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Guidance Light
Welcome to Guidance Light, where I aim to be your beacon of insight and inspiration. Through this platform, I offer valuable guidance and wisdom on various topics, all with the intention of illuminating pathways towards personal growth, self-discovery, and holistic well-being.
Looking at the data from my Buzzsprout page, I see that my podcast is well-established, with a consistent release schedule and a growing library of episodes. It's heartening to know that I've built a dedicated community of listeners who tune in regularly to engage with my content.
My website, guidance-light.com, serves as the central hub for my podcast. I'm proud to offer additional resources such as episode transcripts for accessibility and convenience, demonstrating my commitment to inclusivity and ensuring that my content is accessible to all audiences.
In terms of content, my episodes cover a diverse range of topics, including mindfulness, mental health, spirituality, and personal development. I also feature interviews with experts and individuals who share their stories and insights, adding depth and perspective to our discussions.
Overall, my podcast channel embodies my mission to uplift and empower my audience, providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate life's challenges and cultivate meaningful growth. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
For more information visit us at www.guidance-light.com or email me at Jon@guidance-light.com
May God Bless You,
Jon
Guidance Light
What is Grace?
In another gripping chapter, I share the harrowing tale of surviving a high-speed scooter crash without protective gear, miraculously emerging with only minor injuries. This near-death experience changed my perspective, making me recognize divine grace in my survival. We'll delve into the unwavering presence of God's grace, even in our moments of anger and disbelief, drawing parallels to biblical events like Moses and the burning bush. These inspiring stories and reflections aim to uplift and guide you, emphasizing that God's love and grace are eternal, boundless, and ever-present, regardless of our sins or how far we may stray. Let’s walk this path of faith and humility together, embracing the gifts God offers freely.
Welcome to Guidance Light, where God is always number one. We talk about faith, spirituality, the battles of the flesh and the spirit, but mainly we are here for you to walk in Christ. We know how hard life can be, we know the ups and the downs, but we are a family in Jesus and we are here for you. My name is John and this is Guidance Light. Amen, amen, amen, amen. Welcome guys. Welcome back to Guidance Light. Thank you guys so much for joining us from all over the world. We have listeners coming in from Sweden, africa, china, philippines, all over Central South America. We welcome you so much because god's family doesn't have any bounds. We all are a part of god's family to some degree and I am so honored that you guys have chosen guidance light as a medium to be able to listen to the word of god. Um, as it pertains to not only my life but so many others that can relate as well. You know, in today's topic we're going to be talking about God's grace. What does grace mean, right? And if you look at the word grace, right, the Bible talks about it in so many books, right, in Ephesians and Romans and Hebrews and John and Colossians, and it's also strewn throughout most of the stories in the Bible. Why? Because God is a graceful God. His grace looks after us, and today we're going to be talking about that. We're going to be talking about what is God's grace and how he tends to show it. So stay tuned as we go through this, guys, and I want to take a moment, really quick, to stop and introduce you guys to the website, to our website, if you haven't been there yet wwwguidance-lightcom. I'd also want to invite you guys to join our social media groups like TikTok, instagram, facebook. We post daily devotionals to be able to help you with your walk in Christ, or maybe to lift your spirits up on a day that you're feeling down, or to reinforce the Holy Spirit that maybe you feel on that specific time or day. So do me the favor share the news of our channel, share the news of our social medias. It's all there for free and it's there for you to be able to walk in Christ that much better, knowing that there are other people sharing in your faith and in your walk right alongside with you.
Speaker 1:All right, so, without further ado, let's go ahead and jump into the message here with a prayer. I always like to pray simply because the word of God is so holy. See, a lot of people tend to see it as just a book, but it's not. It's the living word of God. There was a video that I saw, and I can't recall exactly where I saw it, but it says that if you want to hear the voice of God, read the Bible out loud. That's something there, guys, that's something.
Speaker 1:So let's dive in, let's pray, let's ask God for understanding, because, as we've talked about in other episodes, understanding and revelation comes from the Lord and only from him. Father, we come to you tonight, lord, with open hearts, open minds, willing to know more about you, willing to give our time and mental fortitude to understanding a little bit more of the wonders of your love in our life, of the gifts that you give to us so freely, lord, from mercy to salvation, faith, strength, wisdom and understanding. Lord, father, we ask that you guide us through these moments, lord, that you guide us for the rest of our lives. Let us serve you in every way possible, father, and, as we tackle tonight's episode, we ask that you grant us revelation, understanding, reveal something in our lives through these words, that your grace has been enough, because it always is. Lord, in Jesus's holy name, I pray Amen. Now, guys, we're going to hop right into this and I want everyone to.
Speaker 1:If you haven't listened to any of my other episodes, I want you to be aware that from season one, episode one, all the way up to today, right this very second, this very moment, this ministry has been following my walk in faith, my turn from secular life into that which I am trying to give my life to God. And I want to highlight the word trying here, because when I say trying, it's because there is never a moment of perfection in my life. I am not perfect in any way, shape or form. I am not better than anybody who is listening to this or anybody that I run into. Why? Because I have my own faults, I have my own downfalls, but that's where God's grace comes in.
Speaker 1:See, I'm going to start here where it's in Ephesians, chapter two, verse eight through nine. It says grace is God's favor that offers salvation and secures it, and I'm going to follow up with Romans, chapter three, verse 24, says grace is what inclines God to give gifts that are free and undeserved by sinners. And that's so important to understand that God loves us so much that he sent his only begotten son that whoever shall believe in him he would give everlasting life. He's giving it freely. All you have to do is believe, and we spoke about what the declaration of I believe is on a previous episode, because it's not just words, guys, it's a declaration. And with that declaration comes the grace of God and those gifts that come so freely out of his love. And the funniest thing of all is that we don't deserve it.
Speaker 1:So I backtrack in my life here and I go back to the moment where I said I want to turn my life over to God. I want to stop everything I'm doing and I want to give my life to the one who designed me, the one who gave me breath, the one who has watched over me from the moment I was planted in my mother's womb. And we turn back time. And when I was born, my father didn't want me. My father abandoned me and my brothers and my family. My mother all of us and my mother took us to church, and my mother took us to church to a family in a church in South Florida. And for many years we grew up listening to the word of God and not understanding it, because we were children.
Speaker 1:I especially me I was young, very, very young, but after a while we fell away from the church and we moved away, and the important thing here is that there was a seed that was planted in me back then and, although I didn't realize it due to the fact of how young I was, it was always there, the fact of how young I was. It was always there. And no matter where I went, I always found myself seeking groups that were dedicated to learning more about God or having fellowship with a Christian mindset of, you know, doing things in a safe environment and something that edifies God in a safe environment and something that edifies God. But I also fell away from that too. As I got older and older, I started going through my trials and tribulations and I fell harder and further away from God each and every single day. But what I didn't know back then is that God's grace and will for me was still in my life, even though I had turned my back on God, because I did. There is no going around that fact.
Speaker 1:I had turned my background away from God and all I felt and all my focus was on the pain and misery of what I was going through, whether it was through relationships, whether it's through finances, whether it was through family, whether it was through whatever. My focus was on the pain that I was experiencing, the troubles, the heartache, the stress, and I never stopped. I never stopped to realize that God never let go of me. God never said, oh, because you don't want me, I won't, I don't want you. On the contrary, when things would get so hard, I would throw, I would, I would go onto my bed and I would pray with my eyes closed, laying down in bed right before going to sleep, and I would just ask God. I was like God, if you're really out there, help me out. Man, was I so wrong to do that? Because who am I? A servant, less than dust compared to God, asking God to prove himself in my life.
Speaker 1:Yet God's grace came through multiple times, but my pride, my pain, didn't allow me to see that. My pain and pride told me that what I was experiencing wasn't God, it was chance, it was luck, it was something else, it was my efforts, it was my strength, it was my knowledge, it was me that made it happen, not ever giving God the glory for what happened in my life. And God said I still love you, but you must learn that I am the one who gives and takes away. I'm the one who provides no-transcript. There is nothing that you can do that is without me. There is nothing that you can do that my grace will not provide. There is nothing that I will be willing to do for you. But until you accept that and you declare it, you will feel the pain, you will feel the crush, you will feel the stress and the loneliness and the depression and the emptiness that comes with my absence.
Speaker 1:I went through a time in my life that I felt like my life was falling apart, that suicide was the only option that I had to feel a sense of peace, not realizing that the Prince of Peace was calling me, that in that entire time, that his grace and will was there, knocking on my door and offering me a chance, pulling on the rope, and I was stubborn. I remember there was a time that I had moved out of my mother's house and I was living in an apartment on my own, going straight into college fresh, fresh student, fresh freshman, fresh, fresh student, fresh freshman and my focus was on being able to pay the bills, and I could barely do that. I was drowning financially to the point where, if I fast forward a couple months, throughout all the trials and tribulations that I was going through at that point in time, that I ended up losing everything I had. I was in the process of getting evicted. I was in the process of losing all my things. I lost my relationship at the time and I got on to a scooter that I had and I was heading over to my mother's house. Even though my mother and I had our differences at that time, she was still willing to take me back, because that's love. That's the love that God gives a mother to their children.
Speaker 1:And, as a prideful, stubborn young man, I didn't want to see it. I didn't, I didn't want to accept it. I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to see it. I didn't, I didn't want to accept it. I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to do anything. The only thing that I, my heart, was seeing, as I mentioned earlier, was the pain that I had been through. I didn't want to see anything else, but I didn't have anyone to go to.
Speaker 1:So I hopped onto my scooter and I was driving to my mother's house because I didn't have a way to do laundry, and that's the only place that I could. With my backpack, with a couple clothes. I was on my scooter, driving and a Tahoe ran a stop sign and I rear-ended the Tahoe on a motorcycle well, scooter going about 60 miles an hour, no helmet, no gloves, no anything. I cleared over the Tahoe completely, my body flew and I landed on the asphalt, on the pavement and I tumbled and tumbled and tumbled. My life flashed before my eyes. I tumbled and tumbled and tumbled. My life flashed before my eyes. The Tahoe pulled up next to me and then drove off and left me for dead. I had enough strength in my lungs to look at a car that was passing by that stopped to say Are you okay? And I just uttered the words 911.
Speaker 1:When I got to the hospital, I had road rash. I had all my joints were basically simultaneously sprained. But the doctor comes into the room and he looks at me and he says someone was looking out for you. There should be no reason that you're sitting here today speaking with me. You were on a high-speed crash with no helmet and you flew over 20 feet in the air and landed on asphalt Again, no protective gear in any way, shape or form, and all that you have to show for it is road rash on your knees and on your hands and a couple sprain joints.
Speaker 1:I don't know what's going on here, but if you don't believe in miracles, you should start believing. See, the funny thing is that about a week prior to that happening I would say about a week, a week and a half, maybe at best I stood outside. Maybe at best I stood outside angry at not only the world, angry at myself, but more importantly angry at God. I look at it back now and I can't help but to chuckle at my arrogance, at my foolishness. I sat outside under the stars at night and I screamed at the heavens where are you, god? You cannot be real, because if I'm going through what I am going through, then you cannot exist. Those are my words, and I didn't say it playing around. I meant it. I meant every word of it. I was furious with God. I was at a point in my life that be better than to continue the next day.
Speaker 1:But that seed that I spoke about, the one that was instilled to me from a very young age, kept nagging at me inside and I didn't recognize it back then, and it's taken a long time to recognize it, to be completely honest, and it made me a coward, but a coward because of a fear for God. See, I didn't realize it. I was angry at God. I was angry at my situation. I was angry at what was happening. I was angry at what my choices had to be, at what was happening. I was angry at what my choices had to be because I didn't want it to be that way.
Speaker 1:But the seed that was planted inside of me from a very young age by the Holy Spirit made me fearful of God's retribution. And because of that fear, because of that, I was too afraid to act on taking my own life, because I knew deep down inside that that was an unforgivable sin. For my life is not mine, it belongs to the Lord. My life is the grace that he has given me so that I can breathe and be on this earth in me, so that I can breathe and be on this earth and with my breath now, today, I know that it belongs to him and that every word that I utter should be in glory to him.
Speaker 1:Grace is a gift that God gives us. It's the gifts that he continues to give us when we kneel down and say God, forgive me of my sins. His grace is what forgives us. The blood that he shed on Calvary's cross is that which cleanses us of our sins, and it is a gift that he gave us for free so long as we believed, and as long as we continue to believe, and even after we are done believing, his grace stays, because what he gives, he gives for an eternity. His love for us knows no bounds, that it doesn't matter how mad you are, it doesn't matter how far you fall, it doesn't matter how fast you run away. He is always behind you. He is always willing to pick you up. He is always there for you. See, I opened the Bible here to talk about Moses and the burning bush and how God's grace granted him protection throughout his entire journey through egypt, through all the plagues of confronting pharaoh, to guiding his people out of misery and slavery.
Speaker 1:But, to be honest with you, what's more important is to understand that god's grace is all around us. It is everywhere, everywhere we look in our daily lives, we struggle, but we get back up. How does that happen? How? How? In Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 16, it says grace helps us in our every need. We seek him, we seek his word. We talked about at the very beginning, when we were praying, that the word of God is holy, that if you want to hear the word of God, to pray and to read the word of God out loud. Because in the book of Colossians it says gracious words are life-giving and point to Jesus. What does Colossians here saying? In chapter four, verse six, it says gracious words, words of God are gracious, and we've talked that grace is a gift and it is life-giving because it comes from the Lamb of God that was slain on Calvary's cross for all of us, whether we deserved it or not.
Speaker 1:Calvary, when Jesus was crucified on the cross guys, there was three people on that mound Three there was Jesus and two cross guys. There was three people on that mound. Three there was Jesus and two other condemned men, condemned to death for their sins. One of them turns to Jesus and says forgive me of what I've done and when you go to heaven, please don't forget me. And Jesus, dying on the cross For our sins, bleeding, bruised, battered, tired, with a crown of thorns Pushed onto his head, with nails driven through his hands and his feet, turns to him and says Today you shall be with me in paradise with my father.
Speaker 1:All it takes is a declaration of faith and God's grace comes. It comes and it doesn't leave. It guides you through the darkness, it guides you through the sorrow, it guides you through the pain. It lifts you up when you are down. His grace is his mighty hand, his righteous hand that lifts us when we've got nothing left to give. How many times have we heard the phrase that when my strength fails, it is when his begins?
Speaker 1:Think about what God's grace means in your life. Think about how many times you have been saved by grace but never given God the thank you that he deserved, never stopped for a second to say God, thank you for looking out for me when nobody else has. It is not thanks to your hard work that you have made it as far that you have. It is through God's grace of his will in your life that you have made it to where you are, of his will in your life that you have made it to where you are. It is through his grace and will that you are listening to this tonight, or today, or wherever you are.
Speaker 1:See, I had this big plan to get on this mic and talk about how God's grace turns into God's will and that the will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you. But I think it's important to understand One very simple fact that God's will is going to happen, no matter whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not. God's will is going to happen. It's like us going through life you have to grow up, the day is going to pass by, you are going to get older. God's will is not stopping for you or for anybody. His will will be done on earth, just as it is in heaven. But it is through God's grace and the gifts that he gives, the love that he shares and the peace that he provides that only he can give that gives us the strength to make it through the hard times, through the storms, through the storms.
Speaker 1:If you look back at the story when Peter steps off the boat in faith to reach Jesus in the middle of the storm, god's grace kept him walking on water. He says it's faith, because grace comes through faith. Faith, his love, his gifts come through faith, and that is what is so important. That's why everything surrounds Christians is the word faith, because through faith we are forgiven, and forgiveness is God's grace and mercy in our lives. So, as I am closing this out and I apologize that I didn't go into the book of Exodus too much If you haven't read it because God shows Moses unrelenting grace From the moment that he is born to the moment he closes his eyes. God is walking with him the entire time.
Speaker 1:So take a moment this week and I want you to write down all your hard times, make a list of all the times you can remember that were hard, and I want you to write down next to it what happened that made you get through it, and I want you to dwell on each single one of these and I want you to find God in that healing, in that deliverance, in that moment that you said I am free Because he is a chain breaker, he is a great deliverer, he is the great physician, the healer, and we need to say thank you, god, for all that you do in our lives and forgive me for not noticing sooner. So go ahead and bow your heads, guys, with me as we begin to close out this episode. Father, we come to you today, lord, weary, tired and full of sin, father, and we are here to say forgive us, Grant us your grace in forgiveness so that we may be closer to you each and every day, so that we can turn our lives over to you and that you can grant us the gift of understanding and revelation that it is through you, father, that we find our strength to rise every morning, to make it through the day, to keep on getting through that which tries to end us. Guide us through these times, lord, and help us see that which you will for us In Jesus' holy name, for it is through his grace that we are forgiven. I pray Amen.
Speaker 1:And with eyes still closed and heads still bowed, perhaps you have fallen away from God, or maybe you've never had a relationship with him. To begin with, just like I said in my story, I'm not perfect either, and God is there for you, no matter what. All you have to do is just believe, to declare with your own mouth and your own heart, with a humble heart, that you believe. So go ahead and pray with me and say Father, I know that I am a sinner. Father, I know that you sent your son, jesus Christ, to die on the cross for my sins, and through his blood I am cleansed. Forgive me of all my sins, because I want to dedicate my life to you from here on out, I want to live my life to you. From here on out, I want to live my life for you. Come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. In Jesus's holy name, I pray Amen. Thank you so much for joining us here at Guidance Light for the next episode here. I really hope that you took something from it and I'm so grateful that you're here with us. Again.
Speaker 1:If you haven't gone to our website, go over to wwwguidance-lightcom. It's full of resources to be able to help you with your walk in Christ. And, just like I mentioned earlier, go over to our socials TikTok, instagram, facebook. We're posting daily devotionals in order to help you walk with Christ, to inspire you, to lift you up in those times of need. Remember that God's word is alive and you never know that that daily devotional may be the key that you need to feel God's grace in your life. Help me spread the word. God calls us all, so please help me get this message out to as many people as possible and if you feel it in your heart to help our ministry, you can do that over at our website.
Speaker 1:And helping doesn't necessarily mean finances. It could be posting comments, spreading the word, doing all kinds of things to be able to help the word of God spread to those who are lost. See, god is calling each and every single one of us. We just have to stop to listen. We have to stop to see that God's will for us in our life is guiding us in the right direction.
Speaker 1:And I want to make sure that you understand that in the parable of the lost sheep in Luke, chapter 15, verse seven, it says I tell you in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need repentance. So if you prayed that prayer of acceptance today with me, welcome to God's family, welcome to becoming a brother or sister in Jesus Christ. Guidance Light is here for you today, tomorrow and as long as God allows. Thank you so much for being a part of our family. Thank you for tuning in, for spreading the word and for trusting in jesus. I am honored to be your host. This is john, with guidance light signing out with all the love in the world. Thank you so much and god bless. I will see you guys again next week.