Fear Of Success

Fear of success. I used to call it fear of failure, but I’m learning the difference. Fear of success can lead to self-sabotage right when momentum arrives because we start asking, “Am I ready?” “Am I enough?” “Can I sustain what God is doing?” I break down what helps me fight that spiral: agreeing with God’s word, remembering you are enough because He made you enough, trusting that God didn’t make a mistake when He called you, and showing up in the very area you’ve been running from.

If this hits home, subscribe, share this with a friend who’s been pulling back, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Where are you tempted to self-sabotage when things start working? 

Transcript

Welcome Back And The Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:03

What's up, guys, and welcome back to the Lifted Warrior podcast. My name is Cam, and the whole premise of this show, the whole premise of this podcast is to just help you live your life according to Ephesians 6 and 12. For we know that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spirits and principalities in high places. So um I just want to welcome all of you quickly. Uh, whether you're new, whether this your first time, whether you've watched the show plenty of times or listened to the podcast plenty of times, just want to welcome you and really just um explain where I've been, uh, but also kind of explain what we're gonna be doing moving forward. So um, if you were with me at the like around this time last year, kind of where we ended off at was just hammering faith, or you know, I felt the burden of faith, and I still feel that, and we still need to finish that up. Um, but really what happened, man, is I just I personally kind of got to a place where not that I was done with it or that I was over it, but I allowed myself to get out of the groove of things. I allowed myself to not necessarily continue to agree with God as it concerns the podcast. And what I've come to realize over this past year, what I've come to realize is that this is still what God wants me to do. Now, I don't know exactly how it's gonna be played out. I'm just gonna continue to be obedient because I believe that there's some things that God still wants to do with the podcast that hasn't come to fruition yet, and so I'm just walking out this plan. I'm just walking out this thing in faith and in obedience to what he has for me and what I believe he's saying for my life.

Seminary Stretch And Devotion

SPEAKER_00 1:48

So where have I been? Right. So this past year, um at the end of last year, I've recently enrolled into seminary or into a master's of divinity program. And so um, as of January, I've been in that, and it's stretching me. Um originally when I first got into it. I was like, you know what, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna, you know, weekly just kind of go over what I'm learning in class and all these other things. And I'm like, man, I just don't have the time. Not even the time. I just don't have the I I don't, I'm not gonna say I don't have the energy, but I I'm finding that I have to make myself do the things that I know I should do, which wasn't always the case. Like it used to be where things that I wanted to do or things that I knew I should be doing, it was easy. Um, but in this current season of my life, it's something where I'm having to constantly show up intentionally and step up to that plate of doing what I know I'm called to do. Um, this being one of those things. So um don't get me wrong, I love seminary, I love Mercer, which is where I'm at. I love my school, I love the teachers there, I love what I'm learning, but it is a stretching. And this, I'm I'm only in my first semester. Um, I'm not deep into it, I'm not into the upper level classes. I'm very much so in the the newness of things, but it's been stretching me. Um, it's been pulling me, it's been making me, you know, just look at things differently. Um, and it's also made me get back to a better place with God. Um, get back to what I mean by that is um if any of you have ever went to any Bible college or done anything in that sense, it's very easy to just feel like, okay, well, I'm reading my Bible for class, I'm reading um these things for class, so that's enough. And it's really not. You need that, and you need your personal life, you need your personal devotion, you need that personal time with God away from class, away from just filling out a doing assignments or getting ideas and understanding and writing for assignments so that you can continue to build yourself and build what God has called you to do, right? And then the other aspect, um, you know, that that that's one aspect of kind of where I've been, it's just seminary.

Fear Of Success Versus Failure

SPEAKER_00 4:15

But then the other thing is is I've had to come to the realization um that to a degree, I have a fear of success. And for a long time, I kind of masked it as a fear of failure. And but the the big difference between the two is that a failure of failure is once you start something, you'll typically keep doing it because you don't want to fail. But when you have a fear of success, a fear of success, excuse me, what'll happen is you'll begin to do a thing, and when you start to get traction, you'll begin to self-sabotage. So you'll stop showing up, you'll find a reason to not do it anymore, you'll find reasons to change the script, to change what you're doing, because you what I've learned for myself at least, and I won't speak for everybody, but what I've learned for myself is that you begin to you begin to question if you are enough to sustain where you're going. And I think that's kind of what I want to talk on today. This is going to be very brief, very different from how we normally do things here. I'm usually more a lot more dialed in, a lot more structured, but I just want to deal with that topic because I believe that there's many other people out there that are just like me who have been masking not continuing in what God has called them to do, um, and masking it as a fear of failure, when really it's a fear of success. But the first step to understanding how to overcome that thing is first understanding what it

You Are Enough To Sustain It

SPEAKER_00 5:50

is. And if you have a fear of success, a fear of success, and you've known that you've been self-sabotaging in different areas, then hey, one, welcome to the club, because like I said, I'm there too. But then the second thing to do is just begin to take steps in consistency, begin to take steps and also understanding. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Begin to take steps in understanding that you are enough. You don't have to try to be a certain thing, you don't have to try to to sh do something that you're not all that who you not already, who you are not already, you're enough. God made you enough. When God created you in your mother's room, you were boom, you were enough. When God said, I want you to do this thing for me in the earth, you were enough. When God called out to you, you are enough. So if you are like me and you're struggling with that fear of success, like when when things start to get traction in your life, when when things start to move and where things start to pick up speed or pick up ground, you you begin to get scared. God, I God, am I ready for this? God, do I have enough for this? God, God, have I studied enough for this? God, am I giving the people what you want me to give them? Or I am or am I just giving them myself? When you begin to have those questions, you're not fearing failure, you're fearing success. I'll say that again. When you're having those questions or of am I enough? It's not a fear of failure, it's a fear of success. A fear of failure will cause you to work dogmatically. A fear of failure will cause you to work like a dog because you don't want to fail. But when you truly have a fear of success, which I believe many people do, we have a fear of we have a fear of success and what that would take out of us, what it will require of us, the discipline it's going to require of us, the change in our habits that it's going to require of us. Many of us have gotten so comfortable in who we are currently that we are not able to truly become who we've called, who we are called to be. And again, that's a fear of success. It's not a fear of failure. And again, I say this out of love because this is this is something that I've I've recently had to understand for myself and ask God for understanding on how to overcome it. How do I overcome this? How do I overcome self-sabotage? How do I overcome not showing up for myself? How do I overcome not being disciplined to myself? It's easy for me to be disciplined for other people. It's if it's easy for me to show up for other things and other people, but when it comes to me, it's hard. Why? Because I have to first break down that barrier that I'm enough. Break down the barrier that I have everything that I need, everything that God created me to be, I am that. Everything that God said that I would be, I'm already that. I don't have to strive for it, I don't have to fight for it, I'm already that. And I want to speak that, I want to speak that to you, whoever you may be that may be listening, where you're saying, you know what, Cam, I can agree with that. I I I've labeled some things as a fear of being a fear of failing, but it's truthfully I'm I'm I'm fearful of being successful in what I believe God has called me to be. And if that's you, first I want to, I want to, I want to just breathe life into you that you're enough. You don't have to be something so much differently than who you are. You simply have to show up and show up in the full measure of who God called you to be. So first understand that you're enough. I'm like I said, this is going to be a little bit more free, a little bit more laxed than what my what I'm used to, what you're used to and what I'm used to. But and in the next episode, we'll kind of get back to hammering faith and getting back into things. But as we just as I just welcome you guys back, as I get back acquainted to doing this on a daily basis, I want to really deal with this. That you are enough. I don't know what has caused you to believe that you're not. I don't know who you've been around that you've started to compare yourself to. I don't know where you've been, where they've they've talked down about you, but I want to strictly push that, that you are enough. What God placed in you is enough, the way that you speak is enough, the way that you show up is enough, the way that you look is enough, the anointing that God placed on you is enough. Everything that you're questioning, you're enough. And why can I say you're enough? It's not because of anything that you're doing, it's not because of anything that you are, but it's simply because I know that the God in you, when you show up and that you show up empty, that the God in you will will make everything that needs to happen happen. We don't have to be perfect, we don't what we don't even have to do things correctly. We simply have to show up and show up in obedience, and he'll

God Did Not Make A Mistake

SPEAKER_00 10:45

do the rest. The second thing that I want to I want to point point out as as I'm talking about you're enough is understanding that when God called you, that he didn't make a mistake. When God said that I'm gonna use you to impact the nation, when God said I'm gonna use you to speak my word, when God said I'm gonna use you to reach my people, when God said I'm gonna use you to heal the sick, to to pick up the dead, when God said that about you, it wasn't a mistake. Whatever you're believing, God said about you, or you're questioning God, did you really say this? It wasn't a mistake. God didn't make a mistake when he said that you were called. God didn't make a mistake when he gave you that business idea. God didn't make a mistake when he said that you were the one that he wanted to do his will in the earth. God did not make a mistake. So come into agreement with the fact that you are enough and God did not make a mistake. You're not you walking in the the fullness of who God called you to be was not a mistake. You're enough, you're not a mistake.

Show Up Where You Run

SPEAKER_00 11:53

And the last thing, and this is this is the most important thing just begin to show up. Show up in the fullness of who God has called you to be. Show up in the fullness of who God has created you to be, not who you know yourself as. Me sitting here before you right now is not me showing up as I know myself. I don't like doing this. Be honest. I don't like doing this. I like doing what God asked me to do, and so from that standpoint I like it. But from the standpoint of my personality, this is not this is not me. However, begin to show up and be consistent in the thing that God called you to do. You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to have everything together, but show up. God is going to blow on many of you. He's gonna blow on the area where you're where you've been running. The area where you've been running away from, the thing that you've been saying, God, did you really do you really want me to do that? God, did you God God is that really where you want me to be? God, is that really how you want me to impact your kingdom? When you come into agreement with what you'd already know God told you to do, and you stop running for from it, that's going to be the area that God begins to blow on your life. That's the area you've been begging for breakthrough, you've been begging for understanding, you've been begging for clarity and insight. This is your clarity and this is your insight. The very thing that you've been running from, the very thing that you've been saying, God, I'm not enough. The very thing that you've been saying, well, God, can I can I sustain it? The very thing that you've been saying, God, God, am I able to keep up with what you have called me to do? That's the area that God's going to blow on in your life. And here's why it's because you understand that it's not you that's doing it. It's because you understand that it is simply God and God alone that is making this happen. Every time you sit down to write the book, every time you, every time you stand up to pray, every time you stand up to preach, every time you reach out to somebody to tell them about the good news of the gospel, every time you do that, you're doing it not in your own power, but simply in the power of God. And because you're doing it in the power of God and not in your own strength, that is the area where you're gonna see the most breakthrough in your life. And it's gonna take you being broken, it's gonna take you being, it's gonna take you being being at his feet, it's gonna take you being bare, it's gonna take you being exposed, it's gonna take you being real enough to the point where you say, God, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know how to do it, I don't know how to make this thing work. But God, I trust that you gave me a that you gave me a word, and because you gave me a word, you'll give me understanding. And when you give me understanding on how to carry it out, God, I'll do it until you tell me to stop. And when you tell me to go, God, I believe that you're gonna blow on it. Not because it's me, not because not because I not because I need something from you, but simply because I'm doing what you asked me to do. I'm the area that you've been running from is the area that God wants to use you in. The area that that the thing that you've been running from is the thing that God wants to use to bless your life. So to wrap this up, if you're like me and you have a fear of being able to live up to what God has called you to be. Understand that you're enough. Understand that God didn't make a mistake, and also understand that the very thing that you're running from is the very thing that God is gonna use to drastically change your life. I know this to be true. Not because of what I'm doing, not because I've made it anywhere. I know this to be true in my heart. I know it to be true in my heart, I know it to be true in my heart, I know that to be true, that God, everything that I've been running from, that's what you're gonna use to propel me. Everything that I've been I've been saying, God, I can't do it. That's what you're gonna use to provide for me. And I want you to believe the same thing. I want you to believe that same thing that everything that I've been running from, everything that I've been second guessing and asking, God, is this really you? That's the area where you're gonna bless me. And that's the reason why I'm so I'm I'm I'm I'm battling so much in that space, is because my flesh doesn't want to experience what God truly has for me. My flesh wants me to be comfortable, but to truly experience what God wants for me, I have to be uncomfortable. I have to live in that place of stretching, I have to live in that place of being poured out, I have to live in that place of being willing to be foolish in order that Christ may live.

Closing And Share The Podcast

SPEAKER_00 17:07

So let's get out of here, man. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for stopping in and listening. If this is your second time, third time, fourth time, hey, share it with somebody. If you enjoyed it, share it with somebody. Again, if you're any if there's anyone out there that's like me, you've been struggling, you've been saying, God, I don't want to do this, surrender and trust that when you fully put yourself out there, that he won't let you fall, he won't let you fail, but he'll be there to catch you. That's all my time, man. I'm Cam. This has been the lifted warrior. God bless you.