Ron + Hope: Unfiltered - Is Self Care Biblical?

Hello, guys. Here we are. Ronin.

Hope.

Unfiltered, Real, raw, relevant. I am fast. I am fast. You do it.

You like my beard?

Yes, I love your beard. I don't even know what you're doing with it, but I got a little unique. It's a little different. I mean, have you seen this somewhere? Like, are you trying to look like.

I wanted to something. I wanted to pull out a heavier drip to my life.

A heavier drip.

Okay, A heavier drip.

So I'm not quite sure.

I'm gonna go about right here. About right here?

No, you're not.

Yes, about right here. No, I want it to bleed long enough to blow in the wind.

No, I don't like that. So. Right. It's going, like, way, like.

Yeah, it's got an angle. It's like a piece of pink. But it's clean, though.

It's like a piece of pizza.

It's just in the beginning stages.

Oh, is that right?

You're making fun of me now?

It's gonna look like something I had no clue about, but I'm gonna love it.

Thousands of followers when this is seen. Thousands.

Okay. All right, so here we are. Ron and Hope Unfiltered, with the new beard.

Real, Ron. Real. I'm just getting started.

Okay.

I didn't shave today.

I'll wait and see.

Okay.

I'll wait and see. We'll. We'll check back in a few weeks. This beard. Oh, my God.

It'll look good with suits.

Okay, guys, so today we are going to dive into a subject that has. Honestly, it is a movement.

It was a movement.

It is a movement. It has swept.

She started telling me about self care. I'm like, yeah, I know about self care. She said, no, it's a movement.

It has swept the earth. The whole earth.

I mean, people have been taking care of their self a long time.

Yeah, but this is like a new vogue posh thing, like self care, you know? Okay, yeah, Hashtag self care. You don't know about it.

Yeah, I do know, but I come short of calling it a movement. But anyway, you know, just. I'll get on this and ride. We'll roll with it and see where it goes. So what do you. What do you want to say about it?

Well, I just want to talk about it today and just come from a Christian standpoint, a biblical standpoint. Is self care even biblical? Is it biblical? And if it is, what does the word say? You know, the whole movement is surrounded by the assumption that we have the power within us to heal ourself.

Now the doctrines and the philosophies that roll with it are probably where I would have great disagreement. The idea of taking care of self is a biblical. You are the temple of the Holy Ghost. If he don't have that place to dwell, then as we understand the Bible and the way God has limited himself because he gave man to have dominion in the earth. If God doesn't have your temple to express himself through, then God is without that flesh. Why did he come as Jesus? He needed flesh in the earth. Why does the Holy Spirit live in us? Because he needs hands. Feet. He needs feet, hands.

He needs some feet.

He needs a voice. And so yeah, and I'm going to go in here a minute and talk about my father and his lack of self care and how I think it led detrimental to a very premature death in my dad's life. I'm going to talk about that. That'll be not so funny. It'll be a little vulnerable because you know how much my dad was precious to me. But yeah, I believe I could prove biblically that God is in to care. I know that I have the four forms of energy I teach everybody about. I told a staff about that yesterday and if you want me to, I'll bring that up because that's a form of taking care of yourself. But when you prefer yourself over your brother, we got problems. I think the better word for self care would not be self care, be boundaries.

Well, I think the movement though, the whole worldly movement of it is that.

The power is healing.

There's so many stressors from the outside and we all have that right. Our home, our bills, our kids, our children.

Our doctor told me one time, he said, you got to reduce the stress on you.

Okay, Okay.

I mean, you know, so that the.

Stress comes from the outside. So therefore we have to from the inside. We have to that we can do it on our own, that we heal ourself. We have to make this choice, this mind switch that you've put this stress on me. I have to take care of myself whether I need to go to the beach or I need to go to the spa day. But you know the gospel, it counters that thought. It counters it. Matthew 11:28 says what? It says, come to me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

The idea, like I said, the religion that accompanies it, the Bible says, I know this is heavy to some people, says if anybody preaches a doctrine other than Jesus, let him be accursed. And then he says anything other Than a doctrine of Jesus is a doctrine of demons. So there's only two places where philosophies come from. It will arise out of the Spirit of God or arise out of darkness. And so what you got to understand, you don't have the power within yourself to do anything. No, if we could do that, there'd be no need for God to send his son. There'd be no need for grace, mercy, Jesus, deliverance, Holy Ghost power, the anointing. There'd be no need for all that if you could heal yourself and take care of yourself and save yourself. So none of that is in you. And we have learned, especially since we've been on the west coast, the word energy. And everybody points toward an energy but don't know what the source of the energy is. So they think the energy is just resident in the person. And the fact is, everywhere we'd go.

When we first moved here, they'd say.

Oh, it's great energy.

You have great energy.

You have positive energy.

Oh, you're vibrant.

I love your energy, you know, and you don't go in there like, that's the power of the Holy Ghost, you know, they don't. You're not in church, right? So the fact is what you do is you try to take them and say, well, yeah, I wish I could, but that all. That's me. God's been good to me and me. And you would do something to try to take it in another vein and get them asking us, where is. What is this reservoir that you're tapping into? The fact is, the spirit of God is inside you. His residency inside you. The Bible calls the anointing. And the Bible says. And the Bible, the word Christ also means anointing. The whole book of Ephesians. Hope is in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ. So you got to understand, if you know how to tap into the anointing of the spirit of God on the inside of you. What I do, funny, I'm being really, really good. If you know how to tap into the anointing of the spirit of God on the inside of you, everything that you need for self is there, but it's not resonating with you.

But it's not you.

It's not you.

It's not you. It's the Holy Spirit on you.

So trying to do it. Absence of the Holy Spirit is nothing but vain. Human philosophy, human philosophy and nothing. You know, humanism. Humanism has been around a long time. Maybe this is just a modern, updated version of it, but.

But I Do love a spa day now.

Of course you do. Everybody does now.

I do love a day at the beach.

I love a day. Look how frustrated do I get when I miss all my days off?

Yeah, very.

When we go through a week or two and I'm like, hey babe. Yeah, I didn't get my. I didn't have a day off.

You can't work all the time.

No. And so I get the concept.

Yes.

Because we live in a world that is man, it's like on the autobahn every day. I've never been busier.

Right, me either.

And I've never been more vocal. Probably to you when. All right, babe, I got to get out of here.

Yeah, we've got to calm down a minute.

I got to shut this phone off. I got, you know, my phone has blown up all day today. Things that you know, I can't even get to till tonight. So what happens? You take your home and work all night. So let me go back to my dad. This is going to be a little bit somber. I'll try to do this without getting emotional because my dad just walked on water. And even his daughter in law thought he walked on water. He was just the most amazing man. My dad had no self care at all. My dad didn't take vacations. My dad didn't take days off. My dad was on call 24 7. My dad would stay after church and talk to people four hours and miss lunch with family, miss dinners with family.

And if he did go on vacation, he would schedule a preaching engagement, preach.

On the way in and preach. Preach on the way back and let somebody stop by on the way. But we really. I only remember two or three really just vacations. And I remember vacations were planned but somebody would die. My dad was the one turn around and go home. And I remember how disappointing it was. Now having said all that, my dad had horrible eating habits.

Yeah, he did. He loved a good hot dog.

My dad would exhaust himself emotionally, give all of himself away. I would see him like at conferences and going back to the hotel at night and he was almost a mummy. But I don't care how many people want to stop. And you know me because you call it being rude. I got a place where I'm done. I'm just done if I go to preach. So if you're won't invite me to preach, let me tell you, I have a done spot.

After you've preached and poured out at the altar.

If I get up to 5:30 in the morning to head to the airport and I'm flying all day and I'm in a car hour driving from the airport to the hotel and I got 40 minutes before they gonna come back to pick me up to change and hurry up, shower off, whatever I want to do, then go in and you're gonna have a revival service, which sometimes can last hours. Then afterward, you know, there's 100 preachers in the back and you're gonna go back and meet them, then they're gonna have a meal and there comes a point, you've been with me and I just look at you and I'm. I'm done.

Yeah, done.

I'm done. Ron, you're being rude. No, I'm not being rude. I'm done. I don't have your bandwidth. That's my form of self care. Yeah, I know when I've hit a wall and when I've hit a wall now. And in my 50s, in my 20s and 30s, I wouldn't 40s, I started to 50s. I'll do it in a minute. I've done all I can do here. I've given you everything I've got to give. And now I'm about to start crossing lines of rudeness. Yeah, well, I'm about to start crossing lines because what you start doing is you start operating out of flesh because spiritually you're depleted.

So your dad did that?

My dad. My dad. And so my dad got sick. My dad got cancer and my dad fought it violently, and my dad lived a whole lot longer than he thought he would. But the last time my dad got diagnosed, because it would go away and it would come back and it would go away. He had a lot of miracles. But I looked at his. I looked at him and he just had nothing left to fight with because he was so tired by the way he lived his life.

Yeah, he was exhausted in every, every.

Area of his life, in every dimension of his person, my dad was depleted and my dad was exhausted. And I got to tell you, I don't feel like my dad was through. You know, don't come at me with theology and I email. I don't rectify all that in my mind. I don't think my dad was through. I think my dad left with unfinished business and my dad left with unfinished business because the lack of taking care of himself. So I'm going to give. After we talk about some of our sponsors, I'm going to talk a little bit about the forms of energy God's given us and how we balance them.

Yeah, I thought it was so cool, you know God always works things out. That our sponsor today.

Yeah. This is cool.

Is Noom.

I'm excited about this. I am too.

I'm so excited about it.

I'm excited about this one.

And I'm sure you've probably heard of noom. It's the new weight loss craze. And I'm sure the question I was going to ask is have you ever struggled to lose weight? And especially the older we get with our hormones and schedules and everything and.

For men, testosterone level drops. It's hard to build muscle, it's hard to build lean mass, really hard to burn belly fat. It's just a lot of things that happen as you age. But even younger people are dealing with with being overweight because we've become more remote, we've become more sedate, we've become more computer, we're not as active. So a lot of people struggle with it.

Yeah. But you know, we found a better way. There is a better method. And unlike other restrictive diets and programs, no weight uses psychology. Psychology to empower you with practical knowledge. And you've always said that.

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Smarter long term habits. Smarter long term habits and behavior. Listen, and I love in the program that you get an off day. I love the off day. Self care. Yeah. And then there's an app it you gives guides you. You also have a personal coach. That's big, that's huge for accountability. That's big and it really helps you live healthier and it's already helped millions live happier and healthier lives and achieve their weight loss goals. So start building better habits for healthier long term results. So sign up for your trial@noom.com Roninhope that's n o o m.com Ronandhope Whenever.

I went years ago to get help in this area when I'd hit my 40s, my blood pressure was high. 27% body fat. Didn't feel good about myself. The first thing that happened was this person took me and started training my thinking. Yes, I remember it wasn't a workout. He started retraining my thinking and I think Noom is onto something with this because when you can change the way a thinks, you can change their habits. When you change their habits, you change their life.

Yeah, you do.

So noom.com roninhope all right, you want me to move on into the four forms of energy. I'm not sure how much time we got on our left here. I'm not sure, but I want to talk about it a little bit.

Let's check our handy dandy phone.

Let's see.

Okay, go ahead. We got about 25 minutes.

We got about 25 minutes. Hang in here with me. I think this is important. Let me talk about boundaries first, baby.

Okay?

Boundaries. When I teach about boundaries at church, I always say this. I've never woke up and cut my neighbor's grass.

No, you haven't.

I've never woke up and seen the neighbor with a blower blowing the leaves off my sidewalk.

I've never gone and really mopped my neighbor's door.

And usually because they're property lines, and many times those property lines have a fence, have a ravine, have a ditch, have a creek. But there's some type of. This is yours. This is where mine starts. And so when it comes to physicality and grounds and houses and stuff like that, property lines are visible. When it comes to boundaries and how healthy you live your life, they're invisible and they're much harder to determine. And so whenever people are overwhelmed, usually there's a boundary that's being crossed. Okay. I ask people. These are hard questions. Guys, how far are you going to let your in laws come into your life?

How far, Ron, did you let your in laws come?

I'll just let other people answer that.

Go over that. Let's just leave that there.

Okay. How far is Ron Carpenter going to let ministry come in his house?

Right.

Okay. When. When will I put my foot down and say, you stop right here because if I let you just come all up in here. What is the difference between a river and a swamp? Boundaries. Ezekiel 47 says everything in the river lives. Nothing lives in the swamp. A swamp is water with no banks, and there's death there. And when your life has no banks, has no boundaries, it is not a great chance that there's going to be a lot of life flowing to you or a lot of life flowing through you.

So when you say, in your life, if you have no boundaries, I'm just.

Sitting here thinking relational boundaries.

Yes.

Like how far. How much time will you spend with your friends and leave your kids and leave your husband or leave your wife? Okay. How much will you continue to hang with the guys that you hung with when you were single but now you married?

Come on.

Okay. These are boundaries. How much money can you spend without communicating with your spouse? Me and Hope have an amount.

Yeah. That way we don't argue.

I don't care. Right here. I tell her two things. Don't use credit card, make sure we got the money and spend up to this. Don't even say nothing, nothing wrong. If somebody comes over this, would you come and talk to me about it, let me have some input.

Or if there's a big purchase that I want to make, I mean, whatever.

$2,000 and we plan.

$4,000 and we have to talk.

We talk and we plan. We plan and we don't. Those are boundaries that we put in place because we saw the detriment of not having them.

That's right.

Okay, how. You know what? I will not be in a room alone with a woman.

I know you won't.

Okay. You know how I am. If a woman comes up to me, very broken and wanting ministry, and I can tell she needs ministry, I will stop right there and usually call somebody, wave somebody to me. Why? That is a personal boundary. It's not really biblical. And it's a boundary in my life to take care of me, to keep.

Her from being not harmed by me.

What is a day off? It's a boundary. And what I tell my people, don't schedule anything on Monday. I'm very.

You don't even like it when we have to fly on Monday. I know.

I get that because that's not a day. Traveling is not a day.

No, it isn't.

And so I tell them, you know, Monday, I can snap back quick, but I don't want to talk to nobody. I don't want to handle a problem. I don't want to do it. I need Monday to do nothing, to do whatever I want and not be and not have ministry. Just running all in my life. Running all in my days off. Running all in my house, running all in my marriage. I can't do that. So I have to define it.

Even in marriage. Just our date nights, we have to really watch what we talk about. We can't. And ministry is our whole world. It's our whole world.

We start talking about church, and we start talking about anything. Problems we may have in the family or with.

And we just have to stop. We have to say, okay, we can't talk about this tonight. Let's just talk about butterflies and rainbows.

I just have to start looking at you saying, man, you look good in them jeans. And usually when I just make a comment about them jeans, it just goes in a whole different direction.

Anyway, I just start laughing.

So anyway, boundaries are all a form of knowing I got to take care of myself. Or I'm not going to be able to continue doing this.

That's good.

So I want you to know that's healthy. That's a healthy thing. I don't know. I haven't studied. I'm not going to sit and try to fake my way through it. I haven't googled. I haven't studied a movement or philosophy that goes with self care. I've not. I am familiar with the term and I do believe in it. And I've tried to employ ways in my life where I've practiced it. Can I go into the forms of energy? Yes.

I would love that. That's so good.

God has given you four forms of energy. Let me tell you what me and Hope heard way too much during COVID And since COVID I'm so empty. I'm so depleted. I'm so tired. I'm so. We heard it all the time, especially from the pastors in our network. We heard it so much we had to take a ministry center and put it on retainer.

Yeah.

For people to have places to go. Why? I'm going to tell you now, Covid was hard for us. A lot of people started taking vacations and filming something in their hotel room and just having a blast. We had just taken over a church. We had no influence in the area. And I mean to tell you, we were grinding during COVID And I looked at you many times and said, you know that right now, this ain't fun. How many times I lead, you said, this ain't fun what we're doing right now. I said all that to say there was constant depletion, constant adaptation, constant change. And people just, they just hit a wall.

And then the stress of COVID period. Yeah.

People losing loved ones, people losing money, people being shut up in small areas with, you know, husbands, wives and kids and couldn't get out and sickness. I mean, it's just a lot. So I said all that to say this. You have emotional, mental, spiritual and physical energy. Emotional, mental, spiritual and physical energy. I was taught in church, just take care of your spirit. They ate whatever they wanted to eat. They never exercised. They didn't take time off. Buckets of fried chicken here and there. Yeah. And didn't date their wife. So they come up at midlife and their marriage is coming off the rails. Or they get empty nest and they don't even speak to each other. They hate each other. You know, morbidly obese, heart disease, all these other things happening. Why? Because I got a sneeze.

I got a yawn.

Excuse me.

Huh? Okay, ready?

I'm sorry. Podcast community. That don't mean you're boring. That don't mean you're boring. We're having a boring.

It just means I'm sleepy.

Oh, no. I don't know what happened to me. I had to sneeze, though.

That was hilarious.

I think that's my first podcast, sneeze. So anyway.

And I wasn't yawning because you were boring.

Yeah.

I'm just sleepy.

That's all right.

It's my physical energy.

You need it replenished.

Yes.

So I was taught to take care of yourself spiritually.

Yes.

I have all these other dimensions to my person, and I never.

Are we supposed to just ignore them?

Yeah. I mean, my thing was they don't matter because if you take care of yourself spiritually, God takes care of everything. Everything else falls into place. And I found that was a lie. And so if you say, I'm tired, that's not a terminal illness. If you say, I'm empty, that's not a terminal illness. Okay. If you say spiritually, I'm numb. None of these things are good, but none of those things are terminal. Why? Because every form of energy that is renewable, it's a renewable resource. So here's what I started doing, albeit too late in life. I wish I would have had this knowledge. I really wish I had it in my thirties. Our life blew up in our thirties.

Wish we had a lot of knowledge in our thirties.

Yeah, our life blew up in our 30s. And in a lot of ways, our life come off the rails in our 30s. And we're not bad people. I just think there's some things we didn't know we were ignorant of and we didn't handle it well. And just really being honest, as I know how to be. And those were tough years. And it wasn't until in our very early 40s that God jerked a knot in us and we changed the way we live in every area, fundamentally changed the way we live. Now, physically, this is hard. And you're going to say, well, that's kind of the nerdy part of you, Ron. I don't think I got a lot of nerd in me, but if I do, this is part of it. You have got to track the things that deplete you, and then you've got to be mindful and track the things that replenish you. And self care comes when you hit it down the middle. That's biblical self care. You remember Miyagi Danielson, Balance.

Balance.

Not just with the girl in all life. Balance. So much truth to that. So much truth. Moderation and balance to everything. I'm a worker. I was raised with a huge work ethic. I was raised by people who took it way too far. All your self worth came in your work ethic and they had no use for you if you didn't work like that. Farm people. And so, you know, when I came out of the gate, I'd kiss Hope in the morning and I'd come back and kiss her when I walked in the house that night because that's what I thought I had to do emotionally. There are people say, man, I am so just emotionally drained, okay? Something is out of whack. You're around the thing that depletes you, but you haven't figured out what replenishes you. Let me give you an analogy. I hate drama.

I do too. It just drains you so bad.

I'm just going to tell you if you're a drama filled person, I love you with the love of the Lord. But us being on a team together probably is just not going to happen. I can't handle it. I can't handle somebody who, you know.

Every time you pick up the phone.

Who has no peace.

It's going to be an issue.

There's no peace going to be an issue. Always a problem, always something to fix. There's never an enjoyable moment because something's always wrong. And I can't stand that. I mean, it's almost like, you know, I can't do it when I'm around those. Those are immensely emotionally draining when I'm around those people. Okay, can I tell you what replenishes me? Quality time with my wife. Not saying that because she's sitting here. I ain't talking about tv, I ain't talking about a movie. I'm talking about a cup of coffee, sitting down in sweatpants. We're looking at each other over the couch and we're just talking about whatever we want to. It's the craziest thing.

We do it every morning.

Quality time with my life with my wife is one of the greatest replenishers that I have in my life. Yeah, we do it every morning and we're intentional about it. We're intentional. And so physically, meetings drain me physically so much. I don't understand.

It makes you tired.

Yeah, they make me tired.

Physically tired, tired. I think it's the brain work.

What I do. I go work out. I don't work out in the morning. If you do great. I work out at the end of the day. Why? Because it's my replenisher. It's my detox. People say, why do you work out? You want muscles? It has nothing to do with muscles. It happens to do with this. The only time all day I didn't have to think. I don't have to think. I don't have to answer any problems. I'm going to tell you what, I'm probably rude sometime I'll just stick things in my ears. Not because I'm listening to music, because I'm telling people, I don't want to talk now. I don't want to prophesy. Come on. I don't want to pray. I don't want to hear your vision.

This is your time.

I don't want to hear your dream that you had. I don't want to right now. This is my time to replenish from everything that that day took out of me spiritually. When you work them altars, there ain't many people anymore, honestly, that work an altar like you, that that much anointing, those much that many gifts flowing, drains you. The time that you take, you're exhausted. Yeah, absolutely.

It just pulls on you in every area.

Okay, I'm going to put you on the spot. What's one thing that that replenishes you when you've had a moment like that?

I love a nap, don't I?

More than anything.

No, not more than you, not more than Jesus. I do love a nap, though. I mean, it's like I look forward to when I know I'm going to get to have thinking about which pajamas I'm going to wear. Like, I can't wait to take off my makeup and put on my warm pajamas and get in my cozy cold covers. And that just gives me the feels, you know? And the fan going.

You like the fan going. You like the blinds pulled down?

Yes. And a candle may be going.

So what do I do? I'm not a nap guy. So we'll be little lovey dovey. I'll usually lay down with you for.

About a half hour till I start jerking.

And when I know you about to go to sleep, I'll just slide out, close the door, I'll go cut on the football game and usually finish your nap. I'm not a napper, but I know you value it and I know it replenishes you, so I want to invest in that. So. Have you ever taken the time to even track it? You know what? Every time I do this, this wears me out. Every time I do this. This wears me every time. You got to pay attention to that. You got to listen to that. And then what is it? When you get through, you may better. I love being with close friends. I don't have a big circle. It's just the way I'm built. I love everybody, don't get me wrong, but people that I run with. That's a small circle. I love sit down time. Fire pit. We got a fire pit on our back porch. Fire pit. Sitting out there talking till midnight and just laughing. Remembering the past with friends and things like that. I absolutely love it. Not serious. Not strategizing church strategy and just being with people that we know. Our conversation is safe here. That replenishes me. That builds me back up one more something that really, when you're just out, you do love a trip.

I love for me and you to go somewhere for two days. That's all we need, two or three days.

I don't need two weeks. Give me a couple of days and get me out of this environment.

It's almost like not necessarily the trip, but getting out of town. It's like getting out of your normal surroundings. Surroundings for us is refreshing. It's like we know we don't have to work in this new place. Whether it's 30 minutes up the road, hour and a half up the road, or getting on a plane and going somewhere. We just enjoy spending time together away from our normal environment.

Okay, Let me tell you something else that stresses me out. Golf.

Oh, my Lord.

So all these people invite me to play golf on my day off. And when I think about how precious my days off are and, and I love the guys, but I'm not good at golf. I'm highly competitive.

So it's just work.

So if I can't beat you, I.

Don'T want to play carpenter.

I don't want to play if I have no chance of winning.

You just want to be the winner. Winner, chicken dinner.

It's not fun.

So you don't want to be the la la loser.

When I go with the guys who play best ball or when I go with the guys that know sometimes they're going to hit it off a tree and it's going to bounce back at them and we can laugh. I like that. But man, when they down there with their laser binoculars and they're taking a blade of grass and seeing where and they're down on the ground, oh, it drives me nuts. It just drives me nuts and it actually exhausts me. And I'm worse when I Get back than I was. But before I went. I know some guys can't wait to get to that environment, but I'm not good in it, so it stresses me. You know something that people will be surprised about that. I love preaching.

Oh, of course you love it.

I don't get real, real tired preaching. I get tired preparing for it. I get tired in all the meetings of running the ministry.

But that energizes you.

But man, when I get to preach and when I see people's light come on and when I see people responding and they're getting it and their life begins to change and move. Oh my gosh. Oh, I mean, it's like a shot of Holy Ghost to dream.

I love it too.

So the point is, we're not an anti self care movement. No, but all healing power comes from God. All power to restore and rejuvenate and rest. God is rest.

And he. He values rest.

He values rest.

Jesus was actually ministering, being anointed, helping people, and he would withdraw.

He would withdraw.

Luke 5 says that he prioritized. He said, I got to go to the other side.

I got to go to the other side. I got to get away from this. I got to get away from this, get alone. And he would also go and pray. So I'm going to heal, I'm going to deliver, I'm going to heal.

Being in the presence of God, then.

I'm going to withdraw and I'm going to go talk to God.

And being in the presence of God was his self care.

Right.

It's not, you know, he. Only Jesus can satisfy the longings of our soul, which is our mind, our will, our emotions, our intellect. Only Jesus can do that.

It's very, very difficult to replenish yourself spiritually without a devotional life.

Oh yeah, I believe that's key. Let's end there. Let's talk about that.

Very, very difficult. And we don't talk about it much anymore. And I don't know that watching a YouTube and Googling Bible facts is a devotion. I think maybe we've passed off access to all this information as devotional. Devotional time with me is me getting quiet, Ron shutting his mouth, cutting the other voices out of my life so I can hear his. And it is time in the presence of the Lord where there's fullness of joy and at his right hand, pleasures forevermore. And the joy of the Lord is my strength. So in his presence I draw the joy, the joy that gives me the strength to go back out next week and do again. What I've been doing for 33 years. For 33 years, devotional time with God, alone in his presence, in his word, talking to him, letting him talk to you. One of the most valuable times of my week is on Saturday nights when I come into the sanctuary by myself. Security cut on the light and locked the doors for me. And I just go in and I turn all my attention on God. I mean, undivided attention. No phone, no tv. I've already tucked you in. Y' all are in bed. My family's safe. It's God.

And it's amazing when you do that, all the other things that were bothering you, all the other cares of the world that were just dragging you down, when you get in God's presence, you don't even think about it.

What did he say? And the things of earth will grow.

Strangely dim, strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

And I think that's a good place to end right there.

Self care. So I do believe that it's biblical. Jesus prioritized rest. God prioritized it. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has to have a proper environment to live. But he also gave us instruction. He said, cast your care. All these cares that are weighting you down, cast them on me. Come into my presence. Only Jesus can satisfy those longings. And his being in his presence is our strength. The joy of the Lord is our strength. So take care of yourself. Understand what drains you. Understand what replenishes you, and track those things. Have boundaries in your life. But most importantly, stay in the presence of God. We love you so much.

Love you so much.

It's been an amazing time together. So go, follow us. You got to follow us. Don't forget. Don't forget.

And tell somebody else to follow us. Not just to YouTube, but actually go. You need to go to Apple, Apple.

Or Spotify, the podcast. Apple Spotify Podcast. And you need to subscribe. Don't just listen. You have to subscribe to Ron and Hope Unfiltered. Okay? And then if you're on YouTube, subscribe to our YouTube channels and like the videos. Because the more you like them and subscribe them and share, it puts them out there before other people who've never heard about this, who don't even know Jesus. We got to get the word out.

It's designed that when you participate in the like and share, the algorithm multiplies. It doesn't add, it multiplies. You can play a big part in getting this right here, not just in your room, but in many rooms across the world. We love you guys. Blessings. Until next time.