Birthing Forth Ishmael's

Why do we often rush ahead, mistaking an "Ishmael" for an "Isaac," and miss out on the blessings of God's perfect timing? In this enlightening discussion, we unravel the timeless biblical stories of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac, drawing powerful lessons about faith, patience, and obedience. As we navigate through scriptures like Galatians 4 and Genesis 15 and 16, we explore how our impatience can lead to conflict and delay the fruition of God's promises, urging you to trust in His divine plan.

Our journey reflects on the importance of spiritual discernment, particularly in relationships. We liken covenants to spiritual marriages and emphasize the significance of aligning our decisions with God's will. By examining the narrative of Abraham and Sarah, we highlight the dangers of settling for less and mistaking human solutions for divine promises. The stories of Hagar and Ishmael serve as poignant reminders of the unforeseen consequences that can arise when we act outside of God's guidance.

Throughout our conversation, we emphasize the need for a strong prayer life, self-discipline, and accountability to prevent poor choices. By contrasting biblical examples of faith and impatience, such as Mary’s trust versus the Israelites' misguided actions, we underscore the necessity of consulting God in every decision. Our exploration invites you to embrace obedience and trust, reassuring you that aligning your actions with God's plan will lead to fulfillment and the blessings of His covenant. Join us as we invite you to deepen your faith and let divine guidance illuminate your path.

Ready to dive deeper? 🎧 Join us on YouTube for the full video podcast where we explore faith, love, and relationships through a Christian lens. Whether married, single, or seeking spiritual growth, our episodes offer practical advice and profound insights to strengthen your walk with Jesus. Don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you never miss a powerful episode. Let’s grow together in faith and purpose!
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Episode Transcript

Walter (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of Stepping in Faith,
where, together, we focus on theimportance of having a
relationship with God and howthat relationship can impact the
relationship you have withothers.
This is episode nine, and thatwas a lot.

Shanea (00:17):
Why your microphone all in the middle of your face?

Walter (00:22):
Is it?
It looks that way from you, butnot from them oh, okay so
welcome back, even though mywife interrupted me.
Uh, I'm your host, walter, andI'm joined here beside my lovely
wife shanea like I said, thisis episode nine.
Yeah, uh, babe, what is thetitle of today's episode?

Shanea (00:46):
Today, the title of this episode is called Birthing
Forth Ishmael.

Walter (00:57):
You're in an up north accent, but we're going to go
with it.
Yeah, so Birthing Forth Ishmael.
Hmm, before we get started anddive into this week's episode,
you prayed last week, right?
I believe I did.
Okay, so I guess it's my turn topray.
So we will do that.
We say this every episode, oralmost every episode.

(01:20):
We are believers, so we like toopen these episodes out in
prayer.
This is not our podcast.
This podcast belongs to God.
He told us to start it quitesome time ago, and we had no
other choice but to be obedient.
And so here we are, so we willstart off in prayer.

(01:45):
Father God, as we come beforeyou this afternoon, we thank you
for your love.
We thank you for your mercy, wethank you for your grace.
We thank you, father God, thateven in the midst of everything
going on, you are still incontrol.
We pray, father God, that thisweek episode will touch the

(02:06):
hearts, god, of those thatyou've called for it to touch.
God, holy Spirit, we yield toyou.
We ask that you would speakthrough us, let your word go
forth.
We decrease, asking that youwould increase in us.
We submit ourselves to you.
Breathe upon this episode,breathe upon this home, god,
breathe upon this word thatyou've given us.
God, we thank you, father, god,for lives being changed, for

(02:29):
lives being impacted.
God, we thank you that peoplewill come to know who you really
are personally and that theywill develop an intimate and
personal relationship with you.
God, lord Jesus, we welcome youin, we acknowledge you as our
Lord and Savior, we yield to youand we submit to you even now,
and it's in Jesus' name we pray,amen.

Shanea (02:51):
Amen.
I thought you were about topreach a sermon or something.
That was kind of long.

Walter (02:58):
It was not that long.

Shanea (02:59):
It was.

Walter (03:00):
It wasn't that long.

Shanea (03:01):
I think it was a little long.

Walter (03:04):
All right.

Shanea (03:07):
But let the Holy Spirit use you, baby sometimes you get
caught up.
Sometimes it happened let himuse you so here we are, episode
nine nine birthing forthishmael's.

Walter (03:23):
Of course, uh, every week we pray, uh on what god
wants us to discuss for theupcoming episode.
Uh, I believe that I hadalready asked god what he wanted
me to touch on.
A conversation I had with afriend over in arizona you know
I'm talking about Rich came backto mind, and we were discussing

(03:45):
Ishmael versus Isaac, where,like Romans was wrong.

Shanea (03:55):
My mics went out, I mean my headphones.

Walter (03:58):
I can't hear anything you're saying.
Both of them went out.

Shanea (04:02):
Yeah.

Walter (04:03):
That is weird.
Make sure you're plugged in.
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can.

Shanea (04:04):
Both of them went out.
Yeah, that is weird, make sureyou're plugged in.

Walter (04:06):
Can you hear me?

Shanea (04:06):
Yes, I can.

Walter (04:10):
Oh, so we had some issues, but we're going to go
with it.
We're not going to let theenemy stop what God has called.
No, I'll monitor you.
I can hear you.
Okay.
So we were going.

Shanea (04:26):
We were discussing.
You were talking about how youwas talking to Rich.

Walter (04:28):
Yeah About Ishmael versus Isaac.
That is, I believe, Galatians 4, 21 through 28.
So that came back to mind.

Shanea (04:38):
Galatians.

Walter (04:40):
Yeah, that's when Paul was discussing Ishmael versus
Isaac, and so that came to mindand God was like he wanted me to
discuss that it was the promisefulfilled and birthing forth
Ishmael's.
And so we know what Isaacversus Ishmael is right.

(05:01):
And so we have Isaac right,which is the promise that God
made to Abraham and Sarah.
Sarah was bearing and Godpromised that Isaac would come
through Sarah and Abraham andthrough that, the descendants of
Abraham would be so numerousthat even if he looked at the

(05:21):
stars and tried to count them,he couldn't.
We know that they struggledwith that word when they came
through by the Lord and theybirthed forth Ishmael through.
Hagar.
So some of the scriptures thatwe're going to be discussing
this week is Galatians 4, 21through 28,.

(05:43):
Proverbs 18, galatians 5, 25,genesis 15, 4 through 8, genesis
16, genesis 17, 21 through 15.
I'm sorry, wait, genesis 17, 21through what 15?
No, that don't make senseProbably 21 through 25.

Shanea (05:58):
Genesis 21,.
8 through 13.

Walter (06:00):
Probably 21 through 25.
Genesis 21, 8 through 13.
And then we also have Luke 1,26 through 38.
Luke 2 and Matthew 1, 21.

Shanea (06:11):
And Exodus 32.

Walter (06:13):
When did you get Exodus 32?

Shanea (06:15):
The children of Israel.

Walter (06:16):
Okay, it's not in here so babe.

Shanea (06:26):
why is this important to understand Isaac versus Ishmael
?
Because it's important tounderstand the story of Abraham,
sarah and Hagar, isaac andIshmael, or Ishmael and Isaac,

(06:48):
because it all stems from Godpromising you something and you
have to wait for that promise tobe fulfilled.
So their story is arepresentation of when you are
impatient and waiting on God,you can birth forth something
that will cause strife, causeconflict cause tension will

(07:08):
cause that promise to not befulfilled.
Yep.
And it would be directdisobedience to God, because
it's a breaking of covenant in away.
But your birth, you become yourown God.
It's a breaking of covenant ina way, but your, your birth, you

(07:28):
become your own God.
Yes, essentially.

Walter (07:32):
Yeah, because, um, it's just it's.
It's a reminder and I know thatpeople don't like to hear this
and our comment section onInstagram has been crazy but
it's a reminder that you canmake a covenant, but the promise
that God made to you is linkedor tied to the covenant he made

(07:57):
with you and whomever he madethat covenant with.

Shanea (07:59):
Yeah, it's like you can't make a covenant with God.

Walter (08:03):
But you can make a covenant with man Right, but you
can make a covenant with manRight, but you can make a
covenant with man.

Shanea (08:06):
And we see that and we'll talk on this story heavily
throughout this episode.

Walter (08:11):
Yeah, Yet the promise that God made to Abraham was
connected to the originalcovenant that God made with
Abraham through Sarah.

Shanea (08:20):
Go ahead, no no, no, no, no, no.
I was just saying that.
So the story prior to Abrahamand Sarah making an agreement
between themselves to birth achild forth through Hagar was
agreement between them.
But prior to that, god hadalready made a covenant in

(08:42):
agreement with Abraham.

Walter (08:51):
Yeah, which we can jump into right now, that's Genesis
15.
Genesis 15 and 16.
Well, I have specificscriptures that.
I, because we're not going toread all of it because it's a
lot, but you can read all ofGenesis 15 if you like.
So Genesis 15, beginning atverse four, or we can start up

(09:12):
at verse one.
You have it, babe, you there.
No, no go ahead, okay.
Sometime later, the Lord spoketo Abram in a vision and said to
him do not be afraid, abram,for I will protect you and your
reward will be great.
But Abram replied O sovereignLord, what good are all of your
blessings when I don't even havea son, since you've given me no

(09:34):
children?
Eliezer of Damascus, a servantin my household, will inherit
all my wealth.
You have given me nodescendants of my own, so one of
my servants will be my heir.
Then the Lord said to him no,your servant will not be your
heir, for you will have a son ofyour own who will be your heir.
Then the Lord took Abramoutside and said to him look up

(09:57):
into the sky and count the stars, if you can.
That's how many descendants youwill have.
And Abram believed the Lord,and the Lord counted him as
righteous because of his faith.
Then the Lord told him I am theLord who brought you out of Ur
of the Chaldeans to give youthis land as your possession.
But Abram replied O sovereignLord, how can I be sure that I

(10:19):
will actually possess it,actually possess it?
So then it goes on that Godgave him instructions on what to
bring a three-year-old heifer,a three-year-old female goat, a
three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon and to

(10:40):
sacrifice it.
And we go down further, verse17,.
And it says let's see.
No verse 18, uh, let's know.
Verse 17.
It says and the sun went downand darkness fell.
Abram saw a smoking fire potand a flaming torch passed
between the hill, the halves ofthe carcasses.
So the Lord made a covenantwith Abram that day and said I
have, I have given this land toyour descendants all the way
from the border of Egypt to thegreat Euphrates river.

(11:03):
And it goes on down to say digfurther into that.
But the biggest thing here, afew things to point out.
God made a covenant withAbraham.
He was known as.
Abram at that time.
Yet he made it specificallyknown to Abram that, no, it

(11:24):
wouldn't come through yourservant, Right?
He said that he would birthforth a child.
Abram was trying to figure out,because he knew that Sarah was
bearing.
And so now this was theintroduction of the covenant
that God made with Abraham andSarah.
So we start there, right.

(11:47):
And he told him that you know,if you look up to the stars, if
you can count it, that's hownumerous your descendants are
going to be.
Of course, Abraham could notcount the stars, so he was
saying your descendants weregoing to be significant.
Now we dig.
He was saying your descendantswere going to be significant,

(12:07):
Now we dig, we dig.
I would say we go further.
I'm sorry, and we look at.
Sarah and we see with her andHagar, and I think that's
chapter 16 or 17, that Ishmaelwas birthed for it.
Yeah, do you want to read maybechapter one or first one

(12:30):
through five?

Shanea (12:40):
um, okay, so the birth of ishmael um, genesis 16 and LT
verse one.
Now Sarah, uh, abram's wife hadnot been able to bear children
for him, but she had an Egyptianservant named Hagar.
So Sarah said to Abram the Lordhas prevented me from having

(13:01):
children.
Go and sleep with my servant.
Perhaps I can have childrenthrough her.
And Abram agreed with Sarai'sproposal.
So Sarai, abram's wife, tookHagar, the Egyptian servant, and
gave her to Abram as a wife.
This happened 10 years afterAbram had settled in the land of

(13:22):
Canaan.
So he had sexual relations withHagar and she became pregnant.
But when Hagar knew she waspregnant, she began to treat her
mistress, sarai, with contempt.
Then Sarai said to Abram thisis all your fault.
I put my servant into your arms, but now that she's pregnant
she treats me with contempt.

(13:42):
The Lord will show who's wrongyou or me.

Walter (13:47):
So we see chapter 15,.
God made a promise to Abram orAbraham.
Chapter 16, abraham and Sarahtry to fulfill the promise,
because it was some years latersince the promise had been made
and we see immediately from themtrying to fulfill the promise.
Because it was some years latersince the promise had been made
, and we see immediately fromthem trying to fulfill the

(14:08):
promise.
And it was more so, sarah, thatactually encouraged abraham to
sleep with hagar, which birthedforth ishmael she gave him a
wife.
That stood out to me why didthat stand out to you?

Shanea (14:20):
because it didn't say like she just gave him to her,
she presented another wife forhim.
Well, when back then, whenyou're sleeping with people, you
create covenants, yes, youstill create covenants.
You create covenants, you kindof get married in the spirit
yeah, you still create covenants.

Walter (14:39):
We don't.

Shanea (14:40):
We don't touch on that, and people may not like to hear
that they don't want to hear it,but when you have sex with
people, you're creating acovenant, a tie.

Walter (14:46):
Yes, but we saw once again Sarah, and we talked about
this earlier today.
It reminded us of Adam and Eve.
Yeah.
God made a promise to Abraham,told him what he was going to do
.
Yeah.
He made a covenant with Abraham.
Yeah, abraham told his what hewas going to do.
Yep, he made a covenant withAbraham Yep.
Abraham told his wife Sarah.

(15:07):
Sarah tried to fulfill thecovenant because she's like I
can't give you a child.
We're getting older, so let megive my servant Hagar to you and
she can bear a child for us.

Shanea (15:21):
But Abraham didn't go back to God and say hey, god,
this is something that me andSarah are thinking about.
What do you think?
No different than even Adam inthe garden.

Walter (15:32):
But if he were to listen closely to what God has said,
if he would listen closely towhat the Lord has said to him,
he told him that the child wouldcome through.
The child would not comethrough a servant.
So if the child was not goingto come through the servant,
that means the child was goingto come through you and Sarah,
right.
So one of the things I thinkthis kind of showcases that we

(15:59):
have no patience, and I thinkabout every aspect of our lives.
But this is a relationshippodcast, so we will tie this
into relationships.
The Bible says that God saidthat it's not good for man to be
alone.
Right.
Yet Genesis two and we'vetouched on this so many times it
stated that God would find ahelper that's suitable for Adam

(16:26):
and it stated that God put Adaminto a deep sleep.
And it stated that God removeda rib from Adam and God used
that rib to create Eve and Godbrought Eve back to Adam.
So for us we look at, there's adesire for us to be married,
there's a desire for us not tobe alone.
But the issue is God hasalready promised that to us,

(16:50):
that he knows that that desireis inside us.
And the Bible also tells us hesaid something specifically to
Adam and Eve.
He said be fruitful andmultiply and have dominion, so
post the new covenant withChrist.
We know this takes us back toGenesis 2.
It's God's desire for us tofall back into his perfect plan.

(17:10):
We know that your mind has tobe renewed.
You have to go through aprocess of transformation.
You have to go through thewilderness experience,
consecration, holiness,sanctification, and it all gets
you back to a point where youhave your entire life that is
submitted unto the will of God.
But the issue with humans isthat we are in a space where we

(17:31):
don't want to wait on God.
Yeah, what little faith.
So we go forth in every area ofour lives, birthing forth
Ishmael's.

Shanea (17:40):
Right In every part of our lives.
We're not talking about justchildren.

Walter (17:45):
And what the Holy Spirit said to me.
He said a lot of people don'texperience their Isaac because
they settle for Ishmael that isso deep.
A lot of people don'texperience their Isaac because
they settle for Ishmael.
They think, but they mistaketheir Ishmael for Isaac

(18:08):
becauseac because ishmael whilehe was blessed, he was also
cursed and he when you dig intothe scripture and we'll read
that, because they're going tocome again in the comment
section and I don't feel like itum with it with the angel of
the lord, genesis 16, we alreadyread that.
The Bible says verse 7, theangel of the Lord found Hagar

(18:28):
beside a spring of water in thewilderness along the road of
Shur.
The angel said to Hagar,sarai's servant, where have you
come from and where are yougoing?
I'm running away from mymistress, sarai said.
She replied the angel of theLord said to her return to your
mistress and submit to herauthority.

(18:49):
Then he added I will give youmore descendants than you can
count.
And the angel also said you arenow pregnant and will give birth
to a son.
You are to name him Ishmael,which means God hears, for the
Lord has heard your cry ofdistress.
This son of yours will be awild man, as untamed as a wild
donkey.

(19:09):
That don't sound like ablessing Mm-mm.
The only thing that I heard hadthat was and that's what the
Holy Spirit was given to me thismorning the angel of the Lord

(19:30):
said that Hagar's descendantsthrough Ishmael would be great.

Shanea (19:36):
Yeah, and the angel comes back or I don't know if
it's the same angel, but there'sanother when Abraham and Sarah
kick them out and they're in thewilderness.
An angel comes again and letsthem know, and I don't remember
which chapter it is oh, we'regonna dig into it, but go ahead
that, um, that, uh, ishmaelwould have many descendants and

(20:01):
he will birth fourth princes.
Uh, but it didn't say that hewas going to be blessed with
anything else.
He's fulfilling the blessing of.
Abraham, because God toldAbraham that all his descendants
will be blessed.

Walter (20:19):
Well, he would be blessed to have many descendants
.
So he got that part of what Godsaid.

Shanea (20:25):
Yeah, but Ishmael is not the heir.

Walter (20:27):
But it also came unfortunately, and people are
going to hate this it came witha curse.
If you read what the angel ofthe Lord said to Ishmael's
mother, hagar, that was a curse.
That's not a blessing.
No.

Shanea (20:41):
When you are against everyone and everyone is against
you.
Ishmael's descendants, and thisis why genealogy is so
important in the Bible.
When you read through it, youcan follow patterns, just
because there's not a specificscripture to validate what we're
saying.
You can go through thegenealogy and see who Ishmael
birthed, see who he birthed Hischildren and his children's

(21:01):
children.
They were all rivals.
He birthed Babylon, directrival against Israel, against
God.

Walter (21:11):
Because Sarah and Abraham tried to fulfill the
promise themselves.

Shanea (21:15):
Outside of God's will.
Outside of God's will.

Walter (21:18):
And we're going to dig into that too, because it's a
key point and I don't want tojump ahead when Abraham wanted
God to honor the covenantthrough Ishmael.

Shanea (21:29):
So we have a lot of people in the comments saying
that God blesses all covenantsand this is a clear and he
honors all covenants.

Walter (21:39):
This is a clear indicator that he only blesses
the covenants that he created.
Right and people keep arguingus with the word recognize and
honor you can pray, you can askhim to have mercy on a covenant
that you created or somethingthat you created.
Yet when we see the angel ofthe Lord speak, then the
descendants were numerous, yetliterally we saw what happened.

Shanea (22:01):
Your promise is fulfilled, it becomes tainted.
God's will.

Walter (22:06):
When you try to.
It's as simple as this when youtry to fulfill, when you try to
fulfill God's promise for yourlife by way of your own means,
you taint that because you'retrying to fulfill God's promise
through your flesh, which iswhat Paul was touching on.
Right.
Versus allowing the Spirit ofGod to fulfill that promise,
because the Bible teaches usthat God watches over His Word.

Shanea (22:28):
To perform, to perform that Word.

Walter (22:30):
And so what happened with Abraham and Sarah?
They didn't believe that theycould have an Isaac.
They didn't believe they couldhave that.
So they felt like, okay, godmade this promise, so it's our
responsibility to fulfill it.
They moved in their flesh andonce again it ties back to
Abraham.
I mean to Eve and Adam, becauseSarah was the one that actually

(22:53):
encouraged Abraham to do whathe did, just like Eve encouraged
Adam to do what he did, justlike Eve encouraged Adam to do
what he did.
So that touches on women andmen, but specifically men, if
God has called you to be thehead of the household, if he's
called you to be a leader.
First, you have to have arelationship with God.
Second, you have to know thevoice of God.
You have to be naked andunashamed before God, like Adam

(23:15):
was, and even in the midst ofthat, you have to be at a space
where you will yield to God anddo whatever he says, however he
says, and you have to stand firmon that word, to where no one,
including your spouse, can getyou to change that.

Shanea (23:34):
Even back in Genesis, god was like why did you even
listen to her?
You're not supposed to listento her.
You're supposed to consult withme first.

Walter (23:41):
But women, this thing goes for you all too.
The same thing can be appliedto you.
There's areas in your life thatGod has said something to you.
You can't allow your husband oranyone else to tell you
differently.
You also have to get to a placein God where you are naked and
unashamed before God, where youhave an intimate and personal
relationship with God.

(24:01):
The Bible says what Draw closeto God and he will draw close to
you.
So, what that lets us know thatit is our responsibility to
cultivate a relationship withthe father.
And as we cultivate thatrelationship with the father, we
will learn his voice.
We will recognize his voice andthrough doing so, when he
speaks and say something, westand on that and no one can

(24:22):
stop us from believing that.

Shanea (24:24):
Right, but it's important to look at the pattern
where God is speaking to thehusband first, he gives commands
to the husband first.

Walter (24:36):
In the what's the word when we're, like within the
confinements of a marriage?
Yeah.
Now, if you are single, god isspeaking to you.
Yes, because when you aremarried, what should be
happening is your husband shouldbe hearing from God.

Shanea (24:53):
Yeah, he should be the head.

Walter (24:54):
And then it follows all the way down to wife, then to
children, spiritually, yeah, heshould be the head, and then it
follows all the way down to wife, then to children.
Spiritually, yeah, the problemis and we dealt with this before
um, society and culture have,especially within the
African-American community, um,we've gotten to a place where we
are used to women being thehead of the household.

Shanea (25:14):
spiritually, it's not even just the our community base
.

Walter (25:17):
You think it's everyone.

Shanea (25:17):
It's everyone, because we were just listening to that
other podcast last night and itwas still put on the wife to if
your husband isn't going tochurch, if he isn't doing this
then the wife needs to be theone to war in the spirit.

Walter (25:34):
Yeah, I guess everybody got praying mamasmamas, aunties,
great aunties and we weretalking about this.

Shanea (25:40):
It's just so crazy to me , because jesus is a man, jesus
is a man, paul is a man, abram'sa man adam is a man adam is a
man and we see all of thesedifferent examples we see all
these different apostles of godspeaking to them first, and they
were all men and they pray,praying and they had oh they had
great relationships with theFather.

Walter (25:58):
They prayed, they saw His face out, they cried before
the Lord, they communed with Him, they spent time with Him.

Shanea (26:06):
But many say, men, they shouldn't.
They're not that emotional,they shouldn't be out here
praying on their knees andcrying out to Jesus, because
they're men, jesus specifically.

Walter (26:12):
He even showed, in the Garden of Gethsemane, an example
.
The Bible says that his soulwas crushed to the point of
death, the amount of sorrow thathe was experiencing.
No, you should, and I thinkthat's the issue, because the
Bible touches on watchmen and Ibelieve that it's important that
, men, you are supposed to bethe watchman for your family.
Let me say that in the camera.

(26:36):
Men, you are supposed to be thewatchman for your family.
It's unfortunate that we are ina culture where men are not
held accountable with being whoGod has called them to be.
I blame men, and I blame women,though.

Shanea (26:51):
Yeah, yeah, no, because the women are the enablers.

Walter (26:54):
Yes.

Shanea (26:55):
The men just don't.
They don't take any initiativeto change or want to lead.

Walter (27:02):
So we are talking about Abraham and Ishmael and Sarah
and Hagar.
As we just read Genesis 15, godthe Lord spoke to Abram, not
Sarah.
He spoke to Abram, not Sarah.
He spoke to Abram.
He came to Abram first, whichmeans that Abram was in a place

(27:22):
to be able to receive from theLord.
Now there are examples we seewith Mary that the angel of the
Lord went to Mary because therewas something specific that he
wanted that was connected toMary, but majority of the
examples we see God going to man.

Shanea (27:41):
But God did still go to Joseph.

Walter (27:42):
He did go to Joseph as well and said hey, you got to
marry her, sorry.
Calm down, bro, because you'rethinking about putting her away
and you're not going to do that.
And so that's a key about.
We think about finances, wethink about career, we think
about having a house, we thinkabout all of this.

(28:03):
Let me get into the gym, let medo all of these things.
Yet we are many men are weakspiritually.
You have no prayer life, youhave no self-discipline with
regards to things of God.
You have no accountability,because true accountability
comes through the Holy Spirit.
Conviction, Conviction, thegreatest thing, which keeps you

(28:24):
from doing things that you don'tneed to do, and all of that
comes through having arelationship with God, and so we
have to get back to a pointwhere we encourage men to seek
God's desperately, and that thatis the first thing that you do
before trying to entertain arelationship or marriage.
Because people are coming forus in the comment section

(28:46):
because we're saying that youshould submit everything you do,
including your partner, to God,and so who you live the rest of
your life with should be basedon who God leads you to.

Shanea (28:58):
Yeah, and it's crazy because we were just talking.
It's just, we have all theseleaders in the faith who are
like I'm going to consult Godbefore I write this book, I'm
going to consult God before Istep into ministry, I'm going to
consult God before I do this orthis and this, I have to
consult with him, or he's toldme I can't do this yet.

(29:18):
But they're still also the onesthat say you could choose your
spouse, you can do whatever youwant to do you could choose your
spouse and God is gonna blessit because it's it's a marriage
but it's not God but they don'tever tell you you should go to
God first and let him lead youto your spouse.
It's just like, yeah, youshould, but if you don't, it
it's okay.
And it's so sad because we'reall out here just jacked up Like

(29:42):
nobody has a revelation, and wethank God for blessing us with
this revelation that he's givenus.

Walter (29:48):
Yes, and it wasn't easy to come to, because it is your
entire life having theunderstanding that you have to
submit it to God and it's notthe popular thing to do, because
people want to do what theywant to do and it just
ultimately comes down to thefact that we want to be our own
God.
Or, more importantly, wemisconstrue and we think that

(30:09):
God serve us and we don'tunderstand it.
We serve him.
So, because we feel like Godserves us, we're like, ok, I can
do whatever I want to do.
So, because we feel like Godserves us, we're like, okay, I
can do whatever.
I want to do and I will submitthis to God and he's going to
bless it because he's such agracious and merciful God.

Shanea (30:24):
Yeah, well, that's where the enemy deceives us, and we
were talking about that thatjust because we have choices, we
think we could be our own God.

Walter (30:34):
And you have choices.

Shanea (30:39):
The enemy makes us think that.
Well, because we're made ingod's image and god gets to
choose, we also get the abilityto choose.
But we have to choose withinthe confinements of his will.
God don't have a confinement,he get to choose whatever he
want to do, when he want to doit, because he's god and we're
not god we're like him in thatwe can choose.
We just have to either chooselife or death.
We either have to choose hisway or our way, and the enemy is

(31:03):
always going to get us tochoose our way.

Walter (31:06):
Yes, that's very true, and it goes back to this we were
given a choice because God justwon us.
God is not a dictator, yet wehave to also understand.
I think it's so important to getthis, because God is not a
dictator.
Yet we have to also understand.
I think it's so important toget this.
Psalms 139 shows that God knowsevery decision that you're
going to make.

(31:26):
So let's switch this out.
Why not be in a position whereyou submit every single decision
to God, since he knows what'sahead of you?
It's almost like a train wreckis ahead.
God knows, the train wreck isahead.
You know that God knows that atrain wreck or whatever is ahead

(31:47):
, but you still choose to dowhatever you want to do without
consulting with him.
I don't understand it.
We talked about the GPS systembefore.
You have a whole GPS system toget where you want to get to or
where you need to get to, butyou don't use it.
You're in an unknown location,you've never been there before
and you're going to find yourway to wherever you're going and

(32:10):
end up like the children ofIsrael where they were in the
wilderness for 40 plus years, Ibelieve, and literally all of
them die.

Shanea (32:21):
Yes, except for two.

Walter (32:22):
The next generation is what went on to see the promised
land?
Because of disobedience,because you want to do what you
want to do.
And so now, when we dig into,let's see because I think we've

(32:43):
already touched on theconsequences we are.
Where are we at, babe?
Because we talked about a lotof stuff.
We talked about the.
We kind of discussed thetension between Hagar and Sarah,
but it was more so well therewas.
There was tension with Sarah,with Hagar, because of how Hagar
act when she gave Abraham achild.

(33:04):
You know how it be with women.
Sometimes it's like you, likeyou can't even have kids.

Shanea (33:09):
Right, so it's just acting outside of God's will
will lead you to relationaldiscord and competition, long
lasting struggles, strife, allthese things that people keep
saying oh, it's just normal,like you should.
You should go through thosethings and it's just like no,

(33:29):
you don't have to.
People choose to do that.
No, because you choose thingsoutside of God's will.

Walter (33:36):
Well, this is the thing that we have to understand, and
I don't.
Where's that scripture?
At what paul?
Was it paul speaking?
We found the scripture where hewas talking about how, uh,
there's suffering that'sproduced by your own oh, that's
peter.

Shanea (33:50):
That was peter what?

Walter (33:52):
what chapter was that?
Um uh dang dang, dang dang uhlet me see first peter three and
eight hold on.

Shanea (34:02):
It's in my notes and I just highlighted it I think I
got it.

Walter (34:07):
I think it's first peter three and eight it's first
peter three and eight four it'snot three and eight.

Shanea (34:14):
It's four, four, 14 through 19.

Walter (34:19):
14 through 19?
.
Okay, I see.

Shanea (34:25):
Yeah.

Walter (34:25):
Yeah 14.

Shanea (34:26):
14 through 19.

Walter (34:33):
Okay, let's see, let me get there on the phone so that I
can read it, because this micis in my face and I can actually
move this out.
There we go, because you saw mybeing in my face anyway, okay
so it was in your face yeah,yeah, um, and you said it's
first Peter 4 yeah, first Peter,4 through 14 okay there we go,

(34:55):
I mean 14.
And I'm really.
We're reading NLT beginning atverse 14, 1 Peter 4.
If you are insulted because youbear the name of Christ, you
will be blessed, for theglorious spirit of God rests
upon you.
If you suffer, however, it mustnot be for murder, stealing.

(35:30):
But I had a dream and we talkedabout this before who have
never obeyed God's good news.
So I won't go into full detailswith the dream.
But I had a dream and we talkedabout this before.

Shanea (35:42):
All right, so it's.
And then 19 says so if you'resuffering in a manner that
pleases God, keep on doing whatis right and trust your lives to
the God who created you, wherehe will never fail you.

Walter (35:53):
Okay, so this goes back to a dream I had, and I'm not
going to go into the dream, butI'll go with the message that
God was giving me.
The message that God was givingme was that there are those who
make decisions that are not ofGod and they suffer because
those are decisions and theythink that they're suffering
because of the name of Christ.
And that's not suffering,that's self-produced suffering.

(36:17):
That's not suffering because ofthe name of christ, right,
suffering because of the name ofchrist is that christ told you
to do something and you do whathe told you to do and it
produces forth suffering, right.
So an example is the disciplesgoing forth and preaching the
message, and preaching the wordof god and them being stoned and
them being um cutting or you.

(36:37):
You know the stuff that tookplace.
We can't I don't know if we cansay it, but they went through
some, really they went through alot of suffering.

Shanea (36:43):
Yeah.

Walter (36:44):
And.

Shanea (36:44):
Martyring for.

Walter (36:45):
Jesus, exactly that's suffering.

Shanea (36:47):
Becoming a martyr for Jesus is suffering.
But you making decisions is notsuffering, because Peter says
it right here If you suffer, itmust not be for murder, stealing
, making trouble or prying intoother people's affairs.
Now some people will take thatliteral, but it's literally
saying you made decisions thatare causing you to suffer.

Walter (37:08):
Exactly.

Shanea (37:10):
These are all decisions.
To murder someone is a decision.
Stealing is a decision.
Making trouble is a decision.
Prying into other people'saffairs is a decision.

Walter (37:19):
Unallow someone.
But yeah, I guess that'sscripture, so we have to say it.
So yeah, those are decisionsthat you made.
Yes, scripture yes, so it's adifference between suffering
based on decisions that you madeand suffering in the name of
Christ.
So when we go right back intothis, I think we were going to
go to Genesis 16.
Actually, genesis 17 is thenext place that we're going.

(37:41):
Genesis 17 is where god isspeaking to abraham again.
Right, uh, verse one uh.
When abram was 99 years old, thelord appeared to him and said I
, I am El Shaddai, god Almighty,serve me faithfully and live a
blameless life.
I will make a covenant with youby which I will guarantee to

(38:04):
give you countless descendants.
At this, abram fell face downon the ground.
Then God said to him this is mycovenant with you.
I will make you the father of amultitude of nations.
What's more, I am changing yourname.
It will no longer be Abram.
Instead, you will be calledAbraham, for you will be the
father of many nations.

(38:25):
I will make you extremelyfruitful.
Your descendants will becomemany nations and kings will be
among them.
You see the difference betweenwhen he spoke to Hagar versus
him speaking to Abraham andSarah, With Hagar and Abraham it
was princes.
But, with Abraham and Sarah.
It was kings.
Okay, I will confirm mycovenant with you and your

(38:49):
descendants after you, fromgeneration to generation.
This is the everlastingcovenant.
I will always be your God andthe God of your descendants
after you, from generation togeneration.
This is the everlastingcovenant.
I will always be your God andthe God of your descendants
after you, and I will give youthe entire land of Canaan, where
you now live as a foreigner, toyou and your descendants.
It will be their possessionforever and I will be their Lord
.

(39:09):
Now it digs further and tellshim that for this covenant to be
true, it's important that heobey Verse nine.
I won't read it all, but itstates then god said to abraham
your responsibility, yourresponsibility comment section
your responsibility, people.
That's trying to come for usbecause we took, we're doing

(39:29):
what god told us to do.
Your responsibility is to obeythe terms of the covenant.
You and all your descendants.
Their responsibility is to obeythe terms of the covenant.
You and all your descendantshave this continual
responsibility.
So and it digs intocircumcision da-da-da-da-da from

(39:55):
generation to generation.
Now what we understand and thechallenge people have is I
believe people don't understandthe importance of studying the
Bible and being led by the HolySpirit.
So if it's saying here, rightwithin this particular covenant,
that is Abraham'sresponsibility to obey that said

(40:15):
covenant, covenant, to keep theterms of that covenant, that's
what any covenant that God givesto us.
It is our responsibility toobey the terms and condition.
We see in all regards.
If you don't follow the termsand conditions if it's a
protection plan for your tires,if it's a protection plan for

(40:37):
your electronics or whatever itmay have be if you don't follow
the terms and conditions of thatsaid agreement, it becomes null
and void.
Well, the same thing goes toGod.
The same thing applies Even inChrist.
The same thing applies yougiving your life to Christ, you
dedicating your life to servingGod, does not mean because you

(40:58):
still have to continue to workout your own salvation.
It is through faith.
It is through faith in ChristJesus and you accepting him as
your Lord and Savior and youbeing baptized within the Holy
Spirit and receiving the HolySpirit, that you have the power
now to actually adhere to thosecovenants the terms and
conditions.

Shanea (41:16):
Through repentance, yes, like the covenant that he made
with David, but repentance iswhat Turning away Repentance is
not.

Walter (41:24):
God forgive me for doing this.
Now I'm going to go do the samething.
That's why every time Jesuswould heal people, he would say
what?
Go and sin no more.
He was telling them you have torepent for what you've done.
Now Repenting is not Godforgive me per se, it is part of
that but repentance in itsentirety is a complete change of
your lifestyle.

(41:45):
It's changing what you once did.
That is true repentance.
So he touched on Abram.
He told us what Abram.
He said he would give himnumerous descendants.
He said he would have kings.
Yeah.
Right, and that's what we see.
That ties into Hagar andIshmael.

Shanea (42:06):
Yeah, and that's the thing where the Holy Spirit was
dealing with you on and sayingthat people settle for Ishmael's
and never get their Isaac's.
Because people are okay withprinces and not kings.
They think that princes are.
You know, that's great if Ihave a prince, but why not have
a king?

Walter (42:27):
But they forget the part why not birth kings?
But they forget the part whenGod told Ishmael's mother that
you would deal with nothing butstrife.

Shanea (42:34):
Yes.

Walter (42:36):
Meaning you would deal with nothing but problems.
Yes, Meaning you would dealwith nothing but problems
Discord.
Right.
Everywhere.
Yes, all your descendants.
Yeah, discord, they forget thatpart.
Yeah.
They forget that part.
You want to do what you want todo and you want to discord, and
you want the princes instead ofthe kings.
Yeah.
Yet the key thing is verse 15,when he spoke about Sarai.

(42:57):
It says Then God said toAbraham Regarding Sarai, your
wife, her name will no longer beSarai.
From now on, her name will beSarah, and I will bless her, and
I will bless her, and I willbless her, yes, and give you a
son from her.
Yes, I will bless her richly andshe will become the mother of

(43:17):
many nations.
Kings of nations will be amongher descendants.
Then Abraham bowed down to theground, but he laughed to
himself in disbelief.
How could I become a father atthe age of 100, he thought, and
how can Sarah have a baby whenshe is 99, when she's 90 years
old?
99?
.

Shanea (43:36):
I think is's a 99 is 90 when she's 90 years old.

Walter (43:40):
So Abraham said to God may Ishmael live under your
special blessing.
But God replied no, sarah, yourwife will give birth to a son
for you.
You will name him Isaac and Iwill confirm my covenant with
him and his descendants as aneverlasting covenant.
I will confirm my covenant withhim and his descendants as an
everlasting covenant.
As for Ishmael, I will blesshim also, just as you have asked

(44:02):
, I will make him extremelyfruitful and multiply his
descendants, he will become thefather of 12 princes and I will
make him a great nation.
But my covenant will beconfirmed with Isaac, who will
be born to you and Sarah aboutthis time next year.
When God had finished speaking,he left Abraham.

(44:25):
That's a lot to take in, huh.
People don't like this.

Shanea (44:36):
No, they don't like this because people want to do what
they want to do, but we have tofollow law.
Like there's a pattern when yougo outside God's will, you're
either going to get blessings oryou're going to get curses.
And this is all.
We're going to continue to keeppreaching.

Walter (44:52):
Because it's the reality of what it's saying.
What we saw here is two thingsPreaching, because it's the
reality of what it's saying whatwe saw here is two things, and
this is what God was dealingwith me on.

Speaker 5 (45:05):
Part of the blessing of that covenant was tied to
Abraham and the other part wastied to Sarah.

Walter (45:07):
The reason that Isaac has everything that Isaac has,
and everything came throughIsaac, is because he received
not only blessings from hisfather, but also his mother, yes
, who God made a covenant with.

Shanea (45:20):
Yes, whoever finds a wife.
Finds the Bible, finds treasureand this is what we touched on
and obtains favor from the Lord.
Exactly so it's not every wifethat you get to choose, it's
just the one.

Walter (45:35):
It's not whoever finds the wife that they want.
It's whoever finds, or is ledto, the wife that God has called
them to.

Shanea (45:46):
Whoever God has called you to finds a treasure and
obtains favor from the Lord.

Walter (45:51):
Because people are going to say the same scripture, but
it is scripture and you justhave to.

Shanea (45:57):
You need to have the Holy Spirit in you to understand
this.
You got to understand this bythe spirit, and we're about to
say this and you can tie.

Walter (46:04):
We're about to say this.
God told me in the beginning,when we, when I started my
encounter with him, he he tookme to Genesis two.
He took me to the part where heand I said this before where he
removed the rib from Adam andplaced it in Eve.
And once again what God said tome, what the Holy Spirit

(46:26):
revealed to me is he neverstopped doing that.
He never stopped doing that.
He never stopped that.

Speaker 5 (46:40):
So if you believe that God has called you to
marriage, because we seeexamples of those that was not
Jesus prime example.

Walter (46:43):
God has taken a part of you, man out of you before you
were even born, and placed it inthe woman that he called for
you to be with.

Shanea (46:51):
Well, we are Jesus's bride.
He is in us and we are in himand we become one.
That is true, so we are thebride of course we are the bride
, so I'll take that back then.

Walter (47:01):
Yes, so, but Sorry, from an earthly perspective, he
never got married.

Shanea (47:08):
Right.

Walter (47:09):
So, but from a spiritual perspective.

Shanea (47:10):
But we know that marriage is spiritual.

Walter (47:12):
Which people came for us with as well.
Right and Jesus is a primeexample of showing that marriage
actually is spiritual.

Shanea (47:18):
It is actually spiritual .

Walter (47:19):
So, with that being the case, right, you may not like it
, but this is just the realityof what it is.
It's not something that'ssupposed to feel good, but we
see this example.
We saw Abraham because he haddoubts that God could fulfill
the promise through him andSarah, which is why he pushed
Ishmael in.

Shanea (47:39):
Right, he was impatient.

Walter (47:41):
And God was like no, I will bless Ishmael because of
you, but he's not tied to this.
Right.
The covenant that I've made thecovenant because God went back
to speaking and touching on thecovenant.
The covenant I made is throughyou and Sarah by way of Isaac.
That's who I made a covenantwith and those blessings are

(48:05):
tied to that said covenant.

Shanea (48:08):
And people can argue all they want, but there's plenty
of examples, other examples inthe Bible, where God has given a
command, has made a covenantand people haven't honored it
and they become cursed.

Walter (48:24):
Yes.

Shanea (48:24):
Samuel comes to Saul and says to tell Saul to go ahead
of him to Gilgal and he willcome down in seven days and they

(48:46):
can sacrifice burnt offerings.
But then in 1.
Samuel 13, when Saul's actuallyin battle.
He's scared because he's losingsoldiers.
And it's been seven days andSamuel hasn't showed up yet, so
he goes ahead.
And it's been seven days and,um, samuel hasn't showed up yet,
so he goes ahead.
And it's it's very clear in thebible where it says saul did
not consult with the lord beforehe, uh, presented these burnt

(49:10):
offerings.
And then, after he presentedthose burnt offerings, there
comes samuel.
And samuel is like you know,you curse right and your kingdom
is going to be destroyedbecause you didn't follow God's
commandment, you didn't wait onthe Lord, you became impatient.

Walter (49:28):
The challenge becomes waiting on God.

Shanea (49:29):
Yes.

Walter (49:30):
That's the challenge for us all is just simply waiting
on the Father, and it alwaysgets us in trouble when we don't
.

Shanea (49:36):
Because you start doing things to fulfill a promise that
God promised you and you thinkit's in your doing.

Walter (49:44):
You think you can create your own covenants with God,
and God is going to bless it,and this is what we can dig into
this.
Let me see, are we there yet?
I'm looking.
Let me see, are we there yet?
Um, I'm looking, I'm looking.
You can keep going.
We could cause we've been goingfor a little bit, so we gotta.

(50:06):
Well, we talked about a lot ofstuff.
Um, we have, and this, thishappened before we get some good
stuff we could keep going.

Shanea (50:13):
I know we gotta get ready to go to.
Yeah so get ready to go tochurch.

Walter (50:20):
So, continuing on in this, what God brought back to
my attention is Proverbs 18 and22.
And we touched on that already.
He, a man who finds a wife inLT States finds a treasure and
obtain favor from God, and sothat was tied back into Sarah,
the blessings being tied toSarah, and I know that we have

(50:45):
this desire to see thefulfillment of God's promises in
our lives.
But I believe what this showsus an example of is the
importance of waiting on God,because when we don't, not only
will it negatively impact us,yet also it's still not going to

(51:06):
be blessed by God.
No.
The covenant is not going to befulfilled.

Shanea (51:10):
No.

Walter (51:11):
Because in a sense you could say oh well, ishmael was
blessed, but was he?
No, was he.
No, you could say, oh well,ishmael was blessed, but was he
no?
Was he no?
What jesus, what?
What?
What god was saying the lordwas saying with jesus?
He was saying that, um,whatever is tied to you is tied
to him, so I'll at least let himhave that.
But that covenant that you andsarah made I don't recognize.

(51:33):
That's not something Irecognize.
People ain't gonna like thateither.
But is that's not something Irecognize because it's not my
covenant?
Right, I acknowledge that youmade the covenant.
I do, but still what I said toyou is tied to the covenant that
I made with you.
I made the covenant with you.
You can make a covenant withman Right, but I made that

(51:54):
covenant with you.
So the covenants I make withyou are the covenants that I
bless.
That receives the fulfillmentRight Of my blessings upon your
life.

Shanea (52:07):
Right, and that's in one of the revelations I got
earlier, when we was readingabout God's promise for
salvation and redemption throughJesus Christ.
The promise about God's promisefor salvation and redemption
through Jesus Christ, thepromise, and without going to
him, without acknowledging Jesus, we start to become our own
gods, redeeming ourselves, beingour own redeemers, being our
own helpers, being our owncounselors.
When the promise is onlythrough Jesus Christ, your

(52:31):
fulfillment is only throughJesus Christ.
It's not in Baal, it's not inSatan, it's not in the Christ,
it's not in bow, it's not inSatan, it's not in, it's not at
the spa, it's not in money, it'snot in any other other deity.
It's only through Jesus Christ.

Walter (52:51):
And you're referring to Exodus 32.
Yeah, and you're also referringto Luke 1, 26 through 38, when
angel of the lord tells marythat god's promise is coming in
the form of a savior, which isjesus yeah and her willingness
to trust god's plan versuscreating her own way to fix
things, unlike the israelites.
But the golden calf shows theimportance of waiting and

(53:12):
accepting the savior god haspromised and we saw with mary
that a few days later when shewent to see her cousin that
immediately John, yeah, john,jumped received the Holy Spirit
Exactly.
And so she was pregnant becauseof her faith Not to fulfill the
promise herself, or try tofigure it out, right, just
accept that it wasn't going tohappen.

(53:33):
She didn't say oh, let me gohave intercourse with my husband
To make this happen, to makethis baby happen, and God's
going to bless that baby and theHoly Spirit is going to fill
the baby.

Shanea (53:43):
She didn't say how am I going to get pregnant.
She just received it, Right.

Walter (53:46):
And so we have to learn to receive, and then let it be
and let God do the work, andthat's what Paul was touching on
, and we can go there.
Uh, that's galatians 4, 21through 28, and this is what
paul was touching on ingalatians, which started all of

(54:07):
this out.

Shanea (54:07):
Actually, you said galatians, what for?

Walter (54:09):
21 through 28 and it says uh, tell me who you want to
live under the law, or tell mewho you want to live under the
law.
Oh, tell me you who want tolive under the law.
Do you not know what the lawactually says?
The scriptures say that Abrahamhad two sons, one from his
slave wife and one from hisfreeborn wife.

(54:31):
The son of the slave wife wasborn in a human attempt to bring
about the fulfillment of God'spromise, but the son of the
freeborn wife was born as God'sown fulfillment of his promise.
These two women serve as anillustration of God's two
covenants.
The first woman, Hagar,represents Mount Sinai, where
people received the law thatenslaved them, and now Jerusalem

(54:54):
is just like Mount Sinai inArabia, because she and her
children live in slavery to thelaw.
But the other woman, Sarah,represents the heavenly
Jerusalem.
She is the free woman and sheis our mother.
As Isaiah said, rejoice, Ochildless woman.
You who have never given birth,break into a joyful shout.

(55:14):
You who have never been inlabor for the desolate, this
part right here is so good tokeep the law.

(55:38):
Just as Ishmael, the child bornby human effort, persecuted
Isaac, the child born by thepower of the Spirit.
And we know later on when wedig into Genesis, Ishmael and
his mother, Hagar, was sent awaybecause Ishmael was picking on
Isaac and the angel of the Lordand I believe it was.
Let me make sure I don't wantto misquote that is Genesis.
Is that Genesis 21?

(56:00):
Let me see, because I want tomake sure, because I don't want
to just misquote, but to see whoI believe it was the angel of
the Lord.

Shanea (56:12):
What that confirmed Abraham to send him away?

Walter (56:19):
No, that, yeah, to send them away.
Was it the angel of the Lord orwas it?
Who was it?

Shanea (56:26):
I don't remember seeing it.
I thought Abraham just sentthem away.
I think he was just talking toGod.

Walter (56:32):
No, he was sent away.
Verse yeah, it was 21.
Genesis 21, verse 8.
When Isaac grew up and wasabout to be weaned, abraham
prepared a huge feast tocelebrate the occasion.
But Sarah saw that Ishmael, theson of Abraham, and her
Egyptian servant Hagar she sawthem making fun of her son,
isaac.
So she turned to Abraham anddemanded get rid of that slave

(56:54):
woman and her son.
He is not going to share theinheritance with my son, isaac.
I won't have it, but God.
So it was.
God told Abraham tells you, forIsaac is the son through whom

(57:18):
your descendants will be counted, but I will also make a nation
of the descendants of Hagar'sson, because he is your son too.

Shanea (57:21):
And this is what's hard too is because, um, we created
these Ishmaels and we didn'tconsult with God.
But in order to really see thisfulfillment in this promise
that God has promised us, wehave to kind of get rid of the
Ishmaels in our lives.

Walter (57:40):
That's challenging.

Shanea (57:41):
It's challenging because it's something that you did,
it's something that you wanted.

Walter (57:46):
And Ishmael can be the representation of anything it
can be a career, it could beanything.
Are you willing to be at apoint where God says you have to
let that go, that you will letit go?
Yeah.
Because what God was saying toAbraham is do not allow this to
come in between or become adistraction to what I've already
promised you, what I've alreadysaid the covenant would be and

(58:11):
who the covenant would be tiedto.

Shanea (58:13):
Yeah, like this can't go with you into this season that
I'm trying to take you into.
Because it's, something thatyou did.
There's consequences.

Walter (58:23):
The consequences are you're not going to be around
your son, and it was hard forAbraham to deal with.
Yeah.
And so that's the whole comeout from amongst them.
Yeah, and so let's the wholecome out from amongst them.
Yeah.
And so let's just speak to this.
In no way do we condone divorce, Mm-hmm.

(58:53):
Condone divorce.
The biggest thing that wealways try to get in the whole
reason for this podcast is thatwe have to come to an
understanding of consulting withGod on who we marry so it does
not end in divorce.
We know for a fact it's noteven a belief.

(59:14):
We know that the reason thatmany divorces end, especially
within the body of Christ, isbecause you don't consult with
God.
The divorce is end because youpick and choose who you want to
be with.
Right.
That's why y'all divorce is end.
Right.
And so, with that being thecase, that's why your marriage

(59:35):
is end.
Because God is not in it.

Shanea (59:37):
Yeah, and you try to bring.

Walter (59:39):
God in after you've already made the decision that
this is who you want to be with,because you want to be your own
God.
Right.
And then you try to findscriptures to justify your sin.
Then you get mad when peopletell you that it's sin and that
you are wrong, because God issupposed to lead and direct

(59:59):
every single area and everysingle part of your life.
So you now become a distractionto those who desire God, who
aren't married yet, who have anopportunity to do it the right
way.
Right.
So everything kind of ties backto this Ishmael and Isaac ties

(01:00:20):
back to that.
You have a choice to make.
We have choices to make in life.
Either you're going to followGod's way or you're going to
follow your way.
But don't think that you can belike Abraham.
And you saw what happened whenAbraham did it, when he and him
and Sarah produced Ishmael andhe wanted God to fulfill the

(01:00:40):
promise through Ishmael.
And God told Abraham no.
He flat out told him no.
He said I told you that this isnot connected to anyone else
other than you and.
Sarah.
Right.
The promise will be fulfilledthrough you and Sarah, by way of

(01:01:02):
Isaac.
Right.
Now I would allow Ishmael tohave what you have.
Yet Ishmael still dealt withissues, and we see this birth
forth nations that went upagainst the children of Israel
as the angel of the Lord.
As the angel of the Lord saidthey would.
Yeah.

(01:01:22):
So why in the world would youwant to deal with unnecessary
problems?
Is there issues with marriage?
Yes, there is, because theenemy do attack God centered
marriages.
We know this.

Shanea (01:01:36):
But he attacks them primarily before you even get
there.
He places you with peopleyou're not supposed to be with.

Walter (01:01:45):
Yes, he does.
And when he do attack thosesaid marriages, it is different
because there is a blanket ofprotection over those marriages.
That is a covenant that Godcreated.
So now it is God'sresponsibility to look over that
covenant.

Shanea (01:02:01):
Right, Just like when Abraham and Sarah.
When Abraham was given his wifeto what's his name, Abamek.

Walter (01:02:09):
Something like that.

Shanea (01:02:12):
Whatever his king name, is he got cursed?
Whatever that king name is.
He said it bad, he was was likewhy did you give me?

Walter (01:02:19):
this.

Shanea (01:02:20):
You're trying to get me cursed why did you give me this
woman?
God broke that and godspecifically told um.
I don't know his name, I don'tknow how to say it because I
didn't write it down a, b, I, me, l e, c h I don't know how
ablumac um whatever, whateverhis name is, I'm not even gonna
try to butcher his name but godgave him a dream and god told

(01:02:44):
him.

Walter (01:02:45):
He said I allowed you to not yeah, he said I got it
right here, verse uh.
Genesis 20, verse 3.
It says but that night god cameto ablamac or whatever in a
dream and told him you are adead man, for that woman you
have taken is already marriedyeah but ablamac, or whatever

(01:03:08):
his name, had not slept with heryet.
So he said lord, will youdestroy an innocent nation?
Didn't abraham tell me she ismy sister?
And she herself herself saidyes, he is my brother.
I acted in complete innocence.
My hands are clean.
In the dream, god responded yes, I know you are innocent.
That's why I kept you fromsinning against me and why I did
not let you touch her.

(01:03:29):
Now return the woman to herhusband and he will pray for you
, for he is a prophet.
Then you will live.
But if you don't return her tohim, you can be sure that you
and all your people would die.

Shanea (01:03:41):
God kept him from touching her.

Walter (01:03:44):
But the key thing is, even in that instant, sarah
hadn't birthed for Isaac yet, sothat entire situation would
have been tainted even greater,even greater.
So God was like there'ssomething that I am doing, that
you're trying to.
I made a covenant, I made acovenant, and so we have to be

(01:04:08):
really careful because, yeah,but I would have to pray on that
because Sarah gave Hagar toAbraham as his wife.
Yes, but Abraham wasn't able togive Sarah to the king as his
wife.
No.
But we're not going to go intothat.
No.

(01:04:29):
That's a different subject.
We'll pray on that and see whatGod says.
So ultimately, we have to bemindful.

Shanea (01:04:37):
He wasn't able to give.
Well, I guess, yeah, yeah um,that's a little that's.

Walter (01:04:44):
That's a different subject yes, so uh, not, and
we're not saying that god uh,we're not saying that god
co-signed on what sarah andabraham did.
Apparently he did no, he wasnot for it.

Shanea (01:04:56):
No.

Walter (01:04:58):
God's perfect design for marriage is what we saw in
Genesis 2.

Shanea (01:05:01):
Right, he created Adam and Eve.
You get a choice.
Abraham even married after hehad Sarah, after Sarah passed
away.
But those children were alsonot blessed.
They were blessed by AbramAbraham, but they were not
blessed by God.
They still became direct rivals.

Walter (01:05:17):
So, ultimately, we have to learn to really just and I
know it's easier said than donetrust God.
The Bible says Galatians 5.25,that you should and I'm
paraphrasing you should allow,essentially saying you should
allow the Holy Spirit, theSpirit of God, to lead every
part of your life.
Right.
And when you allow the HolySpirit to lead every part of

(01:05:38):
your life, you won't birth forthIshmael's, you will birth forth
Isaac's.
But being able to birth forththose Isaac's is waiting on God
to fulfill his promise.
And so, for those who aredesiring marriage we would say
especially for those that arenot married yet the greatest
thing that you can do iscultivate and develop a
relationship with God so thatyou can know the Father's voice

(01:06:01):
so that.
God can lead you so you don'tget into a point where you birth
forth Ishmaels and you becomecomfortable being with that said
Ishmael and never be able toexperience Isaac.

Shanea (01:06:12):
Yeah, Isaac.

Walter (01:06:16):
And I think that is how else do we leave it?
I think that's good.
I think that's good.
Okay, I think that's everything, dude.
Is there anything you have thatyou want to add?
We've touched on a bunch ofstuff.

Shanea (01:06:31):
I think that's it.
I was looking for a scripturefrom Isaiah where he talks about
waiting on the Lord.
I think it's Isaiah 55.
I can't find it right now.
I have so many notes to behonest.

Walter (01:06:50):
Well, it's challenging to wait on God.
You're saying Isaiah 40 and 31?
.

Shanea (01:06:58):
Isaiah 55, 8 through 9.
And hold fast to God's promises, knowing that his plans are
perfect and will not fail.

Walter (01:07:08):
And why is that scripture so important?

Shanea (01:07:12):
Because you have to be still and know that he's God.
You have to wait on him, which?

Walter (01:07:16):
is not easy.
It's not easy, but if you haveto, wait on him, which is not
easy.

Shanea (01:07:18):
It's not easy, but if you don't wait on him, then it
won't be perfect.
And if you know that it can beperfect, why would you not want
to wait?
Yeah, you know.

Walter (01:07:31):
And we will get into why it's important for you to wait
on God at some point and be ableto share our testimony on the
things that we experienced fromnot waiting on God, and it was
some challenging things that weboth went through and the enemy
literally had us both insituations where we dealt with
similar people.

Shanea (01:07:50):
Yeah, still dealing with those consequences.

Walter (01:07:52):
Yes, and so please hear us.
Consequences, yes, and soplease hear us, and both of us
can attest to.
I know I can heavily attest tothat.
Prior to making a decision thatI made previously, god sent
everybody my way to tell me notto, and I didn't listen.
Yes.
But part of me not listeningwas because I was still dealing

(01:08:13):
with unresolved trauma.
Yeah.
I needed to be healed, I neededto be delivered, and set free.
And there were bloodline cursesthat were set in place within my
family and myself that led tome not being able to get out of
something until God's gracebrought me out of it Right Until
you made a new covenant WithJesus Christ.
With Jesus Christ, that's theonly way to get out.
But even in the midst of thatlike he still keep, you brought
me out of it.

Shanea (01:08:33):
Right Until you made a new covenant.

Walter (01:08:35):
With Jesus Christ.

Shanea (01:08:36):
With Jesus Christ.
That's the only way to get out.

Walter (01:08:38):
But even in the midst of that, like he still keep you
and he still will watch over youto say, hey, you know what?
This isn't something that isgood for you, this is something
that's going to destroy you.
Yeah, I'm going to pull you outof this.

Shanea (01:08:48):
Yeah.

Walter (01:08:58):
That's why, for us, it's so important that you have an
understanding of the importanceof not creating covenants
outside of God and that youallow God to lead you in
everything you do.
And I don't understand why it'ssuch a controversial thing to
say, to say, hey, in everythingyou do, be led by the spirit of
God.
In everything you do, submit itunto God In marriage, submit it

(01:09:19):
unto God Because you are not ina space and we've talked about
this ourselves that when you arecoming from a place, where you

(01:09:39):
have a worldview that is tainted, that you're born into a world
full of sin.
It can be very dangerous becauseyou start making decisions from
your flesh instead of makingdecisions from the spirit, and
when you make fleshly decisions,it birth forth fleshly things,
which is not good.
Like your flesh is wicked, soit birth forth wicked things
right, versus when you makedecisions that is guided by the
spirit of God.
It bring forth blessings.
Right.
It bring forth things that aregood and pure and true and whole

(01:10:05):
.
So why would you not want tomake decisions that birth forth
light and not darkness?
So we are just encouragingeveryone to do that specifically
, not only just in other areasof your life, yet specifically

(01:10:25):
within marriage, specificallywithin marriage.
Specifically within marriage,because our story isn't the only
one, because our story isn'tthe only one.
There's countless stories fromdifferent people who made their
own decisions, and they sufferedfrom making their own decisions
, and they have people that toldthem that that's God's will for
your life.

Shanea (01:10:44):
There's people who are still in these marriages.

Walter (01:10:48):
That they created.

Shanea (01:10:49):
That they created and won't get out.
But now they've made some typeof excuse and used scripture to
justify them suffering inmarriages that God didn't call
them to be with.

Walter (01:11:00):
Yeah, Instead of going to God and saying God help.
Yeah.
God, help me.
I made a decision outside ofyou.
How do I deal with this?
How do I deal with this?
And, once again, this is not anexcuse for you to get out of a
marriage because you all arehaving a disagreement or
anything.
We get out of a marriagebecause you all are having a
disagreement or anything.
This is something which is whywe tell people before you get
married submit this to God,because once you're married, you

(01:11:24):
have to go through a lot tomake sure you are doing what God
has called you to do, becausethere could be cases and I mean
I have a friend who,unfortunately, they got married,
I believe, before they weresupposed to Because, women, it's
important that you don't getwith a man who don't have a
relationship with God.
Not claim to be a Christian,but have a relationship with God

(01:11:46):
.
He cries out to God.
He can hear the voice of God.
He knows God's plan for his lifelike have a relationship, you
will go through hell, even ifit's who God has called you to
be with, because now you have totake on a role that God never
intended for you to take on.

Shanea (01:12:03):
Right, because if God isn't leading his life, then
who's leading his life Exactly?
Who's influencing his thoughts?

Walter (01:12:08):
Exactly, exactly.
And men, why would you get intoa marriage when you don't know
how to love that woman, nothaving a relationship with God?
You don't know how to love her.
So, how are you going to loveher?
The Bible tells us that youcan't.
When you think of 1 Corinthians13,.
The world teaches you that loveis conditional.
God teaches you that it'sunconditional.

(01:12:29):
And, as men, the Bible tells usthat we are to love our wives
as Christ loves the church.
So why would you get into amarriage with your wife when you
don't have a relationship withChrist?
How can you be everything thatGod has called you to be, aside
from God?
How?

Shanea (01:12:48):
can you try and fulfill promises?
Without the other piece of youto help you fulfill that promise
.
That too.
Why would you?
Not want to treasure.
Why would you?
Not want to obtain favor fromthe Lord.

Walter (01:12:59):
Think about this.
There are people out here whodied never fulfilling the things
God wanted them to fulfill.
Yeah.
Because they were tied topeople that God never called for
them to be tied to.

Shanea (01:13:15):
Yeah, they settled with Ishmael's and not Isaac's.

Walter (01:13:21):
My hat goes off to Abraham and Sarah, because at
least they acknowledged it andsaid okay, well, we're going to
do it your way Right, andbirthed forth Isaac.
They wasn't like no, I don'twant that.
You know, we're going to stickwith Ishma.
That you know, we gonna stickwith Ishmael and just whatever
comes along with Ishmael rightthey didn't create any more

(01:13:43):
Ishmaels no, they waited on.
Isaac and God did everything hesaid he was gonna do through
Isaac.

Shanea (01:13:51):
But I think this is a great place to end yeah, and I'm
sorry if I talked over you whenyou were talking earlier.

Walter (01:13:58):
I didn't even notice.
You're fine, so we appreciateyou all for tuning in.
Hopefully this week's episodewas a blessing to you and if you
like this, definitely like,comment, share, subscribe.
All that good stuff.

Shanea (01:14:13):
Yeah, please share your testimonies.
Yeah, in the comments.
Follow us on Instagram, onYouTube.
We have the podcast on ApplePodcasts all those places, all
those places you can listen to.

Walter (01:14:27):
And people, please in your comment section.
I think I feel like Micah rightnow.
What's Micah's last name?

Shanea (01:14:35):
Turnbow.

Walter (01:14:36):
I was thinking that I feel like Micah Turn.
What's Michael's last name?
Turnbull?
I was thinking that I feel likeMichael Turnbull.
Do not be disrespectful in ourcomment section because you will
get blocked.
Yeah.
This is not a space for that,because even if you disagree
with what we're saying, theBible still tells us that we're
to approach our brothers in love.
In love.
And the Bible still tells usthat we are to operate within
the fruit of the spirit,Galatians 5.

(01:14:56):
And it tells us that there'stwo different ways that you can
operate.
You can operate out of yourflesh or you can operate out of
your spirit.
So if you're going to operateout of your flesh and be
outright disrespectful to us oranyone in our comment section or
any of the people that'sfollowing us, let me explain
this to you.
My energy to block is on athousand to you.

Shanea (01:15:17):
My energy to block is on a thousand.
Yeah, we will not toleratepeople harassing other people in
the comments because of theirtestimonies and their their
experiences with god, exactlyyou can't tell people they
haven't experienced god exactly,so please don't get blocked no
do not get blocked, berespectful.

Walter (01:15:33):
Be respectful because it is as simple as if you don't
like it, you don't have to likeit and you don't, I don't.
I don't know what social mediahas done to people to make
people feel as if they have tocomment on every single thing.
And it is so dangerous when youdon't understand something and
you automatically dismiss it andsay it's not God Right, because
you may be coming directly upagainst the hand of God which is

(01:15:57):
a very dangerous place,especially when you don't have
really anything to back it up.

Shanea (01:16:00):
You're just going off your feelings.

Walter (01:16:02):
Exactly so.
Please stop it.
We're not here for that.
Everything that we're doing isout of love.
This word that God has given tous is something that we've sat
on for some time.
Yeah.

Shanea (01:16:12):
This podcast is spirit led, for sure.
We don't just come up with thisstuff out of our heads.
We don't just look atscriptures and say, hey, you
know what we're going to talkabout this today.
No no, we're literally directed.

Walter (01:16:23):
If he don't say nothing, we ain't going to record.
It's as simple as that.

Shanea (01:16:26):
Yeah, If God does it, says I about this week.

Walter (01:16:32):
Exactly so.
I'm saying that out of love andwe're not against people
disagreeing.
That's just the reality of whatit is.
We also know this isn't foreverybody, and that's absolutely
fine.
We are here to encourage peopleto follow hard after Christ,
not follow us as we followChrist.

(01:16:54):
Follow Christ as we followChrist.
Right.
That's what it's all about.
So once again, we will see younext week.
We pray this has been ablessing to you.
Yes, and thank you forlistening.
Thank you All right Bye.