JKO: [00:00:00] Welcome to this episode of Messy Can't Stop Her. I'm your host, Judith Kambia Obatusa, J K O. We're continuing our series on receiving prayers over ourselves. And on today's episode, actually the hundredth episode of Mercy Can't Stop Her, we are so privileged to have a woman who has walked alongside many women over the years supporting them on their journey of life as a women's group leader. And that women's group started out of a church, but it's basically multi denominational and it's been a blessing to many women, including myself. So on today's episode, we are privileged to have Renice Edmison. Renice, welcome.[00:01:00]
Renice: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me, Judith. It's, it's really nice to be here. Seeing your face again. I haven't seen you at all, but, um, it's really nice to see you again. I used to lead a women's group at a church that I still attend and I began going to that group because I was just coming out of a season of extreme heartache and I was very broken and needed a group of women of faith and experience and life experience and I knew that God was leading me to a place like that.
And so I began going as a woman, a participant crying every week and I found so much healing in that place and eventually after many years I began to co-lead it with a couple of different women and it was a blessing to me and I began to see the blessing it was to other women and [00:02:00] see get to witness people in their journey of faith and hearing people coming in feeling so broken and wounded so much. and finding victory over the things that have wounded them. So it has been such a blessing to be a witness to what God has done in women's lives throughout the years. And I'm so glad for the time that we spent together in that, during that season. It was a real blessing to have you there. And hear all the wonderful things that you always had to share.
So, yeah, I'm so glad you're here. Even though that group, has sort of officially changed, the connection between those women forged over the years, over experience, prayer has really stood the test of time. And so whenever someone has a need or request, it is immediately put out there. And in that group, we've seen things happen.
And there is a real. firmness of faith [00:03:00] when we take prayer to that group because we have seen things, we've witnessed things happen, things change through the power of prayer. And so it has really taught me a lot about the importance and significance of prayer, how powerful and effective it is. That group has been a gift to me in so many ways, prayer being one of them.
JKO: Thank you so much, Renice. I really love how you've helped us get into today's episode because I strongly believe that when life throws its curves at us and we don't know what to do, it's very, very helpful to have something bigger than yourself that you can hold on to. And how do you hold on to? By speaking, by bringing your requests.
And for me as a believer, as a Christian, and many other people that I know, even those who are not Christians, they [00:04:00] benefit from prayer. Being able to lay it down at the feet of someone else who can pick it up and change your situation or help you through your situation is very important. And I love the fact that you talked about it so you've seen it happen.
Prayer make a difference in people's lives, in your life as a person who joined that place when you were broken and journey through the journey, broke, broken journey of brokenness. Of all the women you saw. If there’s one thing you could tell me about the impact prayer has made in your life. What would it be?
Renice: The impact of prayer in my life is feeling the closeness of God, feeling the presence of God and recognizing His sovereignty. He is able to do what we are almost afraid to even ask, what we don't [00:05:00] even dare to ask because we cannot even fathom a different scenario in our lives. That what we're facing feels so impossible and so overwhelming that we can't even fathom asking for something in that area.
But prayer, through practice of prayer, building up step by step by step, you begin to see God answering these prayers. And as you continue to grow in that, you realize, I can ask for bigger and bigger and bigger things. God is faithful. And that doesn't mean a prayer that we ask. He answers the prayers that are in alignment with his will, but we know that He has the power and the sovereignty and the ability to change things and to make a way and to bring healing in areas that feel absolutely insurmountable. [00:06:00]
So, for me, it's just recognizing the enormity of God and his ability. His power and yet tenderly wrapped up in his arms and feeling very intimately close to him at the same time was just a huge juxtaposition in realizing you are connecting with. the God of the universe and yet it is so intimate and so personal.
JKO: So many people that listen to Messy Can’t Stop Her, they are not Christians. If you're talking to somebody who is a, who is not a Christian about how this would be beneficial to them, what would you say?
Renice: Well, I think people are drawn to share. People are drawn to communicate. When we go through difficult things, our tendency is to want to talk to someone, to share with them, to work it out with them, [00:07:00] and people are flawed, and people are not always able to be there in those moments, in those desperate moments, but God, we have access all the time, anytime we can access a relationship, a conversation with God. And that is just that we're always connected to him. So whether you're a believer or not, we always have access to him. We always have someone who is going to listen, someone who is compassionate and kind, and someone who will always give us best advice, best guidance.
So I would say, I would say that for someone who doesn't normally pray. That's why we pray is that all the things that we're seeking from people that don't always hit the mark, we can get from God anytime, anywhere, any place and that's access that we don't [00:08:00] have with human relationships.
JKO: It's wonderful. That's wonderful.
So on today's episode, you're here to shower us with prayer. So if you're here, if you're listening to us this day, morning, afternoon, evening, whenever you're listening on your drive in your kitchen, wherever you are. I'd like you to just take a moment and receive this shower of prayers as Renice speaks God's word over us today.
The floor is yours, Renice.
Renice: Thank you. I think on that note, I will begin with prayer. Lord, we thank you that you are a good and loving father, that you are the God of the universe and yet you are the God of our hearts who knows us and loves us so intimately. Thank you, Father. You are good. Help us to know that you are near to us.
When we pray Jesus, change the atmosphere in our hearts, change perspectives. [00:09:00] And help us father just to receive what it is that you want us to hear this day in your name we pray amen.
When you first talked connected with me about this podcast. I don't know if you even realized but you shared the verse Isaiah 43, and that struck me immediately.
Because as I said at the beginning, when I was going through a season of difficulty and heartache, that was the verse that God immediately gave to me. And it has been such an encouragement to me throughout the years, particularly when I was right in the depths, despair, really. And so that has been such a blessing to me, this verse.
So that's the verse I want to share. I want to share Isaiah 43 verse 1 to 3. It says, but now this is what the Lord says. He who created you, O Jacob, [00:10:00] he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burnt. The flames will not set you ablaze, for I am the Lord your God. Amen. The Holy One of Israel, your Savior. And I have to tell you, the power of those verses, the power of God's Word, is something else.
As we look in that passage, we look at God the Creator. A creator is fully invested in their creation. He is intimately aware of the strengths, the limits, the weaknesses, the personality of His creation. [00:11:00] He knows us. And when we are suffering, God does not expect us to be perfect in our suffering. He does not expect us to be strong in our suffering.
It's in our suffering that we recognize our humanity, that we recognize our absolute need for God. And Lord, we thank you that we need you, that you are there for us. God, maybe cry out to you as we recognize our need, and not to others, but cry out to you, Father. It says in 2nd Corinthians 12, 9, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
He gives us no more, no less than we need in that moment. We want to be rescued out of it. We want to be removed from the situation, but that's not what God does. He gives us grace for the moment, no more, no less. And I pray Jesus that as we face our situations, as [00:12:00] we just Want so desperately to be out of our situation any situation that is causing us hurt.
It is causing us pain It is causing us grief Confusion fear Lord. May we seek your grace because it is sufficient and may we rest Peacefully in your sufficient grace. Maybe not clamor for more Escape, but may we clamor for your presence for your nearness because your grace is sufficient Jesus And verse one, it also says that He has redeemed us.
So we know that Christ has paid the highest price for us. Why then would we ever believe that He would not rescue us from anything else? He has already paid the highest price. He will not abandon us to anything. He stays with us. We are called by His name. We are His. We have His stamp of approval of [00:13:00] ownership over us, that we are His, we belong to Him, and nothing can snatch us.
From his grasp, nothing can remove us from his love. We are His. And we thank you, Jesus. May we never forget that we are yours, that we belong to you, that our circumstances, the enemy has no hold over us, has no authority over us, but that we are yours. We belong to you. We are your children, your daughters, your sons.
You are a good and loving father, and we rest in you, Jesus. Thank you. In verse two, I love these verses where it talks about when you pass through the waters and when you go through the fire. And, you know, I think, Judith, I know you as well as myself, we both have experienced feeling lost at sea, feeling [00:14:00] overwhelmed by life's challenges.
We're drowning in fear, confusion, pain, rejection, hurt. But God is with us. He says, I will be with you. He is with us and that is a promise is a promise to us that he is with us that God of the universe, the creator of the universe is with us and will never leave us when the Israelites were fleeing Pharaoh's army, just like that.
We may be facing overwhelming and seemingly impossible opposition from the enemy, but we will pass through through through, we will pass through, because he says the river will not sweep over us. And he is a God who keeps his promises. This doesn't mean that our opposition is going to be removed. It doesn't mean that our situation is going to change in the blink [00:15:00] of an eye.
No, it doesn't mean this. But God will not allow it to overtake us. Jesus, we thank you that nothing, nothing escapes your sight. Nothing escapes your, your hand. Nothing can overtake us, Jesus. Because we are yours. Lord, I thank you. Help us father when we are stuck between the sea and an army of opposition, when we are stuck between walls of grief and pain and sadness, confusion, hurt, betrayal, when we are stuck in that hard place, Jesus, you are with us, and we will not be overtaken, and you, Lord, will create a path for us.
You will make a way for us, Jesus. In Exodus 14, 19 to 20, it says, Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also [00:16:00] moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.
You see, when he led them out, he made a way for them. He made a path for them. He cleared the way. He guided them through. He showed them where to go. When to go. The angel of the Lord was before them. And when they came to the sea and their path was blocked, when the army pressed in behind them, leaving them no escape, the angel of the Lord moved in to protect them.
He moved in behind them. In our hard places, God hems us in before and behind and all around us. The spirit of the Lord encamps around us. We thank you, Jesus, for your protection. Your holy protection that hems us in before and behind. There is nothing behind us that can chase us down and attack us. [00:17:00] Father, without you being there, there is no barrier in front of us.
That can stop us from passing through Jesus. Lord, you have made a way you will clear the path. Thank you for that. You have us in before and behind. Maybe feel your protection. Maybe feel your guidance as you lead us to new places. Jesus, give us the strength in those moments. Father, when we hear the war of the enemy coming against us, when we hear the cries of the people, father, help us just to surrender to you and your goodness.
You are faithful father.
Verse two, it says when we walk through the fire, we will not be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire in the book of Daniel. They weren't alone. [00:18:00] When the king looked in, he saw not only the three of them, but he saw another in there with them, and they were walking around. And when they escaped, they did not even smell like smoke.
Jesus makes way, he makes a way, and that we would escape these situations in our lives. Unburnt, but refined the refiners fire when we walk through the fire. We don't want to walk through the fire. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants to go through difficult things in our lives, but the refining fire burns away what is impure and what is unwanted.
And I can say that is true for myself. So many things were burnt away fire. I did not want to be crushed. But in the burning, in the crushing, so many things fell away and what was left [00:19:00] was a faith that was deeper and stronger than I'd ever experienced in my life. And I would never, ever take it away. I would never undo what has happened because my faith grew.
My understanding and my recognition of God in my life grew so much more. And it was. a gift. My brokenness I now see as a gift. I couldn't have seen that at the time. I couldn't have seen that at the time, but now I know it was such a gift. I want to read 1 Peter, and it says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, [00:20:00] spoil or fade. kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's work until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, a little while, you may have had to suffer grief of all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Oh, what a gift, a hard, hard, painful gift, and I don't want to diminish that, that the things that we're going through, the things that we experience in this life are so hard, but we have the hope of Christ stored for us in heaven, that though we go through these things, though we are refined by the fire.[00:21:00]
We may be proved genuine, and it may result in praise, glory, and honor. We thank you, Jesus. We thank you, God, that the things that we go through are not in vain. Jesus, you redeem them. You restore them. Father, there is purpose. On the other side, what the enemy meant to take from us, God, you restore fully. You are faithful, Jesus.
You are faithful. Romans, verse 3, says our suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance, character, and character, hope. In hopes not disappoint us, the things that suffering steals from us are repaid with godly virtues. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3 to 5 says, Praise be to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received.
For just as the sufferings of [00:22:00] Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. Your pain, your experiences that you're going to, they are not for nothing. God will redeem them. He will restore them, and He will use your experiences, your life to impact and change other people's lives.
He is constantly redeeming. His redemption isn't just in one moment, every time you comfort another, every time you speak into the life of another, every time you use the grief and the sorrow and the hurt that you've experienced to further God's kingdom, He redeems it more and more and more. 2 Corinthians 1 verse 21 to 22 says, Now it is God who makes both of us, both us and you stand firm in Christ.
He anointed us, He set His seal of ownership on us. And [00:23:00] put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing is to come Jesus
to come. You are what is to come father. We await you. We long for you. We long for the goodness of heaven. Jesus. This world is full of so much heartache and so much suffering and difficulty, but you father are the hope that we long for. You are the hope that we trust. You are the hope that is set in our hearts.
God, may we be refined in the fire that we are going through. I pray, Jesus, that we would not be burnt, but that we would be refined. That your virtues, Jesus, would be made alive in us, would be strengthened in us. I pray, Father, for your women, your children, your sons, your daughters, Lord, that they [00:24:00] would feel your presence right now, in this place, wherever they are, in this moment.
God, in their despair, when they cry out to you, in their joy. In their laughter. Father, may we praise you and honor you with our lives. We thank you Jesus. You are so good. And I just want to pray in closing Psalm 23 over us. Oh, Lord, you are our shepherd. We shall not want. You make us lie down in green pastures.
You lead us beside quiet waters for our soul. You guide us in paths of righteousness for your namesake. And even though we walk through the valley, we will fear no evil for your rod and your staff are with us. [00:25:00] You are with us and you comfort us, Jesus. You prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies.
You anoint our head with oil and our cup overflows. Surely, goodness and love will follow us all the days of our life. And we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.
JKO: Thank you so much.
Renice: Thank you
JKO: For you, our sisters that are listening this time. You heard those words. So many prayers, so many prayers.
I just sat down, closed my eyes and let it just wash over my spirit and I received it. And I encourage you to receive it because if you do that, messy won’t stop you. Thank you so much for listening. See you next time.
[00:26:00]
