Abundant Life TV – Brain Training part 5
Thinking is a condition that affects at least 2 out of every 3 people! In Brain Training part five discover whether your thoughts working for you or against you. Join Ashley and Carlie Terradez as they explore what the Bible says in Isaiah 26:3 and Proverbs 4:21. You can train your brain and change a negative pattern of thinking!
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In Brain Training part 5 the key scripture of study is Isaiah 26:3 and Proverbs 4:21.
Transcription
Carlie: Did you know that rigid thinking can actually cause us to fall into a pattern of unbelief? There’s an answer to that, so stay tuned and find out what it is.
Announcer: Why live a normal life when you could be living the Abundant Life? Welcome to the Abundant Life Program with Ashley and Carlie Terradez.
Ashley: Hello, and welcome to Abundant Life. We’re so glad you’ve joined us today in the lounge. Praise God. We’re excited. We’re talking about a subject today that affects you. That’s right. It affects everyone, really, doesn’t it Carlie?
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: Thinking, the way we think, we can’t help but think. Now you accuse me sometimes of thinking-
Carlie: Sometimes we should probably think simple.
Ashley: Sometimes Carlie says, “You weren’t thinking, was you?” I say, “I wasn’t thinking.”
Carlie: Did you think before it came out your mouth?
Ashley: I wasn’t thinking, but all joking apart, we always think. Our minds are always thinking.
Carlie: Constantly working.
Ashley: Minds are amazing. They really are. They’re amazing. They’re better than the best computers you could get. They always… something’s going on.
Carlie: The wheels are always turning.
Ashley: Wheels are turning. Sometimes no one’s home.
Carlie: Sometimes no one’s home.
Ashley: Sometimes no one’s home but the wheels are turning. Anyway, mine’s amazing. Really one of the greatest things we can do in our walk of faith is to renew our minds or at least to actually train our mind. See, when you got born again, your spirit changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Everything became new in your spirit, but your soul is a part that needs renewing, and your soul is made up of your mind, will, and emotion. What we’ve been looking at is renewing our minds, right? We’re looking at training our brain.
Carlie: Training our brain. I was reading this morning and there’s a scripture here in Hebrews I want to share with you. The children of Israel, they wandered around in the wilderness for many more years than they needed to, because their thinking and their disobedience actually kept them out of the promises of God.
Ashley: Was it a 10 day journey?
Carlie: It should not have taken 40 years. Fact.
Ashley: I heard one theologian say it was a 10 day journey.
Carlie: Oh my goodness.
Ashley: It took them 40 years.
Carlie: That’s quite a course correction.
Ashley: We’ve taken 24 hours to do two hours sometimes, if there’s a snowstorm or something. But 40 years, and it should have been 10 days, that’s quite an excursion.
Carlie: That’s quite a lot of-
Ashley: Delay. Why was it so delayed?
Carlie: Let’s look at this. This is in the Hebrews 4:11. It says, “Let us labor therefore to enter that rest, lest anyone fall by the same pattern of unbelief.” You see our thinking, if it’s not base… If our thought life is not in tune with the word of God, we can easily find ourselves in a pattern of wrong thinking. We’ve talked about this before in 2 Corinthians 10, where it talks about having strongholds. Strongholds are just patterns of wrong thinking that have become established in our heart. The danger, that unchecked, is that pattern of wrong thinking will actually create unbelief in our hearts. Belief is basically faith in the reverse.
Ashley: We keep thinking on the wrong things, keep meditating the wrong things. That produces unbelief.
Carlie: Yep.
Ashley: Then that’s how we see everything [crosstalk]. It’s almost becomes a filter. The way you think can often be a filter and whatever you see, you see it as… you’ve heard the old at analogy, the positive people, they see the glass half full. For the same glass, they see it half full. When they’re negative people, they see it half empty. I tell people, I like to see my glass overflowing, thank you very much.
Carlie: Oh, you’re so smooth.
Ashley: It’s the same glass, same amount of water. It’s different ways of seeing things. We’re not talking about positive thinking and all that. That’s mind over matter. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about if you keep thinking a certain way, then what happens is it’s almost like you’re training yourself. It’s like putting a command in a computer.
Carlie: Anything that you do repetitively becomes ingrained in you, doesn’t it?
Ashley: Becomes like a pattern. We used to live on a farm in England and there was these unmade roads that had ruts. One of the things with them is you can drive, we had a Land Rover Defender, and you could drive it on them and you could turn the steering wheel.
Carlie: It was a bit like tank.
Ashley: They’d be like tanks, but you could turn the steering wheel in these rutted farm roads. You could turn the steering wheel and nothing would happen. It’s almost like being on train tracks. You just kept going down there. Why? Because hundreds and hundreds of times that road had been driven on and the ruts of the tires had gone into that mud. It was just a bad road. Now it was hard work to get out of it. You’d really have to make an effort, to actually do something drastic, to get out of that rut.
I didn’t do this, because I’m not a dangerous driver, viewers, but I could have just let my hands off the steering wheel and that Land Rover would have followed that trail without me having to, because it was so used to going that way. That’s our way of thinking. A stronghold really is a way of thinking over and over and over again, to the point where it just becomes natural to you. To think in a different way, it’s going to take an effort. You’re going to have to actually make it, what’s the word, a concerted effort?
Carlie: Yeah, you have to make a change.
Ashley: You have to make a change. You have to be proactive and actually make an effort to change the way you think. Otherwise, if you just carry on in automatic, you’re going to end up going down that same rutted road.
Carlie: I think that’s the definition of insanity, isn’t it? To do the same thing over and over and over again, but expect different results.
Ashley: It is, right. One of the definitions, to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Keep repeating yourself.
Carlie: We don’t want to be insane.
Ashley: I could say I keep repeating myself.
Carlie: We want to change our thinking.
Ashley: I could say I keep repeating myself.
Carlie: Or something like that. I don’t know.
Ashley: No, that one is my wife says I don’t listen to her properly or something like that.
Carlie: Oh my goodness.
Ashley: [crosstalk] listening. If you keep repeating the same behavior-
Carlie: Actually, this is seamless, because I’ve got a script here that I want to read. It starts with, “Listen carefully.”
Ashley: Listen carefully.
Carlie: Yes.
Ashley: What did you say? Pardon. Pardon.
Carlie: This is in Proverbs 4. It says, “Listen carefully, my dear child, to everything that I teach you, and pay attention to all that I say. Fill your thoughts with my words until they penetrate deep into your spirit.” This is one way that we can change our pattern of wrong thinking, is to allow the word of God to penetrate right on the inside of us, to meditate. We’ve talked about this before, haven’t we? To meditate in it. Not just to read the word of God, but to meditate in something. It doesn’t mean to sit in a Lotus Position. [Om].
Ashley: Do that again.
Carlie: Om.
Ashley: One more time.
Carlie: No. It actually means to speak it, study it, utter it, or roar it like a lion, to really let the word of God get on the inside of us.
Ashley: Roll the word of God around, around our minds.
Carlie: Over and over.
Ashley: Think about that, proclaim it, things like that. That’s how we meditate on the word of God.
Carlie: Absolutely. I’m continuing here in Proverbs 4. It says, “Then, as you unwrap my words…” I like the way that you can really visualize that [crosstalk]. We unwrap the word of God. “They will impart true life and radiant health to the very core of your being. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are.” Everything we are springs from our heart. “Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.” I’m a big believer that we don’t really have financial problems. We don’t really have health problems. What we have, or whatever problem you want to insert in there, what we have is a relationship problem.
Ashley: You’re going to have to explain that.
Carlie: Let me explain this a little bit here. In the Scriptures, it says that everything that we need, everything that pertains to life and godliness, comes through relationship, comes through the knowledge of God. If relationship with God itself is our very life force, if we’re lacking something, it’s because we have a dysfunction in that relationship somewhere.
Ashley: 2 Peter 1:3 is, “His divine power has given to us all things…” That’s all things. All things.
Carlie: Not some things, some of the time. Everything we’re ever going to need.
Ashley: “All things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and virtue.” Our knowledge, we have a knowledge problem.
Carlie: Our understanding.
Ashley: We have an understanding problem.
Carlie: That word knowledge, it’s talking about an intimate relationship.
Ashley: That’s right.
Carlie: Intimate relationship.
Ashley: If we really knew who Jesus was, and we really knew who we were in Christ, then really all our other problems would fade away is what you’re saying.
Carlie: Exactly. Let me carry on back in. I’m going to finish this. He says then, we’re still in Proverbs 4 here. It says, “Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.” It says, “Avoid dishonest speech and pretentious words. Be free from using perverse words no matter what.” Watch where you’re going. “Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions.” This really means to have our eyes completely focused on God, completely focused in the word of God, and let it penetrate us deep on the inside. This isn’t just a casual flicking through 10 minutes a day with Jesus. This is talking about being really intentional. If we want to change our rigid thinking, which leads to a pattern of unbelief and actually holds us outside of receiving everything God has for us, we got to make a change.
It says, “With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions. Watch where you’re going! Stick to the path of truth, and the road will be safe and smooth before you. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked for even for a moment or take a detour that leads to darkness.” The reason I wanted to bring that up is because the children of Israel that we read in Hebrews, they were kept out of the promised land. God had set aside for them a whole land that was flowing with milk and honey that was going to be for them and their children, their generations and generations to come forever. He had brought them out, miraculously brought them out, delivered them through the plagues of Egypt, delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh. They’d crossed the Red Sea. They’d seen all these amazing things. I think you may have touched on this in one of our previous shows. They had been delivered from slavery, but they still had slavery in their mind.
Ashley: They still had mentality. They still saw themselves as slaves.
Carlie: They saw themselves as slaves. Even though their physical situation had changed, their mindset, their pattern of thinking hadn’t changed. It held them outside of the promises of God. That’s what it says in Hebrews. We need to labor. We need to fight to enter the rest. The rest that is peace in our soul, peace in our heart, peace in our thinking. It’s a fight to do that. Otherwise, if we don’t make that fight, if we don’t put in that effort, and it isn’t effort, isn’t it, to keep your mindset on God, then it says we’re going to fall by the same pattern of unbelief that they did.
Ashley: Wow. It’s some practical things. I wonder if there’s some practical things that we can do. I’m just thinking to myself, for myself, there is some practical things I can do. Like Jesus said, be careful how you hear. Also, I believe it’s Proverbs that talks about I set nothing evil before my eyes. There’s some practical things we can do every day. Whenever we tell people do these things, in the back of mind I think, they’re saying, “Well, actually God’s provided it all and it’s already done.” Yes, God’s provided it all. It’s all there for you, but it’s there for you to take. If you’re not doing some of these things, you’re not going to be able to receive these good things that God’s given us. You’re not making God do anything. You’re not changing anything there. What you’re doing is you’re, you’re building your capacity to receive from the Lord.
Carlie: I like that, yeah. Building capacity. It’s good.
Ashley: Building your capacity to receive from the Lord. Some practical things you can do, some of the things I’ve done. Don’t make a doctrine out of this, but I’m just telling you there’s some things. When I get in the car, I’m not just going to put the radio on and listen to anything. Sometimes-
Carlie: You’re going to use that time for something good.
Ashley: I’m going to use that time [inaudible]. Let me tell you something. We’re going to hear some mooing of some sacred cows here. You could put the radio station on your car on a Christian radio station and unbelief can come out. Anti-Christ-
Carlie: Some of the words.
Ashley: There is anti-Christ songs on the Christian radio station.
Carlie: There is. There is.
Ashley: I’m not hating on anyone.
Carlie: Sometimes the secular songs-
Ashley: Are better. They’re safer.
Carlie: Are better, because at least you know that they’re not mixed up.
Ashley: Give me a secular love song over some of these Christian song. Some of these songs say, “What if the rain drops are blessings in disguise? What if all this is just for your good, for my good, and everything else, and the suffering.” I can’t do it. Work with me. Listen, I’m telling you be careful how you hear. There’s some so-called worship songs out there. There’s some so-called songs out there that meant to be Christian and they’re not teaching the gospel. Get some good gospel music going that’s actually teaching the gospel. That’s number one. Listen to the lyrics. Don’t listen to a song. It’s a catchy tune though, actually.
Carlie: It’s just like I heard-
Ashley: We sing it at church. It’s a catchy tune. Now, if the song is not biblical in the lyrics, and anything that says that God is causing your suffering, that God is your problem, that you have no power, that you’re just a sinner, God gives and takes away, I need more of you, Lord, whatever it is. Any song that’s not lining up with scripture, kick it out. Don’t listen to it. Don’t let that junk in.
Carlie: Delete.
Ashley: Delete. Then it goes on. Don’t sit in front of a television and just watch television, because the commercials, whatever, they’re spewing unbelief. They’re spewing things. We need to make some decisions are just practical decisions. On your cell phone, most people have cell phones. You have a cell phone. Now for me personally, I could go on a cell phone and I could get lost in YouTube or Facebook for hours.
Carlie: You could.
Ashley: You could. I have done. Before long, I’m looking at cats on trampolines. I’m looking at-
Carlie: Falling off the television. Cats sliding down wherever.
Ashley: My kids say I’m a clickbait sucker. This plane’s got fire on its wings. I’m going to click that video.
Carlie: Oh my goodness.
Ashley: You can just waste time like that. Don’t do that. Spend that time fixing your eyes on the Lord. Something I’ve done is when I pick up my cell phone and I’ve got 10 minutes spare, maybe I’m in line somewhere, maybe I’m waiting for something. I’ll look at a Proverb. I’ll say, “Okay, today’s the whatever it is, the 16th of the month. I’ll look at Proverbs 16 and read that.” You can do some practical things like this that’s going to help you keep your mind stayed on the Lord. We used to write Post-it Notes. I heard that Post-it Notes are actually designed… We’re going to have to fact check this. Mythbust it.
Carlie: I know. They’re going to Snopes you.
Ashley: Snope you, whatever it is. I heard that Post-it Notes were actually made by a Christian man who wanted to stick Bible verses places.
Carlie: That’s what we used them for.
Ashley: He got little bits of a paper and put a line of glue on them and then stuck them places. That’s how he invented Post-it Notes.
Carlie: That’s awesome.
Ashley: But it was him or not, that’s not the issue. The issue is we write Post-it Notes out and stick them places sometimes.
Carlie: Yeah, get the Word before your eyes.
Ashley: Get the Word before your eyes. I like this. Write it on your tablet of your heart. I’ve got tablet. We can have the word of God surrounding us now. It’s so good. I listen to audio books. I listen to the Bible audibly. I do things like that to keep my mind stayed on the Lord because me and just my soul realm and just my flesh are going to wander. We’re going to wander.
Carlie: Actually, we have a podcast now, don’t we?
Ashley: We do have podcasts. Great plug.
Carlie: No, just-
Ashley: Check out our podcast channel.
Carlie: Popped into my mind.
Ashley: Check out our podcast channel at terradez.com. We have a podcast. You can listen to podcasts. Put that on the radio.
Carlie: That’s really helpful when you’re traveling, maybe on an airplane or something.
Ashley: Podcasts. I listen to teachers when I’m traveling and stuff. I have my headphones on. I listen to teachers and things like that. I listen to things in the car. All the times when I’m working out, the once a month, when I decide to work out, I’ll listen to [crosstalk].
Carlie: I think a lot about running on the treadmill.
Ashley: You think about. If only you could lose calories by thinking about it.
Carlie: Doesn’t that count? Doesn’t that count? I have a pattern of thinking about exercise.
Ashley: Come on. Whatever your daily routine is, you can get the word of God in there. They say, “Ashley, you don’t understand. I’m so busy.” I know you are, but let me ask you this. Are you so busy to forget to shower every day?
Carlie: No.
Ashley: Maybe we shouldn’t answer that question.
Carlie: Ew.
Ashley: No, we do, right?
Carlie: Don’t write us and tell us that.
Ashley: It doesn’t matter how busy we are. We do things like shower every day. We take that habit, shower every day.
Carlie: We eat every day.
Ashley: We eat three times a day. I don’t care how busy you are. You can find time to read the Word. I’m not saying substitute showers for reading the Word. Don’t hear me now.
Carlie: You know what? You could have a waterproof Bible.
Ashley: You can. You can get waterproof Bibles. You’ve got one. I’m saying priorities. If you make the Word of God a priority, you will find time for it.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: You can find time to set your eyes on the Word of God. It doesn’t have to be hours a day. We’re talking a few minutes. You can insert things in there and insert it in your daily routine. Change some habits is what we’re saying. No one likes to change. No one likes change. I heard how many church elders does it take to change a light bulb. Change? You want to change the light bulb? What’s wrong with the existing light bulb? People don’t like to change.
Carlie: The dad jokes are coming out now.
Ashley: Naturally, as a human, you just don’t like change. I’m challenging you today. Make some changes. Be proactive in making some change in your lifestyle. It’s going to enhance your relationship with God. I’m top of preaching to the choir a little bit because you, by watching this program right now, are proving to me that you’re already serious about the Word of God. You’re already serious. You’re not watching it for my face.
Carlie: True.
Ashley: You know what I’m saying? I’ve got a great face for podcasts. You’re not watching it just for the glitz and glam. You’re watching it because you’ve put a demand on your relationship with God. You value your relationship with God. I commend you for that. I want to encourage you. You can go on with this. You can change your habits daily and actually put the word of God first place in your life. Amen. It’s one of the best things we can do, renew our mind to the word of God.
Carlie: Absolutely.
Ashley: It comes through quantity and quality time with the word and with Jesus.
Carlie: We’re talking here about making a change in a pattern of thinking so that we can try actually train our brain to walk in, and put faith in, and experience, and see manifest in our physical everyday life all of the promises of God. Oftentimes, we limit God with our rigid thinking. He says in the Scriptures that they limited the Holy One of Israel. We can actually limit God.
Ashley: Wow.
Carlie: Isn’t that crazy to think? God is the creator of the universe. He’s God almighty. Yet, we ourselves in our humanness, in our rigid thinking and refusal to change our minds or renew our minds, can actually limit how much good things God can get to us. What about you, Ash? I want everything God has for me.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: I don’t want to miss out on anything.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: I want to experience every good and perfect promise that he has for me.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: If that means that I have to my thinking in order to receive something, then I’m going to do it.
Ashley: Amen. That’s really good. The good thing is we can change our thinking.
Carlie: We can change us.
Ashley: You can change it. God’s given you the power to change your thinking. God’s given you the power to do this, praise God. That’s why Jesus said things like, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Do not be afraid.” Jesus told us these things. That’s because he’s given us the power to do these things.We can do these things we choose, but you’re so right. We can limit God. When we say you can limit God, God’s almighty. Yes, God is almighty. God is all powerful. He is so powerful, so mighty, he actually chose to give authority of the earth to mankind. He’s given us authority over ourselves. He’s given us free will. Therefore, he’s not going to force anything on us. We can choose how much, if you like, we walk in the promise of God. We can choose that.
Carlie: There’s a verse in Amos. I think you had it on your iPad.
Ashley: Amos 3:3.
Carlie: Yeah, do you want to read that for us?
Ashley: Amos 3:3 says it this way. It says, “How can two walk together unless they agree?”
Carlie: I think we need to agree with the word of God.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: We need to agree. Actually, back in Hebrews here, just a little bit further up in Hebrews 4. This is Hebrews 4:2. It says, “For the gospel was preached to us as well as to them. But the word preached did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it.”
Ashley: Oh, wow. So they had the same gospel preached to them.
Carlie: Same message.
Ashley: But the word which they heard did not profit them. They didn’t get to take advantage of it. They didn’t see the results.
Carlie: They didn’t get the benefit of it.
Ashley: They didn’t see the manifestation, the natural life, if you like. Once around JC, they didn’t prevail or they didn’t benefit. I like that translation. The word that they heard did not benefit them. We can hear the same word, but it doesn’t benefit us in our everyday life because we’re not actually mixing them in faith.
Carlie: The faith is a trusting confidence, is to be fully persuaded the world God said is true. This is why you can have two people sitting, listening to the same sermon or one person will have their life completely changed, and the other person will have no response.
Ashley: Fell asleep.
Carlie: Fall asleep thinking about lunch or whatever.
Ashley: Fell asleep.
Carlie: That’s because to hear the word of God, to hear the gospel, to hear the truth, to be in a position to hear the truth with our ears open, but also to do something with it-
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: To actually put trust and confidence in it, to take it and apply it to our life. I had a situation recently where a circumstance came about that I could’ve gotten really discouraged. We were actually on a ministry trip when we were going to Australia.
Ashley: Is this the suitcase?
Carlie: This is my suitcase story.
Ashley: Oh, this suitcase, this is crazy.
Carlie: This was crazy. The word of God is so practical, but we need to actually apply it. It’s not going to come to pass automatically in our life. We need to apply the word of God. I’m on the way out to Australia and there was a whole mix up with visas and luggage and everything else. It ended up that me and our two boys made it to Australia before Ashley and Hannah did. I had Ashley’s suitcase and he had my suitcase.
Ashley: It was very practical.
Carlie: Which is wonderful because Ashley’s in Los Angeles and now I’m in Brisbane.
Ashley: Brisbane, Australia, with my clothes.
Carlie: I’m not going to wear his clothes and he’s not going to, well, hopefully he’s not going to wear my clothes. Anyway, moving on. It took a long time before the suitcase arrived. This same suitcase, on the way back… I don’t know what happened to this suitcase.
Ashley: The devil was trying to take your suitcase.
Carlie: Trying to steal my suitcase. When we came back to Denver, my suitcase had gone missing. It just didn’t come. The same suitcase that I missed for a week got lost again, on the way back again.
Ashley: You’re waiting at the carousel and you’re waiting and waiting.
Carlie: It never came out.
Ashley: We got my suitcase, the kids’ suitcase.
Carlie: It was a bad deal. You know what? I remembered the story of King David when he fought the battle at Ziklag. This is in the Old Testament. God said to him, “You’re going to go back and fight this army and you will recover all. You will recover everything that’s been stolen from you.”
Ashley: You’re comparing-
Carlie: My suitcase.
Ashley: You’re comparing you losing a suitcase to David having his whole village burned down.
Carlie: To him losing his wives and his children.
Ashley: His wives and his children taken away.
Carlie: Yes. Anyway, it was important to-
Ashley: Just making sure you’re making a comparison.
Carlie: Listen, all the ladies can understand what I was going through.
Ashley: It’s a big deal to lose your suitcase.
Carlie: It was a big deal, alright?
Ashley: Your makeup, clothes, shoes, everything in that suitcase.
Carlie: Everything. I’m like, “Hang on a minute. God said to David, he is going to recover all.” And I said, “You know what? I’m going to recover all and nothing’s going to be missing and nothing’s going to be broken.” I’m just like, “I’m going to use the word of God. I’m going to bless God. I’m going to apply the word of God to my suitcase.”
Ashley: You want that suitcase back.
Carlie: That suitcase was coming back to me.
Ashley: We talked to the airline, and they said, in the airport, they said, “Oh, no problem. It’s probably on another flight or whatever. We’ll let you know.” We went home and they said, “We’ll let you know.”
Carlie: We filed one of those lost bag claim things.
Ashley: Lost bag reports. Carlie’s staying on the Word. Now I’m going to get my bag back and I’m going to recover all.
Carlie: I phoned up the airline the next day, because it’d been 24 hours or so and heard nothing. They still didn’t know where it was. The person on the phone’s like, “Well, you just need to file an insurance claim.” I’m like, “No, I don’t want to file an insurance claim. That suitcase, God has spoken to me. That suitcase is coming back to me, and it’s coming back to me, nothing missing, nothing broken. Will you agree with me?” There was kind of silence on the end of the phone. I’m like, “No, listen.”
Ashley: You asked the airline operator.
Carlie: I don’t know if they believed me or not.
Ashley: I need someone to agree with me.
Carlie: Listen, I’m looking for someone to agree with me. Will you say amen? They’re like, “Um, amen?” I’m like, “Perfect. That’s it. Prayer of agreement. I’m taking it.” I put the phone down.
Ashley: Then I got a phone call-
Carlie: Two hours later.
Ashley: Two hours later, my cell phone, I answer it. He says, “Is that Ashley?” I was like, “Who’s calling?”
Carlie: It depends.
Ashley: I was like, “Yes, it is.” He said, “Well, I’m looking at a black suitcase.” He described Carlie’s suitcase. I was like, “Brilliant. That’s Carlie’s suitcase.” I’m expecting it’s the airline or someone. And he said, “Yeah, I’m on a cycle path here.” He said about an hour away from Denver airport or half an hour away from Denver airport on a cycle path, and this black suitcase is in a bush, dumped in bush.
Carlie: Nowhere near a road.
Ashley: Nowhere near. Dumped in a bush off a cycle path. I was like, You’re kidding me.” He said, “Yeah, I’m riding my bike and I saw it.” He pulled the card out. I put my card in the suitcase.
Carlie: The business card.
Ashley: Which I don’t usually do, but I did that this time. I put my card and my cell phone number on. He said, “You need to come and get it before someone takes it.” I said, “Well, I’m in Colorado Springs. I’m like an hour and a half away.” He said, “I tell you what.” He said, “I’ll cycle home, get my car.”
Carlie: Drive back to the trail.
Ashley: “Pick up this suitcase for you and take it back to my house.” I found out that he actually worked for the same airline, used to work for the same airline. He was in baggage claim for that same airline. He’s actually did that for decades. He was retired now. That’s why he was so keen to get us that bag back.
Carlie: When he went back to the airport with my bag, the lady, the baggage office and him, that was his whole story. Everyone knew what was going on.
Ashley: He was retired. He used to work there. Anyway, he got the bag back to the airport. At this point, I’ve heard the phone call. Dumped in the bushes.
Carlie: It’s been there for a couple of nights by now.
Ashley: Carlie stuff’s been stolen. Who knows what we’re going to find back there. We get this suitcase, open it up. Not only was there nothing missing, I’m saying nothing was stolen or anything. Even your clothes were folded correctly.
Carlie: It hadn’t even been opened. They were folded. Nothing missing, nothing broken.
Ashley: We still don’t know how it happened. Some say it could have fell from the plane as it was flying over.
Carlie: It had been on an adventure, but what I can tell you-
Ashley: I think someone stole it and it was a failed attempt and threw it out the window or something.
Carlie: They probably unzipped it, realized my clothes wouldn’t fit them or something. I don’t know.
Ashley: Whatever happened, this suitcase-
Carlie: It came back to me, nothing missing, nothing broken.
Ashley: You got your clothes back.
Carlie: Amen. The point of this is the Word will work for you. We need to take the word of God and when faced with challenging situations, rather than speak out all of the negativity and all the possible outcomes, let’s start applying the word of God to our situations and seeing them turn around.
Ashley: Amen, cause your thoughts could have been, “Oh, that’s it, I’ve lost my bag.”
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: But you chose to change your thinking.
Carlie: Change your thinking.
Ashley: And actually believe the Word that you’d get it back.
Carlie: Get a different result.
Ashley: The good thing is the Word of God will work in little things and big things [crosstalk].
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: You can apply the Word in any area of your life, big or small place.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: Isn’t God good?
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: I’m going to pray for some people. Father God, I thank you for everyone watching and listening today. I thank you, Lord, that the Word works. I’m thankful we can change our thinking. I’m thankful we can line our thinking up with your Word. I’m thankful, just like Amos says, we can walk in agreement with you, praise God, and see your results in our life. Right now I pray for everyone watching and listening to this program. I pray, Lord, that they will start trusting your word and changing their thoughts to line up with your word. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Carlie: Amen. Thank you Jesus. You are a good God.
Ashley: Amen. God is so good. Praise God. And we’re going to be back real soon with another program of Abundant Life. Until next time, remember, don’t just settle for living a normal life because you could be living the Abundant Life. See you next time
Announcer: To order your copy of this teaching, visit our website, terradez.com or call us at (719) 600-3344.
Ashley: Hey, in today’s episode, we’ve been talking about how we can change our thinking and line it up to the Word of God and we can apply the Word to any situation, praise God, and see God results. I want to encourage you. If you want to line your thinking up to God’s word, get this confession card. We’re offering it free of charge on our website. The instructions are on your screen. These are Scriptures you can live by. If you read these Scriptures out and believe these Scriptures, it will change your thought patterns. It will change the way you think about yourself and the way you think about other situations, praise God. This will help you. This confession card is free on our website. Go ahead and get your copy today.
Announcer: To receive your free copy of Carlie’s confession card, as our gift to you, go to terradez.com today.
Speaker 4: Ashley and Carlie, I think they’re amazing. I think they have a great ministry. I think they’re inspired. I think God’s really working in their life.
Announcer: Through the many outreaches of Terradez Ministries, people are being saved, healed, baptized in the Holy Spirit and are receiving financial miracles.
Speaker 5: Oh, it’s wonderful. We’re supporters. We started supporting them last year. Since we’ve done that, we have been so blessed. Our house is paid off, our cars are paid off. We are debt-free.
Announcer: Through the support of our partners, Terradez Ministries is able to share the gospel around the world, ministering in churches, conferences and Bible colleges, produce uplifting and life-changing television programs, develop meaningful connections with people through our social media ministry and internet outreaches, create and distribute teaching resources, hold free conferences and events, provide support for pastors, ministers, and missionaries. Join Ashley and Carlie in spreading the good news of abundance and freedom. Become a partner today.