This is probably going to be the most chaotic podcast episode that you've ever listened to. Welcome back everyone. Wow. Today is July 20th. It's currently exactly 8:00 PM Easting as I record and I honestly cannot remember the last time that I sat down to record. Okay. Maybe that's a lie. I think the last time was in May. Was it May? No, it was June. Yes, it was June, I think. Juneteenth actually a couple of days before we officially launched the podcast. So the last time I sat down to record was a couple of days before, the first episode came out. And that was episode four, which if you have not listened to, I highly encourage you to go back to listen but wow. Hi. I keep saying wow, because it's, it's been a minute. And if you've listened to the last few episodes, then you've probably heard me say that the plan was to pre-record these podcast episodes just because life gets very busy very quickly and I wanted to make sure that I was gonna stay as consistent as possible. And so here we are and I'm recording on episode about seven hours before it is set to be published. So how did I get here? Well, chaos. Life lately has been very chaotic on my end. The rest of the month of June. I mean, the podcast launched and let me just take a moment to say thank you to you guys because wow, what an interesting journey it has been. Thank you all for the feedback. Thank you. Just for the love, really. I recently got an email, well, recent is two days ago, I believe, and I'm just trying to grab my phone and find it. Yes. Oh, yesterday actually is when I received this email from Apple Podcast. And in Ghana, we are currently number three in the self-improvement category, number seven in the education category, and number 87 in the category all podcasts in Ghana. And I don't know how many podcasts there are in Ghana, and I don't even want to know. That is not my focus, but just the fact that we could be number three somewhere and be number 87 somewhere shows me that what I'm actually saying is hopefully making some sense. And you are not just listening just because you love me, because many people love me and I've shared the podcast with them, but they haven't bothered to listen. And you know, no offense taking, but to know that the rest of you who are probably listening to me right now have taken the time each week to dedicate however many minutes long that that episode is to just making sure that you're attuning in and giving me that support for my father, and going to the extent of coming back into my dms and giving me good feedback. Telling me what you picked from it. And even through that, with us going back and forth in conversation, I end up picking something myself and I end up coming back to the episode and the Lord even speaks to me through what I have said to you guys, that week. So I just wanna say thank you for listening. I pray that even as we go on this journey that we are not quite sure of what the end goal is that that you would pick something from this place, that you would find something, and I hope that there's something that you find here is God, I hope that you encounter God in some way, in some form, in some shape, and I hope that the Lord continues to keep me grounded so that I can continue to deliver on that, which he's text me with. So with that being said, the last few weeks have been very, very crazy. Post podcast launch work got very, very crazy. If you know anyone who works in audit, then you probably can't understand how stressed I have been in the last few weeks. We had an audit that was supposed to end. June 30th, and as I speak, we are still on it. as you can imagine, there is a lot of pressure in trying to finish up everything before our absolute, absolute deadline that we just got an extension for next week. there's been a couple of late nights here and there. Yesterday I was working until around 11:00 PM I did catch like a two. I think almost a two hour nap in between, I think it was a one hour nap and then I woke up to eat. But anyways, I, I did get to rest a bit in between, but we are the finish line, so everyone's putting there all in to just get us across the finish line. I finally saw my niece for the first time. It was a joy to be around her for a whole week. Seeing family that I had not seen in the last four years and just being able to embrace these people, share a few laughs with them, take pictures, and really take the time to relax. I'm glad I got to have that time. But after that, coming back to work, it's been one thing after the other. I haven't even had time to catch up on my python. Studies, and if you are not familiar with what Python is, Python is a programming language, that I've been trying to get the hang of a bit more this summer before the fourth semester starts because I do plan to take some more data science related courses, as I pursue my graduate degree. So I actually have not had time to catch up on that, just because everything has just been so crazy, so chaotic, and. Every little chance I get, I just wanna sleep cuz I'm tired. So not much preparation was done for this episode. To be frank. I did want to talk about choices and free will. I was watching a movie I think it was two weeks ago, if I'm not mistaken. And the Holy Spirit was just teaching me something through that. But I did want to talk to a friend of mine who I really respect and honor. He is such an excellent teacher of the word. I don't wanna pick his brain on free will, but we haven't had the chance to touch base. cause again, everyone's life is so, so busy. So I didn't wanna jump the gun and talk about that until I had done some full. Or at least some adequate studying on the topic beyond what the Lord spoke to me about in those few minutes while I was watching that movie. So stay tuned. That's probably going to be one of the upcoming episodes. at church is a month of the Holy Spirit, and coincidentally also happens to be the month of the Holy Spirit. This little prayer group that I have with some of my friends. And so we've been focused this month on learning a lot about the Holy Spirit, and through that I wanted to do a podcast episode on. The glorification of Jesus Christ and how the Holy Spirit seems to always want to take the backstage and just point everything to Jesus. But like I said, I haven't had much time to prepare cuz work has been so very busy and I did not think that I would be presenting my best self or the best of what the Lord has thought me in that area to you guys if I just rushed you. so I just thought this episode would be more of a catch up. and I mean, it's episode five, so I think it's a good place for us to reconcile and evaluate how things have been going, how far we've come, and kind of draw the picture of what, where we are planning to head to. But anyways, that's a little bit on upcoming episodes, and so this episode has no outline, no nothing, and I'm literally just speaking whatever is coming into my mind, I'm targeting that is gonna be probably a 15 to 20 minutes. Session just because I'm really tired as I speak right now. I'm half asleep and I just wanna be done and edit this quickly, get it, scheduled for publishing. And so do forgive me if you detect a few editing mishaps. I'm still learning and I do of course appreciate the feedback. So share with me whatever you think I need to improve on. and once again, apologies, this is gonna be all over the place, okay? Because I'm having a hard time finding my bearings in this particular moment. but let's talk about chaos a little bit. said earlier, life lately has been very chaotic for me. And I wanted to talk just a little bit, on that. and I think the few things that I've shared already has kind of maybe painted. Some picture of how chaotic it has been for me, and I did wanna mention, I know in the last few episodes we've emphasized a lot on talking to God, making sure that we are spending time in the word, making sure that we are meditating on the word. And, you know, prayer involve, God, talk to the Holy Spirit, this and this and that. Right? But it's been very hard to do over the last few weeks, and I have to be very honest with you guys, it's been, wow. It's, it's just been, it's sort of like, you know, you have to do something, but. In the moments that you want to do it, you are not able to do it. And so when you get another chance to be able to do that, because it does not feel like the right moment for you to be doing that thing you decide to just not do it. I hope that makes sense. So it's basically what I just said. It's, let's say you plan to do your Bible studying every day at 5:00 AM but today at 5:00 AM you cannot do it because maybe, I don't know if you work in auditing like me, maybe you were called working late. Okay. or something. Something happened, you weren't able to make that 5:00 AM but then at 7:00 PM you do have an hour to spare before bed But then because it's not the 5:00 AM you kind of feel like you've betrayed God by. By not having been there at 5:00 AM until you just completely skip the 7:00 And then before you know it, day one, day two, day three, day four comes. And then the guilt just keeps you very far from God. And then life gets very busy. And sometimes you don't even realize that so many days have gone without you studying the word. And that's, and I think that social media also does not help us because if you're someone like me, Instagram, probably Twitter. All these apps, their algorithms have probably worked their way around what kind of content you are liking, what kind of content you are most interacting with, and so you explore pages, your homepages are probably all filled with Christian related content. And so in that sense, when you find yourself aimlessly scrolling, you come across a few sermon, post a few prophet is Leslie, this and this and that. And so you're hearing the world here and there, here and there and it fools you and into feeling like you've consumed a bit of God that day. sometimes you can come across a five minute, post from a person, Michael Rupo you've listened to our puzzle before, you know how deep he is in the wedding. So in those five minutes, I mean, he shakes you to the core and you are like, wow, I need to really reevaluate my life and chai. We need to really do this, this God thing. And so in that moment you are, you are reified to lies. You are just enthusiastic. Yeah, yes, yes, yes. This is the word, this is the gospel. I love this God. And then you scroll past it, you log out, you go to bed, you continue on your day and you don't even realize that. You haven't had that personal Nia with God. And I think that has been the hardest thing for me in the last few weeks, just because so much has been going on and I often feel tired and I often feel like, oh, just do it tomorrow and then tomorrow comes, I don't get it done. And you know, it's just, it's like an endless cycle. But I'm trying to get back. Into that place of intimacy, into that place of fellowship. so I wanted to take a moment to share with you guys, just in case you are feeling this way, that you are not alone, but in as much as I'm sharing this with you to let you know that you are not alone also does not mean that we have to then come to the place where we are like, well, I'm not the only one who's busy. other questions are going through what I'm going through. So, you know what? Lemme just relax. No, we have to be more intentional about, uh, Honoring the time commitments that we have with God. Just like I'm intentional about making sure that I'm early to meetings at work. When I say I'm gonna get this thing completed tomorrow, I get it completed. We have to begin to take God that seriously. I think that often than not, we become too comfortable with a certain dimension of God and it's often the dimension of God that is lenient the dimension of God that is loving and so. We, we feel like, oh, this is, you know, HS is my best friend. Like he understands if I cannot make the prayer time at two. But then maybe with work you have a more, if I don't get this thing, then I'm gonna get fired. And You are more aggressive about how you're approaching your work there, ensuring that you're always on time. But when it comes to the other thing, which is often our spiritualized, we feel like we have more of, a wiggle room, which we really do not have because that is actually the thing that we are supposed to be prioritizing much more than anything. Because when our foundation with God crumbles, Everything crumbles. I don't know about some of you. Okay. Maybe some of you, your foundation is not good until when it crumbles, you still have something to stand up I can bet you that that thing that you think that you're standing on that is not good. It will collapse soon. But the point is, If all we have is God and every other thing that we have has come out of our relationship with God, then why are we now prioritizing those things more than we are prioritizing the person who gave us those things? You get my point and, and I can understand. The life gets busy. I can understand. The life gets crazy. I can understand the life gets chaotic. I mean, if you live in the United States like I do, oh my gosh, this country is full of stress. I always say that the country is designed to make you constantly stressed, to make you constantly worried, to make you constantly anxious, but is because of God that some of us have been able to find some peace, have been able to find some sort of stability to be able to take it one day at a time. But regardless, that should not be an excuse for us to neglect our time of personal fellowship with God. And so this is a call to myself, this is a call to you, and a call for us to evaluate ourselves, evaluate our lives, and reassess, and really ask ourselves what things that we are prioritizing in this season of our lives. No matter how busy it looks, no matter how chaotic it looks, we still have to be intentional about making sure that God is at the center of it. Some of the things that I've started to do in these seasons when life seems to get very busy and I'm not able to do the things that I want to do. For instance, maybe I don't have an hour anymore every day to be studying the Bible as much as I want to, The one I do is I use an audio bible. I love you, verse sharing. I used yeah. Bible plans. I currently am on a bible in a year, reading plan with them, which I've sliced majorly over the last few months. So what I've been doing now is before bed, I just. Play the scriptures for those days. I listen to it while I go to sleep and as I'm doing that I'm meditating a bit on it and then I just drift off into sleep and wherever I get to, I just pick up from there the next day. And that has been helping somewhat to make sure that I'm keeping the word alive, in me, I think. One thing that was stripping me was that because I did not have the time anymore compared to when the year started to study the word in depth. I began to not read it because I felt like I was just honoring my commitment. To God that I was gonna study the Bible for the next year by not actually studying it and by just reading it. But then I thought to myself, Hey, what's important is that I read the word and I'm meditating on it throughout the day, and I'm allowing the Holy Spirit to teach me things that he needs me to know from those scriptures throughout the day. Just because I'm not able to sit down for one hour at a time to actually do whatever studying that I think I need to do does not take away from the fact that by reading it or by listening to it, using some sort of audio Bible and meditating on it throughout the day does not equate my study in it. And that is just one instance. Another thing that I tend to do and this is especially when I'm at the office, the days I'm not working from home, I'll just put my headphones in and. I would just maybe be listening to a sermon by some of these men of God that I mentioned. I pursue my clarus. Yeah, sermons are usually quite lengthy and so when I wanna do heads down, focus the work, I usually pick those and say that, okay, I'm gonna sit down for the next two hours to get this thing done for work. But while I'm doing that, I'm also listening to the word. That really helps. Sometimes I pause to focus a bit more on what I'm doing. Then I go back to play. But sometimes too, I find myself waiting for the next five minutes just listening to the wisdom that, yeah, speaking and that has really helped. Sometimes I do the audio Bible listening while I'm working, or I just simply listen to worship songs or sometimes to, if I feel like, Hmm, you know what? I have not prayed in a minute. I just put on some chants and I just pray in the spirit within me. You know, cause I, I can't be praying out loud, but I'll just be praying in the spirits within me. Just speaking in the language of the spirit. Get up, take a few walks to the bathroom. Just be speaking in tongue. Just be speaking in tongues. And even though life is busy in that moment, you realize that you still have some connection with the Lord. You still have some intimacy with him, and you begin to look forward to those little moments that you can create to have time with God. the Holy Spirit just dropped this in my mind, but it's sort of like, When you have a boyfriend or the guy is a girlfriend, when you're dating someone as a younger person, and perhaps you are no independent living on your own, and so you probably have to sneak around a few times. And when your parents are probably not home, that person comes to visit you really quickly sometimes just for a few minutes, right? But just that excitement to see that person for a few minutes to talk to that person for a few minutes. You look forward to those things. And so I think when life gets busy, when life gets chaotic, that is sort of what. My relationship with God begins to look like in those moments. It's not a full on one hour praying, two hours fellowshipping, midnight prayer and things like that. Sometimes it's these little moments. I have five minutes here. I quickly listen to a chapter of the book that I'm currently reading. I have a few minutes here. I quickly speak in tongue sometimes just for seconds, And as you do that, you begin to train yourself to become sensitive to the spirit in the moments that you are, quote unquote, not directly fellowshipping with him in the quietness of your home, in the midst of whatever loudness is going on around you. Learning to steal those little moments and say something to God or do something of God, you realize that your spirit begins to quickly pick up when the Holy Spirit is speaking And that is how I can still hear the Holy Spirit speak to me when I'm watching a movie that is not necessarily a Christian movie. personally, I love action movies. I love thrillers. Anything that has cia, F B I sort of vibe. I love those movies, but even as I'm watching those things, just imagine with all the shootings and all the things going on, the Holy Spirit always finds a way to teach me something with whatever I watch. And then just because I have trained myself, To be able to hear his voice in the little moments. I've trained myself to subject my spirit to him in little moments that I can steal. Whether I'm at work, whether I'm with family, at an event, whatever the situation is, I've brought myself to the place where I'm able to pick here and there. You know, shield myself a bit, speak and tongues a little bit, do this a little bit, do that a little bit. and these things have really been helping me, but I already see that this episode is getting too long. so I'm gonna stop here and just encourage you to learn to steal little moments that you can get. End the day and dedicate those moments to God. Think of it as a season in your life where you're having to sneak around a little bit in the midst of your busyness, in the midst of the chaos, to talk to the person that you love, to talk to, the person who loves you more than anything in this world. And trust me, you are going to see a difference in your life, And I pray that the Lord will help you. I pray that he will teach you the specific ways that he wants to spend those little moments with you. Whether it is through prayer, whether it is through listening to sermons, whether it is through listening to a book and the Bible, whatever that way is, I pray that he will reveal it to you, and I pray that your spirit will be quick to pick up that which he has revealed to you, and you begin to walk in the reality of that revelation. As always, until next time, keep thriving.