All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith
All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith
BREADCRUMBS OF FAITH 31: Favor in the Fight
This episode provides essential encouragement for individuals facing life's adversities, emphasizing the importance of faith and community. Listeners will gain insights into overcoming trials through biblical stories and practical steps for maintaining spiritual resilience and support during tough times.
• The burden of sickness and challenges in life
• Encouragement for those feeling overwhelmed
• The importance of remaining connected to God
• Purpose behind trials and faith testing
• Biblical examples of perseverance: Job and Daniel
• Practical steps for navigating difficult seasons
• Role of scripture in spiritual battles
• The importance of community support and connection
For support or prayer requests, you can email me at prayerwithnatasha@gmail.com.
Hey, there you're tuned into another episode of All Things Skin Wellness and Faith, a podcast where you'll learn simple ways to implement skin care and wellness techniques from a holistic approach. On this podcast, we'll explore practical ways to address skin health and overall holistic spiritual well-being, while deepening your faith. I'm your host, natasha Diaz, a licensed holistic esthetician, day spa owner and a faithful believer and follower of Christ, and it's time to get ready to get encouraged and empowered as we dive into all things skin wellness and faith. Hello, hello and welcome back to this episode of Bright Crumbs of Faith by All Things Skin Wellness and Faith. Natasha here with our short increment break from of encouragement, and today I just wanted to just kind of hop on really quickly and just give you a little bit of encouragement.
Speaker 1:I've been feeling heavily that people are burdened at this time and I feel like there's a lot going on. I know there's a lot of sickness that's going on. I don't know where you guys are all tuning in from. I know that people tune in from all over the country, in fact all over the world, but I know there is a bit of sickness that's going on and with sickness comes despair and, depending on the level of sickness. I mean anything from a common cold to a disease. A diagnosis is not fun, so I know that there may be a lot of different things that are going on. If this doesn't relate to you, I'm very happy to hear that for you wishing you or not wishing you, wishing you or not wishing you but basically saying you know, thank God that it's not you. And if it is you, I just want to build you up and encourage you during this time. If it's not you, save this episode for a later date, because you know there are times in life that you know we are up and we are down, and life is life. You know, if it's not you right now, it may be you at another date in time. But for those of you that are going through something right now that are having a little bit of battle whether it's sickness, whether it's finances, whether it's relationship issues, no matter what it is I just want to encourage you, as a child of God, to just remind you that you have favor in the fight. I want to encourage you to dig deep and to stay rooted in the Lord. Most importantly, to stay rooted in your word.
Speaker 1:One thing the enemy likes to do when we're down, is to continue to just kick sand in our face over and over and over again until we're in a place of desperation and we're kind of just wondering like God, are you even there? Are you even listening? And I know that depending on what season you are in or what area you are in in your walk with the Lord, this may look differently for you. But either way, whether you're a seasoned prayer warrior, intercessor, fighter, or you're just a new believer, or you're just kind of on the fence with your spirituality, just kind of going back and forth a little bit, this message is just to build you up and just to let you know that the Lord sees you. And I was just telling, actually, one of my clients the other day that sometimes you know when we have these situations, they can be for many different reasons. This is why it's really good to have your relationship with the Lord, so that you can kind of see what exactly this season is meaning for you. But, like I said, I was talking to a client the other day and I know for her and her particular situation, or I can't even say that this is definite, but what I was hearing and feeling for her was just that it was a time where the Lord kind of just wanted her to dig in a little bit deeper.
Speaker 1:And I know this can be, you know, kind of hard to digest sometimes. But sometimes in those times where we are in desperation, in those times where things are not exactly going right, it keeps us in a posture where we're seeking the Lord a little bit more than if we were just having. You know, things go easily. We tend to cry out more when we're in distress and we tend to, you know, maybe not be as involved with our communication with the Lord. And everything that happens happens for a reason. There's a different, there's a different reason for each thing that we go through.
Speaker 1:But if you have that relationship with the Lord, you can, you know, check in and just kind of hear, you know, like, where am I Lord, like what is going on in this season, what is it that you are requiring from me? And then when you are able to hear his voice, then it gives you a little bit of peace, because then you know what exactly it is you're working with, for the details of the situation, and then you can go to the Holy Spirit and just have a better guided, directional of or strategy, I should say, as to how to deal with the situation. But either way, regardless of what season you're in, just know that the Bible says that we are more than overcomers. We have favor in the fight. The Bible also tells us you know, that the Lord will never leave or forsake us and you know sometimes because he's silent, like I said, it could be numerous different reasons. One reason could be it's a test to see you know how we deal under persecution and how we do deal with trials. I know that a lot of the times and situations for me I've been through multiple different scenarios of what trials and tribulations look like for me and what their meanings are. But I know that for me it's been a test at one point. At another point it's been the Lord encouraging me to lean deeper on him, to trust more on him and to not carry the weight and baggage just on my own. Those are a couple different scenarios but, like I was saying, regardless we have favor as believers. Nothing happens without the Lord allowing it.
Speaker 1:If you go back to Job, you know that even the enemy had to request to do everything that he did to Job. He had to go to the Lord and just say you know pretty much. You know, here's your servant, job, and I can't. The reason that you know he is so faithful to you is because you won't allow me to touch him. You've secured a hedge around him and then the Lord allowed Job to be tested. And if we are familiar with Job which I think you know many are, but if you're not, you know it's a pretty. It's a lengthy story, there's a lot of chapters to that book, but it's a really good story because it just talks about trials and tribulations and perseverance. And Job was, you know, a faithful servant. He did have some times where he was, just like you know, cursed the day that I was born, but for the most part of it Job was, you know, pretty faithful through it and everything that happened to him was because the Lord allowed Satan to, you know, test Job in the way that he did and he pretty much said you know, you can do this, you can do that. You know his children died, he lost all his valuables, but he said you cannot kill him, and that was the most important thing of it. But he said you cannot kill him, and that was the most important thing of it. So the whole gist of that, for me, is just like. You know, as bad as this looks, you're going to make it through because the Lord is seeing you through it all the way. You have divine favor.
Speaker 1:Another story that relates to this is the book of Daniel. Shadrach, meshach and Abednego were in the fire. The fire, the king I believe it was King Nebuchadnezzar turned the furnace all the way up and they weren't touched. I'm quite sure it was hot in there. I'm quite sure you know there was a lot going on. But if you know that story, then you know that there was three boys in there. But when they all looked into, when the king and all his workers looked into the fire, there was a fourth person, and that fourth person was the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the living God. So just reminding us that you know the Lord is in it, with us.
Speaker 1:So for those of us that are going through trials, through tribulations, you know, that are just really down and out right now, I want to encourage you to do a couple of things. Number one you need to get into that word. You need to look at these stories. There's so many different stories in the Bible. This is why it's so important that you know we are in our word and we know our word. This way we have something to fall back and reflect on. This way we have something you know to throw in the enemy's face, and we know that the Bible says we will never be left or forsaken. We know that in Exodus I believe it's Exodus 14, 14. I believe out the scripture right 14, 14. I believe out of the scripture Exodus 14, 14, that tells us we only need to be silent, that the Lord will fight for us. We have Psalms 90, 17 that tells us that the favor of the Lord is upon us and he will establish the work of our hands. We have Isaiah 58, 11 that tells us I believe it's the Lord will guide us continually, giving us water when we are dry and restoring our strength. He's a restorer. So there's so many scriptures in the Bible that we can reflect to in these times.
Speaker 1:So if you are going through this season of just like everything is coming at your head, if you are going through a season of just like you can't seem to keep your head above water, you just feel like you know you're constantly in the water and you're just like you know you're doing the doggy paddle, just trying to keep your head. You know, above the water and just kind of, you need a season to float. You need to know that you can rest in the Lord. You need to know that you can rest in the Lord, you need to know that you can speak to the enemy and, first of all, you should know that you should be able to bind and rebuke everything that comes against you, because you have authority and you have dominion as a believer. But you should also know that you have the divine favor of the Lord. Let this be an encouragement.
Speaker 1:Hopefully you're in the church. If you're not in the church, I want to advise you to definitely find one, because at times like this you need to be in a community. You need to have brothers and sisters that you can reach out to, that can support you. And if you're not in the church or you're in between church or wherever you are in your walk, I just want to encourage you. I mean, even this is a podcast, but you can, certainly you know you can email me, you can. I don't know churches like all over the country or all over the world per se, because this podcast is worldwide, but I do encourage you know to reach out to me for an email. You can email me at prayerwithnatasha at gmailcom.
Speaker 1:I would definitely love to you know if you have prayer requests, you know to step in the gap for you, you know, and pray with you, encourage you, you know, whatever it is that you need during this time, because the Bible says iron sharpens iron and if you don't have a support right now, one thing that the enemy likes to do is he likes to target you and isolate you and kind of kick you when you're down and when you don't have an encouragement. And it's good to have a podcast that you listen to regularly, it's good to have a sermon, but it's even better to have, you know, an actual person that you can reach out to. That can, you know, just cover you in prayer and support you. So let me encourage you in that way and also, just just like I said, another scripture I just wanted to reference really quickly before we wrap up is Ephesians 1.11.
Speaker 1:God is able to make all things happen just like he decides. He chose us to be his own people because we are united with him. So because you are chosen, because you are a daughter of the most high, or son of the most high. You need to know that the Lord's hand is over you, no matter what your situation is looking like right now. He has a plan for you. He has a plan to uplift you out of this. So you need to keep your eyes fixated and focus on him. Don't look at your problems. Don't let the enemy whisper things into your ears you know that are not true. Don't focus on thoughts that are negative.
Speaker 1:Philippians I can't remember this one off the top of my head, but in Philippians it says you know whatever's noble, whatever's true, you know. Meditate on those things. So meditate on the word of God. Definitely focus on scripture, like Psalm 121. And I can just rattle off scripture all day long, and it's just so important to have these things, you know, embedded in you, because I mean, there have been times, even when I have gone through a season. These are the things that you know that have saved me in those, you know, dark seasons. These are the things that I rely on.
Speaker 1:I have scripture written in my prayer room at home. I have scripture, you know, even written on my spot at work, and the Bible says you know that the word is our sword. You know the word is the sword of the spirit. So how can you fight if you don't have the tools that you need, you know, to fight? How can you, you know, stand up against the enemy, how can you be bold in these seasons if you're not equipped with the word? So definitely would encourage you guys to just, you know, get in that scripture, get in the word you know have, you know, even if it's something that you know you need to Google. You know scriptures on. You know encouragement scriptures on. You know. You know scriptures on. You know encouragement scriptures on.
Speaker 1:You know spiritual warfare, things that you carry, you know, on your purse or you have posted on your mirror or wherever may have you scripture just to turn to in these type of situations that is, it is so very important because even when you're praying, in your prayer time, it is so important to have these things readily available. Like you don't want to wait to the last minute until you're, you know, down and out of destitute and you're probably not going to feel like turning to scripture, you want to have these things readily available. But anyhow, like I was saying, I don't want to ramble on and on and on, but I do want to encourage you and let you know that the Lord sees you. I do want to encourage you and let you know that you're not in this alone and that, if this is that season for you, just know, like I said, the Lord will never leave or forsake you. So I am going to wrap it up for there. Right now we're going on just about 15 minutes and I do want to keep this, you know, on the shorter, sweeter side, but this is just something that has been pressing on my heart.
Speaker 1:You know, lately, over the past few days, and I know you know that the episodes have been a little bit sporadic. Again, ministry school, there's a lot going on. You know transitions in the business, adding on to the business is so much, but I do want you guys to know that I am here and I am available for you and if you need to reach out, definitely email me. Once again, it's prayerwithnatasha at gmailcom. I also want to encourage you, you know, to leave a review, you know, to help boost the algorithm for the podcast.
Speaker 1:You know, share it with someone, share it on your Facebook, you know your Instagram, wherever you know, follow me, like me, show some support, because this is how things like this get built up, and this is the whole reason that I do this. There's no real monetary value on this podcast. It's more or less just to help people, to build people, to edify people, to love people. So if you'd like to help me out with, help me out with you know, a quick review, that would be greatly appreciated. Or like or share you know to your friends, family, co-workers, whatever may have you All, right, guys, I'm wrapping it up right for there, right for right now, until the next episode be blessed and be a blessing. Thank you so much for tuning in. Love you guys. Bye.