Hi, everyone. My name is Johnny Atys. I am one of the lead singers for We Want More. Welcome to God Today. So, for those who are wondering about my accent, I am from France…Paris. And today I want to talk about self-control…for example myself. I did martial arts, I ended up second in the nation. I did a lot of martial arts. I started at 13 because being younger, I faced a lot of racism, the way that people were treating me, affected my behavior. I would be angry. The point of me saying that is that when I started doing martial arts, it helped me to refocus my emotions. Being a Christian, also helped me a lot. Being a little kid I would find some excuse to be angry because I would say, “Oh, Jesus was angry when they were selling stuff at the synagogue.” Which was wrong.
Fast forward, I have such self-control and everything. I truly never get through certain circumstances, when people will push you to the edge and you know Satan does that every single day. He will push you. It could be a co-worker who says something to hurt you. Even like a driver – those crazy drivers with anger issues. And push you to get out of your place of peace. But for me, martial arts literally helped me to stay in my place of peace.
It’s the same as when Jesus was on the boat – one thing that fascinated me when I was a kid…when the disciples were so afraid on the boat. And they were saying, “Jesus! Jesus! We are going to drown!” And He just stood up with such confidence and calmness. And He called them people of little faith. And He asked the storm to be still and it was still. And He went back to sleep. I always wondered, “I want to be like that. I want to be like that.” On top of reading my Bible, martial arts just helped me to get to that place where I truly could forgive people, and I could also maintain my calm.
The Lord literally blessed that. I was about to be really great in the state and in the nation. I was able to lead by example and push people to actually care for those who we care about. Because that’s how God has created us to be, to love each other, and to protect each other. That is why I really like self-defense and martial arts because it is self-defense. It is just to defend and not to attack. I feel like in real life it is pretty much the same thing with the Gospel. The enemy is attacking when technically we already know our worth, we already know God’s promises and know His words. The enemy knows that he is defeated. So, he will try to play with your emotions to get you out of that comfort zone of peace that Jesus gave you.
I just want to encourage everybody to find your place of peace with Jesus. God knows the desires of your heart so find things in life like a sport, or reading, or something that you find joy in or a passion or gift God has given you. Even if maybe you are wondering what it is, just pray about it because God knows the desires of your heart and He has a plan of hope, and a future, and for you to prosper. I hope this helped. I hope you find the joy in your heart with Jesus and find what you are passionate about. So, this was Johnny again, in Orlando…from France. Love you guys. Bless you.