All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith

Breadcrumbs Of Faith Devotional S2 Ep 1: Prepared Hearts, Ready Spirits

• Natasha Dias • Season 2 • Episode 1

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We return from a month of consecration with a clear charge to prepare our hearts for a season of both abundance and testing. Prayer, repentance, and a physical, daily relationship with Scripture form the armor we need to navigate subtle deception with peace and courage.

• living a repentant, righteous life close to God
• hope of John 14 alongside sober readiness
• recognizing schemes and building discernment through prayer
• Ephesians 6 armor as daily practice, not metaphor
• choosing a physical Bible and memorizing Scripture
• testing books, sermons, and trends against context
• different translations for different seasons of growth
• surrendering hidden areas and submitting all ways to God
• seeking first the kingdom to receive kingdom benefits
• answering the knock: making time, setting habits, opening the heart

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the All Things Skin, Wellness and Faith Podcast. I'm Natasha Diaz, a licensed esthetician, wellness consultant, and clinical herbalist. This is where skincare meets whole body wellness, and caring for your skin becomes an act of stewardship and faith. As scripture reminds us, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. So let's take this time to begin the journey of learning the why behind skin health while deepening our walk with the Lord, learning to nourish our bodies and our spirits. Let's get into it. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Good day unto you. I know it has been a while since I have been on this podcast. So I actually have to say happy new year to you guys. Even though we are in the second month of the new year, you have not heard from me in the month of January. It for me, it has been a time of consecration, a time of you know, just dedicating myself to the Lord and seeing what he has in place for me this new year. So please excuse the long delay, but I'm back here today. I'm back here today with a breadcrumb starting off to you in the beginning of February, the what they call the love month. I send out love to all of you guys. I have missed you daily, and those of you checking back to see if there's a new episode, here it is for you today. Um, I come before you today just you know with a message. Like I said, I'm going to start off the year and the month with a breadcrumb. Um, for those of you that are new to the podcast, this is All Things Skin, Wellness, and Faith. We do a breadcrumb of faith every other week, and then once a month we do a wellness episode combining the word of the Lord with wellness and just speaking, you know, what he has for us in regards to our health. But today we are going and we are speaking on just a breadcrumb, a message, a mandate that I feel that I have to deliver to you guys today. This is something that, you know, like I said, it's been a time of consecration for me, and it's something that I feel that whatever he delivers to me is not just for myself. He delivers the word, he delivers a message, and we are blessed to be a blessing, and we have the great commission, the mandate to go out and to make disciples of men and women. And I believe that that includes the message of the Lord. If he gives a message to me, it's not just for me to hoard to hoard for myself, it's also to give to, you know, my brothers and my sisters. Although I believe this podcast is mainly women, um, this message today is for all of us, it's for the brothers, for the sisters, for everyone. So I know that this is a timely message as it became urgent all of a sudden in my spirit. I just heard this is what you're speaking. I think um I came off of a fast in January and off of a time of consecration. And I just, as you guys know, I don't come on here and just speak anything. I don't plan these podcasts months in advance. I plan them according to what the Holy Spirit delivers to me to deliver to you guys. And for me, January was just a time of, you know, dedication to him, a time of peace, of quiet, of, you know, just seeking him, and that's what I've been doing. But I'm back here today, and I just want to speak to you about, you know, just being prepared. I feel that where we are on the brink of 2026 is gonna be a very different season. I feel that there's a lot of prosperity and a lot of abundance, there's a lot of good things that are coming to us, but I don't come on here just to deliver you, you know, just good news. I mean, if we are in life, we know that there are ups and downs, and those of us, hopefully all of us that are on here that are believers, just know that being a believer in Christ, you know, Christ was penalized himself many times. I mean, just the example of the cross himself speaks to, you know, what he went through. But throughout the times of his ministry, you know, many people spoke against him, many people, you know, called him, um, spoke against him for claiming to be the son of God. And so if our savior went through it, then we know that we must go through it as well. And while we as Christians, you know, have good things that are coming to us, with that also comes some bad things. And we know that we have a deceiver, we have an enemy, we have an adversary that is against us. And what I want to speak to you about today is kind of just, you know, a time of preparedness. As each year, as each day goes by, we know we are one day closer to the coming back of Christ. We don't know if we're gonna see it in our lifetime, but we know that we are closer, and we know that as believers that we have to prepare. And so there are some scriptures today that just kind of stuck out to me as far as what he wanted me to speak to you guys about. There is a time of his coming, there is a time that he wants us to be prepared for, um, depending on how you believe, you know, what's gonna happen with the trilogy and all of that. We're not here to really dig into that because there's a lot of different beliefs of how his coming is going to be, you know, pre-tribulation, post-trib, all of those things. We're not gonna get into theology today, but we are gonna speak about, you know, being prepared as believers, being a body that is prepared and what does that truly look like? And the first thing that, you know, is coming to my mind right now is just living a life, you know, of righteousness. And by righteousness, by no means do I mean living perfect, but just living a life of repentance, just living a life that you know that you are always close to the Father. You we know that if we have sin on us, that we cannot get close to him, for he is clean and he is pure. And I just want to urge, as none of us are perfect, that when we fall short, that we immediately fall to our knees and we immediately, you know, see our transgressions, our inequities, we lay them at his feet, and we are living lifestyles um that allow us to live in that repentant, righteous nature. Um, one of the verses that was spoken to me today, well, last night into today was John 14. John 14, 2 and 3, and it just speaks about, excuse me, I'm sorry, it just speaks about, you know, his father's house and having many rooms prepared. And I'll read that scripture to you and then I'll dive into that a little bit deeper. It says, My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going that I'm going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. So, what is that saying? That's saying, like, his father, the father's house, which is the kingdom of God, the new Jerusalem, has he has a place for us prepared there. And if he's telling us this, he's reiterating that there is a place that is prepared for us in heaven, and we are going to go there. At the same time, as we speak that message and we say, Yes, my father has a house, has a room prepared for you, or house prepared for you. We know that again, I want to go back to just living righteous, and we know that you know we are going to be tempted in many ways by the evil one. But this is why what I want to urge to you today is to be fully prepared in your daily walk. And what I was hearing was pretty much the schemes of the enemy. As we come into the last days, I'm hearing that, and it's not just that I'm hearing this is actually in a written word, but this is what is to be reiterated, this is what is to be stressed to you guys today, is that the enemy is getting very sneaky with his tricks. We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. We all have areas that we are very strong in, and areas that you know the enemy will probably not mess with us in because we are very aware in those areas, and then there are areas that we are weakened in, and those areas are the areas that he's going to go for. So, what I'm advising, what I'm speaking to you guys today, is just to live a lifestyle of prayer. Because the only way that you're going to be able to make it through these times so that we are able to, you know, withstand the schemes and the lies and the plots of the devil is to be in full alignment with the Father, to be in full, um, what's the word I want to say, in full agreement, have a prayerful lifestyle and to really be able to hear what he's speaking to you. Because as you're drawing close to him, and the Bible says, draw close to me, and he will draw close to you, as you're drawing close to him, he's enabling you, he is equipping you with the tools that you need so that you can withstand the schemes of the enemy. Because the schemes are getting tricky, and they're not gonna look like something that you would think is the enemy. He's gonna be very sly and very sleek with how he does it. And of course, he is very repetitive, but he's a liar, he's good at what he does, and so we need to be aware, and we don't have you know eyes all around our head, but we do have the old the Holy Spirit, and the word says that the Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth, the word says the Holy Spirit is our guide, the word says that you know the word itself is a lamp unto our feet. But how can we have a lamp if we don't turn it on, if we don't go to it? So, more than ever in this 2026 season, it is important that you are before the father on a regular basis. More than ever is it important that you have a time that is set apart for you to come together and to commune with the father. More than ever is it a time for you to make sure that you are sitting down and reading that word. And when I say reading that word, I don't mean, I mean, I'm not gonna say in it by any means that taking the Bible up on your phone and reading it is not a good thing. I mean, definitely get the word in where you can, but we need to have a consecrated, dedicated, I've set this time apart for you to read the word, and I really feel that there's power in the written word, reading the Bible as a book, than there is reading it on your phone and on a device. And I also want to urge you to start to remember that word. The Bible says, you know, to keep my word written on the tablet of your heart, to meditate on it night and day, because there is coming a time, folks, when we're not gonna have the Bible app available, we're not going to be able to just go and Google the scripture. We need to know this, we need to know the address of the scripture, where it is, what exactly it speaks about, and we need to be able to digest the word. Often, what I hear lately is a lot of people just taking a verse here and there and taking it completely out of context. The Bible is very deep, it is very um, there's a lot of layers to it, and unless you're sitting with the Father, unless you're sitting with the Holy Spirit, sometimes there are some things that are very straightforward, but there are also things that you need to sit down and allow the Lord to the Holy Spirit to peel off the let the layers and to give you the true depiction, the true understanding, the true knowledge of what he is saying. I have to tell you, I mean, I'm not a pastor or a preacher or anything like that, but I have to tell you, there are many books in the Bible that I have read for many years over and over again, and there are new truths and new revelations that come out of the Bible, even though I've read, you know, certain books over and over again, there are new things that you get out of it, and even in Isaiah, he says, I'm doing something new. Along with that, doing something new, he's also revealing something new, he's also teaching something new. So it's very important that you go back to hear what he has to say. It is very important that you set apart a quiet time, whether it's morning or afternoon. For me personally, I have to start my day off with the Lord. If I am not starting my day in communion with him, we have fights every day, but I need to put on that armor first thing in the morning. And how I'm doing that is you know, setting apart that time to be in worship with him, setting apart that time to just sit quietly and hear what he says, hear the scriptures that he has for me. Um, allowing him to show me what devotional. I have so many devotionals and so many books, but I allow him to show me what is it that you want to speak to me today, and I want to advise you as we are going into this season with deception as at an all-time high that you are doing the same. Like I said, the tricks of the enemy are the same and they are repetitive, but he is very good at what he does. Like I said, um, one of the scriptures that I just kind of touched on briefly, but I want to dive into deeper, is basically um it's Ephesians, it's Ephesians 6 11, and that whole Ephesians chapter 6. I mean, get a Bible plan in place, let the Holy Spirit direct you to what you should be reading. But I really feel like now we are at a time where we we're always at war, but we're in extreme war right now, and you cannot go into war unless you are equipped and you are armed up with what you need to have your armor to have on in order to go forth and to fight. So Ephesians 6 and 11 tells us about putting on the armor of God so that we can stand against the devil's schemes. The devil is coming back with schemes, and I know that I'm being repetitive with this, but he is coming back with schemes, and he is coming back with arsenals. And yes, we do overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the power of our testimony, but we have to put on this armor, we have to make sure that we are equipped to go into battle, and if you are not renewing your mind daily in the word, you are going to get tripped up. Just to stare off for a second, I have a whole full library of Christian books. In my time with the Lord the other day, what he had me do was to just go through my books. There are so many books out there, so many different authors, so many different preachers, pastors, ministers, ministries that put out books, and not all of it is truth. Some of it is a little bit of truth and a little bit of that person's depiction. And as I was going through some of those books, I was just noticing, highlighting how the Holy Spirit was just showing me that some of the things that are written in these books are off and to get rid of them. So the only way you can know this for sure is one, if you are putting that time in with the Lord, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal truths to you, and two, if you are in your word, you are in your word daily, you are in your physical word multiple times a day, and you are basically knowing and familiar with the Father's voice, because in the last days, things are going to be very tricky. In Colossians 2 and 4, it reads in NIV, it says, I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. There are going to be so many things that sound good, feel good, but they're not going to be the true word of God, the true and pure word of God. And you've got to memorize this because even on the Bible app, if you notice on your Bible app, you get updates. Those of you that use the UVersion Bible apps, and while they do add some features that are good on there, the Bible app is a very good app to have as a resource, but the Bible app itself is not the source, the physical word of God that cannot change and cannot be updated according to the trends or what's going on, is what you need to have. While they are adding some good features and some good things on the Bible app, there's different plans and there's different ways to, you know, um come in community with your friends and do Bible plans. There are also verses that are being added and taken away, and we are gonna come to a time where the whole Bible is going to be switched around. So, how are you going to know the word if you're constantly relying on an electron electronic version of the Bible? You need to have a physical Bible, you need to have a couple different versions of the physical Bible, and you know, depending on where you are in your walk walk, it's different for each person. For me, I have I want to say about nine different Bibles right now. I'm working within three different Bibles, or actually, I'm working within two. I was gifted a beautiful new King James version, which I recommend for women. It's the women's study version of the new King James Bible. It is awesome, it has charts and just you know breaks down things, you know, on a whole nother level, just different graphs and things to help you absorb and grasp what's going on. And then for me personally, where I'm going in my walk right now, I'm also studying um it's a Jewish Bible as I'm preparing to go into Hebrew classes and to go deeper in in that area. That's where the Lord is leading me. That's not for everyone, that may not be for you, but for a while before that, I was reading my NLT and then I was reading the Amplified, and then before that, I was reading. I think I have a parallel Bible that I was reading that was um the message on side on one side, and I think it was the CSB, but they are different seasons for different times, and they are different um how do I want to say translations, or it's almost like dialects, but it's really translations, and the Lord will speak to you differently through different seasons of your walk. But my whole point that I want to reiterate to you is to just really make sure that you have a paper version of the Bible and that you are spending time in the physical book of the Bible. Um, the next thing I wanted to touch on was just Colossians after that. We just read Colossians 2 and 4, but Colossians 2, 6 through 8 reads, so then just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy philosophy, I'm sorry, which depends on human tradition and elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. So that's just going back to, like I said, as the Holy Spirit was just having me go through these books and look at some of these um theologies and things that the author of the books and have depicted. And like I said, they may not be doing it on purpose. These are author of books. This is what they understand. It doesn't mean that it's totally accurate, they may not mean or intend to do harm, but the in the enemy are um I'm sorry, the enemy operates, is what I wanted to say, in ignorance, and none of us is perfect. So if you aren't relying on books and sermons and even I say for myself, podcasts, even for myself, everything that I say, I'm just a woman, I'm just you know, I'm not God Himself. You need to have that personal relationship with the Lord yourself. You need to understand in your Bible what he is speaking to you, and then you need to go back and confirm that what he's saying is in the what you hear him saying, is what I wanted to say, is in the right context and that you're understanding it properly. The Bible also speaks about itching ears. Sometimes, you know, and I can fall into this right every so often. We want to hear the good things, we want to hear about our gifts and our callings and what we are to do, but sometimes the Lord has to take us back and he has to say, look at this area. There's a little bit of something that you have hidden over there, and we don't like to hear that. It's like a child being, you know, I don't want to say um corrected. The child wants to hear that, you know, I've done a good job, I'm getting a grades, you're doing this, you're doing that. Yes, we are doing good, but there are also some areas that we need to work on, and this is what has been going on for me for like the month of January. Yes, daughter. You are doing good in these areas, but we need to take a look over here in these hidden areas. There's some things over here that need to be straightened up because he's coming back for a spotless bride, and this is what this is saying. There are areas that we cannot just glance over that need some work just because we are doing good in other areas. So, this is the message that I really wanted to deliver to you guys today. Um, just to be prepared, just to be in your word. Um, another good scripture that I stand on and live on is to submit to him in all of our ways, and he will make our path straight. So we really need to be fully surrendered. This is what he has been working with me on. So I thought I was fully surrendered, but then again, he's poking and looking in some other areas. Proverbs 3 and 6 says, and all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight. So it's like the Lord, he already knows everything. But if you're trying to keep certain things hidden, and he's not gonna force himself on you, but if you're trying to keep certain things hidden and certain areas covered up, well, then we're not gonna get corrected in the areas that we need to in order to have that growth. So I want to encourage you for 2026, up your game with the Lord. I mean, really get into that word and get into that relationship because you need to be on God for this year. Things are getting serious for the kingdom of God. Things are getting serious, even more serious for the kingdom of darkness. And our God is good, but our God is also just. If you are not thoroughly seeking Him the way you need to be, the word says Matt 6 33, seek first my kingdom and everything else will be added unto you, then you are not gonna receive the benefits of the kingdom. It's just that clear and that straightforward. He it is his will that none shall perish, but we need to go forth and we need to do what we need to do. He's not gonna force himself on us. The word is there. I'm sure a message like this is not brand new. This is not something that we've never heard before. We all know what we need to be doing, but we all become complacent, and sometimes we have, you know, times of laziness, times of complacency. And I'm here to just tell you that the Lord is reaching out to you, He's calling out to you. Revelation, I believe this is not my list of scriptures, but I believe it is Revelation 3 20. I should probably go and look that up real quick just for accuracy. Accuracy, but I believe that is uh Revelation 3.20. Yes, it is. Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. So here he is standing at the door and knocking. He is knocking on the door of your heart. Now it is up to you to open the door and let him in so that he cannot. He's not gonna force him way in, force his way in, but he is knocking. And if he's knocking on your heart today, if he's urging you to spend more time with him, if he's urging you to spend more time in the word, if you find yourself repeatedly stumbling in the area, or you find yourself faced with a decision, and that decision, you've made decisions in the past that haven't been great. Well, I encourage you to open the door of your heart and let him in. Surrender all, all, all. Surrender all of yourself to him so that he can lead you on that straight and narrow path. All right, so that is my message for today. I hope that you can hear the urgency because the urgency that I have for you this morning, it's not for me, it's from the father himself. Well, it is for me, but this is what the father is, you know, pretty much saying to his sons and his daughters. Open the door and let him in. All right, so I'm glad to be back with you guys and to get back on the schedule for 2026. Again, like I said, we are going to get back on schedule for this year. I don't know what the year has for podcasts, um, for podcasting for me. We will stick to the schedule according to what the Holy Spirit says, but I guarantee that whatever you've received from me will be 100% authentic and will be timely and will be something that is going to speak to your heart, speak to your mind, and most importantly, speak to your spirit. Alright, God bless you guys. I love you so much. Tune in for the next episode. I'll see you soon. Ciao for now, and as always, be blessed, and most importantly, be a blessing. Bye, guys.