Unshakeable: Why a Christ-Centered Foundation Changes Everything

Hey.

Hey.

And welcome back to Faith Filled Woman.

This is your host, Kristen.

Today we're going to dig into what are we building our life on, what is the foundation for which we are building.

Right.

And so that's what we're going to dig into today.

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Okay, today is a short episode, but I just wanted to share something with you and it references building our house or our lives really on a solid foundation.

And that foundation is Christ.

And two of the biblical references to this is Matthew 7:24 to 27 and Luke 6:47.

They both talk of a similar.

They both kind of reference, right?

One house being built on a foundation and one house being built on the ground.

I'll share one or both of those in a little bit.

But I wanted to share with you what Inside Simkin said and related to this.

And I just thought it was really poignant.

But he said, let's see, he basically says that Jesus ends his sermon on the Mount not with a pep talk or acronym, but with a warning.

It's a warning about two houses and two kinds of foundations.

And he says what he finds fascinating is he.

He doesn't say that the waters won't come or there won't be a storm.

We're all going to go through storms.

We're all going to go through hard things, right?

But what I thought was interesting about what he said and what Jesus is saying is right.

So he's, he's saying we're all going to experience the human condition, which means we're going to walk through things.

Things are going to get hard, right?

But what he says is Jesus is reminding us that storms reveal what our lives are actually built on.

And then Ian Simpkins says, if my life is built on greed, platform, materialism, sex, appearance, popularity or status rather than on life surrendered to Jesus and his way, then that flood will reveal the bedrock of my.

Then that flood will reveal the bedrock rock my life is built on.

And then he goes on to explain the way of Jesus doesn't lead you out of hardship, but through it.

Jesus isn't protection from the storm.

He's protection in the storm.

And I thought that was so good.

And so the question really is, are we building our lives on a solid foundation?

Right?

Are we building them on Christ and what Christ stands for, what Christ tells us to follow him in, in the way of living?

And so, you know, I thought that was so strong.

So let me share with you.

Let's see.

This is.

Let's see which one I want to share.

This is Matthew 7, 24, 27.

And the section says, the wise and foolish builder in the niv.

It says, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

Okay?

So I just thought that was so good to remember.

Jesus isn't saying that if we follow him, we won't go through storms.

He's not saying that if we follow him, we won't have hard times, right?

That we won't experience loss like I shared in last episode.

No, he's not telling us any of that.

He's.

The Bible's never said that.

The Bible and Jesus are telling us there's another way.

And it's the way of Jesus.

He leads us through the hardship.

He leads us through the storm.

He is our protection, right?

He is the one that can take those difficulties, those hardships, that loss, that anxiety, that challenge that we're going through, and he can take some of that burden off of us.

And I just think it's so important to remember that we will go through hard things.

We will experience grief.

We will have heartbreak in our lives.

We might have health diagnosis, right?

At some point.

We might be walking through that now, but we can walk through that with Christ, right?

We can walk through that with the Holy Spirit.

And I thought this was.

This was really good.

I was listening to a sermon from the end of April from Pastor Mark Patterson of National community church in D.C.

and it was basically talking about praying.

And when we pray, we see with different eyes.

And he also said, when I pray, things happen.

And he said, when I.

Well, of course, he's a pastor.

He's obviously someone that's very set in his patterns of prayer and praying.

But he just said, like, when he doesn't pray, maybe as much, those same types of things don't happen, right?

Those divine appointments, the supernatural synchronicity, as he calls it, it just.

They just don't show up.

But here's the thing.

When we follow Christ, when we welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives, one, we are going to see more of that, right?

It's, you know, he explains, it's, I think it's called the reticular activation network in our brains.

It's like when you buy a new car and all of a sudden you see all those same cars on the road.

Well, the same thing happens in our spiritual lives.

If we pray more, the things we're praying for, the scripture that we're meditating on, we're going to see more of that fruit in our lives because we're one.

Our brain is focused on it, right?

We're signaled into that, whatever it is.

And so I thought that was.

That was really good.

And then he actually shares a story.

I don't remember the gentleman's name.

It's.

And someone.

And he must be somebody that's.

I've known.

So maybe an author, pastor, I'm not sure.

But he.

He shares that this gentleman was on a trip with his family several states away from where he lives, and they stopped at a, you know, a restaurant, you know, off the interstate on their trip.

And the family goes in to get a table, and he decides to pump gas.

And this is obviously some.

Some time ago, this didn't just happen.

And he.

There is a payphone near him, right on the side of the building, right near where he's pumping gas.

And it starts ringing.

So he looks around and he goes and gets the.

Picks up the payphone.

And let me just caveat this.

I get that we rarely see payphones anymore, and depending on your age, you may have never used a payphone or really seen them, but in some places they still exist, but probably in a very limited means.

But anyways, back to the story.

So he picks up the pay phone and the operator says, is this Ken?

I.

Like I said, I can't remember his last name.

And he's like, yeah.

And so she connects the call and the woman on their line says, you know, talks to him, and basically she explains that she was just praying.

She was contemplating suicide and she had thought of him.

Like I said, maybe he's an author.

And she does not know him, right?

She's never met him.

But as she was praying, some numbers came to her, so she wrote them down.

And just in a final thought, she just dialed the numbers, hoping, well, maybe, maybe I'll reach Ken.

Well, lo and behold, right?

A divine appointment.

And answered the phone.

There's no way that she would have known where he was at or the phone number to that pay phone.

And he did not know this woman.

And yet God made that phone call happen.

He changed her life because in prayer, she was given a divine message, right?

Those numbers.

And she felt prompted to call him, right?

And both of their lives were changed, right?

He went into his family and said something about that divine moment, right?

That that could be lined up out of the.

What are the chances of that?

Probably one in hundreds, one in a million, at least.

And so I only share that because once again, miracles are happening all around us.

You know, I've shared that before, and obviously one of his Mark Patterson's newest books is Shoot, what is it called?

What is it?

A Million Little Miracles or something like that.

But they're all around us.

But if we're not praying, if we're not welcoming the Holy Spirit in, we might be missing them.

If we're not present, we might be missing them.

But if we want to have a solid foundation, right?

If we want the bedrock of our lives to be one that will withhold every storm and every hardship that comes, if we want that bedrock to be sturdy so that even in the good days, we are showing up as, you know, Christ followers, right?

We're showing up in the world to do good, to be kind, to share his mess.

I mean, you know, Christ's message of that we can live a different way, right?

We can live as Christians.

But if you want that, then one of the things we've got to do is pray.

We've got to meditate on his word and we have to take the path of following Christ in his way and do our best to say no to the path of the flesh.

And don't get me wrong, this is hard because once again, we do live with the human condition, right?

And we have, if you will, a sinner and saint in each of us, right?

And it's kind of what will we choose, right, in each moment, in each day.

The good news is each day we get to decide side again, right?

Each day is anew.

And so even if yesterday we didn't show up as our best selves, even if yesterday we lost our temper, we snapped at our spouse, well, maybe we just made a poor choice.

Maybe we chose comfort over connection, or we chose comfort over time with God, whatever it might be, you know, I Can definitely raise my hand that I find myself sometimes or more than I'd like still in that camp.

Right.

You know, because we're all a work in progress.

We're all on faith journeys and we're all at different places in that faith journey, you know, and how we are walking, you know, trying to walk closer to the example Christ gave to us.

And so, you know, that's the thing, I think one is, can we take a little time to assess, right.

To take inventory?

Are we building our life on a strong foundation of Christ at the center right.

Of that foundation?

Like he said, my yoke is light.

If you follow him.

Are we following that, you know, or are we just going through life trying to do it on our own?

You know, that's really the question.

And so, you know, I just want to, I guess wrap up with two things.

This is from the sermon Mark Batterson shared.

He said, he shared what John Tyson said and it was God goes where he's wanted.

Right?

Which is so good.

And he then he asked this question, what would my life look like if I just gave the Holy Spirit complete control?

How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?

Can I surrender my will to his will?

Can I surrender my thoughts and my fears, my hopes, my dreams, my anxiety?

And then, you know, my worldly things?

Right.

Whether that's, well, whatever, anyways.

And he said, and can I give them back over to him and let the Holy Spirit take control?

So for most of us, it's an ongoing decision to surrender.

Right.

Those things.

And for a lot of us, it's really hard to let control, to let go of control of so many of those areas.

And so, you know, for me, that's just the message that I want to share today is one, what are we building our foundation upon?

What are we building our life upon?

And is it Christ and is it his way?

And are we trying to control our lives?

Are we trying to control all the areas of our life?

Are we trying to hold on too tight to our identity, our anxiety, our thoughts and all of these things?

Or are we willing to release them, to surrender them to the Holy Spirit and let him take control?

So that's it for today.

I hope you have a blessed week and I will see you back here in a couple days.

Also, I did want to mention I have a new five day Midlife Energy Reset Jumpstart guide that you can download at my website, kristenfitch.com freebies.

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Thanks again for listening to the show and if you enjoyed today's episode, we would love it if you could take a minute to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcast because it helps our show get discovered by more people.