Season 3 (Episode 1) Are You Mummified?

Welcome to Pain, Passion, and Purpose. I am your host, Shakeeta Torres, where I share mental health education, biblical teachings, and tips to help you to heal on purpose so you can walk boldly in your God-given purpose. This podcast is sponsored by Empowered Purpose Academy, a certified online Christian academy where where we provide services such as certification for Christian life coaches, mentorship for master's level aspiring and existing Christian therapists, mentorship for Christians, and continued education courses for the body of Christ. You can visit www.empoweredpurposeacademy.com to learn more and to download your free guide. If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave us a raving review so that others can tap into the knowledge and wisdom that will be shared on this podcast. Thank you so much for being here.

Hey, so before I get started on today's episode, if you have not subscribed to the paid membership of my podcast community, please do. It is going to bless your life. Listen, my episodes are already like therapy slash coaching sessions where I give you strategy and insight and all that good stuff. But the community, you're going to get a lot more. You're going to get more resources, more tools, and be able to ask more questions where I can create episodes around your questions. And you will be able to get discounts on some of my, my products and my events. So what are you waiting for?

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This is for those who are not quite ready to invest in one-on-one coaching with me or into the Pain, Passion, and Purpose mentorship program, which is also low, by the way, but that one is a lot more in-depth. You get access to courses, you get access to the Facebook community and all that good stuff. But this is for those who just need to just listen and just gain some tools along the way. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, subscribe. You won't regret it. It'll bless your life. We'll have topics around mental health and faith, biblical teachings, prayer, um, boundaries, communication, anxiety, depression, purpose, and so much more. I have had experience in mental health since actually about 2008 when I first finished my bachelor's program, and then from that point all the way up today and moving forward, I have gained so much knowledge, so much experience, so much wisdom, and I am anointed for it. So go ahead, hit that button, and I hope to see you in the community.

Hey, you guys, welcome back, welcome back.

So as you can see, we are going to go straight into season 3. Season 2 has been absolutely amazing.

I hope that you guys have enjoyed all the guests so far. I know I have. They have been a true blessing to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed, um, interviewing every single one of them. I will definitely be having guests on again in the future, but now I am doing something differently. So every Thursday, I will be going live on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn at 12:30 PM Eastern standard time. The days that I cannot go live for whatever reason, I will still have pre-recorded content for you guys. Um, I know for a fact that the second week in— the second week in October, I actually be flying to Florida for the Elijah Prophetic Intensive Conference on that Thursday.

But I'll do—

and I will have content for you guys. So here we are, it is fall, September 2022, you guys.

It is harvest season.

God is doing so much in the body of Christ.

I hope that you are awoke. I hope that you are hearing.

I hope that you are ready because God is doing a new thing. Um, I'm so excited for the body of Christ as a whole. And so the Lord, you know, it was my idea to, you know, start going live every week because I wanted to really connect with people more on the, um you know, more often and more on a consistent basis. So I said, okay God, maybe I should do a live. And I prayed about it. He said, well, it's up to you. And so in the midst of that, I already knew. I said, Lord, you always take over my stuff.

I'm not saying that in a bad way.

What I'm saying is, you know, over the years I've noticed that, you know, I will go into a place or a situation or whatever it could be, a job. And I always surrender everything to God, that's not what I'm saying, but it always end up him saying to me, say what I want you to say and do what I want you to do. And so for this is no different. And so the word that I share would truly be coming from the Lord's heart and would be what he, um, is directing me to share and talk about on Thriving Thursdays. And so I'm excited about it. Also, you know, my certification program to certify Christian life coaches will be opening up soon. You can join the waiting list, um, and apply at www.empowerpurposeacademy.com. And then recently the Lord told me to go ahead and prepare to open up my mentorship program for women called Pain, Passion, and Purpose. It's going to consist of mental health education, it's going to consist of, you know, um, learning how to communicate value, dealing with your anxiety, dealing with, um, you know, even greed, dealing with so many different things that is truly hindering you from being whole and hindering you from walking in your God-given purpose. And so I'm excited about it. I will definitely, um, talk about that more, um, as the, as the weeks go on to be able to share with you all more details. But you can apply there as well, www.empowerpurposeacademy.com. So today's episode is called Are You Mummified? And so I try my best to edit this episode for you, um, to be able to listen without a whole bunch of me going back and forth with the audience who was listening and chiming in that particular day. But if you're available at that time, please go to my platforms and check in, tune in. I'll answer your questions if I can. So I hope you enjoy today's episode, and I'll talk to you guys next week.

And so, you guys, I have my plan and I have my agenda as to what I was going to discuss today, but the Lord, like he always does, interrupt my plans, okay? And he has his own agenda for today. And so the Lord told me yesterday, he said, I want you to fully give me Thriving Thursdays, meaning that he wants me to share specific words that he give me for the body of Christ. I'm a believer, I'm a Christian. Many of you guys already know that. I just want to be clear who I'm speaking to. Um, I love all people, um, but I know who God's called me to. I know my assignment. And so I want to start off by saying that what happened— I love to give the story of how the word— how God gives me a word and the— and how that process works, right? Many people think that sometimes when God speak, he automatically give you all the details of it. That's not true. Sometimes he do, sometimes he doesn't. And so for me, um, what happened, it was Monday morning. I woke up in the morning, getting ready to get up, you know, for work, taking my girls to school. Husband had just got off third shift that night. And so, you know, I was laying in the bed with my eyes closed. Well, while my eyes was closed, you guys, I started to see these feet, and then on the feet I began to see these bandages, like material wrapping around both of the feet all the way up, and they begin to wrap, wrap, wrap, wrap like a mummy. And then I looked and it ended up being a full-figure mummy with a black coat on, and it was a female figure. Who put on a hat and walked out of the main lobby of the church. Okay, now the church that God showed me, the church in my area that I'm very familiar with, it's a very big church, it's well known, it's, it's an amazing church. But they were coming out of the main lobby where you go sign in for your kids to go to the nursery, and then you walk out to go into the main service. So she was walking out going into the main service. Now this is a full mummy walking with a coat on and put on a black hat. All right, so it was very quick, very quick vision. And I said, wow, God, I'm like, what are you showing me? Right? So I had to get up, you know, get my kids ready for school. And so as I'm driving, I begin to ask God questions. I'm like, God, okay, what are you showing me? Like, what does this mean? Like, obviously it's something very significant because it was very short and very detailed. Okay, and he began to tell me, he said, this vision I gave you is not just for that church, but it's for the body of Christ. I'm like, okay. And how God confirms words for me is I will feel his spirit and his presence so heavily to the point where I can't doubt that I'm hearing Holy Spirit. And so he began to tell me, he said, many of my people are walking around like mummies. They're going to church week in, week out, and they're broken, they're hurt, they've been through so much, and it's like they can't seem to like snap out of it. As you guys know, a mummy is typically in what? A tomb. And so what God was showing me was that this mummy is walking around spiritually dead, spiritually dry. Their bones are dry. And they're going to church every single week like a routine and never really fully getting the healing and deliverance that they need to be able to like be whole, to be able to be free, to be able to operate in their purpose. He didn't specify who the people were to me. It could be anybody. It can be people who are already in leadership. It could be lay members, but there are believers that God wants to see set free. And so I began to like break down my, my, my vision. Whenever God gives me dreams or visions, you know, a dream is like when you're asleep, of course. A vision is like whenever you're actually awake, whether your eyes are open, whether your eyes are closed. That's a vision that God can give you, all right? He can give that to anybody, by the way. He is no respecter of persons, okay? So with that being said, I begin to say, okay God, let me write down everything that I saw in my dream. So what I recall was, first of all, the mummy, right? The black hat and the black coat. And it was a woman, of course. And I said, God, I said, let me go to my dream, my dream, um, dictionary. I have a dream dictionary by a woman named Dr. Barbie. Um, it's called A Through Z Symbology. It's a great, great— like, if you have dreams and visions and you get stuck and you need help and some guidance, that's a great book for you guys to go to and to really help you to understand what you're seeing. But most importantly, seek God. Holy Spirit is the person that will be able to help you to truly understand what you are seeing, okay? And so I looked up the word mummy. You know, mummy means the dead feelings, memories, or emotions we have buried about a deceased person, an attempt to, um, to preserve an old way of life still wrapped up in old feelings, regrets, or pains.

My God.

The attempt to preserve oneself as one is instead of opening yourself to the rebirth of salvation and constant life changes. Oh my gosh, like, immediately what came to my mind is like the pandemic is still lingering, we know that. And then the pandemics So many people have lost so, so, so, so, so, so much, whether it is material things, whether it's a death of a loved one. And people are still hurting, people are still broken, whether they're showing it or not. There's still areas in our heart— in their hearts where they need healing and a touch from Holy Spirit to be able to breathe life back, breathe life back into them. Okay, I looked up the word also, um, an old hat. The woman put on an old hat, okay? I'm like, okay, she put on a hat. That was very significant to me too. So an old hat means poverty or an old, outdated way of thinking. And I said, wow, God. And then long trench coat, that means clothing for protection, okay? And the word black, because the hat was black and the coat was black, means thin grief, death, physical affliction, lack, in the dark, ignorance, gloomy, mourning, and so much more. And it's a mouthful. That one little vision that I had, it opened up so much. It opens up so much. It gives you an opportunity to ask God, what am I seeing? You know, God, what are you saying to me? And all that good stuff. As I was saying before, the Lord was, was sharing me. He said today— he told me to keep it simple, to be honest, to keep it simple Give them exactly what I've given you to give to them today so that way they can really take out time to meditate on what God is saying. I don't know where everybody is today when it comes to their faith, when it comes to their belief in God. Everybody's on different stages. You might have someone who is a new convert, a new believer. Typically, to me, new converts are on fire for God. They're more on fire. Um, for God sometimes than a believer who's been saved for many, many years. If you're a believer that has been saved for many, many years, the Lord wants to revive you. Last time I checked, a mummy is in a tomb, okay? A mummy is not walking around and just existing. It's in a tomb. Last time I checked, you are not dead. You are not dead. You are still alive and you still have God's breath is on the inside of you. What are some things that can cause us also to feel that way? It could be unforgiveness of yourself or others. It can be grief. It can be unresolved trauma. It can be church hurt and disappointment. It can be, um, spirit of religion. It can be a lack of trust in God. And also bitterness. Bitterness is a sneaky little thing that will creep up on you at any given moment or any given time I for one have dealt with that before and didn't even know I was until God had to reveal it to me. Shakeeta Torres, you have became bitter about this area in your life. And so I had to like surrender that to God and allow God to come into my heart and to heal me. And that's the same thing for those of you in the body of Christ who are struggling with that, who are struggling with what I just pointed out, is that God desires for you to be, to be free, to be whole. As you see, the world is going through so many different things right now. And I tell people, especially the body of Christ, so many times that God has need of all of us. There's no big I, there's no little I in the body of Christ. We all have an assignment, we all have a part to play, and it's going to be very hard for you to execute that and to walk on purpose if you are carrying around baggage, if you are a walking corpse, if you are not allowing the Spirit of God to really come into your heart. Um, as far as religion, if you operating in religion which means like it's routine, not really truly fully understanding the Spirit of God and how the Spirit of God can move and operate in your life and through you. So I did do a whole YouTube video about that on my YouTube channel called Relationship vs. Religion with God. It's a huge difference, you guys. You can go to church every single week, every single day if you want to, and still operate in religion. And God desires to have relationship with you. That's right, Loki. She said, I'm struggling with bitterness so bad. Yes, it's like, let God have it. Just surrender. Just surrender to that. I'm telling you, you will feel so much better. It's very difficult to really move forward in certain things in our lives if we are holding on to bitterness and unforgiveness, okay? And it does dry up the bones. Bitterness dries up the bones, just like this mummy is the walking dead. Okay, it eats away, it eats away at your spirit, eats away, you know, at your conscience, you know. That's right, but it's just the same here. Yes, absolutely. God wants you to be, you know, walking in your purpose and have relationship with him. And I don't know what some of you guys' journey is like. It's so easy to go on social media to compare yourself to other people. Don't do that, you guys. You don't know what goes behind the scenes of some of these people's lives. And, you know, I'll share this with you. There's so many times where God would show me areas of people, what's going on with them, for me to pray for them. Because we see at surface level, we see just the pictures and video, but we don't really know what's going on in their personal life. And so God has entrusted me and showed me so much over the years about people's personal lives for me to pray. And it's an honor and it's a privilege. That's my— that's part of my assignment, is to pray. Okay, I wanted to like— I'm not going to read the whole entire thing, but what came to me was Ezekiel chapter 37, Will These Dry Bones Live? In the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel was a prophet of the Lord, and the Lord had been, you know, telling Ezekiel to, um, correct the, um, the Egyptians at that time. But let's make sure he was, you know, trying to encourage other people of God to live holy, to, to like, you know, give things to God, to not have false gods, to not worship false idols, and all this, to, you know, to live a clean and holy life. But they weren't listening. And so pretty much Ezekiel, like, I'm over it. Ezekiel said, I'm done, God, with your people. I am not doing this anymore, because he had lost hope in God's people. So in chapter 37, I read a little bit of it so you guys can kind of have an understanding. So It said, the Lord— the hand of the Lord was upon me. This is Ezekiel talking. He brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. Now Ezekiel was having like an open, like, long vision with the Lord. He's not asleep, he's in an open vision, in a trance with the Lord, and the Lord is showing him these dry bones, okay? And so he said, he caused me to pass all around there, and behold, there were very many human bones in the open valley. And lo, they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of Man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord, you know. And again God said to him, prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, behold, I will make breath into you so that you may come to life. I will put sinews, which means like skin, um, tissue, um, that holds together the bones and the ligaments and the tendons, and make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you may come alive, and you will know that I am the Lord. So Ezekiel, he prophesied as he was commanded, and there was a thundering noise, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And he looked, and behold, there was sinews on the bones, and flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Okay, let me stop. So this is what I hear Holy Spirit saying even, even right now. Okay, so what happens is, right, sometimes like we look for other people to give us a prophetic word, or we look to other people to have the answer to a problem that we're experiencing. Well, whenever we have the authority, we have that same access to be able to go to God and ask God to restore us, right? Now I understand sometimes you need help, okay, whether that's through, you know, a minister, a leader, um, therapy, coaching, or whatever. God can use people like that in a great way. He used me all the time, but ultimately God is the one that brings the increase, okay? Ezekiel was the mouthpiece that God wanted to use his words to be able to bring these bones back to life. And so as I'm reading, number one, understand that it's a process. Ezekiel had to prophesy to these bones over and over and over again, and it was in steps. You guys, oftentimes we want things to just go away in just one breath, or to go away when we say one word, when we say one prayer, but it takes time. Think about it, you did not get to where you are Overnight, it was a process, okay? And so we put on this coat and these layers and these layers, and the same way we put these layers and coats on, God is able to pull them back as you begin to pursue him, begin to pursue relationship with him, be able to prophesy to your own self, and he'll pull those layers back. And one thing I love about God is he will exit out a process. It may have— you might have been in this dry state for years, maybe even months, right? But it don't take God long for him to fully restore you, but it's not going to take as long as it did for you to actually get there. Miracles, okay, miracles, signs, and wonders. And so Ezekiel was here in the valley, and I'm not going to read the whole thing, um, thing, thing, as I said. If you read all the way down to verse 12, um, Ezekiel chapter 37, you can clearly see how God gave him instructions bit by bit of what to say till these bones came back to life. God told me to tell, tell you guys, like, prophesy to yourself, okay? Minister to yourself. Sometimes you have to use your own mouth, use the own breath in your lungs for you to be able to be restored. Because it, number one, it increases your faith. Number two, it, it helps you to truly hear God. It opens up your ears to hear him for yourself. Like, we are in an hour and a time Well, like, you're gonna have to truly know God's voice for yourself and truly be in relationship with him for yourself. There's nobody— me, nobody up here, social media, whatever— they can save you. Only God can save you, okay? God uses people. He uses vessels like he did Ezekiel. He was a vessel unto the Lord, okay? He was God's mouthpiece to be able to speak a thing, right? We are God's instruments, but ultimately God is the one that gets the increase. And God wants to give you increase so that way no one can take credit for what you are experiencing. I tell people all the time that, you know, God is not going to use one person for you to get what you need, okay? He is going to use like multiple people because for one, we all have different gifts and talents, and then for two, he don't want that one person, you know, you know, one person to like take credit for what he's doing in your life. Okay, I can attest to that for myself. God has used people in my life over the years to pour into me, to minister to me, to mentor me, and it's not the same person. Okay, KitKat said amen. Stick over yourself and encourage it. Yes, yourself in the Lord, you have to. And there's nothing wrong with, you know, join prayer, join prayer groups. I'm, you know, I'm a part of a prayer hub, a movement with Apostle Jennifer LeClaire, but there's other ones out here. Like, I know Um, uh, what's her name? Jenny Weaver has her own mentorship program where they have prayer almost every single day. So yeah, definitely tap in. But ultimately it's going to be your words, because what happens is when everybody else is gone, they're going about their business, they're with their families, you and who? The Lord. It is you and the Lord. So create your own altar, create your own altar, create your own altar to the Lord. It's easy, it's not hard. It's not hard. Your altar can be in your bathroom. Your altar can be in your living room. Your altar can be in your kitchen. Your altar can be in a private area. Like, for me, I have an altar upstairs, and I come up here. God's presence is always here. But I also pray in my shower. I also pray in my kitchen. Like, I can say that I have altars everywhere in my house, okay? Create an altar by talking to God, communicating with him, sharing with him your heart, sharing with him, God, this is where I'm stuck. God, this is where I need you to show up in my life. God, can you please put a voice in my life and can you please heal me? Just invite God in, invite God in, invite him in. And so in my study time, I'm like, God, like, bring to my attention some people in the Bible who were actually spiritually dead too. Look at Ruth, the story of Ruth. You know, her husband had died, she had became very, very bitter. She had became very, very bitter. Um, look at Job, he was grief-stricken. And for both of them, God restored them. God gave them hope. God, you know, really touched their hearts and healed them and brought increase into their life. And increase for everybody, that looks different. It's not the same for you, for me, or anybody else. Yeah, so I'm just gonna— so that's all I have for you guys. Thank you guys for listening to my prayers I have in the mornings on, on the weekdays, the real prayers, and sharing them.

I really appreciate appreciate that.

I just want to do what it is that God is asking me to do in this hour. He's been very, very clear with me about me stepping out even the more. I'm like, God, I'm already out there. He said, no, you are, but not quite. You ain't where I want you to be at. So you guys will see me every Thursday. Like I said, I, I plan on still doing the Instagram and still being on StreamYard. Um, and so Father, I just thank you right now, God, for every single person who joined my live on today. Father, I pray, God, that you would just speak to their heart, speak to their minds. Father, show them areas that where they may be broken, no matter how small it may be. Father, we ask you, God, to heal our hearts, to heal our minds, God, to surrender every single area of our lives to you because you care about them, God. I know sometimes healing hurts, sometimes facing the truth, it does hurt, but Father, you promised in your word that you will never leave us or forsake us. So Father, I speak life into every person right now, life into dry bones, life into areas where they feel like there's nothing left. Nothing left to give, nothing left to, to be able to work with. But God, show them, God, as long as they are breathing and there's breath in their lungs, that God, there's a hope for them, there's a future for them. And you desire, God, for them to be whole and to be in true relationship with you. So Father, we thank you for this day, thank you for this hour. And Father, as they depart from this live today, God, be with them, go with them. Holy Spirit, abide with them, Lord. And I pray that, God, they will seek your face like never before. In Christ's name I pray, amen and amen.

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. Our prayer is that this podcast episode has blessed you. Don't forget to go and subscribe and leave us a raving review. If you would like to sow into this ministry or to this podcast, Pain, Passion, and Purpose, you can do so at anchor.fm/painpassionandpurpose or Cash App, dollar sign Shakeeta Torres. Thank you so much, and I will talk to you next time.