are we using God to elevate ourselves?

hey homegirls! in this episode, i’m getting real about something i see a lot in our culture – how easy it is to use God as a way to elevate ourselves, rather than truly seeking Him for who He is. 

it’s everywhere, and honestly, i get it.

deep down, a lot of us crave recognition, approval, or success, and a lot of the time we bring these desires right into our faith to the point where it's not even about our faith.

here’s what i talk on:

• the ways christian culture can promote a surface-level, self-glorifying faith that misses the point
• how social media is accustoming us to blend worldly desires with our faith, sometimes more than we realise
• realigning with God’s purpose over our own, seeing worship and growth as ways to know Him deeply, not just ways to succeed

this episode is for anyone who may be treating faith like a self-glorifying booster rather than a humble refining experience with the Most High. i pray it helps you to take a step back, reassess, and grow closer to God’s true purpose for you 💕

Transcript

0:11

Hey, hey, hey. My beautiful home, girls. Happy Friday. And it is probably not a Friday because I post this on a Saturday, but it's my Friday and I needed this Friday so much because work has been stressing me out and it's been a hard week. It's been a, like a good week in the sense, like nothing bad has happened but like work load wise. I. Girl boss too hard, guys. I should have like worked in Costa or something. Like, I'm grateful for all that I have, but sometimes it just hits you. Like, I have so much responsibility and so many people are relying on me and it just. Sometimes I'm just a girl, I'm 22, I live at home. Like, my mum makes me dinner, you know, like, why am I going into work? Being a manager, you know, that's really hard if you guys didn't know. Actually I actually got a promotion like three weeks ago, so all glory to God. And I'm grateful for it. But yeah, sometimes, sometimes it just, it just, it just hits me a little bit, you know, like, what have I done? I work really hard, but what have I ended myself up with? I love my job. Don't get me wrong, if my boss has ever listened to this, please give me a pay rise. No, I'm joking. I do love my job. I just, sometimes it's, you know, it's big girl responsibilities. So. Yeah. But anyways, wherever you guys are, whatever you guys are doing, whether it's your weekend or not, I pray that you are having a blessed week. And I pray that even if your week doesn't look physically of blessings, that you remember that with God you are never short of blessings. And I pray that he helps you to recognize that in the times that may feel dark, the times that may feel lonely, the times that you feel like he's not present, that his presence reveals himself to you. But yeah, welcome back to the podcast, everyone. I don't really tend to welcome you back like, oh, hey guys, welcome. This is a Lesser B podcast, but I realize I probably should in case someone new is listening because it's very unlikely that you're going to go from the start, so. Intro. Welcome back everyone to Lesser Me Podcast. I am your host, Elodie Christina, and this podcast is all about what it says on the tin. Less of me as in you, and more of the most high God that we serve. We live in a life that is very much about main character syndrome and what we can get from God, what we can get from life, what blessings we can gain to suit our own. Fleshy desires. But this is all about just humbling ourselves a little bit. I talk about many, many topics, and today's episode is very, very fitting, which sort of encapsulates a lot of my vision for this podcast. And this podcast name is not like just a vision for the podcast. It's a vision for my life. And doing these podcasts, talking about these things are just a constant reminder for me as well. Like, even when I was planning this podcast, I was just praying and, you know, obviously asking God that I, you know, say it well and it's received well, but also that I am convicted in the process, that His Holy Spirit speaks through me. I'm not leaning on my own flesh, and I can be blessed by my own words, because if I'm speaking the word of God, if I'm saying his scriptures and I'm speaking on what he's told me, then essentially I'm preaching to myself a little bit, you know, which is actually really encouraging for me. Last week, I don't know if you guys have listened, if you haven't, go and listen. But I felt God so strongly in that podcast, I need to listen back to it myself. It was all about romanticizing your life with God. Something that might not sound like. I don't know how other people take it, but I guess I'm just thinking like, that words become so popular these days, and we romanticize all these different aspects of our life, but not God. And we don't meditate on him and put him above all the things that are unfortunately becoming idols in our lives. But I really felt God so strongly in that. So it is fun to. Yeah, just feel God speak to me as I'm speaking to you. It is really cool. But before we go into this podcast, I mentioned it in my previous one, and I'm gonna make it a habit because I'm really bad at plugging myself, but your girl's got to do it. If you are listening to this podcast and you enjoy this podcast, please give it a rating. I know the most of you listen through Spotify. And thank you to all of you who have already done that Apple podcast as well. I know a lot of you listen there. For some reason, my boyfriend, bless him, tried to leave a review and it wouldn't let him do it. And I also saw someone's review from Mexico, but not directly on the podcast app. I had to go onto, like, Apple to see it. So whoever you are, the beautiful person from Mexico who left me a review, I'm so sorry that I've not shouted you out and said thank you. It was actually my first ever like written review on the podcast so I'm really grateful. But for some reason Apple podcast doesn't show reviews from different countries so I could have had a lot more because I have people who aren't from the uk but I can only see the ones from the UK for some reason. But everything is appreciated and I love you guys so much. But yeah, it would just be really helpful if you guys could do that. But without further ado, we are gonna get into this episode and this one is an amalgamation of many different things I've thought about over the last five, four or five months. And this is the question, are we using God to elevate ourselves? And if some of you are excited for this episode, wondering that I'm going to be answering your burning questions on how we can elevate ourselves through God, you are going to be really disappointed because that is not what we are talking about. Don't get me wrong, my God is a healer, my God is a blesser, my God is a provider. But too many of us are putting that like stress of elevating to the point where we are elevating ourselves above God and using him as a transactional relationship to do so. So newsflash, if you saw the the name of the podcast girl, you would have known that I am not here to be talking about how we can elevate ourselves, but instead put God at the forefront. And I would like to say that whilst I'm not going to be going into that in this episode, a life where God is at the center and a life where his will is at your forefront. A life where you are sowing his seed and not your own. A life where you are reaping with the intentions of glorifying him through what he's blessing you with, you will be blessed. But if you do it in your way and if you try to have your decisions made, your answers acting out in your flesh and what you think is right, but use it in the name of God, girl, you will lead yourself to destruction. Oh but you know, I want to have money and I want the car and I want the house and I want the promotion. That is up to you and God whether you get those things. But I can guarantee you that those are not the things that are really, really giving you true satisfaction in this life. What gives you true satisfaction is the love of Jesus, recognizing His resurrection and what it means for you to live a life in the new covenant in a hundred percent relationship and fellowship with our Lord, that is what is true fulfillment. And, yeah, material stuff can come from that, but that should not be our focus. And that kind of leads me on to my first point in the sense of culture and worldly culture. And we have picked up so much from worldly culture in Godly culture, to the point where, when I look at worldly culture, it is becoming a mirror into Christian culture, to the point where I can't see a difference. I was listening to Myron golden yesterday with my mum and he was kind of. He goes through different topics. He has a Bible study. He was talking about various topics, but one of the things he was talking about was the election coming up. Obviously, it's a really big thing going on in America right now. Not to say that politics isn't big over here, but y'all do it differently. You guys, politics is like a reality show. Like, I'm not saying some of our politics in the UK don't embarrass themselves, but the stuff you guys feel comfortable saying is wild from both sides. Like, let me not even just make it clear on one side, but, yeah, it's. It's wild over there. But I know, like, it's a really big thing. I know that America impacts the rest of the world. So, you know, the election right now is really, really like a hot topic. And he was talking about it in regards to Christians and how we go about voting, how we go about our political stances. And he was saying, some of you are putting your identity in your blackness over your identity in God. Some of you are putting your identity in your gender over your identity in God. Some of you are putting what you have always done in the past and who you politically identify over identifying with God. And he was basically checking people. He wasn't talking about either side, but he was basically saying, let's look deeper than, you know, what might be the popular choice right now. Let's look deeper into, you know, I'm voting for this person because I'm black. I'm voting for this person because I'm white. I'm voting for this person because I'm male. I'm voting for this person because I'm female. Let's vote for policies, let's vote for the things of God and let's be wise in the things that we are doing. And he was kind of calling out the pastors and just in general, even outside of politics, but to the point where I see it, I don't know if you guys do, and I don't want to you know, call out anyone in particular but American Christians, American pastors, especially those who are B, L, A, C, K, sometimes very much, heavily put that as, you know, the core of who they are. Yes. Identify with your race, your blackness. I feel you there. But is that it? Are we gonna let that get in the way? Are we gonna let cultural things define how we follow the word of God? Are we gonna say, oh, I follow God, but. There's always a but afterwards. Because I know that my God is 100% fair. I know that my God is 100% not discriminatory. So I know that if I have God as my prime, and oftentimes when I'm making certain decisions, my soul identifier, I can trust that he will come through for me. And I just think in the sense of, you know, when we're elevating ourselves and we're seeing, you know, certain opportunities arise and we're trying to reach a goal in life, we take a lot of the world's interpretations and we apply it to our Christian journey, but it just doesn't go. It's like fitting a wrong puzzle piece together, you know? And I think our culture recently has become. Christian culture has become all about receiving, all about blessings, all about prosperity. And it's sad to see. And it was something that I think I saw and related a lot more to the older generation, especially growing up in black churches, having a lot of friends who, like, grew up in black churches as well. And I'm not, you know, this is not a direct attack on the black community, by the way. It's just that I have been raised in black culture, so it's something that I can identify with a lot more as an example. And I just know in those churches, not all of them, but the ones that I've been exposed to, the ones a lot of my friends have been exposed to, that there is this very heavy, like, claim it, grab it, blab it mentality, which obviously I know leads to nothing. It's like running to the end of the rainbow and never getting there, finding nothing at the end of it. And I used to say it very openly. A lot of these churches were going about all these things, and they're all broke. They're all sad. They all have broken relationships. Their marriage is falling apart. Husband cheats on the wife. Wife might even be cheating on the husband. And I'm not saying that's everyone. But in the areas that there is so much striving for prosperity, there is none. Because the soul of prosperity is not the things that they're fighting for, but it is in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But then I am seeing on the flip side this coming very much across in different ways, but it's the same heart behind it. Girl. In our generation, I made a video about how, you know, I'm seeing a lot of girls on Tick Tock, you know, claiming, you know, woman of God, but then in the background is some dirty, promiscuoso song in the background. I'm not even gonna judge because, like, I've been there, but, like, let's be real, you are not reflecting a woman of God, and I pray that you get to that point. And I'm not going to judge you. I'm not going to say that, you know, you haven't had an experience with God. But there's this whole idea of, like, I got God and no one can touch me. I got God, and, you know, I'm a pretty girl who loves God. I'm a sexy girl that loves God, you know, and there's this whole narrative of, like, I can sprinkle a little bit of God over my outlandish behavior, over my selfish and materialistic behavior, and it's gonna make me, like a cooler person, it's gonna attract people, and I'm gonna say that, you know, whenever I get a blessing, I'm gonna elevate God and say, you know, all glory to God. But I'm gonna phrase it in a way that makes it seem like I have this, like, godly glow about me that you can't have too. There's this, like, exclusivity that I'm seeing in today's culture with young girls. I'm talking 25 below. I'm seeing this very heavy social media influence, worldly influenced boss be influenced mixed with God. Like, it's like mixing oil and water. Anyone who has a true relationship with God can see right through that. And I'm going to talk about fruit later on in that in this podcast. I'm not gonna go too much into that. But, girl, if anyone's seeing fruit from how you're behaving, the fruit does not relay back to God. That is not gonna make someone want to pursue God. It's gonna make them actually worship you and idolize you and feel like there's something you have that they can't. And if that is your intention, just boldly, like, not follow God, in my opinion. And this is me talking to myself from when I was your age. So I'm not judging. I'm not, you know, not saying that you haven't got a chance to really experience a true love of God because like I said in, in my video on Tick Tock, this behavior is leading you broken. I, you know, I could go on about how like it's not reflecting the body of Christ. Well, or your skirt's too short and why are you doing this? No, but when you go home and you're in your prayers, if you are in your prayers, you're upset and you're not fulfilled and you're not happy. And when you are in your prayers, what are your prayers surrounding? They're surrounding on what you can get. They're surrounding on the fleshly things that you so desperately want God to give you with. It's not about what God wants you to receive in the sense of his will. You might not even be deep in your word to even know what God asked of you. Or if you are in your word, you're turning it around to make it what you want to make it. This is why I actually had this conviction from my pastor a couple months ago and he was, he was talking to me and you know, encouraging me and I don't think he, he was digging at me but like I felt very rightfully digged at and he was saying, you know, this generation, we don't focus on the word of God. So many Christians are lacking in spiritual authority and understanding and wisdom because they are not in their word. If your prayers aren't powered by the raw authentic word of God, unfiltered word of God, you will be praying a soulless prayer and technically you'll be praying to yourself. And I'm not saying, you know, you've got to be a Christian for five years and have read the Bible four times to be able to pray properly. But I'm talking about biblical principles. If your prayers aren't on biblical principles and they are on self principles, girl, you might as well have your own religion. Me and Naz talked about this the other day. Certain people, when they say certain things and they try to excuse it around their faith and it's like a non Christian will just outwardly be completely fine with saying I do xyz. If you're a Christian and you have to give me, you know, a lecture and a sort of, you know, speech dissertation about why you do XYZ and still are a Christian and why you don't really agree with this part. Girl, if you're going to be bold in what you do, just be bold in what you do, but don't put my God behind it. That's all I'm gonna say. Because there's this level of, I'm gonna use God to a point to get to the. The prideful place that I want to be. Because it is. It is about pride. It's like we're using God to elevate our worldly, selfish, prideful behaviors. Behaviors that are exclusive, behaviors that are ignorant, behaviors that don't lead other people to the cross, nor does it lead ourselves there. Oh, but I thank God in the end, though, like, when I get the blessing, when I do the thing, even if, you know, I didn't seek God on it properly, but I still thanked him for it, so it must be fine. Girl, let me get up. This scripture, Matthew 7 Matthew 7, 21, 23, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven on that day. Many will say to me, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do so many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Do I even need to expand on that? The Bible speaks for itself, girl. I could have just said that scripture and gone home. I am home. I'm really comfy home. I'm actually in my mum's office. I kicked her out because I don't have my own podcast equipment. But love you, Mummy, I could have just left out that, girl. God does not want the accolades for something he didn't warrant. Whether you, you know, do these amazing things and you reap this amazing fruit that looks outwardly amazing to the world, that fruit isn't leading people to Christ. That fruit is probably causing people to become more worked up in their own works, more worked up in their own potential. And I, I can't stand this new Christianity that arisen recently. That's all about, you know, your purpose and your potential. And God wants to tell you that you are, you know, getting there and you're in your lane and you gotta, you know, dig deep into yourself and work what you know, we. We could make that sound biblical. I could give you some scriptures to back that up, but it would have to come with a level of refinement. It would have to come with acknowledging that your potential needs to be laid at the foot of the cross to come out in a way that reflects the cross. I could do that, but what I'm not going to do is I'm not going to sit down here and tickle your ears and say that, you know, you've got these great things coming for you and just make you feel good and not reflect on the fact that without Christ, you are nothing. Without Christ, you are a vessel that is not attached to the body. Until God enters your life and calls the shots on your life, your potential, whether you say you use it or not, is not in alignment with him. Whatever the world says, whatever the accolades come from it, you will not be receiving God's accolades. That's just a simple fact. And I don't want to be that. That, you know, oh, Elodie's being, like, harsh again. If you wanna. If you want to get your ears tickled, go somewhere else, because I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna encourage you through the word of God, but I'm gonna encourage you to lay down your life, because your life without him is worth it. I know that you're talking to someone who was probably a month from trying to commit suicide. So I tried to do it on my own. You know, we could go down that route, but I wouldn't have been here if I continued to go down that path of trying to do it all on my own, because I was slowly breaking myself over a number of years to the point where I realized that I physically couldn't do it alone. I was living in a pit of despair. And I realized, ew, like me, on my own, all of this weight that I'm carrying, this burden. You're talking someone who could potentially have been very famous at a young age. I was doing really well on YouTube. I could have continued to go viral. I could have continued to get all the brand deals, everyone, you know, shouting about me, yay, Elodie, we love you so much, you know, idolize you. And I took that and I loved it, and it filled me up, but it knocked me right back down again, deeper than I felt before I even started. I had all of this worldly blessing, and it led me to nothing. My blessing displayed everything but God's glory. Don't do the same as me. And if you are doing the same as me, just. Just stop. I don't know, like, how else to. To phrase it, but you're going to have to commit to a mindset shift. I'm not saying it happens overnight, but I had to remind myself over and over again that I can not do it on my own. And when you think of it that way, like, you know, when we're talking about elevating ourselves and using God as This transactional being that will be left not valued when we're done, when we get what we want. We're thinking about, you know, that level of success, that level of joy, that level of accomplishment, but we're not thinking about the depth that it can lead us to. This is not a life that Jesus died for. This is not the life that Jesus got whipped, got beaten, got mocked at, got spit at, got completely embarrassed and stripped to a place that I can't fathom went through the pain that he went through. I read this article not long ago about the physical, kind of like timeline and scientifical explanation of the pain in which Jesus went through. Reading that was heartbreaking. And if I find it again, I will leave it in, in the description below because I think it is. It just makes me want to cry because he did that for me and he did that for you. He did that for such a broken and outwardly sinful and rejecting culture and society, all in the hope that we will one day get to know him. All of that just for us to do it all on our own and chase these things to only end up broken. That's not what Jesus died for. And it reminds me of Galatians 5. Galatians in general is such a good book. Anytime I, you know, try to explain to someone the idea of, you know, the law versus the New Covenant, the Old Covenant and the New. I take them to Galatians because I think it is. It was life changing for me. It probably is one of my favourite books in the sense of like me really understanding theologically who I am in Christ and who Christ is and what his resurrection meant for me. But Galatians 5, verse 1 says, for freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. And the NIV version says, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Burden. Those blessings that you're so heavily seeking are not giving you wisdom, they're not giving you joy, they're not giving you freedom, they're not giving you peace, they're not giving you something to lay a foundation on, but they are robbing you of knowing God. And they are giving you a burden on your back that you were never meant to carry. That's tiring. Exalting yourself. Yeah. You know, you could talk about the flowery aspects that come from it, but all I'm seeing is broken people. All I'm seeing is technically people who are bound by the law and are trying to justify their entire lives by their own good doing, trying to justify their own life by how others perceive them. Trying to justify their lives by their exterior and not their interior, their actions, and not by their heart, their possessions, and not by their soul. And I'm not saying that God doesn't care about the former, but he most certainly wants to focus on the latter. First, first and fore. Always. Let me add, and when we're talking about the inward, I feel like it's just so fitting to go into one of my favorite scriptures, which is

Romans 12: 29:18

2. And I'm going to read from Romans 12, verse one, because I, I really feel like it just, it just adds a little bit of extra season. It gives some context. And 1 is not spoken about enough. Let's, let's give Romans

12: 29:33

1 her flowers. And this says, therefore I urge you now, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is God's will, His perfect and pleasing will. When you're focusing so heavily on what you can get from God, you ignore what you need to give to him. And I know that's a hard subject, but you know, God is here to grant my wishes like a genie, and I don't need to do it. No. Whoever told you that they don't actually care about you, the hard stuff often reap the best benefits for you. And I think when we try to go this progressive, glory filled path of we're only going to focus on the good things that come from it. I'm only going to preach a sermon that gets you, like clapping and crying and weeping and praising the Lord and, you know, decreeing and declaring that you're going to have these finances in your life, you just end up broken in the end. You never fix anything. Because if you go into a hospital with a broken arm and someone gives you a harabelle, a little sweetie, you're going to be like, oh, thanks, but you know, my arm's falling off, it hurts. Oh, no, just, just have this sweet, like, it's okay. Because the thing is you're going to need surgery on this arm. You're going to maybe have to wear a cast for a long time. You're going to be really bruised if we, you know, do correctional surgery. So it might just be better if you just sit here and suck on this suite Would you not just be like, woman, give me my surgery? Yes. I might be riddled with pain for ages, but I don't want my arm hanging off of my body. Some of you have souls that are beaten and bruised, but all you want is a lollipop. Why are we undermining the transformation of Jesus Christ? Why are we undermining and avoiding the refining process? I get why we're avoiding it to an extent, because it is painful. But there is a difference in realizing, yeah, I need to go through a refining process and it's going to be uncomfortable. And I'm kind of like, I need some help, I need some prayer in order to go through this stage versus completely disregarding it as being an option and seeing Christianity all about being an okay person and gaining what you can from God and keeping it stepping. What? When God talks through the entire Bible and shows through story after story, the sickness of our hearts and the end goal, if we don't deal with our sickness. And you're going to sit there and ignore it, you're going to try and put a band aid on an exposed bone? No, no, we're not going to ignore what's down there by covering up with something that is only going to temporarily fix the problem. Doesn't even fix it. These people will be getting all these, so say blessings and going home weeping. I can tell you that for free. Their relationships are mash up, Their heart is mash up. Some of them don't have good relationships with their kids, their marriage is falling apart. They put their whole, you know, life for this job and they're being made redundant now. What if your soul isn't a priority, then knowing God isn't a priority. And if you don't know God, how is one meant to do this life and do it well? How is one meant to make an everlasting impact? Because some of you, you want the elevation and you want the accolades, but you don't realize that it will pass just like a season. It will be here today and gone tomorrow. But if you want to make impact in this world, it does not come from you. It comes from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It comes from saying his name. It comes from saying his word. It comes from elevating him for the sole purpose of elevating him, not about yourself. It comes from being in the secret place and really praying and understanding his word. So when you open your mouth out in public, you are reflecting his light. So people don't say, oh, Elodie, so amazing. Ah, I love her so Much. No, they listen to me and they say, wow, let me turn off our podcast. Even if you listen to a point right now and you just want to click off and go study your Bible, that's what I want. And even if there's a little niggling inside of me, oh, well, if I, you know, I could have just stayed having my old YouTube channel where I wasn't a Christian, I was talking about nonsense that wasn't really gonna have lasting impact. I don't know who has watched my old videos and been changed for, you know, a good period of time that their children and their children's children will be blessed as a result of it. No, but if I say the Word of God, which is true and infallible and never ending, even when I die and someone hears the Word of God, and it gives them a foundation to study that Word of God, to trust in that Word of God, and to worship the God who wrote the Word of God, then I've made an impact. When you are transformed, when you commit to that process of being transformed by the renewing of your mind, that means changing. That doesn't mean going to God for what you can get and leaving, staying the same, and maybe even getting more selfish because you see God as a genie. Transformation is not that. Transformation is committing to change, committing to let go of whatever nonsense you've been carrying. And that is when God gets his seat on the throne. And that is where you get your butt off that throne. You're not sharing it with him. No, no, no, no, no. When we're in heaven, if you read Revelation, we are worshiping him all the time, day and night. Our lives is about worship. Oh, that sounds boring. No, it's not. Because our lives should reflect that right now, like it says in Romans 1. This is why I give it its flowers. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. And everything we do, we should be worshiping God. It's not just when a worship song comes on. It is when we choose to do things. It is how we choose to act. It's how we choose to speak. It's what we choose to strive for. Because it might not even be that you're striving for the career, but you're striving for. For that guy to like you. And how you post on Tik Tok is just to. To seduce him and to make him think, oh, yeah, she's nice. She's got a big bum. I like her boobs. Let's Be honest now, because I. I don't. I don't have time. I. I know how you teenagers think. I know how. I know your language. I might not know your slang because you guys move on too fast, but I was not a teenager very long ago, so I know. I know what you guys are thinking. Oh, you know, that's embarrassing. No, because when your cleavage was out, all you wanted was for Jaden to compliment you and a little, like, maybe swipe up and give you heart eyes. That's what you wanted, and that's what your whole life is centered around. Or you want to be popular and you want other girls to envy you and you want to, you know, get all the attention online or in front of people. You act out as a result of it. You act promiscuous. You behave in an inappropriate way around men to make other people jealous, to make other people envious. But then, you know, you'll put a nice scripture in your bio. Fearfully and wonderfully made, as they all say, because you are. You're fearfully and wonderfully made in every way. But it is for your husband. Let's, you know, let's say that now, girl. But you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Yes. But does the way that you act reflect someone that represents God? When you step out of that house, you are meant to reflect him. If you're reflecting what you think society wants to see of you, what men want to see of you, what that girl who you're beefing with would get really envious about. So you're gonna post it and say it, whatever. If you think that that is what it's about, it's not. So whatever point you are in, whether you are listening to this and you're 40 and you're striving for that next career move, or you're 17 and you're trying to make something of yourself, find your identity, it can only be found in God, and it can't be found in elevating yourself. I can tell you that for free. And I think everyone can relate to both sides of the spectrum. Whether you have been through that particular thing. Teenagers, you know, talking about careers, there's a level of selfishness that you have. And also the adults who are looking at the teenagers, there's a level of pride that you have, and there's a level of, oh, look at me, I can do this, and I am so great. This stuff doesn't go as you age, and this stuff doesn't start as you get older. You will carry it for the rest of your life if you don't submit it to God. Blessings are there. But blessings aren't there to serve self. They are there to serve God. And I know what some people might be thinking, oh, but we have authority in Christ. And when I'm praying and I'm declaring that these things will come forth, let me tell you this. God has given us authority, and he has given us true authority through the cross. But too many of you aren't using that authority. You're using your own. So let's not even talk about, oh, but God has given us authority. If you're not seeking God in the secret place, but you're boasting about him in the public, you're not using his authority. My boyfriend's an interior designer. That would be like him designing a whole house and just putting credits. Elodie, I didn't do that. I'd be like, why are you doing that? Because I. I wasn't there. That's how God thinks. And God's also like, I wouldn't design the kitchen like that. I wouldn't have put that sofa there. You're putting God's name on something that he did not authorize. Girl, he's gonna be like, don't. Don't put my name on such things. No, no, no, no, no. Come back to me, and I'm gonna tell you what potential you have when you align with me, when me and you are a team, and I kick you out of that driving seat and I put myself there. Let's see what amazing things we can do, baby girl. But until that point, don't put my name on that, because I'll say, I never knew you. Don't give him. He doesn't need the credit. God doesn't need worship. You need worship. God is just as powerful whether you worshiped him or not. His goal for you is to acknowledge that you cannot live without worshiping him. So he will give you the conviction through his holy spirit to worship him so you can be of value to his kingdom. But his kingdom will still run if you weren't there. People will still get saved if you weren't there. But he loved us so much to bring us along with him, to make us part of that team, to make us those ambassadors of God, even when we don't deserve it. You could do all these things and from this point, say, yeah, you know what? I commit to God. And he'll say, yes, here's your T shirt. Here's. Here's your identity. You are part of this team now. He's not going to say, oh, you did xyz, but he's going to say, but when you become part of this team, you become part of this team. And when I convict you that you are not behaving like the team and you are doing things for ulterior motives that go against this team, I will tell you and you will not argue with me. And if you try to argue with me, I'm a convict you further. Because that's the God that we serve who is loving and he is patient, but he is not stupid. You can't convince him and persuade him that you are doing things for his glory. He can see straight through you. He can see you in a way that you can't see you. I've I'm done preaching, so I'm gonna just read out some scriptures to end this off. And I said that I wouldn't make this podcast long, but God had different plans. James 4 God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble. That is originally from Proverbs 3, verse 34 1st

Peter 5: 43:14

6 Humble yourselves therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. And just an FYI, that lifting up that exalting is still below his mighty hand. It is powered by his mighty hand. But to not go further than his mighty hand. When you are exalted, you exalt God further, you go up so you can lift him up. And Matthew 23, verse 12 for those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. That just. I didn't even need to say what I said. For those who exalt themselves. Listen carefully. For those who exalt themselves, if you lift yourself up, if you, you know, dwell in pride and dwell in all the good things that you can get and all the accolades that you can get, God will humble you. God will kick you down a notch. But those who humble themselves and accept the love that God has given them and dwell in his will, they will be exalted. Why? Because those people humbled themselves under God, so they know that when they get exalted, they will still be under God. And God knows that. And God will only exalt them because he knows that when he exalts them, they will exalt Him. He will not exalt people who don't exalt him back because he is the center of the universe. He does not exalt people so they can get all the glory. He. He deserves the glory. And people benefit from giving him the glory. They don't benefit from giving you glory. As I said, worship is for you. Worship is for our sick and wicked souls. What is someone going to gain from worshiping you? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You'll get a lot. But our God doesn't even get anything. Our God feels love. Yeah, he loves speaking to his children, but it doesn't make him more powerful. We can't add power to God, but people can add power to you. And does that not show you how fickle you are in comparison to the omnipotent person who is God? He does not need you. But you need that stuff, which is why you need to readjust your focus and stop trying to get that void filled by something that will be gone in a second. And I want to finish off by talking about the matters of the heart, but I'm not going to talk about it. I'm literally just going to read scriptures because I know that there may be some people, you know, saying that God will give me the desires of my heart. And you know, that's that if you still haven't been convicted yet, let me, let me give this to you. So the scripture that you may be thinking of is from Psalm 37 and Psalm 37, verse 4 says, Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. First and foremost people will say, and he will give you the desires of your heart. There's an and there. So that means there was a former. It says, take delight. If your delight is not in the Lord, he will not give you the desires of your heart because your desires don't align with his delight. He will not be delighted in your desires, therefore he will not give you them. Delighting in the Lord means delighting in everything the Lord stands for, every one of his morals, every one of his words. It means that you literally delight in his law. You delight in his will and you delight in the fact that he is above you and you are below Him. You delight in the fact that there is a hierarchy because you know that you can't do it on your own. I had a conversation with someone at work, I shared the gospel to him actually and he had this idea that Christianity was all about being good, which is majority of what people think. Every time I talk to non Christians and he was talking about how, you know, a lot of people come across, he didn't use the word but essentially self righteous, you know, they elevate themselves. That's basically what it is. They elevate themselves and they come across as very pushy and very judgmental. And, you know, everything they do is right and everything you do is wrong. And I said to him, you know, people like that, Christians like that, I would actually have a few questions on their faith, because coming to Christ is the most humble thing you could ever do. It is literally saying, I physically cannot do this on your own. If becoming a Christian makes you not understand people, I would debate whether you have really fully understood the gospel. And that's not for me to argue, that's for you and God to argue. But I understand humanity 10 million, billion, trillion times more since coming to Christ because I recognize my brokenness. So I look at a world that is broken and I expect sinners to behave like sinners. These Christians who get on as sinners for behaving like sinners, that's what they're meant to do. You're not, but that's what they're meant to do. And I look at them and I say, wow, I remember when I was like that. And I give them grace and I say, you know, they are still God's child. They are just lost. So delighting in the Lord means delighting in all that he is. And this leads on to Jeremiah 17.

Jeremiah 17: 48:40

9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? If that doesn't show the default setting that we are on before God, I don't know what will. It's beyond cure, deceitful above all things. That's why we literally have to say, create a new heart in me, Lord. Search my heart for all things that are not of you. Create a clean heart. Turn my heart of stone into a heart of flesh. We need that transformation because we will continue to elevate ourselves and lead ourselves into deceit. I think it's time for me to go. I think it's time for you to go away and pray. If this gave you some convicting, I'm done speaking and I'm gonna let God continue to speak to you. If any of you have any questions. I should say this in a lot of my podcasts, but I don't. If any of you have any questions, if you wanna give me your two cents, feel free to drop me a message on my Instagram helessofme podcast and I will get back to you. I'm happy to help you answer any questions that you may have, but please go to God, because I am not Him. And whilst I can be a vessel to him, nothing hits more than just a raw experience with God himself. I can guarantee you that in your own personal time, one on one with God he will give you far more revelation and conviction that I have given you today and solidify that because I could have sown a seed right now. I could have given you the seed but you haven't planted it. God will help you plant it and he will help you sow it and he will help you to reap it. But yeah I love you all. I know that you know this was heavy and convicting and maybe uncomfortable but I hope that you know it all comes from love everything. Every single podcast I ever make, every single problem topic sin that I discuss on this podcast is a direct aim at what I have been through. So none of it is me pointing fingers because I myself needed to hear this and I will continue to hear this as I allow God to speak to me. But yeah I love you all. Have a lovely week and I will see you guys in the next episode. See ya.