How to produce real change in your community & business

We all want to produce real change, but HOW do we make it happen? As Christians, intercession (praying for others) is the way we start change.

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Transcript

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When you're at work, do you ever meet or have a conversation with someone and you leave that conversation feeling drained? Um, either the conversation was a lot of negative talk or the person gossiped and there was a lot of slander. Maybe it felt like they were sucking the life out of you. So, what do we do as Christians? How do we produce real change? I think in our conversations, in what we do in our actions, we don't want to just be busy, but we want to produce real change. And I especially want to hit on as business owners, you want to produce real change in your community. A lot of times, whether it's your customer community that's online because of technology, or it's your local community that is around you, you are trying to get them to see something that your business is on mission for. And so, for example, for us with Texas Outlaw Running, it's we want to show people and challenge them physically, spiritually, emotionally, you know, um, as they do these races. And we really want to link the spiritual aspect with the physical aspect, help them accomplish their goals, help them see the beauty and fitness in doing hard things and make even making goals and trying to achieve them. And so oftentimes you are trying to produce a change in a person through your business or your product or help them with that. And so today we're gonna talk about like how do we actually produce real change as Christian business owners in our community. And we're really going to hit on the power of intercession. Um and it and we're gonna hit on it in the workplace. I want to hit on in our inner circle in the workplace. So, welcome to the Entrepreneur's Wife podcast. Um, this is a podcast where we talk about finding purpose as the helper to our small business owner in this feminist obsessed world. And today, like I said, we're gonna talk about how to produce real change. Um, it's not gonna be what you think, and this is the awesome part about Christianity is a lot of times the way that the world wants to produce whatever it is, change, effectiveness, um, influence is oftentimes the opposite of what Christ calls us to do. And as business owners, it can be very tempting to out of your own strength look at what other people are doing around you and try to mimic and copy their actions because it seems like it's working for them. And I really want to hit on the natural and the supernatural. So we live in a world where we see the natural and we're living in the natural, which is, you know, the earth, our houses, our everyday life. But what I think we often miss is that there is actually a supernatural realm that is influencing the natural. And Paul talks about this. Paul talks about how our fight is not against flesh and blood, how actually there's principalities, there's powers, there's angels, and there's demons, and they actually, because of their supernatural abilities, they're actually influencing a lot of the natural. Now, not every single little thing, you know, is a demon, if you will. The phrase goes. There is some things that is out of our flesh and that is out of our own human will. However, I want to caution us from only leaning towards the natural and saying everything is out of the natural. And then I also want to caution us to only leaning to the supernatural and saying everything is out of the supernatural. I think it's a it's a balance. You have to really discern and use wisdom of okay, is this a principality? Is this a spiritual battle that I am up against, or is this a flesh battle? And is do we need to crucify our flesh? But even if it's a supernatural battle, or even if it is a flesh battle, the way that you handle those battles is through prayer. And I've really been convicted about this lately of not praying enough. Um, the Lord, there was like a clip on social media and it was a reel, and it was a pastor talking about how little our pastors in America actually pray. He was talking about the statistic of they pretty much pray like 10 minutes a day, and that's if they're praying every day, and that's only talking about the pastors, and so that's not even talking about the majority of Christians. Um, the majority of Christians are in the congregation, they're not actually pastoring, and I I think that the enemy, the devil, has done such a good job at distraction. I think that's like the number one thing that he will do for Christians. If he can't, if he cannot get you to not believe in God um or to purposely sin and stray away from the path of righteousness, I think his next tactic is let's get them busy, let's get them distracted, let's get them focused on everything else but what actually matters. And the, you know, our talk today of like how do we produce a real change, especially in our workplace and in our community around us, um, we can say things all day long. And there's a lot of talk, there's a lot of persuasion, there's a lot of debate, there's there's a lot of chatter. But if we're not on our knees um praying about it, I don't think we're gonna see the long change, the longevity change that we actually desire. And if you study revivals, uh Briston had to do this in a class where he studied revivals, and I was overhearing it, and it was very interesting because before every revival actually physically broke out, there were prayer groups that prayed and met months, if not years, before that revival actually happened. And it was a small group of people who met up, who saw a need in their community, and they said, Hey, we want to produce real change. And they met up and they prayed and they were consistent and they interceded. If you don't know the definition, intercession means that you're praying for others, you're pleading for others' causes. And my pastor in high school, his wife, actually explained it that intercession is you stepping into the supernatural and you fighting someone's battle there, their spiritual battle in the supernatural. And I love how she explained it because I think it carries more weight than oh yeah, we should pray for others. No, like, do you realize that when you pray for someone in faith and you're pleading the word of God and you're crying out in desperation and you're actually wanting real change, that um you're doing supernatural work. And I'm not the most knowledgeable about this, but I have heard pastors talk about how when we when that verse says there's principalities and there's powers over this present darkness, um, there are regions where there are because of our sin and because of our choices that we make as humans, we actually give authority to the enemy, to the kingdom of darkness. And so there are principalities, there's rankings in the supernatural. Think about rankings in an army. So there's rankings in the supernatural of different types of demons, different types of angels. And depending on the region, you might have a principality who is a very high-ranking demon over that region because of the sin and the culture and the choices that humans make in that region. Um, something that we had when we lived in Arkansas, we would have guest pastors come from Africa and just all over the nation, and they would come speak at our church. And I remember this couple, this husband and wife, coming to our church in Arkansas, and the wife was just so overwhelmed with the I know it's humid in Arkansas, but the best way she explained it was just the claustrophobic atmosphere of the religiosity that was taking place in this in that region. And her point was is that we're so religious, we're so focused on tradition, and we're not really having a heart posture that's open to the Holy Spirit and open to the move of God. If you ever hear someone talking about how there's a religious spirit or things like that, think about the Pharisees in the Bible and how they were not open to Jesus' interruptions, they weren't open to the move of God, they weren't open to something new, they weren't open to the flow of the Holy Spirit, and it very much limits what God can do. And she was just saying that this is the principality that this region is under, and it's crazy because we're under the Bible belt, and so for us to struggle with the religion spirit is not, you know, shocking, but it's also like, hey guys, we gotta humble ourselves, you know, and the thing that's gonna break that off and open people's eyes is not us talking, it's actually us getting on our knees and praying for them. And so I want to circle this back to how it really does start with us going back to the revivals. I think if you're a consistent listener to this podcast, you desire um change in your business, in your community as a Christian, like you desire to make a difference in the world. And we have to remember that if we really want to make a difference, we have to start with prayer. And again, every revival that broke out, there were prayer meetings, and they they prayed. They prayed for whatever it was that they were trying to find revival in their community, the churches. I also want to note this because I think that this is really important in producing change, and I saw this in college, so I'm gonna say the statement first and then I'm gonna give an example. Just because you're the one interceding doesn't mean you're the one who's actually going to reap the fruit and the harvest from that intercession. And what I mean is we were in college and our college pastor's wife started morning prayer. And me and a group of friends decided we're gonna commit to going to morning prayer. Number one, it was amazing. Okay, it was a hard commitment because it was Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. And as a college student, that's early. Okay, but it was amazing. So we're going to morning prayer. Our whole intention is to pray for the campus, to pray for the university. We didn't go to a Christian university, it was a public university. So you have a wide range of people from all different backgrounds, Christian, not Christian, other religions, they're in the cult, they're doing crazy stuff, you know, just all over the place. So we're praying for the different departments, athletics, the different college ministries, professors. You know, we would pick a topic every day and pray for that need. Well, a year or so later, we're starting to see things that we prayed for come to pass, but we weren't the ones bringing them to pass. It was other college ministries being blessed, or other churches in the community stepping out and going to the college campus and being effective. Or, you know, it really didn't involve us much. I mean, we were the ones praying, and I'm sure there were other pastors in college ministries praying too. I would hope so, other Christians. But just because you're the one interceding doesn't mean you're the one who actually is going to reap the fruit of your intercession. And it's very humbling to know that. I mean, I remember walking around campus and seeing things that we prayed for come to pass, but we weren't hands-on involved in that. We're just watching it come to pass. And it can be very easy when you actually start to see real change, and I want to caution us from this, but when you actually start to see real change, it can be very easy to kind of get offensive and prideful and say, like, well, God, like, I was no one praying for this. Why am I not reaping the fruit from it? And it's like, well, that's not your job. I mean, even Paul says him and Apollos had two different jobs. One planted the seed, the other one watered the seed. But at the end of the day, God was giving the growth. And, you know, we were talking about this at a discipleship night one night at our house. Um, I think something that gets us stuck as Christians is competition. Um, like guys, we're on the same team. So even if a different church who might believe a little different things than you, if their heart is for Christ and they want to see people be changed and set free and you know, become like truly born again and follow God's will and surrender to Him, it doesn't matter if you're the one doing it or if they're the one doing it. And like we always have to keep that in mind. Like at the end of the day, like, what's your heart posture towards producing real change? If if we're sitting here and we're like, well, I have to be the one to produce real change, I have to be the one to do it. You're I don't think your heart posture is how it should be. Um, it's a very me, selfish mentality heart posture, and we have to get rid of that. I mean, a part of intercession is you're praying for others. It's not about you, it's about the needs that you're seeing in the community. I kind of realized this whenever, you know, there were opportunities given to other people, and I wasn't getting those opportunities. And this is the biggest thing is especially if you're a stay-at-home mom or an entrepreneur's wife, you're not really like necessarily doing a lot um in the public eye. I kind of would like, you know, think, oh my gosh, well, the whole idea of like, am I not doing enough uh type of mentality? Like, I gotta like do do do do do, right? And the biggest thing that God revealed to me is that you can actually do something, and it's not gonna be public, nobody's gonna know about it. Jesus actually says when you pray, go in your room and shut your door, and you know, let it be private, and God who is in heaven is gonna see you. And I realized that like I don't have to be the one to do it, but I can be the prayer warrior behind what is trying to be done, and that's the biggest thing that I want to encourage you with today is that you know, you don't have to be the one, you might not be the one talking to that employee or whatever in your business um or in your life. You might actually be the one who's called to pray and intercede. And I also saw this thing where he was like a famous evangelist, um, and he had a prayer warrior who nobody knew about. So think about think about Billy Graham. Okay, everybody knows Billy Graham, right? He's the one up on stage talking all the stuff, right? So millions of people know him. Well, this certain evangelist had a prayer warrior who, before every meeting, before every revival breakout, before he spoke at every event, she would get on her knees and she would intercede for the event and for the people and for him and for speaking, and they were just talking about that, and nobody knew that she was doing that. And she was a part of a lot of stuff that got done at that event because she spiritually was stepping into the supernatural and fighting battles that probably nobody saw. I remember Briston in his theology class, he had to look up like an evangelist, and he studied this guy, I don't remember his name, but he studied this guy, and before every event, before the guy, he had like a strong anointing over his life, and he could heal people and pray for them, and just he just had a very strong anointing over his life. Well, why? Well, before every event, he would pray for hours, and he literally would tell people, I am not moving, I'm not getting up until the Holy Spirit comes and I feel a release to leave. And there was one time where he had an event and he had to go because the event was starting, and his driver was like, Hey man, we got we gotta go, like you're gonna be late. And the guy was like, No, like we don't leave on our timing, we live on God's timing. And if you listened to yesterday's podcast, we talked about glory and we talked about Moses' face shining, and Moses didn't leave the mountain when he told the people he was gonna leave the mountain. Because if you remember, he told the people, hey, I'm going up on Mount Sinai for 40 days. Well, God actually kept him. I want to say it was more than 40 days. So let's say God kept him for 52 days. Um, I don't know why I have 52 in my mind, but for 52 days, and he didn't go down from the mountain until God told him to go down from the mountain. And when he came down from the mountain, his face was shining like an angel's, and he had the glory of the Lord. And the people, like the people of Israel, saw the glory, and um, it was just a very powerful moment, and so just producing real change. I think it definitely starts with intercession. And in Timothy, Paul urges Timothy, he says, you know, to pray for all people, to make supplications and prayers for all people, for your leaders in authority, and for all of those around you, so that way you can live a peaceful, godly life, and also not just so that we can live a peaceful, godly life, but that we can produce change in others around us. Um, you are shining a light. Like every day you wake up, you go to work, you do your life, people are watching you, and um, you never know when you're gonna plant a seed, guys. Like, that is my biggest encouragement is you never know when God is gonna water that seed, when he's gonna grow it, when it's gonna be planted. Um, and so I think being aware of every day, like you're making a difference, either a good difference in people's life or a bad difference in people's life. And I remember this girl in college, we literally were just talking, y'all. Like, there was no like godly conversation. We were I was just asking her, she was about to graduate, and I was asking her her plans and all this stuff, and I remember just sharing my experience with graduation because I had already graduated, and what I didn't realize was that she had actually been praying and wanting an answered prayer for what to do next. And through me rambling, I mean, I literally thought I was rambling. She God like used that story to encourage her and plant a seed in her to know what to do next and to give her the confidence and the assurance that like he still had a plan for her life. And so, this is the beautiful thing about you know wanting to produce real change is just being open to the move of God and being open to what he wants. And so I want to encourage you today to take time to pray for your community and pray for where you're at. This is something, again, that the Lord has really convicted me about that I want to do better. Um, and schedule that time out. You know, we scheduled in college, we scheduled morning prayer. It was like, okay, every day, Monday through Friday, from eight to nine, we're gonna pray. And you don't have to do an hour, do 30 minutes, do 10 minutes. Um, for me, I like to write it down. It helps me stay focused on what I'm praying for. My mind can kind of go get distracted. Um, so I like to write it down and just whatever I would say, you know, if you're asking, well, what do I pray for? I think whatever burdens your heart. Like what is that thing that you see in the world that you see is a need that isn't being met, that you see burdens you, that you see, you know, just I heard a pastor say, What makes you cry? Like what what burdens your heart and makes you cry? That's the thing that you pray for and that you seek the Lord's will about, um, and that you go to battle with. And the last thing that I want to say is talking about the armor of God, um, prayer is actually used in the armor of God. I know a lot of times we miss that, but right after Paul explains the sword of the spirit, and the sword is the word of God, he actually says praying at all times in all prayers. And so we can't we can't miss that. Like that is a crucial part of wearing the armor of God. It's it's like if you've ever watched The Incredibles, it's I think of prayer as like Violet, you know, she has she can make this force field around her that blocks the things coming her way, and I think that's like prayer is it's this force field if you. Will that changes what's going on because of its supernatural abilities? And it's so important that we wear the full armor of God. We wear the belt of truth. We wear the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation to me brings a lot of peace to our mind when the devil tries to condemn you or when he tries to make you feel unworthy. You know, if you're sitting here and you're like, well, I'm not worthy to pray. No. Like, don't let those thoughts overtake your mind. He he doesn't want you to pray, which is why he's planting those thoughts in your mind. Okay. You the what makes you a person worthy to pray is simple humility. Coming before the Lord saying, Lord, there's this case that I'm bringing before you and I'm pleading it. I mean, it's just it's just simple humility, okay? Um, yes, do I think like repentance and turning away from sin and all that is a part of it? Yeah, but don't overcomplicate it. You know, if you're coming before the Lord with a humble heart, like he's gonna listen to your prayers. That's the biggest thing that I think we misunderstand is the prayers that God doesn't listen to are prayers of selfishness and prayers of pride. And so when we come to him with a humble heart, like he's going to open his ears and listen to our prayers. Um, so you have the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, you have the breastplate of righteousness. I love this because our hearts are protected by the breastplate of righteousness. Um, the the heart can be very deceitful. And so when we're praying, uh a big thing that I want to encourage you with, whether you're praying for yourself or you're praying for others, just use scripture. Like that's the easiest way to pray for others is find scripture, you know, if they're struggling with identity, if they're struggling with insecurities, if they're struggling with having joy, maybe they struggle with anxiety or depression. Like, look at look at what the person see the need of the person, what they're struggling with, or the community, what they're struggling with. Okay, now find scripture that combats that and then just speak the scripture over them. Say, like, Lord, I pray, and then just read the scripture out loud. Um, and just pray the scripture, it's the easiest way. It also makes sure that you're praying the right things because it's the word of God, so you can't really mess that up. But you have the breastplate of righteousness, you have the shoes of peace, and one thing that I love about the shoes of peace is that um, at least in the ESV version, the English Standard Version, it says the shoes of peace to have the readiness. Um, and I love the word readiness because it's like, are we ready? You know, are we ready at all times? And I think the shoes of peace also, you know, when God asks us to do something, that piece of he's always with us. So he's he's always going before us, like the people of Israel, he was always one step ahead of them, he was always guiding the way, and so they could have peace going into the promised land, even though there were giants, and even though there were battles, and even though they didn't know what it was gonna look like, God still led the way, and that gave them peace. And so I want you to be ready, and but I also want you to know that like God is going before you, and so you can have those shoes of peace because he's there with you and he goes before you. Um, so you have the shoes of peace, you have the shield of faith. So I I love the shield of faith. The shield of faith is one of my favorite because whenever I studied the armor of God like in depth, one of the things I realized is that the shield of faith is necessary to block the fiery darts from the devil, from the enemy. And when it talks about fiery darts, what are fiery darts? Well, the I have a study Bible, and the ESV study Bible talks about how fiery darts can actually be false doctrine. So if you think about Satan, he he's the father of lies and he's gonna lie. So an important part of intercession is actually having faith behind what you're praying for. So when we have faith behind what we're praying for, we actually block the falseness, those thoughts, those things that are being said, um with the shield of faith. Like that is the point of faith, is I am blocking those false doctrines. So you see a need in the world, and I'm just gonna, you know, bring up, for example, moms. My I see a big deal with entrepreneur wives and moms who don't know who they are, they don't know if they have a purpose, they don't know their identity. And it's like, okay, that is a false doctrine of, well, I'm worth nothing. I I don't really have a purpose because I just stay at home and raise kids. Like that that's a falseness, right? So I can I need to have faith to combat that and actually pray into the truth, which is like, no, like you have a great purpose, and actually go into scripture and find scripture about purpose and pray that over them. And then that's you using the shield of faith to block those fiery darts. And again, this is us stepping into the supernatural. So physically, we're not like going up to a mom putting a shield up and physically fighting off fiery darts. This is something that's happening in the supernatural, but there's so much protection when we're praying for others, like literally, guys, it's like an image of you stepping into the supernatural, they're struggling with these thoughts that the enemy is putting in their mind, and you actually praying for them is you putting a shield uh in front of them that blocks the darts from entering their mind. I mean, it's a beautiful thing. So that's the um shield of faith. Then you have the sword of the spirit. The sword of the spirit is the word of God, and the biggest thing that I want to say is the devil knows the word of God um probably way better than we do. Like he literally tempted Jesus with the word of God, which is crazy to me because Jesus is the word. Um, so I think it's also important that we're in the word, and as we're interceding for others, we use the sword. Like I keep saying, we use the sword to fight the enemy. That that's that's that's your that is effective intercession. If you want to be effective in interceding and producing real change, your sword is your greatest weapon. Um, so use it in prayer, and then the last part is praying at all times in all prayers, and there are different types of prayers. I'm not gonna go into all of them today in today's episode, but intercession is one type. Intercession is when you are praying for others. So um I think it's important when we're wearing the full armor of God to keep that in mind. Um, so yeah, that that's really all that I have. The last thing I want to say is that prayer is how we make things happen. Um, I think a lot of times we again get caught up in like, oh, I gotta physically do something, I have to like physically make this happen. And what prayer does is it is how we make things happen as Christians. If you think about the world, the world is like you have to go and hustle and like physically do all these things to make it happen, right? Like that's the world's definition of making things happen. Okay, then you have I hate to bring up the occult, but you have the occult, which is like manifestation stuff um to make things happen. Well, prayer for a Christian is oh how we make things happen. Um, it is releasing our control, which the world and the occult loves, but it's releasing our control and giving it to God and saying, God, you're gonna make this happen. Like I'm believing that you're gonna make this happen. Um, and I want us to be watchmen. And when I say watchmen, think about um Daniel. Daniel in the Lion Stand, he prayed three times a day. He had a very high government job, so he was very busy, and yet he he prayed three times a day. And you know, I wonder, it doesn't say necessarily what he was praying for, but I do wonder if he prayed for his king, because King Darius was not, he was in a, you know, Daniel's in this foreign land with a bunch of different religions. So King Darius was not a Jew, he did not follow the Jewish law, and I wonder if Daniel was interceding for him, interceding for the city, interceding for the people of God. And then you read the story of what happens to Daniel, right? He gets accused of breaking the law, and he gets thrown into the lion's den, and it that sucks, but it it also is a is a pivotal point in King Darius seeing the faithfulness of God and like actually coming to realize oh, your God that you worship is actually the true real God, and who knows through the battle of the lion's den if Daniel's prayer for King Darius to, if you will, get saved came to pass. I mean, that could be a possibility, right? So, um, you also think about this is a big one, Queen Esther. Gosh, guys, so she, if you know the story of Queen Esther, she her people are about to be killed. I mean, it was like pre-Holocaust, if you will. They're they're wanting to kill all the Jews, and um Esther tells Mordecai to tell all the Jews to pray and fast for three days. So for three days, she says, tell the people to pray for her because she's about to do something illegal to try to save her people. And she was not, unless the king requested her, she was not allowed to just go up to the king and say, Hey, do this, or hey, you know, there's this need. Like she had to be requested by him. So for her to boldly go up to the king and say, Hey, like, don't kill these people, she could have got herself killed. And she says, you know, if I perish, I perish. But she declares beforehand, hey, can the our people who are about to be destroyed pray for me to have success? That the God, that our God may, you know, save me through what I'm about to do. And they do, they pray and fast for three days, and then she goes to the king, and it's a success. There are literally so many stories, guys. So, um, you know, even Jesus tells Peter, hey, Satan wanted to have you, but I prayed for you, and he wanted to sift you like wheat, but I prayed for you. So we can't forget um the power of prayer. And the last thing I want to say is that when you're interceding for someone, don't give up. Um, Karen Wheaton, she is over the ramp, and she has an amazing testimony about her daughter who straight away from the faith, um, left her husband, left her family. Terrible, terrible thing that happened. And Karen prayed for her. For years she prayed for her, like, and she didn't give up praying for her. When if you read her book, she actually talks about how people, Christian people, like pretty much told her to give up and to stop praying for her. And Karen's like, no, I'm not gonna stop praying for my daughter. Like, I'm gonna stand in the gap, I'm gonna pray for her until I see her return. And her daughter actually repents, it's like the prodigal son, she returns home, she returns back to her husband, they're married now, like they're remarried. Um, and it's just this crazy testimony of what can happen when we don't give up and when we keep interceding, even when we're not seeing change come as quickly as we want it. So um, I just want to encourage you with that. You never know like what's going on in someone's life, and so you again, Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the growth, so you don't know like when it's gonna happen. But my encouragement is that again, we have to stand on faith that God is gonna bring it to pass, um, and have that hope, no matter the timeline of it. So that was it for today's episode. I hope y'all enjoyed it. I hope you have a great day and start praying for others.