Propel Conversation Series: Passion Video 3

[Music] welcome to session three of our propell series on passion as you know I love this series because I'm very passionate about passion please remember as we go through this series that when we talk about passion there's no way we're talking about hype you create hype by using artificial stimulus to generate a motion and frenzy and hype rarely lasts for the long term it is generated motivated and sustained externally whereas a god passion and enthusiasm is internally regulated by the Holy Spirit of God you can stir up that gift of faith that he has placed within you and feel some passion for the thing that he has empowered you to do today we're going to have a chat about what to do when it feels that your passion is under siege and all you want to do is give up I mean how many of us have not wanted at some point or another to give up whether it's in our relationships in our workplace in our ministries and it's okay to want to give up as long as you don't give up you see we all live in a fallen and a broken world each one of us faces a plethora of challenges obstacles hurdles unforeseen circumstances disappointments discouragement tragedy loss and grief betrayal and seasons where it seems that heaven is silent and we're wondering where is God does he even know that I'm here the decisions that we make in these very dark times determine whether we actually fulfill our purpose and realize our passions in life many women give up on pursuing their passion when it just simply gets too hard we often mistake God's delays for denial and we end up settling for a life that is so far beneath the one that God has made available to us so the real questions are how do we stay focused when the storms hit how do we stay close to God when it seems that all hell is literally breaking loose how do we keep moving forward when circumstances keep pushing us backwards how do we stay passionate when everyone else at work and at home is being negative and critical is there ever a time to stop doing what you're doing and how do you start again once you've lost momentum you know I am convinced that adversity actually introduces us to ourselves the hardest things in life are the things that show us what we are made of it's the pressure that reveals what's already in us some people say wow let's find out what comes out when we're under pressure well what will come out of you is only what is within you so you'll really discover what's in you when you are under pressure how you respond when life throws you a curveball or when the devil begins to attack you determines whether you survive or thrive in these seasons remember we don't just want you to run your race we want you to finish your course and to finish it with joy so don't let the circumstances destroy your passion this season never lasts forever the words that you will learn to cling to are this too shall pass sometimes it seems like these seasons will never end but I find that things tend to happen in waves I love the ocean and often waves come in sets and then the water is just completely calm sometimes it seems that we are being plummeted from all angles and we can feel ourselves start to give up but I want to encourage you today that this will not last forever don't give up in the middle of a storm giving up is the only way to guarantee that you won't achieve your dream there's no demon in hell and no person on earth that can ultimately stop the purpose of God in your life only you quitting can stop your passion from coming to fruition scripture encourages us in Galatians chapter 6 to not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up the book of Proverbs reminds us that the steps of a righteous person wind upwards there's many twists and turns on our journey and a leader learns to navigate those effectively I would not be doing what I'm doing today not in the a21 campaign not in propel but in writing books or teaching or even be the wife or the mother that I am if I had caved in in the past when I felt that my passion was under attack there is a very real enemy and he wants to steal kill and destroy what God has placed within you we read that in John chapter 10 verse 10 but I want to remind you today that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world your enthusiasm in God and your passion shall prevail I'm so excited today to talk with my friends about this whole concept of having our passion under siege there's no doubt in my mind that those of you in the propelled chapters wherever you're dispersed in local churches around the world that there would be at least one of you if not all of us that in some way shape or form don't have our passion under siege the enemy always sets an assignment but I want to remind you I'm so grateful you're in this study today there some of you might just be thinking even now I'm just holding on I don't even know how I even got into this chapter meeting today but I'm here to tell you the devil on his best day didn't take you out on your worst day you're still here you're still alive you're still breathing and I'm hoping after we encourage you today you're gonna be able to run your race and finish your course so girls passion under siege who has not experienced that mercy I'm sure it's just been an easy smooth ride for you it has you know what I was thinking about thought about you know how we all have our five love languages mine is like acts of service and the boards of affirmation laptop my husband don't give me flowers get the vacuum cleaner I mean for Rick come on so words of affirmation are so so so so important to me and so the enemy has used that to thwart my passion because what happens is I got so fired I forgot I was so excited to go out the world and people did not appreciate my passion so much there's just so much of you they just toned that down like keep your crazy inside and I got offended I got offended by people that Christians even that would give me tweet mail and all this stuff and just just really it hurt girls it just really hurt I was hurt I was offended and then the whole she was like you can either sit there have a pity party or you can go and do what I've called you to do that's right because the Bible says all the promises of God are in him yeah the four and then him amen it's in him it's not anything anyone else can give you and so maybe you're out there and you're really struggling with this being offended by people not understanding your passion understanding what God's called you to do he called you to do it not them so don't look to people to do what only God can do for you and I love what Philippines two five two eight says it says have this mind that was also in Christ Jesus he wasn't grasping for anything rather he emptied himself I love that that's really what - do I have to die to myself die - I need for affirmation for accolade for applause and just go out there and do what God's called me to do beautiful beautiful you reminded me mercy when you said that there was an old commercial about I think it was an insurance company EF Hutton and it said when he had Hutton talks people listen I think when women who have scars talk people listen I do not think he can lead effectively without going through chapters where you feel exactly like you felt and you feel like nobody appreciates me nobody's cheering nobody's encouraging me it's kind of you're Elijah in the desert experience and when you go through those times then you have empathy I don't think leaders can lead so far removed from how everybody you're leading feels so I really started to a couple years ago order a bumper sticker and there were none that existed so I thought I need to make up my own that says God digs chicks with scars and I think we talked about passion under siege you have to go back to you quoted from the sums there's another verse in the sums where it says in his faithfulness God has afflicted me yeah if we didn't have seasons where we felt alone in leadership if you didn't have seasons where you felt missed you would never be able to love much less lead those who feel that you're in seasons in their life so I actually think passion or sage is a gift I love that point about discouragement because it is such a hindrance along we like to think about the devil coming at us and attacking us in big ways you know big illnesses job loss bankruptcies you can identify oh the devil's at work but you can't naturally go oh that little things that discouragement that's the devil we'd like to think that that's that's ourselves we don't identify it Sam another way that the devil attacks us is through distraction my granddaddy used to always say if the devil can't make you bad he'll make you busy I mean we live in this loud environment everything's coming at us all the time we get distracted and it's a huge hindrance to our passion Hebrews 12:11 says run your race throw off the hindrances so discouragement distraction they're huge hindrances sometimes just as big as the big things that are easy to identify the devil's it works I love that when we are passionate when we're creative there's always gonna be a sense of resistance yeah and resistance doesn't mean stop and sometimes we in our natural humanity we want to say well this is hard or this doesn't feel good or there is pain therefore I stop no there's this great book by Steven Pressfield the war of art yeah and every time you do something creative every time that you're supposed to create something or you can just do what if we could put this in Christian language do what God has called us to do there is going to be resistance there is always a problem standing between God's promise and God's people and we see this in Joshua chapter 6 and the quick sight though what differentiates propell from maybe another like leadership article or leadership magazine or other great leadership organizations out there is that we have God as our chief leader until you are gonna have scriptures peppered in here it's not an exegetical Bible study but where we get our spiritual barometer where we get our leadership rubrics it is from God's Word and so we see this demonstrated in Joshua chapter 6 at the wall of Jericho they just saw God view their provision for 40 years in the desert they've just passed through the Jordan River and now there are standing at these huge walls of Jericho and God asked them to do ridiculous things yeah just walk and there's this song pop culture don't judge me I sometimes listen to non-christian music my mother's here so I'm not gonna look at her but but there's this song called walk it out and I love that song because sometimes even when it's not working out we need to walk it out right that's right we have to walk it out and walk it out and walk it but it's the truth it's the truth because we don't know if our breakthrough is right around the corner we don't know if it's just one more day that I do or with this box one more day I have to live with this child that's gonna put me in the grave one more day I have to stay committed to my husband one more day I have to just fight for this position at work don't stop your passion will be under siege that doesn't mean quick right you know what we know how the story ends yeah he went that'sthat's what I was gonna stop that's good enough for me yeah if you believe in the sovereignty of God as a leader every single wall becomes a gate period because we went and then said just keep it's just a fantastic place to pause and maybe take some questions from the audience because you just got me on fire passion under siege is such a massive topic I'm really interested to hearing from you what are you what are your questions anyone got any question you have a question my name is Diana and him I was searching and seeking my passion and I received God's call and confirmation and so I chased after that and I was serving for a long time in a ministry where I felt like I hit a wall and I ended up feeling so broken and now chasing after my passion I know what I'm passionate about but how do I regain that passion and continue on in a season where I feel so broken you know that is a fantastic question because there's not one of us that have gone a long term ministry that haven't had dreams broken along the way and I think there's just such a precedent for it in Scripture again when it comes into your own reality it's very painful and sort of the answer is which is the answer but it's not the one that you want to hear and it's you you think I've done it is like well you've got to get into the word you've got a being an atmosphere of worship be in church be amongst good friends but what do you do when you still feel dead on the inside yeah and there has been a number of things that have just broken that down and so thanks for number one for having the courage to ask it because I would imagine you and so many people on the other side of the screen that is your reality right now and the truth is God is the one that gives the dream and only God can actually bring that to fulfillment ultimately so even when it has been broken just trade violated it appears like it's all over my bottom line is if a dream is ultimately a God dream whether you're like Joseph's and you've got to spend a whole lot of time in the pit I remember there was one season where there was no way or all of what you see happening in my life today was stuff that was in embryonic form in my heart as a young 20 year old and different ministry leaders would come through and they would pray over me and affirm that dream and speak it over my life and so it wasn't that I just was in delusion it was something that was really real and seemed to be affirmed but then we have an enemy and he came and especially with my broken background of abuse and abandonment and rejection I was just a walking wound waiting to be taken out in many ways and I felt there was one period of time for about a decade that I thought there is no way this can come to pass I cannot see a human way I don't even have the faith to think it can happen and I felt like I was just thrown in a pit and I remember in that sense during my quiet time one morning that I just felt the Lord whisper into my heart well Christine you can either complain about your pet or begin to rearrange the furniture in the pit and I have an idea that I would be rearranging furniture in my pit for ten years but if you read my prayer journals for 10 years it was I never felt I felt very broken and shattered and somewhere God gave me the grace to not to let go of him to continue to function but in my heart of hearts I was very very broken and now in retrospect I realized he was doing a phenomenal work in me and I remember my PT when I snapped my ACL and I went and had a hamstring graft and he came in for therapy and he said Christine you will recover he said your knee now is actually stronger with your hamstring than it was when you had your ACL he goes but it is the most painful recovery of any recovery so the degree to which you are willing to embrace the pain will determine the degree to which you will be healed you will either have a full motion in your leg or and what I found is those of us that somewhere along the line whether through our selves or because of injustice done to in life career ministry whatever it might be somewhere with a leg got broken it broke yeah it can be healed through Christ the truth is though are we willing to embrace the recovery process which is the process of forgiveness the process of the things we have to do to any it hurts and you don't want to the process of going let's drag this thing out even though it doesn't seem to be speaking to me right now I am just going to set that alarm and you know what while I'm not feeling it and we're still going to be doing it while I'm not feeling like being in church while that person there is who I know is in key leadership and I know it like being able to go okay here we go God somewhere in there and I don't know any other way but on the only way I know that I'm still here is by embracing the pain and going I think even to birth it's in so many things I had to take on some of the the things that could have potentially been my greatest fears some you know just different comments and misunderstandings from people where it was like are you willing this is going to hurt Christine like going even knowing it's gonna hurt you kind of go God now that I know that it is could you just bypass it and so you go awesome so then we go okay it's like when I went into therapy I knew tears would be streaming down my face I knew it would be agony but I knew the greater thing that even though it felt like he was going to break my leg again I I knew logically medically that it's not going to but it's still hurt and I still cried and I still complained and then one day he did it and it didn't hurt and I'm not crying and I'm not complaining and I'm running and I'm sorry so good questions hi my name is Tina and I'm 40 years young I've been married for 10 years and have no kids due to infertility challenges and due to time with God and focusing on his character I've been able to get through it so I was wondering if he could please speak about speak to the woman that is struggling with the shattered dream yeah Tina I'd love to I am 51 years young and I didn't have a child for a long time due to husband challenges I I started the adoption process when I was 40 and I was real hesitant because I thought I couldn't adopt as a single and and I'm not gonna go into that whole route but I just I was in a seminar they talked about how many orphans there were who didn't have a shot at life and I thought if it's a kid in a third-world country who will otherwise die to have a single mom is a better option and the Bible says to take care of widows and orphans and it doesn't qualify that so I started the process and just a few weeks into it I told my small group I thought I'm not gonna tell everybody I'm just gonna tell a few women in church and three of them basically said we've got your back that's so great we're gonna pray you through this and one of them said you know if you have time later on the week I want to talk to you about this we went for coffee and she said you know Lisa I don't think this is a good idea she said you've got sexual molestation in your background she said I know you want to nurture something but I just think he could unwittingly if you weren't completely fixed transfer some of that onto a child she said I don't think you're a good candidate for motherhood so why don't you go to the Nashville Humane Society and adopt another dog because you're really good with pets hey here's the deal I can't blame that woman because at 40 I had walked with the Lord for 35 years I should have had the wisdom to say you know she's speaking from her own wounds and Jesus might tell me no or wait but he would never say you're not good enough to be a mom and I think we have to be really careful about the crooked little trees in our lives that woman can't bear good fruit at this point in her journey because she's still operating out of woundedness you've got to be real careful to be around dreamers other women men who support your dreams if God has called you to adopt or God has called you to adopt a whole bunch of kids who don't live under your roof scripture says you are still a mother to many and so do not by other people say in your dream isn't valid you run towards Jesus and be around people who fertilize your dreams hi I'm Jen and Lisa mentioned earlier how our scars can actually benefit us as we lead as we minister but what I'm wondering is if you have any encouragement for when we hit those times where our scars feel like a stumbling block but you are serving yeah yeah and I love that question because even I'm you know Bianca was talking about the children of Israel crossing the River Jordan and going into Jericho and in Joshua chapter 5 there's a portion where the Lord said to Joshua circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time yeah and in those moments you're really glad you're a woman and so yeah but then he says he goes further on in the text and says and then after they have healed that's right then they go across and sometimes we skip over that that there is a time of healing I was very you know twelve years of abuse abandonment rejection I was a walking mess now I'm not into that it should take you forty years in the wilderness to heal because a lot of Christians use what has happened to them as an excuse and remaining a victim and there comes a point where during the healing process what we do is we learn to make what Jesus did for us greater than what anyone has done to us amen and so it is it's just like that we sometimes make what others have done to us greater than what Jesus has done for us and you go yeah the healing process is finally where I recognize that what Jesus Christ did for me on that cross is greater than what anyone else has done to me and so there is a process of healing and my dream with propel and really the name is so intentional it's move forward movement that we're always moving forward because I think what happens and you're talking to a woman who was so broken so there's no you know there's very few sins I haven't committed of my own volition let alone all the garbage that was done to me so I was a walking mess but I think sometimes we almost just can't there is like this happened to me therefore I can't do this therefore I can't be a good wife because I was abused and then victimize me therefore I can't be submitted in church because men victimize me there for you and and it's like my husband ends up paying for something he never did to me my kids end up paying for something they never did to me my staff ends up dealing with all my brokenness and all of that it slays the dream but it's not the devil really it's me not allowing God to really heal me and so I think sometimes we use the excuse and we don't walk in a victorious overcoming power of Christ see we forget that Jesus actually did rise from the dead we keep coming back to the cross and going okay and then Jesus cuz it's awesome but now why don't you fight that battle from a place of victory I've always already been resurrected so you don't have to fight for the victory that I've already gained you fight from that victory and it changes everything and it means you can continue to propel forward even as in some cases you limp so when I first started you know gave my nail at analogy well then I I was like limping and then you kind of can walk and then you can kind of you know jump and you can run but the point is that if you try to run before you can limp then you're going to fall over and what happens to some people is they go I'm healed let's go and that means that you know I'm in denial and so the blood of Jesus does not give you amnesia and so it's not like you know that don't happen I'm in denial now I'm gonna run and you see it in you know in people that are very broken in the workplace their gift has taken them to a place where their character could never keep that's right and so what God does in the healing process is the aligns our character with our gift now and so my gift would have rapidly taken me to a place that my character could never have kept me and I would have been another one of those ministry statistics and or a corporate statistics so yes there's a place to heal but be intentional about the healing process and don't look for living in victimhood and I think you know of us you've been walking around the same old mountains with the same old problems for like ten years at least getting new problem and do everyone a favor that's why bottom line is right we will propel you on so you know I think it's a scar at least and I were talking earlier scars a symbol of something that healed yeah and so it's like we can't move forward if we're constantly looking back so don't stumble over something behind you yeah and sometimes we get so stuck on like I'll have this scar have this scar have this scar have this scar but it's healed and at some point we're gonna have to let that go and continue moving forward cuz Lavin's if we look back remember having souls why Lot's wife after your pillar of salt and then we should become bitter like no one wants that she was very spicy cuz the skirt the issue is to that a scar becomes the testimony of the grace of when people see my throat and they go there's a scar and then I could start talking about well let me tell you about the thyroid cancer that was there that got removed that God did a miracle so scars whether it's the abuse or sickness or infirmity and so you can touch a scar you can do this that's not me at all anymore what the problem is when they're still gaping wounds and I put a band-aid over what God wants to cross wants to stitch this for itself just shows you've been all in that's right I mean I race mountain bikes I never won but I've got scars on my legs when I'm around younger bikers they're like man you were radical yeah I left skin on the course because I was giving it my all it showed me a leader with no scars that's not a good leader I want a leader without a guard your story because that leaders gonna be able to minister to me a leader who's been through what honor that little also be able to say I've made mistakes and I learned that yeah you know what else scars are part of our story I remember and playing baseball in middle school and I wanted to hit a homerun I hit the home and I started running I was going so fast for home plate that I slid I had a huge scar my knee every time I see that I say but I scored a homerun yeah yeah but it's that freedom of knowing nothing I do can undo the cross die yeah it's a finished work so we have scars but I'm gonna make it to the finish line that's gonna get the home when I'm going all in so it's part of our storming to embrace that how awesome is this so you all know that we've got really passionate people on this panel right from baseball to mountain biking okay so it's our hope that after this conversation in the conversation you're about to have with the women around you that you really have the strength to keep persevering don't quit that's really so we're trying to say to you your passion will be under siege you're not you know perhaps will it or won't it it will it's like I don't quit keep going keep running greater is He that is in you [Music]

Channel: Kate Baldwin

Views: 2,864

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: vZ8D2pyIYzg

Length: 27min 7sec (1627 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 13 2019