Grace Warriors

The Grace Warriors kick off this mid-October week with another parable of Jesus! Sara and Kathy are covering the parable of the greedy fool from Luke 12. This parable is filled with life lessons and Jesus provides truth in love, deep deep love for his people to know and love Him. As we always talk about, there is no life found outside of Jesus, this is also true when we talk about money and possessions, the enemy uses THINGS and abundance of wealth to make us think we are good without a relationship with God. That is why we RUN to the Word of God to hear what is actually true and the Word of God doesn’t condemn wealth but it reminds us time and time again it will not supply your every need and you will always need a BETTER provider and our one true provider is Jesus! He gives us all that we need, in His perfect timing. We can rest in the present time because our feet find sure footing in Him not dropping us! We have such a good good Father. Join us this week as we mediate on our own idols and where we are being invited to repent.

This week Kathy and Sara cover the parable of the Good Samaritan. Sara starts off reading the passage of scripture, then her and Kathy talk through it step-by-step. This passage goes much deeper than just having compassion for your neighbor but also having compassion toward yourself so you are ABLE to love your neighbor. Jesus is the only way for us to change how we treat ourselves. When we allow HIM to name us and truly believe Him, we love ourselves and people completely different! Curious why Jesus used parables to explain certain things? Tune in this week to hear the significance in the why behind Jesus’ methods of speaking. If you’d like to read this parable for yourself, head over to Luke chapter 10! Don’t allow the discomfort of this story to make you shy away from seeing yourself in it. There’s not one single mistake that God’s grace doesn’t cover so choose to be honest with the Lord today and bring him a heart of repentance as you start your week.

Welcome back Grace Warriors! This week we are interviewing a dear friend all the way from Lincoln, Nebraska. Andy may sound familiar because she was actually already in a previous GW episode - Episode #32, go check it out if you haven't listened to it yet! Today's episode is just a glimpse into the beauty and peace Andy has found in Jesus through an incredibly painful divorce. She opens up her life in a very vulnerable way that allows others to relate and learn so much from. Andy is a coach and also offers divorce support. She has a website that can be an amazing resource if you are interested in walking through your divorce or other hard circumstances with her. Andy is a beautiful example of what it looks like to lead a life that makes a difference with Jesus! https://www.andyarbie.com/

Let’s talk about perfectionism! Today the Grace Warriors are interviewing an amazing woman, Jennifer Zabel. Our episode this week talks through Jennifer’s family life and walk with Christ. As she opens up to us about vulnerable parts of her life, we see that her heart is deeply rooted in the love of Jesus. Perfectionism is something many people struggle with and resting in Christ, resting WITH Christ can be a challenge when there are so many things to keep up with. As always our goal is to help you lay down the life of striving so that you may encounter freedom. There is no freedom in trying to make an imperfect world, perfect! Jesus came because you couldn’t do it. We pray Jennifer’s story and this episode leads you to more grace and patience with yourself. Hold onto Jesus because He isn’t letting go of you!

Today the Grace Warriors are talking about the parable of the mustard seed. This parable is Jesus’ way of explaining how powerful our faith in Him can be. Faith is something only God can birth in us. When we look at the size of a mustard seed, we see that God is not asking for much and if we give him a little he will give so much in return. Remember how faithful He has been and when you are struggling to remember go to His word and read the many stories and lives where God has taken care of His people and proven His character. Today, Kathy and Sara talk through another way to remember and that is to put yourself around people who can influence you to remember how good He is! Surrender, give him a willing heart, even when you don’t feel it or believe it, step out in obedience and trust He is who He says He is! What has he done today? Can you find the gifts in today and give thanks? Just because we don’t like what God is doing today does not mean He is not faithful, our opinions don’t change the all-consuming power in the character of God. Lay down our imperfect feelings and thoughts and have open hands and allow him to in birth faith in you this morning.

Set your mind on things above! Last week the Grace Warriors talked through Philippians 4 and more specifically verse 8 that mentions a list of things we should be thinking about. Today, Kathy and Sara spend this episode talking through that list. Remember, God’s word gives us everything we need! If we are going to choose to capture the chaos in our thoughts we need something to replace them with. This verse in Philippians says to think FIRST then go act! The more you know of the Word the easier it will become to change our worldly thoughts to HOLY thoughts. It all starts with abiding in Christ. There are a million things in this world distracting us and that is why we must choose to cling to the truth of God’s word daily, sometimes even moment by moment. When we do this, we allow him to form us through His son. Thank you, Jesus for giving us a way out of the chaos.

Today the Grace Warriors go back to a topic we’ve spoken on many times before, our minds! Isn’t it funny how quick we are to forget? It seems right to have multiple podcast episodes on the mind since it is something we will never FULLY have freedom over until eternity. But guess what? There is freedom to be found in Jesus, even in there here and now! This week we issue our first challenge to our listeners. Sara and Kathy talk about how beneficial it has been in their own lives to cut everything out except for Jesus, eliminate the noise, slow down and listen to the Savior. He has good things to say to you and life-giving truth to lavish upon your heart. Listen in to episode 65 if you are ready to experience rest with us this week.

This week the Grace Warriors put on their war paint and hopped on Zoom for another interview with Meredith Shafer! Each week we talk about “warrioring” up and Meredith shares with us her method, Jesus and coffee! This week’s episode dives deeper into the rest of Meredith’s story and where she is currently at! Today Meredith talks about how God calls broken people to do His work, she explains how God called them even though they weren’t “ready” by man’s standards. God uses the tension of tough circumstances and calling’s we can never live up to, to show off His power and His glory. Jesus is mighty and that is evident in Meredith’s ongoing story.

This week Sara and Kathy finish off the fruits of the Spirit by talking in depth about each one. The fruits of the Spirit are proof of the Spirit’s effectiveness in your life! We have good fruit and rotten fruit, how do you know which one you’re producing? A simple question to ask yourself is who is influencing my thoughts and actions more right now? The word of God or the world? Am I spending more time in the world than I am with the Father? Would your closest friends and family characterize you by these fruits? Not to bring up shame but let’s just take a realistic look at ourselves because we can’t change something if we don’t know anything is wrong, right? This is something we all go back and forth on and will never do it perfectly but the more we abide, the more He produces these qualities in us, for other to see Him and bring Him more glory! We are invited into His kingdom to bring Him glory! How cool! Jesus came because we CAN’T do it on our own and you’ll never cultivate any of these fruits on your own. Spending time in the Word and communing with the Father throughout your day will bring so much more life than living in the world of chaos and rotten fruit. All of this is to bring Him glory and He will complete the work He has started! What a beautiful reminder.

We’re taking a break from our interviews this week and hitting on the fruits of the Spirit! Join Sara and Kathy as they talk about their journey with the fruits of the spirit and some misconceptions many of us may have about them. Just like we have been hearing in the interviews, it takes spending time with God to experience life change and that is the same with the fruits of the Spirit. There is a reason the word Spirit is in there, it’s only through HIM that we are able to do anything fruitful! The last thing we want you to do is walk away trying to muster up your own strength to “get” these qualities. As always we hope you experience more freedom, victory and grace from this episode. Join us in reading about the fruits of the Spirit this week!