Many people fall into the trap of believing that how we perceive or define significance is the same measuring stick that God uses to define significance. Believing that we have to do great things in order to be great men and women of faith, is our human tendency. In this episode, Jonathan & Mark discuss how God defines significance and how our faulty definition of significance can leave us feeling inadequate and of little use or purpose. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]

Our lives are often ruled by our heart’s desires and in many cases, we expect God to grant and fulfill those desires. When we perceive the desires of our hearts are not being met, we may fall for the Devil’s trap of believing the lie that God doesn’t want to grant our heart’s desires at all. In this episode, Jonathan & Mark discuss how the focus of our heart’s desire, needs to be on aligning our desires with the will of God for our lives rather than expecting God to align his will with the desires we want fulfilled. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]

At any given moment, our natural tendency is to associate what we don’t see God actively doing as conclusive evidence that God isn’t working in our lives. In this episode, Jonathan and Mark discuss how our tendency to embrace the falsehood of that premise is in essence, to believe the lie that if we can’t see God actively working on our behalf, then that must mean He isn’t. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]

Our perceived need for pursuing self-righteousness ultimately leads to spiritual exhaustion. If we allow the lie that works-driven acceptance is the only way to have a good relationship with God, we will miss the peace and the rest God wants to provide for our weary souls. In this episode, Jonathan and Mark discuss how God never intended our spiritual growth and our relationship with Him to be burdensome with “Hard-Work” and “To-Do” lists. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]

Sometimes, we are tempted to believe that since God is in Heaven, He hasn’t faced the same life struggles that we do and as a result, He doesn’t really understand our unique situations and difficulties. Jonathan and Mark discuss how this lie undermines the truth that God does understand us intimately and empathizes with us regarding our struggles and difficulties. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]

In this sin-filled world, relationships with our own imperfect parents, our broken families and others in our lives, can negatively impact how we perceive our relationship with God. The dynamic failures in our earthly relationships can lead us to believe the relationship we desire with our Heavenly Father is unattainable. Jonathan and Mark discuss how to overcome this lie in our lives by turning to God’s TRUTH as well as how to live confidently and know that a deep and fulfilling relationship with our Heavenly Father is attainable despite the failures and flaws in our earthly relationships.

As Christians, we desire spiritual growth and change to be more Christ-like. Oftentimes, we try to drive those changes in our lives by turning to spiritual to-do lists. Our thinking is that if we can do the things on the list consistently that we will get the results we are looking for. When we fail to be consistent, we fall for the lie that we will never change and start to believe that real change and spiritual growth is simply unobtainable. Jonathan and Mark discuss how to unmask this lie in our lives and instead, enact God’s recipe for change and spiritual growth by actuating a real and authentic Christian lifestyle that is focused on loving God and loving others. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]

God’s desire for us is to have joy in the midst of the many difficulties and trials we face in life. Jonathan and Mark discuss what it means to have joy in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic and how God would have us use this time to grow and strengthen our faith in Christ. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]

Our human tendency is to hold on to things, so we naturally believe that God does too. When we fail to truly understand God’s mercy and fully embrace God’s forgiveness, we inevitably carry the guilt and shame of our past into our future, robbing us of the peace that we seek. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]

From childhood we are taught the concept of merit. If we want something, then we have to earn it. When we perceive our spiritual performance doesn’t measure up to God’s standards, we believe the lie that we are not good enough for God's love because we haven’t earned it. If we tend to perceive life to be solely performance-based, then our natural inclination is to apply the concept of performance-based faith to our relationship with God. The result is often a general feeling that we don’t deserve God’s love or that God only loves us when we are “good”. Show Music: Lifehouse Church – Hagerstown, MD I Am Taste of Forever Produced By: Jonathan Stagno Mark Affleck Contact Us: [email protected]