May 22, 2025 • 23 mins
We explore the encouragement to "not quit in the middle" of life's journey, examining how temporary afflictions prepare us for greater glory while strengthening our inner selves even as external circumstances challenge us.
• Using 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 as foundation for understanding perseverance
• Identifying three parallels where people often quit: business strategies, relationships, and spiritual growth
• Breaking free from outdated business approaches and embracing innovation
• Releasing bitterness and disappointment in relationships that keep us stuck
• Developing personal spiritual growth rather than depending solely on others
• Understanding that temporary afflictions are preparing us for greater glory
• Recognizing that God sometimes "squeezes" us to mold us into what we're meant to become
• Carrying God's favor to encourage others not to lose hope
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
no-transcript, but I want to say a quick shout out
(03:36):
and hello, because I have a lotof folks.
I never say followers.
I don't say followers, even ifit's on social media.
I say community, but we have alot of new folks, or I have a
lot of new folks who connectedwith me or they've joined my
community on the professionalnetworks on LinkedIn, and so
(03:57):
they might be seeing this andthey're like what is this?
I didn't sign up for this, butthere are 5,208 people in my
personal community on LinkedInand 548 on the Mrs Pie channel
on LinkedIn, and so I justwanted to just take a pause and
say good morning and hey y'all,and hope everybody's doing okay
(04:18):
and this, if you're new to thisevery Thursday I come on at 7 am
Eastern Standard Time, so I amlive and you can watch either on
LinkedIn or you can also watchon YouTube or Facebook or Parade
Deck TV when that's live.
But the one thing I want you toknow is that, as I'm coming on
(04:43):
every week, I'm sharing thingsthat I truly hope are going to
inspire you and encourage you tojust hang in there, and my
intentions are pure and so so Iwant to bless you.
You know those of you all whoare new to my community and just
say thank you so much,especially you all who are
taking the time to just like andshare your comments and just
(05:05):
tell me how you're doing.
We have a phone line.
For those of y'all who don'tknow, that's what's scrolling on
the bottom of the screen.
It's a free phone line for 30minutes and you can call it
every Thursday one o'clock,seven o'clock, and one of my
amazing, amazing women partnerswill be able to pray you through
some things.
(05:25):
So you bring your prayerrequests.
It's private y'all.
It's a phone line so you don'thave to see anybody and you can
call them from the US or the UK.
So we invite you to do thatevery Thursday and it's just
been such a blessing forhundreds of people.
So thank you, three PrayingSisters.
So now we're going to getstarted.
Y'all, I'm just I'm trying todo better with my comments.
(05:46):
Watch.
It's hard to do that while I'min, when I get into the mode of
teaching, because I getdistracted really easily.
So, speaking of distractions,we're talking about our topic
today being don't quit in themiddle, and the theme for this
month of May was really toencourage all of us to keep
going, to keep moving.
So I want to start from aposition of kind of where we are
(06:11):
.
I do have a scripture I want toshare.
I'm going to pull up on thescreen, I'm going to talk us
through some things, and thenwe're going to pray and then
we're going to shut this out.
That's the flow.
We're in All right.
So good morning, good morningy'all, good morning y'all, okay.
So first off, let me just pray.
Lord, I thank you for allowingus and again, another day.
Thank you for giving us thisamazing day of Thursday, and we
(06:33):
are so hopeful of all of thegood news that's coming our way
today.
We are so hopeful for yourpromises coming through in our
lives, and not just in our lives, but in our children's lives
and the children that we know,our nieces, our nephews, our own
children, god, children, anychild that you put in our place.
I just thank you for that.
I thank you, lord, for justgiving us peace this morning in
(06:55):
all our situation, whether it'sour finances, our health, our
job, anything that it is, and wejust thank you.
We're declaring already victory.
We're in partnership withheaven.
So we're thanking you thatyou're blessing us and I thank
you.
You're such an amazing God thatyou know, lord, you bless us
Even when we're not asking forit.
We just trip and fall intoblessings because you're such a
(07:17):
good father.
So thank you, lord.
Lord Jesus, I ask that you willnow intercede and you'll take
over Holy Spirit.
This is your, this is your time, this is your platform, and so
every word that comes out of mymouth, I pray that it's in
alignment with what you sayconcerning all of us.
Amen, all right, you got topray first, right?
So we're in this scripture.
I'm going to pull thisscripture up on my screen.
(07:38):
Y'all.
Sometimes I share my screen andsometimes I don't, and I have
to.
Why am I saying all this?
I have to explain all thisbecause we also have people who
will listen to me on the audioplatform, so they got to know
what I'm doing.
But today we're in 2Corinthians 4, verses 1 through
17.
And this is the scripture.
(07:59):
It says so we do not lose heart.
So we don't lose heart, okay.
Though our outer self is wastingaway, our inner self is being
renewed day by day, and I knowsometimes it feels like what are
you talking about?
Like we're building up ourinner strength, even though the
things around you may look likeit's not falling into place the
way we want it to, or our self,even our very flesh.
(08:22):
Some of us are, you know, notgoing.
You're not feeling the best inour health.
Like Tuesday I had just a totalwipe out with my allergies.
I barely had like a voice, andI thank God that I had.
I had Dr Tracy to come in andstep in for me because I just
couldn't do it.
So my outer self was wearing awasting away, if you will, in
(08:43):
that situation.
But my inner self was beingrenewed because it allowed me
some downtime, it allowed me tobe in quiet time with God.
So it actually helped me to berenewed and restored.
And so for this light, momentaryaffliction is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glorybeyond all comparison.
So the things that you're goingthrough right now not intended
(09:06):
to break you.
I'm going to stop sharing so wecan just talk through a few
things and I'll bring thescripture back.
The light momentary, temporarydiscomfort.
And discomfort does look likedebt, d-e-b-t.
It does look like pain.
It does look likedisappointments.
It does look like health scare.
It does look like when thingsare falling into place Kids not
(09:28):
listening.
All the things right.
Disobedience, all the things.
These are temporary thingsthat's happening to our flesh
temporary, it's not meant todestroy you.
I'm always curious when peoplethe first thing they do is they
say, oh, I'm being cursed or theenemy's doing this.
(09:50):
Sometimes the Lord has tosqueeze you to get you to fit
into the mold that you agreed toright.
Lord, use me and Lord bless me.
I want to be the breakthroughand the blessings for my family
and generations to come, all thethings.
And then he starts to squeezeyou and you become uncomfortable
and then you cry out oh God, no, stop, no right.
(10:11):
So we're going to talk through.
Don't quit in the middle,because a lot of us are.
We're on our way, y'all right.
So we're going to talk through.
Don't quit in the middle,because a lot of us are.
We're on our way, y'all right,we're on our way to that.
Whatever that destiny, thatdream you had, that you know,
the final lap for you, whateverit's starting a business or
raising a family, building afamily, whatever it is the
encouragement is for us not toquit in the middle.
(10:31):
So I want to share a few things.
I went to this conferenceyesterday and it was a business
conference.
It really has nothing to dowith this, but there were some
things that even yesterday, theday before yesterday, that it
started to play out for mespiritually, because I'm asking
the Lord, even while I'm hereshow me some things that you
want me to learn so that I don'tquit in the middle, and some of
(10:54):
the things that and so that Idon't quit in the middle, okay,
and some of the things that thefirst thing that he showed me
was not to lose heart.
And it's so awesome because,again here in the, in the very
scripture, second Corinthiansfour, 16 through 17, that I
share, it says so we do not loseheart.
So, so we don't lose heart, sowe don't lose heart while we're
in our journey.
(11:14):
Okay, so just put yourself nowin the position that you're
dealing with your job, whateverit is, whatever your thing is,
so that you don't lose heart, sothat I don't lose heart.
There were some parallels thathe showed me that I want to
encourage and I want to sharewith you this morning.
The first one is a parallel inbusiness.
So, again, when I talk about inbusiness, I mean not just your,
(11:38):
you know, if you're working forsomeone as an employee, not in
business, not just that, but ifyou're an employer and I don't
care if you have a smallbusiness and you're it, or
you've got 10 people that workfor you or 200, right.
So the parallel in business anddon't put in the middle means I
don't get stuck, don't getstuck in strategy I was talking
(12:01):
to this, this one, actually many, many people, but there it was.
What stuck out to me the most inthe parallel of of being stuck
and not losing heart was therewas some feedback.
I was getting insights and allthe things from other business
leaders and very inspirationalall the things.
But what I realized was that wehave a tendency and we had
(12:25):
become stuck.
We were doing things from 2016.
We were following a 2016playbook and we're in 2025.
And so as I started to listento that, I started to become
encouraged of that parallel thatwe do in business, where we
kind of get stuck and so we justquit, and some of you all have
done that in your own careerI've been here for 25 years and
(12:49):
I'm just trying to retire andyou just kind of stuck in a
mindset where you refuse to growor do anything new, challenging
or different.
Right, and in order for you toget to that next level that
you've been praying for, right,that you know I'm praying for
promotion.
They won't promote me, theywon't.
But you've been stuck doing thesame thing for 20 something
years.
You kind of quit, you quit inthe middle, right?
(13:11):
So I want to encourage you inbusiness.
If you, if you haven't thoughtabout something new or
innovative, or if you have nounderstanding of where the
industry is going, I don't wantyou to quit in the middle.
And when you watch competitorsyou know, kind of flying by you,
you're trying to figure out howthey're doing this.
Right, you know, I don't wantyou to quit in the middle.
I don't want to be.
You become stuck in business.
(13:33):
That's the first parallel, right, don't quit in the middle with
that.
The second parallel was in ourrelationships, where a lot of us
just refuse to let go of thepast, right, and it's this
horrible cycle that you keepreliving the pain and the
bitterness and how that personhurt you and you'll never
forgive them.
And blah, blah, blah, blah.
And you actually did quit inthe middle.
(13:55):
You literally refuse to let goof relationships that are broken
, that have been broken, thatwill always be broken, but you
hold it on right, and so I don'twant that to drag you down.
I want to encourage you don'tquit in the middle If the Lord
has something better for you,including better relationships.
You can't get to those newrelationships if you're holding
(14:18):
on to broken things right.
So I don't want you to quit inthe middle and just lose hope
and lose heart.
That it's never going to happenfor me and things are just the
way they are and that's just howmy baby daddy is and all the
things.
I've heard it all, trust me.
Okay, I've heard it all.
But in the middle of this racethat we're in, I don't want to
(14:39):
ask the Lord what truly is foryou this season, and I always
say it's people, places andthings.
He will always remove people,places and things from me and he
does the same for you if you'reobedient to it and you have to
be willing to let go right anddon't quit right.
So the third parallel is ourspiritual lives, our spiritual
(15:00):
growth, and a lot of us havekind of handed that over to
church.
Well, I go to church and I'm anusher, I go to church and I'm
on the worship team and you justkind of you've.
Kind of that has become aparallel where you become stuck
because the only worship youknow is what you do in front of
your very well-spoken pastor andyou get really excited.
And Sunday night you're you're,you know you're, you're worried
(15:22):
about Monday, right?
So we've handed over even ourspiritual growth and we've
passed that accountability andresponsibility over to our
pastor, our grandmother'spraying for us.
Listen, all of those things arewonderful, but you can quit in
the middle if you don't figureout that you actually have that
you have.
(15:42):
We have to have an individualrelationship with Jesus.
It's not my mother praying forme.
Okay, wonderful as that is, youcan't rely on someone else to
save you.
Salvation doesn't come fromyour great grandma.
I saw this joke on social mediathat was saying that um, that,
yes, you know are are all the,all our folks.
(16:03):
You know, all our folks havedied and gone before us.
They're not working as customerservice in heaven.
Your auntie and your grandma isnot your angel, okay, you need
to have a relationship with God.
So I don't want you to quit,even in the middle, as you're
being stretched with yourspiritual walk and your
spiritual growth and things arebeing open and you're being
challenged Don't quit in themiddle, right, don't give up.
(16:26):
So those three things, I'mgoing to run through it again
and I'm going to come back withthe scripture and then we're
going to tie it together, we'regoing to pray and then we're
going to bounce, all right.
So the first thing again I said,was we started out with not
losing heart.
I talked about the parallels tobusiness, so not being stuck in
strategies or things thatyou've been doing, and I called
out myself because I know thereare things we're doing at my job
(16:47):
that's from 2016.
Okay, and people have kind ofquit right in the middle.
They refuse to go the next.
So you know, lord, give me thestrategies.
This is the prayer point I use.
Lord, give me the strategies sothat I can actually be
innovative, so that I can movethe business forward.
If you're a business owner,lord, show me what I need to do
(17:08):
so I can move my businessforward, and give me all the
tools and resources, all thecreative ideas, all of
everything that I need so that Ican move out of this middle.
I want to move to what the nextis and I don't want to quit now
, I don't want to lose hope.
So give me all the tools andresources and people and all the
things so that I can get out ofthis space, lord, because I
(17:29):
don't want to quit.
Right, that's the first prayerpoint.
If your parallel is inrelationships and you feel like
you've got some things that youneed to let go of, a lot of us
have bitterness in our heartbecause we're disappointed about
what people said or did youknow did to us years ago,
yesterday, next week, whateverthat.
Maybe your prayer point is Lord, you know, I don't want to lose
(17:50):
heart on relationships Likeagain, even relationships with
your kids.
Some of you are so angry withyour kids because they didn't do
or they didn't play out thelife that you had hoped for them
.
Right, just just for real, okay.
So maybe then your prayer pointis you know, is, lord, I don't
want to lose heart in therelationship with my children or
my spouse or my partner,whatever that is right.
(18:12):
So, lord, help me to.
You know, get past this hump.
I don't want to be bitter, Idon't want to be disappointed
because, believe it or not, thatbitterness and disappointment
keeps you stuck right there.
It keeps you stuck in themiddle.
So, lord, take this from me.
I don't want this business,forgive me for this.
Repent over all the things.
And then the last parallel wasparallel in your spiritual
(18:33):
growth, where again we get stuck, where we start trying to
figure out the things to do andhow to show up.
A lot of us have declaredourselves teachers and he didn't
tell us we're teachers.
There's all kinds of crazinessgoing on right now.
So, even just for me, even formy own spiritual growth, I never
go forward.
I mean, he literally has topush me and then he sends other
(18:56):
people to confirm because I amhis most stubborn child.
Right, I won't do it, okay.
So you wanna, in your spiritualgrowth, start asking the Lord.
Lord, I don't wanna quit in themiddle of this race.
I wanna get to know you more.
I wanna spend more time withyou.
Lord, you know, I don't wannalose heart.
I don't wanna stop believing inyou.
I don't wanna doubt yourpresence.
(19:16):
I don't wanna doubt what yourword says about me.
And then and Lord, you know ifthere's any bitterness, anything
in my heart that's caught, likethat, those are kind of prayers
.
Well, I get, we pray, we, wepray for things.
That I think we, we spend a lotof time praying for things and
(19:38):
less time praying about.
You know.
You know, show me, lord, what'sin me that you want me to
change.
Show me, you know, what I'mdoing wrong, that you want me to
change.
Show me what I'm doing wrong.
And then when he starts to showthat to you, then the intention
is for you to get out of thatmiddle.
To get out of that middle soyou can kind of move to whatever
the next thing is for you.
So don't quit in the middle.
I'm going to bring back thescripture one more time.
We're going to pray and thenwe're going to head out.
(19:59):
So, again, this is 2 Corinthians4, 16 through 17.
So we do not lose heart.
Though our outer self iswasting away, our inner self is
being renewed day by day, butthis light, momentary affliction
is preparing for us an eternalweight of glory beyond all
comparison.
So, lord, I thank you for everyperson under the sound of my
(20:20):
voice and I pray, lord, thatnone of them lose heart.
Thank you for every personunder the sound of my voice and
I pray, lord, that none of themlose heart, and not only them,
lord God, but for any familymember, anyone associated with
them, their colleagues or anyonethey come in contact.
I pray that these folks willcarry your favor in such a way
that they're the light in everysingle room that they enter and
just by showing up, lord God,they're carrying your glory and
(20:41):
they're encouraging other peoplenot to lose hope.
God, they're carrying yourglory and they're encouraging
other people not to lose hope.
Father, we know that there areso many afflictions, temporary
afflictions but there's stillafflictions, and that affliction
might look like loss loss offriends and family, death, loss
in finances, loss inrelationship, loss of dreams.
You know, people had high hopesand dreams and they've lost
(21:01):
those.
They've lost out on those.
They're feeling like they can'tdo the things they thought they
could, even losing jobs, losingpeace of mind, losing health.
All of these things are God,and though I know that it is
temporary, it's still painfuland it's still an affliction.
So today I ask that you willgive all of us peace while we're
(21:23):
in the middle, while we're inthe middle of the storms of life
, and, lord God, that you'llhelp us to get to the other side
.
Help us not to lose heart, helpus not to be bitter, help us
not to be filled with doubt,lord God, and give us peace as
we get to the other side.
I thank you for reminding usthat we don't have to be stuck
in the middle, that there's morefor us, there's better for us,
(21:43):
and that you will bless us sothat you will be glorified.
We thank you that we are stillcarrying your favor and your
divine protection.
I thank you that you'll blessevery person under the sound of
my voice.
You know what each of themstands in need of and that
you'll hear their cry today.
And so today, lord God, as weclose out another awesome
Thursday morning, we honor you,we bless you and we praise you.
(22:05):
Thank you for all andeverything you're going to do
for them.
Amen, all right, isn't thatawesome.
He is so good.
Y'all, please don't forget,this is still.
I'm just coming back to theroom.
Amen, this is still.
We still serve a true livingGod.
Again, I don't.
I just don't want you to feeldiscouraged, and even if you're
(22:27):
in a place right now where youfeel like it's all good, then
take this as your vitamin shotso that you can get over the
next hump, and then you pass theword to somebody else, right?
Maybe you're not in the spacewhere you don't feel like you're
going to quit, but someonearound you might.
So I pray that you don't justchew on this for yourself, right
?
You swallow this word, youdigest the word, it becomes a
(22:50):
part of you, right?
And then you then go out andencourage someone else not to
quit.
All right.
So God bless you.
Y'all don't forget this isThursday, so we've got prayer
twice a day today.
Dial in, if you can.
If you can't, you can stilldrop your prayer requests.
I do actually read all thecomments and I hope that this
bless you.
God bless you and have anamazing rest of your day, take
(23:12):
care.
no-transcript, but I want to say a quick shout out
(03:36):
and hello, because I have a lotof folks.
I never say followers.
I don't say followers, even ifit's on social media.
I say community, but we have alot of new folks, or I have a
lot of new folks who connectedwith me or they've joined my
community on the professionalnetworks on LinkedIn, and so
(03:57):
they might be seeing this andthey're like what is this?
I didn't sign up for this, butthere are 5,208 people in my
personal community on LinkedInand 548 on the Mrs Pie channel
on LinkedIn, and so I justwanted to just take a pause and
say good morning and hey y'all,and hope everybody's doing okay
(04:18):
and this, if you're new to thisevery Thursday I come on at 7 am
Eastern Standard Time, so I amlive and you can watch either on
LinkedIn or you can also watchon YouTube or Facebook or Parade
Deck TV when that's live.
But the one thing I want you toknow is that, as I'm coming on
(04:43):
every week, I'm sharing thingsthat I truly hope are going to
inspire you and encourage you tojust hang in there, and my
intentions are pure and so so Iwant to bless you.
You know those of you all whoare new to my community and just
say thank you so much,especially you all who are
taking the time to just like andshare your comments and just
(05:05):
tell me how you're doing.
We have a phone line.
For those of y'all who don'tknow, that's what's scrolling on
the bottom of the screen.
It's a free phone line for 30minutes and you can call it
every Thursday one o'clock,seven o'clock, and one of my
amazing, amazing women partnerswill be able to pray you through
some things.
(05:25):
So you bring your prayerrequests.
It's private y'all.
It's a phone line so you don'thave to see anybody and you can
call them from the US or the UK.
So we invite you to do thatevery Thursday and it's just
been such a blessing forhundreds of people.
So thank you, three PrayingSisters.
So now we're going to getstarted.
Y'all, I'm just I'm trying todo better with my comments.
(05:46):
Watch.
It's hard to do that while I'min, when I get into the mode of
teaching, because I getdistracted really easily.
So, speaking of distractions,we're talking about our topic
today being don't quit in themiddle, and the theme for this
month of May was really toencourage all of us to keep
going, to keep moving.
So I want to start from aposition of kind of where we are
(06:11):
.
I do have a scripture I want toshare.
I'm going to pull up on thescreen, I'm going to talk us
through some things, and thenwe're going to pray and then
we're going to shut this out.
That's the flow.
We're in All right.
So good morning, good morningy'all, good morning y'all, okay.
So first off, let me just pray.
Lord, I thank you for allowingus and again, another day.
Thank you for giving us thisamazing day of Thursday, and we
(06:33):
are so hopeful of all of thegood news that's coming our way
today.
We are so hopeful for yourpromises coming through in our
lives, and not just in our lives, but in our children's lives
and the children that we know,our nieces, our nephews, our own
children, god, children, anychild that you put in our place.
I just thank you for that.
I thank you, lord, for justgiving us peace this morning in
(06:55):
all our situation, whether it'sour finances, our health, our
job, anything that it is, and wejust thank you.
We're declaring already victory.
We're in partnership withheaven.
So we're thanking you thatyou're blessing us and I thank
you.
You're such an amazing God thatyou know, lord, you bless us
Even when we're not asking forit.
We just trip and fall intoblessings because you're such a
(07:17):
good father.
So thank you, lord.
Lord Jesus, I ask that you willnow intercede and you'll take
over Holy Spirit.
This is your, this is your time, this is your platform, and so
every word that comes out of mymouth, I pray that it's in
alignment with what you sayconcerning all of us.
Amen, all right, you got topray first, right?
So we're in this scripture.
I'm going to pull thisscripture up on my screen.
(07:38):
Y'all.
Sometimes I share my screen andsometimes I don't, and I have
to.
Why am I saying all this?
I have to explain all thisbecause we also have people who
will listen to me on the audioplatform, so they got to know
what I'm doing.
But today we're in 2Corinthians 4, verses 1 through
17.
And this is the scripture.
(07:59):
It says so we do not lose heart.
So we don't lose heart, okay.
Though our outer self is wastingaway, our inner self is being
renewed day by day, and I knowsometimes it feels like what are
you talking about?
Like we're building up ourinner strength, even though the
things around you may look likeit's not falling into place the
way we want it to, or our self,even our very flesh.
(08:22):
Some of us are, you know, notgoing.
You're not feeling the best inour health.
Like Tuesday I had just a totalwipe out with my allergies.
I barely had like a voice, andI thank God that I had.
I had Dr Tracy to come in andstep in for me because I just
couldn't do it.
So my outer self was wearing awasting away, if you will, in
(08:43):
that situation.
But my inner self was beingrenewed because it allowed me
some downtime, it allowed me tobe in quiet time with God.
So it actually helped me to berenewed and restored.
And so for this light, momentaryaffliction is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glorybeyond all comparison.
So the things that you're goingthrough right now not intended
(09:06):
to break you.
I'm going to stop sharing so wecan just talk through a few
things and I'll bring thescripture back.
The light momentary, temporarydiscomfort.
And discomfort does look likedebt, d-e-b-t.
It does look like pain.
It does look likedisappointments.
It does look like health scare.
It does look like when thingsare falling into place Kids not
(09:28):
listening.
All the things right.
Disobedience, all the things.
These are temporary thingsthat's happening to our flesh
temporary, it's not meant todestroy you.
I'm always curious when peoplethe first thing they do is they
say, oh, I'm being cursed or theenemy's doing this.
(09:50):
Sometimes the Lord has tosqueeze you to get you to fit
into the mold that you agreed toright.
Lord, use me and Lord bless me.
I want to be the breakthroughand the blessings for my family
and generations to come, all thethings.
And then he starts to squeezeyou and you become uncomfortable
and then you cry out oh God, no, stop, no right.
(10:11):
So we're going to talk through.
Don't quit in the middle,because a lot of us are.
We're on our way, y'all right.
So we're going to talk through.
Don't quit in the middle,because a lot of us are.
We're on our way, y'all right,we're on our way to that.
Whatever that destiny, thatdream you had, that you know,
the final lap for you, whateverit's starting a business or
raising a family, building afamily, whatever it is the
encouragement is for us not toquit in the middle.
(10:31):
So I want to share a few things.
I went to this conferenceyesterday and it was a business
conference.
It really has nothing to dowith this, but there were some
things that even yesterday, theday before yesterday, that it
started to play out for mespiritually, because I'm asking
the Lord, even while I'm hereshow me some things that you
want me to learn so that I don'tquit in the middle, and some of
(10:54):
the things that and so that Idon't quit in the middle, okay,
and some of the things that thefirst thing that he showed me
was not to lose heart.
And it's so awesome because,again here in the, in the very
scripture, second Corinthiansfour, 16 through 17, that I
share, it says so we do not loseheart.
So, so we don't lose heart, sowe don't lose heart while we're
in our journey.
(11:14):
Okay, so just put yourself nowin the position that you're
dealing with your job, whateverit is, whatever your thing is,
so that you don't lose heart, sothat I don't lose heart.
There were some parallels thathe showed me that I want to
encourage and I want to sharewith you this morning.
The first one is a parallel inbusiness.
So, again, when I talk about inbusiness, I mean not just your,
(11:38):
you know, if you're working forsomeone as an employee, not in
business, not just that, but ifyou're an employer and I don't
care if you have a smallbusiness and you're it, or
you've got 10 people that workfor you or 200, right.
So the parallel in business anddon't put in the middle means I
don't get stuck, don't getstuck in strategy I was talking
(12:01):
to this, this one, actually many, many people, but there it was.
What stuck out to me the most inthe parallel of of being stuck
and not losing heart was therewas some feedback.
I was getting insights and allthe things from other business
leaders and very inspirationalall the things.
But what I realized was that wehave a tendency and we had
(12:25):
become stuck.
We were doing things from 2016.
We were following a 2016playbook and we're in 2025.
And so as I started to listento that, I started to become
encouraged of that parallel thatwe do in business, where we
kind of get stuck and so we justquit, and some of you all have
done that in your own careerI've been here for 25 years and
(12:49):
I'm just trying to retire andyou just kind of stuck in a
mindset where you refuse to growor do anything new, challenging
or different.
Right, and in order for you toget to that next level that
you've been praying for, right,that you know I'm praying for
promotion.
They won't promote me, theywon't.
But you've been stuck doing thesame thing for 20 something
years.
You kind of quit, you quit inthe middle, right?
(13:11):
So I want to encourage you inbusiness.
If you, if you haven't thoughtabout something new or
innovative, or if you have nounderstanding of where the
industry is going, I don't wantyou to quit in the middle.
And when you watch competitorsyou know, kind of flying by you,
you're trying to figure out howthey're doing this.
Right, you know, I don't wantyou to quit in the middle.
I don't want to be.
You become stuck in business.
(13:33):
That's the first parallel, right, don't quit in the middle with
that.
The second parallel was in ourrelationships, where a lot of us
just refuse to let go of thepast, right, and it's this
horrible cycle that you keepreliving the pain and the
bitterness and how that personhurt you and you'll never
forgive them.
And blah, blah, blah, blah.
And you actually did quit inthe middle.
(13:55):
You literally refuse to let goof relationships that are broken
, that have been broken, thatwill always be broken, but you
hold it on right, and so I don'twant that to drag you down.
I want to encourage you don'tquit in the middle If the Lord
has something better for you,including better relationships.
You can't get to those newrelationships if you're holding
(14:18):
on to broken things right.
So I don't want you to quit inthe middle and just lose hope
and lose heart.
That it's never going to happenfor me and things are just the
way they are and that's just howmy baby daddy is and all the
things.
I've heard it all, trust me.
Okay, I've heard it all.
But in the middle of this racethat we're in, I don't want to
(14:39):
ask the Lord what truly is foryou this season, and I always
say it's people, places andthings.
He will always remove people,places and things from me and he
does the same for you if you'reobedient to it and you have to
be willing to let go right anddon't quit right.
So the third parallel is ourspiritual lives, our spiritual
(15:00):
growth, and a lot of us havekind of handed that over to
church.
Well, I go to church and I'm anusher, I go to church and I'm
on the worship team and you justkind of you've.
Kind of that has become aparallel where you become stuck
because the only worship youknow is what you do in front of
your very well-spoken pastor andyou get really excited.
And Sunday night you're you're,you know you're, you're worried
(15:22):
about Monday, right?
So we've handed over even ourspiritual growth and we've
passed that accountability andresponsibility over to our
pastor, our grandmother'spraying for us.
Listen, all of those things arewonderful, but you can quit in
the middle if you don't figureout that you actually have that
you have.
(15:42):
We have to have an individualrelationship with Jesus.
It's not my mother praying forme.
Okay, wonderful as that is, youcan't rely on someone else to
save you.
Salvation doesn't come fromyour great grandma.
I saw this joke on social mediathat was saying that um, that,
yes, you know are are all the,all our folks.
(16:03):
You know, all our folks havedied and gone before us.
They're not working as customerservice in heaven.
Your auntie and your grandma isnot your angel, okay, you need
to have a relationship with God.
So I don't want you to quit,even in the middle, as you're
being stretched with yourspiritual walk and your
spiritual growth and things arebeing open and you're being
challenged Don't quit in themiddle, right, don't give up.
(16:26):
So those three things, I'mgoing to run through it again
and I'm going to come back withthe scripture and then we're
going to tie it together, we'regoing to pray and then we're
going to bounce, all right.
So the first thing again I said,was we started out with not
losing heart.
I talked about the parallels tobusiness, so not being stuck in
strategies or things thatyou've been doing, and I called
out myself because I know thereare things we're doing at my job
(16:47):
that's from 2016.
Okay, and people have kind ofquit right in the middle.
They refuse to go the next.
So you know, lord, give me thestrategies.
This is the prayer point I use.
Lord, give me the strategies sothat I can actually be
innovative, so that I can movethe business forward.
If you're a business owner,lord, show me what I need to do
(17:08):
so I can move my businessforward, and give me all the
tools and resources, all thecreative ideas, all of
everything that I need so that Ican move out of this middle.
I want to move to what the nextis and I don't want to quit now
, I don't want to lose hope.
So give me all the tools andresources and people and all the
things so that I can get out ofthis space, lord, because I
(17:29):
don't want to quit.
Right, that's the first prayerpoint.
If your parallel is inrelationships and you feel like
you've got some things that youneed to let go of, a lot of us
have bitterness in our heartbecause we're disappointed about
what people said or did youknow did to us years ago,
yesterday, next week, whateverthat.
Maybe your prayer point is Lord, you know, I don't want to lose
(17:50):
heart on relationships Likeagain, even relationships with
your kids.
Some of you are so angry withyour kids because they didn't do
or they didn't play out thelife that you had hoped for them
.
Right, just just for real, okay.
So maybe then your prayer pointis you know, is, lord, I don't
want to lose heart in therelationship with my children or
my spouse or my partner,whatever that is right.
(18:12):
So, lord, help me to.
You know, get past this hump.
I don't want to be bitter, Idon't want to be disappointed
because, believe it or not, thatbitterness and disappointment
keeps you stuck right there.
It keeps you stuck in themiddle.
So, lord, take this from me.
I don't want this business,forgive me for this.
Repent over all the things.
And then the last parallel wasparallel in your spiritual
(18:33):
growth, where again we get stuck, where we start trying to
figure out the things to do andhow to show up.
A lot of us have declaredourselves teachers and he didn't
tell us we're teachers.
There's all kinds of crazinessgoing on right now.
So, even just for me, even formy own spiritual growth, I never
go forward.
I mean, he literally has topush me and then he sends other
(18:56):
people to confirm because I amhis most stubborn child.
Right, I won't do it, okay.
So you wanna, in your spiritualgrowth, start asking the Lord.
Lord, I don't wanna quit in themiddle of this race.
I wanna get to know you more.
I wanna spend more time withyou.
Lord, you know, I don't wannalose heart.
I don't wanna stop believing inyou.
I don't wanna doubt yourpresence.
(19:16):
I don't wanna doubt what yourword says about me.
And then and Lord, you know ifthere's any bitterness, anything
in my heart that's caught, likethat, those are kind of prayers
.
Well, I get, we pray, we, wepray for things.
That I think we, we spend a lotof time praying for things and
(19:38):
less time praying about.
You know.
You know, show me, lord, what'sin me that you want me to
change.
Show me, you know, what I'mdoing wrong, that you want me to
change.
Show me what I'm doing wrong.
And then when he starts to showthat to you, then the intention
is for you to get out of thatmiddle.
To get out of that middle soyou can kind of move to whatever
the next thing is for you.
So don't quit in the middle.
I'm going to bring back thescripture one more time.
We're going to pray and thenwe're going to head out.
(19:59):
So, again, this is 2 Corinthians4, 16 through 17.
So we do not lose heart.
Though our outer self iswasting away, our inner self is
being renewed day by day, butthis light, momentary affliction
is preparing for us an eternalweight of glory beyond all
comparison.
So, lord, I thank you for everyperson under the sound of my
(20:20):
voice and I pray, lord, thatnone of them lose heart.
Thank you for every personunder the sound of my voice and
I pray, lord, that none of themlose heart, and not only them,
lord God, but for any familymember, anyone associated with
them, their colleagues or anyonethey come in contact.
I pray that these folks willcarry your favor in such a way
that they're the light in everysingle room that they enter and
just by showing up, lord God,they're carrying your glory and
(20:41):
they're encouraging other peoplenot to lose hope.
God, they're carrying yourglory and they're encouraging
other people not to lose hope.
Father, we know that there areso many afflictions, temporary
afflictions but there's stillafflictions, and that affliction
might look like loss loss offriends and family, death, loss
in finances, loss inrelationship, loss of dreams.
You know, people had high hopesand dreams and they've lost
(21:01):
those.
They've lost out on those.
They're feeling like they can'tdo the things they thought they
could, even losing jobs, losingpeace of mind, losing health.
All of these things are God,and though I know that it is
temporary, it's still painfuland it's still an affliction.
So today I ask that you willgive all of us peace while we're
(21:23):
in the middle, while we're inthe middle of the storms of life
, and, lord God, that you'llhelp us to get to the other side
.
Help us not to lose heart, helpus not to be bitter, help us
not to be filled with doubt,lord God, and give us peace as
we get to the other side.
I thank you for reminding usthat we don't have to be stuck
in the middle, that there's morefor us, there's better for us,
(21:43):
and that you will bless us sothat you will be glorified.
We thank you that we are stillcarrying your favor and your
divine protection.
I thank you that you'll blessevery person under the sound of
my voice.
You know what each of themstands in need of and that
you'll hear their cry today.
And so today, lord God, as weclose out another awesome
Thursday morning, we honor you,we bless you and we praise you.
(22:05):
Thank you for all andeverything you're going to do
for them.
Amen, all right, isn't thatawesome.
He is so good.
Y'all, please don't forget,this is still.
I'm just coming back to theroom.
Amen, this is still.
We still serve a true livingGod.
Again, I don't.
I just don't want you to feeldiscouraged, and even if you're
(22:27):
in a place right now where youfeel like it's all good, then
take this as your vitamin shotso that you can get over the
next hump, and then you pass theword to somebody else, right?
Maybe you're not in the spacewhere you don't feel like you're
going to quit, but someonearound you might.
So I pray that you don't justchew on this for yourself, right
?
You swallow this word, youdigest the word, it becomes a
(22:50):
part of you, right?
And then you then go out andencourage someone else not to
quit.
All right.
So God bless you.
Y'all don't forget this isThursday, so we've got prayer
twice a day today.
Dial in, if you can.
If you can't, you can stilldrop your prayer requests.
I do actually read all thecomments and I hope that this
bless you.
God bless you and have anamazing rest of your day, take
(23:12):
care.
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