First Love

Guest (Male): Welcome to First Love with Dr. Robin Cassis and Dr. Nathan Cassis, where faith meets real life. In this weekly broadcast, you'll discover practical and spiritual keys to reclaim God's story in your life, deep in your relationship with Jesus, and encounter him as your first love, whether for the first time or all over again. No topic is off limits as we make Jesus real, relevant, and relational. Stay with us. Your journey back to First Love starts now.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Hello everybody and happy Friday. Today is the last day before you hit the weekend for a Sabbath rest. My name is Dr. Nathan Cassis.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And mine is Dr. Robert Cassis, and we're looking forward to the weekend.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes, I like how you did that. I'm going to get you to do that from now on. I'll say my name and then you say your name. Dr. Robin, yesterday we talked about the valley of Achor, and we're going through. Now, if you're listening for the first time and you're going, what is this valley? What is these gates? Just to remind everybody, we are going through a journey of the gates of Jerusalem and how they correspond and they connect to the conversations and the seasons that we all have to go through on our journey in Christ as believers.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And this one is pretty well explains itself, you know. This is the uh you know, we know it's the valley of Achor, but we know all about

Dr. Nathan Kassas: It is. Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Achan and what was done or what we should

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: but it's the spiritual principle and the spiritual lesson that we learn from this as part of the ancient truths, right? And you need to work out what this ancient truth is attached to this one. We can't do all of it for everyone.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's right.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And so I want you to look at this and this this battle that took place at AI had a specific reason and meaning to it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You see, when they were battling in Jericho,

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: God moved. That was God's battle.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: He broke those walls down. He gave direction.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Okay. Now, what do you think happened next when the battle of AI came? They rode on their victory of the last one.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So instead of going back to the Lord to find out what was the strategy for AI's battle, they thought we we won such a victory

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: in the walls of Jericho that they rode on their victory.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And this is so very dangerous

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: because there happened to be sin in the camp, and God can't move past that.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. That's it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: He has principles in the spirit and spiritual laws that he can't move past that. It has to be exposed or revisited.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And when you revisit the next experience that God is bringing in the valley, he'll show you new strategies that will work through that one that won't work through any of the others.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You have to see this. It is so important because then you can move through that very fast

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: because like I said before, each valley has a different so-called strong man

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: and each valley shows you once you've overcome that, you won't come against that strong man again. You might come against other things, but you won't come against that strong man.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So to tie in with what you just said uh in a kind of neuroscience way, you know, our nervous system is craving completion, not suppression. And so when we refuse to revisit and when we refuse to go back, we're actually just suppressing more more and more what our nervous system is crying out for. And that is closure. God brings closure. Something important about AI here is that the valley of Achor in Hebrew Achor means trouble, right? So they they called it the valley of trouble because that's when Achan took from the gold. He hid it in the ground and then they went up at AI and they're like, hang on, I thought you were with us, God.

And I love what the Lord says to Joshua. He says, get get up, stop, get off your face. There's sin in the camp.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Like hello, there's a reason for the trouble. So I want to give a little statement.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And disturbance too.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. There's a reason for the trouble. There is a reason for the disturbance. Get out of your bubble and realize there's trouble. And Achor, the valley of Achor is where God is literally telling you that get out of your bubble of thinking everything's good. There's a reason for the trouble. There's a reason for the resistance. I'm not the one resisting you. Man or the devil is, and you need to find the source.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But the place named trouble becomes an entrance for hope.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Later on in Hosea

Dr. Robyn Kassas: If you get this message clear, you can have that transformed into an entrance Excuse me. An entrance of hope.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. Later on in Hosea, the Lord says, I will give her the valley of Achor and turn it into a door of hope. So this shows us exposure is not the end of the story. God's story never finishes with exposure. It's the beginning of integrating a new response. See, exposure with safety and correction actually brings a new direction. It's only when exposure is not coupled with the safety of covenant that it feels like shame. See, they were shamed when they were exposed by their nakedness because they were outside covenant. So what is hidden can control us unconsciously until we revisit it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Okay. Another statement that I 've got here tying into the neuroplasticity, okay? Redemption always means revisit. This is important. You cannot redeem without going back to what's been buried alive and hidden.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And so exposed you becomes redemptive.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: When correction changes the next response

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is it. This is it. See, that can turn into a door of hope. Oh, God's exposing me. God keeps showing me where I 'm getting it wrong because you haven't seen it. You've been in a bubble and you haven't realized the trouble.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. God doesn't uh reveal Achor merely to show you your trouble.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Nope.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: He reveals trouble so that he can turn it into a doorway of hope.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. And this is what I love about this valley where I have had trouble. If I let God show me what's been buried alive. I said in the previous episode, don't bury your feelings alive. Don't swallow your words. Let me tell you as somebody that's done the iridology and the body scans for proof. If you swallow your words, they will go into your organs. They will become a part of your cellular makeup and bring cellular trauma. I have experienced this so much, Dr. Robin, helping people that have swallowed their words. And literally you see the organs become inflamed.

You see the tongue become inflamed from a holistic point of view as someone trained in holistic health. So what you bury alive never stays buried. It's underneath the sand. It's underneath the ground, but it's still alive. It never dies. You've got to go back.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I think if you missed it

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Just say if you've missed this and you've uh allowed an AI experience in your life, you are on the door of hope if you go back for the new strategies to win this valley.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. So a key statement, you cannot heal what your nervous system is still treating as an unnamed threat. Going back, finding out why didn't I go back to God in the first place? It actually is weakening fear.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: It's from a neuroscience perspective. It's actually weakening fear. So repeatedly encountering fearful memories in a queue of safe contexts can help the brain to learn this is no longer the same threat.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And don't be fearful of it because repeating what God is saying to you will quicken up this valley experience.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is it. You can go through the valley of Achor very very quick. Again, there's one valley. So God's going to take you through the valley of Ela. He's going to take you through the valley of Achor. And they don't necessarily have to be in this, you know, order. They like it like the stones, he'll choose the valley. He'll choose the the instrument. But the key here is you can actually work with the Holy Spirit by recognizing outside the bubble where the trouble is. And

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And even where the sin is

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: or the weakness

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: or the character flaw

Dr. Nathan Kassas: or the schema.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Whatever.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: If you realize it, then God can actually touch it. See, we always say you can't touch or you can't heal what you won't feel.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And what you won't let him touch.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is it. So take a break. Maybe ponder. Why am I in a bubble? Maybe there is a bit of trouble that you haven't realized. And we'll come back and we'll continue on this important valley.

Guest (Male): Looking for a real relationship with Jesus? Join Dr. Robin Cassis and Dr. Nathan Cassis every weekday for First Love, where prophetic insight meets real theology. Learn how God's voice activates your mind, body, soul, and spirit, helping you renew your mind, transform your life, and return to the one who loved you first. Catch First Love Monday through Friday, 5 to 5:30 p.m. Learn more at torcc.org.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The one who loved you first is still loving you best.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So we're coming back right now for the last part of this, but I want to say this to you. You need to know this principle and this valley and what it reveals because we take for granted and take so much for granted what God is doing, and we think that he's doing the same thing again and again. And uh it's time now to hear the Lord and then we don't have to walk this way anymore. I love this, Dr. Robin, because you're tying in this actual pattern that we fall into.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: I got a bit excited there and was banging the table. Please remove it, but it's one of the big ones with me. When I realized this one with the valley, but also the battle of AI, it it has taught me never to see the same thing twice.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Wow. And that 's what the Lord says through the prophet Hosea. He says, I will allure her. So I will draw her in, you know, I'll woo her in. And I will then bring her into the wilderness. So he's saying, I'm not going to not let you revisit this valley of trouble. I'm going to lure you in by my spirit. You're not going back there to be re-traumatized.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: No, you're going back to receive hope.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I want to give you a word that I would say, you know, um in an analytical kind of psychoanalytical process. You're going back to be updated. Okay? Not to be re-traumatized. You're going back to be updated. So let me rephrase or paraphrase. Therefore, I will allure her. I will bring her into the wilderness. So the valley of Achor is in the wilderness, okay? And speak comfort to her. So the Lord's not taking you back to go haha, this is where you blew it. He's going back to say, this is where the root. This is where you decided that you didn't need to come back for another connection of relationship.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And this is where you will get the chance to respond instead of react.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Then he goes on exactly what you just said. I will speak comfort to her. I will give her vineyards from there. What does that mean? It means what's been dry and hasn't produced any life.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Water will flow.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Water but wine.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And wine will flow.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Fruitfulness. There's going to be fruit from this place. It's not going to be a place that you're so scared to touch because it's barren. And then he goes on to say, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And you know what? That is the place where we deal with this giant. Here's the one where deferred hope Yes. is one over.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Oh my Lord, this is so important for someone listening. Okay? So God is not taking you back to expose. He's taking you back to reveal what's been concealed.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And to revisit your first love.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Ooh. Yeah, because he was meant to be the first love, but something else got in the way and that's why you didn't go back for the next response.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: You took it for granted that you knew the way of God.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Lord Jesus. My Lord, someone needs to hear this. You need to be encouraged. Exposure is not the end. Okay? Redemption and hope they're the end.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And that's when you can walk out of that valley with no more deferred hope, but the hope of glory that lives within you.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So again, Dr. Robin, this valley of Achor is so important because this represents when what was hidden can no longer govern the future because see, until you go back and until you uncover what 's been buried alive, it's governing your future. See, again, I want to show you whatever is hidden does not mean it's not active.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: But it'll keep on going on.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And it will recruit other things that are not active to form a massive stronghold over your life.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So I I think that we really as we end this one and we're heading that way is we have to have that conversation and not be fearful of the Lord revealing hidden things.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes. Oh, you're talking to me, Lord Jesus. Someone is out there and they're hearing this and they're going, oh, I don't want to go back. It's too painful. I don't want hidden things. The pain is too traumatizing. What would you say to them, Dr. Robin?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Well, it's not merely just to show you your trouble. It can turn into a doorway of hope for you.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. And so this valley is very important because what was trouble can be redemptive when truth is faced instead of buried. See, a lot of the stuff that we're facing is because we've buried truths that need to come up from underneath the ground. And these truths are the things that will help us succeed and move out of this valley.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So have the conversation and don't be fearful of it because redemption comes. And what comes next is because of a new response.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So I want to throw some biology neuroscience connection in here just to help the listener understand. So when we don't actually process experience, okay? They tend to remain in our nervous system in a fight or flight kind of conditioned reactive response. So by going back and processing emotions and experiences healthfully and letting the Lord reveal where the trouble was and not burying it under the sand and pretending it was never there or I I've moved on past that.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: I'm burying your head in the sand.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Exactly. Okay? This is how our brain integrates back into our body. Okay? What has been fragmented. Where those things have been cut off from receiving closure. Another important thing, we talked about this before, but memory reconsolidation can allow for old emotional memories to be updated. So not removed, updated with a new meaning. Okay? We're not taking away the memory. We're assigning new meaning. So new meaning to the memory actually changes it out of a reactive context now into an ability to respond. So as God updates the memory, he changes it from a valley of trouble to now here's where God is going to use that and convert it into a door of hope.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. And I think that this is where we could put on a part of the armor

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: which is let me say this, a helmet of salvation where you deal with the thoughts of whether they are so-called positive or negative and any schemas. All that can be dealt with with the right thoughts. So when you go back to God, you get the right thoughts to deal with Yeah. this strategy that is trying to overcome and shadow overshadow the mind of Christ that he wants to put on you instead of working through a schema.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. And again, I think it's so key here to keep reiterating. This door of hope is directly located where the valley of trouble has been. So your door is not outside your trouble. You've got to go back to where the trouble began and then the Lord says it opens the door in the same valley where trouble has been exposed.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And I think that that's you you don't want to go through that, but yet you don't see the result of it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: To move to the next situation in your life, you have to have a doorway of hope.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And again, to the person listening, Pastor Nathan, I don't want to go back to that, you know, memory. It's too painful. I don't want to go back there because it shows me where I didn't I didn't do what I needed to do. But you don't realize until you go back to that valley and you face the truth of exposure without the shame. Okay? Exposure within the safety of covenant because he's not going to throw you away. If he exposes you, he's exposing because light light has not touched those places and he wants light to touch all the places so that you are full of his light and no darkness dwells within you.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: He loves you. And you allow the Holy Spirit to open that door that's been shut for a long time and let him shine

Dr. Robyn Kassas: This is it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: on that.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: This is it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And open it up and let the light shine. And when he you let the light shine, truth comes out. And you know what? You have to have hope to go to the next place.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And the hope of glory that's within you will shine forth.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And you will realize with the conversation how much the Lord loves you.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. So again, I'm going to medically tie it in here just to help someone. God's healing is not giving you amnesia. Okay? Healing is not spiritual amnesia, meaning you forget. Nowhere in the Bible does it say forgive and forget. Okay? He throws it into the sea of forgetfulness in his head, but unfortunately you live with it for the rest of your life because it's become a part of you. But here's the key. Healing is not amnesia. What is healing? Healing is when the domination of the old memory does not dominate now the power of the meaning of the new memory.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's the one.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Okay? So when God exposes, he's showing you what's not been your belt of truth holding you up. You've had a different belt of truth. So he's re-strapping you with that belt of truth and he's saying, hey, okay, we have to talk about this. Then from there you go ah okay, I see it. I'm exposed to why. And from the why now you begin to go, okay, here's where the trouble's been. Here's where I've been living that system over and over again.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And this is what I have to do now. I have to strike twice with the sword of the spirit. You see, this is the armor.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: There it is.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Use the armor. Don't just put it on. You see, that's what Paul was talking about, putting the armor on in the valley.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. Yes. Hand to hand combat. Can't go hand to hand and deal with the demon from a distance. You got to go back to where the trouble was.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So I'm telling you, healthy systems need feedback. We need to repeat. We need to go back, but go back in a different way so he could have the conversation to move you on in your life.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And you like that word feedback and I like that word, but we always associate feedback as in, you know, Dr. Robin, give me some feedback. But I'm going to change I'm going to flip its meaning. Ready? God wants to feed back into what you never fed from in the valley.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: In the beginning.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: This is why he wants to take you back because he wants to feed back into you what you wouldn't come to him for in the first place. So yes, he wants to give you feedback. We always treat feedback as, you know, give me feedback. Am I doing right, God? Am I doing wrong? Give me, you know, the next. But feedback is actually let me feed back into you.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Because that makes your system healthy.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And I'm I'm not about all that, but you are, but I can see that because hope makes you healthy.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Instead of deferred hope, you have the hope of glory in you working through you to show you to have this conversation with you about a healthy system.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. And so to someone listening who doesn't like going back or doesn't like revisiting as Dr. Robin would say or has refused feedback, truthful feedback, you're missing an opportunity because in the feedback you're getting a feed back.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, you get food.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And you get fed.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: See, when you refuse the feedback of truth, you're not getting fed back.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's the one.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: What you needed in the first place. So this is where correction comes in, but not just correction, understanding, exposure, illumination, revelation. All these things need to be fed back into you because without that here's the key. Without feedback you can't have hope.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. It's true. And when there's an error occurs in your nervous system, you need to see where it is being placed in the feedback.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So take this weekend and ask God for some feedback. We'll see you next week.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Bye.

Guest (Male): Thanks for spending time with us today on First Love. If today's message spoke to you, share it with someone. And if you're looking for more teachings, visit www.torcc.org. That's torcc.org for more. And as you go, don't forget the one who loved you first is still loving you best.