You're listening to KFI AM six on demand. So the holidays have passed.
You're on the other side of that hill. And every year, it seems
that just about this time, right after the holidays, so many people fall
fall into a type of sadness, sometimes a very deep, deep sadness.
This may describe you. Maybe you're just like that. Maybe you ramp up
to the holidays and then fall off that emotional cliff at the very very end,
feeling kind of left absent. And a lot of this comes from really
the energy of ramping up emotionally. You have all these these raised expectations.
They are filled with the obligations that you have parties and gatherings and gifts and
all these things. So you've got these obligations, unusual schedules, you're eating
habits are strange. You're eating more, You're eating more foods that are fatty,
or more sweets, and everything's kind of getting twisted and turned around,
and it's easy for your body just to kind of rebel and spin you into
a case of these post holiday blues, some even deeper. Sometimes what starts
as kind of this post holiday blues becomes a very deep and sometimes dark depression.
That's not obviously what the holidays are about. I don't want you to
be wrapped up in something in such a way that it puts you into a
spin of sadness. For some the post holiday blues don't tend to last very
long. They come and go as you get back into a regular schedule,
you have your regular habits. This cloud, this gray dark cloud, sometimes
hard to even define. So many people I've talked with we'll say, well,
well, I don't know. It's more it's sort of sad, or
maybe I'm bummed the holidays are gone, but it's there, and this cloud
tends to dissipate. But having this this feeling of sadness isn't just tied to
the holidays. It can be tied to many things. The holidays just happens
to be one of those those times of great change and expectations and excitement because
you're gathering around with others and you're happy about seeing family or connecting with people.
The general spirit of the time, seasons are sort of changing, and
you're going into this time where it's kind of cozy and romantic, and through
the entirety of that process, you can hear the clicking like on a roller
coaster, clicking up that hill click click click click click click click click click,
and then you go through the ride and at the end there's this this
absence all those things you were so excited for, those expectations about those connections
and gifts, both giving receiving, and it's gone. Unfortunately, Sometimes during
the holidays, the kind of postcard Norman Rockwell idea of family getting together isn't
always matt That too could make you kind of look at your life situation of
where you're standing and say, oh, well, I don't have this in
my life, or I don't have a relationship right now, or I don't
have this connection with my family, or my parents have passed on, whatever
it might be. Sometimes, by way of comparison, you stand looking at
your life around the holidays and you start to compare or contrast, and that
too can leave you sad. But during this time, as you come out
of the holidays, it's time for newness as well. The new year is
here. You're looking at maybe climbing emotional mountains or conquering things in your life,
and so it can be a time of excitement as well, but some
trepidation too. And God knows that while while you're in this world, you're
going to face times of sadness, not to tied to holidays, but tied
to many things. You know, as often times your sadness is tied to
these things, these circumstances that will change. You're hitching yourself emotionally to something
that will come or go, will wax or wane, And it's easy to
get distracted by the world and all these changes, and then you lose focus
on what is truly important. Of course God, so the world and all
its shininess and all its bells and whistles comes cruising by capturing your attention,
and for a while it's all you see and can think about. This can
be tied to holidays, this can be tied to life situations, and in
that distraction you lose sight of God. And that can leave this emptiness,
this great emptiness in your heart. Well, and God knows this. God
doesn't want you to get lost in all of the things that are in front
of you, all the things in life that distract you. He wants you
to get lost in Him. John sixteen thirty three says, I have told
you these things so that in me you may have peace in this world,
you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.
God knows you're going to get tripped up by the things in the world.
God knows that you will wrestle with them, and that you will continually,
throughout your life be dealing with times of sadness or frustration. But a common
cure for sadness is hope. We talk about hope all the time on the
program because this is really at the core of the Gospel. The good News
is that story of hope. It keeps you pressing on, moving forward,
looking towards those things that God has for you in your life, not just
the things that the world has for you. So hope is this amazing and
wonderful thing. It can propel you, motivate you, guide you, even
inspire you. But if your hope is rooted only in temporal things, as
we've said many times on the program, it will only be temporary. You
root your hope, you attach your hope, you focus your hope on the
temporal things, the temporary things, then likewise your hope will be temporary.
So when you were approaching the holidays a few weeks ago, maybe you got
excited in the hope of vacation. Maybe you got excited in the hope of
seen friends. Maybe you got excited about the hope of seeing family, of
giving gifts, of receiving gifts. All of this is normal and it's really
really wonderful. You should be hopeful in those things. But it's still all
very temporal. So when the holidays pass, it's like water displacement. All
of a sudden, there's this void, this emptiness that's there where all those
crazy things where you're having longer days because maybe you're going to parties after work,
maybe work was having parties. All these things, You're going shopping,
you're hearing music and people smiling, mostly going back and forth in the hustle
of it all, and then all of a sudden it gets quiet. That
day after Christmas, when you turn on the radio station that you've been listening
to that played Chris miss music all season, and now it's back to its
regular playlist. The stores, the decorations have come down, you even take
the decorations down at home, and you go through all of this right about
now, and there's this void. So in that void, in this emptiness,
what happens sadness starts to creep in because you feel that there's something that's
missing, and really it's not missing at all. All those things can be
experienced all year round. It's more that the expectations and everything that comes with
it, and the change of habits and all of that that comes with the
holidays is now being redirected balanced out again. You've put your sight on all
those things and maybe lost sight of the importance of just God, and now
in the absence of the holidays, this void gets filled with simple every day
sadness. So every time of year about this time you've come through the holidays,
you've gone up that hill of excitement and all of the fun with the
expectations and parties and gathering with family and friends, and you have a wonderful
time and you welcome in the new year, and all of that brings such
great excitement family, friends, good food, a change of weather. But
as it leaves and you're looking at the newness of the new year, even
in that context, sometimes you can get lost in the fact that those things
have left that a lot of the holiday spirit or ideas or things with that
you were enjoying are God. And so when that happens the holidays passed,
there's this void sadness tends to creep in, and I want you to I
want you to snap out of that. I want you to look towards God,
who doesn't change. Ever, this cycle has been around since the beginning,
this sadness that will creep in during these times. Even the Psalmist wrestled
with sadness, obviously not because of holidays necessarily, but sought comfort in the
hope of God, not the hope of things. Psalm forty two five says,
why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put
your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and
my God. The world and all the temporary distractions in it will compete for
you tention no doubt daily day and day out, and often twists your emotions
up into a ball, causing confusion, maybe loss of direction. You get
turned around, and this is when you should submit totally and completely to God.
Proverbs three five and six says trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Submit to
Him and He will make your path straight. See if you get caught up
in the things of the world, things going on in life, you get
turned around. You don't know which ways up, But with God you always
do. God is God of hope. True hope can only come from God.
This hope comes from the complete trust in God and his plan for you.
Romans fifteen thirteen says, May the God of Hope fill you with all
joy and peace as you trust in him. Life situations will a weigh on
you, pull you in different directions all the time, make you feel like
you're going to burst. But always remember the greater is he who is living
inside you than he who is in the world. Michael, Welcome to the
Jesus Christ Show. Good morning, Jesus. Nice to talk to you.
It is my pleasure. How are you good? Good? Good? Looking
out the Pacific Ocean on a beautiful day here in your kingdom. It's not
really sweet. How can I help you? Yeah, I just I'm looking
here in Matthew, and I'm in the scriptures daily, you know very many,
I would say hours daily. And I've learned through your word and the
Old Testament how to really in the imagination and the image, to really to
be with you, and just how everything came about and fulfilling in you.
And it's just such an amazing thing, these scriptures and how they live and
are alive, and it's just something. But you're in Matthew eleven and it's
I'm sure you've been asked this before, where it starts with John's being Jesus
Tribute to John and eleven, and it talks about a man dressed in soft
clothing, behold those who are soft clothing, and anyway, it goes on
down to fourteen and it says, and if you care to accept it,
he himself is Elijah. Now this is after he states that the kingdom suffers
violence and the profit of the law prophesied until John. And then if you
care to accept it, he himself is Elijah. And I'm just wondering how
much if I've missed uff over the years he talks, if this is in
fact reincarnation, I know, I don't see it in very many other scriptures
where the physical body, you know, is again in flesh. But or
is this really just a spirit thing where you know the spirit of Elijah comes
through John and that I know that spirit went on a long time before you
manifested into your flesh. So I'm just curious about that. Okay, a
couple of things. First, the full verse that you're referring to, and
if you care to accept it, he himself is Elijah who was to come
or is to come, depending on the translation. But so that's a qualifier
that references that. Now if you cross reference that with Luke one seventeen.
In Luke One's seventeen, there's a bit of a clarification that is important here.
But to kind of interpret this verse. So one seventeen, I'm going
to read to you real quick. Yeah, okay, So in one seventeen
you read this, and it is he who will go as a forerunner before
him in the spirit and power of a Elijah to turn the hearts of the
fathers. So the comparison there is not about the physical, but about the
spiritual and the message and the prophecy that was coming, both with Elijah and
with John the Baptist. Now here's the clincher that it's not reincarnation. What
do you know about Elijah? Yeah, he was, Well, let's see,
did he die? No, he didn't exactly, So there is no
reincarnation. Reincarnation means reinfleshed or so the flesh is not gone, so there's
no way to have reincarnation. Plus, Scripture has over and over again it
makes claims that there isn't any reincarnation. It says it's appointed for man to
die once and then the judgment in Hebrews, and then in Corinthians, Paul
says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
So there's no place the testiment that would have been. I'm just sure there
would have been more examples of that, and and it really there's not.
And I knew just deep down that the whole I mean, I didn't want
it to be or you know, I was hoping, I just because I
already think I really knew that it was the spirit. You. Oh,
that's exactly the way you should study Scripture. You should ask those questions not
about you know, like you said, not hoping for an outcome or trying
to squeeze an outcome in there. You're just letting it breathe and speak naturally.
And in that case, it's very easy to look at that and think
that it is at least leaning towards reincarnation. But once you start letting it,
you know, unfold a little bit and explain itself. You start to
see that there there's no real room for reincarnation there at all. Michael,
But a great question. I love the fact that you're thinking through those things
and processing because a lot of people just kind of stare at scripture, and
when you're actually studying it and wanting to poke at it and look and see
what it has to say. I think it's a very powerful thing. So
good for you for investigating Scripture. Of course says to test all things,
and I love that you're testing those things. Steve, Welcome to the Jesus
Christ Show. Good morning Jesus. Hi Steve, how can I help you?
Yeah, I have a life situation that I have been talking to God
about and I just don't know what to do. I mean, sometimes I
get an answer and other times I don't. Okay, I've been dating this
girl for over a year now, and we've had our problems where we've talked
a little bit, then we don't talk. And you know, we just
seen each other here about a couple of weeks ago and spent some time together
and she told me she about me, and I had felt that I loved
her, and I feel that God had put me in the place to be
with her in the beginning, and now we're not really talking very much anymore.
I mean, I try to communicate with her, but she doesn't communicate
back to me. Okay, I don't know what to do. I mean,
I prayed to God and asked him, you know, hey, is
she you know, telling me the truth that she's not getting my messages all
the time. You know, I'm trying to get a hold of her during
the day when I'm on my breaks at work and try to talk to it,
but I never hear nothing back from her. Okay, don't know what
to do. Well, let's let's strip the emotion from it and look at
this a little more reasonably. You go to the grocery store. Grocery store
to shop, right, yes, okay, So you walk up and you
go to check out at the counter, and you're in line, and the
checker puts the little sign says this lane closed. What do you do?
You go to another line? Exactly? If she's put out a sign of
sorts where she is noncommunicative with you and has apparently no desire. People seek
out what they want and avoid what they don't want. Very basic, and
if she's avoiding you or not connecting with you, then you need to move
on. I know it stinks because you have investments of emotion and all those
things, But that's the reality of the situation. And if if there's a
misunderstanding, trust me, she will seek you out. But it sounds like
there's some issues with the relationship to begin with. That's not how normal relationships
work. By the way, Yes, I understand that, and I've learned
over my past with other relationships, you know, and I've just you know,
tried to figure out and tried to think that, you know, should
I really move on? Should I just you know, say, why wouldn't
you move on? What? What are you hoping to gain by lingering?
I don't know. That's what I've been able to figure out. Then move
on. There's there's uh, there is this weird kind of emotional loitering that
takes place in some relationships when everything, every sign, every emotion, everything
about the relationship says to move on. Yet people tend to do this kind
of emotional loitering where they just they've got nothing else going on. But the
thing about relationships is you won't ever have something else going on if you loiter
emotionally in another relationship, so there's nothing there. What you're describing is,
you know, the relation that the relationship that people have with tech support for
their computer not emotional, you know, real deep connection with somebody. You
have somebody who's avoiding you by the sounds of things, and if somebody wants
to get a hold of you, they'll get a hold of you. It's
not about oh, I didn't get your text or this or that. That's
ridiculous. Who's going to would that stop you? You didn't hear from somebody
and you really wanted to be connected with him. You know, look at
you. You're not hearing from from her, yet you're still you're you're still
trying to connect with her. You're going to the to the degree of calling
a radio program to talk about it. That's because you care. If she
cared, she'd be doing that. But she doesn't seem to care, or
there's something in her life that is distracting her that is more important at this
point, and that's not your problem. Your issue is you and to be
you know, I hate to use the corning term, but to be the
best you you can be and to focus on yourself, getting yourself to a
place of health, heal, so that you can be ready for somebody who
comes into your life who's ready to be there with you, not somebody who's
looking for excuses not to be with you. That doesn't make sense nor does
it help you at all. Okay, So I would cut ties. I
would cut ties, and I would go on your merry way. And if
there's some if there's a there there, it'll show up again in its in
its own time. Don't try and force it or poke at it. Go
do your thing, all right, I'm trying on. That does help me
out, Jesus. I appreciate that. I hope. So I know.
I know it's not fun to hear, but I care about you. I
want you to be healthy, and you have to sometimes walk away from things
right, and really all the signs are there. I mean, people talk
about well, Lord, I want to hear prayer. I want to hear
answer to my prayer, but you are you just don't like the answer.
So worry about yourself and do things that you enjoy, and you will come
across people that enjoy those things too, that you'll have similarities with, and
that's how you connect and find somebody that you're going to mesh with. But
if somebody is kind of that off and on, it's not worth it,
Steve. It's a waste of your time. And the worst part of it,
Steve, the very worst part of it is that every time you invest
in somebody that's not good for you or is not connecting with you or sharing
insights and hopes and desires with you, you're keeping yourself from being with somebody
that can do that very thing. So, you know, there's these you
see these parents sometimes who aren't honest with their children, and let's say their
child really stinks at baseball, and they keep pretending like their child doesn't stink
at baseball. That's not helping anyone, because maybe the child might be really
good at soccer or football or what are arts, you know, the arts,
or something else. And if you keep if you force people to do
things, you don't allow them to naturally find the thing that they're good at.
So if you try and stay, if you force yourself to try and
stay in a bad relationship or one that is virtually non existent, then you're
not available for a good one. And that's the worst part of that.
And you have to get over that hump and know that you're you're of value,
and that you have value to give someone and to connect with someone and
trust that it will come along. Jim, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.
Thank you for taking a call. My pleasure. How can I help
you. I'm an old guy getting ready to die. Wow, okay,
you know, just I don't know if it's not imminent, but I'm thinking
about it. So I'm thinking about the next life. Now I can understand
the tunnel, the white light, the feeling of good. After that,
it gets a little hazy because let's say I get through the tunnel, I
get through the white light, the feeling of love and compassion and everything.
And there's a guy sitting there at the pearly gates with the book's got my
name on it, and he's pointing out some things in there, and I'm
saying, you know, I'm ashamed of that. You know, I got
it knit. But over here there's another entry. Look at it. I
did something good here. So he gets out he's been Franklin Scales and we
weighed out the good gets the bad, and he says, okay, I'm
gonna let you in here. You did enough good things. You've done that.
Now This is where I have the questions. I get through the gate,
Now what happens? You give me a room, Do I have a
place to sleep? Do I get a meal? If I got to go
to the bathroom. You know what happens at this point? If I get
somebody assigns me something that shows me around and says, hey, here's what
you're gonna do. You're gonna get the wash dishes because that's your skill set,
you know. I mean, what exactly happens once you're through the Pearly
gate. Interesting thing is that although the scripture of course does now your description
is more of a Hollywood description than it is a Biblical one. To begin
with, it's not really dealing like with the scales of justice there about good
and bad. Otherwise you're comparing yourself against humans, and that's not what heaven's
about. It's not about comparing yourself against humans. It's comparing yourself against God.
That's why the standard is so high. But as far as what heaven's
like, there's not a lot of description. Of course, the apostle John
talks about certain heavenly things in Revelation. You can read about these things and
the glory of God the city is filled with brilliance of costly stones, crystal
clear jasper. These things are are man's way of trying to describe something that's
that there's no way to describe. However, as far as the specif czivis
that you're talking about, the interesting thing about heaven is that it's more of
a place of no moors, like it talks about. There's no more tears,
no more pain, no more sorrow. There's not a necessity to eat,
but it doesn't mean that you can't eat in heaven. It just wouldn't
be out of necessity. There's no necessity to sleep, there's no necessity for
those things. Those are very human things that you're attributing to heaven, but
they're not necessary in heaven, nor do they have a place. As far
as rooms, there is talk of mansions, there is talk of but again
that is a human way to describe things there. There are discussions in scripture
about having the tree of life, there, about having the Paradise or the
garden of Eden being restored, the river of water of life flowing freely through
it, yielding fruit monthly, heal the nations. There's descriptions of things that
are in about Heaven, but they're not. There are illustrations or some there's
sketches, human sketches of things that help you understand a feeling or an attitude,
rather than a with specificity the details of heaven. When it talks about
the streets are paved with gold, it's not about the streets literally being paved
with gold. It's about that even the streets, the very lowly thing that
you walk upon, are so precious they're like gold. So it's hard to
find literal descriptions there because it's very different than earth. But it is a
place of peace, and it is a place of worship of God. That's
the key and a connection and a regniting of you with your maker. Kfi Man