Trusting God's heart over our own | Discovering true freedom in the Gospel
Stephanie reflects on the concept of freedom and the idea of choosing our master. As she shares her personal journey of relinquishing control, Stephanie challenges the notion that we are the best masters of our own lives. Instead, she encourages us to look beyond ourselves and find a master who is infinitely better than us. Join us as we explore the true meaning of freedom and discover the power of putting our trust in a trustworthy God.
In our culture, the world tells us to follow our own hearts, to be the masters of our own destiny. But as Stephanie points out, our hearts are not always trustworthy guides. She admits her own shortcomings and realizes that she is not the best master for her own life. Can any of us truly claim to be? Stephanie challenges us to consider who or what we are following in our own lives.
Stephanie then invites us to shift our perspective and look outside of ourselves for guidance, for a master who is infinitely better than us and who has our best interests at heart. She highlights that true freedom lies in choosing the right kind of help. In this case, it is choosing God as our master, the master who loves us infinitely, who knows all and has ultimate power and control.
Faith, Stephanie reminds us, is not a step in the dark. It is about stepping out boldly because we know whose hand we are holding. It is trusting in a God who has proven trustworthy time and time again. Putting our faith in our own hearts would be misplaced faith, but putting our trust in God brings us freedom and a clearer view of reality.
So, dear friends, let us consider who or what is truly guiding our lives. Are we choosing to follow our own flawed and finite hearts, or are we surrendering to the loving and wise guidance of our Heavenly Father? Let us choose the master who knows our purpose, who guides us towards true freedom, and who transforms us into the best version of ourselves.
True freedom is not found in independence but in choosing whom we will follow. We all have a master, something or someone who controls our lives. So, who will you choose as your guide to true freedom?
Get ready for an episode that will captivate your heart and inspire you to embrace the gospel in a whole new way. Welcome to Gospel Spice. Let's dive in.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit alongside Jesus and his initial audience? To experience the fresh spiritual flavors that the Messianic Jewish culture weaves into the four gospels? Well, that's exactly what we here aim to do through this original series, JESUS RABBI AND LORD. Stephanie invites you to dig deep into Scripture, unearthing raw diamonds that may need a little cleaning up, but will ultimately shine brightly.
So get ready to embark on this enlightening and transformative journey with Gospel Spice. Prepare to encounter Jesus in a way that resonates with our modern world and discover the richness of the gospel through the lens of Jewish culture. Let's dig deep, uncover the hidden spices, and experience the beauty of the Scriptures together. Welcome to Gospel Spice!
Grab your headphones, hit play, and let Gospel Spice be the catalyst for encountering Jesus in a way you've never experienced before!
Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog
DISCOVER THE GOSPEL SPICE MINISTRIES
The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries.
In a nutshell, we exist to inspire Christ-followers to delight in God.
In more details: we provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.
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Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. All donations above our minimal operating costs go to Christian organizations fighting human trafficking.
Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog
(*ListenNotes ranking, 2023)
This month we are celebrating the anniversary of Gospel Spice! We launched our first episode in 2019, when we faithfully and haltingly followed God's pretty clear directions!
Would you please take a moment to celebrate with us? There are 4 very simple ways to do that, and it would truly mean the world to us.
1- If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you will love receiving our newsletter. It contains value-packed free gifts and rich content each month. It’s at gospelspice.com/signup. There is always something new and exciting happening around here, and I don’t want you to miss out! Sign up at Gospelspice.com/signup
2- Did you know Gospel Spice has a YouTube Channel? There’s exclusive content there too. So, join Gospel Spice on YouTube! It's at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice
3- Also please give us a star rating and a comment on your podcast listening app. Your reviews actually really do make a difference to help others discover and experience Gospel Spice. You would be surprised how helpful these are! So please leave a star rating and a review of a sentence or two. Thank you!
4- As always, we are praying for you! You can confidentially email us your prayer requests and praise items at the email address contact@gospelspice.com. It is our privilege to pray for you!
So, would you please invest 3 to 5 minutes of your time, maybe even right now, to do 1 or more of the following suggestions:
1- signup on our website for our newsletter to receive gifts you’re going to love - at Gospelspice.com/signup
2- find us on YouTube, and see what content we’ve put together to help you grow closer to Jesus - at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice
3- rate Gospel Spice on your listening app – it’s one of the easiest ways to share the gospel!
4- and finally, tell us how we can pray for you!
Do you enjoy Gospel Spice? Then let's deepen our relationship! There are 4 very simple ways to do that, and it would truly mean the world to us.
1- If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you will love receiving our newsletter. It contains value-packed free gifts and rich content each month. It’s at gospelspice.com/signup. There is always something new and exciting happening around here, and I don’t want you to miss out! Sign up at Gospelspice.com/signup
2- Did you know Gospel Spice has a YouTube Channel? There’s exclusive content there too. So, join Gospel Spice on YouTube! It's at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice
3- Also please give us a star rating and a comment on your podcast listening app. Your reviews actually really do make a difference to help others discover and experience Gospel Spice. You would be surprised how helpful these are! So please leave a star rating and a review of a sentence or two. Thank you!
4- As always, we are praying for you! You can confidentially email us your prayer requests and praise items at the email address contact@gospelspice.com. It is our privilege to pray for you!
So, would you please invest 3 to 5 minutes of your time, maybe even right now, to do one (or more!) of the following suggestions:
1- signup on our website for our newsletter to receive gifts you’re going to love - at Gospelspice.com/signup
2- find us on YouTube, and see what content we’ve put together to help you grow closer to Jesus - at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice
3- rate Gospel Spice on your listening app – it’s one of the easiest ways to share the gospel!
4- and finally, tell us how we can pray for you!
Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog
We offer high-quality, full color, gorgeous PDF downloadable workbooks to come alongside each episode of this original series of Gospel Spice, Jesus Rabbi and Lord. These workbooks allow you to build your library of in-depth Biblical studies and content to maximize your time in Scripture and amplify your intimacy with God. For each episode, we offer:
- an episode summary
- a listening guide
- key takeaways from the episode
- key quotes
- Bible verses to enhance your experience
- up to 10 questions per episode to take charge of your quiet time
- topics for further research, based on the episode content.
There are 3 workbooks, each containing over 10 episodes to cover the entire series. You can buy them separately, or as a bundle for an amazing price!
Go now to https://www.gospelspice.com/jesus for the details and to purchase your Jesus Rabbi and Lord workbooks!
What matters to us here at Gospel Spice is to create a place where people who seek deeper intimacy with Jesus, will find Him. We want a warm, welcoming atmosphere to journey ever deeper into the heart of God. We believe it is the ultimate calling of the Christian life, and I like to summarize it with my motto, God’s glory, our delight. That is why we invite you to “taste and see” that the Lord is good. And we have been doing this every day since 2019. We need YOU to keep Gospel Spice alive and growing.
Financially speaking, we rely on people who understand this vision and who understand that we cannot function without a minimum budget. We run an extremely tight budget. For example, I work full time but don’t draw a salary. And yet, we have expenses – for example, the equipment and technology we use, and also the wonderfully gifted staff who make it possible to deliver high quality content all around the globe, and then the necessary occasional promotional budget to make it possible to be discovered by those who seek to live a life spiced with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need your help.
So we would love for you to consider if this ministry is blessing you to pay gospel spice forward. You can partner with us monthly with 10, 25, 50, 100, a month, or you can make one donation, once.
And because we are a register nonprofit organization in the United States under the status of a 501c3 charity, it means that the amount that you pay to gospel spice is fully tax deductible. Completely tax deductible. So you're even saving money as you invest in gospel spice ministries. It is an eternal investment, and we are very grateful to you for it.
Now it's very important to us that we give back as much as possible from what you give us. And so we commit to giving the majority of what we receive, once all of our administrative costs are paid, to organizations that fight human trafficking on the front line. There are many worthwhile causes in the world, so why this one? Because I have always personally felt deep compassion for victims of human trafficking – maybe because I have never been its victim myself, so I feel a responsibility to help those less fortunate than me. Also, because Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. Human trafficking is modern day slavery, and that is something that revolts the heart of God. We want to play our part in raising awareness and then financially supporting those who fight this great evil.
So, we do some due diligence. We pick organizations who have proven themselves trustworthy of our support. And then we give money to these Christians organizations that fight human trafficking.
So would you consider paying us forward at gospelspice.com/payitforward?
Your hard-earned money is always well used at Gospel Spice. Ultimately, you are giving back to the Kingdom, a portion of what Jesus has given you. We are well aware of the privilege to steward your partnership. And my prayer is always that you will find your own life spiced with the gospel as you partner with us to flavor the lives of those around us, near and far, with the spice of the gospel.
You are invited to join us on the Gospel Spice Prayer Bible Study, titled "The heart behind prayer" starting September 20, 2025! Details and registration here: https://www.gospelspice.com/prayer
There are a few things in our Christian life that we know we should do more, or at least better – and prayer just might top the list. Prayer is a mystery. Why would a conversation with a human have any influence on God’s eternal, sovereign plan? It defies logic, and beckons love. How can God, the Almighty Lord of Hosts, be this close, this personal? It defies understanding, and beckons involvement.
But, lack of time, inspiration, and discipline, combined with the ruthless tyranny of our busy lives, push prayer to the periphery, to the “one day I’ll get to it” pile. And yet, we can excel at what we endeavor to undertake. So, why isn’t prayer more of a spiritual priority? Could we develop a mindset around prayer that made it attractive, inspiring, even maybe delightful? What if we attuned our spiritual ears to listen to God, and our spiritual eyes to see His provision?
As an unassuming student, I’m going to humbly offer to share the little I have learned from others about the joy of prayer. I will give us theology, practical tips, and useful resources, sharing what works for me as we, together, learn to pray.
If you find prayer intimidating, or if your lack of prayer makes you feel guilty or “less than,” then this is the place for you! If you have been a student of prayer for many years, this is the place for you too! If you have breath in your lungs, then prayer can become one of the deepest joys of your day. Don’t miss out!
A PERSPECTIVE ABOUT PRAYER
To pray is to believe that God not only hears, but that He responds. It is to stand in the gap for a broken world, wielding the authority of Christ, empowered by the Spirit, and trusting in the goodness of the Father. The question is not whether prayer works, but whether we are willing to pray the kinds of prayers that invite God’s Kingdom into the darkest places of the earth—and of our own hearts.
We may never fully understand the mechanics of prayer, or how it intersects with God's sovereignty, but we are not called to understand everything. We are called to be faithful. And faithfulness means showing up—in prayer, in persistence, in expectation.
So today, let us pray not only for the comfort of our hearts, but for the transformation of the world. Let us take our place as image-bearers, co-laborers, and co-heirs. Let us believe that God is still listening—and still acting. Because He is.
There’s only one way to find out what might happen when we truly pray like this.
Let’s begin.
THE MINDSET BEHIND THIS COURSE
Before we begin, let me tell you the obvious: I don’t really know how to pray. I’m a humble student and absolute beginner at the holy endeavor that is prayer. So, this course isn’t really about what I’ve learned, or any wisdom I might have gathered. But, I’ve sat at the feet of many prayer warriors over the decades, through books and teachings.
So, I’ll share what I learned from them. Humility is going to be our primary heart posture! With each lesson, I will offer a few thoughts, practices, and ideas – with much humility, and not taking myself too seriously. I will also share her favorite books and resources about prayer. FInally, I will introduce you to some of the most influential prayer warriors of our history as the Body of Christ.
Most importantly, I will invite YOU to pray! Learning to pray comes from praying. Our humble ambition is to inspire you to pray, and to give you a few tips on how to do that. Then, it’s up to you! Prayer is a lifelong endeavor. Let’s make it delightful together!
So, let’s get started.
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