E6 | Following the Call of God Through Intimacy | How God Leads You Into Purpose

Welcome to Episode 6 of the LightUK Podcast.

In this episode, we begin a new conversation about following the call of God through intimacy.

So many people want to know: What has God called me to do?
But before purpose comes position, there must be relationship.

Resources Mentioned

• The Bible
• Blue Letter Bible
• Bible Hub

In this episode we talk about:

• Why intimacy is everything when it comes to calling
• How the Word of God shapes and directs us
• Why God’s voice will always align with Scripture
• Learning how to hear God clearly
• Being honest with God in prayer
• How God leads us step by step
• Grace in the calling of God
• Why striving leads to burnout
• Trusting God with the results

If you’ve been asking God about your purpose, your next step, or how to hear His voice — this episode will encourage you.

The call of God begins in the secret place.

If this episode blessed you:

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And send it to someone trying to discover their calling

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome everybody.

SPEAKER_02 0:03

This is the Light UK Podcast. Hey guys, welcome back to the Light UK Podcast. We are so excited to be with you again this week, darling. How have you been?

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Yes. Welcome guys. It's uh exciting to be here to do another episode. And yeah, it's been a good week.

Following the call of God through intimacy

SPEAKER_02 0:26

It's been a really, really good week. Hey, we want to know if this podcast's touching you or in or just encouraging you in any way. Please write, please like, comment, and let us know how uh God's word that we're sharing with you is impacting you. But darling, today we're gonna talk about following the call of God from a place of intimacy. There's a lot there for us to share. And um, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. So we thought we would come we would again talk about how intimacy is such an incredible um place to be when it comes to following the call of God. So, Joshua, why don't you start us off by what you think is one of the most important aspects of following God for our core?

Why intimacy is everything

SPEAKER_01 1:07

To be honest, just to sum it up, uh, in a sense, bringing some of your audience. It's okay. Intimacy um is everything to do with the call of God in a sense. Yeah, everything you can't follow God without having intimacy with him. Nope. Um, and so the main starting part for us is building our life

Building your life on the Word of God

SPEAKER_01 1:30

on his word. You know, as we've said other in other episodes, the word of God, yeah, the Bible is the very word of God, and you know, we have to know the word of God, we have to get it in our spirits, we have to get it inside of us, and there's so many scriptures that talk about meditating on the word of God, yeah. Um, and so even in Psalm 119, verse 105, it says, Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Good scripture, you know, and what is this saying in it? Well, in a sense, it's saying that as we build our life on his word, as we not just read it, because it's very easy to like read a book and then you shut it and you forget what you've read and you you know you crack on and you've you know five minutes later it's out of your mind, yeah. But the word of God is alive and powerful, it says it's sharper than any two-edged uh sword.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

And you see, the word of God is filled with his promises, it's filled with his um his words to us, and so so would you say then that one of the ways we can follow um the calling of God in our lives is by following his word.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Oh, absolutely, yes, absolutely. That is amazing. It's by following the word of God, and you see, just like as we get to know the word of God more, we get to know his character. You see, you can't separate God and his word. Yeah, and so when you realize when you as you get the for example, as you read about the word of God and it talks about the fruits of the spirit, yeah, you know, love, peace, patience, joy, you know, automatically we know that we should be growing in those things. If we want to be bearing fruit for the kingdom of God, then we need to be growing in patience, growing in love. And you know, you see, that's just coming from the word of God, that's just one little tiny bit that how we automatically know of what we should be growing like and becoming more more like.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Absolutely, and we're talking about intimacy. God cannot have intimacy without his word. You know, if we're gonna have intimacy that is rooted in the word of God, we're not talking about just hearing voices or just having an idea, but it's not rooted in God's word. We're talking about following the voice of God and whatever God says to us, it has a connection or it matches his word, you know. And I'm even thinking, darling, about new believers, you know, um, how important is it as a new believer to know the word of God, especially with so many opinions in this world?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Actually, darling, that's great. Actually, you've just reminded me of something. I wrote I once heard from in uh a preach somewhere, and I and I actually looked it up online, I think, where somebody where it says if you read the Bible one day a week or something, there was uh a study done and it said something like, if you read your Bible one day a week, your life won't really change. Okay. If you read your Bible two or three times a week, um maybe there'll be a very small change. Yeah. If you read it, start reading it like five to seven times a week, so pretty much every most days, that's when the transformation would really start taking place in your life, and there would be a change. And that's why, and that's what we're trying to say. It's so important that you're getting the word in you in a daily basis and getting it into your spirit, getting it into your heart, because as you get it into your heart, and especially as you start meditating on it, you know, not just reading, you know, reading it like a storybook and that, but you know, stopping when you see a part that maybe stands out to you and you study it, you you can look on it, you know, chew on it, look at the look at you know, look at go in depth on it and look at up look it up on Blue Letter Bible, for example. Yeah, yeah, you know. Bible hub is also very good. Yeah, so there's different options out there. Look at comp read different commentaries and stuff, and you know, really start meditating on it and thinking, like, oh, actually, you know, what is this saying and what's this? And as you do that, it gets in your spirit more.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

And that and and darling, actually, that's fellowship because the Bible says that you know, in the beginning was the word, though, and the word became flesh, right? That's scripture. We know that Jesus is the word. So actually, when you're reading the word, you're in a way getting to know more of Jesus and his character. And then if me, how how do me and you communicate through words? And so, how do we communicate with God? Through word, but his Bible, his word. And so we can't claim to know God if we're not reading our Bibles. We can't claim to have a prophecy or even hear from God if we're not in his word. And the more I I I would say, Danny, the more I study and the more I meditate, the sharper I am when it comes to even prophecy, when it comes to giving words of knowledge, because God is just able to use us a lot, He's just able the Holy Spirit is just able is able to flow a lot more when we're in the Word of God. So isn't that an incredible thing?

SPEAKER_01 6:22

It is, and actually the thing that um with his word, and you know, even as we're talking about, you know, following the call of God and stuff, is God will never tell you to do something and contradict his word. You'll never contradict the Bible. So if you think that you get a word from God and he says, go and I'm just throwing something random out there, he says, go and punch that person or whatever, it's caught it contradicts the word of God because actually he tells us to turn the other cheek, he tells us to, you know, and you you look at the character of God, you look at his instructions, and so God would never tell you to do something if it contradicts his very word or his Bible.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Do you know what? I'm I'm gonna say something that I know people are gonna push back, but that's that's why um even for me, I've learned that even if something is being done or said by a man by whoever is a man of God, even if it's me, actually just just ask checking what we hear and what we see by the word of God. Because just because someone does something in the name of Jesus and it works or it manifests, it doesn't mean it's in the Lord, and so that's just amazing. So that so again, now moving on to following the calling of God. We've talked about his word. Do you want to share anything more about that?

Testing teaching and prophecy by Scripture

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Or well, I was just gonna say that last part, what you said about you know, it's great to listen to you know, men and women of God or pastors and preachers and stuff, but actually check it, make sure it lines up with the word of God because I'll you know, there's people out there that will sometimes get things wrong or lead people astray or whatever. There's it's it talks about you know the Bible about false prophecy and false people and that. And so you've got to make sure that the that what people are saying aligns with the word of God, aligns with the word of God and aligns with the ultimate message.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

You know, I'm so glad that I listened to people that are all about the ultimate message because when you really think about it, now I'm gonna give like a little I've learnt this from you know, listening to a few other people as well. But the Bible is about Jesus from the beginning to the end, you know, and so actually even just even us just knowing, okay, because obviously there are things in the Bible that we don't understand, right? But we're knowing the ultimate message that it's about Jesus, it's about the coming of the Messiah, that just helps. So ultimately for me, if I meet somebody and this and and and you know they're a Christian, but you know, I've been with them, let's say, for a day, and we've been talking about the you know, but then I don't really hear Jesus, I don't hear that them talking about the Lord or Jesus and how much and but it's all then then I think that's actually that shows you that actually you need to go go into your word and you actually remind yourself that the Bible isn't about necessarily what we want and getting our way and all of that, it's about Him, it's about Jesus. So even just also just surrounding yourself with people that love the Word, surrounding yourself with people that love Jesus and want to see Jesus in the Word, it's really really important. It's it's a great indicator for actually also hearing his voice.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah, and and and and that's uh you know just the last point before we move on. But you know, you will sometimes have different opinions to other Christians about certain parts, topics in the Bible, and that and some of those are okay. You know, it's okay to have a different opinion. Me and my wife don't probably necessarily agree on every little single thing in the Bible. We might have slightly different opinions or viewpoints, and that's okay. But what I would say is the fun as long as the very foundation is that obviously Jesus is the Son of God, that that he died on the cross for our sins, that he rose again, you know, and as long as we have that very core print foundation, then it's okay to have one or two differences.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

It's

Prayer, fellowship and friendship with God

SPEAKER_02 10:03

okay, yeah. Great, okay. So, and then we're gonna move on to um all right, look, so we've talked about the word of God, and now we're gonna talk about prayer and fellowship and friendship with God. Why, I mean, before we even share the scripture, we've we've actually had an episode about friendship with God, but Jeremiah 29, 12 says, Then you'll call to me. So this is after Jeremiah 29.11, where it says, I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you, plans, all of that. And then now he's saying, Then you'll call on me and I'll come. Then you'll call on me and come, and I'll pray, and you'll pray to me and I'll listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart. These are God's promises. He's saying, if you come to me and you pray to me, I will and come, I will listen, number one. And if you seek me, you will find me when you seek me with your whole heart. What does it look like to seek God with our whole heart? That's quite that's that's that takes a lot of intentionality.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, well, I mean, again, the very first command commandment in the Bible is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind and your soul. And so we were made, we were created to love God with all our hearts. And so, you know, when it says seek me with all your heart, that is what we were supposed to be doing. So, in a sense, we've spoken about this in before, but that means including God in every aspect of your life and letting God have control of every aspect of your life, and one of the ways to do that. That's one of the key things, sorry, no, no, no, is letting him have let me say that again, having giving him control of every area of your life and being submitted to his direction to where he says, So if he says, go and meet that person, yes, Lord, okay, I will do that if that's what you want me to do. And so as we seek him, as we read the word, we've spoken about it, as we pray, as we spend time with him, as we worship him, as we get to know him more, that's where he directs us, and that's where we learn the way his will for our lives.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

That's amazing. And as you were talking, I just realized again, the word is so important because until the word touches your heart, and you know, you know God through the word, and that word has gone into your heart, then you're more likely to love to seek him with your whole heart because you cannot understand. You know, I didn't start seeking the Lord until I was born again. I didn't have the heart to seek him. So, seeking God with all your heart, you need to be born again, you need to know Jesus and know his word, and from there you you allow the word of God to change you from the inside out. So, and he says, even in Jeremiah 33, he says, Call to me and I'll answer you. I'll tell you great and hidden things. Remember, guys, we're talking about the calling of God and where intimacy plays that part. And he's saying here, I will show you things, great and hidden things that you have not known. I discovered my calling in the presence of God, you know, by seeking him, by going into prayer, by spending time with him. It was in those places in looking in his word that I saw myself. And it's a spiritual thing. Looking into the word of God on a daily basis, like you've said, it's a spiritual act that changes you. Before you know it, you kind of know what to do, you know where to go. And so for me, um, it was through prayer and intimacy and friendship that the Lord started slowly uh speaking to me. And um, and so, darling, how important is it for us to give God our attention? And how do how can people give in this day and age where we're so busy, how can we give God our attention?

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Well, I mean obviously spending time with God can be in very many different formats, you know, and there's different seasons in life. You know, obviously, if you're juggling looking after three children or something like that, well then it can be very it can be very tough, and you maybe have to learn to spend time while you're looking after the kids. And he'll encounter you and you know, praying while you're holding a baby and stuff, you know, it's very different for obviously different seasons, but obviously if you have um a bit more time in that, then it's easier. But actually setting time aside to be with God so intentionally, intentionally setting time aside with God is the most important thing, and I believe and I actually think often starting your day with God is the most important thing, you know. Like we'll see from uh Jesus, yeah, he was perfect, he would get up early before sunrise, and he would go off to pray by himself in the wilderness. He says he would go and spend time, and if so, if that's Jesus, yeah, you know, the Son of God having to get up early to spend time with his father and pray, how much more do we need to do that? And then it's from that place of obviously reading our Bibles and praying when worshiping him, but then also having times where you just stop, you know, and just soak in his presence. You maybe just put some soaking music on and you say, Okay, Father, come and speak to me, come and talk to me, come and come and what do you want to say to me? And actually, I've had times where God said to me, Josh, will you just be quiet? Be quiet, stop making a racket, you know. I think sometimes we can get so used to praying or praying our requests or worshiping him, and sometimes it's harder for other for different people, but sometimes we can actually it can be hard for us to be quiet and to still, yeah, be still, be still and know that I'm God.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Yeah,

Paying attention when God is speaking

SPEAKER_02 15:31

as you were speaking, I'm reminded. Um, so being so basically one of the ways we can pay attention from from what I'm realizing is that is to be to be ready for God to speak. I'm thinking of Moses when he ran away and went into the wilderness, and then he was living with um the dad the father of Zaporah, burning bush, and then he was walking, just mining his own business, on you know, being a shepherd, and he saw the burning bush. And Moses could have kept moving. Yes, he could have kept moving, but the Bible says he stopped and he said, I must go and see this strange sight. And it was there that God spoke to him. So God is getting God wants your attention. I 100% know by experience, and I can say that he's doing things and putting things around you to get your attention and at my attention, but it's whether we're paying, it's whether we turn like Moses and give God our time. And that's why in Revelation 3.20 he says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. This is Jesus saying this to the church. It's really scary, the scripture, that the Lord is saying this. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will knock, I will come in um to him and eat with him and he with me. Look at that, look at the just a desire for the Lord to be with us. Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Well, actually, the sometimes, you know, we've had people say to us before, and I've had people say, you know, say to me, and I'm sure you have, where they say, Well, I don't hear the word of God. The voice of God. Or I don't hear the voice of God, or I don't know what God's saying. And it's actually not that God's not just one word. It's not that God's not speaking. You see, God loves to speak to his children, he loves to fellowship with us. As you can see, he wants to come in and eat with us, but actually often we can get so caught up in the things of this world. Yeah, we can get caught up in on our phones or social media. Yeah, it's very easily done, or watching TV where and you find an episode and you start binge watching episodes or whatever, or you start thinking, oh, I just go on Facebook for five minutes, have a quick flick, and before you know it's been an hour, before you know it, it's been an hour. Whereas if we had just put our phones away in the first place, or we had just um you know, not put started watching TV, we could have had an hour with the Lord, or we do you know what I mean, or we could have had half an hour with the Lord, and often we get our priorities wrong, and we'll if we're guilty of it, often we can sometimes, you know, we often get it wrong, or we think, man, I should have probably just gone and spent time with the Lord, I've wasted an hour, you know, doing nothing there. But actually, when we set that time aside with God, He loves to speak with us and be with us.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Danny,

Distraction and missing moments with God

SPEAKER_02 18:09

this conversation is so rich because I've actually had times where I could tell the Lord was really excited. This is gonna be this is quite sad. I could tell that the Lord was really excited to spend time with me, and I could feel his presence. And I don't know if this has ever happened to anybody. And I'm I kind of have that, let me just check my phone, you know, that attitude. And then I don't know what happens. Maybe an hour's gone past and I got distracted. And then when I try, you can't quite get in. Has that ever happened to you where you kind of try and it's almost like he's it's not that he's walked away, but it's like when you're trying, if you try to get my attention for about an hour, you know, and I'm like, oh, it's soon, soon, eventually you'll be a bit like, oh, come on, Sarah. And then you kind of like retreat, you lead me to it. And I've actually had those times where at the beginning the Lord was ready, I could feel the presence of God, I could feel the atmosphere was charged for him to spend time with me. And then as I took too long, it kind of weaned, and I thought, oh, and so that's something that even I I need to work on that because I've I've I've seen that happen in my own life to give him our attention, you know. So yeah, it's wonderful to know that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

And so, yes, we have to let his word let his word lead us through us, let his word work through us to give him to um to give him our attention and then and then being real with God. Yeah. Talk to us about that. How to be real with God.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

How to be real with God.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

I mean as in like when you're going through something tough. But some people maybe like they think oh God already knows how I feel.

Being honest and real with God

SPEAKER_01 19:35

I think it's actually God absolutely already knows all of our thoughts, he knows our He knows what we're feeling. There's well, there's nothing that He doesn't know. No, but actually just being real with God, it's okay to say, God, I'm hurting, or God I'm sad, or God, I'm I don't understand why this happened, or whatever it is, or God, I'm happy, maybe it's sharing things. God, thank you for this big blessing. Actually, I don't always want to talk about the the challenges or trials. Actually, God might have blessed you with a house, or God might have blessed you with a car, or with a with your kids, or with a family, or whatever it is. There's many blessings that God loves to pour out, and actually just saying, yes, giving him the sad things and saying, God, you know, yeah, um, you know, help me with this, or I give it to you, or whatever. God, I'm sad. And so there's a place for give crying and there's a place for giving it to the Lord, but also just celebrating with the Lord, Lord. I thank you for for the for this house, or I thank you for my wife, or I thank you for this great blessing that you've given me. You know, there's power and thanksgiving as well.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Absolutely. No, I agree, I agree, and and I think through that the Lord works for us and um we're able to have a testimony. So, yeah. What about the last point about God leading us, and from that place he kind of leads us into what he wants us to do?

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah, from that place he leads us, and then um he leads and guides us, and in Ephesians 2 verse 10 it says, For we are God's masterpiece. Yeah, he has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do good things that He planned for us long ago. Wow, we are God's masterpiece. Do you know? And some of you might not know that you were not a mistake. No. I want to start by saying nobody on this earth is a mistake. Maybe they weren't planned in that exact moment, but yeah, God knew you before you were born. He did. He knew each and every one of you, he knew ever there was nothing he didn't know about you. He's amazing. And it says we were created in the image of God. Yeah. That's that's his that's his word. Yeah. We were created in the image of God. And he's got plans for us, and he has plans for us. And when we give our lives to Jesus and we say, Okay, Jesus, I want to live for you. Will you lead me and guide me? We know that he has it says it in the scripture good things he planned for us long ago. He has a wonderful plan and a purpose for our lives.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Okay, so I have a question for you. You became born again, and then how did you then obviously from what we're talking about about intimacy, how did in that place of intimacy, um, and after knowing that we're God's masterpiece, did you then start being led by the Lord about what he wants you to do?

How God leads through intimacy

SPEAKER_01 22:26

I think for me I I kind of when God got a hold of me, he got hold of me so radically in a sense that you know, I sh as I shared in my testimony, I was just so hungry for him. I was him, and so I just wanted him. I didn't really care about anything else. Yeah, that's good. I just wanted him, and I was I was reading my Bible, I was crying out for him, saying, God, I need more of you. Fill me afresh, fill me afresh, you know, help me to mature, help me to know you more, help me to know you more, teach me to have and these are the sort of prayers I would say to God, teach me to have a relationship with you, teach me to know you.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

Wow, that's powerful.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

And then and from that place, you know, God started opening different doors up and leading me into different things. I never tried, I never once tried to open a door that or something do something that God didn't tell me to do. Uh minister or try and force something to happen. You know, God was the one that brought me to this place of you know, doing light UK. It's true. God was the one who told me to start preaching and leading in my church and doing evangelism.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

You never thought you would do a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

No, exactly. And so and that's what, in a sense, our lives have to be. We don't have stop worrying about what God wants, what maybe God is, or trying to force your way into ministry or forcing your way into different things. Just seek first his faith. Seek him, seek him, just love him, just worship him. Yeah. Look, the reality is if I never did ministry again, if I asked myself, if I never did ministry again, if I never preached, if I never um if I never went on a mission trip again, would Jesus be enough? Wow. Would Jesus be enough if you never preached again, or if you never went on a mission trip again, or if you never served in the local church, would he be enough?

SPEAKER_02 24:16

And I think that's why it's so important, because you know, it's in him that we discover the plans that he has for us. Yeah, you know, and that's and then because we will know the plans that he has for us, he could tell us for a season, like he told us that we shared, he told us for one year, I don't want you guys to preach or teach or do anything ministry-wise. Yeah, and and and how did we know that we were seeking him? Yeah, you know, and some people, maybe the Lord actually wants you to take a year out or a few months out or whatever, but you're there's momentum. People get trapped in momentum and they keep going and pushing, and then before you know it, they've missed what God is saying. And so God has the good plans and they were planned long ago in Christ, of course. You know, it wasn't until I received Jesus that I found out what God wants me to do, and um, and it says here the man, the heart of the man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps. And so just to be obedient, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

And so, darling, actually, I just want to ask you a question. When you're talking about the calling and what God wants people to do. What how would you if you if I asked you to say what does grace look like when it comes to the calling of God? Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 25:31

It doesn't look, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

So describe how that would work, the grace of God when it comes to calling.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Um I think I'm not saying that it okay, number one, peace, which is the peace of God. Um grace looks like the Lord provides for what he orders, you know, what he wants. Um I think there's no striving. And also because there's grace, you leave it up to God to bring the results. I know I've had to work on this. I've had to work on this, and I don't I don't and I don't know why this came through a ministry where we feel like okay, by ministry, I mean in my context, you might be you might want to be a businessman, you might want to be a mum, whatever, uh all those things. And I think for me, like even I've learned this from you, just or just being together, just not putting the results on myself. God has told me to do something, maybe this podcast or do an event, and then I feel like I have to make sure the results are good in my own opinion. But actually, I've learned just do what God tells you to do.

Avoiding burnout and striving

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Yeah, and I think that's key actually, just to add something on is just do what God tells you to do. And I think the reason that I wanted to highlight the word this the this is the word grace is because sometimes people maybe let's just for example take someone who's a worship leader, and maybe they've been doing worship leader leading, but they're starting to get tired, yeah, and they're starting to do it, but yet they're just doing it because they've been stuck there, yeah, and maybe they've not prayed about it, and this is where maybe God's t been trying to get their attention and saying, Look, I want you to take a break, or your time's finished, I want you to start, I want to take you into something else. I've got something new for you, but yet if we're not in that place of intimacy where we're listening to him and we're submitted to him, then we can still be doing the thing that God maybe did tell us to do in the beginning, or maybe he's not told us at all. Yeah, but if we're not in his grace, that's where burnout happens, that's where people can be get burnt out, they can start feeling tired, they can start feeling ministry, leave the faith. Then they can get dis that's where disappointment can creep in, bitterness can creep in anxiety, depression, you know, and because they're trying to strive, they're trying to carry it in their own strength, but we're not created to carry the call of God in a sense in our own strength. We're supposed to partner with Him, and that's not saying there won't be challenges in ministry. God might tell you to do some, and it still might be sometimes have tough moments, it still might be hard because the reality is we're in a spiritual battle, and the devil will sometimes come against the the dreams and the visions that God gives you or the things that he wants you to do. But there should be a grace there, if that makes sense. There should be, as you say, a peace. You should know that actually, yeah, okay, yes, it's tough, but I'm doing what God's told me to do.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

And I think even with grace, I think even just I think a lot of people they get a lot of opportunities and they or a lot of open doors and they think that's God. And what we've learned, we've had a lot of opportunities thrown at us, come at us, but actually we've learned to pray about each and every one of them because sometimes it's not the right time, or the Lord is saying no, or maybe the Lord wants you us to grow up a bit. And there's been there's been some okay, there's been some amazing things that we've said no to. And I I can now finally share this. It's been a few years. I remember when we had one year out of ministry. Wow, yeah. And I I love TBN. Um, I love TBN. I don't know why. I think God has just put it on my heart. I think who knows one day maybe I'll work with them. But and they TBN UK contacted me and asked me to to record a Bible study on Colossians. And I was gonna think I was gonna be on a panel, but I was also gonna do a Bible study of Colossians 4. And that to me, that's like one of my that's like a dream come true. And I remember I ran upstairs to tell Josh and I was like, babe, you never guess what? TBN. And he was like, Yeah, but we're not in ministry, like you you can't do that. God said we we need to take a year out. And and I remember thinking, well, maybe, maybe, maybe he said yes to take a year out, but I can just do this. I can just do this bit. And then I remember I spoke to a few people and they were like, Yeah, but you're out of ministry. And I remember thinking, Oh, and do you know that opportunity still hasn't come back? However, I'm just so blessed and glad that I obeyed God because nothing is wasted, nothing is wasted. I haven't seen why God said no, but I just know that I I obeyed God.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yeah, and actually, I want to say when I first came to the Lord as I was growing in my relationship with the Lord, I had a friend who said something to me and it stuck with me from the very beginning. He said it's okay to say no, it's okay to say no, and sometimes as Christians, we I think we can struggle to say no. If somebody says, Oh, can you come and help serve here and do this at the church, or can you do this, or can or whatever it is, and sometimes you know, people, especially if you struggle to say no, you don't want to let people down, or you don't want to you don't want to do it, and we can try and help to serve in. But that and we can get pulled in, but that's where we can get burnt out if we if we try and serve or we try and help, but yet God's not telling us to. Yeah, and that's what that's why we've got that's why, as Sarah said, it's so important that you pray about every opportunity, pray about it, and don't commit to stuff until you've prayed about it in a sense, because you you want to be a man and a woman of your word. And so if you say you're gonna do something, well then you've got to follow through and do with it, you know what I mean? And so this is why you know, if you get an opportunity to preach, pray about it. Does God want you to? If you get an opportunity to go on a mission trip or the radio or to serve in the local church in some way, or whatever it is, yeah, pray about it and say, God, do you want me to do this? Do you want me to help? Because that way, that's how you stay in the grace of God.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

I was about to say that's that's exactly how you stay in the grace of God. Because even if you do a godly thing and a good thing, but it's not what God wants you to do, you could burn out, you could, you could, you will feel miserable, you might not enjoy it, but you know, and and and and I actually I've seen that. I've seen all the opportunities that have come to us in the last in the last year or two. We have not gone to anyone and say, You need to put me here. They've come to us and said, We would like to, would you like to do this? Can you pray about doing this? Do you know what I mean? And I've learned, and and I just I love that in actually meeting you has really helped me to remember just the simplicity of my goodness, not not like begging God to put us somewhere because if he has good plans for us, then he knows exactly where we need to be and where we need to go.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

So, and so you know, as what even in uh another aspect is sometimes you might get given a prophecy, someone might come and prophesy you, but it doesn't mean you just have to receive it in a sense. That's not saying you'd be rude to the person or anything like that, gives you it, but take it and pray about it with the Lord and say, Lord, you know, because sometimes people might prophesy from the flesh or they might get it wrong or whatever. I've gotten it wrong before, and you know, this is where we have to learn to not just take it take on everything that everybody says. Sometimes people might give you advice, but it doesn't mean they've necessarily prayed about it. No, it could be an observation, or it's from God, and so sometimes I think it can be a good way that you know if somebody gives you some advice that says, Have you prayed about that, or can you pray about that for me?

SPEAKER_02 32:54

And or I'll take it, yeah, I'll take it to the Lord. Yeah, I think that's that's really important. And um, another thing that I've learned as well is that I listened to John Eldridge and he said that God might say to you, You're gonna move house. And then some of us we might just jump to it and start packing our packing up our stuff. And then what I love about John Eldridge, he says a lot of Christians don't ask for next steps. Yeah, okay, Lord, we're gonna move house, or I'm gonna get a new job. When? When do you want when is this gonna happen? When do you want me to start packing up? When do you want me to start applying for jobs? When do you want me to get married? You know, and and I can hear people think, oh, that takes too long. Yes, because God is a being, he's not a machine that we just put put our money in and we get we get do you see what I mean? Yeah, it's relational that he's got timing for things. Like the way that me and you met and how we came together was through timing. So um there's a lot we can share on that, but I hope that these have been kind of good little steps, little nuggets on how you can start following the call of God through a place of intimacy. Um, because you can follow the calling of God for your life, because some people they do discover it kind of like straight away, but that you still have to submit to God in intimacy because you could you could fly off and miss things and get into trouble. And I I I I actually think intimacy is a safe place. It saved my life in many ways.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

The thing is, intimacy, you don't let's just put it this way, you do not want to be in mission or doing anything that uh without having an intimate relationship because that's how burnout, that's where burnout comes from, that's where strife comes from and stress, yeah, and that's where people can get disappointed and fall away from God. Absolutely, and then they you know they might have been running hard with God for a few years or a while, and then you see them five years later or ten years later, and they're not even following God anymore, or they've totally backslidden, or they're holding all sorts of bitterness because they've burnt out. And this is what you know, as we've as I as we've shared, intimacy with Jesus is the most important thing. I agree. That's that and that we also keep saying that. We're not it's not gonna change. Intimacy with Jesus is the most important thing, and this is what remember this. If this is the last thing I leave you with, is if you don't serve in ministry or what or regardless of what you're doing, if you don't go on mission, would Jesus be in us?

unknown 35:17

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

And um, I wouldn't be where I am now. We wouldn't, we wouldn't be recording this podcast if we didn't hear the voice of God, if God didn't speak. And even when he spoke, it's taken us a good year or so, even more than that, to just, you know, there was a timing for that. Um, but I won't go into the podcast and all of that. But it's been incredible following God's voice. And guys, we just want to, number one, pray for you, but we also ask that you pray for us. You know, this podcast is a community where we encourage each other in the Lord, encourage, you know, pray for us to continue listening to God's voice, but we also want to pray for you to continue listening to God's voice. And as you're starting out, uh, we hope that we're giving you nuggets to start, um, if you if you haven't been following God for a while, to start really walking with him in intimacy because it's there that, man, I think even just saving our lives from things, saving us from trouble, from arguments, from this it's more than just the calling of God, intimacy with God just gives us so much stability in life.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

So I hope why don't you pray for us quickly, darling?

SPEAKER_02 36:20

Yeah, I will pray for us. Father, we just thank you for the people that are listening. We thank you for our brothers and sisters, and Lord, we just pray intimacy over them. We pray that the voice of God will be loud and clear as I listen to this um podcast, and we pray, Father, that they will be flying um when it comes to listening to your voice and they'll go deeper and deeper in intimacy. We thank you, Lord, for all that you're doing. We bless you in your mighty name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Amen. Well, thanks, guys, for listening to us. We're gonna end it there now, and we pray that you've been blessed. Yes, and yeah, we're gonna keep going depth about this on the next episode. So keep an eye out for it. We will be going more into how you can step into the calling of God. And so, yeah, take care, guys. Take care. Bye, bye.