The American Soul

How You Spend Your Day Reveals What You Worship

• Jesse • Season 5 • Episode 160

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What if your calendar is the clearest confession of your faith? We open with a simple challenge—look at the last 24 hours—and follow the thread into the heart of discipleship: loving God first and making your spouse unmistakably second. Along the way, we share a sticky marriage reminder that’s hard to forget: be like a dog, not a cat. Warmth over coolness, pursuit over distance, eager presence over polite detachment. That small shift can change the tone of a home.

Scripture lifts our eyes. Song of Solomon stirs holy pursuit, and Revelation 4 brings us into the throne room, where crowns fall and holiness saturates every breath. In that light, anxiety loses its grip and pride shrinks to size. Proverbs warns that fearing people is a snare, but trusting the Lord brings safety—wisdom for families and citizens alike. We then step into history with George Washington’s 1795 Thanksgiving Proclamation, a bracing call to acknowledge divine favor, resist the arrogance of prosperity, and guard against delusive pursuits. The words feel strikingly current, aiming at the heart of our civic malaise.

We don’t shy away from naming a quiet danger: Christless conservatism—the attempt to defend virtues while neglecting the Source. Policies matter, but without Christ at the center, zeal hardens into self-righteousness and gratitude evaporates. We honor courage with a brief Medal of Honor spotlight, a reminder that character is forged in ordinary obedience. By the end, the path is practical and hopeful: start and end with prayer, choose presence over hurry, greet your spouse with delight, cultivate public gratitude, and keep Christ at the center of your home and your nation.

If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for future episodes, and leave a review to help others find the show. What single change will you make in your next 24 hours?

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SPEAKER_01:

Hey folks, that's it, it's Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well wherever y'all are and whatever part of the day you're in. I sure do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully, y'all are getting to listen to it with someone else. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others and tell others about it, thank you. Very, very grateful for both, especially the prayers.

SPEAKER_00:

Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, Father, and your son Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and your mercy and your grace and your forgiveness of our sins through the merit of your son Jesus Christ. And him alone. Thank you for fall. Changing colors of leaves, changing temperatures. Thank you for living in a land where we can worship you. Really, for the most part, so Father. Help us to ensure we can pass that on to future generations, Father Place. That we can give them the ability to worship you openly and freely. To follow your son Jesus Christ without fear of persecution. And help us to care for those who don't have that freedom, that liberty. Help us to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy, the oppressed, the downtrodden. Help us to turn back to you, Father, as a nation. To truly put you and your son Jesus Christ back at the center of our country. And our families and our marriages. Be with those listening to the podcast, Father, wherever they are around the world. Cross the nation here in America. Comfort them, guide them. And guide my words too, Father, please. Your son's name we pray. Amen. Well, how'd you spend the last 24 hours, folks? What did you do with the time that God gave you? Are you pleased with it? More importantly, does it line up with God's priorities?

SPEAKER_01:

As Lincoln said, his concern was to be on God's side because he knew that was always the right side. Are you on God's side as far as your priorities go? And if you're married, does your spouse know without a doubt that they are your top priority each day, second only to God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit?

SPEAKER_00:

If not, folks, as we used to say in the Marine Corps, you need to square yourself away. You need to fix yourself. And just to make sure, I'm talking to myself here, folks. I've done a pretty good job the last few days.

SPEAKER_01:

And then I think about last week and some of the things that I gave my time to, and I didn't do a very good job. I did a pretty poor job in time management. Because that's really our most valuable resource, folks. We can't get it back. There are no do-overs. The time that we have here to try and save lost souls, to try and bring people to God and Jesus Christ, to try and spread a little bit of light, to light a few candles in the darkness, reflecting, turning back toward God and Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00:

That's all the time we get.

SPEAKER_01:

And for those of us that have accepted Christ, you know, we're already starting eternity with him, and that's wonderful. But there are people out there looking at the way we live our life to decide whether this whole Christianity thing, following Christ, is really something worth doing or not. And so much of that, you can almost say all of it goes to our actions and how we spend our time.

SPEAKER_00:

Little side note on the marriage thing, real quick.

SPEAKER_01:

I say this every once in a while on the podcast. I have for years, but folks, we really, and I'm not trying to offend you if you're a cat person, but we really need to be more like dogs in our marriages than cats. I was watching one of my children. We've had a small kitten that has adopted us, came just bounding out of the woods, actually. I'm I have no idea how that thing survived. Uh but at any rate, it's super, super friendly. Uh but one of my children was trying to pick it up and it was kind of being, as cats often are, kind of snooty, and it would let them get real close and it would run away a little bit. And it would let them get real close and it would run away a little bit. And, you know, if we're acting like that in marriage, and a lot of us are, that's that's not okay. Whereas when you go to greet a dog, like I walked out pretty much every morning, I walk out, and our dogs think that it's best day ever just because I stepped out the door and they get to see me. And that's how we ought to treat our spouse every day, every chance we get, best day ever, best thing ever, just because I get to be with you and do what you want to do. Right? Because dogs, they don't care. They just want to be around you and do whatever it is you want to do. So anyway, that's my little dog and cat pony show spiel that I talk about on the podcast every so often. Song of Solomon III, the bride's troubled dream. On my bed night after night I sought him, whom my soul loves. I sought him but did not find him. I must arise now and go about the city. In the streets and in the squares I must seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him but did not find him. The watchman who make the rounds in the city found him, found me, and I said, Have you seen him whom my soul loves? Scarcely had I left them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held on to him and would not let him go until I had brought him to my mother's house, and into the room of her who conceived me. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you will not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases. Solomon's wedding day. What is this coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all scented powders of the merchant? Behold it is the traveling coach of Solomon, sixty mighty men around it of the mighty men of Israel. All of them are wielders of the sword, expert in war. Each man has his sword at his side, guarding against the terrors of the night. King Solomon has made for himself a sed in chair from the timber of Lebanon. He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, and its seat of purple, purple fabric, with its interior lovingly fitted out. By the daughters of Jerusalem, go forth, O daughters of Zion, and gaze on King Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of his gladness of heart.

SPEAKER_00:

Bible verses for today going to go back to Revelation. Chapter four, verses one through eleven.

SPEAKER_01:

Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this. And instantly I was in the spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it. The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones, like jasper and carnillion. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow. Twenty four thrones surrounded him, and twenty four elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and had crowns, gold crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder, and in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the sevenfold spirit of God. In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass sparkling like crystal. In the center, and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes front and back. The first of these living beings was like a lion. The second was like an ox. The third had a human face, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come. Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks for the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever. The twenty four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever. And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and they exist because you created what you please.

SPEAKER_00:

Psalm one hundred thirty two verses one through eighteen.

SPEAKER_01:

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A lot of these songs are for pilgrims, folks. I guess in a way they all are, because we're pilgrims heading home to God and Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00:

Might be helpful to remember that every once in a while. Encouraging.

SPEAKER_01:

Lord remembered David and all that he suffered. He made a solemn promise to the Lord. He vowed to the mighty one of Israel. I will not go home, I will not let myself rest, I will not let my eyes sleep nor close my eyelids and slumber, until I find a place to build a house for the Lord, a sanctuary for the mighty one of Israel. We heard that the ark was in Ephrath. Then we found it in a distant countryside of Jar. Let us go to the sanctuary of the Lord. Let us worship at the footstool of his throne. Arise, O Lord, and enter your resting place, along with the ark, the symbol of your power. May your priest be clothed in godliness, may your loyal servants sing for joy. For the sake of your servant David, do not reject the king you have anointed. The Lord swore an oath to David with a promise he will never take back. I will place one of your descendants on your throne. If your descendants obey the terms of my covenant and the laws that I teach them, then your royal line will continue forever and ever. For the Lord has chosen Jerusalem, he has desired it for his home. This is my resting place forever, he said. I will live here, for this is the home I desired. I will bless this city and make it prosperous. I will satisfy its poor with food, I will clothe its priests with godliness, its faithful servants will sing for joy. Here I will increase the power of David, my anointed one will be a light for my people. I will clothe his enemies with shame, but he will be a glorious king. Proverbs twenty nine verses twenty four through twenty five. If you assist a thief you only hurt yourself. You are sworn to tell the truth, but you dare not testify.

SPEAKER_00:

Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety. Proverb 25, fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety. I need to remember that more often, folks. And try and focus on that.

SPEAKER_01:

Like Stonewall Jackson's quote, you know, God's concerned. He knows when I'm gonna die, how I'm gonna die, he knows when he's gonna bring me home. My job is just to do the best I can while I'm here and let God worry about all that other stuff. And then also, I don't know why, but for some reason, this chapter four in Revelation was kind of encouraging today. I hope it was for you too. It's one of those scriptures I I can't really fully explain, wouldn't even begin to try to, folks, but that's okay, because if I could explain everything, I would be God and we would all be in trouble. For today If I can find it, I thought I had it up, Howard Blogget or Blodget, also known as Willis Blodgett, first lieutenant, highest rank colonel, US Civil War, Delta Company, thirty seventh Illinois Infantry, US Army, september thirtieth, eighteen sixty two. Newtonia, Missouri with a single orderly, captured an armed picket of eight men and marched them in as prisoners. Accredited to Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, not awarded posthumously. Presented february fifteenth, eighteen ninety four. Born january twenty ninth, eighteen thirty nine, Downers Grove, DuPage County, Illinois, died may eighth, eighteen twenty nine, Saint Louis, Missouri. Buried Belafontaine Cemetery five seven tech two nine four seven Saint Louis, Missouri, United States.

SPEAKER_00:

Wells Howard Blodget Blogget.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanksgiving proclamation for today. Thanksgiving Day 1795. By the President of the United States, a proclamation. When we review the calamities which afflict so many other nations, the present condition of the United States affords much matter of consolation and satisfaction. Our exempt exemption hitherto from foreign war. An increasing prospect of the continuance of that exception exemption. No exception. The great degree of internal tranquility we have enjoyed, the recent confirmation of that tranquility by the suppression of an insurrection which so wantonly threatened it, the happy course of our public affairs in general, the unexampled prosperity of all classes of our citizens, our circumstances which peculiarly mark our situation, with indications of divine beneficence toward us. In such a state of things it is in an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience. Deeply penetrated with the sentiment, I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations, and to all persons whomsoever within the United States, to set apart and observe Thursday, the nineteenth day of February next, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet together and render their sincere and hearty thanks to the great ruler of nations, for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation, particularly for the possession of constitutions of government which united and by their union establish liberty with order, for the preservation of our peace foreign and domestic, for the seasonable control which has been given to a spirit of disorder in the suppression of the late insurrection, and generally for the prosperous course of our affairs public and private, and at the same time humbly and fervently to beseech the kind author of these blessings graciously to prolong them to us, to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations to Him for them, to teach us rightly to estimate their immense value, to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity, and from hazarding the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits, to dispose us to merit the continuance of his favors by not abusing them, by our gratitude for them, and by correspondent conduct as citizens and men, to render this country more and more a safe and prosperous asylum for the unfortunate of other countries, to extend among us true and useful knowledge, to diffuse and establish habits of sobriety, order, morality, and piety, and finally to impart all the blessings we possess or ask for ourselves to the whole family of mankind. In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents and signed the same with my hand, done at the city of Philadelphia the first day of january seventeen ninety-five, and of the independence of the United States of America the nineteenth by the president George Washington.

SPEAKER_00:

Man, there's a lot here, folks. A couple of huge things.

SPEAKER_01:

And then to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity and from hazarding the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits, to dispose us to merit the continuance of his favors by not abusing them and by our gratitude for them. We have done the exact opposite today, folks. We don't value the blessings he's given us. We're arrogant in the extreme. We think that all the stuff we've done has nothing to do with God and Jesus Christ. Whether you're talking about the left or a huge number of people that even claim to be patriots and conservatives, that's the greatest danger to our nation, folks, is Christless conservatism. Followers of leftism and Islam come right behind that. But the greatest threat to our nation is people who claim to be conservative, Christian, and think that Jesus Christ has nothing to do with the blessings that we've had throughout the history of this nation, with the greatness of our nation, that God and Jesus Christ aren't the main thing, the central thing, the core issue to our country. It's not AI, it's not foreign or domestic policy, it's not a particular politician or political party. The success, the greatness, the prosperity, or the lack thereof, all of that is centered around God and Jesus Christ. You see George Washington talking about this in this Thanksgiving 1795 proclamation.

SPEAKER_00:

If you are looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, you would check out Countryside.

SPEAKER_01:

It's kind of along the lines of Narnia, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, that kind of stuff. And if you enjoy it, or enjoy both books in the series so far, if you could leave a review online somewhere, that would be greatly appreciated. Those help immensely. And if you feel like you're getting something out of the podcast and you have three or four or five dollars a month to donate, there's a webpage, a website on the Buzz Sprout webpage for the podcast where you can set up that monthly donation. And I would be extremely grateful for that as well. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages if you're married. God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.