A Royal Priesthood In Everyday Life

A season of physical limitation becomes a classroom for prayer and listening, where unexpected dreams get loud and 1 Peter 2:9–10 lands with fresh weight: chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, God’s special possession. Identity is not an accessory; it’s the operating system.

We explore the priestly pattern in everyday life: standing in God’s presence while standing with people, ready to pray simple prayers, offer honest encouragement, and speak when the door opens. The focus isn’t self-display; it’s attentive availability. Jesus sets the pace—unhurried, interruptible, and confident that life flows outward. Hurry shrinks our vision and fuels anxiety; belonging quiets the soul and widens the field of love. That calm doesn’t make us passive. It frees agency. We stop obsessing over doing the right thing and begin doing the next faithful thing with God.

Hearing God isn’t an elite skill but a lifelong apprenticeship anyone can grow in through humility and attention. As hope rises, influence follows. We’re not of the world, so we don’t mirror its despair. We carry a steady, joyful witness: tell what He’s done, proclaim His excellencies, and expect Him to show up in mundane spaces.

If this conversation strengthens your heart, share it with a friend who needs courage today. Subscribe for more weekly reflections on hearing God, and leave a review to help others find their way to a calmer, bolder life with Him.

Transcript

Welcome And Holiday Update

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Hearing God Podcast. I'm Anthony Moore. And I'm Dan Lamus. For over a decade, Anthony and I have been diving deep into weekly conversations about the prophetic, the mystical, and the matters of the heart.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

And we invite you into these weekly conversations. We hope you feel like an honored guest at our table.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

So pull up a chair, settle in, and let's get started. Well, here we are. Here we are, Anthony. We are here. Yes, we are. Oh, that all of a sudden, uh yeah. When I say here we are, it's one thing, but when I say we are here, I think of Horton here's a who. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Doctor Seuss. Okay. It's a little bit we are here. It's a little bit we are here. It's a little bit of a season for a doctor. Yeah, I just Horton here's a who. Oh yeah, we are we are here saying all the words. Um, how's it going, Dan?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

It's going well. Yeah, it's going well, you know, coming near to Christmas time, which is awesome. Like next month, believe it or not, it's coming on like a freight train. Yeah. And uh, yeah, so it's fun stuff. And yeah, God is always so good and faithful, and yeah, just uh yeah, grateful.

Surgery, Waiting, And Trusting God

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Yeah, it's uh it's coming along here. We're getting getting getting close to the Christmas season here. Um just uh in case you missed it the last time. This is our last episode until the new year. We are taking a little bit of a break. Yeah. Uh Dan's got some things he's gotta take care of. Uh surgically speaking, but that's uh I was looking looking.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

What should I do on my break? What should you do? Yes, go have surgery. It's uh yeah, so it's uh it has to do with uh some joint surgery, some hip, it's my hip joint replacement, just in case people get concerned, it's not uh internal organ or something. Uh it it's more just structural and just gonna help me be more mobile. He's gonna come back after my grandkids.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

As the bionic man. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

We're hearing sound effects in our head moving for anybody who can remember the actual sound effects. You will, we know how old you are. Yeah, there you go. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Uh that's good. So you'll be a little bit more terminator than than you are right now. That's right. Even more. Even more. That's funny. Even more robot. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Well, that's that's uh Yeah, so I'm excited about that. That's gonna be a good thing. A couple years in waiting, and you know, as I think I've mentioned before, probably it's it's it's been it has been quite a journey in prayer of walking, like trying to understand in the mix of a couple years of not being as mobile as I like to be and doing some hobbling around. Um, just the lots of lots of conversation with God about healing, how his healing works, trusting him. Yeah, uh, you know, uh just l learning to carry the what is it, the the easy yoke and the light burden in the middle of it. Yep. Like not like if the healing isn't coming the way I want it to, not fretting about it. Right, not fretting about it and taking it on as well, I guess God isn't gonna do anything about this, but actually looking for what he's doing in the middle of it, all of that journey. Yep. And so it's it's been been quite a thing. So yeah, this is uh I'm thanking God for the opportunity and yeah, yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be a real helpful thing in my life. Good, good.

Launch Reflections And Listener Feedback

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Yeah, yeah. So uh so yeah, obviously we'll just I I don't we don't have a specific date, but my guess is will be January. Sometime we'll we'll sit back down and I'm sure we'll have plenty of things all the way into next year. All the way into next year. I'm sure we'll have plenty of things to talk about. 2026, do you believe? Just kind of time keeps ticking. Yep, it just keeps moving.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

But this has been so fun. Yeah, it has been really fun. Getting this podcast launched, and this is episode number 20, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

It's episode number 20.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

So there's something kind of neat about that, tied up in a bow. And uh, but it's really been fun, and it's it's been fun to uh hear from people saying, Yeah, I listened to the latest episode, then I went back and I wanted to start from the beginning, and I've just been listening through them all. I'm like, wow, okay, that's pretty cool. That is amazing.

Hearing God Requires Attention

SPEAKER_02 4:54

So yeah, and I mean, I mean, obviously, we didn't do this to hear the sound of our own voice. We were already doing we were already doing that. Yes, but we just really felt like this was an opportunity and a window that we could be really encouraging to whoever might be listening, just talk about some more, you know, mystical things. And I know we've talked a lot about that, and we will continue to talk a lot about that. Um, and just even digging into the word and finding out what it says, yeah. You know, what God has to say about things. So yeah, yeah.

Dreams As A Way God Speaks

SPEAKER_00 5:29

You know, it's been really fun is to hear hear people repeatedly say, you know, wow, I had to, it was really deep. I had to go back and listen through it again. And I'm like, well, I'm really glad that people are being provoked and challenged that hearing from God is is possible for them, and it takes their involvement in being able to receive, you know, and that it's that it actually is it requires attention, yeah, and it's work that is well worth it. It's really fun for people like to say that hearing from God is not an off-handed thing that God is just going to take care of making sure I hear whatever I need to hear. Right. It's I I want to hear from God, and if I apply myself to listening well, He's gonna meet me. Yeah, it's like, yeah, that is a deep thing, and it is worth it's worth pursuit. Yeah, absolutely. It's worth it's worth seeking out. It's royalty, it's the blessing of being royalty in Jesus' name. Absolutely search out of matter, you know.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Yeah, and I find that you know it it really is there are there's a I don't know, I don't know if this is the right way to say it, but there certainly are it seems like there are degrees to hearing from God, right? There is like there is setting your heart and your intentions to hearing from God, and then actually leaving it, you know, leaving it up to God to determine how he speaks to you. Yeah, yes, right. The I there's a yeah, you know, I would say this fall I've had a series of dreams uh that have been sort of notably loud, right? If that makes sense. They haven't been, you know what I'm saying? They're they've just been very prominent in my processing this fall, which I you know, in hindsight, they've spoken to the season that that I'm in and and you know, and and I'm currently walking through. But it is one of the ways that God speaks. God speaks in dreams, and it's a little bit unusual because um I would say that it's I don't know if God has dominantly spoken to me through dreams historically, but it seems as though that's the way it's been this season. And I think that's really interesting. And that is I'm not saying, well, I I should also qualify that to say that he may have been speaking to me dominantly through dreams. I may not have been paying attention in past seasons, but uh that's just something interesting. And other times it will be through maybe a specific word or you know, uh something scriptural where I'm pulling out, you know, and and I'm doing all of those other things anyway. But it feels like, you know, the really things that are really hitting my heart are coming, you know, through are sort of intriguing me or piquing my interest or grab grabbing hold of my attention. Maybe that's a better way to say that, are really in some of the dreams that I've been having. So that's been been quite a fun. Well, I wouldn't say it's fun, but quite a curious thing for sure. Yeah, yeah. I mean fun. It is cool, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So so a kingdom and priests. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

A People Belonging To God

Royal Priesthood And Everyday Ministry

SPEAKER_00 9:06

What do you just uh Yeah, that's yeah. So um you and I were chatting a little bit earlier about this, but a few days ago, I was uh, as often happens to me, and probably maybe for you too, Anthony, and people who are listening, uh, I often find that uh not only dreams you know in the night, but times when I'll wake up and I'll be awake for a few minutes or maybe longer sometimes, and I find myself fretting over things, and then it feels like the only way I can sort of describe it is somewhere from the back, the back part of my consciousness, there seems to be a thought that arises. And I begin to I began to realize that's the spirit of God highlighting something to me. And a phrase just kind of kept repeating in the in the back of my mind, and it was a people belonging to God, people who belong to God. And uh and I thought, wow, God, what is it, what is it that you're that you're saying there? And so turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 to 10. I'll just read this, and this is talking about us as sons and daughters of God, but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. Yeah, so this is the NIV. Other versions would say uh a people belonging to God or a special possession of God, but God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you have had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And so the last couple of days, as I have kind of revisited that, thought about it, and just tried to be with God in the midst of that scripture. Yeah, I've been feeling this poll that there is an invitation to the church right now, to the people of God, to remember that this is their identity, that this is the identity God has called them into, that we belong to God. Right. Um so, in other words, perceiving ourselves as those who belong to God. Yes. And you know, I mean, even in Peter saying you are people that had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy, of becoming persuaded in our hearts that that it is fully settled, that that we belong to God. He has got our backs, uh, he's our father, we're part of his household, and that is something that we that he's calling us to carry into our everyday lives. Right. What's the what's the mark of the people of God? Well, they know we know we belong to God and his his glory is actually like shining through us that we feel secure as his children, right? And that we don't fret over things, all those dynamics.

Influence Over Isolation

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Right, yeah, yeah. And I think I think for me, the first thing I go through is like what like what is the what is the priesthood, right? It was and again, I'm not gonna try to be all encompassing here, but like the the priesthood, at least from a biblical perspective, was the one who ministered in the presence of the Lord, one who ministered to the Lord, but was also like this I know the the nerdy word is like this nexus or this uh this intermediary, right? This is this person who who touched both God and man, right? Who was in like living in the presence of God, but also uh their feet were planted on the earth, right? This this that's that meeting point between God and humanity, right? That I that I think is really interesting to me because this was the as modeled and right from from where I like so from we can see a little bit in how you know you and I, based on this scripture verse, you and I should be operating, living and moving and having our being, right? Yeah, like that we should be living and moving uh in this world by even reading some of the like how Israel perceived the priesthood. Right, right. And so that's the thing that that jumps out of me, and I sort of and I've sort of taken I've sort of taken you know this this reality like that you and I are these walking uh meeting points between God and man. Yes, right, right again. We talked we've talked, we've talked about, you know, sort of ad nauseum a little bit about you know how you and I are you know, and everyone who is in Christ is carrying the presence of God with them. And so just that that really, you know, and we don't need to go back and rehash that, but it's just a a reminder that this is not a um that this is a a reality that we're living in. This is just real, that wherever you and I go, this reality sort of follows around, follows around with us. Yeah, like embodying we are the embodiment of the of the of the priesthood. Right, right. So there is like people can come to us and they say, I have this need, and we can say, Well, well, that's awesome. Let's pray, right? And then we can, you know, go before the Lord and we can actually carry, and God will speak to us and He will speak through us. Right. And we when we also like by not just by sort of uh ministry to others, but actually have carry a responsibility of that our lives are an act of worship, that we are we have a lifestyle of worship, that yeah, you know, we everything that we have belongs to the Lord. And you know, we we are you know worship him with our words, with our lives, you know, that that those kinds of things, those kinds of themes rise up when I think that you know, Peter's saying, like, but wait, you're you're not like the others, you're a chosen people, like a holy nation, right? You're a royal priesthood, right?

Set Apart Yet Sent Into The World

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yeah. It this is kind of crass, and yet it kind of captures it for me that that being being a the royal priesthood, a people belonging to God, like that's the mark on our life that we belong to God. Um it's it's it's a lot more than just a protective force field to keep us safe in the world. Yes. Like it's it's much more than that. Of course, he watches over us and he defends us and he guards us. And yes, we're so grateful that we that he does watch over us and protect us. But that isn't the whole picture. Like he actually wants us to influence the culture wherever we go. Like that we're on a mission with him. Like God's God's calling, it is a call, there you go. It's a calling to actually have the same the same influence that Jesus had in his ministry when he was here amongst us living uh as a human being, as a single individual, you know, he had a certain influence. Like often people will recognize the fact that Jesus didn't avoid like the undesirables because they might rub off on him. Like if someone had a disease, like for instance, physically uh he would he would not shy away from even coming and putting an arm around a person with leprosy before he healed them because he wasn't afraid of it. If I touch sick a sick body, he he came in. No, a sick body's gonna be healed as as I come in contact with them because he was living as that royal priesthood. He was living as that living temple, he was modeling that, yeah, that's true. Yep. And so the call on our lives is that, and you know, I mean, to be honest, there's a lot of pressures from the world and darkness to try to push us back from that and intimidate us. Um, but I believe there's a there's a desire on God's heart to attract the world to him through the church who we are a people, we're persuaded that we belong to God. Like we're not the I find that oftentimes the the stronghold or the big the hang up in me is when I began doubting that I am actually like good enough. Am I right like yeah, and I think that right.

From Unhurried Jesus To Unhurried Life

SPEAKER_02 18:38

So it's that it's that like that maybe we could say it's that holy nation part, right? That you are set apart, right? You are that God has called you out of you know darkness, right? It's almost like you know, out of darkness into his glorious or marvelous light, right? So, so it's really coming to grips with that fact that I no longer am a citizen of darkness, but I belong to Jesus, right? And the enemy certainly works seemingly over time in trying to convince people that they still live in darkness, right? And right, as they as and I would say you certainly as you and I believe, maybe not consciously, you know, I think, but maybe we believe in our heart that we certainly live in darkness. We would certainly conduct ourselves as though, you know, as orphans and people, you know, doing dead dead people things, right? Like so sinful things or whatever, living not like sons and daughters, those, those kinds of things. Yeah. Uh but but I would say that that's that's a certainly an area of contention is actually coming to grips with that fact. I know I I know I've wrestled with this at times over. I wouldn't have necessarily put those kinds of words around it, but I've certainly that that conflict has been over my life, has been there at times. I've just said I have not felt worthy to be in the the holy nation that God has called me out of darkness into, even though over the course of my life that since I've been surrendered my life to Jesus, I've been in that holy nation. Yeah, so to speak. Yeah, that's right. Right. And so I think that is a that's certainly a point of contention and an area of where there's a lot of you know truth and lies going back and forth, right? Where we just sort of it's been an area of of warfare over hearts and minds to say, well, am I, you know, how do I feel about being, you know, one of God's people, right? Am I worthy? Well, well, I don't get to say, you know, again, this is the reality. I don't get to say whether or not I'm worthy. I just get to say whether or not uh I believe. Yeah. Right. And so worthiness has nothing to do with it. Qualification has nothing to do with it. You know, obviously we know that through through Christ and the cross. Oh man. But but it's it really is a do I, it's really a question, do I believe? Yeah. It's really comes down to do I believe this is true? And the more that I believe this is true, the more that this set apartness, this holy nation, quote unquote, um reality becomes real in my life. Yeah. So I would just say, like that's for sure, you know, one of those places that that I I know people, you know, that is it, it is a bit of an active battleground for a lot of people. And and you know, it it's not like I've arrived. It certainly is there, you know, at times, you know, and and maybe going forward, right? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Well, here's so here's here's what what happens uh for me as I process this out. When I was when I was more like when I was immature in my in my life with Jesus, uh I felt like my agenda and God's agenda for me was to make it through this life unscathed and get to go to heaven after I die. When over the past couple of decades I've been discovering much more of the the concept and the reality that I am I am here on mission to see how much I can participate in bringing the kingdom in my in my earthly lifetime. Like my earthly lifetime will end at some point. Yeah. And my the the I'm leaning far more these days, and I haven't arrived, I'm leaning far more in into these days. Being a a person who belongs to God, part of a community that belongs to God, I'm realizing that if if God didn't didn't need me here on a mission, yeah, I wouldn't like I wouldn't be here. Like the fact that I'm here in this earthly life is because God has something He wants to do through me, yeah, and I'm leaning into how much of the how much of the kingdom can I bring on earth as it is in heaven in my lifetime.

SPEAKER_02 23:31

Right.

Identity With Assignment: Proclaim His Excellencies

SPEAKER_00 23:31

And that that to me feels like maturity. I feel like the more we grow in hearing God's voice, partnering with him in mission, because that is a big part of why we hear God is to be partnered with him in his mission in the world. Yes, you know, which is my his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And wow, I just think I think the times we're living in, there's generally a call over the church to awaken to this. Like of all people on the planet, we need to be hopeful and optimistic and look for what are the redemptive things that God is doing in the world and work with Him in that. Are we going to see in the world people attracted to God's kingdom because the church is full of joy over the fact that we belong to God? And we're actually optimistic and we're not we're not throwing up our hands and saying it's hopeless.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yeah. I agree, I agree. And I think there's this, there's a little bit of settledness that comes. I I don't know about you, but over me, when I when I sort of like my heart starts to begin to rest in this reality, it starts to settle me down a little bit, where it becomes less, less frantic, less, you know, just just realizing that, and and I think it comes from trusting that the Lord is going to do his work through me as I, you know, as my sort of surrender meter goes up. It's not just that, you know, it he's just gonna, he's going to do his work through me as I am, as I become, as I am and become the me that he created me to be. Yeah. I love it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Like you not being of the world, because Jesus already prayed over you and me and all of his followers. Yeah, they're not they're not of the world any more than I am, Father. Right. We talked about it last episode. Yeah. So they they are in this world, sure enough, but they are not of the world, right? Any more than I was. Right. Okay. My being not of the world doesn't mean I need to escape it. Yeah. It means the world should change, the world should be different as a result of my presence there in Jesus, yeah, in the power of the Holy Spirit, gifts of the Spirit, prophesying, you know, praying for praying for those who need to be delivered or healed and seeing God move. Like my not being of the world should be good news for the world. Like it's not of the world. So I'm hiding out in my cave. Yeah. It's I'm leaning back from my iPhone. I probably sounded like I was back in the cave. Yeah, yeah. Here I am at the entrance of the cave again. But but but my not being of the world, that's a great expression, but that shouldn't cause me to hide away. It should actually say the my influence in the world. Yeah, that ought to be real and something I'm pursuing with God. Yeah. Like so.

Fear, Agency, And Small Risks Of Obedience

Stop Proving Worth; God Is Here To Help

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's it's a little bit of a it's it frees me in in my mind and my heart. It frees me up to just to settle down a little bit, like not to be frantic about so many things, about even about necessarily uh I don't know if this is gonna come out the right way, but even about like doing the right thing, right? Like even like or yeah, like even just it's like it's like I can obviously it matters, you know, that that I would say this, but I think it's there's but but right the thing that happens, right? But the thing that happens in my heart about being nervous or nervous about doing the right thing, that's the that's a bit of a problem area. I should just be like, yes, just be settled, just be you, just you know, it's like the gods wired people uniquely and individually, and they just they're there, you know. You are you are there to hit the world like you, like to be in the world like you. So if something matters to you, that's not that's not by accident, right? It's so it's really, you know, if there's injustice or if there's something dysfunctional or broken in the world and it matters to you, go and tackle that hot head on, but do it, you know, as as best you can as you surrender to the Lord, right? Rather than um maybe even because there's a certain if we get too overcome or too nervous about always always doing the right thing, right? Jesus wasn't nervous about doing the right thing, right? He just he just lived in the world in response to the father, right? In perfect union with and in response to the father. Yeah, uh there's so so that is our sort of model to how we engage with the world. We are you know also here doing the same thing. We're we're growing in union with the father, and we're living our lives in in response to what he's doing. And so that that's gotta free, that's gotta, that's gotta bear fruit in the franticness of like oh maybe overthinking or being you know afraid of screwing up or whatever, whatever it is, or or making mistakes all the time that that probably pulls us out of out of the game as opposes to making us motivated to be in the game and taking and taking risks of you know hearing God or doing things that we we feel like he's called us to do. And so I just I think that that's it's the thing that that happens in the heart as we process what it means to be a believer. So I just I just think that that that's it that's an important reality. It's just like so being his possession, being, you know, people have his people for his own possession or peep being uh a people that are set apart should the fruit of that should settle us down. As opposed to work us up.

Grace Over Track Records

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Yeah, you're right. That wow, that and man, that is a un that is an underappreciated dynamic to being a follower of Jesus right there is frantic hurry, yes, uh fretting, getting through moments, getting stuff, and as opposed to knowing and believing, embracing the fact that wherever I am, I'm them, I'm there on purpose, on a mission. The kingdom of God is present with me and in me, and God wants through me. Yeah. Uh it reminds me of uh those uh those scenes in in the gospels when Jesus is on the way to praying for somebody, yeah, and then he'll run into somebody else in the crowd. Right. And he's gonna stop and take time to interact with them and heal heal the person in the crowd. In the meantime, that's holding him up from getting to the home he's going to to pray for this other person. Absolutely. And you're even as you read the account, you're like, come on, Jesus, we gotta get going here because this person is waiting for you over here. But he was unhurried about that. Um classic is in, I think it's Mark chapter five, where Jesus is actually on the way to heal, to heal uh, to heal a, I think it's a servant in in uh in someone's house. I had probably have to pull out the scripture out, but people can look it up anyway. Mark five. But the woman in the crowd pushes her way through and touches Jesus' garment, his cloak, the hem of it, and he's she's healed. Well, Jesus could have kept moving on and just left that for what it was, but he realized someone had touched him in and been healed. Yeah, so he stopped the whole crowd and has this conversation with her.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Yeah.

Keep Growing In Hearing God

SPEAKER_00 32:05

And he wants to take time for that because he wasn't hurried and frantic. Yes. Um, and that that is an underappreciated dynamic of our lives. Like I think it's it's fair to say that the enemy can use that frantic, stressed, you know, oh my soul, I'm not gonna get everything done today. Can really use that to discourage us and to limit what God wants to do in our lives. And that settling in. Um, and I just kind of want to go back here. I feel like I feel like in real time, to be honest with you, I feel like this is something in my own life and probably in others that God is working on is um that today matters, the moment I'm in matters for his kingdom. Yes. Um and it matters for his reasons, like it it matters uh because he's wanting to reach people around us with healing and with the light of his his presence and with the tr the truth of the gospel, right? And so this moment matters, um, and being able to embrace that is is huge for what he's doing in our time. Um and I don't know, I just uh well I just like yeah, yeah.

Made To Reign And Carry Hope

Prayer For Freedom And Rest

SPEAKER_02 33:30

I I guess I think the thing that I just one of the other things I wanted to mention was there's you know, it it hints at a little bit a little bit in this first Peter uh scripture verse. So it's like you're a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, a people of his own possession. So it's and so that's all true. And then it goes on to say that that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. It's there's there's an introduction here of like there's actually assignment, right? There's actually agency, right? And I th and I know that I think it's worth just uh touching on again that you are you're not just here to exist, right? But there is you know, the assignment is in however way that is it isn't necessarily elbowing your way into a situation, right? It is actually allowing the Lord to create, you know, openings for you uh to come into a situation and declare the goodness of God, right? Right, or give testimony to say, here's what God has done in my life, right? It is there is agency. That's the word that keeps coming up in my head when I describe what this is. In if if you and I are um, you know, there's a door that opens for for us to be in a specific situation that as we're there, you know, the overarching theme of why we are there is to, you know, through the course of whatever happens there, to begin to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into a marvelous light. Right. So we are there to do something. We aren't there to just passively be there, you know. You know, there is that identity piece of you know that we've that we've been talking about, but there is also a function of what it is that we are to do when we're in any given situation, whether that's necessarily at work or whether it's you know in a conversation somewhere else, maybe in a coffee shop or yeah, doing life, bumping into people and you know, all the things that come from from just living and existing in the world, right? That we are there to talk about what God has done, right? And declare his goodness and to, you know, to pray for and minister to people, right? And it's not necessarily a it's not necessarily a forceful thing, right? But it is, you know, again, like that's that's how we do this is really a question. It's really an individual question about you each person knows their own heart and whether they're operating in fear or obedience or you know, or or would I say fear or love, right? So yeah, you know, you know whether you're in your own heart, whether you're stepping into fully a situation or withdrawing from a situation in your own heart, maybe just afraid of what might happen. But this is, and again, like this is this is this is my journey. Yeah, yeah. Then this is the individual journey sort of before the Lord. Yeah. But again, like so. I've had, you know, I have situations where I feel like, okay, this is a situation where I feel like the Lord would have me just share out of my own heart, share about Him, you know, again, you know, pray for and minister to someone, or I may pull back from that because of some of some fear that I'm wrestling through, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:12

So, but that's that's the I feel like you're uncovering something here. Okay. And so I'm gonna interrupt you a little bit. Yeah, do it. It's the difference between I'm here to prove my worth to God, or I'm here to to share that God is here to help.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Yeah, absolutely. To me, those are two very different things.

Closing And Share Request

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Yeah, like if I'm wherever I go, God wants to the kingdom to break in there. Yes. Okay, my being present to that, am I consumed? Am I consumed with the idea that I'm here to prove my worth to God? Yes, to measure up, to perform that one, and I think that God was okay with me the way I did that. Is that my focus, or is my focus I'm there because God's there to help? Like I'm there as an ambassador to let this person know in whatever way, yeah, yeah, God is here to help. Yeah, yeah, and He's done this for me, he can do this for you. Absolutely. And as you were talking, I was just feeling like because I know our journey and what's happening in the life of King's Church, more and more people are waking up to the fact that God's so over whether or not we're measuring up. Yes, he really wants people to know I'm here to help. Yes, like he's just not he's not putting us in places to see if we will measure up.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

And I think he proves we're we're coming. I I would say that we're coming to understand that more and more. Yes, he's he's sort of always been over it, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:54

Oh, yeah, right, exactly. And in this thing of proving our worth to God, yeah, like I know God wants me to be a good witness, so I'm gonna prove to him I was a good choice. Like, no, he's but that that shift is such a subtle thing, and it could really help somebody listening today. God is inviting you to lay down that pressure of you needing to prove your worth to him. Yeah, like yeah, what's at stake is not that, like he is convinced of your worth in Christ Jesus. If you if you've embraced the gospel, you are you have you are hidden you know in Christ with God. That is settled. Yeah, even before you were born, God settled that. Like you just need you have embraced the gospel. He's got you in these situations and in these places today to communicate the message. God is here to help. Yes, and you're proof of it. Like, yes, like he, you know, absolutely as a deposit from him, yeah. Saying to wherever you are, the moment matters because God is here to help and he wants people around you to experience that. Yeah, it's so I just want to put it put that out there. That may be something a person maybe even wants to just repent of that. Yeah, Lord Jesus, I repent of making this about proving my worth to you. Yes. And I want to be a messenger that says God's here to help. Yeah, that's why he sent me. Like I'm here. Absolutely, you know.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

Yeah, absolutely. And I think I think I what I just to tag on to that is that it actually doesn't matter, you know, like our track record doesn't matter like we think it matters. Yes, that's right. Right. It it well said. It there is there is sort of implications there, but it's like you could be walking through a season where you feel like I failed 10 times in a row, but the 11th time is another opportunity for you to step into a situation and just say, Yes, God's here, God here, God is here to help. Right. And so like the the previous 10 times that you may have just you know held your tongue or feel like you've you know made a mistake or screwed up or whatever, didn't do what God wanted you to do, right, doesn't disqualify you, doesn't disqualify you from the 11th time, right? Right. It's every opportunity that God's giving you these opportunities, not only so that he can, not only so I mean ultimately so that he can do his work through you, but he's teaching you. He's he's walking this through, you know, he's walking with you through life, right? Yes, and even if it isn't 10 times, maybe it's a hundred time and the hundred and first time, he's faithful to keep giving you these opportunities to work through you, yes, so that he can teach you that it isn't about your track record of necessarily being obedient to me, it's about my faithfulness, right? Right. And so just let that encourage you, right? So that if like whoever's hearing my voice, you know, if you've been walking through a season where it feels like maybe you're being uh operating more out of a spirit of fear, maybe you've been fearful in certain situations and you felt guilty about that. Well, the good news is God's grace and his mercy are all sufficient. Right. Uh and I need to hear that at times, right? That there are there are that God's grace and mercy, his kindness is for you, and that he's also not done with you. And if that's true, then he will keep giving you opportunities and he will keep loving you unconditionally. And his grace, his power, right, his power working in you and through you will keep working in and through you all the days of your life, regardless of your track record. Not be because it's not about what we can or cannot do or have or have not done. It's about his faithfulness, his power, his mercy, his kindness, his love, his uh his all, it's you know, it's about who he is in us and through us rather than rather than our track record. Right. Right. So I think that's a really important, you know, that's a really, really important thing that we have a reality that we that we have to come to grips with. Yeah. And the more we and the more we do, it frees us up.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's funny as we're chatting here, uh, because so much of what this podcast is, is inviting people in on a conversation you and I have been having for over a decade. Yeah. I would say for me, uh one of the blessings of our time that we've spent together over the past decade is keeping each other in the game. Yeah. Like keeping each other on this journey, um, of God's perseverance, his insistence on working with us through and through us. I like this. You know, we like just reminding each other that hey, no matter what, it is worth hanging in there on this. And and and we both both of us, we we don't seek to hear from God in order to feel like we've measured up or as a trophy. Yeah. Uh really by the grace of God. You know, I feel like what what I've been so encouraged by in our conversations is this is a legitimate journey to get better and better at receiving and hearing God so that his kingdom can come in my everyday. Absolutely. Um, and a big part of that is relaxing in my in my whole being about how to process this. God's speaking to me. Um, you know, like that, that getting getting more and more freed up to just flow with that. And I believe he wants that for everybody. I don't I don't think anybody should ever think of my competency and skill in hearing God, receiving from God is something I could check off my list. Yes. I feel like there is more there, I feel like it's limitless. The development, a person's development in that is limitless, especially if we're walking in humility and grace. God, God will always take us up on. God, I would like to receive more. I would like to with more of my being and more of my heart, I want to hear you and move with the purposes of your kingdom. He will take you up on that. Yeah, but there's also going to be there will be many times along the way to give up and to settle and to say, you know, that's just beyond me, and I'm not gonna go there. But I it just as you were talking, I'm like, man, I that's a big reason why I've appreciated our journey over the years and this season of of the podcast is that man, like hearing God is hugely important in our lives. Yeah, and it's not something God's ever gonna be done with. I want I want to keep developing.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

Absolutely, absolutely. I love that what you said, God's insistence of working through us. Yes, like he just insists, he just refuses to change the subject when it comes to when it comes to working through us. He's just I'm I am I am insisting on working through you.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

You just tag something that that I love is we we exist for this. Like, like I love that you tag that because really we we belong to him. Like when we're talking like and that is part of that because it kind of reminds me, part of the people belonging to God. Really, bottom line, I don't really I don't really get to say I'm not made for that God.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

Yeah, because I belong to him.

SPEAKER_00 47:27

It's uh it is that his insistence is because he knows why why like he knows why we exist and we're designed to belong to him. Yes, like we are here's here's a and I know probably we need to wrap up soon, but but I was just musing over this last night of uh early this morning that humanity is unique in all of creation because we belong to God. Like we are we have a unique role in the new creation as human beings because God has designed us to reign and rule and to be in charge on his behalf. Yep. And they recall I was just recalling a couple episodes ago when we talked about being in charge, right? God in charge. Well, we take on the same characteristic in our lives, like in the everyday. Do we always have the solutions and the answers? No, but in Christ, we're always in charge, like we can go into any situation, any impossibility, yeah, and still be optimistic. Why? Well, the why is because we are people who belong to God. That's good, and so may God do that more and more in the church, like in our lives, like give us that confidence, stability that says I don't actually have to have, I don't have to be in control to be in charge in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_02 48:55

Yeah, I love it. I love it. Uh well, um, I just I feel like the plane is descending. Thank you, everybody, for I feel like we sailed. We were sailing today at the river. We were sailing there. I just maybe, maybe Dan, you want to wrap us up with just uh a prayer, just for anyone listening who uh just wants to, you know, be free of the bondages of performance and yeah, just to step into just a heart level, uh just a heart level, just resting in knowing that we belong to the Lord. Yeah. And that's a good thing, and that's as designed, and that it, you know, that it does his performance, his faithfulness matters. Yeah, and that, but we also and and also not but, but that we also um are here to do to live our lives for his glory and for his purposes, and just grace to just be at peace about that.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

Yeah, yeah. Love to do that. Yeah, uh, yeah, God, we we thank you for your word. We love your word, we love you the truth of your word and your voice. And God, we agree, Lord, uh on on behalf of our friends who are listening, um, that you would um meet them in that place, Lord. Uh, we we pray for reassurance, we agree with their prayer of repentance to lay down striving, lay, lay down all of their own agendas uh for why they want to hear your voice more. Yeah, you know, all those performance things, trying to prove their worth, all of that. We agree with them that we just they just bring that as an offering and lay it down at the cross. Just let it go and say, I don't I'm gonna pick that up again in Jesus' name. And that they would uh, Lord, we pray for a fresh season for them of just receiving your favor on their lives, yeah. That they would hear, this is my son, this is my daughter, in whom I am well pleased through Christ Jesus. And uh Lord, would you take take take them on a new journey of discovering your agenda, your motivations for uh why they are why they belong to you, why you enjoy and love the fact that they belong to you, why you chased after them to persuade their hearts like you belong to me, child. Uh Lord, may they feel that deep, deep in their in their being. God, just uh come and put us put us in places today and in the weeks to come that we know we're there because God, you're there to help. We're not there to prove our worth. Uh and we just pray that that would be uh that that strongholds would break, that darkness would be driven back through the light of your presence in people's lives. Thank you for this, God, and it is good to belong to you. Uh, we just say thank you. Thank you for insisting on on working through us and with us. We we love you. We're so glad for your kingdom on earth as in heaven. Amen. Well, that's a wrap on this episode. It's been a privilege to have you as an honored guest as we all learn to hear God better.

SPEAKER_02 52:36

If your time with us has been encouraging and you think this conversation will be helpful to others, we would love it if you could share this podcast with the people around you. Until next time.