To Know Him
To Know Him
Episode 11: Daily Wisdom: Transforming Life Five Minutes at a Time
What if a simple five-minute daily practice could transform every facet of your life? Join me, Ashley Severe, as I share my personal journey of self-investment that has revolutionized my mental, emotional, financial, and relational well-being. I challenge the common notion of not having enough time and encourage reevaluating personal priorities to make space for what truly matters. This isn't about selling an idea but rather inviting you to explore a genuine opportunity for personal growth and fulfillment.
We delve into the impactful wisdom of the book of Proverbs, exploring how dedicating just five minutes a day to these timeless teachings has transformed my perspective and approach to life. By aligning each chapter with the days of the month, I've found a powerful tool for personal transformation. Reflecting on the famous biblical story of Solomon's judgment, I highlight the profound life lessons these scriptures have imparted, transforming a simple reading practice into a life-changing commitment.
Amidst a challenging health journey, I open up about my experiences with dermatomyositis and the ensuing need for a lung transplant. I discuss the importance of authenticity in my podcasting, guided by divine inspiration rather than a strict schedule, ensuring that each message is purposeful and spiritually grounded. This episode is a heartfelt invitation to embrace your faith journey, as I extend divine encouragement and blessings for peace and guidance in your life. Join me in exploring the power of spiritual commitment and the fulfillment of divine calling, as we strive to make meaningful investments in our spiritual journeys.
That I may know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. Hello guys, ashley Sevier here, hope everyone is doing well, hope everyone had a great Christmas and wishing you a happy New Year's. I know it's been a while since I've been on a podcast. Today I'd like to explain, give you guys some updates on me and my health, where I'm at. But before I do that, I want to talk to you guys about something that's been near and dear to my heart. To you guys about something that's been near and dear to my heart. I want to talk about one of the most important things I've ever done in my life. I like to call it an investment in myself and that important thing that I've done in my life it only takes five minutes for a person to do. Some of us it may take one minute. We're just that how would I say it? We have that special skill. Some of us it may take one minute. Most of us it may take five minutes, ten minutes tops. So I'm going to average it out to about five minutes and today I'll tell you in about five minutes what that investment is, unlike the click base that you see when you surf the web youtube um, you see an ad come in and say I want to tell you something about that's available to you or a healing thing, right, so they get you on the rope, right, and sometimes you're on the hook for like an hour before they get around to tell you what that five or ten minute thing is, and then you kind of realize that five or ten minute thing was a sales pitch. They're trying to sell you something. Well, this is not one of those things. Okay, I promise you, this is not one of those things. I promise you, it is not one of those things. The strategy or investment in myself that I want to show you today has no price tag at all, and I'm not going to keep you on the hook for an hour before I tell you what it is. But I have to say, though, that this investment in my life has transformed my life tremendously. It's put me on a trajectory that has shaped me into the person that I am today mentally, emotionally, financially and in all my relationships all of them. I was in it. It has influenced my character and impacted my personality. Did you pick up what I'm throwing down? This thing that I do takes five minutes. This has influenced my character and impacted my personality. So, if you know me, I am me because of this thing that I do for at least five minutes every day.
Speaker 1:People, sometimes people, ask you a question hey man, did you get that thing done today that I asked you to do for me? The usual answer is no, I didn't have time to get to it, I'll try to do it later. Or you ask them hey man, remember that thing you told me you were going to do? Oh, I just didn't have time to get to it. Well, you know, whenever you tell somebody you don't have time for something, you know that's a lie. Right, you are lying. It's a lie. It's actually a lie from the pits of hell. Because if you're living and breathing, you got time right. So when you say I don't have time, that means that when you say I have no time, you're saying my time has expired, you got none left. And if you got no time left, that's basically saying you're dead. I didn't have time, my time has expired, I'm dead. See the correlation. It may appear to be a play on words, it might be, but think about it. You have no time, that means your time has expired because you have none left. Are you dead? What you getting at, ashley? Well, what I'm getting at is that you really have time. It's just. Whatever you choose to do with that time, or whatever someone asks you to do something with that time, it's not really important to you, because otherwise you wouldn't make time, because you got time.
Speaker 1:We always make time for those things that we think are important to us. Let me give you a couple examples. You always got time to eat, right, lord knows. We always got time to go to the potty. And boy, do we go to the potty? Well, we got to go. We got to go. We will make time. We'll pull over on the side of the road and find time, alright, alright, over on the side of the road and find time, all right, give me time to sleep. Eventually, some of us may take longer to sleep. Give me time to drink, watch TV, go to bars, sporting events, hobbies, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1:So when we tell someone I ain't got time, that that's a lie, you're really saying that ain't important to you right now. So I'm not going to delegate time to it, maybe later on down the road. Oh, maybe I put some thought into it, but right now I ain't got time. That that's really what you should tell people when you're not giving them the time slot that they required of you. So what's this five minute thing that I'm talking about? This five minute thing that I'm talking about is reading my Bible. Yes, that's right, reading my Bible.
Speaker 1:You ever hear this song growing up? Read your Bible, pray every day, pray every day. Pray every day. Read your Bible, pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow and you'll grow, grow, grow and you'll grow, grow, grow. Read your Bible, pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow. Read my Bible, man, every single day. For the last 30, 31 years, read my Bible At least one chapter a day. Of course, there may have days where I maybe skip a couple days and then I try to make it up in my following reading. Maybe skip a couple days and then I try to make it up in my following reading, but I at least make a minimum every single day to read for five minutes. Five minutes is like one chapter, and if I don't read anything else in the Bible, I make sure I read the book of Proverbs, right?
Speaker 1:So the book of Proverbs in the Bible was written by a man called King Solomon. You may have heard of him. He was tagged the wisest man that ever lived, okay, and the richest king. The wisest man and king and the richest king that ever lived. His wisdom was beyond compare. There's a story of him when he was sitting on the throne and two women came to him with one baby. One woman said two women came to him, both of them had a baby in their hand. One had a dead baby and the other one had an alive baby, a baby that was alive. And the woman with the dead baby came and said your Honor, we were both sleeping in the same tent, we were both for our babies and one day I woke up my baby was dead. And I looked and saw and examined that baby and realized that wasn't my baby, it was this woman's baby. She woke up in the night, her baby died and so she swapped babies with me and now I have the dead baby and she has the live baby. And the other woman denied it and said the reverse.
Speaker 1:So there was a conflict Whose dead babies was whose and whose live baby baby was live. So the king said okay, you bring the live baby to me. We're going to cut the live baby alive. You want to cut the live baby in half and we're going to give each woman a piece of the live baby. One woman screamed and said no, no, no, no, no, don't kill the live baby, just let her keep the live baby. Let her keep it, don't kill it. The second woman said yo kill the baby. Go ahead and cut him in half. If I can't have him, you can't have him either. The king said take the live baby and give it to the first woman, because that's the true mother, the first woman that would rather see the baby live. She's the mother. And everyone took note of his wisdom.
Speaker 1:And so the book of Proverbs is a bunch of wise sayings and writings of King Solomon. There's a couple other writers in the book of Solomon, and the book has 31 chapters. That's how many days you have in a month. For the most part 31 days. So I remember long ago someone had challenged me that you can read the book of Proverbs according to the day. So if today is December 26th, I would read Proverbs, chapter 26. And then tomorrow, december 27th, I would read Proverbs, chapter 26. And then tomorrow, december 27th, I would read Proverbs, chapter 27, all the way to the end of the month, and I'll restart it when the month restarts. So if I don't read anything else in the Bible, I will make sure that I read the book of Proverbs according to the day.
Speaker 1:Now this might seem elementary, this might appear like man. That's the only thing you read in the Bible. Well, if I don't have time to read nothing else, I at least read that. Now, why have this impacted my life tremendously? One way is that you know it's transformed my way of thinking. So reading the Bible every day is not so much an intellectual practice, but it's life-changing. There are three things I want to share with you about how this has impacted my life.
Speaker 1:In the book of Proverbs it says this Proverbs, chapter 1, in the very beginning, when it talks about the purpose of the book of Proverbs and the reason why the author took his time to write the book of Proverbs. Listen to these verses Proverbs, chapter 1, verse 1 through 7. First thing I want to talk about is the purpose of reading Proverbs. The Bible it's just we happen to be talking about Proverbs right now, but this applies to the entire Bible. It says the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion man that's so missing in today's society right Discretion. A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. To understand a proverb and the interpretation and the words of the wise and their dark sayings the begin, the fear of the Lord, is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Do you hear this? Talk about what you would gain just by reading the book of Proverbs.
Speaker 1:Sometimes people talk to me and they think I went to college or university because of the words that I use and my pattern of thinking and my ability to articulate. I got a high school diploma, which is a GED equivalent, and only went to trade school. I learned building maintenance, electrical carpentry, main tiles, masonry and a host of other construction skills. Never been to college, however, my vocabulary has grown exponentially. Why? Just simply through reading the Bible.
Speaker 1:You see what happens when you read the Bible it begins to transform your thoughts patterns. It begins to form your presuppositions. You know the thoughts that you have, that you're presupposed to thinking. It shapes it, it changes your perspective on life, it gives you a new one and it replaces all the bad words that you choose to use because your vocabulary was limited or you had a proclivity to cursing and saying vile things. But reading the Bible has a way of changing that in your life. It's changed me. I used to cuss like a sailor. I used to make up curse words. I used to cuss so bad, but reading the Bible every day changed that for me.
Speaker 1:Second thing I'd like to point out and it's in the Bible again. It happens to be in the book of Proverbs. There's rewards. When you read the Bible, proverbs chapter 3, it says this my son, forget not my law and let thine heart keep my commandments For length of days and long life and peace. Shall they add to thee what? Forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments For length of days and long life and peace shall he add to thee. Whoa, you mean reading the Bible as length of days and long life and peace. See ya Verse 3.
Speaker 1:Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table or tablet of thine heart, so shall thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and of men. Whoa, reading the Bible, gaining knowledge, writing them on the table of my heart, allows me to find favor with God and man. That's huge Favor is more valuable than money. To find favor in the king's eyes is a whole lot better than to find favor with God and man and making money.
Speaker 1:Verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding In all thy ways. Acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Whoa, trust in God, not my own understanding. Acknowledge him and he will direct me. You mean he'll go in front of me and clear the way for me and direct me what to go in my life to be successful. That sounds unbalanced, doesn't it? My part sounds simple, his part seems complicated, but he promises that he will direct our paths. Oh, that's deep, man.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you guys are picking this up, but, man, this has been so true in my life. I want to share something personal with you guys. You know I've been married for 25 years. My wife has only worked six months out of those 25 years. We've been a single family for 24 years, and a quick math In six months, yeah, 25 and a half years, 24 and a half years we're not rich by a long shot.
Speaker 1:There were some things that we had to sacrifice and live without to make it work, but every step of the way, god provided for us. When we had one child, god provided me a little bit more income. I had a second child, a little bit more income. As my family grew, my needs grew, god provided for us every step of the way. Of course, I didn't have toys, I didn't have fancy cars, I didn't have a pool in my backyard, I didn't always own a home. We faced hard times and struggled financially, but always came out of them. God always provided for our needs every step of the way. He leaded me and guided me Every step of the way and provided for me. So I can attest that if you acknowledge Him in all your ways, he will direct your path, and he has done that for me for the last 30-odd years since I became a Christian, every step of the way, through the good times, the hard times, every step of the way.
Speaker 1:And the last one I would like to share Proverbs, chapter 3, starting with verse 13, the depths of satisfaction from reading the Bible. Listen to these verses Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, verse 13. And the man that getteth understanding, for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies. She is wisdom which you would get when you read the Bible. God's Word and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Neph of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that retaineth her. The depths of satisfaction from reading the Bible Do you hear me or hear me you? However, I hear me you. However, whatever vernacular you want to use, do you hear what I'm saying? The rewards of reading the Bible and the depths of satisfaction from reading the Bible this has transformed my life tremendously.
Speaker 1:Neglect your Bible, forget to pray, forget to pray, forget to pray, forget to pray, neglect your Bible, forget to pray and you shrink, shrink, shrink and you shrink, shrink, shrink and you shrink, shrink, shrink and you shrink, shrink, shrink. Reject your Bible, forget to pray and you shrink, shrink, shrink. So we have two choices Are you going to read your Bible or are you going to neglect your Bible? The Bible is considered as spiritual food, food of spirit and the soul. Your spirit helps you to communicate with God. Your spirit helps you to pray. Your spirit helps you to discern spiritual things. Your spirit is real and, just like the human body, if you do not feed the spirit, your spirit is less and less active in your life. And you feed that spirit with the word of God. So I'll leave you with this. Do you have five minutes to invest into your own life? Do you have five minutes? Just five. It may take you one, but just five, and those five minutes will impact your life exponentially. Dude, you got five minutes, spend it wisely.
Speaker 1:And now about the update for myself, where I've been, what's been happening with me? My last update was that no one really knew what I was struggling with, but now they've come to diagnose what I've been struggling with. It took them about 10 months to come up with a diagnosis. Well, it took a year to come up with a diagnosis, from the time that I began to struggle to the time that they actually diagnosed me, so they have concluded that in the beginning I had pneumonia that contributed to pulmonary fibrosis, which is the bruising scarring of the lungs. They don't know what brought it up on me or what happened. They just know that my lungs were scarred. Whatever it was scarred my lungs and went away and left me with the damage that prevents me from being able to breathe. The diagnosis that they finally diagnosed me with was, they said, I had a case of an autoimmune disease, and it's called diamyotitis or something like that, which is a disease that affects your muscles and your skin. All of this falls under Institutional Lung Disease, but the contributing factor is Diomyotitis, which is an autoimmune disease. I might be saying that right, maybe Diomyositis maybe and so they have determined, because of the damage that I have, that I am going to require a lung transplant, that, no matter how good or stable they may get me, I still would need a lung transplant. So I'm going through an evaluation right now to be listed for a lung transplant. They stated to me that it may take a year and a half nationwide average. However, they've seen people in Orlando get it anywhere between three to six months. So I am going to be having a lung because of the needs for oxygen in my life. So that's the update where I'm at health-wise.
Speaker 1:I have not been doing podcasts, as promised that I would do one on a monthly basis or a weekly basis. Now, about that, when I first started out was motivated and I kept up with that schedule. But then I came to the realization, you know what, if God doesn't lead me to share that week, am I just going to force myself to share, or if I'm going to allow God to lead me by His Holy Spirit? See, up to that moment, I did it because I said I would do it. But was that really God's plan for me? You see, a long time ago I purposed in my heart that I would never do anything in the flesh, anything in and flesh anything in and of myself, unless I'm led by God or I feel inspired by God to do it. And after about my 10th podcast, I didn't feel the leading of God's Spirit and so I said, okay, lord, when you want me to share something, I'll share it. I'm not going to just willy-nilly it just because I said I would. And what that does for me. It prevents me from running on autopilot and not being fully present when I share.
Speaker 1:If I'm just doing it just because I wanted to do it, just because I said I would do it, I think there's an element of that that would put me in a position saying I said I would do it, so I'm just going to do it, and God did not want me to do it at that moment. And I'm trying to be sensitive to what God wants me to do, as opposed to me worrying about the perception that everyone has of me or anyone has of me. I just don't think that's the way to live as a person, as a Christian, as a human being. Worry about perception. You do the right thing and people's perception will take care of itself. Good, bad or indifferent, just do the right thing. Don't worry about what people think about you, and so I've always structured my life that way, and I intend to do that with this podcast.
Speaker 1:Now, whenever you hear me, I want you to be confident that God led me to share good, bad or indifferent, and that's how I want to to be confident that God led me to share Good, bad or indifferent, and that's how I want to live my life. So there you go, guys. I'm not sure which episode number this is but one thing. You can be sure that it's God that led me to share this with you today, and I hope that it has helped you, just as it always helps me. If you like it, please leave a comment, um, do a review, share with your friends.
Speaker 1:I don't get paid to do these podcasts. I do it because god wants me to do it and I want to encourage you guys to make the best investment in your life that you could ever make, and it only takes five minutes or less and no money out your pocket. So until next time, god bless you, may God keep you. May God cause his face to shine upon you and give you his peace. I ask you, savior may know him in the power of his resurrection, in the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. Thank you,