Spiritual Eye Exam

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast. On Finishing Well, we help you make godly choices about Medicare, long-term care, and your money. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds.

Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.

So how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now.

Welcome to the masculine journey. We're very glad that you're with us today. And before I get into the show, I want to do a shout out, a thank you to our producer Keith. If you haven't listened to the Joyride, he does an amazing job with that.

He actually makes us sound good. It's really a pretty cool thing that he does. And so go to your podcast location, put in masculine journey, and look specifically for the Joyride.

It's about usually what, two to three minutes? It's excellent every week, and he does such an amazing job that pretty soon it's just going to be awesome. Pretty soon it's just going to be called the Joyride, you know, and we're going to be doing a little 30 second bumps of our show in the midst of it.

But Keith, thank you for that. Today, Danny, this is your topic, right? It is.

Tell us a little bit about it. Yeah. I titled it spiritual eye exam. And it's just a matter of look at how do you see yourself? Do you see yourself through, you know, for lack of a better term, carnal eyes or spiritual eyes? Do you see yourself as something you've created with your wounds and, you know, all the poses and stuff we talk about? Or is it what God says about you?

Okay. Now you said carnal, not carnival eyes, because if I saw it through carnival eyes... I think it's through carnival eyes because I look like a funhouse mirror half the time, you know? There you go. I'd have to be the bearded lady, I guess, at this point. So I'll go, yeah, two of us now, Jim.

Two of us. So my clip's going to go first, right? That's what you'd ask? Yeah. Okay. Just don't want to jump in here and assume because, you know, yeah, I'll set it up. Well, you're running the show there, so... Okay.

Fair enough. Well, my clip is from a movie called Identity Theft, and you have Jason Bateman and a lady that's a star that I can't remember her name, and so the setup of this is Jason Bateman gets his identity stolen because his first name is Sandy, which could be either male or female, gets his identity stolen from a female. He ends up tracking her down, and he's following her on the highway, and she sees him in the mirror, and she's a scam artist, right?

So a con artist. So she waits until he gets close. She hits her brakes, so he hits her, and then she gets out, and she's going to try to take him to the cleaners.

And so we're just going to listen to that and come back and talk about it. Oh! Oh! My neck. Oh, man, I taste blood.

Oh, jeez. You got an injury. Oh, my neck. My neck got it.

Sorry about that. I didn't assume you were going to come to a full stop in the middle of the highway. Oh, a mama badger and a baby crossing the road.

A badger, huh? Yeah. Oh, my God.

My fibromyalgia is just shooting down my spine. Jeez, please. No, this is totally my fault. Why don't you get your license on you?

Why don't we swap information? We can get the insurance companies involved. I guess that's what it comes to. I hate to tell you, but that's a custom paint job. Thank you. You know, if it's okay with you, I'm okay, and I'm cool with just doing cash. Yeah, cash would be a lot easier, wouldn't it, Sandy Bigelow Patterson? Yeah. Bigelow's such a rare name. Well, it's a family name, you know.

It goes back to the Mayflower. Is that right? Or am I a Bigelow? You maybe have heard of him. Pretty prominent bear hunter. Sounds brave. Kind of a big deal.

Here's my license with my name right there. Sandy Bigelow Patterson. Gotcha. So as you listen to that, you're probably saying, okay, what in the world does that have to do with this topic, right? But before I do that, it's Melissa McCarthy. I had to look it up. I had time to look it up during the clip.

But yeah, it's Melissa McCarthy. And what I liked about this clip when I thought about it is, you know, we have an enemy out there, and we talk about that, and he's really cunning, right? And he can come at us very aggressively, very, you know, in our face, or he can also come at us very slyly, you know, or trying to, wouldn't it just be better if we do this, you know, or wouldn't it just be better if you believed what you've always believed and not really listened to what God's telling you, right? And so there's times you got to say, no, I gotcha, right? This is who I am.

This is who God's told me I am. And I'm going to stand in that, and I'm going to claim that, and I'm going to live through that and push the one that's trying to steal our identity away. And so that, for me, that was the clip.

That's good. The talk at bootcamp about the wound talk, somebody mentioned that behind the wound, there's a story, and there's a reason the enemy's coming after that. And that's what that made me think of. The enemy's coming after that for some reason or another. So trying to learn the story behind the wounded.

Yeah, absolutely. It helps you. You know, Robby talks about the whack-a-mole thing where, you know, the enemy sees your glory rise up, and he starts smacking it down. But it's also, he knows where you're wounded, and he knows where to stab you in the back, or how to try to coerce you to step back into that place that can feel so comfortable, even though there's no life there. You know, a pig wallows in the pen, even though it's, you know, a bunch of mud, right?

Well, I know it cools it down. I know the whole thing. But, you know, for me, it's, you know, I don't want to wallow in that mud. You know, I've been in that mud way too long.

I want to step out and breathe the free air of freedom. Robby, you want to talk about your clip? Sure.

Wow, I came across this, and it just kind of just stopped me, like, whoa, it's real heavy duty. It's from Muhammad Ali explaining why he switched his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, and kind of sticks his finger in the church's eye about not working on people's identity, and, you know, something we can relate to. Why do you insist on being called Muhammad Ali now? That's the name given to me by my leading teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. That's my original name. That's a black man name. Cassius Clay was my slave name.

I'm no longer a slave. What does it mean? Muhammad means worthy of all praises, and Ali means most high. Do you intend to fight under that name? Yes, sir. I want to be called by that name. I write autographs of that name.

I want to be known all over the world as that name. What attracted you then to Islam in the first instance? You know, Muslim religion is the true teachings of Elijah Muhammad right there in America in the power structure.

Nobody will challenge him. And the history of ourselves, the history of our true religion, our nationality, our names. See, we don't have our names, you know. I notice how proud you all are, proud of your names. See, Chinese have names like Chang, Chong, Luqian.

This is Islamic teachings. Russians have names like Kosygin or Khrushchev. You have names like O'Connor or Grady or Kennedy. And Africans had names like Klamumba, Nokruma. And Jews got names like Weinstein and Goldberg. And Italians got names like Dundee and Benvenuti and Garcia. We have names like Grady and Clay and Hawkins and Smith and Jones and Johnson. But we are black. These are the slave names.

Yes. And when I heard this, I knew the truth. It's history.

So Muhammad Ali is a beautiful black name, the name of our ancestors. So when I heard this, I just had to walk out of the church in Christianity because they never taught us our true knowledge. So that really was a poke in the eye, like, oh, my goodness. But, you know, we did a lot of work on that in boot camps. And I know how many men as they're thinking about, you know, I just feel like I'm meant for more.

You know, I feel like there's more to life than what I'm really becoming. And it's very much attached to our names. And so one of the neat things that to me, one of the neatest things that happened to my identity was that boot camp where I heard the name Faithful and began to see what that meant biblically. Because when I first heard it, if you've heard the story, many have that, you know, I thought, why are you calling me like a dog, man? I mean, it's just not faithful.

It's like old Yeller or something. You know, I just didn't have a lot of sex appeal, but neither do you, Robby. So that's OK. But I thought the more I've walked into that identity and seen what faithful is and what faithful does. And at times when I'm perplexed on issues, it's really nice. Nicer than a name like Muhammad Ali, where, you know, he named himself based on what he wanted to hear. But boy, would he would have loved to hear what God had really had to say about him, because, you know, God loved him in a phenomenal way. And wouldn't it be cool to actually know what God calls you?

And he's dying to tell you. Or he did die, as the case may be. That's true. What I really thought was cool about that clip was a couple of things. Not cool. It's sad. You know, he had to leave the church because he wasn't getting his name there. Right?

I mean, to some degree, had he got his real name from God there, he probably would have never left the church. And the second part was, that's actually a really good clip. I'm glad I finally listened to it.

That's just for you, Robby. Thank you. Side joke, yeah. Danny, so on this topic of whatever it's called, what do you call it? Spiritual eye exam. Spiritual eye exam, right? Should have been spiritual ear exam for you. It could have. It should have been. That's a good one.

I will accept that one. Why is it that you think that people default and fall into, you know, the carnal side versus really trying to follow what God says? I think, in my case, I think there's a lot of, we judge by the circumstances that we're surrounded by. And in so many cases in scripture, you know, if people would, you know, Gideon, for example, you know, God comes to him, he's hiding in a grain bin, threshing wheat, and God speaks to him as you mighty man of valor. And he's like, excuse me, somebody else in here? I thought I was here by myself. But under the circumstances, he's viewing himself and he even says, my family's the least of all these and I'm the least of my family.

So I don't even know who you're talking to. So I think the circumstances in which we find ourselves. But it doesn't dictate who we are because God always speaks to that person that he created us to be. So other than our circumstances, which is a great point, what other things, and it's open to everybody, what other things cause us to try to want to live out of that name, right, versus the name that God has for us or names?

I guess I should have listened to the question better because he gave me the bike. Now, one of the things that amazes me is how powerful names are. That really isn't the case so much in our society here. But God has given me now five names since my first time of hearing one. And most of them are true for all time, but each one has specifically had an impact on what I was going through at that time. And right now I'm mourning Dove and I have to avoid Robby when he has a gun because he likes to shoot us. But that has, and you know, the Dove part, peace I love, mourning not so much, but this has been a period of mourning for me here lately. And God told me that. That's what I wondered if you weren't talking about early in the a.m. is mourning, but it being in mourning, right?

Yeah. And so we do have a boot camp coming up. I know you're surprised that we talk about a boot camp every week, but we have one coming up November the week before Thanksgiving.

I think it's the 17th is when it begins on that Thursday night at dinner, runs through Sunday at about lunchtime. We'd love to have you there. I know God would love to have you there. Talk to you after the break. Hi, this is Sam with Mask on Journey.

I'm here with my son Eli. We're going to talk about ways that you can help support the ministry. One way you can go to smile.amazon.com.

Go to smile.amazon.com. There's information on our website there on how to do that. You go to facebook.com and click the donate button, or you can go to masculinejourney.org and find the donate button. Masculinejourney.org.

Or if you want to mail something in, mail it to PO Box 550, Kernersville, North Carolina, 27285. A greater understanding of Christ is only a joy ride away. Go to the masculine journey joy ride podcast at truthnetwork.com.

Welcome back to Masculine Journey. Danny, that was your bump in. Sue, you want to tell us a little bit about that?

Songs by Lauren Daigle. It's called You Say. It's all about the topic we're talking about. She says, you say I am strong when I am feeling weak.

Once again, in the circumstance of life and how you find yourself, you're not really feeling very courageous. But God is speaking to that which he knows is in you. I love that song. Yeah, it's a great song. Andy, we've actually used a lot of her songs, right? Mm-hmm.

You can speak. Yeah. But no, you've used a lot of her songs.

I have. There's also Francesca Betastelli. Oh, that may have been who I was thinking of.

But Lauren Daigle has some great stuff. And that on identity is very powerful. A lot of times, when we say you say, in our old way, that's what the enemy says. He says we're weak. He says we're crap, whatever that's happened in the past. But God says we're loved. It's a good clip, Danny.

We'll talk to you again in the after hours. I had to throw something in there. But that's what he says. He does.

He does. Yeah. Before we get to your clip, we were talking about what the circumstances and then something Jim said that causes us to slip in. But what others have called us our whole life, right? That's the other part of that, where some of us where we've had siblings or parents or coaches or whatever that's called us certain things, and the enemy likes to use those labels to really just nail you, right, or a boss or some of those things. And so the enemy's so good at attacking identity in every single aspect.

He just attacks it everywhere. But we're trying to get out of that and step into what we can see through God's eyes, whatever you call the topic. I'm sorry.

I keep forgetting the name. Spiritual eye exam. Spiritual eye exam. Next week will be spiritual ear exam. It will. It will.

I think spiritual memory exam. I'm telling you, I got to start taking some whatever over the counter medication for something. But anyway, go for Harold age. Yeah, there you go.

Yeah. Harold's not here and I'm filling in and he's more astute than I am at this stuff. Danny, tell us a little bit about your clip. The clip is from the show Blue Bloods with Tom Selleck and it's a New York City cop show and I've just fell in love with it.

First time I ever saw it. And this is actually from this season and the clip is an interchange between Jamie, the youngest son, and grandpa who used to be, his name is Henry. He used to be the police commissioner and now Tom Selleck, his son, is. And Jamie, they pretty much set up in the show, is he's progressing toward taking over that position at some point. And there's been a problem at Jamie's precinct.

He's moved up to Sargent and he comes to grandpa rather than dad. And just a great interchange with my speaking into somebody's identity. Hey, Pop. I brought some yams. I'm going to put them in the fridge.

Wherever there's room. Everything good? Yeah. So this is not the classic Reagan cry for help?

I mean yams. What's going on? Two cops in my precinct got into a brawl. Turns out it was over their kids hockey team.

Did they draw a crowd? No. I was the only one who saw it but the aggressor is a sergeant who has 19 years on the job. That's close to retirement age.

Yeah. And you don't know whether or not to report them. Law says I have to.

But she's a single mom and if I take official action she could lose everything. Part of moving up the chain of command is making these kind of decisions. They're never black and white. But what's the point of the law if I just pick and choose when to follow it? Sometimes leadership means trusting your own judgment above anything else.

These are real people. Yeah, they said the same thing. There's a reason you came to me and not to your father on this. You wanted my answer, not his. Your mind was made up before you walked through that door.

I don't know, maybe. Jamie, great leaders. Don't lead according to words on a page.

Great leaders lead with their heart. One thing I really liked about that clip was they talked about yams. I love yams.

But that has nothing to do with what we're talking about. Psalms 19, not to be confused with Robby's Psalms 119, is statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, and the commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Grandpa is speaking to Jamie about being a great leader and speaking to who he is. I thought so often about the men in my life and even the women in my life who have spoken to who I truly am. Not yam. I yam what I am. I yam what I am.

It's Popeye potato. And so often I have blown it off in my life as that they don't really know me. If they really knew me, they would never have said about that. So that's what the clip was to me. This is a great clip.

It really was. And I was sitting there thinking, why am I struggling with the topic of spiritual eye exam? Because I can say it now. Because every time I would think of it, I would keep hearing how God sees me. And that's why I was struggling. And that's what we want to get to of saying how God sees me is a primary thing in my mind. And I'm not just making that up.

I was just sitting here asking God, why am I struggling with the topic? I know what it is, but I can't remember the wording. And he's like, this is what you're hearing. That's pretty cool. So if I can just live in that, that would be even a cooler thing.

If I could live in it more consistently. Jim, you have something? I probably shouldn't, but I can't resist it. There was a bump that you really missed out on not having.

It goes something like, I am holding on to you. I am. Have you heard that one?

At this point, I'm checking out. Take it off the tape. We always sing it that way. I love yams too. I was going to say, there were yams involved in that. There was yams involved. And if you could find a Barney Fife with a yam thing, you'd be just set. Oh my goodness, that's the whole show.

Yeah, you got to speak in the microphone. That'd be the whole show. Jim, let's go ahead and play your clip. We've got a few more minutes here.

We've got about three and a half minutes, so go ahead. The clip I got is from Field of Dreams. And I saw the movie a long time ago. I really liked it. I haven't seen it since.

And now I'm sort of motivated to. But this scene is one where the family can see the baseball players that have shown up on the field that he built in the middle of nowhere. And the relatives, her mom, her brother, and it seems like there was another one.

But anyway, those folks are not able to see them. And this is the interaction between them. Ray? Honey, mom and everybody's leaving now. Well, it was, you know, thanks for coming. Ray, think about what I said.

I'm just trying to help. I know. So I thought you two were going to watch some game. Because it's not really a game, it's more like a practice. See, there's only eight of them, so they can't play a real game.

Eight of what? Them. Who then? Them then. Well, you don't see them?

Karen, honey, what are you watching? The baseball men. Baseball? Do you see the baseball men right now? Of course I do. You really don't see them? I don't think it's very polite to try to make other people feel stupid. Mom, wait a minute. Mom, wait a minute. Dee, you don't see these people?

It's not funny, honey. They couldn't see it. This is really interesting. This clip, this is such a reality in our lives, and I'm seeing it in a big way. We don't see what we don't want to see. And we do see what we expect to see. And the family that knows that the players are there and have faith in this field are able to see them. And those that believe this is all fantasy can't see what's there. And we all have the ability to overlook things that are right in front of our face. And that's why we really need a band of brothers or folks that we trust that can help us to see things in ourselves and in others that we are incapable of seeing. I'm looking for the signal.

No, it's good. The one thing that I realized in listening to that clip, what happens is right after this, the daughter starts choking on a hot dog and falls off of the bleachers. And in order for her to be saved, one of the players, Dr. Otto Graham, has to sacrifice the life that he loved to step into his calling and save the girl. He had to go out of the field to cross the baseline. And so he came off of the field, and once the sacrifice was made is when the brother could see.

He's like, where did all these players come from? And until we feel the sacrifice in our life that God made, sometimes we don't have the eyes to see. Or we're seeing what we think we should be seeing versus what God's telling us to see. Or the ears to hear. Or the ears to hear, and I'm working on that one. I've been praying about that one. You also have, it's Elijah, right, that's out, and he says, look at all those that are with us. Right. Is that correct? Right.

The spiritual eyes, the spiritual ears that Danny's going to keep praying for me this next week. But go to masculinejourney.org. Yeah, register for the boot camp. We'd love for you to do that. But also, you could reach out to us by email if you have a topic that you'd like us to cover. You have a clip or a movie you'd say, hey, this is just the best movie ever.

It's right along the lines of what you guys are talking about. We could use some new clips. You know, we could use a refreshment. And so we'd like for you to do that. You can reach out to us on Facebook, any social media. Please go do that. But more importantly, go pray to God and say, God, is this the boot camp for me? And listen to what he has to say, and hopefully he'll say yes, and you'll say yes, and we'll see you there. We'll talk to you next week.