The Cycle We Keep Choosing

What happens when we keep falling into the same destructive patterns? Whether it's a toxic relationship or a spiritual stumbling block, breaking free requires more than just recognizing the cycle—it demands changing our environment and responses.

I'm thrilled to introduce our new seven-week journey through the Book of Judges, where we'll explore Israel's repetitive cycle of sin, oppression, crying out to God, divine deliverance, peace, and sadly, returning to sin again. This ancient pattern reflects something profoundly relevant to our modern lives.

Ready to break free from what's holding you back? Join me each week as we learn from Israel's mistakes and discover God's unfailing love that continues to rescue us, even when we've chosen the wrong path repeatedly. Subscribe now and share with someone who might need this message of hope and transformation.

Key passages:

Judges 1-2

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Episode 51
• 1:14 Announcing the Book of Judges Study
• 2:18 Personal Story of Repeated Cycles
• 4:22 The Cycle in Judges Explained
• 7:16 Breaking Free from Our Patterns
• 9:15 Behind the Scenes: Weekly Struggles

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello, hello. You're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast, episode 51. This week's devotional is titled the Cycle we Keep Choosing. Let's go. Hi. I'm Jesse Morgan. I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart my journey and love for Jesus Christ, my Savior. Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hot Podcast.

Speaker 1: 0:34

This is a weekly devotional. I started back in May 2024, but the inspiration for it came much earlier. It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born, four months early in 2023. Through that challenging time, god worked in ways that truly amazed me. On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith, woven together with scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives. My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through. So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together. Let's all pray within the Cycle we Keep Choosing, episode 51.

Speaker 1: 1:16

Hey friends, as you noticed, I did not tell you the passage just yet. I'm getting ready to reveal what we'll be studying the next seven weeks. Super excited. So, anyways, welcome back to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart. I'm really excited you're here with me today because we're diving into a brand new series, a seven-week study that I just mentioned through the book of Get Ready Judges. And before we get into it, I want to start with something personal. This episode might make my husband cringe a little bit. Not going to lie, because I'm about to share a story from my early 20s a relationship that wasn't healthy, it wasn't godly and wasn't doing any favors for me personally, and my husband hearing that someone mistreated me will just make him cringe. Anyways, but this story is a great example of the exact cycle we're going to be studying in scripture. So here's the deal.

Speaker 1: 2:21

I dated this guy in my early 20s. He wasn't outright mean or abusive, but he didn't treat me right. I was never a priority. Things would be good for like two or three weeks or a month, and then poof, he'd go MIA, missing action, no phone calls, no texts, nothing. And I would spiral. I'd start questioning everything about myself. Was I boring? I start questioning everything about myself. Was I boring, not pretty enough, too much, etc.

Speaker 1: 2:47

I call my girls, my best friends Lauren and Adrian, and vent. They say things like Jess, come on, you deserve better. If he can't even call, what's he really doing? And then there was Jonathan, one of my best guy friends and always brutally honest. He'd say just he's cheating, ain't no dude that busy? So I pull myself together, cut things off, try to move on. Life would settle down, I'd find some peace again, maybe go on a few dates, feel good. Then four or five months later, ding, he's text and the cycle would just start all over again.

Speaker 1: 3:29

This on and off thing went on for over five years. Five years, a never ending cycle. Why did I let it happen? Why didn't I just cut it off for good? Because deep down I thought I could change him. I thought I could handle the mess, manage the drama, but in reality I just kept hurting myself Over and over again. I chose that cycle and it was wrong, not just of him, but of me too.

Speaker 1: 3:59

And that's where so many of us find ourselves, spiritually too. You see, christians fall into cycles all the time. We sin, we get hurt, we cry out to God. He delivers us, we feel at peace and then we go right back to the same sin again Sound familiar? That's exactly what the book of Judges is about.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Judges is the book that comes right after Joshua, so we're picking up right where we left off in our last study. The generation under Joshua had faith. They conquered the promised land. They walked with God. But after Joshua died at 110 years old, the next generation didn't remember what God had done. They forgot his miracles, they forgot his goodness and they just turned away. So real quick, let's look at Judges 2, 10 through 11. It says After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who neither knew the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes. Ball Judges.

Speaker 1: 5:09

Chapter 1 starts with more victories, of course, but more land conquered as well. But by the end of the chapter, in verses 19 through 36, we see the unraveling, tribe by tribe. They stopped trusting God, they stopped conquering the land they were promised and they compromised. And so God, righteously angry, lets the land they failed to take over rise up and oppress them. This sets the tone for the entire book of Judges.

Speaker 1: 5:42

The cycle repeats again and again and again. Remember here's the pattern. Number one you sin. Number two oppression. Number three cry for help. Number four judge appointed. Number five deliverance. Number six peace. And number seven sin.

Speaker 1: 5:57

Again, this cycle isn't just a pattern in judges, it's a pattern in us as well. Sure, we repent, but if we don't remove the temptation, if we don't change the environment, we're probably going to fall right back into it. And that's exactly what happened in my relationship. I didn't set boundaries, I didn't change anything, I let it keep happening. It was a terrible waste of time, energy and emotion, just like sin. That relationship didn't value me. It just waited around, ready for me to let it back in. Sin is like that. It doesn't love you, it doesn't care about your growth, it just wants you stuck in a cycle. And when God reaches out his hand and offers deliverance, take it and then go to work and change your pattern.

Speaker 1: 6:49

The judges in this book were more than just leaders To me. They represent God's love. Time after time, he raised someone to rescue his people, even though they kept falling short. That's the kind of God we serve. And you know what, my friend? He'll do the same for you. When you cry out, he hears you. When you repent, he responds. But we've got to stop going back to the sin. We've got to be willing to break the cycle.

Speaker 1: 7:24

I'm just so excited for this study. Yes, we kind of know what's coming. Israel will sin again and again, and again, but there's so much to learn from their mistakes, from their oppression, from their cries for help, from these fascinating judges that God appoints. God fulfills his promises. He shows up for his children, even in the mess, and that includes you and me. Let's grow together. Let's pray. Thank you, lord, for never giving up on us. Thank you for hearing our cries, even when we've fallen into the same cycle for the 100th time, to the same cycle for the 100th time. Lord, help us break those patterns. Help us walk away from what doesn't value us, doesn't serve us and doesn't glorify you. Thank you for the stories of judges, for the reminders that you raise up. Help when we're unworthy. Let this study stretch us, challenge us and heal us. Let it change our hearts with how we deal with life every single day. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.

Speaker 1: 8:41

Well, that wraps up this week's episode. I hope these devotions help you draw closer to God each day. If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who might need the same message, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a weekly episode. Also, if you feel compelled, leaving a nice review would be so appreciated as well. For more information or to reach out, check the show notes or visit jessimorganhomecom or find me on Instagram at jessimorganlife. Remember. Remember. God's timing is always perfect. Keep trusting him until next time. This is Jesse Morgan praying off. Jesse Morgan Devotions Behind the Scenes, starting right now. Hello, hello and welcome back to Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Behind the Scenes Today. No guests today, but got some thoughts for you.

Speaker 1: 9:44

Just wanted to kind of elaborate on what we're going to be studying and kind of like what's going on with me right now. Well, I think Judges is going to be a very interesting study because, you know, everybody knows Samson, everybody knows that story. I'm going to really obviously dive into it. I'm going to try to look at it from a different perspective. I feel like scripture talks to you differently every single time. So I'm excited to see what how Samson's story is going to talk to me. But we're going to dive into the other judges that are not really known as much we know about Gideon. I did do a study, I did do a devotional on Gideon, so we'll see what the different perspective will bring this time. I've never studied the like Deborah the woman judge, so I think that's cool to go into that, and there's just so many that got appointed and they had to deliver and they had to have patience with people that were just sinning over and over and over again. So it should be really interesting to see how judges is set up, and the last judge that's really going to be mentioned is um going into samuel, which is going to be samuel. Actually, he was kind of like the last judge before israel decided that they wanted kings, and we know. We go into saul and we go into david. So I just think this is a great book, to to really like devour and I'm excited about it.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Um, other things, you know what, when we talk about the cycle of sin, or like the cycle of actions that lead to sin, I'm going to be transparent. This week has been tough for me, honestly, and one of my triggers is when something financially comes up that I wasn't prepared for and it stresses me out. I freak out. I'm like, oh my gosh, where are we going to get the money? We don't have it, what are we doing? You know that type of thing, and I think the cycle that I struggle with is worrying and always thinking about where is the next thing going to come from? Like, can we afford that, can we do this? Like that worry, and that is such a vicious, terrible cycle, because you just go around and around and around and what that happens is I am sinning because I'm not trusting God to take care of it, I'm being negative, I'm envying other people and what they have, when I don't, when I worry, and then I try to cry out to God to help me and you know, a lot of times God does deliver.

Speaker 1: 12:11

And then I go right back to worrying again. It's just ridiculous. And this week we were renovating our bathroom and we really wanted to do this for a while. We're so excited about it. We had some contingency money, some blue through that, and then something else popped up this week and then we had a leak in the house, so the water bill was through the roof. So, yeah, this week I felt like Satan was just getting at me and that cycle of worrying was just kicking in.

Speaker 1: 12:37

And you know, I still don't have all the answers, I don't know how everything's going to turn out, but I've realized that I have to put my faith in God and I have to remove the constant that gets me worrying, and I think the constant that gets me whenever I start worrying, I don't spend enough time with God. I don't have my devotional in the morning. I have been just really worried about stuff for the past two weeks and I haven't just dove into my devotional like my own devotional other than this one. And I'm just being transparent to just show you, guys, I'm not perfect and I fall short and I need to remove that block of, like me, not making time, because God is worth every minute, because he delivers me all the time. He's taking care of us, my daughter, everything, my husband, our home, our families.

Speaker 1: 13:29

So how can I just not break the pattern that I have been going on for the last two, three weeks of worry? And I need to break that pattern by spending time with him again, starting my day off right, because you start your day off right, things just come together right and when you do have a hiccup, I just feel like it's still. Things work out better because you already have that foundation at the beginning of the morning with the Lord. So that's kind of my two cents for this week and you know, love you all. God bless. Excited for next week, we're going to be focusing on Judges 3 and, I believe, 4. God bless Till next time. Jessie Morgan signing off.