Procrastination Is Not A Spiritual Gift

Exhaustion has a sneaky source we don’t like to name: running. Not running from work or deadlines, but running from what God keeps putting in front of us, obedience, responsibility, forgiveness, healing, and the next step in our purpose. I’m Pastor Will, and I’m getting real about how “running from God” can look spiritual on the outside while your heart is dodging surrender on the inside. Procrastination, overthinking, staying busy, making excuses, and waiting for perfect timing can all be quiet ways we resist growth.  

I walk through Jonah as a mirror for our lives, including my own detour in 2020, and why purpose starts to feel like a problem the moment it becomes inconvenient. We talk about control, certainty, and comfort, and why faith usually demands movement before understanding. Then we get into the weight of spiritual exhaustion: when you ignore conviction long enough, peace fades, frustration rises, and distractions multiply. Avoidance drains more energy than obedience, and Psalm 32 captures that stress in a way both Scripture and science can recognize.  

We also name fear for what it is, especially when it masquerades as wisdom, timing, or “being careful.” Second Timothy 1:7 reminds us God gives love, power, and a sound mind, not a spirit of fear. God calls imperfect people and develops us while we walk, so you don’t have to be “fully ready” to start being obedient.  

If this hits home, share it with a friend who’s tired in their soul, subscribe to Soul Fuel Podcast, and leave a review so more people can find these Christ-centered conversations.

Transcript

Why We Feel So Tired

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Some of us are not tired because life is hard. We're tired because we've been running. Running from what, you may ask? Well, I am glad you asked. Running from obedience, running from responsibility, running from killing, running from forgiveness, running from purpose, running from the thing that the Lord keeps putting in front of us. And eventually, you reach a point where your soul gets exhausted trying to avoid what God keeps calling you to. Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

I just want to walk in obedience.

Welcome And Define Running

SPEAKER_01 0:46

What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Soul Fuel Podcast. This is the pit stop for your soul to be fueled for your journey of life as you do it with Christ. Listen, I'm your host, Pastor Will, aka Will. We got to talk about this. We definitely have to talk about this. Um, we're talking about something a lot of believers experience but rarely admit openly, right? Running from what the Lord is calling us to do. Running from what the Lord is calling them to do. Not always in dramatic ways either. It's not just flat out, no, God, I'm not doing that. No, God, I'm not doing it. No, it don't, no, it don't look like that. Sometimes running looks like procrastination. Sometimes running looks like uh a distraction. Running looks like staying busy. Running looks like overthinking. My God, that is a big one. Did you did y'all really know that? Did you did you not know that sometimes running looks like overthinking? Yeah, it looks like overthinking. Running from the Lord also looks like making excuses, constantly starting over, hiding behind insecurity. What else? Waiting for the perfect timing, right? Which there's no such thing. But here's the crazy part about all of that is that you can still go to church, you can still pray, you can still post your holy scriptures, you can post your God-given thoughts, and still be running internally. That is the that that I think that right there is the shocker and the kicker of this entire thing when we talk about running,

Jonah And My 2020 Detour

SPEAKER_01 2:28

right? So, so when I think about running, the first thing I think of is Jonah. And I found myself in Jonah's shoes back in 2020. Um, I kind of drifted off, wasn't really trying to do church no more because I got tired of my dad's church. I got tired of uh the religiosity, I got tired of the formality of dressing up, going to church every Sunday, you know, the just the way the way the pro morning program worked. I was tired of all of that. And so when COVID hit, that was the best time to run to um California. And then after some time there, I spent about eight months there, moved my kids and my moved my wife and my kids there, and then um I just started doing life. And then around the end of 2020, I am just pulled back in. I have my Jonah in the whale moment or my Jonah in the great fish moment. And um I ended up coming back, right? I ended up making it right, ended up coming back. But Jonah didn't just run from Nineveh, he ran from discomfort, responsibility, and people he didn't like. The possibility of God using him beyond his preferences. And so that that's that's I'm not Jonah, and again, I'm not narcissing the text. I'm just saying a lot of us have been in this same situation where you did not want to do what the Lord has called you to because it was too much, uh, it was too much against your preferences.

Purpose Gets Inconvenient

SPEAKER_01 3:52

And a lot of believers don't mind purpose. We don't mind having purpose until purpose becomes completely inconvenient. That right there is a deal breaker. Like, Lord, I want to do what you call me to do. I want to do what you told me to do. I want to I want to do good things, I want to live my life the way that I'm supposed to, but man, is it inconvenience right now? Sometimes, sometimes we say we want God's will, we want his will to be done until it disrupts our comfort level. And and I know I probably talked about a little bit about comfort in the last episode, but still, I it that this is this is a fact. This is not really building on the last episode, but it's it's still a fact. Jonah wanted control more than he wanted obedience, and and that's the that's the case for a lot of us believers. We I've been there many times before where I where I I wanted more control. I wanted to be able to be the captain of my ship, I wanted to be the pilot of my plane more than I wanted to be obedient, more than I wanted to be obedient. And a lot of believers today struggle with that same thing, wanting certainty before obedience. I want to know before I move out. I I gotta have an understanding. I need to map out, I need to know every single step, but that's not faith. That's not faith. Abraham did not need that, and he stepped out on faith and was blessed because of it. And we're blessed because of Abraham's obedience. And then believers today also want clarity before movement. Want clarity before movement, also want comfort before surrender. I want to be comfortable before I fully surrender. I want to make sure that I'm comfortable. But again, faith often requires movement before your understanding. And I know that's gonna sound crazy. That's crazy work to people who don't believe. But if you just stick around, you I mean, you you'll you'll get it. You'll get it. I promise you'll get it. Uh, but it but only if you want it, only if you want to get it. This is where um um you know it gets really personal for me,

Avoidance Creates Spiritual Exhaustion

SPEAKER_01 5:59

right? Running creates spiritual exhaustion because internally you know there's something the Lord keeps pressing on your heart. And this is how I felt about about it when going into ministry, when um starting a podcast, starting, you know, starting another YouTube channel and taking all everything that I was doing on TikTok and and doing the same thing right here on YouTube. Um, but here's here's the thing: when you ignore conviction long enough, peace disappears. That's right. That's exactly right. That's when peace disappears. Frustration is gonna grow, you're gonna feel stagnant, you're you're you're gonna have a crazy anxious need for clarity. Distractions are going to multiply 1000 times, not because God hates you, not because the Lord hates you, but because disobedience creates internal conflict. That's what it does. Psalm 32, verse 3 uh and 4, David describes how holding things in drained, uh holding things in drained him emotionally and physically. And we know that's true. That's science can even science can back this up. That when you hold things in, stress builds up. Stress, uh a lot of stress has a way of creating sicknesses, it has a way of creating disease, it has a way of creating health issues, but avoidance drains more energy than obedience. Isn't that crazy? Like, like, like seriously, avoidance drains more energy than obedience. And a lot of people are tired because they're carrying the weight of resisting growth. A lot of people don't want to grow. Could I say it like this? Can I just kind of put this in there? I think this this makes sense to me is that a lot of people stay in the hood because they don't want to grow. They're comfortable, they don't want anything to challenge their current income and the income that they get that they don't want the government to know about, but they want to continue to live that way because it allows them to stretch an image and flex and be something that they're really not when they can be better, when they can get a job, report whatever it is, pay, pay, because there's there is there is something about working hard for something and being able to pay for it and feel good about it. And and that's just on a natural sense. But I I I bring that to you so that you can understand how um you know how people grow tired because they're carrying the weight of resisting growth. And I take that example to put it towards internal, uh, the internalization or the internal part of the the the the believer, right? It it's it's so important. This is this is something that we really, really have to

When Fear Masquerades As Wisdom

SPEAKER_01 9:09

understand. Many times we call fear waiting on God. Many times we call uh fear being wise. We call it timing. We we we we we we call fear needing confirmation. Now, wisdom matters. Patience matters, but sometimes what we call wisdom is actually fear protecting comfort. It's fear protecting comfort. There's fear of failure, fear that I won't do it right, fear that I I it just won't be enough, fear that I can't, fear that I I can't, fear of criticism, fear that they're gonna talk about me, fear, fear, fear of not, not, not uh, of they're gonna say that I'm this, they're gonna say that I'm that, they're gonna say I'm stupid, they're gonna say that I'm dumb, they're gonna say I don't know. I I I can I tell you that was one of my fears in starting and even like uh starting to preach online. I was it was easy for me to preach at my dad's church, it was easy for me to preach in person in different places, but just online, I felt like I was just vulnerable and open to everybody's criticism, but it doesn't matter. But fear, also fear of not being enough. That was a part of my fear, my my a part of the criticism that they're gonna say I'm not enough and I'm gonna fail because of that. All of these things that I'm naming are they all they all go with each other, right? Fear of losing people. That comes a part of living life for Jesus. You're gonna lose people, you're gonna lose family, right? Fear of stepping into something bigger. These things create these are this is like somewhat of a stair step, and they could be in different orders, but it's a stair step of how fear gets you to step into it gets you to step into um being dead. When I say dead, dead spiritually. No motion, no motion spiritually. Because even in the even as we talked about in the last episode of dry seasons, there's still growth that's happening. It just doesn't look fruitful. But it's not about what it looks like, it's about what it actually is, right? And so people uh allow fear of failure, criticism, not being enough, losing people, stepping into something bigger, when in fact what they step into is what is bigger that they step into is a deeper hole of no growth. Seems like there becomes that instead of allowing the word of God to grow deep or be the depth in your uh in your life or the be the depth in your heart and your soul for the word to be rooted and have roots, instead you jump into that hole, that dark hole, and you become rooted in being oppressed. You become rooted in suppression, you become rooted in anxiety and all of those negative things because you have believed the lies, you have believed the fear. When 2 Timothy chapter 1 says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind.

Stop Negotiating With Fear

SPEAKER_01 12:26

All right, so you can't fully walk in purpose while constantly negotiating with fear. Stop negotiating with fear, stop it. Stop negotiating with fear. Fear is nothing to negotiate with, fear is not somebody to negotiate with. I had a cousin one time, we were sitting in the car, and I believe I was a minister at the time, and I believe uh he was getting ready to take me home or something, and we was in his car, and and the Holy Spirit just really gave me what to say to him. And uh I was like, man, why are you not saved, man? He's much older than well, not much older than he was probably like four or five, maybe five years older than me. And I asked him, I said, Man, why why why won't you be saved? And then um, before he could even answer, I said, see, I know what it is. I know what it is. Said, see, you want to be fully ready before, you want to be fully put together before. And then he started laughing, he started smiling. He was like, Yeah, you're right, you're right. I said, I know, man, but there's never a time for you to actually be ready. Just give it up, right? And and you know, he didn't do it that night, but eventually he did, and he's he's in Christ right now. Um, so glory be to God. But uh again, that is a major thing that a lot of people that holds a lot of people back, and that's and that's a salvation, uh, that was his salvation issue or or his his mode of why he didn't come to Christ. But this this is also uh uh true to people who feel like they're imperfect. We're all imperfect, we will always be imperfect until we're caught up uh to meet him in the air, until we're no longer in this life, right? We're we're we're we're uh the race is not given to the swift, neither to the strong, but to them that endure to the end. So it's all about enduring to the end. Imperfection has nothing to do with sin, but we know that we're imperfect because it is sin that lives in us, it is sin that still uh lies dormant in the believer, which gives us the possibility to sin. It gives us the appetite of it uh here and there, whenever it will rise. But but but that's why Paul says, Therefore I say walk by the spirit so that you do not fulfill, so that you do not carry out the evil desires of the flesh, right? So, you know, with obedience, yeah, it sometimes it can come off as a struggle. Sometimes it can be something that seems tough to do, but it's not hard, right? Uh I always make that difference because we serve a we serve a God that there is nothing too hard for. So if there's nothing too hard for him and greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, then that means I can overcome, I can get over the situations and the challenges that I face.

God Calls The Unqualified

SPEAKER_01 15:10

But scripture constantly shows God calling people who felt unqualified. Uh again, I and I did this in the last episode, but I want to show you that Moses stuttered, right? Gideon was fearful, uh, Jeremiah felt too young, Peter was impulsive. And these are things that are not necessarily sin that can be sinful, right? Um, but um he the Lord doesn't wait for perfection to call people, uh, but he gets you there. He he calls the unqualified, right? Um, because he he he those are the people the the most flawed people are the people that have the uh ability to be successful in what in what he wants and and the statutes and the way that he called you to walk. This is the reason why scripture says the last shall be first and the first shall be last, because there's a lot of people that just think that, oh, they they name written in the land book of life, but they have the the they are the biggest fakers, the biggest uh uh uh stunners. They're the biggest uh uh uh uh fakest of the fake. That's all I can say, right? Uh, but the Lord, you know, his calling is not proof that you're perfect. It's not. I want you to know that his calling is not proof that you're perfect, it's proof that the Lord is willing to work through surrendered people. And when you surrender to him, that's when he cleanses, that's when he cleans you, that's when he fixes you up, that's when he makes he starts to transform you into who you are to become, as we are all supposed to be transformed into the image of his son, right? So this is this is uh this is where I I gotta encourage you. I hope you've been encouraged so far, but um, you know, those of you that feel behind, those of you that feel unprepared, you feel disqualified, you feel spiritually inconsistent, I want you to know that the Most High God develops people while they walk. I'm I'm one of them. I'm one of them, right? He develops people while they walk, he's developing you while you walk.

What Changes When You Obey

SPEAKER_01 17:11

But here's what happens when you stop running. Here's what happens when you stop running. When Jonah finally obeyed, direction returned. He fell back into purpose, even though he knew what his purpose was, he fell back into it. Purpose became clearer. It became clear, super crystal clear, right? And impact happened. Obedience doesn't make life easy. Oh, that that's that's a loaded. That's that's a loaded statement. Obedience doesn't make life easy, but it aligns you with the Lord instead of fighting internally against him. All right. So let me tell you this: stop waiting to feel fearless because you'll never feel it because that's not where your mind is. Your mind is not set where it's supposed to be. Your mind is not set on the word. You're waiting to feel something that you have the power to make the decision to change. Stop delaying healing, stop avoiding the hard conversations. You have to approach it, you have to be brave. You have come on, you gotta do that. You can do this. You can stop running from what the Lord keeps placing before you. The safest place spiritually is not comfort, it's obedience. That's what I want to tell you. That's what I want to tell you. That's what I want to tell you. If this episode hits home, don't condemn yourself. Don't condemn yourself. God is patient with people, He's patient with you, He's been patient with me. But eventually, you gotta decide. You, you, you, you gotta decide. Will you keep running or will you surrender? And I'm praying that you surrender. But it's up to you because purpose will continue pressing on your life until you either obey or permanently harden your heart against it. And trust me, obedience will stretch you, but running will indeed exhaust you. Listen, this has been another episode of the Soul Fuel Podcast, the pit stop for your soul to be fueled for your journey in life

Reviews, Patreon, Final Charge

SPEAKER_01 19:18

as you do it with Christ. If this episode again has blessed you, make sure you leave a review, like, share it, and subscribe to the Soul Fuel Podcast on YouTube and other platforms where you are listening to this pod. All right. And if you want to support the podcast and help us continue creating Christ-centered conversations, become a part of the Pit Crew over on Patreon. Patreon.com forward slash the soul fuel. That's the with two E's. All one word, the Soul Fuel. Until next time, stop running, stay obedient, and keep your soul fueled on the journey as you do it in Christ. All right. I probably butchered that, but it's okay. I'm leaving it in, I'm not editing it. I'll see y'all in the next one.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

I just want to walk in obedience.