WEBVTT 00:02.360 --> 00:03.579 [SPEAKER_00]: Christian parenting. 00:07.523 --> 00:12.187 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you searching for perfect gifts to celebrate the special moms, dads, and grads in your life? 00:12.788 --> 00:17.652 [SPEAKER_00]: We are thrilled to bring back the Christian parenting, moms, dads, and grads, gift guide. 00:18.193 --> 00:20.475 [SPEAKER_00]: And this year's edition is our best one yet. 00:20.956 --> 00:28.122 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you're honoring a loving mom, a devoted dad, or an inspiring grad, we've got you covered with meaningful gifts they'll truly love. 00:28.743 --> 00:36.450 [SPEAKER_00]: From Bibles and Study Tools to Encouraging Books, your guaranteed to find something 00:36.430 --> 00:45.500 [SPEAKER_00]: Visit ChristianParentine.org forward slash gifts to explore the 2026 moms, dads, and grads gift guide today. 00:46.001 --> 00:48.128 [SPEAKER_00]: The link is also in the show notes. 00:49.188 --> 00:51.472 [SPEAKER_00]: Hello and welcome to the True Seekers Podcast. 00:51.913 --> 00:54.618 [SPEAKER_00]: Today's episode is part of our praying the Bible series. 00:55.240 --> 00:59.808 [SPEAKER_00]: Each episode we read a verse from the Bible and learn how to pray it back to God. 01:00.430 --> 01:03.516 [SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever struggled with knowing what to say to God when you pray? 01:03.556 --> 01:08.445 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we don't always know how to pray or what to pray when we're talking to God. 01:08.425 --> 01:15.155 [SPEAKER_00]: The good news is that God has given us the Bible, and the Bible is filled with all kinds of truths that we can pray back to Him. 01:15.796 --> 01:23.468 [SPEAKER_00]: When we are at a loss and don't know how or what to pray, we can turn to the Bible to give us truth that we can stand on when we talk to God. 01:24.048 --> 01:28.094 [SPEAKER_00]: Did you know that when you ask Jesus into your heart you become a child of God? 01:28.715 --> 01:35.125 [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible says we can have confidence when we come before Him because He is our Father and He hears us. 01:35.105 --> 01:41.495 [SPEAKER_00]: Today, I'm going to show you how we can pray the Bible using a powerful passage about the armor of God. 01:42.276 --> 01:49.547 [SPEAKER_00]: Today's passage comes from Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians is a book in the New Testament written by a man named Paul. 01:50.148 --> 01:55.155 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul wrote this letter to help believers understand how to live strong in their faith. 01:55.135 --> 02:00.383 [SPEAKER_00]: In this part of the letter Paul talks about something called the armor of God. 02:00.423 --> 02:10.618 [SPEAKER_00]: He explains that just like soldiers were armor to protect themselves, God has given a spiritual armor to help us stand strong against the enemy. 02:10.638 --> 02:17.869 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's read Ephesians 6-10-20 to hear about the different parts of the armor of God. 02:19.267 --> 02:22.532 [SPEAKER_00]: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. 02:23.032 --> 02:27.719 [SPEAKER_00]: Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 02:28.280 --> 02:39.937 [SPEAKER_00]: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 02:40.578 --> 02:47.147 [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. 02:47.127 --> 02:49.691 [SPEAKER_00]: and after you have done everything to stand. 02:50.412 --> 03:01.106 [SPEAKER_00]: Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 03:01.807 --> 03:09.017 [SPEAKER_00]: In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 03:08.997 --> 03:14.423 [SPEAKER_00]: take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. 03:15.084 --> 03:24.754 [SPEAKER_00]: And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. 03:25.355 --> 03:38.329 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray also for me that whenever I speak, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador and chains, 03:38.309 --> 03:39.410 [SPEAKER_00]: as I should. 03:40.942 --> 03:47.968 [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, true seekers, today we are going to focus on just one piece of the armor that we just read about. 03:48.569 --> 03:51.551 [SPEAKER_00]: We are going to focus on the belt of truth. 03:52.352 --> 03:58.317 [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible says stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. 03:58.938 --> 04:02.180 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we pray, let's take a moment to think about what this means. 04:02.961 --> 04:06.624 [SPEAKER_00]: The belt in a soldier's armor held everything together. 04:06.664 --> 04:09.987 [SPEAKER_00]: It helped 04:09.967 --> 04:14.976 [SPEAKER_00]: in the same way truth holds our lives together, but what is truth? 04:15.737 --> 04:18.803 [SPEAKER_00]: Truth is what God says is right and real. 04:18.843 --> 04:20.887 [SPEAKER_00]: Truth is what is real. 04:21.588 --> 04:24.313 [SPEAKER_00]: God's word, the Bible is truth. 04:24.994 --> 04:29.983 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus even said, I am the way, the truth and the life. 04:29.963 --> 04:43.785 [SPEAKER_00]: When we know the Word of God, we know truth, and it helps us make good choices, no right from wrong, when to stand strong, when something isn't right, and it keeps us from believing the lies of the enemy. 04:43.805 --> 04:52.318 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we might be tempted to believe things that are not true, like lies about ourselves, about others, or even about God. 04:52.779 --> 04:57.827 [SPEAKER_00]: But God wants us to know his truth, 04:59.005 --> 05:01.330 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let's think about how this applies to us. 05:01.952 --> 05:04.918 [SPEAKER_00]: First, I want you to take a moment and thank God for his truth. 05:05.440 --> 05:09.790 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank Him for giving us the Bible so that we can know what is right and true and good. 05:10.712 --> 05:17.908 [SPEAKER_00]: Next, think about a time when it might be hard to tell the truth, or when you might be tempted to believe something that isn't true. 05:17.888 --> 05:24.379 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's easier to lie to stay out of trouble or maybe you've believed something unkind about yourself. 05:24.919 --> 05:33.794 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to give that to Jesus and ask him to help you walk in truth, to keep the belt of truth girded tight around your waist. 05:34.215 --> 05:37.540 [SPEAKER_00]: The you would take God's word with you everywhere you go. 05:37.580 --> 05:41.366 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about how you can live out truth this week. 05:41.386 --> 05:43.069 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you need to be 05:43.049 --> 05:46.774 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you need to believe what God says about you instead of negative thoughts? 05:47.475 --> 05:51.300 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask God to help you live by His truth every day. 05:51.340 --> 06:02.616 [SPEAKER_00]: The more you spend time reading the Bible, the more you spend time memorizing scripture verses, the more you spend time even listening to this podcast about the Bible stories. 06:03.097 --> 06:07.042 [SPEAKER_00]: You are keeping the belt of truth around you. 06:07.062 --> 06:08.865 [SPEAKER_00]: It is protecting you. 06:09.265 --> 06:12.870 [SPEAKER_00]: It's protecting your mind. 06:12.850 --> 06:19.001 [SPEAKER_00]: And what you believe will come out in the words you speak and the choices that you make. 06:19.442 --> 06:21.906 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's important to believe the truth. 06:22.327 --> 06:28.859 [SPEAKER_00]: It's important to keep God's word in front of us every day so that our minds know it and our hearts receive it. 06:28.879 --> 06:37.474 [SPEAKER_00]: That is keeping the belt of truth around our waste, every day so we can fight against the lies of the devil. 06:37.454 --> 06:39.116 [SPEAKER_00]: Great job two seekers. 06:39.556 --> 06:43.280 [SPEAKER_00]: Now that we've thought about what this first means, we are ready to pray. 06:43.320 --> 06:47.304 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to pray and you can listen for all the ways I pray the Bible. 06:47.364 --> 06:51.108 [SPEAKER_00]: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you that you are a God of truth. 06:51.649 --> 06:55.593 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for giving us your word so that we can know what is true and good. 06:56.214 --> 06:59.117 [SPEAKER_00]: Help us to put on the belt of truth every day. 06:59.177 --> 07:02.060 [SPEAKER_00]: Help us to be honest in what we say and do. 07:02.100 --> 07:05.824 [SPEAKER_00]: Help us to speak your truth and believe your truth. 07:05.804 --> 07:12.451 [SPEAKER_00]: even when we are tempted to lie or believe things that are not true, remind us, Holy Spirit of your truth. 07:13.092 --> 07:16.315 [SPEAKER_00]: Teach us to stand strong in your word and to trust what you say. 07:16.875 --> 07:23.943 [SPEAKER_00]: Help us to remember that your truth holds our lives together, keeps us strong, and protects us against the lies of the enemy. 07:23.983 --> 07:29.649 [SPEAKER_00]: Let your truth guide our thoughts, our words, and our actions, so that others can see you in us. 07:30.169 --> 07:32.532 [SPEAKER_00]: We love you, Jesus, in your name we pray. 07:32.592 --> 07:33.853 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 07:35.116 --> 07:38.100 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, before we go, I have a few shoutouts I want to give. 07:38.541 --> 07:43.147 [SPEAKER_00]: We haven't done reviews in a while, so I just wanted to give a shoutout to Roxie. 07:43.788 --> 07:44.969 [SPEAKER_00]: She says it's amazing. 07:45.090 --> 07:47.413 [SPEAKER_00]: I listen to it every day during breakfast. 07:47.473 --> 07:49.275 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, thank you, Roxie, for that review. 07:49.315 --> 07:56.005 [SPEAKER_00]: The next one says, my daughter and I have been listening since she started preschool. 07:56.525 --> 08:02.153 [SPEAKER_00]: This podcast has such great content and really helps tell the story in a way my daughter can understand. 08:02.133 --> 08:04.876 [SPEAKER_00]: and that came from IT guy Eric. 08:04.957 --> 08:07.680 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you very, very much for that review. 08:07.700 --> 08:12.346 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, the next review says I am Ezra from Florida. 08:12.426 --> 08:15.450 [SPEAKER_00]: I listen to this podcast every night and sometimes in the car. 08:15.470 --> 08:18.053 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't pick a favorite because they are so good. 08:18.173 --> 08:19.795 [SPEAKER_00]: Now I am a listener from the start. 08:20.276 --> 08:22.098 [SPEAKER_00]: I give you infinity stars. 08:22.158 --> 08:25.002 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, thank you Ezra for that review. 08:24.982 --> 08:30.291 [SPEAKER_00]: As always, I love taking the time to read the reviews that you're leaving and the messages that you're sending me. 08:30.652 --> 08:41.190 [SPEAKER_00]: So please keep sending those reviews and those messages and I will keep reading them just because it's a way for me to be able to connect with you and if you haven't, you can go to iTunes. 08:41.271 --> 08:43.975 [SPEAKER_00]: That's where I see the majority of the reviews. 08:44.015 --> 08:46.720 [SPEAKER_00]: You can email me at Sheryl and R Grant. 08:46.700 --> 08:48.143 [SPEAKER_00]: at gmail.com. 08:48.665 --> 08:52.113 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're listening on Spotify, there are ways to leave comments there. 08:52.133 --> 08:56.062 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't always see them, but you can leave comments there. 08:56.123 --> 08:59.832 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to get better at checking those over there as well. 08:59.952 --> 09:04.202 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you and I look forward to our time together next week. 09:24.415 --> 09:26.697 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you.