November 4, 2025 • 45 mins
Ever felt slammed with commitments yet strangely stagnant, like your calendar is full but your heart is asleep? We zoom in on the quiet drift that Scripture calls slothfulness—not just laziness, but misdirected energy that keeps you busy and still far from the work God actually gave you. From Haggai’s warning about misplaced priorities to Proverbs and Hebrews on spiritual sluggishness, we unpack how comfort and overactivity can become holy-sounding avoidance.
We get practical about discernment: is it disobedience, oppression, or depression? That distinction changes your next faithful step—repentance and discipline, spiritual warfare through prayer and worship, or counseling and care for trauma. Then we bring in the brain science. The limbic system wants comfort now; the prefrontal cortex was built for vision and follow-through. Translation: purpose beats preference when you train it with small, repeated acts of obedience. You can’t pray away a lazy habit; you practice your way out of it.
To help you move, we walk through layers of calling—universal, vocational, and personal—and share tools to clarify your lane: StrengthsFinder, spiritual gifts assessments, and resources like Shape, Purpose Driven Life, Atomic Habits, Sacred Rhythms, and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. You’ll hear honest stories of delayed obedience, the danger of “not yet,” and why your yes often unlocks someone else’s breakthrough. Courage grows like muscle; with each obedient step, resistance shrinks and your fire returns.
If you’re ready to exchange frantic hustle for fruitful obedience, this conversation will help you name your assignment, fight what’s fighting you, and rebuild rhythms that keep you hot after God. Listen, reflect, and choose one uncomfortable action aligned with your calling today. If this served you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more people wake up their purpose.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
unknown (00:09):
Three.
Two.
SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
Good morning.
Good morning.
So lots of fun trips lately.
How was Hilton Head?
SPEAKER_01 (00:19):
It was amazing.
We had a great time.
The weather was so good.
Um, my dad rented these, like, Idon't even know what they're
called.
I want to call them like littlezodiac boats, but that's not
right.
I think those are those small,like inflatable ones.
But this is like this two-seaterum where your legs are like
straight out in front of you.
It's got one motor on the back,and you just jet around with
(00:39):
this interesting little stickshift thing that he was playing
with quite a bit because everytime he moved it, we get a
splash of water.
It was beautiful, but kind ofcold.
So uh it was an adventure forsure.
SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
Yeah.
Well, if anyone wants to see thefullness of it, you posted a
couple very funny videos, greatvideos on your Instagram
account, Alisa Martin, and uhhow it started.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
I was doing this when we got going because dad
was my driver.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
And she's praying and rocking.
That's what she used to it.
That's right.
But um, if you want to check outthat video, I thought it was
hilarious.
SPEAKER_01 (01:15):
So fun, so fun.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
Yeah, yeah.
I made my way out to Chicagovisit with my mom and brother.
We're good.
Good.
Did the whole little full circletour about through my childhood
and all the little pit stopsalong the way.
SPEAKER_01 (01:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
And uh do not miss the weather in the Midwest.
I'm so sorry for all you peopleout there in the Midwest.
Holy cold.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
It was already really cold.
SPEAKER_00 (01:35):
It was already cold and rainy.
It was hailing at one point.
And I'm just grateful to be inCharlotte, North Carolina.
I can't blame you.
Yeah.
Gives me energy, so I'm notslothful.
SPEAKER_01 (01:47):
Oh.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Oh, you like that?
Say that three times fast.
SPEAKER_01 (01:51):
What made you say that word today, I wonder?
SPEAKER_00 (01:54):
What are we going to talk about?
SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
Yeah, well, let me let me kind of set it up this
way.
And I'm sure that we've all beenthere.
You know, have you everexperienced a time where you
thought to yourself, I'm doingso, so much, but yet I just
don't really feel like I'mgetting anywhere.
You know, like your calendar isjam-packed, you're showing up
for everyone and everything, yetsomething on the inside still
(02:17):
feels, I don't know, asleep, youknow, or kind of just going
through the motions.
You know, you're, you're, you'removing, but you're not
advancing.
You're you're even maybe workingin rest and not feeling
recharged after it.
It's like you're doing a lot,but you're just not getting
anywhere.
And maybe that's why 88%.
(02:39):
I looked this up before westarted today, 88% of the people
who make New Year's resolutions,guess how quickly they throw in
the towel?
SPEAKER_00 (02:47):
I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01 (02:48):
Less than two weeks.
Wow.
That's insane.
Yeah, 88%.
It's because like that initialspark of motivation just doesn't
really turn into uh consistentum action.
You know, they're they're sortof indifferent uh about their
resolutions, I guess.
And it reminds me of um the bookof Haggai, where the people say
(03:11):
the time has not yet come torebuild the house of the Lord.
This book is actually a reallygreat example of what we're
going to be talking about today,which is a spiritual
procrastination andmisdirection.
It's like the people start outwith really good intentions, and
in this case, they start outstarted out with the intentions
(03:32):
to rebuild the house of theLord, but their enthusiasm
quickly wanes as they face someopposition and they got their
their busyness got misdirectedinto building their own houses.
Um I think oftentimes weconfuse, you know, inspiration
and transformation.
Um so today we're gonna unpack,and you said it already, what
(03:54):
the Bible calls slothfulness, ordepending upon um which Bible
you're reading, which versionanyway, is also called the
sluggard, um, which is thisquiet, you know, spiritual drift
that kind of whispers thingslike, You've done enough, you
it's time to rest.
SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
You know, it's really sneaky, this whole notion
of slothfulness.
I don't know about you, but whenI think about it, I always
associate it to being lazy.
And when we really unpack whatthe Bible says, it's quite
different.
Yeah.
It's the notion that we're okayjust to be lukewarm or we're so
(04:36):
busy, like you said, doing, youknow, activity, but it's
actually not connected to thegreater purpose of serving the
Lord.
That's it.
Is it really the work that theLord's called us to?
Is there purpose in theactivity?
Yeah.
So there's the notion of sittingaround and doing nothing, you
know, paralysis by analysis,which is also another form of
(04:57):
slothfulness.
And then there's the notion I'mso busy, I'm doing the wrong
thing because the fruit of mylife is not actually connected
to the purpose in building God'skingdom effectively.
SPEAKER_01 (05:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
It's kind of like being lukewarm, right?
Who wants to be lukewarm?
Exactly.
So buckle up because we're gonnawake up.
The sleeping passion in thehearts of the listeners today,
that's prayer.
I'm in.
Anyway.
But you know, speaking ofdefinitions, let's start with
the definition of slothfulness.
Again, I tend to think aboutpeople being lazy, but that's
(05:31):
not it at all.
It's more of this spiritual andmoral failure to act.
I'm gonna say that again.
It's a spiritual and moralfailure to act, specifically to
act and build and steward thethings that God has actually put
in us, our natural talent andabilities, our spiritual
(05:53):
giftings.
If these things are not inflight in action, we actually
start to go dormant.
And it does lead us to actuallyhaving missed opportunities for
God's purposes.
And it creates spiritual decayin our life.
If we look at the Hebrew wordfor uh slothfulness, it's
(06:15):
actually at sell.
Okay, it's used repeatedly inthe book of Proverbs to describe
the meaningless idol, thenegligent, the sluggish, the
sluggard.
Specifically, we talk aboutProverbs 13:4 quite often.
The soul of the sluggard cravesand gets nothing, while the soul
(06:35):
of the diligent is richlysupplied.
So that's kind of a look at theOld Testament.
What does the Old Testament sayabout it in summary?
And then we can look at the NewTestament and go to the Greek
Nothros.
And I could be saying thatincorrectly, but it's
N-O-T-H-R-O-S.
It's used frequently to describedull, slow, spiritually sluggish
(07:01):
or negligent activity.
Specifically, we can see it inHebrews 6.12.
So, in the essence of what Godthinks about, when we think
about the seven deadly sins asan example, and this is one of
them that's tucked in there.
It's literally the recklessnessof inaction on the purposes God
(07:21):
has for your life.
Yeah.
And I don't know about you, butthat just gives me a holy pause
to like start to dointrospection to say, am I
producing the fruit that God iscalling me to produce, or am I
just busy being busy?
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's good.
And an important distinction,um, while in action is a is a
big part of it, it's the inaction, like you said, towards
what we're supposed to be doing.
So what's wild is you can stillbe really busy and have all
kinds of activity, right?
But still absolutely beslothful.
(07:59):
You know, you can be on threeteams at the church, leading the
bake sale, you know, coachingthe kids, soccer team, you know,
you name it, but still actuallybe completely and totally off
your assignment.
SPEAKER_00 (08:12):
Yeah, it's so true.
And the another thing, you know,busyness is an example of it,
but it distraction, distraction,fear, procrastination.
Maybe later, I'll do it later,not today.
Yeah.
Uh passivity, or I just want tobe comfortable.
I'm comfortable beingcomfortable.
Yeah.
And these are all some of theroadblocks that actually keep us
(08:33):
trapped into, or maybe insteadof saying roadblocks, I should
say chains.
These are the chains that arekeeping us in captivity to this
notion of uh being a sluggard.
Okay.
So it doesn't always look likewe're lying on the couch, right?
It manifests in different ways.
So let's kind of start breakingthese down.
Procrastination and excuses.
(08:54):
Okay, if we look at Proverbs 22,13, it says, the sluggard says,
There is a lion outside.
I shall be killed in thestreets.
So it gives him reason not to goto the streets.
It's this constant uh ability tofind reasons why not to do
something, as opposed tothrowing away the excuses,
(09:15):
throwing away the delay, andgetting after it.
A second one, neglect ofresponsibilities in Ecclesiastes
10:18.
Because of laziness, thebuilding decays.
Through idleness of hands, thehouse leaks.
It shows us that while we'rebusy, like you started off with
Haggai, we're busy building ourown houses, our caring to our
own needs.
(09:35):
The house of God is not beingmaintained.
It's not being taken care of asGod's first priority, as our
first priority to serve God.
So it's the unaddressed, smalltask that leads to major
breakdowns, spiritually,relationally, and financially.
(09:56):
A third one, spiritual apathy.
It says in Hebrews 6, 11, 12, wedesire that each one of you show
the same diligence, that you donot become sluggish, but imitate
those who through faith andpatience inherit the promises.
Think about the cloud ofwitnesses, the Moses, the
Elijah's, all the ones who'vegone before us.
We cannot show up with spiritualdullness, losing a hunger for
(10:20):
prayer, the word of God,worshiping Him, and really
chasing down our kingdomassignment.
So we can't be apathetic to whatGod calls us to do.
We've talked about busynesswithout fruit.
That's another one.
And then finally, comfort overcalling.
It says in Proverbs 26, 14, as adoor turns on its hinges, so
(10:43):
does the sluggard on his bed.
We choose ease, entertainment,and comfort over the sheer
discipline of growth.
SPEAKER_01 (10:54):
Yeah, I mean, you've you've hit on a lot of things
there.
You know, overactivity in thewrong area is still
disobedience, and that's reallythe meat of this.
Um, Romans 12, 11 says, do notbe slothful in zeal, be fervent
in spirit and serve the Lord.
And so, in other words, we weneed to, you know, stay hot for
God.
(11:14):
We need to not lose our fire.
Um, we need to stay spirituallyawake and engaged and not just
go through the motions.
Um, and that's hard when we livein this culture that glorifies
hustle.
Listen, I mean, you and I arehustlers, right?
A little bit.
Can we can we cue I'm a hustler,baby?
(11:36):
You know, you know some.
No, that's actually againstYouTube protocol.
I understand from Caden, wecan't add that in.
But I mean, you can be hustlingyour way right out of
disobedience.
Um, you know, and the devil, wehave to remember, just loves us
to be busy when we're busy beingineffective.
(11:59):
Now, I also think it's importantthough, and and we talked a lot
about this.
Um, it's kind of the foundationof this whole podcast that
there's still a balance, right?
So I I presented hustling assort of a negative, but there's
a balance of grace and grind,right?
And so we can't like everaccomplish anything in life
(12:21):
that's extraordinary.
And I feel like everything we'regonna do with the Lord is
extraordinary without some grindand some discomfort.
There's there's this thing toothat psychologists call um
avoidance through activity.
And we've actually talked aboutthis a lot on some of our former
episodes as well, where we fillour time with so much busyness
(12:44):
because if we slow down, evenyou know, for a moment, it's
gonna reveal things that we haveto heal within ourselves or um,
you know, some kind ofdiscomfort.
So, you know, we find all theseother activities to stay busy,
like scrolling, like uh negativethings, like even positive
things, right?
(13:05):
Just putting too much on yourcalendar.
Um, and so, you know, again,slothfulness isn't just
laziness, it's this spiritualavoidance.
It's doing everything but thething that God, you know, asked
us to do.
And sometimes it it starts smalltoo.
(13:25):
It's not even that we said no toGod.
Sometimes it's that we just saidnot yet.
Right.
You know, and so that choice todelay is really still
disobedience.
James 4 17 says, if you know thegood you're supposed to do and
you don't do that, that's sin.
(13:46):
And while he's talking mostlyabout sinning, this that same
message can can really applyhere.
Um, so it's it's you know, stinksneaky.
Um, it feels safe sometimesbecause you mentioned this, you
know, we want to be comfortable.
And sometimes we think that ifthe thing God's calling us to do
(14:07):
isn't completely and totallycomfortable and doesn't come
easy, then it must not be thething I'm supposed to be doing.
But that's not accurate.
SPEAKER_00 (14:15):
I love how you said stay hot after God.
Yeah.
You opened it this last littlesection with that.
And I just have this visual hotafter God, man.
We typically say stay hot afteryour hubby or whatever.
Stay hot after God.
Uh, such a good visual.
And so, what's your temperatureof your heart?
I also want to just kind of callawareness to two things.
So, first, we're talking aboutoveractivity is a form of
(14:39):
slothfulness, yeah.
And inactivity, aka laziness, isalso a form of slothfulness.
So, both these things areindirectly fruit of one of the
sins, slothfulness.
Sometimes inactivity, though,can be misunderstood as laziness
when in fact it could actuallybe something different going on
with someone.
And I just want to be sensitivethat uh just like over
(15:03):
overactivity can be a sign ofundealt with pain, underactivity
could be a sign of beingoppressed by the enemy.
Yeah.
True spiritual warfare, and itcould be a sign of oppression by
the enemy or depression.
And, you know, those things areuniquely distinguished, meaning
oppression is to be oppressed byuh the spirit of despair, as
(15:27):
seen in Isaiah.
It literally talks about inIsaiah 61, 3, the spirit of
heaviness, right?
So instead of the spirit ofheaviness, God brings uh the joy
and gladness to us.
So it's a depiction that thereis a real oppressor out there
and it brings a heaviness, andthat heaviness can lead to
(15:48):
inaction.
Yeah.
And then there's the notion ofdepression, which also can cause
us to be immobile, and it couldbe induced through traumatic
instances that we grew up in,and it can just hit us and
overwhelm us.
Um, so those things are aretruly a part of this notion, or
I'd say weapons that could keepus trapped, still not moving
(16:12):
forward towards the purposes andthe assignments that God has for
us.
And so just to kind of uh maybeput a highlighter on how do you
know if you're being spirituallyattacked and how do you know if
you're being disobedient, right?
And so if you can start to havediscernment towards where you're
(16:33):
being attacked, then you canpray and worship through it to
get to the other side of it.
Yeah.
And it's just a no uh it'simportant to kind of slow down
and kind of look through some ofthese things.
And so sudden, unexplainedheaviness, not tied to a life
circumstance.
If all of a sudden, meaningnothing's happened in your life,
(16:54):
but all of a sudden you feelthis heaviness come upon you and
you can't describe why, then youknow it's something spiritual
going on.
It's time to stop, pause, and goto war in prayer.
Okay.
Accusatory or condemningthoughts.
It's relentless.
(17:15):
It's just coming at you.
You're worthless, you're notgood enough.
God has abandoned you.
All those things that are justassaults on your mind and it
just hits you.
It is a sign that you're underspiritual attack.
Okay.
Disruption of your prayer lifeand worship.
You're feeling foggy blocked.
What used to be fire in yourbelly, you know, don't confuse
(17:38):
it with apathy and indifference.
It's more of you almost feel asudden paralysis and you're not
really sure why.
It's this fog that's come uponyou.
It's another sign, literally,that you're being spiritually
attacked.
Um, night disturbances, fears,oppressive thoughts, right?
It is always connected to thisheavy emotional weight.
(18:01):
Uh, you can't see the forestthrough the trees.
Your hope is getting eaten up,the fear is overwhelming you.
I mean, these are real thingsthat happen.
SPEAKER_01 (18:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:11):
And it causes you not to move forward.
So it's not, don't get stuckthere.
It's incredibly important tolean in through prayer and
worship as we rejoice, the enemyflees, right?
And relentless, God says thefervent prayers of a righteous
person avail much.
(18:31):
And that means we are gonnatravail, we're gonna birth, and
we're gonna push through uhthese times where we feel this
oh this major oppression.
Now, if you feel like you justcannot get past a traumatic
circumstance that has happenedto you in your life, and it's
you're stuck because you'reunhealed, that's a sign that you
(18:55):
need therapy, right?
So you need to get, we had agreat episode, episode 11 was
all about dealing with our pain.
And so I'd encourage ourlisteners to go back, listen to
that.
But anytime we're trapped inpain, it's gonna prevent us from
really moving into the purposesthat God has for us.
(19:16):
So again, eyes wide open.
Yeah.
Are you over activity or overactivity?
Because that's the word.
Are you um overstimulated?
Are you too busy being busy, orare you underactive?
And why?
And not to assume that peopleare just being lazy.
You probably have some realthings that you need to deal
(19:38):
with.
Just like we see all in theBible, Elijah was literally, you
know, he was uh one of thegreatest prophets that ever
walked.
I mean, he, you know, beatdeath.
He went, he was taken straightup to heaven.
He appeared on the mount withJesus, and he's gonna be coming
back, as we see in Revelations.
I mean, he was a prophet setapart, and yet the spirit of
(20:01):
depression, the spirit ofheaviness chased him down
relentlessly.
Daniel was spiritually attackedfor 21 days.
As soon as the call of God wasreleased, the enemy went to war,
and the archangel came and said,Sorry, Daniel, we were fighting
for you for 21 days before wecould get to you.
So there is real attack when werealize we're gonna start to
(20:22):
step into the call of God.
So the encouragement in this isto say, go back and listen to
what I just said.
First and foremost, if you needhelp identifying, discerning
where are you being spirituallyattacked, oppression,
depression, et cetera.
And then how do you get out ofit?
It's through prayer and praisethat starts to lift the burden.
SPEAKER_01 (20:42):
Yeah, what you just covered so much that's so
important, and just to make surethat our listeners are tracking,
um, understanding whether it'sslothfulness, laziness,
oppression, or depression reallymatters because then you know
how you're gonna fight it,right?
So, yeah, I would definitelyencourage rewind and listen
(21:05):
again to the differences betweenthe four of those because they
happen to to many of us.
SPEAKER_00 (21:11):
That's right.
And you know, moving into theneuroscience of it, I want to
just now click in.
And I know you got some goodnuggets on the neuroscience
behind everything we're talkingabout.
What does it say, Elisa?
SPEAKER_01 (21:24):
Yeah, what's fascinating is that that in
either scenario, um, whathappens to our brains and our
bodies is that when we just say,you know, I'll do it later, um,
which is another form ofprocrastination, what happens is
our limbic system, which is thepart of our brains that crave
that comfort and pleasure, andwe don't want to move away from
(21:46):
that into discomfort, it kind oftakes over and it says, yes,
avoid discomfort, stay safe.
You know, do it when you feelready, right?
But again, God's calling on ourlife, we often don't feel ready.
He he equips the call, not callsthe equipped.
And what's interesting is I betum, I was thinking about this
(22:09):
too in preparation for thisconversation, that it's really
easy for a lot of us to thinkthat laziness is a lack of
intense desire.
Right.
I mean, which you couldcompletely understand, but I
actually think it is an intensedesire to stay comfortable, to
stay safe, right?
(22:30):
Um but the good news is theprefrontal cortex, which is the
part that God wired forplanning, vision, and
discipline, is actually built tooverride that instinct.
Um, it's what allows us tochoose purpose over preference
or calling over comfort.
Um but if we keep letting thatlimbic system lead, then we end
(22:53):
up choosing feelings over faith.
And that's where it gets tricky.
Um, I mentioned earlier, if weif we believe that lie, that our
calling has to feel comfortableand easy straight out the gate,
then it's easy for us to miss italtogether and to fall into
(23:14):
that, you know, spiritualslaughterness.
SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
Yeah, you can't really pray away a lazy habit.
You have to get into it.
It reminds me of myselfactually.
You know, so for so many monthsthat turned into years, I really
felt like God, you know, callingme to do a podcast of sorts.
And even though I was playingaround with it, I would really
wasn't committed to it.
(23:38):
I dreamed a lot about it.
But I knew it was very clear tome that when podcasts first
started to become a thing, Ifelt a call straight to
podcasting.
And I just sat and marinated onit.
And then, you know, a year wentby, lots of podcasts were
getting traction, and otheryears go by, and you just before
(23:59):
you know it, five years has goneby.
Yeah, you're so busy thinkingabout it, praying about, waiting
on the Lord when really it'sjust a habit of kicking the can
down the road that is, you know,you're expecting change, but
you're the one preventing itfrom happening to begin with.
SPEAKER_01 (24:16):
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
Well, and I could easily say thesame thing about even saying yes
to this.
I feel like, you know, we'vespoken about it before.
God's placed this on our heartskind of at the same time.
And it's how this came to be.
But it'd be easy for me to say,well, it's not, you know, didn't
start out all that comfortable.
(24:36):
Um, doesn't come natural to me.
So it's probably not from God.
But it'd be easy to makeexcuses.
And I have lots of other waysthat I'm busy.
Uh yes.
SPEAKER_00 (24:50):
Yeah.
But you know, sometimes too, wesay we're waiting on God, but it
doesn't mean doing nothing.
SPEAKER_01 (24:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
It means there's a call in the season now that
we're in to be pre be preparingfor what's to come.
Yeah.
And so what are the the missingcomponents in your skill set or
your knowledge base to actuallyhelp mobilize you for where you
think God is calling you?
You're right.
SPEAKER_01 (25:09):
I mean, at some point you can pray about it all
day long, but you got to pick upyour mat and walk, right?
That's right.
So let's kind of get practical,you know, and break down um some
ways that we can break free fromall of this.
Because again, I'm gonna say itagain, if we're gonna do
anything extraordinary in life,uh, it's going to require
spiritual discipline, obedience,and whether we like it or not,
(25:33):
we're gonna have to push throughdiscomfort and embrace some of
that grind in addition to hisgrace.
And the enemy is always gonna beright there, you know, trying to
convince us that it's better forus to stay in comfort and in
apathy and not step into actionin the discomfort because the
enemy doesn't want us to produceanything really great in life,
(25:55):
right?
Um, so what do we do?
SPEAKER_00 (25:58):
So I think this is a great time to pause and just do
some self-reflection with somequestions.
So, first question Am I avoidingsomething God has clearly called
me to do?
Okay.
I mean, you and I have both saidwe felt a call and we delayed,
delayed, delayed.
So is that happening in yourlife?
(26:18):
Do I experience a desire to act,but feel internally unable or
paralyzed?
I mean, I have had so manymoments in my life where there
has been fear that has kept metrapped from having a hard
conversation.
I have felt paralyzed.
Oh, yeah.
So recognize what's going on,the warfare of God never wants
(26:41):
you to keep something that couldbe solved.
He doesn't want to keep thatlive and burning.
He wants it squashed, right?
So what's holding you back?
Are my thoughts primarily, aremy thoughts primarily excuse
driven?
I'll do it later.
It's too cold, it's heavy,despairing.
I can't, what's the point?
Right?
(27:02):
When I worship or pray, do Ifeel conviction that leads to
movement or condemnation thatleads to shame and isolation?
SPEAKER_01 (27:10):
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (27:10):
That's a huge signal because worship brings us closer
to the Lord.
It shouldn't feel like it's youknow, a bigger divide, a gap.
Have there been suddenunexplained waves of heaviness
or tormenting thoughts,especially around moments of
spiritual growth andbreakthrough?
So, right where you feel likeyou're gonna say yes, all of a
(27:31):
sudden the heaviness hits again.
Just know that that is a signalof attack.
Do I feel spiritually foggy oras if my prayers hit a ceiling
with accompanying fear oroppression?
I mean, those are all thethings.
Just slow down and just kind ofdigest those questions and get
honest with yourself.
(27:52):
Where are you at?
SPEAKER_01 (27:53):
Yeah.
Okay, so I we've we've talked alot about all of this, of
course, is tied to your calling.
And I have to believe that lotsof folks are listening and
going, well, that's great, butwhat the heck is my calling?
Right.
You know, now that I understandslaughterness, laziness,
oppression, depression,wonderful.
(28:14):
Now I also understand how tofight against it, but like, how
do I figure out what my callingis?
SPEAKER_00 (28:20):
Yeah, and that's not a simple answer because there's
multiple layers to who we are asindividuals, right?
Yeah.
I mean, there's the notion ofwhat we're all called to do, the
greatest commandment.
God calls us to love the Lordour God with all our heart,
minds, and souls, and love ourneighbor as ourselves.
So love God, love others.
Universal call for every singlepurpose.
Person, excuse me.
(28:41):
The second thing is what do wedo as a vocation?
How do we create value in theworld?
How do we make money?
How do we earn our keep?
And God says that we are to workas though we're working for God
Himself.
And so how are we living aChrist-like life on display for
all those we work with to see?
(29:02):
That's good.
Okay.
Then there's the personalcalling.
How am I personally gonnamultiply and build God's
kingdom?
Well, that gets into who did Godcreate you to be, set apart
uniquely from who God created meto be.
And it goes into, you know, whattime period were you born into?
What geographical location wereyou born into?
(29:24):
Are you male or are you female?
And there's only, you know, twoanswers on that.
You're either a male or afemale.
And it goes on and on, like whatare your gifts?
What are your things?
Box closed.
Yeah.
But literally, it's what is theuniqueness about your life and
(29:45):
your story, yeah, and your giftsand your talents that God wants
to leverage, blossom to createfruit for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01 (29:56):
Yeah, that's so important because we're so often
focused on.
On comparison and other peoplewhen God, you know, we're not
carbon copies, we're alluniquely, wonderfully made, and
God is going to use thosespecific gifts and talents in
profound ways.
And He wants to.
I mean, He put that calling onour lives before we were even
(30:16):
born and gave us those gifts andtalents.
SPEAKER_00 (30:19):
It's so true.
And so it's like, how do youstart to get a compass to say,
okay, well, this is how hecreated me uniquely?
I'm a fan favorite.
I've shared this before, but ofthe strength finders assessment.
It's a tool.
And like all tools, I shouldpreface it, all tools is just
that.
It's a tool.
Sure.
It's not, you're not, you know,going to someone and they're not
reading tarot cards and they'renot telling you your future and
(30:41):
your purpose.
And they're not, you know, we'renot saying this is how God
created you and you're in a box.
SPEAKER_02 (30:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:47):
It's directional.
So in prayer, in work, inconcert with the Lord, you're
going to start to learn somethings about yourself.
So strength finders, wonderfulassessment.
And the reason why I like it somuch, I've shared it before,
it's worth sharing again.
It focuses truly on yourstrengths.
SPEAKER_01 (31:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:04):
Where we live in a world that says, what are you
bad at?
And let's help you become goodat what you're bad at.
SPEAKER_01 (31:09):
Good point.
SPEAKER_00 (31:10):
This turns it up on its head and it says, How did
you uh, what are your naturalstrengths?
And how do you keep harnessingthose strengths to really create
them into superpowers?
SPEAKER_02 (31:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:24):
And so you focus on building muscle mass for how God
created you to be, and youdeploy those gifts.
You turn it into action.
Another thing is then on thespiritual side.
So strength finders is more yournatural human flesh.
How did God create you?
Then your unique spirit in you,you can use a gift assessment
tool to understand what are theout of the nine gifts of the
(31:45):
Holy Spirit, which ones did Goduniquely put inside of you?
And Rose Publishing has onesuper easy to take for you to,
again, in prayer and discernmentwith the Lord, what are the
giftings specifically in thespirit that He's given you?
So when you start to put thesethings together, you understand
in the flesh, in human form, andin spirit man, what makes you
(32:07):
unique and set apart.
Of course, there's tons of othertests out there too.
You got the Enneogram, you gotthe disc assessment, McQueg.
I mean, I could go on and on andon.
Yeah.
But again, these are all toolsjust to teach you more about
subconsciously what's going onin who God created you to be, so
you can learn more aboutyourself, to be more
intentional, to live it out.
SPEAKER_01 (32:28):
I love that.
Romans 12, 6 reminds us we havedifferent gifts according to the
grace given to each of us.
One of my um all-time favoritebooks is sitting over there
called Shape, which is all aboutfinding and fulfilling your
unique purpose under God.
Um, we actually did that one inmy life group last semester, and
it was completelytransformational.
(32:50):
Um, I would encourage people,gosh, I wish it was in schools,
like from a very young age,because it is really one of the
best tools that I have seen tohelp you with workbooks and
good, um, good thought-provokingquestions that really opened our
all of our eyes to what made usunique and different.
(33:10):
So I would encourage, you know,start a start a life group,
start a book club, um, evenmaybe grab your family and read
it as a family.
Um, not only will you obviouslyhelp each other, you know,
discover your own gifts andtalents, but not only that,
you're in the process oflearning what makes all these
people you care about unique andspecial.
(33:31):
So you can celebrate that andhonor that in each of them.
SPEAKER_00 (33:35):
I love it.
Surprise question coming yourway.
Buckle up, ready?
What's something you learnedabout yourself through that
process through shape with yourlife group?
What what were you surprised at?
Something I was surprised about.
SPEAKER_01 (33:54):
I don't know.
I don't think I found somethingthat surprised me.
SPEAKER_00 (34:01):
A lot of people did.
What about affirmation?
What about affirmation?
Or did it help you get out ofslothfulness?
I can rephrase the question ifyou wanna.
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
It absolutely um affirmed how much I enjoy
volunteering and giving andspeaking life into people,
encouraging, cheering.
Um, it affirmed the power andthe importance of having the
(34:34):
right people around you who canhelp you bring those things
forward.
SPEAKER_00 (34:41):
Okay, this is my new question.
Okay, so we're gonna I'm tryingto try to be thoughtful.
Hold on a second, I'm trying todraw since I read that book.
I'm trying to draw somethingout.
The way that you just spokeabout that book shape and how
you experienced it inside ofyour life group, I could see the
passion just light up in youreyes.
What was it about that study?
(35:03):
Like, why are you so passionateabout it?
Why would you put it in schoolsand um make it a part of
standard curriculum?
What is it that spoke to yoursoul that said, yes, this is
different?
Because the spark that's in youreye was shape, it reminds me of
why I get so excited aboutstrength finders.
Strength finders for me, it's itaffirmed a whole bunch of things
(35:25):
I already knew about myself.
But then when I started to peelback the onion and understand
that if you were to take thesame strengths in the same order
across the planet, no one iscreated like me.
It affirms scripture, 10 ways tothe moon and back, about how
beautifully unique and formed weare in the Father's eye.
SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
That's that's it.
I mean, that's exactly it.
And and when you watch otherpeople come alive, yeah,
figuring that out on their own,um, that that's it's interesting
that it makes me like a littlebit teary-eyed because then it
stops being about who cares whatanybody else is doing, where
they are in life, how they'reserving the Lord.
(36:10):
Like we all are so unique anddifferent, and He's gonna use
you.
And it's not always out in frontin the spotlight, you know, it's
not always loud.
Like everybody has such animportant role to play.
Um when they see that inthemselves, it's it's it's
(36:30):
incredible.
SPEAKER_00 (36:31):
I love that.
It reminds me too of uh thepurpose-driven life by Rick
Warren.
Yeah, and again, another onelike if you aren't really
connected to the truth that youwere created for purpose and
that there's so much for you todo in this world because you are
here for a reason, for apurpose, then just dust off that
(36:51):
book, or if you've if you gotit, if you got it in your
bookshelf, dust it off.
If you haven't, go buy it.
And then the other one is bornto create.
Why do I love that book?
Born to create Jordan Raynor.
Okay.
Raynor.
Raynor.
I don't know it.
R-A-R-B-N-O-R.
Okay.
I love that book because I havebelieved my whole life that I am
(37:16):
not a creative person, thateveryone else is so much more
creative.
Because I think of creativity inthe eye, beauty is in the eye of
the beholder, right?
SPEAKER_02 (37:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:27):
I think about other people creating beautiful
spaces, or, you know, look atyou in your beautiful sweater
today, and I'm in my sweatshirt.
Like it's the definition of whatwe see beauty as.
Yeah.
And I'm like, oh, I wish I couldcreate and do fun things.
Or I think about even Caden, whois on our production team and
I'm looking at him right now.
(37:49):
He is incredible with video andaudio and just creative.
And I just admire everyone'screative talents.
And I'm like, well, I'manalytical.
It's not really creative.
And I can start poo-pooingmyself.
Okay.
But I love the book, Born toCreate, because it literally
scientifically goes through andshows us how every single one of
(38:10):
us were born to create.
Why?
Because we are made in the imageof God.
And what is God?
He's a creator.
That's right.
And so the the notion is whatare we supposed to be creating
on this side of heaven?
That's a another goodstimulation for your mind to
start to unpack what could itbe, the art of the possible.
(38:31):
I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_01 (38:32):
I love that.
And you know, you have to walkit out to to find to find these
things too.
Like just give some stuff a try.
Um, again, while you have, youknow, your own gifts and
talents, it's not natural, notnecessarily going to come
naturally.
There could be some difficulty,there could be some discomfort.
Um, just keep leaning into theLord and asking him to light
(38:56):
your path and uh push throughsome of that that grind.
SPEAKER_00 (39:01):
And yeah, push through the grind and then the
courage to do the unknown,right?
Because if you haven't done itbefore, then of course if you
haven't done it before, it'sgoing to be completely new to
you.
And so it actually starts topull back and you start to say,
wow, I need a lot of courage, Ineed a lot of strength, and I
need a lot of power to actuallydo what I'm being called to do.
(39:22):
The good news is we actuallydon't have to have it
independently.
Courage, strength, and power.
Those things come in partnershipwith God.
He deposits it into us.
And just like you go to the gymand you're lifting weights one
day, you start off with fivepounds, next thing you know,
you're lifting 10 pounds, nextthing you know, you're lifting
150 pounds, and your muscles arepopping and you're building.
Courage is the same thing.
(39:43):
Yeah.
Once you take a step of courage,small little bit of courage,
then the next time you take thatnext step, it gets easier and
easier because you're buildingand building and building.
You build on top, you'rebuilding the muscle of courage.
SPEAKER_01 (39:57):
Yeah, that's a good example because it's that
obedience where slothfulnessdies.
You know, sometimes we expectthose instant results, but you
got to keep showing up inobedience and it will come in
time.
SPEAKER_00 (40:09):
That's right.
And the the discipline and thework, it pays off.
And I just want to highlight onething in scripture that kind of
points to this notion ofcourage.
When we think about spiritualgiants, the the giants that,
again, the cloud of witnesses,we think about Joshua literally
going in and taking the promisedland and you know, Moses having
(40:30):
to lead the people through thewilderness and uh David, King
David.
I mean, there's so manyspiritual giants to point to in
the Bible.
It's interesting, all thesegiants were commanded by God do
this thing, go do this thing I'mcalling you to do.
SPEAKER_02 (40:49):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (40:50):
And the very next command is do not be dismayed.
Do not be discouraged.
It's funny how when we hear thecall of God and we know it, all
of a sudden the dismay comes in,the discouragement comes in, the
fear comes in, slothfulnesscomes in, and immediately God is
right there saying, Don't dothese things.
(41:12):
Why?
For I am with you wherever yougo.
Yeah.
And it is in the Bible over 200times God is commanding people
do not be dismayed ordiscouraged.
So there's something here.
I think, you know, we've saidit.
What is holding you back fromjust being bold for the Lord?
(41:33):
So be encouraged, be in awe, bein wonder of the things that
God's getting ready to do in andthrough you because it's by his
power, it's by his might, it'sby his strength, it's by his
courage that's going to get youinto the promised land.
SPEAKER_01 (41:47):
Yeah.
And speaking of biblicalreferences, I mean, we often
forget that our obedience isn'ttied necessarily just to our own
breakthrough.
It's often tied to otherpeople's lives.
I mean, look at Jonah, right?
His delayed obedience was tiedto an entire, you know, city's
(42:07):
salvation, right?
Um, his not yet kind of puteverybody else's salvation on
hold.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
So it's it's just, it's never just about us.
Yeah, I mean, we're just madefor so much more, you know, for
other people, for them to riseand shine.
And, you know, whether we get tohave the front row seat to other
people rising and shining forthe Lord or be actually in the
work with them, it's all amazingand it's all for his glory.
(42:35):
So just a kind of recap, yeah,you know, how do you really get
intentional about personalgrowth, bursting out of
slothfulness into the actiontowards purpose that God's
called you to?
Strength finders, right?
Spiritual gifts assessment byRose Publishing, The
Purpose-Driven Life, RickWarren, emotionally healthy
(42:56):
spiritually.
Peter Schazero.
Okay, that's a tongue twister,his last name.
But putting all that aside, thatbook right there, you want to
talk about unearthing the painin your heart, that would have
been a good resource for ourlast episode 11 as well.
Oh.
Atomic Habits, James Clear.
I mean, it's sold hundreds ofmillions by now, but um a goody,
(43:19):
it's kind of an oldie but agoody now.
And then Sacred Rhythms, RuthHaley Barton.
That one is just how do you restand be with the Lord so you have
overflow for your purpose?
So busyness, the wrong type ofbusyness can cause burnout, the
hustle towards burnout.
This actually gets you intosacred rhythms with the Lord.
So you don't get to the end ofyour fire, your fire keeps
(43:43):
burning bright.
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (43:45):
And shape by Eric Rees.
Finding and fulfilling yourpurpose under God's another
great one.
Yes.
Um you can step into everythingyou've been called to be.
You know, in the move, themoment that you start moving in
obedience, heaven's gonna movewith you.
That's right.
It's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00 (44:02):
So, Lisa, I'll go ahead and praise that, okay?
Awesome, awesome.
Heavenly Father, we just thankyou for this time that you've
given us today.
Thank you that you are divinelyshowing us the path that you
have created for us and thatyou're faithful to lead each and
every step.
Lord, I just thank you thatyou're gonna just reveal to the
hearts of the listeners theirunique calling, their unique
(44:25):
giftings, their talents, Lord,what you have specifically
created inside of them, that youare calling it forth right now
in the name of Jesus.
Lord, I thank you that thespirit of the sluggard is off
every person who hears thisepisode, Lord, that you are
going to replace the spirit ofoveractivity, the spirit of
(44:49):
despair, the spirit ofinactivity, Lord.
Anything that is holding backour listeners, Lord, in the name
of Jesus, it is broken off rightnow.
That there is destiny andpurpose over their life, and you
are calling for calling it forthright now for such a time as
this.
I thank you that you have justgiven us a heart that wants to
(45:14):
burn for you, Lord, that we arehot after you, oh God, and that
everything that you have put inus is not to be kept for
ourselves, but is to be anoverflow to build your kingdom.
Lord, we love you and we giveyou all glory, honor, and praise
in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Amen.
(45:34):
Thank you.
Three.
Two.
SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
Good morning.
Good morning.
So lots of fun trips lately.
How was Hilton Head?
SPEAKER_01 (00:19):
It was amazing.
We had a great time.
The weather was so good.
Um, my dad rented these, like, Idon't even know what they're
called.
I want to call them like littlezodiac boats, but that's not
right.
I think those are those small,like inflatable ones.
But this is like this two-seaterum where your legs are like
straight out in front of you.
It's got one motor on the back,and you just jet around with
(00:39):
this interesting little stickshift thing that he was playing
with quite a bit because everytime he moved it, we get a
splash of water.
It was beautiful, but kind ofcold.
So uh it was an adventure forsure.
SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
Yeah.
Well, if anyone wants to see thefullness of it, you posted a
couple very funny videos, greatvideos on your Instagram
account, Alisa Martin, and uhhow it started.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
I was doing this when we got going because dad
was my driver.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
And she's praying and rocking.
That's what she used to it.
That's right.
But um, if you want to check outthat video, I thought it was
hilarious.
SPEAKER_01 (01:15):
So fun, so fun.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
Yeah, yeah.
I made my way out to Chicagovisit with my mom and brother.
We're good.
Good.
Did the whole little full circletour about through my childhood
and all the little pit stopsalong the way.
SPEAKER_01 (01:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
And uh do not miss the weather in the Midwest.
I'm so sorry for all you peopleout there in the Midwest.
Holy cold.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
It was already really cold.
SPEAKER_00 (01:35):
It was already cold and rainy.
It was hailing at one point.
And I'm just grateful to be inCharlotte, North Carolina.
I can't blame you.
Yeah.
Gives me energy, so I'm notslothful.
SPEAKER_01 (01:47):
Oh.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Oh, you like that?
Say that three times fast.
SPEAKER_01 (01:51):
What made you say that word today, I wonder?
SPEAKER_00 (01:54):
What are we going to talk about?
SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
Yeah, well, let me let me kind of set it up this
way.
And I'm sure that we've all beenthere.
You know, have you everexperienced a time where you
thought to yourself, I'm doingso, so much, but yet I just
don't really feel like I'mgetting anywhere.
You know, like your calendar isjam-packed, you're showing up
for everyone and everything, yetsomething on the inside still
(02:17):
feels, I don't know, asleep, youknow, or kind of just going
through the motions.
You know, you're, you're, you'removing, but you're not
advancing.
You're you're even maybe workingin rest and not feeling
recharged after it.
It's like you're doing a lot,but you're just not getting
anywhere.
And maybe that's why 88%.
(02:39):
I looked this up before westarted today, 88% of the people
who make New Year's resolutions,guess how quickly they throw in
the towel?
SPEAKER_00 (02:47):
I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01 (02:48):
Less than two weeks.
Wow.
That's insane.
Yeah, 88%.
It's because like that initialspark of motivation just doesn't
really turn into uh consistentum action.
You know, they're they're sortof indifferent uh about their
resolutions, I guess.
And it reminds me of um the bookof Haggai, where the people say
(03:11):
the time has not yet come torebuild the house of the Lord.
This book is actually a reallygreat example of what we're
going to be talking about today,which is a spiritual
procrastination andmisdirection.
It's like the people start outwith really good intentions, and
in this case, they start outstarted out with the intentions
(03:32):
to rebuild the house of theLord, but their enthusiasm
quickly wanes as they face someopposition and they got their
their busyness got misdirectedinto building their own houses.
Um I think oftentimes weconfuse, you know, inspiration
and transformation.
Um so today we're gonna unpack,and you said it already, what
(03:54):
the Bible calls slothfulness, ordepending upon um which Bible
you're reading, which versionanyway, is also called the
sluggard, um, which is thisquiet, you know, spiritual drift
that kind of whispers thingslike, You've done enough, you
it's time to rest.
SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
You know, it's really sneaky, this whole notion
of slothfulness.
I don't know about you, but whenI think about it, I always
associate it to being lazy.
And when we really unpack whatthe Bible says, it's quite
different.
Yeah.
It's the notion that we're okayjust to be lukewarm or we're so
(04:36):
busy, like you said, doing, youknow, activity, but it's
actually not connected to thegreater purpose of serving the
Lord.
That's it.
Is it really the work that theLord's called us to?
Is there purpose in theactivity?
Yeah.
So there's the notion of sittingaround and doing nothing, you
know, paralysis by analysis,which is also another form of
(04:57):
slothfulness.
And then there's the notion I'mso busy, I'm doing the wrong
thing because the fruit of mylife is not actually connected
to the purpose in building God'skingdom effectively.
SPEAKER_01 (05:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
It's kind of like being lukewarm, right?
Who wants to be lukewarm?
Exactly.
So buckle up because we're gonnawake up.
The sleeping passion in thehearts of the listeners today,
that's prayer.
I'm in.
Anyway.
But you know, speaking ofdefinitions, let's start with
the definition of slothfulness.
Again, I tend to think aboutpeople being lazy, but that's
(05:31):
not it at all.
It's more of this spiritual andmoral failure to act.
I'm gonna say that again.
It's a spiritual and moralfailure to act, specifically to
act and build and steward thethings that God has actually put
in us, our natural talent andabilities, our spiritual
(05:53):
giftings.
If these things are not inflight in action, we actually
start to go dormant.
And it does lead us to actuallyhaving missed opportunities for
God's purposes.
And it creates spiritual decayin our life.
If we look at the Hebrew wordfor uh slothfulness, it's
(06:15):
actually at sell.
Okay, it's used repeatedly inthe book of Proverbs to describe
the meaningless idol, thenegligent, the sluggish, the
sluggard.
Specifically, we talk aboutProverbs 13:4 quite often.
The soul of the sluggard cravesand gets nothing, while the soul
(06:35):
of the diligent is richlysupplied.
So that's kind of a look at theOld Testament.
What does the Old Testament sayabout it in summary?
And then we can look at the NewTestament and go to the Greek
Nothros.
And I could be saying thatincorrectly, but it's
N-O-T-H-R-O-S.
It's used frequently to describedull, slow, spiritually sluggish
(07:01):
or negligent activity.
Specifically, we can see it inHebrews 6.12.
So, in the essence of what Godthinks about, when we think
about the seven deadly sins asan example, and this is one of
them that's tucked in there.
It's literally the recklessnessof inaction on the purposes God
(07:21):
has for your life.
Yeah.
And I don't know about you, butthat just gives me a holy pause
to like start to dointrospection to say, am I
producing the fruit that God iscalling me to produce, or am I
just busy being busy?
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's good.
And an important distinction,um, while in action is a is a
big part of it, it's the inaction, like you said, towards
what we're supposed to be doing.
So what's wild is you can stillbe really busy and have all
kinds of activity, right?
But still absolutely beslothful.
(07:59):
You know, you can be on threeteams at the church, leading the
bake sale, you know, coachingthe kids, soccer team, you know,
you name it, but still actuallybe completely and totally off
your assignment.
SPEAKER_00 (08:12):
Yeah, it's so true.
And the another thing, you know,busyness is an example of it,
but it distraction, distraction,fear, procrastination.
Maybe later, I'll do it later,not today.
Yeah.
Uh passivity, or I just want tobe comfortable.
I'm comfortable beingcomfortable.
Yeah.
And these are all some of theroadblocks that actually keep us
(08:33):
trapped into, or maybe insteadof saying roadblocks, I should
say chains.
These are the chains that arekeeping us in captivity to this
notion of uh being a sluggard.
Okay.
So it doesn't always look likewe're lying on the couch, right?
It manifests in different ways.
So let's kind of start breakingthese down.
Procrastination and excuses.
(08:54):
Okay, if we look at Proverbs 22,13, it says, the sluggard says,
There is a lion outside.
I shall be killed in thestreets.
So it gives him reason not to goto the streets.
It's this constant uh ability tofind reasons why not to do
something, as opposed tothrowing away the excuses,
(09:15):
throwing away the delay, andgetting after it.
A second one, neglect ofresponsibilities in Ecclesiastes
10:18.
Because of laziness, thebuilding decays.
Through idleness of hands, thehouse leaks.
It shows us that while we'rebusy, like you started off with
Haggai, we're busy building ourown houses, our caring to our
own needs.
(09:35):
The house of God is not beingmaintained.
It's not being taken care of asGod's first priority, as our
first priority to serve God.
So it's the unaddressed, smalltask that leads to major
breakdowns, spiritually,relationally, and financially.
(09:56):
A third one, spiritual apathy.
It says in Hebrews 6, 11, 12, wedesire that each one of you show
the same diligence, that you donot become sluggish, but imitate
those who through faith andpatience inherit the promises.
Think about the cloud ofwitnesses, the Moses, the
Elijah's, all the ones who'vegone before us.
We cannot show up with spiritualdullness, losing a hunger for
(10:20):
prayer, the word of God,worshiping Him, and really
chasing down our kingdomassignment.
So we can't be apathetic to whatGod calls us to do.
We've talked about busynesswithout fruit.
That's another one.
And then finally, comfort overcalling.
It says in Proverbs 26, 14, as adoor turns on its hinges, so
(10:43):
does the sluggard on his bed.
We choose ease, entertainment,and comfort over the sheer
discipline of growth.
SPEAKER_01 (10:54):
Yeah, I mean, you've you've hit on a lot of things
there.
You know, overactivity in thewrong area is still
disobedience, and that's reallythe meat of this.
Um, Romans 12, 11 says, do notbe slothful in zeal, be fervent
in spirit and serve the Lord.
And so, in other words, we weneed to, you know, stay hot for
God.
(11:14):
We need to not lose our fire.
Um, we need to stay spirituallyawake and engaged and not just
go through the motions.
Um, and that's hard when we livein this culture that glorifies
hustle.
Listen, I mean, you and I arehustlers, right?
A little bit.
Can we can we cue I'm a hustler,baby?
(11:36):
You know, you know some.
No, that's actually againstYouTube protocol.
I understand from Caden, wecan't add that in.
But I mean, you can be hustlingyour way right out of
disobedience.
Um, you know, and the devil, wehave to remember, just loves us
to be busy when we're busy beingineffective.
(11:59):
Now, I also think it's importantthough, and and we talked a lot
about this.
Um, it's kind of the foundationof this whole podcast that
there's still a balance, right?
So I I presented hustling assort of a negative, but there's
a balance of grace and grind,right?
And so we can't like everaccomplish anything in life
(12:21):
that's extraordinary.
And I feel like everything we'regonna do with the Lord is
extraordinary without some grindand some discomfort.
There's there's this thing toothat psychologists call um
avoidance through activity.
And we've actually talked aboutthis a lot on some of our former
episodes as well, where we fillour time with so much busyness
(12:44):
because if we slow down, evenyou know, for a moment, it's
gonna reveal things that we haveto heal within ourselves or um,
you know, some kind ofdiscomfort.
So, you know, we find all theseother activities to stay busy,
like scrolling, like uh negativethings, like even positive
things, right?
(13:05):
Just putting too much on yourcalendar.
Um, and so, you know, again,slothfulness isn't just
laziness, it's this spiritualavoidance.
It's doing everything but thething that God, you know, asked
us to do.
And sometimes it it starts smalltoo.
(13:25):
It's not even that we said no toGod.
Sometimes it's that we just saidnot yet.
Right.
You know, and so that choice todelay is really still
disobedience.
James 4 17 says, if you know thegood you're supposed to do and
you don't do that, that's sin.
(13:46):
And while he's talking mostlyabout sinning, this that same
message can can really applyhere.
Um, so it's it's you know, stinksneaky.
Um, it feels safe sometimesbecause you mentioned this, you
know, we want to be comfortable.
And sometimes we think that ifthe thing God's calling us to do
(14:07):
isn't completely and totallycomfortable and doesn't come
easy, then it must not be thething I'm supposed to be doing.
But that's not accurate.
SPEAKER_00 (14:15):
I love how you said stay hot after God.
Yeah.
You opened it this last littlesection with that.
And I just have this visual hotafter God, man.
We typically say stay hot afteryour hubby or whatever.
Stay hot after God.
Uh, such a good visual.
And so, what's your temperatureof your heart?
I also want to just kind of callawareness to two things.
So, first, we're talking aboutoveractivity is a form of
(14:39):
slothfulness, yeah.
And inactivity, aka laziness, isalso a form of slothfulness.
So, both these things areindirectly fruit of one of the
sins, slothfulness.
Sometimes inactivity, though,can be misunderstood as laziness
when in fact it could actuallybe something different going on
with someone.
And I just want to be sensitivethat uh just like over
(15:03):
overactivity can be a sign ofundealt with pain, underactivity
could be a sign of beingoppressed by the enemy.
Yeah.
True spiritual warfare, and itcould be a sign of oppression by
the enemy or depression.
And, you know, those things areuniquely distinguished, meaning
oppression is to be oppressed byuh the spirit of despair, as
(15:27):
seen in Isaiah.
It literally talks about inIsaiah 61, 3, the spirit of
heaviness, right?
So instead of the spirit ofheaviness, God brings uh the joy
and gladness to us.
So it's a depiction that thereis a real oppressor out there
and it brings a heaviness, andthat heaviness can lead to
(15:48):
inaction.
Yeah.
And then there's the notion ofdepression, which also can cause
us to be immobile, and it couldbe induced through traumatic
instances that we grew up in,and it can just hit us and
overwhelm us.
Um, so those things are aretruly a part of this notion, or
I'd say weapons that could keepus trapped, still not moving
(16:12):
forward towards the purposes andthe assignments that God has for
us.
And so just to kind of uh maybeput a highlighter on how do you
know if you're being spirituallyattacked and how do you know if
you're being disobedient, right?
And so if you can start to havediscernment towards where you're
(16:33):
being attacked, then you canpray and worship through it to
get to the other side of it.
Yeah.
And it's just a no uh it'simportant to kind of slow down
and kind of look through some ofthese things.
And so sudden, unexplainedheaviness, not tied to a life
circumstance.
If all of a sudden, meaningnothing's happened in your life,
(16:54):
but all of a sudden you feelthis heaviness come upon you and
you can't describe why, then youknow it's something spiritual
going on.
It's time to stop, pause, and goto war in prayer.
Okay.
Accusatory or condemningthoughts.
It's relentless.
(17:15):
It's just coming at you.
You're worthless, you're notgood enough.
God has abandoned you.
All those things that are justassaults on your mind and it
just hits you.
It is a sign that you're underspiritual attack.
Okay.
Disruption of your prayer lifeand worship.
You're feeling foggy blocked.
What used to be fire in yourbelly, you know, don't confuse
(17:38):
it with apathy and indifference.
It's more of you almost feel asudden paralysis and you're not
really sure why.
It's this fog that's come uponyou.
It's another sign, literally,that you're being spiritually
attacked.
Um, night disturbances, fears,oppressive thoughts, right?
It is always connected to thisheavy emotional weight.
(18:01):
Uh, you can't see the forestthrough the trees.
Your hope is getting eaten up,the fear is overwhelming you.
I mean, these are real thingsthat happen.
SPEAKER_01 (18:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:11):
And it causes you not to move forward.
So it's not, don't get stuckthere.
It's incredibly important tolean in through prayer and
worship as we rejoice, the enemyflees, right?
And relentless, God says thefervent prayers of a righteous
person avail much.
(18:31):
And that means we are gonnatravail, we're gonna birth, and
we're gonna push through uhthese times where we feel this
oh this major oppression.
Now, if you feel like you justcannot get past a traumatic
circumstance that has happenedto you in your life, and it's
you're stuck because you'reunhealed, that's a sign that you
(18:55):
need therapy, right?
So you need to get, we had agreat episode, episode 11 was
all about dealing with our pain.
And so I'd encourage ourlisteners to go back, listen to
that.
But anytime we're trapped inpain, it's gonna prevent us from
really moving into the purposesthat God has for us.
(19:16):
So again, eyes wide open.
Yeah.
Are you over activity or overactivity?
Because that's the word.
Are you um overstimulated?
Are you too busy being busy, orare you underactive?
And why?
And not to assume that peopleare just being lazy.
You probably have some realthings that you need to deal
(19:38):
with.
Just like we see all in theBible, Elijah was literally, you
know, he was uh one of thegreatest prophets that ever
walked.
I mean, he, you know, beatdeath.
He went, he was taken straightup to heaven.
He appeared on the mount withJesus, and he's gonna be coming
back, as we see in Revelations.
I mean, he was a prophet setapart, and yet the spirit of
(20:01):
depression, the spirit ofheaviness chased him down
relentlessly.
Daniel was spiritually attackedfor 21 days.
As soon as the call of God wasreleased, the enemy went to war,
and the archangel came and said,Sorry, Daniel, we were fighting
for you for 21 days before wecould get to you.
So there is real attack when werealize we're gonna start to
(20:22):
step into the call of God.
So the encouragement in this isto say, go back and listen to
what I just said.
First and foremost, if you needhelp identifying, discerning
where are you being spirituallyattacked, oppression,
depression, et cetera.
And then how do you get out ofit?
It's through prayer and praisethat starts to lift the burden.
SPEAKER_01 (20:42):
Yeah, what you just covered so much that's so
important, and just to make surethat our listeners are tracking,
um, understanding whether it'sslothfulness, laziness,
oppression, or depression reallymatters because then you know
how you're gonna fight it,right?
So, yeah, I would definitelyencourage rewind and listen
(21:05):
again to the differences betweenthe four of those because they
happen to to many of us.
SPEAKER_00 (21:11):
That's right.
And you know, moving into theneuroscience of it, I want to
just now click in.
And I know you got some goodnuggets on the neuroscience
behind everything we're talkingabout.
What does it say, Elisa?
SPEAKER_01 (21:24):
Yeah, what's fascinating is that that in
either scenario, um, whathappens to our brains and our
bodies is that when we just say,you know, I'll do it later, um,
which is another form ofprocrastination, what happens is
our limbic system, which is thepart of our brains that crave
that comfort and pleasure, andwe don't want to move away from
(21:46):
that into discomfort, it kind oftakes over and it says, yes,
avoid discomfort, stay safe.
You know, do it when you feelready, right?
But again, God's calling on ourlife, we often don't feel ready.
He he equips the call, not callsthe equipped.
And what's interesting is I betum, I was thinking about this
(22:09):
too in preparation for thisconversation, that it's really
easy for a lot of us to thinkthat laziness is a lack of
intense desire.
Right.
I mean, which you couldcompletely understand, but I
actually think it is an intensedesire to stay comfortable, to
stay safe, right?
(22:30):
Um but the good news is theprefrontal cortex, which is the
part that God wired forplanning, vision, and
discipline, is actually built tooverride that instinct.
Um, it's what allows us tochoose purpose over preference
or calling over comfort.
Um but if we keep letting thatlimbic system lead, then we end
(22:53):
up choosing feelings over faith.
And that's where it gets tricky.
Um, I mentioned earlier, if weif we believe that lie, that our
calling has to feel comfortableand easy straight out the gate,
then it's easy for us to miss italtogether and to fall into
(23:14):
that, you know, spiritualslaughterness.
SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
Yeah, you can't really pray away a lazy habit.
You have to get into it.
It reminds me of myselfactually.
You know, so for so many monthsthat turned into years, I really
felt like God, you know, callingme to do a podcast of sorts.
And even though I was playingaround with it, I would really
wasn't committed to it.
(23:38):
I dreamed a lot about it.
But I knew it was very clear tome that when podcasts first
started to become a thing, Ifelt a call straight to
podcasting.
And I just sat and marinated onit.
And then, you know, a year wentby, lots of podcasts were
getting traction, and otheryears go by, and you just before
(23:59):
you know it, five years has goneby.
Yeah, you're so busy thinkingabout it, praying about, waiting
on the Lord when really it'sjust a habit of kicking the can
down the road that is, you know,you're expecting change, but
you're the one preventing itfrom happening to begin with.
SPEAKER_01 (24:16):
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
Well, and I could easily say thesame thing about even saying yes
to this.
I feel like, you know, we'vespoken about it before.
God's placed this on our heartskind of at the same time.
And it's how this came to be.
But it'd be easy for me to say,well, it's not, you know, didn't
start out all that comfortable.
(24:36):
Um, doesn't come natural to me.
So it's probably not from God.
But it'd be easy to makeexcuses.
And I have lots of other waysthat I'm busy.
Uh yes.
SPEAKER_00 (24:50):
Yeah.
But you know, sometimes too, wesay we're waiting on God, but it
doesn't mean doing nothing.
SPEAKER_01 (24:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
It means there's a call in the season now that
we're in to be pre be preparingfor what's to come.
Yeah.
And so what are the the missingcomponents in your skill set or
your knowledge base to actuallyhelp mobilize you for where you
think God is calling you?
You're right.
SPEAKER_01 (25:09):
I mean, at some point you can pray about it all
day long, but you got to pick upyour mat and walk, right?
That's right.
So let's kind of get practical,you know, and break down um some
ways that we can break free fromall of this.
Because again, I'm gonna say itagain, if we're gonna do
anything extraordinary in life,uh, it's going to require
spiritual discipline, obedience,and whether we like it or not,
(25:33):
we're gonna have to push throughdiscomfort and embrace some of
that grind in addition to hisgrace.
And the enemy is always gonna beright there, you know, trying to
convince us that it's better forus to stay in comfort and in
apathy and not step into actionin the discomfort because the
enemy doesn't want us to produceanything really great in life,
(25:55):
right?
Um, so what do we do?
SPEAKER_00 (25:58):
So I think this is a great time to pause and just do
some self-reflection with somequestions.
So, first question Am I avoidingsomething God has clearly called
me to do?
Okay.
I mean, you and I have both saidwe felt a call and we delayed,
delayed, delayed.
So is that happening in yourlife?
(26:18):
Do I experience a desire to act,but feel internally unable or
paralyzed?
I mean, I have had so manymoments in my life where there
has been fear that has kept metrapped from having a hard
conversation.
I have felt paralyzed.
Oh, yeah.
So recognize what's going on,the warfare of God never wants
(26:41):
you to keep something that couldbe solved.
He doesn't want to keep thatlive and burning.
He wants it squashed, right?
So what's holding you back?
Are my thoughts primarily, aremy thoughts primarily excuse
driven?
I'll do it later.
It's too cold, it's heavy,despairing.
I can't, what's the point?
Right?
(27:02):
When I worship or pray, do Ifeel conviction that leads to
movement or condemnation thatleads to shame and isolation?
SPEAKER_01 (27:10):
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (27:10):
That's a huge signal because worship brings us closer
to the Lord.
It shouldn't feel like it's youknow, a bigger divide, a gap.
Have there been suddenunexplained waves of heaviness
or tormenting thoughts,especially around moments of
spiritual growth andbreakthrough?
So, right where you feel likeyou're gonna say yes, all of a
(27:31):
sudden the heaviness hits again.
Just know that that is a signalof attack.
Do I feel spiritually foggy oras if my prayers hit a ceiling
with accompanying fear oroppression?
I mean, those are all thethings.
Just slow down and just kind ofdigest those questions and get
honest with yourself.
(27:52):
Where are you at?
SPEAKER_01 (27:53):
Yeah.
Okay, so I we've we've talked alot about all of this, of
course, is tied to your calling.
And I have to believe that lotsof folks are listening and
going, well, that's great, butwhat the heck is my calling?
Right.
You know, now that I understandslaughterness, laziness,
oppression, depression,wonderful.
(28:14):
Now I also understand how tofight against it, but like, how
do I figure out what my callingis?
SPEAKER_00 (28:20):
Yeah, and that's not a simple answer because there's
multiple layers to who we are asindividuals, right?
Yeah.
I mean, there's the notion ofwhat we're all called to do, the
greatest commandment.
God calls us to love the Lordour God with all our heart,
minds, and souls, and love ourneighbor as ourselves.
So love God, love others.
Universal call for every singlepurpose.
Person, excuse me.
(28:41):
The second thing is what do wedo as a vocation?
How do we create value in theworld?
How do we make money?
How do we earn our keep?
And God says that we are to workas though we're working for God
Himself.
And so how are we living aChrist-like life on display for
all those we work with to see?
(29:02):
That's good.
Okay.
Then there's the personalcalling.
How am I personally gonnamultiply and build God's
kingdom?
Well, that gets into who did Godcreate you to be, set apart
uniquely from who God created meto be.
And it goes into, you know, whattime period were you born into?
What geographical location wereyou born into?
(29:24):
Are you male or are you female?
And there's only, you know, twoanswers on that.
You're either a male or afemale.
And it goes on and on, like whatare your gifts?
What are your things?
Box closed.
Yeah.
But literally, it's what is theuniqueness about your life and
(29:45):
your story, yeah, and your giftsand your talents that God wants
to leverage, blossom to createfruit for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01 (29:56):
Yeah, that's so important because we're so often
focused on.
On comparison and other peoplewhen God, you know, we're not
carbon copies, we're alluniquely, wonderfully made, and
God is going to use thosespecific gifts and talents in
profound ways.
And He wants to.
I mean, He put that calling onour lives before we were even
(30:16):
born and gave us those gifts andtalents.
SPEAKER_00 (30:19):
It's so true.
And so it's like, how do youstart to get a compass to say,
okay, well, this is how hecreated me uniquely?
I'm a fan favorite.
I've shared this before, but ofthe strength finders assessment.
It's a tool.
And like all tools, I shouldpreface it, all tools is just
that.
It's a tool.
Sure.
It's not, you're not, you know,going to someone and they're not
reading tarot cards and they'renot telling you your future and
(30:41):
your purpose.
And they're not, you know, we'renot saying this is how God
created you and you're in a box.
SPEAKER_02 (30:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:47):
It's directional.
So in prayer, in work, inconcert with the Lord, you're
going to start to learn somethings about yourself.
So strength finders, wonderfulassessment.
And the reason why I like it somuch, I've shared it before,
it's worth sharing again.
It focuses truly on yourstrengths.
SPEAKER_01 (31:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:04):
Where we live in a world that says, what are you
bad at?
And let's help you become goodat what you're bad at.
SPEAKER_01 (31:09):
Good point.
SPEAKER_00 (31:10):
This turns it up on its head and it says, How did
you uh, what are your naturalstrengths?
And how do you keep harnessingthose strengths to really create
them into superpowers?
SPEAKER_02 (31:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:24):
And so you focus on building muscle mass for how God
created you to be, and youdeploy those gifts.
You turn it into action.
Another thing is then on thespiritual side.
So strength finders is more yournatural human flesh.
How did God create you?
Then your unique spirit in you,you can use a gift assessment
tool to understand what are theout of the nine gifts of the
(31:45):
Holy Spirit, which ones did Goduniquely put inside of you?
And Rose Publishing has onesuper easy to take for you to,
again, in prayer and discernmentwith the Lord, what are the
giftings specifically in thespirit that He's given you?
So when you start to put thesethings together, you understand
in the flesh, in human form, andin spirit man, what makes you
(32:07):
unique and set apart.
Of course, there's tons of othertests out there too.
You got the Enneogram, you gotthe disc assessment, McQueg.
I mean, I could go on and on andon.
Yeah.
But again, these are all toolsjust to teach you more about
subconsciously what's going onin who God created you to be, so
you can learn more aboutyourself, to be more
intentional, to live it out.
SPEAKER_01 (32:28):
I love that.
Romans 12, 6 reminds us we havedifferent gifts according to the
grace given to each of us.
One of my um all-time favoritebooks is sitting over there
called Shape, which is all aboutfinding and fulfilling your
unique purpose under God.
Um, we actually did that one inmy life group last semester, and
it was completelytransformational.
(32:50):
Um, I would encourage people,gosh, I wish it was in schools,
like from a very young age,because it is really one of the
best tools that I have seen tohelp you with workbooks and
good, um, good thought-provokingquestions that really opened our
all of our eyes to what made usunique and different.
(33:10):
So I would encourage, you know,start a start a life group,
start a book club, um, evenmaybe grab your family and read
it as a family.
Um, not only will you obviouslyhelp each other, you know,
discover your own gifts andtalents, but not only that,
you're in the process oflearning what makes all these
people you care about unique andspecial.
(33:31):
So you can celebrate that andhonor that in each of them.
SPEAKER_00 (33:35):
I love it.
Surprise question coming yourway.
Buckle up, ready?
What's something you learnedabout yourself through that
process through shape with yourlife group?
What what were you surprised at?
Something I was surprised about.
SPEAKER_01 (33:54):
I don't know.
I don't think I found somethingthat surprised me.
SPEAKER_00 (34:01):
A lot of people did.
What about affirmation?
What about affirmation?
Or did it help you get out ofslothfulness?
I can rephrase the question ifyou wanna.
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
It absolutely um affirmed how much I enjoy
volunteering and giving andspeaking life into people,
encouraging, cheering.
Um, it affirmed the power andthe importance of having the
(34:34):
right people around you who canhelp you bring those things
forward.
SPEAKER_00 (34:41):
Okay, this is my new question.
Okay, so we're gonna I'm tryingto try to be thoughtful.
Hold on a second, I'm trying todraw since I read that book.
I'm trying to draw somethingout.
The way that you just spokeabout that book shape and how
you experienced it inside ofyour life group, I could see the
passion just light up in youreyes.
What was it about that study?
(35:03):
Like, why are you so passionateabout it?
Why would you put it in schoolsand um make it a part of
standard curriculum?
What is it that spoke to yoursoul that said, yes, this is
different?
Because the spark that's in youreye was shape, it reminds me of
why I get so excited aboutstrength finders.
Strength finders for me, it's itaffirmed a whole bunch of things
(35:25):
I already knew about myself.
But then when I started to peelback the onion and understand
that if you were to take thesame strengths in the same order
across the planet, no one iscreated like me.
It affirms scripture, 10 ways tothe moon and back, about how
beautifully unique and formed weare in the Father's eye.
SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
That's that's it.
I mean, that's exactly it.
And and when you watch otherpeople come alive, yeah,
figuring that out on their own,um, that that's it's interesting
that it makes me like a littlebit teary-eyed because then it
stops being about who cares whatanybody else is doing, where
they are in life, how they'reserving the Lord.
(36:10):
Like we all are so unique anddifferent, and He's gonna use
you.
And it's not always out in frontin the spotlight, you know, it's
not always loud.
Like everybody has such animportant role to play.
Um when they see that inthemselves, it's it's it's
(36:30):
incredible.
SPEAKER_00 (36:31):
I love that.
It reminds me too of uh thepurpose-driven life by Rick
Warren.
Yeah, and again, another onelike if you aren't really
connected to the truth that youwere created for purpose and
that there's so much for you todo in this world because you are
here for a reason, for apurpose, then just dust off that
(36:51):
book, or if you've if you gotit, if you got it in your
bookshelf, dust it off.
If you haven't, go buy it.
And then the other one is bornto create.
Why do I love that book?
Born to create Jordan Raynor.
Okay.
Raynor.
Raynor.
I don't know it.
R-A-R-B-N-O-R.
Okay.
I love that book because I havebelieved my whole life that I am
(37:16):
not a creative person, thateveryone else is so much more
creative.
Because I think of creativity inthe eye, beauty is in the eye of
the beholder, right?
SPEAKER_02 (37:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:27):
I think about other people creating beautiful
spaces, or, you know, look atyou in your beautiful sweater
today, and I'm in my sweatshirt.
Like it's the definition of whatwe see beauty as.
Yeah.
And I'm like, oh, I wish I couldcreate and do fun things.
Or I think about even Caden, whois on our production team and
I'm looking at him right now.
(37:49):
He is incredible with video andaudio and just creative.
And I just admire everyone'screative talents.
And I'm like, well, I'manalytical.
It's not really creative.
And I can start poo-pooingmyself.
Okay.
But I love the book, Born toCreate, because it literally
scientifically goes through andshows us how every single one of
(38:10):
us were born to create.
Why?
Because we are made in the imageof God.
And what is God?
He's a creator.
That's right.
And so the the notion is whatare we supposed to be creating
on this side of heaven?
That's a another goodstimulation for your mind to
start to unpack what could itbe, the art of the possible.
(38:31):
I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_01 (38:32):
I love that.
And you know, you have to walkit out to to find to find these
things too.
Like just give some stuff a try.
Um, again, while you have, youknow, your own gifts and
talents, it's not natural, notnecessarily going to come
naturally.
There could be some difficulty,there could be some discomfort.
Um, just keep leaning into theLord and asking him to light
(38:56):
your path and uh push throughsome of that that grind.
SPEAKER_00 (39:01):
And yeah, push through the grind and then the
courage to do the unknown,right?
Because if you haven't done itbefore, then of course if you
haven't done it before, it'sgoing to be completely new to
you.
And so it actually starts topull back and you start to say,
wow, I need a lot of courage, Ineed a lot of strength, and I
need a lot of power to actuallydo what I'm being called to do.
(39:22):
The good news is we actuallydon't have to have it
independently.
Courage, strength, and power.
Those things come in partnershipwith God.
He deposits it into us.
And just like you go to the gymand you're lifting weights one
day, you start off with fivepounds, next thing you know,
you're lifting 10 pounds, nextthing you know, you're lifting
150 pounds, and your muscles arepopping and you're building.
Courage is the same thing.
(39:43):
Yeah.
Once you take a step of courage,small little bit of courage,
then the next time you take thatnext step, it gets easier and
easier because you're buildingand building and building.
You build on top, you'rebuilding the muscle of courage.
SPEAKER_01 (39:57):
Yeah, that's a good example because it's that
obedience where slothfulnessdies.
You know, sometimes we expectthose instant results, but you
got to keep showing up inobedience and it will come in
time.
SPEAKER_00 (40:09):
That's right.
And the the discipline and thework, it pays off.
And I just want to highlight onething in scripture that kind of
points to this notion ofcourage.
When we think about spiritualgiants, the the giants that,
again, the cloud of witnesses,we think about Joshua literally
going in and taking the promisedland and you know, Moses having
(40:30):
to lead the people through thewilderness and uh David, King
David.
I mean, there's so manyspiritual giants to point to in
the Bible.
It's interesting, all thesegiants were commanded by God do
this thing, go do this thing I'mcalling you to do.
SPEAKER_02 (40:49):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (40:50):
And the very next command is do not be dismayed.
Do not be discouraged.
It's funny how when we hear thecall of God and we know it, all
of a sudden the dismay comes in,the discouragement comes in, the
fear comes in, slothfulnesscomes in, and immediately God is
right there saying, Don't dothese things.
(41:12):
Why?
For I am with you wherever yougo.
Yeah.
And it is in the Bible over 200times God is commanding people
do not be dismayed ordiscouraged.
So there's something here.
I think, you know, we've saidit.
What is holding you back fromjust being bold for the Lord?
(41:33):
So be encouraged, be in awe, bein wonder of the things that
God's getting ready to do in andthrough you because it's by his
power, it's by his might, it'sby his strength, it's by his
courage that's going to get youinto the promised land.
SPEAKER_01 (41:47):
Yeah.
And speaking of biblicalreferences, I mean, we often
forget that our obedience isn'ttied necessarily just to our own
breakthrough.
It's often tied to otherpeople's lives.
I mean, look at Jonah, right?
His delayed obedience was tiedto an entire, you know, city's
(42:07):
salvation, right?
Um, his not yet kind of puteverybody else's salvation on
hold.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
So it's it's just, it's never just about us.
Yeah, I mean, we're just madefor so much more, you know, for
other people, for them to riseand shine.
And, you know, whether we get tohave the front row seat to other
people rising and shining forthe Lord or be actually in the
work with them, it's all amazingand it's all for his glory.
(42:35):
So just a kind of recap, yeah,you know, how do you really get
intentional about personalgrowth, bursting out of
slothfulness into the actiontowards purpose that God's
called you to?
Strength finders, right?
Spiritual gifts assessment byRose Publishing, The
Purpose-Driven Life, RickWarren, emotionally healthy
(42:56):
spiritually.
Peter Schazero.
Okay, that's a tongue twister,his last name.
But putting all that aside, thatbook right there, you want to
talk about unearthing the painin your heart, that would have
been a good resource for ourlast episode 11 as well.
Oh.
Atomic Habits, James Clear.
I mean, it's sold hundreds ofmillions by now, but um a goody,
(43:19):
it's kind of an oldie but agoody now.
And then Sacred Rhythms, RuthHaley Barton.
That one is just how do you restand be with the Lord so you have
overflow for your purpose?
So busyness, the wrong type ofbusyness can cause burnout, the
hustle towards burnout.
This actually gets you intosacred rhythms with the Lord.
So you don't get to the end ofyour fire, your fire keeps
(43:43):
burning bright.
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (43:45):
And shape by Eric Rees.
Finding and fulfilling yourpurpose under God's another
great one.
Yes.
Um you can step into everythingyou've been called to be.
You know, in the move, themoment that you start moving in
obedience, heaven's gonna movewith you.
That's right.
It's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00 (44:02):
So, Lisa, I'll go ahead and praise that, okay?
Awesome, awesome.
Heavenly Father, we just thankyou for this time that you've
given us today.
Thank you that you are divinelyshowing us the path that you
have created for us and thatyou're faithful to lead each and
every step.
Lord, I just thank you thatyou're gonna just reveal to the
hearts of the listeners theirunique calling, their unique
(44:25):
giftings, their talents, Lord,what you have specifically
created inside of them, that youare calling it forth right now
in the name of Jesus.
Lord, I thank you that thespirit of the sluggard is off
every person who hears thisepisode, Lord, that you are
going to replace the spirit ofoveractivity, the spirit of
(44:49):
despair, the spirit ofinactivity, Lord.
Anything that is holding backour listeners, Lord, in the name
of Jesus, it is broken off rightnow.
That there is destiny andpurpose over their life, and you
are calling for calling it forthright now for such a time as
this.
I thank you that you have justgiven us a heart that wants to
(45:14):
burn for you, Lord, that we arehot after you, oh God, and that
everything that you have put inus is not to be kept for
ourselves, but is to be anoverflow to build your kingdom.
Lord, we love you and we giveyou all glory, honor, and praise
in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Amen.
(45:34):
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.