Live Free with Josh Howerton

God is not angry with you, tired of you messing up, or exhausted by you. We rejoice that His thoughts and His ways are not the same as our thoughts and our ways.

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

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Most people assume that prayer should be primarily a way to “get God to give me what I want”, but Jesus teaches that prayer is primarily us, aligning our will with God’s. Today, take your time and meditate on what you’re praying. Fix your mind first and your Heavenly Father’s name, his kingdom, and what His will is. Then, pour out your heart as you ask for forgiveness and protection and as you share your needs with him.

Matthew 6:9-13 “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

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Paul is saying your heart can be satisfied whether you have much or little, whether you have achieved your goals or not, and whether things seem to be going well or not. Philippians 4:13 speaks primarily of how, with Christ, your heart can find contentment, satisfaction, and confidence regardless of your circumstances. Contentment doesn’t come when you have everything you want; it comes when you realize that in Christ, you have everything you need.

Philippians 4:11-13 (NTV), Paul says this: “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.”

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In this podcast episode, we conclude our discussion on the 5 principles of Godly parenting. Today's focus is on the importance of praying for godly discernment at every stage of your child's life. Discernment is a precious gift that should be cherished, and it blossoms through instilling God's word in their heart.

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God calls parents to guide their children in walking the path of righteousness. By leaving your footprints heading in the right direction, you instill valuable lessons. Among these teachings is the importance of personal discipline—a crucial skill parents can impart to their children. It's essential that godly discipline is taught with both compassion and unwavering consistency.

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Trade the concept of your dream house for God's vision of a dream home. It's not just about the exterior beauty of your house; it's about creating meaningful moments under its roof. While spending quality time with your kids is important, remember that true family bonding occurs during those everyday shared experiences. Today's parental challenge is to shift focus from pursuing a certain lifestyle to actively engaging in life alongside your children.

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At every stage, parents are called by God to nurture their children's dreams and support them in following God's unique path for their lives. Trust that God will guide you as you assist your children in pursuing their aspirations; do not hesitate to dream big alongside your child. Remember, it is not the parent's role to shape children into what they desire them to become; instead, recognize that God has destined your child for a life beyond any plans you may have envisioned.

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The Bible is rich with stories that remind us that family, despite its imperfections, is part of God’s original plan. Did you know that children’s natural curiosity is a gift from God and part of his family plan? One of God's plans for families was to help raise kids in a safe environment to explore and discover freely; this can be seen in Proverbs 11:27.

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Today's podcast reminds you that you have permission to be brutally honest and completely open with God in every circumstance. God can handle your vulnerability and all of your emotions. In Psalms, the writers follow a particular pattern of verbally vomiting out all their feelings, pain, frustrations, and deep sorrow. Then, the writers land on the truth about God, his character, and his goodness.

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When you take a roadtrip, you typically have a few songs ready to play as you travel. In the Old Testament, people also sang songs to pass the time, one of which was Psalms 121, a song of ascents. They sang this song as a reminder of God’s protection as they headed towards Jerusalem. God is just as present with us in the journey as in the final destination.

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Rest with God and find joy when you delight in his presence day and night. In Psalm 1, the trees' job is to be planted by the river banks, rooted deep and not just fruitful. Today, ignore what culture says about chasing your desires; focus on resting and sitting with God.

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Reading Psalm 100, we discover our purpose is not to be a consumer. Our purpose is to be consumed by the goodness of God when we are in his presence. Your challenge today is to shout with joy and loudly sing your favorite worship song! (Maybe find a new song from the new Lakepointe Music album Fear No Evil.)

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Have you ever thought being a good person was utterly pointless when you compare your life to someone else living so carefree? Or have you wondered is my heart pure for nothing? Always remember, God's goodness remains steadfast, and those individuals you compare yourself to may not be leading as carefree a life as it seems. When we grapple with feelings of envy, we often fall into the trap of constantly comparing ourselves to others.

Envy: When you resent God’s goodness in someone else's life while ignoring God’s goodness in your own.

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How do I reverse my drift and put my hope back with God? Dive into Psalm 42 today as we learn how to reverse the drift and drop anchor with God.

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How does drifting happen? Drifting occurs when we stop counting our blessings, gathering together, resting, praying, and climbing. Today, let’s hear how to drop anchor with God and stop the drifting.

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We all drift in our relationships, passions, and purposes. The key to being anchored in God and avoiding drifting is to take inventory of your life, retrace your steps, and pray for God to search your heart. David prayed for God to search his heart in Psalms 139. Today, ask yourself, where have I drifted?

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Dirty laundry piles up quickly, and stains set in when you never address them. The same is true with our shame and sin, but your failures are not fatal. There is real freedom with Christ! Today, let God bleach your record clean with His grace.

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Ever wonder how I can say “that,” think “that,” or act like “that”? Psalm 51 contains King David's prayer for restoration—his confession and plea for forgiveness came after he drifted with lust and power and hid from God. Our unaddressed shame and guilt from our past can drift us away from God and can change our character. Daily, we must drop anchor with God, take ownership of our actions, and embrace His grace.

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When processing grief, sometimes the best thing we can do is eat with others. It is healing to gather around the table of gratitude, share a meal with loved ones, laugh, cry, and reminisce. In Psalms 23:5 it says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Who is your enemy across the table: anger, depression, anxiety, or grief?

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Light is amazing; it warms, guides, and always wins against the darkness. The enemy tries to use your grief to steal, kill, and destroy your life, but the light of truth always will chase away the darkness. Let Psalm 23 give you hope as you walk through your dark valley.

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Biblical sheep are not cowardly blind followers. They trust and follow a good shepherd who wants to protect and provide for them. When we think of green pastures, we picture a field of rolling green grass, but in reality, the Bible depicts patches of grass that are just big enough to feed the herd that day. Today, trust God to lead you to what you need.

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Psalm 23 is the most beautiful Psalm ever written. It is written for those burdened with grief trying to find comfort in difficult circumstances. This scripture depicts how God meets us right where we are as the good shepherd.

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You can put your hope in God’s unfailing love. God cares for the lonely, heals the brokenhearted, and uplifts the humbled. In today’s message, we will discuss Psalm 25 and the truths of the 3Ps of anxiety: Personal, Pervasive, and Permanent.

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Q: Where do all the lonely people belong?

A: Psalms 68

How are you doing today? Are you feeling lonely? Loneliness is feeling alone no matter how much social contact you may have, and it’s one of the scariest feelings in life. We were all designed to be in relationships; belonging is the most fundamental human need beyond food and shelter. Today, we will leave the shadow of loneliness and ask God to help us connect.

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When we work out, we like to have the perfect playlist ready. In our life’s battles, the Book of Psalms has the perfect beats. Today, we will download what Psalms 13, 27, and 126 have to offer as we head towards desire and delight and move up the staircase of disappointment.

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Have you ever not gotten the job you wanted, missed an event because you were sick, didn’t get into the program you wanted, or faced rejection? At one point, we all had to face disappointment in life, but what defines the moment is how we deal with the emotions that come from the pain. If we don’t face the emotions that come with disappointment, we will end up facing discouragement, which can turn into depression. God loves you and wants you to be honest with him. He is still good. He hears your prayers and sits with you in your pain, all while He is working behind the scenes in the midst of your disappointment.

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Today, you need to download some Psalms from the Bible to the playlist of your heart because what you download into your mind makes a huge difference in the direction of your life. The Jewish nation would sing Psalms as they headed into battle. What battle are you facing today: anxiety, shame, panic, depression, confusion? David, the author of many of the scriptures found in Psalms, faced all of these same feelings. David’s life pattern was to get brutally honest about himself and what he was facing, and as he cried out, he would land in the truth of God.

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Do you ever have song lyrics stuck in your head? What about a Psalm? Today, we will try to get a Psalm stuck in our heads: “Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8. This scripture will revolutionize how you live your life. You will no longer focus on the cultural pursuit of knowing who you are but on knowing who your God is.

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In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon shares the five most straightforward ways to wreck your life, and Pastor Mike shares five ways to thrive and flourish all the days of your life. Listen in today today as he explains how to Thrive and Flourish.

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God is the God of second chances and wants to use you today! True Godly freedom comes when we admit our failures and humble ourselves before our Heavenly Father. Point back to the right road today; don’t wait for your old age to turn and regret life’s foolish decisions of living culturally “free.” Don’t wait for things to fall apart; listen to God’s wisdom today.

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When we go over the edge of the guardrail, we can wreck our lives and damage relationships. We think we can total our lives, but God can save us from any wreckage. You need to give yourself more than just the thin yellow line that culture provides. The thin yellow line on the road allows you to serve off and cause some damage easily. But strategic guardrails set by Godly wisdom keep you from danger and prevent having to do damage control. Proverbs 4:25-27 provides us with guardrails we can put in place today.

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If we want to wreck our lives, reject godly wisdom. If we're going to live a rich life, we need to respect and embrace God's wisdom and guardrails. King Solomon, known for his wisdom and wealth, admits his downfall started when he foolishly rejected God's wisdom and ignored God's guardrails. In the book of Proverbs chapter 3, Solomon writes how to get back on the right road and pursue Godly wisdom. It is never too late to get back on the right road. God loves you. He will always embrace, forgive, restore, and renew you.

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Subsplash description: We often take for granted the invisible guardrails strategically placed before the dangerous part of the road as we drive. Most of our deepest regrets and failures could have been avoided if we had just some boundaries set in place. God is a good father who desires to lovingly keep you safe with guardrails and boundaries. Living your life between his loving guardrails means you heed God’s fatherly wisdom. Boundaries are not meant to restrict or steal all the fun; they are set in place so you can live a full life.

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You cannot handle life on your own. Of course, you need God's strength, but that isn’t all! God gives us the gift of other people to fight sin, get through trials and keep the faith. Don’t wait; start now and reach out to someone today.

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We need the connection and support of others. Happiness and deep relationships go hand in hand. Want to lessen your chance of anxiety and depression? Want to live a long life? A deep connection with others helps us through trials and gives us endurance.

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Failure is succeeding at something that doesn't really matter. What really matters? How about the fruit of the Spirit? Not that we would do it apart from Him, but that success is submitting to Him and allowing him to produce those fruits in us.

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To know who you are, you need to know who God is. Once you can see Him and His character we can then see who He says we are. When we see who we are in Him, we can be free. Free from chasing and scheming for the next little hit of success. In freedom, we don't have to keep up because He is enough.

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Envy fuels stress and anxiety and ignores all the good gifts we have. A good idea would be to encourage others, let them go first or celebrate someone else's success. When we turn our eyes away from ourselves, we truly begin to win.

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"So, what do you do for work?" Ever get that question? Who we are and what we do are very different, but when we get these confused, we are on the path to disappointment. Let's trust who God has said we are rather than striving to accomplish what will never be enough.

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Happiness isn't something that is arrived at; it is enjoyed now! Success can't be the driver in finding our joy. How do we know? Look at Solomon. With all he accomplished, he "hated all the hard work" he had done. Isn't that amazing? Let's remember what gives us satisfaction and stay content in the moment.

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Don't ignore what actually has the power to give you joy: our relationship with Christ. We will never find contentment if we slip into endless "if only..." statements. Contentment comes from a proper perspective and rejecting the lie that external pleasure could satisfy us.

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Do you find yourself a slave to pleasure? The problem with your appetite is that it never ends! Solomon had access to it all, but it was never enough. Surrendering our appetites and trusting God with them is the only way to find freedom from the bottomless pit of pleasure-seeking.

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Join us this week as we delve into King Solomon's writings. Through his words, we discover a profound truth: knowing what is right and actually doing it are often two different things. As we explore Solomon's insights, we find him returning to a fundamental principle: Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge God.

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Do you want peace? Focusing on God is the way! When we put our thoughts on Him we can experience rest and peace even in the midst of the storm. Keep today’s verse in mind and experience perfect peace.

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Eternal life starts now! Isn’t that amazing? Let’s focus on this because it lasts and is so much more important than the temporary things of this world. Let's get on with the main course of knowing God and avoid wasting our time prioritizing our temporary home.

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We have a heavenly Father who knows your needs. We don’t need to be distracted worrying about keeping up with all the things of the world. We need to seek His kingdom, and everything else takes care of itself.

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When you are a doer, isn’t it easy to get distracted by what needs to be done? As we look at our passage for today, we can see that a change of perspective allows us to get things done without anxiety or distraction. We all need to prioritize our connection with Him, which recenters and reprioritizes our focus correctly.

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God has you here for a reason, so how do we stay focused on what matters to Him? We all know how easy it is to be distracted. We are on our phones too much, and social media can steal an hour easily. So, what do we need to do to avoid distraction? Join us this week as we study God’s word and consider what an undistracted life looks like.

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No one wants trials or problems; everyone wants comfort. Yet, how do we grow without these difficult seasons? Strength comes from dependence on God. His kindness will give you more than you can handle to move you to God-reliance. Let us trust Him with our suffering, knowing He will use it for our good.

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Obedience-optional Christianity is not Christianity at all. Jesus is not a life coach, but our Lord, and we need to give up ourselves and follow Him. We must take up the cross and follow Him if we want the joy of being His disciple. There is an amazing life waiting for you on the other side of denying yourself and following Him.

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