Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.
Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it. Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. So James, before we went live, you were telling me about your recent life of crime? Because confession is good for the soul.
Why don't you tell our audience? So yesterday I was at the local market, and I was checking out. I went through one of those self-checkout lines, and I was carefully bagging my groceries. And then I thought, well, it's a hot day.
Some of these are heavy. I'd better make sure everything's double bagged. So I very carefully, you know, after I'd rung up the whole order, very carefully double bagged everything. And then I walked out of the store without paying for it. You know, my ADD is a gift that keeps on giving. And I honestly just forgot, but I didn't know at the time. I got home and I thought, well, there's no receipt in my bag.
That's kind of funny. And then I thought, oh, and then, and then I think, well, I better check my banking app because I used a debit card, you know, and nothing's coming up, nothing's coming up. And then I think, well, should I go back? And no, I'll just wait.
I'll just wait. But this morning I got up again. I mean, I got up and checked the banking app again and yeah, nothing. So I thought, oh, I better go to the store. So I, you know, I went to the manager and confessed my sins and he was fortunately very understanding and grateful, you know, that I'd come back. But it was just amazing to me, the realization that, you know, sometimes I, I can't trust myself, you know, and that's the moral of the story. You know, if we can't trust ourselves sometimes, how good it is to know that we could always trust God. And that's where we're going today.
Darrell Bock Yeah, it's actually on our money. And God we trust. I mean, it's so true. It's a really good thing to bring up in this political season. I mean, oh my goodness. I mean, if we're not careful, we can put too much trust and faith in our politicians and really they're only people.
Dr. Gerry Breshears Yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean, just this morning, I was reading the six, first six verses of Psalm 146. And they go this way, praise the Lord, let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don't put your confidence in powerful people.
There's no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever.
And I love that, you know, it got me thinking about how important it is for us to look to God as our helper, our strength, our sustenance in everything. Darrell Bock Oh, yeah, because really, everything is in his hands, right? But it's so easy to just say that. Right?
Not feel it. Dr. Michael Smith Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's just the thing, right? It is so easy to just say it. And, you know, we believe that we know that. But then again, you have to start thinking, well, if I really believe that, wouldn't I pray more than I do? I mean, God is working on my spirit in this all the time, because I think we're always growing in this and we need to. And Psalm 146 also gives us a great clue about how we can keep growing, you know, something that we can do for that. Darrell Bock Wow.
Well, share that. Dr. Michael Smith Okay, well, just look at verse one, you know, praise the Lord, let all that I am, praise the Lord. And then if you're going to verse two, I will praise the Lord, as long as I live, I will sing praises to my God, with my dying breath. So you know, you see how compelled the psalmist is to say, I'm going to do this, man, I am going to praise God. And the more I praise him, what I find is the more I thank him, the more I see him as my helper, you know, that every living moment comes from him in praise helps my heart be where it needs to be. But it's a bit of a lift at times, right?
Darrell Bock Yeah. And that's one of the reasons why praise, really, it's so important when it comes to seeing God as our helper, because it puts our focus on him, and not ourselves. Dr. Michael Smith Oh, man, that's so good, because, you know, let's face it, if things don't always work out the way we hope, then, you know, we can find ourselves asking why God, and we can, in the heat of the moment, you know, we don't realize it, but we've made it all about us, because our emotions get the better of us.
And, you know, we've kind of made ourselves as the center of things, because we're upset or whatever. And we need to think really clearly here, God really is our helper. But he's our helper, because he's God. And that means it's about his kingdom, and his kingdom is so much greater than our circumstances that sometimes that's hard for us to understand. But if we keep coming back to that place of praise, then his Spirit is going to help us get there, because, you know, he's moving through that. Scripture says God inhabits the praises of his people. And so we need to keep going back there. Darrell Bock You know, it's interesting how God has been teaching me this very idea all week so strongly that, you know, honestly, you know, I had a very, very, very dear friend, what I would feel like betray me horribly, and clearly, you know, in lots of ways.
And so you could imagine, you know, me going to God with this and spent a lot of time with God in prayer over it this week. And it was so clear what he said, you know, because I was like, God, I know that I'm not supposed to have any of this bitterness. I know I'm not supposed to have anything sour. You know, the idea of unleavened bread is it's pure. There's nothing sour in it. It's not sourdough. It's pure.
It's sweet. And so Lord, help me to get there. And he said to me so clearly, Robbie, can you trust me that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it also in him?
Right? I mean, he who began a good work is going to be faithful to complete it. And it takes some shenanigans at times. Robert Chisholm And that's why it has to be all about him.
And, you know, it's easy to say that. But, you know, I think our lives become a process of making it more and more about him, because, again, living water, you know, he's life, he's divine, all of these things. And so when we just turn to him, then he has a way of meeting us right in the middle of that mess, and bringing us, you know, into a place where—and it's entirely through his spirit—where we realize, yeah, he really is my helper. Darrell Bock Lord, I guess we need to pray.
Robert Chisholm We'll do that. Lord, thank you. Thank you for James's reminder today.
I needed this. Lord, help me to really praise you and see the amazing things you're doing, even in my friend's life, in all that you're doing around me. Lord, help me to get to that place that David found himself, like, man, you are amazing. And I trust you helped me with my unbelief in Jesus. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.
