. But when you don't know what to. Do, what you call mundane actually has wait. Luke sixteen ten will say, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. James one four was say, let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete and lack in nothing. And how perseverance comes, it's not always in ways that look glamorous. Sometimes your life might have been disrupted by a family member needing care and you are the one available to open your home to them, and you might look at it as a burden that this person is in my life and I don't have time for me, I don't have time to do the things that I'm called to do. How do you know? How do you know that that person is not part of what God is using to refine you, to mold you, to perfect you. How do you know? And so we have to be willing to separate this cultural idea of success with God's school of progress. And what I mean by that, let me even say that better because in culture there is this idea of what success looks like. Everybody wants to, you know, look a certain way run their business, say they're doing X, Y and Z. But there are times in your life that it just looks mundane. It looks like taking care of your kids. It looks like taking care of your grandmother. It looks like going through an infirmity. It looks like things that are not glamorous that you don't want to talk about, that you want to rush through. But actually it holds more weight. Than what you think is at the finish line, because it's God's way of shaping you and molding you. Jesus was on the earth for thirty three years, but out of those thirty three years, it was three years that he stepped into his true identity. But the thirty years were not a way waste. It was not just this wasted space and then boom, oh, I can just wait to be thirty so I could do this and be gone. No, everything was weaved in together. Everything worked together. When Jesus will learn obedience, when the Bible talks about how he larnt obedience by the things he suffered. So what you're calling mundane could actually be part of the thing that is connected to what you were set apart for. And I'm saying that because sometimes, man, the job God gave you, you want to rush out of it just because you got bored, you got tired, you want something more exciting. And then you know you're it's not even that the Lord is saying, hey, come out of this now, you just come out. And then you're like, Okay, God, what you know? You tell me what to do and you stay duck. Something you will learn about God in the Bible. He hates laziness, and sometimes we would cover up laziness as Lord. I'm just waiting for the next direction. But there's something you know to do, do it well, do it with excellence, do it with diligence, and do it as service unto God. It could be the most random. Thing in your life. It could be something that the Lord is telling you, maybe even personal to you. But do it well. It's all it all ties in together. The mundane will always have a place in the miraculous. So even when it just feels insignificant, it might actually be the most significant. Look at Zechariah four ten, it says do not despise these small beginnings for the Lord joices to see the work begin. Are you faithful in the mundane or you're just looking for something exciting and then you call that waiting on God because you're just tired of what feels boring to you, not realizing they're all weaved in together. Waiting on God is a beautiful thing. Don't get me wrong. I have a whole teaching on waiting on God our life. Waiting on God is a posture of our lives. But what I'm saying is that don't fall into the deception that just because you're looking for something exciting that you cancel out on the mundane things that God assigned to your life. And you do nothing. Because you want to do something that was birth out of envy or birth out of jealousy of what someone else is doing and you're trying to match up, and that leads you into the secret place. That's not what should drive us into seeking God. About Lord, what's next when you do when you don't know what to do, do what you know to do with diligence and unto the Lord, And it would always be in his timing that He can entrust you because you see, what's next is not a conversation. It's an entrustment. God doesn't talk just to to you know, to inform you, or to to just you know, have have a nice you know, my culture we call itist. You know, He's not calling you just to have this chat and say okay bye. It's an entrustman. There's something new. He's calling you to steward and he's not gonna waste words. His words will never fall to the ground. It will fall on the vessel that is prepared and ready to carry it out. And to be prepared and ready to carry that would always flow from a pure heart, not a heart that is envious, so jealous or wanting or feeling as though, you know, I want people to see me this way. That's not the motive of the heart. Is not right. One of the questions that people often ask me is, Stephanie, how do I actually study the Bible? When we desire to go deeper, sometimes it can feel a little intimidating. And I'm here to tell you about an amazing Bible study too, and it's called Logos. It's an incredible app that helps you engage with scripture in a more meaningful way. So, for example, you can type in what does the Bible say about holiness and it will give you scripture, scholarly insights, historical background, and so much more. Logos helps you to understand what you're reading and why it matters. So, whether you're new to the faith or you've been following Jesus for some time, this is going to help you study the world with so much confidence. And we have received such an incredible gift for every plog pod listener. You can use today for free for the next sixty days. All you have to do is. Go to lagus dot com backshot Stephanie to get started. Now, let's go back into the episode and number three. Purpose is not a doing but a being Mark three. From verse fourteen, it says, then he and this is Jesus appointed at twelve when he appointed the twelve disciples, that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. But what was the first thing they might be with him? He didn't appoint them to first start preaching. He appointed them to be with him. You see, if there was something I could sum up purpose as it is to be a disciple and make disciples. Now, how you make disciples reveals how it reveals your ordination in God, reveals what He sets you apart to do. But if I was to sum a purpose is to first be a disciple of God, be a disciple of Jesus, and then in what you were set apart to do, you're able to raise disciples for Christ. But the first thing Jesus. Does is that they might be with him. Because when you're with him, that's where transformation takes place. When you behold him, you become like him. It was to be with him. Many of us are trying to discover purpose isolated from intimacy with Christ. How can you represent a kingdom when you don't know it's king Because that's what your purpose is about. In God, be with him. You can't be obsessed about something. But you don't spend time in praying, you don't spend time in studying the Word, you don't spend time in just sitting and meditating on scriptures to know the person of the Word. Then the motive is wrong and the motive is off. But when you're with him, that's where you begin to grow. When you're anointing, that's where you become more sensitive to his voice. When you're with him. That's when you know there are things that the spirit of God begins to lead you into, and you see how everything begins to connect because in God there is no waste. But you have to be with Him. You can be so quick to want to represent him. I'm recently, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and we were just talking about the state of gospel music today and worship and all of that. And you know, something that the Lord had put in my heart is that he's not looking for people to sink for him, but to sink from him him. There are many people who would who would say that, you know what, their gospel ministers are gospel singers, but they don't even know the Lord. They're just singing for him. The idea is, you know, we want to create songs that would draw people to Jesus and do this, But the motive is money, the motive is game. The motive is not that I've been with God that this because you see, when you are with Him. The idea is that. Everything we do should flow from relationship. Because remember, you know earlier and I believe this was when we were talking about the first episode of this podcast, and we're talking about the original intent for creation, that we were created to commune to have. Fellowship with God. That's why purpose first begins by you being a decipile full of Christ, and everything else should now flow be an overflow from that place. And I'm not just here talking about gospel singers in anything, in any and everything, even as a minister, because in ministry, if you're a teacher or a preacher of the world of God, if you're traveling to do these things, you could fall into the temptation of wanting to You know, yes, you're teaching the world, but if you only study the Word when it's time to preach. You're not with Him. Because when you're with Him, that is your daily it's not just a daily discipline, it's your daily desire, it's your daily delight. In anything, you could fall into the temptation of this. In your normal workplace. You might be a politician and the only time you pray is during election. You're not with him, and you could say, you know what, I want to represent Christ and politics, but the only time you pray is when. You have need. It doesn't work like that. Jesus first calls them to be with him that he might send them at what approves you to be sent, what qualifies you to fulfill or that qualifies the timing that you can walk in the thing is that you are first with him, that you know him, that you walk with him. That intimacy becomes more important than activity. So even in this idea of God, who am I be with him? John fifteen five will say, I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Purpose is not found in activity. It is found in intimacy. And intimacy is what Birt's identity, intimacy with the Lord right. And now number four, Purpose is established through perpetual obedience. You see, God cannot establish his will through your life if he does not have authority over your life. And why I'm. Saying this, See there's nothing I said that feels like this isolated event of like these four steps. Once you study this, try this. This is it. Because it's more complex than that. It's not this one moment. It's perpetual obedience. If God is going to establish the fullness of his will concerning you, then he has to know that he has government over you. If the Holy Spirit does not have government over you, if the Holy Spirit does not have authority over you, then there will always be a limitation to the capacity and to the degree that you manifest the will and purpose of God, because sometimes it doesn't look exciting. Sometimes what the will of God will lead you into is not what you desire to do. And that's why last week we talked about grace, because that is now God's partnering with you in your weakness to fulfill his will. But sometimes we're more consumed by the weakness rather than the God who wants to partner with man, and so purpose can only be established through perpetual obedience. When the Bible says, I'm going to read this again Proverbs three five to six, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not in your own understanding. In all your ways. Submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. You see, there are moments that you will not even realize that you would wake up and it's like, well, I am in the thing I will set apart to do. Why Because my life is marked by giving God the heart yeses, my life is marked by my obedience to God. That you would not even know when you are standing in what you are set apart to do. You will not even realize when you're actually in it, because it's all weaved in together. You see, purpose is not in a thing like a job or an industry or a career path or whatever, because it's in an identity and those things just become platforms for you to be who you are. If someone thought their purpose was playing football, then what happens when they it, Maybe they injure their arm or something, or they you know, have something happens with their knees that they can't play anymore? Was that their purpose? No, Football was only a vehicle for the overflow of your relationship with God to pour out. It was only a platform for that to be poured out, that you, as a disciple of Christ, will draw many onto him. That's what it boils down to. And I know that there's more things. There are things that are more complex than what I'm saying, because some may say, but what if you know the Lord is telling me to move from where I am to another state or to another country, how do I know it is the will of God from me? And we're gonna dig into discerning the voice of God. But if you are feeling there's a shift in your spirit, or there's something that you know, the Lord is trying to shift you from one thing to another thing what you currently know to do, do it well and continue to be with him. You cannot be with him and there are things hidden from you because you have a life of seeking him. It is your lifestyle and if you seek him, he will be found. So when it is your lifestyle, there are things that will not be hidden from you in its time that when it's time for you to make a shift, you're already connected to the source that will speak. So what I'm saying is that these are This is even a way that helps us to gauge the motive of our heart, because sometimes you might not know that what is driving you in the presence of God is envy, because you just feel like, man, I just sense a shift, and so I'm gonna go on the fast and I'm gonna pray. But you have been out of its presence the whole year, so then it's hard to discern am I sensing a shift? Or am I just envious. Of the shifts everyone else is making? But when you are connected. To the source. It is your daily desire, it is your delight to always be in the presence of God. Your relationship with God is your priority. Then you would always be tapped in. Your sensitivity would be heightened, your discernment would be heightened, and you would know the way you ought to go. And sometimes it will not come to you with this such clarity, but you will always be in a position where you're being led by the spirit of God because you have yielded to the fact that my life is not my own. Lord, whatever you desire of me, I will do it. The little things, the big things, the mundane things, the exceptional things, I will do it. What I'm trying to say here is that it's a lifestyle. It's a life you walk, it's a life you live. It's not a moment you anticipate. Purpose is not this moment you're anticipating when everything changes and this magnificent thing happens. No, it's who you are. It's the person you become. It's who you're called to be when you are a carrier of the spirit of God, that anywhere you walk into there is a purpose for that moment that you can be tapped in with the Lord that it could even be just being kind to a person, and you don't know what it did for them. You don't know the level of rejection they've been through that day, that they just needed someone to remind them that all is well. It's your walk, Your walk with God is everything. It's not for Sunday, it's not just for the morning. It's it's who you are. And the deception of our times is to separate them. Be this person on Sunday, at work, you're somebody else. With your friends, you're somebody else. At church you're completely different. Then in the Princess of God, you're another person. It's like we start taking on this multiple personalities, because what does that do. It makes room for saying to dwell. It makes room for the enemy to say, well, I can't have all of your life, but at least I can have this twenty five percent. If I can control, if I can influence your career, then that's you know, that's a good portion. But it's who. It's who we are. It's not a doing, it's a being. I want to be with God and I want him to live through me. So whenever I'm talking about the will of God, the purpose of God. The will of God is not for you to get into a place of like man. What is the purpose of God for my life? What is the will of God for my life? Why not just start with being with Him and letting him be the delight of your life? Because it is his purpose that he wants to fulfill through you. So you have to be equipped for that and ready for that. It's not about what you You just want to be. You know, do I want to be in purpose? But do you know the Are you connected to the source? That's what this podcast is about. When the Lord give me the instruction to this and call it plug Pod and everything that will be you know, we'll talk more about that later, but underplug it's literally people to Jesus, connecting people back to Jesus, connecting people back to the source. We've strayed away. We're doing so many things and he's not at the center of it. He's not the mode, if he's not the reason. We're just doing stuff and putting his name on it. But it's really about us. And so what I I want to leave you with is get back to the source, embrace the lifestyle of walking with Jesus, that that is purpose, because then that everything else falls in line. I pray this blesses you. And if you have not given your life to the Lord Jesus, then just stay right there. I want to pray with you and we'll see you next week. Stay plugged in you're watching this. Then I believe that there is a hunger in your heart. There is something that has moved you with a desire to want to make Jesus Christ your Lord and savior. Now this is not just a decision that we make out of being convinced by something, but there is a conviction of the Holy Spirit that ministers to us that I need to be saved from this path of destruction that my life has been on. I need to be saved from this sinful nature to come into life, to receive the life life of God. Salvation is about an exchange that the Lord has put that sinful nature on the cross. When we believe what Jesus did, when we believe that he died and he was raised up with all victory and all power. You see on the cross, Jesus took captivity. Captive. That's what the Word of God says. And what is that captivity? Everything that has tried to keep you bound, including that sinful nature that we have received as from the fallen man. You see, when man fell, he took on the nature of sin, and that is the image that every other man has been born into. But in Jesus you have righteousness. You can be made righteous in Christ. And salvation is to be saved from death into life, to come out of bondage into freedom. And so I want to pray with you. But I want you to know that as you say yes to the Lord, you are saying yes to his life. You are saying yes to the ways of Jesus. You are saying yes for Jesus to live in and through you. Your body, your life becomes a home for the Holy Spirit. And he wants to express the nature of Jesus through your life. And so just join with me in prayer because this will be the start. But salvation is a journey and we're gonna have There's gonna be a link in the description, especially if you are listening to this or you're watching this from YouTube, You're gonna see this in the description, and I want you to click on that because it's going to help guide you into things about what comes next. How to study the Bible, just little things that are going to be very beneficial to your walk with the Lord. And so I just want you to pray with me, Lord Jesus, and just repeat after me. And when I say repeat after me, it's not just for you to just use words and they're empty before you. After this prayer, meditate on those words and just really ope, have a moment of personal prayer with the Lord, and let the Holy Spirit minister to you beyond what I could do. And so just repeat after me, Lord Jesus. I confess with my mouth as I have believed in my heart in this moment, that indeed you are the son of God, that when you came to the earth and you are crucified on the cross, that you put to death my sinful nature. And as I receive you, I receive your life. I receive the righteousness, the righteous nature that you have brought to give me. I exchange the sinful nature for the righteous nature. And so Lord, come into my life and make my life your home. Have your way in and through me. Whatever is in me that is not pleasing to you. Convict me of these things, Lord, that I will not identify with the way of the flesh, but I will come in agreement with the way of life. I choose life, I choose you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen,