On The Trail

This week we’re beginning the next segment of our Breakthrough! series: Listening to the Spirit.  From the opening verses of Scripture, the Holy Spirit is there bringing life, power, and wisdom. He is the Spirit of Life (Romans 8:2) and the Helper Christ said the Father would send us (John 14:26).  Throughout Scripture, two common actions associated with the Holy Spirit are anointing and filling....

How do joy and fear bonds affect our relationship with God? God designed us for joyful attachments—and that includes with HIM! This week we're focusing on how understanding joy and fear bonds can help us both with our biblical interpretations and our personal walks with God.  What are common metaphors for attachment in the Bible? Why is idolatry such a big deal in the Bible? What are some strategi...

Is your brain running on fear? If your brain isn't running on its preferred fuel—joy, it will default to fear. Last episode we started looking at the relational infrastructure of our brains. This week we're looking at Fear vs. Joy Bonds through the lens of fear-based attachment styles. What's Your Attachment Style (fear edition)? Our friends at Life Model have identified three core types of fear b...

God designed the infrastructure of our brains to run on relational joy. What does this mean for our daily life? In our first series of 2025, we're diving back into the B.U.I.L.D. Maturity Model from Breakthrough! and covering the important emotional engine of Increase Your Joy Bonds. If our brains run on relational joy, it's probably a good idea to know more about our relational attachments, our j...

Your true self is the person God designed to live on the fuel of relational joy.  In our final episode of 2024, we are here to have a jolly R.A.R.E. time as we consider what it looks like to be our true selves during the holidays. We've got strategies to keep in mind for remaining relational and living with joy, we're going to pray for you , and there may be a surprise Santa Hat appearance.  📣 📣...

What does it look like to be me when the holidays are difficult?   This two-part holiday series strategizes how to "act like myself" during the press and potential triggers of the holiday season.  In part one, we're specifically addressing two common reasons for why this can be difficult and making some plans for how to remain ourselves despite relational pain or pecking order issues.   Join us on...

Does it ever feel like you have a powder keg inside you?   Hit the wrong button, and negative emotions erupt inside. Or perhaps you've seen this in a loved one and find yourself in a "button dance" to avoid pressing each other's buttons.  In this episode, we're looking at the relationship between beliefs and wounds . When our hearts are wounded, it's easy to believe lies that take root and shape o...

My true identity is who I am in relationship to God.  God is the definer of my identity. Because of this, any hole in my sense of identity is also a hole in my view of God, and any hole in my view of God is going to affect how I see myself.  When we need a breakthrough in the area of beliefs, it's probably related to a lie we're believing. So, this week, we're also looking at two kinds of deceptio...

Our emotions can't tell the difference between a truth and a lie.  Many breakthrough strategies have to deal with beliefs at one level or another. For the next three episodes, we'll be looking at this engine of the Breakthrough Model.  This week is all about the power of beliefs to drive our emotions and behavior. Sometimes we can't even picture what doing something looks like, and that keeps us s...

Part of being aware of our body is knowing how to quiet. We quiet our minds by replacing toxic thinking with good thinking. We quiet our bodies by changing our body chemistry and calming our amygdala.  In this week's episode, we're looking at four practices that can help us quiet our body when we feel stressed.  We can remember these as B.E.S.T. practices for quieting:  B reathe in a box [inhale,...

How can the BODY affect our breakthrough journey?  In this series, we are exploring five areas where we often need a breakthrough. The first of these five engines that drive our emotions is the body.  This engine functions like a two-way street. Sometimes emotions affect our body. Sometimes our body affects our emotions.  If we have a physical issue, we probably need a physical solution. Maybe thi...

How can the brain affect our breakthrough journey?  To continue this Breakthrough! series, we're talking about our God-given identity and maturity development by looking at three keys of brain function and five levels of maturity.   For instance, the brain craves the fuel of ____. (If you filled in the blank with “JOY,” you may have listened to our series on joy. If not, check out this compilation...

In this episode, we are introducing the core paradigms of the Breakthrough! series: Three Levels of Breakthrough and Five Engines that Drive Our Emotions. When people are in search of a breakthrough, it's usually at one of three levels of need , and each need has its own solution: LEVEL 1: Relieve pain by focusing on symptoms .  LEVEL 2: Repair damage by focusing on root issues .  LEVEL 3: Rebuild...

And we’re back! Sabbatical is over, we are together again in a new studio, and we're celebrating our 100th new episode with a new season! (Can you sense a theme here?)  Season Three is kicking off with a series all about Breakthrough! In this episode, we're looking at growth models.  Growth models are crucial because they determine which solutions we believe are essential to transformation .  What...

Has your life ever felt chaotic and empty?  From Genesis 1 onward, God has shown us His purposes for bringing order and fullness to our lives. In this compilation, we're revisiting the Advent & Incarnation series. (Stephanie says it's never the wrong time of year to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ.)   But more than the Christmas season, we're looking at God's heart and plans for the...

We are a people who believe God defines reality.  In this compilation series, we contrast the occult with the Kingdom, specifically regarding the involvement of spirits in the world and the roles of power and authority. Power can be defined as the ability to make things happen . Authority can be defined as the right to represent power . At the start we look at the nature of the occult, ways it’s b...

"We are a people who..."   ...love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44)  ...find rest in Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30)  ...practice Gospel habits and abide in God's peace (Philippians 4:9)  In Part 4 of the Identity Series, we wrap up this compiled topic with the role of Community in our identity formation and a review of our Gospel Identity .  How does community bring the two...

Who does God say you are?  We spent last week calling out the devil's lies and strategies for warping our self-perception.   Like tearing down our fear house and building a joy house, let us tear down our Kosmos identity and live from our Kingdom identity . (If you missed "Joy vs. Fear House," find it here .)  In Part 3 of the Identity Series, we unpack four keys to understanding our New Covenant...

Two realms want to define your identity: the Kingdom & the Kosmos. The Kingdom teaches us how to see reality, God, and ourselves as God sees. The Kosmos teaches us via the world, the flesh, and the devil working together to give us an identity and affect what we believe.  In Part 2 of the Identity Series, we unpack how the enemy uses the world and the flesh together to trap us in pecking order...

God designed us to know ourselves based on relational identity. Over the next couple weeks, we'll be reviewing identity formation from the angles of brain science , Scripture , spiritual warfare, and community . Our brains work from right to left, from attachment to beliefs. So it makes sense we follow that pattern. This week's compilation reviews how attachment affects our identity .  We're looki...

Is your joy elevator stuck?  Do you ever find yourself rummaging in the kitchen for something, but you don't know what? Has someone ever given you good advice, but the emotional weight you are feeling won't go away?  These are just two mild indicators that your joy elevator might be stuck in some pain that needs to be processed.   In order for suffering to keep from becoming traumatic, our brains...

This series explores the transformative nature of JOY.  Our brains are designed to run on the fuel of joy, but they can default to fear. In their book The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People , Marcus Warner and Chris Coursey talk about building an internal joy house. Part of building a joy house is tearing down the fear house that so many of us have built up throughout our lives. Fear and joy bonds are...

How do we keep the devil from claiming footholds in our lives?  This series looks at the five main areas where we surrender ground to the enemy. These five areas can be remembered with the acrostic SOUL-L : S in, the O ccult, U nforgiveness, L ies we believe, and L ineage.  If sin is like leaving your front door unlocked for the enemy, the occult is like throwing open the garage door and hosting a...

Satan thought he had defeated Christ at the Cross only to discover that Jesus had completely flipped the tables on him. Christ is Victor.  At the Cross, Jesus Christ disarmed the principalities and powers and canceled the debt against us (Col. 2:14-15). This victory is the foundation of our freedom and our authority in Christ. What does it look like to have this authority?  In this series, we dig...

Do our attachment styles, maturity levels, and relational skills affect our prayer life? In this series, we look at listening prayer and inner healing .  What is listening prayer and what is it not? This conversation focuses on prayer at the lifestyle level and then on R.E.A.L. prayer at the healing level. How do we invite Jesus into our emotional healing , and what do we do if we encounter obstac...